An international team of scientists discovered a planet with its atmosphere stripped away because of a planetary collision.
Planets running into each other isn’t uncommon in solar system formation—in fact, it’s believed that this is how Earth’s moon was created. But, the loss of an atmosphere is the first time scientists have observed this outcome of a collision.
They observed the phenomenon on an Earth-sized planet ninety-five light-years from Earth. Because of the dust cloud and gas around the star, they believe the atmosphere became dislodged 200k years ago after an impact of over 22k mph.
What if humans had to live underground or underwater because of the loss of the atmosphere?
Armageddon meets Silo, the story starts with the realization that there’s an impact coming in ten years. Then, the story centers on a young engineer and her family as they prepare for the move underground.
In an attempt to avoid the Seveneves problem—the first half of the book is an extended prologue for creating a space-faring society—the United States, Russia, and China already have extensive underground cities capable of housing millions because of their fear of nuclear war.
The challenges become who gets to live in the settlements, what happens to the rest of the people, and what happens to residents from other countries.
The engineer works tirelessly preparing underground settlements in Africa, spending years away from her family. They work on the energy problem, solar panels covering the Sahara, hopeful the impact doesn’t affect the desert.
Throughout work on the new facility, she deals with red tape and financial problems due to a single oil tycoon.
Then, she moves into the underground system in the United States and finds out she lives next to the man who caused her project so many problems. Thousands, if not millions, die because of him at the moment of impact.
She learns he’s siphoning off resources from their facility and risks her life for those less fortunate. So naturally, this puts a target on her back. In response, she descends to the lowest levels of the underground facility with her family, trying to stay away from their reach.
The oil tycoon’s cronies find their home and kidnap her husband and son. She takes the law into her own hands and fights her way through their fortifications until she rescues them from his side.
Sequels could include:
- Finding smaller settlements and absorbing them into the larger facility.
- Saving her family from gang violence.
- Navigating the recreation of a surface-dwelling unit.
