Sumerian Chariots

The great door of the pod burst open with a spout of steam and planted itself in the sand, acting as a ramp for the anxious and chattering men that piled out and into the brilliant light of the day. Behind them spanned a body of water so great they could not have dreamed it. On either side of them rushed grand ribbons of water that flowed into the sea at their backs and snaked far beyond the horizon before them. The men took their first steps on foreign soil, marveling at the life beneath their feet. Much was green and the vastness for which their sight went unhindered by dust or smoke or the massive walls of their home was staggering to the effect of rendering the men soundless and gaping for minutes before the first of them spoke: Here we will flourish. 

The bold and grinning man was called Mazacarth and this was a day he had lived only in dreams. With a sharp sniff of air he trudged forward and in silent agreement the others, forty-two in number, followed him forth across the fertile and boundless earth they had found. Often they stumbled or became disoriented, unused to the enormity of this new space they occupied.

Feeling often as mountains must, the men were not accustomed to seeing for such great distance. This would prove problematic only in the first months of their arrival, for although they had spent the entirety of their lives aboard the ship, their bodies were designed specifically to thrive in this place.

The innermost makings of their bodies, assembled in such a fashion that they could live in this land, rendered them humorously smaller than their masters who watched from the ship above. This process had required infinitely less effort than reengineering the entire atmosphere and climate to accommodate the population of which the men below regarded as giants.

Saplu, a word that meant "lower" in their language, had become the designation of these measly workers. Meager by design but unremitting laborers by rearing, the Saplu determined to enact the vision of which their entire lives had orbited. Eagerly the giants watched, aboard the great vessel, which rivaled the size of this land's moon. And it was often the Saplu gazed up at the vessel above them, imagining the faces of those eager to join them.

But first we must make it ready.

The giants that watched could not live under the conditions of this land. The air unbreathable and the pressure so lacking that their bones would surely deteriorate. The solution was the mission that took place below in the new land; an itinerary that had defined the life of the generations of Saplu aboard the ship, each father passing on to his spawn the dream of the giants and an increasingly fractured history of the world the ones before them had left behind.

The men that walked below boasted very little knowledge of anything beyond what would allow them to survey this land and construct the domes for which their towering masters could inhabit. Small fragments of their origin had survived through the storytelling of father to son through the centuries: We come from them, they come from somewhere we've never seen. These were the words that Mazacarth's father had uttered when the boy inquired about the giants whom the Saplu had seen only on the great screen from which they received instruction.

You could fit in the palm of their hand. We were made to go where they can't.

Mazacarth remembered his father's words as he led the troop of Saplu workers through the immeasurable unfolding of organic mystery before them. It would be years before these words would ignite the rebellious fire in his heart and for now he was only elated to be the first of his kind to touch true soil to his feet. A wiry, dark-haired Saplu called Rimush hastened his step to walk at his side.
Maz, he spoke. Do you suppose a particular location is what they intend?

I am uncertain as you of their intent, Mazacarth answered. He flicked the mechanical and soundless amulet suspended from his neck. They watch as we walk and where the fruits of their ambition are in abundance they will halt our march and we will begin the work. Perhaps where there is stone to make with or this vegetation of which I'm sure some purpose can be found.