WANDA DIAZ-MERCED

nic@nic.co.za April 5, 2018

GAIASPHERE (CHAPTER ONE)

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SANSA, SA NATIONAL SPACE AGENCY, HERMANUS, CAPE TOWN

nic@nic.co.za January 7, 2018

KNERSVLAKTE (GNASHING PLAIN), WESTERN CAPE

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CEDERFLOWER, CEDERBERG, WESTERN CAPE

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MARWA'S CAVE, CEDERBERG, WESTERN CAPE

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'For real, that is not a shadow, but an upright being squeezed up against the edge. Kind of like a human form with two arms and legs, a narrow, oval face framed by a cap looking like a bare skull, clothed in a blue overall that they only had a glimpse of previously. Dead quiet. Francois lowers the torch, lifts it again. One thing is for sure: this being is just as afraid as they are.'

From Die Hemelblom (The Heavenly Flower) by Jan Rabie, 2nd edition 1974, Tafelberg, first published 1971. Translated from the original Afrikaans by Nic Grobler.

The first encounter with Marwa, the main alien character in Die Hemelblom takes place in a collapsed cave near the Cederberg - she hold hands with the humans to make it out alive.

PROF. IAN GLASS, CEDERBERG ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY, WESTERN CAPE

nic@nic.co.za December 19, 2017

Ian Glass is an infrared astronomer and scientific historian. He is a member of the Royal Society of South Africa, and the International Astronomical Union. He has twice been elected President of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa and in 2016 was made an honorary member thereof. *

CHRIS FORDER'S TELESCOPE, CEDERBERG ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY, WESTERN CAPE

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'We got music going - we try to keep it to calm music, so that we are not too excited. If you get too excited then things start going wrong and you start doing stupid things. You must just keep calm the whole time while you are imaging. After all, the stars will wait - if you don’t get them tonight, you can get them tomorrow night. Time is nothing to them, time is everything to us. '

Chris Forder. Amateur Telescope builder.

METEORITE, PLANETARIUM, CAPE TOWN, WESTERN CAPE

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'It was formed around the same time as our Sun and the Earth and after a leisurely tour of the Solar System as the centre of an asteroid, it came crashing down into southern Africa as the Gibeon Meteorite.

The Nama people used smaller bits of the meteorite for tools and countless chunks remained scattered over a large area. In 1836 Englishman J. E. Alexander collected samples and sent them to London. John Herschel confirmed they were indeed not of this planet.' *

ANNA SKIPPERS, SUTHERLAND, NORTHERN CAPE

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Anna lives in Sutherland, close to the largest single optical telescope in the Southern Hemisphere.

CHRIS FORDER, TELESCOPE BUILDER, CEDERBERG ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY, WESTERN CAPE

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'If you consider there are between 10 and 20 times as many galaxies outside ours as there are stars in our galaxy - and we have maybe 200 billion stars, so multiply that between 10 and 20 and that is the number of galaxies, and each of those may have 200 billion starts. So we are pretty insignificant. If you go and look at a piece of sand outside. That is how insignificant we are. We think we are important but we are not.' - Chris Forder. Amateur Telescope builder.

NICO SMIT, SCI-FI WRITER, CLANWILLIAM, WESTERN CAPE

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‘The half blood is not accepted by anyone, he is not ethnic enough for his own group and not good enough for the group he is descended from. So both groups reject him, but he posesses the skills and knowledge of both groups - the strong characteristics of both groups is combined within him. Even though he is initially rejected by the modern group and the historical native group, at the end of the day he unites them - he is the glue that keeps them together. He is the connection or the missing link between them and the two groups then fight together against what you can call the evil side - the bad guys in the story. With him as the leader figure. In the beginning the natives from the planet Kazdan, the Hunters didn't trust the Neanites who were technologically advanced - almost seen as gods. Like it was in the past when the white man landed in the Cape - everybody thought it was amazing and at the end of the day it wasn't that amazing and there is a golden middle groud to be followed and somebody has to take the lead - that is the half blood that brings the groups together. That is the initiating concept of my sci-fi story.’

Nico Smit, Sci-Fi Writer, Clanwilliam

SKAAP, CARNARVON, NORTHERN CAPE

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HEMELBLOM (1971), CARNARVON, NORTHERN CAPE

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'Only in the morning, when the daylight crossed over the highland rocks and fynbos, they saw how strange and otherworldly the hemelblom was. The seeds that fell the previous afternoon shot up incredibly fast, each on a lump of roots that didn't enter the ground, but just gripped the ground from above. In one single night each plant became fully grown and was spreading seeds so that new plants would shoot up. In one night the hemelblomme multiplied a hundredfold. For now it was just strange. Only later it would become frightening.'

From Die Hemelblom (The Heavenly Flower) by Jan Rabie, 2nd edition 1974, Tafelberg, first published 1971. Translated from the original Afrikaans by Nic Grobler.

Video inspired by Die Hemelblom (The Heavenly Flower), an Afrikaans sci-fi novel by Jan Rabie.

The Hemelblom was sent to the earth by a concerned galactic council to ensure the survival of life on earth in the face of a new world war. The plant was specifically grown to remove the poisonous elements introduced by humans - feeding on pollution it would rapidly cover the earth and wipe out most of humankind but leave a new earth covered with fresh fertile soil.

DANIE GOUWS, SANSA, HERMANUS, CAPE TOWN

nic@nic.co.za December 19, 2017

The Hermanus Magnetic Observatory also supplies one-minute data to the World Data Centre for Geomagnetism, Kyoto in Japan, for the generation of the Dst ringcurrent index, which is the most commonly used measure of geomagnetic storm intensity. *

JAKHALS, KLAARSTROOM, WESTERN CAPE

nic@nic.co.za December 19, 2017

'To whom shall I dedicate this book? It is about a being who is not human, who is higher than man - an unattainable superior.

I think I will go to the opposite - and then I will not have to look very far. I lost a friend a long time ago - a friend that I loved and who loved me. I will never see him again forever; but forever I will never forget him. Now, after all these years, there is not a day that passes without his image coming before me and I'm grieving about him. To him I was the higher being - a Loeloeraai of a higher existence. To me he was the ultimate perfection I found on earth, of love and faithfulness and virtue. And I lost him, and I miss him dearly. . .

I dedicate this work:

To the memory of

MY FRIEND AND DOG, JAKHALS’

Translated from original Afrikaans by Nic Grobler, Loeloeraai, CJ Langenhoven, 4th Edition 1929, First published 1923.

Video inspired by the dedication of the 1923 Sci-fi novel, Loeloeraai by CJ Langenhoven.

MAGNETIC OBSERVATORY, SANSA, HERMANUS, WESTERN CAPE

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The observatory is an active participant in the International Real-time Magnetic Observatory Network, one of a large number magnetic observatories which monitor and model variations of the Earth’s magnetic field. *

BLACK ROCKS, CLOSE TO CALVINIA AND AT LIVING LANDSCAPE PROJECT CLANWILLIAM NORTHERN CAPE

nic@nic.co.za December 18, 2017

These rocks contain a high percentage of iron and their dark appearance forms a truly ancient landscape. The rocks make a metal sound when played; they are referred to with different names such as ‘rock gongs’, ‘ringing rocks’ or even ‘bushman pianos’. Found in various areas around the world and Africa, tradition formed around communicating with the help of the rocks - evident by the ancient drumming marks often found on them.