Captain Anthar felt unsteady gazing upon the newly constructed bridge. Every part was gleaming with not just a machined finish, but prescision. The attention to detail and the exactness drew beauty from the cold metal. Not only did this astound him, but the size of the bridge was astounding as well. It could hold one of the medium sized ships he had once piloted with room to spare. The reason for such vastness was not meant to be astounding or beautiful or any of those things. He was the captain of the Earth.

                Many years ago astronomers had discovered a signal, followed by traces, lights, chemical indicators, and other obvious signs, that at first appeared to be a peculiar comet shower, but after the data was collected and interpreted everyone on Earth was rocked by the news. An alien race, or perhaps a fleet of great size, was looking for something and destroying planets in its wake. They were heading towards earth.

                Military planners suggested that they evacuate, or develop a new weapon to destroy them all. Scientists had to disagree, and pointed out that not only did we not have the ability to survive without eventually acquiring new resources.

                Not only that, but they had to discover what it is the aliens are looking for, so as to make decisions for the future. This meant that mankind would have to take the earth with them wherever they went.

                Engineers responded to the task with a mixture of frustration and annoyance. This included a lot of yelling and general contempt. Most decided to remain locked inside their houses if they could. The reason was obvious: scale. To build a ship encasing the Earth not only would it require a great deal of raw materials, but a great deal of precision. Precision at an astronomical scale, to create a thing about one and a half million meters wide they would need to be precise beyond one billionth of a millimeter using materials stronger than currently existed, using technologies no one had even thought of yet. All in all, the task seemed impossible. Some questioned if it would be easier to find the artifact and simply hand it over. Archaeologists balked, but were not as flustered as engineers. Their answer was, “sure, we can find it, give or take a hundred years, and that’s granted it still exists and that it’s recorded somewhere.” Obviously the human race was more or less stuck between a rock and a hard place.