Introduction
Alta
Year 131 of the Tettrir union
They had run out of time. The calculations all agreed, annihilation was unavoidable. There were two of them, one larger than the other by a factor of three. They had been discovered too late, approaching on a trajectory that kept them behind the sun for most of their journey towards the end. Once discovered, they knew when the two objects would hit the planet down to within a few hours.
The cataclysm they would unleash could only be described as an ending to all things. It would result in 98% of all surface plant and animal life being wiped out in this single event. It was even possible that it would do enough damage to eliminate all land based multicellular life. The two strikes combined would raise the temperature of all major water systems on Alta to intolerable levels. Killing off almost 90% of all marine life within the first week after the strike. The first meteorite, the largest, would strike just south of the equatorial mass, with the result of cracking the largest continent on Alta in half. The smaller of the two would strike in the northern hemisphere, just about in the middle part of the upper continent. Resulting in the total evaporation or melting of 90% of the ice shelf that covered most of the northern hemisphere.
They left 7 sols before the anticipated collision. The armada needed to be out of Alta’s orbit and on their way before then or they would face the same fate as the planet. As the two meteorites approach, they would be preceded by thousands of smaller objects which would bombard both the Tine and Alta for a few days prior to their own destructive landfall.
The launches were scheduled at precisely calculated intervals. The greatships lifted off from the surface of Atla from every continent. The timing was, by necessity, built with a margin of error. Fortunately every launch went smoothly, there were no aborts or serious issues, every ship made it safely into orbit, joining up at the predetermined location. It was a somewhat large armada once fully assembled. Even so, it only held a fraction of the total population.
There had only been room for a few hundred thousand of the planet's three hundred million total inhabitants. There just hadn’t been enough time, enough warning, to build more. Most of the population would be left behind to face the cataclysm predicted by the strike of the two meteors hurtling towards their doomed planet. There would be no way for any of them to avoid the destruction, it would be near total.
Simulation modeling had predicted the two strikes and the resultant cataclysms would eventually cause the death of 95% of all multicellular life on Alta. After the strike the continents would actually rearrange themselves due to crust displacement from the massive hit. Alta would never again look the same. These facts were little consolation to those left behind, and even less to the eventual survivors who would travel into space in a last ditch effort to save their people.
As they had seen it, the only real solution had been to build the greatships. Building habitats on the tine itself had been the first idea considered. It would afford survival opportunities for many more residents of Alta than the sleep ships could provide even under the best circumstances. Unfortunately it had to be discarded once they discovered the mass of smaller meteorites being pushed ahead of the two larger objects. The tine would face its own disaster, it was best they were not there either. Next they had considered traveling to nearby stars in search of a new home but this too was discarded on the basis of time and lack of data.
The two objects hadn’t been in sight long enough for any other plan to work. So they built giant craft filled with row upon row of sleep pods and other items considered essential. Harnessing the entire scientific might of their society they began constructing the great ships weeks after discovering their impending doom. These crafts would be the safekeeping of an entire people.
The great ships were frantically built over the last five cycles available to them. They would take the survivors on a journey through not only space but time. By utilizing the recently discovered technology of delta sleep, the remaining population of Alta would be put into a deep sleep while they traveled through space. Their journey from start to finish would cover a relative time span of over 13,000 cycles. While its passengers slept, the great ships would accelerate to somewhere almost twice the speed of light. That would allow the armada to only be in space for ten years of actual time, while 13 plus hadracycles would have passed on Alta.
The modeling simulations had all projected a minimum of thirteen hadracycles would be needed for the planet to be well on its way to recovery. By that time the survivors would be returning to Alta aboard the greatships to begin anew on their planet. It was a perfect calculation of desperation, sweated over by the greatest minds available at the time. However, unbeknownst to those great minds, their actions were alomost irrelevant, it would be pure dumb luck that changed everything……
A chance timing resulted in Alta not being completely wiped out, instead it was only set back a little. The timing was such that the survivors aboard the greatships had no idea that fate had stepped in to change the narrative originally intended for their home.
Another object, undetected and entering from an exotic angle in relation to the solar system, collided with the larger of the two meteorites headed for Alta in a colossal release of energy a week before the predicted impact. This impact caused the redirection of the larger meteorite away from Alta and out of the system completely. The second meteorite was not affected and continued on its path of destruction. The survivors of Alta were already asleep aboard the ships, unaware of the changed circumstances. So they traveled on, into the deep darkness of space, wrapt in their slumber on their 13,000 cycle round trip. Drifting on into their long night…..
Meanwhile, on Alta, people survived the impact of the smaller meteorite. Not many, but some. After the strike, the ice shelf covering most of the northern hemisphere melted. The water levels rose 400 feet in some places, wiping out almost ninety percent of the known inhabited land, and 95% of its remaining inhabitants.
The people of Alta had been a sea faring people for the most part. Circumnavigating the globe many thousands of years previous. Every one of their major cities were located near water. Which meant they were destroyed or flooded in the ensuing single day and night of misfortune. For a long while after, there was almost no human progress, just surviving was enough. But survive they did, and thrive, and eventually move on. After long enough they even forgot who they had been. Things that were once part of memory were now only thought of as tales of fancy, legend. Eventually they even forgot the real name of Alta. The new people called the planet by a new name, Earth……..
Chapter 1
The Discovery
Somewhere between Quepos and the Rio Cotos
May 3, 1986
The heat was brutal. Combined with a humidity neither man had ever encountered before, and an almost impassable under brush, it all made for hard travel. They couldn’t concern themselves with any of that right now though. Right now they were mostly concerned with a man they could just barely see through the thick brush up ahead. He was a stranger to both of the men who now watched him. To those that watched him, he seemed like some kind of academic, though it was difficult to tell. His actions and what he had asked after in the nearby village gave no clue as to what he was after in the Costa Rican jungle.
He wasn’t American, that much was obvious by his clothes alone. He was also well mannered and mindful of local customs, another giveaway that although he spoke very good English, he wasn’t from an English speaking country. His attitude and comfort here seemed to indicate he was from one of the other South American countries, Argentina or Venezuela maybe. That information was nearly irrelevant however, what was more important were his movements.
They had been onto this particular subject some months ago but had broken it off when it became apparent he wasn’t after any tombs. What had brought him back into their focus was a call from an associate of theirs who tipped them off from time to time when something or someone interesting showed up in his area. They had been most curious as to why this particular subject had suddenly left his cushy hotel room in Quepos near the coast to travel so far inland on foot.
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He wasn’t flying blind either, he was stopping in what looked like a semi straight line going towards the Rio Cotos. The places along the trail he stopped weren’t any of the small villages that dotted the landscape. Instead, he stopped at random points to walk a few feet into the bush. Once there he took out a strange device neither man recognized and looked at the sun through it. Making notations and sometimes small drawings as he went from place to place in a seemingly random pattern.
By now they were a couple days into following him now and still no closer to figuring out what he was searching for. And they were getting closer to the river. A dangerous place to be this time of year with the higher than normal water levels. Still though, he was clearly angling that way without falter or hesitation.
They gave up worrying about it, confident that they had already come too far to turn back with nothing. These were desperate men, in Trevor’s case very desperate. Truthfully, neither could afford to return home empty handed. The man in charge looked to Trevor not saying anything, simply nodding. They would risk the possible high river.
Both men took turns watching from a fair distance. The man continued on with his almost ritualistic pattern. It was nearing nightfall, and they were now almost upon the river bank when the man's actions drastically changed. He took a measurement and wrote in his notebook once more but this time for a longer interval. He seemed to be checking and rechecking his notes as if it had given him an answer he couldn’t work with.
He finished checking, satisfied with its correctness. He looked up from his work to gaze off to his right to a specific point in the bush that neither of his observers could get a good angle on due to their position. Without waiting a second longer he made off on a direct line towards what he had been looking at. Without any other context or information the two men following were forced to continue.
The man walked for almost an hour. By then the sun was fully down and all three men were now alone in the jungle with its own natural denizens. The followers were aware the majority of them did their business at night. There was more to fear here for a man walking alone in the jungle than the two men following the him.
The men were starting to think he wouldn’t stop walking when suddenly he did. It happened so quickly that his two stalkers almost came into view accidentally. As it was he was too preoccupied by his quest to have ever noticed them. The two following didn’t know that the man they were following was under the impression he was about to make a discovery of a lifetime.
The moon was nearly full, full enough to provide adequate light to all parties. The scholar had winnowed down his search to a cluster of loose rocks that were common sight in the area. One rock in particular had drawn his interest immediately. He was doing something with it that took a minute to figure out.
He had torn a sheet from his notepad and was using a piece of charcoal to rub a symbol sketch from the rock in front of him. It didn’t take long and he spent a long time just looking at it when he was done. Occasionally scratching his chin stubble absently as if this was another puzzling outcome despite all his deliberate actions. And then they saw the light come on, and his facial expression changed from confusion to sureness. With a confident stride he walked around the cluster of rocks like he knew where he was going. He disappeared from view forcing both watchers to share an uncertain look. They had even less of an idea about what was going on than ever. Nothing he was doing was making sense.
The one calling the shots told Trevor with hand signals to walk around one side while he went around the other so they could get an eyeball on their target.
Both men were adept at moving quietly when it was warranted. It wasn’t difficult for them to get within sight of the man again.
There was only one problem. When both men had made their own way around the formation they had lost sight of their prey. Once on the other side they didn’t re-acquire it. Instead both men were stuck stupidly staring at each other from across the jungle. The one they were following was gone from sight completely. Both started to feel the frustration boiling up when they both heard the noise at the same time. It was the man’s voice, loud and excited, speaking in Spanish. It was coming from inside the rocks.
It was then that Trevor noticed that, where two particularly large rocks met there was what looked like a crack that was actually an entrance of some kind. The voice was now even louder, a clear sign of something big being discovered. Both men reacted without having to communicate. They both made a beeline for the cave opening with Trevor taking the lead. The opening was very narrow and short so both men had to duck down and shimmy in sideways to enter. Once past, they could hear the man now more clearly, he was almost babbling, his excitement was that high. He wasn’t making sense either, talking about the oldest ever, over and over.
The cave was long and angled downward, yet still wide enough for at least two men to walk side by side. They walked until both men were certain they were at least a hundred feet below the ground. There was now an unexplainable light source coming from somewhere up ahead. The man’s voice was heard less now and with a more subdued excitement. Yet still he rattled on.
The two men stopped just short of the light beams coming from what looked like a doorway that was still wide open. A completely unexpected find this far underground. Inside, they could see the shadow of their prey moving about the back of the next area past the doorway.
The man in charge simply shrugged his shoulders and walked through to the other side. Once there, for a second, he didn’t know how to react. Whatever he had been expecting to see on the other side was not what faced him once he walked through. He had been on several expeditions like this before. In any one of them the tunnel between two rocks leading down a hundred feet into the ground would have been a huge find. What confronted him on the other side belittled that, and every other archeological find he had ever heard about.
Quite simply put, what stood before him shouldn’t not have been there. A thousand different possible scenarios raced through his mind and were discarded as soon as they were thought of. A thousand more died before they were thought of as the entirety of the room was taken in.
Standing at the back of the room was the stranger they had followed here, his back to them as he himself took in the room. He was now silently staring at what he had discovered. Still unaware of his dangerous company. The man in charge held his hand up for silence as Trevor finally followed him through, almost letting out his own surprised cuss at what he saw.
The room was large, with evidence of more spaces possible through what looked like another door at the back of the room next to the console. The console was something else entirely.
To say it was out of place would have been a massive understatement. It was futuristic looking. The man in charge had seen a computer once but it looked nothing like this. This was something else. It was huge, with several integrated screens that were flat like glass. They were built right into it like some kind of Buck Rogers spaceship. He suddenly came to and registered that the man they had followed had now turned around and was now staring at them.
Both men looked at each other for a few seconds. The man they had followed decided to speak.
“Hello..who are..”
He never got to finish. The man in charge pulled a small gun from his pocket, a spanish 22 rimfire given to him by his father on his 16th birthday. Without missing a beat he worked the action, chambered a round, then pointed it at the stranger’s head and fired. The bullet entered just under his right eye but did not exit. He stood for a brief moment, a mix of utter surprise and his death stare crossing his face simultaneously before his legs gave out and he crumpled to the floor.
Trevor, unprepared for the violent turn, yelled out incoherently.
“Whatthehellwasthefuckinideawiththat?!” His eyes wide and looking at his boss with new found fear.
“We couldn’t very well let him walk out of here. We’re a hundred feet below ground, it's the perfect place.” He said unrepentant, gesturing for Trevor to take his head they dragged the body into the hall on the other side of the door. Both men returned to the room, stopping for a second to stare. Trevor was first to break the silence.
“What the heck do you think this is..aliens?” That got a dirty look from his boss who nodded his head in the negative vigorously.
“Look at the screens, there’s like a movie of some kind playing on a loop. Those are humans.” Trevor now looked closely at the screens.
It seemed to be either a short film or even maybe a commercial. It was confusing at first, as he watched the loop though it became more obvious. It was some sort of advertisement. But deeper than that, like an advertisement for a whole society. They were in fact human looking, if only more thin and with sharper features, there was no doubt that they were human. Their clothes were odd. Utilizing garish and bright colours mixed with straight slashes of very dark material. And they seem to have had the use of some kind of anti gravity technology. Part of the clip was of a car looking like a vehicle flying through the air like a jet but without any sign of what was propelling it. The whole thing might have been seen as some sort of prank or elaborate put on if it weren’t for the fact that they were so far underground. The local area was particularly lush. The ground they had walked down through had taken thousands of years to form above them. It hadn’t seen the light of day in probably 13 thousand plus years.
“What do you think of all this is boss? Who is that guy you popped?” He asked, almost overwhelmed by the moment.
His employer didn’t answer, he was thinking to himself. Considering all the facts. They didn’t have enough information. He turned around suddenly holding his hand up to forgo Trevor following him. He returned to the body in the hallway and could be heard rummaging through their victims clothes. He returned shortly holding the notebook they had seen and the man's wallet and passport. Dropping the notebook to the ground he began fishing through the wallet.
“I can tell you who he was…Dr. Lin Alfonse Samuel, head of Astronomy, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina” Looking at his picture now he noticed he had been young for his post.
Almost as old as he himself was but still young for the job. He was also a fair match in the face, resembling himself rather closely. He was nearly as tall, only an inch shorter than his own 6’2 height. Two things occurred to him at the same time and he spoke his mind.
“Trevor…start calling me either Lin…or Dr. Samuel from now on, okay.” Trevor only paused for a moment to absorb this development then he simply nodded. He was familiar with his employer's history. His ruthlessness tonight notwithstanding he had already been in fear of the man. Accepting the change was only a matter of due course.
The other thing that had occurred to him, besides the inspiration to assume the dead man’s identity, had revolved on what he suspected laid behind the closed door next to the console.
“I wonder what exactly…is behind that door”