She looked around the room at a variety of expressions: expectation, affected indifference, scepticism and various degrees of anxiety.
“A little over a year ago I entered a capsule that took me into Earth orbit where it jumped instantaneously into orbit around Saturn…” As she said these words a large screen showed the vid of Saturn and its rings backlit by a faint sun. There were gasps and murmurs. A lone female voice said “holy shit”, which stimulated nervous laughter. “I then jumped into orbit around Gliese 581g, a gas giant.” There was shocked silence as they were shown the vid of a rusty orange orb with bands like Jupiter. “Since then we have sent probes to several exoplanetary systems with planets holding life, all inhospitable for various reasons.” The vid showed quick grabs of the landscapes of Skatos, Pangaea and the two unnamed planets (avoiding too much detail). “Over two weeks ago a manned team landed on a planet we call Eden. The image you will see next will be live. You will have a thousand questions. They will all be answered in due course. Your mind will struggle to understand what you are about to see. This is unavoidable. Please note that some of you may have extreme reactions, a rush of adrenaline, tears, even fear, especially varying degrees of denial. However, please be assured that this is real. Now, may I introduce you to Dr Zhang Li Li…”
The image changed to a smiling Li Li sitting at a table with a plain khaki canvas tent wall behind her. “Hi guys, I’m Li. And it’s true. I’m not on Earth. I’m some fifty light years away.”
There were more murmurs and gasps.
“I know it looks like I’m just in a tent. We thought we’d ease you into Eden. Many of you may now be asking, how the fuck? For those of you with a grounding in physics: essentially it’s quantum teleportation. The entire universe is entangled, spacetime is an illusion and that illusion can be manipulated. You are receiving this as I speak and I can see you in real time. No delay. Freaky eh?”
“Wormholes?” a male voice asked tentatively.
“In a sense, except there are wormholes from any point to any other point, but please identify yourself.”
The room erupted into even louder gasps with the clear evidence of the immediacy.
A medium sized Melanesian man of around twenty-five stood. “Dr Solomon Morea, from Rabaul.”
“Ah, our geologist: a specialist in mining, from Papua New Guinea. I understand you’ve been advising some of the tribal groups opposed to a big development. Glad to have you on board Solomon. Yes, it is ridiculous and absurd and impossible and very real, as you will soon see. Look, many of you will enter a period of shock. This information shakes your cognitive foundations. I know this because my colleagues and I have already gone through what you are about to go through. But first, can I ask Eva to introduce you formally to each other? We know who you are but it will serve another purpose. As we read out your qualifications and skills you will begin to see a pattern.”
“Thanks Li. I’ll go through the list alphabetically. If you could stand so people can see you, first is Dr Rafael Alvarez from Spain…”
A tall youth with a thick beard and long black hair tied in a loose ponytail stood confidently and gave a deep, theatrical bow.
“Rafael’s speciality is agriculture, particularly Permaculture and sustainability. He has worked on projects in Africa, Tonga and Australia. He is also an expert rock climber and a talented flamenco guitarist.”
Rafael laughed. “I wouldn’t say talented.”
Eva nodded and smiled at his self-deprecation. “That’s not what our records show. Perhaps you are no Paco De Lucia, but you are no amateur either.”
He bowed slightly to acknowledge her compliment.
“Um, where is Putu Anak Agung Istri?”
“My friends and family call me Put Put.” A hand went up at the back and a diminutive woman with fine features stood slowly, unsure of where to look.
“Good, okay, well, Put Put…”
“You say it fast, like a motorbike: pt-pt… Because I was hyperactive as a child, racing around like a - you know.”
“Okay, Pt-pt is from Bali…”
Put Put smiled and sat down.
“…and she is a qualified sports and occupational therapist. We’ll be doing physical work so she’ll look after our bodies. She’s also had considerable experience with traditional Ayurvedic healing practices, including yoga and massage. She is also a trained temple dancer and singer.”
“When I was younger… For the tourists mainly,” she said, unsure of whether to smile or frown.
“Cool,” said a voice from the far left. “Oh, sorry to interrupt…”
“Um, can you identify yourself, by way of introduction,” said Eva calmly.
“Yeah, um, sorry… Tehani. Kaluhiokalani.” A muscular but beautiful Polynesian woman stood, a t-shirt with the shoulders ripped off revealed that both of her arms were heavily marked with traditional Polynesian tattoos. “It’s just that I’ve been to Bali many times. Love the dancing. The hand movements reminded me of hula, they tell a story…”
“Well, considering you’re standing,” said Eva. “This is Dr Tehani Kaluhiokalani from Hawaii. Tehani is a marine biologist and tropical fisheries expert. She is a qualified scuba instructor and a former junior surfing champion.”
“Is that why you were in Bali?” asked Put Put.
“Yeah, doing the pro circuit, and just chillin, mainly in Padang Padang.”
Eva waited quietly until Tehani realised it was time to continue the formal introductions.
“Next is Dr Adey Ashenafi from Ethiopia. She has worked extensively with Medecins Sans Frontieres, specialising in women’s health.”
A small, thin woman with the fine facial features of the Amhara region, her hair in neat rows of tight curls stood holding her head high with pride.
“Adey will be our doctor. She is also a competitive long distance runner, which gives her extraordinary stamina and an insight into cardio-vascular fitness. With her help I look forward to developing a fitness program.”
There were moans from the group and Eva responded with a mischievous smirk. Adey took it as her cue to sit.
“Dr Tömöbatar Borjigid from Mongolia…”
A young man with the broad facial features of the Mongols stood but remained expressionless. He was the only one wearing traditional clothes, which seemed entirely appropriate in Bhutan.
“Tömöbatar is…”
“Tommo is fine…” he corrected softly.
Eva nodded and smiled. “Tommo is a mineralogist and a specialist in rare earth minerals. He has extensive field experience in Africa and is a champion wrestler.”
He gave a quick, formal bow and sat quickly.
“Jimi Jared?”
A muscular youth with deep brown skin and his hair in dreadlocks rose slowly and gave a little wave.
“Jimi is a builder and project manager specialising in sustainable design. He’s from Trinidad and is a mulatto like me: part European, part African, part Indian and part native. He is a competitive bike rider, trail mostly.”
Jimi smiled broadly and spoke in a broad Caribbean accent. “Ja man, me family from all over. Me great great grandmother was a member of the original Caribe tribe, but there’s Yoruba, Scot, French, part Sikh from the Punjab, a little Chinese and a bit of pirate too. The Caribbean be a real melting pot.”
“Okay, thanks Jimi. Dr Solomon Morea, who you’ve already met, but please stand and take another bow.”
Solomon shrugged his shoulders and only half stood.
“Dr Po Ngyuen…”
A striking and surprisingly tall part Afro/Vietnamese woman stood and folded her arms defensively.
“Po is from Quebec and she’s a nutritionist and food technologist who is working with genetically modified food in an organic context, especially in helping critical food crops adapt to climate change and to boost their nutritional value.” Eva noticed a look of concern on several faces. “With an independent group with no connections to big agribusiness…”
“Oh, absolutely not. We rely on P2P processes and crowd funding. We are actually working to undermine the corporates,” Po said to quickly reassure people.
“She is also trained in contemporary dance and is an accomplished painter and photographer.”
“Dr Sarakit Pibulsongkram from Thailand…”
A diminutive tomboyish Thai woman stood and gave a little wave.
“Sarakit is a tropical forestry specialist working with native timber and sustainable harvesting. She is also a keen hiker and rock climber with some spelunking experience. Don’t let her size fool you. She was also a junior Mauy Thai champion and she knows her way around trucks, dirt bikes and chainsaws.”
“Dr Oleksander Timko from Ukraine…”
A tall, slightly awkward youth stood and bowed. “Pozdravleniya,” he said in a deep baritone, “but please to call me Sascha.”
“Okay - Sascha is an engineer specialising in robotics and advanced computing systems. Obviously he will look after our electronic equipment. He also has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. And now to Dr Grace Tilig.”
A shy woman with short, curly black hair and features that seemed part Asian and Polynesian stood shyly and offered a subdued, “um, hi everyone.”
“Grace is from Micronesia, Yap Island to be precise. She was their top-performing student in over ten years and won a scholarship to study geography and climatology at UCLA, Berkley. She is an expert in tropical island microecology - the interplay of tides, geographical features and planetary climate. She also played university volleyball.”
“Um, I also have some experience with traditional agriculture and fishing,” Grace interrupted. “Yap women tended the gardens. I can weave mats and baskets, make hammocks and thatched huts. These skills will be useful, assuming you want to create a degree of self-sustainability,” she announced with surprising authority.
“Well um, yes, such skills will be very useful. We won’t be able to transport all our material needs. We will need to return to some of the more basic survival skills.”
Grace nodded, happy Eva had agreed.
“That leaves Somaly U-Nang, a Burmese Australian.”
Somaly stood quickly and confidently, her skin a dark brown, her straight black hair tied back in a ponytail.
“Somaly is an architect who has been using indigenous design principles to create a unique approach to sustainable architecture. She is also a jazz dancer and singer.”
“Jazz fusion, world music…” Somaly corrected.
Eva nodded. “Sorry, that is an important distinction.”
Somaly waited awkwardly until she realised her introduction was over.
“As you you have already guessed,” said Eva, “there are a number of areas for productive collaboration, but your combined life experiences will open up new possibilities. For example Rafael, Po and Jimi have also worked as chefs. Solomon’s parents ran a successful tropical market garden in Port Moresby, so he can work with Grace and Po. Tommo, Sarakit, Rafael and um, Sascha, have experience running and maintaining machinery. And Somaly has some nursing experience. In short, you were chosen because you have both theoretical and practical experience, especially roughing it in the field. So back to Li.”
“Thanks everyone. Now our turn, but another word of warning: it is warm on Eden, tropical. Most of you were born in tropical regions, so you’ll feel right at home. Consequently we wear very little, sometimes nothing at all, to let the skin do what it was designed to do, cool through evaporation, without the interference of irrational body shame - the way most tropical zone cultures dressed before European colonisation.”
“True,” interrupted Put Put. “The way Bali used to be before the Western tourists came.”
“And Hawaii, before the missionaries,” added Tehani.
“As it still is on Yap, I went to school bare chested,” said Grace.
“Good,” Li Li agreed. “Now whilst I set up the camera outside we’ve prepared a little vid about Eden. Enjoy.”
The image on the screen changed to a drone shot over beaches, turquoise ocean and multi-coloured vegetation. A commentary provided them with the planet’s statistics. There were some nervous laughs when they realised that it was a satire on commercial travelogues designed to lighten the mood.
When it was over the screen cut back to a wide shot of the camp and the other team members sitting on camp chairs or on logs dragged in from the forest. Most had made some attempt to be modest by wearing shorts or a simple wrap-around, all except Akoi and David who had defiantly reclaimed their tribal heritage.
“Somehow I expected something out of science fiction, not a camping magazine,” said a slightly embarrassed Somaly.
“Or a naturist magazine,” Rafael mumbled, attempting to lighten the mood.
“Hi Somaly, Akoi Kahn-Nacht here. Yes, it’s a mixture of low and high tech, something I think you would appreciate from a design perspective. A lot of science fiction is a statement about the dominance of human technology over nature. Most of it is vastly over-engineered. We believe that future science must compliment natural systems, not replace them. I guess the key principles are necessity, efficiency and simplicity. But before we get into all that, I’ll let the others introduce themselves.”
They introduced themselves quickly and asked for questions. Most people were still in a state of shock and didn’t know what to ask.
Finally Tehani held up her hand and spoke softly. “Tehani here, obvious question from me: what about sea life?”
“Abundant,” said Junji. “We’ve only been able to explore close to the shore but the cargo pods contain scuba gear and a couple of dinghies so we’ll be able to go out deeper. I understand you have considerable diving experience?”
“Um yes, I grew up in the water. Are the life forms radically different?”
“If I can answer that,” said Li Li. “Simple answer: yes and no. Form still appears to follow function, but as you know the Earth’s oceans generated considerable weirdness. We have been discussing the idea that over time all planetary biological systems must experiment with similar forms, but local evolutionary pressures determine which forms eventually dominate. As you know Earth experimented with quite a few, the era of the dinosaurs, the era of mega fauna. We are finding a number of correlates, you know, same yet different.”
“Is that the same with food? I assume you have found food, otherwise you couldn’t move to the next stage?” asked Po.
“Yes, we’ve found sources of protein, carbs, nutrients,” said Anne. “I guess fructose is fructose and ascorbic acid is always ascorbic acid, so there are familiar tastes, but in odd combinations, some delicious, some bland, some that take getting used to.”
“So I guess my job will be to look for nutritional gaps?” Po began to ask.
“And to work with Rafael, Solomon and it seems Grace, on deciding which sources are suitable for agriculture and processing into secondary foods like flour, spreads, sugar. We haven’t found grains, not yet,” said Archimedes. “And I miss tea with toast and marmalade.”
“And not to forget alcohol,” said David with a laugh.
Another hand went up. “Adey Ashenafi.”
“Accueil Adey, Francais est notre deuxième langue ici,” said Li Li.
“Qué hay de español?” Rafael objected in a light-hearted manner.
“Que esta hablano? Eva asked.
“Triste, Rafael.”
“Gracias… We have several people who speak Spanish Rafael. I’m from Brazil so it is my second language, sorry Adey, you were saying?”
“Well I was wondering about these young people sitting beside you. Some of you seem very young, even Li Li, if you don’t mind me saying.”
Eva looked at the Crickets to invite one of them to answer. Anaïs was the first.
“Pas da tout Adey. Basically we are part of the team. We will be going with you. If you look around you’ll notice all of you are under thirty, Eva is the oldest at twenty-nine. Many of you will have guessed that this is no o
rdinary scientific expedition. We intend to establish a colony, a permanent colony. It will need colonists who are as physically and psychologically fit as possible. We have made the calculation that youthful enthusiasm and fresh minds will be of greater importance than experience. We have a limited capacity to transport sophisticated technology, which means human intelligence will be our greatest asset. It means that we have an opportunity to devise new solutions and to be frank; older minds might fall back on old ways of doing things. Also, a colony needs population growth, children, and youth means increased fertility. I’m sure you all know that as we age our fertility declines and if we are to maximise population growth we simply must begin as early as possible. And as harsh as it may seem, if we send older people they will be unable to contribute as much over time. We want to be at least two generations in before we have to support the elderly, which, incidentally, will be all of us.”
“You expect the young women to carry children?” Adey asked, shocked.
“Oui, nous sommes. But before you walk out…”
“This wasn’t mentioned…”
“No, it couldn’t be mentioned until now. Please listen carefully. That is not all…”
Alice stood, impatient with Anaïs’s politeness. “We, all of us, are genetically enhanced. A condition of you going is that you also undergo genetic modification. We simply cannot allow viral, bacterial or genetic diseases to migrate to Eden. I believe Dr Ashenafi, that you have epidemiological experience…”
“Yes, yes, but…”
“And you have seen the devastation of disease firsthand?”
“Yes, but…”
“Would it be logical or even wise to allow this to occur on Eden if we had the means to prevent it?”
“Of course not, but the ethical…”
Freya pulled at Alice’s dress to urge her to sit. “I’m sorry, Alice can be blunt. She is exceptionally gifted. In a few more years she would have gained her doctorate in genetic medicine.”
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