Theme-Thology: Invasion

by Inc. HDWP

  The survey rules limit what is actually taken off planet when a survey is completed, and the object was not included. For a moment I debated leaving it, and resolved the issue, realizing it was not excluded by the rules.

  I was hungry and went to prepare food. I set the object on a shelf within view and prepared a meal. Nothing unusual. Merely a regular hydrated-and-heated ration from the onboard stores. A bit of the fresh berry-melon. The rations tasted different, not strange. but not the same either. There was a nuance in texture that I found interesting. The fragrance was subtly intoxicating and had an intensity I could not really define. The normally blah packaged food had what could be described as brighter than before flavors. The colors were more intense and quite pleasing. But it all seemed right. My stomach was happily filled and I tidied up.

  There was a whoosh in the distance and I was aware of the companion close by.

  “You have had a rest and refreshment,” I was told. “Can you take some time and help me understand the vessel you use for the travels?”

  Over the next unknown period I walked the passages and tested all of the equipment, explaining everything as I progressed. It seemed like no time had passed when I finished the tour, but I was hungry. Ravenous. The companion stayed with me as I prepared another meal. While it was processing, I noticed the time difference and wondered how I could possibly have miscounted by 2 sleep cycles. I shook it off and ate my meal. Again it seemed different, but I could not quite dial in what it was.

  My companion directed me back to the main control center, from where I controlled everything. When I was awake, that is. I pulled up all of my reports and reviewed them, looking for something as yet unknown. The companion stood close by, watching the screens as they flowed with information. I saw myself speaking, but it all seemed fresh and new, like someone else had prepared it.

  “I know there are many questions you have. Take a sleep cycle and we will speak to you with answers.” I nodded my assent numbly and headed out to my sling. It only took moments before I was drifting into sleep. And back home before departure.

  Departure.

  “The crisis before us is more serious than we expected,” lectured the chief. “At this time we have isolated only a handful of planets that will allow our people to survive.” I reflected on many I had been to. Each had issues and I had not yet located a proper candidate for migration.

  “If we begin the departures now, there is a strong likelihood we can get at least 40% of the selected off planet in the next couple of months. Each of the sites targeted will provide a stable environment and resources for our population to expand to the future. The colonies, as we consider them, will not have to bother with terraforming. The population should grow at a comfortable pace, expanding over the occupied landmass. Eventually they will be building their own ships and expanding to other planets. Thus we shall survive.”

  As he droned on my mind kept seeing all of the little lights in the big room. Each light was red, yellow or green. When the display was set to motion I could see bright blue markers, each veering off to its destination. All of the green lights eventually had a set of blue markers. There was a large field of blue off to the side, each representing a selected group without a set destination. These groups did not have, as yet, a green dot to match up with. If we had to, they would take a chance with a handful of yellow dots. Those sites were likely to meet the needs of a new population. Not fully surveyed and vetted, it was likely they would be fine, but there was no certainty.

  “Within the next 5 years the environment here will be near the total collapse point, and life as we experience it will become marginal. Every year after the population will diminish until civilization collapses. You don’t want to be here then because we will have become a Red site, not safe to live on” finished the chief.

  I awoke with a start, surprised to find I was in my sling. The dream had been so real I fully expected to be home. After a few blinks of my eyes I considered where I was. On a yellow light. A planet that might be suitable for a population. But would it be right for our people to invade this quiet planet? A place where the weather was unlikely to spawn anything like the cyclones of home. A place where the polar extreme was a frosty day and the equatorial extreme might mean a sunburn, like one’s first trip to the beach in the springtime.

  I began the process of collecting those items I really wanted to bring back with me. It was a long time between home and the survey sites. Having faced long periods of boredom before, I wanted something new to do if the stasis unit had to awaken me mid voyage. When that occurred it usually meant something needed a minor fix, or, perhaps, just some babysitting until arriving at home.

  This trip would require a 13 month flight time under normal parameters. Each fold required massive energy and there were 3 Forte’ engines to provide it. I was going to push that down to 9 months. There was a risk the ship would burn out an engine, but the two remaining could get me home without an issue, and one with a bit more patience. I had been there before, hence the specialty tools and manuals for repairs. The urgency was there because it meant 3 years elapsed time since I had last departed. 3 years of 5 remaining, and I had found the greenest planet ever. Of that I was certain.

  “Greetings.”

  I was caught by surprise and felt relief when I recognized my observer. This was the one that had come down to me that first time 4 months ago. One full orbit around the primary star was the period called for in the manuals, but there was no time to waste. It was an urgency I could not describe, and a certainty that this was the ultimate home.

  I felt trepidation as we faced each other. How could I reveal that this planet was the most perfect place for our people? That soon there would be a population settling in and slowly expanding across the globe. I couldn’t. There was nothing I could say, nothing I would say.

  “We waited until we were certain there was understanding before we chose to speak to you.” Many of us have observed you. And we now know the time is right to speak.”

  “You have been here at our home collecting information, as you call it. You have been preparing for your departure. I am here to tell you that you shall not return.”

  I sputtered and choked. “What do you mean I shall not return?” I cried. “I am almost finished. I will, if it is agreed, need to guide the others to this place. The ship is nearly ready for travel. You were there when I inspected…” and it hit me. “You were there for everything. You were learning. The object you brought me was for communication. It has been eavesdropping on me all this time.”

  “Yes, you have been studied in great detail. We know all you do about this ship. We know your motives. We understand it is your plan to bring your people here and populate. You will make large communities you call cities, rip tears in the living lands about us to move machines and people.”

  I stood there. I knew what I was hearing was the truth. Somehow it was all out in the open and I was helpless. There was no magic. The ship was some distance away and I had strong doubts I would make it to the ship, let alone get inside and secure before the observer could join me.

  “Yes,” I replied “The plan is to move our population to a new place. Many new places, and continue our existence.” I started to squirm hoping I could in some way come out of the situation alive. “We have begun the process, and there are many that will bring new lives to places new to us. This place, your home, is as perfect a place as we could imagine. There is a hope, on my part at least, that we could share.”

  “Share,” was the response. “We understand your word share as you use it now means ownership among a group.”

  “Yes,” I replied “there is ownership in one definition. It also means to use among a group or by groups. We are one people, you are another, and it would mean we participate singly or together.”

  “We have discussed among ourselves a similar thought and have determined we can easily accept you to this place. Have you any idea how this might work? How many of you can arrive befo
re it is too late? How will you arrive? When might others arrive?”

  ‘This was easy,’ I thought to myself. The numbers had been run before I left and were at hand. We discussed the details in as much depth as possible. I kept hoping that by discussing it there might be a way for me to survive. The companion was able to offer suggestions of locations and numbers of my people they could support. I shared the information to the computer and, amazingly, it was pretty much in agreement with the plan

  After a few more sleep cycles we had pretty much wrapped up the plan. I found much relief that the current inhabitants were so open to our arrival. Some of the earlier survey planets had already been occupied, and it was not always a pretty thing when we landed. I was now comfortable that I would survive this mission after all.

  We knew much of the terrain from automated orbital surveys, and where the significant resources were located. This information was what made a planet a yellow dot. The plan had always been to locate and land. Anything that was in the way had been sorted out by the detachment of Space Marines accompanying the colonists. Colonies had been made safe, at times, by total extermination of local species within a couple hundred klicks of the landing sites.

  The pattern was to have communities scattered into clusters around a region with varied terrain, always in a more hospitable environment to assure the best survivability. It would do no good to place everyone on a level region only to discover it was under 20 meters of water every century. Or a place that was subject to random wildfires or atmospheric anomalies that could level a community within minutes or hours.

  It never mattered to the planners what the locals were like, it was always the same. I had hopes that it would be better here, that we would not have to arrive like an invading force and take over. We were being invited to come. To spread all around the planet. The maps showed that with this approach there would be plenty of room and settling in would be quick.

  After some assistance from a handful of companions the last of the needed reaction mass was stowed and it was time to return home with my data and reports. My companion had been mistaken, I was returning. As I prepped for the launch, I noticed the object was there in its niche. It was comforting to see and the cabin was filled with a soft fragrance that was so relaxing. As I made orbit, I let the computer do its job. I said “Go home” and it measured the skies and did all of the calculations. All I had to do was sit back and pretend to enjoy the beverage that would prep me for the stasis chamber. As the ship slipped into travel mode I climbed into my pod and activated it knowing I should wake on the far side of the journey home.

  Final

  “Bob!” I found it. I found our new home.

  I joined Bob and others of the survey team here at home in the debrief lodge. There was much to cover, and it was far more efficient to send everyone to a remote location to review the reports and collected data. Meanwhile a scrub team would go over the ship with much care and gusto. Nothing was to be missed. Every nook, cranny, chamber and crack was inspected and wiped with special textiles to insure the smallest particle of dust was captured.

  “Look here,” I said pointing to the maps. “There is a lot of room and the planet is optimal in every measured aspect.” I continued detailing the planet. How it was occupied with only the simplest of creatures, with the largest predator only the size of a sheep. There were grazing herds that kept much of the vegetation from becoming a choking thicket. The weather during my full planetary orbit cycles at arrival and departure showed no extremes in the environment. No monster storms, no extreme heat waves, and no bitter chilling. There were regular gentle to severe rainstorms, but nothing indicated there were huge floods or drought cycles.

  Somehow, it seemed, there was something missing in all of these detailed reports. I just could not identify that missing element.

  Finally, after five weeks of study, the team was satisfied and came to a consensus. The planet was ripe. It had the best of all possible attributes and could handle most of the remaining population. There had been a new development in design over the last couple of years and it allowed construction of a massive fleet. The stasis chambers were already being loaded and transports boosted to orbit. The final migration was nigh. There would be some 100 million people, 80 million being of those that had not been initially selected. The remaining population would possibly survive. They were the people not likely to transition or travel well and the survivalists wanting to just ride it out.

  Act 3: Invasion

  The final count of planets was fulfilled. And we prepared to launch the last few vessels into orbit. Bob joined me in my very familiar survey vessel and we made the final preparations for launch. We had been busy making up for the time lost together as we did the surveys. There was a relief that the migration was coming to an end and we would soon be planetside together. Together for the remainder of our time and able to raise our own family of felines. We had been surveying for decades and had tired of the travel. Tired of seeing each other only when there was an overlap in missions. Thankfully most of the time on survey missions was compressed time and residence in stasis chambers so the decades had only been years.

  We took a count, and between us Bob and I had cataloged 29 planets, 5 of which were in the migration plan, and 3 of which were already occupied. My last survey turned out to be the richest find. It was agreed that it would be called Eden. No life of significance, nothing more intelligent than a house cat. The largest predator was a clumsy grazing creature that subsisted on vegetation and small creatures, much like an oversized raccoon.

  Eden had been considered so ideal that well over half of the fleet was committed.

  Some 60 million people would arrive to populate Eden over a 14 month period. The first departures had been a few months ago and were long committed to the journey. Once departed there was no further communication to or from the ship, and the reaction mass was enough to arrive in orbit with a hefty reserve. The reserve was not enough, however, to travel anywhere else. Any further travel would require a planetfall.

  As we watched the last vessel leave orbit, we joined the remaining survey vessels for a simple grand tour of favorite planets. Although the transports were gone, they were slower in and out of travel mode. This meant that, by the time we finished our grand tour, the last ships would have landed planetside. By the time we rejoined our fellow humans, the communities should be setup and a home ready for us.

  We took our time visiting the planets and popping in on the other occupied planets along the way. This far only 2 were failed and had no survivors. One group had met the fate of an ancient Roman city when a cataclysmic tear in the plants crust had sent shockwaves and poisons around the planet, turning it to a barren waste. The event was so sudden they had been turned into statues as they ran for cover. The transports, a refuge of last resort, had been buried under tons of ash from the skies. The planet was devoid of life greater than could be seen with a magnifying lens.

  The other planet was a wild wonder that had great potential. The life forms present seemed no more hazardous than insects. That in itself should have been a clue. According to the warning beacon after 3 years of success the colonies seemed fully adapted and a healthy crop of young children had blossomed. During the 4th year after arrival, an unseen species began to emerge from the soil like cicadas. They were a mature form of what had been thought to be akin to earthworms. They seemed harmless enough and were collected like lightning bugs back home. They were kept in homes and offices and all of the common areas as beautiful ornamentation. A few weeks later the rest emerged and sought hosts for their eggs. Earth mammals, it turned out, were the perfect host. It took a single bite and people were hosts, eaten from the inside within a week. Within a month the last survivors used the med stores to take a final nap rather than the slow death as worm food.

  No survivors.

  We consoled each other after the last bad news. It was precisely for this reason we spent so much time on surveys and worked hard to optimize the
distribution of our population. It was expected that not every colony would survive, but it was hoped that enough of our population would. The idea was there might be a place for our kind in the galaxy forever.

  I strolled down a passageway back to the control room when I felt a familiar sensation. A light fragrance.

  I turned and there was the object. In it’s little niche.

  “It is time for us to communicate.” I was shaken and stumbled to the control room. Memories of the survey I had forgotten came back in a stream. “Ask Bob to join you in the comfort room and bring me with you.”

  I reached out and cradled the object again for the first time in over a year. I had forgotten it existed; along with many other aspects of the survey. I realized that in the reporting and discussions there had never been a mention of the companions. There was nothing in any of the reports, yet the reports were complete. There was an all around understanding that the reports were normal and complete.

  There was a feeling of calm as I cradled the object and headed down the passageway..

  I called for Bob to join me in the comfort room. It was a place to relax, be entertained and meet in a casual space. It was roomy enough for the eight of us on my ship for this final tour. The other six were part of the final team I had worked with over the final years of survey. They had joined Bob and I as a bonus for the years they had studied survey reports in well lit rooms. These home team members had been chosen by lottery, finally allowed to see some of the places they had studied for so long.

  I didn’t know what to say to Bob as he entered the room and saw the object in my hand. “What is that,” he asked with a look of curiosity and fear in his eyes.

  His trepidation at coming any closer was clear and all I could do was squeak out “It’s ok, please have a seat.”