This is the final chapter of The Brockton Exodus. If you're just tuning in, consider starting with part 1. If I write a sequel, I may use also this piece as the first chapter of that work.
Part 41
The planet Lindrue was not unlike the planet Earth. It had similar landmasses and oceans and atmosphere. Seeded by stardust, life on Lindrue evolved along similar lines as it had on Earth. Eventually, humans evolved. The Lindrue people multiplied and create a complex society. A society that wasn't sustainable.
The Lindrue population peaked at ten billion about seven hundred years ago. Then a series of unfortunate events reduced the viable population to half a billion over the course of two centuries. Environmental disasters, military conflicts, and social unrest were all partly responsible for the population decline. But its primary cause was medical. Declining fertility had left most Lindrue unable to reproduce.
The Lindrue people were on track to disappear completely when a benevolent alien race intervened. Motherlings, they were called, from the planet Mother. These Motherlings gave the Lindrue the technology they needed to end their reproduction crisis. All they asked for in return was a detailed set of planetary coordinates.
With the right coordinates, a Motherling observation device could observe anything anywhere. These devices were also capable of allowing matter to pass between any two points in the universe, though this consumed immense amounts of energy. Had the Motherlings been interested in conquest, they could have subjugated the Lindrue easily. But observation was the limit of their interest, and they didn't maintain contact after trading their tech for Lindrue's observation coordinates.
It took another two hundred years for Lindrue scientists to build a functional observation device from plans the Motherlings had given them. With this, using Motherling coordinates, they observed the planet Mother and also the planet Earth. The scientists shared their findings with their sponsors, who spread the information throughout the upper class. More observation devices were made and put to use. Some of those that observed Earth formed strong opinions about the alien planet.
While the Lindrue were universally afraid of the Motherlings, there was no consensus on the Earthlings. Some viewed them as little more than animals, others saw them as children playing at civilization, and others still considered them less evolved equals. More controversially, there were many among the wealthy families that hoped to escape the wastes of Lindrue by colonizing Earth.
The energy required to allow even a single person to pass through an observation device's aperture was massive. It was more than the planet's largest hydroelectric dam produced in a month. Colonization wasn't feasible with terrestrial power sources, so the wealthy families eventually built a ship that could plug an observation device directly into a star. This ship arrived to Earth in 1898, carrying hundreds of colonists.
Having carefully observed their destination, the colonists set their ship undetected in the California desert. There, they built a town, using the place as a base of operations while they established Earthling identities. A few years later, when they left, they removed all trace of the town, leaving lingering questions in the minds of travelers who recalled a bustling little village that no longer existed.
The Lindrue colonists scattered to the power centers of the world. Their plan was to make the Earthlings their servants. To this end, they infiltrated the sciences and intermarried with elite families. More subtly, they promoted radical behaviorism and other theories that made Earthlings easier to manipulate. On the standard 1-10 Earthling attractiveness scale, most Lindrue were in the 11-14 range. For this reason alone, many Earthlings were eager to serve them. By the dawn of the 21st century, the colonists controlled a vast empire reaching into a wide variety of industries, and they'd largely succeeded in making the people of Earth into their compliant and unwitting subjects.
Both Octex and Pipix had been born on Earth to Lindrue parents who had arranged their pairing. Both were in their thirties but appeared much younger. They, like all Lindrue couples, had territory that they were responsible for. Whenever something had to be done in Lower Manhattan, they were obliged to do it.
Most of their orders were mundane. There was lots of banking and legal stuff. Meeting with important people in various settings. Every so often, they'd be ordered to blackmail someone, or engage in clandestine activities. This was never ethically objectionable, because they viewed the Earthlings as a lesser species.
On rare occasions, Octex and Pipix were ordered to do something that was genuinely important. Recently, a Motherling program had been found operating on Earth. The mere thought of this terrified the colonists, yet they knew they had to act, to find out if their colony was in danger. So they devised a plan to capture a Motherling on Earth and tell him a fiction designed to confuse and intimidate.
Pipix rented a pay-by-the-hour office in Koreatown while Octex arranged to have security contractors kidnap the Motherling and deliver him to their meeting. Mork was the Motherling's name, living in exile on Earth under the alias Anton Windle. The meeting didn't go exactly as planned, but neither was it altogether unproductive. Mork had convinced them that the Motherlings weren't concerned with Lindrue affairs, though they were resettling some Earthlings on the planet Mother.
After the meeting, Octex and Pipix went to a nearby bar to decompress.
"The more I replay it in my head, the stupider it sounds," said Octex. "Mork surely saw through our deception."
"It wasn't even a logical deception," said Pipix. "I can't believe they made us say that stuff. Mork probably thinks we're idiots."
"That could work in our favor," said Octex.
"Maybe that was the whole point," said Pipix. "Maybe it makes us uninteresting."
"We shouldn't presume to know the mind of a Motherling," said Octex. "The thought is just as preposterous as the idea of an Earthling knowing a Lindrue mind."
"True," said Pipix. "But don't most Motherlings spend all of their time eating fruit and observing each other?"
"And observing the Earthlings," said Octex. "Observing us. Do you think Mork has an observation device here on Earth?"
"We should find out," said Pipix. "If he does, another meeting might be in order. A meeting without oversight."
"I get you," said Octex. "Make friends with him on our own initiative."
"He could be observing us right now," said Pipix.
"Anyone with a device could be observing us," said Octex. "That doesn't mean we're worth paying attention to."
"What would you observe, if you had a device?" asked Pipix. "I'd observe our leaders here. See if they really have a plan or if they're just drunk on power, improvising while they drown in decadence."
"Are you certain that's a question you want answered?" asked Octex.
(Feature image from Pixabay.)
Read my novels:
- Small Gods of Time Travel is available as a web book on IPFS.
- The Paradise Anomaly is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
- Psychic Avalanche is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
- One Man Embassy is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
- Flying Saucer Shenanigans is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
- Rainbow Lullaby is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
- The Ostermann Method is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
- Blue Dragon Mississippi is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
See my NFTs:
- Small Gods of Time Travel is a 41 piece Tezos NFT collection on Objkt that goes with my book by the same name.
- History and the Machine is a 20 piece Tezos NFT collection on Objkt based on my series of oil paintings of interesting people from history.
- Artifacts of Mind Control is a 15 piece Tezos NFT collection on Objkt based on declassified CIA documents from the MKULTRA program.