History and biology converge
on Ooranye, in the sense that some evidence exists for
the rise and fall of many of the planets's species in Great Cycles of 100,000
Uranian years (8.4 million Earth years).
Uranians today believe that they are one-seventh of
the way into the current Great Cycle, and that their own history and the
Cycle began at the same time.
In support of this idea they cite two pieces of
evidence: the release of the vital aerial micro-organisms which
accompanied the emergence of Uranian humans (14,286 Uranian years or 1.2
million Earth-years ago), plus the existence of the inner "Long Clock"
in the Uranian human mind which started "ticking" on that day.
Curiously, modern Uranians also tend to
believe that they are already living
in the Last Era - a period which will take them all
the way to the end of the
Cycle. Perhaps their recent achievement of space travel has so transformed their outlook that they cannot
believe any future change could match it in importance, so no
further era-boundaries are in store. Besides, throughout their history their inner
"Long Clock" has always told them that there would be
exactly 92 eras, and by now they have already used up 91 of them.
Since in doing so they have only filled in one-seventh of the Cycle, this Last
Era, by filling in the remaining six-sevenths, will be six times as long
as all the others put together.
Be that as it may, the span
of the past 91 eras, totalling an equivalent of 1.2 million Earth-years,
is more than enough to keep historians busily employed for
the foreseeable future!
The 91 eras.
Accustomed to the span of Earth history,
which totals less than ten thousand years, we need to adjust our thinking if
we are to comprehend the saga of Ooranye, over one hundred
times as long. In fact one might say that the
span of Uranian history occupies a kind of middle ground, between what
we are used to thinking of as historical-length periods (thousands
of years at most) and those of geological length (millions of years upward).
A typical Uranian "great era" lasted several tens of thousands
of years.
Having noted
that awesome fact, we find the rug pulled from under our feet again
when we also consider that some of the lesser eras lasted only
minutes!
As for the
reasons behind this strange contrast between lesser and greater eras, we
must seek them in the realm of biology - specifically, the mysterious
"Long Clock" mentioned above, existing at cellular level in every
Uranian, and its psychic link with the microbes in the air. For
when a great and rare event occurs which stirs the emotions of the
entire human species on Ooranye, it can have a resonance which causes a delay in the
daily cycle of illumination, so that that day is
longer than the normal, regular 30 hours. And when that happens,
everyone must know it, and consensus is automatic: everyone starts counting a
new era from that day. And if crises follow each other thick
and fast, then there's nothing for it but to say
that new eras follow on one from another, even if that means
that they are shortened to hours, minutes or even seconds. Sometimes the reasons
for the change of era were not clear at the time; for example
the Molybdenum Era ( 2 hours 17 minutes) was followed by the Technetium
Era (28 seconds), a period of emotion-wrenching caused by a squall
of mind-power from the newly-awakening Ghepions, those evolving machine
intelligences as yet unsuspected by Man.
Survey of
Uranian history from the emergence of man to the beginning of the Last
Era.
1. From Dmara to the Great Fleet.
The Hydrogen Era.
Syoom and Fyaym.
The Lithium Era.
The Plunderers.
The First Sunnoad.
The Phosphorus Era.
The Great Fleet.
2. To the end of the Vanadium Era.
The Argon Era.
Nalre Zitpoidl and the Great Winter.
The Vanadium Era.
Revolutions.
3. To the Foam.
The Cobalt Era.
The Quonians.
The Zinc Era.
The Age of Spies.
The Institutes of Fate.
The Ghepions.
The Last Great Hive.
The Foam.
4. To the Rhenium Moment.
The Praesodymium Spotlight.
The Prospectors.
The 'Dassan Call.
The Age of the Wise.
Holding the Line.
The kalyars.
The Rhenium Moment.
5. To the Mascon Expeditions.
The Great Triangle.
The Sunnoad's Navy.
The Quest for Solor.
The Cyborgs.
The Era of Psi.
The Mascon Expeditions.
6. To Era Zed.
Impostor.
Invasion.
Tu Rim.
The Actinium Fulfilment.
The Assault on
Arclour.
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