Primal Estate: The Candidate Species

by Samuel Franklin

  For those of you with a moral concern for the welfare of this species, I assure you that these modifications have been made with efficiency in mind, and with as little needless suffering as possible. This species, in their current state, maintains a tenuous existence that relies mostly on hunting and gathering with a small amount of superficial animal domestication in the form of rudimentary herding practices. Their lifespan, barring accident, infection, or infectious disease, is usually limited by accumulated parasite load, a condition completely alien to us. Their lives are extremely rigorous. Death occurs frequently due to infections from accidents in the course of their activities, or from starvation or predation when they become incapacitated and unable to hunt or locate food. All these forms of death are a terrible process, involving considerable prolonged suffering, or exceedingly abrupt brutality.

  Once the adoption of agriculture is made, they will not be as afflicted by the exertions of a hunting/gathering life. Their mode of death, while not completely natural, will be, rather than abrupt and violent, peaceful and in the company of their kind, as a settled life would allow. A more sedentary life, while certainly leaving them open to more disease, will shelter them from the accidents that their current, more active life inflicts upon them. I should also emphasize, that while we are introducing wheat to numerous locations, not all of the populations will adopt it. Some will carry on in their current way for a long period. So while we expect agriculture to be fully established midterm for a minority of the population, the vast majority will not practice it for many thousands of years. Agriculture facilitates the organized exploration, settlement, and, if necessary, invasion of less developed regions that promote growing populations. But the process is slow. In fact, the Algorithm predicts that the majority of the population growth will occur only after approximately 8,000 years. This will result in the majority of the species being associated, some immediately, some secondarily, with agriculture for only two to three thousand years prior to our return. Agriculture will intensify in the last five hundred years before we arrive. Therefore, for the vast majority of our absence, agriculture will be mixed with other, more natural, methods of food provision. This is one reason why the deleterious effects will go largely unnoticed. During these last five hundred years most of their technological advances will be made, giving them only a brief time to scientifically observe, consider, and explore the deleterious effects. By then they will be the heirs of an agrarian culture that believes that at a certain age they are destined to become fat, feeble, and sick. It will be treated like the end of the day, with expectation and resignation.

  Simultaneous to our arrival for harvest, as we begin phasing out of our Gravitational Dilation, we will send a team ahead to introduce an improvement on this crop that will allow it to be grown more efficiently and with even greater yield. This will result in wheat becoming so inexpensive it will render its universal use an economic imperative in almost all cultures. It will make wheat available as a feed for animals as well as promoting an increased use in human foods. With the technology they will have at this advanced stage, wheat is likely to be modified into all kinds of consumable products. We expect this process to circumvent some of the remaining cultural barriers that would have protected certain populations up to that point. Keep in mind these effects will initially hit some humans very hard, but the effects will taper off as those who suffer most are removed from the gene pool.

  Starting from initial introduction, subsequent millennia will see the longer term negative effects that will reduce human progress by approximately 2.3 percent, year over year, effectively creating our desired limitations. The immediate effect in individual lives is therefore, over the long-term, extremely small. But in the larger sense, this makes for a significant impact.

  There is one last element of the project which I need to cover, and that pertains to our recent scans. This project was conducted some twenty years ago and there must have been some inaccuracies in the initial surveys. It appears that a combination of weather activity and tidal influences imposed by the planet’s small moon will influence settlement, in a negative manner, along some coastal areas. These settlements are vital to our plan, as coastal trade is vital to the spread of agriculture based civilizations across the planet. The Algorithm has analyzed all variables and has determined that removal of the small moon is required. This will be a simple matter. We’ve done similar things in the past with certain mining operations resulting in very little disruption to the surface. I’ve even thought of a way I can integrate the demolition with our appearance on the surface during our Contact Protocol. It will obviously be a demonstration of great power to these primitive beings, and will enhance our ability to introduce a few necessary cultural and religious activities.

  Being a simple matter, and being consistent with the mandate under which I operate, I’ve unilaterally decided to include this action in the final proposal to this committee. If it is passed in this manner it will save us considerable expense to the alternative of getting Union approval.

  In conclusion, I would like to submit this proposal, pending subsequent questions.”

  pause

  Listen and be heard, this twenty-fourth meeting of the 3-237 Perpetuant Cycle Project Planning Committee, all who have interest be here withheld of all selfish undoing, and maintain the good of the Nation for all and forever.

  Break

  Question Period

  Project Minister:

  Listen and be heard, this twenty-fourth meeting of the 3-237 Perpetuant Cycle Project Planning Committee, all who have questions be here withheld of all selfish undoing, and maintain the good of the Nation for all and forever.

  Synster:

  “Consul Rydeo”

  Consul Rydeo:

  “What of the other species on the planet that will be, um, displaced? We, you know, have use for them. Will they not be obliterated by the proliferation of the subject species? I mean, ultimately?”

  Synster:

  “We do not anticipate this being a problem. The amount of land required for the subject species to successfully conduct agricultural activities will be minimal due to the productivity of the wheat grain. There will be considerable habitat to provide for all the other species, even at the projected maximum population upon our return. As you know, we have approval to harvest all large bestiary from land masses one, four and five. We will take full advantage of this.”

  Synster:

  “Consul Wyriwort”

  Consul Wyriwort

  “Further explain why this species won’t discover that this grain causes them physical decline as they get older. If they are as clever as we hear, they should be able to observe the correlations.”

  Synster:

  “The poisonous effects of our wheat will initially be experienced rather violently by only a very small percentage of the population; approximately four percent. We know that this small percentage will find inclusion of wheat in their diet ultimately lethal. Our findings indicate that currently about five percent of the population becomes ill and sometimes even die, on a regular basis, from natural poisons in their food due to errors in identification, experimentation, emergency expedience, improper preparation and ongoing mishandling. Should the effects of wheat increase this percentage dramatically for a short time, the change should not be noticed. With the long-term storage potential of wheat, if stores are in fact maintained, some of the above accidents won’t happen. For instance, instead of trying to eat a carcass in questionable condition due to famine, the carnate will resort to its stores of wheat.

  In addition, numerous types of parasites infect approximately seventy-five percent of the population by the time they reach their reproductive years. This parasite load starts in their youth and increases significantly as they age. As would be expected, they have natural defenses against them, the variety of their seasonal diet being one of these. Nevertheless, the critters ultimately have their impact. In fact, on an individual basis, the parasite load in th
eir gut and elsewhere in the body is the largest single limiting factor to their lifespan. Parasites compete with the human’s ability to efficiently absorb and allocate nutrients, aggravate their digestive process, open their tissues to a variety of unrelated secondary pathogens, and attack a variety of organs that limit a number of vital physiological functions. Without these parasites they would be incredibly healthy, but under their current level of technology, they aren’t aware of them and so have not developed many strategies against them.

  As part of their agricultural training, we will instruct them in various methods of hygiene that will be given religious significance. This will, to a great degree, minimize the onset of the parasite load that they currently have no recourse against. This, of course, can only serve to improve our end product. But beyond this, as the benefits of reduced parasitism are realized, the deleterious effects of a wheat-based diet will begin to emerge. The symptoms of disease that they experience from their wheat consumption will, in a great many ways, feel like symptoms from their usual parasite load: diarrhea, bloating, stomach pain, neuropathy, fatigue, skin problems, behavior changes, depression, sleep disturbances, weight problems, failure to thrive, stunted growth, muscle and joint pain. This is a list of symptoms from both parasite infestation as well as wheat sensitivities. Not so surprising when you consider that they both attack through the digestive system, permeate the intestines and propagate throughout the body, damaging organs. We have perfectly matched the deleterious effects of wheat to what they currently feel from their parasites. In fact, when you think about it, with regards to gut permeability and bacterial dis-biosis, having an intestinal tract full of wheat is very similar to having it full of parasites.

  With their newly introduced hygienic customs preventing the usual parasite load, they will largely be trading the old symptoms for the new, without realizing the different source. In the past, as they grew older, they had a greater parasite load and felt more symptoms. As they grow older now, eating wheat, their autoimmune reaction will exhibit increasing symptoms, affecting them mostly, as I described, in their post-reproductive years, per our design. Aside from the additional autoimmune issues that wheat consumption will bring, they will appear to decline at approximately the same rate and in the same manner. Few will notice any difference. And, of course, this is all speaking in general terms, there will be exceptions”

  General:

  Applause. 7.2 scale

  Synster:

  “Consul Phyniki”

  Consul Phyniki:

  “Will these deleterious effects, as you call them, affect the quality of the product? If they should begin too early then we’ll have no product. Or we’ll have to harvest earlier resulting in lower weight.”

  Synster:

  “Our projections do not anticipate that this will be a problem. The deleterious effects are engineered to begin immediately after their most efficient reproductive age as the body succumbs to the decades of irritation to the gut at about that age. This means it will not generally interrupt reproduction. There will always be exceptions, of course. The first effects on the body generally will be inflammation and weight gain. This is what we are looking for during this optimal age for harvest. Only later, substantially after weight gain for most, will the other effects come into play. By themselves, they will only affect overall health, but not immediately the quality of the flesh or organs until some years before death. And during the harvest, we do not intend to gather from this older age group.”

  No further questions raised.

  End Meeting

  ∞ SUBMITTED FOR RECORD ∞

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Author Samuel Franklin has spent his life working and playing in extreme environments from alpine peaks to barren deserts, from high security prisons to the skies of the West Indies. As a United States Marine, educator, and member of the law enforcement and intelligence community he has developed a breadth of knowledge of the human condition. His work and diverse hobbies have led him on frequent adventures, the most recent of which nearly took his life. This didn’t occur in the typical manner of nearly being killed, but rather through a progressive process of dying, perhaps the worst kind of dying. His life as he knew it was slowly but surely being eroded by an unidentified, unseen villain.

  Franklin began his journey into the Primal Estate in a most unlikely place, a small aircraft flying over a tropical island. Part of a special operations group hunting a subject, he began to realize something had been hunting him. It was the Aedes aegypti mosquito from the island’s steamy suburbs. It had given him dengue fever and the symptoms hit at thousands of feet while circling a target. From the time of his landing and for two weeks after, Sam was wracked with fever and bone-crushing pain. When it was all over, he was left with a debilitating, degenerative syndrome that doctors could neither identify nor understand, and yet it had a curious similarity to everything from fibromyalgia to multiple sclerosis.

  What started as malaise and stiff muscles progressed to most of the autoimmune symptoms. During years of suffering, after giving up on doctors who only wanted to prescribe drugs, Sam took full responsibility for his condition and searched for the truth about autoimmunity. Using himself to experiment, he isolated the problem and recovered his health. He discovered that his immune system had lost its tolerance to eating common foods that were never meant for the human species. It was that simple. The science exists to explain it but the information is not getting out.

  Sam dedicates his writing to a deeper understanding of the mind and body, and man’s unique place in his environment.