The Mutant World

by Darryl T. Mallard

  “How did you like the quality of the food here when you came home?” She knew the answer to that question. Many had noted immediately the differences of taste when eating meat and complained of digestive problems after returning and eating certain Earth foods again. Some had actually complained of intestinal issues on Bellasaria too. To their surprise they were told that their bodies were not used to un-tampered with food and needed to adjust. It was like someone who normally ate nothing but junk food and then suddenly went on a diet and began eating nuts, fruits and vegetables. Even Hartman had been actively seeking out the more expensive Bain Imported Ceerius steaks and Bellasarian beef in opposed to local cheaper cuts.

  “Remember our trip to Lake Erie on Bellasaria,” said Beverly, “the edible fish and drinkable water? Can you do that with the water and fish in our Lake Erie, Mr. Hartman?” Fred looked at her and did not speak.

  “That was a real question, Fred.”

  “Beverly, I…Look this really…,” muttered Fred, trying to avoid the question.

  “Answer me,” snapped President Chambers. “‘Yes’ or ‘No’.”

  “No,” Hartman sighed in frustration.

  “Well, that is what they value,” said President Chambers. “They don’t give a damn about money, at least not the way we do. But they do care a great deal about their health and that of their planet. Unfortunately, one of the things we couldn’t hide, and that they noticed right away, was our pollution. Plastic bottles, rusty bike frames and diapers floating in streams and rivers. Not very helpful incentive to let us onto their planet and open up shop, is it? I tried to steer the Bellasarians away from industrial areas, but the prime minister insisted on seeing certain things and was all too thorough in his questions about waste and how it was disposed of.”

  “Well,” said a woman, changing the topic, “what is the reason so little of this planet is known? I understand that with their technology they could easily map the planet’s continents.”

  The president laughed. “I asked the same question. It seems that Bellasaris stopped all advanced technological mapping of the planet almost two thousand years ago. She felt that it would be better to leave certain things to be discovered the old fashioned way. It would be more challenging for the people…and more enjoyable. I hate to say it, but where’s the adventure in exploring when half the job’s done for you by a machine already?” Several of the staff laughed at this.

  “In any case,” said Paul returning to the map, “we know this, the southern part of the empire is tropical and very similar to Florida or lands even further south like Mexico. The climate and terrain changes as you head further north. By the time you get up to the middle here,” said Paul using the pointer, “and Melmoria up here, it is much like our southeastern states. Naturally, the further north you go it becomes more like our northeastern and northwestern woodlands. However, this region has not been explored and little is known of it. The continent changes more once you begin to move further west. The continent, if I must say so, is very much like America.”

  “And the flora and fauna?” asked Vice President Finley.

  “Most of the plants and animal life there is familiar to us,” said Paul. “They are mostly descended from species brought from Earth by the humans who fled to this realm with their mutant slaves. However, many have evolved. Cave Lions, Dire Wolves and giant bovine called Ceerius are just a few examples of animals evolved from or genetically engineered by the early human scientist trying to bring back extinct species from Earth in a controlled environment. But they escaped and multiplied in the wild. Others were deliberately turned loose to populate the land.”

  “Why didn’t these people colonize this land themselves?” asked a man. Why weren’t anyone living there before the mutants took over?”

  Paul sighed and shook his head. “We now know that the rulers of the human elites knew of the other continents and islands, but deliberately kept their subject humans and mutant slaves ignorant of them for obvious reasons. The reason they didn’t flee to these places was…Well, we don’t really know for sure. It is the widely accepted theory that the people who knew of these places were very few and were killed in the mutant slave revolt before they could flee. Others believe that by the time the elites realized that the mutants couldn’t be defeated they were already cut off from all escape from the island. Again, we don’t know for sure. I think it was probably a combination of both.”

  “I tend to agree,” said the president.

  “We do know though that they were seeding the lands with plant and animals by drones and unmanned transports to make them ready for future colonization for at least a hundred years,” said Paul. “Who knows, maybe even before Bain was brought into that realm. I don’t know what this planet was like before those scum fled there, but I have a feeling that it was very different than it is now. There are some animals there that can’t be found on Earth at all, at least not anymore or of those species. Flying reptiles and huge flightless birds called ‘Moa’, named after the extinct species of New Zealand, can also be found there. Some have even been domesticated for food, labor and even war.”

  “What are these islands over here?” asked a woman.

  “These islands are part of the empire as well. And way over here is where Bain normally is when it’s in this realm.”

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” said President Chambers, “if nothing else, we have learned a great deal about the Bellasarians and Bellasaria. Their military technology is impressive and superior to ours, true. However, the majority of the populations don’t seem to have such weapons. Prince Jawara was literally fascinated by the gun that nearly killed him. He had heard of such weapons, but had never seen one.

  Furthermore, Luther Jeffries also reported that the western tribes and nations were just as slack jawed and in awe as we when the real Bellasarian military showed up with air-gunships and troops armed with firearms and artillery, actually more so. I don’t think they have anything like the weaponry the eastern nations have. The empress and her allies in the east are the only ones with soldiers armed with advanced military technology. However, even in this case, Bellasarians despise advanced weaponry. They’re too destructive and offer no honor to the warrior who uses them.”

  “I don’t understand,” said Fred Hartman.

  No, you wouldn’t, thought President Chambers. “Most of these soldiers,” she said, “seemed very well-trained and professional, but also disgusted with the prospect of having to use weapons that killed from such a distance. They happily put them aside taking up swords and other traditional arms when the rebel leaders destroyed their smuggled in forbidden firearms and then sent them to the empress as proof. The fighting still continued, but without a single shot being fired by anything more advanced than a bow or catapult despite the fact that the enemy city could have been taken with ease with guns and aircraft.” The people in the room looked at each other in disbelief.

  “I don’t think we ever need worry about them invading us,” said Chambers. “No warrior of honor would want to use the tech necessary for the job unless absolutely necessary. That said; we also learned that if necessary they would. The appearance of one pistol was all it took for Beral III to mobilize the Bellasarian advanced forces for action. So be at ease.”

  “You say that with confidence,” said Fred Hartman.

  They’ll be no trouble unless we start it,” said President Chambers, “like the last time. So learn from our past mistakes and don’t. As for what we have gained, I can bring you several young military men and women who now have their own limbs and original faces back thanks to Bellasarian healers and our native mutant and human doctors here who are being trained by them. These people are only examples. The civilian population is enjoying these gifts as well. And food imports are becoming very popular here. Once we’ve gotten off our asses and begin employing their environmental technology we’ll be able to clean up those waterways, get our
air quality back to where it was centuries ago and have fish without mercury again.”

  “Lady President,” said a woman, “if this technology is adopted it would put many of our major industries out of business and our economy will suffer.”

  “You’re heavily invested in the oil business aren’t you, Joan?” The woman looked around nervously. “Well adapt or die. Did we ignore oil to protect the coal industry? Did we ignore gas to protect the oil industry? No. Of course we didn’t. If you and the others weren’t so busy fighting to hold on to what you have now, no matter how flawed, you’d be trying to jump in first and invest in this new clean technology now while you can get in from the ground up.”

  “Coal, oil and gas didn’t completely put each other out of business,” said Joan. “And they are lucrative. Engines that run on household garbage and energy derived from the sun, wind or even water are another animal altogether.”

  “So, you’d rather continue poisoning the planet so that you can keep making money?” said President Chambers.

  “We’re not poisoning the planet,” said the woman angrily, but unable to meet the president’s eyes. “We’re protecting our nation’s economy! Why can’t you-”

  “Why can’t you understand?” snapped Chambers. “Oil and oil products are proven bad news in many areas aside from fuel. The sturdiest plastic containers eventually become useless. Soda and other bottles break down to a degree as well. You can’t continue to use them for storing anything after they’ve been used a few times or else they’ll begin to degrade into whatever you’re drinking and that isn’t good. The end result is often cancer. This isn’t speculation, its proven fact! So we throw them away, but they’re not biodegradable. They don’t just return to and give back to the Earth like wood, paper and natural cloth. They linger for centuries and give nothing once they do finally dissolve. How many landfills do we have now already? They’re full of shit that just won’t disappear! How long can we keep doing that?”

  “It’s a problem we’re working on, Lady President,” said a man.

  “A problem we’re working on? That was a good excuse for stalling in the past, but not anymore. We’ve seen the solutions in use and they work! You’ve seen images of Bellasaria and Bain. The American people have too. Some of you have been there! Bellasaria and its clean energy solutions were seen by the whole planet during our visit…and the results. The Swiss have begun implementing them to a degree already. But you don’t want to go that road if you can help it, right? No need to ask why. Joan has already said why. Because we’ll have to give up some immediate conveniences and won’t make as much money using the clean, healthy solutions as opposed to the dirty old ones. Or to be more precise, certain people whose wealth is linked to fossil fuels and nuclear power plants would make less.” The man said nothing and Joan looked bitterly at the table.

  “Food products?” said the president. “You want to talk about those? Many of you have expressed anger in the fact that the Bellasarians will not accept any food goods exported from the U.S. or many other Earth nations. Here’s why. Putting the pesticides we use on our fruits and vegetables aside, just about everything artificially made or tampered with by man has been proven to be unhealthy in the long term and our food is loaded with the stuff. Margarine, bleached bread/flower, engineered corn and grain, even sweet &low and Splenda, it’s all slow poison. Processed foods and drinks from concentrate are garbage and you know it. The preservatives in pork bacon and sausage have been proven to be unhealthy for men. They’re sperm killers. And just about everything is loaded with sodium, sugar or caffeine. European countries have even banned some of this garbage, like engineered corn and grain. But we won’t. You know the answer to that, don’t you?”

  “The people are informed, Beverly,” said a man. “It’s their choice what they choose to put into they’re bodies.”

  “The people are not that well informed, Al!” snapped Chambers. “Most of these people will look at the big bold letters on the front of a package that says something like, ‘Low Fat’, ‘Healthy’ ‘All Natural’ and trustingly buy it. They can’t be bothered with trying to read the tiny fine print that tells them just the opposite! They don’t know that only 5% of that so-called fruit juice is real juice and the rest is sugar and chemicals…if they’re lucky. They don’t even understand what many of those big words are. It’s annoying, but can anyone blame the Bellasarians from keeping these goods away from their people?”

  “And that’s a problem, Lady President,” said a man. “What do we have that they want? Trade is no good if it’s only one sided. You can’t even trade at all. You offered them something for their help didn’t you?”

  “The mutants want what they have always wanted,” said Beverly Chambers, “more mutants. They want mutant orphan children sent to Bellasaria, especially boys. They want us to lift restrictions on mutant immigration…where Bain and Bellasaria are concerned that is.”

  “And as usual, there are moral and security issues at work here that won’t allow us to comply,” said Fred Hartman. “The bleeding hearts will have a fit if we begin trading mutant kids for goods or other needs and we need the little freaks for our own national security! They’re the only ones who can stand up to these monsters in battle. The other countries have figured out the military advantages of mutants too, so it’s not even the threat of Bellasarian aggression anymore.”

  “It’s not just military advantage either,” said Joan Gordon. “Domestically, they have been proven advantageous for land development, farming and construction. Two mutants can put up a building in half the time ten humans can and therefore much more cheaply.”

  President Chambers really was losing patience with both of these bigoted people. One could only think with his gun, while the other her purse. Neither of these people looked upon the mutants as human beings, albeit evolved ones. To them they were just necessary evils or tools for profit.

  “I want to agree with the empresses’ terms,” said President Chambers. “No one will complain too loudly or in large numbers about young mutants without any parents being sent to Bellasaria. Everyone knows that Bellasarians love children and even the mutant community would not complain about these children finding homes there. Among the Bellasarians they know they’ll be safe. In case you’ve forgotten, there have been more than a few cases of mutant children being abused by human foster parents. And they’ve turned into ugly, bloody and deadly incidents. It’s not always the child that dies either. Many human families will be glad to get rid of their mutant children also. Our very recent history has proved this. The Bellasarians themselves are descended from mutant children castoff by their human parents.”

  “What about the adults?” someone asked. “Whole families have been known to pick up and leave in the past.”

  “As for the adults who wish to immigrate,” said Chambers, “the Bellasarians are carefully screening them. They don’t want any troublemakers or diseased people coming to their world. They already know the type. People with the intent to convert the natives to their religious and political thought are not welcome. The Bellasarians know from past experience what they bring. The same goes for those who want to bring morality, as they see it. Such people will definitely be turned away. Those immigrants who are accepted, but later decide they don’t like Bellasaria, will be free to return. And these people will be invaluable to us having lived among Bellasarian people intimately.”

  “You don’t think Beral III doesn’t know that?” said Fred dryly.

  “She knows,” said the president, “but she knows that most of the ones allowed to come will want to stay.”

  “So they intend to choose nothing but godless perverts to settle among them and kids too young to know any better,” laughed Hartman.

  “I must make a few things clear,” said President Chambers. “These people are not godless. They have a religion. And one far less intrusive and slavish than what many of us practice
…or claim to. Also, they have very high standards of correctness. They don’t tolerate pedophilia, rape or other kinds of sexual misbehavior. Touch a child and you will never live to touch another. Children are never present at certain celebrations or diplomatic feasts where people tend to let themselves go a little too much for our tastes. If they are, they are sent away well before the adult partying starts. Would you like to know how they see us? As you judge them, they judge you, you know. And they judge us hypocrites and opportunists where religion is concerned. Culturally they also see us as greedy, selfish and destructive. I could add treacherous and scheming to the list. Do you know they see us as perverts?” The president’s staff was shocked to hear this.

  “There is no porn on Bellasaria,” said President Chambers.

  “Are you kidding?!” laughed Joan. “Their women walk around topless for God’s sake! Or even totally naked in some places! They have sex in the streets! They have orgies! Their women have absolutely NO inhibitions! Their whole society is porn!” Everyone laughed at this.

  President Chambers shook her head and said, “Firstly, open nudity in other cultures does not translate into immorality, as proven in the few remaining tribal societies here on Earth. In case you haven’t realized by now, those who see naked people all the time are not affected by nudity the way folks who don’t are. Secondly, I’ve never, ever seen a Bellasarian having sex in a public place much less on the street in any city or town. It doesn’t happen. Usually, like you and me, they prefer their privacy. Only on certain occasions do the kind of open sex you’re talking about happens. And even then, many folks still left the halls and returned to their rooms to have fun in private. Lastly, Bellasarians don’t debase themselves by having sex in front of a camera in unnatural and ridiculous scenarios for money. I’ve never seen or heard of a Bellasarian woman willingly debasing herself in the kind of sexual behavior an Earth woman has in many of these porn films…or men for that matter. Quite frankly, when seeing one for the first time, they didn’t know what to make of it. When they were informed that these people were doing these things for money and the voyeuristic pleasures of others they were disgusted.”