Intelligent Design: Revelations to Apocalypse (5 page)

But what really turned heads was her brown skin, signifying her heritage from Earth’s sub-Saharan Africa, along with her European-genus blue eyes. These features indicated that she came from a world where one could be in the sun without fear of immediately dying.

“In the land of the blind, the one-eyed giant will be king,
“she remembered her dad often said.
I wonder if this is about him. Have they moved up the plans? It really would be great to see him sooner than later.

Finally, she stood before the women and bent over to catch her breath. Her original assessment of being out of shape dissolved as she realized she’d run at least a mile in about nine minutes. Back on Earth when she was out of shape, she could’ve run half a mile in the same time, then would’ve promptly thrown up.

Legate Legionis Clematis and Dux Cloelius looked up from their stone-like tablets, one green and the other purple.

“Minor Perez! We are so happy you made it.” It hadn’t taken Perez long to get used to the title ‘minor’ meaning younger. They referred to her dad as seniores.
He’d hate that
.

“You must have run to catch us. But I see you have neglected your sidearm. That is dangerous,” Clematis said with a smile as she put her tablet in her tunic and planted her hands akimbo.

Cloelius produced a canteen of water and offered it to Perez. Clematis nodded in approval. Perez straightened and took the canteen.

“But … but you never carry a firearm … only knives …” she said between gasps of breath.

“That is because I’ve been battle tested. I killed two rattus with one spike and a spear. No need for me or Cloelius to carry a firearm. Someday, you will face the challenge, and it will be decided then,” she said enthusiastically.

Perez drank the opaque liquid, a salty-sweet syrup mixture that both quenched thirst and gave energy.

“I … must … catch my breath … first.”

She focused on her breathing and pushed the thoughts of large rats, or rattus as Terrans often called them, out of her head. I think I’ll stick to walking in well-lit, well-populated areas before I take that challenge, she thought.

“You are a special one, Perez. But we must go. The launch dance is already in progress, and the Centurions and Milites have already boarded
Silent Star Falling
. They await our arrival.” Clematis began their mile trek to the launch bay with Cleolius, Perez and other high-ranking officials in tow.

“There must have been a change in plans for the mission to be moved ahead to now.” Perez handed Cloelius’s canteen back with a thank-you nod and fell into step with the smaller officers, one a general and the other a leader, though she was still not sure who was who.

The military here had rank and order but no saluting, barking orders, or rigid behavior. Military order was somehow inbred as prescribed and predictable behaviors, part of their nature as a species. They had no need to remind each other.

Her father would love it here—a clinical person’s dream come true. He would wish he’d pursued that anthropology course he started
…
Her mind hit a dark wall. Her smile faded and her heart sank as her last memories of her mother and brother flooded her mind. Years after their deaths, her father had finally pulled out of his depression and attended some anthropology courses at a local college, something her mom had done when she was younger.

“Do not grieve, Perez. The Keeper of Atlantis believes she can ensure safe passage for your father to the extraction zone. She is just being cautious in moving it up. She wants to make sure she gets the supplies to us even though we have what we need for probably centuries to come. Nonetheless, I do hope she has provided your planet’s chestnuts in the cargo. They are remarkable! How you humans simply let them grow on trees and fall to the ground is beyond me.”

“Thank you for your reassurance.” Perez followed the women through the crowd of people who stood or sat around the foyer, talking, laughing or singing in groups. Some peered into their own uniquely-colored tablets, and some told stories as they sharpened their weapons and drank a version of coffee.

They walked past multiple shops, but Perez no longer looked away from the skinned rattus hides that hung near the market place. Scaled tails with sharp edges at the ends, and their size—as large as dogs—distinguished them from the common Earth rat. They lived underground and were not only the primary source of meat protein but also, and more importantly, hunting them provided a way to prove yourself and advance in station and rank. Most Terran citizens survived their hunt for the
norvegicus rattus
, but some fell to the packs and never returned. And sometimes, the creatures would come up to the foyers and take a child or unsuspecting Terran. Hence, everyone always carried weapons. You could count on two things with Terrans: hunting and dancing
,
with rituals to match for every situation.

Just as you’d expect from cave dwellers!

“I wonder why you Terrans love chestnuts so much,” Perez said.

“Does it have something to do with your Earthly ancestors? A kind of DNA-loaded thing that still lingers?”

“I do believe you’re right, Perez,” Cloelius replied thoughtfully. Her expression indicated there was more to come.

“There are many references made of them in the ancient articles, and our own Keeper has thoroughly explained what they are and the role they played in our development. Sadly, like so many things we left behind, chestnuts, bark and lemons … dogs are the ones I think we all miss the most.”

Lemons? Yuck!

“Not being outside? Being stuck in these caverns? I thought that would be the thing you’d miss the most?” Perez asked.

Clematis took her time answering, just as all Terrans did.

“Maybe the open fields for the hunt, too, and tracking the herds, chasing them and finally capturing them. The rattus hiding in the depths of the caverns are not the same, for sure. But then the Keeper reminds us that there are places on the Earth where it is very cold, and the elements harsh, yet the Earthers live on the surface rather than embedded in the ground. I love it when our cloaking field is off, and we can view powerful storms from our underground world in safety, comfort and peace. And where day and light collide on the surface, we can watch Terra’s beautiful twilight with wind and fire on the day side, and ice and lightning on the night side … just glorious! A perfect place.”

“Except for the rats.” Perez felt for her sheathed knife as she eyed a very large rodent skin and tail hanging near a stove— possibly five feet long, with a full snout of teeth in its skull and an additional four feet of tail—truly a monster rat from hell.

Vile and disgusting.

“Yes, except for them. Cunning, smart and clever,” Clematis said with a smile.

Perez nodded and pushed the rodent image from her mind’s eye. They navigated around even more people on the cavern’s third story arboretum—an open design supported by huge stone columns and flavored by the smell of cooked meat and vegetables wafting up from the open market below. The increasing number of teenage males intermingling with the larger number of young women surprised and pleased Perez. The boys’ reddish, dark hair and taller stature, the expected result of cross-breeding, made them easy to pick out. Efforts to replenish the male species seemed to be progressing better than expected.

The purplish sunlight of the never-ending Terran twilight filtered in from the narrow skylights above. With the planet tidal-locked with its sun, the inhabitable zone on planet Terra stretched across the longitudinal equator of perpetual day and night. Perez had been in one of the few places on the planet where one could look over the surface, and the perfect positioning of the few exposed, low-lying buildings to seize solar energy for powering the holographic emitters had impressed her. Failing millions of years old machinery, not lack of sunlight, caused the problem.

Perez never thought she would miss day and night, but she did—rain too. She wondered what the Terrans would do if they experienced the total light of day and the darkness of night. She remembered that they’d really liked the rain.

“The Keeper asked us to bring extra rations for eight people, especially dried meat and fish products and preserves,” Clematis said.

“It saddens me that the Keeper will continue to stay on Earth even to the end. Her action is consistent with the Great Keeper. Unfortunately, her rationale does make sense. Of all the humans on your planet, she is sure your father has found one that can help the Earthers understand their predicament and maybe even our existence.” Clematis helped Cloelius open the heavy doors that led to the busy walkway to the launch pad.

Heavy drums beating in the distance echoed through the cavern, and the closer they approached the next vaulted cavern, the louder it got.

Seriously … Dancing and drums?

“I hope to talk to the Keeper, and my father, someday. But I suppose I’ll need to take the journey to earn my own stone tablet, with my own color, I presume, before I can do that,” Perez said.

Clematis smiled and nodded. “I suspect that your own curiosity and need to know will propel you on your journey without you even knowing it. You have been on many journeys and paths with your work and searching, but I think there is yet a bigger one you harbor.”

Perez nodded as if she understood everything Clematis said, but she wished the Terrans would speak bluntly.

Why the riddles?

“It will be good to see my father, though, after all these years.”

Near the entrance to the launch pad, a group of soldiers and scientists moved in rhythm with the music, holding knives, swords and other spear-like weapons above their heads.

With the clash of modern technology and primal music, Perez was surprised not to find a roaring fire pit with one of those rodents cooking on a spit …

Yuck! Now that’s an image I have to get out of my head. Good job, Perez!

Cloelius stopped at the opening to the launch bay.

“I understand that your father has thoroughly embraced our natural diet and habits and can make this trip, though he still has difficulty with keeping step and dancing. Still, his ability to lift his own weight and to square off with Centurion Dea Data at his seasoned age is impressive, especially on Earth with all those poisons, distractions and dangers.”

The humming and circular dancing of the families, soldiers, and scientists overshadowed even the powerful resonance of the beating drums. A group of Terran humans dressed in plain uniforms performed a tribal dance with edged weapons in hand, while a huge black spaceship in the shape of a raven stood on a launch pad in the middle of a cavern supported by huge stone columns. Pyramid-shaped buildings two to three stories high filled with still more scientists and flight specialists surrounded the ship. They held an uncanny resemblance to the significantly larger pyramids of Earth’s Egypt, and she’d seen similar structures throughout Terra and along the terminal line on the surface. The Terrans had housed their holographic emitters in the same simple design, perfect for surviving the violent weather—fierce winds, explosive lightning, and constant thunder—of the tidal-locked planet. If it wasn’t for the planet’s powerful magnetic field, the surface of the planet would have long since been destroyed by solar winds and space debris.

“Perez?” Clematis said. “You have noticed these structures before and yet you have done no research as to their origin and why they appear on both your worlds.”

Perez turned to face the woman and smiled at her words, confirmation that the Terrans truly accepted her as part of their world.

“You know, it’d be easier to simply tell me the origin of our worlds. Your practice of having your young and curious seek out their answers from the library themselves doesn’t seem efficient, especially when I have no stone to access the Keeper.” Perez tried to drown out the drums and public announcements. She already knew the answer Clematis would provide. Still, Perez enjoyed the shock she gave when she made such a bold statement.

“And deprive you and the curious of their journeys? Simply tell you? That confounds the process of truth. It would be quite a disservice to hinder one’s natural growth that way. If we were at war or in danger, then it makes sense. But we have not been at war for thousands of years because each of us takes our own path to finding our place. We go as far as we wish, but we all go; we are not told. And based on my experience of you, Perez, I suspect you will go very far in your journey. If we have learned anything from the Earthers, it is that they do not do well with letting mysteries lie. They seek the truth at all costs—good for the seekers who stay on the path. The knowledge, however, is lost on those who simply observe without the benefit of taking the road to understanding.” Clematis smoothed her tunic and adjusted her weapons, obviously preparing herself for something important.

“So I have to find my own answers … just like my dad would always say,” Perez said.

“Yes.”

Suddenly embarrassed that she had been on Terra for fifteen years and had learned only about its unique history, Perez decided to find out not just the origins of Terra and the planet’s connection to Earth but also the origins of
everything
in her solar system, and to do it well before her father arrived. She tried to cut herself some slack; after all, she was a stranger in a new, undiscovered world far from home and needed to find her place. She remembered her shock and awe when Lieutenant Colonel David Farrell had first told her of the possibility so many years ago …
I wonder how he’s doing. I bet he’d like it here—kind of his type of people.

“So be it,” Perez said, more to herself than to Clematis.

Her friend turned to her and smiled as widely as her large jaw would allow. The size of the Terran’s jaw and teeth still amazed Perez.
No wonder they could eat chestnuts like peanuts.

“Excellent! So you are beginning yet another journey. Great things you will find. Difficult at first but wonderful once you see the tapestry of it all.” Clematis took a deep breath and walked towards the front of the waiting ship.