Let There Be Life

by Simon Archer

  “Yeah, I’m thinking it won’t be a problem.” I nodded to her slideshow. “Anyway, what did you want to so how me?”

  “Oh, right.” She flushed slightly. “Well, before I let the cat out of the bag, I want to give you some background on what we did.” She paused until I gestured for her to go on. “So, I started out by taking some of the methanotrophs you got from the swamp mud and adapting those to the Ares atmosphere. Those are the bacteria that break down methane into carbon dioxide, which is good because, at about six percent, you actually have a relatively high concentration of methane in the atmosphere on Ares. By way of comparison, your Earth’s atmosphere is about 0.00017 percent methane.”

  “Makes sense. That probably came from all the methane ice we used before we got the water-based ice from the Tartaran.” I nodded at the thought. I’d tried to keep the methane down and had more or less managed it, given that most of Ares’s air had, in fact, come from Aphrodite’s carbon-dioxide-rich atmosphere.

  “That’s exactly where it came from.” She clicked a button, and a slide appeared on the screen showing the ice. “Most of it has melted, but the main problem is that methane is a much more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, which makes up most of the current atmosphere. It’s something like eighty-seven percent.” She clicked the slide. “Which means that as we reduce the methane to carbon dioxide, the planet will cool.” Another slide. “The current temperature is actually pretty hot, so that’s actually a good thing. A cold day on Ares is something like a hundred and fifty degrees celsius, which was well outside the tolerance of the samples you brought back. Thankfully, I’ve managed to fix that with some selective breeding.”

  “Okay, so the methane-eating bacteria will live on the planet despite it being too hot?” I asked just to make sure I was following.

  “Exactly.” She pointed at the slide. “These babies can withstand temperatures up to two hundred degrees celsius with no problems.” She nodded to the pixie. “You can thank her for that. It would have taken forever without the dust.”

  “Well, I’m glad we have the dust,” I said as she clicked to the next slide.

  “Anyway, once we get rid of the methane, the planet will cool because the methane will have been converted to carbon dioxide. Since methane is about thirty times more effective as a greenhouse gas, we estimate the temperature will drop enough that we will then be able to introduce the strain of cyanobacteria I have cultivated to deal with Ares’ temperature.” She clicked the slide. “There are two versions of them, actually. One we will add at the same time as the methanotrophs and another we will add when the temperature comes down to more tolerable ranges, but either way, assuming they get enough sunlight to photosynthesize, and I have no reason to think they won’t, both will convert the carbon dioxide in the air into oxygen.”

  Then next slide was just a crudely drawn picture of a picnic and the word ‘Yay’ written on it in what looked like red crayon. And yes, the sun was smiling and wearing sunglasses.

  “I’m guessing that’s when we win?” I asked as I turned to look at her.

  “Yes.” She nodded emphatically. “The reduction in carbon dioxide and its replacement by oxygen will allow us to mimic the environment of most habitable worlds. At that point we will be able to add more complex life, assuming we want to.”

  “Why wouldn’t we want to?” I asked, somewhat surprised. When I’d played Terra Forma, I’d always added life as the planet progressed.

  “Well, I didn’t know if you wanted to let natural evolution take place. Well, as natural as it would be, anyway.” She shrugged. “It wouldn’t be my suggestion, of course, unless you want to hope and pray for billions of years.”

  “Or, like, we can just add plants and animals.”

  “Yes.” Melanie clicked to the next slide, and this one was back to the information-heavy ones she had been using. “We will add a variety of plant life to Ares as its temperature changes. Algae, grasses, maybe some more complex plants. You know, basic stuff.” She went to the next slide. “I have added a few things here. The first is a list of samples I’ll need to begin the process of modifying actual plants. I have the samples you have given me, but these are the ones I would also like. In addition, I have set up an alert system to let you know when the planet has reached a stage where we can add new life.”

  “I’m guessing that’s not something you can do?” I said with a sigh as I saw all the alerts. It seemed like a long time since it was measured in tens of thousands, if not millions of years, but I knew from experience, time like that could pass in seconds while I was outside my solar system.

  “Nope. Or, at least, not given our current level of technology. If you had an actual teleportation array set up on the planet, I could beam there, but right now the only link is to the Hall of Mirrors, and I have no way of getting from here to there.”

  “So, we need to set that up then so you can do this.” I gestured at the slide. “Because I might be busy, and I don’t want to lose time.”

  “I figured you would say that, so I sent you a list of components for that as well, and before you ask, I had Jodie check on it. Most of them aren’t available in the Bazaar yet.” She seemed upset by that, but I wasn’t surprised. In Terra Forma, half the time things like that only appeared after you made the first one.

  “Got it.” I nodded as I opened my quest tab and found three separate quests. The first two, I’d expected. One was for the teleportation array, and the other was for the plant life, but the third shocked me. It was to acquire the red beryl on Zeus. Only, when I opened the quest, it confirmed that my Mining skill wasn’t actually high enough to complete it.

  Since I knew Veronica was trying to find me a trainer for that, I closed the quest and spent the next few moments looking at Melanie’s quests. The plant life quest seemed to exist in stages since it was only part one of a chain quest with many parts. I couldn’t see the other parts, of course, since I hadn’t completed any of the previous steps, but the yellow diamond in the corner let me know there were more than three.

  The other quest, for the teleportation array, was straightforward as well. It listed several components and then instructed me to bring them to Jodie, which made sense since she was the resident builder of the pussycats.

  “Well, seems like we know what to do.” I turned my attention back to Melanie. “When can I add the bacteria to Ares?”

  “As soon as you like,” she said as she offered me two sealed metal containers that had glowing green crystals embedded in the sides. “I have prepared two of them as well as a list of sites on Ares for each.” She showed me the crystals. “The crystals will keep the samples inside viable for twelve hours. They’re fully charged now, but as they run out of juice, the color will fade until they turn clear again. After that, the samples will die.” She offered them to me, and I received a new quest.

  Melanie has offered you a quest. Seed life on Ares. Would you like to accept? Yes or no?

  “Sounds great,” I said. I mentally acknowledged the quest as I took the two containers and transferred them to my inventory. Unsurprisingly, a bunch of dots appeared on a minimap of Ares as I did, indicating whether it should be cyanobacteria or methanotroph, but otherwise, it seemed simple enough. Sure, there were a lot of them, but at the same time, on Ares, I’d be a god and could teleport from site to site on a whim.

  “If you need anything else, let me know,” Melanie said with a shrug. “For now, I’ll be working on more complex plant life as well as bacteria that will work in the dark for Niven.” She laughed. “That’s going to be a hard nut to crack since photosynthesis requires light and, last I checked, the shell around the moon doesn’t have windows.” She shrugged again. “Currently, most bacteria that can do that, ironically, use methane as a source.” She blew a lock of hair out of her face. “We could, I suppose, turn Niven’s atmosphere into methane and go about it that way.”

  “I’d had a thought about that.” I smirked. “What if we introduced a bacteri
a onto Aphrodite to convert the carbon dioxide into oxygen? Then we would have a ton of oxygen to use.”

  “It’s not a bad idea, but it’s hot there, so it will take a ton of dust.” She smiled at me. “I’ll look into it though. If we could just start with oxygen on some of these planets, that would make everything a lot easier, but either way, that will take time to develop and execute.”

  “For now, Niven is just a side project, so don’t worry about it too much.” I smiled as I turned my attention toward the pixie. “I just had one more question.” I nodded to the creature as it ran on its dust-extraction contraption. Man, try saying that ten times fast. “What if we used some of the dust when we seed Ares? Would that help? I mean, the actual conditions are likely to be significantly harsher on the actual planet than in the lab.”

  “Oh, that’s a brilliant idea!” Melanie practically bounced at the thought. “I bet that would significantly reduce the die-off from introduction.” She moved to one of the stations, tapped a few keys, and then a large holographic graph appeared in 3D between us. “Yep, that will increase success by forty-seven percent.” She bit her lip as she hit a few more keys. “Okay, give me a few minutes, and I’ll get the amount of dust you need as well as instructions for use. Also, I prepared a sampling kit for you to take with you. I don’t know when or if you will happen upon any plants or animals, but that will be a lot more effective for sampling because it will beam me back the data immediately. It’s on the bench over there.”

  “Thanks. That’s pretty thoughtful,” I said as I picked up the kit and put it into my inventory.

  I almost couldn’t contain my excitement because this was my favorite part. Adding life to the planet. It was hard to believe that just a little while ago, it was just a dead hunk of rock, and now? Now, it was about to have life of its own.

  It was enough to make you feel like a God.

  14

  “Let us know if you need anything at all,” Jodie said with a weak smile as we moved to the teleportation wing.

  It was time to introduce Melanie’s bacteria to Ares, and while I was itching to get back to my system and do just that, something seemed to be off with Jodie. Hell, if I was being honest with myself, something had been off ever since I’d told everyone we were heading back. Whenever I was looking right at her, everything seemed totally normal, but whenever I wasn’t, I caught the slight flattening of her ears, the occasional glances off in the distance, a little poofiness in her tail.

  It was almost like she was scared, but I wasn’t sure why that would be. After all, she’d seemed fine just a few hours ago. Part of me wanted to ask her about it, but with everyone here and the timer ticking on placing the bacteria, this wasn’t the time or place.

  “Will do, but I think you three have a better idea of what to do while I’m gone than I do,” I said with a quick wave. It was true. We’d spent the last several hours going over who would do what during our trip to Ares, and honestly, I was exhausted from all the planning. It was time to get going, so I quickly summoned Queenie and Gobta to my side.

  “I think they will do well, master,” Queenie said as she appeared next to me and focused her attention on the lead catgirl. And, maybe it was just me, but Jodie seemed to shrink back under her gaze. “That said, I am curious to see just how much they accomplish in our absence.”

  “Oh, I’m not worried about that,” I said as I keyed the teleporter to send me, Queenie, and Gobta back to my system. “Jodie seems pretty professional all things considered.”

  “I am a professional--” The rest of Jodie’s words were cut off as our bodies were turned into plasma and blasted out across time and space.

  As we arrived in the Hall of Mirrors a moment later, I saw the lead catgirl peering through the mirror at us. Before I could wave to them, Queenie stepped toward the mirror, and as she opened her mouth to say something, the catgirl saw her, panicked, and ran off like, well, a scared cat.

  “Hopefully, her and her pussycats get to work,” the Ant Queen said with a shake of their head. “Honestly, I feel like all they do is nap.”

  “Queenie,” I said inquisitively. “Did you threaten the pussycats over their catnaps?”

  “No. I did not, master. I know you wouldn’t approve of that.” She shook her head. “You should be proud because not only did I not threaten them, I didn’t even mention their lack of productivity or threaten to whip them. I merely told them that if they did anything at all to make you unhappy, I would kill them.” She smiled at me. “They can make of that what they will.”

  “You did what?” I said, both horrified at the prospect and kinda pleased that Queenie would kill people for upsetting me. It was strange, I’ll admit.

  “Do not worry, my liege,” Gobta said with a wave of his hand. “I mitigated the problem.”

  “The problem?” I asked, thoroughly confused.

  “They were worried about Queenie slaughtering them, so I told them that if that were to happen, they shouldn’t worry because I would resurrect their corpses so they could serve you forever.”

  “Jesus,” I said as I looked back toward the mirror, and through it, I could see the three catgirls working hurriedly. Admittedly, part of me knew I should talk to them, but honestly, all I could do was shake my head and sigh. “I can’t believe you did that.”

  “It was very altruistic of me, I admit,” Gobta said with a laugh as he socked me lightly on the shoulder. “You must be rubbing off on me.”

  I wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that since, well, they were trying to be helpful in their own unique ways. Still, I’d make sure to chat with Jodie at some point and assure her that her life wasn’t in imminent danger, nor would she be raised as an undead minion to serve me for all eternity… unless, of course, she was into that sort of thing.

  “So, what would you like us to do, my liege?” Gobta asked as I teleported us to the surface of Ares.

  “Two separate things really,” I said as I pulled out the information crystal that Veronica had me use when I’d gone to Zeus. “The first one is for Queenie.” I nodded to the Ant Queen. “I need you to take this and visit all the planets with Scout.” I handed the crystal to her. “Veronica asked if we would do a geological survey for her of the planets. It’s a quest, actually, so there should be some extra rewards when we finish it which I’d obviously like. However, make sure you keep the Aura drain low so you don’t actually draw on mine because I’ll need it for the work here.”

  “You can count on me, master,” Queenie said as she took the crystal and slipped it around her neck. “I’ll begin at once.”

  As I watched her leap into the air and disappear into the horizon, I couldn’t help but wish we could send out multiple teams with multiple crystals. It wouldn’t have been too hard to get a few more, but I didn’t have the Aura to support multiple teams, not with what I was about to do here. The only reason this would work was that Queenie had a ton of Aura she could use to power the crystal all by herself.

  “And my task, my liege?” Gobta asked as I turned my gaze back to the planet. “Would you like me to scout the system as well? I can understand why you would since the cats’ frail bodies cannot survive the awesome might of space.” He flexed. “I, on the other hand, do not have that problem.”

  “That you do not, but no, I have another, bigger plan in store for you.” I pulled out the containers we’d gotten from Melanie. “See, I have this crazy idea.” I held them up so he could see. “I’m going to seed the spots with the bacteria and then add the pixie dust.”

  “Forgive me, my liege, but that seems like the entire task to me…” Gobta looked at the containers in dismay. “I am unsure of how I would help with that.”

  “Oh, well, you’re not--”

  “I thought you needed my help?” He gave me a sad puppy look. “Something that only I could do.”

  “So,” I said, ignoring him momentarily, “after I do that, I need you to use your magic on the spots to supercharge it.”

  “
Wait…” Gobta looked at me, confused. “I’m a necromancer.”

  “With power over life and death, and in this instance, the life part is important. I’ve looked at your skills, and I have no reason to think some of your skills, like Magnificent Growth and Enduring Stamina, won’t affect living units as well.” I waited for him to think over, and it was kind of nice because not only did it happen quickly, but his face brightened.

  “You are correct as always, my liege. Infusing the samples with those skills will definitely help them in this inhospitable environment.” He shook his head. “Though, usually these spells are not used this way. Most often, they are for battle, like the time I made that Persnapian Insect Trap so big it could gobble a man whole.” He smirked. “I eventually sold it to a little pet shop. I heard they kept it in a basement.” He shook his head. “Not sure how they fed it though. The thing could eat a man a day.”

  “Tabling that story for later because I definitely want to hear more--”

  “He named it Audrey, in case you wondered.” He nodded once. “The second. Audrey the second.”

  “Right, okay.” I waved off the conversation furiously. “I need you to do that to these, but I don’t want monsters either.”

  “No problem. I am the Lord of Moderation.” He smacked his fist into his palm. “Just tell me what to do, and it will be done, my liege.” There was an odd happiness to his words that I hadn’t heard before. “Thank you for this opportunity.”

  “Gobta,” I said as I looked at him. “What’s up?”

  “Up, sire?” He gave me a look. “Why would something be up?”

  “Well…” I smiled at him. “Like, call me crazy, but you seem a little too excited about casting spells on bacteria.”

  “Oh. That.” He looked at the ground and then kicked at it slightly. “I just feel like sometimes I’m not a necessary member of the team. Virtually anything I can do, you can do better.” He shrugged. “I was a war leader before. People looked up to me. I had tasks and duties.” He spread his hands. “Now, I do not.”