LITTLE-KNOWN HISTORY OF KERGUELEN Part Six

First, let me say that coming down off a Kerguelen Cabbage smoking habit is hell. But I'm back.

This is the next-to-last installment of the Kerguelen history lessons, with many thanks to J.R. Mooneyham at http://www.jmooneyham.com/lost-civilization-kerguelen-2.html .

Approximately 22,000 BC: The Kerguelen completely fail to notice the alarming events taking place on Earth's southeast asian peninsula, until long after things have settled back to something nearer normal again-- which is a lucky break for humanity.

The Kerguelen fleet doesn't notice the extraordinary pace of technological development and other matters on the Southeast Asian peninsula until long after the climax of events there-- things simply happened far too fast for the fleet's normal surveillance schedule and response routines to notice (just a single century in general, with the most alarming matters ocurring in just decades). Plus, most attention towards Earth was concentrated on watching for signs of the inorganic technologies of the Kerguelen spacecraft stolen by the mutineers-- stuff decidedly different from the peninsula's primarily biotech-based or derived devices. The very short time-scale of peninsula events, and their containment to one particular region of the globe also helped shield events from Kerguelen scrutiny.

Approximately 18,000 BC- 12,000 BC: Earth is bombarded five times by heavier than usual cosmic dust concentrations from space. Earth's climate may well be effected. Some of this same dust traveling through the solar system may be spawning a new dust ring between Mars and Jupiter.

Approximately 9,500 BC- 9,000 BC: The Asvin of Earth surprise the Kerguelen fleet, and then vanish
[To see details about the Asvin civilization, please refer to What Could Have Been: A Lost Civilization in Southeast Asia, 25,125 BC- 13,875 BC]

After this shocking development, the Kerguelen elite direct the fleet to move some elements further away from Earth, while better masking others from long range detection or location via Kerguelen equivalent technologies. These measures will effectively render much Kerguelen space activity invisible to humanity until at least around the turn of the Approximately 8,000 BC+: Total world population may be somewhere between 5 and 10 millionA booming human population worldwide is driving many other large animal species extinct-- including some variants of humanity itself.

Approximately 6,000 BC - 1 AD: Sometime during this period the Earth, along with the rest of the Solar System, enters a vast cloud of interstellar gas

9,000 BC- 1,945 AD: The Kerguelen fleet maintains covert surveillance of Earth, seeking signs of the Asvin; The fleet otherwise cuts back on operations on and near Earth. The mystery of the missing Asvin, along with the surprise attack in space, haunts the Kerguelens. They watch closely for centuries, then millennia, for signs of their reappearance, only to find none. Instead, the entire planet of ape-men seems to go backwards 10,000 years in technology, in the wake of the Asvin's vanishing act.

1960 AD- 1965 AD: Multiple Russian probes launched towards Mars all meet with disaster

1,969 AD- 1973 AD: Another series of Russian missions to Mars fails to live up to expectations

1,989 AD: The sophistocated Russian Mars Phobos probes fail, with the last disappearing under puzzling circumstances. The Russian Mars Phobos probes are of a completely new design compared to earlier efforts. They also possess their own 'daughter' satellites for various missions to the Mars moon of Phobos. Both Phobos missions suffer disasterous failures. Phobos-2 does manage to limp through a fraction of its original mission, though it soon disappears. The last two months of photos it sends back to Earth seem to display various anomalous images. The very last one apparently taken two days before the probe disappears seems to show a huge, smooth object approaching the probe.

Many years later scientists will explain the strange images were essentially caused by something similar to long exposures performed with cameras on Earth, smearing or lengthening some images into weird geometries, or else by other flaws in the transmission. They also will say the Phobos missions were plagued with many sorts of problems which made them likely to fail or return erroneous results.

1,991 AD: A small and unusual object is detected near Earth, following an unlikely flightpath and exhibiting some signs of possible artifice. Is it merely an extraordinarily circumstanced natural object, or part of some super-secret spacecraft previously launched from Earth, and undisclosed to the public? Or could it even be an alien probe of some sort?

1,993 AD: NASA's Mars Observer is lost as it approaches Mars

1,995 AD: Russia loses a Mars probe during launch; it falls somewhere in the vicinity of the Andes mountains

1,998 AD: A Japanese Mars probe fails during launch

1999 AD: NASA suffers the failure of two more separate missions to Mars; humanity is realizing that the undersea Kerguelen plateau was once a dryland island continent....while they are also nearing the levels of wealth and technology necessary to explore the undersea mass......but all indications are that those with the means are far more interested in other locations, nowhere near the sunken Kerguelen continent. Thus, it could be centuries or even millennia before humanity discovers the secrets drowned there.
2000 milestone: The status of KerguelenSince the last major island of the Kerguelen island continent sank some 20 million years ago, further volcanic activity has created new islands in the chain.

The new islands however are little more than the tips of new undersea mountains poking above the waves; nothing as massive and vast as the original three Kerguelen bodies.

These mountain tops and other associated lands today form an island group, comprised of some 7000 square km of archipelago (roughly 300 islands and reefs) and lying situated in the South Indian Ocean. The largest island of the bunch is called Kerguelen. The entire group is legally considered a French possession.

In recent history the modern island of Kerguelen has seen both ice and considerable volcanic activity (Kerguelen possesses plenty of volcanoes). The above sea level remnants of Kerguelen suffer a frigid climate due to the convergence of Antarctic and Indian Ocean currents in the vicinity, and often strong winds which contribute to the chill. The winds also contribute to high waves in the area-- with 15 m heights being considered not unusual. This heavy wave action may contribute to the year-round ice-free nature of the seas around the islands. The skies of modern Kerguelen spend much of their time overcast.

Virtually the only native plant which has survived in the region from ancient times is the Kerguelen cabbage (rabbits brought in by foreigners destroyed practically all other lowland vegetation which had managed to survive the previous icy and volcanic periods).
Today a scientific research station of considerable size exists in the area, housing up to 100 scientists at a time.

2000 AD: By now humanity has explored something less than 2% of the deep oceans-- and less than 10% of the oceans overall. 50% of the surface of the Earth exists beneath 3000 to 6000 meters of ocean depth. Life in the deep ocean is at least as diverse as that in rainforests.

2001 AD: Humanity discovers a surprising contamination of near Earth space with uranium

2004 AD: A rolling robotic probe (the US Spirit rover) accidentally catches sight of a UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) in the skies over Mars; a "strange" object a few miles across is detected in the vicinity of Saturn-- and there may be more like it

Just one more installment to go. We are now just about up to speed!