Alpha 1472 (18 page)

When the great divide happened each tribe set out to
find different lands to occupy. It is written that their journeys were long and arduous but eventually all three tribes settled and became rooted to one place. Our tribal network covers a triangular area that is seven days from each other and this place lies at the very centre of our lands.

Throughout the year, our scribes document every part of our daily lives as decreed by the Magi. It is their sole purpose in life and has been so since the beginning. They write about everything from daily happenings to major events and disasters. They keep records of who is born and who dies within our communities and they also keep records of who lives where and what their role in the community is. So you can imagine that over the period of a year there is a substantial amount of material created. Once every year the documents are
sealed in their containers and sealed in the time honoured method and bought to this sacred cave to take their place with all of the other documents. All three tribes attend on the same day and the ceremony always takes place as the sun sets over the mountains. Our priests and the chosen members of their order place the documents and our guards keep them safe from anyone who would desecrate our history.

Our history and our way of life is governed by the master record. It is a document that has been passed down though the generations from the original copy that was written by the original kings of our tribes, your countrymen. Every twenty years our master record is remade by our scribes and checked by the present king and his court for mistakes it
has remained unchanged for hundreds of years. The master record is exactly the same for all of the tribes ensuring that our history can follow the same divine path. It is our law and our guide. The second appearance has been foreseen since the beginning and as is written in our laws we are your servants and are duty bound to do your bidding. So mighty ones, command us and we will obey.”

Hearing this last sentence Daniels motioned to Hatch to cut the communications with the elders and turned to the rest who had been listening intently to what had been said.

“Well it seems that 106 did more than a good job. They are responsible for an entire community who have lived their lives by the ideals of just three men. Now it seems that to them we are some sort of deities to be worshiped an obeyed.” We need to get home involved in this one.”

He ordered Hatch to re-establish communications and to talk to them while he talked to high command.”

The captain had made contact with base and was talking to Over Commander Lyle Harrison,

“Hello sir sorry to bother you but we have had a very interesting morning here. Things have been moving fast and developments have meant that I have had to make some unorthodox decisions. Firstly, all of the crew have had to be told about the mission DeVie and Watkins were sent on and now things have developed in a way none of us could have imagined.” He continued to fill Harrison in on all of the details and Harrison listened without interruption. When he had concluded his report Harrison asked him to stand by, he had to discuss this with his team. Daniels agreed and returned to the rest of his crew.
On his return he walked in just as JD was making a progress report. He said that they had organised the workforce into several production lines. Two tribesmen were opening each of the containers while two more were unpacking and laying out the documents. At this stage either JD or Watkins would digitise the documents. A further two were charged with re-packing each container and passing them to the final four on the line whose job was to reseal the vessel. At the present rate of production they estimated that the job could be completed within four days. The captain suggested that he may send Mary or Anne to join the effort and maybe speed thing up somewhat. At this point Watkins joined the conversation. “Sir, with all due respect we have not seen any women here at all. We have no idea how females fit into this society as I recall from our own history our planet used to be a male dominated society. It may be the same here at their present stage of evolution.” The captain spoke to Travis who was en route to join the others. “Travis, did you get all of that?” he said that he did. “Well mister psychologist what do you think would it be a good idea or not. Give me your thoughts.”

“Well sir, given what I have observed to date, I would certainly say that Matthew has a valid point. This certainly seems to be a male dominated society. I’m not sure whether the leaders would accept a woman in their midst there is always a chance that it could affect the work. In my opinion I think that it would be better to leave things as they are for now”

Daniels thought for a moment. He valued the opinion of Wheatley and took his opinion on board and decided not to send anyone else for now. Both Anne and Mary felt a little belittled by this, they were not used to being treated as anything other than an equal. They kept their feelings to themselves and remained silent.

The communication panel in front of Hatch was indication that a communiqué wa
s coming in from the home world. He informed Daniels who immediately retired to his quarters. Over the intercom came the voice of Harrison.

“
Jason, this is Lyle I have Tom and Peter with me.” They all greeted each other then Harrison continued. “First of all I want to say that you have done a great job we can see that you had no choice in the decisions you have had to make and we all agree that if we had to advise you we wouldn’t have done anything differently. But now, things have taken a turn that was unforeseen and we have to think on our feet. We are going to be here with you for the next few hours to see how this all pans out. We want you to continue running the show while we listen in. We will not interject unless absolutely necessary. Let the crew know what is happening I think your decision to keep everyone informed and in the loop is probably the best course for now. So get back to the deck, we will observe.”

He thanked them and returned to his post. As he did so he couldn’t help but feel vindicated by the decisions he had made that day.

He motioned again for Hatch to cut communications for the leaders. When this was done he addressed the crew. Having briefed them on the current situation he introduced the commanders who greeted and praised the crew on a great job done thus far. Then he turned his attention to the task at hand. His primary objective was to get field reports from every member of the crew so that the commanders could be put firmly in the picture as to what was happening on the surface. When he was ready he asked Marius to once again re-connect the link to the leaders. Once the connection had been established he commenced with the field reports.

The three leaders sat patiently listening to all of the reports and became familiar with all of the voices connected to the seven people they had been told were members of this small band of people who had been sent to be with them.
The attention was then turn towards the leaders.

“This is Jason Daniels I would like to speak to
one of the three kings.” Realising they were being spoken to, the kings looked at each other and decided, quickly, who should be the spokesman.

“Master, this is
Gaspar; I am at your service.”

Daniels looked at his crewmembers and shook his head slowly. He was uncomfortable with the idea that another being should be subservient to him.
Being of lower rank was alright because that was the order of things in the chain of command, but he did not like being revered without reason. He was determined to nip this in the bud before it drove him to distraction. He spoke gently to Gaspar.

“Hello Gaspar, I need for you to do something for me.” He said. Gaspar asked what he wanted. “Please stop referring to me or any of my party as master. Simply use our given names. My people will introduce themselves so that you may learn how to address us.” He then instructed the crew to introduce themselves one at a time when they had done so, there was silence.
Daniels waited for a reply, but there was none. He thought for a second that there may be a fault with the ear piece that was in Gaspar’s ear.

“Gaspar, can you hear me?”

The three kings were looking at each other; their faces were a mix of horror, disbelief, and wonderment. How could people so powerful make such a request? Sheepishly Gaspar began to reply.

“Master, we cannot comply with your request. You are our
masters; you are the almighty ones, the ones we have waited for since time was recorded, you and your kind are the very reason for our existence. We are your servants and such, we are honour bound to do your bidding. We could never assume such a position in your presence.”

They were uneasy about the request made of them and they stood, uncomfortable, thinking that in some way they may have upset these mighty beings.
The captain once again cut communications, then, he addressed his superiors.

“Sirs, would it be permissible to ask these leaders to simply not revere us for the next two weeks, after that they can think of us as they will. But for now, we are finding this really distracting.
If we deserved the adulation then maybe it would be ok but we don’t. We are just regular people”

The conversation continued between them for half an hour or more, with the home world expressing the opinion that this had been their belief system for generations and that as visitors to this world, they had no right to alter the order of things. The crew would then argue that simply by being here at this time
, coupled with the fact that they were now in the company of over three hundred tribesmen who each in their own right were to be witnesses to this event, meant that their belief systems had already been either contaminated or confirmed. The eventual outcome of the debate was that there should be some effort made to make the crew’s job as easy as it could be. To assist the crew Harrison had agreed to speak to the elders in an attempt to make proceedings more formal while they were here. When Harrison had taken the time to prepare himself, the captain spoke to the elders. On this occasion he was speaking to Melchior. This time he was greeted with what had become the usual greeting whenever they spoke.

“I am here oh mighty one, tell me your bidding so that I may serve you better.”

Daniels said to him that this type of greeting must stop and that he wanted him to speak to someone who was of an higher authority that he was who would give him the permission to relax more in their presence. Melchior asked where this person was. Without knowing more about their history and what their teaching were he was at a bit of a loss in explaining this one, so he decided to do a little ground work first. He asked Melchior where he thought that they came from. Melchior answered this question by revealing a little about their history. He said that they had been expecting this visit because it was laid down in the master records that visitors would arrive from beyond the stars, and that they would walk among us for a brief period of time. They would appear as we do but possess a knowledge that was far beyond that of our own. He also said that the original three were benevolent men who were worshiped. They bought a supreme sense of order and organisation to a group of people who were destined to become the three tribes. Their teachings have been passed down through the generations and form our laws. We imagine that we live our lives according to the ways laid down by the divine ones and we hope that we share a similarity to you. It is of course not our place to see ourselves a mighty a you. It has been written over the generations that at the second coming we will submit ourselves to you and do your bidding without question. And so the love we feel for your ancestors, we feel for you.

Daniels felt aware that these three leaders with all of their history, records and teachings, really had no concept of where they were from. He surmised that they had a romantic idea that there was a place beyond the stars that existed as a home to
them, the visitors. And it was quite obvious that anything he or any of the crew said to them would change nothing about the way they addressed them. It was time to get Harrison involved.

Harrison had, of course, been monitoring this exchange closely and had decided that this was, in comparison to
them, a society in its infancy and as such he must approach them as if talking to, children. Not in a condescending manner, but in a kind fatherly fashion. On his console he typed a message to Daniels to signify that he was ready. The captain spoke to the leaders.

“Your teachings are quite correct, we do come from a place beyond the stars and we have travelled far to be here. Our home is called God and one of our leaders wishes to talk to you. The next voice you will hear will be that of Lyle Harrison”

Almost the instant Harrison began to speak; there was an anomaly with the communication systems. It was unexplainable at that moment but it had the effect of adding a deep reverb to the communication. There was nothing that could be done about it for now, but the conversation with the elders had to go ahead. As he spoke Hatch tried to correct the problem without success.

The deep reverberated, surreal voice of Harrison came into their ears and as it did so the three men fell to their knees proclaiming that it was a voice from God. Harrison knew instantly that whatever he said would have little or no influence on these people. After they had calmed down he began to re-address them.
His tone was slow and considered.

“Melchior, Gaspar, Balthasar. My name is Lyle Harrison and I am speaking to you from far away in the place we call God. Originally we sent some of our people to your world to learn about you and your peoples. To us, they were very special people, and it seems that they have become very special to you also.
They were extraordinary men who appreciated simple things. They did not ask for any special treatment, they only did what they thought was right for the people who were important for them. Your people are such people. Although we are descendants of the three who began your society, we do not require any form of adulation or any special attention. We are grateful for the assistance you show to us and your help is more that enough. Please treat our representatives as your friends. Address them as you would a brother, a sister or an ally.”