Free Messages from the Deep by Theo Marais

not just a small settlement for a
short time. We have seen more settlers arrive, making about 50 of
them now, and they are building more and more houses, to make a
small town. I tell you, comrades, these are not just settlers,
these are colonialists, and they want to take over our planet and
ignore our wishes.
    They talk with us and pretend to understand
us, but they carry on doing things that harm our environment. They
started by chopping down trees, changing the flow of the river,
making fires and some have been hunting and killing birds and small
animals, besides eating some of our fish. Watch out for these
intruders, comrades!”
    The most senior dolphin calmly intercedes.
“We are understandably concerned about these newcomers to our
planet, considering that we know some of their past selfish, greedy
and cruel behaviour. You are fortunate you grew up a dolphin and so
have learned to control these same urges, so we live peacefully
most of the time”.
    The last few words are directed at the
younger ‘comrade’ male, with a chuckle. “However, they do admit to
these past wrongs and seem genuinely remorseful and want to live
much more responsibly now. So far, they have tried to start a
settlement in the least harmful ways. We cannot deny them their
basic necessities. They are not like us in not needing any shelter,
clothing, fire, fresh water, toilets, tools, technology and
factories. They have behaved responsibly, planting more trees,
recycling all their waste, not polluting the rivers or wasting
water, using solar energy rather than fire wherever possible,
farming responsibly and organically, and trying to disturb the
whole eco-system as little as possible. They have listened to us
and shown us respect and love. Further, they have managed to convey
our messages to Earth and have had a positive effect on human
behaviour there, as we have learned from our family there. The
conditions set by the aliens about human behaviour appear to have
been met.
    I feel that these humans are really genuine
about living in harmony here and on Earth and should be encouraged.
I propose that, while we should continue to be vigilant, we should
tell the aliens when they come again, that the humans are willing
to learn from them and develop further. And we should tell the
humans of our decision.
    Who supports this motion? As I hear that
nearly all of you do support this, we will all meet with Alex and
Ada later today, to tell them the news.”
    Alex and Mariada hear that the dolphins have
assembled in the bay and have called for them to come to a meeting.
They walk into the water to a depth where the dolphins are
comfortable. Alex is wearing his home-made, portable decoding and
transmitting device, his ears and voice for communicating with the
dolphins. The most senior dolphin addresses them.
    “We have noticed your seriousness about
living in harmony with all life here, and that you have helped to
make a difference on Earth. Therefore, most of us believe that, up
to now, you have satisfied the conditions that we and the aliens
set for your future here. We will inform the aliens of this when
they visit us again. We welcome you here officially and hope that
our good relationship will continue. Thank you.”
    When the whole group of Earth 2 humans hears
the news, they are overjoyed and celebrations continue for a few
days, with singing, dancing and all sorts of games. The old
restrictions about sexuality on Mars do not apply here and
pregnancy is not a problem.

CHAPTER 4
     
     
    Mariada calls another community meeting, to
discuss developments on the issue of technology.
    “As you know, some of us have been frustrated
about being dependent on Earth for our technology needs. We even
thought of a defiance campaign of starting deep mining and
developing industries and factories. We communicated these
frustrations to the relevant committees of the U.N., requesting
their proposals for solutions. At last, we have had a reasonable
response that