He awoke at first light and the sheep were milling about contentedly, none of them had died. As he sat upright he came face to face with several of The Old Ones who sat chewing away at several of the fruits, their knives standing upright in slices of purple.
“’Av’ a slice young’un. It’s slightly peppery, but very filling!”
“It might be poisonous.”
The Old Ones laughed.
The planet Trefalandia. Sector 12 Agri Empire.
It was fascinating after so many years spent seeding planets from orbit to be amongst the unharvested plants, to see them in their natural state of growth. Thick purple timbers grew into the sky and fruit regularly fell to be pounced upon by the burgeoning local wildlife that to me, seemed to be fairly intelligent for lowly Infestations.
Already a few scant years from the original sowing these strange, green coloured mammals that bore a passing resemblance to the Earthmen that had exiled me here, had found many uses for our Agri plants. The purple fruits and leaves supplied oils and fuel for their primitive steam machines that were made from the ancient wreckage of their long ago nuclear war. The larger leaves were processed into fabrics in which the creatures clothed themselves and some of the more mature timbers made the large dwellings in which they lived in tribal groups. Once upon a time the creatures had been half starved nomads forced by hunger to roam endlessly, but now with plentiful food they had increased in number and already had created roads through the dense forests to other groups with whom they shared knowledge.
I have found it fascinating to watch these primitives that our own Honourable Growers said did not exist. The Honourables lied and lied and lied; I accept that now as the truth. No one has come to rescue the survivors of the ‘Kinta V’ who, after such a long time have drifted away from each other. I did see the Under Astrogator Urfa VI a long time ago, but he was half mad and would float up to the canopy as far as he could and scream endlessly into the heavens if he saw the glow of a passing Agri transport ship in low atmosphere.
For now I watch the Infestations and help them when I can, a pastime for which The Honourable Growers, if they still exist, would summarily execute me.
A long time ago a group of the Infestations came to a chasm during the building of one of their first roads, little more than a glorified track actually. They stood in a group totally stymied. They couldn’t think of a solution that didn’t involve rerouting their road and making it much longer. I think they lacked the imagination then in the early days, not like now.
As they slept that night I cut a strong timber with my stingers and caused it to fall across the chasm, bridging the gap. Immediately they appreciated the logic of the solution and made a large leap forward in their primitive thought processes. I could almost see a new way of thinking take shape within them! I do admire them, for Infestations they are so adaptable and intelligent, it is amazing! Within days there was a substantial wooden bridge in place and many more were created in the following months.
I try not to let them see me, but I think sometimes they do.
Every year at the same time, oddly the anniversary of the crash of the ‘Kinta V’, the villages have a festival where they create a large effigy of an Agri. A large fire is lit beneath it and the green creatures dance around drinking alcoholic beverages.
How quaint!
Over the years I have noticed a lessening in the numbers of Agri ships passing near this planet and an increase in other craft that I believe are from the Blue Planet. It may not be long before the civilisation of the Trefas takes a quantum leap forward when the Earthmen make contact. Something we Agris would never have done.
I suddenly realize that this must be the only planet in the universe that welcomes the so called Jellyfish creatures and worships them as saviours!
THE SEEDING.
It is an odd predicament I find myself in. For the first time I have not been able to solve an Infestation problem. To add insult to injury, I am tied to my pilots chair as my spacecraft returns to AgriPrime 1935. And also, an example of the Infestation inhabits my control room. The creature is a mammal from the planet I have just visited, a newly seeded world and it has spent the flight time alternately peering through the view-ports and looking into my ocular orifices, screaming.
My translation machine struggles with the sounds from the mammal and has yet to succeed in translation.
I am the foremost Infestation Investigator of AgriPrime 1935. Where others struggle and fail to solve crop problems I succeed. That is why I was called to the Council Chambers last day-cycle.
It is a great honour to enter the Council Chambers and float to the centre of the great circle where the twelve Honourable Growers preside. They watch and control the seeding of thousands of worlds growing food to satisfy the voracious appetite of the AgriPrime 1935 System and its population of Tetra-Billions.
The dense atmosphere of AgriPrime 1935 is a beautiful darkness of green nearly impenetrable by sunlight.
Tapping my hanging fronds against each other, I said, “Infestation Investigator Gal. Present as requested.”
From across the Great Circle none other than President Tak responded, “Gal there is a serious Infestation problem in sector seven and we wish you to look into it.”
“Of course my President.”
“You may not be so eager when I tell you that you are the third Investigator we have informed.”
Immediately I was filled with the arrogance of knowing that I was the best Investigator of them all, “What problems did the previous Investigators encounter?”
I was shocked by the answer.
“They never returned to tell.”
Lost for words, I realized that in all the millennia of the AgriPrime planets, this had never happened before! Again, in my conceit I realized if I returned a favourable outcome from this investigation, I could be elevated to the position of Honourable Grower!
“I will leave immediately, my President.”
The planet appeared to have a thin atmosphere and was mostly covered in salt water. In other words; a marginal growing area. However, our teeming population must not endure hunger under any circumstances!
I zeroed in on the area where I had been told that the previous Investigators had landed. Indeed there was much evidence of Infestation. The lush dark purples of the Feeder Plants were interspersed with the browns of dying vegetation and the grey rubble of the primitive buildings that our Agri sowing had destroyed, blessed be to The Great Maker!
Just by the colouring I surmised the problem to be a Mammalian Infestation. I readied the Virus Sprayers on the outside of my craft and prepared to home in on the darkest brown area.
As my craft descended it moved along tall canyons of stone where the Infestations once lived their primeval lives. Square holes were let in all of the rock faces to allow in strong yellow sunlight. For the benefit of their ocular receptors, I assumed. Definitely a lower life form!
Suddenly from a large square opening I came upon several Infestations and how revolting they were; four appendages and a small round upper appendage with oculars and a feeding orifice from which they also issued communication noises. Ugh!
I flicked the sprayers on and the creatures quickly dissolved leaving only their pitiful skeletal support structures.
“This will be easy,” I thought, seeing in my minds-ocular, an exalted position for myself as an Honourable Grower.
From another opening across from my craft I saw more Infestations with a tubular device pointing at my craft. I manoeuvred closer and prepared to operate the sprays again when the tubular device spat a small metallic object. How archaic!
The Infestations issued unintelligible noises, “Wire-guided missile away!” My translator was no use, having problems with the concept of mammalian speech, if indeed that is what it was.
The metallic object impacted my craft and there was an uncontrolled burst of energy similar to a primitive chemical explosion. My craft lost power and everything went dark!
I quickly came back to consciousness and found my main stem covered with my vessels emergency breathing apparatus. Some of my fronds were uncovered but the majority is bound by cables to the pilot seating.
Around me several examples of the Infestations worked on my vessel to make a primitive repair to the hull breach and to load large metallic cylinders with primitive runes upon them. My translator still struggled with the runic patterns that meant nothing to me, such as, “Russian Federation Thermo Nuclear Device Type 4f,” and “NASA Inert Nuclear Pile E7cd.”
A tall Infestation climbed into my craft and screeched to the others, “Hurry up guys! From our examination of the other two craft the AntiGrav will kick in soon and off it will go back to the Jellyfish Planet and take you with it.”
A small Infestation withdrew his head from the innards of the control panel and screeched back, “Jellyfish, what’s that?”
The tall Infestation relaxed against the door, “When I was seven years old, just about when the Sowing Ships were gathering around Earth prior to seeding, my momma took me to the seaside and I saw a sea creature that looked just like our friend here.”
Some more time passed and my Translator struggled on to no avail. The Infestations finished their work and left leaving the tall one with me. He screeched a few times to those outside and the door was closed. Lifting a transparent helmet onto his head he fixed it to the rest of his garment, “Pressurize.” he screeched and suddenly my emergency breathing apparatus withdrew itself as the atmosphere thickened to delightful AgriPrime 1935 purple.
I heard cables dragged away over the hull above me and the craft became buoyant under the growing AntiGrav. The Infestation gazed out of the ports as we attained orbit and accelerated in the direction of AgriPrime.
The voyage would take approximately two day-cycles.
We are now entering the atmosphere of AgriPrime 1935 and the Infestation is moving controls on the metallic cylinders. With a shock I realize that I can understand him. The translator has finally figured out the mammalian speech!
“Infestation, what are you doing?” I shout.
He shows his odd little teeth and screeches, “Your race destroyed my civilization by seeding Earth with those enormous and vile purple plants. Do you know they would often wrap their tendrils around us and slowly kill for no good reason? Do you know what it is to see your whole civilisation obliterated? Everyone you know and love killed? Well you’re about to find out!”
Fear grips me for AgriPrime 1935.
“Explain to me, Infestation!”
“Infestation! Well that just about sums it up! In a few minutes I will detonate my not so little friend here,” he taps an appendage on one of the metallic cylinders and I feel panic welling up within me as I finally realize what is happening, “We from Earth are about to do a little seeding, ourselves!”
I am screaming and struggling in my seat as I contemplate a large nuclear explosion within the dense atmosphere of the home planet. The Infestation holds a digit over a button and turns to look at me.
“No, no, no!” I screa...
ALL THE CONDEMNED.
The Grower;
My name is Gall II. I am the Lord High Executioner of AgriPrime planet No.332, one of the last Executive Planets of the AgriPrime Empire.
Our once great Empire spanned untold light-years and thousands upon thousands of planets with a total population in the Tetra-Billions. Until the mammal in the next room along with many of his race, did his dastardly work. He is the Infestation I am here to execute.
I am in the Palace of the Honourable Growers and it sits upon a hill above the teeming city that covers the entire planet. It is where The Honourable Growers once would visit from AgriPrime 1 and meet with their counterparts on this planet to decide important matters such as which planets to sow to feed the rapacious growth of our Empire's population.
But no more.
Since the unspeakable atrocity committed upon AgriPrime 1935, our organisational and distribution network is destroyed and Tetra-Billions are starving and will certainly die.
Taking the life of the lowly creature in the cell next door is surely poor recompense!
The Infestation;
I am Jack Thompson Soldier of Earth. At this moment I am sat in a white plastic-walled cube. The Jellies have provided a bed and a waste disposal facility in an Earth-type atmosphere, but nothing more. At my right a large closed Iris occupies a complete wall and on my left is a wall that occasionally changes from opaque to transparent when one of the 'Jelly-Fish' creatures wants to talk or observe.
The so-called Council of Honourable Growers have tried me for genocide and condemned me to death. I was given no opportunity to defend myself or indeed speak at all. Eight of the Jellies had floated behind the transparent wall in the dense purple atmosphere of the planet, thrashing their fronds angrily against the wall and each other as they ranted and screamed at me via their Universal Translators.
I was accused of detonating a nuclear device in the dense atmosphere of the AgriPrime 1935. Of course I was not guilty because at that time I was already en-route from Earth to this secondary nexus of the Jellies' Empire aboard a hijacked Seeder ship. The ship was loaded with the finest and dirtiest nuclear weapons we could salvage! Only a fault with the alien engines near the eighteenth moon had allowed the Jellies to board the ship and capture me.
Although the aliens have searched me, they were not familiar with the physiology of what they obviously regarded as no more than a plant 'Infestation' and hence they had not found the thin metal disk set into the skin of my shoulder. It is an attack monitor that is transmitting continuously.
I lie back onto the bed, close my eyes and immediately escape the nightmare of a life I have led for nearly three decades. I am back on Cocoa Beach near Canaveral when I was younger...
I run along the beach towards my parents with a seven year olds enthusiasm after dipping my feet in the cold thrashing Atlantic surf, "Cold mummy, cold!"
"Jack Thompson! If you get me wet...." Mother laughs.
I am oblivious to the worry on mother's face and the deep lines around Father's eyes. My parents occasionally cast furtive glances into the daytime sky that is ablaze with the floating stars of the arriving Seeders, but of course they don't know exactly what is happening. Some people argue that it isn't a fleet of spaceships at all, but a natural phenomenon despite the nightly news videos that showed spherical metallic structures with green spheres covering their lower hulls.
NASA has sent a quickly refurbished space-shuttle up as an emissary vessel and the video of its destruction is still shown nightly on TV.
Soon the Seeders will release the enormous purple globes that will float leisurely down to Earth. The vile pods will explode in the upper atmosphere to release fine gaseous clouds of spores to be spread by the winds. The alien plants will then grow at an alarming rate that will overwhelm our primitive civilisation and cover the landmasses totally.
I run along the beach again, stopping to peer into the surf and utter a disgusted squeal then run back to my parents, "Mummy, mummy, Jellyfish!"
The Grower;
I am curious as to the motivation of a mere Infestation to attack us, if indeed they posses anything but a rudimentary intelligence at all!
The tank is opaque on all three walls of the execution chamber. Making one transparent I get my first look at the mammal and it is an ugly sight for my oculars indeed! It possesses a pale body with four limbs and a globular mass uppermost that holds its oculars and feeding orifice.
Surely this pitiful creature could not be responsible for the destruction of a whole planet and the starvation of Tetra-Billions?
Clicking on my translator, I 'talk' to it, "Hail and hear me, Infestation. I am Gall II, Lord High Executioner of AgriPrime 332."
The creature turns it's 'head' and its feeding slit turns up at each side to form a slight curve. Its shows small bone-like teeth as it speaks, "So you're the Jelly that gonna’' turn out my lig
hts, eh?"
I am taken aback by the obvious disrespect to my High Office. The creature is apparently intelligent to some degree and this is unheard of in all of the Mammalian Infestations we of AgriPrime have encountered!
"Show respect, Infestation."
It lies back on its bed, "Or what, Jelly? You gonna’' hurt me?"
It then issues repetitive sounds of amusement.
I try a different approach, "Infestation, why do you murder my people indiscriminately and for no reason?"
It sits up quickly on the bed. I note its increased pulse rate and severe mental agitation as it looks directly at me to say, "I should really ask you the same question."
The reply is totally beyond my comprehension, "Elucidate." I ask the lowly creature.
The creature shakes its head in disbelief, "You Jellies just don't understand what I am nor where I come from, do you? You see yourselves as the most sentient, advanced civilisation in the galaxy. Well, my race now sees yours as a vile plague to be utterly destroyed!"
My consciousness is astounded by the alien concepts created by the Infestation. I suspect that the Council of Honourable Growers urgently needs to re-evaluate this particular species.
"Tell me of your planet, you’re..," I pause barely able to use the next word in relation to the Infestation," ...'civilisation' as you are able to see it. It may amuse me."
"I am Commander Thompson of the Third Terran Attack Group. Our first Attack Group was responsible for the destruction of your home world AgriPrime 1935. They hijacked one of your Infestation-Investigation Craft and loaded it with nuclear weapons. On its return to AgriPrime 1935, the weapons were detonated in the dense atmosphere, totally destroying all Jellies therein."
I am revolted by the disparaging term used to describe the race of The Honourable Growers and our supreme right to Unfettered-Growth/Feeding throughout the galaxy, "Then by your own admission you are a savage and a murderer!"
Into the Great Darkness Page 6