Sunday, September 12, 2021

2-4-2473 - 2-7-2473 (INTERLUDE)

 

2-4-2473

 

Call me Ishmael.  Some years ago, never mind how long precisely, having little or no money in my purse and nothing in particular to interest me on this planet, I thought I would take off in a spacecraft of government design, and hurtle around the galaxy for a while to see if there was anything going on out there in the inky endless void we call “space.”

 

     It turned out there wasn’t much of anything going on out there, at least not according to my instrument panels as my craft hurtled past one planetary system after another.  I did this for some 250 years, give or take a decade.  (That’s 250 years in real time by the way, which affected my aging process very little since I spent the majority of that time in a peaceful cryogenic slumber) Then I awoke one day for my yearly spacecraft maintenance duties and, finding the instrument panel still devoid of discoveries indicative of extra-terrestrial life, I decided to set a course back towards Earth, having absolutely no idea what sort of madness I would encounter upon my arrival.  I was now light years away from home, and at maximum warp it would take my craft 50 years to get there, so I set it on a direct heading, had a nice hot dinner of spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic bread from the molecular reassembler device, and climbed back into my cryo-chamber.

 

     And so the time passed.  As usual I was awoken once a year to do standard spacecraft maintenance, and to simply stretch my legs for a bit before climbing back into the sleep pod.  As I typically spend about an hour awake each year, my return journey seemed to take no more than a couple days, though over 50 years passed.  When I was woken up the last time it turned out I only had a week left before arriving at Earth, so I decided to stay up and watch the approach of my home planet.

 


It is not the same planet that I left behind in 2123.  The oceans seem to have nearly taken over the globe.  There are no signs of polar caps.  I do not recognize the small island continents.  The large mostly blue orb gets bigger and bigger until it is all I can see.  I am through the atmosphere.    I see a small group of islands far off to my left and I try to track in in my mind as the ocean  rushes up to greet me.  My craft splashes in.  It is a very smooth landing.

 

     Now my craft is adrift in the ocean, having, as promised by the agency that sent me out into space, converted quite nicely into a submersible water craft.  I just came back inside from my rather luxurious deck, where I’ve been sitting for a couple hours now, looking about, and seeing nothing but water as far as my eyes can detect in any direction.  My instrument panel says I should be near Japan, but so far I have seen nothing.  No islands.  No boats.  No aircraft.  It’s very warm, though it’s supposed to be February in the North Pacific. As I record this entry in my log I am a little over 332 years old, though I don’t look a day over 30.  It seems sleeping in the cryogenic chamber so much not only slows my aging process, it actually reverses it!  I’ve figured this out because if I really do the math, adding up how many years I’ve been alive but subtracting the years I’ve been in cryogenic sleep mode, I should appear to be around 50 years old.   (I guess I’m gonna have to keep that thing around.)  I’m sitting in what could, I suppose, be called my “captain’s” chair though such a designation is fairly meaningless, as I don’t have any crew.  (Well, other than Doctor Green, but he’s a robot.  Well sort of.  Actually he is a preserved human brain with giant metallic spider like contraption built around him.  The brain I’m told is of a 20th century human being who’s profession was something called a “Catfight Artist.”  (He drew pictures of women fighting each other.)  I’m not sure what use that will be, but he is friendly, funny, and knows a lot about early Earth history not to mention pop culture of his own time period.  And all the many appendages his large spider like chassis is equipped with have come in handy.  I could never ask for a more effective assistant, body guard, guide and companion.


 

 

The date is February 4th, 2473, assuming my chronometer is accurate, and I have no reason to believe it isn’t. 

2-5-2473

 

There is definitely life here.  I saw some birds fly by earlier today as I was reclining on my deck, and there are also fish in the ocean.  I’ve considered trying to catch something to eat, but the molecular re-organizer continues to function perfectly, and with it I can make any type of food I can imagine, though admittedly my culinary tastes are pretty plain.  (Sometimes I even get a craving for a good old “McDonald’s Cheeseburger”, and though I don’t understand entirely how it works, the machine can produce something that looks and tastes exactly like it, complete with the paper wrapper, which of course I throw back into the intake chamber to be disassembled once again. (No sense littering, or wasting raw materials.)  When I’m not eating, or trying to figure out what I want to eat I spend most of my time just relaxing there on my deck, reading books that I packed with me when I left Earth over 3 centuries ago, and staring out across the water. It’s very peaceful, and a nice change from the cold dark vacuum of space, though I admit I long for human company. 

This is now two days in a row I have managed to come back into the ship however and record a log entry, which is a task I neglected frequently during my space travels, and one I do not intend to miss again for however long I happen to continue living. 

 2-6-2473

 

It is substantially earlier than the normal time of day when I make my log entry, in fact it is just after sunrise, but something of substantial importance has just occurred:  I have spotted what appears to be LAND!  It’s still far off on the horizon, and from this distance appears like a large flat disk lying on the horizon between the sea and the sky.  If there are inhabitants living on it, I see no reason to alarm them by increasing the speed of my approach.  Without going back down into the ship to check my instruments I can’t really warrant a guess as to how big it is or how far away.  I’ve brought Doctor Green out onto the deck with me to create an image of it, as this could be a landmark moment of my existence.  I’m going to sit here and enjoy the view for a while, and enjoy my breakfast.  I set the molecular reorganizer to create something called “Corn Flakes” with milk and toast.  It is quite delicious.  Much of my information on what is good to eat I get first hand from Doctor Green who seems to be some sort of culinary expert.  For instance, in my time on the planet there was no longer any such thing as McDonald’s, macaroni and cheese, or Coca Cola, but he has been able to program the reassembler to produce all those tasty treats and more.

 

Now I’m down in the comfort of the control room of my submersible.  My long distance scanner is showing me something I can hardly believe.  The land mass ahead of me appears to be a perfect circle, and it is quite large.  It is also teaming with life forms, many of which do appear to be humanoid if my readings are correct.  I am going back up to the deck now to watch my approach.

It is now several hours later. I am again sitting in my “captain’s chair,” writing in my journal.  Shortly after my last entry, as I was sitting on my deck, a small craft approached me, piloted by two women.  The women were Japanese, or seemed to be from my own approximation.  I have learned some interesting facts about the planet, which I now wish to hurriedly scrawl down. 

 

1.)  (And most important, at least for me) It seems I am the ONLY man on the planet!  My visitors were extremely excited to see me, and explained to me that the last known males died about 100 years ago. 

 

2.) A virus called the XY virus infected the entire population of the planet approximately 150 years ago.  Nobody died from it, but once it had spread throughout the world’s population, no more male children were ever born. All the frantic and desperate attempts to stave this off failed.  Only one achievement allowed the human race to continue.  A way was discovered for women to clone themselves.  Unfortunately by this time the last remaining males had passed away. 

3.) Lots of other stuff happened that affected the world and made it what it is today, most notably a 3rd world war, and complete ice cap meltdown.  Only extremely advanced technological achievements have allowed for there to even be any people (or land for them to live on.)

 

4.)  The large island I am approaching is now known as New Japan. It is in fact a perfect circle, and can mostly be described now as a manmade construct.  The shores are in fact cliffs that rise some 100 feet above sea level, and this has been done on purpose to prevent flooding, a system which my visitors explained to me has been used throughout the entire world (or what is left of it)

 

There is a lot more information.  So much more.  However to keep this as much a work of prose as possible I am including a series of Appendices at the end of this journal writing for reference.

 

 2-7-2473

 

We arrive in New Japan.  The technology is astounding.  My boat enters a sort of water elevator and we are carried up and over the side of the wall.  New Japan is more of a bowl then a raised island.  As soon as we arrive a police escort is there to greet us.  I remain calm.  I know nothing of the customs of these women.  I wish to follow whatever rules they have and I try my best to explain this.  They ae somewhat alarmed by Doctor Green at first, but he is quite charming when he wants to be, and assures the women he is no harm to anyone.  Also I don’t really want to be out wandering around without him.

 

The governor of New Japan wishes to see me and I am brought before her in a large temple situated near the shoreline.   She explains she is worried for my safety and also the chaos my arrival might bring to her small isolated world.  I am welcome to stay as long as I agree to their terms, part of which is being assigned an entourage.  I feel much safer now.  There are two armed warrior women, a knowledgeable guide, and I am asked if I would like a girlfriend or wife.  I don’t really feel like the body guards are necessary for my protection as Doctor Green and his various apparatus can fend off an army of hundreds, but I feel like I should agree to all the Governor’s terms. The mayor says she has plans to find me a suitable Japanese wife and says I will be summoned the next morning at 8.  

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