by Yossi Soika
Once again I turned the Hertzcol on but nothing in it demonstrated the existence of life. I turned back and turned it on again. In a short while we detected something that was beyond our belief and we just froze there dumbstruck and confused. The screen of the Hertzcol showed an image of a pipe made of an unfamiliar material.
“It’s manmade,” we simultaneously broadcast to one another. Now it was beyond any doubt that life had prevailed on this planet.
“Melanie, let’s keep going! We have to find out what kind of life existed here and when ceased to exist.”
“I believe that life ceased to exist here because of the immensely low temperatures that froze the soil and covered the planet with a thick layer of ice.”
“Melanie, why don’t we ask the Hertzcol? Was there life here and when did the Ice Age begin here?” We transmitted to the Hertzcol.
To our great surprise, the Hertzcol displayed that the Ice Age had begun exactly five years ago.
“This means that we have reached a planet where life ended not long ago. This information is really fantastic… amazing…” Melanie transmitted enthusiastically. “No wonder we found remains of vegetation below the thick layer of ice. We must explore this planet that was only recently covered so thickly with ice.”
I turned the Hertzcol to full capacity and the snow melted quickly until clouds of steam billowed upward. Before long a giant pit opened and we could easily see the ground underneath it. We hovered lightly toward the open hole and immediately started to examine everything we found there. We turned on the Hertzcol again and very soon it displayed an image of a large pipe on its screen. After investigating if further we found out that is carrying hot water at an immense speed.
We marveled at this finding and unanimously transmitted, “There must be life somewhere nearby.”
“Follow the hot pipe!” I transmitted with excitement.
After doing a few more tests we returned to the surface of the glacier, activated the Hertzcol, and started to take pictures of it following the hot water pipe. It was not long before we retrieved new and amazing data. Three hundred feet from where we were we located a large cavity and a structure that was made of a substance that was unknown to me; the name of the substance appeared on the data screen.
“We are getting closer to some new findings!” I transmitted proudly, and hovered low above the surface. I stopped where I was for a moment and turned on Hertzcol to photograph the area. We detected a round, glimmering object protruding above the surface of the snow, at a distance of approximately 1/3 miles from where we were.
“Dan, we are very close to an amazing discovery!” Melanie transmitted enthusiastically. We quickly hovered over there and saw a big transparent glass ball with transparent pipes branching from it.
“What’s this? Is it a remnant of a lost civilization?”
But before I had made any speculations, we received an answer. The transparent ball and the branching pipes turned red like molten iron, while the enveloping ice quickly melted turning into water that was rapidly absorbed inside by the ball and flowed through the pipe system.
“Unbelievable!” I transmitted to Melanie. “There is life in this awful place!”
A Beginning or an End
“We must find out where the water is flowing and who uses it. Let’s get moving!” I ended my transmission and turned on the Hertzcol. Soon we saw a neighboring structure. It was semi-transparent and a very strange-looking structure.
Overwhelmed by our curiosity we easily floated around it and penetrated its walls. A close inspection revealed that it served for melting and compressing the ice into the branched pipes. With my curiosity piqued, I wanted to know where the water was flowing to and about the creatures we were about to meet. We were positively confident that life existed there. Then we directed the Hertzcol to the branched pipe system and melted the snow surrounding it.
“I’m sure that the pipeline leads to a settlement.”
We continued hovering, tracing the melting pipe system until we arrived at a wide reddish wall. We continued to marvel at our new discovery, but what was there behind that wall? We tried to figure it out together with growing amazement. Without hesitation we glided over wall. But, the moment we crossed it we froze, breathless at the sight of the landscapes of the world beneath the planet’s glaciers. For a long time we glided over a strange-looking region. There was a huge cavern underneath the sheet of white ice. Our astonishment doubled when we noticed, not far from us, big greenhouses full of elevated transparent trees with high canopies, which were laden with big fruits like we had never seen before. Giant, eagle-sized butterflies fluttered among the fruit trees and sucked from the tiny clusters of flowers that peeped out from between the fruit of the tree.
“This is strange,” I transmitted to Melanie. “I see no other animals or plants but the semi-transparent trees and the giant butterflies; but the way they are flying reminds me of strange, flying mechanical toys.”
Without thinking twice I directed the Hertzcol at a giant butterfly and waited a long time for the Hertzcol to analysis the findings and give us an answer: “Mechanical body… unfamiliar materials…” upon receiving this answer I directed the Hertzcol to the tree plantation and shortly received the result: “An advanced model of tree SJ23446; made of a mixture of materials; designed to supply a wide spectrum of minerals, vitamins, magnesium and more…”
“Melanie, it’s crazy: artificial trees that are meant to satisfy various needs.”
We continued our tour and soon we came to a cluster of beehives. Again the Hertzcol was directed at them and we received the result immediately: hives of artificial bees… suppliers of 15AF model honey.
“Could it be that staying beneath the surface of the ice has resulting in changing and reconstructing of new forms of life?” Melanie wondered. After a short tour of the new tree plantations, we continued to glide beneath the sheet of white ice. After gliding speedily along we reached a huge, open plain with a large intricate network of long transparent tunnels illuminated with reddish lights. When we got closer we found a strange-looking structure adjacent to the tunnel wall. These structures were also semi-transparent and they looked a lot like honeycomb.
“What beings live here? Do they resemble humans or are they completely different?”
We continued hovering on and entered the cover of the tunnel.
“Why doesn’t this city have footpaths for people or roads for vehicles?”
What I was most eager to know was where the locals were and what they looked like. Suddenly, without warning I saw a large ball flying straight in our direction.
“Be careful, Melanie!” I transmitted to her urgently and turned my head. However, it just passed us by quietly and after that a deep silence continued to prevail. I heard Melanie’s laughter echoing in my head.
“You’re such a space cadet, did you forget that we are still voyagers? – Nothing can hurt us, so wake up from your nightmare, you’re not human right now. And now, I guess you didn’t notice who was sitting in the passing ball. Well, my terrified friend, they were two humanoid creatures, and their ball was actually in a wagon shape; so now we have to follow them, find out who they are and where they are going.”
We easily caught up with their spinning ball and followed them. After a short ride, the wagon stopped at the front of a large structure. Two short creatures emerged from the wagon. They were about three feet tall, their disproportional heads were big and bald, their thin legs were somewhat bent. They wore tight clothing in shades of brown, but the weirdest thing was their tiny four hands that branched out at each side of their body.
“Are they humans or apes?” Melanie asked, deeply disappointed.
“Melanie, you are forgetting that we are currently standing at a world that was built beneath a sheet of ice. Why aren’t you not in wonderment see such a unique sight?”
But every
inch of her remained disappointed.
“We found a living and vibrant world in a place where we didn’t expect to find life; but the look of these creatures repulses you?!”
“Dan, I’m sorry, but their gloomy sad expressions give me an overbearing feeling of melancholy.”
Who are these creatures? Do they have blood in their veins? Do they need oxygen?
We just kept hovering in the wake of these strange creatures with their strange movements. After a short walk we entered a long narrow cylindrical structure, a corridor that led to a small hall where there were twenty almost identical creatures. The two of them marched directly to their seats, big balloon-like chairs with upper canopies that opened upward and locked when they occupied them. A few moments later an entourage of six creatures marched in, in the wake of someone who seemed to be their leader. He advanced, walking briskly, and climbed onto a stage with strange-looking seats. Everyone present arose immediately from their seats, and greeted him with a Nazi salute using both of their right arms, and then their leader repeated this gesture as a response.
“I’m your leader, and I know what’s good for you,” he asserted in a high-pitched screech. “I am the leader of the State of Verrucktland.” His small eyes ran in their sockets like a pig’s eyes, his little mustache below his nose started quivering in a rant.
Again he lifted his two right arms in a Nazi salute and yelled aloud, “Selected, distinguished scientists of our nation, I’m Verrucktler, the leader of the chosen nation which is above all other peoples on Planet Plentitude. Thanks to me, today we have supremacy and control over all the other peoples of our planet. I hereby inform you that we, the sons of the superior race are going to put an end to the Great War and to wreck what is left of the inferior party. They will have to surrender or die. Currently, many of our enemies are imprisoned in labor camps and they are going to be our slaves. The lazy and sluggish ones who were born with only two arms are deficient and must be eliminated – there is no place for inferior or maimed creatures. Good work demands four arms. The dawn of the big day is soon to come, and we will be the masters of the world. In a few hours we shall activate the biggest power multiplier in the world and we shall wipe the inferior ones, who are fortified behind strong and well-kept fortifications, from the face of the planet… their good luck is going to soon come to an end!!! We are the best… we are the master race and we are going to change the face of this planet.”
For a long time he paced up and down, saluting, his head swaying from side to side, and salvia slobbering from his quivering lips.
“It’s impossible, unbelievable.” I transmitted to Melanie, perplexed. “Are we really in a different world? Our world also experienced such a maniac.”
“Today is the day…” he continued shrieking gutturally. “Gather the members of our people at the Great Hall and tell them about the end of the Great War. Be on your way!” he concluded with a bloodcurdling yell.
Afterward, gradually large balls started to leave the homes on their way to the Great Hall, which became packed. They were dressed in their best clothes and the hall was decorated grandiosely; however their faces looked depressed and sad.
“What’s going on?” I transmitted to Melanie. “I see victory celebrations but where is the joy and cheer of the winners?”
“How can they be happy and cheerful under a frozen blanket of ice with no sunshine? Without delicious food, without the wide diversity which is associated with the word life?”
After the celebrations ended we hovered, following a couple that hurried back home. As soon as the door closed, they broke into bitter tears.
“My darling wife! We are nearing the end. We were wrong. We followed a maniac… How did we not see where he was leading us? I’m the chief scientist of an impeded nation who marched, like a herd of fools, in the wake of a madman. I helped this insane lunatic who led us down his crazy path. I, with my own hands, created the energy power multipliers which were supposed to give an abundance of light to the whole planet, and now, because of him, they function as exterminators of the Planet Plentitude. My darling, I’m so sorry for helping such a maniac put his evil schemes into practice. I helped him destroy the most beautiful planet in this planet system and to turn it to an eternal ice field. Recently we started to produce artificial insects in various sizes in order to rejuvenate our vegetation and we also conducted revolutionary experiments in planting artificial fruit-bearing plants, and now it’s all gone to waste.
Listen my darling, I will tell you a confidential state secret. Our situation is bad. We can no longer amend the great damage that we have made to Planet Plentitude. The power multipliers that destroyed the enemy have also caused terrible damage and mountainous clouds of dust have covered the sun’s eye. It will take five hundred years before the sun shines again on the face of Planet Plentitude. Without the sun, ours has become a frozen lifeless planet. Even though we have found a way to utilized the land of the planet to produce artificial food and to survive the period of the deep freeze, for another five hundred years, without the power multipliers we can do nothing. But worst of all is the apathy and disinterest as we face the approaching catastrophe. At this crucial moment, when all resources are needed, the maniac is doing the opposite and the result will be devastating. The madman’s dream to eliminate the inferior party and to be the exclusive and superior race is doomed to failure.
“Thousands years of development and progress have come to an end. The great maniac claims that with the help of the new power multiplier we will have infinite energy to solve all of our problems in the future. Darling, the herd of simpletons, or the Superior Race as the madman calls them, needs every shred of energy to supply oxygen and heat, to produce synthetic food. Our planet is about to collapse and fall apart. We need all our power multipliers to sustain the little we still have in our Verrucktland. In the maniac’s mad dash to gain control over Planet Plentitude he has destroyed everything in his way, allies, friends and enemies. We sent spacecraft to distant worlds and developed amazing technologies, but all of it is in vain. In a few years the spacecraft will return from distant planets to a desolate and frozen planet with no animals or plants… nothing will be left here… I have no doubt that the spacecraft will quickly abandon the planet and look for a new place to build their lives, that the crews of the spacecraft will become the nucleus of a new civilization. My only hope is that the lesson of our Planet Plentitude will never be forgotten and that never again will absolute power be given exclusively to one person, like the maniac who is destroying thirty thousand years of prolific technology that has given us a wonderful life of plenitude.
“And now we are at the last moments when the smaller and central power multipliers are going to bomb our imaginary enemy with Ultra Bonim waves. The bomb will empty the remaining power multipliers and destroy almost all of the remaining vegetation. Today very few plants, trees, and animals remain after the hard work of our most advanced laboratories. With no vegetation there will be no life cycle. Is this fact is a secret? I begged the maniac to stop military efforts several times, and to save the power multipliers for food production, but the psychopath only listens to his own words.”
“Is there nothing else you can do? Can’t you kill the madman, for sake of the future of the remaining people?”
“I just left the last meeting of the scientists with that madman, which was held in a closed spherical structure. Can you guess why? It’s very simple. The maniac is worried for his life… My darling, I know the madman’s nature – all hope is lost. I, and the rest of the herd of fools, brought him to the top of the pyramid and now we cannot cope with the great madman. We made a mistake! And the price is too high. In few hours I’ll have to operate again the energy multipliers only to bomb a handful of poor resistance fighters that have barricaded themselves in their last position.”
“What’s the point of bombing such small and powerless number?” the scientist’s wife ask
ed him in hushed, desperate voice.
“You are right, my dear, but the maniac is not going to stop until he reaches the end of his insane vision. And with it we will disappear from the map of the world too. I want to bid you a final farewell my darling wife. I know what will happen very soon.”
He hugged her for a long time, and left his home for the wagon that awaited him outside the house. Exactly an hour later a tremendous explosion was heard that shook the ground and all the houses. Many of the houses fell apart as if they were tiny foamy bubbles. The energy multiplier directly hit the energy multiplier of the resistance fighters, resulting in enormous and unexpected destruction. Vast surges of fire shot in all directions and occasionally earthquakes were felt. The last few defenders deserted their last stronghold and fled to smaller forts in the area.
“Look!” screamed the maniac, jumping with joy. “We beat the Inferiors! We are the masters of the universe!... I’m the new god… I am omnipotent! Long live the State of Verrucktland! I pronouncing hereafter a hundred thousand years of reign of the superior race!”
Large fractures started to crack the large protective tunnels, and great waves of cold gushed out to the underground world.
“We must operate the power multipliers to heat the residents’ homes,” the chief scientist told his leader, who stood on a table celebrating triumphantly with loud screams. Verrucktler didn’t hear a word.
“We must stop the last of the inferior fighters. They must not escape and stay free. I want the head of Satanlin, the leader of their party, here on my desk. And now for our last target. Aim the energy multipliers to the homes of the citizens. I want to listen to each and every one of my people. I must know who the enemies of the superior race are. Scientists, prepare the energy multipliers, from this moment on I want to hear even the most secret uttering whispered everywhere on Planet Plentitude. “