Beyond the Farthest Star: Chapter 19

Amy Stryker was sitting on a small ledge on the side of a sheer granite cliff. The top of the cliff was hundreds of feet above her, and a thousand feet below was a grassy plain that stretched out to the horizon. The only way to reach the outcropping on which she sat was by flying. She liked it there because it provided an outstanding view of the surrounding area, while keeping her well out of reach of the planet’s natives.

Behind the cliff was a range of rugged, inhospitable mountains. Very few living creatures could be found there, so she paid the area little attention. Amy was much more focused on what was hidden just beyond the horizon. As far as she could see there was a great grassy plain, which stretched from the eastern sky to the west. A small herd of buffalo grazed in the field, but other than that the grassland was empty. But beyond the grassland, just out of sight, was a great forest. Amy could not see it with her eyes, but her nanites allowed her to walk between the ancient trees without leaving her sanctuary in the cleft. The girl had spent a lot of time in that forest during the past few weeks, looking for signs of life – but finding only madness instead.

Yet, despite this, she was not as disappointed as she had been when she first set foot on 73rd-century Mars. This was Amy’s first trip to Earth – a place she had always wanted to see, but never thought she would be able to visit. Being able to set foot on the original home of mankind was a tremendous thrill for her. She was pleased to see that the world was not very different from what she had imagined: it was a beautiful jewel with vast oceans, blue skies, ancient forests, and bountiful plains. It was a world that was full of life – plant life, animal life, and even people. Her own world had become a corpse, but Earth had not suffered that same fate. This world was faced with a very different challenge: it had gone mad.

It must have been the radiation, Amy thought. I’m sure most of the contamination disappeared a long time ago, but I still see traces of deadly particles all over the place. I can only imagine what things must have been like thousands of years ago! The poisons I’m seeing now would have been a lot stronger and found in much larger amounts. I guess the Emperor lost his mind after the Wall went up and released some bomb that destroyed the cities but left the plants and animals alone. Or maybe he destroyed everything, and only the environment was able to recover. I guess when everyone’s mind has been poisoned you’re not going to be doing much engineering.

The key problem is that the madness apparently stems from some kind of genetic damage. There’s something wrong with them that has made them go crazy. The natives that live in the forests have no concept of reality. They have eyes, but they don’t seem to be able to understand what they’re seeing. I think their minds are broken – they’re seeing things that aren’t there, or maybe their brain is distorting what they see. I’m no doctor, but their genetic structure is in terrible shape and their brains are extensively damaged. It’s no wonder these people are so violent and unstable! They’re all trapped inside some sort of hallucinogenic illusion. It may be impossible for them to tell what’s real and what is a nightmare. The only ones who don’t seem to be affected is that group that lives in the mountains. But I’d hardly call them upstanding citizens! I think they’ve just gone crazy in a different way.

Amy had been on Earth for a week before she even knew that they existed. She had been remotely observing a group of natives who had found an ancient metal artifact in a cave. The artifact itself was worthless – it was a pile of tarnished metal and broken parts. At one time it had been a gear assembly, but now it was little more than trash. The natives, however, were excited about their find and eagerly dragged it out of the cave. They were dancing around it, hooting wildly, when a series of shots suddenly rang out. In seconds all eight natives were gunned down. When they were dead a group of three people emerged from the forest and seized the artifact. The men were wearing heavy armor and were equipped with powerful rifles. After securing their prize they turned around and hiked back into the mountains.

That was when Amy deployed a network of nanites into the planet’s atmosphere. Once she had saturated the planet she connected to the network and performed a detailed analysis of the planet’s human population. Amy eventually discovered that, although the whole world had descended into madness, there was one enclave of sanity left. Deep within the impenetrable mountains that were located behind her cleft was a fortress that was home to about twenty thousand people. Unlike the natives in the plains, these people were sane. They lived a simple, almost monastic life within the walls of their giant stone castle, and spent much of their time either reading ancient books or vainly attempting to recreate technology that had been lost long ago.

Amy took an instant dislike to them and refused to contact them. They didn’t have to shoot those people in the forest, she thought angrily. They could easily have used knockout darts to put them to sleep, or even just waited for the natives to lose interest in their prize. The natives’ attention spans are so short, and their insanity is so great, that it wouldn’t have been long before they abandoned that useless bit of garbage and moved on to something else. But instead those hunters just killed them. They call themselves the Children of Light, but they know nothing of light. They are proud, arrogant people who have lost all compassion. They think they’re vastly superior to the natives, yet both groups are human. They condemn the natives for being violent, but they don’t hesitate to slaughter people by the hundreds if the forest-dwellers have something that they want.

They think the natives are mutants, but the truth is they are mutants as well. Centuries of inbreeding has destroyed their DNA and turned them into small, diseased people with short lifespans. Their genetic code is so corrupt that conception is almost impossible, and children rarely live past infancy. Two hundred years from now the ‘savages’ in the plains will still be around, but the savages in the mountains will all be dead.

Amy spent weeks studying the natives’ physiology in an attempt to find a way to help them, but in the end she was defeated. The nanites had given her a tremendous grasp of physics but she knew little of biology. If only the Artilect was still here, she thought sadly. I am sure he could do something for these poor people. I have so much power, and yet there is nothing I can do! The Children of Light are certainly not going to help me; they’re too busy slaughtering them. I just wish I knew what to do. My nanites are very smart, but this is something they’ve never seen before and I just don’t know how to get them to come up with a cure. I can’t find a way to reach inside the natives’ mind and fix the parts that are broken.

There is no way I can do this on my own, she reluctantly admitted. I am going to need the Sentinel’s help. If there’s anyone left who can find a cure for this disease then it’s got to be him. But even if he can cure them, these people will still need guides – someone to show them how to live as human beings again. The people in the mountains are certainly not going to help with that. I think Monroe Araiza would help, but the rest would oppose him. But maybe I can find people on Mars who would lend a hand – if, that is, I can shake them out of their self-centered apathy.

Amy took one final look around the area. The sun was beginning to set but there was still an hour of daylight left. Around her was peace and tranquility, but she knew that was only an illusion. The cliff on which she was resting had been named Falcon Ridge by the people who lived in the castle. According to legend there was once a nest of falcons that had lived on Amy’s cleft. They thrived there for years until hunters from the castle came and killed them, rejoicing at the opportunity to snare such a rare prize. It took them a century to realize that there were no more falcons, and the majestic birds they had killed would not be coming back. But by that time it was too late.

I just hope it isn’t too late for me to help, Amy thought. There are millions of broken people in this world, and they desperately need someone to help them. They might be so far gone that no one can help them, but maybe it’s not too late. Maybe I can bring the Sentinel here and find a cure for them. But it won’t do much good to cure them if there’s no one around to show them the path. Before I cure them I need to have guides ready to help them, and that means I need to help Miles. Then I need to figure out what to do with Xanthe, and persuade the Sentinel to come help me here. Then – well, then I guess I’ll be done.

Amy sighed. I guess it’s time to go back to Mars, then. It’s time to bring my homeworld back to life.