The Return

Hi everyone! I’m sharing a short story with you today that I wrote a long while ago, after reading an article in which Neil Degrasse Tyson spoke about how it might be theoretically possible to move a planet. I remember having all kinds of questions about what the consequences of such an action might be – and they are what inspired me. I hope you enjoy it!

The Return

‘Time for bed, Naidon,’ said the white-haired old man as he appeared in the doorway, ‘have you prayed?’
‘Yes, Grandpa,’ Naidon replied. He moved the last piece of his stone picture puzzle into place on the thin, dark rug and then hopped up onto his bed.
The old man came and sat by him. ‘Tell me,’ he said, ‘what did you pray for tonight?’
‘The same thing I do every night,’ Naidon replied, ‘I asked the Goddess to bless us with a good harvest.’
‘You’re a good boy,’ said the old man, ‘perhaps one of these days she’ll pay us a visit, instead of just passing us by as she does.’
‘Why does she not come, Grandpa?’
‘Ah, well, I suspect she’s wary of us, Naidon. After all, we are not the first of her creations. There were others, once, and they did not treat her with enough respect.’
‘Other people?’ Naidon asked, ‘Like us?’
‘Indeed, the Sacred Texts seem to imply that they were just like us,’ the old man replied. ‘I expect our creator, having decided to begin again, is rather content to keep an eye on us -at least for the time being. Until she feels we will not treat her with the same disrespect as those who came before.’
‘What happened to them?’ Naidon asked as he lay his head down on his pillow.
‘Nobody really knows for sure, but there are stories, pieced together from passages in the Sacred Texts.’
‘Stories?’ said Naidon. He loved stories. His father used to tell him stories before bed every night, but lately, he had been spending more and more time at the observatory.
The old man smiled. ‘Would you like to hear my favourite story about what may have happened to the first humans?’
Naidon nodded eagerly.
‘Alright,’ the old man said, ‘but when I’m finished you must promise me that you’ll go right to sleep.’
‘I promise,’ the boy replied, making himself comfortable.
The old man ruffled the dark curls on the boy’s head, and then he tugged at his long, grey beard thoughtfully.
‘A long time ago, and in a place not so unlike here,’ began the old man, ‘there lived a great civilisation that had flourished and thrived and-’
‘How long ago, Grandpa?’ asked Naidon as he pulled his thin, flax blanket up to his chin. The thick yellow-brown candle which had been burning on the windowsill beside his bed flickered as he moved, causing the shadows on the bare stone walls to dance.
‘Oh, so very long ago,’ said the old man, ‘though, nobody can say for sure how long, mind you, since they were all long gone before any of our ancestors came into being.’ He shifted around on the thin mattress, settling into a more comfortable position before he continued.
‘They were a very intelligent people,’ he went on, ‘they had incredible technologies and even taught themselves to build special ships that could sail to the stars, and-’
‘Why would they want to sail to the stars?’ Naidon asked.
‘Well, why does anybody go towards anything, my boy? The old man replied, ‘to get nearer to it – to explore.’
‘Will you and Papa build a ship to the stars, Grandpa?’
‘No, no, no. There’s no need. Your father and I can see the stars well enough through the telescope in the observatory. Besides, nobody today would know how to build such a thing, our people never learned. A ship for the sea, yes, but a ship to the stars is quite a different thing altogether, I would imagine.’
Naidon thought for a moment. ‘Where are they now? Did they all go to the stars?’
‘We can only guess from the fragments of stories we have, but it is surmised that these other people lived on a planet similar to our own – a planet right next to ours, in fact, and-’
‘Right next to ours? But there is no planet right next to ours. What could have happened to it?’
The old man sighed. ‘If you would just let me speak, Naidon, then perhaps you would find out.’
‘Sorry, Grandpa,’ Naidon said.’
‘It is thought,’ the old man continued, ‘that the people of this other civilization became far too intelligent for their own good -and arrogant with it. Our Sacred Texts show that they plundered the resources of their own world, and when they depleted them, they set their sights farther afield, sailing their ships to the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, and claiming them for their own.
‘Soon, they began to think of themselves as superior to the Goddess. They grew to believe that the entire universe was theirs to control.
‘Up until that point, the Goddess had let them alone to live freely and learn from their mistakes, but then they began to turn their backs on her and eventually, they stopped believing in the Goddess altogether.
‘Finally, they went too far-’
‘What did they do?’ asked Naidon, hanging on his Grandfather’s every word.
‘They were quickly outgrowing and destroying their world with ever-increasing speed and so, they decided that they’d need a new one – that they would take a dead world and revive it with their technology. There would be flowing rivers and flourishing greenery once again on a world that hadn’t seen the spark of life in such a long time – if ever.’
‘It sounds like magic!’ Naidon exclaimed. He had been getting heavy-eyed a little while ago, but now he sat up in his bed, enraptured.
‘It might seem magical but it would have taken them a long time to accomplish such a feat – and what a feat it would have been – to be able to mould a whole world – to bend its ecosphere to their will -but sadly, it was never to be.‘
‘Why? What happened, Grandpa?‘
‘They got in their own way, that’s what happened, my boy. They could have sailed their ships to their new world, tried to become a more responsible people and perhaps, that would have been that – but they didn’t.
‘Instead, with their overinflated egos, they decided it would be a good idea to bring the planet to them!’
‘A whole world?’ Naidon said, ‘but moving an entire world is impossible, how could they move something as big as that through the sky?’
‘Impossible for us,’ the old man told him, ‘but our Sacred Texts tell us that they succeeded by attaching enormous nets to their ships, flying behind and around their chosen planet, enveloping it and then towing it out of its orbit and into a new position in the solar system.’
Naidon gasped. ‘Which planet was it, Grandpa?’
The old man leaned forward and – in a hushed tone – he said, ‘Venus!’
‘But that’s this planet!’
‘Yes,’ the old man said, ‘but many hundreds of thousands of years ago, our planet was hot and arid until those other people began to change it.’
‘What happened next?’ asked Naidon.
‘Our Venus settled rather nicely into her new orbit and all that was left for the people to do was wait.’ The old man shrugged. ‘Though, as you can no doubt imagine, our Goddess – the creator of all things – was not at all pleased with these people – in fact, she became enraged at their audacity. How dare they play with the ordered perfection she had created?
Of course, she could no longer put up with their picking apart of her finely detailed plans.’
‘What did she do?’ Naidon asked.
‘The stories in the Sacred Texts say that she expelled their whole world, that in her rage, she flung them right out of the solar system, forcing them to travel onward into the coldness of space forever, leaving Venus alone once again – to grow into the world we call home.’
‘Would the Goddess ever allow them to return?’ asked Naidon.
His Grandfather smiled brightly at him, his eyes twinkling in the candlelight. ‘My dear Naidon, you really do take everything at face value, don’t you?’ he ruffled his curls again and patted his shoulder. ‘It’s just an old story. Nobody really fully understands the teachings of the Goddess, we can only ever guess – the language of the Sacred Texts is very ancient.’
‘So there were no other people?’ asked Naidon.
‘Oh, the people were real enough, but as for where they came from, where they went or how they lived, we can really only rely on some faded pictures and half-understood words.’
‘It is a good story, though, Grandpa. I think it’s my favourite.’
‘Oh, I’m pleased to hear it!’ the old man beamed. ‘Now, we had a deal, did we not? – I’d tell you a story, and you would go right to sleep?’
‘Yes, Grandpa,’ Naidon replied.
‘The last thing I want is yet another telling off from your Mother and Father for keeping you up at night with my tall tales.’
The sound of sandals pounding hard and fast down the stone corridor drew their attention to the door and a moment later, Naidon’s father appeared.
‘It’s confirmed, father!’ he cried, raising his arms excitedly, ‘it’s definitely her!’
The old man jumped up off the edge of Naidon’s bed. ‘You’re sure, Galyon?’ he asked his son.
‘Yes, father, and she’s closer now than she’s ever been before!’ Galyon made to leave but stopped in the doorway. ‘Come on – come and see for yourself!’
‘I want to see,’ said Naidon. He had no idea what they were talking about, but he had never seen his father so excited.
‘No, Naidon, lie back in your bed, we won’t be long,’ his father told him, shooting a look of disapproval to the old man. ‘It’s very late and your mother would be mad to think that you were still awake.’
‘Oh, let the boy come, Galyon,’ said the old man, ‘after all, he does pray every night just like the rest of us. Besides, his mother is still at the forge, she won’t be back for at least another hour, and we shouldn’t leave him alone.’
‘But you’re talking about the Goddess!’ Naidon cried before his father could reply. ‘I thought she only ever passed us by, keeping watch over us!’
‘Perhaps she heard your kind prayer tonight, my boy,’ said the old man, ‘and maybe she has seen, finally, that we are devoted, that we’re more respectful than those who came before. Perhaps she considers us worthy!’
‘Alright, Naidon, you can come,’ Galyon grinned and the three of them, full of energy and excitement, headed out of the small, stone house and into the street.
#
The old man, Galyon and Naidon made their way through the rows of identical, small stone houses which lined an enormous square of lush, green grass – in the centre of which there stood a round, stone building – larger than the houses and with a wooden, slatted domed roof that had been collapsed in two halves into its ‘open’ position. The Observatory.
Once inside, Galyon moved to his small, wooden desk off to one side and checked the notes he had scratched onto a small piece of paper, while his father ran to the large telescope reaching up and out of the open roof.
‘She’s magnificent!’ the old man said as he looked through the eyepiece and saw the familiar brightly glowing ball of white. ‘She’s even more beautiful than when she passed us by two years ago.’
Galyon took the piece of paper over to him. ‘If my calculations are correct, father -and I believe they are – the Goddess will be here within the month.’
‘She’s made no sign of heading away?’
Galyon shook his head. ‘This is it, father! This is the reason our ancestors built the observatory – the reason they built the metal mountains in the north with their ancient messages painted on them. Since the very day our people were given life, we have longed to meet our creator.’
‘And now we shall, my boy!’ said the old man.
‘Let me see!’ said Naidon, who had been waiting patiently beside his grandfather at the telescope.
The old man stepped aside, his face beaming, and lifted the boy so that he could reach the eyepiece.
‘That’s the Goddess?’ Naidon asked. He had never seen anything like it – and it wasn’t what he had been expecting at all.
‘That’s her,’ said Galyon.
‘How do you know it’s her?’ Naidon had expected to see the image of an actual woman, with long flowing robes and perhaps a beautiful, smiling face, framed by flowing, golden hair – not a giant sparkling snowball.
‘Well, son, that’s just what the Goddess looks like,’ his Father replied.
‘But how do you know that?’ said Naidon.
‘We just do,’ said Galyon looking to his father.
‘It’s not exactly written anywhere,’ the old man explained, ‘and nobody has ever met her in person – but it is thought that the Goddess can take on any form she chooses. That large, beautiful object in the sky has been with us since the very beginning – always coming a little closer with each visit, but then moving on as though she’d changed her mind.’ He paused for a moment to let the boy take in his words. ‘What else could do such a thing, if not the Goddess?’
‘But why is she visiting now?’ Naidon asked.
‘You may get the chance to ask her yourself when she arrives,’ the old man told him.
‘Perhaps we ought to say a prayer,’ Galyon said, ‘before we go and tell the village.’
‘Yes, my boy!’ said the old man, ‘that’s a splendid idea.’
Galyon hurried over to his desk, rummaged through its mess of notes and calculations and returned a moment later with a small booklet.
‘Let us read a passage from the Sacred Texts,’ he said.
Naidon looked forward to hearing all the stories from the Sacred Texts – especially if they were all like the one his Grandfather had told him.
‘PREPARATIONS,’ Galyon read aloud, ‘FOR THE EVENTUAL RETURN OF PLANET EARTH – A REPORT BY THE ALPHA LANDING PARTY ON VENUS.’
END
As always, thank you for spending your valuable time reading my words!

Until next time,

George

© 2019 GLT

#Fiction #Goddess #planet #Return #SciFi #scienceFiction #Scifi #short #shortStory #space #story #venus #world

GEORGE L THOMAS

2020-03-17 09:00:02

Sol-3

Hi everyone, I hope you’re all keeping well and healthy in the current climate. Today, I’m sharing a short story, with you – most of which I wrote in one of those ‘write for an hour without stopping’ exercises. I hope you enjoy it!

Sol-3

Science officer Sil stood in the Commander’s office and stared down at the blue world that turned slowly below them. Now and then, another domed cloud of flame, smoke and dust would rise high into the atmosphere creating a spectacular display. It was a shame such a beautiful sight came at such a cost.

“They think we’ve been here all this time simply to steal their DNA so we can create hybrids of our two species,” he said.

“Well, surprisingly, they are partially correct,” said the Commander. He sat at his triangular desk in the centre of the sparsely furnished triangular room, his spindly arms folded across his narrow rib cage. “On the whole, human beings are not especially intelligent. Just look at the way they treat one another – or their world for that matter.”

“Sir,” said Sil, “the Galactic Axis must deem them to be at least somewhat intelligent, or else why would we be here?”

“To be truthful, Sil, I argued against our getting involved with this species. The humans only just made the grade in terms of being worthy of investigation.” The Commander met Sil’s large black eyes when he turned to face him. “The rules regarding admittance into the Galactic Axis are stringent for a reason – or at least, they used to be. I fear they have been allowed to become rather lax as of late.”

“But Sir, this time around, the humans have demonstrated an aptitude for creative problem-solving. Given time-“

“That is just the point, Sil, they have had time – they have had hundreds of millions of years.” The Commander sighed deeply. “Do you know how many other species have been given this many chances to prove themselves?”

Sil stared at him blankly.

“None. The humans – for whatever reason – have been allowed to evolve three times over. I cannot imagine what the Axis sees in them.”

“Perhaps someone has seen what I can see,” Sil reasoned.

“All I know for certain”‘ said the Commander, “is that the Axis has been very interested in human physiology and that they would have liked them to join us. But, alas, it is not to be. The whole point of the Axis is to ensure a peaceful galaxy by encouraging the survival of only those species able to outgrow their aggressive tendencies in relatively short order. Such a feat indicates a high level of intelligence. But that is something that the humans just do not seem to possess.”

“Can’t we make an exception?” Sil was somewhat interested in the humans himself – and if he was honest, it was those ‘aggressive tendencies’ that intrigued him most of all. He had seen savage species before, but never to this degree.

The Commander shook his head. “Sil, you are too young. You were not here to witness the way of things before – and thank the stars you were not. I am still wakened each night by terrors of the mind. No matter how hard I try, I cannot stop myself from conjuring the awful memories of that time. I still see our old aggressors – their bone-ridged faces contorted into angry snarls, the lust for blood evident even in the eyes of their young.”

“But, it’s not like that anymore, Sir.”

“No, and that is because the Galactic Axis came into being to make sure it would never be like that again. We have seen what happens when aggression is allowed to exist untempered, and the humans you are so fond of seem to be unwilling – or perhaps even incapable of evolving beyond their base urges and instincts.”

Sil turned back to the window in time to see another orange cloud burst over a large area of land.

A lot of the planet still looked habitable from what he could see, but if the humans kept on at their current rate of bombardment, then it wouldn’t be long before there would be nobody left to inhabit it. He knew that this last explosion alone would have killed thousands – perhaps even hundreds of thousands. He hadn’t ever seen anything like it.

Here before him was an entire species bent on destroying itself – wiping itself out of existence- simply because they couldn’t figure out a way to coexist on their own world.

“Maybe we could teach them,” Sil said, “before it’s too late. We could gather all of their world leaders aboard the ship and teach them to be better. We can show them there’s a better way.”

“You know that is against the rules, Sil. We can not interfere with another species’ progress – or lack thereof.”

“But if we do nothing, they’ll annihilate themselves.”

“Yes, as they have twice before. I am afraid they will not be allowed to try again.”

“Commander, I-“

“Sil, enough!” The Commander held up a three-digited hand and stood up. The soft blue glow of the ship’s lighting reflected off his silver jumpsuit as he moved across the room towards Sil. “Even if we had time to do something – even if we were allowed – what is it that you propose we do?” He put a hand on Sil’s small bony shoulder. “Do you suggest that we just plop ourselves down somewhere on the planet and announce that, although we have been abducting them and subjecting them to tests and tissue sampling before wiping their memories time and again for millenia, we actually come in peace? They would kill us before we even knew what was happening. You’ve seen how they are. Look at what they do to their own.” He gestured with his hand at the explosions below.

Sil couldn’t say anything. He knew the Commander was right. He lowered his head as they watched.

“We have accomplished what we set out to do all those aeons ago. We have watched and waited for any sign of promise from the humans – not just once, but three times. We have tried, and that is what matters. Besides, it is much too late now.”

“How long will it take this time?” asked Sil.
It had taken only decades for the humans to die out on Caspessa Prime. That’s when Sil had begun to advocate for them. He had come to admire their tenacity. He had never encountered a species with such strength of will – though he had not been prepared for the cannibalistic nature of the first evolution of humans.
The second attempt had ended in ecological disaster, and the humans had struggled on for centuries, attempting to undo the damage that they themselves had caused, but to no avail. Slowly, their world had turned against them; it’s own atmosphere poisoning them.

“This time should be relatively quick,” the Commander told him “several days for the majority – several months for the rest.”

“It’s just doesn’t seem right,” said Sil. “All those people down there. All that suffering. If only we could-“

“Sil!” The Commander was frustrated. “I know you have grown attached to them, but you must let it go now.”

“Please, Commander, don’t you see? You say they’re too aggressive – that the Axis will only accept peaceful and benevolent races – yet we’re no better than they are. In fact, I’d say we’re worse.”

“Oh?” the Commander said, “and how do you suppose we are ‘worse’ than a species who would maim and kill creatures smaller than themselves only so they can wear their skins and eat their flesh? Even at our most brutal stage of evolution, we were never as bad as the humans.”

“We’re worse because we’re effectively wiping out an entire species.”

“No. We are not actively participating in their demise – we are simply allowing nature to take its course.”

“What’s the difference?” Sil could feel anger bubbling towards the surface, but he forced it back down. He knew better than to show such strong emotion in the presence of a superior.

“You are still young, Sil, and this is only your first mission. It can be difficult, spending millions of years watching over a species, hoping they thrive and flourish – hoping they survive beyond their primal stage and that one day they will be allowed to join the Galactic Axis.” He paused to look at the young scientist. “I do remember how it feels. I suppose I was like you on my first mission.” He patted Sil on the arm and returned to his desk.

“Look at it this way,” the Commander went on, “we could – conceivably – intervene and save the humans from extinction, but if we did that, then there is no telling what effect that may have on the future of the Galactic Axis. What if they never evolved into a peaceful society? They could end up destroying everything the Axis stands for.”

“We could save just a few and hide them from the Axis,” said Sil, “if only so we’d know some of them would live on.”

The Commander’s face softened slightly. “I’m sorry, Sil, it is simply not possible. Besides, in a way, the humans will survive. All of the DNA we have ever collected from them going back to their first appearance on Caspssa Prime will be banked into our library. Trillions of individual genetic profiles recorded forever. Immortalised.”

“And what about their world?” Sil asked, “what about Sol-3?”

“I should think it will be allowed a period of healing. It will need it, after the damage those bombs will cause to its ecosystem.”

“And then what?”

“Well,” said the Commander, “presumably it will be repopulated with another species. That is what usually happens. That is what happened with Caspessa Prime, and it is what will happen with Sol-2 if it’s atmosphere ever recovers.”

“I suppose,” Sil began, “that the humans have survived longer than they would have done if we hadn’t rebooted their evolutionary process twice.”

“Indeed they have, but unfortunately, the galaxy simply was not ready for them – as is sometimes the case.”

“It’s a shame.”

“You will become accustomed to this kind of work, Sil, even if it takes you another millennium or so. Before long, you will be joining in with the rest of the crew in taking bets on whether or not a species will survive – or indeed how they might meet their end if they do not.”

“The crew take bets?” Sil wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

“Oh, indeed,” the Commander replied, “at the very start of a mission. In fact, Second Officer Zik bet on nuclear war this time around and therefore she has won the round. Medic Gly bet on climate change when the humans were occupying Sol-2, and I myself wagered that they would hunt themselves to extinction on Caspessa Prime.”

“You, Commander?”

“Yes, I too feel the pressures of the mission, and like the rest of the crew, I like to have a little fun. These missions are hard Sil, this one unusually so. Normally, if a species is deemed to be too aggressive and violent for the Axis, then we stay around until they have brought themselves to extinction – which the violent kind always do – and then we move off to the next mission. These humans have been hard work, indeed, but you will find the next mission easier.”

Sil wasn’t sure how anyone could ever find the prospect of watching an entire race of people die out easy – though that was the trouble with a species with such longevity as his own: eventually, one could become accustomed to anything. He supposed that this was probably the case with the Commander. He had more than likely seen many a race go extinct in his time.

Taking one last lingering look at Sol-3, Sil silently promised himself that he would remember every last detail of humanity’s struggle for as long as he lived, then he turned strode towards the Commander’s desk.

“Where will our next assignment be?” he asked.

The Commander tapped his long slender fingers at the surface display on his desk and a split-second later, an image of a large planet covered in what appeared to be hazy, purple clouds blinked into existence.

“This,” said the Commander, “is Zapho-8 – home to the Zaphin. We received word a few thousand years ago that they were just entering their cognitive phase. We should arrive in time to catch the beginning of their intellectual evolution.”

“Well, their planet is certainly beautiful,” said Sil as he watched the image of the hazy world spinning on its Axis. “Let’s hope they do better than the humans at overcoming their savagery.”

“I’m sure they will,” the Commander said with a slight curving of his thin, grey lips. “The humans – although not entirely an oddity – we’re certainly a rare case.”

Sil nodded.

The Commander nodded back and closed down the display on his desk. “Dismissed, Sil.”

As Sil left, the Commander moved to the window again. The explosions on the planet had died away now. Most of the humans would be dead. He couldn’t help but empathise with Sil’s sadness. The humans had been a dream to study.

In the billions of years since the Axis formed, its members had studied many kinds of organism, though none quite so unique as the humans. For, although he thought them to lack intelligence, they did have their surprising quirks.

He had not, for instance, been able to work out why they only possessed two kidneys as opposed to the three which was common among every other species they had encountered thus far. And what was the idea behind all those fingers?

He supposed it was just one of life’s mysteries to which he would never discover an answer.

END

As always, thank you for reading my words, it really does mean a lot!

Until next time,

George

© 2020 GLT

#Alien #Aliens #Earth #Fiction #planetEarth #SciFi #scienceFiction #Scifi #space #story

The End

Hi, everyone, what I’m posting here is the first draft of a short story (approx 3000 words) that I’ve been working on. The point of the project that I had set myself was to see if I cou…

^{GEORGE L THOMAS}