Titan

by Eduard Joseph

  TITAN:

  An Age of Men Tale

  By Eduard Joseph

  Published by Eduard Joseph

  Smashwords edition

  Copyright 2017 Eduard Joseph

  Front cover design by Eduard Joseph

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  This is a work of fiction. The events and characters described herein are imaginary and are

  not intended to refer to specific places or living persons. Any resemblance to any person or

  persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  All Rights Reserved

  The right of Eduard Joseph to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him under the South African Copyright Act of 1978 (as amended).

  THOUGH NOT IMPERATIVE TO THE STORY, IT’S ADVISABLE THAT YOU READ AGE OF MEN BEFORE READING THIS STORY.

  PROLOGUE

  2016AD: Earth’s entire human population was transported to an alien planet in a galaxy on the other side of the universe by means of a mass-transportation device operated by creatures unknown. All manmade buildings and landmass were disintegrated during the what is now referred to as the event.

  Humans overpower the natives on their new planet and start colonizing the alien planet known as Eljavic.

  2280AD : Attempts by the Human Eljavican Government to perfect interstellar travel fails.

  2295AD: Attempts to perfect interstellar travel succeeds and an exploration team is sent from Eljavic back to earth to investigate the possibility of returning. Earth is found to be what is called a ‘Waterworld’ and consists of one continuous ocean. No landmasses to sustain life is detected.

  Radiation left behiind from the event is slowly subsiding, but still at dangerous levels.

  2315AD: Second interstellar travel team sent back to our Solar System in the Milky Way; this time to explore the surface of Mars as a viable new home for humans. An outpost was established on Titan, one of Jupiter’s moons – the only other object in our old Solar System with landmass and water. Despite the freezing temperatures, the explorers are able to sustain life on Titan.

  Radiation levels on earth is almost non-existent.

  2317AD: Titan picks up radio frequencies broadcast from earth…

  CHAPTER 1: LIFE ON TITAN

  Stephen lay on the lower bunk reading a book while Wesley lay on the top bunk; paging through a pornographic magazine that generated moving pictures. He didn’t jerk off or anything, but instead enjoyed looking at naked women much in the way a connoisseur would enjoy the opera or a barista-prepared cup of coffee.

  It’s been two days since their systems picked up a radio signal from earth – a long forgotten kind of radio signal from a seemingly dead planet. Stephen was the optimistic one and was convinced there was something on earth trying to get their attention. Wesley, on the other hand, was a bit more skeptical.

  “What do you think it is?” Stephen asked as he lowered his book.

  Stephen had been trying in vain to get his mind off the mysterious static message they received, but no matter what he did, his mind went back to it and the million questions it brought. The signal sounded almost like Morse code – an ancient type of communication he once read up about in the Royal Eljavican Library when he was a teenager. He’s always been fascinated with the past and sometimes found himself wondering what life back on earth would’ve been like.

  “Probably nothing.” Wesley dismissed his concerns.

  “It has to be something.”

  Wesley kept staring at the naked breasts before him, “There’s nothing on that planet. I don’t know why they wanted us to come to this stupid galaxy anyway. It’s a stupid idea to try and re-create “earth” for a nostalgic holiday destination. If you want a holiday destination, go to the Forest Moon of Nebula, Gigicant or Wesboro. Those are all good places. Besides, turning this galaxy in a holiday destination is just stupid – there’s nobody alive who even lived here before the event.”

  “One person is still alive.” Stephen reminded him; referring to their Sovereign, Alicia.

  Wesley lowered his pornographic magazine and pondered for a moment; wondering what it would be like to be almost three hundred years old. Their Sovereign was the only known human to have survived the event and still be alive.

  “You think it’s especially for her?” Wesley uttered.

  “We’re not being paid to think.”

  “We’re getting paid to freeze our butts off out here on Titan.”

  Stephen glanced out the window as Jupiter and one of its moons, Europa, aligned in the distance. Europa was dwarfed by the sheer magnitude of Jupiter and its rings that reached up towards the dark, starry sky and made him feel like they were obsolete creatures just drifting out through space.

  What was the meaning behind life? Does their lives even matter in the big picture?

  “Ever wondered why we’re here?”

  “Our Sovereign sent us here.” Wesley said bluntly.

  “No. I mean; why do we exist? What’s the meaning behind life?”

  “You sound just like my wife.”

  Jess came into the room and Wesley scurried to hide the magazine, but she saw it the moment she walked in; contorting her face with disgust at the notion that he reduced women to objects of carnal desire. Both men jumped up immediately upon her entry and saluted her until she dismissed them.

  "At ease, gentlemen." She caught a glimpse of the pornographic magazine again and sighed fustrated,

  It was small things like pornographic magazines that generated gasping women clenching their breasts in embarrassment when the reader quickly put it away that annoyed her. It’s been three hundred years since Alicia became their Sovereign, and yet women were still objectified and not seen as equals.

  “I’ve set course for earth somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.”

  “Is that where the signal is coming from, Captain?” Stephen asked.

  “It was the last known location, yes.” She said, “We’ll go at first light – earth time. Please get some rest. I need you both to be alert and ready for anything.”

  “Are you expecting trouble?” Stephen asked perplexed.

  “I just like to be prepared for anything.”

  Stephen and Wesley both nodded and then Jess closed the door behind her as she stepped out of their quarters again. As soon as the door closed, Wesley opened up his magazine again with lust in his eyes as the women in it started to disrobe again with alluring smiles on their faces.

  “I won’t mind giving it to her.” Wesley said and kissed the magazine as if it were Jess.

  “What about your wife?”

  “What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.”

  “That’s disgusting.” Stephen said and then Wesley wiggled his tongue at him, making Stephen chuckle.

  “You know I’ll never cheat on my wife. And besides, Jess is more your type.”

  Stephen hid behind his book. He wished he never told Wesley that he had a huge crush on Jess – especially when her red hair flowed over her shoulders like they did when she left. She usually wore her hair in a bun, but Stephen always thought that women look sexier with their hair down.

  If they were back on Eljavic he’d definitely ask her out… maybe… possibly ask her out. They’d go to Tonnar’s Restaurant – the one situated on a floating island in the middle of a lake with a supermassive waterfall in the background. He went there once with his parents for his birthday and it always was one of his favorite places with its panoramic view of the savannahs that stretched unhindered for miles in every direction, but with his studies he saw less and less of this awe-inspiring place that he loved.

  He grew up in the fast-paced world of Legan City, a few hundred miles from Lagoon City and quite frank
ly, he was growing tired of the city life. Sure, the skyscrapers that reached up towards the heavens nearly half a mile up were breathtaking to behold, but he never felt like he belonged. He always wanted more than Legan City could offer and eventually started traveling as a backpacker for a couple of months – exploring parts of Eljavic he had only read about.

  For months it was just him and Wiggles, his Lightworm, traveling to destinations at the speed of light, but he soon got tired of Eljavic and longed for more as he stared up at the starry sky at night – he wanted to explore new worlds.

  When he read about the Interstellar team venturing to the Milky Way, he immediately sent in his resume for consideration to become the onboard medic in hopes of quenching his thirst for exploration. Before interstellar travel was perfected, space exploration was limited to their own galaxy and there wasn’t much out there to explore to begin with, but endless possibilities awaited on the trip to the legendary Milky Way – the birthplace of mankind.

  When earth was found to be what astrologers called a “waterworld”, the mission was reassigned to Mars in hopes to transform it into a replica of earth for wealthy holiday makers,

  Mars was still not in the goldilocks zone as scientists call it and was still too cold to colonize, but it was heating up – something that both excited him and scared him a little. What would they find on the red planet once it has warmed up enough to sustain life? At present there was not much to discover and its treacherous terrain and unpredictable weather made it difficult to stay on Mars for longer than a day or two at most.

  Despite the fact that Titan’s temperature was well below freezing, it wasn’t prone to radical weather changes and they were able to call it home for the duration of their mission.

  “You need to grow some balls and just plow her.” Wesley teased and Stephen snapped out of his daze.

  “I can’t do that.”

  “Okay, then at least take her out on a date.”

  “Where to?” Stephen chuckled, “We’re on Titan. It’s not like there are any malls or cinemas around.”

  “We have a cafeteria. You could make a dinner for the two of you.”

  “And how do I create a romantic dinner for two with our pre-packed, pre-cooked food?”

  “Who said anything about romantic?” Wesley chuckled.

  The top bunk swayed back and forth meaning only one thing; Wesley was admiring his magazine a little too much and this was something Stephen did not want to partake in. He lowered his book and in disgust and cringed at the sound of the squeaking bunk bed above him.

  “Geez!” Stephen cried out, “If you wanna do that shit, go to the bathroom!”

  “I’ll be done in a second.”

  Stephen rolled his eyes and then stuffed a pillow over his head; hoping to drown out the squeaking, faint moaning and squelching sounds Wesley’s hand made.

  CHAPTER 2: WATERWORLD

  Interstellar travel was made possible by Eljavic’s best scientists combining the energy from light-worms and the gravitational pull of artificial black holes to create wormholes. The technology was named after its inventor, Josh Bertram, and was aptly known as The Bertram Leap or TBL for short.

  Their ship was equipped with a TBL as well as the pod that could be used to travel from Titan to Earth in less than two minutes. The side-effects of TLB travel was minimal and slight dizziness was the most widely reported side-effect by travelers.

  The pod left Titan at 06:50:01AM - reaching earth by 06:51:06AM and Stephen found it hard to believe that earth used to be a planet filled with human and other life at some point. Looking at the never-ending ocean as the pod descended into orbit, it was even harder to believe that a radio frequency could be broadcast from earth. Who broadcast it? Where were they? And most importantly; what were they doing on earth?

  Kids back on Eljavic were taught in school that it was scientifically impossible for anyone to have been left behind when the event took place on earth three centuries earlier, and yet, as they descended towards the blue ocean below, the radio signal became clearer – it was definitely a morse code message being sent out.

  It could most possibly be that another race had colonized the waterworld, but it was a slim possibility as there was no visible landmass to colonize. Evolution takes millions of years and it had only been three centuries since the event took place.

  “What a dump.” Wesley said uninterested.

  Jess checked the navigation and said, “We’re close to where the signal is coming from.”

  “There’s nothing here.” Stephen said a bit disappointed as they hovered about a hundred meters above the water’s tranquil surface.

  “There’s nothing anywhere.” Wesley said, “Just water. Maybe it was a glitch in our system? We’ve been down to the surface before and found nothing but water. This is a waste of time – time I could’ve spent with my magazines.”

  “You have a one track mind.” Stephen said; trying to suppress a laugh.

  “I have a healthy libido.” Wesley said.

  “Can we just focus on the mission, please?” Jess insisted.

  The pod descended down to about ten feet above the water’s surface and slowly hovered in a northern direction as the crew searched the waters in the vicinity of the alleged signal, but as expected there was nothing except water.

  She hated to admit it, but Jess was also becoming more and more convinced that it was a simple system error. How could a planet be dead the one day and beacon a signal the next? It made no logical sense, but it was their duty to investigate any sign of life they may come across during their mission.

  “There’s nothing down there.” Wesley said, “This is total bull—”

  An explosion at the back of the pod jolted the entire craft; sending it crashing towards the water’s surface as Jess tried to maintain control.

  “We’re hit!” She cried out.

  “By what?” Stephen asked.

  "Who'd be shooting at us?" Wesley cried out.

  The pod started spiraling out of control despite Jess’s best efforts to keep it steady – the damage was too much and engine number 2 was damaged severely. There was nothing she could do to keep them in the air and the pod went down; crashing nose first into the water.

  CHAPTER 3: A NEW WORLD

  When Stephen woke up, he found himself inside a primitive cage made from pipes that were tied together by rope. His head was throbbing from the accident and when his eyes finally focused, he realized that his cage was in the middle of massive vessel constructed from debris parts of airplanes to form a floating town. Parts of the vessel were rusted and some were badly corroded – an indication that the structure was built centuries ago.

  A man wearing dirty clothes walked up and crouched down in front of the cage; tapping against the prongs of the cage with a knife as his cataract eyes inspected the inside of the cage. His teeth were yellow brownish crooked - appearing almost too big for his mouth when he spoke.

  “What’s your name?” the man asked with a thunderous voice.

  “Where am I?”

  “What’s your name, spaceman?” The man insisted.

  “Stephen… Stephen Peters. Who are you? Where am I?”

  “Where are you from? How did you get here?”

  “I’m from Eljavic.”

  The man stared at him with a perplexed face as he tried to figure out whether the stranger in the cage was telling the truth or not; he was clearly not convinced. He knew earth’s ocean like the back of his hand and had never heard of Eljavic.

  “There’s no such colony.” He insisted, “I’ll ask you again; where are you from?”

  “I’m from Eljavic.” Stephen reiterated cautiously, “And I’m stationed on Titan… you know; the moon Titan?”

  “You came here in a spacecraft that’s not from this planet, but you look like us. What are you?”

  “What have you done with the rest of my crew?”

  “You should worry less about the other aliens and more about what will h
appen to you if—”

  “Felix!” A woman’s voice ordered, “That’s enough.”

  Felix glanced back over his shoulder and shifted a bit; allowing Stephen to view who gave him an order like a superior officer. The woman had wild red hair, pale skin and wore a warrior dress made from various materials swathed in layers. She had a dominant demeanor as she walked over to the cage - a demeanor that not only suggested that she was the one in charge, but also allured Stephen’s interests.

  She crouched down to inspect the captive inside the cage and Stephen noticed that she had one green eye and one blue eye – a rare trait that he found very peculiar and yet it beautifully complimented her face.

  “What’s your name, stranger?” She asked.

  “Stephen Peters. I’m an astronaut from the planet Eljavic. I’m stationed on Titan and came down to earth’s surface with my crew to investigate a signal we picked up on our radio.”

  “What’s Eljavic?” she was intrigued by the stranger in the cage, “How do you know our language? Why do you look like us?

  “Eljavic is my home planet and I look like you because we’re both human.”

  Something sparked interest in her eyes when he said those words – almost as if she knew what he was talking about, but Felix, who stood a few feet away, seemed oblivious. Her entire face lit up with excitement, but neither Felix nor the group of onlookers shared her excitement and were cautious of the stranger.

  “So it’s true.” She was stunned at the revelation.

  “What?”

  “The stories my father used to tell me about the event that shaped our world into what it’s today.”

  “I say we burn the alien.” Felix said and a few people scattered throughout the crowd agreed.

  “Enough!” she ordered and everyone fell quiet.

  She gave all her subordinates a stern look and when they were all quiet, she turned her gaze back to the man in the cage. His rugged good looks and intense green eyes sparked more than just curiosity in her, but she hid the fact that she thought the spaceman was attractive.