Dominion Lost IIMACROCOSMS | |
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A great dark sea of stone, underneath a black sky of no stars, an apparent void. As far as
the eye could see this was the landscape. The ground jutted from the horizontal plane in
every direction, sharp angular cliffs and canyons laced the earth. Here and there were
unusual coral looking growths, some small some large. And if one looked very carefully
they would see a managerie of invertebrates existing within and among the rocks.
Although the larger fauna would usually go about unseen to most. To the untrained eye
this would appear to be a rocky desert of perpetual night. But this desert like most others
was actually filled with life. For the few human beings that existed hidden in their
laboratories, this was a huge zoo, teaming with life the likes of which man kind had never
before known.
The life forms that lived and evolved here were as varied and diverse as in the richest biospheres of earth. Only quite different from earth's life in one very important way. Rather unnoticeable actually, but further investigation would prove that these animals were based on a completely different molecular level, that of silicon as opposed to carbon. To most of us this means little, but when we look at what happens to systems as complex as life when something at the very root of the equation is changed, the solutions become quite varied indeed. It was a given that in order to sustain life, certain necessity's needed to be met. In early models it was believed that air and water were primary elements of life. They were necessary to everything known to live, of course at the time everything known to live was carbon based. The silicon life here had needs as well. They breath nitrous oxide, they swim in pools of liquid phosphorous. As alien as these conditions are to humans, for the denizens of this environment it is home. On the side of a rather large cliff, was a small rectangular 'difference', flush with the face of the stone. A window. Two figures, stood within, peering out. The office was dark but comfortable. Leather furniture gave a scent of authenticity. The steel walls, polished to a dull shine, were decorated with framed enlarged photos of the more impressive wildlife. In the corner of the room was a large desk with one chair behind and two chairs in front. Of the three men in this office the one behind the desk, was dressed in a slightly warn lab coat and a drab outfit that resembled operating room scrubs. The others, beside a glass wall looking out onto the unearthly terrain, were dressed in dark business suits. The man in the lab coats name was dr. Clarence Charles. A nervous man of frail build, and graying features. He addressed the younger men casually. "So what do you think of our little farm so far?" The taller of the two suited men turned from the window. "farm aye? Dr. Charles, this is a most impressive farm. But Davis and myself are here on business, isn't that right Davis?" "...yes sir. Dr. Charles, if you dont mind my asking,.. I realize all light from the sun is blocked by the dome but how is it that we can see the landscape?" "Dr. Charles Im sorry hes new and.." "No no its all right. you see Mr. Davis the dome is impenetrable to any foreign stimuli, and its peak is several miles above us, but built into the dome itself are,.. what we can call skylights. These 'sky lights' allow ambient light to pass through but no ultraviolet radiation. Even when it is night outside of the dome light comes in. But we cant see the skylights because of the phosphorous clouds that make up the atmosphere." The two men looked on with obvious interest as Dr., Charles continued... " You see to support the life we have contained here we must recreated their natural environment. " " So the dome not only keeps out the natural elements of this planetoid, but also serves to keep your artificial conditions in" "Correct" "that is quite amazing" " Yes you should see the solstice of the solar year, thats the only time the suns are strong enough to shine just enough to get through the UV filters, it creates an anomaly we hadn't anticipated, the phosphor clouds glow the most amazing colors. We have a picture right here" "The images are truly beautiful, I'll bet,.. ohh Im sure Mr. Romaign didn't bring me here to look at pictures though." Davis curbed his enthusiasm, as his superior was growing tired of the science lesson. " Im sorry Dr. Charles,...Davis... but can we keep to the topic for the moment. Doctor, Im sure you know of our problems contacting bightside" Dr. Charles picked up a report from his desk and read ; " The Surface of this planet not underneath this dome is prone to communication failure due to sun spot, but this amount of time for a sun spot is unprecedented....ect. ect." " Right, there are certain facts that as the supervisor of this installation I think you should be aware of.. You understand this is classified information, that is why we came to you in person." The scientist nodded in agreement. Two weeks before we received the final communication from science stronghold 2, I was at SS 1. One of the expeditions to retrieve a malfunctioning explorer droid. Had gone wrong,.. one of the scientist was lost in the field" Dr. Charles's brow grew a worried look "lost?" "yes, and it seems there was some ,.. unusual residual animal behavior" Now Dr. Charles was showing some concern in his tone, " unusual residual animal behavior?" "yes" "this lost scientist, what did he,.. did he get eaten or something??" " Please calm down Doctor" "what about his partner, I know they go out in teams, like here. dont they?" "for reasons we dont yet know Dr. Nura ventured into the wilderness to retrieve a malfunctioning robot alone" Davis shot Mr. Romaign a look. "..." Now calmer, Dr. Charles spoke "this is all very shady isn't it? what are you getting at, whats you reason for being here" " Dr. Charles we know the reputation some of your animals have for showing extreme aggression towards each other, is there any way.." " no, thats impossible. I am the supervisor in this installation and I know the whereabouts of each and every life form. The natural fauna on this planet may be less unusual on the periodic table than the selection under this dome, but under the circumstances the carbon life native to this planet is far more unpredictable thanks to the rapid mutation between solar years....But of course, thats why you choose this place." " What about a breach in the dome, is that possible?" "To the extent of my knowledge, no. But that is where my expertise ends. I manage the goings on here, experiments, census, things of that nature. A guild sect designed and built the components of this station, Your people put it together. Now they watch over it. We have a maintenance crew yes, and as far as I know when something goes wrong they fix it. but when we delve into the realm of possibilities concerning the specific mechanics of our dome you must seek answers elsewhere. Im sorry" 2 One man and one woman in atmosphere suits stand in the Rocky desert next to the inner edge of the dome. It is an immense wall with pipes and wires running along it. It is as dark as the landscape it surrounds, and it stretches for as far as the eye can see. Both of the technicians are looking at the wall intensely while walking along it. Through the hiss of static they communicate over their radios. The man, obviously less interested in the wall spoke: "Did you hear about what happened bright side?" ":huh,... no" "about two weeks ago everybody lost contact with em." "keep your mind on the job and out of your stupid stories" " no Im serious, really. And like ten days ago Amid said while he was chekin the west hem he heard screams, real distant, over his comm. " "Boen, IM serious. cut the cross chatter" "isn't the second bright side lab right on the other side of west hem wall?" "..." "well Luke and Amid over heard Dr. frank in the mess hall and Dr. Frank was sayin somthin about an extended L. O. C. with bright side. Not just two weeks" She slowly removed a panel at the base of the wall exposing a circuit board and replied with a patronizing tone: " Sun spot Boen, it happens all the time" " Yeah but not for a month" Kate James stood and faced her colleague: " Look, Boen. first off there is an atmospheric difference of 100 percent on the other side of the wall. That means only high band communications can be transmitted though it. And secondly the dome itself is seven meters thick with components too complicated for me to even try to explain to a man with a big pile of nuts and bolts for brains such as yourself. Which means a signal would be distorted and lost before it came close to getting received. now put this panel back on, get in the fast track and lets go." Boen shouted: "we're done!?" "we're done." "Gee boss, your so pritty when your mad." "you better smile when you say that." The ride on the fast track was not really all that fast. In fact it was slower than the average person could run, but it was necessary. The Atmosphere suits were heavy. Laden with equipment a human would be severely encumbered and reach the point of exhaustion after only a few moments of walking. Also the vehicle needed to be slow because more than often an animal would leap in front of, or scamper to slowly out of the way of the fast track. In case of such an event all they had to do was hit a button to activate strobe lights on the exterior of the vehicle, this would scare just about any of the unusual creatures out of their path. None of the personnel were allowed to come into direct contact with the fauna. Their job was to observe, not to interfere. But the ride wasn't so bad, the landscape here had always intrigued her, like something out of a strange dream. Once the corporate operators had left Dr. Charles relaxed somewhat. It had been a long time since he was last visited by such people, but he remembered the ill feeling in his stomach well enough from the last time. The reason of this particular visit had little impact on the doctors mind, he was more affected by their demeanor. It aggravated him now more than anything, although at the time of their discussion he was more over come with nervous anticipation. He was dwelling on this subject when he was disturbed by the door tone. The slender figure of Kate James clad in a brown work suit stood backlit in the door way. Her hair was pulled back into a messy bun and her hands were in her pockets. "Miss James, do you have the report I requested?" -it was more of a statement than a question. Dr. Clarence Charles' sense of intimidation ended with his corporate superiors departure. "I have been instructed to remind you that although your office manages the majority of the goings on here, it is the guild that supervises the regulation and operation of the hardware encompassing this facility." It was a well practiced response. "Ahh your guild, and as the superfluous emissary you are sworn to uphold the trust, yes?... Well Im afraid I must interrupt your holy hierarchy and ask you to please tell me now what is the condition of the shield." Kate knew what kind of person Dr. Charles was, and also knew that he was probing her for weakness. It was not the place of either of them to discuss such things. Reports were made to upper level directly, then a conclusion was drawn. Only after this would a explanation be passed on to the foundation that ran the world under the dome. "Dr. Clarence, You will be made aware of any facts that concern you in as little time as possible, through the correct channels" The ways that the foundations and the guild sects worked together were completely absurd. Two separate conglomerate entities that were as much in competition as in league with each other. The guild hid everything by their very nature. While the foundation hid everything because they were in competition with each other and everyone else. Dr. Charles sat in his chair, staring from under his weathered brow at Kate James who still stood across the room. His lip twitched. "OK miss James. Thats all for now thank you for your time" As she left the room he spun his chair to face the window. | |
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