Title: Tales of Nimrod: The Tree of Life
Author: D. Charles Miller
Copyright 2015 David C. Miller
Tales of Nimrod: The Tree of Life
Genesis 10:8 “And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the Earth”
Genesis 3:24 “So he (the Lord) drove out the man; and he placed at the East of the Garden of Eden Cherubim and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the Tree of Life.”
Mars gave rise to life long before there was any on Earth. In fact, life on Earth was seeded from Mars through cosmic collisions; so to, intelligent life evolved there first. Then the core of Mars cooled, and the planet lost its magnetic field. Without a magnetic field to protect it, the atmosphere of Mars was slowly blown away by the solar wind. The beings on Mars knew their planet was doomed. They had advanced science and technology from which they devised a plan to save their race. They hollowed out a large asteroid and converted it into a space station, but for this plan to work they needed an inexhaustible source of energy. It was decided that the space station required a highly eccentric orbit around the sun. This would bring it close enough to the sun every few thousand years to enable them to collect plasma for their fusion reactors and ion drives. An orbit this eccentric would be unstable and would require corrections from time to time using their ion propulsion system. Even with all their technology and resources, they still needed to slingshot around the sun to get an assist from the sun’s gravity to be able to attain this orbit.
Their escape plan worked flawlessly for countless millennia, then they started to run short of some key resources. The decision was made to send an expedition to Earth to extract what they required. Earth was now reasonably hospitable and contained all of the resources they desired. Plans were made to pass close to the Earth on their next orbit. The Martians had long ago engineered a long lifespan into their genome. They had also developed enzymes that could extend their lives indefinitely, hence making plans for thousands of years into the future was no different from us making plans for years or decades from now.
After landing on Earth and setting up their bases, they began work on extracting the resources for which they had come. The hardest work was mining. The Martians were humanoid in that they were bipeds with two arms with hands and one head. They did however have a short tail for balance. They were tall, ranging between seven and nine feet in height and were lean and muscular, but not strong. They had evolved in the weaker Martian gravity, and they had spent their entire lives in the lesser artificial gravity of their space station. They were able to automate some of the tasks, but the hard work of mining still required some physical labor. The hard work and the greater gravity were taking its toll, and there was much unrest.
Enlil, the leader of the expedition decided that they would genetically engineer a labor force. There was a wild hominid that had many of the desired characteristics. They would modify its genes and add others from other Earth species, and if necessary use some of their own genetic material. After years of research and some failed attempts, they had designed two suitable races. The first was powerfully built with thick bones. It was designed for hard mundane labor, and they could also function well in cold weather since the Earth was prone to ice ages. The other race took more time to perfect and was a more intelligent general purpose laborer. The Martians had to use more of their own DNA to achieve this higher intellect. This race was our species. We were used as servants at first and our numbers were kept small. After a great deal of time, our brutish cousins had gone out of favor and many had escaped and become feral. The numbers of our race were now allowed to increase so that we could take their place as the main labor force.
The first generation of our race was overdesigned. We were as smart as our creators, more creative and much stronger. This of course led to rebellion. The rebellion was crushed with superior Martian technology, but some of the first generation humans escaped into the mountains. It was decided that humans needed to be genetically modified in order to control them and make them better slaves. There was no reason to start from scratch since only minor changes were required. They created seven identical females whose mitochondria contained extra genes. These genes would create specialized neurotoxins at key times during gestation thus suppressing the intellect. This way, the Martians could still use the existing male population for breeding in order to maintain genetic diversity. The original engineering to the myostatin genes was reversed in the females resulting in weaker humans with less muscle mass. With selective breeding, they could ensure that most humans would be weaker and all would be less intelligent than the first generation. All female human slaves were sterilized except for the seven. Genetic diversity was maintained and the labor shortages were minimal.
Thus the second generation of man was inferior to the first. First generation humans still existed, but their numbers were few. After millennia, the population of the second generation humans had grown to the point where large numbers of them had now become feral, and they freely roamed the Earth. They and the first brutish race eventually wiped out all of the indigenous hominids from which they were derived. More thousands of years passed and the Earth entered into an ice age. As the ice age was coming to its end, Martian science predicted that there would be a great catastrophe. A giant ice dam would break allowing a great ice sheet to slide quickly into the ocean. The resulting tsunami caused by this sudden displacement would be over two thousand feet high, and after it receded, the sea level would be increased by two hundred feet. Enlil decided that the expedition would take refuge in space and wait for the return of their space station. Over the millennia that the Martians had been on Earth, they had sent many shipments back to their space station when its orbit had brought it into range. Now they had collected all the resources that they required, and Enlil longed to return home. He had no desire to colonize the Earth; the gravity was strong and the climate erratic. He secretly wished that this disaster would wipe out all of the humans and cause their extinction. He feared what humans might eventually become.
The Martians who were born in space agreed with Enlil, but many of those who were born here on Earth wanted to stay. One of those was Enlil’s own Grandson, Jav. He wanted to return to Earth after the climate stabilized, and he would need humans to serve him. He did not want to have to domesticate feral humans, so he made provisions for some of his favorites to survive: The ones that thought of him as a god. Other Martians who were born on Earth had made similar arrangements.
After the cataclysm, the Earth’s climate went through a period of great disruption. Once the climate became more stable, our species began to thrive. The first race of brutish humans were not able to adapt during the time of erratic climate and became extinct, although there was some interbreeding between the two races. The memory of this global catastrophe was deeply impressed upon the minds of men for many generations, and it became embellished in myth and legends. It was at this time that a faction of Martians mutinied against Enlil. They took their ships and returned to the Earth. Those loyal to Enlil returned to the space station when its orbit brought it into range.
Jav and the other Martians who had mutinied, at first got along well and cooperated. As their human populations grew, cities formed. Eventually the “gods” became greedy and began to compete for the best lands and the loyalty of men. Jav and four other factions had an advantage. At the beginning of the munity, they had secured seedlings of the Asherah tree; a genetically engineered plant whose fruit contained the enzymes for the elixir of life. Only a few places on Earth were the conditions right for its cultivation. By securing these lands, they could produce the elixir of life and outlive their competitors. T
his of course led to war where humans were used as soldiers to fight for their gods.
This was the time of Nimrod. He was a descendant from the first generation of our race. He was tall and dark of skin. His intellect rivaled that of the gods, and his strength was legendary. For a while his kind survived through seclusion, but now the second generation of mankind had spread everywhere. It was impossible not to interact with them. As was natural, those with superior endowments became the leaders and kings; Nimrod was one of the most powerful. He controlled the cities of Babel, Erech, Accad, Calah, Calneh, and Resen and his realm was expanding. He had successfully waged war against the gods Jav and Baalack.
Jav and Baalack both possessed Asherah trees and were in competition. Only one other “god” was able to produce the elixir of life and his name was Mardock. Mardock preferred seclusion to war which made him and his followers difficult to find. The two other groups that had had Asherah trees were wiped out in their wars with Jav, Baalack, and Nimrod. Other groups of Martians lived out their