Across a Red Plain

Captain Sumner looked at her reflection one last time and then went to the bridge of the Starship Destiny. The bright blue sky sparkled like a blue sapphire and the mission was top secret. Not a soul would know what they were to really be doing when they landed on Mars. The beautiful city of Nought where the ship launched from dwindled away.

The ancient texts that were found in Iran hinted at a strange journey and the idea that man evolved not on Earth but on Mars was a vaguely whispered idea. The long journey in a ship from Mars to Earth because of an ancient Martian flood tantalized Captain Rebecca Sumner and made her curious about the Zeta site. The ruins of the site had been unearthed in a large unexplored crator on an ancient Martian plain. In a deep tunnel of red dirt and dust were the thin whispers of a history unknown to man.

Rebecca and first mate Jack Thomens were going on a bullet mission in the Destiny with a complement of crew that were mainly AI.

The tindrel of hope that man's genetic origins might be explained dangled in Rebecca's mind. The story of man's evolution made perfect sense until one reached homo tangeris. Homo tangeris had genetic differences that were odd to say the least. The fragments of DNA held a secret and it had been whispered that the dust was from Mars and not Earth in the burial structure.

How did ancient Martian dust get into a prehistoric burial for Homo Tangeris? How did a portion of the burial rags have molecular imprints of Mars? It made no sense and the ancient texts spoke of a great journey in a ship to a new world. The new world across a great black ocean and landing on Mt. Arafat. The birds that were released made of metal designed to sample land and air and a great journey to a new world with all life gathered into a vast ship.

Homo Tangeris had walked upright, and had been a precursor to both homo sapians and neanderthals. The odd thing was that it had greatly reduced vocal cords and had large eyes and according to the genetic reconstruction had had a largely increased ability to communicate via telepathy.

The odd thing was that no modern human had the brain structures that homo tangeris had. The brain structure had been called the Cathara and was utterly non-existent in humans or any other of man's closest siblings. The genetic sequence for the Cathara and outlying nodes connecting the optic nerves was utterly missing in homo sapiens. Rebecca read that the Cathara had helped generate telepathic fields and a subsonic field when multiple people with it had gathered.

The Cathara according to the AI had not been a structure which the Earth would support in evolution but on ancient Mars a small gas in the atmosphere would allow the genetic expression of the Cathara. On Earth the exact mixture of gases suppressed the genetic expression of the Cathara until finally it vanished from all genetic records until the discovery of the Homo Tangeris.

Rebecca bit her lip and wondered about the shot she and Jack had received prior to their arrival on Mars. A vaccine to prevent AirLia she'd been told but her suspiciouns whispered in the back of her mind. Mars had been off limits for 20 years since the discovery of the great Helis temple on Mars and everything was top secret as the discovery of life originating on Mars would rip the social structure of all Earth religions.

The great spacebots had been terraforming Mars for 55 years and just now within the last 2 years Mars had a sustainable atmosphere and oxygen gas mixture sustainable for life.

"So what is the mission Beks?" Jack asked as he expertly piloted the bullet out of Earth's atmosphere.

"We are going to the Tanger site and bring samples of dirt back home with an emphasis on searching for ancient life. We are also to make the certification to open up colonization" Beks said with her pouty lips pursed.

"Tanger? Isn't that where they made the genetic match with Homo Tangeris?" Jake asked curiousity burning in his grey eyes.

"Yes hey did you get the shot? It burns like no other." Jake said, rubbing the temple of his head and looking out the viewglass.

"Yeah and my head feels like it's on fire. AirLia is a strange disease and it only affects travelers in space, so I guess it's ok." Rebecca whispered.

The space bending mechanism began and both Jack and Rebecca strapped in for the cross dimensional jump. No matter how many times they jumped it scared her that they would be in a different dimension for an hour. The ripping sensation started and then the sensation of losing all her air from her lungs. For them it felt like a few minutes the ship would log it as an hour of lost time.

The blink back into their dimension registered as a painful searing burn but it quickly faded and then Mars was below them. Jack put the landing coordinates in and down they began descent.

The final touchdown shook both of them and for a few minutes they stared out the view port at the great red plain unfurling in front of them.

The computer voice suddenly stated "Team Alpha Tauri Welcome to Mars. We are embarking on a new journey for all of mankind with mankind's return to Mars. Be aware that there is no Earthly return, embark on your new adventure and home. Certification Complete of Mars. You are legally wed and the first pair with active certification on Mars. Cathara genetic amplification injections before your journey are proceeding per the template and are necessary for colonization of Mars."

"WTH is going on?" Jake said as all the color drained from his face.

"Computer you explain right now." Rebecca demanded.

"Zeta site coordinates entered and ETA 2 minutes." The AI informed and said nothing about the marriage, the colonization of Mars, and the genetic amplification.

"Not a clue about any of the important things huh AI?" Jake said with a frown on his face.

"On completion of the Zeta entry please proceed to the Helis structure." the AI said.

The air to the Martian atmosphere was breathable and so they disembarked and began the walk to the cave that contained the crater and the helis.

Down a mile deep they went to the Helis structure and as they walked Rebecca thought back to the questions the psychiatrist had asked her in basic.

"Do you find yourself attracted to Jake?"

"Yes I do" she'd answered hopefully that this wouldn't block them from the Martian mission.

"Enough to have sex with him and pair bond?" She had been asked and unable to lie Rebecca had answered yes.

"I do hope this doesn't exclude me from the mission?" Rebecca had asked but the psychiatrist hadn't answered.

Ahead of them the ancient Martian structure shimmered and for a second Jake and Rebecca thought they heard the hum of hundreds of thousands of people. As they approached the structure seemed to morph into something else and as they reached the impenetrable structure both of them gaped in shock at what appeared to be a door.

Nowhere in the official pictures or documents had there been a door. Jake reached out to touch the door and it slid open at his mere touch.

"Wait a minute Jake. There was no door on any of the documentation we have, it didn't exist and they took thousands of pictures of this structure." Rebecca said, feeling the hairs on the back of neck rising.

"Well we have no other place to go than this structure unless we plan to spend the Martian night outside with no shelter." Jake said as he confidentially strode into the structure.

The Martian night was fearful on the newly terraformed planet with temperatures habitable but just barely and the structure was the best choice.

Inside the stone walls a large altar stood and both Rebecca and Jake felt compelled to go forward and place their hands on the altar.

"Welcome home the great journey has finally come full circle and now the rebuilding shall begin. All information shall proceed into your Cathara's although you do not have them fully formed. The An-Nunak have been sent a message that the servant children have returned and in a few generations will be ready to serve. Please take substance and rest and then you may embark into Tarkria and select a home."

It was neither spoken outloud or written but a great booming welcome that burned into the tiny neural structure that was both Rebecca's and Jake's Catharas. Shaking and on their knees from the pain from the terrifying message both crawled forward and then a lit path appeared and both managed as best they could to get away from the altar.

Further into the great Helis and the deep Martian depths they journeyed and found a lit subterranean hallway. A thin light lit the expanse and after two hours of walking they came into an opening that lit up when they entered it. They knew immediately it was the city Tarkria for that was the image their Cathara's had both received.

The exhaustion painted lines on both their faces and the first suitable place to rest was found in an enclave 30 feet within Tarkria. The room had a stone table and there were stone pallets for sleeping. The rations from the ship would last a week and at least the shelter was warm and dry. The pallets became soft and warm when they laid down so exhausted they couldn't move.

That night both Rebecca and Jake dreamed of Tarkria filled with Homo Tangeris and the city bustling with activities of an ancient prehistoric society. They worshipped at temples that were filled with gold and silver from the slave planet. The unlucky criminals were taken there to work the mines and then returned unable to communicate. Locked in a brutal silence and better off left on a planet of brutality. The Great An-Nunak shone with magnificence allowing wisdom and beauty in the land and the Homo Tangeris served their every need. A promise of care should the Homo Tangeris serve them totally and then when the great waters erupted out of the Martian crust and encircled the great plains.

A giant ship disguised as a boat was brought to transport the people to the lands of silence so none would know they were being taken to the silent lands. It would be a terrible sacrifice for all that would languish into silence until the An-Nunak devised a way for all to speak and know again. The An-Nunak had promised to make the people able again and build their race to be able to communicate again but it took so many different attempts to get it right.. The migrations were supposed to be temporary but the solar vortex had removed the Martian atmosphere. The An-Nunak had removed the vortex but not before the Martian lands were ruined with no atmosphere.

Standing on her feet Rebecca trembled at the thought of what the people of Tarkrians had faced. Lied to and sent to a planet which had been considered a prison mining planet and left there unable to communicate after having had a primitive civilization. Genetically experimented on in various isolated places on the Earth forming the different human branches of the genetic human tree.

Dawn on Mars was beautiful and the city of Tarkria had a sun prism in the middle of the city where the sun's light was refracted and made into a beautiful rainbow prism. The city had temples, roads, a library, and an empty market place. In the temple a large pot was filled with great purple fruit and sitting on the altar.

"Eat and rejoice for the people have returned." The great booming image in their minds instructed and slowly both Jake and Rebecca nervously took the fruit. It was fleshy and when Jake bit into it the tart green juices ran down his face. Rebecca scanned the fruit which the voice called Neski. It was rich with calcium and protein with vitamin C and was edible.

On the market there were many empty stalls but in a corner booth sat a lovely sariskan dress and Narretian pants and wool shirt. Both Jake and Rebecca felt compelled to put the Martian traditional clothing on.

The Destiny suddenly sent a sharp message to their Comm units and startled they both read the message: Colony ship Stardust and Omega 9 en route please confirm life status. Yes or No.

Swiftly both Rebecca and Jake confirmed before the units implemented an electric shot.

"Will all aboard the ships have the Cathara augmentation?" Jake demanded

"Affirmative. All 75,000 colonists have been Cathara injected and will arrive in 48 standard hours."

Jake paled and looked at Rebecca "We are the first wave and they are going forward?"

"Affirmative. The Witara neural sequence will be active within 10 hours also." the AI informed them.

"What is the Witara?" queried Rebecca.

"The Witara allows for Homo Tangeris to go through heat and mate pair bonding by altering hormone structure so that mating must occur multiple times daily and eliminates cyclical mating cycles thus increasing fertility by causing fertility to be constant until pregnancy."

"Are there any more surprises computer?" Rebecca demanded.

"Yes the Anu-Nunak subsponder has reactivated quite suddenly and on interface states that human occupation would not activate it as it's only sensitive to Homo Tangeris and has begun sending and receiving messages. Decoded message pins arrival in 5 years from the Orion sector. We were unaware it was here but now we have identified it and its language is similar to some proto-language on earth. Congratulations on the fabulous discoveries of Tarkia and the interior of the Helis. We will augment the colony ships to 25 ships over the next fifteen months for optimal colonization."

Jake sat down suddenly and looked at Rebecca, had central command planned it? Or was it an AI mission mistake?

Rebecca shook with shock. "They reinvented Homo Tangeris to colonize Mars and didn't tell the colonists or us. They never mentioned that the planet would only recognize Homo Tangeris and not a soul knew who or what the Anu-Nunak were or their intentions."

Slowly they explored Tarkria and realized that the Helis was the launching point from Mars to Earth and oddly fitting for it to be the return point. 140,000 people would be returning to Mars and although enormous Tarkria would not contain that nor the 25 ships with 70K people each. The great altar was where Rebecca had to go and she hurried there on her knees she felt the atlar take the information from her mind.

Swiftly seven paper maps appeared on the altar of 7 great cities. Marketh, Anar, Unuk, Tafnar, Trek, Zvennith, and Tyrenna. Plus the city state of Nyrarra.

Nine great cities and a huge processing center requiring each person to be processed through Helis and placed on the nine roads path. The cities wanted to come alive again and would help them settle the colonists.

Rebecca and Jake spent months working frantically and the arrival of the 25 ships blasted the colony from a tiny outpost into a full fledged colony. Only on the edge of space to face the fearful arrival of the pyramidal ships.

Nudak Al Tirek brought the planet Marreta into view with its vast red plains and smiled. Teaming below was a vast civilization and he could feel the bubbling chatter of their Catharas. A command would make the children behave and do his bidding. Forming his first command they would be humbled yet again to serve the Anu-Nunak.

For all intents and purposes Nudak looked exactly like an ancient God and dressed in robes that better suited an ancient pharoah than a modern alien. His black eyes and narrow face framed by great horns and his thoughts went to the animalistic Homo Tangeris and the forced ritual matings and how the female Homo Tangeris could be trained to mate on command with any male that was selected through behavioral shock collars. It had been a great entertainment watching this occur and the old recordings of this still brought great joy to all that watched and laughter.

The Anu-Nanek did not consider Homo Tangeris anything but animals and tricks and training was at best an entertainment. They served the Anu-Nanek in every way and owed absolute fealty. The old prison planet was also occupied but that group was not able to speak nor promised.

So on the night of arrival the great pyramid descended and Rebecca and Jake appeared as the rulers of Mars. Nudak looked at the people assembled and released his great command for all to kneel on the great red plains. All the women were to accept a training collar and the men a charon belt to control aggression.

None could refuse the formal requests and Nudak assumed command of the planet. Rebecca felt the collar and at the first great festival all the women were commanded to dance and smile. She, the former leader, was then commanded to lay down on a table and allow her mate to love her before Nudak in a great welcoming ceremony.

Now it could be wondered if perhaps Rebecca who commanded ships, led a planet and had served in the military agreed with this and in fact she didn't for some things should to her heart be private. She and Jake in their weeks before the colony ships arrived had found a time transponder which could take them back in time. The night the decree went out Rebecca looked at the ancient images playing in the walls and saw women laying on the ceremonial tables while an enormously endowed male made ruin of her tiny slit. Nor did Jake appreciate the act or idea of being reduced to a rutting animal for the entertainment of an alien overlord.

The plans of colonizing and building a beautiful new world shimmered as the plans of the alien Anu-Nanek stood a reminder of an ancient betrayal no remorse was evident. So that very night they crept to the time transponder and both were transported back before their ship arrived and in the darkness of the room they slipped out. No human steps or tangeris steps had touched the Martian plains and they slipped silently to the hidden rooms that held the central core to communicate with the Orion belt. With one good shot Rebecca ended the possibility of Anu-Nanek's return and with swift care they slipped away back into their own time.

On their return the planet resembled what they'd left before the pyramid lit up the sky. The cost of freedom being steep and the cost of broken promises once remembered never to be forgotten again. For humanity in all its forms was slave to none.