Incubator raiding and Intellectual Superiority!

The rest of the day proceeded without any mishaps. After eating breakfast that consisted of the same materials as yesterday, I was led by Sola to the plaza. In the plaza, stood hundred of green martians. All of which were helping in preparing large chariots pulled by the a different type of creature that I found Tars Tarkas riding upon our first encounter.

The woman prepared the chariots while some 'young' martians were seated upon the large beasts.

Needless to say, I did not understand what was happening at this moment. But the thing that I could understand, was the fact that they were preparing to head out and I was supposed to accompany them. Why else would I be escorted all the way here? Just to watch them leave?

From my current understanding of the martian culture, these people seem like they value strength and ferocity a ton. And me, being as strong as I was due to my earthly origin, would be considered as a valuable asset among their ranks.

Not long after we arrived, both me and Sola occupied the back of a chariot.

And then, with a mighty roar from the leader, Tars Tarkas, we were off.

The beasts strode forth without a sound, a courtesy of their heavily padded feet and the mossy vegetation that covered the surface of Mars.

While we traveled, I could not help but notice how the martians were able to direct their rides to move without even so much a word. It was certainly an interesting sight. It made me consider the martians having some form of telepathic ability, but that was hard to imagine. How would such an ability even work?

On the basis of bio-electricity? If so, just how much energy would the martians need to actively project out this power to connect with their kin? Or perhaps it works on the basis of a collective subconscious? A metaphysical connection that spans across the entirety of Mars and allows for people to connect their minds to convey thoughts? That seems both improbable and un-realistic.

It might just be something simple, like the use of pheromones like ants on Earth.

Or the use of scent communication, or the use of an electricity producing organ to send electric signals like an Echidna or a Platypus.

Or it could just be that I'm completely overthinking everything... Yeah, probably.

Every single one of the martians, including the men, the women and the children were armed with at least one weapon. I, myself was given none. Perhaps they felt that giving me one would be a waste. Or maybe they felt that giving me one was dangerous.

At the back of the chariot, trotted the hideous beast of a dog.

As we traversed through the giant depressions on the surface of the great god of war, we came across the incubator, the place where I had met Tars Tarkas.

From there, our animals broke into a mad gallop and collectively rushed into what seemed like a random direction. The beasts, interestingly enough still made no noise. At least nothing that I could hear.

Soon enough, another structure similar to the incubator came into view. One that seemed to be larger than the previous ones.

Upon reaching the incubator, all the chariots were arranged in a military formation all around the incubator, covering it from all directions.

Tars Tarkas, along with a few other green martians, chieftains I presumed, dismounted from their respective mounts and went towards the enclosure. i could see Tars Tarkas explaining something to the others but I could still not make out what exactly.

The language of the martian world was still as utterly foreign to me as is quantum mechanics to a monkey.

Soon, the walls of the incubator were broke down and out came the green abominations.

They were all somewhere between 3 to 4 feet tall, all being a miniature version of the adults and with a color leaning on the more yellowish side.

The infant aliens, although confused at first, soon began running in random directions. Their speed was something that surprised me, for I had never seen infants being able to showcase such agility.

'Perhaps it's due to the lesser gravitation on Mars. A normal infant on Earth would never be able to even lift their head. Though that's mainly because the bones really haven't even developed. Are the green martians born with their skeletal system fully developed? If so, then if the babies on earth were born with completed skeletal systems, would they be able to walk? I wonder...' I thought to myself while spacing out.

The women and children that had surrounded the incubator dashed after the running infants.

Those that were bigger in size or more agile were grabbed first, and then those that were not. The ones that were caught by the children were given away to the woman afterwards.

I looked towards Sola and saw her tightly holding one of the abominations in her arms. The grip of her arms were so tight that I feared the monstrous abomination would suffocate. I looked towards the other women, only to see them holding the infants the same way.

'Do they not care if they suffocate? Or is it just another way to make them into a stronger warrior?' I thought to myself.

The culture of the green martians was based upon the strength of the individual. The strong get what they want and get away without consequences.

That was the true mindset of the inhabitants of Mars. And rightfully so.

If they were allowed to proliferate without care, I'm afraid they would go extinct in no time. The dying world of Mars was in no way capable of being able to support life in huge quantities. Heck, I wasn't even sure if there were any other civilized lifeforms aside from these green people.

It was also in this moment that I realized that the green martians had no concept of biological parents in their communities. The eggs that were laid could be of anyone in the community. You wouldn't even know whose child it was that you had decided to raise.

I looked back towards the incubator. The eggs that hadn't been hatched yet were now being destroyed by the adult martians. Seeing such an act of cruelty and surprising indifference towards their own unborn young was baffling. It made me realize more deeply, the type of civilization that I had now become a part of.

If the eggs were not hatched for any reason, be it not maturing yet or the child losing its power to break out of the shell, they would be broken and killed.

Imagine putting everything you have to try to break out of a hard shell that surrounds you, only to get killed before you can even be born properly...

That... feels strangely comedic and horrifying to me at the same time.

With that we made camp for the night, for the sun was just about to set.

The next day, we were again off to another incubator, and this cycle continued on for some more days.

In this expedition, we also came across some incubators that had already been destroyed and the eggs inside were nowhere to be seen.

It did seem like the green martians weren't the only threat to their young.

Upon finding the destroyed incubator, the green martians patrolled around the area to find anything that might've been the cause of the destruction.

I looked towards Sola for an explanation, which she was able to describe to me that the cause was the race of those giant 4 armed ape like creatures. How exactly? Well simple. She choked up the hideous martian dog like the ape had done. Obviously she was in no way strong enough to cause any harm, but it did it's job and made me understand.

Anyway, after we were done with checking the incubators, we made our way back to the martian city.

In the travel back, all of my time passed in complete idleness. There was nothing for me to do other than observe the green martians drive their chariot and gaze at the barren but beautiful scenery of martian soil.

Only now did I realize the importance of the various entertainment media on Earth. Without those things like novels, movies, video games, etc. I was completely lost on how to spend my time.

And so, I spent my time meditating.

Most of the idle time would be spent in meditation. I would sit in the Padmasana position, also known as the full lotus position and recite the word "OM".

'OM' was the sound produced during the creation of the universe and produces reverberations across the body that cleanses it and rids it of negative energy. It also has the function of improving the concentration of the practitioner and increasing the effectiveness of meditation.

In the ancient Vedic text, it's even said that reciting mantras related to the word can provide the practitioner with supreme power. Previously, I did not believe it that. But now, when I had observed the giant power that sits inside of my body waiting to be released, I became a believer alright.

I still remember the various types of media I had seen and the Vedas that I had read.

In those, the yogic practitioners and the sages were able to influence the entire cosmos with just a thought. Boons and Curses which can effect the world itself, Weapons of such power that creation itself trembles.

But even among those, the single piece of media that influenced me the most is the most beloved and most powerful superhero of India- Shaktimaan.

Being a Yogic Practitioner who had awakened the seven chakras and could draw powers from his Kundalini, Shaktimaan was capable of performing absolutely any feat that he believed he could do. If he believed he could destroy the Omniverse, he could. If he believed he could rewrite the very laws of the Universe, he could. If he believed that he could change totality itself and transcend creation, he could.

But even then, basing something like yoga that has become real to various pieces of media seems like a dumb decision.

But hey, at least I can hope the Vedic powers to be true right?

Within this time of meditation, I got an overall better understanding of my own body and consciousness. I was in no way capable of influencing the endless flow of energy inside of me but it certainly made some very great improvements.

Before, I still had to concentrate to not fly off into the distance due to my superior strength. But now, I could perfectly control my own strength.

Not only that, I had begun to automatically understand some of the things that the green martians could say.

Heh, how you ask?

Telepathic connection!

I was right! There was a telepathic connection!

Anyway, the meditation really served to unlock this new power and I could now infer some simple things about the way they talked.

And I had to say, Martian language was simple. Like really really simple.

To anyone else hearing their language, they might not even be able to talk with this language their whole life. That was mainly because their language relied largely on the use of this telepathic link. Most of the information exchange would take place between their own minds that allowed for minimization of words when talking.

That was the reason I was able to already understand a large portion of their language.

After we got back to the city, Sola took it upon herself to teach both me and the yellowish green infant. And so, Sola's duties had now doubled.

In the morning, after breakfast, she would teach both of us the language used upon Mars. Also, another interesting fact that I came to know was that Mars was called Barsoom by its inhabitants. Quite a peculiar name if you ask me, but then again, the name 'Earth' would sound peculiar to them.

In the afternoon, we would learn more about the culture of the green martians, Tharks as their race is named.

In the evening, we would learn about the other races that inhabit this barren landscape of Barsoom.

I can not even begin to tell you how glad I was when I found out that there were actually other civilized races on the planet. That more humanoid too. In fact, I had almost lost hope. Considering that on Earth, humans were the only civilized race on the entire planet, I had somewhat figured that Mars would also be populated by only one major race. Thank god that's not the case though.

After about two days, between me and the Thark infant, there had been a rivalry that's been established.

One which I'm quite proud to say I've won.

Of course! How could a mere newborn baby be compared to my obviously superior, yoga enhanced telepathic mind...

Okay, that just feels weird. Why am I comparing myself to an infant?

Anyway, it did not take long for me to learn the language.

And dare I say that I even have an advantage in negotiations. Do you perhaps remember that yoga had enhanced my mind? Yeah, about that, my telepathic abilities have been enhanced to the point that I can actually read the surface thoughts of other people and not let even a shred of information pass through mine.

Quite broken right?

At first, this confused me to a certain extent, but later it gave me unreal amounts of satisfaction.

Now, I can successfully say that I have both brains and brawn that far surpass the martians...