Supernal

Chapter 10

9:25 pm Friday, 22nd June 2029

Crew Room on the OCF

Mutu apologized for straying from his prepared agenda then pressed the side of his neck again and closed his eyes for a couple of seconds before speaking. Toby wondered if he had an implant of some sort that gave him cues.

"It took the Atikas many hundreds of years to build the gravity screen but once it was established they turned their attention back to Earth. They sent a scouting party and found that the atmosphere had cleared, but the planet was barren. Only a few single-cell life forms and lichens had begun to appear. The Atikas decided to restore life on Earth so they set up settlements in many locations.

They planted seeds brought from Vitu and released a profusion of creatures to start an ecosystem. The Atikas settlements received supplies from Vitu until they were self-sufficient. Then they brought interplanetary vehicles with laboratories on board and continued their previous experiments in genetic engineering.

After the failure of the sauropsids, they concentrated on mammals. Most were derived from the smaller rodent species native to Vitu and distantly related to the Atikas. Eventually, hominids were created and over time some species of ape evolved with bigger brains that showed signs of intelligence.

The Atikas saw the potential of these primates and gradually modified their DNA until they were transformed into homo sapiens. With the help of the Atikas, humans quickly became the dominant species on Earth."

When Mutu paused for breath, Toby raised his hand.

"If the Atikas evolved from rodents, what are you? You look human."

"We are Manitan," Velan answered for Mutu, "and we are human. We are friends of the Atikas. They are our brothers ... and our benefactors."

Toby glanced at Jayal again and saw she was frowning. He had a feeling there was something phoney about Velan.

"But, Mutu will explain," Velan finished, indicating for Mutu to carry on.

"Once the early humans were thriving, the Atikas settlements were abandoned and destroyed. All their vehicles were flown back to Vitu, along with all traces of their time on Earth. The human race was left to its own devices except for regular visitations to monitor their progress. Then, approximately ten thousand years ago, a pandemic devastated the Atikas population on Vitu.

There were no harmful pathogens on Vitu and the Atikas had very weak immune systems. A spacecraft returned from a regular trip to Earth with contaminated samples. The virus they brought back was airborne and spread within days. It killed most of the Atikas. The few thousand that survived were mainly scientists who had been inside sealed laboratories or facilities with filtered air.

By the time the virus finally died out, many more Atikas had starved to death, unable to go outside to find food.

The reduced population set to work to construct a safe place to live in case such a disaster should ever happen again. They built a sealed edifice where they could live and work without fear of infection, but they needed a society on the outside to keep them supplied and continue the many projects they had begun.

The obvious choice to form this society was homo sapiens. They were intelligent and had strong immune systems. The Atikas judged they were quite capable of performing all the tasks required to keep Vitu viable.

A mission was sent to Earth to select a community of humans willing to migrate to Vitu. The mission found the ideal people on what you now call the Indian sub-continent. They were pastoral and unaggressive, yet highly intelligent. The Atikas lived among them for years and eventually persuaded them to come back to Vitu."

"And all these people volunteered to leave Earth, with aliens that resembled rodents?" Summers asked dubiously.

"Of course," Velan asserted. "The region was often affected by severe droughts and the people were in constant danger of starvation. The Atikas were their salvation."

"There are places in India where rats are worshipped," Charlie interjected. "Maybe that's why."

"That is correct," Velan said. "The Atikas were revered. When the mission left, they had to turn people away. Although the transporters held many thousands, only the fortunate ones could be included, and they were our ancestors."

Summers suggested they break for something to eat and Velan agreed. He said that the Manitan had the same nutritional requirements as humans on Earth. They were eager to try whatever could be provided onboard the OCF.

Rob stopped recording and enthusiastically pulled out a stack of freeze-dried pre-prepared meals from a locker in the kitchenette. He upended it on the table.

They all delved into the pile and chose whatever appealed to them before Rob took command of the halogen oven. Seeing the Manitan's reactions to unfamiliar tastes and combinations of food provided some light relief and even Velan seemed keen to sample everything available. Toby watched as Jayal tried a mild chicken curry. Her eyes grew huge and she reached for a glass of water.

"That is fierce!" she exclaimed. "We don't have angry food on Vitu."

Toby laughed at her reaction. He explained that India was famous for its spicy food and that most people on Earth loved it. Jayal told him that the food on Vitu was always prepared as simply and healthily as possible. They considered nutrition more important than taste.

Toby was disappointed when Summers suggested they let Mutu finish so they could all get some sleep. He was fascinated by Jayal and enjoyed talking with her.

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Mutu related how the Manitan settlers had formed communities all over Vitu. He explained that Vitu had more land area and less ocean than Earth, but that the equatorial zone was mostly rocky desert and uninhabited. The polar regions had ice caps similar to Earth but in between the two were temperate bands of fertile land. The Manitan farmed the land and raised livestock chosen from the animals created on Earth.

Life on Vitu was idyllic, Mutu stressed. Only benign creatures and plants which had been evaluated on Earth were allowed to flourish. The Manitan produced food for themselves and the Atikas, and their symbiotic relationship was mutually beneficial.

The Atikas educated the Manitan and taught them how to operate their space vehicles. Once the Manitan had reached a high level of technical expertise they took over the periodic trips to Earth to collect data. The Atikas were still very interested in human development and behaviour.

"The routine visits continued and both the Atikas and the Manitan became concerned about the increasing aggression and cruelty they witnessed on Earth," Mutu explained.

"We observed many wars and the destruction of entire civilizations. The Atikas, worried for Earth's future, conceived a plan to try and change human behaviour by altering the spindle cells in the human brain. Manitan surgeons were sent to Earth to implant these modified cells in human subjects."

"Why didn't you test them on Manitan subjects on Vitu?" Summers objected.

Velan again answered for Mutu.

"The Manitan have no aggressive tendencies. We chose people from the warlike races on Earth to try and make their descendants more passive. What we did was for the good of mankind."

Summers was noncommittal but accepted Velan's explanation.

Mutu ended his overview of Vitu's history by telling them how the last visit to Earth had taken place in the 1930s. They had been dismayed to discover that their experiments had not reduced aggression and that viruses were even more prevalent on Earth.

They had noted the advances in technology, especially radio broadcasting, and had decided it was safer to monitor the Earth electronically. Since that time, satellites from Vitu, disguised as small asteroids, had been constantly orbiting the Earth, sending back data for the Atikas to analyze.

It was late and Velan decided that was enough for one day. He called an end to the meeting and he and Summers agreed to resume the next day. Summers asked Rob to escort the Manitan to the airlock. Everyone was tired, but Toby went to bed with a head full of unanswered questions.