Planet 133gx

 Planet 133gx

When National Geographic magazine first started publishing in the late 1800’s, humanity had yet to leave the ground by airplane. As the 20th century began to draw to a close, National Geographic followed the exciting pioneer days of space exploration. We reported the first moon landing, the flybys of the Voyager spacecraft, and the troubled missions of the Mir international space station. In those days accomplishments like that were fantastic. But if the people in the 20th century ever had a glimpse of what we are doing now in 2360, rest assured they would have been blown away!

Dozens of extra solar planets in dozens of solar systems have not only been discovered, but each one has been explored, mapped, and is currently being actively studied by scientists living on them. Animal life as well as primate creatures have been discovered on some of them. We have yet to establish contact with an intelligent extraterrestrial civilization, but archaeologists have found evidence of ancient civilizations living on some of these newly discovered planets. 

So here I travel on this elaborate luxury star cruiser to one of these planets that once contained intelligent civilization. In the 20th century, space travel was only done by specialized, hand picked astronauts. Today children can get on a flight shuttle for only pocket change, and travel to the moon for the afternoon. They can visit their favorite museums and shops, and still be home in time for dinner. Interstellar space travel is even nicer. I am aboard the U.S Majestic Star Cruiser having the time of my life. Complete with all the luxuries of a vacation ocean cruiser, I forget that I am traveling through the depths of space. But then I guess reporters for National Geographic never feel that they are working.

So what is my job this time? I am here with a team of scientists, archaeologists, geographers, explorers, and 1 free lance adventurer. I haven’t seen any of them since we took off for planet 133gx in the Alderbaron star system. For over a week it has been a vacation for myself and my family. And I’m sure that the rest of the team and their families feel the same way. But today is different. For the first time we are meeting and discussing the mission. The air is tense, and for the first time we have doubts if what we are about to do is possible. Perhaps we could killed

In 2219, archaeologist Dr. Simon discovered that an ancient civilization once existed on planet 133gx. Complete with the ruins of villages, simple tools, bones, and even writings from these people, Dr. Simon concluded that “people” once lived here. He was part of a team which utilized a hieroglyphics specialist who through time successfully deciphered the ancient writings and drawings of these “people”. 

One of the unique features of planet 133gx is that it is orbited by an extremely close moon. So close in fact that scientists are baffled that the moon has never collided with 133gx from the massive gravitational tug-of-war. There is a 2200 foot mountain on this planet that supposedly played an important role to these ancient people. 

According to the deciphered writings, priests would bring young men to the top of the mountain for a ritual that would prove their manhood. By the time the young men reached the top of mountain, the full moon should have been directly overhead. The priests felt as if the gods worked magic at the time that the full moon was over head. They claimed if they jumped up, the moon would pull the team up into the sky, and onto another world. The priests and young men stayed on this other world for approximately a month fasting and performing rituals until the moon was once again over the 133gx mountain peak. At that time, if the gods were pleased, the priest and young men could jump off the other world and back onto the mountain range to descend back to the ground. In short, scientists feel that the gravitational tug-of-war cancelled out gravity and allowed the ancient people to “fly” to the moon when on the mountain top!

But did this really happen? Or is this some kind of legend?  Worst yet an incorrect deciphering made in 2219 may be the explanation. This is why we are here. The only way we can prove if this gravitational-tug-of war allows people to fly to the moon, is to try it. And at today’s first meeting while traveling to 133gx, our team is beginning to express doubts. That’s probably why National Geographic decided to let one of their free lance adventurers and photographers head the team. He is very experienced and knows how to stay calm under dangerous conditions. He seems to be the only one not breaking a sweat at this meeting.