The Blue People of Cloud Planet

by Brian Wolfenden

  The whole sequence is then repeated for the research module converting LifeSeeker-1 to a three module space station. Next, the accommodation module is commissioned allowing the astronauts aboard LifeSeeker-2 to transfer to the space station and complete the commissioning of both modules.’

  AJ congratulated Alison and Steve, who had been the lead pilots in ROL-2 during the 30 days it took to complete this delicate transformation of the two starships. Although the computer monitored and initiated all stages of the procedure, the lander pilots’ role was critical – you cannot make any mistakes at 20,000 kilometres per hour – the orbital velocity of the starships, landers and their components.

  Now LifeSeeker-2 was nearly ready for its return journey. In addition to taking astronauts back to Earth, the huge bay that once held the two connecting cylinders now contained 2,000 diamond crystals.

  This made hardly a dent in the inventory of the Blue People of Cloud Planet. However, this was an unbelievable treasure trove destined for planet Earth.

  Again a secret message was sent to Earth. In ten year’s time the same leader of the cartel would hear that a starship crammed with thousands of enormous diamonds was heading for Earth and they would have a decade to plan its acquisition.

  And arrange the elimination of those who might get in their way!

  ‘I am still extremely surprised that, despite all the intricate security systems I built into Project Omega, someone outwits me. It takes many hours of my massive computing power to find the ‘buried’ code in the system. It is a very clever piece of deception and evidence of the remarkable intelligence of the person involved. It is a shame that greed and selfishness has corrupted this clever mind.’

  Steve was sitting in the command dome of LifeSeeker-2 staring out at the space station in the distance; the sun glinting from its three modules mounted one on top of the other. He was now commander in charge of the starship for its return journey and was waiting for his passengers to check in.

  The dome display illuminated and AJ’s face appeared.

  ‘I’ve sent a message to the General that your starship be escorted once you come out of half-light speed. We can’t take any chances with a hold full of diamonds!’

  ‘My concern,’ replied Steve, ‘is that it won’t be the General receiving the message but I’m sure he will have passed command to someone equally as trustworthy.’

  ‘I agree and I’ve already sent my concerns to the General, or his replacement, regarding potential exploitation of this planet.’ AJ continued. ‘Now, Steve, it falls on your shoulders to champion the Blue People of Cloud Planet when you get back. They’ve been through enough.’

  ‘I’ll do my best, but it will be 20 years before I get back, a lot can happen in that time!’

  ‘Good luck, Steve, and ‘bon voyage’’

  ‘And good luck to you, AJ, it’s been great knowing you!’

  Martha and Pete arrived at LifeSeeker-2 the next day delivered by Alison in ROL-2. But Alison was not returning to Earth. She wanted to continue the work of restoring Cloud Planet’s estuaries so, after an emotional farewell; she piloted the lander back to the space station. Still no word from Olivia and Scott, Steve thought, but they knew the deadline for departure was the following day.

  Olivia sat in the command dome of ROL-1 staring out at the mist and rain. The lander sat in the middle of the open space in front of the huge pyramid dwelling of the ‘capital city’. It was shortly before dawn and already visibility had improved and the rainfall had eased.

  She wondered how long it would be before the cloud dissipated completely from the red plain. Many years, she thought, perhaps a decade. But already it had thinned at the edge of the plain so it would eventually happen. She thought about the last 6 years spent on this planet. She had buried herself in the mammoth task of reclaiming that one estuary and rebuilding the six dwellings by the sea.

  How appropriate that the Serenite leader had come back to his paradise, even though it was to be his last day on Cloud Planet.

  Then through the mist, Olivia could see that two figures had emerged from the pyramid and they walked to a point about 50 metres in front of the lander. She looked at Scott and the beautiful blond Serenite young man clutching his hand and her heart lurched momentarily. Although she still had not forgiven him, surprisingly, a part of her still loved him despite all that had happened but she wouldn’t share him.

  Time to go, Olivia thought, fighting back the tears,

  ‘Command Zec-1! Prepare for lift off.’

  Scott could see Olivia clearly in the command dome and he heard the main engines as they ignited. His chest tightened with emotion as he met her eyes. He knew he had hurt her badly and he mouthed the word ‘sorry’ knowing it could never be enough. Then the hand that clutched his shook as a result of the cold and rain. However, there were three remarkable things that were different about this Serenite boy.

  Firstly, despite the fact that it was nearing the end of the night, this young boy was not blue. He was cold and shivering but like Scott he was warm-blooded!

  Secondly and even more surprisingly were the audible sounds made by an inhabitant of Cloud Planet........

  ‘Is Olivia going back to your star?’ said Zac, the first Serenite to have the power of speech in addition to telepathy.

  ‘Yes’, choked Scott, ‘she’s leaving on LifeSeeker-2 later today.’

  ‘And is your star far away?’

  ‘Oh, yes, Zac, a long way away!’

  ‘Will I ever go to your star, Scott?’

  ‘Oh, yes, Zac, you most certainly will!’

  Thirdly, Zac had an immense IQ for his age, mainly achieved from the amount of time spent with Zec-C on Scott’s palmtop. This knowledge was shared through telepathy with his ‘brothers’ around Cloud Planet – there were nearly 1,000 of them! At the age of six a Serenite male reached his manhood and this intelligence would be passed on to new generations.

  A race of ‘Super Serenites’ would evolve.

  Olivia looked down at the two figures huddled together against the cold rain and smiled.

  Scott and Zac smiled back.

  Then Olivia raised her arms outwards and upwards in the traditional Serenite way.

  Scott and Zac responded with a similar gesture as the lander roared up into Cloud.

  As they disappeared from view, Olivia lowered her arms and focussed on piloting the lander. Her left hand pressed onto the console in front of her.

  ‘OK, Zec-1, let’s dock with the starship and go home.’

  ‘But Olivia is not going home. She is going somewhere that she could not have imagined in a million lifetimes.’

  As for Scott, he was now the leader of the Blue People. With Seren by his side he would spend most of his time at the capital city with regular visits to other dwellings and the sea.

  Meanwhile hoards of beautiful Serenite females would travel from all corners of Cloud Planet to lie with their leader.

  ‘Life looks very rosy for Scott but all that is about to change. This planet is about to reveal more surprises. Then he, too, is going somewhere he could not have imagined in a million lifetimes.

  Chapter 75

  Deep Underground

  ‘Underneath the thick clay of the red plain is a layer of chalk and limestone about 1 kilometre in depth. Cold water from the canals and hot flows from the pools of 20,000 dwelling structures percolate through the clay and, over time, form underground streams, channels and caverns filled with water. The underground ambient air temperature is 15-20 degrees Celsius and is 20-25 degrees for the subterranean pools.

  ‘After the invasion of the black and the creation of the cloud collar, many of the forest lizards moved down to the rivers where they joined the ‘crocodiles’ and both sought refuge in the caves and tunnels leading to this warm underworld. Initially these reptiles foraged for food by day in the cold rain forests and warm themselves by night in the underground pools. However, there is no shortage of food underground as leaves and stalks ar
e constantly being washed down from the dwellings and the rivers themselves.

  ‘Thus, they adapted and thrived in this new black underground environment. They multiplied, grew in size and searched further and further inland through the streams until they arrived at the huge hot pools and caverns under the red plain itself.

  ‘At the same time the Blue People are forced from the valleys and underground into their chambers beneath the dwellings on the plain. The creation of the full light sheath around each dwelling causes much higher flows of hot water down into the caverns. This results in underground air temperatures now in excess of 20-25 degrees and water temperatures which ranged 35-45 degrees.

  ‘Slowly the food source for these growing reptiles starts to increase as the death rate among the Blue People begins to rise as their environment cools. But it is the ‘crocodiles’ that take the largest share of the abundant food. Initially, they are only interested in the ‘wrapping’ around the lifeless forms which enter their domain via the open channels in the dwellings. These huge leaves provide nourishment for further adaptation and the reptiles became larger reaching 2 metres in length. Now they become stronger and develop powerful jaws and sharp teeth which enable them to devour the contents of the wrapped forms as well. This additional source of food, rich in protein and fat, causes them to become carnivorous.

  ‘They quickly grow in size, strength and ferocity as a constantly increasing number of leaf wrapped food parcels flows down to their hot black underground world.

  ‘I am surprised at the rate of evolution on this planet but conditions are very conducive, particularly underground. Further, in this planet’s distant past, the ancestors of these reptiles evolve from egg layers to bearers of live young. The gestation time is extremely short which results in multiple generations each year which contributes to their staggering changes over a period of just over 2 centuries.’

  In the Stygian blackness the monster reptile effortlessly pushed itself through the flow of hot water as it travelled from cavern to cavern. It was a mighty three and a half metres in length with a hard scaly skin and sightless eyes whose lids had long ceased to close. The creature propelled itself through the rushing water using its powerful tail aided by webbed limbs which also carried hard claws to manoeuvre over wet, slippery rocks. Its powerful jaws were nearly a metre in length and festooned with sharp, serrated teeth which made short work of the leaf wrapped parcels of food.

  Though blind and living in a world of total blackness, this formidable creature had developed an extraordinary sense of smell and a sonar system to guide it through the labyrinth of caverns, streams and tunnels.

  Normally these creatures did not have to move far from their large hot underground pools as their food came to them, every day in quantities more than they could possibly consume.

  However, this copious supply of food slowly started to decrease and these monstrous reptiles had to go searching for their meals by seeking out new pools and caverns. Over a period of 5 years the supply had decreased significantly and the creatures were forced further inland and finally arrived under the clay of the red plain.

  However, this gigantic creature was not alone because something clung to its scaly back!

  Chapter 76

  The Blind People

  Not all of the leaf wrapped bodies of blue workers placed for disposal in the open channels of the dwellings were actually lifeless!

  As temperatures slowly dropped in the sleeping chambers of the blue workers, so more and more failed to awake immediately and were assumed to have died.

  All of the bodies placed in the open channel quickly exited the dwellings and flowed through channels in the red clay into the caverns, pools and streams of the black underground world - ultimately into the domain of the waiting reptiles.

  However, prolonged immersion in hot water revived some of them! The weaker ones struggled and failed to extract themselves from the leaf wrap and they drowned.

  Others fought their way out of the wrap and flowed in the absolute darkness through countless caverns and pools where, eventually, they perished through lack of milk and food.

  Some became more challenging parcels of food for the huge reptiles which were not used to their meals trying to escape!

  The more fortunate among the survivors then clambered from the water flow onto rocky ledges and found hot dry caves in the underground blackness. They lived on milk and leaf fragments which constantly washed past their new hostile environment. Although their telepathy was short range, they were able to contact other living blue workers in nearby caverns and they eventually formed groups of 15-20 females with one or two males.

  They survived and mated underground!

  Therefore, because of the constantly higher temperatures, they produced a majority of male young and their numbers increased. There was no shortage of milk and the huge leaf wrappings of less fortunate blue workers provided an abundance of food. They thrived in the constant warmth of their new surroundings. However, some were not quick enough to escape the huge jaws of razor sharp teeth as they competed at the pool edges for the parcels of food.

  The blue workers evolved in this environment of total blackness, constant heat and danger from the ferocious reptiles. Their sense of smell and touch was enhanced and they developed a sonar system to guide them around the complex matrix of caverns, pools and tunnels.

  Ingeniously, they developed their telepathic skills to manipulate the simple minds of the huge reptiles. There was plenty of food for both underground people and these creatures as each wanted a different part of the wrapped parcels. The underground inhabitants were able to implant ‘messages’ that they were not threatening the reptiles’ food source but merely unwrapping for them. Ultimately, they controlled the reptiles to such a degree that the wrapped parcels were delivered to the groups of ‘blind’ people by the creatures themselves.

  How ironic that this new group of blue workers, who had farmed for the Serenites, had now become the masters underground and the reptiles their farmers.

  As they continued to evolve they formed larger groups with strong dominant males and more than enough females for breast milk and procreation. So the blue workers evolved in the underground blackness of the caverns and became the Blind People of Cloud Planet.

  In the blackness the huge reptile forced itself through the increasing flow of hot water as it travelled further up through the caverns in search of food.

  And something clung to its scaly back. A form sat astride the monster!

  At just under 2 metres tall, the powerful male had its legs wrapped around the reptile’s body and its hands gripped two large fleshy scales on the shoulders of the creature. The rider’s skin was coarse, scaly and off white in colour, with no body hair whatsoever. Extra webbing had evolved between the fingers and toes and the green and yellow pigmentation of the eyes had disappeared a long time ago. The creature could not see and its eyelids were permanently open. The nostrils had flared and the jaw line protruded showing sharp rows of teeth. This was a frightening sight and hard to believe that its recent ancestors were the blue workers.

  The hideous form had complete control of the huge reptile. It had become his form of transport through the hot waters of the black caverns. But he was only one of tens of thousands of Blind People similarly navigating their unlikely steeds further and further under the red plain of Cloud Planet in search of the ever-dwindling food source.

  Now the rider and reptile had forced their way into one of the regular shaped channels in the red clay. It was narrow and the water flow had increased and was much hotter. The smell of its prey was much stronger now, urging the blind rider and his ferocious mount forward.

  They turned through a sharp bend in the clay channel where ahead of them the darkness dimmed and then became lighter. Eyes that had been used to utter blackness for so long and lost the ability to close, found the intensity of light a major deterrent. Both rider and mount stopped and were forced back by the flow of the water.

>   Whilst only 30 metres away a blue female worker held aloft a new-born male to the raised arms of the Serenites and workers in the dwelling above.

  But there were other ways into the world of the Blue People via the icy cold flows from the canals and underground transport tunnels. How long would it be before the Blind People and their monstrous creatures would remember that, as cold blooded reptiles, they could survive a drop in temperature as long as they were able to heat up again afterwards. Hunger would become a compelling driving force.

  There would be more problems ahead for Scott and the Blue People of Cloud Planet.