The Venusian Delusion

Venus, our sister planet has had a long and colourful history, most of which is sadly lost even to the Venusians themselves. Still even with our limited knowledge of their past, humanity has typically been quick to judge and label the Venusians as cowards, even today in the 25th century. Perhaps nothing better demonstrates this prejudice than "For Jupiter" the recent award winning film about the famous civil war between colonists on Jupiter that swept the awards ceremonies on earth and all of her colonies, yet was banned on Venus for its racist depiction of the Venusians as backstabbing opportunists. Whilst there was some controversy over the film, overall I think its success even beyond the earth colonies demonstrates how this view is sadly shared by most of the Federation.

Personally however even before learning more about their history, I always viewed the Venusians as simply having a different, perhaps more practical response to a terror that plagues all sentient life, that of the unknown. Some species such as our future enemies the Hylexans desire to conquer the unknown. Others want to try and understand and find a common ground with whatever might be out there, like the Federation. Humanity I'd say falls between those two extremes of conquest and friendship, depending on whether or not the other species we discover can fight back. The Venusians meanwhile were content to simply seal their little oasis of life off from the rest of creation which in a way was more admirable, as at least they didn't bring their problems into the rest of the universe. Still as we will see this approach led to its own problems, though considering the chaotic history humanity has endured of invasions and threats from beyond. A serious argument could be made for the Venusians having the more practical approach overall. 

Until the 23rd century mainstream scientific belief stated that there was no life on Venus. In fact we believed it to be a gas giant. However this was simply the work of a powerful spell by the Venusians to trick any passing or neighboring life forms into avoiding the planet. The Venusian delusion ultimately came to an end in the 23rd century, when they were finally forced into helping humanity, beginning their long alliance with us and the Federation that endures to this day (though even then the Venusians rarely if ever take part in anything to do with the Federation, and as we explored in a previous article, the Zeta Reticulans are actually our closest allies.) 

Still whilst most history records state that the Venusians and humanity didn't ally until the 23rd century, fortunately I know better. There were many visitations between the two worlds for centuries before hand, but the most important and the one we will be examining in detail is the journey Carla King made in the early 21st century. 

In order to understand this journey's significance we will first have to explore a very basic history of Venus, based on the limited knowledge we have. 

As those of you reading in the 25th century know, what we think of as Venusians are actually refugees from the planet earth. Over 66 million years ago, during the age of the Dinosaurs, our planet was visited by a race of aliens known as the Raskians who abducted several species of Dinosaur to use in their own civil war. The winning side would then go on to create many colonies on other planets, and in some cases brought Dinosaurs to them. In fact some worlds were populated specifically for Dinosaurs, including Venus. The Raskians still had many uses for the great reptiles and felt that having other planets full of them would mean that they didn't have to keep exploiting the earth's resources. 

At that point our sister planet was a beautiful jungle world, just as it is today, but it was populated by primitive amphibian like creatures, the actual native Venusians. Sadly very few of these creatures would survive the introduction of the Dinosaurs who in no time came to dominate this world just like they had our own. The great land dwelling reptiles weren't the only creatures to be brought to Venus however, The giant marine reptiles such as Plesiosaurs, Icthyosaurs, as well as many species of prehistoric fish including Sharks, the flying reptiles known as the Pterosaurs and even several species of mammals were all transported to help balance out the reptiles ecosystem. Today there is only one native Venusian species left, a large, amphibious predatory creature known as a Crasvox. Ironically it is one of the most dangerous and feared predators on 25th century Venus. 

The extinction of the Dinosaurs on earth is believed to have happened just a few centuries after they became established on Venus. As we know the reign of the Dinosaurs came to an end thanks to Khastran, the ancient, powerful Demon and future father of the vampires. After exterminating the Dinosaurs on earth, Khastran did visit Venus, but fortunately the Raskians launched an attack against him before he could wipe out life there as well. The demon was forced to temporarily flee, as he was not at full power. He later destroyed the Raskians home planet in an act of spite once he was stronger. 

Venus however survived, simply because by that point Khastran had too many of his former enemies after him to bother with a small insignificant planet. The Dinosaurs, and other earth species on Venus meanwhile continued to evolve over the next 66 million years into unique life forms. Whilst the Dinosaurs remained dominant overall, several species of mammals also grew to large sizes in certain areas of Venus too, though none were ever able to evolve into life forms as intelligent as human beings. 

The Dinosaurs of Venus are officially referred to within the Federation as Exosaurs which means alien, or distant reptile with this name having been coined centuries ago, though who by, it is still somewhat unclear. Still ultimately the Exosaurs do belong to the Dinosaurian group of reptiles in much the same way birds do, so if you want to refer to them as such that's fine too. 

Among the Dinosaur species that had been relocated to Venus included Tyrannosaurus Rex, at that point the dominant predator on the earth, Triceratops, numerous species of Hadrosaurs, sauropods and Dromeosaurs. In addition to the current species, the Raskians also revived several extinct species of Dinosaurs on earth such as Spinosaurus, Allosaurids, using technology that is still in advance of what we have now. 

The Tyrannosaurs naturally evolved into the largest and most powerful predators on the planet. Tyrannosaurus Rex itself became Aspromatiasaurus Rex, or "White eyed Lizard king." These beasts could grow to over 70 feet long and stand over 30 feet tall and weighed in at over 40 tons. Their body plan was somewhat similar to a Tyrannosaurus, though their skin was black with a gold underside and their eyes were completely and utterly white, hence their name. An A. rex possessed a ferociously powerful bite force of well over 30 tons and teeth far longer, thicker and stronger than those of any other Exosaur. In addition to this the A. rex's were also incredibly intelligent, in fact some to this day have even argued that these Exosaurs possess a certain degree of sentience, though this is a minority view.

At the very least the Exosaurs do possess staggering long term memory, problem solving and social skills to the point where they are known to gather in what can almost be described as communities, though in spite of this they still hunt alone. There have even been stories of the A. rex's targeting and killing Venusians and human colonists who have hurt or slain one member of their pack or community, though some have simply argued that the Exosaurs are trying to root out those intruding on their territory regardless. The most feared Exosaur on Venus even today in the 25th century is what is known as the Emperor Rex, the largest and most dominant male of any community of A. rex's. The bulk of these males are often in contrast to the alphas of other animal species the oldest due to their sheer size. It is believed that some of these alpha males may even exceed the highest estimates, with the largest and most notorious individual named Jorskas that was said to have wiped out one of the first earth colonies on Venus, possibly exceeding 90 feet in length. 

The A. rex's also possess much more refined senses than those of any other Exosaur too, though naturally they are not the fastest animals, they nevertheless overcompensated for this in a number of ways. To start with their sheer size ensures that one step for an A. rex is comparable to half a dozen for a creature the size of a human. They also have such an incredible stamina that can allow them to pursue their prey for potentially hours. Finally the A. rex's despite their size are also incredibly agile and capable of short bursts of speed, which coupled with their senses allow the A. rexes to be the perfect ambush killers. Their effectiveness was only heightened by the fact that just one bite from these animals could kill even the largest Exosaur. 

No other giant carnivore dares to challenge the A. rex. Absolutely none can match their incredible aggression alone, never mind their power. Ironically the only animal that is aggressive enough to challenge an A. rex is a Crasvox, though even then most of the time even these great predators will almost always retreat when confronted with an Emperor Rex. Just as on earth the Tyrannosaurs dominated anywhere they lived, though the A. rex's were not the only members of the Tyrannosaur family on Venus. 

The Diltirumasaurus Rex, or "poison breathed Lizard king" grew to over 60 feet long and weighed in at over 25 tons. They also possessed the same basic Tyrannosaur body plan, but in contrast to the A rex, their skin was bright red, with black horizontal stripes running down their necks, backs and tails and an orange underbelly. Their eyes meanwhile were completely black, except for a vertical, stripe like red pupil. The only major difference the animals had physically to the usual Tyrannosaur body plan, were two backward facing horns at the back of their skulls.

Whilst the Diltirumasaurus possessed the strong bite force typical of Tyrannosaurs (being able to bite with a force of over 20 tons.) Their main weapon was the poison they were able to emit from the venom sacks in their stomachs as a kind of noxious breath that could spread over an area of up to 10 feet. The poison was more than capable of killing smaller animals such as humans in a very short space of time, though it could also bring down some of the largest and most powerful Exosaurs over longer periods in a very protracted and painful way. However their poison breath was still not strong enough to take down the A. rex's who were the Diltirumasaurus' only threat. The poison breath though an effective weapon was also often used more for defense than hunting. 

Another species of Tyrannosaurus were the Thalassasaurus Rex "sea dwelling Lizard King. These animals did not evolve from Tyrannosaurus Rex specifically, but rather other members of the Tyrannosaur family. They were much smaller than the average Tyrannosaur, growing up to just 20 feet long and standing about 9 feet tall and weighing in at about 2 tons. These animals as their name suggested, were semi aquatic. They possessed a similar body plan to most Tyrannosaurs, though their arms were slightly larger than the average Tyrannosaur, and they possessed three fingers. Their tails meanwhile where more like paddles, whilst their toes and fingers were webbed to help them swim through the Venusian waters. The animals skin meanwhile was light blue, though they were also covered in green spots. Finally a long orange fin, though not as pronounced as that of a Spinosaurus ran down each Thalassasaurus' back and tail.

The Thalassasaurus were among the most intelligent of all Exosaurs and were just as effective hunters on the land as they were in the ocean. They possessed a greater speed and agility than any other known Exosaur or indeed Dinosaur on earth either, and appeared to split their time between the land and the water at different points in their life. They were also among the most social Tyrannosaurs, with large males once again serving as the alpha's of each pack. 

Aside from the Tyrannosaurs, other families of giant meat eating Dinosaurs to be represented on Venus included the Allosaur and Spinosaur families. 

The largest of the Allosaurs was the Anoixosaurus "spring heeled Lizard." Measuring over 50 feet in length and weighing in at 8 tons, these animals had completely albino skin and stood upright like Kangeroos. They were considerably more agile and quick on their feet than the giant Tyrannosaurs. In fact they were the fastest of all the large killers, a fact that served them well in hunting the giant sauropods who could have swatted them easily. Whilst not as powerful as the A. rex's they were arguably the most numerous of the giant killers, though in any area they did cohabit with the Tyrannosaurs they were always subservient and even fell prey to them too. Still generally speaking the Anoixosaurus were the apex predators of their environments. 

Spinosaurus meanwhile gave rise to two large alpha predators with very different lifestyles. 

The Trypimasaurus were the most common. Growing up to 60 feet long and weighing in at 10 tons. These killers burrowed deep into the earth, only emerging from below the ground for mating and to snatch unwary prey. Their bodies were a lot more flexible and almost snake like and they could move with a lightening speed despite their size. Physically the Trypimasaurus resembled a Spinosaurus from earth, but rather than the famous sail, it possessed an armoured back covered in long, backwards facing spikes. It's jaws were also somewhat shorter, stalkier and considerably stronger too, though the claws on its hands were over twice the size of Spinosaurus and were still its main weapons. Often the vice like jaws were simply used to hold onto its prey whilst the claws disembowled them. 

The other species of Spinosaur meanwhile in contrast was the first fully aquatic species of non avian Dinosaur or Exosaur. Known as Skoulikosaurus "worm lizard", this animal was named as such due to its unusual body plan. Its head and upper body still resembled the Spinosaurs of earth to some extent, with the same crocodilian head, longer arms, though the sail had now transformed into more of a sharp fin. However they also had no legs, with a long serpentine body taking the place of the entire lower body of an earth Spinosaurus. 

The Skoulikosaurus were actually the longest of all the meat eaters on Venus, growing up to 90 feet long, however they were among the lightest, weighing in at only 7 tons. What they may have lacked in strength and mass, they made up for in speed and were extremely effective hunters of both marine and any land animals that were unlucky enough to stray too close to the water. Much like their Trypimasaurus relatives, their jaws were shorter and more robust than their Spinosaurian cousins on earth and their claws were actually the largest of any meat eating Dinosaur.

Among the giant herbivores meanwhile included many species of Sauropod Dinosaur, some of which eventually came to dwarf those on earth. Many attribute the greater growth and strength of the Venusian Dinosaurs to the Raskians tampering with the original Dinosaurs that were brought to Venus' DNA. The Raskians naturally wanted their Dinosaurs to be larger, stronger and more intelligent to serve as soldiers and mounts. Some even argue that the Exosaurs don't just represent a natural evolution, but are rather the result of the Raskians unpredictable experiments after 66 million years. 

Whatever the case whilst there were many species of giant Sauropod, the two most notable examples were the Gargantusaurus, "gargantuan lizard" which is believed to have reached a size of close to 250 tons and over 200 feet in length, and the Unisaurus, the most numerous species. These animals could reach a length of over 100 feet long and exceed 90 tons in weight. Their body plan resembled that of the typical sauropod except they had spikes running down from the top of their necks to the tips of their tails. They also possessed a single, long horn on their foreheads, which is where their names were derived from. Many of the earliest human expeditions to Venus described these beasts as Dinosaur Unicorns. 

The Ceratopsians meanwhile also thrived and underwent many new and strange developments. The most numerous and successful of the Venusian Ceratopsians was the Monoceratops, "single horned face." Again this Exosaur had in contrast to its Triceratops ancestor, a single but much longer and stronger horn on its forehead. It was also up to twice the size of a Triceratops, being close to 60 feet long, and over 40 tons in weight. Just as on our earth, the Monoceratops main predators were the Tyrannosaurus, particularly the A. rex. However one key difference between the Ceratopsians of earth and the Monoceratops, was that they were omnivores though they still mostly preferred vegetables, now and again they were observed hunting and feasting on small Dinosaurs and even some human colonists. 

Another species of Ceratopsian meanwhile, a relative of the Monoceratops was an obligate carnivore. Known as the Sarkofasaurus "meat eating lizard." This Ceratopsian had no horns, but an incredibly strong and powerful set of jaws, filled with razor sharp teeth. It was also considerably faster than the average Exosaur, being able to run up 40 miles per hour and whilst it may not have had horns, it did have three rows of small spikes running down its back and longer claws on its feet. 

The Anklyosaurus also thrived on Venus, evolving into bipedal creature known as the Polemosaurus, "warrior lizard". It lost its tail, whilst its armor became even more pronounced and its fore legs developed into strong, incredibly powerful arms. The Polemosaurs were still vegetarians, but they were also among the most aggressive animals on the planet. At 12 tons in weight, the largest males of each herd never backed down from confrontations with any predator (except for the A. rex of course.) They delivered absolutely brutal beat downs to their enemies and used their bodies to crush them. 

Stegosaurus on the other hand (which was revived by the Raskians) underwent a somewhat similar transformation. Its descendants known as Triachemosaurus "three spiked reptile" adopted a semi bipedal stance similar to a modern day bear. (It also adopted an omnivorous diet too.) This species name came from three rows of smaller spike like plates up and down its back. Unlike its ancestors it also possessed a shorter, stubbier tail the end of which was completely covered in spikes. Finally they also had incredibly long spikes on their hands which were primarily used for stripping leaves off of Venusian trees, but could double as extremely effective weapons. Overall the animals weighed in at 9 tons and grew to almost 40 feet in length. 

The Hadrosaurs however were undoubtedly the most successful species of plant eating Exosaur on the planet. There were believed to be up to 30 species on Venus, though by far the most successful was the Aetosaurus, "Eagle reptile" a 70 foot long 20 ton species. Whilst it had the same basic body plan as most Hadrosaurs, much like the Anoixosaurus, it stood upright like a Kangeroo, and had long talons on its hands and feet which it used as weapons. The animals kick was incredibly powerful in particular, and could allow it to disembowel some of the largest and most dangerous carnivores. 

Whilst there were literally hundreds of different Dinosaur species on Venus, the most prominent would ultimately be the Dromeosaur family. These small, feathered, meat eating Dinosaurs, who back on earth gave rise to such famous killers as the Deinonychus, Velociraptor and Utahraptor, on Venus would produce just three species, the Exoraptor, the Colossaraptor and Athyco, the ancestors of the Venusians as we know them today. 

The Exoraptors were most like the Dromeosaurs of earth, small, feathered, agile killers. They grew to about 15 or so feet long and weighed about as much as a man. Where they differed however from killers like Deinonychus was that they had evolved wings, making them a second species of flying theropod after the Birds of earth. Their feet however still retained the signature sickle like claw of most Dromeosaurs, which had actually grown longer and stronger over the course of 66 million years to the point where it could be used to impale its victims, though their jaws were still strong and contained very sharp and powerful teeth. The animals were also feathered, even on their feet unlike modern day birds. The only areas that weren't feathered where their snouts and long, flexible, snake like tails.

Colossaraptors meanwhile looked almost exactly the same except they were considerably larger, with the biggest females growing up to 28 feet long 

The Athyco meanwhile in contrast became more terrestrial than even many of the Dromeosaur species of earth who it is known still lived and hunted in trees. These raptors over the course of 66 million years underwent a series of adaptations which eventually led to them evolving into a more humanoid form. Though it is worth mentioning that in actual fact, they developed it before we did, and in many respects they were better suited to a humanoid form than we were due to their reptillian and avian anatomy. 

Still we humans like all species in fairness tend to put ourselves at the centre of things. Ultimately the humanoid form is a successful form, hence why so many species have adopted it through convergent evolution, but it is far from the only successful form for sentient life. We only tend to think it is because naturally we tend to associate with other humanoids. 

The Athyco meanwhile developed a more upright posture due to their brain size increasing which eventually led to a more enlarged humanoid skull. Their beak like mouths also became much smaller than those of other meat eating Dinosaurs or Exosaurs, whilst their fore arms not only became longer, but more flexible too. They were able to move their hands in any direction they wanted unlike other meat eating Dinosaurs and Exosaurs whose hands always have to face each other.

Just as humans mostly lost their hair, so did the Athyco lose their feathers, except for a feathered strip at the top of their heads. (Which similarly was longer and more prominent in females of the species.)

They did not stand completely upright however like homo sapiens, and as a result on average they were much smaller in height. This was undoubtedly due to the fact that they kept their long serpentine tails. In many respects their body plan was actually shaped more like that of a monkey, though they spent less time on all fours. 

Again ironically this largely humanoid form suited their reptillian and avian anatomy more than our mammalian one. Like most theropods from birds to Dromeosaurs, the Athyco possessed hollow bones. Contrary to popular belief however, hollow bones does not make an animal weaker physically. Hollow bones have a reinforced outer coating to overcompensate, which makes them stronger than mammalian bones. As a result of this the Athyco on average possessed physical strength up to 5 times that of a human being. 

Meanwhile avian brains are also capable of holding a greater amount of neurons than those of mammalians. It is this feature that allows modern day crows to possess greater intelligence than many species of primate, despite having smaller brains. Athyco's brains however appeared to combine the greater size of mammalian brains, whilst retaining the greater amount of neurons from avian brains.

Whilst we would never admit it, on average the Athyco appear to possess a greater intelligence than human beings and to this day we know that their knowledge of magics greatly eclipses ours.

Finally the Athyco also still laid eggs, which again made childbirth much safer and considerably less painful. Sadly one of the drawbacks of mammalian humanoids is our upright posture can lead to dangerous complications and difficulties during childbirth. 

The Athyco eventually built a highly advanced civilisation, sometime before humanity even evolved. They are believed to have relied on magic rather than science like we do and their mastery of the black arts eventually led to the Athyco placing a magical forcefield around Venus which not only protected it physically, but again created an illusion to any passerby that Venus was an uninhabitable wasteland not bothering with. 

Quite why or indeed when the Athyco created the forcefield, no one is really sure. It may have happened after Khastran's second invasion of earth, or perhaps even after Set's attack. Or perhaps there may have been an invasion of Venus, but either way something from the very depths of space terrified the Athyco to the extent that they lost all desire to explore the universe common to most species, and retreated into their own world. 

In spite of this however, it is known that the elites of the Athyco society travelled to earth and possibly other worlds too. There are a few records in some ancient cultures of creatures said to come from the stars that match that of the Athyco, and it appears the reptiles may even have helped influenced certain cultures on our world for their own methods. There is one documented case of a king trading, unique and powerful earth magics with an Athyco elite, in exchange for an A. rex, tamed through magics. Ultimately however the kings control over the A. rex didn't last and the beast destroyed his entire kingdom. This is detailed in the King's own diaries, though he obviously did not name the mighty dragon he was given ownership of as an A. rex, but the skeleton of the beast that died was identified many years later as that of an A. rex.

Sadly however the true extent of the relationship between Venus and Earth during this period will never be known as at some point the Athyco warred with one another. Their use of powerful magics ended up destroying their entire civilisation, though the forcefield remained intact. The surviving Athyco were scattered. Some held onto to scant traces of their civilisation for a short while, whilst many were reduced to barbarians. Furthermore the magics used in their war had led to others of their kind mutating and twisting into hideous abominations too. 

The jungles of Venus subsequently grew over most of the ruins of their cities, as the wild Exosaurs once again came to dominate. 

By the 21st century, most traces of the Athyco's ancient society had vanished. Even today very little is known about them sadly, though there are historians from both Venus and earth that are devoted to trying to uncover their history. Sadly so far their efforts have not been rewarded. 

The forcefield meanwhile due to centuries of unstable magic polluting the planet from within began to break up. Parts of it drifted into space, but others crashed onto the earth leading to catastrophe in certain regions. 

One such crash in the town of Hampson, alerted Carla King in the year 2025 and in the next article we shall explore her journey to save both Venus and her own world.