Apollo 23

I just noticed that there is a story called Apollo 23 by Justin Richards. I recently started a new collaborative science fiction writing project that was tentatively called Apollo 23. Collaborating authors are welcome.

An alternative title for the new story could be "The Olmec Reality". Here I'm using the term "Reality" in the way that Isaac Asimov did in his time travel novel The End of Eternity. If you travel back in time and change the course of events then you cause a new "Reality" to come into existence, essentially a new timeline of events. In the Olmec Reality a technological civilization originated in Mesoamerica and humanity started developing nanotechnology as early as the year 1850. In the Olmec Reality, by 2012 a disruptive form of nanotechnology went out of control and destroyed human civilization on Earth.

Jill travels through time

In order to prevent the catastrophe of 2012, a time traveler was sent back to 300 B.C.E. in order to put an end to the Olmec civilization, but that intervention into the course of events left behind some traces...including hints about the importance of the year 2012.

Unfortunately, while preventing the nanotechnology disaster, new problems were created. Another trip through time is needed and the designated time traveler is Jill Lyons. Here is a brief account of Jill's life: born in 1941 and transported to the future from 1969. She arrives in the year 2027 where alien technology is used to produce a few clones of Jill. In 2053 one of those clones is sent back in time to take the place of Jill in 1969.

There are some important technical limitations on time travel. First, moving matter into and out of Reality requires a large amount of energy. Second, travel through time disrupts other attempts to travel to or from the same point in time. In order to minimize the amount of matter being shifted in or out of time, a common trick is to use a cloned copy of an individual as the time traveler who goes back into history and creates a new Reality. However, if someone travels through time to/from 1969, then it will be impossible to perform another trip through time that is close to 1969.

The story takes place in the "Exodemic Universe" so there are aliens who control the time travel technology. The reader will be wondering what the aliens hope to accomplish by sending human time travelers into the past. In the story, there are some humans who work closely with the aliens and other humans who wonder if the aliens can be trusted.

Related reading:
The Earth Experiment

Does Anyone Care?

A wormhole, by CorvinZahn

Are there any aliens "out there" who care about Earth and humanity? Many science fiction stories are built around the idea that aliens might travel vast distances to Earth and attack the technologically-inferior humans. I think there are more interesting ways to write science fiction stories about aliens who visit Earth.

In his novel Contact, Carl Sagan imagined that the galaxy was teaming with alien life forms. In an effort to get to know the primates of Earth, those aliens sent a radio message to Earth and explained how to construct a device (some kind of transport pod that could travel through wormholes) that would allow humans to travel across the galaxy and visit the alien beings. This made a fun adventure for Ellie Arroway, but for the most part the aliens were not very interested in primitive primates.

Similarly, Arthur C. Clarke wrote some science fiction stories in which advanced aliens did not seem particularly interested in humans. The question was asked in Contact: Would we be interested in some random ant hill? Why should aliens be particularly interested in Earth?

In the Ekcolir Reality

In his story Homo Sol, Isaac Asimov imagined that the galaxy contained aliens who ignored Earth until humans were able to develop the technology needed to reach another star (alpha Centauri).

One answer to the Fermi Paradox is that extraterrestrial civilizations do not reveal themselves to primitive creatures like us. If there are alien life forms watching Earth, what level of technologically advancement might they expect us to achieve before they bother making contact with Earth?

In Cellular Civilization it is imagined that aliens came to Earth long ago, but they did not want to reveal themselves to Earthlings. However, the aliens are interested in Earth and they can't resist performing a bit of genetic engineering on Earthly life forms. The aliens also collect samples of Earthly life and take those samples away to be "cultured" on distant worlds.

Eventually some troublesome primates (us) develop a technologically advanced civilization on Earth. The aliens find this problematical. Humans are making a mess on Earth. The aliens develop a plan for removing humans from Earth and returning the planet to the status of a peaceful garden, free of the technological excesses of humanity.

In 2008, Part I of Cellular Civilization was written. I'm now starting to develop Part II, which shows what happens to Charlie Parker after he is taken off of Earth. Charlie learns that there are humans who live at colonies scattered around the Solar System. Charlie gets a tour of the Solar System, including visits to the moons of Jupiter, but he is frustrated by the fact that nobody has ever met an alien.

Cellular Civilization is set in the Exodemic Fictional Universe. In Homo Sol, Asimov explored the idea that there are psychological rules that govern humanity. In the Exodemic Fictional Universe I imagine that there is a basic rule saying something like: no good can come from contact between species with widely different levels of technology. Rather than interact directly with primitive Earthlings, the aliens surround Earth in layers of Genesaunts, life forms that trace their origins back to Earth, but which have various levels of technological development.

Charlie has climbed up one level from Earthly technology to the level that characterizes the Genesaunts who live out in the Solar System beyond Earth. In Part II of Cellular Civilization, Charlie will journey out of the Solar System to a nearby star and climb up another Genesaunt level. At that third level, he will find Interventionists who are ready to reveal themselves to Earthlings and start the process of removing all humans from Earth.

Part II of Cellular Civilization is under construction. Collaborating authors are welcome.

Image. The image above is my concept map for Part I of Cellular Civilization.

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