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The Exodus - Part 1

Small birds and other assorted wildlife made their usual chatter as the sun started to creep over the horizon, sending beams of bright light into various windows. Thousands of well decorated and elegantly designed buildings dotted a mountain valley, likely all built by the same company at one point. They were all different colours, but in general they shared the same rounded design. Wrap-around windows provided optimal lighting in every room above ground, the sleeping chambers and private facilities located in the basements more often than not.

Whomever had designed these buildings had been the clever sort. Large skylights were located on every roof, usually with light-pipes within, to provide natural lighting down to the basements. In fact, thanks to the mirrors within, a fellow could look in the "window" underground, and see the sky up above. Thanks to this wonderful little invention, the sun was now blazing forth into one bedroom, waking up the occupant within. A large scaly tail slipped out from under the bed-covers, and thumped onto the ground loudly. The tip flipped this way and that as if in irritation, and slowly the covers were pulled back. A large reptilian form slowly sat up on the heavy looking bed-frame, and scratched at its rather well padded front.

The creature was tall for its race, which usually averaged 3 meters in height. This particular individual had half a meter above the norm, making even the high vaulted ceilings within buildings seem not so large after all. The subject was male, though most couldn't tell from a quick look in the dark. In a lighted room it was easy enough to tell however. His species had three genders, though the last had at one time been dubbed a freak of nature. Thanks to medical science and a touch of evolution, it had become a practical part of the species over time.

In total there were males, females, and those with both genders. At one point, the species had the ability to switch genders during great imbalances of male and female, but over time some had gotten stuck halfway between the two. For the longest time the majority of these accidents had been sterile, or damaged genetically in one way or another. But enough of the mutants survived over the centuries to slowly build themselves up to a fully functional third gender. For a time they had been frowned upon in society, and still were by some of the elders. But any unfair treatment towards them had long since vanished.

Thanks to medical intervention, what little remaining genetic damage had also been corrected. Now they had fully functional male and female reproductive parts. Still, they were most definitely a minority in the total population. At the last census, they made up perhaps 10% of the population, with male and female making up the other 90%.

Identifying the genders was easy enough, if one cared to look. Females had breasts and a vaginal slit. Males also had a slit, but it hid their phallus and sack. Both would pop out during use, and then they would definitely appear male. When not in use, they could tuck it away inside themselves, for protection. The hermaphrodites had both sets of equipment, with their female slit below the male one, plus a pair of breasts. Being reptiles, they still laid eggs. But after the infant within hatched, they would be nursed by the females for a time, before being switched to solid food. It took several months for their teeth to grow in.

The lone occupant of the bed scratched his ample belly once more, and stood up, careful not to smack his head on the overhead lights. He did have some clearance, but every now and again he'd move just right and get a crack across noggin for his troubles. Like most of his species, he had two rows of short horns going across his eye-ridges, which joined up with a double-set of swept back horns across the crown of his skull. Also like the rest of his race, he had a ridge of frills starting from the top of his forehead, travelling all the way down to the tip of his tail. They were soft and flexible, and waggled around as he moved about.

He had two arms, and two legs. Each arm had a hand with three fingers and one thumb, each digit tipped with retractable claws. Each foot had three toes with larger claws, and a fourth claw-like bump at the back of the foot. Their tails were thick with muscle and fat, and usually hung all the way down to the ground. They would of course be lifted up slightly as an individual walked around, as nobody liked having their tail drag through the dirt.

This particular fellow seemed quite weighty indeed, and was currently resting both his clawed hands on his ample belly. It squished around his limbs somewhat, and his scales just managed to catch the sunlight and glitter ever so slightly. He was orange in colour, with a slightly softer shade of orange over his big belly and chest. There he was not scaled, but instead his hide was soft and leathery. There were faint stripes across his middle as well, travelling from the underside of his reptilian snout, to the very tip of his under-tail. The final touch that could be seen as he turned on the lights, was a single horn on the tip of his muzzle. It was apparently uncommon for one of their species to grow a horn there, but he had. Fortunately it was small enough that it didn't affect his vision.

The big orange fellow's eyes were blood red with single black pupils in the centre, just like the rest of his race. They were large and could see great detail over vast distances, or very close up. His race called themselves the Horoshi, which apparently just meant "Big Lizards" in an old and long forgotten tongue. This particular Horoshi was known as Scarl, a name given to him by the creche masters in a far off town.

Finally out of bed, the big wideload lizard wandered out of his room and into another one, namely the washroom. It was a simple yet effective thing, with a pot to relieve yourself in, a sink to wash up in, and a large refresher stall. Said stall would blast the user from multiple angles with jets of warm water and cleaning fluid, getting you cleaner much faster than standing there scrubbing away with a stiff brush.

After using the facilities he climbed into the refresher eagerly, and set it for a leisurely cycle to not only help wake him up, but help blast away the sweat and musk from the night. The warm sprayers sprang to life, hosing him down with a pre-set temperature of water that he preferred. He rubbed himself down automatically, rumbling with pleasure at the morning ritual. Soon the jets switched from warm water to warm cleaning fluid, which built up a thick bubbly lather over his frame. This he also scrubbed into his scales and soft belly, letting it soak in to really clean deep. As usual the morning plus the pleasure of the shower proved to be arousing, forcing his slit to open and let his sheath flop out and puff up to size. He was told he was quite large down there for his kind, which didn't surprise him considering how tall he was. Closing his eyes as his face received a good soaking in the cleaning fluid, he gripped himself down below and began to enjoy his refreshing shower even more.

Various dirty thoughts flashed through his mind as he played with himself, his tail swishing this way and that, bumping off the walls of the refresher. His free hand alternated between rubbing at the flared tip of his rather large tool, or rubbing over his soaped up belly with pleasure. As the last cycle of the refresher kicked in, he gasped and huffed out a blast of air, causing several large bubbles of the cleaning fluid to be blown into the far wall. He came to a climax as he was rinsed off, hosing down one wall of the refresher with his seed. It spurted forth at high speed, several litre's splattering to the ground. It was no match for the drains or the cleaning power of the refresher however, and soon all the cleaning fluid, grime, spooge, and whatever else might have been on his person was washed away. He emerged afterwards still quite exposed, but too pleased with himself to care. Besides, nudity was perfectly accepted around these parts.

As he dried himself off with a big fluffy towel, he remembered an article he'd read on the planetary interlink one evening. Apparently there were still some backwards cultures on the other side of their planet, that believed nudity was somehow sinful. He had no idea why. Everyone knew about the reproductive organs of one another, it was definitely no secret. They hatched nude into the world, and nobody really bothered to wear clothing. The closest thing anyone wear to clothes were their utility vests. The thick leather vests were covered in pockets and webbing, to hang tools on or store trinkets within. But a fellow could walk down the street completely naked, with everything hanging out, and nobody would care. A few people might avert their eyes if he started masturbating right there in the middle of the street, but that was all. Not many had that particular streak of exhibitionism however, so the potentially offended were safe from seeing anything they did not want to. Or perhaps getting something in their eye.

Clean and dry once more, Scarl went back into his room and put on his prized vest. It had extra pockets up front, letting him carry his instruments while he was at work. He was a part of the national space program, and did research and development on just about everything. Decades earlier when he had first started, he had been involved in building the first ship to land on one of their moons. Over the years since they had landed on the other 4, and even built a space station just above the great ring that surrounded their world.

These days they were looking at expanding the space station or building a new one, while also considering building outposts on one or all five of their moons. Each one was fairly small however, and more research would have to be done to see if any of them had the resources required to support a colony. Their planet, which they also called Horoshi, was an interesting one. In total, it was a near perfect sphere, measuring some 15,000 Kilometres in diameter. It stood perfectly on its axis, and as such did not have much in the way of seasons. Over 80% of the planets surface is water, making land a very precious resource. Fortunately due to the size of the planet, there was still plenty of it to go around.

Its 5 moons and one big ring spun around the equator of the planet, all of the moons equally spaced around the same orbit. This made for a very interesting tidal cycle, one that could be witnessed by the constant waves and changing water levels every few hours. It took approximately 500 of their days for the planet to travel around their star, your typical yellow G2. Each day was 30 hours in length, 100 minutes per hour. Pretty much year round one could expect 15 hours of daylight, and 15 hours of night. This increased or decreased based on where the planet was in their orbit, as it was not quite spherical. Generally it was pleasantly warm year round, though there was a rainy season for roughly 100 days of the year. This was the only real season they had to speak of. It didn't really cool things down much, just made it very humid and muggy.

Scarl went up the stairs to his ground floor, and looked out the large wrap-around windows to enjoy the sight of the still early morning. Moments later he was busy in the kitchen, making breakfast. His usual fare consisted of various meats and fried bread, sometimes some avian eggs, fruit, preserves, and one kind of tea or another. It didn't take long for him to get it all put together, and sit down at his small kitchen table to wolf it all down. Several thousand calories soon found themselves at home inside his large gut, no doubt adding to or at least maintaining his wide figure. He patted his full and happy belly with a rumble and a belch, then put his dishes in the cleaner, and went outside.

This collection of homes were all located on a small island, off the coast of the larger mainland. In truth the mainland was also an island, just a very big one in comparison to the one he called home. He walked down the little stone path which led to the sidewalk, and skillfully hopped aboard. It was one of the newer moving sidewalks that had been installed in the last few years, and it certainly beat just walking on your own two paws. It whisked him along at a steady 10 kilometres per hour, though he could always stroll along if he wanted to further pick up the pace.

At any point you could step off the moving sidewalk and walk across to the other side of the lane, and get on one going the other direction. It made getting around quite simple, and proved to be a very effective mass transit system. The roadway was empty as it always was these days, as nobody bothered with personal vehicles anymore. Decades ago vehicle traffic could be seen rolling up and down the lanes, but mass transit had grown in popularity until they were generally abandoned. Vehicles were still used however, but usually for business purposes.

A few minutes later he stepped off the moving sidewalk, and stepped on to another, heading south towards the main transportation hub. The mainland and the small island were connected by a large bridge, which sported a small roadway on a lower deck, and trains on the upper. Minutes later he stepped off the moving sidewalk and into the station, and slid his monthly transit pass through an automated ticketing counter. It approved his pass and opened a gate, so he could enter the station proper. It would still be a few minutes before the next train arrived, so he fetched a large sweet-roll and another cup of tea from a nearby shop.

Munching on his treat and slurping his tea, he found a place to sit and wait for the train to arrive. There he alternated between watching the large information screens overhead, and watching the people wandering around, doing their thing. Much like himself, they were all quite full figured. In-fact, a thin Horoshi was usually quite ill, or quite poor. Not many could be found these days however, as social security provided for the poor, and their health care system took care of the sick. A fat Horoshi was a healthy and successful Horoshi, and the fatter you are, the better. Some of the truly wealthy and opulent were massive in their girth, though all were careful not to get to a point where they had difficulty moving. Their bones and muscle structure were strong however, so this rarely happened. A fellow could easily pack on a full tonne and still be fine, though most of their kind rarely passed 1500 kilograms. Thanks to his added height and full-figured frame, Scarl massed a healthy 1200kg, and it showed.

He finished his snack and patted his big belly with pride, wondering if he should try and pack on a few more kilos just for show. After all, he was still doing very well in his job, and they were nearing breakthroughs on all sorts of wonderful technology. Surely his counterparts would find him simply wonderful to look at if he blimped out larger still. But that would require a lot of work, and he was far too busy most of the time as it was. There was always the usual method, just eating whatever you felt like and seeing what happened from there.

A tone chimed through the announcement speakers, followed by a disembodied voice informing everyone that the next train to the mainland would be arriving in mere minutes. So Scarl dusted himself off, hefted his fat bulk back upright once more, and headed to the primary platform to board with the rest of the eager passengers. There were quite a few folks waiting to board the commuter train, which served this island and several towns along the mainland route. They were fast too, eating up the distance at several hundred kilometres per hour.

They all heard the train slowing down before they could see it pulling into the station, and soon it arrived. It was definitely quite the sight to see, even for somebody whom had been riding it for years. Sleek and streamlined, with rounded edges all around. The cars were all sized to fit Horoshi, and had ample space to sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. There were even cars with private rooms and dining facilities, for those whom were going on long hauls. Scarl wasn't travelling all that far, just to the first stop on the other side of the bridge. It was a 20 minute hop in total, relatively quiet within the passenger cabin, and over before you knew it.

Seeing as the trip was so short, he didn't even bother lining up for beverages and snacks in one of the dining cars. He just made himself comfortable in a nice padded seat, and watched the sea pass by at high speed. His belly gurgled at him loudly, and he patted it with a smirk. He'd obviously need to grab another snack on his way into work today. Mere minutes later the big orange fatty was exiting the train at another station, and once again climbing on a moving sidewalk. As he once again left the mass transit network and returned to bipedal locomotion, he found himself gazing up at the launch control tower for the city spaceport.

There obviously wasn't much in the way of full-on space flight quite yet, but there were still the suborbital flights. Space planes that would take off from the runway and launch themselves in a parabolic, heading to some distant part of the world. It was definitely faster to take one of those flights than relying on the train network if you were trying to get to the other side of the planet. Other than the passenger travel, there were test launches of new ships, plus the occasional supply run to the space station.

After grabbing a few snacks and another big mug of tea in the cafeteria, Scarl once more found himself at his desk, puttering around with a computer simulation. He was currently involved with a team developing modular facilities for putting off world. The idea was to build large pods that they could send up one at a time in their biggest cargo rocket, with all the living, working, and food-production space required to support 3-4 people at a time. And as they sent up more, they could all be joined by connecting tunnels at ground level. So after a few years of sending these things up, they'd have a fairly stable little community of a few dozen Horoshi on one of their moons, and hopefully be able to start building something larger out of local materials.

He'd been working on it for years now, and they were very close to actually building one and firing it off into space. All the space required had been calculated, and they'd proved the low-gravity hydroponics bays worked just fine, thanks to years of testing on their big space station. He was due to go back up to the station in a few days to gather the last of the data, then it was hopefully time to get building. He noticed a commotion going on in one of the other offices across the floor of his building, but he paid it no mind. The other workers were always finding something of interest, even if it was just the results of their latest favourite sporting event.

The disturbance was attracting more people however, and some of the supervisors were trying to break things up. Curious, they must have found something really important if that many people were coming to have a look. He sat up from his desk and put his computer simulation on standby, and decided to wander over and have a look. If nothing else, it was an excuse to hit the snack room on the way back. As he advanced on the mob a few folks walked away with mixed expressions on their faces, and others were led away by supervisors or concerned looking fellow employees. Definitely something amiss, that much was certain. By the time he had made it across the floor the situation had apparently resolved itself however, as folks dispersed and went back about their business.

Quite a few had gone off into one of the meeting rooms however, and closed the doors behind them. Must be some new project they were trying to keep secret, or new info they weren't ready to present yet. It definitely wouldn't be the first time. Shrugging, Scarl wandered to the break-room, and happily devoured several pre-packaged snacks, and had a cup of tea while chatting with some other co-workers in the area. A few were involved with his current project, so they bounced ideas off one another for a while.

The day continued to pass, with one simulation after another plus regular breaks for food. If nothing else, his kind were definitely good at eating. And the break rooms and cafeterias were always well stocked with plentiful things to stuff your face with. Perhaps not always the most tasty, but at least the most filling. He set up one last computer test to run over the course of the night, plotting out a huge multiple-system test of the current proposed colonization pod. If all went well, they would be one step closer to actually building the thing.

An announcement came over the PA system, asking all researchers and speciality staff to report to the main conference room immediately, before they left for the day. Scarl scratched his wide hide curiously, and closed his office door for the night. Wandering to the elevators, he went up two floors and joined everyone else in the large facility. There were perhaps a hundred Horoshi all milling about in the lobby or already in the room, some having found the limited seating already, while others stood in the corner. Some of the chief scientists were there, as well as the heads of the local space program. This must be big news indeed, if so many important people were there.

As everyone else assembled, everyone was shuffled inside, and the doors were closed. It was a tight fit, but they managed to cram every last big-bellied bag of scales into the relatively large room. The head of the little meeting cleared his throat and turned his broad snout towards a large flat-panel display, which lit up at his request. On screen a wonderful 3d image of their home world sprang to life, rotating slowly with its moons and ring spinning around in turn. A red line appeared right through the planet, and the image zoomed out to show the line going way out into space, finally crossing through a large flashing blip. The image froze there, and displayed some mathematical proofs along one side.

The presenter spoke up, using a laser pointer to indicate various points of the image as he spoke.

"This, as you all know, is our home system. And this blip far out here, is an asteroid on a direct path for us. It was discovered late last night by one of our remote observation telescopes in orbit, and we've been tracking it all day now and calculating its path. There is still room for error, but we are 99.9% sure that the object is coming right for us at high speed."

He paused to take a drink of water and steady himself, bolstered on by several companions patting him on his large shoulders. He appeared as if he were going to cry, and continued on meekly.

"The object is large enough as to almost be called a small moon, or definitely one hell of a big asteroid. It has a diameter of 200 kilometres, and if it makes contact all life on this world will be wiped out in an instant. Its likely that the planet itself will be torn apart from the impact. No weapon we have can make a dent in something that size, and its unlikely we could change its orbit shy of somehow throwing one of our moons at it. To make a long story short, our planet is doomed."

The speaker threw his hands up for silence, as the first outbursts of emotion-charged rambling broke out here and there amongst the gathered scientists. They calmed quickly enough, though everyone was sharing the same look of hopeless dread. The end of the world? Who would have thought it possible!

"There is good news in this. The object is still very far off. In fact, it won't even get here for just over 100 years. We may very well develop something to take care of the problem by then, but we need to plan for the worst. That's why you were all called here. All efforts are now to be turned towards this threat. Our government has been informed of the situation, and they agree. They will be informing the public over the next few days, and hopefully we'll have a few plans of action by then. Our counterparts at the military research facility will begin looking into ways of stopping the object, while we'll look at alternatives."

More images popped onto the screen, everything from our current space station, to the new ones being looked into, and even the colonization pods we had been developing. It was explained that we would continue working in our respective teams on our projects, minus those that were on general research. They would be added to our teams. We would now be going full out on making workable solutions to living off planet, travelling there, and staying safe during the trip. New research would begin on bigger and better ships to get us places, built around long-term stays in space.

We would also begin a more extensive survey of our own solar system, seeing if we could successfully live on one of the other planets, either farther away or closer to the sun. It seemed unlikely based on what probe data had already revealed, but it couldn't hurt. Scarl supposed he'd be making that trip up to the space station sooner than later, perhaps even the next day. They all knew what they had to do, and most everyone was relieved that they had the time to do it. The meeting broke up shortly after, and most people went home. A few stayed to look at this and that, but there really wasn't anything to be done right then and there.

It was just under an hour later that a very emotionally drained Scarl tromped back into his house on the island, and closed the door behind him. He flopped down in his best chair and gave way to a good case of the shakes. It was cathartic at the least, and he found himself hugging his tail meekly up against his fat belly. Nothing to do now, but have dinner and enjoy one's self.

He prepared a feast worthy of a king, cleaning out the fridge and cooking everything he could get his paws on. The next hour was spent stuffing his snout to capacity and then some, pushing his belly out further by the moment until it dug almost painfully into the table top. Every scrap of food and several litres of nice warm tea went down his gullet, until he felt like a balloon that was about to explode. He plopped both paws on his very stuffed belly and belched loudly, rubbing over the taut surface. His gut stuck out perhaps a foot or two more than it usually did, and was even showing stretch marks where his soft leathery sides gave way to scales. He felt like he might burst himself if he were to scratch at his frame too hard. He made a mental note not to give way to any itches this evening.

Standing up with difficulty, he wandered back into his living room in a food-gorged daze, practically drunk with torpor from eating so much. He nearly passed out on the sofa, and instead spent the evening watching the entertainment streams that would come through the communications network. No news yet of their impending doom, and likely it wouldn't be broadcast for a few days. The government would want to get ready, to quiet anyone that went into a panic.

As he lay there, rubbing at his gorged stomach idly, he thought about what the future might bring. Over a century from now, death would be knocking at the door. Then again, the vast majority of people he knew might not even be alive then as it was. The average life expectancy for his kind was 180-200 years, give or take. The oldest recorded Horoshi had lived to a ripe old age of 216. Scarl had just recently reached 90 years since his hatching, and was definitely considered middle aged. It was entirely likely he'd be dead anyways around the time the Asteroid hit, so he decided not to worry about it. All he could do now was his job, and try his best to make sure future generations would make it out alive.

He looked at the display in one corner of his big entertainment screen, noting the date and time. It was Day 245, of year 5173. At least that was the year since somebody had bothered to start recording such things. It was likely that their species was tens of thousands of years old by this point. He fell asleep where he was, lost to the torpor of eating so much at once. The screen shut itself off after detecting no movement or signs of alertness from the user, and all was quiet. The sun set outside, and another day until their doom soon passed.

*** ***

It was a mere two days later that Scarl found himself strapped into one of their orbital launch vehicles, attached securely to a light duty lifting rocket. Thanks to a vast increase of comforting food binges, they had needed to let out his pressure suit a bit. Several of the staff smirked at this and patted his larger belly. It was always a good thing to see somebody pack on the kilograms. The big orange fellow didn't mind one bit, and found it quite comforting after the unpleasant news the other day.

The usual kick of the engines focused his attention on the matter at hand, and he relaxed further into his padded launch couch. He was merely a passenger, so he really didn't have anything to do other than hang on until they were in free fall. It would be a few hours until they docked at the station, so he simply rested his head as best as he could, and took a nap. A pressure-suited tail swatted him across his engorged middle sometime after, and he noticed he was in free fall. They had already docked, and one of the pilots felt now was a good time to wake up their guest. Looking somewhat sheepish, the big fatty shrugged and pulled himself through the bay of their little ship, and floated through the airlock into the station proper.

He could see more and more why they wanted to replace the station, every time he visited. It was small for a Horoshi, with barely enough space to stand up in half the time. The habitation pods were also small, and contained just enough space to sleep. But it did the job, and at least had enough expansion points to let them clip on a new module or experiment every now and again. Scarl decided that if they were going to be going all-out on space habitation and the like, the first thing they'd need is a much bigger space station. If nothing else they could use it as an orbital construction platform. Perhaps further out around the orbits of the moons, so they could harvest resources from areas of lower gravity.

He was only staying for the day, going home with the crew being rotated back to the surface. So he quickly checked on the hydroponics bays and other assorted test platforms they had installed up there on the last rotation. Everything seemed in order, and the hydroponics only needed minor tweaking to nutrient flow. On his way to one of the work rooms to make his reports, he suddenly found himself wedged in a passageway, between two airlock sections.

He had gotten just fat enough, to fill the space completely. Grumbling at the cramped conditions up here, he called out for assistance. Several crew came to see what was the matter, and soon everyone was in an uproar. Photographs were taken, jokes were exchanged, and the entire crew agreed that this was definitely a good sign that they needed a bigger station. After all, if a respectable Horoshi couldn't float around without getting his belly stuck, then there was a problem! After the mutual amusement had subsided, they managed to tug Scarl out by his tail, and set him up to work somewhere not quite as cramped. He made a note to suck in his gut before going through doors.

The return trip was uneventful and relatively quick, and he spent the rest of the day finishing reports and making suggestions back in his office. He had multiple things he felt needed to be done, the first of which was of course a bigger space station. Plans were drafted up for a modular facility that would be sent up in parts, and assembled in orbit. He suggested something using the conceptual spinning sections to provide artificial gravity, as it would make the growing of food and other scientific functions easier. If possible, they should try and make the whole station spin, as it would provide quite a lot more comfort to everyone up there.

Other plans were already in motion, and together a huge blueprint for a new space station began to take shape. Right off the bat though, they realized that their current methods of getting cargo up into orbit just weren't going to cut it. So the space station was put on hold for the time being, and efforts turned to developing new launch vehicles. The suborbital space planes were looked at with ample consideration, and it was decided they should try and make larger versions. Have them take off under their own power, deliver vast quantities of cargo and passengers wherever they needed to go, and return back to the ground.

Several designs looked towards using nuclear engines rather than chemical power, but people worried about radiation. And rightfully so, as the reaction mass spewing out the back could very well contain charged particles. The solution hit them in the face like a punch to the snout, and had been something on the back burner for years. One division of scientists on another island had been puttering around with nuclear fusion for quite some time, and were very near the breakthrough they had been striving for.

With a sudden influx of budget and workers, the breakthrough came within a year. All at once the Horoshi were presented with the cleanest form of energy production they had ever encountered, and they also had their spaceship engine. Scarl remembered when he first saw the computer models for the new ship they were building, and it was impressive to say the least. It was at least 10 times the size of anything they had now, and a near perfect sphere. The only change in the shape were the huge torches on its base, which spewed forth the immense power of the fusion power plants to be contained within.

Just one could probably lift everything they needed for a modern space station in just a few trips. The only lag time would be in actually building the station up there in orbit. All of the simulations checked out, so barely 2 years after learning of their coming doom, they began to build it. It is surprising how much work you can get done when all industry is turned to a single goal. They got the thing built within a year, and were taking it through flight tests while work began on space station parts. Another division of their labour pool set about building some of those modular pods previously designed for off-world colonization, though they had been re-designed to a considerably larger size. Now rather than a streamlined pod they were a big fat ovoid shape, still 3 levels tall but built to hold 50 Horoshi at a time.

As work continued on the station components, their first heavy-lifting cargo ship boosted colonization pods to each of their five moons. There the stationed crews would preform a grand survey of each moon, determining once and for all what resources were there, and if they could exploit them. At the same time they were furthering the research of off-world survival, and preforming their own scientific tasks. It was a grand project, made all the more possible by several leaps forward in technological development. The great lifting ship was given a number in the government listings, namely XK-755. But to its crew, it was lovingly known as the Flying Whale. Named for the immensely fat sea creatures that lived in the oceans.

Improvement after improvement just kept on coming as technology improved, and research continued. It was determined soon by the world governments that it would be unrealistic in the extreme to rely on weapons development to solve this issue, as the object heading their way was simply too massive to count on destroying. There were of course theories, everything from fusion bombs to even more deadly weapons, but the Horoshi really didn't want to build weapons that could destroy their own planet while they were trying to save it.

Instead, the Exodus was announced. The Horoshi would leave their world, and go looking for another one. They were on the verge of moving off into space as it was, so this would not be such a big step. There was a hitch however, namely how many people could go. It was fairly well accepted that their fairly large population would be far too great to transport through space even in the near future, so it would have to come down. There was some public outcry, but most people calmed down once they looked at this part of the plan in detail. They had a century to leave, and a century to bring down their numbers. So starting immediately, there would be extremely strict population control put into place. If they introduced only a very small amount of new hatchlings into the world, their population would decline as the older generations began to die off naturally.

The idea was to reduce their population from half a billion, to one million. The simulations proved it could be done, but only if everyone agreed to the new strict regulations put upon them. Anyone who did not agree would unfortunately have to be dealt with. There was no changing the facts of reality at present, and it was better to only have a million Horoshi to save, than to have to take a million and leave everyone else to die.

The vast majority of the population agreed to their new civil restrictions, and only a very small minority of extremists or dissenters had to be culled. This was their new lot in life, to pave the way for the future generations to come. Work continued, wages were earned, food was consumed with great relish, surveys were conducted, and technology continued to increase.

Over the years the various research outposts on the moons gathered considerable data, and they were all expanded into remote mining outposts. Thousands of Horoshi moved to each moon to live and work, mostly with the remote mining equipment or other facilities that sprung up. The new space station began to come together, and the old one was retired with honours, and scrapped for resources. Orbital construction yards took shape in and around the new station, which wound up being a large series of spheres arranged around a central tube. The outer spheres spun around the axis of the tube, which provided stable gravity within for the tens of thousands of Horoshi that ultimately moved there. Airlocks on either side of the large tube provided docking ports for the great cargo lifting ships, of which there were now three.

Year after year the old and infirm passed on, and no new Horoshi were hatched to replace them. The population declined at the expected rate, which was curiously celebrated. Year after year, more work was done on off-world colonization, improving their fusion engines on ships, and looking for solutions to their problems. The next closest planet to their sun was far too hot to live on, and had no atmosphere to speak of. As such, it was rejected outright as a place to even attempt to land on. The next planet out however was too cold, and also lacked at atmosphere. There was the possibility of living entirely in artificial structures like on their moons, but there was really no point. It looked as if they really did need to leave their solar system entirely, so that's where they set their sights. They would truly become a space faring race, and hopefully space proved to be a kind mistress.

*** ***

Over the decades to come, work continued tirelessly on the greatest project ever undertaken by the species. Some of the largest and most advanced fusion-torch ships were being put together in orbit, their innards outfitted with everything their passengers could possibly require during the long trips to come. Each ship could travel at half the speed of light thanks to constant improvement in engine technology, but even that great speed was slow as far as space was concerned. It would take 20 years just to get to the closest star from their own, longer to get to others. Space-based telescopes were always on the look for likely star systems, trying to find anything with a suitable looking planet.

Finding a suitable planet out there was tricky business. For a Horoshi at least, they wanted one that was warm, had lots of water, fertile land, and a good atmosphere. They'd settle for just about anything however, so long as it had a breathable atmosphere. That would at least be a building block to try and change the climate over time, or whatever needed doing.

A chart of systems was on the table, but it would be updated as they went. Each huge ship was a marvel of technology, capable of sustaining the needs of 100,000 passengers and crew at a time. They were arcs, each deck filled with passenger compartments, living and working space, mess halls, entertainment facilities, cargo space, and hydroponics facilities. Synthetic meats could be grown in the lab, so that saved quite a bit of space from not having to carry livestock. Newly developed gravity plating made it so the ships needed no spinning sections. Increases in metalworking technology made the ships resistant to various stellar impacts, plus they projected a light magnetic field to keep out space dust and other fast moving particles.

In total, 12 of the great arcs were being built, and the plan was to have them completed several years before the asteroid came a knocking. That left them with enough room for 1.2 million Horoshi, but they were still only planning on bringing a million. After all, once in space there would likely be a gradual increase of the population. It also gave them a margin of safety, should the unthinkable happen. If they had to scuttle one of the ships, there would be room on the rest for the survivors.

Off-planet bases were shut down one after the other and they're citizens moved back to the home world, as the now very limited crew would be needed on the great ships. Smaller and more agile versions of the once great cargo carriers had been fitted on to the barge-like Arcs, and would likely be used quite a bit over the years to run supplies around, and investigate systems as they went.

With scant years to go before the end of it all, most of the population had dwindled away to nothing. The very young were being kept up on the completed Arcs, so they would grow up used to the limited space and other changes aboard ship. Entire cities on Horoshi had been abandoned, and had gradually fallen into disrepair. It was a sad sight to some, and a chilling one to others. Of the population, there was a very visible generation gap. Everyone going on the Arcs was no older than 60 or 70, while those staying behind were on their death beds. Health services designed to help a person stay older longer had been reserved for the young, and wisely so. The truly old knew it was their time, and most were pleased that they had helped the current generation get a good start on the next leg of their journey.

Scarl was 189 years old, and the asteroid was due quite soon. He spent his time at home these days, feeding his still large form the best he could. Most of his companions were gone, and he hadn't seen anyone else around his little island in quite a while. The trains had stopped coming a few weeks back, and he didn't bother ordering any more food for his larder. He could feel his time coming, any day now. He was tired, lonely, and sad that he couldn't make the journey on the great ships he once helped to design and build. But that was just the way of things, and there really wasn't anything he could do about it. At least the power was still on, and he could watch what there was on the screens.

Late into the night he fell asleep on his old sofa, safe and secure in a familiar place. Once more the sensors in the house detected his lack of activity and began shutting things down for the night. The entertainment screen went black, the lights turned off, and his doors locked themselves for the last time.

He never woke up.

*** ***

The last cargo pod lifted off from the planet, a much different place than it had been a century earlier. Cities lay in ruins, fires burned here and there and were left unchecked. The planet had been stripped bare of resources and anything of value, and the dead were left in their houses. It was not the nicest of burials, but it was far too late to do anything about such things.

The great Arc ships moved to a safe distance and turned all their recorders on, the last watch to witness an event they hoped would never be repeated. The huge asteroid came out of the darkness, spinning slowly on its own axis. It flared in the atmosphere for the briefest of moments, then hit the planet with enough force to blow it apart. A huge fireball flared silently out into the void, revealing chunks of their former world spinning slowly off in different directions. The destruction was total, and there was no chance anything or anyone survived. The blasted chunks tore into one another as they continued along their orbital path, bound to become an asteroid field around this G2 star.

Their task complete, the dozen Arcs lit their engines, and began advancing out of the system. They travelled in a loose formation, rotating the lead ship every so often for another one in the pack. The plan was to make a passing sweep of their outer systems, only because they had not done so before. Then they would kick up the speed and head for deep space, and their first stop along their star charts.

A Red-Dwarf star was closest to the one they used to call home, and they had detected planets there that could be habitable. The only way to be sure was to go have a look for themselves, so that's exactly what they did.

Onward go the Horoshi, looking for a new place to call home. It is hoped that they find one some day.