The Rise of Atlantis Pt. 03

"You're talking about nearly forty percent of our current population Doctor. What kind of damage is that going to do to our gene pool? Will we have enough of a verity in DNA to build a viable society?"

"I'm not really sure what it will do to our gene pool. I haven't thought that all out yet. But if I were to hazard a guess, I'd say it's problematical at best. I do have an idea but I'm not sure if it'll work or not. Scans of the indigenous population show that we are sexually compatible. The only real difference is they have 23 pairs of chromosomes while we have 24. It's possible that we're compatible in reproductive areas as well. If you authorize the capture of thirty five females I could tell you for sure in about twelve weeks."

"I don't like that idea Doctor, not one damn bit! You're talking about experimenting on intelligent beings. Isn't there any other way?"

"Not that I can think of at the moment Your Majesty. I'll see to it that they're treated like honored guests and if I don't have positive results by the end of twelve weeks I'll release them right back where they came from."

"Fine Doctor. I'll authorize your experiment and give you your twelve weeks. But if I find out that any of those females are mistreated in any way, your head will be the first to roll."

Twelve weeks later Doctor O'Riley reported the experiment was a dismal failure and that he had released the females back to their original locations. A few days later when Lyssa was unable to contact anyone in the Atlantis colony on Earth, she sent Commander Evans and the Victorious to investigate. When they arrived they found the continent the colony had been on was totally destroyed leaving only a number of islands in its place. There was no sign that the area had ever been occupied. Commander Evans determined that only the colony of Atlantis itself was affected. The rest of the Earth and it's indigenous population were completely unharmed. Even complete sensor sweeps of Earth and it's surrounding solar system failed to turn up any clue as to how or why Atlantis was destroyed. To Commander Evans and her crew, the destruction of Atlantis was as mysterious as it was sudden. The only thing left to do was to question the humans themselves. Maybe they could provide some much needed information. When Commander Evens requested permission to speak to the natives, her request was denied and she was ordered to return to New Atlantia.

Lyssa's first thought was that Carol Thomasin was sending her a message. But there was no warp trail or any other indications that another starship had been anywhere near Earth. Lyssa decided not to re-establish the colony. But she still thought it prudent to place Earth under permanent Atlantian protection with routine patrols. As time passed the patrols went from weekly, to monthly to finally yearly.

Lyssa, Sue, Amy, and Kendra found that their psionic abilities also prolonged their lifelines. Six thousand years later their descendants numbered in the tens of thousands though none of the original four ever married. It's unknown whether or not Lyssa, Sue, Kendra, and Amy's psionic skills ever stopped increasing. After about ten years on New Atlantia, their psionic levels were so far off the charts that they simply couldn't be measured anymore.

Lyssa tried to retire and pass the throne on to one of her offspring many times over the years. However not one of her heirs would accept the throne. Lyssa was told time and again that SHE was the Atlantian Empire. If not for HER courage and foresight in those dark days right after the battle of Sylkar, there would be no Atlantian Empire. Strange as it may seem, Lyssa was never able to give birth to a son, but she did have seven beautiful redheaded daughters. All of them had the same emerald green, golden speckled eyes that their mother had and every one of them inherited their mother's psionic abilities. Those same skills would be passed on to every female in Lyssa's bloodline but for some unknown reason not a single male descendant was ever born with psionic abilities. It was the same story with Sue, Kendra, and Amy. Every one of their female descendants were born psychic but none of the males were ever born with any psionic skills.

********

Atlantian date and time: 12594/22/09...0900 hours.

Place: Aboard the Atlantian scout ship H.M.S. Seeker nearing Earth orbit.

Commander Jacobia Sue McDonald, the youngest of Lyssa's descendants was on her very first mission and in command of her first starship. Even though it was just a routine patrol to check on the status of Earth, Jacobia was as excited as she was nervous. The Seeker was a brand new scout ship fresh out of the fleet spacedock and Jacobia had only assumed command of her just ten days ago. So far, her shakedown cruise was perfect. Everything aboard the Seeker was working exactly as her designers intended and Jacobia couldn't have been happier. She was finally going to see the legendary planet Earth, home to the mysterious colony of Atlantis. The colony had simply disappeared and the continent it had been on had been totally destroyed. Nobody had ever been able to figure out how or why.

Jacobia was watching as the blue orb grew on her forward viewscreen. Suddenly she realized something wasn't quite right with what she was seeing. She looked down at her helmsman and snapped, "All stop, thrusters at station keeping."

"All stop, aye, thrusters at station keeping, Ma'am," the helmsman replied.

Jacobia turned to her navigator and said, "Confirm our present position Ensign Kyle."

Ensign Kyle tapped in a series of commands on his control panel and a few seconds later replied, "Position confirmed fifty thousand standard units from Earth orbit Ma'am."

Jacobia looked over her left shoulder and said, "Lieutenant Summers what are your sensors telling you?"

"It's Earth all right, but something's definitely out of whack Ma'am. Orbital equipment shows a much higher than expected level of technology, while planetside facilities display a far lower level than expected. In addition to that, the indigenous population is down to one point two billion instead of the expected seven point four billion. I can't detect any signs of industrial pollutants in the atmosphere, water, or soil. It also appears that extinct species have been replenished and endangered species are no longer in any danger of becoming extinct. Sensors also show that Earth's moon and the planet Mars have been made habitable. However, there are only females living on Earth's moon while Mars contains only males."

"Suppositions? Theories? Anybody?" Jacobia looked around the command deck. All she saw as a bunch of negative head shakes. "Don't worry about it people, I'm just as clueless as you are." She turned to her communications officer and said, "Patch me through to Queen Lyssa on a secured channel and pipe it to my ready room Lieutenant."

Jacobia went to her ready room and sat at her communications console. A few minutes later her console beeped. She opened the channel and smiled at Lyssa. "Hi Nana! I've got a bit of a mystery on my hands!" she explained everything to Lyssa then said, "I haven't got a clue what to make of it all Nana."

"Neither do I at the moment sweetie. Did you have your science officer scan for non-human lifeforms?"

"No I didn't Nana, but I will right now," Jacobia replied. She tapped her COMS bracelet and gave the order.

A few minutes later Lieutenant Summers reported back. "Ma'am this is really getting weird. I'm picking up the life signs of five Atlantian females and seven half Atlantian, half Human females. All twelve of them are presently located in what appears to be some sort of government building in an area that the humans called Houston Texas on the North American continent."

Lyssa spoke up. "I heard that Jacobia. Now here's what I want you to do. I'm authorizing you to use any means necessary to secure their arrest. Your brig's been designed to prevent the use of psionic energy. Get them in cells then head home. We'll take care of the rest when you get here."

"Consider it done, Nana. I'll let you know when we're on our way back home," Jacobia replied. She closed the channel and returned to her control deck resuming her seat in the command chair. She looked over at the science officer and said, "Keep a lock on all twelve of those life signs Lieutenant." She tapped a button on her chair's control panel then continued, "Security, send three teams to the brig. Tell them to expect a dozen incoming prisoners in a few minutes." Jacobia tapped another button and said, "Transport room, tie into Lieutenant Summer's science station. Copy the lock she has on those twelve life signs and transport them all at once directly to the brig, three to a cell, on my mark."

The communications officer spoke up, "Security signals ready, Ma'am"

"Transport room, initiate transport now," Jacobia said while keeping her fingers crossed.

"Security reports twelve prisoners secured in cells, Ma'am," the communications officer said.

Jacobia breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank the stars. Take us home Lieutenant Kim, warp eight."

"Aye aye, warp eight to New Atlantia, Ma'am," the helmsman replied.

Jacobia turned to her communications officer and said, "Patch me through to Queen Lyssa on a secured channel and pipe it to my ready room again please Lieutenant."

Jacobia returned to her ready room. When her console signaled a secure connection she opened the channel and said, "Hi Nana. We got em. All twelve of them are in my brig and we're on our way home."

*

If you've gotten this far, I hope I've at least entertained you. Your votes, comments, and feedback are a Lit author's only reward. Please don't hesitate to use them. Bob 54z