Visitation - Reality (book 1 of 2)

MOTHER WORLD'S CHILDREN

THE ‘SETTLERS’ AS THEY had come to name themselves, knew they were alone in this new hazardous world. If help was ever needed it was never going to come, as is the case with all pioneering migrants in their new land.

There had been a cultural saddening and profound, personal grief when they had seen in both the night and day sky a point of brightness that was the destruction of their true home.

Their once lush green and blue home planet was now clearly no more than a bright illumination of fiery redness which soon died away and the imagery of this passed into legend.

A survival mentality had been required and while the selection had chosen well, they were still some whose sense of grief and loss could not be overcome.

The unlucky ones of this small grouping were physically and often mentally ill for years before many died, some said of a broken heart. The majority did not succumb but of these there were still some who never again became an effective force for any prolonged period in developing the enclave of survival that had now been built.

As generations passed, this place became the only safe haven that was known. Outside, down at the base of these mountains and round the globe, it was a very unsafe environment in which to find oneself and only those trained for further exploration knew first hand of this.

These brave people operated in teams, employing the ‘local’ transit craft that had originally been brought with them to the planet’s surface in the New Arks, the big orbiting escape vessels that had automatically returned home.

Some of those in the teams were the pilots, engineers, and medically trained staff and of course, one of the leadership team, that ruling elite which had previously governed and directed.

The majority of the people in this secure enclave knew little of the outside world except what they were told, what leaked out or may have been deliberately provided in various information programmes. They were generally content to know they were safe and warm, well fed and had a future for their children.

Everyone worked in the growing of crops on the vast plains outside the main citadel, except when the cold weather came in as the seasons changed. Security of these farming folk was not a big issue as a great barrier of mountains, at this high altitude, separated them from the outside world and anything further afield.

Artificially created atmospheres were not required and could not have been built, even if required. The escape had not had time to include and load the enormous engineering structures that might have been required but only the tools and the knowledge that may eventually be needed for the immediate tasks at hand.

The air was quite breathable and, in addition, had several beautiful fragrances that were carried in the breezes during the growing seasons. It was sunny most of the year round and even when the snow was on the ground, it was easily described as an idyllic setting.

A long-term plan had been needed but this had been kept aside while the business, over several generations, of ensuring a stable continuation of the several thousands of survivors of a once great people continued and could flourish.

The great science, that had once been the trademark of the Settlers, had not been completely lost and new generations were going through a university system while the engineers managed to construct manufacturing works that were producing more than was needed for pure survival. The time had now come to ensure that genetic strains were not lost.

What was now amounting to inbreeding amongst the Settlers was determined correctly, by both the leadership and the integral scientific community, to be undesirable, and had to be tackled.

In the true spirit of exploration, the population had to grow by mixing with the indigenous inhabitants of this world.

A great plan was developed which determined that to establish such a cross culture mix was then nigh on impossible; the inhabitants had only been walking upright for perhaps a few thousand years or so.

Among the Settlers were the descendants and pupils of some of the greatest scientists there had ever been and the manipulation of DNA for the benefit of plants and animals in providing increases in food sources, many that were indigenous, had been practised and proved to be most successful.

Some species of plant had not done well and had succumbed to ‘local’ disease but for the great majority, their DNA had survived remarkably well with the introduced plants spreading rapidly.

The great plan settled upon removing some of the upright hominids, but only those of the several sub-species that appeared suitable. Changes would be made to their DNA, as had been undertaken for the plants, in the hope that their natural but slow development may be rapidly speeded up to a point at which interbreeding might eventually be successfully accomplished.

The changes required were not large, perhaps in the order of only some one to one and a half percent of the entire replicating structure. This would lead, it was considered, to an eventual brain development that would accelerate their physical and mental prowess until a genuine Homo sapiens type of creature would eventually evolve.

The mathematics predicted that this was possible just within the sensible limits of existence of the in-breeding Settlers and that a major hope for the continuation of the population was at hand, albeit over a relatively massive time scale.

The maths said it was possible and what other course was there; mate with or artificially inseminate creatures that were not far removed from apes?

If Settler volunteers selected for mating were not ripped apart, any offspring would likely be killed by their own, as nature’s simple creatures did not usually tolerate strangeness in their midst. It was not intended that the results of any cross breeding would be kept in the Settlers enclave but left to the hominids.

Of the sub-species considered, the one selected appeared slightly more advanced than the others, by its observed practice of remaining upright for walking and in its use of basic hand tools. The others, partially so or with physical attributes more closely linked to their ape ancestors, were considered inappropriate.

The answer was to capture as many ‘subjects’ as were considered appropriate, make the required alterations to their DNA by a laboratory process and then return them to their habitat.

This involved little more than the removal of a few cells, alteration and mix with selected characteristics from the Settler DNA base and then, ultimately and with some stem cell additions, place them back.

The subjects would have to be kept in a protected, hospitable environment for probably no more than a few generations, with the weeding out of those and their offspring in which desirable changes were not seen.

From that position a base generation would have been created. It would then only be a matter of time, a very long time perhaps, while the exponential effects of the altered dominant genes came to the fore.

In this very long term view, humans with the appearance of their 'creators', with an inquisitive developing brain and with advanced language capabilities would come to be the dominant species.

So it was that a warm temperate spot was chosen down in the lands of this world, where the natural defences afforded by two rivers precluded interference from outside or escape from within.

All that was needed to complete this enclosure was the construction of an extensive, lengthy, stonewall structure on a landward side between the two great rivers; the sea into which the rivers emptied provided the final side of this enclosure.

There was a great deal of vegetation, naturally occurring crops (these could always be topped up if need be), good shelter, some savannah, some woodland and the rivers that housed good populations of fish.

It was known that some of the hominids had learned to catch fish for themselves and even cooked their food, after a fashion.

A scouting party flew out to find suitable ‘candidates’ while a construction crew of no more than a half dozen built the many kilometres long wall between the rivers.

This task was not that arduous considering the advancement of the smaller anti-gravity devices that had taken place back home long ago of which, some, had been brought with the Settlers.

Those candidates selected for ‘improvement’ were not chosen by any great criteria simply that they ran faster than others did when the hovering flying craft was chasing after them; good physical specimens were essential.

A quick shot of anaesthetic from an air gun would bring one down. When the remaining numbers went back to see what had happened, from the craft hovering out of sight, it was almost shooting fish in a barrel time. Some few dozen or so adults were captured in this way, flown back to the Settlers enclave and DNA alterations undertaken while they remained sedated.

This meant that they were kept in this state for a few weeks while the immediate effects of the manipulation were studied. A few died from the trauma and they were cremated with the same reverence afforded normally to any of the Settlers that had passed on, but the ashes were very simply disposed of by scattering.

Those remaining, considered an appropriate number, were taken to this rich ‘garden’ habitat to be released and injected with an antidote of the long-term sedative. Before gaining consciousness the craft moved to an out-of-site location to observe quietly what ensued.

The altered inhabitants were least pleased when they came round and in a single group, collectively sought refuge, from what they perceived as an unknown threat, in the depths of the available forest.

They were to be left to their own devices for several generations, before the results of the experiment could be seen to have been beneficial. Generations of new Settler scientists cut their educational teeth on the study of these first real hybrid people.

Others attempted to improve upon the DNA experiments with many more of the worlds fauna, including other hominids, but the results were not altogether satisfactory confirming the correct sub-species selection in the first instance.

DNA manipulation produced some dreadful errors however, including many births of animal like hybrids. Some of the Settler scientists even released some outside of the garden and for many generations these persisted and flourished until hunted down and mostly killed by the other hominids on the planet.

Some odd strains of 'underdeveloped' types continued to survive and spread in various hidden parts of the world.

This is not to say that only one type of hominid was produced from the original stock. Two main types, as variables to the original material, were produced each with their own particular characteristics. They fell into two general groupings, of either short and stocky or tall and thin. It was found that the variation in climate across the globe away from the ‘garden’ was more suited to one type but not the other.

So groups of the short and stocky type were flown away to develop or die in the far colder north under what would be their ‘natural’ environmental conditions while the tall and thin types were restricted to the garden under the watchful eye of the scientists.

Some mistakes that were still hominids but more closely aligned with their ape type ancestors were simply dumped in the most inhospitable places to observe their capabilities for survival.

Evaluating the results of mistakes, especially close to what was intended, provided just as much valuable data as did the results of success.

A long period of decline set in with the Settlers over the next few thousand years as it was becoming abundantly clear, not only from the detailed records kept, but simply from the slowly increasing death rate, that this planet was not totally friendly as first assumed.

The planet's bacteria and microbes, the product of natural genetic progress or that of their hosts, were starting to take its toll. A halt was called to any further genetic manipulation outside of the settlement and the Settlers withdrew into their own confines in a much smaller number than had originally arrived and subsequently expanded.

All effort was now placed upon staying alive while adapting to or finding cures for the indigenous bacteria and viruses.

The production of a cross species between the hominids and the Settlers had long since been established with some success and the furtherance of the DNA brought to this planet seemed to have reached a position where survival was a near certainty; what more could be done to produce a living carrier of the settler’s DNA?

Was this not the whole reason for life, to pass on to future generations what had been developed naturally or even with a little help?

Then disaster struck.

A meteor bombardment, that could not have been detected, because the kind of equipment necessary for this had long since been destroyed back home, struck with some ferocity and over a prolonged period of time.

Not only were all in the immediate vicinity of the impacts annihilated but the great volcanoes that resulted, contaminated the air with millions of tons of gas and hot ash. This blocked out the sunlight and produced much acid rain.

Despite the global cooling caused by the encircling dust cloud, the polar caps, which had also been struck many times, suddenly started to melt rapidly.

This drastically increased sea levels and wiped out many of the habitats of the new humans.

The new human numbers reduced to several small pockets of survivors round the globe. These few had somehow survived the hot and explosive bombardment. The resulting dark winter climate brought its deluge of acid rains that destroyed much of the vegetation, the naturally growing crops and much wildlife.

Many of the surviving new humans had been sited sufficiently high above the rising sea level that they did not drown and this proved to be one of the key factors in their ultimate survival.

The Settlers did not escape entirely. Their numbers were drastically reduced after several impacts, close to their high elevation encampments, which caused many deaths from the explosive forces and the flying material.

They did not suffer too greatly from the volcanic action or the sea level rise. The cold period was easily survivable within their enclaves where heating, and ventilation equipment, much of which had been brought with the first original arrivals and subsequently manufactured, was usefully employed.

Of the Settlers that survived this natural catastrophe, their transit craft were employed to fly round the globe locating the new human survivors.

The best possible chance had to be given for the continuation of this new man species that was carrying their DNA. These people were, in effect, cousins and they needed help to survive, and so it was given.

Seven main groupings were eventually located and a survival and breeding program initiated to keep them going and to multiply as quickly as possible. It took a major program thousands of years long but eventually it seemed that the indigenous populations had, once again, become stable and were starting to spread out on the road to populating the surface of the world.

The Settlers had been taken to the point of total exhaustion over the many generations to ensure the recovery of the new species and they decided that a prolonged phase of non-intervention and self-consolidation was required. They started a great rest period, took stock of what they possessed, built up and refurbished their central settlement.

The polar-regions eventually started to freeze to a significant extent and to return to what they had been before the bombardment.

As a result the climate stabilised, there was a warming in the equatorial regions, a cooling in the polar regions and the great ocean and atmospheric currents once again established themselves, but this took periods measured in the thousands of years.

Even during this period a few stray meteorites circling through the solar system struck the world again, one managing to hit the great northern ice sheet throwing millions of cubic kilometres of ice onto the opposite side of the pole.

The new humankind and the animals previously grazing the warm grass, both of which inhabited these regions, were now quick-frozen beneath the ice. They would remain so for many aeons to come as the ground itself froze beneath the ice.

These latter impacts, including the one that hit the ice sheets, were the final straw that knocked the world off its axis sufficiently to cause a noticeable re-orientation of its spin. The resulting wobbles ensured that on a scale of millennia, a great flooding would be experienced on one side of the globe while a corresponding great freezing on the other took place.

 The great land to the south was suddenly freezing under great depths of deposited snow and ice where previously it had been verdant grassland.

The Settlers initiated a period of underground excavation and building as protection against the cold that was now increasingly noticeable at their altitude.