NELS: Rebirth of the Human Race: Book Three

By Conrad Fjetland

Nels has arrived on the surface of Ararat. He plans to set up a camp near the colony and show the members how to adapt to Ararat's environment. But the colony does not want his help, so Nels plans on living alone. He soon learns that being prepared for Ararat's atmospheric conditions is not enough to survive. Can he find native foods that meet his requirements? How must he adjust when some of the colony members escape and join him? Does the future of humanity depend on finding answers to Ararat's challenges?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 27, 2020
• ISBN: 9781644682821

Book preview

Chapter 1

Nels Brunken felt the gentle pressure of the Orion’s thrusters.

This is it, he thought, I have crossed the line of no return. I have deserted my wife, my crewmates, and my post on the Mayflower and stowed away to get to Ararat. Now it’s up to me to prove to myself and the colonists that humans can survive in and adapt to Ararat’s environment.

Nels settled back into the small storage locker he was hiding in as the shuttle’s main engines fired briefly to slow the shuttle and begin its descent to the surface. The personal belongings Nels had brought with him and packed around himself gave him adequate protection from the initial deceleration of the Orion, but he knew he was in for a rough ride once the shuttle entered the atmosphere of Ararat. The other passengers on the Orion, those that were supposed to be there, were strapped into deceleration chairs; but Nels did not have that luxury. He would have to make do with what he had—some extra clothes, a small survival shelter, a month’s supply of emergency survival rations, and a few simple tools. Nels was not that worried about the final descent or his ability to survive on the surface of Ararat. He was always in excellent physical condition, and when he decided to take this drastic step, he had embarked on a rigorous fitness program to prepare himself, not only for the ride down but also for the conditions he would find on the surface.

Nels spent the time it would take before the Orion entered the atmosphere thinking back to the events that led to his decision to stowaway. It began almost a year before with a decision to return to Earth. The crew of the Mayflower had been studying the second planet of Epsilon Eridani to determine whether it would be suitable for colonizing. The planet had looked hopeful when they had first arrived, but ultimately it was determined that the partial pressure of oxygen in the atmosphere was too low to give the crew a reasonable chance of long-term survival. Captain Larson decided that the only viable alternative was to return to Earth.

However, Purple, the Mayflower’s main computer, determined there was a chance a small colony of forty or less had about a 30 percent chance of survival. This chance was dependent on those staying on Ararat abandoning the moral standards that were part of the basic mission of the Mayflower. Because the initial population was so low, a managed breeding program was thought to be the only way to protect the genetic viability of the population. Further, they would be required to live in an artificial environment for years to adjust to the Ararat’s atmosphere.

Nels volunteered to stay; but because of his age, now fifty, and the fact that his professional training was not a high priority need for settling on a new planet, he was not selected. Nels was furious that he had been rejected. The whole purpose of going to the stars was to find a better place for mankind to live. He had no desire to return to Earth and the decadent conditions that were rampant by the middle of the twenty-first century. But what was being proposed was not consistent with the Mayflower’s mission of establishing a population with high moral standards. The colony volunteers were abandoning the Moral Code they had all agreed to as part of their plan to survive on Ararat. Further, instead of trying to adapt to the planet’s environment, they were going to depend on technology to maintain an artificial habitat with supplemental oxygen and a hydroponics-based diet. In Nels’s opinion, that was no way to guarantee long-term survival. Sure, the colony volunteers talked about gradually weaning themselves off these support systems, but Nels was convinced they would remain dependent on their creature comforts. As such, they would become soft and would ultimately fail.

Nels’s reflections continued as he replayed his decision to prove the colonists wrong. He would find a way to get to the surface on his own. He did not plan to try and join the colony. He would live outside of the artificial environment the colony was creating. He would find his own shelter and live off the land. He was confident he could do it, and by doing so he felt he could show the others the best way to guarantee their success. He would show them how to adapt to the local atmospheric conditions. He would show them how to find and eat native foods. He would show them how to become citizens of Ararat instead of aliens on a foreign planet.

Nels thoughts were interrupted as the Orion began to violently shake as it entered Ararat’s atmosphere. The next few minutes were very rough, and he was thrown into the storage locker’s wall several times before the shuttle had slowed enough to begin flying like a plane. Shuttle landings on Ararat were made under power on a dry lake bed. He soon felt the wheels touchdown and the engines’ reverse thrusters slow the Orion quickly to a stop. Nels was where he wanted to be, on Ararat.

Once the engines were shut off, Nels did a quick physical inventory of his body. Nothing was broken. He had a few bruises, but they wouldn’t hamper his mobility or survival. He stayed quiet in the locker as he heard the others on the shuttle begin moving around. He knew there were thirty-two volunteers for the colony aboard the Orion. They were the final component of the Ararat colony’s compliment of volunteers. The other six colonists had been on the surface for several months preparing a base camp. Originally twenty-one women and eighteen men had been selected for the colony, but just before the Orion departed, one of the women backed out. Nels did not know why she did.

Nels heard Brianna Lensson, the Orion’s shuttle pilot, say, "We need to wait about two hours to allow the shuttle to cool down before we open the hatch. I know that we all have worked out vigorously in preparation for our arrival on Ararat, but we still need to take it slow. We have been weightless for almost two years, so while we wait you can get up and stretch your legs and get used to gravity conditions again.

The base camp has three rovers, but only one is the larger hydrogen-powered type. That one can carry four people. The other two are solar-powered models that are capable of carrying only two people at a time. Some of the team already on the ground parked the rovers nearby and walked back, but none of us are able to take on that walk yet. It’s about three miles. It will take a while to transport all of us and the personal gear we brought to the Ararat Colony.

While they waited for the hatch to be opened, Nels could hear some of the colonists talking excitedly about the first steps they would take on a foreign world. Among the voices he recognized was his son Henry, who had been selected for the colony. Henry was trained to operate the hydroponics equipment that had been transferred from the Mayflower to the Ararat Colony.

When the time came to depressurize the Orion and open the hatch, he heard Graysun Williams say, It’s time for everyone to put on your supplemental breathing masks. Susan, pull the supplies we put in the storage locker out.

Nels knew he was about to be discovered and ran over a number of possible things he could say when the locker door was opened. But nothing dramatic came to his lips as the young woman unlatched the door.

Hello, Nels feebly muttered.

Susan Petersen jumped back, startled. Graysun, there is someone in the locker, she said. It’s Nels Brunken. What the heck are you doing in here? she asked as she recognized him.

Just hitching a ride to Ararat, said Nels.

Graysun came quickly back to the storage area and looked at Nels, who was uncurling from his cramped position.

Why am I not surprised, he said. "I didn’t see you among those who were wishing us well as we boarded the Orion, and I should have guessed what you were up to then. Are you all right? You look a little beat up from the rough landing."

I’m fine, said Nels. Just a few bruises but nothing to worry about. I banged my left hip pretty good. You knew that I had no desire to return to Earth. I had to do something to stay on Ararat.

But what are we going to do with you? You were not selected for the colony, and I don’t see how you can contribute anything to our survival. We have been discussing for some time how we are going to live, and you have not been included in those plans.

"Don’t worry, Graysun. I don’t want to be part of your colony. As a matter of fact, I think you are going in the wrong direction with the pressurized compound your advance team built. You are committed to a life under artificial, more Earth-like conditions, just like we had on the Mayflower. I intend to live within the environmental conditions this planet gives us. When I make it, perhaps you will believe my way is better."

"Always a rebel, aren’t you? Who knows, you may actually survive. You are probably in the best shape of anyone on the Mayflower. But we have our own plan. Don’t come to us looking for help if you are starving."

I don’t intend to. I brought a month’s supply of rations with me. I will find edible native plants long before those rations run out. I do have one request, however. Marlene did some chemical research on some of the native seaweed and thought two species Morgan found may be suitable for human consumption. I don’t have time to build a boat right away, so if I can borrow one of yours, I will harvest some and see how palatable it is.

Marlene was part of the advance team. We will discuss your request with her and all the colony members when we are together later. We will let you know.

Fair enough, said Nels.

Graysun turned to the rest of the Orion’s passengers and said, Everyone have their breathing masks on? Brianna, it’s time to depressurize and open the main hatch.

As the seal on the hatch was broken, Nels got his first breath of alien air. He noted it had a slightly sweet taste. The air was thin as he expected, but definitely better than he had experienced on a number of his mountain-climbing expeditions. After a few slow and deep breaths, he was confident he would not suffer from hypoxia as long as he didn’t overexert himself for a while. He also found the Ararat air was moister than the atmosphere maintained on the Mayflower.

The first eight of the colony members walked down the Orion’s boarding ramp and boarded the rovers for the drive over to the colony.

Henry came up to Nels and said, Did you tell Ida what you were doing?

No, I didn’t. Your mother was having enough trouble accepting that you, her only child, was to be gone forever from her. She would have tried to talk me out of my plan, and I didn’t want that. But I think she suspected I was thinking about doing something like this. I left her a note in the computer that she has probably heard by now. She just didn’t have the same burning desire to conquer new adventures that I have. She was content to go with me when we sailed around Earth in a small sailboat, and she even was eager to come along on this trip to the stars, but the thought of abandoning the Moral Code was too much for her.

Are you having any trouble breathing? Henry asked.

Not really. I did a lot of exercises preparing myself for this. I already feel I’m ready to set out toward the place I selected for my first campsite.

Where is it?

About half a mile west of the colony site. There is a natural stream there, and the plant community seems fairly diverse at that site. I will probably eventually move, but it’s a good place to start. Once you are settled in, perhaps you can come over and we can start exploring this planet.

Maybe, Henry answered noncommittally as he saw Graysun returning from seeing the first colony members off.

I don’t think that will be possible, Graysun said as he walked up to Nels. As I said before, we have been planning how we are going to function as a colony and you are not part of those plans. Your being here will be a distraction to our plans. You already stated you think we are going in the wrong direction. Your interaction with us will likely cause more harm than good. But I am not in charge. We have a different mode of operation. As soon as we are all together, we will discuss what, if any, role you might play in our long-term survival on Ararat and whether we will maintain a channel of communications.

Nels was taken aback by Graysun’s comments but decided it was not a good time to debate the matter with him. Instead he turned back to Henry and said, Whatever you and your friends decide is fine with me. As I already told Graysun, I don’t intend to join your colony. But you are still my son. I hope to be able to at least talk with you and see how you are doing.

Henry said nothing. He just shrugged his shoulders and walked back to his deceleration chair to wait for his turn to ride over to the colony building.

As Nels prepared to move out of the storage locker, he saw Graysun open a communicator channel to Captain Larson. Nels assumed Graysun was telling the captain that Nels had stowed away on the Orion.

Nels set about removing the belongings he had brought with him from the Mayflower and piling them up outside the Orion. The food supplies, outdoor clothing, camping gear, and small tools he gathered together before stowing away amounted to more than he could carry in a single trip to his selected campsite. Once he had everything organized, he packed the basic camp supplies and his food rations into a pack and headed out toward the stream he had located. He left the clothing and tools for a later trip.

Nels proceeded cautiously at first. He was determined to start out slowly to allow his system to adapt the atmosphere and environment he would be living in the rest of his life. Besides, his hip was still a little sore. But he couldn’t completely control his euphoria at walking on an alien planet for the first time. All his previous adventures on Earth paled in comparison to this experience. For his first few steps he could see signs of human activity resulting from previous shuttle landings during the studies of Ararat. But as soon as he deviated to the west from the trail leading to the base camp, he knew he was walking where no man had walked before. He had read about the feelings of explorers like Neil Armstrong and Christopher Columbus had when they first stepped onto new lands. Everything in his life had been building toward this moment.

The ground was covered with a mixture of fine grasslike vegetation. It gave the ground a spongy feeling as he walked along. There were scattered low shrubby bushes in the vicinity but nothing approaching a height of six feet or more. The environmental studies that Morgan and his team had conducted found that the ecosystems on this planet were much simpler than those found on Earth, but the flora and fauna were developing along similar lines.

About four hours later Nels arrived at the site he had chosen for his camp. As he began to unload his supplies, he received a call from Captain Larson. The captain told Nels he also had Morgan Parker and Dr. Sandra Sanchez on the communicator link.

Captain, Nels said when a communications channel was opened, I want to apologize for not telling you what I planned to do, but I knew you would try to stop me and I couldn’t let that happen. I decided to do this a few days after I learned I was not included on the colony crew list.

What are you planning to do? the captain asked.

I am going to show the colony that humans can survive on the surface of Ararat without artificial breathing equipment or pressurized living spaces. I am going to give them hope for the future.

Why? They already have hope and a great deal of determination, said the captain.

"To a certain extent, yes, but they are relying on their technology to survive. They are planning to live in a ground-based version of the Mayflower habitat. What if there is a breakdown in their oxygen system? What if their hydroponics systems fail? They don’t have the luxury of the backup systems available on the Mayflower. I want to show them that they don’t need to be dependent on all that technology."

How do you plan to do that? Morgan asked.

By going native. I studied the surface of Ararat carefully and found a flat area along the natural stream of fresh water a little west of the base camp. The Ararat ecosystem in that area is fairly well developed. I brought a minimum supply of personal belongings with me to set up a camp. I have already hiked to the site and am setting up shop.

Are you having any difficulty with the atmosphere? Sandra asked.

Not so far, he replied. When I decided to do this, I didn’t know how I was going to get to the surface but I knew I had to be in the best possible shape. I began an extensive physical fitness program similar to what I did before I embarked on a mountain-climbing expedition back on Earth. By being prepared then, I was able to climb to Mount Aconcagua’s 22,800-foot summit in Argentina without supplemental breathing equipment and was over 24,000 feet on Mount Everest before I put on a mask. And remember, the exertion factor of mountain climbing is much higher that what I am facing here.

What about food? Captain Larson asked.

That’s another area where I owe you an apology, he said. I brought a small supply of emergency rations with me, enough for about a month. I did not take any of the seed stock of Earth plants that were destined for the colony. I intend to find native plants and perhaps some animals that are edible. I do not believe we should introduce any Earth organisms on Ararat if at all possible. I want to show the colony that it is not necessary to do so. If I can survive, they will know that they can adapt to Ararat’s environment. If people are going to live in the stars, they need to find how to do it consistent with what the stars have to offer.

A month’s supply doesn’t give you much time, Morgan said. We had just begun our studies on Ararat’s plants and animals. We did find a few native plants that appear to have nutrients of value to the human digestive system, but nobody tried to live on them, and no detailed chemical analyses of them was done. The ocean may provide a better place to start. I found some aquatic plants that looked like they could provide sustenance. Marlene Deveroe, who is part of the colony, did extensive biochemical research on two species of seaweed similar to Earth’s kelp. She found that both plants would be comparable to quinoa in meeting a human’s dietary needs. Nobody, however, consumed any of it. So we do not know if our systems can effectively process them.

I reviewed all of the biological data you and she developed with Purple, Nels responded. The one thing I have asked of the colony is that they make a boat available to me. Graysun said he was not prepared to make that decision and I would have to wait to hear back from him. I want to harvest some of the kelp-like plants and see what my stomach does with it. In the meantime, I found some small tuber-like growths on a leafy plant near my campsite. I ate one a few minutes ago. It hasn’t killed me so far.

Well, Captain Larson said, you have always done things your way. All I know for certain is that we are not coming to the surface to retrieve you. You have made your choice, and you will have to live or die with whatever outcome results.

We all die sometime. At least I will die doing what I always wanted to do, exploring the unknown.

Please keep us apprised of any discoveries you make, Morgan said. Purple will store that information for future generations. By the way, did you tell Ida what you were doing?

"I left a message with Purple to be delivered as soon as the Orion departed. She suspected something like this. She will understand." With that Nels terminated his communications link.

Nels went back to work setting up his shelter. When he was done, he noticed that Epsilon Eridani was already nearing the horizon.

That is just one of the many adjustments I need to get used to, he said to himself. The days here are shorter, only about twenty-two hours. I suppose I ought to think about a calendar. I will call this day one, year one. I’ll figure out the rest of it sometime in the future.

Nels decided to postpone returning to the Orion to get the rest of his supplies until the next day. Conditions were mild near Ararat’s equator, and he had plenty of clothing on to keep him warm for the night within his shelter. He had not had any adverse reaction to the tubers he had eaten earlier in the day, but he wanted to wait until the next day before trying any more native plants as possible sources of food. Instead, he broke open one of the emergency ration pouches and ate it.

Quinoa paste, he said disgustingly. It figures they would make the emergency rations similar to what we have been eating for the last twenty-three years. I’d better find some good sources of native food soon.

That evening he received a message from the colony that he could use a boat in exchange for information on the aquatic plants in the sea. The boat would be placed outside the colony compound the next day. The message went on to say that Nels would not receive any other help from the colony and he would not be allowed to enter their compound under any circumstances. They had already discontinued use of their other communicators, and this one was being shut down at the conclusion of the message. Nels passed this information on to the captain and Morgan with a comment that the colony members seemed to be acting strangely. Then he crawled into his sleeping bag for his first night on Ararat.

As he drifted off to sleep, he heard a gentle rain falling on his shelter. He knew this was a common event in this general region of Ararat in the afternoon and evening. That is why the base camp being used by the colony had been established on the west side of the sea and near the equator. It was where the trade winds of the planet blew over the ocean and picked up moisture. This moisture resulted in the most developed ecosystems being found within a few miles to the west of the sea.

Unlike Earth, Ararat had only one relatively shallow sea that straddled the equator. It covered a little less than 10 percent of the planet’s surface area. Like Earth, Ararat had a prograde rotation rate—that is, the planet rotates the same direction as its star, Epsilon Eridani. The rotation is to the east, counterclockwise when looking down from above the north pole. The Coriolis effect then creates trade winds near the equator blowing to the west. The base camp and Nels’s camp are located about ten degrees north of the equator, resulting in trade winds from the northeast.

Nels knew that the weather was fairly constant throughout the year, not only near the equator but throughout the planet. Because his position on the Mayflower had been as chief planetologist, he had studied Ararat extensively before the decision to return to Earth by the captain was made.

Ararat is closer to its star than the Earth is to Sol, about sixty-five hundredths of an astronomical unit. However, Epsilon Eridani is a class K2 star, somewhat cooler than Sol. The Ararat year is about two hundred and eight of its twenty-two-hour days. Further, Ararat’s axial tilt is only 3.2 degrees, compared to Earth’s 23.5 degrees. Finally, Ararat’s orbit is nearly circular. All of these factors combine to make surface temperatures almost exclusively controlled by distance from the equator. Temperatures near the equator of Ararat are ideal, with no seasonal variations, warm but not hot in the daytime with slight cooling during the night.

The next morning Nels awoke just as Epsilon Eridani was rising in the east.

Year one, day two, he said to himself. Time to get organized and set some priorities.

Nels knew he had a problem. He had never planned to join the colony, but he didn’t expect them to shut him out completely. If that is what they were doing, he needed to find a reliable food supply quickly. The tubers he had eaten the day before seemed to be nutritious, and his system had not had any negative reaction to them. However, he had pulled the plants up when he found them and knew he couldn’t continue to do that. In no time at all that kind of harvesting would eliminate the tuber plants in his area.

The digging tools he had brought with him from the Mayflower were still back near the Orion. It would take at least two more trips to retrieve the rest of his belongings and that would take all of the day to accomplish. He decided his first priority would be to use the boat to check out the kelp-like plants Morgan had identified and Marlene had analyzed. According to Morgan’s reports there was an ample supply of them near the shore. If they met his nutrient requirements, he could keep the rations he had for a future need.

Nels straightened up his shelter and headed for the colony. It was a slight downhill walk, and he covered the half mile in less than thirty minutes. He found the boat outside the colony’s main building as promised. It was made of a lightweight plastic material and only weighed about thirty pounds.

Weight differences is another area I need to adjust to, he said as he lifted the boat onto his shoulders. Ararat’s mass was only 92 percent of the mass of Earth. Things weigh a little bit less here, so they are easier to carry.

The colony was located about a mile from the shoreline, the nearest flat area the evaluation team could find. From