Counterattack (22 page)
With that in mind, I've added a little bit more to this bookâa couple of essays about the science in journals one and two of Robot Wars, based on what you can find in
Who Made The Moon?
Sigmund Brouwer
www.whomadethemoon.com
Q: Are you an alien?
A: That's exactly how Tyce feels. After all, he's spent his entire life on Marsâweird as it soundsâand has never seen Earth before. When he arrives on Earth, he's in awe. Just think of never having seen a yellow sun, white clouds, and a blue sky before, and then seeing them for the first time. Then add to that lots of other sights, like dogs, palm trees, tall grass, a variety of flowers. Sounds, like birds chirping, trucks on an interstate, and the roar of a male gator. Smells, like fish frying and the musty dampness of the Everglades. Surrounded by all these things you'd never experienced, your mouth would probably drop open too! You'd be overwhelmed. And who could blame you?
It wouldn't help, either, if somebody made fun of you, even in a teasing way, like Wild Man did to Tyce. “Where exactly are you from? Mars or something?” Little did Wild Man know how much his teasing bugged Tyce. How it hit home and made Tyce feel even more lonely and afraid. Because he is from another planet. And worse, he's the only true “Martian” on Earth. He's 50 million miles from his homeâand everything he knows!
It's no wonder that all of a sudden the dome on Mars looks less scary. Even with all its regulations, like only getting a shower twice a month. Even with all its crises, such as the oxygen leak, a hostile takeover, and almost getting blown up by a black box. Why? Because Earth, as beautiful as it is, will never be Tyce's real home.
Q: Is Earth your true home?
A: All of us have an emptiness that needs to be filled. Some people try to fill it with money or the pursuit of fun. This emptiness truly can make us feel like an alien; some people have described the emptiness as being “homesick for a place you've never been.”
Where is that place, the place that lies beyond our life on Earth? Because of his growing faith in God, Tyce has discovered there's more to life than what meets the eye. Than what we can see and touch. He believes that neither Earth nor Mars is his final destination. Instead, someday he'll take an incredible flight to a place called heaven, where he'll live forever with God.
But that doesn't mean we take this beautiful Earth for granted. God wants us to enjoy it. So why not, for the next few days, pretend you're seeing everything on Earth for the first time? Like it's “one giant candy store,” as Wild Man said. From plants to insects to reptiles and birds, explore how life swarms this world, cramming each nook and corner. Then you, too, might agree with Nateâthat it takes more faith to deny the existence of God than to see a Creator behind all of this.
And then you'll also find it easier to see beyond this Earth to God's ultimate plan for usâto be with him in heaven someday.
IS IT RIGHT TO MANIPULATE LIFE?
Q: Is it right to manipulate life?
A: That's the very question Tyce Sanders has been asking himself all through this mission. After all, the evil Dr. Jordan is totally controlling the jelly kids' lives, treating them as his slaves. He considers them valuable only because they are part of a very expensive experiment.
Even more, Tyce discovers that Cannon has manipulated his life too. The general is the guy who pushed for the funds that caused Tyce's surgery as a baby. The surgery that went wrong and caused his legs to be useless. Tyce is angryâand he has reason to be.
Is it right to manipulate life?
Although Robot Wars is set in the future, we need to ask ourselves that question now. You don't have to look much farther than the headlines of your newspaper to find out that life is being manipulated today. It all started by genetically manipulating things like corn and beans to give farmers better crops. Then scientists figured out the technology to clone sheep (the first one's name was Dolly), and the genetic material from a jellyfish was successfully implanted into a monkey.
All these things may sound cool, but they could lead to scary places in the future. Like what's happening at the Institute on Earth in A.D. 2040, where defenseless kids are being implanted with spinal plugs so they can control robots.
In short, scientists are rapidly becoming more and more able to manipulate the building blocks of life. But the debates on whether this is right or wrong and how far we should go lag far behind the scientific advances. In other words, we as humans are learning how to do many things before we as a society are able to decide whether we should do them.
Is it right to manipulate life? Is it okay for Dr. Jordan to use the jelly kids as an experiment?
The Terratakers are like those who believe that humans consist of nothing more than complicated arrangements of protein and water. To the Terratakers, then, humans are in control, and they have the right to decide who should live and who should die. Following this philosophy means to people like Dr. Jordan that the “powerful” people can use the “less powerful” people as their slaves. And that the “powerful” people have more value to society than the “less powerful” people, like the jelly kids.
But that's not what Tyce, his parents, Ashley, Nate, and Rawling believe. As Christians, they believe that God created the world. That he created each human being uniquely, and that all human beings are equally valuable in his eyes. And as the one who created us, he and only he should have power over our life and death. Not people like Dr. Jordan, who threaten to use death chips to manipulate others through fear.
When you believe in God, you also have to believe that every lifeâincluding your ownâis valuable. And that it deserves to be treated with respect.
Sigmund Brouwer, his wife, recording artist Cindy Morgan, and their daughters split living between Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, and Nashville, Tennessee. He has written several series of juvenile fiction and eight novels. Sigmund loves sports and plays golf and hockey. He also enjoys visiting schools to talk about books. He welcomes visitors to his Web site at
www.coolreading.com
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