The Blue People of Cloud Planet

by Brian Wolfenden

  Scott chose the crystal above and the scene was the usual idyllic, sunlit vista with no sign of the wave, although the river level rose a couple of metres and then fell again. So the destructive force had spent itself between 50 and 100 kilometres inland Scott thought to himself.

  ‘And I wonder how many estuaries had been similarly affected by the tsunami wave,’ Scott thought aloud, ‘and how many Blue People had perished!’

  ‘My detailed research of Cloud Planet revealed the extent of the devastation and Scott would have been horrified at the final death toll. In fact, it surprised me and, as you may imagine, I am not normally surprised by events in the history of our galaxy. However, at that undefined moment in the annals of this planet four giant tsunamis raced across the oceans, two in each hemisphere. One wave in each of the seas charged thousands of kilometres in the direction of the icecap before its force was spent. But the other travelled directly at the coastline, which was only 150 kilometres away, at well over 100 kilometres per hour.

  ‘However, the most frightening aspect of these tsunamis was that, at the point of origin, they encircled the complete equatorial circumference of the planet! Each was nearly 50,000 kilometres long and raced towards the shore.

  ‘Further both coastlines of Cloud Planet had 1000 estuaries which are 50 kilometres apart - 2000 beaches which were thronging with Blue People by day. 12,000 dwellings with pyramid dwellings at the estuary and 6000 further inland.

  ‘Furthermore each and every location was filled with blond Serenites and their blue workers. The tsunamis struck both shorelines along their entire length at approximately the same time.

  ‘However, at one location on each coast the force of the tsunami was such that several valleys were completely obliterated for their whole 500 kilometre length and the reservoir dams were smashed and scattered across the red clay. The nearest dwellings on the plain were completely destroyed and buried. I have used my extensive database to model this calamity and conclude that the tsunami wave at these locations was in excess of 500 metres high and travelled at over 300 kilometres per hour! It is impossible to imagine the destructive force of such a gargantuan wall of water and no diamond ‘cameras’ are, as yet, discovered to show this particular catastrophe.

  ‘Well over 2 million Blue People perished on each coast and in nearby valleys.

  ‘Mercifully, half of them were deeply asleep when the disaster strikes.

  ‘But this is just the start of their troubles.’

  Chapter 52

  The Creeping Mist

  Scott went back to the first crystal where he had observed the start of the tsunami because something was tugging at his mind. Something had occurred an hour or so before the calamity but he could not remember what it was.

  He stood on the ledge, with Seren by his side, looking out to sea and pointed,

  ‘Look, look at the far horizon.’

  Now he knew he had not imagined it!

  A thin line crossed the whole of the horizon as far as the eye could see. It seemed to have suddenly appeared, moved down in the sky and merged with the sea before disappearing. It was difficult to judge distance but he guessed his horizon was about 150 to 200 kilometres in this clear light.

  What could have entered the sea? - A shower of meteorites? - Asteroids perhaps? But it had looked too uniform and had stretched across his vision in that hologram in the dark pyramid - how odd! What was it?

  Then an hour later the sea had disappeared and then the awesome tsunami wave had wreaked its havoc among the Blue People of Cloud Planet.

  They stopped to warm up, drink and eat before returning to the dark pyramid. Scott selected crystals from the bottom row which would show images captured after the disaster struck.

  It was a scene of utter devastation and destruction with torn trees, leaves, red bricks and other debris strewn across the beach and water line. Their hearts sank at the desperately sad sight of hundreds of bodies of Serenities and blue workers scattered in all directions across the beach and estuary.

  They were all so deep blue, even the blond Serenites, that it exaggerated their cold lifelessness. Seren could barely look and Scott felt her intense sorrow, but, surprisingly there was no anger. She desperately wanted to know what had happened to her people and so did he.

  He moved around the wall and picked another crystal from the bottom row. This took him further forward in time as evidenced by the decomposition and state of the bodies. Obviously the strong sun was doing its task and unknown scavengers were at work by night.

  He moved quickly on through these upsetting scenes and was surprised when the next crystal ignited in the dark pyramid.

  There was a bank of mist at the edge of the sea.

  They moved up the ramp to the ledge and looked out. On both sides of the estuary, the coast line was covered in what looked like a sea fog? The bank of mist was about 10 metres high and 50 metres deep and seemed to be along the whole length of the shore on both sides. However it was not at the estuary where the river flowed into the ocean. How uniform and strange it looked!

  He selected a crystal further around the wall. They stood on the ledge.

  Neither the sea nor the red beach was visible!

  The huge bank of mist stretched away to either side and it seemed to form an arch over the estuary with the river disappearing into it. They could not see over the bank which was over 50 metres high.

  Seren was puzzled and troubled,

  >> what is going on > what is happening to our sea >>

  ‘It’s a sea mist or fog and it appears to be building up. But I don’t know why.’

  Scott went back around the wall to find an earlier crystal which might explain how the mist started.

  This time there was no mist but the edge of the sea was black as far as he could view in both directions - but not at the estuary.

  He wondered if it could be decomposing debris and other detritus but its uniformity suggested otherwise. He selected a later crystal and now the black layer was steaming, was puffing out wisps of mist all over its surface. There was no rational explanation and he could not understand what was causing this phenomenon. Seren turned towards him,

  >> what is the black > is it causing the mist >>

  How perceptive, Scott thought, now something else niggled in his brain but he could not bring it forth.

  He tried one more crystal further around the wall. It ignited and they were standing in the mist, even up on the ledge, and visibility was at best 50 metres – he could just make out the edge of the estuary but no more. Now he moved up one row and they were standing above the line of six dwellings but only three shattered structures were visible. Everything around them was shrouded in a massive bank of mist. He could not see the sky or sea only the river disappearing into the bank.

  He realised that this bank of mist was growing from the sea edge so he moved further forward in time and up the rows so that he was 50 kilometres inland.

  The scene was frightening. Before him lay the three shattered dwellings and 500 metres or so downstream the world disappeared into a thick bank of mist and cloud which stretched up the slopes each side enveloping the forested hills as far as he could see.

  Now he moved another 50 kilometres inland and forward in time. The hologram showed three dwellings which were fully operational and blue workers in the plantations to either side of the river. Upstream the valley narrowed and forested mountains rose up into white clouds either side of the blue sky. But downstream.....

  ...... the valley widened slowly as the river flowed peacefully until one kilometre away everything disappeared into a wall of mist which towered above the dwellings. Angry grey clouds spanned the lower slopes either side of the river as far as the eye could see. They rose over one kilometre into the sky. It was an awesome and threatening sight.

  ‘The creeping mist,’ he thought aloud and shuddered, and Seren shook beside him.

  ‘Am I really watching the start of the formation of the collar around the land mas
s of Cloud Planet?’

  Chapter 53

  Forced Upstream

  That evening under the huge pyramid of the ‘Capital City’, Scott contacted Zec-1 via his palm top. He was deeply troubled by the news that the Black had now formed masses adjacent to the first seven dwelling structures and that they were now joined by a 100 metre wide, 50 kilometre long bridge. Zec-1 could offer no logical reason for this development but noted that each night the Black advanced by one dwelling.

  ‘So in three nights’ time it will be outside this structure!’ Scott said worryingly to no one in particular.

  He then remembered something that had been at the back of his mind. He asked Zec-1 to recall the results of the survey of the sea adjacent to the land mass of Cloud Planet. Zec-1 reminded him that each coast line was symmetrically punctuated by broad estuaries 50 kilometres apart and that their rivers lined up perfectly with the lateral lines of dwelling structures in the plain. In all there were 1000 lateral structures around the equator.

  Scott knew this but wanted to know more about the coast line. Zec’s next words chilled him.

  ‘There is a black demarcation, about 500 metres wide, around the total length of each coastline except at the estuaries.’

  ‘Is this the same as the black masses above us and next to the dwellings?’

  ‘I cannot analyse it but can only tell you it is the same colour.’

  Scott wondered if the black edge of the sea that he had viewed in the dark pyramid was the same black that threatened them now. Was it a coincidence that the sea had started misting shortly afterwards, followed by the build-up of cloud that moved inland? He also remembered that there was no black at the estuary in the holographic video. But how long ago had those events taken place?

  The next morning Scott selected a crystal from the same row but further on in time. The crystal ignited and they moved to the ledge at the top of the ramp.

  The cloud bank towered in front of them and they could only just make out the outline of the second dwelling through the mist. But there were no light shafts!

  At the edge of the river dozens of black boats were being loaded with leaves and bricks by the blue workers. Some carefully carried the large diamond crystals from the dwelling to the boats where they covered them with several layers of leaves.

  The dwellings had been stripped of their crystals and there were gaping holes where once the screw lifts had been. Scott glanced back to the river where the two black screw lifts were being shepherded upstream. Then, all the remaining boats moved away from the bank and the blue workers paddled furiously through the slow moving current of the river.

  ‘They’re moving out,’ Scott said to Seren, ‘and taking everything of value with them.’

  >> the cloud has forced them to leave > they are going up to the next dwellings > our people cannot survive without their sun >>

  They watched a series of crystals which showed holographic images which moved inland and forward, time-wise, in their history. Dwelling settlements were being abandoned as the cloud bank moved inexorably upstream consuming all in its path. Finally they looked downstream from their position above the lake at the start of the red plain. Though maybe 10 kilometres away, the cloud bank dominated the whole vista. Its greyness rose up the forested slopes and mountain sides and enveloped the snowy white clouds at the top of the mountains on both sides.

  ‘My God! It’s travelled nearly 500 kilometres inland!’ Said Scott, ‘But I can’t fathom the timescale although we have moved the length of one wall to get to this position.’

  He gauged that ultimately this cloud bank was going to cover the whole of the vast red plain together with the mountains and estuaries on the other side! He did not even consider that what he was witnessing now in the dark pyramid had already occurred to the same degree 1000 kilometres away on the other side of the red plain!

  Cloud Planet of the star, Seren, in the constellation of Vercingetorix was starting to live up to its name.

  ‘But other changes are taking place on Cloud Planet as its estuaries, rivers and forested mountains are being enveloped by the relentless advance of the cloud. In addition to the huge rainfall from the white clouds high in the mountains, rain falls continuously from the grey cloud bank, particularly at night. Daytime temperatures plummet from highs of 35 degrees to around 5 degrees and night temperatures which usually fall to 10 degrees are now nearer zero.

  ‘High up in the mountains the forests abound with flocks of flying reptiles, similar to pterosaurs, but smaller than those that forced the lander down in the dwelling.

  ’Lizards abound in the lower and mid slopes of the forested mountains. They warm in the morning sunshine on the banks of the countless tributaries, feed on the leaves from the fast-growing seedling trees and burrow into the soil at night to preserve body temperature. On the river banks larger creatures, not too dissimilar to crocodiles, laze in the heat and then slither into the cool waters. But their environment is now completely changed and, whilst the Blue People are moving up and out of the valleys, the various reptiles are also on the move. To survive!

  ‘Many of the smaller reptiles moved up the mountain slopes ahead of the advancing cloud. Here their food supply was higher up in the tree canopy and they quickly adapted to climb the towering trunks. As cloud progressed, they learned to stay in the high tree tops as this was the only place to find the sun. Ultimately, they would develop flat areas of skin filled with blood vessels to optimise absorption of heat in the misty tree tops. With time they would learn to soar from branch to branch and compete with the established flying reptiles for the huge food source at the tree tops. Both sub-species grow in size in their changed environment.

  ‘Other lizards move down the slopes towards the rivers where they burrow into the clay soil. They are joined by the ‘crocodiles’ and find the underground streams and caverns which are etched by the huge water flows from the mountains and the red plain. A proportion of these streams and caverns are formed by the discharge of hot water from the tens of thousands of dwelling structures so that they remain warm day and night. Although in this pitch-black world, there is no day and night. However, it is certainly warm enough underground for these reptiles to survive and adapt. They forage above ground for food during the day and return to the warm pools at night. And they grow.

  ‘Finally, with the Blue People gone and the lower slopes now left uncultivated, the seedling trees that provide their food grow unchecked. The copious rain is perfect for these trees and though the daytime cloud restricts the sunlight, photosynthesis is still efficient, and, over time, these trees push themselves to incredible heights to get their canopies up towards the sunlight.

  ‘The ultimate net effect on Cloud Planet would be that an additional 500 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from its atmosphere is locked into the dramatically-expanding forests. This reverse ‘greenhouse’ effect has implications far down the line for the Blue People of Cloud Planet as their environment cools.’

  Chapter 54

  Underground Retreat

  Scott and Seren moved around the ledge so that they were looking across the lake towards the red wall of the dam.

  ‘My God! Look at all this activity.’ The far slopes were covered with blue workers who ferried water in their moving triangles to cool the cutting lasers wielded by the male Serenites. Perfect coordination as yet another huge trunk rolled down the slope and crashed into the lake. Dozens and dozens of black boats manoeuvred the trunks to the pen structures where they were cut into their ultimate square shapes. Along the length of the dam were moored hundreds of square trunks of different length and width. These were being treated with a protective black coating.

  In the centre of the dam wall was the opening where water flowed and fed the canal that stretched across the plain. Here, workers in their boats shepherded the trunks until they disappeared from view down into the canal and then floated slowly towards the first dwelling on the plain.

  >> why is there so much activity > w
hy so many people >>

  Scott glanced back at the huge cloud bank consuming the forest behind the lake.

  ‘They’re losing their huge trees; they’re going to lose their source of wood. They must be stockpiling before this lake becomes inaccessible.’

  Scott selected the next crystal from the row above and now they were looking over the first dwelling at the start of the plain. The wall of the dam was about 300 metres away and a steady flow of square trunks was entering the canal and drifting towards them. The dwelling was a hive of activity with a hundred or so blue workers supervised by blond male Serenites.