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    Mastodons on Mars
    Mastodons on Mars
    Mastodons on Mars
    Ebook68 pages1 hour

    Mastodons on Mars

    By Ken Albertsen

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    Winston Churchill is quoted as saying, "A cat looks down on man, a dog looks up to man, but a pig will look man right in the eye and see his equal.” The four stories in this sci-fi compilation all have a related theme, yet each is totally unique. Former pets evolve over time, to become masters. Concurrently, humans devolve to become their pets or slaves. Each scenario features two quasi-intelligent species. After reading this, you'll never look at dogs, horses, elephants, or swine - the same as prior to reading these stories. Read how humans devolved to servile ape-like beings, while their former pets developed analytical thinking abilities - and the ensuing interactions are surprising, and sometimes bloody.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKen Albertsen
    Release dateFeb 10, 2018
    ISBN9781879338166
    Mastodons on Mars
    Author

    Ken Albertsen

    Ken is a .westward-moving guy. Started out in Denmark in 1952, then westward to Washington DC three years later. At age 22, Ken moved westward to northern California where he farmsteaded for 25 years. Then westward again at age age 47 to farmstead in northern Thailand. 20 years hence, and Ken is like whirled peas (world peace) leaving Thailand and landing on his feet, but where? Ken has over a dozen books showcased online - on as many topics, ranging from Tibetan Buddhism (Life Story of Milarepa) to diet (Fasting for Health and Highness), to history (Hong Kong, What if ....?) with a couple of sci-fi stories thrown in for good measure (Robon Take-Over and Mastodons on Mars). Additionally, Ken has written a novel (Lali's Passage), a humorous book (Buddha, Jesus and the Hippie), plus two memoirs. One is his auto-bio from age zero to 22 (C.I.A. Brat) and the most recent was written after serving time in a Thai prison on false charges (1 Pill = 28 Years). Ken will next release his first children's book titled: "Mabalo's Balloon." plus a crossword puzzle book and a dictionary of idioms. Ken has narrated two audio books, the latest: Himalayan Adventures features readings from the diaries of seven great explorers of the Himalayan region, five of whom did their explorations during the 19th century. Adventure1.com.

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      Book preview

      Mastodons on Mars - Ken Albertsen

      Mastodons on Mars

      4 sci-fi stories in one booklet

      Copyright 2015 by Ken Albertsen and Adventure1 Publications

      ISBN 9781879338166

      Distributed by Smashwords

      This ebook is available for the person who purchased it. This ebook should not be copied or re-sold or given away to others. Exception: small portions of this book may be quoted in other venues, if it's in regard to reviews or within a teaching context. If you would like to share this book with others, please arrange for the purchase additional copies, accordingly. Thank you for respecting the work of this author. Carpenters, lawyers, accountants and chefs get paid for the hours they devote to their professions, ....so too should authors. It is hoped you enjoy this book. Reviews are appreciated, thanks.

      Chapter 1. Elemen and Peophants

      Chapter 2. Horples and Peopreses

      Chapter 3. Houndples and Humogs

      Chapter 4. Boarmen and Peopogs

      Chapter 1. Elemen and Peophants

      Elephants, like all species, have to adapt to survive. Their predecessors, mastodons and mammoths, evolved to large or small sizes, depending on what was best suited to their varied environments. Early in the 21st century, Asian elephants became extinct in the wild, as did pygmy elephants in central parts of Africa. A few decades later, the remaining larger African elephants ceased to exist in the wild. The last free roaming herd to die off was a herd of long legged elephants ruggedly adapted to the deserts of Namibia.

      A wildlife center near San Diego, California, had large walled yards. It was designed in the early part of the 21st century with the concept of enabling people to visit while slowly moving along above, on mag-lev observation vehicles. The center was divvied in to sections, representing major habitat regions of the world: Southeast Asia, Mongolian desert, South American mountains, Amazon jungle, European forests, Central African jungle, Saharan desert, North American forests, North American desert, Australia, New Guinea, and Pacific Islands.

      Pygmy elephants from the African Jungle section were having a population boom. Re-introducing them in to their native habitat was not a realistic option, because there simply was not enough habitat left for large beasts to thrive in central Africa. A solution presented itself in the form of a companion park, 22 miles away, with enough room to accommodate generations of pygmies. Soon after that, a research facility was built alongside, which endeavored to enhance the elephants' thinking abilities. Elephants’ already-large brains were challenged, over generations, to think analytically, and to pass parents' knowledge on to offspring.

      Within three generations, resident elephants were using computers with oversized colored keys to do basic communication, such as order meals or request their pens be cleaned. Four generations further on, rudimentary speech started to develop, with some particularly bright elephants having 100 word vocabularies. Dumber offspring were channeled back to the original outdoor park to devolve back to their recent ancestors' level of existence. That way, the gene pool was manipulated to favor those individuals which progressed fastest. In so doing, the smartest pygmy elephants at the research facility were continually challenged to improve their cognitive abilities. Somehow, they also found time to mate and make baby elephants to continue the trend.

      Concurrently, Mars was being terraformed. Technology had progressed to the point where ever larger and more sophisticated probes were being sent. Payload weight became less of a challenge than earlier years due to improvements in gravity mitigating technology. It didn't actually lessen gravity, but instead used centrifugal forces to redirect gravitational forces. At first it was called the yo-yo method, because of long thin carbon tethers which spun around, with self-propelled weights at their ends. In combination with way-stations on the Moon, heavier payloads were able to be transported to many destinations within the solar system.

      Another key component, which literally rocketed payloads through the solar system at much less cost than earlier times, was mag-lev propulsion systems. This system proved best from solid bases like planets, whereas centrifugal propulsion systems worked best for propelling payloads which were already space-borne.

      For example, a rocket with heavy payload could be launched from the moon using a two Km mag-lev rail. Propulsion was provided by hydrogen peroxide reconstituted from lunar water. Breaking water in to oxygen and hydrogen was powered by solar power available on site. Additionally, rocket rails were found to work particularly well when built to start at rims of large craters. The rail started by facing downward at a slight angle, and then curved to a rise while following the upward incline of the crater. It was found that following the contour along one side of a crater was more effective, because it precluded traveling along the flat bottom of the crater. The only scaffolding was a series of rings called tri-rings, precisely installed, each having three points for securing the three rails. The ski jump effect, along with low lunar gravity enabled ever heavier payloads to get propelled out to space.

      This technology had actually been developed on Earth. The first mag-lev gravity boost operation was built in the Rocky Mountains in 2031. Called 'The Boulder Sling-Shot,' it ran down a gradual slope for 43 miles. Heavier-than-normal payloads were mounted to a rocket which had earlier been trucked to the starting point and uppermost part of the tri-rail track. When ready to fire, the rocket

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