For the Pretender fans, don't worry, the next chapters are about Charles
and Margaret.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The Quarry, somewhere in Oaxaca State, Mexico
The next day, the others awoke to see the empty beds where once their parents slept. They put together their breakfast, fed the little ones, and wondered where the adults had gone. The sound of a pipe striking against wood, no something inside them told them to go to the large area where Roderick, Paul, and the leaders waited.
"Where are my parents?" asked one.
"They are no more," said Gregory.
"They left us," The voice was bitter.
"All of them. We don't need them. We can survive without them. Have they been able to tell you anything? Besides they were going to get rid of us, permanently. Listen have you seen your parents suddenly stop talking when you came? There are not that many subjects, not too many hurts they can protect us from."
"We have decided that we need a leader, a Chosen to lead us against the fight against those who would destroy us," said Lewis. He motioned his hands to a box. "In these are stones individually sealed in bags, each stone the perfect size, and shape to be indistinguishable from the others."
They came forward, and tried each individual bagged stone. Yes, they were all the same size, shape, weight, and density.
"We also need a symbol. Right now, there are too few of us, so we will build our gardens and hunt our food. I will take suggestions."
"A dead animal, a totem," said one girl.
"Too primitive. We are the New Species. How about a statue?"
"A statue, Roderick, to who?"
"A column," suggested Gregory, "but what shall we put on it?"
"We are more intelligent that our ancestors," said Roderick who looked up at the sky. "We can put symbols representing the stellar sky not at the present, but at the future. We have to calculate what our number will be at a particular period and choose individuals among ourselves who will be able to lead."
That seemed agreeable, but who would they chose and where would they get the column? It was not like chopping down trees and none of them had seen any marble. However, they were more highly intelligent that homo sapiens. They could do it. Now what was the chemical makeup of marble and where could they get the ingredients to reproduce it?
"It will not last," said Arthur, "We have to use a combination material or cement."
"No matter," said Roderick, "we will work here and gradually move the stone, a large one, bigger than us. As soon as we construct the column, we will carve on it the stellar symbols that will appear in the sky when it is finished. However, we need a date far enough so that if the humans come after us, there will still be left a substantial amount of our number."
"Including the little ones?"
"Those able to reproduce. Lewis, you are the Mentor. Oh we will give titles different from the humans. Teachers will be called Mentors, Judges will be called Executioners, Spies will be called Chameleons. Doctors are now Medicals. Lawyers will answer directly to the Executioners only and will be known as Advocates. Those in charge of Construction will be called Mechanics."
Lewis sat down and figured the growth of population. "Do you want the exact number?"
Roderick shook his head. There was a chance that some of them might die in the process. Saying that in fifty years from now there would be at least two thousand would not be accurate if some families died. He wanted between five hundred and one thousand at least and that was if they spaced the children four years or so apart.
"We would have a sufficient number by the mid or late nineteen nineties."
"Not sooner?"
Lewis showed him the calculations. Roderick and the other councilors nodded. It did make sense. They could not have all young males and females. They needed experienced heads, which meant they would be in their fifties by the time the ascension began. It also put them in a quandary. The stone selection would mean that one family had to wait and that one family would have all its descendants as chosen. However, there were six stones, representing the six ships.
"All right," he said, "In the late nineteen nineties, we will make our ascension. We must calculate what the stellar sky is at that time and we will construct it on the column starting from the bottom. In the center, we will put the ascension for our leader, the Chosen. He will make his ascension at the place on Earth where that sky symbol appears at that time."
Now he pointed to the bag. "Six red stones indicate the families who will produce those considered chosen, our elite. One of the red stones has a gold rim in the middle of the red stone. That family will bear the Chosen." He waited until they made their selection.
"It is completed," said the last male.
"Good. The one who has the gold rim mount the platform."
He did so.
"Your descendant will be the Chosen. Listen all. The family of Tomas is protected! The mate of Tomas is protected!" He glared at the group. "What is the penalty for those who would kill or harm the children of Tomas?"
"Death!" was the universal cry.
"Death by torture. In the nineteen sixties, we will have a ceremony to elect the Chosen." He held out several small needles. "On his right back shoulder we will tattoo a sign of the place of his ascension, the place where he will make himself known to the humans."
"I gather perhaps in the American capital of Washington DC or perhaps in the United Nations Building or perhaps the English Parliament Building?" asked one boy.
"We have time enough to choose that particular date and location. The tattoo on the Chosen will show the constellation over that site. If he is to be chosen President of the United States, his tattoo will show the time and date. But we will be subtler than that. "
"Perhaps he will be one of those guarding one of the human leaders and at that particular moment, when the leader is fishing, an unseen hand..."
"You are wise, Leon. The humans will fear you."
"My true sibling Paul is wiser. But we are not animals, Lewis."
"We are humanoids as are homo sapiens. In time, the humans might want to designate a scientific title for us, but until that time, we use the New Species for ourselves, and the humans for the ancestors since they do not use the Old Species as they do not realize their days are numbered until a different course is set."
"And what different course?"
Roderick sneered. "It depends on the humans. If they are not afraid to die, perhaps they will survive, perhaps not. If they are fearful of death, their extermination assured. Paul will teach those able how to infiltrate the human society."
With that, the New Species started their rise on the Earth.
They built tunnels, constructed houses in them, used artificial lighting, and planted gardens underneath, using hydroponics until the quarry remained to its former unkempt shape. As they did so, they tunneled under much of Mexico, going to the places where people quarried stones, and move a large stone from underneath, filling the empty space with local rocks, dirts, and pebbles so that those on top were unaware of the movements. At the same time, they raided and killed, spreading an unknown terror over all of Mexico, destroying those villagers who approached too close, and keeping their presence secret until they desired it.
They took their tools, and with careful precision shaped the stone, removed the edges, and began the makings of the column. Thus the scene shifted from the New Species in Mexico to those descendants in Blue Cove, Delaware and especially a young couple whose son would later be enslaved by a nefarious organization known as The Centre!
.
.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The Quarry, somewhere in Oaxaca State, Mexico
The next day, the others awoke to see the empty beds where once their parents slept. They put together their breakfast, fed the little ones, and wondered where the adults had gone. The sound of a pipe striking against wood, no something inside them told them to go to the large area where Roderick, Paul, and the leaders waited.
"Where are my parents?" asked one.
"They are no more," said Gregory.
"They left us," The voice was bitter.
"All of them. We don't need them. We can survive without them. Have they been able to tell you anything? Besides they were going to get rid of us, permanently. Listen have you seen your parents suddenly stop talking when you came? There are not that many subjects, not too many hurts they can protect us from."
"We have decided that we need a leader, a Chosen to lead us against the fight against those who would destroy us," said Lewis. He motioned his hands to a box. "In these are stones individually sealed in bags, each stone the perfect size, and shape to be indistinguishable from the others."
They came forward, and tried each individual bagged stone. Yes, they were all the same size, shape, weight, and density.
"We also need a symbol. Right now, there are too few of us, so we will build our gardens and hunt our food. I will take suggestions."
"A dead animal, a totem," said one girl.
"Too primitive. We are the New Species. How about a statue?"
"A statue, Roderick, to who?"
"A column," suggested Gregory, "but what shall we put on it?"
"We are more intelligent that our ancestors," said Roderick who looked up at the sky. "We can put symbols representing the stellar sky not at the present, but at the future. We have to calculate what our number will be at a particular period and choose individuals among ourselves who will be able to lead."
That seemed agreeable, but who would they chose and where would they get the column? It was not like chopping down trees and none of them had seen any marble. However, they were more highly intelligent that homo sapiens. They could do it. Now what was the chemical makeup of marble and where could they get the ingredients to reproduce it?
"It will not last," said Arthur, "We have to use a combination material or cement."
"No matter," said Roderick, "we will work here and gradually move the stone, a large one, bigger than us. As soon as we construct the column, we will carve on it the stellar symbols that will appear in the sky when it is finished. However, we need a date far enough so that if the humans come after us, there will still be left a substantial amount of our number."
"Including the little ones?"
"Those able to reproduce. Lewis, you are the Mentor. Oh we will give titles different from the humans. Teachers will be called Mentors, Judges will be called Executioners, Spies will be called Chameleons. Doctors are now Medicals. Lawyers will answer directly to the Executioners only and will be known as Advocates. Those in charge of Construction will be called Mechanics."
Lewis sat down and figured the growth of population. "Do you want the exact number?"
Roderick shook his head. There was a chance that some of them might die in the process. Saying that in fifty years from now there would be at least two thousand would not be accurate if some families died. He wanted between five hundred and one thousand at least and that was if they spaced the children four years or so apart.
"We would have a sufficient number by the mid or late nineteen nineties."
"Not sooner?"
Lewis showed him the calculations. Roderick and the other councilors nodded. It did make sense. They could not have all young males and females. They needed experienced heads, which meant they would be in their fifties by the time the ascension began. It also put them in a quandary. The stone selection would mean that one family had to wait and that one family would have all its descendants as chosen. However, there were six stones, representing the six ships.
"All right," he said, "In the late nineteen nineties, we will make our ascension. We must calculate what the stellar sky is at that time and we will construct it on the column starting from the bottom. In the center, we will put the ascension for our leader, the Chosen. He will make his ascension at the place on Earth where that sky symbol appears at that time."
Now he pointed to the bag. "Six red stones indicate the families who will produce those considered chosen, our elite. One of the red stones has a gold rim in the middle of the red stone. That family will bear the Chosen." He waited until they made their selection.
"It is completed," said the last male.
"Good. The one who has the gold rim mount the platform."
He did so.
"Your descendant will be the Chosen. Listen all. The family of Tomas is protected! The mate of Tomas is protected!" He glared at the group. "What is the penalty for those who would kill or harm the children of Tomas?"
"Death!" was the universal cry.
"Death by torture. In the nineteen sixties, we will have a ceremony to elect the Chosen." He held out several small needles. "On his right back shoulder we will tattoo a sign of the place of his ascension, the place where he will make himself known to the humans."
"I gather perhaps in the American capital of Washington DC or perhaps in the United Nations Building or perhaps the English Parliament Building?" asked one boy.
"We have time enough to choose that particular date and location. The tattoo on the Chosen will show the constellation over that site. If he is to be chosen President of the United States, his tattoo will show the time and date. But we will be subtler than that. "
"Perhaps he will be one of those guarding one of the human leaders and at that particular moment, when the leader is fishing, an unseen hand..."
"You are wise, Leon. The humans will fear you."
"My true sibling Paul is wiser. But we are not animals, Lewis."
"We are humanoids as are homo sapiens. In time, the humans might want to designate a scientific title for us, but until that time, we use the New Species for ourselves, and the humans for the ancestors since they do not use the Old Species as they do not realize their days are numbered until a different course is set."
"And what different course?"
Roderick sneered. "It depends on the humans. If they are not afraid to die, perhaps they will survive, perhaps not. If they are fearful of death, their extermination assured. Paul will teach those able how to infiltrate the human society."
With that, the New Species started their rise on the Earth.
They built tunnels, constructed houses in them, used artificial lighting, and planted gardens underneath, using hydroponics until the quarry remained to its former unkempt shape. As they did so, they tunneled under much of Mexico, going to the places where people quarried stones, and move a large stone from underneath, filling the empty space with local rocks, dirts, and pebbles so that those on top were unaware of the movements. At the same time, they raided and killed, spreading an unknown terror over all of Mexico, destroying those villagers who approached too close, and keeping their presence secret until they desired it.
They took their tools, and with careful precision shaped the stone, removed the edges, and began the makings of the column. Thus the scene shifted from the New Species in Mexico to those descendants in Blue Cove, Delaware and especially a young couple whose son would later be enslaved by a nefarious organization known as The Centre!
.
.