Title: Si An Bhru
Fandom: Star Trek Enterprise
Rating: PG
Prompt: 'What Earth Once Was' from my 500 prompts
Summary: Shran wants Archer to show him something human.
This I really cannot explain, it just kinda… went this way. I may pull the 'St. Patrick's Day is coming up!' card. I hope you enjoy it.
Shran had insisted that Archer show him something of interest on Earth while he was there as an ambassador.
"What sort of thing?" Archer had asked.
Shran had grinned. "The sort of thing that shows me something about you pink-skins, the way our temples show you something of us."
So Archer was now trying to figure out what would sum up his people and would satisfy Shran's desire.
He decided to ask Phlox.
"Why not show him one of your great architectural wonders." suggested the Denobulan at once. "Something ancient, like the Great Pyramids at Giza?"
Archer considered the suggestion, but quickly vetoed the pyramids, simply because it was the peak of summer there and Shran, for all his boasts about surviving three days on a planet with boiling point temperatures, would not enjoy being in such conditions for a little trip.
The Parthenon or the Pantheon came to mind, but again, a bit warm, and Archer did not really have any liking for the Parthenon, it rather bored him. In his eyes it was all just white stone pillars and not much else. Plus he really did not want to get into an explanation of Christianity replacing so many 'native' religions, something told him Shran would roll his eyes at the whole thing. The Andorian was surprisingly devoted to his home religion, which was full of spirits of differing powers and abilities. So best to avoid religious things. Which meant that an awful lot of the ancient wonders were unusable. Hell, even medieval wonders were out if Archer wanted to avoid a long, difficult argument about religion, a subject he was not particularly articulate on.
"So? Where are we going?" asked Shran after five days of waiting. Archer regarded his friend across the table as they ate their dinner. He was at a loss. He had tried to think of one thing to show Shran that would please them both. But nothing had surfaced that would do the job.
"I haven't decided yet. You've set me a tricky task." he said with a sigh.
"It's not easy having to chose a single factor of your people to show, is it?" asked Shran with a smirk. Archer had a horrible feeling he had just been duped.
"No… I couldn't pick one thing that would do it."
"Now you know how hard it is for the rest of us." said Shran, taking in another mouthful of his carbonara, a choice which had surprised Archer, but the Andorian seemed rather fond of it. "If you're going to be a part of the interplanetary community, you'll need to learn how to sum yourselves up quickly, no one has the time at a first meeting to hear everything you have to say about the greatness of your species –and if there's one thing you pink-skins are good at it's bragging about yourselves."
Archer rolled his eyes.
"Now come on pink-skin. Just pick something you like! Something you know I won't be bored with. There has to be something you can think of."
Archer scowled, wracking his brain to come up with something. And then he recalled a name that had come up several times during his search, but he had dismissed because he did not know anything about it. But now he wondered if that would be the better idea, something the two of them could examine together. So, before he could doubt himself, he said,
"We're going to Ireland."
Shran's antennae twitched in intrigue. "That's one of those tiny islands off your middle continent, yes?"
"Yep."
And it was cool there, thought Archer, that would work.
"Very well, when will we go?"
"Tomorrow."
"Excellent."
Their shuttle landed in Dublin City, to a great deal of fanfare, which they had both expected. Shran was as famous as Archer these days, ever since he had helped stop the Xindi weapon. Ireland's president was there to welcome them, a tall brunette woman, soft featured but with a steel in her eyes that reminded Archer that, though small, Ireland was a good ally to have in political matters.
"Céad míle fáilte romhat Captaen Archer agus Ambasadóir Shran." she said, reaching out and clasping first Archer's and then Shran's hand in her two. "A hundred thousand welcomes to you."
"Thank you." said Archer, smiling, wishing his face would not flush during these public events.
"Go raibh míle maith agat Uachtarán go mór." said Shran with a slightly wicked grin. The president's face lit up in utter delight as Archer's head snapped to stare at Shran, who shrugged, "You expected me to learn English when I came here, why should I not learn other languages as well?"
"Bhuel!" laughed the President, "Tá a fhios agam go mbainfidh tú oiriúnach ceart i Ambasadóir."
"Go raibh maith agat." said Shran again, now openly smirking as Archer flushed, unable to follow the conversation. He had left his translator behind because the Irish spoke English and Irish with equal fluency. He should have expected Shran would show him up.
"I understand you are here to see Newgrange." said the President, finally switching to English.
"Yes. I was requested to show something of interest, and I figured that this would be a good choice."
"I'm glad you think so. We have been fortunate that despite the damage the last war wrought upon us, Newgrange was left untouched, unlike Stonehenge."
"Yes."
Shran's eyes sparked with some interest and he glanced at Archer questioningly. Archer shook his head, promising to explain later.
"Your shuttle will take you down to Newgrange." said the president, gesturing to a smaller shuttle than the one they had just left. A green shamrock was visible on the side, haloed in gold.
Archer and Shran climbed into it after waving to the huge crowd, which of course Shran was much better at than Archer, who felt downright stupid, and settled back into the comfy seats.
"There are perks to being seen as heroes, aren't there?" drawled Shran as he peered out the window as they took off. Archer relaxed back and conceded there were. "So, what war was President Robinson talking about?"
Archer sighed, "Well, there were a few that she could have mentioned. There was the second civil war, which happened mostly during 2024, when the Republic of Ireland's government was overtaken by an extremist group of their traditional revolutionist military organisation the IRA. This group then basically forced the northern part of the country, which was under the control of the United Kingdom, into their control, reuniting the two parts of the country. The war was pretty brutal by any standards, and bombs were frequently used by both sides. Newgrange was almost blown up by the opposition, but was saved by a young IRA member, who disarmed the bomb. Or possibly she means the Eugenics Wars."
"Ah, the era of human stupidity." Shran was not smirking. Archer glared at him. "What? It was utter stupidity to think you could mess with your own genetics. And look what happened, the Klingons paid the price."
"Hey! We didn't make them try to create their own augments."
"But you were the one who did not think to clean up after yourself! Honestly, you just left those embryos out in space, where anyone who wanted to, could pluck them up. You're lucky the Klingons were more interested in making themselves stronger. Having access to your entire genetic make up could have allowed them to eradicate you with a bio-weapon."
Archer hated it when Shran was right, because he was invariably left without a leg to stand on.
"Anyway," he said, hoping to leave that topic for another day. Shran allowed it. "During the Eugenics Wars, many of Earths great monuments were destroyed. The Vatican was reduced to a crater, as was Jerusalem and Mecca."
"They were centres of religious belief, weren't they?"
"Yes."
"Then that was very calculated. Faith can be a source of hope beyond all other things. Destroy faith's centre… vicious but clever."
"Well it nearly worked. Humanity was almost totally destroyed by its own creations."
"Well, now you know better." said Shran in a paternal manner. Archer bit his tongue. He knew better than to ask if the Andorians knew better about fighting with their neighbours. "So what is Newgrange exactly? You have yet to tell me."
"Oh, it's a Stone Age monument. It's older than the Great Pyramids in Egypt and was older than Stonehenge before it was destroyed."
"Ah… what was it used for? And how old would being Stone Age make it?"
"It's over 5,000 years old. It's from the earliest times in human history that we can actually find evidence for. And it's a tomb complex."
"Ah… monuments for the dead are a very common thing in many cultures. I suppose that death and birth are the two things you'll find wherever you go."
"I guess so." Archer had never really considered it that way.
The shuttle landed and they were greeted by their tour guide, Aoife. She shook their hands and offered them tea before they set off. Shran refused, tea did not react well with Andorian systems. Archer decided not to request any either.
"Well, shall we get started?" asked Aoife, smiling at them. She was a woman of about sixty, tanned for an Irish person, and had weather beaten features that told Archer she was an active archaeologist.
"Lets." said Shran.
"It's likely to rain I'm afraid, so maybe take these raincoats."
The two men took the offered waterproofs and Archer pulled his over his head. Shran folded his over his arm. Aoife beckoned them to follow her.
"Come along then. We'll get going."
They set off and Archer's first thought was that the name 'Emerald Isle' was definitely appropriate for the land. Green grass stretched out as far as the eye could see. They left the tourist centre and followed a white path towards a hill, upon which stood a white and green structure.
"Newgrange, or Si An Bhru, is a part of a larger monument complex, which is known as Brú na Bóinne. It was built around 3,200 BC, which puts it very early in human history, during the Neolithic, or New Stone Age period. The Stone Age was broken into three groups, the Old, the Middle and the New, to aid in specifying when an artefact was made. All of the materials used to build it were locally sourced and we have been able to determine it may have taken 30 years to build, which at the time, would have been a whole lifetime of an average human."
Aoife's voice was steady, thoughtful, as she led them along, and Archer could see Shran was paying attention, antennae twitching in intrigue.
"While it was originally classified as a passage tomb, it is well known to have been far more than that. When the Celts arrived in Ireland they saw it as the home of their most powerful deities, and they set up the menhirs, see the standing stones?"
Archer looked over the stones and had to wonder what exactly was the reason for setting them up.
"It became such an important place of religious belief that Romans from Britain came over to worship at it."
"Was that significant?" asked Shran. Aoife blinked, but then started to explain in brief who the Romans were and why their presence was worthy of note. Archer gave her credit for not being thrown, he never would have considered that the Romans would have to be explained, but of course, why would Shran know anything about them?
"Now, Newgrange is not the only passage tomb in Europe, or even in Ireland, there are over a hundred on this island alone. But there is something about Newgrange that makes it unique, but it took a very long time for archaeologists to determine what it was. And it's not just that the monument is so well built it's completely watertight despite having no cement or anything else holding it together."
"It's completely waterproof? Really?" asked Archer, surprised.
"Oh yes. Its for the same reason that despite having a cairn, stone mound, on top of it weighing 200,000 tons it has never collapsed. It's a feat of perfect engineering, done long before we had computers, or even writing and a set method of mathematics to work with. The modern mind cannot comprehend how these people functioned without the aids we could not function without, which of course is why there have always been theories about some alien race or another coming along and helping us build things like Newgrange and the Great Pyramids."
"Really?" asked Shran, grinning.
"Yes, I'm afraid some humans do not give our people enough credit."
Shran smirked, as if he was tempted to say that he did not blame them. But he stayed quiet, his eyes taking in the massive monument as they reached it.
"Now, what makes Newgrange utterly unique is something easily overlooked. Can you spot it?"
Archer looked at the stone lying on its side at the entrance to the passage tomb, it was covered in spirals, but he doubted that was it. Shran's eyes roamed over the walls, the door and then finally he spoke.
"That opening above the door, what's that for?"
Aoife smiled, "You've spotted it. Well done." She put her back to the tomb and pointed at the sky. "Do you see the sun?"
"Of course, I'm not blind."
"Well, I don't know how your sun works, but on Earth the sun has peaks, during which time it is at a particular point in the sky. It happens twice a year, on the Solstice, and it was how we knew when the days would be getting shorter and longer. It was how we marked the year's passage. And Newgrange was built to make use of that."
The sun was just reaching its peak in the afternoon and Archer looked from it and back at the tomb. He looked at the small opening above the door and he laughed,
"The sunlight goes into the box!"
"Exactly. But more than that, on the 21st of December, at dawn, the sunlight enters the box, travels down the passage and into the chamber at the end of the passage, filling it with light. To have done that without any sort of technology as we know it is beyond remarkable. It's one of the world's oldest time keepers."
Archer smiled. He had always known the pyramids were a great work of human achievement, but he had not imagined that well before they stood, his people were already harnessing the solar system to their own usage.
"Well chosen pink-skin." said Shran quietly as Aoife stepped away to let them admire the monument alone.
"Huh?"
"This is exactly what I wanted to see." said Shran.
"The box light is pretty impressive."
Shran shook his head, "That sort of thing is no so uncommon. Andorians have such structures as well."
"Then what is it?"
"This is something your people are very proud of, and so you have done what you can to preserve it. It's a connection to your past, and it speaks of the core of your species."
"It does?"
Shran smirked, "Oh yes… very much so."
Archer wanted to ask him what he meant, but Aoife offered to take them into the passage tomb at that moment and Shran went inside at once. Archer hung back, glancing around. He was not sure what Shran was seeing, or what he himself was seeing, but something about this place made his chest swell with pride.
"Pink-skin!" barked Shran from inside the passage.
"Coming!"
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Night's Darkness