The Experiment (28 page)

He looked confused. “Why me? I need to go back down there and continue working with them.”

“Just come with us, it’ll only take a few hours.”

Kayin said “What are we doing Atlas?”

“The pit Kayin… We’re going to fill in that pit. The natives should never have to see that…”

They all agreed and we went around telling everyone to head to the main entrance.

When enough people gathered I walked out to the middle of the crowd.

“There’s something else we need to do for the natives! There’s an open pit full of dead bodies… We’re going to fill it in. No questions asked!.. Understand!?”

Some of the men upfront looked over at Kayin… He was in charge after all…

He looked at me and said “Everyone do what he says now. Go get all the digging equipment we have!”

We all spent the next few hours filling in the pit… 3 thanked me several times, I could tell it meant a lot to him. He even said he’d have his people make a large ceremonial stone to put at the site to honor the dead…

Other than that no one said a word… Having to look at the countless bodies as we shoveled dirt on top of them truly displayed the inexcusable outcome of our actions.

We barely even looked at each other… It was a hard thing to do but it was our responsibility… We needed to face it, no matter how difficult it was for us. That’s why it had to be done at every site. Everyone else needs to face it as well…

When we were done I walked over to 3. “I’m going to have Kayin order to have this done at all the sites.”

He didn’t say anything. He just barely nodded and we parted ways… It was too difficult even to make eye contact… The only thing that helped was Sara coming up and having me put my arms around her. It was an emotional experience for us all…

Chapter 17

F
or the next two years we all worked, bled, and even died alongside the natives. We followed 3’s plan and did everything we could not to showcase our technology... But no matter what we did, they refused to stop mining.

3 helped us learn their language, but it was so primitive and vague, one word could mean ten different things. And it was very easy to frighten or even offend them.

Before long, we truly understood why 3 had such a hard time communicating and making them understand what we are… It wasn’t a language problem, but the inability to comprehend what 3 was trying to explain.

We even tried getting angry and commanding the natives to stop working but it only promoted fear and made them go faster. It got to the point where the best we could do was treat them well, give them food, clean water, and make them take breaks.

We did our best to develop an actual friendship so they would begin to feel comfortable around us, but they were too fearful and refused to view us as anything but some type of higher beings worthy of worship. Most of them wouldn’t even speak to us. We could only communicate through 3.

Because of this, most of them began to view 3 as a
figure to be revered as well. They even came up with a title for him, “Lo-Tar” which he claims translates to “chosen”.

It was an extremely frustrating and heartbreaking situation… My only real comfort was Sara…

At times we actually wished that Horus had made them all slightly 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… 3 was even afraid they would continue mining long after we left due to the fear that we may return and be angry...

We had done our best to show that we were just normal people. We tried to make it known we didn’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.

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 they 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 few years.

At first we had decided not to interfere with their natural progression any further but it couldn’t be helped. Along with 3, we taught them easier ways to
create fire, and that it can be used to manipulate and even strengthen metals.

They couldn’t help but see the wheel and be interested, so 3 showed them how to fashion proper tools and make them out of wood or stone.

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 their 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…

For the first year, 3 went from site to site, trying to convince them to stop worshiping us and mining. He was able to convince very small groups to leave, but the rest of them just grew to distrust and dislike him. It actually started to work against us.

Eventually he had no choice but to stop trying… The second time he was attacked for speaking out against us they almost killed him. He was beaten so badly he had to spend weeks in the medical center on the Sirius.

According to 3, one of the other natives was about to kill him with one of the tools 3 taught him how to make… Kayin ran over and took it away just in time… It was no different than the violence that took place on Aeris due to similar beliefs long ago.

We had no choice but to continue hiding our
technology and try to show them what we were. They just couldn’t be told… Not yet.

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’ve come within days of reaching our goal. The Sirius would even arrive home on schedule… But it would be very different than when we left. I can only imagine how much the ACI has accomplished since we’ve been gone….

As we headed back in the transport ship after another day of intense labor, 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 worried, but ready to get back to Aeris and tell our story. The struggle wasn’t over yet, and we may be in more danger once we get home than we ever were here.

We were at the furthest site from the Sirius so the ride back gave me plenty of time to think. I had desperately been trying to come up with a way to convince the natives that we weren’t some type of supernatural creators.

I was so afraid 3 was right… That they’d continue to worship us and mine long as we left. Maybe even for thousands of years... I had to come up with something before we went home…

While I sat at the front of the transport ship, gazing out of the front as Kayin flew us back to the Sirius I realized something… We may not be able to teach them now but I could leave them things that would let them know later in their development. Things that they would have to recognize as manmade long before they discover electricity, build machinery, or make it to the computer age… I had an idea.

I turned to Kayin and said “I think I came up with something…”

He said “about what?”

I hit him in the arm and said “About how to make the natives stop worshiping us!”

Kayin put his hands up. “Alright, alright. Calm down and just tell me.”

I stood up and started pacing around the ship with excitement.

“I know this will work… Turn around and go back. 3 needs to hear this too…”

He looked at me like I was crazy. “Turn the ship around!?.. What’s going on man?”

“Just do it! I don’t wanna have to explain it twice.”

I was exhausted and I know Kayin was too but I couldn’t wait the half hour it would take to walk from the ship to the site. I wanted as much time to prepare as possible so I took off running out of the ship the moment we landed.

I looked back and waved to Kayin. “Come on Kayin,
hurry up! We’re probably leaving tomorrow!”

I barely heard him yell back “You want me to run!? You gotta be kidding me!”

When I found 3 I was so out of breath I couldn’t talk. Kayin had fallen back some time ago.

I put my hand up to let him know I needed a minute.

He laughed and said “What’s going on? I thought you already left?”

I took a few more deep breaths “I… came… up… with a plan.”

“A plan?”

“Yes, it’s long term… Really long term. But I think it will work. Just wait for Kayin to get here and I’ll get started.”

After a few minutes he finally made it. I guess he decided to walk the rest of the way…

He said “Man Atlas, you’re too fast for me, I had to stop. I don’t know where you got all that energy after the work we did today, I’m exhausted… So what’s this plan about?”

“Ok look… We’ve tried everything we could think of right?”

I paused and looked at them. “They just don’t understand… There’s nothing we can do about it right now, but we can leave things behind so that one day they’ll figure it out.”

3 said “Unfortunately I already thought of that Atlas… It could be a thousand years before they’ll be
able to understand. How will anything you leave behind survive that long?”

“3, there are these places on Aeris called museums; they have countless artifacts, carvings, and writings that are thousands of years old… Some even tens of thousands.”

He looked intrigued so I continued.

“You’re still young, 20, 30 years from now you’ll have been able to advance their language quite a bit. Probably even start them on reading and writing. Wouldn’t you say?”

He nodded. “Most likely.”

“Write down everything that happened here… Who we are, why we came, explain our technology… everything 3… And we’ll leave behind a bunch of different items you can keep safe… Things that they’ll have to eventually recognize as human engineering.”

“Ok… But Atlas, once I’m gone…”

I interrupted him. “I already thought of that.”

I paused. “You have to have children 3, more than one… Teach them everything, and the importance of protecting the information. Make it so their children are taught, and their children’s children… That’s exactly how things survived on Aeris… I know it will work 3…”

He raised his brow and thought for about a minute… I could tell he knew I was on to something.

Kayin said “Well, it’s worth a shot.”

3 sighed. “Atlas, at this point I’m willing to try anything… I just want to spare them from the suffering your people endured for thousands of years. Even if it does take dozens of generations it’s worth it… At least it’ll be in place as a safeguard… There’s a chance it could just fade away once you leave… But I highly doubt it after studying your people’s history and seeing how devoted they are to you.”

He continued. “It seems as though humans genuinely like the idea of such belief systems… It brings them comfort and takes away from the severity of life… That’s why it’s so hard for them to let go. I have no doubt it will indeed carry through the ages and evolve… Let’s do it Atlas… I’ll start looking for a suitable mate once you leave. The most intelligent female I can find, of course.”

“Yeah I guess the sooner you have them the better…”

He sighed “Well you never know, there could be side effects from what Horus did to me that haven’t presented themselves yet. I could drop dead from heart failure at any moment, just like so many of the others… I might not live very long but I’ll do the best with whatever time I end up having. I can promise you that.”

I walked up to 3 and put my hand out. “I know you will… Oh, and we received word that tomorrow will probably be our last day of mining. We may even
leave by nightfall.”

He smiled and I could see the all too familiar mischievous look in his eyes. “Not that I won’t miss you two… but… GOOD!”

We all laughed, said our goodbyes for the day, and then Kayin and I headed back to the ship….

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 sorry we really were... That we would have gladly died trying to free them. The ones we actually hurt might not ever be able to understand it, but one day someone would…

During this time Sara and I had become extremely close, almost inseparable. The effects of our strange connection from our time in stasis never went away. If anything it’s amplified over the 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 considered 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 just let her
be… Sometimes I enjoyed simply watching her sleep. When I look at her it reminds me of all that time we had to be apart and how happy I am to finally have her…

It was only a few hours until morning and tomorrow we’d be preparing leave. I know that one day they would learn to shed away their superstitions and truly understand the stories of their ancestors and history… It was just a matter of time… Maybe they’ll even forgive us for what we did.

I was able to fall asleep knowing that I had a real plan to fix the damage we’ve done to the natives. It’s just like repairing the atmosphere on Aeris. It won’t truly affect anyone now but the future generations will greatly benefit…

When I woke up I reached over for Sara but she was gone. It immediately alarmed me so I sat up and looked around the room. I saw her at the desk reading what I was planning on giving 3.

Once I was done rubbing my eyes, I got out of bed and stretched… I said “What do you think?”

When Sara turned around 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.”