Here Comes Earth: Emergence (29 page)

What attracted most of my
attention however was a construct I still have trouble finding words for. A
giant ring circled the planet. The closer we came the more apparent the scale
was. What from a distance appeared as a solid ring turned out to be structures
separated by tens or hundreds of miles; it was made up of tens of thousands of
these separate habitats or constructs – some of them the size of small cities.
None of the different orbiting platforms as far as I could tell however were
connected with each other in any way yet somehow managed to maintain their
perfect orbital spacing. What I was focused on though was a huge gap in that
spacing.

As we drew closer it
became obvious that all sizes of ships were constantly emerging from the ‘left’
side of the gap and many more were entering the ‘right’ side. Submerging from
that gap in the ring was a long double-barreled tube that extended well down
into the atmosphere until it was swallowed up in the clouds. From a little
further out I had assumed that this was one of the fabled Space Elevators that
writers like Clark had envisioned so many years ago but Anzio quickly denuded
that thought with a number of precise observations and comments. We later
learned that we were seeing what best translates as a Transorbital Corridor. 

The double tubes were actually
shaped more like an elongated figure-eight and were not solid; but rather a powerful
force field that kept the hundred miles-wide interior of those massive tubes in
vacuum and kept atmosphere, birds, and orbital space junk from entering. They
allowed planet based spacecraft to enter at the ground level of one of the
tubes and accelerate at incredible speeds up into orbit without atmospheric
friction or fear of collision. The other tube was reserved for traffic
travelling down from orbit to the planet.

The Coridians occupied
most of the ring while the Largans were for the most part planet-bound.   Larga
was an official protectorate of the Coridian Dynasty and one of the oldest. Even
though we’d made it clear to Semi that we were seeking a solution that would
leave Earth independent I was sure she still harbored hopes that we would want
to accept a protectorship – like Larga.

In many respects the last
number of months had been like the NCAA’s window for college coaches to get the
best high school prospects to sign Letters of Intent with their respective
schools – and with Earth being the nation’s #1 prospect. Everyone wanted to
harness Earth’s (apparently) amazing potential and were (apparently) willing to
do just about anything to get us – but how can you trust the words of a college
coach during recruiting season? The funny thing is that Larga was so impressive
that if we would have been recruited by the Coridians first we might have been
seduced.

Of course the ‘recruiting
styles’ of the two dynasties were at opposite extremes; Noridia had tried to
scare us into accepting their protection and Coridia was trying to woo us into
wanting it. It was probably a good thing that we were exposed to the Noridian’s
ruthlessness first – it made it impossible to forget that independence trumps
slavery every time.

After we docked with the
habitat and exited the pressurized bay we were greeted by a small group that
consisted of six Coridians and two Largans. The Coridians were smiling and
friendly while the Largans were somewhat more ceremonial. When we were
introduced to them the Largans spread their arms, palms up, and bowed deeply
from the waist. We all more or less followed Hiromi and Kamiko’s lead in
returning a perfectly equal bow. The Largans seemed deeply honored by this
while the Coridians acted somewhat amused.

The lobby or reception
area we were in was very large and comfortable yet had the empty feeling I was
coming to associate with everything off-world. Three of the walls were entirely
seamless windows, angling out at the top and permitting breath-taking views of
the world below. As we watched we could see the terminator slowly sliding
towards us across the face of the planet. This was a sight I realized that few
Earthers had ever seen. Imagine looking down at Earth from orbit. As the planet
rotated you could look down at cities and watch them rotate ever closer to the
sun’s shadow that demarks night-time for everyone living below. This moving
shadow line is called the terminator and if your orbit was geostationary like
ours (when you’re orbiting at the same speed the Earth is rotating) it would
look as if the terminator line is marching towards you. As we approached it I
could clearly see the lights of several large cities that had just passed into
darkness. As indescribably beautiful as it was I was still somewhat surprised
that the cities were clearly separated geographically by large areas of
darkness – unlike the east coast of the United States for example that I knew
from photos was almost entirely lit up.

More Coridians had entered
the reception area and were mingling, introducing themselves and offering
friendly conversation. There were also a number of servers with finger food and
refreshments that of course turned out to be happy Largans.

I couldn’t say the room
was filling up but there were definitely a lot of people here and they were all
beautiful. I think there were probably more women than men, although that could
just be a matter of my focus, but they all looked young and seemed in perfect
health. I didn’t notice a blemish, scratch, bruise, or scar and I couldn’t tell
the Coridians and Largans apart (except perhaps by the duties they were
performing).

As pleasing as the women
were to look at the men left me with a non-feeling. They were not what I would
think of as masculine and if I weren’t so dedicatedly heterosexual I might have
felt different, but as it was I neither admired nor was repelled by them – they
were just there. It didn’t help that their personalities, with some noted
exceptions, were also bland. Somewhere during a conversation I addressed one of
them as ‘Spock’ and I swear he raised an eyebrow at me in innocent query.

“Dr. Spencer, I hope you are
enjoying this respite after what sounds like a harrowing journey.”

I turned from the window
to discover I was being addressed by a stunning auburn haired woman that was
exactly my height. Standing next to her was Semi with a twinkle in her eye.

“Mark, let me introduce
you to my friend Ashima,” she said. “Ashima studies galactic history and the
interaction of Planet-bound Cultures, Dynasties, and Houses – what I think you
would call political science. I thought you two might enjoy knowing each
other.”

“Ashima, please call me
Mark,” I said as I glanced at Semi. Her smile seemed innocent but it was
important to remember that this was a recruiting junket after all. I quickly
returned my attention to Ashima and realized that she was the first auburn
haired alien I’d met. As a matter of fact I didn’t remember seeing any shade or
tint of red in anyone’s hair color outside those of us from Earth. I made a
mental note to follow-up on that.

“Thank you Mark,” she
replied. “I would love to know more about your planet’s history and how you have
managed to survive and thrive with so many nation states that have competing
interests. It seems to me it would be a formula for disaster yet your world has
managed to excel.”

“I’d enjoy that
conversation Ashima and I have some questions of my own about how your cultures
interact and how differing social stratas determine their hierarchical relationship
with one another.”

Her smile if it were
possible became even bigger and after a slight pause she said, “I understand
you need to settle in from your journey but when you are ready just let anyone
know you would like to speak with me and I will come find you.”

Ashima really was very
pretty and I couldn’t help realizing this at the same moment that I noticed
Major Reagan, Major Reynolds and Silva hurriedly leaving the room.

ΔΔΔ

“Wait a minute,” I said.
“Do you mean that there are only about 50 million Largans on the whole planet?”

“That is correct,” said Ashima.
“If you count the Largans on all three continents it slightly exceeds 51
million.”

I thought she’d been
talking about cities when apparently she’d been talking about continents.

“And is this the only
Largan world?”

“Yes of course,” she
responded.

Anzio, Semi, Ashima and I
were still on the ring in the quarters I’d been assigned. We were sharing a quite
good meal of fruits, cheese and what was probably some type of fish in a tangy
white sauce.

“What happened to all the
people,” asked Anzio?

“Nothing happened to them,”
Ashima explained. “You probably need to know that Earth carries the highest
population density in the known galaxy. Larga is a very developed planet by our
terms and the population here is quite large by our standards.”

It was all starting to
make sense to me. The longer lifespans didn’t lead to over-crowding; just the
reverse. In an era of perpetual youth why rush into having children? Come to
think of it I hadn’t seen any children…

“Ashima,” I suddenly
asked. “Do mother’s still bear children in your society?”

Semi laughed and Ashima
smiled. “Yes Mark, women can still bear children although many choose to only
carry them in their womb for three or four months - and although we can still
be inseminated in traditional ways most parents choose to have their genetic
material combined under controlled conditions to assure no defects or
mutations.”

“”But that takes all the
fun out of it!” quipped Anzio.

“Where is the fun in
allowing birth defects in your children?” said an astonished Semi.

“No, not birth defects;
I’m talking about the fun in making the babies,” he insisted.

“I just wish more of our
males shared your sentiment,” Ashima said as Semi nodded. “Unfortunately most of
our men look at reproduction scientifically and take it very seriously.”

“But you still have sex!”
I blurted out.

“Of course we do,” Ashima
quickly responded. “It just might not be for all the same reasons as what you are
used to.”

I could have sworn I heard
Semi mutter, “Or as energetic as what you are used to…”

If our Earther species of
humanity was designated Homo sapien sapien, then I was going to have to
unofficially start referring to these aliens as Homo sapien galactica; as
similar as they were to us there were also some dramatic differences.  It turns
out that generally speaking the males in this new galactic civilization we were
learning about were consistently less hormonally inspired than their Earther counterparts.
When it came to sex this translated into less aggressiveness. It was normal in
their cultures for the woman to do the seducing and while most men would be very
willing to ‘do their duty’ it was simply lower on their list of priorities.

Why Earthers were
different was something scientists would be arguing about for years. Was it a direct
result of the ancient Noridian genetic manipulation that created Homo sapiens
from Homo erectus, or was it more the unforeseen result of Homo sapiens later
crossbreeding with the more animalistic Homo neanderthalensis? Few people
realize it but we all have some Neanderthal DNA in our genome.

Either way it made for
some interesting and very different dynamics. For example, nature’s way of
balancing their male’s lower sex Drive was to increase the female’s. I recalled
Silva having mentioned that of the female Coridians that had travelled to Earth
none had returned home. I was beginning to suspect that the two issues were
related.

“Do people marry? Do they
form monogamous relationships?” Anzio wanted to know.

“It depends,” Semi said.
“It varies somewhat from one planet-bound culture to another but most of the
Dynasties have what you would call temporary marriage conventions for the
purpose of having a child. Monogamy, even during those rare child raising
years, is a personal choice.

“A significant number of
planet-bound cultures, especially those that promote spiritual or religious
beliefs, do tend toward monogamous relationships but rarely are they permanent.
I couldn’t imagine spending 50 years with the same person, let alone 500!”
Ashima exclaimed.