SUNSRISE

Caleb didn’t awaken until long after first sunrise. It was the quiet hum of the window shields that
brought him out of a restless sleep. The night had seemed long and now he didn’t want it to end. He
stirred for a few minutes, unwilling to open his eyes, knowing that as soon as he did his day would truly
begin, a day he really didn’t want any part of.
Caleb finally gave in and opened his eyes when the urge to visit the bathroom overwhelmed his
desire to stay asleep. He sat up and slid his legs over the side of the bed, legs which anyone on earth
would consider absurdly long and skinny.
He sat on the edge of the bed and looked through the now opaque window of his bedroom just as
Quema, the primary sun of this binary system, began its slow climb over the horizon. Without the
window shields in place, Caleb would have had to look away from the sun and would quickly get a
sunburn. But, having lived on Deaner’s World all his life, this thought never crossed his mind. Caleb
knew it would be another hour before the swollen red giant cleared the eastern mountains. By then, his
father would be expecting him to be packed and ready to go.
Caleb’s father, Jarom, had done his best to explain the importance of and kindle some sort of
excitement for their expedition, but the thought of spending the next 3 weeks inside a submersible smaller
than a bural beast, 500 kilometers deep, at the bottom of an unexplored ocean, struck Caleb as perhaps the
most boring experience imaginable. On top of that, although he would never tell his father, Caleb was
more than a little scared.
Caleb stood and slowly made his way to the bathroom to take care of business, stopping only to
feed his goldfish, one of the few remaining, as far as Caleb knew. Why the colonists had brought them
here was a mystery to Caleb, but they had flourished as pets and, although his fish had an extra fin on its
gill cover and only one eye, Caleb thought it was doing quite well for being the result of over 60 years of
inbreeding.
Caleb’s bags were already packed and his father had already gone through them the night before
with a fine-toothed comb. He only had half the baggage that he had originally packed.
“You’re not going to need your music system where we’re going,” his father had said, “let’s see
what else we can take out to lighten your load.” That, of course, was only the beginning. Jarom had left
Caleb with little more in his bags than a few changes of undergarments, socks, sweat pants, a few t-shirts,
and a light jacket, of course his dad did add one item that Caleb claimed to have forgotten, “You can’t
leave for 3 weeks and not take the most important item with you son.” Jarom had said. “Besides his
family, the scriptures were the most important thing your great-grandfather brought from Earth.” Caleb
was tired of the stories of his great-grandfather, and was thankful his dad didn’t go into his sermon
comparing the voyage to Deaner’s world to the exodus from Egypt or the trek westward by Brigham
Young and the pioneers hundreds of years ago. Caleb had once thought that the stories were wonderful,
but over the last few years he had lost interest in the old stories, besides, only fourteen of the original
colonists were LDS.
Caleb looked forlornly at his two duffle bags and remembered what his father had said, “You’ll be
living in relative luxury compared to what your ancestors went through to get here, Caleb.” “Not likely,”
Caleb sighed to himself as he picked up the bags and headed out the door. Jarom always brought up “the
ancestors” to try and keep Caleb from taking so much for granted. Caleb didn’t see it that way though, to
him it was just an attempt to make him feel guilty. But Caleb had seen the old recordings, he knew that
the journey to Deaner’s world had not been an easy one; Caleb’s own great-grandmother had died on that
voyage across the stars.

DEANER’S WORLD

Deaner Rasmussen had been a great man, or so the story goes. He had taken his own fortune to
design and build the starship that would take 80 families away from a dying earth. It didn’t hurt that his
fortune was massive indeed. Deaner Transport Services was the largest supplier of interplanetary
starships on earth. Deaner’s father (who had given his son his own name) had started the company with
only one Jupiter shuttle and created a company worth more than the gross national product of nearly a
third of the planet.
Every mining company worth mentioning purchased their ships from DTS. But the company had
been losing some of its value since Deaner had inherited it. It wasn’t his fault by any means; he was an
incredibly brilliant strategist.
The year after Deaner junior had taken over, a tug, towing an asteroid the size of a small mountain,
had missed its insertion into lunar orbit, all attempts to communicate with the crew had failed and the
feeble attempts made to alter its earthbound trajectory had been too little too late. Two days after the
problem was noticed by lunar control the tug and the asteroid plunged into the southern tip of South
America. The ensuing blast, earthquakes, fires, and tsunamis killed almost 5 million people. No one
knew for sure why the tug had missed its target but many people felt that it hadn’t.
The Anti-Technologists that had long since taken control over most of the middle-east and
northern Africa had been blamed almost immediately. They denied it vehemently but also stated publicly
that the loss of even 5 million “extra bodies” was not anything to lose sleep over, the earth was already
too crowded.
Deaner knew that war was inevitable and he immediately began to make plans to convert his
largest passenger transport ship “The Narwhal” so that it could sustain life for the long journey to one of
the known habitable planets. Construction was quick, too quick, as they learned later. But within a year
the ship was ready and the passengers had been selected.
Carpenters, doctors, scientists, and, of course, a few of Deaner’s close friends had signed up for
the trip. Over 5,000 applicants had made it through the initial screening but only 80 families were chosen
in the end, 352 people to be exact. The crew of the ship consisted of twenty-one, seven per shift. Deaner,
of course was the self-appointed captain but he left all of the piloting and management decisions up to his
Chief Officer, Kyle Maynard.
After paying off the appropriate officials in government the voyage was approved by the American
Union council and the ship left Earth orbit on the 15th of January 2134 (earth time). It took several
months for the ship to reach its maximum velocity, ninety-eight percent the speed of light.
The first year was rather uneventful. Even on Earth the tension between The Anti-techs and the
A.U. seemed to be letting up. A few of the passengers even suggested turning around and returning to
Earth. But 378 days after leaving Earth, sporadic messages from the lunar colonies were received which
indicated that there had been immense flashes of light seen coming from various locations around Earth
and that all contact with the planet had suddenly stopped. 24 hours later there was no radio traffic
whatsoever coming from any of the colonies in the system. No other communication from other humans
had ever been received by Deaner’s colony.
For months there was tension on the ship between the 37 African passengers and the rest of the
colonists but as time wore on and no further contact could be made with others, the passengers and crew
all realized that there was a possibility that they were all that was left of modern-mankind. Deaner
encouraged them to trust each other and work together.
Nearly four years into the journey, a small oxygen leak signaled the beginning of the worst hour of
Deaner’s life as well as that of most of the passengers. The leak was found quickly in the rear of the ship
in a hallway that ran just inside the ship’s bulkhead. A repair crew was in the hallway, which had been
sealed off from the rest of the ship when the bulkhead gave way. Three crewmen were instantly blown
out of the ship and killed.
The pressure door on one end of the hall failed from the violent decompression. Exposing the rest
of the ship to decompression. Twelve passengers were in the gymnasium adjacent to the hallway and all
but two were blown through the doors, down the hall and out of the ship before the other pressure doors
had sealed.
The decompression had weakened poorly constructed bulkheads throughout the living quarters
and atmosphere began leaking from one hallway. The pressure doors had sealed throughout the ship and,
luckily, they held.
Deaner had been in the captain’s ready room when the Disaster occurred. The ready room and the
bridge were located more than a hundred yards from where the breach occurred and the pressure
differential was barely felt before the doors sealed.
Deaner and Captain Maynard knew almost immediately what had happened and jumped to the
bridge. They quickly surveyed the damage through the ship’s surveillance system. They decided it was
too dangerous to open the pressure doors until a repair crew could be sent outside to seal the breaches that
were leaking atmosphere. Another failed bulkhead could lead to a chain reaction of failures throughout
the ship. It was then that they learned that one of the sealed off sections that was bleeding atmosphere
contained Deaner’s quarters.
Jessie Rasmussen, Deaner’s wife, had been taking a nap when the disaster occurred. Deaner and
Kyle Maynard knew that it was too risky to open those sealed off sections. It took nearly fifteen minutes
for all of the atmosphere to leak out of the affected section, Jessie and fourteen other passengers died
within ten. Deaner never took his eyes off the surveillance camera screen the entire time.
Twenty-eight passengers and crew in all had lost their lives. Thirteen bodies would never be
recovered.
Deaner was beside himself with anger and sadness. For two weeks he ruled the ship with an iron
fist. Most understood and even shared his pain. Eventually Deaner accepted that there was no one to sue
for the poorly constructed bulkheads and pressure doors and that anger and depression would only foster
mistrust and hatred among his passengers.
Repairs were made and reinforcements constructed. The ship held together well for the remainder
of their voyage.
The ship began braking maneuvers on February 8th 2141 and five months later entered orbit
around what would become known as Deaner’s world.
Deaner’s world was the fifth planet from the primary star, a red giant that baked the surface of the
planet with nearly twice the UV radiation that earth received. The planet was about seven-eighths the
diameter of the earth but considerably less dense. Gravity was only sixty-seven percent of Earth-normal.
One gigantic ocean covered nearly eighty percent of the surface of the planet. Swells rolled across the
ocean in what appeared slow motion from space based cameras. Many of the swells were three or four
times the height of those on earth because of the low gravity.
Even with the intense UV, the planet was teaming with life. The landmasses were covered with
thick jungles of green and orange vegetation nearly to the poles. There were some areas with dry deserts
on the leeward sides of the immense mountain ranges. Infrared images showed that below the jungle
canopies walked immense creatures.
The first drop-ship landed on the surface only two days after the Narwhal made orbit. It was
decided that a new calendar would be needed and it would commence with this first day. A computer
quickly calculated that ten months of forty-five days each would be sufficient with one leap year every
five years. One day was added to the first month. After some discussion mostly centered around now
obsolete earth holidays it was decided that March and October would be taken out and the ten months
remaining would keep the names from earth.
Deaner’s world rotated slightly slower than Earth but with its slightly smaller diameter the days
were fairly close to the same length as on Earth, almost exactly 25 hours. Night and Day were different
matters all together. Quema was somewhat brighter than sol had been and Luma, the second star of the
system, was still bright enough when alone in the sky to illuminate slightly more than a full moon had on
Earth. But the colonists adjusted.
Years of trial and error and a lot of hard work helped create a vibrant society that had swelled to a
population of almost four thousand souls in only sixty years. Robots did much of the construction and
maintenance work But the colonists had decide that farming and exploring would be left up to them.
Forests were cleared and sonic fences put up to keep unwanted giants from trampling fields or dining on
colonists. Farms were built over an area covering more than a thousand square kilometers around the
central town of Genesis.
Those that were planet-born grew much taller than was normal on earth. In Caleb’s time, six-feet
was considered very short, even for a girl. The average male height was over seven feet. Caleb would
have made an impressive basketball player on Earth at seven foot-five. But here, he was no taller than
most of his friends. This was, of course nothing of a novelty to Caleb. This was his home, his birthplace.
Many of the original settlers had long since died before he was born, including the legend himself, Caleb
Rasmussen’s great-grandfather Deaner.
 ALEXIS

Every effort was made in Genesis to avoid too much exposure to the sun. Many of the first settlers
had died from various forms of skin cancer before they learned new methods of avoiding exposure and
minimizing the damage from the red giant looming overhead. All of the streets of Genesis had a thin
shroud over them, a nearly transparent membrane that blocked most of the UV radiation. The membrane
was actually alive. Its nearest counterpart on Earth, at least in structure, would have to be a slime mold.
The organism was easily contained, had a long life span, and obtained all of its nutrients through
photosynthetic reactions. It also had an uncanny ability to conserve water, of which it received all it
needed from the atmosphere.
It was beneath this canopy of living tissue that Caleb now walked, slowly making his way toward
the center of town. Jarom had taken off almost at a run as soon as they walked out the door, his
excitement at the coming trip was almost overwhelming for him. He had given Caleb half an hour to
make it to Carrol Marsden’s home, she was the head biologist for the trip and Caleb and his father were
riding with her to the coast.
Caleb was deep in thought about the trip when his toe caught one of those invisible bumps and he
stumbled and nearly fell. The fall would look a little odd to anyone unfamiliar with the local gravity
situation, but the low gravity was quite useful, very few people actually fell all the way to the ground.
But at seven and a half feet, even a half-fall looks incredibly ridiculous. Unfortunately for Caleb, Alexis
had seen the whole thing and was now rolling around on the ground in a fit of laughter. “Some girlfriend”
said Caleb to himself.
“Are you finished yet, Lexi?” asked Caleb sarcastically. “You’re such a lurch, Caleb. I think you
would handle life much better if you were a hexaped,” quipped Alexis. Caleb answered shortly, “I am not
a lurch Lexi, I could outrun a lurch any day.” Now a small smile appeared on Caleb’s lips, “Besides, if I
had six legs, I would just trip three times as often.”
“I knew I could get a smile out of you,” said Alexis.
“You are the only one that has always been able to do that.” Responded Caleb “That’s why I keep
you around”
“I’m going to miss you Caleb.” Alexis quietly said, her smile was slowly fading and before Caleb
could answer Alexis threw her arms around him, squeezed tightly for a few seconds and then ran away.
Caleb smile grew even larger and he blew her an unseen kiss. Caleb and Alexis had been
inseparable since they were children. They had started calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend at the
age of 6 and been true best friends ever since. The longest they had ever been apart was 2 days when
Caleb had gone camping with his father.
 “I’ll miss you too.” Caleb called out. Alexis was getting harder and harder to understand lately.
Caleb had not yet drawn a connection between Alexis’ behavior and the fact that most of their friends
were already married. Although he did not know it, this trip would help Caleb realize just how much he
cared for Alexis. In fact, he would learn more about himself on this trip than he could possibly imagine.

THE WORLD OCEAN

Caleb slowly and grudgingly walked across the central plaza. He could see Carol’s home from
here. He could also see Jarom standing in front of the house waving him on. Caleb looked down at his
watch and realized he was already fifteen minutes late.
It wasn’t unusual that a walk that would take the average person fifteen minutes would take Caleb
three times as long. He had always been a daydreamer, wandering aimlessly, thinking of nothing in
particular. Jarom had once told him that he while some people were in a hurry to get no where, Caleb was
the only one he knew that was in no hurry to get anywhere.
Caleb decided to jog the remaining 200 meters to the house, he knew if he didn’t at least look like
he was trying to hurry, he would have to listen to another lecture about responsibility and respect.
Caleb decided to get the first word in, “Sorry I’m late dad, I…” “Don’t worry about it” interrupted
Jarom, “you’re here and that’s all that matters, I can’t tell you how exciting this is for me Caleb. I’m
happy that you are coming.” “It’s not like I had a choice.” Caleb thought to himself.
Jarom turned towards the house and yelled to Carol, “Well Carol, we’re all here, should we get
going?”
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Carol yelled back. Carol Marsden emerged from the house with just a
small backpack and, as always, three little glass jars attached to her belt. She was a biologist through and
through. It seemed to Caleb that Carol’s one goal in life was to name as many new species as possible.
The last he heard, she had named almost four hundred and fifty species, though the actual number was
nearly fifteen-hundred. Most of the species she had named were small insect-like organisms. Most of the
larger land-dwelling creatures had been named by the original colonists. Carol never went anywhere
without her jars. It was difficult to walk down the street with her or even hold a conversation. Her eyes
were always darting around looking for something new. She would turn over every rock, look under
every log and even dig through a pile of dung if she happened to come across it.
Carol had begun planning this trip almost fifteen years ago. Resources were plentiful but the
infrastructure needed to develop such an elaborate voyage and build the necessary equipment was not
quite what it needed to be. Approval was slow in coming but Carol was one of the most hard-headed and
persistent members of the community and she had dedicated herself to the exploration of the vast ocean
that covered most of the planet. It was easy enough to explore the inter-tidal zones as well as the surface
of the great sea with the craft that had already been built, but to explore the great depths would take the
construction of a vessel stronger and more technologically advanced than any since the arrival of the first
colonists.
The robots that had come from earth had the ability to construct almost anything the engineers
could imagine. The small crew of just 36 robots had grown over the last 60 years to an army of over five-
thousand. Though most of the people enjoyed cultivating their own farms and raising their own livestock,
most of the hard labor of construction and manufacturing was left to the robots. Though advanced in their
abilities, sentience had not yet been achieved and having learned from some devastating mistakes back on
earth, it was not something anyone wanted to pursue.
Designing the submarine that would take the crew to the very bottom of the ocean took nearly
three years but with the robots on the job, construction took only three weeks.
Caleb threw his bag into the back of Carol’s skimmer truck and climbed in behind it. He looked
around and both Carol and Jarom had disappeared. A quick look over the edge of the truck found them on
their hands and knees watching a small purple bug about the size of Caleb’s thumb as it slowly trudged
along its way.
“Shouldn’t we be going?” mumbled Caleb. “Oh, right, right.” Answered Carol. With a quick
movement that had been repeated thousands of times, Carol grabbed one of her jars, unscrewed the lid,
flipped the small creature into the jar with her pen, and then twisted the lid back on.
“Alright,” Carol said jumping into the cab of the skimmer. “Let’s get going.”