Forty Worlds

We are The Forty Worlds. Or, we were. The Pentarions continue their attempt to exterminate us.

Back in the 21st century, one of their starships seeded Earth with exterminator species. But the ship exploded before it finished. Maybe it was sabotage, or an accident. All we know is, it didn’t drop its entire payload of killers. We had a chance to survive.

A year after the Pentarion attack, eighty portals opened on Earth’s surface. They connected in pairs to forty planets with Earth-like conditions. Humanity poured through these portals to colonize. Whatever or whoever made those portals saved our species. From these safe worlds, we reorganized and eventually destroyed the infestations on Earth.

We rebuilt and repopulated. We met other races friendly and less so, and fought back the Pentarion. That is, until recently. The Pentarion have begun winning. It takes them decades, but their invasions are more sophisticated and potent, more difficult to dislodge.

Today, the Forty Worlds have been reduced to thirty-five, plus Old Earth, and our oddball planet, Fluke.