Special Effects: Red Earth

right on cue, the planet hit the centre of the mess left by the other two planets. Another huge explosion occurred.

Now the smooth orbit of Jupiter was interrupted by nearly a year of multiple collisions. The giant chunks from the three smashed planets pounded into Jupiter, gradually turning the giant's path until its new orbit was longer and thinner. This brought it into line with Saturn, and, exactly as the computers had predicted, Jupiter passed by Saturn so close that it too was sent into a slightly different direction.

Ten more years passed, and Jupiter came inside the asteroid belt, spouting plumes of gas as the rocks pounded her surface. Part of her ring was broken and the rest quickly scattered like sand in the wind. So fragile. So delicate. But Saturn spun by, and her gravity yanked Venus and Earth into a new orbit, which increased the summer and winter extremes by several degrees, but life on Earth was still livable. The scientists thought this was a small price to pay. They had achieved what they wanted.

Mars was now orbiting parallel to Earth, a sister planet, caught by the same power which held all things in bondage to the sun.

The first manned ships landed on Mars within the month. They came equipped with various organisms, and disseminated them all over the surface of the planet. Within weeks the genetically engineered bacterium and mosses had increased the oxygen content of the planet, making it suitable for certain hardier plants. Water-producing factories were set up, spraying a gentle mist of droplets out into the atmosphere, and more plants were sown along the edges of the slowly forming lakes. The first slimes were introduced.

Scientists were amazed by the speed at which the new life overtook the land. Grasses sprouted everywhere, and small trees appeared where seeds had not been deliberately placed. Nature was always mobile, spreading wherever it found a gap. Seeds floated on the thin air and took root. Creepers covered the hot, dry rocks.

Insects began to live, and die, and pollinate, and fly, and small creatures which ate the insects were set free, then larger animals, predators, and larger, until the new planet was teeming with new life.

But planet Earth had not fared very well. The major shift in orbit of the other six planets had affected the general spin of the remaining three. The computers had failed to predict this. The population of Earth, the moon and several of the larger asteroids trembled in fear as Scientists made new predictions. Earth wondered - would the grand experiment fail after all? It looked