On a well-settled Mars,
the five major city Council regimes struggle to meld into a stable, working
government. Embracing an official United Faith in Humanity, the Councils are
teetering on the verge of pogrom directed against Christians, Molesters, Jews,
Rapists, Buddhists, Murderers, Muslims, Thieves, Hindu, Embezzlers and
Artificial Humans – anyone who threatens the official Faith and the
consolidating power of the Councils. It makes good sense, right – get rid of
religion and Human divisiveness on a societal level will disappear? An
instrument of such a pogrom might just be a Roman holiday...To see the rest of
the chapters, go to SCIENCE FICTION: Martian Holiday on the right and scroll to the bottom for
the first story.
Chumani Minnesota said,
“‘real and extinct’ WHAT?” It was clear from the sneer on his face that he
owned the laughter.
Chen Li elbowed his Martian
Authority co-conspirator and whispered, “Shut up, we’re guests here.”
“But their beliefs...”
Chumani began.
“...sound just as crazy as
our beliefs do to most of the people on three worlds,” Paolo cut in, again
holding up a hand to gently deflect the words of the man who had been sent to
capture him. Nodding he said, “I want to hear the Legend of the Watchers.”
Svetlana stepped forward,
eyeing him up and down, sizing him up, maybe even reading his mind. “Do you
know anyone purple?”
Paolo nodded slowly, saying,
“Of course I do.” He paused then continued, “But I think you’re asking me if I
actually know someone who is purple. This time I’ll say, ‘I do.’ It’s not
common for utes and bubbles to be friends.” Svetlana winced
at the use of the pejoratives – ‘utes’
meaning “uterine-borne”; ‘bubbles’
meaning “artificial womb-born”; but she accepted it. Paolo continued, “Why?”
“Because the Legend includes
both and implies that at one time we not only worked together, but that it was
long ago. Artificial life isn’t a recent development – it is the rediscovery of
a lost art.”
Paolo scowled. “What kind of
evidence...”
“I’ll relate the Legend
first, then offer some of the evidence afterwards.” Svetlana cut him off then
gestured to sling chairs around a camp table. Paolo nodded his appreciation and
sat down, realizing abruptly exactly how tired he was. He couldn’t remember the
last time he’d had time to sleep. Svetlana glared at Chumani and Chen until
they sat, too. “Before the Age of Dinosaurs, there was a civilization of
intelligences who lived, ruled and conquered from Venus.” She waited. Chumani
gulped audibly as he swallowed a guffaw. Satisfied that he would keep his mouth
shut, she said, “We don’t know their name – we call them The People. They were neither mammalian nor any other class we would be able to identify on
Earth. They’d evolved on a fecund Venus – and this Venus not only had a moon, and turned so that the Sun rose in the east and set in the west; its tides were higher and oceans broader than the ones on Earth. The Solar System was
different then as well: water flowed on Mars...”
“That’s not legend! That’s a
well-established fact!” Chumani interjected.
Svetlana smiled – though the
expression never reached her eyes – “...Uranus had a normal north and south
pole; Pluto and Charon were more firmly placed in the Kuiper Belt; the
dinosaurs were poised to complete their mastery of Earth as evolution revved up
a small dinosaur we know today as Stenonychosaurus to master the planet we've called home. And Venus? It turned on its axis a bit more quickly than Earth. Venus' moon – which would one day be called Mercury – hung a tad closer to the surface
as well. With its proximity to the Sun, this made the weather and tides a bit
more violent than that of Earth, so life there was under heavier pressure and The
People evolved to be more aggressive than their Earthly counterparts. They
conquered each other, then conquered their world leaping free to land on the
solid bodies that filled our System. Then they fired themselves at speeds faster than light beyond, encountering no
one meaner, no one nastier than themselves. They swept through the Orion Arm of
the galaxy, bending all life to their will.
“The Others gave way and gave
way until they said, ‘No more!’ and fought back. The Allies grew in number
until The People fled before them in terror, their mighty empire smashed. The
Others, driven by fear that the People would return, followed them all the way
back to the Solar System and invaded. The People were not defenseless however.
Fighting for their survival, they threw everything they had at the Allies and
pushed them out, breathing a sigh of relief.
“Expecting just such an
outcome, The Others had instead used their attempted invasion to plant Watchers
everywhere in the Solar System. Stealthed and passive, the Watchers remained
silent, studying The People to find the best way to exterminate them.” She
paused and for some reason, the cave had grown silent; the fans stilled; all
movement frozen. Lowering her voice, Svetlana said, “One place they watched from was this world we call Mars; when it was sweet with water, thin air and wore a gossamer
shroud of green. The Others gathered intelligence and invaded – but there
was a disaster, whether because of a secret weapon The People used or simply a
mistake or materials failure on the part of the Others, a microscopic black
hole broke free of its restraints and flew through the Solar System, disrupting
gravitational fields, dislodging moons and dragging debris after itself as it
flew through the Kuiper Belt and the Asteroid Belt. Neptune, along with
Jupiter, were on the far side of the system and escaped damage. Uranus was
struck a heavy blow, driving his north pole below his equator. Collisions in
Saturn’s previously minor ring left it a spectacularly glowing circlet of
jeweled ice and stone. A massive meteor struck Mars as well, the resultant
quakes driving seismic activity so violent it created the largest volcano in
the Solar System and a left a crack in the surface that ran a third of the way
around its circumference.
“For the Others and for us,
the best was yet to come! But from their fertile, lovely homeworld, The People
saw their fate long before they met it and because they had been beaten into submission,
there was no longer anything they could do...”
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