The Atlanteans of Proxima b: Chapter 1

6th - 16th June in the Year of Our Lord 2732

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Captain's Log, 6^th June in the Year of Our Lord 2732

It has been more than a year since we settled on Proxima b. Our town thrives and the local ecology has served us well in farming and hunting. The soil is far richer than that of Earth resulting in bountiful crops and quicker growth. Seasons are almost non-existent due to the tidally locked nature of our orbit meaning we are blessed with eternal summer, though some of our colonists view it as a curse. There are plentiful minerals too, though refining them will take our specialists time.

In the first year we welcomed over two dozen babies into the world, the first humans born on Proxima b. Well, the first of our humans to be born on Proxima b. We have not heard from the Opli since we first arrived, over a year of silence. Not even a hint of another civilisation sharing this planet with us, on the same continent no less. Those who have travelled out to the ruins nearest us say they have been abandoned for centuries and given the dearth of artefacts theorise there was a mass migration at some point though no one knows why. Well, the Opli do but I doubt they would answer our questions, in fact I doubt they would meet with us at all. Though our priests have debated for months on whether to send a mission to the pagan Opli. The leadership council advises against it, predicting that those who try it will be killed and we cannot afford to lose anyone so early in our colonisation, especially when the next colony ship is not expected for at least five years. I am certain if the Opli felt us a threat, militarily or culturally, they would wipe us out and have the means to do so while we, 10'031 that we are, would fail to defend ourselves. Weapons were not high on the cargo to include when travelling to, what we thought, was an uninhabited world. I have sent word back to Earth but it will take many years for it reach home.

Home.

A home I will never see again.

Captain's Log, 7^th June in the Year of Our Lord 2732

I still refer to myself as Captain, people still call me Captain and salute me. We have no ship. It was brought down and salvaged for parts and I am left with little to do.

Captain's Log, 8^th June in the Year of Our Lord 2732

I should correct my hyperbolic log from yesterday, even my log writing is becoming lazy. I have plenty to do on the leadership council, but I have become the only unelected member by merit of my rank. There are plenty of capable administrators and, dare I say, politicians, who fix peoples problems. And oh are there problems. I was naïve to think there wouldn't be but there are at least as many problems as people and some people have two.

I'm bored.

Captain's Log, 11^th June in the Year of Our Lord 2732

1300 Hours

Father Cooperson has once again tabled a motion to allow himself and one other priest to convert the Opli on the far side of the continent. Typically this would not be a question for the council but merely a decision for Father Cooperson to make, as the highest ranking member of the Church. However, there are only five priests and 10'031 people, as such their responsibilities lie with our colony and not on the ancient settlers.

1730 Hours

As if coordinated a second request to visit the Opli was made to the council. This time by our anthropologist, Rex Haverham. While his inclusion on the Ark was more to do with documenting how we were going to settle a new planet and inform future colonies he has become a sort of agony aunt for the colony and he has had enough of it. He didn't train in psychology or psychiatry, he made it clear many times, and instead wishes to observe a race of humanity thought fantastical. A group that achieved interstellar travel while most of humanity was still struggling with writing.

I happen to agree, I agree with Father Cooperson too but he is too valuable to send into almost certain death. The council refused Rex's request on the grounds that contact could lead to war and our annihilation.

But there might be another way.

Captain's Log, 15^th June in the Year of Our Lord 2732

0545 Hours

I must be the one to go and find the Opli. It is not only a matter of God or anthropological insight but our very survival. I, as Captain, cannot allow a potential threat to this colony go uninvestigated. It was my duty to protect these people aboard the Ark on our thirty year journey from Earth to Proxima b and now that we are here my duty remains.

1000 Hours

The council believe me insane. Mackerson especially so, but they will not forbid me as they have Father Cooperson and Rex Haverham. I do not relish the prospect of travelling alone across a potentially hostile continent to investigate a people who at best tolerate our presence and at worst with to outright wipe us out but I am merely one aged man whose job was dismantled with my ship.

1200 Hours

I have contacted Taliesin, who identified and translated the Opli language when we first arrived, to request copies of all his work.

1300 Hours

Taliesin responded with a dictionary complete with pronunciation guide and a list of basic phrases. He and Anna Pearson have continued to work on deciphering the esoteric elements of the Opli strain of Ancient Greek in their spare time, apparently they are able to converse in it. It would be helpful if one of them could accompany me to the Opli.

Captain's Log, 16^th June in the Year of Our Lord 2732

The council rejected my suggestion someone could accompany me. Not Taliesin, Pearson, or Haverham. They reiterated that I was free to do as I please. I think the council want me to go, they'd be fools not to. We cannot be isolationists here, not when there is another settlement of humans that arrived thousands of years ago. There are too many questions, too many possibilities, and it is my duty, my test from God, to uncover answers and, hopefully, repair our relations.

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