Age of Cosmic Exploration

"No way, impossible, don’t waste time thinking about it!"

Wahala’s growls pierced through the lab once more. As the leader of the pathology lab... or as Earth’s most popular pathologist, 60-year-old Wahala was one of the Noah One’s top scientists. He was the leader of all pathological and biological task forces. This normally taciturn scientist was found yelling at the top of his lungs like a madman over the past few days.

Initially, the scientists from other nearby department were shocked because Wahala was normally a consummate gentleman. He usually treated others with utter respect and politeness, and they had never heard him lose his temper like this before.

"Why not? Are this planet’s microorganisms that powerful?"

Wahala slumped down the couch with a defeated expression. This was the Noah One’s entertainment room not unlike the ones on the Hope, since the Noah One was the Hope’s template. This kind of entertainment room had plenty of amenities, from sports arenas to karaoke centers.

However, Wahala wasn’t there to enjoy the amenities. He couldn’t be considered a workaholic, but how could he reach the top of the science world and lead so many task forces without treating his work seriously? Before finishing the work on his hands, how could he find the time to rest and enjoy himself? Therefore, he was at the entertainment room that day to discuss something with a few other scientific task forces.

The question earlier wasn’t posed by him but by the leader of another task force. Wahala replied in a frustrated tone, "Actually, it is not that the microorganisms on this planet are that scary. In fact, according to our experiments and observations, these microorganisms are considered normal. They are not as corrosive as military-use bio weapons, and this is observable from the fact that the animals and plants on this planet have developed a certain kind of immunity to the microorganisms."

The other scientists’ specialty was not in biology, but since they were leaders of task forces, they were all professors and doctors. This meant that they had dabbled in biology when they were pursuing their degrees, masters or phd. Therefore, when they heard Wahala, they were shocked. One of them quickly asked, "In that case, why has progress on the necessary antibiotics stagnated?"

Wahala took a small sip of the red wine on the table and continued tiredly, "It is more complicated than that, but if you want the short version, it is because our genes are completely different from the genetic structure of the creatures on this planet. This is the miracle of nature. In fact, something like this happened on Earth before, but you might not know about this. However, ever since I became the head of all biological task forces, I’ve seen many of such information. Do any of you know about the mysterious super flu that happened during World War II?"

The few scientists thought about it and nodded.

Wahala continued, "During the war, there was a massive flu outbreak sweeping the globe, and many died, but it left as swiftly as it came. Even the reports and samples of the flu had disappeared. I accessed the secret files of the US government and found details on this mystery. Apparently, Hitler has a penchant for collecting artifacts from different religions, and he even had a military unit formed specifically to fulfil this purpose. This unit once discovered a set of antiques from underneath a Tibetan ice river. It was this discovery that led to that mysterious virus because it exposed to the world the flu bacteria that was secured in ice for thousands of years. The human body no longer had the immunity against it, and that caused an outbreak.

"However, the bacteria was essentially the forefather of later flu bacteria, so eventually mankind started to develop immunity against it. The bacteria itself also started evolving because it is not only a virus that causes mankind to evolve, it goes the other way around as well. This is why there was no sample of the original flu virus. In fact, this can explain all the mysterious waves of flu that swept the globe, they were related to discoveries of ancient tombs or treasures encased in blocks of ice. However, if the virus was more than several thousand years old, then it would be a prehistoric virus, and that would possibly be fatal to the modern man."

Wahala scratched his balding head and continued, "The human body is that fragile. Our immune system is not really an immune system, rather it records the message that this virus is harmful to the body and sends that message to the genetic level. Then the body will slowly repair the parts that have been destroyed and thus our immune system is really a passive system. Furthermore, and this is the most crucial, we humans have accommodated Earth’s environment for millions of years, so our immune system and genes have become so acclimatized to Earth that we can only exist in that environment.

"In comparison, the microorganism profile on this planet is, in every sense of the word, alien to our human body. You give me a total population of ten billion people to acclimatize to this planet and 9.9 billion will die, but the remaining 100 million people will develop an immunity to this planet, and that is the only way to create the perfect immunization..."

The faces of the scientists were drawn. They had not envisioned this difficulty. The Noah One had existed for 1 year and 3 months on this planet, the base on the surface had finished its frame, and the industrial center was pushing out stable productivity. Around 80 percent of the Noah One’s energy was provided by the industrial base. Other than that, the industrial center was also responsible for harvesting and hunting supplies. Other than luxury items, like cigarettes, alcohol, tea, and coffee that the Noah One brought from Earth, the rest of the supplies could be sourced from this planet through the industrial center.

This was a good start. As long as the supplies on the planet were recyclable, then the threat of extinction was greatly decreased. After all, they had explored most of this planet, with the exception of the underground. According to the satellite images, there was no creature on the surface powerful enough to pose a threat to humanity. Of course, this was because humankind had the technological upper hand at least compared to the native creatures habiting the surface.

However, thus far, humanity still couldn’t expose themselves to the planet’s atmosphere. This was a conundrum because if this planet was going to be humanity’s next colony, being in spacesuits all the time was impossible.

Therefore, Wahala’s research was crucial. When the room heard the result of his research, everyone was saddened because it sounded like it was impossible for human beings to breathe in the air of this planet without the aid of the spacesuits.

When Wahala noticed the expressions of the people around him, he said, "Actually, there is something that we can still do about this, and that is why I’ve called for everyone today... I need a high photon dialyser... or rather an atomic level dialyser. This is the key to my research. I know this is a lot to ask, but if my task force has this, then there is still hope for the research, if not..."

They knew the gravity of the situation, so how could the rest of the scientists refuse Wahala’s request? Since they had promised him such a thing, then they would give it their best to fulfil their promise. However, they did remind him not to expect it be completed in a short amount time. This dialyser that Wahala wanted was beyond current mankind’s scientific level, so it couldn’t be created so easily. In other words, at least for a few more months, it was impossible for humankind to walk openly on this planet...

On the other hand, Norton was flipping through a secret report in a secret meeting room.

"So far... confirmed disappearances of 48 people..."

The faces of the adjutants and military officers beside him were drawn. It had been 1 year and 3 months since the Noah One had landed on this planet. Other than the 3 Blue Berets that were hypnotized by the alien octopus, thus far, there were another 48 unknown disappearances. There was no sign of their locations. In fact, no one knew how or when they disappeared. The disappearances were noted during rollcall. They created quite a ruckus in the military until the captain smoothed this over by lying that they had been reassigned to the industrial base.

However, how long could this deceit hold up? The entire Noah One only had several ten thousand people, and most of them knew each other. The sudden disappearance of 48 directly involved the family members of about 200 people. If this continued, the Noah One would eventually find out that they were slowly being picked off, and the havoc then would be unimaginable.

"...At most half a year. We can keep up this façade for another half a year," Austin analyzed calmly. "According to the military rules, another half a year will be the duty rotation, and this will come into the open then."

Norton was silent in thought before saying, "How is the base coming along? Can it hold the entire Noah One yet?"

Another adjutant replied, "I’m afraid not yet. The base is only one year old. There hasn’t been enough time to finish building a small city. If we suddenly abandon the Noah One, then..."

Everyone knew what would happen, and their faces were drawn from imagining the outcome...

At the same time, at a defense depot near the underground stream, a few soldiers were happily chatting while a few octopus-like aliens were floating above their heads. Gently, like falling petals, the aliens landed on their scalps, but the soldiers were completely incognizant of their presence. From the dark, thousands of such octopus aliens floated towards the Noah One’s direction.

Translator’s Thoughts

Lonelytree Lonelytree

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