You, Me, We Are All Mistakes

25. THE CAMBRIAN EXPLOSION

CHAPTER 25
THE CAMBRIAN EXPLOSION

In the much smaller bridge of the Eggkraft, a different type of distress was being recalled.

"That Veracity Resonator really hurt."

"Duke, I've already apologized."

"Pah! And putting me through all that pain... it didn't suit you at all. Set up like some medieval torturer, sinister lighting, arm and leg restraints..."

"Again, I'm sorry. I needed the real truth quickly and efficiently."

"Who do you think you are chicken-man?"

"Duke, it's time to move on. We have a lot to do."

"I thought you were meant to be All-Powerful?"

"It doesn't extend to personal will."

"It's not what I signed up for."

"Do you even know what you signed up for Duke?"

"It seems I don't. When NASA finally contacted me, they gave compliments about my intelligence and determination, and admitted I was on the right track. They then offered me the tantalizing opportunity to meet extra-terrestrials."

"And you accepted," confirmed Tzkk.

"You're right, I jumped at the chance... a boyhood dream I had always shared with my dad! Sadly he's not around anymore... so when they said I couldn't tell anyone, I realized that he'd be the only one I'd want to tell anyway. Except maybe Nelson, but he wouldn't listen. Then they told me if I mentioned it to a soul, the opportunity would disappear, and they'd deny everything. So, I agreed. And of course, I agreed assuming NASA knew what they were doing. And look where that got me."

"It got you here. And you're safe."

"It got me, Tzkk... a mysterious plane journey overnight to Puerto Rico. It got me standing on a Tarmac runway all alone on a warm night, watching an intensely bright light descend from the sky to a few feet above my head. It got me to be your captive. It got me passing out and waking up in a glass cube being interrogated by Foghorn Leghorn."

"You will have to explain the Foghorn reference at some point."

"Gladly."

"Teleport Streams can cause temporary unconsciousness for the novice. So, I then kept you in somnolent stasis for a little while... for your protection."

"Too many words. Why am I here?"

"Like I said earlier, we need your help."

"What for?"

"We're going to your planet. We need to understand it better to ensure the Induction goes smoothly."

"So, it's finally happening. A Close Encounter of The Third Kind."

"Again, I don't get the reference, but yes, it is happening. Just a lot sooner than any of us expected."

"What do you mean by that?"

Duke shifted his position slightly as he asked this, indicating he wanted comfort and a proper answer. His loose, rangy limbs felt awkward as they sat opposite each other in the cockpit of Tzkk's Eggkraft. Two rigid jump seats behind the more sumptuous pilot chair gave rest, but not comfort, forcing their bodies slightly forward. Tzkk inhaled deeply.

"Well Duke, your world, Earth, is hundreds of millions of annums ahead of where it should be. It's an outlier, near the edge of the Supercluster. It's a general rule that the further you are away from the Supercluster Core, and hence The Great Attractor, the later your planet will develop. It's been like that for thirteen point eight billion annums during this Big Loop."

"Big Loop?"

"There's a lot to take in Duke, one step at a time because we have to concentrate."

"Okay... for now. What do you mean when you say that Earth is ahead?"

"Well, your species, and most others on your world, are far more advanced in their evolution than they should be. Hypermutation it's called. You've been changing and evolving way too fast for the last five hundred and forty million annums."

"What!" Duke sat back square in his seat and then leaned forward to stare wide-eyed at Tzkk. "I don't get it. Is that why we were talking about the Cambrian Explosion... when you were cooking my head in that cube?"

"You've used that phrase explosion a few times, Duke. Give me your interpretation."

"You really need my friend Nelson here, he's the expert amongst us. But since he's always banging on about it, I've picked up some basics. You want to hear them?

"Yes please."

"Okay, in his words, there was a background hum of evolution for the first few billion years on Earth with nothing more exciting than various bacteria showing up. And then boom! We suddenly see all sorts of crazy lifeforms in the fossil record. Our scientists named it the Cambrian era, and the burst of life is loosely called the Explosion."

"And do you know why it happened?"

"Nelson has always said it's a mystery. Lots of theories but no full agreement. Anyway... I thought you were going to tell me all this Tzkk. You're All-Powerful and you seem to know everything."

"Well from our point of view Duke, it also remains inexplicable. We're calling it hypermutation, but we've never seen it be so sudden and so rapid, anywhere else in Laniakea. And I'm hoping as part of Captain Sennai's mission we can find out what caused it, because this is a very peculiar burst of life."

"So you have no idea, or theories?"

"Not at the moment. But let me ask... do you?"

The question caught Duke off guard.

"Me?" Duke stared intensely at the feathered creature before him, as a sudden thought struck him, flaring his eyes.

"Maybe..." he suggested, "God?"