discovery
His hands moved over the leverboard…some levers turned, some bent, some untouched. The fingers seemed to barely touch the surface below. Dials clicked and turned in a seemingly independent sequence from everything else, images and data flashed in the air in front of him. He didn’t seem to be paying attention, his head was bent over the leverboard, with occasional glances at the lights that flickered.
A sound, his head snapped up. His eyes seemed to bulge out. Fingers danced in reverse motion, trying to get back what had been sensed rather than seen. An image flashed up again, and this one stayed there. Very slowly, his fingers moved away from the levers with nary a tremor. His palms rested on the edge, as he raised himself up and leaned toward the graphic shimmering in front of him. The symbol was unmistakable.
*******************
The craft arced away from the expanse below. The world below was primordial to a degree that had not been imagined. The being standing in front of the main windshield stayed there, his nose pressed against the pane. What he was seeing was something not imagined by any of them. The signs had been there, the data analysis had been conclusive to the nth degree. But the actual discovery had still been considered stuff of urban legend. Rather, scientific legend. Science does not lie. The signs meant what they were supposed to mean. They were not alone. He turned and walked away from the pane, a glee suffusing through him. Years of patient work was paying off. They were not alone. And they had discovered this when it was perfect. For them. A new world that could be made the ultimate fail-safe. For them. They were not alone.
The craft gained altitude, skimming the surface of the water as it did so. A blink of an eye later, it was 20000 feet higher up. A moment later, even as it left an atmosphere that had been one of the discoveries of the century… the skimmed water rippled to stillness. The light purplish tinge that was no reflection of the clear blue sky above slowly reformed, diffused, and spread. It disappeared as the craft left the planet’s atmosphere.
They were, indeed, not alone.
*******************
His hands moved within the protected enclosure with practiced ease; the chemicals were added, synthesized, and placed in necessary holding areas. His eyes flicked between the changing tubes and the material he was handling. Impatience was no virtue, but this experiment should not take so long. 50 microseconds was not worth the heartbreak that this was resulting in. Even as the last of the tubes clinked into place, the dull red was diffusing into the seventh of the tests already there.
He tore his arms out of the container, nearly ripping the rubber. It was steel reinforced, but his anger was far beyond recognizing such detail. Some things should not be. Not like this. 24 years of experimentation on the native vegetation, 24 years of zipping in and out of a planet while gathering as much data and information as they dared to without disturbing the native land, 24 years of bullshit. And everything pointed to one thing. No matter how much they tried, they were going to have to destroy the “new” planet to live on it. The native land was just too primordial for their tastes. They might as well have landed on the planet all those years ago, instead of maniacally trying to ensure they did not disturb it. And the experiments. The sheer number of them to ensure that they would be able to acclimatize themselves to the new planet.
And all for naught. Cloning, genetic manipulation, mutation, destruction… nothing was going to work. They would die if they landed on the planet as it was today. All this just to attempt to make a truly “fresh start”. and everything was useless.
They would have to break the planet. Or die.
At least they would be alone on the planet. Until they were not alone again.
*******************
The sky shimmered. Thousands of ships glinted in the eye of the sun. They were waiting. Each one. Awaiting the inevitable. The first wave was preparing to depart. They were nearly automated, one citizen per hundred ships. They would arrive at the new world, and start the conversion process for the atmosphere. For the land. For the water. For everything. Primordial soup would be cooked in a way best for them.
The evacuation would be next. Genetically selected and bred species would be moved to the new planet. Everything was primed. The ships were self sufficient. People would live in them until such time as they arrived. Hopefully before the ships arrived, a new planet would have ready and set up for their existence. People were willing to do anything to be part of the new wave. They had been given a second chance. Who wouldn’t want to take it? Their first chance was dying around them even as they looked at it. Every breath destroyed another facet of the planet. A maximum of 1 year, 2 years at the most had been estimated for the planet’s survival. The survival ships would take off within six months. Everything was planned, everyone knew what was going to happen.
The headquarters of the launching pad area buzzed with activity. The one who had seen the possibility of life all those years ago watched the insanity that surrounded a never-tried-before inter-planet migration. This would pave the way for so many things. Some of the things being attempted were path-breaking to the extreme degree. He looked toward an old panel with a fond eye. To think a simple symbol would have meant so much. He moved toward the blinking lights. And noticed the one rhythmically blinking light. A few levers pressed and moved… ah, the good old days… with a familiarity bred over years. A read-out appeared on the screen. As he had done all those years ago, his palms rested on the edge, as he leaned toward the graphic shimmering in front of him. They could not have missed that.
A simple transmission from their new planet. It was too old school, it was too basic for any of their new machines to be programmed to pick it up, or for any of this new wave of scientists to have monitored. This old thing had never been turned off and now… he pressed the button. The emergency buzzer sounded. No-one noticed. He entered the override code, and the buzzer went nuts. The room shut up in an instant, and people turned toward him. Like all those years ago. His aged finger pressed the final button. And he waited to see what they had been missing for what may have been too long.
Beeps sounded in the room. At first it seemed something had broken, until a second aged finger depressed a button most of them had forgotten about. Their computer’s “voice” started: “Signal 435341JHTJUP. We are awaiting confirmation that this signal has been picked up.. [Pause].. We are awaiting confirmation…[Pause]…Signal receipt confirmed. Message transmission started. We know you are out there. We have seen your ships come. We have transmissions from your primeval activities of the last 50 years. We know you are very interested in this world. We have been examining yours as well. It appears optimum for our purpose from what data we have gleaned from your primitive systems. We will proceed to arrive there within the next 70 hours. We are sure that we have no hope of surviving this planet: the resources are too meager, and we are more native to your world. We would prefer an empty planet to live in. We have found eradication of native species the quickest means of optimizing a planet. We cannot be refused entry and we know what little you are capable of. Prepare.”
They were not alone.
© Satish E Viswanath 2008
