ALLAN READ
ALLAN READ
Honoured citizens of Proxima,
I stand before you today not as a dreamer of distant worlds, but as a voice of our reality—a reality shaped by our struggle and resilience here on Proxima.
I have never seen Earth. It exists only in the stories handed down by our ancestors. They spoke of blue skies, green forests, and endless oceans—a paradise that now seems more like myth than memory. For us, Earth is distant, almost intangible, a cradle of humanity reduced to a legend.
When the first settlers arrived, they carried Earth with them in their hearts—a land of great achievements, a birthplace of civilization, art, and history. But Earth also carried the weight of its mistakes—mistakes that led to its collapse, crushed by environmental ruin. That story is embedded in our collective memory, a stark reminder of what was lost and a lesson we must never forget.
Here on Proxima, we walk a different path, one where survival is not a given but a daily effort. Our planet, though in the habitable zone, is not forgiving. Intense solar flares strip our atmosphere, leaving the surface barren and deadly. We live in domed cities, hidden beneath the ground, protected by walls of metal and rock. Outside, there is no air to breathe, no life to be found, and the radiation could wipe us all out.​​

Yet look at what we have built together. Our cities are marvels of human ingenuity—self-sustaining ecosystems powered by nuclear and geothermal energy. We cultivate our food in hydroponic farms, recycle every drop of water and every breath of air. Within our domes, we recreate the lost echoes of Earth: trees, rivers, even farms—but we know it’s only a simulation. The rain, the wind, the oceans—those belong to another world, a world that no longer exists.
And still, we have thrived. Despite these formidable challenges, Proxima has become our home. Here, we live in the delicate balance between perpetual day and eternal night, in that thin band where light and warmth make life possible. We’ve adapted, evolved, and created a society that our Earth-born ancestors could scarcely have imagined.

We are no longer defined by the ideals of Earth. Our ways, our culture, have diverged, and rightly so. For generations, our ancestors clung to Earth’s legacy—its values, its mistakes. But we have learned that Earth’s way is no longer our way. That world, beautiful though it once was, could not sustain itself. It collapsed, leaving behind its warnings for us to heed.
Today, we are something else. We are Proximians. Our identity is forged in the fires of adversity, shaped by our own victories and losses. We look not to Earth for our inspiration but to the stars, for it is there that our destiny awaits.
No longer will we linger on what’s been lost. We have made Proxima our own, and in doing so, we have charted our own course. Let us not be bound by the shadows of Earth’s past, but be guided by the light of our own future.
Proxima is our present, and it is among the stars that we will build our tomorrow.
© 2024 by Allan Read. Crafted with passion and creativity.