Dawn Of a New Earth

Chapter Four

Jake sat back on the chair in the room as an hologram popped out of the desk.

"This is an article from the Uninet on the history of the Terrans," Joe the AI said, his glowing holographic head bobbing in the air.

Rick sat on the couch, his fingers flying over several holograms as he surfed the Uninet, a virtual keyboard hovering before him.

Jake focused on the hologram before him.

"Origin of The Terrans: A Brief Article," he read.

"The history of the Terrans cannot be brought completely into light without mention of the Centauri. Indeed, there would be no Terrans without the Centauri."

"Centauri?" Jake said, puzzled. "Aren't they those horse guys from mythology?"

"No, Jake," Joe said, shaking his virtual head. Another hologram popped up from the table and Jake looked at it. "This is a Centauri."

The hologram revealed a humanoid creature with golden skin that had an almost metallic quality to it.

The creature had three eyes, two where a human would have them and another on the forehead. It also had three pairs of arms, one at the shoulders and two jutting out underneath.

If Jake had heard of a creature like this, he would have called it creepy but that was not the case here. The Centauri looked elegant and almost regal even with the extra eye and arms. It wore a white flowing tunic that fell to the thighs, loose trousers and sandals.

"This was how the Centauri looked like," Joe explained.

"Was how they looked like? Why the past tense?" Jake asked.

"You'll understand in a while. Read on," Joe said.

Jake did. "The Centauri were a warlike, ancient race, native of the planet Dara, now known as Terra Alpha. They were extremely skilled in the sciences of mechanics and physics and within a few decades of inventing their first engine, they built their first spacecraft."

In time, they travelled to the nearest two planets of the system, both of which were life-supporting. The inhabitants of the first planet, Cercia, now known as Terra Beta, were just starting to develop civilizations. The Centauri exterminated them and took the planet for theirs. The most advanced inhabitants of the second planet, Verda, now known as Terra Theta, were little more than cave people, and as such, easily subdued. The planet was claimed."

Jake shook his head at what he had just read. He found it hard to believe that people would just destroy an entire species for the sake of taking a planet. Then again, humans discriminated against their own species based on gender, colour and race. Perhaps it was not that hard for something like that to happen.

"The Centauri populated the two planets but this was the beginning of their doom. As has been shown earlier, they were a war loving race and the fact that they lived on separate planets was enough to set them against one another."

The Centauri engaged in long brutal wars against themselves, each side determined to wipe out the others."

The fighting eventually came to a stop but at great cost to the Centauri. There were fewer of them than there had ever been. This was a problem because the Centauri were not a very fertile race. Offspring were few and far between."

The Centauri hit upon the idea of using genetic upgrades to improve fertility. And then, they realized they could do a lot more with gene manipulation. Why stop at improving fertility? They could make themselves stronger, faster and more intelligent. They could change anything about themselves, become the ultimate race."