Don't Mess With Earth (4 page)

In the meantime, Mongolian warriors raided
and destroyed towns in China, Manchuria, Korea, and other Asian
lands. Since everyone was sick, they had an easier time rampaging,
pillaging, and destroying. The leader of the Mongols, Genghis Khan,
decided to go further west for more destruction, so he and his
warriors traveled to the Middle East. Khan’s men came up against
Muslim warriors, led by Saladin, when the Mongols tried to siege
Baghdad. Before attacking each other, Khan asked for a truce so
both leaders could meet. Thirty minutes later, the two men met on
the banks of the Tigris River. They dismissed their aides and when
they were alone, Genghis began to talk, “So, we meet again, Sal.
I’m surprised the Terran leadership has let us get this far. Are
you at all surprised at how easy it is to lead these
primitives?”

“So, you’re going with name Genghis? That’s
really interesting. I’ve also been wondering about what Terra will
do if they figure out who we are. I am amazed how easy it is to
lead these people, especially these Muslims. They are very
dedicated to their religion, the whole martyrdom thing and
seventy-two virgins in their version of heaven. I just tell them
that your men are infidels and away they go. How about the men
you’re leading?”

“My men are definitely dedicated pillagers.
You tell them there’s gold or any kind of money involved, and
they’ll gladly tear apart a town or village to get it. Baghdad is
ripe for my men to pillage once they kill off all of your men. You
know, I’m glad my father was the first to manipulate these
primitives, because watching them slaughter each other for nothing
is definitely interesting,” remarked Genghis.

That’s right, your dad was Merlin. Didn’t he
help another Terran set up a little kingdom of their own in the
British Isles?”

“Yes, he and Arthur created Camelot. I’ve
heard Earth people talk of it as if it was a myth, a legend created
to keep the Vikings from rampaging all over England. When the
Terran authorities came for them, then put them under house arrest,
it broke my dads’ spirit. He told me of his grand adventures here
on Earth, which fascinated me. I wanted to have an adventure on
Earth too when I grew up, so here I am, about to attack a bunch of
crazy humans. Are you ready for battle, Saladin?”

“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. If the two of
us survive, do you want to meet on the Mars Base and reminisce
about old times?”

“Sure, sounds like fun. Well, good luck with
your men and their attempt to wipe us out.” they shook hands and
went back to their camps.

Saladin and Khan pumped up their men into
being full of fury before issuing the order to attack; both sides
were ready to kill without mercy. An hour later, the Muslims
attacked the Mongols with a fierceness that even Saladin was
surprised with. The Mongols fought back with equal ferocity, both
sides hacking off arms, legs, and even heads from the men they were
fighting against. The battle went back and forth, since there were
four hundred and fifty thousand men fighting. The Muslims kept
attacking in wave after wave, fighting tooth and nail to kill these
Mongol infidels, but they were no match for the Mongols. Twelve
hours later, most of Saladin’s warriors were dead, while the few
who remained would run away to fight again some other day. The
countryside was littered with limbs, heads, limbless and headless
torsos, and the countryside seemed to be soaked with blood. The
Mongols, of those who had survived the battle, sacked and looted
Baghdad, then burned it to the ground. They then turned north,
towards the Russian Empire to see what riches that land held.
Saladin and Genghis met weeks later on Mars, and reminisced about
old times, talked politics, and discussed their family lives.

A few years later, Genghis Khan re-invented
himself and used his own name, Marco Polo. He went to Europe, from
China, using the Silk Road route; he wanted to convince the
Europeans that China still existed, especially since he tried so
hard in the past to help destroy some of it. This being the Dark
Ages in Europe, there had been no official contact with China since
before the fall of the Roman Empire. Polo went to Rome to show the
people in charge, which would be the Roman Church, what kind of
products China produced so a trade route could be officially
re-opened between Europe and Asia. Polo was ushered in to see the
Pope, who seemed to be issuing orders to some priests and soldiers
about keeping the Germanies from thumbing their collective noses at
the Church.

After twenty minutes of berating his priests
and soldiers, the Pope noticed Polo, dismissed the priests and
soldiers, and asked, “Welcome, my son, what can I help you
with?”

Polo, who had no use for this Church version
of Christianity, responded with, “I don’t think you can help me
with anything. However, I believe I can help you establish ties
with China and re-establish an official trade route with them. This
could possibly help Europe come out of this Dark Age it finds
itself in.”

“Now, why would I want to trade with
heathens? Europe is fine under my leadership, why would I want
anything to change? Are you sure you don’t need my blessings or
confess some sin you’re holding in?”

“If I did need to confess a sin, I would go
directly in prayer to God, not use some egomaniacal, power hungry,
sinful human to intercede for me. Since it’s obvious you don’t want
your people to become educated and literate, which would cause them
to question your authority, we’re finished here. Thank you for your
time, sir.” Polo left in disgust, and then decided to leave Earth
for good, hoping someday Earth would not have such a backward
people.

In the meantime, a team of archeologists
returned to Terra to discuss what they found on Earth. Speaking in
front of an assembly full of scientists, historians, archeologists,
and a few representatives of the government, the head of the team,
Tom Lomanco, who was the great, great grandson of the first Terran
to return to Earth, began speaking, “Years ago, we were sent to
study Earth’s history post-flood. We found that the way Earth is
now, as far as having seven continents are concerned, came into
being around the time the waters apparently receded, some of which
froze, putting Earth into an ice age, which they are still going
through to some degree. The continents separated between the time
we left and returned. We’ve also heard some rumors of a lost
continent with lost humans, that some on Earth have been referring
to as Atlantis, so we naturally assumed those rumors refer to the
original Terrans who left Earth all those years ago.

“So we started investigating the lost
continent theory, going also to the original coordinates the
ancestors had recorded as their homeland. The coordinates brought
us to the middle of the Pacific Ocean, where there are no islands
or major landforms anywhere in sight. Most of the rumors have this
lost continent as being either in the Indian Ocean or off of the
coast of Africa in the Atlantic, but we know that’s not the case.
With continental drift, it was assumed that our former land may
have merged with Asia or broke up into tinier islands scattered all
over the ocean, so we called for a detailed orbital scan of Earth’s
surface. Once the scan was complete, our team was sent the report
of what the scan contained, and we found that a city is most
definitely at the bottom of the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean.
Now, our ancestors lived on a two hundred square mile island, most
of which was city, so we’re certain that it is the so-called lost
continent. I’m calling for a deep-sea expedition to investigate
what we can about what the last days were like for those left
behind. Now, as for our other findings, there is much to
discuss.”

Lomanco went on to describe what his team
discovered on the rest of Earth and its history of civilization.
The Terran Science Academy authorized an expedition to the sunken
Terra City; they were to find out what happened to the rest of the
left behind Terrans and recover anything of value. A deep ocean
submarine was shipped to Earth, and placed in the waters above the
lost city. The Terrans made sure none of the nearer islands with
inhabitants, who were thousands of miles away, had boats traveling
in their direction; otherwise this plan would not work. The Terrans
also built a portable science lab on the water to process any
findings by the submarine and then relay the information to the
science community as a whole.

The Terrans spent over a year cataloging
everything on the bottom of the ocean, and brought up equipment and
computers from the sunken city that the Terrans had used to build
their space program and the generation starship. When they
discovered that, in spite of being underwater all those centuries,
the computers still worked, the Terrans were ecstatic. Once
everything dried out, computer technicians accessed the data stored
on the hard drives, then uploaded and stored that data to Terra’s
massive supercomputer, so all data could be analyzed. According to
the Terrans of ancient Earth who made entries into their computers,
a massive wave that could be seen for miles, approached Terra City
as the rains began to fall and as the last rocket was blasting off.
The wave hit with massive force according to data recorded by
instruments in Terra City and killed the remaining inhabitants
instantly. A video, found a few months later by recovery teams,
showed the panic of the Terrans who witnessed the wave, and for a
short time, recorded the devastation to the city. The recovery
teams submitted their findings to the government, who informed the
people of Terra about what was found. To make sure humans never
found Terra City, the Terrans nuked the site, effectively
destroying what was left of Terra’s original history on Earth.
Someday, if Earth ever developed the means to travel underwater,
the only remnant left would be odd radiation readings where none
was supposed to be.

A few years later, a renaissance occurred in
Europe, people were becoming interested in art, music, and
exploring the world around them. Some Terrans began pushing certain
people along to get them to make great discoveries; one of the
humans they decided to help was Michelangelo, who was an artist
employed by the Roman Church. Michelangelo seemed interested in a
technology never before seen by the current inhabitants of Earth,
flying machines. His ideas, for the time, were really radical and
put him on the verge of being declared a heretic by the Church.
Michelangelo was constantly drawing plans for his machines, even as
he was painting the Sistine Chapel, which drew the attention of a
Terran who admired the painting that was in progress. He was
Galileo
Galilei, who was a prominent astronomer on
Terra and soon to be on Earth.

Galileo, when he had arrived
on Earth ten years before, set about establishing and making his
name known so the humans in power would listen to him. Galileo kept
insisting to the Earth authorities that the planet revolved around
the sun, not everything in the universe revolves around the Earth;
which he thought was just as ridiculous as claiming Earth was flat.
He even let priests, kings, dukes, and anyone else in power look
into his crude, Earth-made telescopes to prove what they claimed
was false theories. While he was dealing with these annoying
politicians, Galileo came across Michelangelo’s work on the
mechanics of flying machines, which showed a lot of progress for
such a primitive. Michelangelo was working on a glider when Galileo
showed up in his workshop, so an annoyed Michelangelo asked, “Can I
help you?”

“Good afternoon, Michelangelo. I’m
here because I believe I can help you with your attempts at flying.
What do you require to move it along?”

“What do I require, you ask? I
require a patron who will supply the means for me to build a
contraption such as the one I have drawn. Do you have the means,
sir?”

“Yes, indeed I do. I can supply you
with whatever materials you require, money is no object. However,
are you nearly finished with the Sistine Chapel painting?” inquired
Galileo.

“I am almost done, no thanks to
those idiots at the Vatican. They kept insisting that they have a
say in how I drew and painted the masterpiece. I told them that I
would not do it unless I had complete control, even if they
threatened me with ex-communication and then labeled me as a
heretic. They relented, and now I’m touching up what’s left; it
should be finished in a few days.” boasted Michelangelo.

“
I understand the trouble
you’re going through, I have had problems myself. Well,
Michelangelo, once you’re finished, please let me know through the
various channels of communication and we’ll start on the next
project.”

A week later, Michelangelo finished
his Sistine Chapel masterpiece to much fanfare by the Church. The
Pope praised Michelangelo as a great servant of God, and insisted
that the artist create something else, a statue to King David.
Michelangelo said he would work on the drawings for the statue, but
he had another project he promised to start and wanted to get it
done right away. A messenger was sent to Galileo to inform him that
Michelangelo was ready to begin, and they met two hours later. They
sat down to talk in Michelangelo’s workshop, and Galileo asked,
“What kind of materials do you need to construct this glider?”

“I need canvas for the wings and wood for the
supports. I was thinking of iron for the harness area so I can fly
it and direct the glider to where it should go. Here, I’ll show you
my plans,” Michelangelo laid out his plans for the glider on a
table and showed Galileo how he wanted to construct the glider;
Michelangelo then asked, “do you think this will work?”

“We won’t know until we try, and the only way
to know is to build it. Let’s get to work.”