Genetic Drift (11 page)

400,000 YEARS BEFORE THEIR ARRIVAL

THE SYRSYRIANS

THE 6TH PLANET ORBITING GAMMA CRUCIS

The planet of Syrsyria had gone through ages of war.  Not until the Syrsyrian people prevailed through war did the planet find peace.  For over a millennium, the Syrsyrians were able to rule the planet with their way of life.  It was a time short-lived in relation to the life of their host star.  Scientists on the planet had observed the star starting to redden and expand.  They knew that they had a limited time before the planet would be gone and the Syrsyrians could either die with the planet or find a new home.

The Great Expansion was a project introduced by the Syrsyrian leaders.  It was an initiative set forth to save the history and possibly the people by exiting their solar system and finding a new home.  The initiative had three objectives:

1. To be able to travel through space for thousands of years and find a new planet to establish as a home.
   
2. To be able to protect themselves from any foreseeable enemy and to be able to eliminate any possible competition to their lives.
   
3. To be able to preserve their history and the Syrsyrian race.
   

Great scientists worked for years on the initiatives.  Each strived to be the savior of the Syrsyrian people.  The first breakthrough was a spaceship able to conduct interstellar travel.

Theta was the first one to generate this breakthrough.  Theta, in Syrsyrian history, was called the Great Engineer.  He designed the interstellar spaceship called the
Ellipse
.  Its design was largely based on an initial boost to exit the system and drift through the arms of their spiral galaxy.  The spaceship was equipped with receivers to collect any form of communication.  Upon collecting communication that it deemed to originate from a habitable source, its secondary boost would direct the
Ellipse
to the source.  Three phases would commence in succession upon arrival. 

During the first phase, the spaceship would launch defense pods in order to establish areas of protection.  At the onset of the second phase, construction pods would be released to build or terraform structures needed to sustain life.  Habitability pods, the third phase, would bring the Syrsyrians to their new home.  The construction of the spaceship began.

With the first objective successfully tackled, the second objective was initiated.  The goal of protection was harder to complete since modern Syrsyrians were so far removed from warfare.  It had been so long since they had met an organism that they had to make an effort to conquer.  But there would always be ingenious design when it came to “ways to kill.”

Phi and Psi, the Death Duo in Syrsyrian history, contributed a gun that worked as no other before.  The gun contained a strong magnetic field that trapped antimatter in its core.  The shooter was able to control the length of each expenditure as well as its speed of release.  With a magnetic pulse, the gun would force out antimatter.  If it was set to a large length, the ejection would come out as a ball at high speed or a net at low speeds.  With a small length, pellets were expended at slow speeds and needles when it was set faster.  No matter the setting, contact with its target would result in nothingness as the antimatter cancelled the matter.  The gun created emptiness.  The newly designed guns were prepared for Syrsyrian troop use and outfitted on the spaceship as it was being constructed.

The last objective was tackled by Tau, or Father Time.  He designed the means for eternal life.  His nanocytes were the perfect genetic cells.  They were able to copy genetic coding and replace any dead or destroyed cells in the organism in which they resided, even pets.  They were also capable of communicating and working together to solve complex problems at a genetic level.  If a nanocyte were to become too old, a small child nanocyte would split from the elder cell and mature.  The nanocytes maintained a high survivability rate because Father Time also designed a life sustaining mixture of amino acids to keep them fed during the long expedition.  Lastly, the nanocytes were coded to be easily identifiable by biometrics. 

This was the last piece of the puzzle needed to complete the Great Expansion.  The blue vats of amino acids were installed on the spaceship and the nanocytes were injected.  Biometric systems were incorporated on all computer systems and the newly designed guns to restrict their uses to only Syrsyrians.  The completed construction of the spaceship meant all objectives had been met.

The heat from the approaching solar surface began to sear the planet and a lottery was established for one billion of the 40 billion people of Syrsyria.  Winners of the lottery were selected and injected with the nanocytes.  They were screened for abnormalities and once cleared, sent into space.  Each winner was placed in their own vat to ensure a constant flow of nanocytes, amino acids, and filtration for body-produced wastes.  One Syrsyrian, Omega, lived in squalor his entire life and was the last to be admitted onto the
Ellipse.
  Omega was not cleared for travel because the Syrsyrian was injected with too many nanocytes.  But in the madness and stress of getting the
Ellipse
loaded, his denial was forgotten and he was able to enter the spaceship.

Historical documents, plants and animals for food, pets and Syrsyrians were all placed on the
Ellipse
.  When the loading of the spaceship was finally completed, it faced outward from the star and began its initial boost, leaving the planet behind.  Before it entered into interstellar space, Syrsyria and all of its inhabitants were swallowed by its sun.  No Syrsyrian ever saw it happen.  Those who were on the planet had already died from the heat and the ones who were on the spaceship were in hibernation.  The memory of the last moments of Syrsyria was only located in one place, saved in the computer system files of the
Ellipse
.

DAY 279

THE PAST REVISITED

NELLYSFORD, VIRGINIA

Maddie stood in front of the cabin where she and her friends had spent winter break nearly a year ago.  The men accompanying her stood behind to let her have her time.  She scanned the outside of the cabin but did not see any signs of a struggle.  The cabin had been neglected, weeds had taken over the hedges and the walls were covered in dirt.  Leaves were overhanging the gutters and she could not see through the windows.  She walked toward the entrance.  As she stepped on the wooden exterior deck, the door appeared shut.  She approached the door and gave it a simple push.  A creak sounded from the hinges as the door slowly opened.

The inside of the cabin looked nothing like the unused exterior appearance.  The coffee table where they had congregated was overturned and the chairs were flipped over.  She walked into the living room and looked around.  She eyed the room where she had slept the night she went missing.  The door was open and she could see her bed.  Her blanket was pulled askew, creating a bridge to the floor.  She continued her scan to Bryce’s room and it showed more of a struggle.  The nightstand lay on the floor with the face of the drawer detached on one side and a light sitting next to it. 

Her next focus was on the kitchen.  It seemed untouched.  Bryce’s bread had turned to a bag of mush a long time ago.  Her eyes went to Damien’s room and his door was wide open with an unmade bed.  She continued to Catelyn’s room but stopped when she saw two decayed bodies on the floor.  She moved straight for the spot.  “Please, don’t let it be them,” she whispered under her breath.  Her mind was hoping and hoping that it wasn’t who she thought it was. 

As time and mother nature had taken their course, the months had not been kind to the bodies.  The pests that invaded the house during the summer had left their mark and the bodies were nothing but bones covered with tattered pajamas.  She knew those pajamas.  She knew that these were the bodies of Catelyn and Damien.  She stared at the cadavers as tears began to swell, “What did they do to you?”  A skeleton with no bones above the collar bone was on her left and the other one was missing half of its rib cage.  Tears burst from her eyes as her hands covered her face.  “I can’t believe this,” her voice strained in a high pitch.

Barron walked beside her and gently put his hand on her back.  She quickly jerked away from him and kept him behind her.  She didn’t want to be near anyone.  He walked beside her again and she went toward Bryce’s room to keep her face hidden from Barron.  Understanding that it wasn’t the time to console her, Barron walked back to the deck and waited for her to finish her investigation.

Maddie stood at the doorway to Bryce’s room and began to search for any clues as to what happened to him.  She looked around the door.  Nothing.  The nightstand.  Nothing.  The closet. Nothing.  She looked at the bed.  She walked to it slowly.  And then she started to violently rip off the sheets.  She screamed, “Where are you? Where are you?”  Dust flew as she jumped onto the bed and knelt still with her head forced into the mattress.

Barron turned to Ben and Marcus as they stood on the other side of the deck, “I don’t think she is going to find anything to help her in there.” 

“Probably not, it’s been a long time.  She’ll have to come to terms with ‘what is’ and move on,” Marcus answered.

“So are we going to Kentucky after this?” Barron asked.  Ben was tapping his fingers on the rail.  He was looking down at the motion of his fingers.

“It’s our best option.  Actually, it’s our only option,” he said.

Maddie regained her composure and walked out of the cabin. 

“I’m ready to go,” she said with a hint of sadness in her voice.  The men began to walk down the steps of the deck.  Stopping suddenly, Maddie threw her arms up and cried out, “I don’t know what else I’m supposed to do.”  Marcus turned around. He knew what it was like.  It had only taken a few minutes for his world to be ripped apart.  He looked at her and a well of compassion filled him.

“Maddie, everyone has had nine months to come to terms with what you have found out in the past few days.  We have all lost someone, everyone on this planet has lost someone that they knew,” Marcus said, and the voice of reason came out.

“If you really want to know what you are supposed to do.”

“If you really want to find your answers.”

“Then you need to go to Kentucky.”

“You should join the people who have more resources than an old beater car and a cabin in the woods.  The people who are working to fight against these Trolls.  The people who will help you get revenge against them.” 

Marcus was showing his disdain and a yearning to avenge the death of his family.  Maddie looked at Marcus and bowed her head in acceptance.  Marcus was right.  She didn’t have any leads in the cabin, only the pain of knowing that her friends were dead.

There was silence as they entered the car.  They made it to the highway but nightfall was coming soon and they would need to stop.

200,000 YEARS BEFORE THE ARRIVAL

THE FIRST MUTATION

THE ELLIPSE

Gamma Crucis was a small red speck. The monitoring system onboard the
Ellipse
watched as the star grew and slowly consumed its sixth plant.  It recorded the history of the planet as the rock melted into the once generous sun.  The
Ellipse
was completely unaware of the heat that killed the bodies, warped buildings, and enflamed the surface.  The star absorbed the planet and the tiny blob on its surface served as a brief second of fuel. 

The
Ellipse
continued on its trek and ventured light years from its host star.  All systems were normal as the nanocytes floated through the preservation systems.  The computer system oversaw safe navigation, the planetary search, and the maintenance of over a billion blue vats containing Syrsyrians, animals, and plants from the home planet. 

The nanocytes were not colored when they were created.  They had taken a blue hue since feeding only on the amino acids placed in the vats.  That color had transferred to the Syrsyrians as well.  As each cell in those bodies was replaced with a nanocyte, every Syrsyrian was covered in patches as their color changed from their natural brownish color to blue. 

The process had continued for so many years until each body had been totally replaced by the nanocytes.  Their skin was blue, their nails were blue, their hair was blue.  Omega had been affected differently by the nanocytes.  The overabundance of Omega’s initial injection caused a reaction that changed how the nanocytes interacted within the Syrsyrian. 

After the thousands of years of replacing the functionality of normal cells, an evolution occurred.  Two nanocytes combined in Omega’s brain and developed their own mind.  The other dying brain cells were replaced by more nanocytes until it was a completely nanocyte brain.  What was once Omega and Omega’s thoughts now belonged to the nanocytes.

The nanocyte brain became more complex and directed the replacement of cells to an intricate system not of the original Syrsyrian.  Communication was performed between the nanocytes, so vocal communication was eliminated.  The Syrsyrian no longer needed children so the reproductive organ was not replaced.  Since the Syrsyrian’s eyes were closed, the nanocytes only replaced light sensitivity.  The nanocyte brain continued to grow, enlarging the head that used to be owned by Omega.  Large blue tumor-like bulges erupted from the skull as it became soft. 

Omega’s body was perfected in accordance with the nanocyte brain.  The nanocyte brain learned how to communicate with the free-floating nanocytes outside of the body and formed a communication network.  The free-floating nanocytes were able to go between the vats and connect with the other bodies.  They communicated the new way to replace cells as directed by the nanocyte brain.  Through time, every Syrsyrian was going through the same transformation and every cell was directed by Omega.  The blue hued Syrsyrians had turned into the Trolls. 

Omega’s complete nanocyte brain was in control of every Syrsyrian and every animal.  A system of directives was sent out from the brain so that every nanocyte would follow its command.  Through the evolution of the nanocytes, the Syrsyrians had turned from saving their race into an army of ants.  Omega was now the queen and every other cell was made to work it.

The computer system was completely unaware of this transformation.  It only monitored death and if a Syrsyrian would have lost its life functions, its vat would have been closed to the network.  It did not recognize the nanocyte takeover and treated it as normal operations. 

Omega and the other Syrsyrians would not be released from their vats until a host planet was located.  Omega did not know this and ruled in ignorance as the spacecraft floated through space.  But the bonds of Omega and the others only strengthened through time.

The computer system continued to search for a planet that could be inhibited but had not yet found it.