Chapter 6

I guess I couldn't have reasonably expected anything different. After all the countries of earth had always been bickering, feuding, and warring with each other, so why would any newly emerging country be treated any differently. As it turned out I was at least happy that it wasn't the U.S. that gave us the most trouble.

When the President of the United States came to visit our island, accompanied of course by the usual full security entourage, I told him I planned to clean the pollutants out of the air. The look of disbelief that crossed his face was quickly smoothed away and replaced by a slight smile as he wished me luck handling the problem. I felt that he was trying not to be condescending, but just couldn't bring him self to believe that a problem that had taken so long to build to its current level would be something easily solved.

In one sense he was correct, it did take some time for the results to be noticed, but not overly long. In about forty five days Earth's scientific community was abuzz with talk of "a major drop" in air pollution. What was very insulting to me was the fact that they didn't want to attribute this success to Atlantis.

What would they do if I tried to benefit them with other forms of technology? Would they continue to ignore our contribution? I was a bit turned off by this development and needed to take some time to think about it. Of course the attempts to spy on us, sneak through our perimeter, and in general to probe us for some weakness continued.

This decided things for me. We were going to keep in contact with Earth, but also we were going to colonize another planet or perhaps a whole system of planets. With this in mind I pushed my plans for gathering more "recruits" for conversion into Atlantiseans into overdrive.

I quickly developed standards for recruiting and trained and placed a competent team in charge to handle those efforts. With recruiting efforts well underway I chose to explore the nearby galaxy looking for worlds suitable for colonization. My harem accompanied me aboard the starship "Stallion". Remembering how I enjoyed his use of Star Trek terminology, Vargas asked "Are you seeking M-Class planets?"

"If by that you mean planets that can easily sustain human life, then yes."

Our search really didn't take as long as I had expected. While gathering materials on my behalf, Jawa had visited a great many solar systems near our own. Using this knowledge we were quickly able to select three that seemed to merit further study.

The most promising one circled a star that appeared to be younger than our own sun. Its atmosphere was much like one might have expected Earth's to be prior to the industrial age, though a bit thicker producing an almost Greenhouse like effect across the entire surface of the planet. Lush vegetation ranging from tropical to temperate covered the planet's land masses. Though slightly larger than earth this new world had similar gravitational characteristics. Unlike our home planet this new world was circled by three moons. More of the planet's surface was covered by water than on our home world but the many large nearly continent sized islands should prevent the occurrence of tsunamis.

I placed a smaller cloaked utility craft in orbit about this planet with an AI onboard to oversee a complete planetary survey operation. I launched some four hundred cloaked drone probes and linked them to the AI in charge of the survey.

While the survey was under way we visited the other two Planets. While both of these two planets might well serve as a possible site for a future colony neither have the sheer beauty of the first planet. My first thought was that perhaps they could serve as manufacturing outposts or even a prison colony if one ever became necessary. We spent about two weeks in our exploration of these two planets and while doing so made another useful discovery. One of the solar systems contained a large asteroid belt ripe with various metal ores we would find useful in ship building. I planned on having a large armada of ships that were capable of serving in both military and commercial endeavors and after consulting with Vargas I decided this solar system would be good site for a future shipyard.

Vargas and the other AIs Studying the three worlds had taken to calling the most suitable planet Prime, And while this might serve for their own purposes it seemed rather cold and analytical for such a beautiful place and I knew we needed to come up with a better name. Our first trip down to the surface of the planet was awe inspiring. So many new types of flowers, such vivid colors together with attractive shape and form joined together in ways that seemed designed to entice the eyes. We knew from the survey data what plants and animals to avoid and which ones were safe to come into contact with.

Wherever we settled I was determined not to introduce any plant or animal non native to the world with the exception of ourselves. An ecosystem is a delicate balance of need against need with each species making its own unique set of contributions and exacting its own unique toll. In Earth's History pioneering individuals from many different lands settled into newly discovered areas of the world often introducing new plant and animal species to the area they settled in. Overtime these transplanted species began to disturb the natural ecological balance the area had previously enjoyed. While not all these changes were bad not all of them were good either and often the resulting damage far exceeded any benefit.