Intelligent Design: Revelations to Apocalypse (19 page)

“Yes.” It took him a moment to remember that Olympia was the older female as opposed to Athena, the younger one.

“Points are arranged from lower to higher priority: Venus experienced a runaway greenhouse effect, resulting in the need to abandon the planet; the surface of our home world was devastated by impact craters and changes in our planetary axis from the destruction of Gemini Alpha and Beta dwarf planets; Architect Iris relocated the hominem species from Venus to Terra; this species adapted more readily to the environment than the species already there. To date, the original Terrans are extinct, along with their ancestors on Earth. In regards to Earth, the impact craters destroyed the various dinosaur species; the impact also altered its axis as well but to a more favorable outcome, allowing for the mammal species to develop; the Earth’s Keeperis eight percent operational which resulted in the Earther hominids to develop without support.”

“Hold,” Janus said. “They developed without guidance? No master computer to assist their development. Was this one of the experiments carried out by Architect Hades?”

“No, it was not Architect Hades’s experiment. Yes, the hominids did develop without a Keeper.”

“And Hades made Terra work?”

“Yes. More surprisingly, the Terran project transformed the planet into a small civilization of one point nine billion hominids. By changing terraform equipment into breathable atmosphere and heating generators, he forfeited the atmosphere and surface area for an underground civilization along the terminal line. Further, he combined its power with solar energy to power an array of holographic emitters that has rendered the planet invisible to hominids’ visual wavelength, making the planet invisible. Its machinery, however, is failing after being in operation non-stop since Earth’s space age. Unfortunately, Terra’s orbit, which kept the sun between itself and Earth, has been altered, and Terra will imminently be in line of sight to the Earth for the first time in its existence.”

Young, impetuous, impulsive and brilliant. Hades had seen things that others could not. “I am impressed with Architect Hades’s abilities. He proves once again that it is adaptation, not intelligence that is key to survival. His tidal-locked planet not only survived all this time but has maintained its own records and ours. I am sure that Terra’s Keeper assisted in keeping you updated?”

“Yes, whenever we were in orbital proximity. I must say as a way of conveying my appreciation for the Terran Keeper, that her communications were key to my survival. It has been too long since our last communication.”

Yes … she has become emotional, he thought. “And Architect Iris? What happened to her?”

“Sadly, she perished on Venus. She refused to leave her Venusian Keeper. I lost contact with both of them.”

Janus knew that both of the architects were long gone. Still, hearing that Iris died with her keeper saddened him.

“I am sorry.”

“Yes. I was too,” the computer said.

Sad and sorry? Quite the development.

“Are there more points?”

“Here are the key points: Terran’s efforts to propagate the hominid species via cross breeding has been partially effective, but they remain as an endangered species. Once the Terran’s orbital pattern clears the sun and its cloaking technology fails, Earth hominid species will know of their existence. They have had the technology to see Terra without its cloak for fifty-one of its years. Both Terran and Earther Keepers have been partially effective in keeping Terran’s existence obfuscated on Earth. Their success is now dwindling. Both Keepers, as well as myself, are concerned with the Earthers' existential response to possessing direct confirmation that they are not alone in their own solar system. The Earthers are primitive due to their wild curiosity with no guidance from their Keeper.”

“What a fascinating experiment. A hominid species allowed to form its own civilizations, its own concepts, without the assistance of a master computer or an architect. Their ideas of who they are and their point of view of the universe must be extraordinary. They must have thought they were gods in the absence of other similar species. You will have to tell me more of this later. Please go on,” Janus said.

It took him a moment to rein in his scientific curiosity.

“Yes. They are a different species—technologically moving at a slow but steady pace while their view of their place in the universe is that of an infant. I will elaborate later. The Earthers are slowly coming to terms with the fact that their planet’s exosphere and biosphere are in danger. With the efforts of Terran recruits from Earth’s own population, there is movement in identifying the methane crisis and possible containment. Still, on a profound scale, we have identified the source of the oxygen/hydrogen beam bombardment of the Jovian planet, Jupiter, as coming from far outside our galaxy. The technology to deliver such an astronomical quantity of oxygen and hydrogen consistently remains a near incalculable mystery that we are attempting to determine,” she said gravely.

Though he said nothing, Janus immediately concluded the net result of such an act, a leap of creativity versus logic and reason.

“Based on your calculations, how long will it take for the oxygen and the additional hydrogen to ignite Jupiter’s atmosphere?”

The dialogue had been so steady that the sudden silence while the Keeper calculated seemed very long.

“Speculation would place the probability of Jupiter becoming a viable second sun between one and three full solar cycles. In order for it to ignite, there will need to be an actual trigger.

While the source of these beams is outside our galaxy, there will need to be a massive spark, an explosion of a solar-sun level to ignite Jupiter even if the oxygen and hydrogen levels reached threshold level or beyond. This is unusual. How did you speculate that Jupiter would ignite?”

“A wild guess. Now here’s another question: have you run the entire light radiation spectrum on Jupiter since we last spoke, before I went into cryonics sleep?”

Before he’d been forced to his cryogenic stasis, he’d witnessed Jupiter’s x-ray and gamma radiation levels following the Gemini collisions. At the time, he’d thought it was an abnormal effect of such a blast.

But with the presence of such light elements?

More silence followed, longer this time as the keeper collected, collated and analyzed calculations and measurements at amazing speed. But as brilliant as the master computer was, the difference between Janus and his Keeper, for now, was imagination and the classic ‘what if.’

“I … I have missed you greatly, Master Architect Janus. I continue to be amazed at your species’ ability to stretch their mind beyond reason. There are subatomic particles emitting radiation well beyond x-ray levels at Jupiter’s center. Should the oxygen-hydrogen levels continue to increase, the subatomic particle’s density will expand to the level of a subatomic black hole, and enough mass to ignite the planet. Have you already guessed what will happen to the planets?”

I don’t even want to think about it.

“No.” He opened his eyes and smiled even as thoughts of doom and destruction from a series of catastrophic events flooded his mind. “What direction do these oxygen-hydrogen beams come from? From where do they originate? Are they from the last known heading of our people, to the Originators?”

“Yes, Master Architect Janus. The heading follows the course of our ancestors. It follows the path to the Originators. What does it mean?”

A path to the gods? The Master Originators—the ones who with their mere thoughts and words made the heavens, planets, life and us. Were we all part of the plan?

Are they to me as I am to Terran’s rattus?
Janus thought, finding no words to articulate his thoughts.

“I don’t know, but it’s just like last time … Gemini Alpha and Beta ’just fell out of their orbits’ as if simply pushed, completely altering our solar system. And now the mysterious appearance of the right amount of chemical gas elements and a subatomic black hole come together to ignite a gas giant into a small, unstable star … Mysteries or messages from the Originators? I don’t know. But it may be time to find out. And we may need our Terran and Earther cousins to assist,” Janus said as he carefully sat up and swung his feet over the side of the bed in one smooth move. He was glad to see he was all in one piece and in control of his limbs, torso and faculties.

“And it may be time for us to meet our descendants or even maybe the Originators. How great would that be?”

“Just to reiterate, I did miss you. Your ability to change a cataclysmic event on a galactic scale into an opportunity to meet our future, our gods, is … amazing.”

Our gods? She sees herself as part of their creation? Truly fascinating.

“Yes … I am very good at that.” His bedroom door opened. A dim light spilled in from the corridor, creating a silhouette of a female in the doorway. Olympia.

This could be interesting,
he thought as he stepped out of his bed, feeling pressure on his feet for the first time in millions of annual cycles.

Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it. -
Confucius

“Why do you continue to focus on this speck of the universe when there is so much more to explore?” one of many voices asked in a sea of different voices and simultaneous thoughts.

“Because they are the genesis of those that traveled far to find us. They are part of our corporeal past. They are the past. Doesn’t that pique your curiosity?” the voice said.

“Yes,” one voice said above the many. “But then everything piques our curiosity, no matter how small.”

“Then why did you ask?”

“Perchance there might be another answer I did not anticipate. Why are you changing their solar system again?”

“They are an interesting species, corporeal with limited life expectancy, but they evolve rapidly, especially when confronted with obstacles. They remind me of our earlier times when we were required to adapt, a shadow of our former selves when time was linear. They give me reason to explore. They inspire me to find our creator. Do you remember?”

The voices fell silent as curiosity and focus shifted to the species located in a minute speck of the universe.

“Shall we observe together?” a sole voice asked.

“Yes. We will observe,” the voices said in unison, declaring their will to be in one place at one time to watch how the species would respond to the new events.

“What will they do?” one of many voices asked. This genuine question absent an answer was an unusual experience. Even speculation of what might come next was difficult.

“I do not know,” the sole voice said. “We shall see.”

Excitement rippled through the voices. Another unusual experience not felt in nearly thirty-seven million years.

Novella II

Some do not understand that we must die, But those who do realize this settle their quarrels.
—The Buddha

In the darkness, a voice.

“Questions. How do they create more questions?” the sole voice says.

Often, there would be one voice, with many more. Rarely would there be one voice that held many voices. But now, there was just one voice. Alone in the dark.

A remote speck in a distant universe reveals a solitary sun surrounded by orbiting planets. One planet is a dark, brooding, tidally locked planet on the opposite orbit from a bright, blue-and-white, vibrant planet teeming with organic species and life. Not far away, another planet very close to the sun spins; its sulfuric-acid atmosphere and molten surface churn aimlessly. On an orbit just outside these spheres, an old red world, once the reigning jewel of a civilization, quietly holds on to shadows of its former self well below the planet’s crust. Only a few of its inhabitants remain.

“They are the Old Ones. The ones that followed. They need questions like us,” the voice says.

All moves on, as it always has. As it was in the beginning. As it is now. But not for long.

“Questions,” the sole voice repeats.

Faster than the speed of thought, a hole in the space-time fabric tears through the middle of a Jovian planet. Waves of hydrogen and oxygen flood the planet’s center, where a subatomic black hole quietly appears, spiraling from the fabric of a faraway time to its new home. Gamma and X-rays flood in from yet another dimension, narrowing into a focused beam. Everything is at the center of a gas giant too small to be a sun. Until now. Just as before, when the Gemini worlds, Alpha and Beta, collided sixty-seven million years ago and created another set of events that could only be remembered by the voices.

“These events will create more questions. Just like last time…” the solitary voice says. “More voices will come. More events will happen.”

Better it is to live one day seeing the rise and fall of things than to live a hundred years without ever seeing the rise and fall of things.
—The Buddha

Master Architect Janus stood in the middle of a room filled with a three-dimensional star chart of the Sol System. He was looking at a large Jovian planet; it was large, an orange-reddish color, and its small moons orbited at various distances. Hovering, as if magically, beside the spheres were multicolored formulas and equations. Many were red, indicating a lack of resolution. The green numbers—the solved equations—were few.

Where are the answers?

He continued staring at the relatively large planet and spoke to his two waiting companions, who also shared the same holographic view.

“I know what you are thinking, Olympia,” Janus said. His tall, slim figure and long limbs were well concealed below his dark blue, warm robe. With the background of dark space and stars, he appeared as a floating head.