Starship Genesis

by Linda M. Miller

  “What’s up, Ray? Need some assistance?”

  “I think I ran over a porcupine, Matt. Look...”

  “Ohhhh. I wouldn’t touch that if I were you.”

  “Exactly. I’m calling AAA.” Ray replies. “I don’t know how they’re going to fix that.” Ray makes the call. “You go ahead, Matt. I’ll be in a couple of minutes.”

  I return to the house and Leesa and Hans are having a conversation about aliens while playing pool. Peter speculates about the aliens that crashed the ship.

  “Guys, don’t talk too loud about that,” I hint. “It’s supposed to be classified.”

  Hans jokes. “For some reason, when I think of aliens I think of Lord Voldemort.”

  A few laugh.

  “Hans,” replies Leesa, “You watch too many movies! The biologists told us that the stones have the genetic codes pre-stored in them. And the aliens probably didn’t manufacture the codes. They would use some sort of bio- molecular or viral processor to create the creatures to adapt their species to this world.”

  “Well, why didn’t they just use their ship as an Ark and transport them?” He winks at her.

  “The same fish and other creatures already existed on their world and they were transplanted here in a way that would allow them to perpetuate their species.” Leesa continues, “In answer to your ‘Voldemort” description we should already know what they look like!”

  Hans looks at her, “And?”

  She replies bluntly, “We...are the Aliens! Out there somewhere is another world or worlds with life on them exactly like the life we have on this planet…people-like-us!”

  Ray finally joins the party. “Come on Matt. Let’s play darts.”

  “Well, Matt, have they shown you anything about what the aliens look like?” Hans asks.

  “Well, as a matter of fact, they did. I saw some type of holographic video of people inside some kind of a ship. It looked like an archive of some type. But the ship was not from this earth.”

  Hans staggers for a moment, “I like my theory better!” he says.

  Leesa shakes her head. “Well, look at it this way. If everything living we know of can be produced by one of those stones, why not man? This adventure will allow us to excavate the site where man may have first appeared on this earth!”

  Kate comes into the room, “Are we talking about the sword and stone?” She asks. Everyone tightens up. “Yeah, just as I thought. Dinner’s ready everyone. Let’s eat.” We all head up to the dining room. The table is comfortably large. Everything is set elegantly with candles, china, a cornucopia center piece, and all the turkey and trimmings for Thanksgiving.

  I say the Grace and Ray offers a toast. “To you, Matt. Best partner in the business. We are going places, people, thanks to this guy.”

  “I think you guys do most of the work. Give yourselves the credit.” I reply. The feast begins.

  “So you’re all headed back to Peru in two weeks?” Kim asks. “Christmas isn’t going to be the same this year,” she looks at everyone. “I will miss going down to Peru this year. I was looking forward to it.”

  “Kim...” I add.

  “What are you doing for Christmas this year, Kim?” Kate asks. “...Since everyone else here is deserting us.”

  “Looks like I’m spending the holidays with my parents and my sister’s family.”

  “This group will be having way too much fun without us!” Kate adds.

  “Let’s go spend money while they’re gone.” Kim exclaims. I perk up at the thought.

  “Definitely...” Kate replies.

  DEONNA’S CHOICE

  Life is now settling down at our new compound. We have everything we need finally to make a life here. But Cassie and I worry about the ongoing competition between Talon and Noah over who wins Deonna. What kind of a life is it going to be with whoever doesn’t ends up with her? One woman, two single Men.

  I can see Talon is giving his situation a lot of thought. “Talon, why don’t you just ask her?” I remark.

  “I’m not sure she’s ready yet, Korban. She still needs time.”

  “I know you, Talon. You’re getting restless.” I add.

  “Well, she needs to make the choice herself. Noah likes her too. If she chooses Noah, I’ll just take the shuttle and go explore for a while.”

  “Come on, Talon. The girls have dinner waiting.” We sit at the great table having dinner.

  “As a matter of fact, Korban...It’s time I set out to explore the other continents. You all have everything that is needed here. We know there is no threat of tribes from the south now. Of course, any of you are welcome to come with me.”

  “I’ll pass this time,” Noah answers. “I think I’m going to plant a garden in the spring. I’d like some time to set up the area and prep the soil before winter hits.”

  “Why don’t I go with you to explore the northern continent?” Deonna asks. Noah seems shocked by her comment. “I would like to check out that area where we saw the man and woman. How long would we be gone?”

  Talon seems surprised at Deonna’s request also.

  “Well, our last trip just flying straight up took two weeks. So a trip north and across that continent would take a great deal more of time. We could be gone a few months or years.”

  “We have the supplies we need from the ship.” Deonna remarks.

  “You could keep a report of what you find, and the rest of us will wait for your return. We should still be here,” I suggest.

  Talon smiles. He seems pleased that Deonna wants to accompany him to see the new world. However, Noah looks stupefied and shakes his head. This is not what he expected.

  “Then it’s set. We leave tomorrow morning at first light. Best to get some sleep.” Talon replies.

  “Talon, you’ve built a palace here. Don’t you think you’ll miss it?” Noah asks.

  “I can always build another, Noah.” Talon smiles. Talon knows he’s won. Everyone turns in.

  TALON’S EXPLORATION

  I pack a few things like medical supplies and tools, not to mention the levitator and laser.

  “Ready to go, Deonna? It’s not too late to change your mind.”

  “I’m going, Talon.” Deonna answers. I turn around to Korban and the others.

  “Everyone, we’ll see you in a few weeks, if everything goes right.” I look at Deonna and hope she knows what she’s doing.

  “Alright. Let’s go.” I reply.

  Deonna turns and hugs Cassie, Noah, and Korban. “See you in a few weeks.”

  I shake their hands. “We’ll be back soon.” I tell them. We begin the steep trek back up the mountain. The weather is cooler now. No snow yet. But we’re prepared for the colder weather that might hit on our return.

  “Talon, what will we do if the area is too encompassed with snow to get off the mountain when we return?” Deonna inquires.

  “We’ll have to spend the winter on the ship’s other side, if it’s warm enough, that is. It’s also possible we could run into winter on either side. Deonna, I’m not sure you realize what can happen on a trip like this; like crashing, for one thing. Don’t you realize there’s a chance we’ll never see the others again? Think of the unpredictability of the portal. We’ve been lucky so far.”

  “I’ll adjust, Talon. Besides you’re good company.” She answers.

  “I must say I’m surprised. I thought you and Noah felt something for each other.”

  “I’m not sure what I feel, Talon.” She changes the subject. “Look at the beautiful colors up there. Orange, red, and yellow. It’s beautiful.” She remarks.

  We pass a new waterfall, and I’m certain I’ve never seen it previously. The watershed must have changed its path. We come to the overlook and stop for a break.

  “Tell me, Talon. How is it you can build something so beautiful and just leave it like this?” She asks.

  I’m definitely not ready to answer her question yet.

  “The Truth?” I ask. “I need purpose, D
eonna. We’re explorers as well as scientists. I believe there might be a more advanced civilization on this planet, and I’m willing to look for it.”

  “Oh. I see.” She replies.

  Then I ask her the same question. “What about you? Why are you willing to leave if you love it so much?”

  “I guess I love adventure, Talon. I do miss the stars and traveling around the galaxy. But to be honest, Noah wants to settle down immediately, and I’m not sure about that. He wants a commitment. When I married my previous husband I didn’t ask those kinds of questions. I just did it.”

  I can’t find fault with her since she’s just recently lost everyone she loves. But I’m also elated she doesn’t want to settle down with Noah.

  “So exploration is still in your blood. Let’s go explore. I’m ready for more adventure.” I pull her hand up. We’ve reached the switchbacks and have passed the tree line. We’re nearing the glacier. It takes us six hours to reach the ship.

  “We’ll rest here tonight.” We cross through the blue ray into the ship.

  “There’s still snow on the ground on the opposite side of the portal; but a good part of the snow has melted away.”

  “Look, you can now see the lake just like in the previous time period.” The weather is a cool 45 degrees. We spend the remainder of the day packing the shuttle with supplies we’ll need. Deonna will map the journey with some of Cassie’s equipment she borrowed.

  “I must admit I’m looking forward to getting back into the air. I want to check out that northern continent more than anything.”

  “Well, you’ll get to do that tomorrow. I want to check out the rest of this continent first. Is that acceptable?”

  “Of course.” She replies.

  “Here’s some meat I warmed up. It’s amazing how so much equipment still works in this ship.” I add. “Our cabins are still in good shape as well. Tonight we get to sleep in our own beds.”

  “Except...it’s a little colder, Talon.” Deonna adds. “And we took a lot of the bedding down to the compound. Remember?”

  “Deonna, you’ll have to use the bedrolls we made. We’ll have some matee and you’ll be just fine.”

  Deonna stretches and yawns. “You’re right. I’ll go turn in then. See you in the morning.”

  I have another mug of matee and turn in myself. I dream this night, just like Korban’s dreams he’s spoken of. But I dream we’re all on the Genesis in space again. The dream is reminiscent of the past. I’ve missed all of this. I awake and look up and around. None of it is going to change, I think. The Genesis is gone forever. I never go back to sleep, so I get up. I check the shuttle and try to anticipate our flight plans. It’s dawn. The sun is bursting over the next mountainous horizon. Magnificent.

  “Talon, you’re up already?” Deonna asks.

  “Yes. We’re all set,” Talon says. “Ready? Let’s get on with it.”

  “I’m ready. Let’s fly!” We both climb in on our own respective sides and slide the doors shut. I start pushing buttons and adjusting settings, this being the shuttle’s second flight. I am determined to take more time lifting off this time.

  I push the thrusters forward and we lift off. Deonna looks around at the area below us.

  “Incredible.” She laughs. She’s beautiful when she does that. I laugh as well.

  “How high are we going?” She asks.

  “40,000 cubits,” I reply. It takes about five minutes. We reach that point

  and I let it hover for a minute or two. “Get your mapping equipment out.” I say.

  “Ready,” she answers. We take the first three hours mapping the coast south of us; vegetation, rivers, lakes, mountains, etc. We also look for villages or populated areas.

  Nothing thus far. We reach the South Pole. Nothing but ice. Then we fly eastward for a short time and head up the east coast in a northerly direction. There are mainly grass lands and some forests.

  “Look, Talon! It’s a gigantic waterfall!”

  “Amazing.” I reply. “Looks like a great vacation spot, doesn’t it?”

  “No signs of life.” She relays. “A rain forest with a huge river.”

  “If there are villages here, we’d never see it from the sky because of the trees.” I tell her. “Too much jungle and nowhere to land.”

  We continue back to the west coast. “I see a lot of water here.” After seven hours of exploring the terrain and mapping the topography of the continent, we fly north up a narrow neck of land to the coast of the northern continent. We fly over the western portions of the continent and can only see a vast lake covering a majority of the western half. There are no populated areas in any of that region. We continue flying for the next few hours over water and finally come to the region where we first viewed the original garden with the man and woman. The garden is gone.

  “What happened to the man and woman? Shouldn’t they have at least had children?” Deonna asks.

  “Maybe they left?”

  “If you look at what the Genesis’ logs recorded, you would see that there was no water here before on this part of the continent. And we know the one continent is now at least four continents. There must have been some kind of disaster. Maybe it wiped everything out.”

  “But there’s still vegetation here, Talon. And you can still see animal life. Let’s just keep flying east.”

  We fly over the central portion of the continent and further to the east. We spot very large lakes and rivers flowing into the central part. We continue until we reach the eastern coast and finally spot a few villages dotting the northern area.

  “Are we going to land, Talon?” Deonna asks.

  “We can. We need to rest anyway. But we need to find a safe place, and we shouldn’t be seen by any intelligent life. Let’s find something south of here.”

  We fly south to the top of the mountain and I finally land the shuttle down into an area that looks secure with an overlook of the valley.

  “Even if the villagers spotted us they would have to climb up the mountain to find us. This looks safe enough for the evening. We can make a fire and no one should see it because of the trees. We’d be gone by the time they reached this place. And it’s too cold up here for them.

  “The climate up here seems to be the opposite of the climate where we just came from.”

  “Different seasons between the north and southern hemispheres. Probably because there’s only one sun and this planet rotates on an axis, I believe.”

  “But there’s no snow.” She comments.

  “I’m thinking this is in the middle of a seasonal change like down south. But I also believe our seasonal change is only in the higher altitudes. From the sky the whole area looked more tropical.”

  I scout around the area a little and Deonna collects some samples of plants, tree leaves, etc. Finally, I make a fire and we both sit and eat some rations from the ship. The sun is setting over the tree line.

  “It’s going to get cold tonight.” I tell her. We lay our bed rolls out close to the fire and lay on them staring up at the stars.

  “We should probably map the sky and track our location.” I remark. “We can utilize shapes in the star systems to map with. Just use your imagination.”

  “You mean constellations,” she adds.

  “That’s right. See that star, and those stars to the right of it,” I point them out to her. “They form a pan with a handle.”

  “I see it.” She answers. “And the stars look misty in parts, don’t they?”

  “It’s all part of our universe. We’re just seeing it from a different view.”

  “Where do you want to go from here?” Deonna asks.

  “Well, I think I want to explore this world first before I decide where I want to live in it. And it’s nice to have your company. I must say.”

  Deonna smiles. “I miss TerraNorre desperately and my family. But I do enjoy your company, Talon. You’ve done so much for all of us. I love the dwelling you designed and built as well.”

/>   “We all did that. You did that. You’re not afraid to work, Deonna. I admire that most about you.” I look at her red hair. She’s bound to be a hit among the natives, if we ever make contact with them. “I’m hoping to find a more advanced civilization out there somewhere. If there’s been enough time for the continents to shift like this; that would mean that thousands of years have gone by and there should be some people out there that have made progress. I want to find them. I think these natives here and down south are an exception.”