150, Aquarius

Mammals lead the development at sea on the planet fourth planet, named Astro. They developed lungs that could extract oxygen from saltwater. Other mammals breathe at the sea surface, but could hold the breath under water for a long time. A kind of humanoids, called Aquarians, developed under sea. After 300 million years they reached the advanced Stone Age.

Aquarius, an aquarian, crawled out of the water and to the shore. He had a hard time trying to breathe. Reluctantly he put a finger in his mouth and made himself get the water out of the lungs. He knew how dangerous such an oxygen shock could be. In worst cases, the blood could coagulate and plug the blood stream. This could be life threatening. He tried to breath as slow as possible to survive and figured out that putting something in his mouth could help. Lying in the shore adapting to the environment, he thought to himself; shutting up like this is what I should have done in the first place.

Aquarius memorized. He thought about the good year he had in the advanced Stone Age society. His family was of a typical farmer tribe and had built a considerable farm during the generations. There was a large land area where crops like seaweed, grass and roots grew. There was a farm that housed 4 racing dolphins, 10 farming nets where several kind fishes and shellfishes were farmed. There were two buildings of corals and even a garden were decorating plants grew.

A neighboring town had specialized on preparing the farmers’ products. Aquarius liked to visit the town. It had mechanical machines like sea mills. He was fascinated about the fact that powers of the sea streams could be transferred into mechanical power. The power in its turn did useful work like crushing, lifting and cutting objects. His parents had numerous of times reminded him of how hard their work was prior to the invention of mechanical machines.

However, it was when he witnessed the introduction of optical communication, that his thinking got obsessed with ideas. What’s next, he asked. No one seemed to have an answer, though. The optical communication was not very advanced. It was simply an ordinary lamp powered with glowing organisms. The inner side of the lamp was covered with reflecting material and had only a tiny directed hole for the light to escape. It was a simple invention in itself. However, someone figured out that alternative blocking and opening for the light could be stated as numbers. Soon, such signaling was extended for symbols as well. Thereby a language was developed based on signaling. Used to a global culture, the Aquarians quickly agreed to a single optical language. This was popular and became an ordinary way to communicate, also directly between any individuals.

What’s next, Aquarius thought. He could not imagine, even when he sat on a high cliff and look out at the town. Dolphins and Aquarians had been closely related as long as they could remember. They had their different qualities that certainly were to mutual benefit. The dolphins were quick and they were good hunters. The Aquarians were skilled farmers. And maybe most important of all, they got mutual enemies like sharks, squids and certain shellfishes. The Aquarians used the dolphins for fish hunting and the dolphins benefited from the farming. Later the Aquarians found out that they could benefit form other whales too. Ten out of fifty kinds of whales were used. Larger whales were used for long distant transport and heavy work. Even predator whales could be used for defense and attack. What’s next Aquarius thought?

Aquarius was fond of flying and let himself fall right down from the 100 meter high cliff. Actually, he did not fall but followed the stream of water that fell from the cliff and down to town. He remembered having a long distant journey with his father once. They gathered speed like this to catch up with a whale that was riding a sea-stream. The whale was dressed so several Aquarians could hang on to it. They managed to ride rather comfortably at long distances. Aquarius enjoyed the ride. The sensation of the water rushing through his hear, all the sights they passed and the thrill of visiting completely new places, were the most inspiring event of his life.

One place was quite out of the ordinary. There was a rift with underwater volcanoes. No one was allowed to go any near the site. But the heat was quite noticeable at a long distance. He could also see the hot streams of smoky water arise towards the surface. What he could not see, was what a guide told them. Some claimed to have seen living creatures alongside the volcanic top. Quite unbelievable to most of the visitors, life seemed to be far more tolerant to extreme conditions that imagined. However, the sight of metallic tools was the most impressive to the Aquarians. Hearing about how fellow Aquarians dared go near the volcano to melt and shape metals was stunning. The metal products had certainly some important qualities as well as beauty. Their own flint stone tools seemed primitive in comparison.

Another place out of the ordinary was the journey to the South Pole. Icebergs started appeared under the surface. However, they got of the whale long before they reached the ice, because of the cold. Frozen water was scary to the Aquarians. They were literally thrilled by the idea of widespread frozen water to civilized areas. On the other hand, an enlightened Aquarian had realized the relation between the ice and the sea streams. In fact, they could not have taken the journey if there was no ice. Their journey was simply to ride the natural sea stream from the heating volcanoes to the icy pole. The guide waited for the worried question of how they were going back then. The guides had been order not to joke about it anymore, to avoid panic. They explained that the stream went deeper and then returned again. The full circle of the sea stream was completed.