The Embryo of the Star Read online

  The deep of darkness has swallowed the tranquility of the colony; only the glittering rows of lights had kept the dull environment alive. Most people are busy discussing the fate of the Earth. Some had negative views and dismissed the proposal as a hoax; they would jump ship before it hit the rocks their leader had emphasized. Some of them were successful businessmen who had decided to migrate to Mars; one of them owned a jumbo spacecraft. But despite the disloyalty of the rich, the majority of people supported the government stand. At eight o’clock in the evening Kareen was diving into the oval pool situated at the rear of the Colonial-style villa along the beach. She had a poised, seductive body that could be the envy of the bygone mannequins of the Paris catwalk world.

  Bipp! . . . Bipp! came the sound of a visitor bell.

  The topless lady swam nearer the side of the pool and pushed the visual intercom. “Mark, please come in."

  The door was open and Mark was welcomed by a scene that caused his heart to beat faster, as the pretty topless lady held to the handrail and Mark gave her a hand.

  “I thought you wouldn’t come, Mark. . .. I decided to swim for a while.”

  “Who could say no to your irresistible offer?” Mark replied.

  “You’ve taken the people by storm, Mark.”

  “It’s very important to enlighten them; they just needed some inspiring words.”

  “Let’s go to the terrace, Mark." The pretty lady held Mark’s arm and guided him to the cantilevered terrace overlooking the deadly calm sea. “Feel at home.”

  Mark began to breathe the cool breeze endlessly; they sat opposite each other. The table was covered with enticing items: earthworm burgers, fungi soup, bullfrog fricassee, golden snail barbecue, Catherine the Great vodka, French champagne, Rhine cognac, and some assorted sweets. Music with a fast beat played in the foreground. The pretty lady filled the transparent glass with vodka and ice cubes.

  “A glass of vodka, Mark?”

  “Thanks a lot, Miss K. S.”

  “It stands for Kareen Sandover, Mark; just call me Kareen. . .. I’m editor in chief of the El Mundo Space Journal,” the pretty lady replied. “I’m very interested in writing an article about the cosmogenesis you’ve proclaimed. . .. Mark, is it true that the planets travel in pairs?”

  “Yes, almost 50 percent of the planets have this distinction, very romantic, that their magnetic fields are attracted to each other,” Mark explained. “Humans likewise behave like the planets do; they love to exist in pairs. The big difference is that humans are productive, they produce babies, while the planets don’t."

  “Are you sure, Mark, that the planets are impotent?” the pretty lady asked. “You mentioned magnetism, so there must be negative and positive poles. Each pair must have a male and female planet; how about the moons that ring the host planet? Do they have some kinship relation with the host planet? Or is the moon simply attracted to the planet’s magnetic field and has undergone the same process as the planets when they were created?”

  “You’ve dug deeper to the missing link. We must take into account that the universe is so mysterious that the mind of man can scarcely comprehend it. I must admit that I’ve not been able to touch on this subject in my research. The clues are there for this revolutionary idea of yours. . .. Maybe it won’t take a long time before the Pandora’s box reveals its content.”

  “Let’s forget about this subject matter and have some drinks. . .Bottoms up! . . .Cheers! . . .For the Earth’s salvation!”

  “One more, Mark. . ..”

  An hour elapsed, and they downed a bottle of vodka and one of cognac. The spirits had pushed Mark to the whirlpool. His instinct began to size up his alluring host, who displayed sparkling filigree diamond earrings. Her blue eyes blended beautifully will the well-curved blossoming twin breasts. The crimson nipples were partially hidden by her long blond hair. The magnetic purple lips were drawing Mark closer; he glanced downward and saw the thinly covered chrysanthemum. He could not control himself; something was energizing him. His surroundings were turning upside down. The pretty lady began to manipulate the evening, she kissed Mark and the infatuated lover responded with burning desire. The pretty lady took off Mark's shirt. He had a strange feeling of burning ecstasy that was being dished out by the goddess of beauty. Their naked bodies bonded together and rolled on the beige granolithic floor.

  The pretty lady whispered, “Mark, I'm considering you fathering a son or daughter." These words awakened Mark.

  “What? . . . You want a kid from me?" Mark stood up and dressed himself and knelt to the stunned girl who bit her lip, and he grasped her by the arms and said, “Please let’s not hurry. . .. not that I don’t enjoy sex. . .. This is my first lesson. Please do understand me. Let’s not go too far; we don’t know yet what lies ahead of us. Let’s not forget that the Earth is in danger. I don’t want you and the child to suffer in case worse comes to worst.”

  The pretty lady sobbed. “Leave me alone, Mark.”

  The sound of the early morning siren pervaded the colony. Tens of thousands male and female citizens answered the call; they formed a beeline to find out about their job assignments which had been prepared through computerized census data. Their assignments were based on their individual capabilities. The project organizational chart hung at some conspicuous spot outside the imperial palace. The project had the emperor as chairman, Professor Kalavich as the general manager, Silas Lahliegh as senior engineer in charge of planning and engineering, Maki Sushima in charge of electronics, Sidney Uvillius, an expert geologist, in charge for mining, Bogart Bonecani in charge of general services, Vincent Sacdalin in charge of plant engineering, and Yul Amsedel in charge of operations, and Mark Couch was given an honorary position as project coordinator. Ludy Kurp was in charge of personnel.

  Three hours passed, but only 60 percent of the expected workers appeared. The professor called up Maj. Joan Sander.

  “Major, do you have any knowledge regarding some of the working force?”

  “So far, sir, none. . .. It’s calm in all establishments around here in the Haiti district," Maj. Joan Sander replied. “I'll try at the western district of Andromeda . . . sir.”

  “Report any developments to me immediately Major.”

  “Yes, sir, over and out.”

  Joan Sander then drove her fast patrol mobile towards the district of Andromeda, and on the outskirts of the district. She saw thousands of people mobbing the spaceships. They hurled stones and lobbed Molotov cocktails and empty bottles at the dozen departing luxury spaceships. The people on board fought back and shot those who come nearer to the dozen spaceships. Soon ten cadavers lay on the ground.

  Maj. Sander stepped out of her car with a bullhorn and shouted, “Please, everybody, stay calm! Let those Runners leave, and if there are those who intend to go, just say so, register your name in my office, and we’ll arrange your departure to Mars. You must remember that upon leaving the Earth’s soil you’ve renounced your citizenship, which will stand unless revoke by higher authorities in the near future. . .. and, last, we shall not be held responsible for whatever happens to you there." These touching words were enough to appease the violent prospective Runners.

  “Professor, I’ve found them. It seems they are preparing to abandon us. They are after the departing spaceships." Maj. Joan Sander reported.

  “That is their decision; we cannot do anything about it. Thank you Major,” the professor replied, and he sipped a cup of coffee and faced his deputies. “Our manpower pool is dwindling; we must do something,” the worried professor said. “Our completion schedule will be greatly affected by this development."

  “Professor, I could resort to a ‘crush’ program. You can reduce my men by about 25 percent; just provide me real experts and in fifteen days’ time I’ll fill up all the voids,” Maki Sushima assured the professor. “Dump those bastards! I’ve a thousand spare robot parts ready for assembly and we could program them for any work we want and if we need some more the raw materia
ls are available.”

  “How about the raw materials, Sidney? Can we extract them as per schedule?” the professor asked.

  “I would say yes. If Maki could loan me about two thousand robots for the first week, I’ll spread them to the four corners of the Earth. Our cobalt requirements, which are essential for the engine nuclear propulsion system, shall be obtained from the mines of Zambia and Zaire. We also need tantalum for our electronic components from Thailand, Malaysia, Canada, and Brazil. For the chemical catalyst we’ll extract platinum from South Africa, Russia and rare earth metals in China. We’ll obtain ceramics oxide from the vast deposit in South Yemen; it’s an ideal material for an insulation system. We could still recover some uranium from the Dark Continent. So, manpower is the big factor for my department.”

  “Don’t worry, Sid; you could have them the day after tomorrow,” Maki Sushima assured him.

  “How about you, Vincent. How’s the machinery we need?” the professor asked.

  “Like Sidney, I also need a lot of people, because there’s no need to build a giant smelter. We’ll just retrieve those smelting plants in Saint Petersburg, Australia, and Western Europe, the Bethlehem Steel mill, the southern Philippines smelting plant, and plants on the Chinese mainland," the plant engineer replied.

  The key personnel in this undertaking were very cooperative and resourceful. On the next day machinery was roaring at the launching pad site, on the two thousand acres of barren land. Geologists, engineers, miners, and other workers were preparing to fly to South Africa; some were bound for Russia or Asia.

  The enlightened people were very aggressive with their work. Some women ran the food-processing plants. Kids were also involved, as they were the ones who served food to the workers, washed dishes, and gathered garbage. They worked twelve hours a day, which greatly changed their daily chores.

  A legion of workers and engineers equipped with advanced technological equipment and machinery had landed in Zaire. They set up a semi-permanent camp and installed a power station. The spaceships arrived every hour with food, drink, and other necessities. Using the geological data taken from space geological surveys, they encountered no difficulties in finding the exact location of the mineral ore bodies. They drilled the ground with a highly sophisticated drilling machine that could drill down to 3,000 yards below the surface of the Earth. Drilling was being done at twenty-meter intervals in equilateral patterns intruding on the main ore body. After the hit was confirmed they injected some chemical solutions like cyanide to the ore body, which would melt the ore body. Just directly below the melting ore body they had injected a catch basin, and a powerful submersible pump in turn drew the melting ore upward. The recovered ore then was transported to the smelting plant. It took only a short time to mine their mineral requirements.

  V

  Bogus Emir

  In the Martian city of Green Meadow, the movements on Earth had not escaped the watchful eye of the emit.

  “What?! They shall rejuvenate the Earth? Their high priest must have fooled them regarding the fountain of youth. . .. That’s total nonsense!” chided the Martian monarch. “And what will they do then? . . . They’ll play God?”

  “Sir, according to our intelligence report, the Earthlings are planning to snatch a five-to-seven-mile radioactive spinning spheroid of an infant planet. That is still in its early stage of development. This spheroid then shall be injected through the navel of the Earth,” explained the emir’s deputy.

  “And where is this navel situated?” asked the emir.

  “According to their scientists it is situated in the Caribbean region, sir.”

  “And do you believe their fairy tales?” Emir Ammaron asked. “Assuming that they’ll be able to snatch the spheroid, do you believe that this stuff could penetrate the ocean floor? Do they already possess the technological capability to dig a seven-mile in-diameter shaft towards the center of the Earth?”

  “Sir, according to the record, there’s something very strange about the Caribbean region, something very mysterious. Like for instance, adjacent to this region is the site of many disappearances—for example, ships, military planes, and other craft that disappeared leaving no trace," his deputy revealed. “What is very intriguing and struck me most were the findings of the scientists of the late twentieth century as published in the Journal Science." The deputy opened an old tabloid dated 1990. “The scientists found evidence that shows a giant asteroid or comet thought to have destroyed the dinosaurs may have struck Earth in the Caribbean Sea. The asteroid is believed to have been about 6 miles, or 9 kilometers in diameter and appears to have struck Earth near the region where North and South America connect, the researchers said.

  Alan Hildebrand and William Boynton of the University of Arizona at Tucson based their conclusions on a study of sediment deposits in the Colombian Basin of the Caribbean Sea. . .. Beneath the sea floor the scientists found evidence of a 180-mile-diameter, 290-kilometer-diameter crater, of a size that could have been caused by an asteroid 6 miles, or 9 kilometers in diameter. . .. In addition, they discovered thick sediments in Cuba that looked like the deposits of a giant wave produced by an asteroid crashing into nearby ocean water. They also found a 20-inch-thick, 50-centimeter, layer of shocked rock on Haiti’s peninsula that appears to have been ejected by an asteroid impact about 65 million years ago. The layer of ejected material in Haiti was 25 times thicker than at any other known site in that time period and indicated an asteroid structure within 600 miles, 1,000 kilometers, researchers said.”

  “So that’s what made them think that the impact caused a deep hole towards the heart of the Earth? They must be kidding! It's’ just a cynical Earthling ploy! We must do something before everything gets out of hand. Even their own citizens have branded their leaders as a bunch of idiots! They have lost their credibility; the migration of the Earth’s citizens can attest to that," the suspicious monarch said. “What else is going on there?"

  “Sir, there's massive onshore mining activities going on there. Mineral extraction is going on in Africa, Russia, South Africa, South America, and Asia.” . . .

  “So, there's a possibility they're also mining the rich uranium deposits in those continents . . . and their big mistake is that they allowed their citizens to seek refuge on our planet. It’s very amusing indeed. . .. We could utilize those bastards to assist our present slaves in building a super - bomb,” the emir bared his treacherous plan.

  Emir Ammaron was once a fast-rising political figure of the Earth who gained a lot of followers, but he also was a man obsessed with the lust for power. He attempted to dislodge the incumbent emperor by filing a resolution to have a recall election. This unprecedented move was allowed in the Earth constitution---that is if the Privy Council gave the green light. The emir charged the emperor with abuse of power, nepotism, graft, and corruption. The people spoke. The required number of votes to muster a recall order is 30 percent and then election of a new emperor would be held after thirty days. But those who were in favor of recall numbered 20 percent, short by 10 percent. The result did not fizzle his burning desire; his obsession led him to befriend some of the Earth’s military top brass, and he told them that he was the wave of the future. His masterful strategy won their approval, and they staged a bloody coup d’état that almost toppled the embattled emperor.

  Ammaron and his minion had fled to Mars, which during that time was colonized by the wealthy Runners from Gulf States of the Middle East (Earth) and administered by Emir Abdullah Al Tamimi. Ammaron then explained to the kind emir that what had transpired lately on the Earth was not his own making; it was a jihad (holy war)! He claimed that the angel Gabriel had persuaded him to awaken the people of the Islamic faith, but he got an unimpressive response from the dwindling Muslim community, (because they were aware that Ammaron was a newly Muslim convert). He claimed that the angel Gabriel commanded him to go to Mars because the lost flock of Allah was waiting there.

  With the pretense of championing the cau
se of Islam, he urged the Martian Muslims to adhere to the pillars of Islam. Surreptitiously, he had brought the abandoned Kaaba to Mars leaving the ‘sacred black stone’ still intact. Eventually, he had urged the inactive Muslims from other planets to pay homage to the Kaaba and reminded them, that they had chances to do their duty to make a hajj (pilgrimage) to the Kaaba, a good Muslim must do this at least once in a lifetime... Which used to be in Mecca and Medina, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He then wrote some sermons and declared that in the beginning all people of the world were Muslims and it was their parents’ fault if they rejected Allah. His hosts were amazed by his mastery of the Islamic faith, which gained him a celebrity status.

  For the first time the Martian Muslims heard the voice of his appointed muezzin, which echoed to the city of Green Meadow. “Allahhh O Akhbarr! Allahh. ... O Akhbarr! . . . Ahadi, li, lai, la, lahhhhh. . . . Mohamad Rasol laahh . . . Allahhh, O Akhbarr! . . . " Upon hearing this deafening call, the Muslims bowed their heads in the direction of the burning ember. His host then believed that Ammaron indeed was a modern day errand from Allah.

  Ammaron grabbed this golden opportunity and urged his host to observe the Eid, the Ramadan. All the haram (forbidden) in Islam were strictly imposed. All women were ordered to wear black dresses and must cover their faces to keep away from temptation. Nobody complained. A replica of the mosque in Mecca was constructed, and the Martian Muslims were then transformed into complete believers.

  Ammaron then had access to the palace. He made some recommendations for the high post in the government, and all were accepted by the emir. Little did the Martian emir’s, know that almost all the important ministers had been handpicked by the bogus Islamic leader; even the commander of the space command had been his protégé. His religious modus operandi really worked to his purposes when the emir, Abdullah Al Tamimi, was charged with breaking the law of Islam. The emir was charged with having a sex orgy with the visiting princess of Saturn during the period of Ramadan. The emir was found guilty of this serious charge which he repeatedly denied. Al Tamirni then was stripped of his position and the Martians had a new emir.