The Blue People of Cloud Planet (28 page)

An Enterprising Race

Seren touched Scott’s arm and the familiar tingle shot through his body. Her eyes sparkled,

>> we must warm > drink > and eat >>

He had been so absorbed by the revelations of the dark pyramid that more than 2 hours had flown past. The cold atmosphere had chilled him to the bone and his fingers felt numb. He looked at Seren and was shocked by the sight of her blue body. She shook and laboured stiffly towards the exit with her head inclined.

Slowly the black door lowered into the floor and sunlight streamed through the opening. They stumbled into the midday heat and humidity and headed straight for the huge central pyramid with its welcoming hot pools where they enjoyed refreshing drinks and much-needed food.

When they returned to the dark pyramid Scott chose a crystal from further up the rows and activated it. He judged that they must be near the end of the valley where the mountains joined the vast central plain.

Again they were standing on the bank where the river had widened into a large lake, 200 metres across and further broadening to more than 400 metres in the distance where a red wall crossed the whole width. On either side, the forested mountains soared up and disappeared into the white clouds and then fell away to form precipitous cliffs.

Scott looked back down the valley where huge waterfalls crashed from either side into the river. He knew that something was different.

‘It’s flowing the other way!’ he said, surprised, ‘towards the equator, how bizarre!  There must be a dam further downstream.’ 

‘In fact there is a second dam wall 10 kilometres away which is 4 metres higher than the wide wall at the head of the valley. This creates the reverse flow necessary to feed the canals, dwellings and irrigation channels on the huge red plain. The design of the 50 metre high by 120 metre wide dam is quite extraordinary and is a further measure of the ingenuity of the Serenites. The more technically-minded readers may wish to ponder how they achieve this using only clay bricks and wooden blocks.’

But now Scott’s gaze was drawn to the activity on the far bank and the slope leading up to the tree line where hordes of Blue People formed a living triangle.

The base was made up of about 10 female blue workers who stood in the shallows of the river. Each side was composed of over 100 blue females and stretched up the slope in an almost perfect isosceles triangle. Large ‘bags’ were being passed from one to another in a clockwise direction giving the impression of a rotating triangle.

‘They’re filling the bags with river water and passing them up the slope.’ Scott said intrigued, ‘And then they’re being emptied over the base of that huge tree. Why is it steaming?’

He saw two blond Serenites, males he thought from this distance, who wielded thin light beams directly at the bottom of the trunk. Comparing their size against the size of the tree, he gauged that it was more than 3 metres in diameter and over 100 metres tall. However, its canopy only occupied the top 5 metres.

The two Serenities now moved to the other side of the tree and the point of the triangle followed them. The steam lifted and Scott saw that a large wedge had been cut almost half way through the base of the trunk. Now the lasers and water were directed at the opposite side to the wedge and steam rose again in clouds.

Scott turned to Seren in comprehension and said, ‘They have to prevent the tree from catching fire from the lasers by dowsing it with water,’ but she did not understand all of these words.

After a while the Serenites turned off their beams, then the apex of the triangle of blue workers moved away and the whole group stopped rotating.

Imperceptibly at first and then with growing speed, the canopy of the huge tree started moving across the slope and an audible ‘craaack’ rang out over the waters of the lake. The tree toppled and crashed to the ground where it was held in place by its wide canopy. Black wedges were immediately jammed in place along the length of the trunk to stabilise it.

The canopy of large leaves was stripped from the tree and passed down the right side of the triangle of workers. The leaves were loaded into black boats which paddled away across the lake. The tip of the triangle reformed towards the bare branches which were severed by the two Serenites using their light shafts. Now only the 100 metre trunk remained and the workers removed all but the outermost wedges.

When the final two restraints were swivelled away the trunk began to roll, slowly at first, and then it gathered speed as it lumbered down the slope. It crashed into the lake sending a wall of water and spray into the air. When the resultant waves had subsided, six boats rowed to the monster floating trunk and the blue workers shepherded it across the lake towards the wall.

‘Well!’ Scott cried, ‘I’ve just witnessed the perfect felling of a mammoth tree and its efficient despatch into the lake below – how incredibly clever.’

The trunk slowly made its way diagonally towards the head of the lake. Distance vision was limited so in order to get a better view they moved up to the ledge. They were now looking down river at the familiar six dwellings on the left bank, two of which contained a pyramid dwelling. They walked around to the other side of the dark pyramid and looked out across the lake from a higher perspective.

Scott gasped, Seren’s eyes widened. Now they could see clearly that the red wall was in fact a huge dam with a central gap. Perfectly in line with this opening a wide canal ran arrow straight. It seemed to travel endlessly through the red clay of a massive plain where it merged with the azure blue sky. Near the dam was the first of the dwellings on the plain with its light shafts from the two walls nearest the canal streaking skywards. In the distance Scott could make out further beams of light, the second faint – but that was 100 kilometres away.

Flanking either side of the canal was the most intricate patchwork of endless green triangles, their colour contrasting with the brilliant red of the plain. The whole area buzzed with activity as multitudes of Blue People farmed the plantations whilst black boats ferried the produce up and down the canal.

‘What a sight, what a wonderful spectacle.’ Scott said and he hoped that his palm top had accurately recorded this hologram of the history of the Blue People of Cloud Planet.

 ‘Back then it was truly a beautiful Planet.’

>> yes > we lived in paradise > but what befell our people >>

Scott’s attention returned to the floating trunk as it was steered towards a series of red clay walled pens at the top of the dam wall. It reminded him of a submarine base with elongated narrow docks for the giant underwater ships. The trunk was manoeuvred into one of the enclosures and eventually stopped with its nearest end under a clay bridge.

 Almost immediately, dozens of blue workers jumped onto the floating log and as one they started revolving the tree in the water. Then a Serenite male moved to the bridge and pulled back a black box. Even at a distance, Scott could clearly see the glint of the diamond above and the pencil line of the laser that shot directly down onto the revolving trunk. Clouds of steam rose from the log as the lake water cooled it and few minutes later the end, about one third of a metre thick, fell off and floated away.

After the laser was shut off, the log was moved out and repositioned in the pen but with its uncut end under the bridge. The process was repeated so that both ends were cut square.

‘Fascinating!’

Now the trunk was moved to another holding bay which was barely wide enough to contain it. At the closed end blue workers gathered armed with black poles. A Serenite male pulled back the black box on this bridge igniting the laser which was located near the side of the dock and directed down into the lake sending up a cloud of steam. The trunk was pushed forward using the black poles to maintain uniform speed and keep it upright. Additional workers formed a triangle of water bearers and constantly doused the tree at the cutting point.

As the tree left the pen, boats positioned themselves on either side in order to hold the slice in place. Finally the trunk cleared the end of the pen and the laser was shut off. The boats moved away and the approximately 100 metre sliver of wood toppled into the lake. Now the trunk rotated until its perfectly flat cut side was uppermost.

Much to Scott’s astonishment the process was repeated a further three times resulting in a 100 metre long and nearly 3 metre perfectly square tree trunk. This was steered towards a huge wide harbour and joined many differently sized but perfectly cut trunks.

‘Astonishing!’

He turned to Seren, who, as ever, had her head inclined as she described the events to her leader,

‘You Serenites and your blue workers are extremely remarkable people!’

>> we were > but we are not now > we lost nearly all our males > we lost our skills > we never knew about our past > but you have shown us > our leader wants you to join him > to celebrate in the large pyramid >>

Scott sensed Seren’s excitement and, despite the cold, could not resist her powers as she pulled him down to the ground as the holographic scene played out around them. He realised that his feelings towards her were changing. He was excited by her presence and felt less guilty after their love-making.

They sat with the silver-haired leader and his elders on the raised plinth in the centre of the huge triangular amphitheatre. Late afternoon sunshine streamed through the crystals creating shafts of light which danced across the internal structures and the massive sculptures. Golden shafts of light bounced off the plaque towards the front of the pyramid.

The huge dwelling was crammed with Blue People apart from the floor of the central triangle and tiered ledges which were empty.

Twenty blue females were now in front of the huge group of drums and beside each stood a young Serenite female. The two females stationed at the smallest drums on each side began pounding which produced a deep off-beat sound similar to the call for farming.

After a short time, five columns of female workers came through the wide door into the pyramid. Scott thought they looked like an army of Zulu warriors. They stamped on the ground and smacked together short wooden shafts as they jigged across the floor and made their way into the amphitheatre. Finally, all 300 females assembled on the lower floor in front of their leader, Hotenka. They continued to dance in perfect concentric triangles which moved in opposite directions.

Seren and Scott sat entranced from their perfect viewing position which overlooked the floor. Although they had experienced these dance rituals before, the sheer scale and number of participants heightened the performance. In particular, the heavy drum beat interspersed with the high-pitched note of the reeds which culminated in a cacophony of sound that seemed to rock the whole pyramid – and then silence. This was the ultimate spectacle.

Then, in unison, the young Serenite dancers slowly turned towards the central plinth and slowly bowed in homage to their leader.

Hotenka stood, raised his arms aloft and all the Blue People, including Scott, responded in the same manner. The complete silence in the huge pyramid was filled with hope and expectation. Scott’s head hurt as he received this powerful feeling and he looked at Seren who said,

>> keep showing us our past > we need to understand what happened to our people > then you must help us > and save our world >>