Chapter 2 Return Journey

　　—Whence comes humanity? It is an eternal philosophical question.

　　The expedition had yielded abundant results. From the golden sarcophagus alone more than one hundred gold ornaments were recovered, proving that in ancient times “Martians” had once lived within this cavern.

　　The Kuafu was en route to Earth. Yang Zhiyuan and Zhou Ke occupied the pilot and copilot seats.

　　“Engage warp drive,” Yang Zhiyuan commanded.

　　The vessel accelerated. Human warp technology at that time enabled speeds of onetenth the velocity of light.

　　Because the distance between Mars and Earth was not vast, after flying at this velocity for a period the warp drive had to be disengaged and the ship decelerated.

　　“Disengage warp drive; activate deceleration engines,” Yang ordered once more.

　　Thereafter the spacecraft entered autonomous mode.

　　After the meal the eight crew members sat around the dining table and, with time to spare, began to converse.

　　Zheng Ya, the anthropologist, remained astonished by the exquisite quality of the Martian murals and spoke first: “Everyone, in the same era more than ten thousand years ago, Earth possessed the Altamira Cave paintings in Spain and the Lascaux Cave paintings in France. Yet in refinement the disparity between those and the Martian murals is greater than the distance from Earth to Mars.”

　　As an archaeologist, Wang Yue was more interested in the writing: “The murals are exquisite, but the writing is even more remarkable. Ziqi, those character patterns upon the golden sarcophagus look very much like terrestrial hieroglyphs, do they not?”

　　Su Ziqi replied thoughtfully: “Sister Yue, they are hieroglyphs in the truest sense. It is strange—upon first seeing them I experienced a sense of déjà vu, and I can even recognize a few.”

　　“Moreover, judging by their form, the characters upon the sarcophagus appear more ancient than Sumerian cuneiform; I continually sense that the two share a continuous lineage.”

　　As one of the outstanding linguists of China’s new generation, Su Ziqi possessed an innate sensitivity to written language and considerable expertise in Earth’s ancient scripts—precisely the reason she had been selected for the expedition.

　　Wang Yue was surprised; she had not expected Su Ziqi to understand the Martian writing: “Huamei, please project the mural of the threeeyed giant.”

　　Huamei pressed several buttons upon her arm, and a threedimensional holographic image materialized above the table.

　　Wang Yue pointed to several lines in the upper left: “Ziqi, do you recognize these?”

　　“I recognize only a few. One character’s meaning is particularly clear; it is very close to Sumerian cuneiform and signifies ‘Creator God.’”

　　Wang Yue’s astonishment deepened: “Creator God? Could this threeeyed giant be an object of religious worship among the Martians?”

　　“Ziqi, in the Investiture of the Gods many deities possess a third eye upon their foreheads. It seems the Martians shared the same imaginative faculty as we Earth humans, freely bestowing a celestial eye upon the brows of their gods.”

　　Su Ziqi disagreed: “Sister Yue, the third eye is not pure imagination. Humans possess a third eye within the brain. Hinduism holds that this eye possesses the power of foresight.

　　“Not only in India; in many Eastern religious ceremonies humans customarily paint a third eye between the eyebrows to facilitate direct communion with the cosmos. Sister Ya, as an anthropologist, you are qualified to speak on this.”

　　Zheng Ya nodded: “Ziqi is correct. Humans do indeed possess a third eye—the pineal gland—which appears at two months of embryonic development and begins to degenerate after the age of six.

　　“Not only humans; certain amphibians and reptiles also possess a pineal gland. Although it lacks imaging capability, it can sense ultrasonic, infrasonic, and light waves; thus reptiles are particularly sensitive to earthquakes, magnetic storms, and volcanic eruptions.”

　　Professor Dong Yifeng, observing the three women conversing animatedly, joined with teacup in hand: “Three women make a lively drama. With you here our monotonous lives have become far more colorful, haha… But speaking of murals, I find this one particularly strange.”

　　He had Huamei project all the Martian murals. One after another they appeared above the table like frames from a film.

　　“Stop!” Dong called, pointing to one. “This. Look how ugly this monster is.”

　　The mural depicted a creature with a human head and serpent body, covered in darkgreen scalelike spots, eyes glowing red, muscles prominently defined, and trailing a long tail. Beside it were several lines of writing.

　　“Niece, do you recognize these lines?” Dong asked Su Ziqi. Being well acquainted with her father, he addressed her thus.

　　“Uncle Dong, these characters are rather profound and obscure; they appear to indicate that the creature signifies ‘God of Death.’”

　　“Exactly. Niece, this beast resembles Godzilla; calling it the God of Death is perfectly acceptable. There is another mural that is rather peculiar. Huamei, continue.”

　　He stopped again upon a mural depicting two ordinary humans—a man and a woman.

　　“Niece, I keep feeling that the woman somewhat resembles you, and the man looks rather like Huamei,” he said halfjokingly.

　　“Professor Dong, you are not wrong—they truly do resemble the two of them,” Zheng Ya added playfully.

　　“Uncle Dong, Sister Ya, please do not curse me.”

　　“What do you mean?”

　　“I recognize the writing beside this mural; one character means ‘Messengers of the Underworld.’ These two should refer to the Black and White Impermanence.”

　　“Ah, so that is it. Niece, you are the White Impermanence and Huamei the Black; the two of you must strike my name from the Book of Life and Death. Haha…” Dong laughed heartily.

　　“Niece, does not the religious worship of this Martian lavacave civilization seem strange? The Creator God is a threeeyed giant; the God of Death a darkgreentattooed Godzilla; the Messengers of the Underworld ought at least to be ferocious oxheaded or horsefaced figures with bared teeth or brandished claws—yet they appear as two ordinary humans. It is truly inconceivable.

　　“Oh, yes—one more matter. Look at the scepter held by the threeeyed giant; no matter how I examine it, it seems identical to the scepters of the Anunnaki in Sumerian civilization.”

　　“Uncle Dong, precisely so. The Anunnaki scepters are tipped with a pinecone, identical to this one,” Su Ziqi replied.

　　Bao Mingkai, seated beside Dong, remarked with a touch of regret: “If that is the case, this Martian civilization shares countless connections with Earth’s Sumerian civilization—or perhaps even a relationship of direct succession. It may be that human civilization itself originated upon Mars.

　　“The pity is that the skeleton within the golden sarcophagus has entirely oxidized into powder; the time elapsed is far too great, and no DNA can be extracted. This genetics professor has come for nothing!”

　　Archaeologist Wang Yue remained unconvinced: “Professor Bao, how is that possible? Darwin’s theory of evolution states it clearly—humanity evolved from ancient apes. You are all experts in your respective fields; surely you do not also believe that the origin of humanity is connected to extraterrestrials?”