40. Linus – April 2165 – Epsilon Indi

Riker manages the first chaotic assembly of delegates from Earth's surviving population centers, implementing order and then delegating chairperson selection to the delegates themselves. He receives calls from various leaders, including a blunt demand from FAITH for preferential treatment and a significant revelation from Spitsbergen's leader about the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.

Riker reviews a census showing fifteen million surviving humans scattered across Earth's remaining habitable regions: New Zealand, Madagascar, Florianópolis, and various island clusters. He acknowledges with Arthur that most people cannot be evacuated off-planet and that Earth's climate is deteriorating rapidly, with complete glaciation projected in 50-100 years. Arthur has successfully established communication networks with surviving groups through holographic presentations. Riker convenes the first United Nations assembly with thirty-eight delegates, which immediately devolves into chaos with multiple delegates shouting over each other. After shutting down the session and overriding microphones, Riker receives criticism from Homer, who suggests the delegates feel helpless and need agency. Riker initially dismisses this but then offers the assembly the opportunity to establish their own rules and elect a chairperson. The second assembly proceeds more cooperatively. Riker then handles several calls: Minister Cranston from FAITH demands preferential treatment based on having created Riker, which Riker firmly refuses. Gudmund Valter from Spitsbergen presses for priority emigration, but Riker insists on short-term solutions instead. Valter then reveals that the Svalbard Global Seed Vault and Genetic Diversity Vault—crucial resources for any colony—are still intact and accessible only to Spitsbergen, implying leverage for his group's demands. Riker, recognizing the significance, decides to contact Colonel Butterworth about this development.