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Expedition to Canaan: Book 1 of 3: Escape to Surya
Expedition to Canaan: Book 1 of 3: Escape to Surya
Expedition to Canaan: Book 1 of 3: Escape to Surya
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Expedition to Canaan: Book 1 of 3: Escape to Surya

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In the 23rd century, the fierce dispute between the United States and China continues in another solar system. On a planet to be colonized by the Americans, six explorers set off on a mission to a continent full of dangers. When they get there, the explorers discover that China has secretly sent scientists who have created hybrids between humans and the beings that inhabit the place.

It soon becomes clear that the problems facing the explorers are not limited to the surprises left by the Chinese mission, and that nature and the local fauna pose a perhaps greater threat. The members of the mission also have to overcome relationship problems among themselves that can have a fundamental influence on the success or failure of the mission.

Expedition to Canaan is the debut novel by German author Marcus Pleta.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherBadPress
Release dateJul 3, 2024
ISBN9781667476315
Expedition to Canaan: Book 1 of 3: Escape to Surya

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    Expedition to Canaan - Marcus Pleta

    Prologue

    In 1992, the first celestial body was discovered in the Kuiper Belt, on the edge of the Solar System. Three years later, in 1995, the first planet orbiting another star was discovered. By 2020, there were more than 4,000, confirmed by more than one identification method. Most of the discoveries at this early stage were due to a decrease in the light from the star in the system reaching Earth, the so-called transit of the planet, and radial velocity, i.e., the rocking or jerking that was perceived in the star due to the planet's gravitational attraction.

    The constant improvement of technology in new, more powerful, and sophisticated telescopes allowed more and more planets to be discovered, with an increasing degree of detail, until, in 2077, sensational news hit the front pages of the newspapers. A young Italian doctoral student called Arturo Agostini was studying planets where humans could live and, with the data obtained by brand new observatories on the Moon and at Lagrange Points in space, he discovered life outside Earth on two planets in the same star system.

    The discovery was initially met with skepticism by the scientific community, but soon the analysis of the data and more information by several independent researchers confirmed the news. There was no longer any doubt that there was life on the planets named Romulus and Remus after an intense campaign by the Italian press which eventually led the International Astronomical Union to accept the names related to the legend of the foundation of Rome.

    The naming of the star was more complicated. The star originally was known simply as SDSSp J120563.1-030531.5. The United States and China, who had funded some of the telescopes responsible for the discovery, replayed the centuries-old dispute over cultural and scientific hegemony and tried to impose their suggested names. After much negotiation, a compromise solution was reached and the star was named Surya, which means sun in Sanskrit. In this way, a demand from several countries was met so that the star wouldn't have a western name, as was the case with the planets,

    As expected, there was a race to study the planets by teams from various countries. Soon, the media was informing the curious that Romulus, with a mass and density practically identical to that of our planet, revolved around its star at an average distance of 1.23% astronomical units, i.e., the distance from the Earth to the sun. The planet's rotation was slower, which meant that its day lasted 25 hours and 37 minutes. The year on Romulus was longer than on Earth, with 397 days and 13 hours, and its axis of rotation was less inclined, 18% against 23.5%, but enough to provide distinct seasons. The atmospheric pressure and the percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere were also remarkably close to ours.

    Revolving around Romulus in almost circular orbits were two moons. The largest, Selene, the size of Titan, was about the same distance from our moon, but because it was larger than our natural satellite, it made the tides on Romulus stronger. The second moon, Eos, was so small that it didn't have enough gravity for a circular shape. Although it was closer to Romulus, it was much smaller and darker, so it was barely visible and produced no significant effects.

    The other planet, Remus, was at the same distance from the sun as Venus, with a year of 325 days and a rotation time, i.e., day, of 22 hours. This planet was about 17% larger than Earth and shared another characteristic with Venus: its direction of rotation was opposite to its translation around its star, which meant that Surya was born in the west and died in the east. Its axis of rotation was also steeper than Earth's, with an angle of 30% in relation to the plane of its orbit. The oxygen content in the atmosphere, slightly denser than ours, was 28⁒ Remus was surrounded by a moon the size of Pluto, named Lóng (dragon in Chinese), which revolved closer than ours. Unlike Romulus, with its milder temperatures, Remus suffered from extremes of cold and heat. Despite these conditions, in a large part of the planet the thermal sensation was also equivalent to Earth's and allowed species from here to develop there.

    Despite advances in telescope technology, there was still the problem of distance, which was too great for any exploration by probes. For another century, the study of the sister planets was carried out from afar, still in a relatively precarious manner, until, in the middle of the 22nd century, a spectacular advance in the understanding and application of the laws of physics allowed what most scientists thought would never happen: the technology was developed that made it possible to send probes to the sister planets, on  journeys that lasted on average three months.

    The first unmanned probes were sent at the end of that century and allowed a much more in-depth study of the planets. It was possible to obtain more precise data on the geology, flora and fauna of both planets, which were surprisingly similar to Earth in some fundamental aspects such as the presence of plants that extracted energy from light through photosynthesis, and the presence of DNA in the cells of living beings with the same functions of transmitting genetic information and helping to synthesize proteins. This extraordinary similarity to Earth has never been explained and remains a mystery to this day.

    Romulus' study revealed that, just as on Earth, the equator was home to denser and more varied vegetation, which became scarcer towards the snow-covered poles. In some parts there were deserts, the largest of which was in the center of the great continent that made up about two-thirds of the land mass. It was on this large continent named Eden that research focused, as several areas with a favorable climate and abundant water were identified, which would facilitate eventual exploration and colonization by human beings.

    The other large continent, Canaan, was very far away, separated by thousands of kilometers of sea and, due to the isolation of millions of years, had vastly different plant and animal species. It was decided that, because it was much more inhospitable and had more dangerous fauna, that continent would be studied in more detail later.

    The most striking feature of Remus, the other planet, was the size of the living beings that inhabited there. Trees as tall as sequoias on Earth were common, as were insects the size of turkeys and land animals as big as blue whales. Photographs and footage of these gigantic beings used to arouse more interest than any other information or discovery on that planet.

    Some theories have tried to explain the existence of living beings on both planets. One of them claimed that the life that had arisen on one of them had been transported to the other after a major impact that sent material into space with micro-organisms that managed to survive the journey. Another theory claimed that the planets had collided at some point and that the life that was forming on one of them had contaminated or passed on to the other. A minority defended that asteroids and meteors with living beings that can survive in space, such as extremophiles or tardigrades, had spread life everywhere in the Universe.

    The first staffed mission to the Surya System was sent by China to Remus. The pioneering mission, which left Earth on October 16, 2214, was widely celebrated as proof of the superiority of that country's political and economic system. According to carefully censored information prepared by the state propaganda and information agency, the mission, which remained on Remus for a year and a month, was made up of seven Taikonauts, four men and three women, all Chinese and military. Six months after the departure of the Chinese expedition, on April 20, 2215, the United States mission took off for Romulus, lasting seven months. The crew consisted of ten astronauts, five men and five women, all civilians and Americans, except for a Belgian scientist from the European Space Agency. After these first missions, both China and the United States continued to send astronauts to the Surya System.

    Because of the cost and technology needed to send probes to another star system, only the United States and China had the necessary resources. China, in line with its space policy, preferred to send expeditions alone, while the United States worked in cooperation with the European Space Agency, India, Japan and Russia, but always leading the missions. Both China and the US initially sent unmanned probes to both planets, but after a series of public and secret negotiations, they decided that Romulus would remain in the sphere of influence of the United States and Remus in that of China.

    This agreement was a relative understanding, since on Earth the two countries continued to pursue a fierce dispute over economic, cultural, and military hegemony. The agreement was also tacit, i.e. no formal document was signed, which did not prevent violent criticism at the UN from several other countries, who claimed that the two superpowers were conspiring together to reissue a new Treaty of Tordesillas, signed by Portugal and Spain at the time of the great navigations and which divided a significant part of the globe between those kingdoms. The Nigerian president even compared the division of the Surya System into spheres of influence to the Berlin Conference of 1885, which set up the rules for the so-called partition of Africa between the European powers.

    Neither the statements by the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, that his country did not claim sovereignty over Remus, nor by the President of the United States, who pointed to the fact that astronauts of various nationalities were taking part in their expeditions, put an end to the mistrust of other countries, who feared that the two superpowers were moving quickly to practically annex the planets.

    Worth mentioning is that India, also a space power, had a different policy. As the country with the largest population since the beginning of the 21st century, India prioritized the study of Earth to ensure the well-being of its inhabitants. The best example of this was the Tagore Constellation, with the highest number of satellites in orbit. The constellation allowed simultaneous transmission of GPS, internet, and solar energy. Thanks to the relay system linking satellites, it ensured uninterrupted supply 24 hours a day, and the small and rugged receiving antenna enabled its use in hard-to-reach locations.

    Regarding space exploration, India focused its efforts on projects at the outer boundaries of the Solar System. Thanks to a revolutionary rocket propulsion technology, which allowed sending spacecraft to distant planets without relying on gravitational assistance, the country was at the forefront of exploration of Uranus and Neptune. Indian scientists were also part of the team responsible for the discovery of the ninth planet, named Yama in honor of the god of justice and death.

    1 - The same, but different

    Since the beginning of the exploration missions, the United States and China had aimed to make the planets more suitable for human colonization. Given the characteristics of the planets, which made human life possible, there was no need for terraforming, which is the radical transformation of another planet to allow our species to survive in places where this is not possible, but rather terradaptation, a process that had already been seen on Earth when homo sapiens spread across the planet carrying along useful plants and animals.

    This was done above all by transplanting living organisms capable of feeding the future inhabitants. Wheat, oats, apples, bananas, corn, soybeans, cinnamon, pepper, all kinds of vegetables, including grasses for useful herbivores, and even some decorative plants. Particular care was given to flowering species to allow the survival of bees, which are essential for pollinating. The first animals introduced were genetically modified mice to allow the study of the effects of local bacteria and viruses on humans. Larger animals such as horses, cows and pigs were gradually introduced. Both countries also took dogs of various breeds, for work and companionship for the pioneers, who might need some emotional support.

    There was, however, a fundamental difference between the two colonization projects: they were implemented according to the vastly distinct cultural and political systems of the United States and China.

    China advocated transplanting its superior way of life onto Remus and forming a perfect society on a planet where the inhabitants wouldn't have to fear a decadent enemy that was plotting all the time to impose its outdated values and archaic production system. This could only be guaranteed with the meticulous planning and coordination of the Communist Party, which was at the head of the entire process.

    The exploration of Romulus by the United States, on the other hand, was carried out with great participation from the private sector, especially the New Earth Company - NEC, a company owned by Francis Raleigh, a billionaire who had also founded Hawk Space, which built the ships used in the missions and the space station in low Earth orbit from which they departed.

    Another difference between the interstellar exploration and colonization projects was that the Americans had many problems with internal opposition sectors, who in an uncensored environment could expose their point of view that the initiative was ethically reprehensible and could cause incalculable damage to the biome that had developed in isolation over billions of years. There was also criticism of the money spent by the government on the project, money that could have been better spent on solving the poverty of part of the population, mitigating environmental damage, or even improving the military, which was seen as weak compared to that of China.

    Despite this opposition, the supporters of colonization won, for two main reasons. The first was that Francis Raleigh had an interest in the project. Raleigh was one of those visionaries who identified, or even created, changes in behavior and consumption patterns that made him even richer. Not only did he cover a significant part of the cost of the trips, assuaging some of the criticism of the use of taxpayers' money, but he also financed an extensive publicity campaign in favor of the initiative, as well as heavy lobbying in the US Congress.

    The second reason for the group's victory in favor of colonizing Romulus was the growing awareness that Earth really was exhausted and perhaps irretrievably lost, unable to provide a healthy and fulfilling life for its 15 billion inhabitants. The much feared point of no return, beyond the ability of the ecosystem to regenerate, either naturally or with the help of humanity, seemed to have been reached. Despite all the progress made by science, billions of human beings continued to live in misery in vast regions of the planet, increasing environmental degradation by discharging untreated sewage into water sources or simply by using wood to cook. Many countries also continued to pollute the environment with the outdated technologies of their industries and means of transportation.

    The return of the first staffed missions to the Surya System strengthened the advocates of colonization in the United States. The information gathered showed a planet with a mild climate, great natural resources, and exuberant nature. It was a new opportunity, a chance to start again from scratch, but without repeating the mistakes of the past. When the NEC began to publicize plans to send settlers, hundreds of thousands of interested parties at once appeared, which increased significantly as the expeditions seemed to bring nothing but good news from Romulus. The expeditions, which got longer and with larger crews, always reported new discoveries, and brought back images of beautiful places, as if the new planet was a Garden of Eden. There were never any reports of serious incidents or expeditions to inhospitable and dangerous regions, where the survival of human beings would be risky, which led some to suspicion that the American government and the NEC were deliberately withholding information from the public.

    These disbelievers, who were widely ridiculed in the press and on social media, were never able to prove their theory that life on the other planet would not be so easy, and that many dangers awaited the human beings who would move to Romulus.

    Dangers like those faced by the six explorers who carried out a secret mission to the continent of Canaan during the fourth manned mission to Romulus.

    2 - The agronomist

    Peter Paul O'Neill III arrived in Romulus at the age of 28, on the second exploratory mission, which left in 2220. He was an agronomist with a PhD and worked for Prairie Commodities, a huge company that sold all kinds of plant products all over the world and had partnered with NASA and the NEC to study the flora of the new planet. His mission was to identify new species that could be brought to Earth and help adapt terrestrial plants to Romulus.

    O'Neill hadn't applied for the mission. He was engaged and planned to spend his honeymoon in Central America, on a beach on the edge of a tropical forest where he could exercise his passion for plants, but two events changed his fate. The first was that the person chosen for the mission to Romulus fell seriously ill shortly before departure, with no chance of a speedy recovery. The second reason was that his fiancée broke off the engagement unexpectedly, just a few weeks before the wedding.

    On a very cold January afternoon, O'Neill was finishing a report at the company's headquarters in Lincoln, Nebraska, when his boss called him in for a chat and informed him that the company had invested a lot in becoming part of the Romulus project. It was essential that someone went on the mission, otherwise the losses would be huge. He had studied several resumes and saw that O'Neill, despite not having applied for the mission, had the most suitable profile. To the surprise of his boss, who had expected a long battle to convince the agronomist, O'Neill accepted the task without any complaints or bargains and, after a month of frantic preparations and a multitude of physical and psychological tests, he boarded the spaceship Columbia with 19 other explorers and set off on an 18-month mission to the planet.

    When the ship landed on the continent of Eden, O'Neill was still sad and despondent, but the moment the ship's doors opened something magical happened to the man who was part of the small team of privileged people who really love their job.

    The first positive surprise was the fragrant, natural air, so different from what he had breathed during the trip. He took a deep breath to smell the scent that only unspoiled fields offer. It was close to five in the afternoon and the temperature was mild, around 21 degrees Celsius. Just like on Earth, birds and insects seemed to be waking up from their rest during the hottest hours. The spacecraft had landed on an elevated green plain, where he soon spotted a mixture of terrestrial grasses brought by the previous expedition and native vegetation. There was green everywhere, in large prairies dotted with small areas of forest, which could also be seen bordering streams and a river that flowed towards the west and the sea. Looking north, O'Neill could see a large lake and huge snow-capped mountains on the distant horizon. To the south, there was another range of mountains, these a little lower, from where the water flowed down to supply the camp that had been built by the first wave of explorers.

    It had rained the day before and the atmosphere was clear, allowing him to see far and wide. The beauty of the place, combined with the feeling of relief at being able to walk around freely after months of confinement, gave the agronomist great pleasure. It really was a place of splendorous beauty, which lived up to the name given to the continent and was comparable to what you see in photographs taken by professionals for travel agencies and nature magazines. As he looked around, O'Neill noticed a tree with purple flowers the size of a hand sprouting directly from the stem. He went over and touched the tree, feeling the rough bark. Then he took his hand to the stem of a flower and gently pulled it towards his nose to smell its scent. He was already completely absorbed when he heard the shout of the commander, who was calling him for the third time to help unload the equipment.

    3 -The location

    The base was a little north of the local Tropic of Cancer, i.e. the northernmost place where the Sun is perceived to be directly overhead on the summer solstice. It wasn't as cold as the regions near the eternally white poles, nor as hot as the tropics. You could see that there wasn't the enormous diversity of tropical forests, where a wide variety of plants grow all year round without the interruption caused by winter in more temperate climates. The altitude of 800 meters above sea level also contributed to the pleasant temperature and the adaptation of some species from temperate climates on Earth, as well as being very pleasant for the agronomist, who liked cool mornings and not too hot days.

    The site was still modest and one of the tasks of the second exploratory mission was to expand it to accommodate up to 90 explorers at a time. The expansion was due to the greater number of people coming on future missions and to the NEC's policy of providing the greatest possible comfort in the facilities, which was reflected in the greater productivity of the explorers. An example of this policy was the presence of a professional cook from the very first staffed mission, which guaranteed a healthy, varied and very tasty diet, contributing to what Francis Raleigh called daily crumbs of contentment, i.e., small treats given regularly that helped to keep the workers' morale high.

    Inside, the camp was like any other scientific base, with a recreation area, laboratories, dormitories and a medical sector equipped with state-of-the-art instruments, including a portable hospital, which consisted of a bed covered by a transparent dome and with several mechanical arms and probes capable of performing delicate surgeries without the need for a doctor who was also part of the crew. The place was well ventilated, with abundant water already piped in from a nearby stream, and with perfectly functioning sewage installations, as well as solar panels that guaranteed the energy stored in high-capacity batteries. For emergencies, there were old, outdated diesel generators, with enough fuel for several months of uninterrupted operation.

    Around it was an electric fence, more out of precaution than necessity. The largest predator found in the region, a marsupial the size of a mountain lion, had only been seen once by the first staffed mission. The tendency was for human activity to drive away the animals, shy by nature. Larger and dangerous animals lived on the continent of Canaan, thousands of kilometers away, on the other side of the ocean.

    4 - A new name

    The months of travel to Romulus were very depressing for O'Neill. There wasn't much to do on the ship and memories of the break-up of his engagement haunted him all the time. However, when he set foot on the continent of Eden, things began to change. He soon installed new equipment in the lab, marked out study areas in the region and started exploring around. And there, the distraction of work and a passion for nature gradually replaced the sad memories.

    His dedication to his work and his inattention to everything that didn't have to do with plants and nature soon set him apart from the rest of the explorers. O'Neill preferred to spend more time alone examining flowers with magnifying glasses than playing cards or watching movies in the recreation room. His ability to concentrate entirely on what he was doing, forgetting the world around him, made him talk to himself, or rather mumble things that were unintelligible to anyone listening. One of the consequences of this fixation was that he neglected everything else, including his appearance. His cropped hair and trimmed beard were gradually replaced by shoulder-length hair and an increasingly thick beard.

    This odd behavior, a bit like a mad scientist’s, and the task of introducing terrestrial species to Romulus, led someone to call him Pete Appleseed, after Johnny Appleseed, the man who introduced apple trees to large parts of the U.S.. As the agronomist didn't mind, the nickname soon caught on, to the point that it was written on the label attached to his locker in the gym.

    Like any specialist who is passionate about what he does, Appleseed felt in his work the spontaneous and pure joy of a child in a toy store and also the satisfaction provided by the theoretical knowledge of a music lover attending a concert. He experienced at the same time the purely emotional wonder of the lover and the rational admiration of the expert.

    Within a few months, he had already become an expert on the local ecosystem. In a somewhat risky way, as his various allergies and a serious poisoning can attest, he acquired a deep knowledge of nature in Romulus. It was a knowledge so fine and refined that it could be mistaken for intuition, as is often the case with some experts who don't even realize that their correct guesses are based on extensive knowledge of the subject. The absence of large natural predators in the region made this fieldwork much easier.

    A year into the eighteen-month mission, Appleseed was thinking less and less about Earth. One morning, as he was finishing his report on the protein content in the petals of Eden's giant magnolia tree, a message appeared on his computer screen. It was from his boss in Nebraska asking if he would be interested in extending his stay on the planet and taking part in the third exploratory mission. This extension was possible because the mission schedule had been changed so that there would always be explorers on Romulus, that is, so that the new group would arrive on the planet before the previous one left, unlike the second exploratory mission, which only arrived on Romulus five years after the first one had returned. If he was interested, the boss reminded him, this would certainly be taken into account in the internal evaluations to which every employee was regularly subjected. Appleseed would also receive a bonus and would be able to choose the branch where he wanted to work when he returned to Earth, after a brief period at the company's headquarters.

    Appleseed laughed sarcastically when he saw that the proposal was being presented as if it had been made with him in mind and not with the company, which would save tens of millions of dollars on his and his replacement's travel. In an ironic tone that probably wouldn't be understood by his boss, he replied declaring himself willing to sacrifice two more years at Romulus for the good of Prairie Commodities. Once the message had been sent, he turned his attention to the petals of Eden's giant magnolia and it was only later, when he lay down on the sofa in the laboratory to sleep, that the thought crossed his mind that he could have bargained for a bigger bonus, but the thought soon disappeared, overcome by tiredness and the satisfaction of knowing that he would be able to follow the development of his plants over a longer period of time, with several changes of seasons.

    After two years, Appleseed felt at home and, with his own hands in his spare time, he had built a small wooden hut half a kilometer from the base, near a

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