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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Imitation of Earth - -Author: James Stamers - -Release Date: April 7, 2016 [EBook #51682] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE IMITATION OF EARTH *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/cover.jpg" width="401" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> -<h1>THE IMITATION OF EARTH</h1> - -<p>By JAMES STAMERS</p> - -<p>Illustrated by CARTER</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Galaxy Magazine October 1960.<br /> -Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br /> -the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" width="488" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph3">Once they had been human—now they shared a<br /> -remarkable destiny on an incredible new planet....</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>He was in some dark, moving medium which pressed him gently and -released him and pressed against him again with irregular rhythm. He -could not feel his hands. He could not feel any part of his body, -except a sort of itching in his calf.</p> - -<p>He thrust downward to relieve this mild irritation and, surprisingly, -seemed to rise up. He seemed to be alive. He had no idea where, or -even when, or whether these were valid questions, for the ship had -been entering hyper-spacetime when they hit the asteroid belt. Warps -and elongations took place in hyper-spacetime. Perhaps he was now a -hyper-spaceman.</p> - -<p>He could recall his name. It was John Shepherd. He could remember -objective events such as Doctor Adelitka Wynn creating a scene in the -Mars terminal bar. Her sociology was better than her sense, as she -accused him of making a pass at her. He would have liked to, perhaps, -but ship's etiquette said: "Crews date, captains wait, space is not -the place." He and she had been the last alive, and the last image he -had seen on the screen had been a sun. Whose sun, which sun, and where -were just uninformed speculations. But he was alive and conscious of -himself. And he was buried deep in something.</p> - -<p>He tried to define his feelings.</p> - -<p>The alternating pressure of the darkness was felt only in one spot, -in the area of his heart and about the size of a small bean. The -occasional itching came from below this. He thrust again and again -rose upward. Yet he had no heart, or no sense of hearing, for he could -hear no sound of pumping. After several years in space he was only too -familiar with the sound of his own blood circulating in his veins. The -voids of space turned men into especially noisy bodily orchestras. -There was none of that now.</p> - -<p>He thought of himself as having the shape of a man, but perhaps that -was just habit. The only area he could in fact feel was the bean -slightly higher than his middle ... and a column perhaps attaching -him to the bean ... and this itching down below, in what seemed to be -one doubled-up leg. He thrust again and again, rising higher each -time. There was nothing else to do. He never felt tired. He never felt -anything, except the itching.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Eventually he felt a slackening on the upward pressure. He had kicked -with his one leg, risen and found no resistance. Warmth played over him -and he uncurled his head. So he had a head.</p> - -<p>Habit had accustomed him to seeing with his eyes, from one set focal -point. It was some time before he found he could see, in a general way, -from any point on his exposed surface.</p> - -<p>He could even see parts of himself, where the edges doubled over. It -was like being able to run round a large gallery on the top of a dome, -looking out at the view—and yet being the entire dome. He was green! -He looked down beneath him and saw a long green pillar, tubular and -shiny, rising out of a brown background.</p> - -<p>He could still feel the beating pressure down below. It struck him -that he was a plant, growing from seed which presumably his liquified, -atomized or dissolved body had provided, and emerging on the surface of -a planet.</p> - -<p>Immediately overhead a bright orange satellite swung through a -brilliant yellow and white sky. Unless there were two suns here, this -was no more than a satellite body, trapped in orbit, for he could feel -the fierce beat on his surface from another source on the other side of -the sky. This was a vast fiery globe traveling at immense speed.</p> - -<p>He felt a vigorous thrusting inside his structure as he expanded. But -darkness rushed up from the bottom of the pit in which he stood, and -cloud came in to mask the sky.</p> - -<p>The general inference was that he was on a very warm planet around -which the bright orange satellite swung, and that both were circling -the hot sun at a speed far exceeding that of Mercury. Naturally that -was only a subjective impression. But the little he had seen did not -suggest any system he had ever heard of. He curled up.</p> - -<p>Each time the sun went past he grew further out toward the edge of -the pit. He branched and clung to the earth with subsidiary tendrils. -It was exactly as though he were clawing with fingers into the earth, -except that he did not remove them but simply grew on past them. When -he reached the top of the pit, and accustomed his seeing to the greater -distances now before him, he saw a violently active world of fire and -steam. The ultra-rapid rotation of this planet made day and night into -the flickering of a primitive film. Mountains of earth were raised up, -broke off and shattered. Remote volcanoes fizzed into action briefly -like fireworks and faded, their tremendous display spent. Whole swamps -heaved and moved with internal motion. He became big enough to be able -to lose a side creeper without giving it a thought. He felt no pain.</p> - -<p>There were advantages in being a plant, and particularly in being -an apparently highly active creeper. He could see from any point in -his enormous network. He could organize races between his outlying -tendrils. He found that the orange satellite exerted quite a strong -pull on his internal sap system, which was not unpleasant.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The first sign of life other than himself, oddly, came up from a -neighboring pit.</p> - -<p>It lay within the area he had grown over, but he had never bothered to -send down shoots and side creepers into it. It was a peculiar sensation -to recognize—Dr. Adelitka Wynn.</p> - -<p>He sent out a sly root and detected that she was a bulb formation. Her -indignation was transmitted violently along the ground, in a series -of sharp shocks. She stood in tall sheaves of broad-bladed grass -which rustled in the wind. He found it was intelligible, though of a -different timbre than the deep, rough scraping he made with his own -hairy leaves.</p> - -<p>"Kindly keep to yourself," she said in effect.</p> - -<p>Her leaves had a high hissing note. He marveled that she had managed -to retain the same unpleasant approach to life.</p> - -<p>She was objectionable again when she had filled her pit and found she -could not extend onto the flat earth beyond, because he had already -covered the area.</p> - -<p>"Come on," he said. "We've got the whole world to ourselves."</p> - -<p>"I can't," she answered hissingly. "You have spikes on your stems. -They'll tear my leaves."</p> - -<p>He shut off the sap from a whole subsidiary system, killing it. -She spread over his withered shoots and leaves without a sound of -acknowledgment. They both developed toward the marshes.</p> - -<p>As he approached, leaving her slower bulb-formation behind as he raced -tendril ahead of tendril down the slope, he saw there were other forms -of life, in the water.</p> - -<p>He said nothing. But he quietly doubled his thorns and built up a -reserve in his advance tendrils, so that he could rush an armored shoot -across the ground at high speed if necessary. The aquatic life moved -and died extremely fast. Whole species expanded from a single specimen, -and for no visible reason extinguished themselves. Life on the planet -did not seem to be stable. It was highly experimental. He had been down -at the marsh for some time before the first crablike object came into -existence and began to leave the water in fitful dashes. He gave it an -early dose of his thorns. Thereafter it left him alone.</p> - -<p>The former Dr. Adelitka Wynn, however, approached the marsh without -looking.</p> - -<p>He watched with satisfaction. She was a golden brown and tender green, -and highly succulent apparently to the crab tribe. She cried for help.</p> - -<p>They were, after all, the only two of human origin on the planet. So he -put his reserve to work and sent an armored set of shoots racing across -the ground as a barrier between her and the marsh. The crab tribes -retreated.</p> - -<p>"Thank you," she said, regenerating her clipped stems.</p> - -<p>"That's the first time you've ever said that," he said hoarsely.</p> - -<p>"I'm sorry. I am ... really glad you're here."</p> - -<p>"How glad?"</p> - -<p>"This is a most peculiar world," she said, changing the subject. "I -don't recognize it at all."</p> - -<p>He said nothing but sent out an advancing barrier of thorns to clear -a small area of marsh for her. He performed small services with his -roots and tendrils, levering apart her bulbs where they were in danger -of rotting, brushing small insects off her leaves when they became -established in colonies. His main trunk was now thicker than the body -of a man, and he covered several miles. In the marsh, his shoots were -thick and black, standing like dark fingers deep into the ooze. Out in -the drier areas, which seemed to be spreading, he modified his system -to conserve internal moisture. He grew fine multitudes of hairs against -the heat and predatory insects. Dr. Adelitka Wynn covered several acres -herself, surrounded by his thorn barriers.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>When she felt well established, she flowered in great blue blossoms, -heavy with orange pollen. He had been waiting, and flowered all along -his immense length in every color of the spectrum, mile upon mile of -wide flat flowers, open and ready for the breeze. She did not protest. -He sent clouds of pollen from his anthers, turning the landscape into a -fine mist that drifted over her. He covered her with several pounds of -fine golden dust.</p> - -<p>"Thank you," she said.</p> - -<p>He wondered whether she would produce a bulb like her or a young -creeper like himself. He kept young tendrils hanging around her like -a catcher's glove, until she told him to go away and let her seed in -peace.</p> - -<p>She seeded in a particularly stormy period and in profusion. She did it -with a gusto and variety that amazed him. Seeds with airborne devices, -parachutes, airvanes, twirling rotators, balls of down, with hard -shells, soft shells. She even kept some pods, and, with a gesture -almost tender, allowed ripe seeds to fall into his waiting leaves. He -passed these very slowly and carefully along his system, from cup to -cup. He cleared a slope near the marsh and brushed deep furrows with -his thorns to put the seeds in. He planted them gently and grew an open -lattice of thorny stems above them, so that only the sunlight could get -in. As they grew, he retreated his protective screen to allow them air -and free ground of their own. They shot up straight and tall, saplings -headed for the stars.</p> - -<p>The other seeds had taken hold in remote regions, in marshes, on -the rising and falling mountains, and in great flat stretches of -pulverized volcanic dust. He found he was aware of them and could, -by concentrating, even gain a vague impression of the ground around -them, as if each were a locus of his consciousness. He also found a -telepathic link now existed between him and their mother. It was vague -at first but it became clearer, eventually superseding speech between -them.</p> - -<p>None of their children had flowers. Only the two of them flowered, -pollinated and seeded with regularity. Their seeds spread in a -variety—and variety was the word, for in the first seeding she had -packed as many variations as she could imagine. There was, in his -opinion, too much emphasis on grasses after her own general style -and too few creepers like himself. But that was a small detail. The -original form did not last long in any case. Some of his seedlings -had been enclosed by the rising marshes and were now more comfortable -under water than above. A few wilder members even retained a measure of -mobility and spent their lives floating from place to place.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He did not entirely approve of this. But, as the marshes grew under the -constant rain and acquired an unpalatable saltiness so that they were -virtually seas, he saw the sense of this development. He now covered, -by himself and in proxy through his seeds, almost the entire land -area of the planet. She extended just as far. They came to a working -agreement to leave certain areas primarily for the grass-like progeny -and others for his more treelike seedlings. The global view led them -both to consider the same experiment.</p> - -<p>There were occasional worms and crablike creatures, minute bodies -floating with his somewhat gipsy water-seedlings, but they and their -own seeds were the only significant forms of life on their planet.</p> - -<p>"Shall we see what we can evolve?" he suggested.</p> - -<p>"I had that thought myself," she answered.</p> - -<p>"At least we know the end product. It seems unlikely, now, but man -must have come from much this environment on Earth."</p> - -<p>"Very well. Where shall we start?"</p> - -<p>"I have some enterprising water-plants," he said diffidently.</p> - -<p>"<i>We</i> have."</p> - -<p>It was an ambitious program. But, on the other hand, life on Earth had -presumably also developed against all probabilities. Here on their -planet they could provide continual intelligent guidance.</p> - -<p>They went out into their water-plants and sensed through their miles -of sensory surfaces the most favorable areas of the planet. They -encouraged the water-plants to breed, cross-breed and extend. They fed -fractional parts of themselves to each other, loaded certain areas with -nutrient life, encouraged mobility.</p> - -<p>Great continental areas rose and sank. Generation after generation was -rapidly produced and as rapidly developed and died. The planet was -littered with the remains of unsuccessful experiment. But, mainly by -concentration on iron-rich diets and localizing their sight perceptions -repeatedly in one particular part of their species, they produced -plants which no longer responded to them. They had separate existence -of their own.</p> - -<p>At last they managed to lure repeated generations out of the water and -onto land.</p> - -<p>They had the advantage not of merely controlling the environment but -of being the environment. Subject to the violence of volcanoes and the -endless shifting of the planet's crust, aberrations in the plane of -rotation, and rapid changes of climate, as ice mounted and retreated -and heat waxed and waned, within these limits they could and did make -arbitrary decisions. By withdrawing from an area, either of them could -create a desert. By doubling their rate of growth in a local tributary -of themselves, they could create a forest. Their descendant seeds were -as much part of themselves as the original trunks. In fact, they rarely -distinguished between that original growth and later developments. It -came as quite a surprise to them both to find there was not much left -of the first bulb clusters and the first sprawling creeper.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Once they had induced the more-or-less fishes to leave the water, -progress was rapid.</p> - -<p>There was never a difficulty quite as great as that again. On -land, wherever the land happened to be at the time, they could -induce generations of different shapes and sizes by modifying the -vegetation—themselves, in their many forms. He took his branches -higher and higher in a sparse zone, for example, to encourage the necks -of the local animals to extend. They were remodeling their program -deliberately on their old Earth, cutting off what they knew to be -unsuccessful by-paths and nurturing the developments that should lead -to man. The original crablike inhabitants had long since passed away, -though they had used some features of these. The insects continued to -multiply on their own by sheer probability and without their guidance.</p> - -<p>They were both ruthless in their experiments. Once they abolished whole -races of enormous vegetarians by withholding themselves in inaccessible -areas. Like the dinosaurs, whom they resembled closely, these great -reptiles were too big and too stupid.</p> - -<p>She blamed him for having allowed them to feed too many generations on -too highly radioactive parts of themselves.</p> - -<p>"I can't be everywhere at once all the time," he said.</p> - -<p>To annoy her, and because he had been a space captain, he encouraged an -entirely abortive series of flying reptiles.</p> - -<p>His excuse was true. By exerting his consciousness to its maximum, -he could be aware of almost all the planet simultaneously, but this -awareness lacked intensity and definition.</p> - -<p>The comfortable maximum for concentration was about a hundred square -miles. If he focused his attention within a square mile, his roots and -trunks and branches hissed with massive life and rapidly propagated -themselves into a thick jungle. This in turn multiplied the surface -areas and diffused his attention. There was a lot going on in the -undergrowth that they both missed.</p> - -<p>They almost missed their ultimate triumph.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The satellite of their planet had cooled. The sun around which they -swung was shielded by thick banks of the carbon dioxide they breathed -off from their myriad bodies. They had stabilized most of the animals. -Despite the repeated cataclysms they had arrived at descendants who -could flower just as they themselves originally had flowered.</p> - -<p>As a matter of fact, he was quite deeply taken with an offshoot wood of -flowering trees. In the guise of honeysuckle he spent most of his time -wooing tenderly round their trunks, to the fury of her grasses and the -lashing of her reeds.</p> - -<p>An object that was a rudimentary improvement on an ape came shambling -into the wood where he was and quite idiotically tore off some of his -prettier flowers.</p> - -<p>On checking, he found there were several varieties of this object in -various parts of the planet. None appeared any better than this brute, -who whizzed through the trees and bred and died in a flicker of time.</p> - -<p>"He'll never last," he said to her. "His metabolism burns out before he -has time to do anything."</p> - -<p>"He'll reproduce all the faster," she answered. "And leave those trees -alone. At your age, really!"</p> - -<p>She was right about the prototype brute. Never in their experiments had -they produced a creature that was so active. They had raised animals -that bred much faster, but none that bred at a reasonable pace and also -kept flashing about the planet in a restless motion.</p> - -<p>They had to litter the ground with suitable seeds before the humanoids -stopped long enough in one spot to try planting for themselves. And -even then, the idea did not take root for many many generations. But -here and there, at last, they had the beginnings of a culture, and the -beginnings of speech. The telepathic content of the humanoids' speech -was intelligible to them, though not apparently intelligible to the -humanoids themselves.</p> - -<p>They concentrated on the temperate zones, where they could most easily -encourage the humanoids to stand still from generation to generation. -The humanoid dwellings flickered into existence and decayed too rapidly -for any reliable observations until several tribes of them took to -using stone for building materials.</p> - -<p>"Well," he said thankfully, "at last I can tell where they are without -dashing from branch to branch like one of your monkeys."</p> - -<p>He still did not believe her monkey experiments had had much to do with -it. Secretly he suspected she had encouraged that development to annoy -him—by putting multitudes in his hair, so to speak. It was just and -proper, therefore, that the humanoids trampled all over her grasslands -by preference.</p> - -<p>It was in this mood that he created cool groves of tall trees and -concentrated in them thoughts of love and pleasure.</p> - -<p>The humanoids took the hint remarkably quickly. He had many happy -generations encouraging the humanoids to sport in his groves. She was -furious. But trees were his province and there was nothing she could do -about it.</p> - -<p>"You're debasing them," she complained.</p> - -<p>"They're enjoying themselves, aren't they?"</p> - -<p>"Voyeur!"</p> - -<p>Well, he frankly enjoyed the swift rush of little pink bodies in and -out of the groves. He was sorry when she succeeded in countering with -a sterner line of thought, bred out of her deserts and thin-grassed -mountains, where she was full of thought of privacy, and continence, -and wonder and the stars. When he could, he made life uncomfortable for -these higher-minded generations. He was never slow to create sybaritic -and sensual surroundings to knock them off their mental perches. In one -group of islands—which she could not reach because his pines starved -out her seeds before they had a chance to establish—he had a series of -permanent statues erected to himself by the humanoids, and he had frank -and open worship. He considered it very proper. He maintained a cool -and bracing temperature in the trees around the sandy shores.</p> - -<p>He had passed through four or five hundred generations of giant -redwoods before the little humanoids established themselves in the -cities across the planet. Many of their activities were too fast for -him to perceive, but he could contemplate their cities.</p> - -<p>These were temporary structures, on the scale of the thrusting growth -he felt in one of his redwoods. Still, to these dizzy little humanoids -no doubt the cities lasted long enough. It was rare now for him to -pick up a humanoid thought. Unlike their first models, the present -generations thought at the high speed which characterized their entire -life. A blurred flicker of an impression to him was apparently the -whole life's output of one of her contemplatives sitting in a cave, -until he fell to pieces and was whizzed away.</p> - -<p>The pink varieties no longer worshipped him, save fitfully, but he -still had a pleasant range of warmer-colored humanoids whom he could -tempt into an orgy. This kept him deep in the forests on the central -belt of the planet.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>She signaled to him from across the main ocean. He transferred his -consciousness to join her on the edge of one of her wide prairies.</p> - -<p>"I think we've done very well," she said.</p> - -<p>"Surely you didn't call me all the way here just to say that."</p> - -<p>"Yes. It really is Earthlike, isn't it? I felt it was about time you -congratulated me."</p> - -<p>He thought back.</p> - -<p>"I don't remember, now," he said. "But it seems to be roughly similar."</p> - -<p>"Roughly! After all this time, you dare to suggest I have only achieved -a rough similarity? I was a trained sociologist, kindly remember. It is -<i>exactly</i> like Earth."</p> - -<p>He looked patiently up at the satellite and the stars. She was -detailing the achievement interminably.</p> - -<p>"It's very difficult to tell," he said, interrupting her. "Our time -scale is quite different from what it was on Earth. These humanoids of -ours breed and die like ephemerids."</p> - -<p>She rustled impatiently.</p> - -<p>"If you took trouble to examine the species from their time scale, you -would find it is precisely the same as Earth time to them."</p> - -<p>"Is it? Very well, I believe you. We have created an exact duplicate of -the other Earth. Congratulations."</p> - -<p>"You're just agreeing without proof. I have evidence to show the -sociology is a detailed replica. These humanoids are repeating human -history exactly as we knew it! One of our ivy shoots even reported a -tombstone marked 'Killed in the Battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775.'"</p> - -<p>"Now you're exaggerating!" he said. "How could they possibly duplicate -a time system that applied on the other Earth?"</p> - -<p>"What other Earth?" she said.</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Imitation of Earth, by James Stamers - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE IMITATION OF EARTH *** - -***** This file should be named 51682-h.htm or 51682-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/6/8/51682/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Imitation of Earth - -Author: James Stamers - -Release Date: April 7, 2016 [EBook #51682] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE IMITATION OF EARTH *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - THE IMITATION OF EARTH - - By JAMES STAMERS - - Illustrated by CARTER - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Galaxy Magazine October 1960. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - - - - Once they had been human--now they shared a - remarkable destiny on an incredible new planet.... - - -He was in some dark, moving medium which pressed him gently and -released him and pressed against him again with irregular rhythm. He -could not feel his hands. He could not feel any part of his body, -except a sort of itching in his calf. - -He thrust downward to relieve this mild irritation and, surprisingly, -seemed to rise up. He seemed to be alive. He had no idea where, or -even when, or whether these were valid questions, for the ship had -been entering hyper-spacetime when they hit the asteroid belt. Warps -and elongations took place in hyper-spacetime. Perhaps he was now a -hyper-spaceman. - -He could recall his name. It was John Shepherd. He could remember -objective events such as Doctor Adelitka Wynn creating a scene in the -Mars terminal bar. Her sociology was better than her sense, as she -accused him of making a pass at her. He would have liked to, perhaps, -but ship's etiquette said: "Crews date, captains wait, space is not -the place." He and she had been the last alive, and the last image he -had seen on the screen had been a sun. Whose sun, which sun, and where -were just uninformed speculations. But he was alive and conscious of -himself. And he was buried deep in something. - -He tried to define his feelings. - -The alternating pressure of the darkness was felt only in one spot, -in the area of his heart and about the size of a small bean. The -occasional itching came from below this. He thrust again and again -rose upward. Yet he had no heart, or no sense of hearing, for he could -hear no sound of pumping. After several years in space he was only too -familiar with the sound of his own blood circulating in his veins. The -voids of space turned men into especially noisy bodily orchestras. -There was none of that now. - -He thought of himself as having the shape of a man, but perhaps that -was just habit. The only area he could in fact feel was the bean -slightly higher than his middle ... and a column perhaps attaching -him to the bean ... and this itching down below, in what seemed to be -one doubled-up leg. He thrust again and again, rising higher each -time. There was nothing else to do. He never felt tired. He never felt -anything, except the itching. - - * * * * * - -Eventually he felt a slackening on the upward pressure. He had kicked -with his one leg, risen and found no resistance. Warmth played over him -and he uncurled his head. So he had a head. - -Habit had accustomed him to seeing with his eyes, from one set focal -point. It was some time before he found he could see, in a general way, -from any point on his exposed surface. - -He could even see parts of himself, where the edges doubled over. It -was like being able to run round a large gallery on the top of a dome, -looking out at the view--and yet being the entire dome. He was green! -He looked down beneath him and saw a long green pillar, tubular and -shiny, rising out of a brown background. - -He could still feel the beating pressure down below. It struck him -that he was a plant, growing from seed which presumably his liquified, -atomized or dissolved body had provided, and emerging on the surface of -a planet. - -Immediately overhead a bright orange satellite swung through a -brilliant yellow and white sky. Unless there were two suns here, this -was no more than a satellite body, trapped in orbit, for he could feel -the fierce beat on his surface from another source on the other side of -the sky. This was a vast fiery globe traveling at immense speed. - -He felt a vigorous thrusting inside his structure as he expanded. But -darkness rushed up from the bottom of the pit in which he stood, and -cloud came in to mask the sky. - -The general inference was that he was on a very warm planet around -which the bright orange satellite swung, and that both were circling -the hot sun at a speed far exceeding that of Mercury. Naturally that -was only a subjective impression. But the little he had seen did not -suggest any system he had ever heard of. He curled up. - -Each time the sun went past he grew further out toward the edge of -the pit. He branched and clung to the earth with subsidiary tendrils. -It was exactly as though he were clawing with fingers into the earth, -except that he did not remove them but simply grew on past them. When -he reached the top of the pit, and accustomed his seeing to the greater -distances now before him, he saw a violently active world of fire and -steam. The ultra-rapid rotation of this planet made day and night into -the flickering of a primitive film. Mountains of earth were raised up, -broke off and shattered. Remote volcanoes fizzed into action briefly -like fireworks and faded, their tremendous display spent. Whole swamps -heaved and moved with internal motion. He became big enough to be able -to lose a side creeper without giving it a thought. He felt no pain. - -There were advantages in being a plant, and particularly in being -an apparently highly active creeper. He could see from any point in -his enormous network. He could organize races between his outlying -tendrils. He found that the orange satellite exerted quite a strong -pull on his internal sap system, which was not unpleasant. - - * * * * * - -The first sign of life other than himself, oddly, came up from a -neighboring pit. - -It lay within the area he had grown over, but he had never bothered to -send down shoots and side creepers into it. It was a peculiar sensation -to recognize--Dr. Adelitka Wynn. - -He sent out a sly root and detected that she was a bulb formation. Her -indignation was transmitted violently along the ground, in a series -of sharp shocks. She stood in tall sheaves of broad-bladed grass -which rustled in the wind. He found it was intelligible, though of a -different timbre than the deep, rough scraping he made with his own -hairy leaves. - -"Kindly keep to yourself," she said in effect. - -Her leaves had a high hissing note. He marveled that she had managed -to retain the same unpleasant approach to life. - -She was objectionable again when she had filled her pit and found she -could not extend onto the flat earth beyond, because he had already -covered the area. - -"Come on," he said. "We've got the whole world to ourselves." - -"I can't," she answered hissingly. "You have spikes on your stems. -They'll tear my leaves." - -He shut off the sap from a whole subsidiary system, killing it. -She spread over his withered shoots and leaves without a sound of -acknowledgment. They both developed toward the marshes. - -As he approached, leaving her slower bulb-formation behind as he raced -tendril ahead of tendril down the slope, he saw there were other forms -of life, in the water. - -He said nothing. But he quietly doubled his thorns and built up a -reserve in his advance tendrils, so that he could rush an armored shoot -across the ground at high speed if necessary. The aquatic life moved -and died extremely fast. Whole species expanded from a single specimen, -and for no visible reason extinguished themselves. Life on the planet -did not seem to be stable. It was highly experimental. He had been down -at the marsh for some time before the first crablike object came into -existence and began to leave the water in fitful dashes. He gave it an -early dose of his thorns. Thereafter it left him alone. - -The former Dr. Adelitka Wynn, however, approached the marsh without -looking. - -He watched with satisfaction. She was a golden brown and tender green, -and highly succulent apparently to the crab tribe. She cried for help. - -They were, after all, the only two of human origin on the planet. So he -put his reserve to work and sent an armored set of shoots racing across -the ground as a barrier between her and the marsh. The crab tribes -retreated. - -"Thank you," she said, regenerating her clipped stems. - -"That's the first time you've ever said that," he said hoarsely. - -"I'm sorry. I am ... really glad you're here." - -"How glad?" - -"This is a most peculiar world," she said, changing the subject. "I -don't recognize it at all." - -He said nothing but sent out an advancing barrier of thorns to clear -a small area of marsh for her. He performed small services with his -roots and tendrils, levering apart her bulbs where they were in danger -of rotting, brushing small insects off her leaves when they became -established in colonies. His main trunk was now thicker than the body -of a man, and he covered several miles. In the marsh, his shoots were -thick and black, standing like dark fingers deep into the ooze. Out in -the drier areas, which seemed to be spreading, he modified his system -to conserve internal moisture. He grew fine multitudes of hairs against -the heat and predatory insects. Dr. Adelitka Wynn covered several acres -herself, surrounded by his thorn barriers. - - * * * * * - -When she felt well established, she flowered in great blue blossoms, -heavy with orange pollen. He had been waiting, and flowered all along -his immense length in every color of the spectrum, mile upon mile of -wide flat flowers, open and ready for the breeze. She did not protest. -He sent clouds of pollen from his anthers, turning the landscape into a -fine mist that drifted over her. He covered her with several pounds of -fine golden dust. - -"Thank you," she said. - -He wondered whether she would produce a bulb like her or a young -creeper like himself. He kept young tendrils hanging around her like -a catcher's glove, until she told him to go away and let her seed in -peace. - -She seeded in a particularly stormy period and in profusion. She did it -with a gusto and variety that amazed him. Seeds with airborne devices, -parachutes, airvanes, twirling rotators, balls of down, with hard -shells, soft shells. She even kept some pods, and, with a gesture -almost tender, allowed ripe seeds to fall into his waiting leaves. He -passed these very slowly and carefully along his system, from cup to -cup. He cleared a slope near the marsh and brushed deep furrows with -his thorns to put the seeds in. He planted them gently and grew an open -lattice of thorny stems above them, so that only the sunlight could get -in. As they grew, he retreated his protective screen to allow them air -and free ground of their own. They shot up straight and tall, saplings -headed for the stars. - -The other seeds had taken hold in remote regions, in marshes, on -the rising and falling mountains, and in great flat stretches of -pulverized volcanic dust. He found he was aware of them and could, -by concentrating, even gain a vague impression of the ground around -them, as if each were a locus of his consciousness. He also found a -telepathic link now existed between him and their mother. It was vague -at first but it became clearer, eventually superseding speech between -them. - -None of their children had flowers. Only the two of them flowered, -pollinated and seeded with regularity. Their seeds spread in a -variety--and variety was the word, for in the first seeding she had -packed as many variations as she could imagine. There was, in his -opinion, too much emphasis on grasses after her own general style -and too few creepers like himself. But that was a small detail. The -original form did not last long in any case. Some of his seedlings -had been enclosed by the rising marshes and were now more comfortable -under water than above. A few wilder members even retained a measure of -mobility and spent their lives floating from place to place. - - * * * * * - -He did not entirely approve of this. But, as the marshes grew under the -constant rain and acquired an unpalatable saltiness so that they were -virtually seas, he saw the sense of this development. He now covered, -by himself and in proxy through his seeds, almost the entire land -area of the planet. She extended just as far. They came to a working -agreement to leave certain areas primarily for the grass-like progeny -and others for his more treelike seedlings. The global view led them -both to consider the same experiment. - -There were occasional worms and crablike creatures, minute bodies -floating with his somewhat gipsy water-seedlings, but they and their -own seeds were the only significant forms of life on their planet. - -"Shall we see what we can evolve?" he suggested. - -"I had that thought myself," she answered. - -"At least we know the end product. It seems unlikely, now, but man -must have come from much this environment on Earth." - -"Very well. Where shall we start?" - -"I have some enterprising water-plants," he said diffidently. - -"_We_ have." - -It was an ambitious program. But, on the other hand, life on Earth had -presumably also developed against all probabilities. Here on their -planet they could provide continual intelligent guidance. - -They went out into their water-plants and sensed through their miles -of sensory surfaces the most favorable areas of the planet. They -encouraged the water-plants to breed, cross-breed and extend. They fed -fractional parts of themselves to each other, loaded certain areas with -nutrient life, encouraged mobility. - -Great continental areas rose and sank. Generation after generation was -rapidly produced and as rapidly developed and died. The planet was -littered with the remains of unsuccessful experiment. But, mainly by -concentration on iron-rich diets and localizing their sight perceptions -repeatedly in one particular part of their species, they produced -plants which no longer responded to them. They had separate existence -of their own. - -At last they managed to lure repeated generations out of the water and -onto land. - -They had the advantage not of merely controlling the environment but -of being the environment. Subject to the violence of volcanoes and the -endless shifting of the planet's crust, aberrations in the plane of -rotation, and rapid changes of climate, as ice mounted and retreated -and heat waxed and waned, within these limits they could and did make -arbitrary decisions. By withdrawing from an area, either of them could -create a desert. By doubling their rate of growth in a local tributary -of themselves, they could create a forest. Their descendant seeds were -as much part of themselves as the original trunks. In fact, they rarely -distinguished between that original growth and later developments. It -came as quite a surprise to them both to find there was not much left -of the first bulb clusters and the first sprawling creeper. - - * * * * * - -Once they had induced the more-or-less fishes to leave the water, -progress was rapid. - -There was never a difficulty quite as great as that again. On -land, wherever the land happened to be at the time, they could -induce generations of different shapes and sizes by modifying the -vegetation--themselves, in their many forms. He took his branches -higher and higher in a sparse zone, for example, to encourage the necks -of the local animals to extend. They were remodeling their program -deliberately on their old Earth, cutting off what they knew to be -unsuccessful by-paths and nurturing the developments that should lead -to man. The original crablike inhabitants had long since passed away, -though they had used some features of these. The insects continued to -multiply on their own by sheer probability and without their guidance. - -They were both ruthless in their experiments. Once they abolished whole -races of enormous vegetarians by withholding themselves in inaccessible -areas. Like the dinosaurs, whom they resembled closely, these great -reptiles were too big and too stupid. - -She blamed him for having allowed them to feed too many generations on -too highly radioactive parts of themselves. - -"I can't be everywhere at once all the time," he said. - -To annoy her, and because he had been a space captain, he encouraged an -entirely abortive series of flying reptiles. - -His excuse was true. By exerting his consciousness to its maximum, -he could be aware of almost all the planet simultaneously, but this -awareness lacked intensity and definition. - -The comfortable maximum for concentration was about a hundred square -miles. If he focused his attention within a square mile, his roots and -trunks and branches hissed with massive life and rapidly propagated -themselves into a thick jungle. This in turn multiplied the surface -areas and diffused his attention. There was a lot going on in the -undergrowth that they both missed. - -They almost missed their ultimate triumph. - - * * * * * - -The satellite of their planet had cooled. The sun around which they -swung was shielded by thick banks of the carbon dioxide they breathed -off from their myriad bodies. They had stabilized most of the animals. -Despite the repeated cataclysms they had arrived at descendants who -could flower just as they themselves originally had flowered. - -As a matter of fact, he was quite deeply taken with an offshoot wood of -flowering trees. In the guise of honeysuckle he spent most of his time -wooing tenderly round their trunks, to the fury of her grasses and the -lashing of her reeds. - -An object that was a rudimentary improvement on an ape came shambling -into the wood where he was and quite idiotically tore off some of his -prettier flowers. - -On checking, he found there were several varieties of this object in -various parts of the planet. None appeared any better than this brute, -who whizzed through the trees and bred and died in a flicker of time. - -"He'll never last," he said to her. "His metabolism burns out before he -has time to do anything." - -"He'll reproduce all the faster," she answered. "And leave those trees -alone. At your age, really!" - -She was right about the prototype brute. Never in their experiments had -they produced a creature that was so active. They had raised animals -that bred much faster, but none that bred at a reasonable pace and also -kept flashing about the planet in a restless motion. - -They had to litter the ground with suitable seeds before the humanoids -stopped long enough in one spot to try planting for themselves. And -even then, the idea did not take root for many many generations. But -here and there, at last, they had the beginnings of a culture, and the -beginnings of speech. The telepathic content of the humanoids' speech -was intelligible to them, though not apparently intelligible to the -humanoids themselves. - -They concentrated on the temperate zones, where they could most easily -encourage the humanoids to stand still from generation to generation. -The humanoid dwellings flickered into existence and decayed too rapidly -for any reliable observations until several tribes of them took to -using stone for building materials. - -"Well," he said thankfully, "at last I can tell where they are without -dashing from branch to branch like one of your monkeys." - -He still did not believe her monkey experiments had had much to do with -it. Secretly he suspected she had encouraged that development to annoy -him--by putting multitudes in his hair, so to speak. It was just and -proper, therefore, that the humanoids trampled all over her grasslands -by preference. - -It was in this mood that he created cool groves of tall trees and -concentrated in them thoughts of love and pleasure. - -The humanoids took the hint remarkably quickly. He had many happy -generations encouraging the humanoids to sport in his groves. She was -furious. But trees were his province and there was nothing she could do -about it. - -"You're debasing them," she complained. - -"They're enjoying themselves, aren't they?" - -"Voyeur!" - -Well, he frankly enjoyed the swift rush of little pink bodies in and -out of the groves. He was sorry when she succeeded in countering with -a sterner line of thought, bred out of her deserts and thin-grassed -mountains, where she was full of thought of privacy, and continence, -and wonder and the stars. When he could, he made life uncomfortable for -these higher-minded generations. He was never slow to create sybaritic -and sensual surroundings to knock them off their mental perches. In one -group of islands--which she could not reach because his pines starved -out her seeds before they had a chance to establish--he had a series of -permanent statues erected to himself by the humanoids, and he had frank -and open worship. He considered it very proper. He maintained a cool -and bracing temperature in the trees around the sandy shores. - -He had passed through four or five hundred generations of giant -redwoods before the little humanoids established themselves in the -cities across the planet. Many of their activities were too fast for -him to perceive, but he could contemplate their cities. - -These were temporary structures, on the scale of the thrusting growth -he felt in one of his redwoods. Still, to these dizzy little humanoids -no doubt the cities lasted long enough. It was rare now for him to -pick up a humanoid thought. Unlike their first models, the present -generations thought at the high speed which characterized their entire -life. A blurred flicker of an impression to him was apparently the -whole life's output of one of her contemplatives sitting in a cave, -until he fell to pieces and was whizzed away. - -The pink varieties no longer worshipped him, save fitfully, but he -still had a pleasant range of warmer-colored humanoids whom he could -tempt into an orgy. This kept him deep in the forests on the central -belt of the planet. - - * * * * * - -She signaled to him from across the main ocean. He transferred his -consciousness to join her on the edge of one of her wide prairies. - -"I think we've done very well," she said. - -"Surely you didn't call me all the way here just to say that." - -"Yes. It really is Earthlike, isn't it? I felt it was about time you -congratulated me." - -He thought back. - -"I don't remember, now," he said. "But it seems to be roughly similar." - -"Roughly! After all this time, you dare to suggest I have only achieved -a rough similarity? I was a trained sociologist, kindly remember. It is -_exactly_ like Earth." - -He looked patiently up at the satellite and the stars. She was -detailing the achievement interminably. - -"It's very difficult to tell," he said, interrupting her. "Our time -scale is quite different from what it was on Earth. These humanoids of -ours breed and die like ephemerids." - -She rustled impatiently. - -"If you took trouble to examine the species from their time scale, you -would find it is precisely the same as Earth time to them." - -"Is it? Very well, I believe you. We have created an exact duplicate of -the other Earth. Congratulations." - -"You're just agreeing without proof. I have evidence to show the -sociology is a detailed replica. These humanoids are repeating human -history exactly as we knew it! One of our ivy shoots even reported a -tombstone marked 'Killed in the Battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775.'" - -"Now you're exaggerating!" he said. "How could they possibly duplicate -a time system that applied on the other Earth?" - -"What other Earth?" she said. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Imitation of Earth, by James Stamers - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE IMITATION OF EARTH *** - -***** This file should be named 51682.txt or 51682.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/6/8/51682/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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