The Sirius Chronicles (10 page)

Over the next two years Kayin and I did everything we could to convince the natives to stop mining. We did our best not to showcase any technology. Kayin even came up with the idea to have the transport ships start landing further away from the mining sites. Nothing worked.

We had developed a very simple means of communication with them, mainly using hand signals. Their language was so primitive and vague, one word could mean 20 different things. We even tried getting angry and commanding the natives to stop working but it only made them get scared and go faster. It got to the point where the best we could do was treat them well, give them good food, clean water, and make them take breaks.

We tried to develop an actual friendship but they were too fearful and refused to view us as anything but some type of higher beings worthy of worship. It became very sad and frustrating after a while… It almost made us wish that Cyrus had made them all just a little more intelligent. He had given them just enough to be a danger to themselves in a situation like this. I couldn’t help but fear it would have an adverse effect on their progression… What if they continued mining for generations due to the fear that me may return and be angry?..

Fortunately this won’t last for much longer. With the addition of every free man and woman on the ship along with the natives, we have come within days of reaching our goal. I had decided it was finally time to talk to Kayin and Sara about what we might face when we return to Aeris… and I think I had a plan.

I contacted Kayin and Sara and asked them to meet me on the observation deck. I can only assume neither one of them had thought of this because they haven’t mentioned it. For whatever reason I don’t think the ACI will view our actions as “heroic”.

When they walked in I had them both sit down – “I’ve been thinking about something for quite a while now… I don’t think it’s safe to return to the Aurora.” They both looked confused and Kayin said “What do you mean?”

-“Think about it you two… The ACI and our government had to have known about this. We killed the commander of this ship and the head of the science division that was given a very important assignment… I don’t think they’re going to be happy. And if they would knowingly promote something like this, then it’s safe to say they would kill all of us too…”

I could tell they both knew that what I was saying made sense. Sara stood up and said “I didn’t even think of that… and you destroyed all the work he was supposed to bring back… You’re right Atlas..”

Kayin moaned “I can’t believe I didn’t think of this! I was under the impression they’d be happy and congratulate us… what makes you so sure Atlas? I mean, we will be coming back with the chrysos.”

I shook my head – “I think it’s about more than that… A while ago I figured out they planned to mine more than needed so they would have financial reign over Aeris. The next step was the intelligence experiments. Cyrus’ main goal in the end was to be able to advance our intelligence as well… Think about it, they would have superior intellect and a mass of the rarest and most valuable mineral on Aeris… They would be in complete control.”

Kayin’s eyes widened and Sara said “Ok, even if you could be wrong we still need to be careful now.” Kayin stepped forward – “You said you had a plan. Let’s hear it. I think you’re right too.”

I went on to tell them that I thought we should land the Sirius as close to the capital building as possible. Let everyone see that we’ve returned… and just go right to the leaders and tell them exactly what happened. Cyrus told me they kept a lot from the government so they can’t all be involved. Someone will want to help us and make sure the ACI’s disgusting behavior is brought to light…

They both stood there and thought it over for a few moments, Sara was the first to speak – “Kayin I think it’s our only option… what else can we possibly do?” Kayin nodded and said “I agree, there is nothing else to do… I guess at this point I would put a lot more trust in the government than the ACI… We can only hope some of the higher ups at the ACI will support us too… they can’t all be bad.”

I said “Yeah I was hoping the same thing; there can’t be too many people in on this. That’s why Cyrus was so secretive, even with his own team… You proved to me years ago that the majority of people are good and will do the right thing when it comes down to it… I think if we follow that course of action everything should be fine. Once the government and the public are behind us the ACI should be powerless.” We all agreed on the new plan, so Kayin and I headed down for another day of mining.

When we made it to the site all the workers stopped and began to chant “Anu – Nnaki!” over and over. The two leaders ran out and dropped to their knees. As usual we went over, made them get up, and got to work.

We had done our best to show that we were just normal people… We worked and even bled alongside them every day. They had plenty of opportunities to see we were no different than they are. We tried to make it known we don’t like it when they would kneel or bow, yet the praise and worship has only escalated. They were taking our actions as being displeased instead of understanding we just wanted them to stop.

Sara had figured out some of their language but it was of little help. They were just too primitive to understand that our technology is what gave us our abilities. They still referred to us as “from the stars” and they used the same word for our transport ships as they used for birds. It was hopeless.

Throughout the day they’d bring us little carvings and pieces of chrysos formed into strange symbols. Every day at noon they would all stop work to chant and give us praise. On several occasions the leaders even tried to offer us some of their women. It was a good thing we were leaving soon; I could only imagine what it would be like after another year.

At first we had decided not to interfere with their natural progression any further but it couldn’t be helped. We taught them easier ways to create fire, and that metal can be shaped with heat. They couldn’t help but see the wheel and be interested, so Kayin showed them how to make one out of wood.

It was inevitable, the natives may be extremely primitive but they definitely show the most important trait of our species; curiosity. We had to reward them for the will to learn and want to create things themselves… Maybe after all we had done, making their journey to civilization a little easier wasn’t such a bad thing.

As we headed back to the transport ship that night, Kayin received word that the head of the mining division reported we were less than 20 tons away from our goal. This meant tomorrow would be the last day of mining and we may even head home that night… We were nervous but ready to get back to Aeris and tell our story. The fight may not be over yet.

The transport ship takes around 30 minutes to make it from X-451 to the Sirius so it gave me plenty of time to think. I had desperately been trying to think of a way to convince the natives that we weren’t some type of supernatural creators. I realized that I may not be able to teach them now but I could leave them something that would let them know later in their development. Something that they would have to recognize once they discovered electricity, started building machinery, and eventually made it to the computer age… I had an idea.

I jumped up, ran over and sat down next to Kayin – “I think I came up with something…” He said “about what?” I punched him in the arm – “About how to make the natives stop worshiping us!” Kayin put his hands up “Alright alright. Geez relax.”

I stood up and started pacing with excitement – “I know this will work… When we say goodbye tomorrow I’m going to leave one of the leaders my handheld computer. I’ll even leave a message on it explaining what happened… We may not be able to convince them now, but that could thousands of years in the future. Kayin, eventually they’ll know what it is and if they know it came from us, they’ll be able to put two and two together...”

He thought for a moment – “Atlas, that’s perfect. I think you’re right… No matter what we do we’ve made too much of an impression on them already. We have no other ideas, I can’t hurt anything.”

I said “Exactly! I’ll make it seem very important. If they see it as a gift from their creators it’ll be precious to them… something they pass down through generations and even worship. As long as they don’t lose it, eventually it will lead them to the truth.”

That night, I spent hours making a detailed account of everything that happened on the mission. I explained about our home world, who we were, the soft yellowish mineral chrysos, what the ACI made us do, and how we took back their freedom. At the end I even included an apology on everyone’s behalf for not acting sooner… I wanted them to know how emotional this was for all of us.

I know it was probably a complete waste… Most likely by the time they advanced enough to power it, this handheld computer would no longer function. I suppose it was something I had to do for myself… Even if there was only a slight possibility, I had to try.

During this time Sara and I had become very close. The effects of our strange connection from our time in stasis never went away. If anything it’s amplified over the last two years. I looked over to see if she was already asleep… I wanted her to read everything and see what she thought. She might even want to add something. I thought about waking her, but we were all so tired from the mining. It was hard to keep up with the natives and we wanted to contribute as much as possible. She was probably exhausted, so I let her be.

It was only a few hours until morning and tomorrow we’d be preparing leave. I was able to fall asleep knowing that I had a real plan to fix the damage we’ve done to the natives… One day they would learn to shed away their superstitions and truly understand the stories of their ancestors and history… Maybe they’ll even forgive us for what we did.

When we woke up, I had Sara read what I left for them on the handheld… When she looked up she had tears in her eyes – “It’s perfect Atlas… they need to know what happened. They need to know that we cared and how sorry we are… I wouldn’t change a single world.”

I didn’t bother to point out that I was sure it would no longer work by the time they had the ability to read it… She may already know that, but there’s no reason to mention it. The mining teams only had about 20 tons left to go. Kayin and I now had a seemingly impossible job ahead of us – trying to convince the natives to stop mining.

I truly did fear that they would continue after we left. It’s something that could last generations or even thousands of years… They could all wait around with piles of chrysos in the hopes that we would come back. We may have done more damage than we could ever know…

Sara stayed on the Sirius to coordinate our plans for when we get back to Aeris with the flight crew. As we descended to X-451 I turned to Kayin – “Any plans on how to get them to stop?” He replied “The mining teams have already shut down most of the sites and taken the equipment and tools away… It’s been reported that many of them are continuing to work using sticks and rocks… Hopefully it won’t last too long once we leave. There’s really nothing we can do Atlas, you and I both know we’ve tried everything.”

He was right… We’ve tried hundreds of different ideas and in the end we may have actually made it worse. They were too difficult to understand. They were so erratic and driven by emotion it made any real communication almost impossible. Just as I thought I was making some type of progress they would get frightened and fall to their knees. The only thing I had was my plan… it would just take a very long time to work.

I had decided to gather other less complicated items that might hint at the truth sooner. I got some scalpels from the lab, the book from my room about the history of the ACI, and some various trinkets. I figured metalworking and a written language would come far earlier than the computer age. Someone in the near future had to figure it out… but if not they had the computer.

The transport ship landed and right before we headed to the mining site I turned to Kayin and said “Don’t make them get up today. This gift has to seem very important so they never let anything happen to it.” Kayin nodded and we walked out.

As we approached the head of the mining division ran up to us “We’re all good to go guys. The last of the Chrysos has been brought up to the Sirius and we’re breaking down all the equipment right now… We’re doing our best to disperse the natives like you asked but they don’t want to leave. I thought we cou…”

I stopped him and said “Don’t worry about that, we have a plan. They’re confused enough as it is and I don’t want to leave them thinking we’re angry… Just keep doing what you’re doing and we’ll be on the way back to Aeris by the end of the day.”

Kayin turned to me – “You know… maybe if our story makes it into the history books, thousands of years from now people from Aeris will return here just to check on them. If your plan hasn’t worked they can just tell them what happened.” I smiled and said “Yeah it’s a long shot but you never know I guess…”

The moment Kayin and I came into sight the two leaders ran up, fell to their knees and they all started chanting. I took the bag off my shoulder and walked over to them. I said “En-Lil” which we figured out means “up, raise, new day, large, tall” and several other things.

When they got up, I stood there and locked eyes with both of them for some time. I wanted to signify that the gift was very important. I put my hands on each of their shoulders, nodded, and emptied the contents of the bag I had prepared on the ground. I slowly presented each one with separate items and then placed them back in the bag.