CHAPTER 9: REBIRTH
     
     
          They found themselves gazing across green fields and forests
     of alien vegetation.  Dotted around were huge buildings of
     martian architecture and lakes of blue water.  Shining down over
     the pristine landscape was a huge dome set into the concave metal
     sky.  It was filled with radiating cylinders and emitted a sun
     like glow. 
     
          "That is an artificial sun we built to give life to the land
     we have reconstructed below, this is what mars used to look
     like," said Betl.
          "Mars was once like this?!" said Several of the group in
     disbelief.
          "The Overseer shall explain." said Kryll.
     
          The elevator was rising up the side of a cylindrical
     building topped with a huge disc resembling one of the flying
     machines they had encountered while exploring the face.
     
          The elevator stopped at the end of the tube and the group
     marched out into a corridor with windows along its length. 
     Through the windows could be seen rooms of recreation and
     learning.  At the end of the corridor was a lift platform, this
     one without any control dias.  It was large enough to carry the
     entire group so they all stood on and quickly ascended to the 
     dome on top of the disc shape building.  The domed room was lined
     with multi coloured crystals which gave out an iridescent glow. 
     
          "You shall now meet Xanthir, the Overseer of the martian
     race," said Kryll.  "He is older than anyone else on this and
     your world, and extremely intelligent."  
     
          On one wall of the room there was a space between the
     crystals where a viewer screen was mounted, showing images from
     their exploration of the face.  
     
          "You've been watching us all along!" said Rick.
          "Yes." replied Betl to the accusation.
     
          The two aliens motioned them to a podium in the center of
     the room, which the scientists stood on.  Kryll and Betl stayed
     by the lift.  At the far end of the room a mass of crystals
     flashed with electricity and slid away in all directions.  A
     tall, floating object appeared out of the depression left and the
     crystals locked back into place.  It stayed motionless for a
     moment and then turned around to face the group.  The bullet-
     shaped capsule had a clear shell at the front, through which
     could be seen swirling gases, lit like clouds by lighting with a
     golden glow.  It slid through the air towards them, coming to a
     stop before the podium.  The clear outer shell at the front slid
     back, the gasses within dissipating into the room.  Revealed
     inside was a seated figure, with golden skin glowing with a
     golden aura, its long robe sparkling as if it were made of
     diamonds.  The tall figure stood slowly from its chair and looked
     with ancient, intelligent eyes upon the group assembled before
     it.  This was Xanthir, the light being, the most intelligent
     being on the planet.  He had lived for many million years, kept
     alive by the martians advanced scientific knowledge and was 
     forever hooked up to a mobile life support system.
     
          "I have been waiting for you," the being began in a frail
     but clear voice, "I know you have a lot of questions about our
     civilization.  The images projected into your mind by the
     teaching machine are of our history.  Mars was once very close to
     earth's orbit around the sun.  At that time it was very much like
     earth is now, though it was inhabited by the dinosaurs."    
     
          Xanthir moved his hand slowly over a row of crystals along
     the arm of his chair.  He then pointed to the wall behind them.
     The images Steve had seen when using the teaching machine were
     shown in more clarity on the wall viewer.  No longer were the
     pictures just fleeting images imprinted in his mind.  The group
     watched this as Xanthir continued his narrative.
     
          "Our civilization lived in peace apart from the occasional
     disagreement, we were an advanced species and had a fairly
     advanced form of space travel, much like your technology today.  
     
          One day our astronomers had discovered a gigantic meteor
     heading straight for our planet, it was too large for us to
     deflect so we built huge, strong structures filled with cryonic
     freezers to preserve large numbers of our population.  We had
     several years to prepare for the upcoming catastrophe.  We had
     also been studying life on nearby earth at the time, and to save
     the dinosaurs from destruction we brought many species to mars to
     preserve, in case part of the meteor also hit there.  The
     structures were built all around the globe and preserved within,
     as well as our race and the dinosaurs, were as many species of
     plant and animal life that we could collect.  The main computer,
     which controlled all other systems around the world from the main
     building, was set to revive us when the conditions were right
     outside.  That, however, never happened.  
     
          It was some 63 million years later that another meteor
     struck close to the main cryonic pyramid and jolted the computer
     system, awakening the occupants and those of several other
     cryonic buildings whose receivers had not been damaged.  Those
     that had been damaged had to be reactivated manually, some
     however had been totally destroyed by volcanic activity.  This
     was brought on by the meteor impact, which had resurfaced much of
     the northern hemisphere where the impact occurred.  The meteor
     hit with such force that it knocked mars out of orbit, cracking
     the surface and destroying all organic matter.  The planet was
     extremely changed by its newly formed orbit path: there was only
     a thin atmosphere of carbon dioxide left, shrouding a now barren
     surface.  The world's water supply seeped into the cracked
     surface and froze beneath the land with the extreme cold.  We
     learned from our computers that one of many pieces of the meteor
     had cracked off and hit the Earth, resulting in the destruction
     of the dinosaurs.  
     
          Earth, unlike mars, had recuperated well and primitive life
     was prospering on the surface by the time we awoke from our
     cryonic suspension.  After recovering from the shock of our
     changed world, we quickly took on the monumental task of
     rebuilding the lives we used to live as best we could: growing
     gardens for oxygen and reclaiming the water frozen underground. 
     Soon the majority of the population decided they would take their
     chances and build a colony on earth, which had an atmosphere very
     close to that of mars before the meteor impact.  Within a few
     decades, the colonists took a fleet of our fastest ships towards
     earth.  Upon reaching it they began to construct cities,
     dismantling their ships and mining earths resources for building
     materials.  
     
          The rest of the martian civilization stayed here and built
     huge underground cities, this pyramid being the main building. 
     We set to work devising ways to resurface mars to its former
     glory by studying data on Earth's ecological balance stored in
     the main computer.  
     
          Soon the earth colony had expanded to two small countries,
     one of them was named Atlantis and the other Eden.  The colonists
     began carrying out genetic experiments on the more intelligent
     earth creatures, enhancing their brain capacity and making them
     more martian like in appearance.  This was early man.  Over the
     centuries they grew in intelligence and began to develop
     primitive civilizations, treating the Atlanteans and their
     machines like gods.  This was recorded in their hieroglyphic
     writing, on their pyramids and stone monuments.  
     
          Eden's landmass was largely taken up by a zoo-like
     ecosystem, set up by the colonists as an experimental paradise
     used as a model for reconstructing mars.  Also carried out in
     this land were experiments of growing martian flora brought by
     the spaceships.  The martian plants grew wildly in earth's
     conditions.  They grew to immense proportions and spread over
     vast expanses of Eden's experimental land, eventually getting out
     of control.  The rulers of Eden wanted to let the plants keep
     spreading to eventually cover the globe.  And what was more they
     wanted to destroy all of the indigenous flora and fauna on earth
     and turn it into a new mars.  The majority of Eden's inhabitants,
     small compared to the population of Atlantis, were supportive of
     the idea.  The Atlanteans however were outraged that members of
     their own race could even think such a thing.  The two sides
     waged war against each other, building huge warships, and soon
     Atlantis was threatened by nuclear bombs.  At this the Atlanteans
     fled their continent and went underground.  Not knowing the
     Atlanteans had fled, Eden fired their bombs and Atlantis sank
     beneath the ocean.  Soon afterwards, Eden was also destroyed, all
     life wiped out, including the martian vegetation, by a nuclear
     bombardment from the underground Atlanteans, leaving the earth's
     original inhabitants to rule the planet.  They are still on your
     planet, the Atlanteans, living peacefully beneath the land.  They
     still look human though, not like us here on mars. 
     
          We started experimenting with genetics many millennia ago
     and only stopped when it was already too late.  There wasn't a
     pure bred martian left among us, we had turned ourselves into
     reptiles, insects, using the genetic codes of the many creatures
     we had saved from the meteor impact.  We still bear some
     resemblance to our original forms however.  
     
          We are still visiting your planet, and recording every
     stage of your civilization's and planet's development.  You
     deduced that from your discoveries beneath the face, it was one
     of the only significant structures that survived the meteor
     impact and the following disasters.  It was converted into a
     laboratory and research building, the lower levels are catacombs
     which extend below the planet's surface.  The bodies are stored
     in cryonic chambers to preserve genetic material and tissue."
     
          The picture faded away, leaving the screen a silvery lustre,
     and the group turned to face Xanthir who was still standing tall
     and majestic over them.
     
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