The usual copyright warnings and violence.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
The Village, a quarry somewhere in Oaxaca State, Mexico
Lewis checked his parent's bed and found his mother still sleeping, unaware that her husband had left. She was a sound sleeper and the boy did not worry. His father often took nocturnal walks. Taking his knife he had hidden under his bed, Lewis crept out of the house and went next door where his mate lived with her parents.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"Roderick's called a meeting."
She dressed, and grabbed the youngest children. "I will come."
"Get Shirley to look after them. This is just for us, not the others." By others, he meant those not chosen for the Council. "Roderick says that when we do what has to be done, we will notify them." He smiled. "There is going to be changes made."
The 'children' walked towards the place they had chosen for their secret meetings, each couple representing their choice of a particular aspect of the Council which was still in its infancy, and their gatherings resembled a clubhouse meeting more than a plan to rule the world. In terms of society, they were now entering the gang stage, not having enough for a band or an army.
Lewis whispered something in Roderick's ear and the latter got up on the platform, standing there with his friend Arthur who acted as legal counsel.
"We have to kill our parents," said Roderick.
"What is the reason? We can wait until they die," said one boy, "The climate, the diseases to which they, not us, are subject to."
They debated the years needed until they could drive the truck into the nearest city. Right now, twelve year olds did not take the wheel of a battered Ford even in practice. Killing the adults meant they had to stay in this village until there were enough of them to be a threat to their neighbors.
"Quiet," said Roderick. "Do we need a reason? Then I give you one. Our parents plan to kill our chances for heirs."
"Kill our chances" asked a boy with dark hair and gray eyes.
"Yes Gregory. We will be eunuchs, beardless wonders. They will make sure we do not beget any more children and they will destroy the little ones the girls carry and make sure they cannot bear. They will destroy the New Species, us, in one night. I also heard they plan to wait until the others are eight and do the same."
"Perhaps we can do it to them. I have a sharp knife and I can cause pain."
"Listen," said Roderick, "I compared what one of their kind can do against our kind. We are superior to them. Our minds are faster we can sense things before it happens, we can smell their fear. We can climb up the edge without using the ladder, and I have leapt down from the top without even minor damage to my ankles. Can they do this?"
The answer from the group was dreadful in its unison. "No! They must die. Kill them all!"
"Arthur, I want you and Gregory to dig a pit near enough for us to carry them, a pit deep enough for all our ancestors, for we will no longer call them parents. They only carried us in them; we are no longer part of them. We are the New Species!"
"They will fight," said Arthur.
Roderick smiled. "We need posts. Six groups arrived, with twelve couples at a time, but we cannot use that many without someone noticing it, but ..." He motioned to the group who walked over to a large pile of wood. "Careful, not to attract attention."
As they removed the first sticks off, they found neatly stacked thirty large posts. "We have to carry them up the top, but avoid the ladder. Meanwhile Paul and I will surprise the ancestors." He took a bottle out of his pocket. "Chloroform and if that does not work." He held up a club. "Primitive but effective. I don't want them dead, not yet." He looked towards the back of the room.
A steamer trunk stood in the back corner. Paul and his mate picked it up, being careful not to let the contents rattle, and placed it in front of Roderick.
"Open it."
They did so. Paul brought out the equipment and handed it to them, several chains with steel bands, perfectly oiled and cleaned. "I spent my evenings working on salvaging the chains that went down with the ships." he said. "It took years of sneaking out, going to the top, and catching rides coming and going with the local populace to the shore. They thought by scuttling the ships, they could keep this from us."
"The fools!"
"There should be enough. We were planning to use this for those of our species who were incorrigible and out of control, but I believe this is a better use for them."
Roderick sneered. "Perhaps you should be the Executioner, not me."
"I am of many faces. I did this myself rather than let the Mechanic do it. His ancestors would have been watching."
"You are discreet." He handled the chain in his hands. It was perfectly welded, each chain made to be unbreakable and had four bands to each. He asked the significance when perhaps one would do.
Paul intended that they chain each ancestor standing up. His logic was clear. If the ancestors were lying or sitting down, they could have enough slack to help the other ones escape. If they were chained, their feet together tight to the bottom of the posts with hardly any slack, and their hands behind their back; there would be no room to maneuver.
"All right," said Roderick, "we have to do this before the others are aware. When they are awake, we will tell them what transpired. Although Paul was instrumental in showing how to restrain our ancestors, we need the cooperation of all of you, even our mates." He looked at the girls. "Are you willing to do this? To move the unconscious bodies up the sides when Paul and I put them outside?"
"We are willing," said one girl.
"Then Arthur, you and Gregory dig the pit, Eliot you get the Earthmover, while Paul and I will bring out the merchandise." He snickered. "Then we will have no more of those fools!"
Taking up their clubs and the chloroform, he and Paul entered the houses of the adults. As Roderick sneaked to the bed of his ancestors, he realized that things had built up to this end. The organization that started this, (he knew nothing about MI-5) should have had their settlement based on a military organization instead of a simple village. Then they would have a purpose, the knowledge that the ancestors needed them, but to waste away in a backward country was against their intellect.
The few times he had been to the nearest city, Roderick had seen pictures of the advances made in science and felt thwarted that his group could not participate in such wonders. The order of the organization was that they be in this part of Mexico which would have been all right, except, unknown to him, Alfred Carmichael because of what he had seen during the War, decided to shelter them from the war's effects and that would be his fatal error.
Roderick's parents were sound asleep, the chloroform and the knock on their heads just ensured they slept a little longer. He tossed the bodies outside, and entered the next house. Across the street, Paul was also entering the house of his parents, and their neighbors.
In less than an hour, they had the bodies on top of the quarry. Now Roderick, Paul, and the females carried them, one at a time to the pit, and after handcuffing them, left them on the side like piles of wood. Gregory and Arthur finish their horrid work, by pounding the eighteen posts on the ground, and fastened the excess chains, allowing their parents just enough slack to walk less than a couple of inches, but not enough to help each other get free.
"Now we wait," said Roderick. He listened for the rumble of the Earth Mover.
"One's missing," said Paul.
"In a moment. They're waking now." He waited until the adults were fully alert, keeping his hand down until the Earth Mover with its load of dirt was in sight.
The group heard the cries and the curses from below. "What the bloody hell's going on?" "Rodrigo, this isn't funny! You get down and unchain us this instant!" "Please God!"
He smiled and said, "We're stronger than you. We don't need you. You thought you could get rid of us, your own offspring! Well your own offspring will get rid of you!" He gave the signal.
"Aiee!" It was one large scream as tons of dirt fell on their parents. It was death, and darkness, no times for regrets. It was finality.
Eliot drove the Earth Mover back after cleaning it up. It was dark. The plantation nearby had not missed it. He also restored the oil and the gas and set back the speedometer to what it was before.
Meanwhile Roderick turned to see a flash and his ears picked up the sound of clicking. He signaled to Paul.
Cautiously the two boys sneaked through the bushes to see a frantic Alfred Carmichael talking on the radio.
"Mayday, Mayday! The children just bulldozed their parents. My wife, my friends, they're all dead! Mayday! Mayday! Come quick I need..."
The explosion from the pistol knocked Carmichael backward, and he stared at his killer as his life ebbed away. There was no time for regrets, no time to wish that they had heard of the Hercules Project. In less than a second, he was dead.
Roderick blew the smoke from his pistol and put it away as Paul reached down and picked something from the dead man's hands.
It was a canister. "What they use to record their moving pictures," he said "There is a book nearby. I will put it someplace safe."
"Hurry. We have a meeting tomorrow."
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
The Village, a quarry somewhere in Oaxaca State, Mexico
Lewis checked his parent's bed and found his mother still sleeping, unaware that her husband had left. She was a sound sleeper and the boy did not worry. His father often took nocturnal walks. Taking his knife he had hidden under his bed, Lewis crept out of the house and went next door where his mate lived with her parents.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"Roderick's called a meeting."
She dressed, and grabbed the youngest children. "I will come."
"Get Shirley to look after them. This is just for us, not the others." By others, he meant those not chosen for the Council. "Roderick says that when we do what has to be done, we will notify them." He smiled. "There is going to be changes made."
The 'children' walked towards the place they had chosen for their secret meetings, each couple representing their choice of a particular aspect of the Council which was still in its infancy, and their gatherings resembled a clubhouse meeting more than a plan to rule the world. In terms of society, they were now entering the gang stage, not having enough for a band or an army.
Lewis whispered something in Roderick's ear and the latter got up on the platform, standing there with his friend Arthur who acted as legal counsel.
"We have to kill our parents," said Roderick.
"What is the reason? We can wait until they die," said one boy, "The climate, the diseases to which they, not us, are subject to."
They debated the years needed until they could drive the truck into the nearest city. Right now, twelve year olds did not take the wheel of a battered Ford even in practice. Killing the adults meant they had to stay in this village until there were enough of them to be a threat to their neighbors.
"Quiet," said Roderick. "Do we need a reason? Then I give you one. Our parents plan to kill our chances for heirs."
"Kill our chances" asked a boy with dark hair and gray eyes.
"Yes Gregory. We will be eunuchs, beardless wonders. They will make sure we do not beget any more children and they will destroy the little ones the girls carry and make sure they cannot bear. They will destroy the New Species, us, in one night. I also heard they plan to wait until the others are eight and do the same."
"Perhaps we can do it to them. I have a sharp knife and I can cause pain."
"Listen," said Roderick, "I compared what one of their kind can do against our kind. We are superior to them. Our minds are faster we can sense things before it happens, we can smell their fear. We can climb up the edge without using the ladder, and I have leapt down from the top without even minor damage to my ankles. Can they do this?"
The answer from the group was dreadful in its unison. "No! They must die. Kill them all!"
"Arthur, I want you and Gregory to dig a pit near enough for us to carry them, a pit deep enough for all our ancestors, for we will no longer call them parents. They only carried us in them; we are no longer part of them. We are the New Species!"
"They will fight," said Arthur.
Roderick smiled. "We need posts. Six groups arrived, with twelve couples at a time, but we cannot use that many without someone noticing it, but ..." He motioned to the group who walked over to a large pile of wood. "Careful, not to attract attention."
As they removed the first sticks off, they found neatly stacked thirty large posts. "We have to carry them up the top, but avoid the ladder. Meanwhile Paul and I will surprise the ancestors." He took a bottle out of his pocket. "Chloroform and if that does not work." He held up a club. "Primitive but effective. I don't want them dead, not yet." He looked towards the back of the room.
A steamer trunk stood in the back corner. Paul and his mate picked it up, being careful not to let the contents rattle, and placed it in front of Roderick.
"Open it."
They did so. Paul brought out the equipment and handed it to them, several chains with steel bands, perfectly oiled and cleaned. "I spent my evenings working on salvaging the chains that went down with the ships." he said. "It took years of sneaking out, going to the top, and catching rides coming and going with the local populace to the shore. They thought by scuttling the ships, they could keep this from us."
"The fools!"
"There should be enough. We were planning to use this for those of our species who were incorrigible and out of control, but I believe this is a better use for them."
Roderick sneered. "Perhaps you should be the Executioner, not me."
"I am of many faces. I did this myself rather than let the Mechanic do it. His ancestors would have been watching."
"You are discreet." He handled the chain in his hands. It was perfectly welded, each chain made to be unbreakable and had four bands to each. He asked the significance when perhaps one would do.
Paul intended that they chain each ancestor standing up. His logic was clear. If the ancestors were lying or sitting down, they could have enough slack to help the other ones escape. If they were chained, their feet together tight to the bottom of the posts with hardly any slack, and their hands behind their back; there would be no room to maneuver.
"All right," said Roderick, "we have to do this before the others are aware. When they are awake, we will tell them what transpired. Although Paul was instrumental in showing how to restrain our ancestors, we need the cooperation of all of you, even our mates." He looked at the girls. "Are you willing to do this? To move the unconscious bodies up the sides when Paul and I put them outside?"
"We are willing," said one girl.
"Then Arthur, you and Gregory dig the pit, Eliot you get the Earthmover, while Paul and I will bring out the merchandise." He snickered. "Then we will have no more of those fools!"
Taking up their clubs and the chloroform, he and Paul entered the houses of the adults. As Roderick sneaked to the bed of his ancestors, he realized that things had built up to this end. The organization that started this, (he knew nothing about MI-5) should have had their settlement based on a military organization instead of a simple village. Then they would have a purpose, the knowledge that the ancestors needed them, but to waste away in a backward country was against their intellect.
The few times he had been to the nearest city, Roderick had seen pictures of the advances made in science and felt thwarted that his group could not participate in such wonders. The order of the organization was that they be in this part of Mexico which would have been all right, except, unknown to him, Alfred Carmichael because of what he had seen during the War, decided to shelter them from the war's effects and that would be his fatal error.
Roderick's parents were sound asleep, the chloroform and the knock on their heads just ensured they slept a little longer. He tossed the bodies outside, and entered the next house. Across the street, Paul was also entering the house of his parents, and their neighbors.
In less than an hour, they had the bodies on top of the quarry. Now Roderick, Paul, and the females carried them, one at a time to the pit, and after handcuffing them, left them on the side like piles of wood. Gregory and Arthur finish their horrid work, by pounding the eighteen posts on the ground, and fastened the excess chains, allowing their parents just enough slack to walk less than a couple of inches, but not enough to help each other get free.
"Now we wait," said Roderick. He listened for the rumble of the Earth Mover.
"One's missing," said Paul.
"In a moment. They're waking now." He waited until the adults were fully alert, keeping his hand down until the Earth Mover with its load of dirt was in sight.
The group heard the cries and the curses from below. "What the bloody hell's going on?" "Rodrigo, this isn't funny! You get down and unchain us this instant!" "Please God!"
He smiled and said, "We're stronger than you. We don't need you. You thought you could get rid of us, your own offspring! Well your own offspring will get rid of you!" He gave the signal.
"Aiee!" It was one large scream as tons of dirt fell on their parents. It was death, and darkness, no times for regrets. It was finality.
Eliot drove the Earth Mover back after cleaning it up. It was dark. The plantation nearby had not missed it. He also restored the oil and the gas and set back the speedometer to what it was before.
Meanwhile Roderick turned to see a flash and his ears picked up the sound of clicking. He signaled to Paul.
Cautiously the two boys sneaked through the bushes to see a frantic Alfred Carmichael talking on the radio.
"Mayday, Mayday! The children just bulldozed their parents. My wife, my friends, they're all dead! Mayday! Mayday! Come quick I need..."
The explosion from the pistol knocked Carmichael backward, and he stared at his killer as his life ebbed away. There was no time for regrets, no time to wish that they had heard of the Hercules Project. In less than a second, he was dead.
Roderick blew the smoke from his pistol and put it away as Paul reached down and picked something from the dead man's hands.
It was a canister. "What they use to record their moving pictures," he said "There is a book nearby. I will put it someplace safe."
"Hurry. We have a meeting tomorrow."