A Nuclear Disaster

A long time ago, there was a planet named Demeter, beyond the orbit of Mars. It was a cold, forbidding planet on its surface, so the life forms of Demeter developed great underground cities, fueled by nuclear power. As this civilization developed, strange unexplained quakes started to shake the planet and slowly destroy the magnificent cities of Demeter.

The wise men of Demeter started to gather together to determine the cause of the mysterious quakes. Their observatories determined that they were on a planet a great distance from the Sun, so distant that they received only a little of its life giving energy. Their chemists had created that life giving energy from strange substances that they concentrated from the crust of their planet. They estimated from the radioactive decay and energy flows that they observed that there was once a solar nebula that was dispersed by turbulence and magnetohydrodynamic effects thru a solar gale and centered at the gravitational mass of the Sun. Some of the nuclear masses spinning around this solar nebula started to contract to become tiny stars of energy. Each tiny star exhausted much of its nuclear fuel and slowly cooled down. Each tiny star then gravitationally differentiated into a siderophilic core and a lithophilic mantle to become the planets of the solar system.

The wise men of Demeter determined that there was a planet closer to the Sun that would be much warmer than their own. They named that planet the Earth. They developed a nuclear propulsion system and built a spaceship and determined to travel to the Earth to escape from the terrible cold and earthquakes of their own planet. They sent a crew commanded by a man named Adam to the Earth. Adam piloted his ship to the Earth and landed on the fringe of a vast swampland. As soon as they disembarked from their spaceship a large creature lumbered up from the swampland gnashing its teeth. Adam named the creature Demetrodan and cursed its existence. Adam tossed a grenade at Demetrodan and the explosion ripped apart its huge sail-like fin and tore into its bloodied flesh. Demetrodan collapsed and died. The explosion alerted a host of its comrades to the bait that had landed on the Earth. Soon Adam's crew and spaceship were overwhelmed and smashed to pieces by the aroused beasts of the swamp. Adam alone ran inland onto a hill. Famished he started to eat of the ferns of the land but collapsed from their effect. As he slept he dreamed that he was in never-never land. When he awoke he saw his doom as the aroused beasts of the swamp slowly crawled up the hill. He named his hill Japan and made an inscription on a rock "beware of the rodan" just before he died.

The wise men of Demeter sent one more spaceship to the Earth and decided to abandon their enterprize when they found the beasts scavenging what was left of their first mission. Thus was the story of the rodan born; the story of the beasts that till this day sleep near the island of Japan.

Eons elapsed and the people of Demeter began to grow desperate for an escape from their own planet. The people prayed to the goddess of Demeter for guidance. The goddess bid that the people store sacks of corn, barley, sprouts, and yeast and prepare to sail to the Earth once again. Noah heeded the guidance of the goddess and sailed to the much warmer planet Earth, with many of the mammals of his own planet. He founded a small colony on Earth and started to contest the vast domain of the reptiles of Earth. This time the great teeth and claws of the reptiles were no match for the nuclear projectiles of Noah. Great fires started to burn down the forests of the Earth. Soon a layer of radioactive dust settled onto the structure of the Earth. Most of the reptiles died, except those that were protected by layers of water or burrows or caves. Even many of Noah's own mammals died, unless they spent much of their time sheltered in caves. Thus was the story of the cavemen born; the story of the cavemen who started to rule the Earth. Thus was the story of the goddess Demeter born; the story of the corn and beer that nourished the cavemen who started to rule the earth. And the goddess decreed that her followers report to her each apparition that is seen thus: "I know thee and I know thy name. Mistress of Destruction. I see the whirlwind and the storm. I see the earthquake. I see the volcano. I see the flames and the fire....Let my soul thus live for millions of years."

Meanwhile, the interaction of the nuclear power plants of Demeter, with the nuclear processes of the interior of the Sun and the interior of Demeter, caused the magma of Demeter to slowly rise in temperature and tectonic activity. The magma actually reacted to the contraction of matter as the planet hurtled thru the ether of space with its nuclear energy forms blazing. The more power plants the people built, the more the energy levels increased. The people of Demeter had interrupted the cooling down process of their planet by nuclear reactors that returned a portion of their planet back to its nebular stellar state. Each tiny star that they created interacted with the dying remains of what was once the tiny star of Demeter. Each tiny star interacted in a relative manner with the larger star of the Sun.

Now each tiny star also started to interact in a relative manner with the nuclear holocaust that Noah was causing on the Earth. Suddenly, the planet Demeter exploded!

All that was left of the planet Demeter, was an asteroid belt of debris between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Noah and his colony on Earth were appalled by the disappearance of their homeland. Eventually, the descendents of Noah, came out of their caves to rule the Earth. When their nuclear weapons were exhausted, they had to fend for themselves with primitive tools and weapons, like sticks and stones, because they themselves had not been trained in manufacturing or metallurgy when they left Demeter. The vast knowledge of the exploded planet had been destroyed! But a few of its people had survived on the Earth.

Now mankind has started to follow in the footprints of the people of Demeter. Now it is the Earth that blossoms with nuclear power plants and nuclear explosions that interact with the interior of the Sun and the interior of the Earth. Now it is the Earth that starts to warm-up and starts to quake more and more. Now it is that energy and those quakes that awaken the rodan from their sleep. Now is the time to ask, how long do you have, planet Earth? Now is the time to say "I know thee and I know thy name. Mistress of Destruction. I see the whirlwind and the storm. I see the earthquake. I see the volcano. I see the flames and the fire..."How many years does my soul have left? Is there no escape from this planet Earth if my visions of hell ring true?

And it came to pass that a ghostly apparition appeared over some shallow waters as a great explosion rocked the earth. A large sail appeared over the shallow waters in the gaze of some of the descendants of Adam and Noah.Some thought that a gigantic shark was approaching. The humans ran before a great beast rose out of the shallow waters and cursed all humankind. It was the ghost of Demetrodan, once proud king of the lizards. Demetrodan cursed all humankind again and said "I know thee and I know thy name. Mistress of Destruction. I see the whirlwind and the storm. I see the earthquake. I see the volcano. I see the flames and the fire...I see the end of my soul becauseof these accursed humans. There is no escape from this planet Earth because the planet Venus is too hot for me!" Thus was the planet Earth cleft asunderfrom the trench of Japan to the loch of Ness. And if there ever was a beastie named Nessie, its soul too did end. Thus did all life end on the planets of the Sun.

References from essentially public domain parts of: F Fitzgerald, H Lorentz, A Einstein, H Minkowski, H Wehl, J Maxwell, J Jeans, F Whipple, Y Ignatova, P Laplace, G Brimhall, E Budge, R Patrick, Columba, Byblos, Godzilla, J Verne.