The Tree of Life Signal

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. That was alright with me. I think I had heard enough screams in the last five years for a lifetime. The last screams I heard were from my neighbors, as their twins were swept from their arms during the nuclear storm. The bomb was designed to destroy our homes and underground shelters. We didn’t stand a chance. We were living in a time of scientific advancement no other species had experienced on our planet, but we weren’t ready for it. Five years before I was born, our civilization uncovered the powers of the microverse and macroverse, reaching our peak of ingenuity. But something else happened that year that would lead to the end of our civilization just twenty years later. The beginning of the end and the beginning of the beginning. That is how life in our Universe works. One ending leads to another beginning.

My dad was hoping the trip to the new planet would only take us about half a year. A year based on our planet’s orbit. Who knows what time will exist in this new place. I have trouble looking out in space seeing our home as it grows smaller and smaller. It’s turned a bright yellow-green color I have never seen in the atmosphere. Maybe a warning to other civilizations hoping to make contact, “Danger: Toxic Gas, Noxious Planet, Keep Going.” I try to stay focused on seeing our potential new home planet in the front of the ship with my father and the other elders. There were about 1500 of us left. That’s it. Out of a planet of billions of people. The odds are too much for me to think about. We are taking three military ships with 500 of us aboard each one. It’s a mixture of soldiers, politicians, the privileged, and regular civilians. I guess myself and my family fall under privileged, political family. My father was the Lead General for our State and one of the great military minds of The War. Our people had fared better than most of the other states thanks mostly to my father’s preparedness and foresight. He understood the players and egos involved in The War. Our State had had the most survivors left after the Great Bomb until that day almost half a year ago. We lost all but 300 of our citizens the day my neighbors’ children were killed.

“Shang!” my father exclaims as he sees me entering the control room, “Come see. This is the closest image we’ve had of the new planet.”

I move closer to the control panel in the center of the room as my dad displays the images on the wall in front of me. The planet from far away twinkled like a very blue star and as the image zoomed in, I could see that this was due to the planet being mostly water. Almost all water.

“Is there enough habitable land for us?” I asked my father, “And is that good water like we used to have at home? And what if the people living there don’t want us there?”

My dad laughed, “Of course you would have those kinds of questions, Shang, always the little scientist. Let me introduce you to Sila, our local scientist. She worked at the State Institute of Science and is one of the architects of our Preparedness Plan.”

Sila came over to introduce herself. She was very tall and slender, even for our race of people. She had to hunch slightly to greet me.

“Hi, Sila, I actually completed my studies in physics with a sub-specialty in metaphysics, though my dad insists on calling me ‘little scientist’,” I explained to her.

“Wow, metaphysics, that’s a pretty new field. A little difficult to prove the existence of subtle energies, huh,” she said.

“Yea, I’ve always been a little sensitive to subtle energies and I was hoping to prove they’re existence is measurable in my first project at the State University.” My dad rolled his eyes as he never believed in my abilities to feel these energies. My mom always did. She could feel them too, but she never told my dad and left me to fend for myself against his skepticism.

“Well, I can’t help you with the subtle energies, but I can tell you this planet’s water is safe and filled with life. There is a small civilization of people on the land mass we are targeting. Your father says they sent out the Tree of Life signal a year ago.”

“Yes, they have,” my father took it from there,” The signal was seen by our scientist at the State Science Institute and it was still there the day we left. I am hoping this is a Universal signal that is welcoming of any life to the planet. We may just be the luckiest survivors of any apocalypse in this Universe.”

“But you don’t actually know anything about the people?” I inquired,” Like you haven’t had contact with any of their leadership or elders?”

“In recent history,” my dad explained, “Civilizations only sent the Tree of Life symbol if they were ready to receive new life onto their planet. This signal was open and not locked. Hostile planets do not send out the Tree of Life signal, let alone an unlocked signal. Myself and Yaga will land first in a life vessel and meet with the leaders of the civilization. If they are violent, we have a decision to make. We may retreat and find another planet. Or if their civilization is not as advanced as ours, we can destroy them and take over their planet.”

“But that would violate the Codes of the Interstellar Alliance!” I said, my eyes widening. I knew we were a desperate people, but my dad had raised me on the Codes and importance of their place in keeping peace in our Galaxy.

“Maybe now is time to go back to your quarters and study your subtle energies, Shang,” Lieutenant Zimu said, walking up from behind my dad. “Our responsibility as the male leaders of our society is to make sure the remnants we have left carry on our civilization. If not on our home planet, then in a new home. At all costs.”

I realized no one in this room was going to agree with me so I headed back to my quarters as the lieutenant advised. I always felt awful around him anyway, speaking of subtle energies. He gave me a stomachache. I immediately felt better as I moved away from his energy and into the corridors of the mothership. My head and body were a little clearer when I got to my quarters. I couldn’t wrap my thoughts around violating the Codes, but also wanting to salvage my people and our civilization. I mean what would we have gained if no new planet will take us and we live forever on ships searching for a new home? Or worse, we end up dying on these ships and lose millions of years of evolution and civilization. All for naught.

“Shang!!” my friend Didi banged on my door, just as I had reached some sort of peace,”Shang!!”

I got up to get the door, “Ok! What?!” I said as she burst through the threshold. I noticed the other people staring. Didi and her family weren’t from our State of Eui, they were from one state over, the State of Eben. Their State had remained neutral the longest during The War, though my dad would argue they were not since they let the other side use their roads and canals for travel and shipments. They let both sides use their airspace and paid the price when the other side bombed the Eastern part of their State and called their casualties “collateral” when the Eben people demanded reparations. Lieutenant Zimu convinced them to join our side and they were part of the reason, I believe, we are the only representatives left of our civilization. Other Eui people still did not trust them though and you could sometimes feel the tension on our ship. Our ship housed the people of the States of Eui and Eben, the second ship housed the people of the States of Kora, and the third ship housed the ruling people of the Capitol State, Keba.

“Quit being so obnoxious, Didi,” I scolded as we walked to my desk,” People here aren’t used to your kind.”

“My kind? Are you kidding?” Didi turned towards me, “When we land on that planet, they won’t see us as Eui or Keban or Eben. We’ll be the people from next door who destroyed our own planet, so now let us live on yours. Promise we won’t do the same again.”

She waved her arms as she talked. I loved Didi’s expressiveness and sarcasm. People from Eben always communicated in a folksy, but intelligent and sometimes witty way. In stark contrast to the flat, to-the-point style of my father’s and people’s communication in Eui.

“Look what I got from Uzo.” She said opening up her hand to the wall to show me the images of the new planet Uzo had stored in her suit. Uzo was an Admiral in the Eui military and had caught the eye of Didi early on in the trip to their new home. The images were similar to that which my father had shown me, but these kept going. Down to the land mass, down to the ground showing the images of the actual people that lived on this new planet. They were brown-skinned. Probably from their planet being so close to the Sun. I assumed it was sort of a protection from the light and was fascinated by it. I started to worry about my people and their pale skin. Would we be able to survive on this warm planet? Then I notice what the brown-skinned people were standing on. It’s the Tree of Life, the signal my father must be referring to as our open invitation to the planet.

“They created it almost a year ago. Almost half a year before we left.” Didi said as I stepped closer to get a better look at the image. All of the portals seemed occupied by people except for two. So two open invitations, using my dad’s logic. “Do you think they knew what they were doing, leaving those two open portals?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t trust it. But I’m not sure my father does either,” I said. I told Didi about his options for response if the people are violent.

“Well, we’re already on the Alliance’s bad side, what’s one more violation?” she asked.

“I’m afraid to find out,” I replied. There was only one civilization that had defied the Alliance more than once and their ships still float at the edges of our Galaxy. Their ships floating tombs to their civilization, holding their books, experiments, knowledge, and personal items silently past the furthest planets of our Galaxy. Our civilization had already violated the “No fission rule.” Civilizations, especially those in contact with the Alliance, were banned from using any form of fission. It was a practice that could lead to the destruction of Galaxies (and more) in the other parts of the Universe. Our leaders knew better and still chose to use the power of fission to destroy each other. I don’t think it will be long before they find out a group of us survived. Especially once they find we’ve landed on their project next door. I wondered what my dad’s plan would be then? How to deal with the Alliance? I’m sure he’s got something up his sleeve, but if he won’t share it with me, I doubt it’s ethical. I tell Didi about my father and Lieutenant Zimu’s plan if these people were violent.

“Do you think they would react that way whether the people were violent or not? We’re pretty desperate and I would not put anything past them,” Didi said.

“I don’t know,” I said, remembering back to The War when my father advised our elders to bomb the State of Kao because he thought they were planning to bomb our State. It turned out he was wrong. They were nowhere near building a nuclear bomb. We learned this after we excavated the western half of the State we had destroyed. The most populous State on our planet lost half of its people that day. I think everything changed with my father that day. My mother looked at him differently, I looked at him differently, he looked at himself differently. Our strategy changed from saving the planet’s civilization to saving our State only and maybe our allies. Our Elders had lost control and the military leaders like my father took over. The turning point to our planet’s destruction.

“Hi, Shang! You back?” I recognized the voice communicating into my room as our old neighbor, Weg,” I need your help.”

“Yea, I’m here Weg. With Didi. What do you need?” I asked.

“Your father wanted me to come up with some sort of protective clothing for the new planet. It’s so much closer to our sun, he’s worried about skin burns.” Weg said.

Didi and I exchange looks. So my father does know about the zoomed in pictures. Didi nods her head encouraging me to go, “Just see what they’ve come up with,” she whispers.

“OK, I’ll help,” I respond to Weg.

“Good, meet me in the ancillary lab in about ten minutes,” he says.

I say goodbye to Didi and walk towards the labs. There were three onboard. The main, large one and to smaller ancillary labs flanking the sides. You could get to the smaller ones through the hallway or just walking through the main lab. I walked through to see if I could get a glimpse of the priority project since protecting ourselves in the new environment was not it. I assumed the primary project would be centered around defense and weapons. I saw that I was correct as a giant laser gun was positioned above the table in the center. The scientists watched me as I crossed the lab, ”Meeting up with Weg,” I assured them.

“He just went into Lab B,” one responded and gestured to the door.

I walked through the door to find Weg standing in the center surrounded by multiple piles of different fabrics. He looked thin. I’ve only seen he and his wife, Deza, a couple times since we left that day, a week after they had lost their twins. Their only children. We all were going through a traumatic time, but I couldn’t imagine what they have been through and the guilt and hopelessness they feel. Weg worked at the State Science Institute in the engineering division which is why my dad thought he would be a good choice for this task. He also wanted to give him something else to think about, I’m sure. Sometimes my father has empathy for his peers.

“Hey, Weg,” I announced my presence, “What’ve you come up with?”

“Hey!” Weg smiled at me. Probably the first time I’ve seen him smile since we left. “Your father just assigned this task to me yesterday, so I haven’t gotten very far. What I have so far is this polyester, lightweight and reflective of UV rays. I also have a thicker nylon for harsher, windy environments. The last pile is materials for a catch-all suit that can be used as protection in any environment with internal climate control.”

“Well, that is a great start and better than anything I would’ve come up with,” I said, “I am definitely not an engineer.”

“Give yourself more credit, Shang,” Weg said,” If things were different, you’d be already on your way to proving your theory of subtle energies has some credibility. You’re intelligent with and open mind and heart. That is a rare on our planet. Or was, I guess.”

“Sometimes I think I would’ve made further strides if I was more like my father,” I said,” People respect you more when you aren’t emotional.”

“Sometimes they will respect that,” Weg said,” but they will be impressed with someone who is unabashedly in touch with their emotions every time.”

I smiled at Weg. He always had a way of making me feel like I wasn’t a complete outcast. “Thanks, Weg,” I said. “I seriously think I was born on the wrong planet.”

“So is this all the Universe’s way of correcting that error?”

“Maybe.” I said, laughing.

Just then the doors to the lab opened and my father appeared with Yaga. My stomach sank and got that sour feeling again.

“Oh good, you got Shang to help,” My dad said, happy to see I was doing something constructive for the mission, I’m sure. “What do you think, Shang?”

“These are excellent starting points. I think we have three temperatures covered along with protection from the new environment.” I replied.

Yaga walked around and investigated the sample materials while Weg explained the three different protective clothing options he had come up with. Yaga was never impressed with anything. “I would like to see the final samples soon, Weg. We need at least one hundred of each to start.”

Weg’s eyes widened along with mine. My dad turned to look at him, “I’m certain Weg can do that for us. He was always a reliable engineer at the Institute.”

“Of course, I will help,” I said,” And I’m sure Didi and some other Eben people can help too, Weg. Don’t worry.”

“Ah, yes, the Ebens,” Yaga said, “That is their role, correct? Servitude to the greater good of the people.”

My dad became uncomfortable. My mother was part Eben, though she was ashamed and hid from it her entire life. From the day she was married to my father, until the day she and my brother died. He waved his hand to turn on one of the screens and pulled up another image of the new planet. This was a video though and I could see the inhabitants moving around.

“Wow, they really have just crawled out from the swamp,” Yaga said.

“Well, these are definitely not an advanced society, but there are more advanced civilizations on the planet.” My dad said.” The one that formed the Tree of Life seems more advanced than these people, but they seem to live together in peace.”

The people of the not-so-advanced civilization were cooking, singing, dancing, and seemingly enjoying their lives despite just advancing out of the swamp. I saw some of them beating and banging on large round tubs while others circled them.

“In my studies of subtle energies, I found that dancing can improve a person’s energy field and keep them more connected to the planet. I wonder if that is what they are doing,” I said.

“Well, good for us we have advanced out of that stage of evolution. Our technology and science kept us connected to our planet.” Yaga said.

“Did it?” I asked. “We killed our planet and now we’re beggars looking for a new home because of how we treated our own. Our technology nearly killed us.”

“You say that while you’re on a ship to take you to a new home! A ship built by your people! Have some appreciation and stop acting so entitled, Shang!” My dad exploded on me. He then turned to Yaga and Weg, “Weg, I trust you will meet the timeline Yaga has given you, especially with the help of Shang and her friends. And I hope this task will give you a new appreciation of what our technology has done for you, Shang.”

He and Yaga exited the lab while I stood there fuming for a couple of seconds.

“Deep breaths,” Weg said, placing his hand on my back. “I know it can be tough with a father that has a completely different way of thinking than you. Let’s get our designs for the protective wear done today so we can start sewing the prototypes tomorrow.”

“You’re right. Let’s focus on the task,” I said,” But I can’t help but thinking these people have no idea what kind of sickness they’re letting in by accepting us. What if we do the same thing to this planet?”

“Let’s not think that way, “Weg said, “Maybe your father and Yaga will learn something from their civilization. Watch out people of Gaia, here come the Martians.”