[PART 54]
The Underground Zoo Project
In truth the Zoo Project had begun many years earlier, but not as any well-organized or Committee funded program. For the most part a majority of zoos around the world had already developed local programs to protect their charges in the event of war, but not for long periods of time. Most had planned a release program or spreading out their animals in the event of interplanetary war. In late 1935 the Committee decided to look at the situation and develop a better way to protect these animals and once again they looked inward towards the Earth for solutions. Basement storage areas now had a whole new meaning for zoos.
Two ideas were thought to be best as protection methods. The first was simple and local. With help from Committee sources local zoos would begin a program of digging or expanding ‘basements’ for many of their animal holding areas as part of their regular construction. These reinforced underground holding areas would become part of the animals’ regular housing area. Designed only as temporary housing areas in case of war, they were expected to be used for up to three weeks at a time. Naturally these temporary holding areas would need to be manned when the time came.
The second plan called for the transportation of animals to larger holding areas in natural caves reworked to accommodate several different species hopefully ones that could “get along with each other”. Internally this was referred to as the “Noah’s Ark project”. Once again we would be looking at caves as a natural solution to a major problem. The “Ark Teams” crewed mostly by zoologists, biologists and geographers were also looking at which species could be rounded up in large enough numbers to become a reproducing population and transported to locations far enough away from their primary habitats to hopefully be safe if a crisis developed in their primary habitat yet in areas which could support these new groups for many years.
Finally it was decided to begin the process of transporting large numbers of animals around the world to areas that could sustain them as soon as possible in order to protect them in the event of war. Time would be critical in the event of war so transportation and occupation of these areas needed to be complete before an attack was suspected. Many unpopulated islands around the world soon began to see whole new animal populations thought to be critical to our diverse animal population’s survival. We had come to the conclusion that the Martians were interested in more than removing humanity from the face of the Earth. They were interested in wholesale reorganization of the entire planet including any other native life forms they had needs for. They really wanted to turn Earth into another version of Mars.
A Final word on Machu Picchu
It had been a little over two decades since Hiram Brigham made his dramatic discovery of the high citadel of Machu Picchu having been directed to the site following a committee conference in Santiago. Since then the Committee and university archaeological teams had cleared a great deal of the site and had uncovered many of the secrets lost for hundreds of years. Some had come from the hand of man, but many had the distinct print of a Martian. It was discovered that there were three primary structures at the site: the Inti Watana, the Temple of the Sun and the Room of the Three Windows.
Workers had discovered that work on the site was not complete when it was attacked. A nearby granite quarry showed signs that many stones were in the process of being worked. This suggested that the end came without warning. They also unearthed some 100 burial sites of people who had worked and lived at Machu Picchu. It was very clear that many, if not all, had died not by accident or old age, but by the ravages of small pox. Combined with translations taken from unearthed tablets it was clear once again that “the sky gods had brought death to the people.” It had been just one more test site for the brutal Martians. It would be the survivors of the small pox attack who would fight the final desperate battle amongst the snows of Machu Picchu. After 100 years around 1550 the end came to Machu Picchu.
What the teams also discovered was that in an area where torrential rains come each year Machu Picchu had been constructed in such a fashion as to allow perfect drainage without any large erosion problems to develop. In preparation of the site for food production the builders had shored up the entire site with stepped terraces up steep walls of the ridge. The terraces held a top layer of fine rich soil brought in from many miles away, a second layer of sand below the soil on top of a bottom layer of broken stones. This type of design allowed the average 76 inches of rain a year to filter through the terraces and slowly run off without destroying the finely designed work. It was in fact a masterpiece of engineering. Even after the site was eventually abandoned, locals continued to use the finely developed terraces to grow vegetable gardens. The rest of the facility was allowed to go back to local vegetation which soon covered most of the ruins.
The city itself was also constructed on this base of material; soil, sand and broken rock. At the base of the rocks were 100 drains placed throughout the small city which carried all of the extra water away from the more than 200 buildings and its central 1 acre grass plaza. The entire site was one huge drainage system designed to withstand the massive rains of the Andes. But who had designed it?
Three stone cut tablets told the tale. One showed the details of the three layered system. Another detailed the overall general layout of the city. And a third showed how the spring water had been transported into the city – all had Martian markings on them! The site was surely built by the Incas but it had been designed by the Martians. These were very same Martians who needed to construct massive canali across their own planet to survive.
There were other secrets to discover about this ancient site. Many of these people had not gone quietly into that dark night. Medical examination of some of the human remains had shown blunt force trauma. These were warriors who had been killed in defense of their mountain top retreat. However, these warriors had not fallen at the greasy tentacle of a Martian A or the blue/gray hand of a Martian B. These Inca had fought hand-to-hand combat with hybrids that had come to Earth in service to their Martian masters. Four of the bodies (bones) were hybrid. Part of the final attack on Machu Picchu had been a combined effort of Martians and hybrids and even though the people of the site had lost their efforts to defend their home to the very last, must have given the Martians pause. Humans were a warrior species and they were willing to die to defend even a small part of their planet.
The final secret taken from the site was almost the last artifact found at that location. At first glance the stone cut item looked like a group of square and rectangle blocks cut simply into a flat round rock measuring three and a half feet across. However, when it was cleaned one could see small, almost invisible markings on its surface. The scientists finally came to the conclusion that this round stone with the well laid out small blocks on its surface was in fact a finally crafted model of a city on Mars. They also concluded that the volcanic rock on which the model had been carved had itself been brought to Earth from Mars! We now had the only suspected model on Earth of how the Martians laid out their cities.
The Martians, at least by this model, built their cities outward from a center point using concentric circles from the center. The core was most likely the center of government for that city. It would seem that by necessity all Martian cities were round. Circles and central control were very important to the Martians. It is no wonder that most human cities and towns were so foreign to our enemies on Mars. My question was: Just how many ancient sites on Earth designed along the same lines as the Martian cities could be directly related to some type of Martian influence?
The Great Martian Launch Facilities
From early 1935 the teams working on the Mars Watch Program were bringing on line some of the finest optical equipment ever built on Earth. Certainly they had been aided by electronic documents and devices found in the Martian war machines, but the effort on the mirrors had been produced and developed purely from the skills of the scientists and engineers on Earth who had developed new methods, which had enabled them to produce the largest mirrors ever made. The Martian contribution, if that is the proper term, had come from devices used to stabilize their spacecraft. Committee teams had used these devices and reengineered them in order to help correct the problems of an unstable Earth atmosphere, which caused difficulties in “seeing”. These new devices caused the clarity to be twenty-five times clearer than possible without the so-called “reactive optics.”
As it turned out the clearer views of Mars paid off almost immediately for the Mars Watch Program. They spotted right away the new Martian launch facility up and alongside the Tharsis Montes Volcanoes. They also spotted what appeared to be huge facilities in support of the launch facility.
At first the astronomers did not know what they were looking at. It was felt that perhaps a new canal had been built, but this did not make any sense because the ‘canal’ did not run from any known source of water to any known or suspected large above or below ground facility. The clue to its real purpose was first revealed on 3 July 1935, when Mars Watch Program team members saw a series of flashes along much of the ‘canal.’ Were they ready to invade again?
As better observational equipment came on line, much improved due to the back engineering work being done by Directorate E, we were able to obtain much better views of Mars especially at opposition. As such it became clear that several massive building projects must have been on going on the Martian surface for some time. When the ‘seeing’ was particularly good one could just make out three dark lines along side Nix Olympia. Now known (thanks to recovered Martian Electronic Documents) (Ref: Martian Electric Document 116DB4) to be a massive volcanic mountain twice the height of Mount Everest, its base would cover the width of California with room to spare. At 10 miles high the massive volcano was nearly always visible above the sparse clouds and many dust storms, which bathe the planet every two to four years. It is now thought to be the largest known volcano in the solar system.
We soon discovered what these dark lines were. The Martians had constructed three 400 mile long magnetic pulse launching ramps to be used as the “first stage” machines to place their spacecraft into Mars orbit and to invade the Earth – or for that matter – any other destination the Martians may care to launch towards (Venus?). The launch begins with an explosive push, while the craft was lifted above the rails by magnets allowing the craft to float above with no contact friction. The craft was also kept in the center of the rail by magnets along the sides. Adding to the engineering marvel was a covering roof, which had magnets on its surface a well to not only keep the craft centered, but allowed no contact with the thin surface atmosphere.
As the spaceships flew along by a continuous series of sharp magnetic front pulses which added energy to the forward motion of the craft the ship slowly increased speed. By the time the craft reached the top of Nix Olympia at the very end of the rail tube it was estimated to be moving at an astonishing 8000 miles per hour. From that point the craft exited the rail flying free for a few seconds at which point powerful rocket engines were ignited easily sending the craft into orbit around Mars or on a direct path towards the Earth. It would be the ignition of these powerful rocket engines that we would spot several times from each ramp as the Martians sent these massive attack ships towards Earth to begin their next invasion. If we could someday harness this technology we certainly could develop spacecraft to easily orbit our Earth and perhaps someday travel to the moon and beyond. Once again the Mars Watch Program swung into action and reported no further launches. We also kept an eye open for new plagues, but this had only been a test. No new attacks were forthcoming at least not for the time being.
With our new optical equipment we were also able, for the first time, to actually view the four major population centers on Mars, or rather the three remaining population centers. The fourth one displayed only a darkened area. Our shock was to discover that there really were only three remaining city areas on the surface where the Martians lived all under domes. We were also able to ‘see’ the domes for the first time (barely as fuzzy spots). Our views showed that there were no major Martian facilities outside of the domed areas save the ones in support of their launch facilities and canals. This discovery seemed to clearly indicate that the Martians were truly nearing the end of their ability to survive on the surface of Mars. This information however, did not add any knowledge of how extensive the underground facilities must be, but they certainly must be rather extensive in order to support any large number of Martians still living on and under the planet as well as being able to support their massive launch facility. We were making a lot of guesses, but they were now being based upon known observational information as well as what it would take to do the work we knew to be on going.
We were also able for the first to ‘see’ once again barely, a much better view of the major canal system. They turned out to be a good deal more complicated than we had imagined. We were later able to confirm that along the entire length of active canals (more than 60 percent of the canals were inactive according to our intelligence reports) on both sides were well developed vegetation strips with red weed and something akin to medium sized trees. Small Martian “surface communities” were in place to tend the “crops” as well as monitor the movement of water along the canal. There was also what can best be described as roads along one side of the canal linking the communities. If only we could discover what lay beneath the Martian surface.
It would seem that a whole portion of Martian society had been devoted to monitoring and maintaining these canals as well as the crops and possibly small animals which are part of the canal ecological system. This made a great deal of sense considering how critical these canals are to the very survival of the Martians. If this system ever collapsed the species we know as Martian may very well vanish in a very short period of time.
By the end of 1935 Committee doctors had performed the first lobotomy on a Brotherhood hybrid who had been convicted of rape and murder. The hybrid was later killed and examined by doctors. After this first test the same procedure was performed on severely mentally handicapped full humans. They were not killed.
As another year came to an end we took time out to celebrate another World Nation’s Day on 17 December. Those of us in the Committee wondered how many more we would be celebrating before all of our nations once again faced the Martians in mortal combat?
Winston Reports
As the many nations of the world continued to prepare for a planetary war few discounted, my friend Sir Winston Churchill warned that totalitarian governments in Europe as well as other parts of the world were threatening democracies and weakening our overall military strength needed to defend our planet. At a meeting of the Magic Twelve held in Lower-London he would report, “We must focus on human self-preservation from an off-world enemy, but also of the human and the world cause of the preservation of free governments and of Western civilization against the ever advancing sources of authority and despotism. What is the good of defeating a Martian horde only to fall under the thumb of human despotism.”
[END PART 54]
Copyright © R. Michael Gordon, 2020
