Chapter 25: Message from the Past

A door came down over the entrance to the room. It was immediately accompanied by a 'whooshing' sound that everyone could hear. When it stopped Tom turned to Herman and said, "What was that sound? Report."

Herman stated over the radio, "The sound was pressurization of this room. There is now a fully breathable oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere here that is approximately the same pressure as at sea level on Earth."

"Are there any signs of pathogens in the air?" Tom inquired.

"None," Herman responded.

Everyone looked at each other and started removing their helmets. Daria thought that it was nice to be out of at least the helmet of her surface suit. Now she could at least scratch her nose!

The lights in the room came on and then dimmed. A shimmering column of light appeared along the west wall. An image appeared of a being. This being looked much like a human, except for some notable differences. It wore a white Roman toga. The toga was clearly made of a fine material and Daria guessed it was of a style which might be worn by a Roman senator.

The being's skin tone was best described as the bluish, grayish color of someone who has had too much colloidal silver. Lips were quite red. There appeared to be no facial hair, though there was what appeared to be very fine hair on the being's head. If this image was life-sized, then they were a bit shorter than the average human, stocky, and their eyes seemed a bit large. This one had brown eyes and they looked human enough. The ears, mouth and nose seemed within normal human range as well. Clearly with some makeup, glasses and the right clothing this being would not be noticed as different from anyone else on the street.

Turning to the group the "senator" started speaking. It was clear to Daria that the language was Latin. She was glad that Herman was recording so that they could get a full translation later.

As the being's monologue continued there was a star chart shown. There were also pictures of various buildings on Earth shown in their glory days. The Circus Maximus, Colosseum, Imperial Palace, Senate, and probably a dozen other Roman sites were shown. This alone was a massive discovery. Now there were actual images of what were now mere ruins. Archaeologists had been guessing what they looked like for centuries. There were also images of people and places in the post-Roman world. This included images of some Merovingian kings, Charlemagne, Byzantine buildings, emperors and others.

Of course not every image presented was of a Roman or Byzantine. There were images of Atilla the Hun, Qin dynasty emporers in China, and even Mayan pyramids and rulers. There was a long period of the alien just speaking. There were pictures of religious leaders. Several in Roman garb that Daria didn't recognize, but there were moving images that seemed to correspond to traditional images of both Christian and Islamic leaders. Also shown were images of Asians and Meso-Americans.

In all the presentation went on for nearly an hour. Finally, the image made a final statement and asked for questions. Though Daria had many questions, she didn't speak Latin and had no idea how to answer. She had barely understood 10% of what was being said.

Shamus stepped forward and asked, "Quare es vos ostendens quemadmodum et haec?" (Why are you showing us these things?)

The image turned to him and answered, "Ita ut non esset scire, quod in terris." (So that you may know that we were on Earth.)

"Gratias tibi ago," (Thank you) Shamus replied.

After the image answered Shamus' question it faded and disappeared. Almost immediately, the group was startled to see a door opening at the end of the room. Shamus led the way and everyone followed. The door shut behind them. No one gave much thought to the closing door. They had Herman with them.

25.2

Once again the group and Herman stood in a large room. This time the room seemed empty. The lighting was dim, more so than in the previous space. Still, there was enough to see. What looked like a circular bench was positioned in the middle of the room.

The column of light that appeared almost right next to her startled Daria. She quickly moved over next to Tom. Once again a figure in a toga appeared. This was clearly someone other than the person from the previous room.

The figure began speaking in Latin. This time there was no choosing the language. His talk was relatively short – perhaps only 15 minutes. Then he disappeared.

Shamus said to the others, "Sit down. I need to tell you what he said."

Everyone went over and sat down on the circular bench. It was a little difficult to all face Shamus, but not impossible.

"OK," Shamus started. "The Guardian of Technology's name is 'Drusus.' This was not an uncommon Roman name. This is the place that they will present their technological 'gifts' to us. Drusus will be our 'guide.' Through him we will access what I believe is the following: first, the ability to create and negate gravity and similar forces. Secondly, some type of interstellar propulsion system. Third, the ability to create a force field to deflect any material which may lie in the path of a ship using the interstellar drive. Fourth, there are some sensor technologies for navigation and exploration. Finally, there is a system of power generation capable for powering all of this technology."

"Those are five incredibly powerful technologies!" Ian exclaimed.

"No kidding," Tom stated. "This is amazing and scary at the same time. Why would they give this to us?"

"Well," Shamus said. "They want us to visit them. I think that they have assumed that since we made it to Mars, and found their well hidden treasures, that we have progressed beyond warfare and self-destruction. Only a peaceful race committed to exploration could possibly achieve the task of being here."

Daria looked at Shamus, rolled her eyes and commented, "Boy are they in for a surprise! Part of the reason we were able to find them was a robot derived from the first human warfare on Mars. Even though I don't see any of us out to destroy other humans or these extraterrestrials doesn't mean that everyone will be like us. These people were naive to think that we would have to be at peace to get here. I would add that an absence of war is not necessarily peace."

Julie piped up, "What if someone gets their hands on the technology and wants to go have a war with these people and not be peaceful visitors?"

Shamus looked at Julie and said quietly, "That is my fear as well. As Martians we made a commitment to be at peace with one another no matter what happens on Earth. I think we need to take that a step farther. We need to understand what is being given to us, but it will remain Martian technology as long as possible."

Ian piped up, "That is great in theory. We will see how it plays out in practice."

"Anyway," Shamus said. "To access the material we need to return here and ask for the guide for each specific technology. The first will be 'Domitia." She will describe the control of gravity and force. The second will be 'Herminia' for the interstellar drive. 'Maximus' will tell us all about protective force fields. 'Aelius' will describe the sensor technologies and 'Augustus' will tech us about the power system. To access these 'people' we will go through Drusus. When we come in this room he will be activated and then we will need to ask him to bring up one of the others. This should be interesting. I think what we want to do is have Herman record these presentations. Then we can replay them back at the base and figure out what they say."

Everyone stood and nodded their heads.

Tom ordered, "Put your helmets back on and lets head back to the rover. We can contemplate our next move there."

The group approached the door and it opened letting into the next room. Walking over to that door led to the depressurization of the chamber and they stepped back into the hallway. Herman led them searching for a path to the surface – other than the hole Daria had made. In a half-hour they were back in the cave and on their way to the rover.