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'How did they find us?'
This is the question I am going to be asked in some time by the chief of the United Nations. If I don't give him a convincing answer, I am sure, I will be imprisoned for the rest of my life. I thought about it several times only to realize that the real reason was tied to the sequence of events that happened from where it all began.
In order to find a convincing answer, I must go over how it all started in the new world. I sat in one of the chairs in the waiting lounge and began flipping through the pages of my mental memory.
It all began when we were shrunk in size. There was a genuine reason for it.
15 years ago, as many as five thousand earth-like planets were identified by Kepler. Data collected from all the ground-based very large array telescopes, at one point, became insufficient to assess the planet for human colonization. A plan was devised out to send four astronauts to each of those five thousand planets to collect real data that would help plan for human colonization.
The cost of sending one such crew to each of those five thousand planets was far beyond human capacity. To cut down costs, we came up with several ideas, but only one of them survived through implementation.
The idea was to shrink humans in size up to six inches by denying growth hormones at the right stages of growth. This brought down the size of everything ranging from spaceships to cryosleep chambers. A shoebox-sized spaceship was found to be just enough to sail through the empty space carrying the four astronauts.
That was how, 5 years ago, we ended up at Koryan, one of the five thousand Exoplanets, approximately 5 light-years away with technology that allowed us to travel at half the speed of light. Koryan revolved around a yellow dwarf, called Koryee taking as much time as Earth takes to go around the sun once. We brought with us, thousands of embryos and plant seeds to use if the planet favored colonization.

Although Koryan was more earth-like in most aspects, it had its own problems. One of them was its low gravity. Irregular volcanic eruptions could easily throw anything into deep space.

Also, there was less oxygen on the planet. To continue to survive as a human species in the new planet, we needed more oxygen. Fortunately, Koryan had a few natural moons. The tidal forces balanced out the low gravity of the planet. Therefore, the tectonic plates and water sources remained intact with the planet's grasp.
My team's proposition was to seek solutions to these problems from Earth. But it didn't sound a good idea to me. Because Earth was five light-years away from Koryan, I argued that we might have to end up waiting for 10 years for a response from Earth. If people on Earth came to know that we were at a dead end, I thought, they would not choose to waste time and efforts to come to risk us. I shared my views with my team, and they all agreed to it. Now, the only way left for us to survive was to adapt to the physical reality offered by Koryan planet.
Considering everything that the new planet offered and ignored, after several sessions of intense technical discussions, I came up with an idea. According to that, as a common solution to counter the low gravity and less oxygen, we mutated our DNA with that of the plants found in Koryan so that our legs spurted out roots that penetrated the soil and held us firmly to the ground and offered more oxygen. All we had to do was to just hack our genetic code in such a way that half of it supported plant metabolism.
We found the new planet, habitable and life-supporting. It was me who sent may-day signals to Earth and then switched off our communication devices. I promised the rest of the crew that no one would come to rescue us considering the cost involved in the rescue operation.
Based on that promise of mine, a new civilization was built on the new planet in five years. We used all the embryos that we carried in the ship, mutated them all with the plants in Koryan, and raised a whole new set of hybrid species in the new world. With added flora and fauna, the new world began to flourish. Rains brought oceans, rivers, and lakes. Water sources gave rise to forests.
With regular breeding and interbreeding, our headcounts constantly raised. Once we reached a substantial headcount, we chose to divide the planet's landmass in terms of continents and countries for the purpose of better management of the planet's natural resources.
I didn't realize, my being engaged in formulating strategies to effectively raise new hybrid species could let the other three cheat on me. I realized it only when I was appointed as governor of a useless landmass. The other three reasoned out that, since it was me who successfully came up with the idea of solving problems like low gravity and less oxygen, I was the right person to handle a tough landmass. I realized; I became a victim of my own success.
When the landmass owned by the other three, flourished, I struggled to bring life to what I got. Despite my sincere efforts, the results were nil.
The one that I got was not a fertile land which prohibited me from rising the headcount. Without a substantial rise in the headcount, my country remained infertile with less oxygen to support human-plant hybrids. Soon I became an insignificant governor of a landmass that no one wanted to visit or invest.
While I waited for my turn to face the chief of the United Nations, I realized the absence of the other three. I supposed it was because it was me who promised that the Earthly beings would not come in pursuit of us.
Suddenly, I felt a lightning spark at a corner of my head.
Shortly after, I heard a loud beep. A computer-generated voice called out my name. I stood up and entered the chief's office. There, I sat right in front of him.
"From the records, it appears that you once promised that no one from Earth would get to know about us in this new world. But, now they have come to know about us and are now trying to invade us, take over whatever we have achieved in all these years. According to them, we made false claims and used their property for our personal benefits. But from the records, it was your wrong speculation that has led all of us to where we are right now. How can you explain this?" was how the chief started his conversation with me.
First, I took a deep breath.
"Oxygen. That's the clue. Oxygen has the ability to absorb certain colors, or wavelengths, of light, in this case at 6.4 micrometers, in the infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Ever since we stepped into this planet, we have been creating more and more oxygen molecules. The deep-space telescopes from Earth must have detected this. They must have compared 15 years of telescope data and connected the right dots." I said.
"If so, how did you miss to speculate this?"
" With due respect, chief, I think, I don't deserve this question. The landmass has already been divided. The part I govern is still infertile. That means I am not the one responsible for the rise of oxygen levels on the planet. It's the other three who truly deserve to be asked this question."
The chief stared at me speechlessly.
I stood up and walked out of his room. I knew he can't stop me.