Aetheric Elements: The Rise of a Steampunk Reality
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Do you have any idea how long an octopus can live? Never mind, I will get to that. Allow me to submit my report for this expedition. It may read more like history in some places, because I don’t know who will find this once I am gone, and I feel the need to be as complete as possible.
Our society was in a new age of science and discovery. The world was a shining object of hope and every country reaped the benefit of the advances in technology. Food was abundant and the energy was clean and no longer polluted our environment, as it had in the ages before. The wars and clashes which the different races once fought had also disappeared as it became clear we no longer needed to compete for anything. Steam, sun, water, and magnetics were the primary power sources now, which were renewable and clean, and only gave off natural byproducts that were absorbed into the environment with ease.
We flew through the skies in machines powered by our new resources. We began exploring the places which we could never reach before. We considered building machines that could escape the planet’s atmosphere. Then we learned what happened when you mixed magnetics with harmonics. Portals. We had discovered how to journey to anywhere in the world by natural means in just seconds. Miniature holes in space which we could travel through, and they dissipated as easily and as cleanly as the steam that powered the ships and trains that traveled along the surface of the sea and land. We wanted more though, we wanted to go further. So we sought to extend our reach. Some wanted to travel to the moon, or even other planets. I was brought on as an explorer, scientist, and archeologist in the most far reaching of the programs. I would travel through time and space. This was different from traveling to planets, because these were places that normal telescopes could not see, though they did invent ways to peek into these other places.
The program had been active for a dozen years before we found other atmospheres compatible to what we need to survive, and I was chosen to be a member of the crew for the first exploration of a new world. Being the first to explore a whole new ecosphere was exciting. The scientific expedition consisted of three dozen others and me. We had the most advanced gear designed, much of it developed for this mission. Equipment to record the solar, magnetic, and other energy radiations, and body suits to help us fly short distances and survive harsh climates. Depending on the level of the threat we had magnetic guns that interacted with the nervous system that could stun creatures by disrupting the electricity within a body, or light guns which dispersed molecules and disintegrated organic material.
The portal would not stay open long because of the natural disturbance it created. We also would not be able to communicate directly with our home. They could check on us using their dimension-scope, and would open the portal so we could return when we gave the signal to do so. When they opened the dimensional doorway and we began our adventure, our gear was deposited in huge containers at the landing site. We followed and began setting up our permanent base. The containers became our shelters as we dispersed the gear inside, building our vehicles and sending out sensors. Natural resources were found as we traveled and we expanded our research stations when possible.
This place had much briefer solar cycles than ours, five-eighths times shorter. The seasons here were incredibly intense, and many areas on the planet were so inhospitable with ice that we decided not to even attempt going there at this point. We traveled on the oceans most often, enjoying the freedom they allowed us for travel. Traveling on land was restrictive due to forests, mountains, deserts, and other obstacles. At least with water we could go deep in a storm, or float on top for study. Either method was fine for travel though.
Life was abundant here. We found thousands of species in the first few weeks, including what appeared to be ancestors of the terrors of our own oceans, sharks. Just like the beasts that we had hunted to extinction on our own planet, these were mindless destructive beasts which only lived to eat. Within a month we also found mammals in the ocean, whales and dolphins. Each species were of varying intelligence, but we attempted to open communication with each of them. The dolphins were the most positive responses. Like similar species on our own world, they had not formed more than the most rudimentary of societies because of not having any way to manipulate tools besides their mouths. This is the one thing that made my species the superior animal to all others. We even found species that were so close to ourselves, we could only conclude that somehow our two worlds had some sort of connection that had been lost far in the past.
It wasn’t long before we encountered a somewhat intelligent land dwelling native species. It was a primitive simian-like creature. We could see it had begun farming, using tools, building boats, wagons, structures, and using other animals for beasts of burden. There was much debate whether we should make contact, knowing the violent nature of primates in general. But the choice was taken from us. Our sensors went off moments before the rogue wave hit our research station. Not a real issue, our ship was built to handle such things. It rolled across the concentric circular walls and the drainage holes took care of the excess. Our gardens got a bit extra watering, which was fine because we only grew plants that were engineered to process the salty waters which we traveled, whether it was under or on top of the water.
When the wave subsided and the water drained we found a boat had been deposited in the third octrant of our vessel. We had no choice, except to help the creatures. We stayed in our exploration suits, feeling that would protect us if they suddenly turned violent. They were amazed and fascinated by us. They almost worshiped us. We moved their ship to the canals that were like spokes of the wheels of our vessel. Soon, they were on their way again. And that was the biggest mistake we ever made.
It was about a single cycle of this world when we next encountered these creatures again. It was a single ship, and it flew the same colors as we had seen on the previous ship we had rescued. We allowed them to come alongside us, and that was when they attacked. We were totally unprepared. They swarmed over us, and their purpose became apparent. They meant to disable our station. Dozens of other ships appeared, filling the horizon. They were like the horrid insects you found on land, distantly related to crustaceans such as lobsters and crabs, but with a hive-mind and swarm tendency.
In the creatures’ ignorance they triggered our defense systems. Without an objective being set, our automatic security targeted the beasts attacking us, and fired upon our own vessel. Explosions rocked us as more filthy primitive creatures joined the fray. We didn’t have enough time to do much except pull the plug. It was easy enough to sink our whole craft; it was part of the design and these creatures would drown. We floated to the bottom in a swaying manner, like a leaf falling from a tree. We took stock of the damage over the next few days. It was incredible how much destruction those ignorant savages wrought in such a short amount of time! Our ship was ruined. We had no navigation, propulsion, weapons, or power. Even the magnetic and solar reserves had been damaged and released, damaging our navigational and communication equipment and destroying them.
We had no choice; we had to leave with only what we could carry. We split up to cover more territory. We had to find our original landing site, deep on the ocean floor. Maybe we could send the signal and return home.
That was a long time ago. I have not seen many of my people, though I have seen their offspring. They must have mated with the native species which we hypothesized we are related to, because I can communicate with them. They have a similar pheromone dialect, as well as the innate electric pulse code which my species uses. Our descendants are not as intelligent or curious as we were, which may be a good thing. Our species is not what it was, living drastically shorter lives due to the atmosphere here - it doesn’t nurture these mix breed offspring the way our home world nurtured us. I see the hatred and fear for the surface species has been passed down also. Some of the races grow to huge sizes and I have heard tales of them attacking ships on the ocean surface. Most of us just avoid them when we can. Other than that, our age old war with sharks continues. My
larger cousins will still attack them on occasion.
In closing, I have lived for centuries of this world’s time and I have watched the savage surface simians grow in power and technology. I have seen them imitate our technology in art and science. They now explore the ocean depths freely, and I am concerned that they will soon find the home portal and gain the ability to travel as my species once did. I pray that they do not find my world, though it may be inevitable. As I said before, the two places seem to be connected in some way. I never did find our base camp, but I hope another did and made sure that the link was closed so that these monsters can never use our own portal against us.
Final Entry