The Blue People of Cloud Planet

by Brian Wolfenden

  ‘I believe 10,000 from Zec-C’s analysis,’ replied Scott, ‘who knows what we’re going to discover on this extraordinary planet.’

  It was about midday and the cone of shimmering light was absolutely vertical, casting hardly any shadows, and the temperature was a hot 30 degrees with high humidity. In the air-conditioned lander it was a more comfortable 23 degrees. Zec-1 had to apply measured amounts of heat to the outer layers of the dome to clear the condensation which was dripping from every outer surface.

  There was activity by the fourth pool as several young creatures ladled out the hot leaves onto the ground using black, flat rectangular wooden shafts. The leaves had shrunk to an intense dark green, similar in colour to spinach, and were left to drain.

  Now all the figures engaged in a second bout of community feeding as they lolled around the hot pools and various ramps interconnecting the internal structures of the octagon. Then, having taken their sustenance, the young moved to the fourth pool and took up handfuls of the now soft dark green mass and distributed it to the rest of the adults. As they ate the vegetation some of it dribbled from their mouths and onto their bodies creating striking splodges of dark green on their blue skin.

  ‘There’s definitely a pecking order when it comes to feeding,’ Scott said, ‘males first, then the females with all the tattoos, the older adults and finally the young ones.’

  ‘Presumably, that’s their diet,’ replied Olivia, ‘high protein milk and very nutritious vegetation, and I don’t see them drinking the water so the milk must provide all their hydration needs.’

  ‘I’m not surprised considering the high chlorine content of the water.’

  The astronauts watched as during the next hour or so the creatures ate and drank completely finishing all the green mass that had been ‘cooked’ in the fourth pool. Then in the same pecking order they entered the channel and washed off the food and proceeded to quite vigorously splash water over themselves. Then they walked to various parts of the structure.

  Olivia and Scott looked on as it became obvious that the Blue People, as they now thought of them, were forming into groups.

  Chapter 24

  ..... and make Merry!

  ‘Look,’ said Olivia,’ there are 5 distinct groups with one male and 5 or 6 adult females in each.’

  ‘But that lot over there has 8 females.’ Scott pointed out, ‘I wonder why?’

  They were curious as each set arranged itself upon the ground around the pools with the male surrounded by the females.

  Then they were surprised as, in turn, each female mated with the male and, over a period of time, so it seemed, more than once.

  While this was happening, young creatures frolicked in the pools; older ones tended young and some of the mature youngsters formed their own clusters and imitated their elders.

  Olivia and Scott looked on at this natural scene with arms around one another, then she said.

  ‘They’re mating, let’s leave them to it and get some rest.’

  Scott agreed.

  By mid afternoon the shimmering octagon of light was angled away from the lander, again casting deep red shadows and the blue creatures, having finished their mating, were now lying in and around the pools apparently ‘sleeping’ in the sunshine.

  Zec-1 interrupted the astronauts’ own afternoon nap,

  ‘Temperature in upper pools now rising – cannot determine mechanism controlling this – upper pool now 50 degrees.’

  Olivia and Scott watched as the blue forms woke from their slumber and fed. Then in the same pecking order, they entered the channel for a short period in order to cleanse themselves. Afterwards they slipped into the pools in the reverse arrangement to first thing in the morning so that they could heat up their bodies.

  ‘Temperatures now 50 degrees, 55, and 60 in pools three, two and one,’

  The hot baths soon filled with bodies which moved from one to another. Zec-1 informed the astronauts that their body temperature was being raised by two to three degrees each time. Finally the males emerged from the first pool with their bodies now at 42 degrees, donned the huge leaves and disappeared down the ramp. This slow procession continued as the sun went lower through the clouds. Finally the last of the adult females wrapped a huge leaf around her form and Olivia and Scott watched as she descended the ramp and her black curly hair vanished underground.

  Zec-1 then announced that there was a significant heat signature directly below pools one and two – presumably the overnight chamber of the planet dwellers.

  Then the black ramp slowly started to descend until its upper rim met the red clay ground – the octagon was now sealed from its unknown basement. The Blue Peoples’ dwelling had closed for the night.

  ‘I hope you got all that on digital, Zec-1?’ Scott said as they just looked at one another hardly believing what they had experienced.

  ‘Of course.’

  The angle of the cone of light dropped quickly and on the dome screen they saw the first few diamonds ‘shut off’ forming the window which they had peered through the previous day. The light screen switched off symmetrically from either side until only the forward limb of the octagon was still ‘lit’. Then that shut off and only the glow of the cooling crystals could be seen.

  The rain fell, and clouds closed in over them as the temperature quickly dropped until it was nearly zero degrees – what a different world to the wondrous one they had just witnessed.

  Zec-1 announced that the water flow to the upper pools had been diverted somehow and concluded that they were designed to maintain their heat as long as possible.

  With communications now re-established with LifeSeeker-1 above them, AJ’s voice welcomed them back and asked for their report.

  ‘AJ, have we got some digital footage for you!’ exclaimed Olivia.

  ‘OK, we’ll look at that during the night, suggest you guys get some sleep and we’ll video conference 1 hour before sunrise.’

  So, with the rain lashing down outside and the wind rising, Olivia and Scott left the command dome in Zec-1’s capable hands and made their way to their comfortable quarters.

  ‘Wow, what a day! What an incredible day,’ Olivia said as she flopped down onto the water-filled bed. ‘I can’t stop shaking with excitement.’

  Scott lay down beside her. ‘I still can’t get over that incredible light sheath, those diamond crystals, the structures and those creatures.’

  ‘Yes, but there must be something far more intelligent at work here, Olivia added, ‘surely those blue reptiles couldn’t have created all this?’

  ‘I agree,’ replied Scott, ‘I wonder what the next few days will reveal, but I don’t feel very tired, do you?’

  The gleam in his eyes was equally matched by her seductive look and quickly their discarded clothes littered the side of the bed.

  Chapter 25

  Remarkable Findings

  The video conference started with a plethora of exclamations, - ‘amazing!’, ‘incredible!’, ‘unbelievable!’, as the astronauts in LifeSeeker-1 expressed their views to Olivia and Scott on the dome screen. There were more questions than answers but they all agreed that what they had witnessed was an epoch in mankind’s exploration of space.

  The excitement was clearly visible on the astronauts’ faces as they turned to one another or pointed to their section of the dome where each could display their own choice of action replay. They all agreed what a strange world of geometric shapes and near human reptiles they had found beneath clouds and at the base of the remarkable light sheath.

  AJ called the meeting to order, as Olivia, supported by Steve, urged that they consider exiting the lander for the first exploration of the dwelling and its occupants. Scott, though keen himself to investigate, was more cautious and it was AJ who finally summed up.

  ‘Remember we must observe until we are absolutely certain it is safe to exit ROL-1. Also we must wait until Zec-C has completed a minutely detailed examination of the atmosphere in the structure, se
arching for any unseen life forms particularly bacteria. I understand your impatience but we must spend one or two more days watching to gather as much information as possible.’

  They all nodded in agreement and there was no need to vote as AJ went on,

  ‘Furthermore, Zec-C has the results of the surveying we have been doing,’ and looking directly at Olivia and Scott, ‘whilst you have been having fun on the ground!’

  This brought smiles from everybody as Zec-C announced,

  ‘I have already detailed the upper canals to you and mentioned the presence of a lower, underground water system.’

  The domes in front of the astronauts filled with the mimic display of the flat plain beneath the clouds showing the regularly-spaced shafts of light and the myriad of straight upper canals. Then a second set of lines paralleling the upper water courses appeared linking every light shaft.

  ‘Every light shaft, or octagon structure as we may now be able to deduce, is linked by a perfectly straight, 50 kilometre length canal, some 3-5 metres below the surface of the red clay strata. But what is most remarkable is that water is travelling in both directions. I can only surmise that there is some linear separation of the flows but cannot get precise data through the cloud and clay.’

  ‘Is this an underground transport system?’ queried Alison and it was Zec-1 that provided some further information,

  ‘I have detected movement of a large object at both flanks of the dwelling but the thickness of clay has prevented a detailed assessment. However, these movements occurred about 1 hour before sunrise and sunset. I will try for more detail during further observations.’

  A discussion ensued on the nature and use of these new water channels but again everybody agreed that they must have been produced by an intelligent species.

  It was Scott, who voiced what the astronauts were thinking,

  ‘Olivia and I discussed this last night and from what we have observed of these unique Blue People in just one day, we don’t think they have the capability of designing and building these symmetrical structures. These reptiles, though humanoid in stance, appear too perfunctory in their actions. They show no recognition of our presence whatsoever. There must be, or must have been, a higher intelligence on this planet.’

  Whilst they mulled over the implications of this profound observation, Zec-C continued,

  ‘I have carried out as detailed an analysis of the whole land mass that the thick cloud cover will allow and I will give you the organic and geological results later. However, what is unusual is that there are no metals detectable and I was going to deduce that the whole of Cloud Planet is completely metal free – until the latest orbit that occurred just before our conference.’

  This had the immediate attention of the astronauts and they watched as the mimic display homed in on a section of the light shafts adjacent to the forest covered mountains.

  ‘But here,’

  A pointer highlighted one light shaft right at the edge of the plain where it met the forest,

  ‘there is a faint trace of metals which analysis confirms is titanium and aluminium with an identical infrared spectrum to those same elements used commonly on Earth.’

  There was silence.

  ‘Also I can find no trace in this planet’s geology of any ore of titanium or aluminium such as bauxite. At this point in time I can only conclude that these traces of metal have not originated from a source on this planet.’

  Further silence. Then everyone spoke at the same time but no one could make sense of this latest finding.

  ‘We plan to pass over this spot as near as possible during its night time,’ AJ intervened, ‘and if we confirm this exceptional finding, we will consider investigating this light shaft as our next port of call for ROL-1.’

  ‘Although metals are not present in the crust of this planet, it has a molten iron core similar to Earth. This produces a symmetrical and strong magnetic field aligned perfectly with the centre of each icecap. I am sure that this force has deflected harmful solar radiation away from Cloud Planet in its distant past thus preserving the planet’s atmosphere.’

  It was again a remarkable sight as Olivia and Scott watched the rain ease, clouds lighten and then the first crystals glowed red and exploded their light rays at the sun. Slowly the whole dwelling was surrounded in the light sheath and they marvelled as the sun shone casting wonderful deep red shadows across the vegetation-strewn structure.

  Earlier Zec-1 had informed them that approximately 1 hour before sunrise a large object had been detected at the flanks of the underground canals to each side of the lander.

  They waited in anticipation as, on cue, the black ramp slowly rose from the clay platform directly in front of them. Although they knew what was coming, they were again captivated as the black-haired, leaf-bound forms of the, presumably same females, climbed the ramp, shuffled towards the first pool, discarded their ’robes’ and started the warming up process.

  The procession was the same as the previous morning.

  Zec-1 interrupted their thoughts,

  ‘The first pool initially received water at nearly 90 degrees directly from the crystal channel but after the black ramp had come up, a second flow of water at 0 degrees, presumably from the upper canal, was mixed with this hot flow. Both flows are of similar volumes resulting in water at 45 degrees entering the pool system. I detected the movement of a rectangular wooden structure, just prior to this occurring, between the crystal channel and the back of the first pool.’

  They looked on in trepidation as the blue males emerged, again carrying lifeless forms which they placed in the hot sun on the clay.

  ‘Oh no, there are three of them today,’ Olivia said in anguish, ‘and one of them is an infant.’

  They stared helplessly as the adult blue females carried the bundles to the top of the channel and gently placed them into the exiting stream of hot water.

  The processes of feeding, cleaning and cooking continued and to their delight two births took place in the top of the channel below them.

  Later, as the sun had passed its noon, the Blue People gathered again in their mating groups of adult male and attending females.

  ‘Zec-1, can you zoom in on that group to our left,’ asked Scott.

  ‘Don’t you have a good enough view as it is!’ sneered Olivia, ‘It’s not a peep show!’

  ‘No, seriously, Olivia, I’m sure that all the Blue People in that group have similar markings between their breasts.’

  ‘You could be right,’ Olivia had to admit, ‘so let’s get Zec-1 to analyse all the groups.’

  Whilst Zec-1 was doing this they noticed that one of the blue females had made her way towards some of the pubescent females that frolicked around the upper pools. She selected one and hand in hand returned and joined her group.

  ‘What’s going to happen now?’ Olivia wondered and looked on with Scott as the adult female coached the young female through the mating process. Then, one of the elder females from the crèche area came over to the group holding a leaf containing red and black thick liquids.

  ‘The liquids are clay and carbon black dispersed in the white latex from the leaf stalks.’ Informed Zec-1.

  ‘Look, she’s painting the young female!’ said Olivia and watched as the older female skilfully applied a black square with her fingers around each of the young female’s nipples and then she inserted a black triangle in each corner creating the exotic square. Then she drew a small octagon shape with sides of black and red between the youngster’s breasts.

  The young blue female had come of age and become part of a mating group.

  ‘I told you so,’ gloated Scott, ‘that’s the same design as the rest of the set.’

  ‘Each of the five groups has an identically coloured octagon including the male, and with eight sides and two colours there are thousands of different possible combinations. Further, the males’ tattoo has a high resin content whereas the females’ is relatively low. This may represent permanent o
r temporary identifiers but the reason is unknown.’

  The dome then showed the relevant designs of the groups.

  ‘Are we to assume that these are different families?’ asked Scott.

  ‘One other piece of information – the group with the largest number of females is the only one where the male and two of the females have a red triangle. All the other groups have only black triangular tattoos.’

  ‘How intriguing,’ Olivia replied.

  Chapter 26

  Investigate the Metal