Don't Mess With Earth

by Cliff Ball

  The Egyptian foreman gave the Terrans permission to ask some slaves about their question, but said that the slaves were probably much too stupid to answer the question. The Terran scouts found a group of slaves who were mixing mud and straw together to make bricks, so they were asked about Noah. One of them replied, “Yes, we have heard of him, which was many, many generations ago. God promised never to flood the Earth again, so rainbows appear after every rainstorm. Have the Egyptian oppressors told you that we are here freely?”

  “Yes, they did tell us that. Are you disputing what they’re saying?”

  “Long ago, Joseph, son of Jacob, great-grandson of our patriarch Abraham, was sent here because a great plague was to occur. His brothers had betrayed him and sold Joseph as a slave to a passing merchant caravan, where he ended up as a slave serving one of the Pharaoh’s men. So God had Joseph rise to power by interpreting the dreams of some of the powers that be, they gave him some power over small things, and eventually ended up as ruler over these lands so that he could control all of the food in the region and no one would starve. His family, thinking Joseph was dead, comes to him for food on a very long journey, he eventually reveals who he is, and they rejoice and celebrate his return to the family. Eventually, our people were turned into slaves by the next rulers of Egypt, and we have been praying for deliverance ever since.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that. At the moment, we don’t have the means to assist you, otherwise we would. Thank you for your time and we’ll pray for God to deliver you’re people from this trouble. Goodbye.” with that, the Terrans left for their shuttle.

  The shuttle was flown over the area that the Egyptians said was experiencing warfare. The Terrans weren’t sure which side was which, but they could see thousands of men killing each other with swords and other nasty looking weapons. The ground, for miles, seemed covered with human bodies. There was a town a few miles inland that was blazing with fire; most of its people were fleeing in all directions. There was also a small naval battle off the coast of the country the two parties were fighting; it appeared they launched massive arrows that were on fire to cause damage to the ships and were also attempting to ram each other to cause the other ship to sink. Commander Lomanco remarked to no one in particular that he preferred fighting in space and having energy weapons and shields compared to this primitive warfare. After an hour of watching the battle, they returned to their ship in orbit.

  Once on board the scout ship, the scouting party informed the Captain of what they had found on Earth. Basically, it was a very primitive society, no technology whatsoever, so there were no way the humans of Earth could help find out where the Ragnor lived. They also told of the slaves and the various political and warring natures of the humans in their respective city-states. The captain decided to return to Terra and inform the government, to see what else to do about Earth, since humanity was primitive.

  Chapter Two

  The Terran leadership was understandably disappointed to know that Earth was primitive. The decision was to wait another thousand years, then send not only a scout ship, but the means to leave a permanent base of some sort near Earth or on one of the planets to observe human progress. In the meantime, the Terrans met the Santerians, Pegarans, and Agnorians, all of whom were completely fed up with the Ragnor. The Ragnors’ home solar system seemed to be cloaked just like their ships, because it was difficult to pinpoint a stretch of space that was completely void of a star, planets, or gravity. However, nobody gave up and managed to invent a limited way to detect cloaked ships, but the cloaked ships had to be within a million miles of the detector for the ships to be detected and not near any phenomena in space, and thus far, detecting any cloaked ships was frustrating for the other species in the galaxy.

  When the time came to return to Earth, a large cargo ship was sent with the explorer ship so an outpost could be built for observational purposes. The fourth planet in the Sol System was chosen as the base, since the dust storms on the planet made for good cover and wouldn’t be detected unless a starship was orbiting the planet. The Terrans arrived in Earth orbit twelve hours later, scanned Earth as the other ship had previously done, and still detected no radio signals. There were two hundred million more humans alive on Earth, which prompted one of the Terrans to say, “These humans must be incredibly dumb to not have advanced to beyond a bronze, iron, or steel age. Even their population has grown slowly these thousand years.”

  “We don’t know what has happened for them to stay so primitive. Going by the records of the previous mission, it was observed by Commander Lomanco that since slaves did all of the work, they probably didn’t see the need to do any kind of research and development. As a result, people could die from any number of diseases, war, or accident, which could explain such a low population. So, that’s why we’re here, to find out what is going on with them and see if they’re advancing in any way.” the Terran captain said.

  The Terrans sent two shuttles to the biggest areas of human concentration, Europe and Asia. The Terrans found out that these to continents contained the Roman Empire and the Chinese Han Dynasty, but neither had much contact with each other, only the occasional informal trade agreement. One shuttle landed near Rome, the capital of the Empire. The Terrans walked through the city, noticing the massive structure known to the Romans as the Coliseum, plus taking note of the primitive sewer and plumbing system, the cobbled roads, and a huge amount of slaves doing all of the major work. These slaves, when the Terrans asked, were former soldiers or citizens of countries and city-states that Rome had conquered. The Terrans also asked about Egypt and their Hebrew slaves, and was told that Egypt was now part of the Empire and the Hebrews were in Judea. The Terrans also found out that the Roman Empire expanded this entire continent, from the Atlantic Ocean to the west, to the island of Britannia in the north, to the Rhine River in the northeast where there were tribes constantly at war with Rome, to the Chinese border in the east, and most of North Africa. Julius Caesar, their current leader, was responsible for making the Empire into what it was today.

  As the Terrans approached the capital building of the Empire, a commotion started at the top of the steps of the building. A man was stumbling down the steps, being pursued by a dozen others with knives and blades in their hands. The man appeared to be a leader of some sort, but the Terrans weren’t sure until the humans around them started saying that the man being pursued was Caesar. The others caught up to him and began stabbing him, while Caesar’s robe was becoming soaked with blood. As Caesar was about to fall over, one man approached him, they had a few words, and then the man brutally stabbed Caesar. Everyone heard Caesar’s last words, “You too, Brutus?” The leader of the Roman Empire then collapsed and died. The Terrans were shocked, they had never seen such a brutal assassination, and even the Roman crowd was silent, until another man appeared. He was dressed like a soldier and the crowd seemed to know who he was, because they cheered.

  He asked for the crowd to quiet down, and then spoke, “Julius Caesar, our life-long leader, the man who made the Empire into what it is today, is dead. The Senate felt that Julius was taking too much power for himself, so they removed him from power. I, Mark Antony, will take over, with Queen Cleopatra of Egypt by my side. We will defeat and crush our enemies. All who do not bow down to our greatness will fear the Roman Empire. All hail the Empire!”

  The crowd erupted with chants of “Long Live Mark Antony” and “Long Live the Empire.” The leader of the Terran expedition to Rome said, “This may turn into a civil war, we need to make sure we stay out of it. But, as long as we’re here, we need someone to observe the various activities of humanity and the report back to Terra. We should get back to our shuttle before this crowd turns ugly.”

  Meanwhile, in China, the Terrans found a slightly more advanced civilization. The Chinese were building a massive wall across their territory to keep barbarians out, and they also had a trade route from their capital of Peking, across China, all the way to Baghdad in Persia,
which was thousands of miles long. Chinese also invented gunpowder, but they only seemed to use it for celebrations; hardly any widespread use in their army. One enterprising general had tried to use primitive cannons against barbarian hordes, but the cannons had a tendency to explode more than they worked, so the idea was abandoned for a time while the bugs were worked out. The Terrans saw some promise for the Chinese, at least more so than the incredibly war-like Romans.

  In orbit, once all the expedition teams returned from Earth, the Terrans discussed what they might do to help the humans of Earth progress faster than they were currently. The idea was put forth to let scientists from the Terran homeworld come to Earth and pose as Earths’ own scientists, philosophers, and other thinkers to push the humans further in their advancement, because the Ragnor needed to be stopped. The Terran captain of the explorer ship radioed Terra about the idea, and the leadership of Terra vaguely approved of it. The one problem was that Terrans lived for hundreds of years, so whomever was sent to live on Earth would have to leave fifty or sixty years later. The base on Mars would be where all the teams sent to Earth would stay, and quite possibly, the same person could return to the planet centuries later, posing as someone else.

  Eight months later, the Terran base on Mars was complete and operational, while the temporary outpost orbiting Earth was taken apart and the remains sent to be used on Mars. Archeologists from Terra were sent to study Earth history of the past two thousand years; they were going to study the rise and fall of past civilizations. There would also be Terrans who monitored the situation on Earth, to see which direction city-states like Rome or countries like China, would head in the future. There were also teams that visited any place on Earth that had any amount of human civilization. In the western hemisphere, Terrans found three large groups, the Maya, Aztec, and the Inca, all of whom were at war with each other, practiced human sacrifice, and so they were observed from afar. All three had pyramid-like structures similar to the Pyramids in Egypt, making the Terrans wonder how, if all the continents were separate, did these civilizations get here? Finding out that question was the Terran geologists’ job, which they would gladly figure out, especially since they weren’t sure where the original Terran homeland was when Earth had one massive continent. They also found various tribes and small nations in the northern continent, most of whom were nomads, following the animals they used for food and clothing. Of those, less than a dozen seemed hostile and war-like.

  A few years later, Mark Antony and Cleopatra were overthrown and a battle ensued off of the coast of Egypt and on Egyptian land. A naval battle, called the Battle of Atrium, led to their defeat when the main Roman fleet sank their fleet, consisting of a rag tag mixture of Greek, Roman, and Egyptian ships. Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide instead of face the punishment of the new leader of the Roman Empire. Progressively worse leaders led the Empire, until the Empire collapsed under its own weight. Germanic tribes and other barbarians took the opportunity of the mostly defenseless frontiers and invaded, eventually sacking the city of Rome. The capital was moved to Constantinople and Emperor Constantine made an eastern version of the Roman Empire, while Europe was left to whoever took the opportunity to lead the now leaderless clans and tribes who had depended on Rome. Around this period, two Terran adventurers were visiting Britannia just as the Roman legions were recalled to defend the city of Rome. These two Terrans decided to organize one of the Brit tribes to defend against the Vikings and others who had previously only conducted raids on the island in the past. The kingdom was called Camelot, led by the Terran whose name was Arthur, and his cohort was named Merlin. Merlin was considered an eccentric inventor; other Terrans thought he was more than a little insane, while the humans around him thought that Merlin was a great and mightily powerful magician.

  Merlin cooked up a scheme to get these primitive humans to accept Arthur as their leader, so he told Arthur of an idea he had, “I have a brainstorm, Arthur; tell me if you like it. These Brits have a legend about a sword in a stone and if a man of great virtue pulls it out of the stone, he will become the undisputed leader of the people. I propose to use our advanced technology to convince these people to believe you’re destined to be the king. What do you think?”

  “Sounds like a good plan, Merlin. How do you plan on making it work?”

  “I think I’ll build a sword with computer components that will recognize only your handprint. I will then stick the sword in what will appear to be a stone, except this stone will keep the sword in place with an elaborate computer aided locking system. Once you take hold of the sword, the system will recognize your handprint, then it will unlock, and the sword will be yours. You’ll have the masses begging you to be the leader,”

  “Sounds like a very good idea, Merlin. Nothing like a little technology turned into sorcery to make one a good leader. Get to work.” ordered Arthur, who was looking forward to this new scheme of Merlin’s.

  A few weeks later, Merlin, with the help of an experimental Terran transportation device, suddenly and without any warning, appeared in the town square with the sword in his hand and a stone placed next to him. He called for the townsfolk to gather, and then he said, “Good citizens of Camelot. I have created a test for those who wish to lead us. This sword, I will put in the stone, and it can only be pulled out by a virtuous and good man,” Merlin then slid the shiny, intimidating looking, sword into the stone, “The challenge has been laid, all men throughout Camelot are welcome to try to pull out the sword, which I have named Excalibur.” with that, Merlin vanished into thin air the same way he had appeared.

  Merlin and Arthur watched for little over a month as man after man attempted to pull Excalibur from the stone. Everyone had a different way of trying to pull the sword out of the stone, which served only to amuse the two Terrans and tick off the human men who tried to pull out Excalibur. As Merlin expected, not a single man could pull the sword from the stone, so Merlin reappeared and said, “Is there no one here who is virtuous enough to take the sword? Who among you is left that is willing to try?”

  Having not convinced the people up to this point that he would make a good leader, Arthur boldly and with tremendous confidence, walked into the town square. Everyone was whispering and a few were taking bets seeing if Arthur could pull Excalibur from the stone. Arthur confidently walked up to the stone, put his hands on the swords’ hilt, which activated the computer lock system, and he slowly pulled Excalibur from the stone. The people were shocked at first, but then began cheering, but Arthur motioned for them to calm down, and then he spoke, “People of Camelot. I have pulled Excalibur from the stone, so I am now your leader. What say you?”

  The people chanted, “Arthur” and “Long live the King.” Arthur was now the undisputed leader of Camelot. Merlin spoke again, “A king needs knights that he can lead into glorious battle against the forces of evil. Who here among you is willing to be a Knight of the Round Table?”

  Arthur had not heard this scheme from Merlin, but thought this Knights of the Round Table thing might be a really good idea. According to Merlin, the knights in good standing would gather around a round table so that there would be no man who thought they were better than the others. Many men came forward to join the ranks of the knights, more than Merlin had expected. So Merlin did something unusual in the eyes of these humans in this time period, he interviewed each applicant and tested their sword fighting skills. After doing the interviews, Merlin also worked on Excalibur to make it appear more magical to these primitive humans, and when he was done, he showed Arthur the sword, “I did some more work to Excalibur. Press the green button on the hilt and see what happens,”

  Arthur took hold of the sword, and pressed the small green button on the hilt. The sword lit up in an almost blinding, white glow, so Arthur asked, “What is this, some sort of glow saber kind of thing?”

  “I would have to say yes and no, Arthur. It’s supposed to strike fear in the hearts and minds of your enemies. I’ll later add a sound effec
t to increase the fierceness of the sword. Anyway, I thought it was a cool idea.”

  “You do realize you ripped-off a wretchedly bad movie idea from a hundred years ago, don’t you? Next thing you’ll tell me, you’re some sort of ascended being with powers you’re not supposed to use. Come back to reality, Merlin, this is not science fiction.”

  “Oh, I know that, but the townsfolk already think I have great powers, so acting like I have telekinesis or the ability to appear and disappear at will isn’t going to do any harm. They won’t know about that movie, who is ever going to see it on Earth? I know what I’m doing, believe it or not. The next thing on your agenda though, is to meet your Knights of the Round Table.”

  Arthur was introduced to his new knights the next day; his impression of them was that they all seemed like good, honorable men, and fierce warriors. Merlin was right about the more powerful looking Excalibur scaring enemies, some retreated rather than fight Arthur. The knights and Arthur fought Vikings and Danes; Arthur himself killed a lot of the invaders, increasing his legendary status among Saxons living near and in Camelot. Merlin set up great adventures for the knights and Arthur to go on, giving the knights legendary status for themselves too. Sir Lancelot was considered the best of the Knights of the Round Table, and he always had the ear of Arthur whenever he had some pithy thought about another great adventure they should all go on or how Camelot should be run. Several years later, some strangers appeared in Camelot who turned out to be a Terran military contingent. They were looking for Arthur and Merlin; when they were found, the Terran commander ordered the two men to pack their bags and return with them to a ship that would take them back to Terra. Apparently, the Terrans had heard rumors of the kingdom that Arthur and Merlin had set up, along with the battles with the Vikings, so Terran leadership was not pleased to say the least.