Story drafts - To Ashes, Flight of the Phoenix, Starborn(e)


Motivation: Why do I want to write this?

It has always been a fascinating question to me what would happen if there was a way to separate mind and body: What would happen if it was possible to transfer your concious mind into a different brain? What would be the consequences if the most basic certainty was taken away and replaced with something new: The body you were born with.

Aside from the obvious consequences of new sensory and motor abilities of a new body, how would such a change affect the person involved? How strong is the sense of self tied to the body? What would the word “humanity” stand for then?
That's the questions I would like to explore with Starborn(e) and two shorter companion series titled To ashes and Flight of the Phoenix.
As the name Starborn(e) maybe implies, this would take place in a sci-fi setting.
I can hear the groans from the audience; if sci-fi stories aren't your thing, I've warned you two paragraphs in :).

Why is the draft title written as Starborn(e)? I haven't decided yet if I shall call the story Starborn (as in “born among the stars”) or Starborne (as in “airborne”).

So, why sci-fi? Personal preference, for sure. In recent years (meaning since around 2005), the sad tendency with the vast majority of sci-fi on television and streaming services hast been: “They don't write 'em like they used to any more.” Notable exceptions being the “Battlestar Galactica” reboot, “Stargate Universe” and (dare I say it) Netflix's take on Star Trek (Discovery).
So, instead of waiting for better sci-fi stories to come along again, why not giving my own a shot?
I've written my share of non-fiction (including a book-sized Ph. D. thesis) and consider myself to be an avid reader of both sci-fi and regular literature, but this would be my first serious fiction-writing venture.
Plot layout: What would I write about?

To Ashes

Starting with To Ashes set towards the end of the 22nd century, when mankind has a really bad time. Despite increasingly desperate efforts to change humanity's ways of living, the sixth mass excinction event in Earth's existence is shaping up. Centuries of unchecked exploitation of Earth's resources take their toll: The eco-sphere of our homeworld is starting to collapse as climate change and depleted farmland turn the blue planet into a vicious circle of hunger, despair and decline.
In a last-ditch effort to preserve what remains of Earth's bio-diversity, the Phoenix Initiative is established.
'Its objective is to send an ark ship to a terrestrial planet to give mankind a new start on an new world.

Being a private effort backed by a small circle of influental and/or rich founders (who may or may not have the intention to board the ark ship themeselves), the Initiative's objective stands in sharp conflict to the bare necessities of the majority of mankind whose obvious concern is to survive as long as possible by whatever means necessary.
Plot-wise, To Ashes would be focussing on the what, who and how:

What kind of ship to build given the race against the clock and the limited resources left to spend on such a project?

How to gain the necessary technology for an extended interstellar voyage at sub-light speed, and how to make it reliable enough to last through the entire trip?

Who and how many will be on board?

What cargo is worth being taken on the voyage?

Which destination should the ship embark towards?

Character-wise, To Ashes would tell the background story of hopefully small enough set of protagonists (no more than eight) that would be there for all of the three stories, with focus on no more than four characters being the main characters that I would like to carry the story. I have some more concrete ideas for two of these four main characters already, but I wouldn't want to create a full-fledged biography for them right from the start, mainly due to how I'd like to tell the stories themselves.

Flight of the Phoenix
Yes, I know there is a novel and a film with the same title. I have decided to borrow the title because I intend to share a few of the original's characteristics.
Flight of the Phoenix would focus on the construction and launch of the ark ship Phoenix.
Set directly after To Ashes, it would tell the story of the ship's construction based on outpost on the surface of Mars and its assembly in orbit, after the Initiative's terrestrial assets have been seized in the name of the “greater good”. Cut off from Earth, the engineering and scientific staff of the Phoenix construction site are faced with another, yet more urgent race against the clock as they need to decide what is more important: Finishing the construction of the Phoenix and launching it, or use whatever resource and manpower they can muster to ensure their own survival.
Flight of the Phoenix might include a series of short post-launch episodes set during the actual voyage of the Phoenix. However, I'm not certain yet how the ideas I have for these would fit into this part of the story arc, or better into the third part.

Plot-wise, Flight of the Phoenix would deal with the conflict between self-preservation and altruism as the remaining survivors of the Phoenix Initiative's purge on Earth must decide what they can and must do with what they have left resource- and time-wise.

Character-wise, it would be following the set of around eight protagonists introduced in To Ashes, with a set of no more than four of them taking the initiative in deciding the fate of the Phoenix and carrying on the vision of the Phoenix Initiative's original founders.
Starborn(e)
Starting shortly before the arrival of the Phoenix at its destination, Starborn(e) would be the main part of this series.
Following their re-animation during the final stages of the voyage to Gaia, mankind's intended new home, the startled survivors realize that they no longer are exactly what they were before they boarded the Phoenix.

Matters are further complicated by the severely degraded state of the ark ship systems and a serious lack of manpower due to the low number of re-animation survivors.

After entering Gaia's star system, the original plans for establishing a new home for mankind on Gaia are thwarted as the crew of the Phoenix discovers that there already is a flourishing alien civilization inhabiting the large parts of Gaia's surface. The first excursions to the surface of Gaia reveal that the alien civilization is both frighteningly familiar and utterly alien to the now most likely lost human civilization back on Earth.
They also reveal that Gaia itself is more than the garden world that was originally discovered as the Phoenix Initiative searched for possible destinations for the Phoenix: While the planet's eco-system seems to have evolved naturally as Earth's own eco-system had, its geology shows precise mathematical patterns that would not occur on a planet that has formed naturally...

Plot-wise, Starborn(e) is where the majority of the story would take place. Even if it would be the last part timescale-wise, I'd like to focus on telling the story of the main character cast as they must find a way to forge a new life on an alien world, while at the same time having to come to terms with the past they left behind on Earth and that finds an own way to come back haunting each of them.

Character-wise, this part of the series would focus on the “fresh start” motive in contrast to the personal history of each of no more than four main characters. In case this sounds too conventional: Don't worry, there are a few plot twists in waiting that should serve nicely to spice this narrative up.
Thanks for bearing with me!
See, I can do it: A story synopsis in about three letter size pages. If I managed to pique your curiosity, by all means stay tuned!
If not and you still made it through to this paragraph? You have more patience than me :).