Return to Eden

Return to Eden

By

Kaitlyn O’Connor

(C) Copyright by Kaitlyn
O’Connor, May 2014

Cover art by Jenny Dixon,
May 2014

Smashwords
Edition

New Concepts
Publishing

Lake Park, GA
31636

www.newconceptspublishing.com

This is a work of fiction. All
characters, events, and places are of the author’s imagination and
not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or
events is merely coincidence.

Chapter One

“
Don’t be absurd! There
are no intelligent life-forms out there … with the exception of the
colonies.”

Several of the scientists
in the forum uttered appreciative chuckles, as if the reference to
the colonists was the punch line of a private joke. Aidan felt his
face heat—mostly with anger, although there was also a touch of
discomfort. He should’ve become immune to the barbs of his peers
considering how many times he’d been swept up in this same debate,
he thought with disgust. He supposed he was developing a thicker
hide, because, for once, he didn’t lose his temper. “I wasn’t
suggesting
intelligent
life-forms. I suggested there might be
higher
life-forms on one, or all, of
the target planets in the G-1493 system. From the data we’ve
gathered, it seems to be a relatively young system—comparatively
speaking, but it’s certainly old enough for higher life-forms to
have evolved. It isn’t our place to decide whether these higher
life-forms have a right to exist or if those that evolved on the
home world are superior and therefore more deserving of
existence.”

Hatim, the lead scientist
on the forum, glared at him. “You’re suggesting we plant ships full
of colonists on alien worlds to deal with
alien
life-forms?”

Moshe nodded. He always agreed with
Hatim. The man should try to develop original thoughts, Aidan
thought with disgust, or at least a spine.

“
Better the devil you
know,” he said sagely.

“
We can’t be assured that
the environment would be conducive to our colonists without the
terra-formers,” Lazar said in a kindly voice that suggested he was
trying to explain something to a person that was mildly
retarded.

Aidan’s temper leapt up another notch.
“So, once again, we play gods? We drop the terra-formers on the
hapless life-forms that may already be there, destroying them and
replacing everything with our own seeds? We’ve barely scratched the
surface in our studies of these worlds! There’s been no real
attempt to discover what kind of life might already be flourishing
there. The telescopes aren’t designed for that and we haven’t sent
out any probes—as we should before we make this kind of decision.
Maybe we should reconsider sending colonists there?” he said
tightly.

If he’d suggested they all
kiss his ass he didn’t think he could’ve shocked them more. Hatim
so far forgot himself that he dropped all pretense of civility.
“Are you
out
of
your mind?” he roared. “
When
have we discovered a system that even
begins
to compare to
G-1493? Three planets! Three! All within the temperate zone. All
rock planets. All with similar gravity and pressure—well within our
comfort range once they’re terra-formed.”

The forum promptly disintegrated, all
decorum vanishing out the door. No one seemed to realize that
everyone else in the room was in complete agreement. They began
arguing loud and long over the merits of colonizing G-1493. Aidan
was angry enough by that time that he was inclined to stay and
argue his own issues, but he could see that it was pointless.
They’d made up their minds before the forum was ever called. They’d
only attended to make sure that their particular interests were
considered.

He supposed, if it came to that, so had
he.

There were times—like
these—when he almost regretted his decision to become a linguistic
anthropologist—
any
kind of anthropologist! Specializing in linguistics when
there were no languages left to decipher only made his
situation
more
frustrating. It didn’t look like he was ever going to get the
chance to apply his knowledge beyond the home world, and there was
very little, now, to be discovered on the home world.

Colonization had been well established
by the time he’d gotten to college, however, and it had seemed the
perfect field for him—combining his facility for language with his
interest in cultural development.

Unfortunately, by the time
he was working on his masters, a brilliant team of scientists had
developed the genesis terra-formers. Even he could see that
it
was
a
brilliant concept. By breaking down everything on the target planet
and sowing the seeds of beginning life from their own world, and
accelerating the process of evolution, they’d achieved far more
success in terra-forming than prior efforts. The terra-formers
insured that, when colonists arrived, they stepped out on a world
that truly was their own—a young Eden, fresh and burgeoning with
life, and ready to be molded.

The problem, as far he
could see, was that it had gone to their heads—the ability to play
gods. Gone were the days when they thoroughly examined and probed
the potential colony worlds they found. Granted, in the decades
they’d spent colonizing other worlds
before
the genesis terra-formers
they hadn’t discovered anything but microbial life, and precious
little of that, but that didn’t rule out the presence of higher
life-forms as far as he could see. It didn’t rule out the
possibility of
intelligent
life, although he wasn’t crazy enough, or
comfortable enough in that belief to openly suggest such a thing.
There were far too many worlds that
could
support life to rule out the
possibility of higher life-forms having developed or even
intelligent life.

Grabbing his papers, Aidan
shoved them into his satchel with a violence that suggested that he
would’ve preferred shoving them down Hatim’s throat. The
thought
did
cross
his mind.

On the other hand, Hatim had only
voiced the thoughts of the forum as a whole, he thought with
frustration, stalking from the chambers. Choking the life out of
the bastard might help his feelings—briefly—but it wasn’t going to
change anything else except his status as a free
citizen.

* * * *

Aidan wasn’t generally inclined toward
impulsiveness. Not only was it his nature to consider the
consequences of possible actions before he leapt, but he was
inclined to think that his intelligence would overrule any tendency
to leap before he looked even if he’d had that particular trait in
his genetic markers.

He wasn’t completely comfortable in his
mind, therefore, when he found himself in route to the G-1493
system, grimly determined as he was to beat the genesis
terra-formers to the target worlds and uncover proof of his theory
of the existence of higher life-forms on other worlds.

Part of that discomfort arose from the
ethical issues behind his mission—most of it actually.

From the moment the thought had
occurred to him—while still in the throes of his frustration and
rage over his inability to reason with his peers—he’d seen the
astronomical odds against actually doing the deed. He needed
transportation and that was the biggest roadblock. He had short
range transport, but nothing with the capability of reaching G-1493
and, just as importantly, returning with the life-form
inside—him—intact.

He also wasn’t prone to associate with
the sort of people that might be able to help him in that area—even
if he could come up with the credits to pay for illegal
transport.

Soul-searching had produced the credits
he needed, but although he’d managed to justify the use of his
research funds for the expedition in his mind, he knew, deep down,
that his use of funds intended for research on the home world was a
long way from being the most ethical thing he’d ever done. It was
true that he hoped/intended to put the credits to use for
anthropological research, but he couldn’t pretend, even in his
mind, that the government agency that had provided the funding
would approve of his choice of location for his
research.

He’d deal with that, he decided, when
and if the time came. He was certain—hopeful—that his mission would
be successful and the agency would be so awed and thrilled with his
findings that they would dismiss the little matter of the funds
having been used to study alien life rather than cultural aspects
of their own world.

The ship, as it turned
out, wasn’t as difficult to obtain as he’d hoped/feared it would
be—hoped because his niggling doubts had led him to think he might
be better off if he failed to obtain the wherewithal to shit-can
his career. Feared because, at the same time, his certainty that he
was right and he would find just what he expected would insure that
he actually
had
a
career notable enough to warrant the years he’d spent studying to
make his mark on the scientific community—to make
history.

He’d tracked down an old
schoolmate whose reputation was a little less than sterling due to
his tendency toward ‘grave robbing’. Aidan had always considered
that that sobriquet was splitting hairs. Lance was an archeologist,
after all, and the very nature of that discipline
was
grave-robbing, or at
least desecration since there was no way to study ancient
civilizations without digging them up and, naturally, that included
a tomb now and then. His tendency to sell artifacts of value on the
black-market wasn’t exactly ethical, but then again, like everyone
else in his particular field, there were always funding problems.
It wasn’t greed or lack of appreciation for the history he
uncovered, Aidan reasoned, but practicality. He always dutifully
turned over the best of his finds to the government for their
museums—or vaults.

Lance was suspicious when he first
broached the subject, but it wasn’t hard to stimulate his interest
in the possibilities. Alien artifacts, if any could be found, would
be tremendously more valuable than anything he’d managed to unearth
on the home world.

Lance arranged transportation by
purchasing a revamped interstellar ship that Aidan had an uneasy
feeling had been used by pirates since it looked far more like a
luxury yacht than a research vehicle or even a commercial
transport.

He resolutely closed his mind to that
possibility, however, focusing on the importance of his proposed
mission. If he could find what he was looking for, it meant more
than a huge boon to his career. It meant saving who knew how many
higher life-forms.

The shared guilt of what they intended
comforted him, as well. Realistically, he knew it wouldn’t make a
bit of difference if the authorities decided to prosecute. They
would both be charged, but Lance didn’t seem to be overly concerned
about that possibility and he was insensibly cheered by Lance’s
attitude.

He wasn’t superstitious but, in
retrospect, he wondered if he shouldn’t have considered it an evil
omen that Lance was so severely injured on his latest dig-site that
hospitalization was required and he was unable to communicate—due
to his coma—much less join Aidan when the time came to leave.
Instead, he loaded his supplies and took off alone, his grim
determination to see it through unshaken.