Divergence of Evolution, part 1

Forward

It has been proposed by some forward thinkers that the reason scientists have not found the "missing link" between the more apelike humanoids of the distant past and modern man is because there isn't one. They propose that the jump may have occurred when an alien race genetically manipulated one or more of Earth's prehistoric hominid races into what are known as today's modern homo sapiens. Because the temperature and environments of Earth were not well suited to their anatomic makeup, their intention was to create a slave race that would be intelligent enough to mine, plant, and serve their every need. That early man would have inevitably believed that these beings were gods only supported their cause. Unfortunately for the alien race of planet seeders, the cold hard truth that 'playing God' does not make you God is evident by their mistake.

They made us just a little bit too smart.

Prologue

Kail Ga'Ratkh peered out from the bridge of his ship at the chaos below. It was gone. All of it. Someone must be held accountable. The humans and their ability to think and reproduce so quickly and after only a few years of life had presented a perfect solution to their problems. Now it was their downfall.
Taq Ga'Chuk entered the bridge just in time to hear Kail screech in anger. "What are your orders, Ga'Ratkh?"
"We will leave them, for now." Ga'Ratkh spit out the words, as he sat to calm himself. "We will regroup and destroy this tiny inhospitable planet, but if we do not return home now, we may die. Even if we survive the rebellion, the heat will finish us before the next pass."
Ga'Chuk was Ga'Ratkh's military leader and adviser. Leaving the humans to their own devices seemed a mistake in his eyes. "How long are we to let them breed, Ga'Ratkh? They are smarter than we originally thought. They will create a civilization to rival our own if not culled periodically."
Ga'Ratkh's body straightened to his full ten feet of height. The look he gave Ga'Chuk seemed to melt his cold steel armor. "We will need some time to prepare; we will allow them their freedom for a time. Their lives are short, and their memories even shorter. We will return on the third revolution, and they will scarcely remember us, even as legend. We will reclaim our mines and start fresh. We have enough reserve ore now to build an armada." Ga'Ratkh walked calmly over to the docking controls and released them. "Our brothers have all returned. Full lift!"
Below the humans were celebrating. Even over the ships engines, Ga'Ratkh thought he could hear their joyous cries, and rage boiled his cold blood.
They will have covered the planet by the time we return, but no matter. "Inform me when we are nearing Nibiru," he said as he left the bridge and retired to his chambers without another word.

Chapter 1

Earth

Casandra Collins' world was full of strange things mostly by choice, but this was different. She stood and stared out of the window of her country cottage at the sky. It was a spacecraft of some kind, she thought. Had to be. Just moments ago she had witnessed, vaguely, just out of the corner of her eye, something silver descending from the heavens. After much second guessing, she had finally made up her mind that it couldn't be anything else. It moved too slow to be falling, and it was too bright to be natural. It was dusk and her stew was almost ready, yet she found herself preparing to venture out in search of new friends from outer space.
She was the curious type, alone in her musings. At least no one in Halmont shared her curiosity, and Halmont had basically been her entire world since childhood. Even her best of friends had on numerous occasions scolded her for being so adventurous.
"Where d'you think you're going?" Hally's voice sounded from the adjoining room where she sat at her loom working on what she assumed the two of them would be wearing during the coming winter.
"I think I'm going where I plan on going," Cassie remarked in a sarcastic tone as she slipped on a light jacket. It was the beginning of fall and she didn't want to get chilly if she took longer than she expected.
"Humph. Must you take everything so literally?"
"I just want to see what that was I saw out the window. I'll be back in a jif," Cassie called back. "Dinner is still on the fire."
"Yes, I know, being that I put it there. Don't guess you need an chaperone, huh?" Hally said, kind of as an afterthought.
"I'll be fine."
Casandra had been known to wander and Hally Jordan had made it her life's goal to make sure Casandra's curious nature was kept in check. After all, what would the towns' people think? A girl bounding off chasing rainbows was one thing, but an adult doing so just wasn't appropriate.
Casandra had lived with her friend Hally ever since the War had ended almost ten years ago. People seldom spoke of it anymore, but she found it difficult to forget. As a child, she rarely knew stability. Her parents were both off defending the hemisphere somewhere, and she was moved from place to place with many of the other children. Food wasn't as scarce as the adults acted like it was, at least in the places she had been, but she knew that in the larger cities it was a different matter.
She didn't really know much about the War, other than her parents had disappeared in it, and her side of earth won. She didn't know who caused it, what it was over, or where it was fought. She didn't even really know who was involved. People she interrogated seemed to basically ignore the questions. All she knew was what what she learned in classes, and since the war, there had been precious few of those. Apparently the government had decided it was best for people to remain ignorant, and people were content to do so. Most of them, at least.

Luna

"The Second Lunar Colony flourished beyond anyone's wildest expectations – if not exactly in the way people expected. Although it was called the second colony, the first was really more akin to the international space station years ago, meaning it had no permanent inhabitants, and lasted only a couple decades. Luna Circa was founded at the site of the first lunar expedition, as it was convenient to use some of the structure already established. Although a surprising number of people from all walks of life were eager to join us here for the foundation of human kind's first permanent off- world colony, relatively few were permitted to come. The Chosen few had to not only be perfectly healthy themselves, but were also required to have a healthy lineage, and a compatible genetic makeup with the rest of the expedition for the insurance of future generations."
"You know, I'm not convinced that whomever wrote this had all their facts straight. Remind me again why I'm reading this aloud." Jubal's questioning statement was to be expected, and was right down his personality highway. 'Question everything' was his primary objective, which pleased his instructor greatly.
"I merely wanted to see the image you'd paint." In addition to being his teacher, Kara was Jubal's mentor of sorts. This was the way of the Luna Humane.
Education was a reflection of middle age society. The Luna Humane took the best parts of everything Earth ever knew and made it their own, all the way from government offices to door handles (not that there were many of those around).
The lunar cycle is approximately 29.53 days on Earth. Since the same side of the moon always faces earth, the length of a day is the also about 29.53 days. This being a slight problem, the Luna devised a new table of time measurement. They moved to a 25 hour day, which is closer to what the body will naturally do if the time of day remains unknown.
Artificial gravity was yet to be invented without using motion, so their bodies hadn't the need for their (original)current bone and muscle mass. They grew taller and thinner as generations passed, until the average male human on the moon was about 7.5 feet and a mere 110 pounds.
Children spent childhood with their parents. Once they were old enough for school, they were taught in a classroom for 36 cycles (roughly 35 months), then by their parents or in small groups for 12 more. After this it was 36 cycles in various hands on environments or until they were ready to move into doing almost solely the things at which they were best and enjoyed the most – which usually were the same. This was around the age 11-13. From then on they would work with a mentor until they were ready to begin their trade.
Since the moon is a different environment than earth, with a different infrastructure, there were of course different needs. Some people worked on creation, repair and maintenance of automated machinery that grew their food and provided electricity, some were mentors in their field or teachers, and others handled the day to day scheduling for life on the lunar surface.
Jubal was learning the combined histories of Earth, Luna, and Mars in the hope to one day be a representative of an interplanetary committee (currently named Tri That Again – Yes, the humor abounds) that had been reformed in recent years with the agenda of once again uniting the home planet and the two colonies.
It was not going well. The mindsets of the three places had become entirely different, as was only natural. After all, they all had completely different needs. Still, further expansion and exploration depended on cooperation, and Jubal, Kara, and many others were intent on success.
"You know this building is suppose to have secret labs and things in it?" Jubal was always reading blogs and message boards looking for anything unusual that the government might be up to.
"Really now, Jubal. Let's keep with the agenda just this once, please." Kara had had several apprentices before Jubal, and found they all had some interest in conspiracy theory. Kids always loved that stuff. Especially the good ones, and Jubal was the best she had ever met.

Mars

Harkin stared out at the sandstorm through the window of his surface cubicle. He was suppose to be working on new modifications for his visual spectrometer, but found himself watching the red sand swirls instead. It never seemed to stop. The endless mechanical adjustments or the wind. He swore silently. He'd rip the thing off it wasn't directly linked to his optic nerves.
Harkin Beaumont was seen as an ornery and old fashioned gentleman, and although he blindly opposed change for no good reason, his word was taken as gospel throughout the territory.
Today, he was getting ready for a press conference, no doubt introducing some new innovation or gadget that would get an instant vote of "no" from him. Although he was on the technology board, his vote mattered very little. He knew he was elected mainly for his ability to find counterpoints where other members seldom could, and although his points were rarely considered with any weight, he was glad that the people knew it was best to at least discover and consider them. This position, although not his work of choice, was at least rewarding in its own right.
As he left his home for the lower levels where most of the government offices were held, he had the sudden urge to double check and make sure everything was turned off that could be turned off, which was silly, since everything turned itself off that needed it in this day and age.
As he walked the halls towards his meeting, he passed several uniformed attendants and scientists, all buzzing about looking busy. He wondered what might be going on. The halls were busier than usual.

Chapter 2 coming soon.