Académique Documents
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Legend of
The
Sunglow
A Science Fiction Story
By
John Baxter
C 2018.
The History behind the Sunglow
In a distant past, a very long time ago in human history in a dark period for
humanity, calculated to be around the year of 2050 on the Earth calendar, the
calendar used around that time, there seemed to have been a mighty planet wide
catastrophe for humanity, and the total wipeout of all the animal life too.
It happened over a relatively short period of time, and seemingly, looking at
the available evidence, nothing animal based seems to have survived.
On the evidence gleaned from the sparse available data from the ancient past,
it was certainly not a natural disaster.
It had not been caused by some freak of nature, for example a large piece of ice
or rock coming in from space, entering the atmosphere as in an extinction event
like those which had wiped out the dinosaurs.
No, it was something far more devastating than that.
Whatever it was that wiped out all animal life seemed to have come from
nothing and nowhere. It seemed to come from somewhere inside humanity itself,
proven facts of what possibly could or did happen are yet to be investigated and
if any of the many wild theories believed could be proven.
From available evidence and historical documents, plus lots of interpretation
added for good measure, it appears that various powerful factions of the society
seemed to have become polarized in their views, and had then planned the total
eradication of those who held opposing views in an almost genocidal way, until
there was nothing at all left.
The sheer scale of the alleged brutality used by these perpetrators, the likes of
which had never ever been witnessed on so massive a scale of both numbers of
people killed and the lack of humanity used to kill them. The opposing people
then replying with a sort of revenge attack, also brutal beyond belief, and the
mass genocide or the believed ethnic cleansing that followed immediately
afterwards showed that there was a mass dehumanisation of humanity.
This was the only interpretation that made any sense which could be gleaned
from the evidence obtained of the period. There was no video footage, not a great
deal of paper based or electronic archive left from that period so long ago.
Information and communications had been sent to the local colonies, though
over time, these colonies became no longer habitable, and the information
condensed over and over, so many times, till there was very little of it that was
not corrupted in the different types and upgrades of data storage.
The self-destruct theory was the only currently accepted scenario and
reasoning of the death and destruction of the planet Earth, but these were based
only on the scant findings of robotic probes sent many centuries ago, and the
theories derived from that, all based purely on what appeared to be the most
plausible of the many possibilities and nothing based on evidence or fact. This
belief had been the accepted one by the whole community.
Recently, a new movement of the people, more science based than theology,
began to emerge, These more questioning minds and perhaps younger free
thinkers had made representation to persons within the government who in turn
had then made representation to the Senate to have the original ancient parent
planet visited and its demise investigated further, and in much greater detail
than ever before because there was currently little or no fact based information
on which to base the real truth on, and so the folklore and myths generated
about the mystery surrounding the loss of the Earth’s creatures had become less
fact based, and more imagination. Some people were starting to feel
embarrassed at the thought of their ancestors being thought of as insane
murderers, possibly cannibal, if the conjecture was to be believed.
The current archeological teams working out on what had been a couple of the
early colonies no longer in use, still safe enough to visit.
The archeologists were able to formulate and decode some small patches of
data leading to basic, unproven conclusions from the examination of the artefacts
found on a few randomly chosen excavation sites, the data taken from around
the 2050 target time period in Earths planet’s history, discoveries that when
studied, would hopefully clarify the reason or the cause of this huge,
unprecedented polarisation of the masses and create even greater disagreement
and mistrust among the peoples of this whole planet world.
It was accepted as a proven fact that something acted as a trigger, and this was
usually put down to a rumour that there had been a discovery of ancient texts
that had set the whole thing in motion, after all, this was not the first time
historical theologist writings had changed history.
Somewhere, within these lost or missing artifacts would lie the answer to why
a race could, or would, totally and utterly wipe itself out.
Whatever had triggered this massive event, it had already been proved not to
have come from any religious or tribal differences, as evidence gleaned from the
colonies archive had already referred to the many different factions expected to
be the prime culprits, were in fact, colluding with each other, on both sides of the
split.
It wasn’t a kind of global financial power grab either, because once the
hostilities had started, money would have become almost instantly obsolete,
value only now measured in how long you could stay alive, long enough to kill as
many as the opposition as your body would allow till you succumbed, and were
either killed, or died.
There was a great number of questions that needed an answer, and the
investigations could take years before they would get anywhere near the real
reasons and facts.
So far, the facts gleaned seemed contradictory.
It wasn’t political, it wasn’t religion, it wasn’t natural disaster, or some off-
world interference with meteors, comets, or their like. There was no recorded
evidence of any of these possibilities.
Only the fossil record would guide them to the real answer. Time to start work.
Everything had been checked, tested, packed and loaded into the mobile
laboratories cargo holds, and sent down to the first selected dig site a few weeks
ago. The next sites would be set up as soon as the first was established as a safe,
workable site as these complexes were extremely heavy in this gravity.
The personnel would be loaded into their people pods which would all
automatically link up together to form the outer ring of a complete habitation
complex, the central community hub having already been sent and sited by the
building crews who had been on the planet for over three weeks. The area had
been cleared of foliage, and the feet areas only being levelled so as not to disturb
any remains they might be searching for.
This was now sealed and sterile. The laboratory modules were self-siting and
self-sterilising, as nobody was allowed in them till they were all set up due to the
airborne sterilising vapours being toxic to humans.
When the whole thing was finally assembled, it would become a large
interconnecting complex, maintained by only a handful of crew, but with a huge
collection of scientists, each one of them specialists in their own fields, operating
the masses of electronic testing equipment throughout the hubs.
Solar panels made up almost all the outside walls of the complex, and could
generate electricity from very low light, even cloud covered moonlight, though
the storage battery system could run the whole complex in complete darkness
for up to a month if they had to. The power requirements varied from day to day,
as some equipment used more power than others, but tended to be used less
often, hence capacitors had been built into the system to smooth out any possible
drops in power if large usage samplers were all working at the same time.
The all clear had been given from the surface of the planet by the engineers
that the complex was now connected, sealed, sterile, and switched on, and
running. Air purifier filters were fully working, and it was now safe to enter.
One by one, the personnel pods were released from the ship, and made their
way to their lock positions on the outer ring of the complex, docking one by one
for safety, the scientists disembarking and making their way to the pre-allocated
accommodation in an orderly fashion. They just wanted to get started on the
research, so there was little emotion showing on their faces.
As the last pod docked, and the last of the science and tech crew had made
their way to their rooms, Dave and his team had already set up a briefing for
them all in the large meeting hall, and waited for the appointed time to come
around. There was no immediate rush as the first samplers and the operators
were not scheduled to leave the complex till tomorrow, and not due to return for
another two days with the samples collected.
Dave’s senior management team consisted of his personal assistant, Kally
Revlon, his Girl Friday, a born organiser with multi-tasking talents, and a flair for
presentation. Currently, she was passing out copies of the planned timetable and
the other relevant information onto the perfectly placed chairs ready for the
scientific community entering shortly.
The technical assistant on his team, Jimmy Massey, was still supervising the
connecting of the electronics for the communications network to the ship above
ready to run the optical part of the timetable presentation.
As if by a given signal, the doors opened, and the scientists filed in.
Throughout the next few weeks, the samples kept coming, and the analysis
continued, the subsequent data slowly expanding and bridging the gaps in the
knowledge, or to confirm previously graded findings, having the effect of moving
more and more data into the hallowed proven files, and deemed as proven fact.
A very detailed history was taking shape of the Earth record, how those
ancestors lived, what they did in their day to day existence, how they died and
what they died of, what happened to the body, the whole life cycle, each piece of
information slowly building up like a three-dimensional jigsaw of life on Earth up
to their year 2042 onwards.
From around that time in their history, things started to change, and then the
remains of all animal life mysteriously vanishing without a trace by around 2054
in the artefact record. The lower orders of other animals on the planet, those
deemed to be of lesser intellect as the then human, coming down from larger
primates of apes, monkeys and more, right down to tiny marsupials. Even sea
mammals like whales, dolphins vanished.
They were not preyed on by the human ancestors because of a lack of available
food, as was first thought due to the catastrophe that had befallen them. A
further major discovery also dogged this theory.
These mammal remains were also found in circles of these heavy metals, the
same as the human remains. This pointed to a possibility that they all died
around the same time from the same thing. Though difficult to test the marine
animals and their remains, this theory added weight to the Sunglow belief, but
the real evidence on the ground did not. More work to be done.
One specialist archeology team were actively studying the ancient sciences
used at the time by the Earth population, what they knew, trying to learn how
they managed to develop their knowledge of space travel very quickly, allowing
them to get to habitable planets as colonists before the Sunglow hit, and would
any of the solar outer planets survive the effect of a Sunglow anyway. That was
for a later archeology dig sometime in the future.
At present, these specialists were concentrating on what scientific equipment
was held in the many ruins of what were buildings that were designed or built
either for use as scientific or medical centres, rebuilding the plan and operation
of each of the machines from what were basically rust maps, as this was about all
that remained, to full operational copies.
What they were used for was sometimes more difficult to work out without
using them, but, in time they would be able to piece together quite a lot of data
needed to answer the questions for the operation of any medical machines
discovered.
They were highly successful in solving these little puzzles, and, as the data base
filled with facts, they could cross reference, and prove the operation of these
machines. This line of investigation worked fine, with only one exception.
This machine was an unusual shape, and resembled a scanner, but the patient
was a distance away from what was deemed to be the scanner head, and a body
would not fit inside the machine as it was solid with electronics.
Most of the real machine had gone, being the steel, iron and ferrous metal
bases rusting away a long time ago. The inert metals, gold, silver platinum was
still there still connected to remains of circuit boards.
It was inside the body of the surviving part of the unit, and lead lined, they
found a cylindrical tube of unknown origin, sealed at both ends, and intact, still in
pristine condition.
Was this a power source, a kind of battery or capacitator?
The metal used on this cylinder could not be scanned through fully, but it
appeared that it did contain something, though of what they could not tell, the
scan merely showing a shadowy outline.
It took quite some time to find out how to open it, as it had to be done inside a
quarantine chamber as it could contain contaminated air, and the remote
handling equipment was still not as good as the feel with the fingers, even if
wearing gloves.
One end came off eventually, and the robot arm was moved into position to
extract the contents. It retracted, and pulled out a scroll, a large one, written in
pictogram form on a material based paper.
This find could be big in this dig, so every care was taken to unroll the scroll to
perhaps glimpse its content, slowly unrolling it and fixing to the table gently with
holding points to keep it open. Inside each scroll was another, and another.
The overhead cameras and scanners were recording everything that was
revealed, zooming for greater detail, and storing it as data ready to analyse later,
after the reveal was over. Copies being sent to the ship above, and to their home
world, though it would be days before it got there due to the distance away.
The popularity of this dig was becoming a must-see television program at
home, the popularity growing daily into a type of reality programme, which, it
really was.
As these scrolls were unfurled, there appeared to be a form of writing on it,
and what appeared to be a set of diagrams.
The scrolls were opened and fixed in the pattern and order they were
unwrapped, each fixed flat to the table.
Could this be the legendary scroll mentioned in all the historical records that
changed humanity, this ancient artefact that started the civil war of old.
Unlike the people of that ancient time who would need years to make sense of
the drawings and diagrams, the archeologists here in the complex could scan,
analyse, translate and if necessary, 3D print whatever was on the plans within
hours.
Unfortunately, as this could contain unknown or unwanted technology, with
unknown consequences, the team would have to seek permission from the home
planet to proceed as they had to do with any experimental testing, and this could
take up to a week to receive. They could, however use the time to manufacture
the component parts, just not assemble them.
Each could be activated, and tested individually to attempt to find out its
purpose, how and why it did what it did, and where it fitted in the build of the
machine. As far as the home planet were concerned, they were just getting ahead
of the game, and the normal testing of the artefacts on the planet were still going
on and keeping the data stream still being transmitted anyway.
Back to the mundane for the time being.
…….And He Will Appear
The discoveries were still coming in, and being processed, though less and less
of a shock each time, all the new data being added to the new historical record
when everything had been proven.
In the main, the people of this planet lived as the original records had said.
They had houses, they worked as a community, and they were humane,
organised, and sociable. To go from this to cruel, maniacal, power crazed animals
in a few short years seemed beyond belief.
The record was almost complete up to about 2042, and some of the normal
lifestyles carried on beyond that time, the changes seemed to be based more on
the geographical location of the archeological remains rather than one sudden
change, as would happen in a Sunglow, spreading from one point, outwards.
This moved the theory and the understanding of the events away from the long
believed original Sunglow theory, and to a more gradual but still rapid change.
This could explain the remnants of live people and animals covering a twelve-
year period of rapid decline before vanishing altogether from the record., and
where had all the women gone?
This gave the scientific community some real work to do. Nowhere was there a
definitive reason for this decline. There was no trigger, no disease, no chemical
or atmospheric variations. Nothing.
In the meantime, the nineties laboratories, those numbered 91 to 95,
manufactured the parts shown on the scrolls, piece by piece, testing each piece
or circuit as they went.
Lots of it were saddles of cables, connections on printed circuit boards, large
numbers of what looked like super capacitors, acting like a type of battery and a
few inline rectifiers that were used to smooth out any fluctuations in current in
the flow, none of which seemed to be anything special, parts that could belong to
an office photocopier or other similar electronic device found everywhere.
Some of the manufactured pieces were parts that the scientists had no idea
what their function was, but could follow the plan to put them into the correct
place should the permit come through. They remained a mystery for now.
As the last of the pieces came off the printer, numbered, they were put in the
packages till required.
The permit came through containing the usual order to proceed with extreme
caution clauses, and a guarantee to keep the home planet in the loop.
The labs were buzzing with excitement at the prospect of trying to make an
ancient plan work with an equally ancient design machine with an unknown
purpose.
The pieces were assembled as the plan had instructed, the last sections
appearing to be solar power collection units, so this device could be used away
from any power grids. It was large, and had it been made of the materials used in
the original casings, extremely heavy. The manufactured plastic polymer
replacements were much lighter, especially the casings, but still made it difficult
to move.
A set of dolly frames and wheels were built into the bottom of each of the
segments which made up the body of the machine. Each of these segments could
be wheeled and plugged into each other to connect all the sections into one unit.
The thinking behind this design change was that when the purpose of its
function was established, if it could be of use on the home planet, it could be
dismantled and moved quickly, in sections, in the landing crafts, and up to the
ship for transport home on their return.
When all the pieces were connected, and the instruction manual translated, the
time had come to switch it on and test it.
The instructions from the machine asked for target coordinates of some
distant object be input, or focused upon using the inbuilt optical sensor to enable
the machine to calibrate for the first time. The one suggested by the machine as a
possible target was Mars, so the coordinates had already been input into the
machine.
The next step was to place an object on the scanner platform, on a seat. A plant
pot, complete with plant, was placed on the position indicated, and the machine
fired.
The scientists were wishing against hope that this would be a matter transfer
machine, the current ones on the home world could only be used for short
distance cargo loading, and these machines were incompatible with live tissue.
That was one of the limitations of molecular transfer that had never been solved.
The pot vanished, and the machine reset itself. The pot was gone, but there
was no proof of where it went. Time for a more accurate test.
Recording the coordinates on Mars again of where this machine indicated it
had put the experimental plant pot, a probe, fully functional, was placed in the
machine, and it was fired again. The probe vanished, and seconds later the
orbiting ship above contacted to say it was receiving the homing signal from the
probe, and it was coming from the exact location of the coordinates given on
Mars.
They decided not to fire it any more, for their safety and that of the complex, so
it was dismantled back into its sections, and together with the plans replaced in
their original tube, sent up to the ship above for transport to the home world,
where the tests could be done in better, and more controlled conditions.
It was strange that the ancient ancestors had access to a machine like this,
their technology was poor by comparison with now, so they were almost
heathen when it came to technology till they found the scroll, and it appeared at
first glance that they hadn’t used it a great deal.
The dig carried on as usual for the next three weeks, evidence coming in from
the dig sites still in operation, and everything seemed to be proceeding as
normal, till a message came from the ship above for Dave.
“Sir, we are picking up a fast-moving object approaching our position from
outside the solar system.”
“Any idea what it can be?”, asked Dave, “Any details at all?”
“Well Sir, it’s not a random object. It is powered, and appears to be being
driven, and it’s on a collision course with Earth”
“How long before it gets here?”. Dave was getting concerned,
“At current speed, though it should slow down once it gets into the solar
system for its own safety, about 60 hours or so, give or take 10 hours.”
There were strict protocols which governed situations like this. The complex
on the planet was not armed defensively, but the ship above had an armory of
defenses, and with the life of the crew and staff as the utmost priority, evacuation
was the next protocol.
The order was given, and the samplers were quickly recalled and returned to
the labs, the crew pods filled in orderly, but quick fashion, and then detached
from the outer walls of the complex and returned to the ship.
As there was time to do it, the labs were sealed individually, and the complex
split into its sections, all returning up to the ship. Sensors were left, out of sight
in the foliage on the planet, just in case.
By the time the 60 hours had elapsed, only slight depressions in the ground
indicated they had been there, and the ship withdrew to a safe distance till this
object, and the motive of its appearance was known. Hopefully they had not been
detected.
Somehow, Dave thought these visitors may not be too friendly, so they hid the
ship behind the moon and watched the scene develop. They had disturbed
something ancient, and the Horses of The Apocalypse were coming on to the
stage. Now was not the time to fight, but to hide and observe, after all, that’s
what they did, gather intelligence and information.
Dave sat with his team around the large table in the conference room,
discussing the possibilities of what they think their next move should be.
So far, they had remained undetected by the alien ship, and for some unknown
reason, down on the planet their autobots were also being ignored. Their sensor
arrays were ignored, as were the drones which kept flying. These alien craft
seemed to ignore all the technical machinery, but target and eliminate live
animals. This was strange programming, as the alien craft didn’t seem to
recognise them as a hazard or investigate where these drones had originated.
The only way to examine this programming would be to enter the ship, though
to do so yet would be dangerous and foolish, while its running.
The team had been charged to come up with ideas of how this thing could be
stopped without actual physical contact, or revealing their covert location, as it
was created to wipe out mammals, and the crew were all mammals.
They knew this alien ship and its small craft needed to be stopped, and
stopped permanently before they wiped out the Earths current mammals, but,
they wanted to find out why it did what it did. To blast it into pieces would be no
good. It had to be captured and disabled, then studied. After all this may not be
the only one in the Universe, and the ability to gain the advantage against a
terminator like this one would be huge.
First, the team needed to establish what triggered their appearance here at
Earth, and why it came?
What was their final objective, and, on completion, who did they report to?
Could it be stopped long enough to dismantle without alerting others that may
exist out there?
These were the first plans of action to take into consideration, but they were
no means the only plans. The team knew the alien ship had to be stopped, but not
by destroying it, as an all-out attack could trigger those super heat weapons to be
turned on them, and that would be the end of everything, including them.
This attack needed to be subtle, almost sly, sneaking in through the back-door
type of action, unseen and undetected till it was too late.
This is where an archeological survey ship had the advantage over a fighting
ship. Their ship possessed the ability to find out everything about the alien ship
without going anywhere near it, by running a series of targeted scans, scanning it
as they would a site, and, with a little bit of scientific analysis, they should be able
to calculate some system of how to control it remotely, and all this while staying
undetected.
The team had come up with a plan, and it was now time to go on the offensive,
but passively. Somewhere in there was the Achilles Heel, and they had to find it
using their superb knowledge of interpreting sensor information, and using
every sensor available on their ship to detect anything and everything they could
about the alien ship. This was totally different from their normal work, and, in a
way, they had welcomed the challenge.
The masses of sensors were directed towards the alien ship, to assess every
piece on information that could be gleaned from it. The data collected came in at
speed, and within a day, a full data model of its workings was known. It was now
up to the electrical and computer experts to find out how to override the
programming of the alien ship.
The first change on the agenda was to get the alien ship to recall all the craft
doing their murderous business down on the planet, and then put the whole ship
to sleep long enough to disconnect its power supply. It would then be towed to a
safe place near the home world, and the physical part of it dismantled, leaving
the computer processors switched on and intensely studied to discover who or
what made it, and why did it do what it did, but would be physically unable to do
it.
It was surprisingly easy to access the control system of the alien ship, but a lot
harder to make sense of it, even the ships translators needing time to work out
the algorithms and syntax of the resident language.
The boffins had worked out that the alien ship took simple instructions from
some distant remote location, and the signal received activated this robotic
terminator ship, so they had discovered the input method for their fix being
delivered. What they had to try to do is tell it that their mission was now
complete, and for the killing craft to return to the ship, then await further
instructions.
Only then could they shut it down, and remove all its power sources. This
would have to be done by droid till it was basically dead as it might reactivate if
it detected a human or any other animal near.
The experts started to write the software codes needed to operate the
sequences for the shutdown, working 24 hours a day till they had them all
In the meantime, they continued to scan the alien ship for signals created by
the banks of processers to try to work out which signal controlled which action,
then when the coded signals were sent from the laboratory ship to shut it down,
they could monitor the reaction of the system to see if the instructions were
being followed correctly.
All this covert monitoring would be needed when they started their sneaky
attack.
The mood of the people on the ship seemed to change. They were taking it
personally.
And now, it’s time to put it together.
They were ready. It was make or break time. The mood on the ship was that of
an army going to war.
The first signal to be sent was to make the craft listen, a sort of switch it’s ears
on, or however it listened.
The signal had to be bounced off other planet or moon bodies so to make it
appear the signal came from a different direction from where they were.
The startup signal of the sequence was given, and now they waited.
The staff monitoring the internal workings reported that the signal had been
received, but it did not send a reply. They went to the next phase.
The sensors on the planet reported that the firing below had stopped, and
these craft were flying up towards the mothership above. So far so good.
They watched from their hiding place as the terminator craft reattached
themselves and locked into their positions. The staff monitoring the changes in
the alien ships electronic system could see the ship sensors recognising each
terminator as it locked in. They then watched as the systems started to shut
down, with only the communication nodes remained active. So far, so good.
Dave decided to let it remain in this state for a while, and monitor any changes
in case signals were being received from elsewhere that were undetectable by
them, and it could start up again, unexpectedly.
This gave them some time and enabled the mechanical experts to design, and
complete the build of the drones needed for the next phase.
The next few days were very quiet by comparison, as they shut down the craft
undetected, and removed all the power from the actuators, leaving the
computing core in an electronic coma till it could be examined properly when
they returned to the home planet. With the shutdown of this craft, it was mission
accomplished.
Unfortunately, their Earth mission was not. There were many loose ends to tie
up before they could wind up the dig, and head home, so, only the remote
scanners, and a few diggers returned to the planet, returning to the ship each
night, sampling the newly made heavy metals against the ancient deposits found
earlier, and samples of some of the foliage that had been scorched by these
weapons from the alien ships to see if they could find out information from the
flora as well as the fauna, if they could find any undamaged samples of mammals.
Traps were set, and these reclusive, intelligent animals were very difficult to
track and trap, but they did collect a few for analysis. They did not seem
frightened of humans, as the crew were probably the first ones they had
encountered, but the planet was not overrun by them, or any other species, so
something must be keeping their numbers in control.
Another question for another time, as they had been instructed to concentrate
on the human story, the home planet was not interested in stories of small furry
mammals, even though in the youth of the Earth, the first mammals were not
dissimilar.
The last of the samples were taken, and last scans of the landscape also taken,
then everything was brought back up to the ship. There was little more they
could find out here.
Dave was annoyed that the results of this study were not complete. Something
was missing, or were they missing something?
They dispatched the towing vessel pulling the alien craft towards their home,
and, once it was safely on its way, the crew started the final filing, testing,
sorting, preserving, and generally gleaning the last snippets of information.
Dave sat with his team in the conference suite, trying to work their way
through everything they had discovered, making sure all the evidence had been
checked out, and filed through to proven evidence.
Most of it slotted together like a good jigsaw, and most of the picture was now
revealed. There were odd pieces missing, which could be assumed closely to
what probably happened, and close enough to be accepted as fact.
Unfortunately, there were some large holes in the record. Information that
could not be filled in by conjecture, and it was these that were being discussed in
the conference room now.
They started with the bones of the ancestors that had been found and
analysed. At first glance, everything was deemed as normal, until they were
classified. Up to 2049/2051, everything was as expected. It was after that date
period that things started to change, and become confused and unclear.
The population of the area where the dig had taken place had been selected
because it was a high-density area, what was known in those days as a city,
chosen to try to gain data from a full cross-section of society as it was in those
days. The fossil record found in the dig produced very few skeletal remains per
square kilometre from about 2053 onward, at first thought to be due to the
alleged cannibalism and mass murders they had believed happened, with people
fleeing for their lives, but as the historic record showed, this could not be
because there were no remains of the alleged killed victims either, and none of
the remains that were found showing any sign of trauma on their skeletons other
than the heavy metal residue.
So, anomaly number one, what happened to the people, or at least, their
remains?
On closer analysis, the remains that were found were almost all male, and of
advanced age. Very few female archeological remains of any kind were found in
that area, in that period, and those that were discovered were also of a senior
age, or late in their life. Had the murderous cannibals took the females first as
they would be weaker, and easier to overcome?
Once again, none of the female remains that were found showed any sign of
trauma either, just this heavy metal residue.
Had these alien craft arrived and kidnapped them all, possibly into slavery, but
this would be unlikely, as then the colonies, including all the way up to
themselves, would not have come into being.
So, anomaly number two, where were the remains of the women?
These two anomalies were the most puzzling, but there were many others that
needed investigation.
The discovered remains of the males and females also were not only in their
senior years, but most suffering from the known degenerative diseases which
would afflict them at that period.
So, where did the young men, and most of the women go?
The pieces are coming out of the box.
The senior scientists had discussed these findings many times before while
they were adding the data to the database, and had each come up with many
different possibilities, each discounted one by one as the new evidence came in.
They all agreed however on one possibility, but it could not be proven, or not
yet.
The scientists had built as an experiment, a fully operational matter transfer
machine from an assumed alien plan. Was the plan really of alien origin?
They know the people of Earth built one, they had found the remains of it but
had no proof it was ever used. Could the Earth occupants have used it to flee the
alien killing machines?
One of the questions outlined in their original remit of this dig was how did the
Earth people learn to move to other planets so quickly, having no lightspeed
capability? Could this be the answer? More to the point, how would they know
where they could go, and arrive at wherever they chose, safely?
This was going to be one of the more difficult questions to try to seek the
answer.
Dave thought that some of the clues must lie somewhere within the machine,
in its data banks, and somehow built into the guidance programme. This would
be the only way the ancients would find out what was out there beyond the Solar
System, and safe to go to.
Would it be possible to retrieve this kind of data, or at least some of it, from
the original machine, or what remained of it, and replicate it into the rebuild.
The electronic remains of the original would possess a kind of data footprint
all over its parts, of what was stored there, and provided there had not been a
major magnetic interference, it could be slowly located and retrieved. Whether it
would be of use would remain to be seen, but worth a try. These files they were
looking for would have a lot of location references in the stream, so this data was
targeted first.
The copy machine was reassembled down in the 91-96 area as this had the
highest level of security, and they had strict instructions that it must not, under
any circumstances be fired, then the salvaged data gradually fed into it.
From this location data, they could find about ten or so used destinations
locations in the database, ones of regular and repeated use, the list of one offs
possibly would have been unsuitable. It did make Dave wonder how they tested
the results for the unsuitable ones.
Comparing this with their vague known list of early colony locations, they had
a match with only two of the ten or so targets discovered in the original machine.
It could only be assumed that the other eight destination colonies failed for
unknown reasons. This would be another dig, at another time.
Would it be worth visiting these planets perhaps, if they still existed, and see
what could be gleaned from them? What could they find there that might help
them understand what really happened to Earth, and its people.
Their employers on the home planet thought this was the correct thing to do to
further the investigation, so the ship was instructed to check out some of the
ones that were not listed as colonies as well as the known and listed ones. Did
the colonies fail through natural causes, or were they attacked again?
If there was a mechanical terminator race out there, it needs to be found, for all
their safety.
The last of the equipment that had been to Earth was brought up, made sterile,
and stored away, ready to be used again at wherever they arrived.
Once everything was locked down and safe, the ship was taken out of Earth
orbit, and on its way to the nearest coordinates given to investigate. This one
was deemed to be one of the failed colonies. It was also the nearest.
As they entered the star system of this first port of call, it was immediately
evident why the colony would have not lasted long.
A dying star sat at the centre, and working the timescales backwards to the
period under scrutiny, any planets inside this area would have been swallowed
up by the red giant very soon after the time of colonisation, so the coordinates
database were out of date, and this destination was not safe. One could only hope
they carried one of these machines with them and were able to move to another
base if they had the time.
While still a sad result, they still had to move on, and visit the next known
location, once again, another failed or deserted colony, but as they approached
this system, the location looked intact.
As they were a fully functional archeological survey ship, they started scanning
as they entered the system, and the data analysis commenced almost
immediately
The planet was a desert planet now, after all this time, and, as far as they could
tell, currently uninhabited.
A full scale archeological dig was authorised, and once again, the modules were
sent to the surface and set up, the labs then activated.
Over a period of about a month, the crew could plot most of the history of what
had been a thriving colony, its start date, which converted to around Earth year
2053 and remained occupied up to about Earth year 2280, when severe climate
change slowly took the atmosphere and then the liquid water. Why it was
deemed to be a failed colony was not accurate.
No evidence was found of anything living, other than lots of plants, prior to the
colonists’ arrival. That’s not to say that anything had never lived there before, it’s
just they never found any evidence to prove it.
Judging by the evidence collected, it appeared that the colonists, possibly
hiding from the possibility of attacks like those suffered on Earth, became
reclusive and protectionist, the analysis of their technology, and weaponry
indicated this, as did remains found during the dig. They would most likely have
not had any communication with the other colonies, as, in those days it was very
difficult without the right technology to send messages, if there were other
colonies in the vicinity, people who went to other locations on the matter
transfer machine.
On the upside, most of their history was recorded, and not all digitally saved.
Paper was still widely in use, so some time was spent scan reading the written
word into the computer. Digital copies were taken by the ship, copies sent to the
home world for their archive.
They had light speed technology in their later existence, and it seemed evident
that other colonies did start to visit from time to time, which pointed towards a
kind of trade relationship as landing pads were found, storage units, that sort of
thing.
It was possible, and now thought likely, that before the planet finally dried up,
the colonist could travel in ships to some of the other colonies throughout the
universe.
There was no sign of a matter transfer machine anywhere, so it was assumed
they never had the plan, or a copy machine. They were left to develop and evolve
as they should, as all the colonies should.
The history of this colony could be documented accurately, though it wasn’t
particularly special in any way, it did add weight to what was deemed to be
normal for life in their period. It was still added to the main database as they
travelled to other colonies in the group, some long abandoned, some still thriving
but living a different style of life, and different objectives, but still sharing their
history.
The passage of the colonist movement unfolded slowly, revealing what had
happened to the Earth people.
They sent the women and children first, followed by men, and any adults who
were capable of breeding, a cross section of each being sent to the known sites,
sending them in rapid succession, like a production line. A mass, planet wide
exodus. Why did this happen, and what was the trigger to make humanity
abandon its own home.
The remains found on the locations of the first colonies they checked so far
had all started to appear at the same time, light years apart, but some dated
within a day.
This proved that they were using the matter transfer machine on an industrial
scale, moving millions of people, in what appeared to be over a timescale of nine
to ten months. Why so quick? What had threatened them, and how?
Maybe the next colony to visit, a one still in operation, and still in possession of
documents and stories which unfortunately may not be one hundred percent
accurate, as this is the colony where the theory of the Sunglow originated from
scant historical documentation. At best, their data could act as a guide to the
answers the archeologists required.
End Game
The lab 91-95 staff were quite excited.
As they had first suspected, it was possible to reverse the stream from the
machine, and bring back what was sent. The difficulty in doing this would be
non-toxic method of marking a live human so the machine could detect them
light years away.
They think they have found the answer.
Every item put through the machine received an internal identification marker,
a chemical marker which remained active for up to 6 weeks or so, and could be
detected to within a few metres of the original landing location.
People and things could go backwards and forwards from chosen locations,
meaning they could travel to potential colony sites, check them out, and return
with suitability reports.
That’s how they could avoid the unsuitable planets.
The laboratory was also able to set the transmission targeting beam wide
enough to take a roomful of people or equipment all in one go, and then move the
focus on to another room, and send them too. This could be programmed to
empty any room, in sequence, anywhere in the world at about two a second.
The exodus was now feasible. It would just need a lot of organisation, and
pinpoint timing and accuracy, but still feasible.
The archive was also revealing a lot of information from those early days, most
of which slotted directly into the gaps in the data, bringing the investigation
together.
There was one very disturbing article in the archive, written by someone while
still on Earth, which could explain not only what happened, but how the myth of
murderous people could have come about. The details were sketchy, but would
explain a great deal.
Very early on in planet selection, it appears that a team of people had travelled
to one of the sites programmed into the machine as a possible colony site, and
while there, had found a lifeform which had no method of independent
movement, and used mechanical means to propel itself across the landscape.
The human settlers made three mistakes in their suppositions in the time they
came and went from that planet.
The first was that they assumed these beings were backward technologically
speaking, as their visible lifestyle was simple and uncomplicated, almost
backward. The mistake was that these beings lived like this by choice, enabled by
the very sophisticated technology in the background, allowing them to live in
this ideal way. No stress, and nothing to worry about. Utopia.
The second mistake was thinking this race were a soft touch. Instead of moving
to the areas that the locals could not use, which was most of the planet, they
abused them. The colonists started to steal from them, bully them to a degree,
and attempt to subjugate them almost into slavery.
Then they tried to execute some of the planet dwellers as an example of the
human supposed superior power over them.
The third assumption, and by far the worst mistake they could have made, was
not investigating or considering the history of these creatures.
This race was living a life of peace because, in their past, they had been a
savage, ruthless, warring race who were now ashamed of their past, and had
engineered their evolution to breed out the war stage, even breeding out their
limbs to stop them ever doing anything like that again.
They issued a sort of general warning to these colonists that they must cease
their antisocial activities, and leave their planet alone. It was ignored. Mankind
were still arrogant back then too.
The human colony remaining there was wiped out, and those who escaped
back to Earth were tracked back to their planet following the marker back to the
matter transfer machine location. The aliens started to rebuild their defense
machines to send to Earth and wipe them out.
Earth knew they were coming!
Here was the warning to evacuate!
The alien race did not have lightspeed technology, so their arrival at Earth
would be around two years to come.
With this information, the archeological picture was almost complete, and the
Earth people had been merciless as the legends had said, but not to each other.
To a peaceful alien race, who looked defenseless.
Once the archive had been loaded into the ships database, and the total picture
of the past events now irrefutably proven, the home planet sent an urgent
message back to them.
They were to locate the planet from where these mechanical cyborgs had
originated from, and report back its status. Under no circumstances are they to
engage, or land on the surface, but scan as much as possible. If needed, the
fighting ships could be dispatched to their locality if needed.
The archeological vessel, travelling at over lightspeed, could make it inside
three weeks. Luckily for Earth, these mechanical people didn’t have light speed
capability at the time of their Earth attack, otherwise the story would have been
radically different.
They arrived in the region of space of this planet, dropped to normal speeds
and immediately started to scan their solar system as they entered.
The target planet was found to be dead, totally lifeless, and it looked like it had
been for some time. Further, deeper scans produced results of massive fighting
taking place many centuries ago, and very little remaining on the surface.
There were no broadcasts coming from it and no transmissions or
communications across it, indicating that the drone they had captured and
currently on its way to the home planet still in an electronic coma, could only
have been triggered into action by the only signal that they knew had been
emitted millennia apart, and that was the firing of the matter transfer machine. It
must have been sent the first time, to eliminate humans on Earth, and then
parked somewhere relatively near, and wait for humans to build another
machine, wherever they had gone, and give their hiding place away.
With that sitting out there, it was lucky that no one took the plans of the
machine with them, or made another matter transfer device, as humanity with
all its colonies would have been annihilated, one by one, automatically.
As the archeology ship turned to make its way back to their home planet, the
final data was now loaded into the database, and the historical documents on the
home planet were changed to the new information. The priesthood, for so many
centuries, a power of guilt and fear, was ruled illegal, and placed on statute that it
can never return.
As expected, the killer craft was activated by detecting and locating the firing
of the matter transfer machine.
Even though this matter transfer machine was efficient, it would not be used
in its current form, just in case another killer craft was still lurking out there
somewhere.
In time, modifications to it would be made, frequencies changed perhaps, but
that’s for the future.
Archeology deals with the past.