EARTH PLAN

by David Sloma

  She gently handed the child over, and Man One's face brightened right up. The child was quiet in his arms and looked at him. They smiled at each other. That made the woman feel good, like she had made the right choice. The child and the man felt happy. The Watchers looked on with pleasure to see that the reunion was going well.

  After some time together, Man One got up and handed the child back to the woman, as the child was crying; probably hungry. He was hungry himself, and she must be getting hungry also, as it was now the mid-afternoon. They had shifted once already, closer to the rock to get out of the sun, keeping in the shadows. But now the sun was on an angle and was not as strong.

  The woman put the child to her breast, and it suckled there and drank her milk. The woman did not understand why she had milk, as she had not yet given birth, but she was very glad she had it, as the other child was in need. The Watchers had given her some herbs in her food to start her milk production, and the suckling of the child would ensure it would continue for as long as needed. The Watchers planned to monitor her to make sure she was producing enough milk for the child and to help out if need be.

  Man One gestured for her to follow him and she nodded; she wanted to, as she had no mate any longer. The man she had been with on Earth had managed to run away and escape when the Watcher's robots were taking samples aboard the ship. But she was still wary. She looked him over, trying to make up her mind.

  He took a few steps out of the shade of the rock and then stopped, looking back to see if she was following him. She was, slowly and with trepidation. It was not easy to trust a man she did not know, especially now that she had a child to take care of, even if she had not borne the child and didn't know where it came from.

  He walked slowly across the field, making sure the woman and the child were close by at all times. He was happy when they reached the edge of a wooded area, as he could choose another stick from the many branches on the ground. It was cooler inside the trees, too, which they all liked. Also, the man thought, there were more places to hide, in case of attack.

  He led the woman and child deep inside the wooded area, until they could see the other side of a clearing starting to appear. They made for it, taking frequent stops as the woman wanted to rest and also to feed the child.

  The man watched the feedings with wonder and even tried to put his mouth close to her breasts for a taste. But she wouldn't let him get much of one, swatting him away and laughing. He grinned at that, happy that they seemed to be getting along. She was attractive, and he found himself looking forward to the time when they could try and mate together.

  The growling in his belly brought his mind back to the present. He was a bit thirsty too, but not as bad; there had been several streams they had drank out off. Still, it was a hot day, and he got thirsty easily. At the next stream he stopped and drank more.

  After he was done, he got up, and looked around. He pointed to a thick stand of trees, with their branches making a sort of shelter on the ground. He picked up a thick stick and gave it to the woman. She understood and went to sit under the boughs with the child, holding the stick for defense. The man, satisfied that she would be alright for a short time, took his own stick and went towards the clearing.

  He knelt just before he left the shade of the trees and watched, waiting. He wanted to see what sorts of animals might be there before he walked out into the open. A few minutes passed. He didn't see anything but birds and insects.

  Cautiously, he got up and walked into the sunlight, knowing that a big animal could easily be waiting in the tall grass to pounce on him as he walked by. He held his stick up in front and wiped the sweat from his forehead. His naked skin was getting a bit red from all of the sun exposure that day. He just wasn't used to it anymore; all that time on the ship had caused his skin to go very pale. It would take some time to build up to his formerly tanned and toughened skin, and until then he'd be more susceptible to the heat and insect bites.

  He walked through the field, liking the feel of the grass on his feet and the soil under it. It had not been the same on the ship, though it had been close. He looked up and saw the open sky, the blue and the clouds, and he felt happy. Then he saw something that made him stop in his tracks.

  There was a large tree with many yellow apples hanging from its heavy branches and scattered all around it on the ground. His heart sped up. He knew what these were, and they were delicious! They would take his hunger away, and he could carry some back to the woman.

  Carefully, he stepped over the rotting apples on the ground that were being crawled over by wasps, flies, and bees. There were some branches with apples that he could reach, and he stretched for a big, round one. The apple pulled off easily, and he bit into it at once. It was so good, just like he used to remember. He ate the first one quickly, throwing away the core when it was done and then yanking another apple from the tree. He looked at how far the sun had gone in the sky, and it was moving lower; the day didn't have much longer to go, maybe a few hours.

  He ate his fill, then gathered as many apples as he could in his arms and quickly made his way back to the woman and child, not wanting to leave them alone for too long.

  She was delighted to see him and amazed to see the apples. She too, had not tasted one in a long time and biting into it brought back memories of how things used to be and where they used to live.

  After she had eaten some apples and nursed the baby, the man led them on, looking for a more secure place to sleep for the night. He had used large leaves to wrap the remaining apples in, as he remembered they would stay fresher that way. They carried the apples wrapped in the leaves with them. He walked ahead a few paces with his stick in hand, making sure the woman carried her stick, too.

  He led them on until they came to a river, and they drank their fill. It had been a couple of hours of walking without a drink, so they were thirsty. He could see the sun only touching the tops of the highest trees now and knew the night was coming, soon.

  He hastily signaled for the woman to follow him along the river bank where it was more clear of undergrowth. Sometimes he walked in the shallow river, for two reasons: it was faster going, and it would throw off anyone (or anything) that might be tracking them. The woman followed, but more carefully, as she was carrying the baby.

  Eventually, the man found a rock face that rose up high into a hill. There was a sheltered area in front of the riverbank and also an opening that went back into a small cave, under the hill. He directed the woman to stay outside while he went in to check it out.

  He stood at the opening of the cave and waited for his eyes to adjust to the darker area inside. Reaching down, his hand touched some small, round rocks, and he grabbed a handful of these. He threw the rocks into the cave while making noises with his mouth, in order to scare out any animals that might be there. He just hoped there were no humans in there with bad intent. But the only things that rustled in the cave were some insects and a couple of bats that flew over his head, heading out as night came on.

  He took a few more steps into the cave and stood there, listening. He turned around and it seemed safe. He could see the opening easily from the back of the cave; the colors of the sky as the sun set could be seen through the trees. The cave didn't go very far in, but the back was sealed as far as he could tell. This would do, at least for tonight, maybe even longer, he thought. He'd have to see how they fared that night in the new place, though, to be sure.

  He stepped out into the twilight, and the smile on his face must have given him away, because the woman smiled back and made her way to him. He looked down at the child as the woman passed by and was happy he could find them a safe place for the night. He bounded ahead, then waved for her to enter, going in ahead of her. The woman stepped into the cave and looked around; it seemed alright to her, too. She found a dry spot on some sand and sat down with the child. The child was sleeping peacefully. The man yawned, seeing her sleeping so well, but knew his job wasn't done, yet. He gestured to the woman
that he was going out but would return.

  Outside the cave, the man used the last of the daylight to find what leaves he could. He gathered up a great armful of them and took them into the cave, making a bed they could lay upon. That done, he sat at the entrance of the cave, not moving, just listening and observing as night descended. Sometimes animals sought out caves at night, he knew, and he had to be on guard. But no animals came to use the cave, only the insects of the night, which bothered him a little.

  The stars came out. He had almost nodded off sitting there, guarding the entrance. He looked up and wondered why they were different from the stars he used to know. What had happened to him and brought him here? Perhaps he'd never know. He shrugged it off and wished he had some fire to light their cave. That was one thing that was still rare to him, and to the humans he used to live with.

  He went inside the cave to sleep beside the woman and the child on the bed of leaves.

  CHAPTER 15

  The Watchers allowed the humans they had brought from Earth to spread out on their planet. It was easy for the Watchers to track them all at a moment's notice and retrieve any of them; little did the humans know there were many robots watching them at all times, disguised as large birds roaming the skies. The robots would stop any altercations between humans if they happened, either by the use of sleep drugs that they could administer as a gas or loaded on a small dart, or by direct, physical intervention.

  But that didn't happen much, as there were few humans on the planet, and they had been placed far away from each other. The robots had other jobs too, like seeing the humans weren't attacked by any of the wild animals. But mainly the robots were there to observe and be able to retrieve selected humans when the time was right.

  The Watchers planned to return some of the humans with still-pure DNA back to Earth. They knew that over time the unaltered DNA, if given a chance, would overtake the altered DNA that the Greys had injected into the human genome. The Watchers had also perfected a technique by which their robots could initiate a procedure on the humans with altered DNA that would realign the DNA to its former state.

  This was a more subtle way of battling the Dark One than fighting him or his servants head-on, which was something the Watchers didn't want to do. This was because the Watchers were a peaceful race and didn't like to be involved in direct conflicts. Also, because the Dark One would resort to underhanded tactics in any battle and would hold innocents for ransom—perhaps even a whole planet.

  The Watchers knew this was true due to their early run-ins with the Dark One and also by reports from other races who had opposed his plans with force. No, the Dark One was too strong and was insane. He would gladly kill the entire planet Earth to stop the Watchers from interfering; he had, sadly, done it before to other worlds. There was an asteroid field in orbit around Earth that came by in a close approach every 26,000 years, bringing destruction as chunks of rock rained down to Earth. The Watchers knew that the cause of this asteroid field was the destruction of a planet that used to be there.

  The planet had been destroyed by the Dark One eons ago. The Angels had told him not to interfere with it and were protecting it, because there were life forms advancing on it, far ahead of those on Earth which was still in its very early stages. In a fit of rage the Dark One blew up the planet with his advanced weapons. Whether the Dark One was insane enough to do that again was yet to be seen.

  The Angels, shocked at this, backed off from the Dark One until a way could be found to contain him and not let him unleash such destruction again. The result was the shield around the Earth. It would protect the Earth from the outer attacks of the Dark One, and it also sealed the Greys inside it, so that if they destroyed the Earth they would also destroy themselves.

  The Watchers, and the Angels before them, had followed the Dark One through many galaxies, finding his path of destruction but not being able to stop it. It was thought that the deeds of the Dark One would be understood in time, but it was difficult to see anything good coming of them. The Watchers and the Angels knew that the Creator understood all things and had a purpose behind all things, so they did not despair over these evil deeds. They stopped what evil they could and looked for ways to halt the rest.

  The Dark One was very powerful and controlled several galaxies, otherwise others would have stepped in, ganged up on the Dark One and killed him. The minions of the Dark One were made up of many different beings who shared the same consciousness, much like the Watchers shared their own. The Dark One was said to rule all of the evil ones. His original name was not widely known, but he was called the Dark One after he turned to the side of darkness. His parents were like Angels, and he was once like an Angel, too.

  The son was rebellious and didn't want to follow the path his parents had laid out for him as a powerful, good guardian of creation. Something happened to the son, no one is really sure what, and he turned to the evil side, becoming the Dark One. He left his parents and threatened to destroy their world if they tried to stop him—something he would have been able to do, as he was skilled in many of the ways of the powerful. He struck out on his own, grabbing up as much as he could in his never-ending hunger for power and possessions.

  He didn’t see why the Creator should have everything and he only what the Creator wanted him to have. So, the son roamed the universe, taking, killing, and hurting what he could to make himself feel strong. Soon, he was able to make a race of slaves for himself. They were clones, the Grey alien types, who followed his bidding like robots, for robots they were, but of flesh, without any souls. They were not truly alive. These creatures served their master without question, and soon he was able to control many worlds and had multiple life forms under his control. This made him feel good in his sick mind and soul.

  In addition to these Greys, the Dark One had artificially intelligent ships with robots inside them that looked for new worlds for him to capture and turn into his own—which was never a good thing for the worlds, or the creatures on them. These ships found many worlds before they found Earth and turned the life forms on them into evil things who only served their master, until they were cruelly tortured and killed. But before they were used up, the servants perfected their service until they were able to subdue and turn new worlds to evil easily, perpetuating more like themselves.

  When the ships of the Dark One found Earth they knew it was special. It was not like other worlds, in that it possessed a deep beauty in all of its land forms and in its great variety of life forms. The robots reported this back to their master with glee, as they were programmed to receive something like pleasure from doing things their master liked them to do. That the Watchers did the same thing with their robotic servants was not lost on them.

  The slaves of the Dark One spread over the Earth, capturing its creatures and infecting them with altered DNA. In this way the Earth would soon be conquered for the Dark One without him even having to lift a finger. When the Earth was thoroughly corrupted, and he had a new army of slaves there in the human race, he'd come to Earth to rule, repeating the same pattern he'd followed on many worlds. But the Earth was to be his biggest test yet, and even he didn't know if he could succeed. That was part of the excitement for him.

  His family learned of his evil deeds and were upset, and especially over the Earth, as they knew how special it was. They demanded that their son stop, but he would not listen, as he had gone mad with power and greed. Other powerful beings lent their support to the family, saying they would kill the Dark One before he could spread more harm, but his parents could not bear that.

  His family knew he was ill and not in his right mind, so they preferred to wait and see if they could rehabilitate him. They still had hope that their son would turn from the dark side and repent. He was their son, after all, and what parents would want to see their child put to death, no matter what wrong he'd done?

  But the Dark One was determined to stay on his evil course and not give up. He put some fail-safe devices into the Earth
that would allow him to explode it to pieces, as he had destroyed a world in the past, should anyone interfere with him. Or, at least he claimed he had. No one wanted to test this.

  Fearing for the Earth, his family backed down and urged the other powerful beings to give him space also; Earth was too valuable to be risked. They would have to find another way to take it away from him without killing him, or making him so angry that he would destroy it. The Angels understood this too, as it was still a universal law not to interfere unduly with the life of another. If they did so, then evil karma would befall them. So, the Dark One was shut off from the Earth, and his servants were contained there for the moment with the shield in place.

  Concerning universal law, even the Dark One knew that he must get the consent of the creatures of Earth, especially the humans, to go along with his evil deeds. He developed languages that could be used to communicate with the humans, not telling them that the languages were designed to give the Dark One and his minions control over their minds. The words were limited, and thus their concepts, so the humans would have a hard time thinking of anything besides what they knew, which was slavery. In this way, by trickery, the Dark One got his consent to do whatever he wished to them.

  The Dark One gloried in not being honest in getting this consent. He loved when he tricked the life forms he dealt with into giving it and had been doing so for eons, enjoying their suffering, lapping it up like his food, as he was an energy being and consumed negative energy. He found that the negative emotions produced an energetic food most to his liking. His servants the Greys, along with other dark entities, fed on a portion of this negative energy too. The Dark One had the ability to store this negative energy and trade it with other evil entities for favours. So, he did all he could to encourage suffering in all of the life forms that were under his control.