The Grand Experiment
by
John Duncklee
Smashwords Edition
Presented by Publishing by Rebecca J. Vickery
Digital ISBN: 978-1-4660-9893-0
Copyright © 2011 John Duncklee
Art Cover Copyright © 2011 Laura Shinn
Produced by Rebecca J. Vickery
Design Consultation by Laura Shinn
Licensing Notes
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Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
The Grand Experiment is a work of historically related Science Fiction. Many of the important historical events, figures, and locations are as accurately portrayed as possible. In keeping with a work of fiction, various events and occurrences were invented in the mind and imagination of the author and are interwoven with the historical facts.
To Penny:
Twenty-two years of happiness without a single bad day.
What if...
Long ago, a human-like race of aliens in a far off galaxy devises an experiment and populates Planet Earth. Then, through sensors and occasional inspection tours, they watch as Earthlings adapt, thrive, and reproduce.
What if...
Every major event on Earth, from the birth of Jesus to the crash at Roswell, is attributable to the aliens.
The planters of our population continually face disappointment and sadness from the wars, greed, and destruction wrought by the Earthlings.
What if...
We are just a part of The Grand Experiment...
Chapter One
Four round, shiny spacecraft landed on the planet Erdan. They arranged themselves simultaneously in a quiet slumber on the tarmac surrounding Think Central. They had arrived from the four other planets comprising Tubukawa Galaxy. Once disembarked, the occupants headed toward a door in the large expansive building. The overhead door opened automatically. As the managing Thinkers from the four other planets entered, the door dropped silently behind them. From the entryway, they walked straight across the gray marbled foyer to another door that opened into the main elevator large enough to hold thirty people. When they had taken their places against the walls the door closed, and the elevator went swiftly upward to the sixth floor, the topmost in the building that housed offices and various laboratories.
The elevator door opened into a spacious room with windows around three sides, from where the view of the expansive landscape always impressed visitors no matter how many times they had experienced it.
The four Thinkers stood with their backs to the elevator, looking through the windows, as the Chief Thinker of Think Central came through a doorway from the right. He had risen from the round, white, marble table at the far end of a windowless room and approached them. He beckoned them to enter. A vast collection of maps covered the walls. Some of the maps showed contours of landscapes; others had images of constellations and galaxies. Various colored lights blinked occasionally.
“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen,” the host, Monando, welcomed. “It was good of you to come at such short notice. Please have a chair at the table and we can begin this important session.”
The two women and two men walked over and sat in the chairs that surrounded the table. At each place there was a figurine sculpted from marble in the shape of a frog, the mascot of the planet Erdan. The host remained standing as he scrolled through his computer in front of him. At last he looked up and around at his guests, and placed his hands flat on the tabletop, as he began talking. “Just to remind you about the basic principles of The Grand Experiment that began eons ago with the transfer of flora and fauna from our five planets to the five major climatic regions on Planet Earth. The experiment is eventually an attempt to compare what happens to human beings when they begin with intellect, but no knowledge, on a planet where they will mix with one another and how their various societies behave. Of course, you must always remember that Tubukawa is the control where all five planetary populations remain pure and do not mix, except for such meetings in which we now participate.”
Monando paused and looked around to the other seated Thinkers to see if any might have a question.
“As you all know, our galaxy has been undergoing galactic cooling because our two suns are in a state of migration. We have been warning our people about this.”
Tonsaga, the woman Thinker from Planet Tuoldo, pushed her frog figurine toward the center of the table to show she wanted to speak. Her dark, long hair fell over her shoulders in glistening waves as she looked at Monando. She smiled. Her copper-colored skin shone brightly in the light coming in from the skylights on the roof of the building.
“Yes, Tonsaga,” the blond, Nordic-looking Monando said.
“Monando, and my colleagues,” she began. “The people of Tuoldo, including the Inventors and techno-people, refuse to acknowledge the danger of the migrating suns because they cannot yet feel the change in heat coefficients. I have admonished them to believe what I am saying, but they are succumbing to their techno-god’s ideas the Inventors have convinced them about.”
“I am afraid I have the same phenomenon to report from Erdan. I consider this a crisis of ultimate magnitude. What about the rest of you?” Monando asked.
The other Thinkers nodded their heads affirmatively.
“I think we have come to the point where we must, as the Thinkers of the galaxy, make plans for survival no matter how drastic those plans may seem,” Monando said, and scrolled his computer again.
Mero, a man with chocolate-dark skin shoved his frog statue toward the center of the table. Monando motioned with his head for the man to speak.
“What sort of drastic measures are you talking about, Monando?” Mero asked.
“If we are to preserve our kind, we must protect ourselves against galactic freezing. There will be no more food for us to nourish ourselves. Temperatures will be so severe we will have to spend our span of life indoors. Our technologic inventions will slow to a snail’s pace with such low temperatures and our suns will not furnish energy until all the methalomosil dissipates. The latter will take far more ages than we could survive on basic physiological needs.”
“What do you propose?” Mero asked.
“When I told you it will take drastic measures, I said that after considering this situation through to the end of azimuth. You all may question me too, should you have been as thorough in confronting our plight. I propose we stage a minor migration of our most intelligent people to that planet called Earth. There, our Historians have kept records of the experiment we began. You may remember we invested sporadae and bacterial colloidals into the soil throughout that planet.”
“What will happen to all the people who remain behind?” Fauni, the woman with the crease in her upper eyelid, asked.
“I have no solution for them. We not only lack the space vehicles to carry them, we do not have enough span to prepare them for the kind of journey that promises no return to this galaxy,” Monando said.
“Who do you have in mind to allow to migrate?” Fauni asked, after pushing her statue toward Monando.
“I can see this solution I am proposing is giving some of you reason to question. Under these circumstances, I see no other way to maintain our kind even though it must be somewhere other than in this galaxy. Those of highest intellect should be the individuals chosen for migration because they will be forced to start life from the very beginning. We will need to drain their knowledge without diminishing their intellect because their new life on Earth would be unbearable without the technology that we are used to in this galaxy. Therefore, by choosing the most intelligent among us, we have hope they will eventually be able to invent what we have had here for so many spans that we cannot count them.”
“Does this mean since we are the Thinkers, we will be the ones chosen to migrate?” Mero asked.
“No,” Monando quickly answered. “Those of us in this room must be available to make periodic surveys of Earth to carry on the Grand Experiment that began so many spans ago. I have concluded we must subject ourselves to cryogenics, timing the cryotoria to thaw periodically so we can travel to Earth for our surveys. Additionally, we must also save our Historians in the same manner or the entire story of our civilization will be lost.”
“We have our own cryotorium,” Mero said.
“That’s fine,” Monando said. “Every planet in our galaxy has its own. All I ask is that there is ample room for the Historians as well as the Thinkers, and the best Inventors. Our Historians have filled their minds with all that has happened in past dimensions, freeing us to use our minds to think about the vast amounts in other thought directions. It is the Historians who have everything about the Earth experiment in their memories. They even have intricate descriptions of that planet in their minds. We will need all that information to plan the migration from here to there, and to evaluate the progress of the experiment.”
He looked over to Oodaniii, the brown-skinned man with black hair and eyes somewhat like Fauni’s but not as pronounced in the upper eyelid crease. “You have said nothing thus far, Oodaniii. Is it that you have no thoughts, or are you still in contemplation?”
“I am concerned about your migration plans that call for leaving most of the people in the galaxy to perish from either freezing or the results of the vegetation freezing to the point where no oxygen is produced so that they suffocate. Either way, I find both passages bothersome to contemplate when we are still alive because of our knowledge of cryogenics.”
“I, too, am bothered by such an outlook, but I have not been able to think through a better solution,” Monando said. “The one thing dominating my thoughts about this threat from galactic cooling and subsequent freezing is The Grand Experiment, which I feel strongly about. I believe we must somehow prevail over this potential catastrophe in order to complete the experiment. We may not know its purpose yet, but we never will if we do not take steps to carry on with it. Do any of you have thoughts about this topic?”
Mero pushed his figurine toward the center of the table. “There must be more survivors than just us Thinkers and those who migrate to Planet Earth. How are we supposed to choose who will survive and who will not?”
Tonsaga pushed her frog toward the center of the table and, without waiting for Monando, began speaking. “I too, believe in The Grand Experiment. I have also given a great deal of thought to the question of who shall survive galactic freezing and who shall perish. I have come to look at the situation from the perspective of The Grand Experiment. Should we Thinkers stand by and accept galactic freezing as something inevitable, everyone of Tubukawa Galaxy will perish and what we have accomplished over the spans will be lost. Does this matter? I think not. However, the investigations involving The Grand Experiment will also be lost unless those of us who are privy to its intricacies, and have followed its progress as stated by our Historians, survive. I must also add that this survival does not mean a normal life such as we have been used to. We will remain cryogenically frozen except for when we are thawed to travel to the Planet Earth in order to perform the perfunctory inspections as outlined in The Grand Experiment.”
Tonsaga retrieved her frog figurine.
Fauni, the woman with the upper eye crease and yellowish-tan skin color, pushed her figurine out away from her place at the table.
“I am glad you have something to add, Fauni,” Monando said. “Please speak your usual wisdom.”
“Thank you, Monando. I speak not wisdom, only questions about The Grand Experiment. It is well known among the Thinkers of Tubukawa that many spans ago our people traveled to Planet Earth to leave sporadae and colloidals. The latter were bacterin suspended to escape only when conditions fostering multiplying prevailed. They programmed all this for perfect balance to insure survival of these species and their subsequent evolution to variances according to climatic and geologic aspects of their environments. What I want to know is how the Tubukawa people will know about these organisms if they are knowledge-drained before making the journey to Planet Earth?”
“That is all part of The Grand Experiment, as I perceive it,” Monando said. “One of the major observations we will make on our first journey of inspection after we deposit the migrants is how well they have been able to utilize the previously deposited organisms.”
“Suppose when we make the first inspection journey after the deposit of these knowledge-drained Tubukawans, we find them all perished because they could not understand how to survive with the invested organisms?” Fauni asked.
Monando raised his arms high over his head. “I would say The Grand Experiment would be concluded. However, we will know a great deal about their circumstances before the first, or even subsequent, inspection tours from the Satellite Observation Devices, or SODs. We will place the SODs in orbit around Planet Earth to send details of the various regions where we have left Tubukawans. This information will be recorded so we can see it before leaving on the inspection tours.”
Oodaniii pushed his figurine to the center. “If these SODs, as you call them, send the worst news possible would we remain in Tubukawa’s cryotoria?”
“I think that decision needs to be made should we find the worst scenario and all the migrants to Planet Earth perished.”
Mero pushed his frog out. “Let us say The Grand Experiment is successful in that our people survive, learn back knowledge, and all is well on Planet Earth when we go there for an inspection. Do we have the option of remaining there instead of returning to frozen Tubukawa?”
“The way I understand The Grand Experiment, one of the major objectives is to insure that we of Tubukawa survive as a people,” Monando said. “If conditions are right on Planet Earth for us to remain there, The Grand Experiment would be proclaimed a grand success.”
“What about all of our technology?” Mero asked.
“I propose that each of you have your Inventors devise a nuclear-powered heating unit and a heavily insulated storehouse. Put the high-tech things inside while we wait in the cryotoria,” Monando said. “We must also have space in the cryotoria for the Inventors so they can maintain our spacecraft, if need be.”
Oodaniii shoved his figurine to the center of the table. “Suppose the Inventors do not like the idea of carrying on The Grand Experiment?” he asked.
“We must tell them they are a necessary part of it so that they will understand their important role,” Monando said.
“Suppose the spacecraft do not need maintenance?” Oodaniii asked.
“We will keep them at a normal cryogenic level until they are needed,” Monando said. “Fauni, I see you have a desire to be heard.”
“Yes, Monando, I am feeling that just because we are the Thinkers we are being privileged. I am not sure I agree with this, even though I am destined to survive.”
“I have those same feelings,” Monando said. “However, there is really no other way to be able to finish The Grand Experiment—unless we just decide to perish with the rest of the people. I think Tonsaga has spoken well about our life of waiting. It will not be very enjoyable. Now, I think we need to rest until the suns give us another light. We must be alert enough to ensure we make all the necessary preparations.”
The Thinkers, except for Tonsaga, rose from their places at the table, and filed out through the door toward the sleeping quarters to the right, down a long hallway. Monando and Tonsaga stood and faced each other across the table.
“That was quite a session,” Monando said. “I hope the following one will go as well.”
“For their sake, I hope that also. So far there is no real dissension, but Fauni really feels guilty, a trait I did not think existed among us in Tubukawa.”
“I am glad you remained behind, Tonsaga, as I have something I want to discuss with you.”
“I sensed that every time you looked at me. I probably have the same feelings toward you.”
“For as long as the Historians can remember, we of Tubukawa have remained separate on our planets without mixing our males and females,” Monando said. “I have only once been attracted to a woman here on Erdan, but I find myself with a deep desire to be with you forever, Tonsaga.”
“You echo my own thoughts, Monando. But, what can we do against the primary rules of the galaxy?”
“The purity rule is part of The Grand Experiment. It was enacted to insure that once the migrants are deposited on Planet Earth we can observe how they will react to each other once they begin to spread throughout that planet with nothing but the purity of their kind to hinder them.
“I am sure you have seen the offspring from the mating of different Tubukawa planetary people. Yes, they are strange looking with their oversized heads compared to their bodies. That is why we refer to them as ‘Cranipods.’ And, their eyes that seem to dominate their faces are certainly weird. In fact, they are totally weird. Why do we have them separated and kept alive for all these spans?
“Eventually, they will be a part of the Grand Experiment. Thus far these ‘creatures’, for want of a better term, are always products from a male and female from different planets in Tubukawa having sexual intercourse. The Grand Experiment calls for transporting them to Planet Earth to see their survival rate once the humans we send from here have established an advanced civilization. In the meantime they will be kept confined to their compound.”
“What does that have to do with you and me?” Tonsaga asked.
“I can see no reason for us to be bound by that rule any longer since we are of the Thinkers and will not be involved with wandering around on Planet Earth, only inspecting it.”
“I must tell you, Monando, I have this weird feeling of wonder about how it would be to start from the beginning, as those will from whom we drain knowledge and bring to Planet Earth.”
“I have had those same thoughts, but I am inclined to be grateful I will retain my knowledge and be able to evaluate for the Grand Experiment. However, I am weary of all this and would like to take you to my quarters.”
“I would like that, Monando. Do you live here in Think Central?”
“Yes, I have a nice space that has east access to the Main Communications Network, but it has wonderful privacy that nobody can break, unless I grant permission to enter. While we are together there, I will even close the request to enter signal,” Monando said, guiding Tonsaga by the arm, out the door to the hallway, where he turned left. They walked to the end of the passageway where a large window gave a view of the complex surrounding Think Central. Monando turned to the right, opened the door to his quarters, and escorted Tonsaga into the foyer that displayed red velvet draperies hanging from the ten-foot high ceiling to the floor and covering the three walls.
“This is beautiful,” she said.
“After a day dealing with all we have to confront as Thinkers, I seek tranquility and beauty in my quarters. Come, if you think this is nice, wait until you see the inside spaces.”
Monando took Tonsaga by the arm, and led her through a doorway that opened as they approached it. “I like these thought actuating doorways, except for when I forget to send my thought to the receiver,” Monando said.
“I have the same trouble in Tuoldo. One time I ran into a door and bruised my nose.”
“I haven’t done that yet, since these devices came into use, but I am glad your nose healed because I find your entire face beautiful,” Monando said, and put his right arm around her shoulders.
They stood in the middle of a room furnished with everything imaginable, technologically speaking. Dominating one wall was a large monitor screen built into the wall. Images of woodlands and prairies blended in and out, in full color. Below, a small microphone rose up from a desktop made from polished hardwood. Another microphone, lying on a receptacle to the right, was ready to be picked up as it blinked with a small, green light.
There was a couch and chairs covered with leather. These surrounded a low coffee table, made from polished hardwood.
“Sit down, Tonsaga, I will fix us drinks to relax with,” Monando said. “What would you like?”
“Whatever you are having will be just fine,” she said.
Monando walked over toward a wall made from marble. As he approached the wall, a counter moved silently out. A sink and a unit with a door sat upon the counter. Monando looked at it and the side opened to reveal several bottles, some glasses, and a tray of ice. He filled two glasses with ice cubes and uncorked a bottle containing a clear liquid. After filling the glasses halfway, he took another bottle with a greenish tinged liquid and finished filling one of the glasses. After handing Tonsaga her full glass, Monando stepped over to a stuffed chair covered with leather and sat down opposite the woman Thinker from Tuoldo.
“This is distilled from blue agave with lime juice to flavor it in case you are not used to the agave. I drink the agave distillate plain because I enjoy the taste.”
“We do not have blue agave plants on Tuoldo, only Yucca,” she said.
Monando lifted his glass for a toast. “Here is to The Grand Experiment,” he said, and sipped from the rim of his glass.
Tonsaga took a small amount from her drink into her mouth and swallowed it. “If it wasn’t for this galactic cooling I would ask for enough blue agave to start to grow it on Tuoldo.”
“I understand from our oldest Historian that our predecessors introduced blue agave spores to Planet Earth during the Great Dispersal.”
“I hope they have prospered through the spans,” Tonsaga said.
“We will discover the outcome of that when we arrive on Planet Earth.”
“What do you have in mind for the overall situation, Monando?”
“I have consulted three Erdan Historians and they have recited at length all about The Grand Experiment. All three believe that traveling to Planet Earth now, or even in several spans, will upset the original idea of The Grand Experiment.”
“From what I heard at our meeting and before, through our communications, if we don’t leave Tubukawa before the freeze sets in we will all perish and The Grand Experiment will end with our demise,” Tonsaga said.
“That is obvious to both of us, and I expect to the other Thinkers who attended the first meeting and who will stay for the others. Sometimes our Historians can be quite rigid, other times and with other topics they can be as flexible as a grass stem blowing in the wind.”
“This entire matter must be weighing heavily on you. I thought we came to your quarters to escape all that,” Tonsaga said.
Monando jumped up from his chair, his drink almost spilling onto the floor. “Forgive me, Tonsaga. I get so totally concerned about this that I almost drown in its murky waters.”
Monando reached down and took Tonsaga’s offered hand, and helped her rise from her chair. “May I freshen your drink?”
“I am just fine. Your blue agave is giving me all sorts of sensations.”
Monando led Tonsaga to the far wall that had a mural painted across it depicting a jungle of vegetation partly in bloom, others reaching for a single sun in the sky.
“What a beautiful picture,” Tonsaga said. “Where is this picture from?”
“It is what our Chief Historian pictures as Planet Earth. I hope it will not be too long before we can discover if he is right in his mind-pictures.”
Monando looked intently at a clearing in the jungle, and a door opened silently. They entered the sleeping room that contained one large bed and a closet door next to a bathroom. “Do you like it?” Monando asked.
“It is wonderful. My sleeping quarters are much smaller, but I have more closet space.”
Monando placed both of his hands on Tonsaga’s shoulders and brought her into his arms to kiss her lips in a fervent manner that made her sigh afterward.
“I think we need to agree on something before we slip into your bed,” Tonsaga said. “I did not bring anything to prevent pregnancy, and I don’t think we need a child to concern ourselves with during this period of time in Tubukawa. I suggest we love one another with mental joy rather than take the chance on becoming parental.”
“I am glad you mentioned that because I find myself yearning to join with you right now. I certainly don’t want one of those weird Cranipod babies.”
“I have the same desires,” Tonsaga said. “Let’s take our clothing off and enjoy ourselves with our minds, and our bodies will surely respond with joy.”
They disrobed, crawled onto the large bed, and discovered their love while next to each other, experiencing mental joy.
Chapter Two
The meeting of the Tubukawa Thinkers, the following morning, began slowly because there were several who questioned the plan put forth by Monando. It took most of the morning for both Monando and Tonsaga to convince Fauni and Mero that the plan, as Monando had outlined, was the most feasible to sustain Tubukawan life in spite of galactic cooling and the subsequent freeze that was certain.
During the afternoon, they spent their mental activity on the best and most timely way to accomplish what Monando had outlined and Tonsaga agreed upon. Monando wondered if Tonsaga should question the plan more, so as to not arouse suspicion that they were in some sort of collusion. He was anxious to return to his quarters with her after the meeting. During the lunch hour, he had visited the Think Central Pharmacy to get something to prevent her from getting in a family way if they wanted to have joy, fully joined.
The Thinkers agreed they must consult with their Inventors to insure the cryotoria, using nuclear power, were designed for lengthy stays between visits to Planet Earth.
That evening, after they had consummated their full joy, Monando and Tonsaga discussed the possibility of the two of them remaining in side-by-side cryotoria in spite of their different origins and residences. “I want to be with you when we thaw at each interlude,” she said.
“I can’t see anything wrong with your idea. I, too, would enjoy awakening with you instead of waiting for us to reach Planet Earth before I could take you into my arms.”
“I am finding all this quite scary,” Tonsaga said during their conversation after joy. “Suppose the cryotoria fail and we stay frozen?”
“That would be the same, if we stayed here without cryogenics. Our forms would vanish from the universes.”
“I wish I had your confidence, Monando. Let’s have more joy before we fall asleep.”
Monando reached over and took Tonsaga into his arms again.
* * * * *
The Erdan Chief Historian joined the meeting the following morning. The group held a lengthy discussion about all parts of the plan. They formulated a span during which they would accomplish all that needed doing, before the migration of the most intelligent Tubukawans to Planet Earth where they would begin at the beginning. They would arrive on Planet Earth with all prior knowledge removed that might cause them to become dissatisfied with their role on Planet Earth. None of the migrants would have any of the knowledge of the highly technical aspects of Tubukawan life. They would even have to develop languages.
During the discussion, the Thinkers and Historians devised a way to choose the most intelligent of the Tubukawans who would make the migration. They also decided that a great variety of ages would be the best for The Grand Experiment. They judged that the process for choosing the migrants would take many cycles of the suns, even should they begin when the meetings were over. The entire group agreed the plan must be kept secret to spare those who had not been chosen to survive the concern and possible panic and anger at having been left to freeze with the galaxy.
Oodaniii pushed his frog toward the middle of the table and began to speak before Monando recognized him. “I have concerns about this plan of choosing who will go and who will remain. On every planet in this galaxy, we have never distinguished between any level of intellect, color, or whether one is male or female. From what I gather about this plan to drain knowledge from those of highest intellect to migrate to Planet Earth, it seems we are tossing away something from our way of life and attitude toward one another that has kept us at peace for as long as the Historians can recall.”
“I have had some of the same misgivings about the plan,” Monando said. “If it wasn’t for the crisis of galactic cooling there would be no problem of choice as to who will go and who will stay. The Grand Experiment did not include anything in its details of procedure about such things as we face because of this galactic cooling. Does anyone have anything further to add to this discussion?”
The ceramic frogs remained in front of the Thinkers. Monando scrolled his computer until he arrived at a file that he wanted to explain to the rest. He nudged his frog to the middle of the table. “We all have some concern about the techno-god that appears to dominate the actions of some of our Inventors. This sort of thing is completely new to the galaxy, but we have seen its influence on some inventions. Do any of you have any thoughts about what we might do to make sure the Inventors don’t attempt to foil the migration plan? The techno-god has made inroads into the Inventors’ minds and we others have been helpless to counteract it because we are too busy thinking about The Grand Experiment. It will be interesting to see what happens with the migrant Tubukawans once they get settled on Planet Earth.”
Tonsaga pushed her frog outward from her place at the table. “In the past I have noticed that whenever any of the Thinkers admonish the Inventors, singly or in groups, they shunned contact and refused further discussion. There are some who are totally committed to their techno-god. This has caused the rest to shy away from any disagreement with them. We must be extremely careful about which of the Inventors we choose to integrate into the migration plan.”
“Good points,” Monando said. “I suggest all of you should make certain that the Inventors you choose for the cryotoria are not adherents to the techno-god. We cannot afford any sabotage of our plan to migrate our chosen people to Planet Earth. I think it is best to consult the Inventors of our choices rather than have any of them to join these discussions. I am thinking that, after one more day at this table, you can return to your respective planets and begin the transition we have discussed here at Think Central.”
The same as the day before, Tonsaga remained after the others retired to their quarters. When she and Monando found themselves alone, she stepped over to him and put her arms around his neck, looking into his eyes. “I just want to say, I think you have handled all this with tremendous skill. I am really very proud of you, my dear love.”
Monando returned her kisses. Then, taking her face in his hands, he said, “I think we should go to my quarters as soon as possible because I have a wonderful surprise for you.”
“Are you going to keep me in suspense?”
“I think so. I am sure you will enjoy my gift.”
When they entered Monando’s quarters, he pushed the privacy switch and led Tonsaga to the bedroom. Standing before her as she sat on the edge of the bed, he took a small vial from his right trouser pocket and held it up for her to see.
“What in the world is that?” she asked.
“It is my gift. Do you recall that I left the conference room during our midday meal break?”
“Yes, I wondered why you did not eat with the rest of us.”
“I didn’t eat anything anywhere. I went to our pharmacy and had a friend of mine package this surprise.”
“What is this surprise that robbed you of your midday meal?” she asked.
“It is the latest anti-pregnancy potion that will last you six moons with one dose. The pharmacist calls it ‘For the Sake of Joy.’ All you have to do is swallow what is in the vial and you won’t have to worry about becoming a mother for six moons.”
“That is probably the greatest gift you could give me right now, Monando. All day long, I have watched you almost constantly and I must admit to having mental joy twice. It was all I could do to control myself and not show my ecstasy.”
“Take this vial and drink it all. The pharmacist said it is good tasting.”
He handed her the vial. Tonsaga removed the stopper and held it up to her lips. Winking her left eye at Monando, she emptied the “For the Sake of Joy” into her mouth and swallowed it. Handing the empty vial back to Monando, she began disrobing. Monando stood with the vial in his right hand, watching Tonsaga and her exquisite beauty unfold before his eyes. He had enjoyed her the day before, but the anticipation of joining with her completely made him acutely aware of her gracefulness and what, to him was a perfectly proportioned female body. Her copper-colored skin enhanced her shape until he could no longer stand and watch, and began getting out of his clothes as fast as he could.
Tonsaga crawled onto the bed and waited as Monando finished undressing.
He slipped onto the bed and took her into his arms.
“Don’t I get a drink like yesterday?” she asked, impishly.
“If you want to wait for me to mix it,” he said, raising his left eyebrow.
“Judging from what I see, I think I can wait for the drink until later,” she said, and pulled him toward her.
* * * * *
Monando awakened before Tonsaga, left the bed, and made a pot of coffee from beans that came from Tonsaga’s planet, Tuoldo. He sat sipping the brew, watching the woman he had fallen in love with as she rolled onto her back and blinked her eyes several times.
“Good morning,” he said.
She turned toward him and smiled. “Yes, it is quite a good morning,” she said, and pushed herself up to sit on the edge of the bed.
Monando sat, entranced by her beauty, as he took another sip of coffee. “Would you like your coffee now?”
“I suppose if that is the best you can offer,” she said, twisting her head and giving him a comical grimace.
Monando left his cup on the small table by the counter, went quickly to the bedside, picked Tonsaga up in his arms, and put her back on the bed. He kissed her long and fervently. She returned his zeal and hugged his neck in an embrace.
“The meeting doesn’t begin for quite a while,” she said.
“The way I feel right now, I really don’t care if the meeting ever starts,” Monando said, and began caressing her copper-colored body until she began to moan in her begging way for him to make joy with her.
* * * * *
As they walked down the hallway to the meeting room, Monando took Tonsaga’s hand in his. “I wish you could stay a while longer here,” he said.
She looked up into his eyes while continuing to walk. “I wish I could, but the others would frown on that because of The Grand Experiment’s purity policy. This is an example of why I sometimes wonder about that Grand Experiment’s guidelines.”
“Once you get Tuoldo’s preparations started for the migration to Planet Earth, you might be able to travel over here again while everyone else is too busy to notice.”
“Monando, you are full of good ideas,” she said.
Monando chuckled. “That’s why I am a Thinker!”
They laughed together just before arriving at the meeting room. Before opening the door, Monando took Tonsaga into his arms again and kissed her. “That’s in case we cannot slip away from the others before you liftoff for Tuoldo,” he said, and let her stand next to him as he opened the door with his thoughts. They were the first to arrive, and took their seats at the table, trying to look as if they had arrived separately.
The others arrived shortly. There was little discussion at the final meeting. Everyone knew what had to be done on their particular planet and accepted the situation as it stood. After a sumptuous meal of pheasant, suckling pig, and veal chops, all the visitors boarded their spacecraft, lifted off at intervals and flew in the direction of their home planets. Monando watched as Tonsaga waved from her front window. He waved back as she taxied her craft to the catapult for liftoff.
As soon as Tonsaga’s craft was airborne and vectored in the direction of Tuoldo, Monando took out his sonic radio with its capability of televising images to its small screen.
“Nice liftoff,” he said.
Tonsaga’s face filled the screen. She formed her lips into a kiss. “Thank you. I wish I could turn around and never go back to Tuoldo with its boring men.”
“It will not take long to get things ready for the migration unless some sort of problem arises that we haven’t thought about. Then we can be together again.”
* * * * *
Monando and Tonsaga spoke regularly, but were careful not to have the conversations too heated, in case there was some Inventor tapping into their wireless communication sets. They both talked with other Thinkers and inventors so they could measure the progress toward the preparation for the flights to Planet Earth, but also about the development of the system for draining knowledge from those chosen to migrate. None of the Thinkers had made the final choices for the latter.
It was Mero who, one day, announced that his top Inventor had designed a device that would fit inside the space helmets, and would drain the knowledge of the wearer completely during the journey to Planet Earth. He became excited when he told the other Thinkers that the device needed only three more test runs before it was ready to be installed. He emphasized that those individuals being drained of knowledge would have no clue what was happening, as long as they had not discovered it before embarkation.
The only item lacking for the project were the spacecraft capable of transporting a large number of people to the various climatic zones on Planet Earth. As the Inventors assembled and modified these machines, the Thinkers sent Oodaniii on a reconnoiter to Planet Earth to bring back video images to show what the vegetation looked like and to attempt to capture images of the fauna as well. This trip was within the guidelines of The Grand Experiment because the authors did not see any sense in sending people to Planet Earth to make completely fresh starts if they would encounter a bare and sterile planet. The project would be difficult enough without throwing up an impossible barrier to the adventurers’ survival.
Oodaniii returned just as the four spacecraft had finished undergoing test flights to insure that all systems were operational. He projected his images of Planet Earth to all the other Thinkers on the Tubukawan planets. Impressed by the nature of both the flora and fauna on Planet Earth, they decided to hold another meeting at Think Central on Erdan to go over the final plans.
Monando looked forward to seeing Tonsaga and, in his mind, began planning how to be alone with her without the others discovering their illegal relationship.
When all the Thinkers had arrived and assembled in the meeting room, Monando, the host, addressed them. “Welcome to Think Central,” he began. “From what I can gather, the flights to Planet Earth are almost at the launching stage. I must ask one question; have you all chosen the people who will migrate to Planet Earth?”
He looked from one to another. Tonsaga moved her ceramic frog toward the center of the table. “Tuoldo is ready to send two hundred people to Planet Earth for The Grand Experiment. I have chosen two extremely talented Inventors and three Historians to make sure there is proper intellect to make the new start in the region north of the sea between continents. The images brought back by Oodaniii show abundant vegetation and several species of fauna that appear to be able to provide a substantial protein diet for the migrants’ survival.” Ending what she had to say, she returned the frog to the space in front of her.
Fauni was next to announce that the migrants from her planet were ready for the flight to Planet Earth.
Mero echoed Fauni’s announcement.
“Erdan is also ready,” Monando said. “What about your people, Oodaniii?”
“I did not want to entrust the choices to anyone else while I was gone to Planet Earth for the images. I am halfway through the choosing process and am finding it extremely difficult knowing those remaining will succumb to galactic freezing.”
“I think all of us have experienced a certain amount of regret, or even guilt, during this choosing process,” Monando said. “However, we must remember that we of Tubukawa do not fear death for ourselves. We must keep that in mind when choosing those to survive and those destined to perish. For, we all will perish eventually, when our time comes.”
“Thank you, Monando,” Oodaniii said. “I needed that reminder.”
“My next question is also important. Have you chosen the Inventors who will be on hand to operate the cryotoria after we have entered the capsules? They can freeze themselves in their capsules and time their span of time to become thawed before we are, so they can operate the procedure as we thaw. Along with the Inventors, we need at least two Historians with us in the cryotoria. It is a large building that can hold thirty capsules for thirty people.”
Everyone but Oodaniii signaled they had accomplished those choices. Oodaniii said he would choose those people as soon as he had finished selecting those for the Planet Earth flight.
“I have been in contact with the spacecraft plant,” Monando said. “I have taken the liberty to send them enough cryotoria for their survival during the galactic freeze. We will need maintenance for the inspection flights outlined in The Grand Experiment many centuries ago. They informed me they have installed the latest propulsion mechanism in each craft. These are solar-powered and there is sufficient storage capacity in the fuselage, which is actually a battery, for any travel away from sunlight.”
Mero shoved his ceramic frog toward the middle of the table. “I have studied those inspection flight plans, but I would appreciate a more detailed description and explanation.”
“Once we leave our passengers at the points of planned disembarkation, we will rendezvous at the large continent with the large round mesa. It is there that we will know more about the inspection flights after we have seen Planet Earth closely. We must be certain to load the location of every migrant into the computers for future comparisons that may be needed for projections and the like.”
Tonsaga pushed her frog toward the center. “Who will be aboard the inspection flights?”
“Everyone who survives their cryotorium experience will participate in the inspection flights,” Monando said. “We need as many contributions and observations as we can get, even from Inventors when our migrants begin to progress from the beginning stage.”
Tonsaga shoved her frog out. “What do you mean by ‘progress’?” she asked.
“Whatever they invent to make their lives easier. After all, they do have intelligence. All they will lack is knowledge,” Monando said.
Fauni took her frog and skidded it across the table. “All you people think about is what you call ‘progress’. Did it ever occur to you that those migrants might be better off as hunters and gatherers?”
Monando put both of his hands on the table, leaned down as he looked at Fauni across the way, and closed his eyes. “The migrants are from here and of us. Ask any Historian and you will learn what we as a people have accomplished since our emergence from wherever we originated. I think the migrants most likely will follow a similar pattern as we did here.” He opened his eyes and looked straight at her. “Perhaps you should re-read The Grand Experiment guidelines again, Fauni.”
Monando lifted his hands from the tabletop and folded his arms against his chest. He looked around at the Thinkers seated at the conference table to see if any others might want to pose questions about the plans.
Mero pushed his frog to the center of the table. “I have good fortune to report,” Mero said.
Everyone turned toward the dark brown-skinned man who rarely spoke in conferences except to ask questions.
“The Inventors on Planet Gora have completed the final tests on their rejuvenating cell. Production of five of these units will be completed shortly. Each planet in the galaxy will have one to employ each time we thaw from the cryotoria and each time we go back into the cryotoria after an inspection of Planet Earth. They have been working on this project long before we began dealing with galactic freezing.”
The Thinkers around the table looked at one another with eyes widened, expressing separate surprise reactions to Mero’s announcement.
“That is phenomenal, Mero,” Monando said. “The way your Inventors explained this idea back when they began its development can mean we can maintain our present ages while we make the long inspections of Planet Earth according to the guidelines of The Grand Experiment. When will all the units be complete for transport to all the planets?”
“Six revolutions of the orange moon should see the completion and dispersal of the rejuvenators to all our planets,” Mero said, and moved his frog back to its former position in front of him.
Oodaniii pushed his frog out away from him. “Can you tell us any more details, Mero? This sounds to me like one of the strongest advancements in a long span. Have you talked with any Historians about this?”
“The Historians on Gora are very dubious that such a unit can operate effectively,” Mero answered. “But you must know Historians can be skeptical. I brought two of the Inventors whose design and development ideas are major to the project if you would like to question them further. They can answer far more questions than I.”
Everyone agreed that Mero should bring his two Inventors into the conference room for questioning. He left the room and walked out of the building. He returned, accompanied by the two Inventors who carried their computers, into the conference room.
When the large twenty-foot by thirty-foot screen glowed brightly after Monando’s thought sent to the switch activated it, the Inventors joined their computers to the same suspended laser beam in order to project the images of the rejuvenating unit onto the large screen.
The Thinkers moved around in their chairs, to face the screen in wonderment, as the two Inventors nodded to one another sending messages about the rejuvenation procedure beginning with the initial modum design and the subsequent development modules as they formed the essential cell juvenilization, necessary for the effective operation of the unit.
The Thinkers remained silent until the screen faded and the Inventors stood in front of it to answer questions from them. There was a period of silence. The Inventors waited patiently for questions from the Thinkers. Finally, Mero rose from his chair after pushing his frog to the center of the table.
“I think that you must either have questions about this developmental model or you must understand it,” Mero said.
Monando waved his hands toward the others. “I am quite impressed by this presentation. I understood all the principles and precepts from the excellent presentation. Thank you, gentlemen, and thank you, Mero, for bringing them to Erdan and this conference. I can see that this near miracle of ingenuity is the answer we have needed to insure completion of The Grand Experiment.”
“How can you predict such an outcome when the migratory stage has not really started?” Fauni asked after moving her frog.
“Fauni, you are such a skeptic,” Monando said. “Perhaps you should have become a Historian instead of a Thinker.
“Someone has to keep you on your toes, Monando, or you might influence us into flying our spacecraft into the two suns,” Fauni said, and smiled.
“Perhaps we have been in conference long enough for today,” Monando said. “There are a few more details we need to discuss before our final conference before liftoff to Planet Earth. After breakfast we need to coordinate the electromagnetics in the spacecraft as well as the final selection process. I am sure you are all aware that our temperatures have dropped considerably since our last conference, and nobody is certain at what point they will plunge too low for us and our flora and fauna to sustain life.”
The Thinkers rose from their chairs and began filing out of the conference room. Tonsaga remained seated until the conference door closed behind the rest. Monando and Tonsaga smiled at one another and went into a long embrace.
Chapter Three
Preparations for the migration flight demanded the attention of the most expert of the Inventors who worked together to accomplish the intricate plans for the various deployments from the planets of Tubukawa. The time span to accomplish the project had been predicted at two years. They built roof-heated storage hangars for the spacecraft once they returned from their mission to Planet Earth. The heat was furnished by low voltage sensors that hooked onto wind generating Venturi modules with a web arrangement of wires that the Inventors designed to keep snow from accumulating. The reason for this precaution was the design of the roof that opened in concentric circles of lightweight metal to allow takeoffs and landing of the circular space vehicles.
The hangars, constructed adjacent to the cryotoria modules, also provided shelter for those facilities. The remaining buildings in the planning complex, like the one serving Think Central, were left to either survive the errant weather or to succumb to it because the Thinkers of Tubukawa had no idea how long the galactic freeze would last or even if the climate would ever return to normal. The hangar design accommodated the large transport spacecraft. The smaller craft to be employed for inspections of Planet Earth were housed in additions with special smaller doors. Once the large spacecraft returned from the migration flights they would remain unused, yet ready for any eventuality that might arise.
Choosing those to migrate to Planet Earth took much thought and became arduous for some because friendships and loyalties often interfered with decisions. In spite of the large spacecraft, each holding four hundred people plus the two pilots, there would be several thousand left behind to suffocate once the vegetation froze and no longer produced oxygen for breathing. The Thinkers and Inventors had not been able to come up with any solution to provide a reliable source of oxygen that could sustain the number of people left behind. For many who had been chosen to migrate, the thought of moving to a completely new planet was both intriguing and something they looked forward to because none knew the fate of those who were to remain behind on the planets of Tubukawa. They assumed there would be a succession of flights to Planet Earth so that the entire population of Tubukawa would eventually become residents. What they did not know was that there was only enough time for the initial migratory flights. The inspection flights would be launched at lengthy intervals. With a vague concept of time on the galaxy of Tubukawa, there was nothing like a schedule to adhere to.
Monando and Tonsaga managed to meet one another as often as possible without becoming too obvious about their relationship. Both were concerned about the need to make separate flights to Planet Earth because of the different destinations on Earth’s surface. Once all the migrants reached their places of debarkation, the spacecraft were to rendezvous at a prominent raised mesa with a flat top, in the middle of the desert on the continent that looked like it had dropped away from the larger continent above where the yellowish-looking people with slit-like eyes like Fauni were destined. During the scouting mission, the tropical parts of the ‘fallen continent’ looked suitable for a few of Mero’s people.
The plans were intricate and fully discussed at the last meeting at Think Central. By that time, those who had the responsibility to carry out the terms of The Grand Experiment had become satisfied that everyone had done what was needed, including choosing people to migrate and people to remain on the planets of Tubukawa. At that same meeting, the Thinkers concluded that after the first inspection, when the initial migration flight had been completed, there would be no people left in the galaxy of Tubukawa except those who had returned from Planet Earth for another spell in the cryotoria.
The cryotoria had been constructed and tested with infinite care. The buildings housing the paraphernalia had been constructed with much thought given to the possibility that those left outside, while there was still oxygen, might attempt to overthrow those frozen in the cryotoria waiting for future inspection excursions to Planet Earth.
The Inventors found designing the knowledge-draining space helmets challenging because of the possibility some people might try to remove their helmets during the flight. The only device they could come up with was an automatic lock fastener that would have to be unlocked once they reached their destination. The Inventors made tools for that purpose and gave them to the pilots for safekeeping. The Inventors considered themselves lucky that small inserts built into the existing helmets would be sufficient and effective in draining knowledge from the migrants. To produce new helmets would have proven an expensive and delaying task considering all the other matters they had to accomplish and administer.
The Historians chosen to accompany the space flights to Planet Earth concentrated on the operational plans that called for all five migrant-carrying spacecraft to fly in formation once attaining trans-orbital condition. The craft would also fly together to the various destinations so that all the Historians could make their observations of the new habitats and physical conditions from geology to fauna and flora. Mapping was one of the Historian’s major duties.
Instead of the pilots flying the spacecraft to the Fuel Moon where the latest electromagnetic generators had been developed and stored in crypts, the fuel Inventors transported the generators to each planet prior to liftoff and returned to their moon facility where they would eventually enter their cryotoria once the freeze intensified.
At the conference at Think Central all estimates of intense freezing concluded there would be an excellent chance that the real killer freeze would happen sometime after they returned from Planet Earth. However, those involved with The Grand Experiment decided that upon the return from Earth and landing in the hangars all personnel would proceed directly into the cryotoria to begin their cryogenic state, which would last until the first scheduled inspection ten thousand years hence. With the vague concept of time in the culture of Tubukawa it proved difficult to develop a sustain period and a release trigger for the mechanism used to keep the people in a frozen state over long periods. The Inventors devised a method by which the eclipses of the two suns would signal the sensors when it was the proper interval for release.
The conferees also decided they would all enter the rejuvenation capsules upon return from Planet Earth, not only after the delivery of the migrants, but also after each inspection flight. They reiterated the great promise of the rejuvenation chambers so that inspection observation would have a continuous objective flow as long as the same mind made the observations and comparisons. One factor in the selection process of those to be chosen for the inspection stages of The Grand Experiment was maximum objectivity.
Before embarking, the passengers’ ground crew loaded enough freeze-dried food to last during the flight as well as enough to give the migrants a start in their new environments until they learned how to sustain themselves. Much thought had been given to this aspect and in the end, none of the Thinkers could be sure with absolute certainty that they had made realistic estimates.