Here's a story idea that came to me last night:
As you all know, we live in an infinite, eternal universe where anything at all is not only possible, it is inevitable. Therefore somewhere, out there, there is a planet exactly like Earth, give or take a few minor details.
As it turns out, Russian computer hackers I know managed to hack their way - don't ask me how! - in to the Internet of this "other Earth."
At first, they thought they'd just hacked in to another part of this Earth's Internet. Then they noticed that the dates were all wrong. You see, one of those "minor details" is that this other Earth's timeframe is set a few years into the future compared to us.
Other "minor details:" McCain wins election. US bombs Iran, pissing off entire Persian nation.
In an intriguing act of revenge, Iranian Jews (of which there are some 30,000 living inside Iran) construct a network of "nuclear volcanoes" - giant atomic rocket thrusters - around the world with which they plan to control the Earth's distance to the sun, thereby controlling its climate and increasing the value of Iranian energy assets.
Trouble arises when the Iranian Jews ignite such volcanoes in an effort to move the Earth a bit further away from the sun. Instead of moving the Earth, they cause its rotation to stop, although it continues to orbit the sun at the same distance as before.
The result of their actions is an Earth with one half drenched in constant sunshine and the other half in endess dark of night, lit only by the stars and moon.
The Iranian Jews try to reverse things, but because the Americans have destroyed several of their volcano-thrusters, it's not so easy. When they try to start the Earth spinning by using the limited thrusters they do have, they instead end up pushing it further away from the sun and succeed in cooling it off, even on the sunny side.
Even on the sunny side, life is not so good. The weather is terrible, lots of winds and precipitation. The US military manages to stay active, with its mobile command stations, un-interruptible power supplies, walkie talkies and so forth. But basically the only comfort is found within geodesic structures called "Noah Domes" launched by an enterprising little company, Groovy Geometry. The domes are like enormous tents that cover and protect entire communities from the outside elements. Such domes on the dark side even have their own internal "suns". Power comes from nearby power stations, such as nuclear power stations or geothermal electric plants which derive electricity from geothermal activity deep in the earth (question: if the Earth stops spinning and/or moves away from the sun, will geothermal activity also stop?) They are called "Noah" Domes because they contain as many examples of terrestrial life as possible - fruits, vegetables, dogs, bugs, birds, etc.
Later events include:
- volcano thrusters are replaced by "zero-point field energy"/electrogravity (ZPEEG) propulsion systems thereby turning the entire planet Earth into an enormous faster-than-light spacecraft.
- Moon is ignited into a gigantic fireball (see Sir A.C. Clarke's *2010, Odyssey Two*) whereby it becomes a local sun, restoring Earth's original climate. Moreover, wherever "Spaceship Earth" goes in the universe, it takes this new sun with it.
- Political debates erupt concerning where "Spaceship Earth" should go. Some people demand the Andromeda Galaxy, others wish to explore star systems within the Milky Way
