The Blue People of Cloud Planet (11 page)

 THE BLUE PEOPLE

Warming Up

‘I can imagine the astronauts’ mounting excitement. Back in 2050 I remember the euphoria when microbial fossils were found in the sub crust of Mars and since then a variety of simple life forms have been discovered. More recently, on Titan, sophisticated multi-celled forms have been identified in the underground seas. And these are living!

‘Now on a planet at another star, life is about to reveal itself.’

The black structure was rising slowly from the red clay and revealed an angled flat ledge about 1 metre wide. This ran around and upwards at an angle of approximately 30 degrees, giving the impression of a huge wooden screw whose flights were about 2 metres apart. Then the huge mass of black wood came to rest with about two and a half metres showing above the clay level.

‘It’s completely square in cross section and every angled cut is a straight line!’ Scott explained. ‘It must be some sort of ramp connecting underground with the outside.’

‘Correct, and it has been lifted into place hydraulically and now I can detect movement at the base of the wooden ramp – the forms are indistinct because they are the same temperature as underground but they are moving upwards very slowly.’

‘Scott!’ cried Olivia, shaking with anticipation, ‘This is every astronaut’s dream – to witness life on another planet.’

 She gripped his arm and felt his excitement as his body shook. Both astronauts craned forward as far as their seat restraints would allow.

‘Look the ramp is moving again! Moving downwards?’ shouted Scott.

She then caught hold of his hand and they peered at the strange ramp structure just 30 metres in front of them and almost exactly at their eye level.

‘There’s something on the ramp! Scott choked, ‘That’s why it moved down again – it must be floating.’

On the lower part of the ramp, a dark shape started to appear, moving upwards towards the rear of the ramp.

‘What is it, oh my God! The back of a head, with thick, curly, black hair.’ Olivia shouted, ‘And the body is dark green, how strange – it’s one of those huge leaves – it covers it completely.’

The shape disappeared behind the back of the ramp as another head appeared below it.

‘The form is just less than 2 metres in height, essentially humanoid in stance and at 5 degrees Celsius, the same temperature as the underground area from which it has emerged,’
Zec-1 informed them.

‘It’s coming around the left hand side of the ramp!’ Shouted Scott and they leaned together in exhilaration pointing at the shape as it shuffled to the edge of the ramp and facing them was .....

....... a blue, hard face with a prominent hook shaped nose and vivid green and yellow eyes. The striking form then turned and shuffled slowly in the direction of the first upper pool.

More similar forms rose up and travelled around the ramp in a procession which left the astronauts utterly stunned with disbelief.

The first body to emerge from underground reached the edge of the steamy pool and slowly unwrapped the large leaf and cast it to the ground.

‘It’s completely blue all over!’ shrieked Olivia.

‘And humanoid in shape.’ Scott added with amazement.

 ‘Look, it has large mammary glands, it’s female.’ Olivia pointed.

Then the creature stepped shakily into the hot pool and disappeared under the surface of the water.

Zec-1, as ever, brought them down to earth,

‘The form has many reptilian features, namely, cold-blooded, green eyes with yellow vertically slit shaped pupils and webbing between fingers and toes. The skin is scaly and of a coarse texture. The stance and limb proportions are humanoid and so far all the emerged forms are female. The internal organs are similar to those of mankind and the brain cavity is smaller.’

After about 10 minutes the leading blue female stepped out of the pool and advanced, more steadily, towards the second pool. She was now facing them as Scott, puzzled, exclaimed,

‘She has square black nipples, I can’t understand it, and there seems to be further markings on and between the mammary glands.’

‘Also, she’s wearing black triangular flaps from the waist, front and back,’ Olivia observed.

Before they could glean any further understanding, the blue female slipped into the water of the second pool.

‘Body temperature of leading form now 15 degrees and a total of 20 similar forms, all female, have so far emerged. There is significant further movement underground.’

‘They’re very muscular and well built,’ commented Scott. ‘How old do you think they are?’

‘Can’t tell, and how do we judge age on this planet?’ Olivia replied as several more forms transferred to the second pool. ‘Also they are all very similar and their stern features remind me a little of the female Amazonian warriors from history.’

‘Olivia, look, smaller forms are emerging!’ They watched as they trudged to the first pool and discarded their leaves, ‘They seem to be younger females and pubescent females from their development.’

‘Aren’t there any males?’ Olivia queried.

About 30 forms had surfaced when the first blue female left the second pool and entered the third, large pool.

‘Body temperature of leading form now 25 degrees and blueness has decreased by 20 per cent.’

Several ‘adult’ forms appeared each carrying a small bundle which they proceeded to unwrap.

‘They’re infants.’ cried Olivia and the small fuzzy-topped blue shapes were helped into the first pool.

The procession continued. An amazing tableau of life on another planet was unfolding before the unbelieving gaze of the astronauts.

‘Look now,’ Olivia pointed, ‘Those blue females at the end of this group must have had tiny parcels under their leaves and between their mammary glands – they’re unwrapping them – they’re babies, oooh! Look how tiny they are.’

 The blue ‘mothers’ cradled the little forms and entered the first pool.

Nearly 100 inhabitants had emerged so far and these were dispersed through the three pools and were at various stages of warming up. The leading blue females started to climb out of the large pool and sat on ledges to dry off in the beautiful mid-morning sunshine.

‘Body temperature of leading forms now 37 degrees and blueness has decreased to around 40 per cent of emerging colour.’

‘Scott! Don’t you find it strange – they haven’t cast a glance in our direction – why don’t they notice this huge lander in front of them?

‘Maybe they’re blind or we just don’t register in their consciousness,’ mused Scott, ‘but it is strange.’

‘Their eyes are moving and their pupils have been dilating. I would assume that they can see but I cannot predict what they see.’

All around them the sun was shining brilliantly, casting shadows and the huge cone of shimmering light stretched into the clouds punching its continuous hole and bathing the blue forms in its life giving warmth.

 And now the first 20 to emerge from underground were seated to the left of the lander, 5-10 metres away at most.

Life was about to get very interesting for our astronauts.

Life and Death for the Blue People

‘These life forms are cold-blooded reptiles which have evolved into an upright humanoid stance. This is somewhat similar to the evolution of monkeys on Earth.  The square shape of the nipples is, in fact, created by a black tattoo. Further, the adults have triangular tattoos, mostly black but occasionally red, arranged around the black square. Also, between the mammary glands, are octagon shapes comprised of different sequences of black and red lines.’

Olivia was watching a further group surface, very slowly and stiffly, and though she could not be sure, she sensed that these were older blue figures. Then she noticed that the very first females to emerge were gathering together and, to begin with, she couldn’t understand what they were doing.

‘They’re feeding from one another,’ said a surprised Scott, ‘look, there’s white liquid coming from the mammary glands.’

‘My analysis of the white liquid shows it to be very similar to milk,’
Zec-1 informed them,
‘and it is very high in protein and fat.’

When each of the blue females had fed they returned to their original seated positions. Now, the younger ones who had vacated the large pool started to take nourishment from the adults. The process was like a conveyor belt with each taking their turn. Interestingly, some of the more mature young ones also took part as providers after they had fed. 

‘Well, I suppose that’s breakfast underway,’ Olivia joked, ‘I wonder what’s in store next?’

They both looked back to the ramp at the figures that came from underground carrying leaf-clad bodies towards the first pool. Five new forms had emerged and they were of a different stature, shorter, stockier and with very severe facial features. They placed the wrapped forms on the red clay floor in front of the hot pool. They discarded their leaves to reveal powerful scaly bodies with muscular arms and legs and at their waists were red triangular flaps.

The males had arrived and they were similarly tattooed. The astronauts’ concentration was then broken by Zec-1’s disturbing observation.

‘Forms placed on the floor are below 5 degrees with no discernible life signs.’

Following this, several of the adult females moved back up to the ramp floor and between them they half carried and dragged the dark green bundles down the slope which led to the octagon floor.

Olivia and Scott looked on in sadness as, quite carefully, the limp forms were lowered into the channel and, slowly assuming the speed of the water, they disappeared from view below the red brick wall.