Chapter No.91. Curiosity
The truth is out there somewhere.
The next morning, I came on the command deck and took my usual place at the engineering station. Molly was already at her astrophysics station.
"The Tyco data indicates that the genesis proto humans might be in the Coma Supercluster, specifically in the Coma cluster itself," she said.
"Does the data indicate a specific galaxy?"
"Yes, NGC 4874, which is giant elliptical galaxy. It's only 350 million light years away"
I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my chin. "Interesting. I wouldn't have imagined them being in an elliptical galaxy."
"Actually, it makes perfect sense. Elliptical galaxies are usually the result of spiral galaxy collisions and are composed of older main sequence stars. If the genesis proto human species is anywhere, it would be in an older main sequence star system."
"How many stars are in that galaxy?"
"I don't know, at least a hundred billion I would guess."
"How are we going to find the genesis star system in that many stars?"
"The Tyco data has the coordinates."
I smiled back at her before turning to Judy. "Take us there, Judy."
A few minutes later we came out of spin drive near a humongous elliptical galaxy. Judy took us into warp to complete the journey to the star system.
The others filed onto the command deck and took their assigned places.
"Where are we?" Alexa asked.
"We're at the supposed genesis proto human star system," I said.
"How'd you find that so quickly?"
"It was in the Tyco data file."
"How convenient!"
"We are in orbit, Jason."
"Keep us in stealth mode."
"Oh yeah!" Molly exclaimed. "This planet definitely has intelligent life. There are many large developed complexes throughout the land areas. In fact, this planet seems to be literally covered with structures."
I looked up at the main screen on which she was displaying her images of the surface. "Holy hell! You weren't kidding. How large is this planet?"
"It's approximately 1.5 times the size of Earth. The oceans cover about fifty percent of the surface. This planet is in the outer edge of the habitable zone of this K3 class dwarf star, but its larger atmosphere makes up for that by retaining more heat from the star."
"How about the gravity?"
"It's about ten to fifteen percent higher than on Earth."
"I wonder how advanced they are," Margaret said. "There's no evidence of satellites in orbit or any space capability."
"That's weird," I said. "If this is the genesis proto human species, it should have been around at least two million years. If they're overcrowded on this planet, the solution is to colonize other habitable planets, and for that they need space capability."
"Maybe they've run into the same problem we have," Marie said. "Most habitable planets already have inhabitants."
"It's hard to tell," I said. "The only way we'll know is to go down there, but I don't want to do that until I'm sure they're not violent."
By the next morning, Molly had the verdict. "I don't see any evidence of violence, there are no weapons or military anywhere. They all wear the same clothing. The men wear pants and shirts, the women, dresses. Adolescent children are similarly attired. Very young wear nothing.
We stared at the main screen where she was displaying images of the surface.
"They seem to be just milling about," I said. "Is there any evidence of commerce?"
"None that I could discern. It's almost as if they are just walking around in a daze."
I leaned back in my chair. "It's hard to determine culture in this situation." I turned to Judy. "Marie and I will go down with Alice and Ben in a fighter. I want two battle droids and six more armed androids."
"They will be ready, Jason."
"Are you expecting trouble?" Molly asked.
"Not really, but I don't want to take any chances, especially when it involves humans."
The trip down to the planet went without incident. We landed in a large open area between buildings. I assumed it was like a plaza, but it's difficult to tell its true purpose.
People began to gather around our shuttle. Soon, it became more like a crowd. I waited for a few minutes before Marie and I made our appearance with Alice and Ben armed with BFG's.
"Greetings! We come in peace and our curious about you."
"Where are you from?" an older male asked.
"We're from a galaxy quite some distance from here."
"You look like us, but we are unfamiliar with your particular kind," an older female said.
"We only appear to look like you. We are an artificial life form and do not harbor any pathogens or diseases that could infect you. We came here because we are searching for what we consider the genesis proto human species."
"We have been on this planet for much longer than any other species like us. Our origin is subject to debate."
"If you are the genesis human species, you were inserted on this planet by the originator of all life."
"If you are referring to a god, we have eliminated all myths about such a being."
"We are not sure if the originator is a being or some force of nature," I said. "Do you have any documents or evidence for your conception?"
"Yes, but their source is unknown."
"May we see them?"
"Yes. Come with me."
We followed her to a large one story building nearby. It was unusual in that all of the other buildings were skyscrapers. Marie got a reading on what they were constructed out of and it turned out to be a concrete with high amounts of calcium aluminosilicate hydrate, a material that would give it resistance to fracture.
It was obvious that the people lived in the skyscrapers. In fact, it appeared that each of these high-rise buildings could hold thousands of them. It was also quite obvious that this planet was overpopulated by a large margin. People were standing around virtually asses to elbows.
The one-story building was different. Here, people were standing on a long line that seemed to weave around a large room. The line led to an entrance to a large room in the back and then to a stairway that appeared to go down to a basement.
The woman led us to a large display that had many stone tablets with carvings. The language was alien, at least to us.
"These are what remain of our ancestors," she said, pointing to them. "They tell of time when there were very few."
"We notice that your planet is overpopulated," I said to the women, while Marie captured the images of the tablets. "What are you doing to alleviate this condition?"
"We offer ourselves to the benefit of others."
I squinted at her. "I don't understand. Don't you use birth control methods."
"We are forbidden to alter our bodily physical process. The offering is our only way."
I was getting a bad feeling about this. "What is this offering you talk about?"
She pointed down. "It is in the chamber of Deliverance." He eyes grew larger with emotion.
What I did next was not a good idea, but I was too curious to pass the opportunity up. "May we see this chamber."
She led us to an elevator which descended down to the chamber. What we saw there was more disturbing than anything else we've ever seen.