Immersion

Greetings to everyone, the following story was inspired by the digital art of @xpilar, I invite you to visit his blog. The picture that motivated this story is the following.

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Source

Immersion

Humans have long since strayed from the path guided by nature on the paths of evolution. Obviously the adaptation to the conditions of colonized planets and satellites had, in some way, generated effects on human morphology; however, these variations did not cause great differentiation among individuals.

The natives of Perseus, the first of the colonies, and in general the majority of their descendants in the later colonies, were tall and slim, with a minimum height of one meter ninety, due to the low gravity, and with wide thoracic cages because of the thinness of the atmosphere. While the inhabitants of worlds such as Palas, Charonte, Cerberus and Belerophon, used to be of smaller stature and greater musculature, with wider shoulders and less broad thorax, due to different atmospheric and gravitational conditions.

These variations in context and stature had occurred naturally and were the result of hundreds of years of adaptation to planetary conditions. However, in many other cases the adaptations were guided by engineering, bioengineering and genetics. They came to create human races with considerable variations, which even though physically they were still fundamentally human, could have characteristics that would allow them to develop better in the specific environments in which they lived.

Thus, for example, for several thousands of years, thanks to genetic engineering and hybridization, the inhabitants of Susanoo have a reddish pigmented skin with a higher density than the common human skin, this as a protection mechanism against UV radiation, which lets its thin ozone layer pass through. Whereas those of Bellerophon have layers of fat denser in its trunk and extremities and a skin also thicker and with a thicker layer of beauty than in the rest of the planets.

One of the most extreme and at the same time interesting alterations is the one carried out in Triton, a world with a very small mass of emerged land, and a gigantic ocean, due to the scarcity of land, floating and underwater cities were built. Genetically, it was possible to develop respiratory organs similar to gills in their inhabitants, which allow them to filter the oxygen dissolved in the water in order to breathe during long dives.

Although the organism of these humans is not completely adapted to the requirements for life under water, it does give them greater capacity in many activities that normally require specialized equipment to be performed and this capacity has also been the origin of new games and sports that are practiced by their population and encouraged by the local parliament.

The most representative of the events, of this local sports culture, is the Pandora Underwater Derby, which is held annually in the pandora underwater city, the derby brings together a set of resistance events held in a swimming track on the seabed. From speed races and obstacles, to dragging weights of different masses, depending on the category.

Even though the derby is open to the participation of natives of any world, for obvious reasons, on rare occasions this situation has occurred and has always been about individuals with special conditions, product of natural or induced mutations, but there has only been the case of an unborn in Triton, who has won the event, and did so for six consecutive years.

Text of @amart29 Barcelona, Venezuela, July 2019

Other stories from the Time and Space series

• Los Bosques de Perséfone / The Forests of Persephone
• Osiris / Osiris
• Metamorphosis
• Hastio
• Paradox
• Decay
• Under the influence of the Pleiades
• Anniversary
• Memories
• Core
• Uoke
• Cerberus
• Underwater Companions
• Ultraviolet Visions
• Obstacle Race
• Stranger
• Trackers
• At the Mercy of the Elements
• Typhon's Great Regatta
• Immersion

I can only thank @xpilar for allowing me to use his digital art in my publication and for motivating my creation. Thank you very much @xpilar

Thank you all for visiting my publication, I hope your comments and I appreciate your support, until next time

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