[ WP ] Mythological stories are just an attempt by ignorant humans who watched and described from their point of view the advanced humans/aliens with their scientific gadgets , space ships , weapons , etc . Pick your favorite mythological story and/or character ( s ) and turn it into a science fiction story .

Taranga wept as she held the bloody newborn in her arms. 
 `` We can not feed him,'' said her husband, `` already the people starve and our three boys are as thin as sticks. There are too many of us and the land is too small. He will die anyway, so we might as well kill him now.'' 
 Weeping still, the mother of the newborn lifted her chin defiantly, 
 `` You will not kill him; I will. I will take Māui to the sea and there I will drown him myself.'' 
 Makeatutara regarded his wife from under hooded brows, then jerked his hand at the entrance to the hut, 
 `` Go then woman. Our sons need some kai, so be quick about it.'' 
 
 Taranga held the boy in the shallows of the beach but she could not do it. None of this was *his* fault; the child had not asked to be born. 
 With a blessing to Tangaroa, the god of the sea, she cut off a piece of her topknot and used it to tie together a rough coracle of driftwood. Pushing the baby out into the surf, she sang him a tearful waiata of farewell, hoping against all hope that the gods would guard and guide her baby to a better life. 
 
 -- -- -- -- -- 
 
 Tangaroa heard the song of the woman from the beach. 
 Deep in his ocean home, the new home of the alien refugees from another world, he considered the plight of the Māori living on the spit of land called Aoteroa. It was the fault of the aliens that the Māori had so little land - the aliens had thought this world largely uninhabited and had raised the ocean levels to make it habitable. Afterwards they had discovered the native people and realised their error. 
 But it was too late now; nothing could be done. 
 At the least though, he could save this one child and bring him to his domain. 
 Sending Tama-nui-te-ra to rescue the child, Tangaroa turned his massive green-blue bulk on the ocean floor and considered the wreckage of their landing craft. They were stuck here now; there would be no more journeys to other planets, searching for compatible oceans - this was their home now. What technology they had left would serve to conceal them from the people of the land, should they ever become advanced enough to plumb the depths. 
 
 Māui was raised by Tama-nui-te-ra in an ocean cave until he was old enough to return to his family. The alien was a juvenile, nothing like the size of Tangaroa, so it could nurture and feed the human boy without frightening him too much. To make matters easier, Tama-nui-te-ra implanted Māui with the basic technology they gave all their youngsters, allowing Māui to swim in the ocean without needing to breathe and to metabolise solid food into nutrients, in the absence of his mother's milk. 
 `` You are a silly, weak creature, Māui,'' said Tama-nui-te-ra, but he loved the boy and looked after him well. 
 
 -- -- -- -- -- 
 
 When Māui was twelve Tama-nui-te-ra took him to the edge of the human village and left him there, 
 `` These are your people, you must live with them. Now that you are old enough to feed yourself they can not turn you away.'' 
 And with that, the scaled, blue-green alien was gone, vanishing as if he had never existed. 
 Māui cried, but he knew the alien was right - he needed to be with his people; he had a powerful longing to be with other humans. 
 Before he entered the village he regarded the curved, white, bone-like surface of the stolen piece of the alien technology he had hidden in his topknot - it would always remind him of Tama-nui-te-ra. 
 
 No one in the village believed it was him, not even his mother. 
 `` I *am* Māui,'' he insisted, `` Tangaroa sent a... spirit to save me!'' 
 The village chief was ready to cast him out, to have the village warriors throw Māui back into the sea, but he panicked and the alien artefact cast holograms of huge, fierce native birds in front to the warriors - terrifying Haast eagles and powerful legged moas - and the tattooed men cowered in fear of Māui's power. 
 `` He is a magician,'' said one and people started to believe Māui's story. 
 
 -- -- -- -- -- 
 
 Māui lived with his people and became a man, eventually acknowledged by his mother for his great feats of bravery and strength. 
 But the problem of overcrowding had become so dire that even with an entire village out fishing, there was still not enough food. People were starting to die. 
 He and his brothers were out sailing when Māui decided to fix the situation. 
 `` I will fish up a creature large enough to feed all of us for generations!'' he declared. 
 His brothers laughed at him and said `` Well, since you are the great Māui, you ca n't use any of our fishing gear! You can do it yourself.'' 
 Māui was n't sure this would work, but it was worth a try. 
 `` Fine, I will use the jawbone of our great ancestor then,'' he declared, taking out the alien artefact, `` I will use it as a fish hook!'' 
 `` What will you use for bait?'' 
 In response, Māui punched himself in the nose and smeared blood all over the artefact, before casting it into the deeps on the end of a fishing line. 
 He had only intended to bring one of the aliens to the surface to impress his brothers, but not knowing how to properly use the artefact, Māui accidentally activated and overloaded the ruined engines of the crashed starship. 
 
 Deep beneath the waves a massive explosion occurred, destroying the technology that kept the sea levels so high. 
 As the boat rocked and heaved in the rapidly fluctuating water levels, Māui struggled to haul the jawbone to the surface. 
 By the time he finally pulled it up, the boat sat on a new island, revealed under the receding ocean. 
 `` Māui fished up a whole *island! * screamed the brothers. 
 Then they set out to explore the new land. 
 
 

