The First Superhuman: Rebuilding Civilization from the Moon

Jason was incredibly busy.

Watching crates of processed materials ride the space elevator into orbit while the inventory spreadsheets grew longer by the minute gave him a strange, almost miserly sense of satisfaction.

It wasn’t just him; every citizen aboard the Ark shared the sentiment. Everyone could see the endless stream of automated drones hauling massive cargo payloads. The daily news and digital feeds were flooded with these updates.

Although the Ark had been fully stocked when it originally departed from Nyx, the cargo bays were primarily filled with common, easily accessible materials like iron, copper, and aluminum. Precious metals like gold, silver, and platinum were always in short supply. While the existing reserves met basic industrial requirements, there was never enough to satisfy public demand.

Now, with vast quantities of precious resources practically lying on the planet’s surface like common gravel, how could the Federation not be overjoyed?

Just days ago, a massive deposit of raw diamonds was discovered in the planet’s D3 Sector. The gems were of exceptionally high quality, with some as large as peanuts!

These glittering stones initially sparked a massive wave of public interest. Engineers enthusiastically designed automated gem-cutting machines, digging through ancient Earth databases to find the best ways to process the high-grade diamonds. However, the mining output was so immense that, if divided evenly, every citizen would receive several hundred large diamonds. Once they were no longer rare, the public quickly lost interest, and the stones were relegated to industrial use.

A few days later, a massive vein of gold was unearthed in another sector.

The raw ore was refined into hundreds of metric tons of solid gold bars, stacked directly in the center of the Federation Plaza, and offered freely to anyone who wanted them.

To everyone’s surprise, hardly anyone claimed them. Only a few of the oldest generation looked at the display with nostalgic interest, tracing their hands over the gold bars while sighing in reflection.

Times were simply changing too fast.

The sheer material wealth of an interstellar era was beyond the comprehension of a primitive civilization. Gold was no longer a coveted symbol of wealth. The younger generations, born into this era of extreme abundance, had never experienced the scarcity of ancient Earth. While they had studied traditional economics in school, their understanding was purely academic. They simply couldn’t relate to humanity’s historical obsession with gold.

The modern discipline of "industrial economics" had long since replaced the archaic financial systems of the past.

To the current generation, gold was nothing more than a highly conductive industrial raw material. However, factories and laboratories were more than happy to stockpile the metal.

Gold possessed unparalleled chemical stability, making it an essential component in advanced electronics. Its resistance to extreme temperatures and corrosion also made it invaluable in aerospace engineering. It was even a required additive in certain superalloys. Practically speaking, gold was far more useful to them than diamonds.

Today, Jason was conducting a personal inspection of the primary resource reserves aboard the Ark.

These massive storage bays were distributed throughout the ship, with security protocols scaling based on the nature of the materials stored within.

Civilians could walk past the conventional iron and aluminum bays, viewing the materials through thick glass windows, and freely submit requisition forms for personal projects. However, sectors containing hazardous or toxic substances were heavily restricted.

Crates packed with nano-carbon, pressurized tanks of Helium-3, massive pallets of rare earth metals... Seeing the staggering physical wealth amassed in these bays filled Jason with a deep sense of security and satisfaction.

This was the true foundation of the Federation!

He kept his expression professionally neutral, but internally, he was ecstatic.

His final stop was the radioactive materials vault. This sector boasted the highest security level on the ship and was guarded around the clock by heavily armed Federation soldiers.

A swarm of automated drones moved back and forth, hauling a freshly processed batch of uranium into the vault. This facility was located in the Ark’s high-gravity ring. For safety reasons, the atmosphere inside the vault was entirely vented, creating a near-vacuum environment. Strict decontamination and security checks were mandatory for everything, human or machine entering or leaving.

Everyone present wore heavy power armor. Beside Jason, several young aides were eagerly reciting the latest telemetry data.

"We’ve mapped a massive concentration of uranium in Sector A11!" one aide reported. "The ore quality is exceptionally high... and it’s surrounded by dense deposits of heavy metals."

"Sector A11 is the most lucrative mining zone on the entire planet. We’ve identified seventeen critical industrial elements there. The fact that these veins are clustered together in such high quantities is nothing short of a miracle!"

The young aide gestured wildly, completely overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the discovery. Unlike Jason, the younger staff lacked the experience to hide their emotions. Almost everyone was drunk on the sheer wealth of their civilization, acting as if they had just become billionaires overnight.

These young professionals had grown up in an environment of total post-scarcity; they had no practical concept of personal money. However, they were highly educated in industrial economics. Based on the energy required for extraction and smelting, they still understood the inherent value and rarity of specific resources. They understood the economy perfectly well; they just knew that raw materials, not currency, were the true measure of wealth.

This particular aide was named Alex. Though only thirty years old, he had already fast-tracked his doctorate and earned a seat in Jason’s primary think tank.

As the Federation expanded, its educational standards had skyrocketed. A standard university degree was now considered basic general education, while master’s and doctoral programs represented true higher learning.

Earning a doctorate was grueling. Even with neural implants designed to boost cognitive function, the coursework was brutally difficult. It still required inherent talent and sheer dedication. Aboard the Ark, the cultural norm was lifelong learning, making the title of "Doctor" a mark of profound societal respect.

Earning that degree by thirty was a staggering achievement.

Naturally, Jason’s think tank was filled with similar prodigies, including familiar faces like Dr. Lambert, and Evan from the Department of Public Relations.

Alex was the youngest member of the inner circle. This constant influx of fresh blood was a clear sign that the Federation was thriving, full of vitality rather than stagnating. It was a very good thing.

"Our current hypothesis is that these concentrated mineral veins are actually fragments of a planetary core, exposed after a catastrophic planetary collision in the ancient past," Alex explained excitedly, clearly visualizing the apocalyptic impact.

Hearing this, Jason nodded in agreement.

Humanity was still entirely incapable of destroying a planet. The sheer scale of such an act was unfathomable. Even if they detonated their entire nuclear arsenal simultaneously, it would barely scratch a planet’s crust.

Yet, billions of years ago, two celestial bodies weighing tens of trillions of metric tons had smashed into each other right here, instantly releasing a magnitude of energy that defied human comprehension. This energy had literally torn a world apart, exposing its dense, mineral-rich core.

Over billions of years of rotation, the shattered remnants had eventually coalesced back into a spherical shape under their own gravity, leaving chunks of the ancient core exposed directly on the surface. And now... those scattered remnants had become a miraculous boon for the Federation.

It wasn’t just a lucky find; it felt like a gift from the universe itself.

Imagining the sheer destructive majesty of a planetary collision, Jason sighed inwardly, wishing humanity possessed even a fraction of that cosmic power.

The radioactive storage vault was lined with massive reinforced shelves, which were already more than half full.

Stepping further inside, Jason spotted a chunk of silvery-white metal resting among the vast array of uranium hexafluoride canisters—plutonium. Encased securely in a specialized polymer container, it was displayed separately, radiating a cold, captivating metallic luster.

This specific element was intensely hazardous. Back during ancient Earth’s history, after a notorious nuclear power plant disaster, sensationalized rumors claimed that a pill-sized lump of plutonium could kill 200 million people, and that just five grams could wipe out all of humanity. Urban legends stated it was hundreds of millions of times more toxic than arsenic.

Of course, those were gross exaggerations.

As long as it wasn’t ingested or inhaled in dust form, it wouldn’t poison you. Holding a solid piece wouldn’t cause immediate harm; in fact, due to its radioactive decay, it would actually feel warm to the touch.

Like uranium, plutonium was an excellent fissile material, perfect for generating electricity or powering high-yield decay batteries. Because the Federation had yet to perfect miniaturized fusion reactors, many of their heavy machines still relied on fission energy, making these massive uranium and plutonium deposits absolutely vital.

"We’ve already mined and purified over a million metric tons of Uranium-235... along with trace amounts of plutonium," Alex explained with a smile, looking at the encased metal block.

Uranium boasted an energy density roughly 2.5 million times that of standard coal. In other words, this single half-filled vault held the energy equivalent of 2.5 trillion metric tons of coal!

And this was just one of the Federation’s many storage facilities...

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