Destiny Earth

by Tony Mazzarella

  “You aren’t going to believe this,” said Will “They are, in almost all cases, an exact match to that of Earth.”

  “I knew it! I knew it had to be!” said Stanzic, once again embracing Will tightly.

  “How could you have known? That’s nearly impossible. Being a planetary science professor, wasn’t it you who taught me the theory of unique biological evolution? That each planetary body has such varying factors as to make any similarity in chemical makeup impossible?”

  “Don’t believe everything you read. I thought I also taught you to question every theory and use that thing perched on your neck.”

  Will couldn’t help but feel like he was back in university; these were the usual exchanges that took place back in those days.

  “The crystalline composition of the rock above us, how do you think that might have been formed?” asked Stanzic.

  He could see Will thinking, and he also felt like he was back in school with his old pupil. His normal practice was to let his students ponder a question, and if they didn’t respond quickly enough he would give the answer, assuming they didn’t know. He was pleasantly surprised when Will began to lay out a theory.

  “Well, I would think that extreme heat being exposed to the sand and stone had something to do with it. Some kind of natural evolution of some type, maybe volcanic—”

  “That would be insufficient for such perfect crystalline form,” snapped Stanzic. “The rock formations look like smooth glass in places. The only possible explanation would be an impact of such great force, that these elements were fused together to form what we now see as a natural wonder.”

  “An impact? What kind of an impact? That’s a pretty far-out theory.”

  “How do you think this area was carved out like it is?” asked Stanzic adamantly. “The rest of the planet has none of these features. Yes, an immense impact created this whole area hundreds of thousands—maybe millions of years ago.”

  “If that were the case, wouldn’t there be some evidence like material from this impact? If it was that big, there would be chemical proof of some type. Some differing…”

  Will was interrupted by the sight of a large silver door blocking their path.

  “What is this?” asked Will.

  “This is the evidence you asked for. The answer to the riddle is behind this door.”

  Stanzic walked to a control console, where he once again put his eye to the retina scanner. The sound of large locks being opened echoed through the tunnel. Will peered in, but it was very dark inside and he couldn’t see what was behind the door.

  “Go ahead Will, walk through.”

  “Lars, the last time I walked ahead of you into a dark room—it didn’t work out all that well. You first.”

  Stanzic smiled and certainly understood his hesitation; he stepped through the door and Will followed.

  “Let me get to the light console. Ah yes, here we go,” said Stanzic, throwing a small red lever.

  As the lights snapped on, Will was stunned at what he saw before him. “That…that’s impossible. How can that be here? That can’t be here,” said Will, quickly becoming short of breath.

  He felt his knees getting weak and started to feel sick, as if he had just stepped out of the transport after his terrifying ride. He sat on a large stone and just stared up at it with nothing but questions.

  “You see,” said Stanzic reaching a hand out to help him up. “This is the proof that humanity’s origin on Mars began here, deep underground, from an object from another world bringing the seeds of life.”

  Will slowly got to his feet and approached the object before him. He reached up and touched the leg of the creature whose bones stood fossilized in the rock above him. It was the same. It had to be. It was a creature just like the ones he’d discovered on Earth, just like the creature Jonas called Fat Bob.

  “Look at it,” said Stanzic. “When they found it, you hadn’t yet discovered that these creatures inhabit Earth. They thought they’d found some unknown creature that inhabited Mars’ past. It was only after Telos seven that they knew it was more than that. That’s when I got involved. Your study of the plant life is no mere coincidence. It makes perfect sense.”

  “Perfect sense?” asked Will.

  “Yes! There must have been some huge impact of a meteor or asteroid on Earth that ejected matter into space. We’ve theorized that this is possible but never found any hard evidence. It must have been an immense object to eject something of the magnitude that eventually found its way here and partially survived the impact. The heat and force of the impact vaporized all but the core of the object, causing the effect we see above in the mountains surrounding this spot. Within this core, the seeds of life from Earth eventually found their way to the surface in all forms.”

  “Lars, I admit that could be an explanation, but do you really think—”

  “Wait, there’s more. Upon further excavation, look what else we’ve uncovered.”

  Stanzic walked over to a large area containing metal shelves that housed a variety of objects.

  “Were these all pulled from here?”

  “Yes, Will, from the core. Look. Fossilized seedlings, plants, and small animals. I can’t explain what factors have to take place for life to erupt spontaneously, but this is the cradle of life on Mars. I’m sure of it. You proved the plant life is the same as on Earth. We both know how impossible a thing that is.”

  “If the plant life originated from here, why didn’t creatures like our friend here somehow evolve from the ashes?” asked Will. “And there’s no evidence I’ve seen that we could have evolved from any of this.”

  Stanzic motioned for Will to follow as he walked around the large fossilized creature and came to a much smaller silver door like the one they had just come through. He once again looked into the scanner, and the door began to open.

  “Will, look at your ancestor. He is the beginning of mankind on Mars.”

  Inside this chamber were the assembled bones of what appeared to be a primitive humanoid.

  “He has the same basic structure with the exception of the skull, but there is no doubt that this is early man.”

  “I can’t believe this. This is amazing. Look at him. It’s as if he’s some distant brother,” said Will, touching his face.

  “Not so distant. I theorize that the impact had several effects. It entombed the objects in the core deep underneath the planet’s surface, where we are now. As I said before, it vaporized much of the matter on the outside but I believe there was a third result. As the core burrowed through Mars’s crust, it left residue from Earth—seedlings, life-generating chemicals, and yes, the DNA of man. Our large friend here,” said Stanzic pointing to the fossilized creature. “may not have had the seeds of his creation spread across the surface so his remains are all that survived, but we were luckier. The environmental conditions on Mars were such that the evolution happened different here, but just slightly. Maybe our skulls had to evolve different here to compensate for the difference in temperature, atmospheric pressure, or gravitational forces. We’ve seen examples of this in nature, creatures that change based on their environmental conditions. Why should our evolution be any different?”

  “I don’t understand. If this is the truth, why hasn’t any of this been made public?” asked Will.

  “It’s about control,” Stanzic continued. “The government has taken great pains to keep the people of all provinces in control since unification. Whether it’s big government programs to make the people think they are being cared for or control by force, it equates to the same thing: a mindless citizenry going about their daily lives oblivious to the fact that their government is slowly enslaving them.”

  “I know the government has taken a pretty hard line since unification, but isn’t it for the best until all provinces fully integrate?”

  “Integrate?” asked Stanzic, with distain in his tone. “One could say that integration means losing some of ourselves in the process. Once we’
re all the same, it’s easy to control us. We’d have no original thought left but what the government wants us to have.”

  “What does any of this have to do with what you’ve found here?”

  “Don’t you see what this means? The biggest force of control the government has is religion. I don’t care if it’s the Cholan’s god or the gods of Sian, it doesn’t matter. If the people have something greater than themselves to believe in, it provides hope and keeps the masses calm and in line. This is proof that every religious theory on the creation of life is wrong. We weren’t created; we were seeded from our sister planet in an unlikely catastrophic event. If this were to get out, there’d be anarchy That’s why they don’t want this information to get out. That’s why my life is in danger and yours would be too if they thought you knew. Now do you see why I have had to go through such measures to protect you?”

  Stanzic looked down as a red light began to blink on a console near the door. He threw a switch, and the outside view came up on the monitor.

  “Someone has found the transport. It looks like a military patrol.”

  “The access way is closed; they can’t possibly find us in here,” said Will.

  “They will certainly try to find the owner of that vehicle, which means they will be there for some time. We have precisely three hours and fifteen minutes to get back to the hologram chamber in the observatory without being seen. This is a problem.”

  “I’m sure there are many tourists with transports around here. Why the interest in this one?”

  “Most tourists aren’t driving an untraceable, illegal, petroleum-powered GS940. They won’t get me to drive one of their lumbering air-powered contraptions. You know, in my day everyone had these, and we didn’t ruin anything.”

  “Lars! Don’t you think we should focus on the problem?”

  “Sorry. The mind tends to drift these days. Well, we can’t go back out the way we came—at least not now. What we need is a diversion, something to cause those soldiers to be recalled, and I know just the thing.”

  Stanzic opened a small cabinet door and pulled out several silver explosive orbs. They were small enough that he was able to fit several in the palm of his hand.

  “What are you going to do with them?” asked Will.

  “I invented these to help us excavate certain areas where we need more than a hammer and chisel. I think we need more than that in this situation. Wouldn’t you agree?”

  Will just shook his head in disbelief at the events that had unfolded on what was supposed to be a vacation. Stanzic put on a brown uniform like the one Will was wearing and walked toward a smaller tunnel that branched off to the left.

  “Where are we going?”

  “We are going into the heart of Abysson, the underground city.”

  The tunnel went up for a few hundred feet to the point where the rock changed from its dark form to the brilliant crystal formations. The surroundings changed drastically, and Will felt as if he was walking through a tunnel carved out of glass.

  “Is this where the core ends?” asked Will.

  “Yes. As you can see, everything above was transformed from the heat of the impact, all the way to the surface. This is the original passageway that they dug out when they discovered the core.”

  The tunnel eventually led to another small, thick, silver door with a retina scanner.

  “This is a secret entrance to the city. Once we’re through, you must keep your hat and mask on to avoid being identified,” said Stanzic as he put them on.

  Will couldn’t help but notice his bushy gray eyebrows were clearly visible above the mask and anyone who knew him would have no trouble identifying him by this one trait.

  Stanzic looked into the retina scanner, and the door slid open. They had come into what looked like a modern apartment. There was a refrigerator, a bed, and all the comforts of home.

  “Lars, what is this place?” asked Will.

  “This is your average dwelling set up for the lower class government officials should this place ever need to be used. It helps to conceal the entrance to the…well, to…it. I simply stroll out my door, and no one would ever suspect. Even if they look in, all they’ll see is my nice, neat living quarters. Now listen. Why don’t you wait here, and I’ll take care of the diversion.”

  “Not on your life. I’m coming with you,” demanded Will.

  “I’d be disappointed if you didn’t,” said Stanzic with a teacher’s pride.

  They walked from the room and down a large hallway past, what Will thought, had to be at least a hundred silver doors, just like the one he and Stanzic had come out. The hallway emerged from the rock into an enclosed glass walkway that fed into a central atrium, allowing for a magnificent view of the city. Trees and large exotic plants adorned the atrium, making it feel like part of the Folands rainforest above.

  “This is incredible. Look at the size of this place!” said Will as he tried to absorb the enormity of the governments creation.

  The view from the walkway overlooked the main city complex. It looked to Will like an area at least a mile long and a mile high had been carved out of the crystalline rock. There were many walkways that led in and out of the stone walls that surrounded the city, and Will assumed that those led to living quarters like the ones they had just come through. In the center of the complex, they had created a large lake surrounded by lush green vegetation. Several large mirrors somehow captured the sunlight from the transparence of the rock and channeled it to simulate dim sunlight.

  “This is amazing. Trees, grass, water, all thousands of feet below the surface.”

  “Tens of thousands, actually,” said Stanzic in his usual professorial manner. “Everything you see here is self-sustaining. This city can produce enough food to feed its inhabitants indefinitely. Water is easy, as they’ve tapped into many underground sources. Sunlight is simulated, as you can see above; they even turned down the brightness because it’s evening. In the daytime those mirrors will shine as bright as the sun.”

  “Why aren’t there many people here? I see some workers and military, but that’s about it.”

  “Don’t forget, this is only for a catastrophic emergency. Right now, they have limited personnel here so they can keep it secret. Did you notice that most of the workers are Cholan? Since the war, they’ve used Cholan laborers in our government under the guise of reaching out. It’s slave labor, if you ask me. They pay them little and work them long, and they know they’ll keep their mouths closed under threat of their families being harmed.”

  “What has this world become?” asked Will shaking his head in disgust. “I had no idea things were so bad. I’ve been so focused on Telos, that I allowed myself to be oblivious to all of this.”

  “There’s no time for regrets. We need to put these orbs underneath the water purification tower down by the lake. I have them set for a three-minute delay, so we have to be fast.”

  The large atrium had four sets of stairs that led down to various parts of the city. Stanzic led Will down the stairs and over to the tower, which was quite a sight. It stood almost one hundred feet high and was one of three purification towers in the complex.

  “It’s almost a shame we have to do this,” said Will.

  “Not to worry. They have established manufacturing facilities down here, so there is no need to bring in anyone from the outside. The maintenance team will have this fixed in a matter of days. The other thing we’ll have going for us is that they’ll suspect Cholan government separatists for this. There have been other incidents of rebellion, so the pinheads investigating will jump to that conclusion.”

  Stanzic carefully placed three orbs at three different locations on the bottom of the tower. As he placed the round orbs onto the tank and applied pressure, they immediately adhered to it and flattened out to form themselves to the shape and color of the tank. He tapped each orb once to arm and once to activate; each tap was followed by a beep. He then quickly walked toward the stairway with Will followin
g right behind.

  “We have to go now,” whispered Stanzic, hurrying back to the stairs.

  As they reached the top of the stairway, they walked briskly through the atrium, making sure not to draw attention. That’s when they heard the first explosion. It wasn’t powerful enough to take down the tower, but looking down, Will could see that water gushed from the jagged hole it left. Soon after the first, the second explosion rang out, and then the third. The tower had now become so weakened that it began to lean slowly and then fell with a thunderous crash. Water burst out from all sides of the mangled tower and flooded the grassy area near the lake.

  As Will and Stanzic reached the entrance that led back into the rock face, they had to move aside for military personnel rushing past them to the scene. They quickly walked past the many doors that lined the hall, to the one they had originally come out of. Stanzic quickly opened it and they entered the room.

  “We must hurry; we now only have two hours and thirty minutes to get back to the observatory,” mumbled Stanzic through his mask, as he once again looked into the scanner to open the secret, inner door.

  “Come, Will. Hurry,” said Stanzic, as he took off running down the crystalline tunnel.

  “I’m hurrying! You run pretty fast for an older man,” yelled Will.

  “Ah, yes, I do try to keep in shape. Every morning I try to—”

  “Lars, can we please discuss your exercise routine another time?”

  “You spend too much time sitting in front of that Telos console. It might do you some good to get some exercise every now and then, for moments like this.”

  “Oh right,” panted Will sarcastically, under his breath. “Because you never know when you might need to quickly escape a secret city, after sabotaging their water supply. I’ll hit that treadmill as soon as I get home.”

  As they returned to the main chamber, Stanzic immediately ran to the console that had a view of the outside, to see if the soldiers had left. Unfortunately, they still stood trying to figure out what to make of the hot-rodded transport. Just as Stanzic was about to give up and think of a new plan, he could see one of the soldiers answer his com.