Chapter 1
(The Plan)
As I stood facing the Apsaras Assembly in our city's main dome, I blurted out, "No
Shit! Finally we get to invade Earth!"
Bart, my father and head of the Assembly, quickly countered,
"It's not an invasion, it's an
immigration. Your English is better than
that, and I notice it is becoming somewhat colorful and crude."
Our race's
own language had been banned almost two years ago when we made the decision to
migrate to Earth. The Assembly decided
to establish English as our common language.
They said total immersion into English was the best way to learn the
language, and if our future was to be on Earth in the United States, this would
be necessary. With our obvious physical
differences, they believed it would help us to be more easily accepted, or at
least tolerated, by the human race if we were at least
fluent in their language.
Our explorers, when we still had them, traveled many times
to Earth to observe humans and had established a permanent advanced technology
communications satellite orbiting Earth.
As a result, we had maintained communications through intercepts and in
filtered Internet access. We all had
been studying English and watching English language movies ever since, and many
of us felt that we could blend right in.
Well, except for our blueish color, we were after all a different race
from any that existed on Earth, although obviously humanoid with common genetic
roots.
"Sorry, father."
I said, "We've been preparing for so many years, I was just shocked to finally
get the Assembly's approval. What made
you decide now?"
Bart said, "The
situation has changed. Our remaining
scientists have been studying the future on Earth with our technology and
discovered a looming civilization collapse.
They are overpopulated and are going to destroy themselves in the near future.
This means our accumulated wealth in advanced technology, gold, silver,
platinum, and precious jewels will be useless unless we go before their
apocalypse. Unfortunately, the
scientists see Earth's civilization end before we can get there. When their civilization falls we can't buy our way into their society or battle our way in
with our advances weaponry, because there will be no civilization to negotiate
with or sell to. This forces us to
rethink and alter our plans."
Oh crap! This changes everything and could quite
possibly destroy any hope for our own future survival. Our race is dying. Over the last two hundred years every
generation of our people produced even fewer children, and this last
generation, my generation, hasn't produced any offspring. The population of our race had been decimated
to less than one thousand people, which we concentrated in one last domed
city. When father's generation passes we
will be only a hundred or so. Our
scientists, what's left of them, tell us the only way
to save our race, in part anyway, is to inbreed with humans. The influx of new and diverse humanoid DNA
might alter and stimulate ours and allow our race to survive. Otherwise, our entire species becomes extinct
with my generation. Our explorers
traveled the Galaxy in search of other humanoids, and Earth hosted the only
race close enough in DNA. Mixing our DNA
with the humans of Earth was our only chance for survival.
I said, "So
what do we do? How can we survive in a
new world in chaos without wealth and friendship? We couldn't even build a facility to live in
or feed ourselves."
Bart said, "That's
the problem isn't it? Most of the humans
on Earth won't survive either for the same
reason. Still, if we hope to survive as
a race we must go now before they kill themselves off. One suggestion that has been brought up is go
there and capture some human males and bring them back here for breeding stock,
since our reproductive problem is primarily the extremely low sperm count of
our males. This method could work, but we're not sure how they can adapt to living on a water
world. Humans have not evolved enough to
handle our environment. Another thing to
consider: this planet is polluted and dying, so any solution involving
remaining on Apsaras would only be a short term solution."
Bart said, "Do
you have any suggestions? After I pass
you will become the leader of the Assembly, and it will be your problem then."
I said, "I
have no immediate ideas. Let me think on
it, and we can meet again in a few days."
We agreed, and I took off to my own personal dome.
I dove into the water and gave an undulating squeal to alert
my escorts and friends. Almost
immediately I saw one of my pod's
porpoises, Dobe, streaking through the water toward me. My pod was never far from me. Dobe, easily recognizable by the white scars
along her left side where she had been burned by red acid algae when she was
young, quickly nuzzled against me, and I hugged her. Her mate, Dubs, followed quickly behind her
with his own greeting. I squeaked my
instructions as I grabbed hold of their top dorsal fins. We kicked off together and streaked through
the water toward my resident dome, surrounded by the other pod members.
This family of porpoises was my self-appointed protectors
and guardians, which I greatly appreciated due to the predators abundant in
these waters. I had grown up with Dobe
and Dubs and had helped raise many of the others. I could hold my breath almost as long as a porpoise, and I was a fast swimmer, but not nearly as fast as my
friends. Unfortunately, I had little
defense against the predators. I mean I
carried a laser pistol in a back holster, but by far the best defense was the
always watchful eyes and sonar of my protectors. They missed nothing and charged any stealth
predator long before I could draw my weapon.
The pod would speed toward a predator ramming it with their nose and
killing it. As long as
they were around, I was never in any real danger.
It was several miles to my underwater dome, but my friends
deftly maneuvered us around floating and hovering clumps of dangerous algae and
to clear surfaces for breaths of air. A
porpoise's breathing hole, blowhole, is on the
top of their head, which means they barely have to
break water to breath. Unfortunately,
they never understood that I needed more time to raise my head completely out
to the water to breath. This meant that
I have to constantly struggle to reach clear air and
draw a breath before they pulled me back under.
I didn't always make it. On more than one occasion they had to push me
to the surface to get air.
On long distance swims sometimes I would roll over to swim
on my back. This gave me extra time to
breath air when I was hitching a ride, but I couldn't
see where I was swimming. Our race's
ability to internally pinch our nose shut, like closing our eyes, could shut
the water out and prevent choking. This
ability equated to a porpoise's blowhole.
As I thought about this I realized that this trait would look strange to
humans. Oh well, a human choking in
water would look strange to us.
As we approached the bottom opening of my dome I squealed a "Thank you" and shot up through the
opening and landed on my feet on the deck.
My mates, Meg and Peg, were anxious to hear why I had been called to an
emergency meeting this morning. I told
them what was discussed, and understandably, they were both upset and
excited. They desperately wanted to have
children. These identical twins were
considered the most fertile, since they were the only pair of identical twins
born to our race in over a century. The
Assembly put us together hoping we would produce a son of my lineage to rule
after me. We had certainly tried, to no
avail. The twins continued to milk my
seed during their fertile time, with no success. They wanted me to father their children but
were willing to have children, even if the child was half human. Yes, they were eager to leave Apsaras behind
and go to Earth.
Sex itself had little interest to either gender of our race,
especially males. It actually
hurt us. I guess that was the
result of the genetic weakening. Our
race was ancient with little DNA diversity, maybe too little to continue to
reproduce. Still, none of us wanted to
see our species extinct and continued to allow ourselves to be milked, a
process which the females of our species had perfected through many
generations.
Our female's
training began at puberty. There was a
training ritual that must be perfected by them before they were allowed to milk
sperm. The training began with the use
of a sea sponge, approximately the size and shape of a male's penis. They were required to develop their internal
vagina muscles to the degree of being able to milk (suck) whale milk up through
a sea sponge. This training took years
to develop, but gave the females the ability to extract sperm directly from a
male's testicles, a process designed to assist reproduction. Unfortunately, being milked was painful. As a result the males participated
reluctantly and only as necessary, but unfortunately, there were far more
females than males. So, each male had to
endure multiple milking.
Meg and Peg had prepared fish for our dinner, and we ate,
mostly in silence, thinking about any possible solutions for all our
needs. We curled up in our hammock net,
affectionately cuddled and waited for what we knew would be a troubled
sleep. As we cuddled we could see our
pod through the circular glass dome circling.
They were happy as long as they could see us
and know we were safe.
Our closeness to the pod was the major reason we remained in
our personal dome and not move into the city.
There were abundant living quarters in the dome city, due to the
dwindling population, but I did not want to abandon my friends. Many others had, but not us.
I was determined to find a solution to our problem. I knew every one of my generation was
counting on me. They always did, and I
was not going to fail them. As I usually
do with difficult problems, I let my sub-conscious mind work on it during the night. Often I would wake in the morning with a much
clearer head and sometimes a solution.
Sometimes I wish I had two brains like my porpoise
friends. Well, they really don't have two brains, but they do have two
halves that can operate independently of each other, one of which remains
conscious at all times, while the other half sleeps. I guess that makes sense, since they must
constantly swim to keep from drowning.
Still, I sometimes wish I could remain awake all twenty-nine hours of
our planet's rotation like my friends.
When I awoke the next cycle I still had no idea how to solve
the problem. I was blank.
Meg said, "I
see you still haven't found a solution.
As your father said, "We can't buy our way in'. But, we still need a partner on the Earth
side."
I barked, "Don't
you think I know that?" She was telling
me the obvious, but I was at a loss as to how to buy or trade an Earth partner
into merging and helping us. It would
have to be someone wealthy on Earth, and if they were already wealthy, why
would they help us? The situation looked
impossible.
In lieu of any other reasonable solutions I started checking
out "Prepper" websites on Earth's
Internet. These consisted of people that
already believed Earth's civilization was going to collapse, and they were
preparing for survival. I figured they
wanted the same thing as we did. I found
the postings, some anyway, fairly accurate according to reports from our
scientists. One in
particular got my attentions. He
predicted the fall and described it in fairly accurate detail. His post read:
I am convinced that a catastrophe
(from nature or more likely man-made) of some sort will happen in the near future.
Our society is delicately balanced and it only takes a small shove to
upset the balance. The "Domino Effect" will
take it all down once it starts. It could
be something as simple as the economy fails, the electric grid fails, war,
civil strife, etc. I believe that the
average person is totally unprepared and ignorant in the basic skills of "survival".
I'm thinking the flow of events would happen something
like this:
·
Catastrophe happens - panic, fear, uncertainty, loss of hope
·
Infrastructure collapses - communication, electricity, water
stop,... stores stripped clean, looting, the strong/bully segment emerge.
·
Average person huddles in their home/apartment hoping that
everything will somehow "come back" to normal (or at least for as long as their
personal resources last).
·
After about 3 days to a week of no food, the layer of "civilized
man" begins to crack and people begin to do anything necessary to acquire what
they feel are the essentials.
·
The initial grouping would be at the church/family/close friends
level because of inherent trust.
·
People begin to carefully group to gain the protection of
numbers... Groups will battle each other for available resources or power.
·
Areas more remote and miles from metropolitan cities should be
in better shape, because in many cases these are ranchers/farmers and as such
have a better understanding of living off the land... plus, they stand a much
better chance that what they have will not be ravaged by roaming gangs from the
cities because of the distances.
·
The folks in these remote areas may very well have
the opportunity to come together (as neighbors which have helped each
other in the past) and form a protective group of their own which is charged
with defending their homeland.
·
The gangs will grow larger and canvas further out, and no one or
group will be safe.
·
As food becomes more scarce, without the existence of law
enforcement or organized armies the gangs will kill to take what they want and
become primitive. Civilization ceases to
exist.
I was amazed to see just
how accurate he described the fall. It
was almost identical to the description our scientists saw in Earth's demise
when they looked into the future.
In other posts he even described how he and a select group
hoped to survive, what to stock in supplies, what training these survivors would
need. He even provided a sketch of the
building he wanted to construct for protection and survival. It was a good basic plan, and I knew we
needed a human partner like him.
I clicked on his profile information and discovered his name
was Mike Brannon, and he lived in Muskogee, Oklahoma. I quickly logged on to Google Earth to find
Oklahoma, then Muskogee. Muskogee was located in eastern Oklahoma in what was described as "Green Country". The area was mostly rural and had many lakes,
which would serve our purpose well. I
still didn't see any way to entice him to help us, but
I sent him an e-mail agreeing with his prediction and complimenting him on his
plans. I also bluntly ask him if he had
started, and if not, why?
My message transmitted to our communication satellite in
geostationary orbit above Apsaras then transmitted out to our satellite above
Earth. This transmission wasn't instantaneous between the light years
separating our planets, but it was damn close.
Actually, the slowest part of the entire
network was the Earth-side Internet. Our
technology was far better and faster. It
had been created by scientists and engineers in our ancient past, but
unfortunately, none remained of our race that understood how it worked; it just
did. Fortunately
most of our existing technology was extremely reliable. In point of fact,
none could remember any of our technology ever failing. We even still traveled in space in our
saucers built by our ancient engineers, and we have no idea how this technology
works, either. They were simple to
operate, however, and my mates Meg and Peg have been trained to fly them. I didn't know how
long it would take for him to receive the message and reply, assuming he
would. So I went about my life and
waited.
It was nearing evening as I was swimming with my friends
when my mates nuzzled up to me. We had
just collected a nice fish for our late
meal, a big, sleek white fish, my favorite.
Meg motioned for us to surface. I
knew it must be something important, so we surfaced. Meg knew I had been waiting for a response
from Earth and was anxious.
When we surfaced Meg said, "That response you have been waiting for from Earth came
in. I thought you would want to know as
soon as possible."
I said, "You're
right about that. I've
already got our dinner and was just playing.
We can head back in now." Peg,
usually quiet, nodded affirmative and we submerged, racing through the water
back to our dome. The porpoises got
excited at our burst of speed and raced ahead of us, even circling us, as if to
say, "You might be fast, but we are faster." Soon we burst out of the water to land
standing on our deck inside the dome.
I went immediately to my computer and opened the
e-mail. It was from Mike Brannon and
read:
"Hello
Brin,
Thanks for your nice note. Yeah, I worry about this pending collapse of
civilization. I see it coming, but,
sadly, there is little I can do about it.
I don't have the kind of money it would take
to activate my plans. So, unless I win
the Lottery, all I can do is dream up plans and worry.
Mike,"
I immediately began grinning, because he had just solved
our problem with that statement, at least I think he just solved our
problem. I would have to check with our
scientists to see if this was possible.
The technology that allowed them to look into
the future was unreliable in that the scientists couldn't precisely choose the
exact time. Their ability to view the
future was dependent upon the technology itself. Once it was probably controllable, but, as
with all our technology, our scientists had lost their understanding of how it
worked. The vast level of engineering
and physics knowledge it had taken to design and build our inventions had been
decimated as our race died off faster than we could educate new scientists and
engineers. Actually,
our so called scientists now were no more than moderately educated
technicians...operators. Still, I was
positive that the existing technology could find the answers I was
seeking...if asked the right questions or given the right instructions. We had to try.
Meg and Peg were looking over my shoulder at the visual
display, reading the same message and coming to the same conclusion I
reached. We looked at each other,
smiling. I immediately called a meeting
of the Assembly, but before we left I worded a response e-mail.
"Hello Mike,
If I help you get the funds you need
will you partner with my group and build your survival group and activate your
plans? I will await your response.
Brin"
This time Meg and Peg went with me to the Assembly. This affected them, so they weren't about to be left out, besides, they
were excited with the possibilities of a potential solution.
Dobe and Dubs
sensed that we were excited about
something as soon as we dove in the water.
The pod gathered around us to allow us to hitch a ride on their fins. I squeaked our destination, and we were off
at a fast pace.
Communications with them by formal sounds was limited, but
they were gifted with a strong sense of reading emotions. I could often sense their emotions as well,
and today they were agitated by something.
I quickly realized what it was when they took us off far to the left of
our normal path. They knew or sensed a
major predator in the area and were taking us around the danger. I saw nothing to indicate danger to warrant
this extra caution, but I trusted their instincts.
We arrived at the main dome platform without incident and
shot up through the opening. As we stood
to allow the water to repel from our snug main body wraps and skin, we noticed
the Assembly already seated around the center dais ... waiting.
Meg and Peg knew the dais was reserved
for me alone and took seats in the gallery, while I took the center position.
Bart said, seeming somewhat annoyed, "Well, you called this meeting. Get to it."
I'm sure my
face wrinkled with annoyance at my father's bluntness, but said, "All
right. I may have found a solution to
our problem." I just let that settle in.
Bart's
attitude changed immediately, and he continued, "Oh really? This is good.
What is the solution?"
I said, "I
may have found an Earth partner to build facilities prior to us reaching Earth,
and I may have found a method of financing the entire project with Earth's own
money. Of course this all assumes our
scientists can deliver information on Earth's future." I had the total attention and tentative
respect of the Assembly and my father, which made me smile. I proceeded to lay out my plan and detailed
needs I required. When I finished I
simply waited for their response, which of course I already knew would be favorable.
The Assembly consisted of elders from many of our previous
world governments. As our population
dwindled, these leaders and their people joined with us, the once largest
floating city. They tended to be
arrogant and demanding, accustomed to being catered and listened to; but since
our entire population of Apsaras was now only around a thousand people, mostly
old like them, their importance and worth had greatly diminished. Still, they remained our leaders ... for now.
The Assembly talked among themselves and agreed with my
plan. Bart said, "We will devote all the time of our
scientists toward trying to find answers to the questions you pose. In the mean time I suggest you and your
generation devote your time towards preparing for the journey. Stock the 'Bright One', our largest space
saucer, with supplies and equipment for your survival when you arrive on Earth."
I didn't
know if I was understanding him right and said, "You are using words like 'You' and 'Your'. Don't you mean 'Us' and 'Our'?"
Bart said, "No. We have discussed it and decided that this
journey is for the young. We are
old. Your generation is young, and you
have a better chance of survival without us.
We would just be a burden to you all on Earth. You are now in charge of this adventure and
our future as a race. Take anything you
need from us. The Assembly's last order
is: Go with our blessing and keep our
race alive."