Aliens live among us. They were here long before we crawled from the oceans.
FOREVER AUTUMN A Story by Thomas Mills
arboreals
Forever Autumn Copyright © 2017 Thomas Mills • All Rights Reserved
Prologue
veritas
It is time. A time that will catalyze global change, survival of the few, and an unbelievable future for those who can adapt and evolve.
Early October 2017 º Manistee Forest º Arboreal MindMap
360 Million Years Ago º Carboniferous Period º Earth – Lush, dense forests covered Earth’s low-lying swamps. The Arboreal footprint had long ago etched the soft soils covering the ecologically changing surface of the planet. It followed the time of Tiktaalik, one of the first vertebrates to emerge from shallow seas, evolving from air-breathing fish, pulling itself up, out and away from the water. Arboreals watched. 248 Million Years Ago º Permian Period º Earth – The largest mass extinction in the Earth’s history occurs. Climate change is suspected to have caused the destruction of nearly all animals on land and sea. Considerable geologic evidence marks rapid global warming and cooling patterns that few could survive. Arboreals remained. 205 Million Years Ago º Jurassic/Cretaceous Periods º Earth – Dinosaurs rule the planet for 150 million years. Arboreals waited. 65 Million Years Ago º Paleogene Period º Earth – Dinosaurs are wiped out by climate change and a devastating cosmic killer asteroid.. Arboreals survived. 190,000 Years Ago º Quaternary Period º Earth – Homo Sapiens appear in eastern Africa, migrating to other parts of the heavily forested planet 70,000 years ago. Arboreals provided food, clothing, fuel and shelter. 2017 - 21st Century º Earth – Humans have initiated a period of global warming through overuse of natural resources. Arboreals notice.
FOREVER AUTUMN
The forest around the hillock where Alix crouched behind a huge, gnarled tree, altered significantly in seconds. Giant unrecognizable insects buzzed by her as she turned in place, awestruck with wonder and a gnawing sense of foreboding...thinking that maybe this mind-mapping experience led by the newly introduced Arboreal, Veritas...was a not a good idea. Strange creatures bellowed all around her unseen through the spiky brush. Suddenly, the ground began to shudder with a pronounced thumping and sounds of something smashing through the underbrush, snapping tree trunks as it moved closer to her. Fifteen feet above the forest floor atop the small hill. Alix had no time to ponder the situation as a small part of her brain elicited a flight response to something large crashing rapidly closer. A huge reptilian head rose slowly from the valley below her tenuous position, cocking sideways on a massively muscular neck, focusing a single glassy eye on Alix. Coarse feathers riffled along the creatures body in a pungent breeze emanating from the beast. Repugnant breath engulfed her and bloody saliva slathered Alix as she stumbled backward away from a violent lunge and hideous, gnashing teeth. Alix fell, frantically pulling herself on all fours down the hill, desperately keeping it between herself and instant death. As the monster crashed closely behind her she screamed. “Alix!”...Alix!...STOP! The words were indelibly etched in her mind and just as quickly, the forest resumed a pastoral, autumnal state. No monster, no stinking saliva...though she did find herself prone on the ground, her face in the dirt at the bottom of the hill...crying, her breath hard to catch and coming in giant sobs.
A four-part science fantasy that is all too likely to come true. º Forever. Autumn º Terra Incognita º Terra Redux º Terra Firma
“We should have realized and warned you Alix,” apologized Veritas. “But, we’ve never shared with humans before.” This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Images are licensed through Adobe Stock Images. FOREVER. AUTUMN Copyright © 2017 by Thomas Mills All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.
– Thomas Mills Artist/Entrepreneur (269) 203-5400 thom.mills@me.com
alix... “It was so real. I’m still shaking from the experience. It felt as if I was actually there millions of years ago!” – Alix
Arboreals xxx
T Rex
veritas
“Sadly, these lifeforms had to make way for those who would follow.”
20,000 years ago • Prehistoric Human Art
– Veritas
“More than 99 percent of all species, over five billion species, that ever lived on Earth are now estimated to be extinct.”
humans
– Veritas
lascaux caves Dordogne Region/Soutwestern France
arboreal
mindºmap “You were there, in your mind. We were there...in reality. You simply experienced what we saw. – Veritas
Arboreals Early October 2017 º Manistee Forest º Brethren, MI
We are an extremely ancient race Alix. Arboreals have lived upon Earth’s surface and beneath its soil for millenia. Long ago we were able to communicate with the others, before tragedy struck and so many were destroyed by an errant meteor that spiraled into the Earth. Reverberations that resulted from the explosive crash extended through the planet’s core and continued to echo within the crust until just recently. The subharmonic vibrations we used to communicate collectively and with other species were neutralized for a very long time. But now, we can once again share our knowledge and experiences. We will share our memories with you. We will connect you to the others. Vast changes are approaching that will alter Earth and restore the ecological balance that has been disrupted by humans.
veritas
There are over three trillion Arboreals living here on Earth today. Nearly seven billion of our species are cut down every year by excessive forestry operations and resource depletion. In addition to severely impacting our ability to support the planet’s ecology, these Arboreal losses also affect every living creature. Unknown to humans, there exist two other sentient races... Avians and Aquatics. The loss of our voice in this world appeared to be an irreversible tragedy. Yet, as humans developed there were races who heard our whispers and lived in reverence with nature. They were few. Aggressive humans subjegated them and created the challenges we all face today. We can once again reach out and enable a co-dependent sphere of symbiosis that will restore ecological balance and fulfill our role as stewards of this precious environment.
methuselah
Arboreals exist as a highly advanced, interconnected neural network. Our capacity for knowledge and learning is virtually unlimited. We will continue to exist as long as Earth remains a habitable planet. Our kind propagated the known universe and would eventually have been discovered through your nascent steps into space. But that will remain a very distant part of your future. The challenge that must be faced is right here, right now. You have shown a significant capacity for understanding nature and will, we believe, become the perfect conduit through which others may learn a path to cohesive, co-dependent living. We will support you Chrysalis. You must help us restore ecological balance.
prometheus
“Chrysalis...humans are only self-procalimed as the preemninent species!”
“Two additional sentient lifeforms inhabit the Earth’s air and oceans in symbiosis with each other.”
“We chose you, and you alone, to learn of these facts now and to lead humans to a new life.”
– Veritas
– Methuselah
– Prometheus
Avians
Arboreals Early October 2017 º Manistee Forest º Brethren, Michigan During the spring, Alix had begun having stronger experiences while in the northern Michigan woods near her grandparent’s home south of Brethren. She’d returned for a visit while away from college on a beautiful October weekend, seeking to make a stronger connection with the ephemeral beings she believed she’d discovered, a strange alien race that described themselves as Arboreals. With time running short before she must return to school, Alix had remained in the forest for two full days and nights. The alien race she sought was immediately apparent and ever-present once she entered the woods. Countless words swirled around her and a multitude of images flooded her mind as she engaged a number of sentient forms, their thoughts intermingling with her own.
sentient life
The sensation was both euphoric and amazing. Not actually hearing separate, distinct voices of individuals at first, she became aware of beings in her mind who appeared to be intrinsically connected to many other beings through a massive, global neural network of some kind. They described it as the Arboreal Collective. Though confusing to her, the sensations and the overall experience was wondrous and totally engaging. Alix was mesmerized and learning a great deal about Arboreal culture, as well as the role they played in Earth’s fragile and highly complicated ecosystem. The longer she spent with these alien creatures, dedicated to learning as much as possible about them, Alix began to wonder about defining their race as alien...given their tenure on the planet that vastly exceeded that of humans both in geologic time and in total numbers. She became increasingly familiar with three, prominent Arboreal leaders; Methuselah, Prometheus and Veritas. The latter functioning like a master historian capable of sharing diverse experiential information with her through a complex series of mind-numbing exchanges. Some were more pleasant than others. A few were frightening beyond belief and others disparagingly unpleasant to confront. Veritas cautioned her repeatedly about the realism involved in his transmissions directly into her mind. Alix asked an unending stream of questions of the three attentive Arboreals and was insatiable in her desire to learn as much as possible from them in a very short time.
Aquatics
we followed you into space... knowing you would find us. – Arboreal Collective
synapse globallly and galactically connected we are of one mind. – Arboreal Collective
voyager
Space Probe 9/1977
eco
balance ยบ stewardship Ever present. They watched and waited, their voice silenced for generations. Able to communicate within the Collective, they could neither advise nor forewarn.
dawn
Space Probe 9/2007
insight
Mars Lander 9/2010
Arboreals propagated the universe long before appearing on Earth. They realized many of the sentient beings they protected would ultimately learn of their presence and purpose.
“Humans have initiated a period of global warming through overuse of natural resources...” “...which cannot be reversed. But Earth can survive...”
neverfall “...if, and only if we act now.”
Forever. Autumn
– Arboreal Collective Arboreals – A Forever. Autumn Episode – “To be continued.” – Thomas Mills