Death from above

Deucado is a small world, smaller than the Earth, yet it has received more than its fair share of asteroid, comet and meteor strikes. This is due to the fact that the Kuiper Belt surrounding Tau Ceti is far more dense than that surrounding Sol.

The impact (pardon the pun) of all of this is that death from above has shaped Deucado's development as a home for life, since the beginning.

If a comet strikes the planet, it brings with it a huge amount of ice which is why Deucado has many deep seas. When asteroids hit, the resulting nuclear winter causes the temperature to plummet and all but the most hardy of species die out.

The current crop of animals and plants have adapted to this rain of death. The animals and fish (called swishies) are invertebrates with tough skins and are completely flexible. The trees have evolved to require very little light for long periods of time. Their trunks contain enzymes and cellular structures which allow them to perform "plant transmutation" (discussed in an earlier post). This allows them to make elements and molecules which are required for survival but not available due to environmental conditions.

In the upcoming novel, Rome's Evolution, you will get a glimpse of a time when there was a pause in the pummeling from asteroids and the like. There is even a chapter with the non-published title of "The Blanket's Tale" in which you will learn how the animals deal with the uncertainty that tomorrow brings.

And speaking of tomorrow, you will learn the origin, effect and meaning of Lake Eprehem, the fresh water body that forms the focal point for most of the civilization on Deucado.