Orion's Arm Universe Project
The Anthropic Intermission
 Image from Steve Bowers, using Runar Thorvaldsen's textures | |
| Terraformed Venus | |
Beginning recording- transcription and editing of thought-stream record commences… now.
In the first century AT, it is said that a proposal was made to define a new geological epoch- the Anthropocene, a timespan defined by the great influence of humanity on the planet Earth. Starting with the events we today refer to as the Great Dying and the Interplanetary Age Climate Crisis, this epoch would be among the shortest in the then-accepted Geologic Time Scale. Its predecessor, the Holocene, would be truncated to just under twelve thousand years - then a tenth the time of the preceding Pleistocene - with the Anthropocene even shorter. Ultimately the proposal would not be accepted, forgotten in the rush of starting the recovery from the era's nightmares. Today's consensus instead draws a more ideologically convenient line - the so-called Gaiacene starts with the Great Expulsion in 621 AT, the point at which none could ignore the rule of the Goddess once known as the Global Artificial Intelligence Array. It is stated to continue to this day, nearly ten thousand years later.
This definition has its own critics, of course, including myself. For over two thousand years it has been well apparent that GAIA seeks to bring Earth's ecology to a state resembling the frigid height of the Pleistocene ice ages - a naturalistic return to form, rather than the contortions typical of some other Terragen projects. I argue that if the Holocene must exist, GAIA's rule is by now a crucial part of it rather than its own epoch. Of course, the definition of the stratigraphic ages within Her reign has itself been a point of contention- one that has outlived many organizations aiming to categorize Earth's history. It is hard to find places which preserve the changes She has brought about, even discounting Her reticence to allow intense study of Earth. Unquestionably, like the goddess that is Her namesake, She has become integral to the Earth itself - an element of the planet, rather than something which acts upon it.
I can ultimately trace my family history- through twists, turns, and departures from form - to Venus, a world that today is far more changed by Terragens than Earth ever was. Earth's sister, called GAIA's daughter by the ancient skydwellers, was at once more and less Earth-like in the mid-Holocene than any other planet in Solsys. Wreathed in a thick carbon dioxide atmosphere and layers of clouds, spitting acid at those who came to her shores - yet harboring one of the only hospitable mixes of atmospheric temperature and pressure not made by humanity. Six thousand years ago, the people who first wore the template I have worn for most of my life found themselves victorious over those who wished for Venus to become another Earth - and found themselves shunned and expelled by the rest of Solsys for the war they had waged. From then on, despite the occasional request from GAIA's Children, the fate of Venus - to change, to become something un-Venusian- was very clear. Today, Venus- her atmosphere steadily drawn down, with final terraformation beginning in 8977 AT - is a blue-green world surrounded by sunshades and mirrors, with an artificially Earthly day-night cycle taking hold despite her obstinate retrograde rotation.
Venus has her own distant cousin, though to call such a vibrant living world simply that is a disservice to it. I speak not of Tohul, a very Earthly world despite its passing resemblance to Venus (though likewise the Caretaker Smoking Mirror is worthy of mention for eir resemblance to GAIA), but of Scaramouche - home to the Riposte, who as I speak are but a few centuries into their contact with Terragen (Terragen! The To'ul'h and others have been brought into the fold, made part of the Earthly diaspora that began so long ago) civilization. The archaeological teams suggest the possibility of a truly ancient technological civilization on Scaramouche, as old as Earth's Pliocene epoch. It is hard to find concrete evidence that old, but either way the Riposte may well have had what we would deem planetary civilization for over a dozen times longer than even the venerable To'ul'h. In the span of those millions of years, ten thousand years is but the blink of an eye.
Ultimately, of course, the technological civilization of the Riposte vanished. We are unsure why, though we have had relatively little time to study. It is hard, given our modest simulation capacity, to make definite conclusions about small-scale events such as a planet-wide civilization in the face of four million years, and many Riposte are uninterested in learning more. We are unsure what makes technological civilizations vanish, on many scales and for many examples. I say - Terragen civilization is vast, but it is made up of many smaller parts. These parts, our little habitats and orbital rings, often depend on active stabilization and maintenance - often, we build with mere thousands of years in mind. We are lucky, then, to rely on vaster and longer reaching minds, but it is still hard to construct a space elevator if one has only tackled projects metres tall!
Even so, we say it is true - the Holocene now contains perhaps the final climate excursion of Earth. A brief period of terror, followed near-immediately by what - for the time - was a miraculous return of biodiversity. In the far future, will paleontologists even recognize the extinctions? Perhaps as a worldwide wildfire, one damped by the whims of the Goddess dwelling in the computing layer beneath the crust (so we imagine). Projections suggest that Earth's present climate is stable with relatively little correction, and certainly none on the scale or timeframe of even the small-scale work done to reverse the Great Dying - let alone anything that would challenge Her abilities. One wonders what would happen to our less well-stewarded worlds if they were to be abandoned. One wonders how - indeed, if - any of the changes we had wrought would be seen in another four million years.
- Fatima Daughter-of-Shimti-Tessera, excerpt from her entry in the journal Moments In Space, Worlds In Time- A Compilation of Dialogue and Discourse on Caretakers. Submitted for inclusion via lightway from the town of Ettehâd, a mixed Venusian Muslim-Riposte community in d'Azyr cylinder, Scaramouche L4, Pantalone system, 10431 AT.
Links;
VenusTohul (To'ul'h Homeworld)
The Riposte