Chariots of the Gods Read Free Page A

of development as the earth was 8,000 years ago. Of course, this would all have been confirmed by the instruments on board the space-ship long before the landing.
    Naturally our space travellers have also picked on a landing site that lies close to a supply of fissionable matter. Their instruments show quickly and reliably in which mountain ranges uranium can be found.
    The landing is carried out according to plan.
    Our space travellers see beings making stone tools; they see them hunting and killing game with throwing spears; flocks of sheep and goats are grazing on the steppe; primitive potters are making simple household utensils. A strange sight to greet our astronauts!
    But what do the primitive beings on this planet think about the monstrosity that has just landed there and the figures that climbed out of it? Let us not forget that we too were semi-savages 8,000 years ago. So it is not surprising when the semi-savages who experience this event bury their faces in the ground and dare not raise their eyes. Until this day they have worshipped the sun and the moon. And now something earthshaking has happened: the gods have come down from heaven!
    From a safe hiding-place the inhabitants of the planet watch our space travellers, who wear strange hats with rods on their heads (helmets with antennae); they are amazed when the night is made bright as day (searchlights); they are terrified when the strangers rise effortlessly into the air (rocket-belts); they bury their heads in the ground again when weird unknown 'animals' soar in the air, droning, buzzing and snorting (helicopters, all-purpose vehicles), and lastly they take flight to the safe refuge of their caves when a frightening boom and rumble resounds from the mountains (a trial explosion). Undoubtedly our astronauts must seem like almighty gods to these primitive people 1
    Day by day the space travellers continue their laborious work and after some time a delegation of priests or medicine men will probably approach the astronaut whom their primitive instincts tell them is the chief in order to make contact with the gods. They bring gifts to pay homage to their guests. It is conceivable that our spacemen will rapidly learn the language of the inhabitants with the help of a computer and can thank them for the courtesy shown. Yet although they can explain to the savages in their own language that no gods have landed, that no higher beings worthy of adoration have paid a visit, it has no effect. Our primitive friends simply do not believe it. The space travellers came from other stars, they obviously have tremendous power and the ability to perform miracles. They must be gods! There is also no point in the spacemen trying to explain any help they may offer. It is all far beyond the comprehension of these people who have been so terrifyingly invaded.
    Although it is impossible to imagine all the things that might take place from the day of landing onwards, the following points might well figure on a preconceived plan:
    Part of the population would be won over and trained to help search a crater formed by an explosion for fissionable matter needed for the return to earth.
    The most intelligent of the inhabitants would be elected 'king'. As a visible sign of his power, he would be given a radio set through which he could contact and address the 'gods' at any time.
    Our astronauts would try to teach the natives the simplest forms of civilisation and some moral concepts, in order to make the development of social order possible. A few specially selected women would be fertilised by the astronauts. Thus a new race would arise that skipped a stage in natural evolution.
    We know from our own development how long it would take before this new race became space experts. Consequently, before the astronauts began their return flight to earth, they would leave behind clear and visible signs which only a highly technical, mathematically based society would be able to understand much much