Project 491

PROJECT 491

First there was absolute quiet and darkness. The room totally empty,
circular in shape and with several rows of benches running in rings
from a central podium out to the walls. Gaps divided them at seven
regular intervals where seamless doors were closed for the moment. It
was to all intents and purposes a meeting hall where important things
were discussed and decisions carried out - a government of sorts. On
the agenda for today was project 491.
The seven doors slid silently open and the auditorium was awash with
extreme bright light. Figures started to emerge from the corridors
beyond and entered, gliding in and moving in an almost pre-determined
manner to their seating positions. Every movement was smooth,
liquid-like. The figures elegant and slender, a shining silver in
colour with perfectly round heads, sharp black eyes, no nose but what
appeared to be a nostril and a slit of a mouth underneath. Every single
one of them looked identical. Within a few minutes every seat had been
covered, two hundred and fifty aliens within the chamber waited in
silence for the last one to enter. But though they waited there was no
sense of expectation, no impatience, no shuffling or any individual
noise from any of those assembled. It was as quiet as it was before
anyone had entered.
They didn't have to wait too long. From the only door that stood
directly opposite the dais another identical figure appeared. It glided
down to the centre of the room and stood at the podium. It appeared to
look around, though there was no feeling of anxiety or nerves from the
being. It just observed for a moment.
It then began to speak. The words sounded like a verbal syrup - a sweet
pouring sound of words that seemed to have an almost physical presence.
Resonating in the hall and hanging in the air, almost as though anybody
there could read them as well as hear.
'Project 491.' It began simply. The voice had no tangible male or
female pitch to it, like the creature itself it didn't appear
gender-defined. The words were used as a heading to the next line.
'Project 491 has been under review for a great deal of time. We have
been studying the situation, examining the whole experiment and looking
at if we can improve on the problems that have occurred and the way we
can alter the experiment to succeed. For purposes of this meeting we
shall refer to all time-scales that apply to this specific experiment.
We have been conducting this experiment for approximately 4.5 billion
years, although for a majority of this time we have merely observed the
construction of elements and compounds, seeing how chemicals react to
each other and how light can produce complex structures. For the most
part we have found this a great success but unfortunately some of the
complex structures have caused a variety of unforeseen problems.'
The alien paused for a moment or two. Though showmanship was hardly the
issue he wanted to make sure that all those in attendance had
understood the brief outline of the discussion piece.
'The project was always a difficult one to maintain. We were dealing
with very high temperatures and strains that pushed the physics
department to new understanding regarding developing large cosmic
bodies. We had to develop structural breaks in the surface, and though
it enabled the experiment to develop there were issues resulting from
this that have been ever-present as this project developed. Generally
we have had a great degree of success in making this a self-managing
system and I think we can class this part of the work as totally
successful and we can build on this information for future assignments.
However there have been things that have been overlooked. Stray
particles have caused a great deal of damage in the past and set us
back millions of years in developing a culture that can exist, and then
having to re-develop something that can live under those kind of
problems. This has been both the most successful part of the work and
the biggest failure. Our main problem has been trying to manage a
staged evolution of the complex structures that we have put in place
there. Again, a very complex task which to a major degree has worked
well, although it must be admitted that a certain amount of engineering
went on outside of the area in our laboratories. This may have
introduced a rogue element into the project that has led us to this
serious problem on what we should do with the project, which has only
really been obvious for the last four thousand years. You have all had
full details of what has gone on in that time and I shall accept
questions on the project from the inner circle.' He bowed slightly in
recognition to those closest to him, acknowledging that they were the
more important of those gathered.
One stood up from his seating position. ' I have indeed read all those
details that you have supplied for us. I find some of the figures quite
staggering and can understand why you consider this project in
jeopardy. I am also quite amazed by how quickly this has deteriorated
considering the length of time of this study.' The voice was identical
to that of the first speaker, without any emotion although his words
carried the gravity of the situation perfectly.
'Can I ask if these figures are accurate ? You maintain that since the
most recently evolved life-form came into being that over two million
other species have been entirely wiped out ?'
The alien in the centre affirmed that information. 'Exactly two
million, three hundred thousand, two hundred and seventy species. All
of these have been evolved carefully to provide benefits to the
eco-system and medical systems too. This has caused major difficulties
in maintaining a system that can survive the various problems we
created for the experiment too.'
Another figure stood up, looking and speaking exactly the same way as
the others. 'I cannot understand how the project can continue to
achieve anything if much of the material has been destroyed.
Furthermore I understand that the protective barrier you put around the
project has also been subject to destruction.'
Again the alien in the middle agreed. 'This is absolutely true. Due to
our belief that all the structures should be self-sufficient and
develop at their own speed, making their own mistakes and learning from
them, we, in effect, created a problem wherein the dominant creatures
developed harmful products - these have had an incredible damaging
effect on the experiment in a very short time-span. I have to add that
although I have been using the time-scales applicable to this one
project, in our own scale it is little more than a year this project
has been under way.'
Another being from the inner ring raised itself up to speak. 'Does this
mean that all the other species that have been destroyed and the damage
to the sphere have taken place in little less than two weeks ?'
If there had been any emotion available to these creatures then one
could almost have believed that a murmur of dissatisfaction swept
through the auditorium. Instead there was just silence. A prolonged one
that took the place of any emotion that could have been felt.
The alien that had been answering all these questions quite quickly
appeared to pause and the answer he gave back was unlike those that had
been full of description beforehand. 'That is correct,' he merely
stated.
'I can understand the reason for calling a meeting over this,' one of
the earlier contributors said. 'But can you advise us where the project
is going from here, and if there are any ways of correcting it
?.'
'The main problem is that things have developed at such a fast rate,'
came the reply. ' Evolution is running at a much more advanced pace
that we had considered at the outset. In fact it had been very slow and
manageable until very recently. But the dominant species that exists
have an incredible progression rate, one that we have had a difficult
time monitoring. The things that have sped the whole process up has
been the almost relentless aggression that this species has. Not one
day has gone by without a conflict of some kind.'
'Are you talking one of their days or one of ours ?' came another
question.
'Theirs.' The simple reply came back.
'Then the project is a failure.' Another member of the inner circle
stated.
'If only it was that simple I would agree. But their knowledge and
development has been staggering. They have been able to manipulate
almost every thing that has been part of the project. However there has
been a disturbing development that we need to consider. They now have
the ability to travel out from the planet.'
'If they a war-faring structure then this is most dangerous.' Yet
another alien motioned.
'It is difficult to ascertain that this would be the case, but judging
on the development of the species so far it must be considered very
likely that they would become violent to other species on contact with
them.'
Another previous speaker rose and spoke up. 'By finding the means of
releasing themselves from the confines of the project then we must
surely consider whether this has finalised the project, and if so
should we consider this as a new phase or, indeed, a totally different
project form the one initially conceived ?'
The central alien nodded. 'As this has been my project from the start I
have had to debate this for a short while and looked at the issues that
have confronted me. By calling this meeting I have made it clear the
concern that I feel about being able to control this experiment,
especially outside of the confines it was held in. I have therefore
decided that there remains only one course of action that is open to
me. As of the termination of this meeting the project shall be
cancelled. It would be to the detriment of other carefully designed
projects to have this one corrupt any of them. With the unpredictable
nature of these organisms, I cannot chance the pollution with other
structures. Therefore I shall advance the destruction of the sun, this
in turn will destroy the project immediately. This will of course
destroy all of that system but I'm sure you will agree that this is the
only sensible option that we have.'
It sensed the agreement of the entire audience and reached the
conclusion of the speech. ' With this project terminated we shall use
the things we have learnt and the positive aspects associated to create
another project. Project 513. It remains to be seen whether we shall
try the human evolution experiment again though.'

Within minutes the arena had emptied, the doors slid shut again, the
rings of chairs were consumed by the darkness that returned as the
lighting died. As that illumination did vanish a sun suddenly exploded
somewhere.