PollyWannaCracker
Really Experienced
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2021
- Posts
- 125
Dead Tread Moving on. I didn't get the response for which I was hoping, and I have another idea I prefer more. If you were reading along, I'm sorry if this disappoints you. But, as I didn't receive ANY private messages regarding this story, I'm presuming no one was reading. (No, I'm not feeling sorry for myself. I'm only pointing out the obvious: no one was interested.)
Paula was far too young to have experienced the invasion of Earth by the aliens who would come to be called Screechers due to the high pitch and high volume of their vocalizations. The attack on the planet had begun over a century and a half ago, around the middle of the 21st century. Paula would be a mere 22 years of age ten days from now.
And she'd never seen a Screecher with her own eyes either -- not a live one anyway. She had seen a skeleton of one, though. There were a few reassembled skeletons on display across the region that included members of the Collective. Paula had seen one of them proudly displayed by another Tribe when she accompanied her mother -- now deceased but at the time a Collective Elder -- when they visited a neighboring Tribe to negotiate its entry into the trade and security organization.
Most Tribes -- Collective members and otherwise -- had over the years and decades accumulated one or more drawings of the Screechers, of course. The images abounded, though they didn't always depict the alien invaders the same. The drawing of the Screechers that Paula had grown up viewing was said to have been commissioned by the Screechers themselves, though honestly, there was no way of knowing whether or not that was in fact true.
Paula had always been intrigued with how similar in appearance the aliens had been to Human Beings: two eyes, two ears, two arms, and two legs, and -- for the females -- two breasts, as well as one each of the accompanying head, torso, and -- for the males -- penis.
Despite not having experienced the invasion or the decades of Screecher extermination of Humans (until finally, by the time of their departure from the planet, less than 6% of the pre-invasion population remained) or the Screecher raping of Earth's already heavily exploited natural resources, Paula still suffered from what the aliens had done to Earth.
Global warming had only increased -- dramatically -- after the invasion because of the Screecher's burning of fossil fuels to power their exploitation of what the planet had to offer. In many places around the globe, the air was thick 24/7 with pollution; particulates rained down upon the land, polluting it even further. By the time the Screechers loaded up in their shuttles and returned to their orbiting ships to leave Earth, there wasn't a year round ice sheet or glacier left on the planet.
Ironically, there were some problems that ceased with the arrival of the aliens. The Screechers didn't use plastics like Humans had: by the time of arrival of the aliens, Humans had been creating almost 500 million tons of plastic products every year, with 80%+ of it ending up in landfills, rivers, and oceans.
And because they didn't use lumber except in only a few applications, forests -- natural wildlands, not the one species farm forests Humans planted simply to one day harvest -- began to return all across the globe. (Of course, part of the reason for the success of the forest was that there were few Humans left to cut them down.)
But beyond the topics of plastic and trees, what the Screechers had done to Planet Earth was simply unimaginable. They had used extraction processes and hazardous chemicals that had left vast tracts of land uninhabitable by Humans to this day and, likely, for centuries or even millennia to come.
All of this was normal for Paula, of course: she'd grown up with these effects and results. Despite hearing the tales of the Screecher reign over Earth, she couldn't entirely imagine what the post-invasion generations had truly endured. Who could, if you hadn't lived through it?
Today, though, Paula's thoughts weren't on what had come before but were on what was to come ahead. She and two others from her Tribe were serving as members of the Collective delegation to a Tribe that was seeking admittance into the trade and security organization. Paula's role was to speak on issues regarding women and children; with her was her maternal Aunt's husband, Rickard, who would speak about security and Rickard's cousin, Elton, whose area of expertise was fair trade. (Although the relationships between the three of them might have seemed to involve an element of nepotism, anyone who knew the nature of Paula's Tribe knew that nearly every member was related to every other member either by blood, marriage, or indentured servitude.)
They had been riding by horse from their village to the other for six days now, spending three of their nights as honored guests of other Collective member communities. Paula had never been this far from home in her life, and she was shocked at what she'd seen for the first time with her own eyes.
Three days ago, they'd come upon and, for a time, ridden along the ridge of a massive crater. Paula guessed it was at least a mile across, with half of its diameter a lake of the most incredibly blue water. She would have found it breathtakingly beautiful, if one of her riding mates hadn't pointed out that a city of more than 2 million people had once existed where the body of water was now.
This morning, as they descended from the hills into the valley in which sat their destination, the light of the rising sun reflected incredibly off what appeared to be a small hillock. Paula had never seen anything like this before and couldn't imagine what was causing the visual effect. As they got nearer to it -- now under armed escort of their host Tribe -- Paula found it to be a 100 foot wide, 30 foot tall pile of discarded, metal skinned robots.
The robots had first hunted Human Beings more than a century ago, after the orbital and atmospheric attacks on the cities and the people fleeing them had ceased. After killing off most of what had remained of Humanity, the robots had then moved on to their second duty: resource extraction.
Then, once the Screechers had gotten what they wanted from the land here, they'd flipped a remote switch somewhere -- on the planet or in orbit, no one could know -- and the machines simply dropped to the ground, deactivated for all eternity. In some places, Humans had tried to reactivate the robots to serve them. They'd failed without exception.
Here, though, the machines had been disassembled -- often with axes or sledgehammers -- and tossed onto a pile. Some people tore them apart even further, using their individual components for such things as cook ware, farming implements, or even armor. Attempts had been made to melt the metal in an effort to create new products, but the material from which these machines had been made wouldn't melt under even the hottest conditions.
(More coming.)
"The Collective"
NOTE:
To join, please PM the hostess.
You will, of course, need to read the IC thread
and familiarize yourself with what has come before.
I will create a "synopsis" page that will help,
but honestly, you'll need to read all of the replies
to fully understand the story
and your potential place in it.
NOTE:
To join, please PM the hostess.
You will, of course, need to read the IC thread
and familiarize yourself with what has come before.
I will create a "synopsis" page that will help,
but honestly, you'll need to read all of the replies
to fully understand the story
and your potential place in it.
Paula was far too young to have experienced the invasion of Earth by the aliens who would come to be called Screechers due to the high pitch and high volume of their vocalizations. The attack on the planet had begun over a century and a half ago, around the middle of the 21st century. Paula would be a mere 22 years of age ten days from now.
And she'd never seen a Screecher with her own eyes either -- not a live one anyway. She had seen a skeleton of one, though. There were a few reassembled skeletons on display across the region that included members of the Collective. Paula had seen one of them proudly displayed by another Tribe when she accompanied her mother -- now deceased but at the time a Collective Elder -- when they visited a neighboring Tribe to negotiate its entry into the trade and security organization.
Most Tribes -- Collective members and otherwise -- had over the years and decades accumulated one or more drawings of the Screechers, of course. The images abounded, though they didn't always depict the alien invaders the same. The drawing of the Screechers that Paula had grown up viewing was said to have been commissioned by the Screechers themselves, though honestly, there was no way of knowing whether or not that was in fact true.
Paula had always been intrigued with how similar in appearance the aliens had been to Human Beings: two eyes, two ears, two arms, and two legs, and -- for the females -- two breasts, as well as one each of the accompanying head, torso, and -- for the males -- penis.
Despite not having experienced the invasion or the decades of Screecher extermination of Humans (until finally, by the time of their departure from the planet, less than 6% of the pre-invasion population remained) or the Screecher raping of Earth's already heavily exploited natural resources, Paula still suffered from what the aliens had done to Earth.
Global warming had only increased -- dramatically -- after the invasion because of the Screecher's burning of fossil fuels to power their exploitation of what the planet had to offer. In many places around the globe, the air was thick 24/7 with pollution; particulates rained down upon the land, polluting it even further. By the time the Screechers loaded up in their shuttles and returned to their orbiting ships to leave Earth, there wasn't a year round ice sheet or glacier left on the planet.
Ironically, there were some problems that ceased with the arrival of the aliens. The Screechers didn't use plastics like Humans had: by the time of arrival of the aliens, Humans had been creating almost 500 million tons of plastic products every year, with 80%+ of it ending up in landfills, rivers, and oceans.
And because they didn't use lumber except in only a few applications, forests -- natural wildlands, not the one species farm forests Humans planted simply to one day harvest -- began to return all across the globe. (Of course, part of the reason for the success of the forest was that there were few Humans left to cut them down.)
But beyond the topics of plastic and trees, what the Screechers had done to Planet Earth was simply unimaginable. They had used extraction processes and hazardous chemicals that had left vast tracts of land uninhabitable by Humans to this day and, likely, for centuries or even millennia to come.
All of this was normal for Paula, of course: she'd grown up with these effects and results. Despite hearing the tales of the Screecher reign over Earth, she couldn't entirely imagine what the post-invasion generations had truly endured. Who could, if you hadn't lived through it?
Today, though, Paula's thoughts weren't on what had come before but were on what was to come ahead. She and two others from her Tribe were serving as members of the Collective delegation to a Tribe that was seeking admittance into the trade and security organization. Paula's role was to speak on issues regarding women and children; with her was her maternal Aunt's husband, Rickard, who would speak about security and Rickard's cousin, Elton, whose area of expertise was fair trade. (Although the relationships between the three of them might have seemed to involve an element of nepotism, anyone who knew the nature of Paula's Tribe knew that nearly every member was related to every other member either by blood, marriage, or indentured servitude.)
They had been riding by horse from their village to the other for six days now, spending three of their nights as honored guests of other Collective member communities. Paula had never been this far from home in her life, and she was shocked at what she'd seen for the first time with her own eyes.
Three days ago, they'd come upon and, for a time, ridden along the ridge of a massive crater. Paula guessed it was at least a mile across, with half of its diameter a lake of the most incredibly blue water. She would have found it breathtakingly beautiful, if one of her riding mates hadn't pointed out that a city of more than 2 million people had once existed where the body of water was now.
This morning, as they descended from the hills into the valley in which sat their destination, the light of the rising sun reflected incredibly off what appeared to be a small hillock. Paula had never seen anything like this before and couldn't imagine what was causing the visual effect. As they got nearer to it -- now under armed escort of their host Tribe -- Paula found it to be a 100 foot wide, 30 foot tall pile of discarded, metal skinned robots.
The robots had first hunted Human Beings more than a century ago, after the orbital and atmospheric attacks on the cities and the people fleeing them had ceased. After killing off most of what had remained of Humanity, the robots had then moved on to their second duty: resource extraction.
Then, once the Screechers had gotten what they wanted from the land here, they'd flipped a remote switch somewhere -- on the planet or in orbit, no one could know -- and the machines simply dropped to the ground, deactivated for all eternity. In some places, Humans had tried to reactivate the robots to serve them. They'd failed without exception.
Here, though, the machines had been disassembled -- often with axes or sledgehammers -- and tossed onto a pile. Some people tore them apart even further, using their individual components for such things as cook ware, farming implements, or even armor. Attempts had been made to melt the metal in an effort to create new products, but the material from which these machines had been made wouldn't melt under even the hottest conditions.
(More coming.)
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