Alpha 1472 (20 page)

The elders could see the smiles on the faces of their guests and reasoned that they were pleased with their offerings. JD said that they could not possible take them up on their invitation for one of the young ladies. At which point Gaspar said that the offer was not for
one of the virgins but there was three for each of them. Once again the laughter re-ignited on board the ship. Travis was the one to decline the offer. The reaction from the elders was not, altogether, unexpected they believed that they had angered the almighty ones by their offer. Travis and the other two quickly assured them that they were not offended. It was simply not their custom to accept gifts of this nature. They were, of course, flattered by the gift but unfortunately they had to decline to accept. As soon as the words left his mouth, Travis’ imagination went into overdrive. He could imagine lying naked upon animal skins in one of the tents with three young naked females draped over and around him, there to cater to his every desire and whim. The entire, erotic scene played out in his mind in an instant. Of all the opportunities he had missed in his life, this was by far, the biggest. The one that he would regret the most, it would have been the one chance he would probably ever have had to fulfil one of his greatest fantasies. As the girls were led away, Travis could almost feel their skin against his own as he watched his dream slipping away. He shook his head and snapped his senses back to reality. What he was unaware of, was the fact that he was not the only one of them experiencing the same, or similar fantasies.

The hour had grown late and many of the revellers had retired for the night. Some of the more senior members of the tribes had been afforded the luxury of one of the tents. The others had found places around the encampment to settle for the night. One of the more luxurious tents
had been reserved for the guests but due to the sleep inhibitor that had been administered to them, they had no real need for its use. But having just disappointed their hosts they did make use of it for an hour of rest, and for a chance to talk about the day’s events. Guards had been posted around the perimeter of the encampment and slowly the noises that could be heard abated until the only sound that was left was the crackling embers of the dying fire. Soon the only people awake were the guards and the three crewmen.

They had been in their tent for about an hour and a half and the rest period had been beneficial to them. They felt refreshed and ready to continue with their task. They were aware that the camp had fallen into silence and assumed that everyone was asleep. For them sleep was not an option, and so, they had decided that it would be better use of their time if they returned to the cave and continued to catalogue the documents. They rose from the beds that they had been relaxing on and quietly left the tent. Cautiously they crossed the horseshoe; they had no desire to disturb the sleeping tribesmen. Picking their way through the sleeping bodies they eventually made their way back to the cliff face. They thought that they had made it undetected, and were just about to begin their ascent when they heard the familiar voice of Gaspar.

“Masters, is your accommodation not to your approval? Have we not made you comfortable? Have we offended you in any way?”

All three of the crew took time to assure him that everything was as it should be and they had been the perfect hosts. The one thing that had raised the suspicions of the elders was the fact that since they offered the virgins to the visitors the voices in their heads had stopped communicating with them. And this alone had made them think that they had angered them in some way. It took some time to appease the elder and to convince him that they had no problems with the tribes, and to prove this they had the ship re-establish communications with the elders. It was not a conscious decision to cut communications; it was an oversight during the humorous episode they had enjoyed earlier. As soon as Gaspar could hear the voices in his head once more, his face displayed a slight grin as his eyes closed, simultaneously, he exhaled slowly and his head lowered. It was altogether the look of a man who was comforted. The instant communications had been restored the other two leaders could hear the voices too. At the time they were sleeping, then suddenly, hearing the disjointed voices they woke in a sudden panic until they realised what they were hearing once again. The rude awakening had bought them sharply to their senses. Coincidentally, they left their respective tents at the same time and headed over to join the others. The others were quickly told what had transpired while they were sleeping and were told that the crewmen were about to go back to the caves to continue the work. Balthazar was concerned that they were not getting the rest that they needed and tried to insist that their duties in the cave could be taken over by some of the tribesmen. He was assured that they did not need sleep. He was sceptical about this, but who was he to question an almighty. He decided to himself that it would be his duty to observe them for any signs of fatigue. The elders had rapidly designed a rota system for the tribesmen, who would assist in the work. There would be four hourly shift of thirty workers assigned to the task. The work would continue day and night until all of the documents had been digitized. There would also be a catering corps who would keep the workforce fully fed and watered. The organisation for this feat had been expertly conceived and executed by the elders within a few minutes. They ascended the cliff face and entered the cave followed by the first shift of the new workforce, and within ten minutes they had organised the production line and work commenced.

The system they had adopted turned out to be highly efficient and the tribesmen proved to be tireless workers. Almost instinctively these primitive people seemed to grasp what was required of them to complete the task, and everything progressed like clockwork. They were efficient, tidy, courteous and above all accurate and fast.

After the first four hours had lapsed, it was time for a change of shift. Even the change of workforce was a seamless affair. A steady flow of a replacement thirty workers filed into the cave system and systematically took over the position of one of the workers who then proceeded to leave the cave and descend the cliff face. The remarkable thing was that the replacement worker knew exactly what was expected of him and regardless of where any particular worker was within the
process the replacement simply took over at that point, which kept the process constant and unbroken.

Soon after the third shift had begun, the sun began to rise from the east and as it did so one could feel the temperature, once again, rising. The break of day heralded the departure of Travis back to the ship with the storage media. He said his farewells to his fellow crew members and descended to the base of the cliff where he found the three leaders. He thanked them for the entertainment they had provided the previous evening and also thanked them for the g
ift of the strange orange block. As he was about to leave the elders fell to one knee and in turn they held his hand and kissed the back, then held it to their forehead for an instant. Having done this they bade him farewell. He went back to his cycle and as he rode off the entire tribe faced toward him and in unison they fell to their knees and with arms outstretched they bowed majestically in his direction. Travis faced them and returned their bow then he mounted his bike and started back in the direction of the ship.

Later that day, during one the shifts Melchior had visited the cave to check on progress and he found himself talking to Watkins.
He was curious as to what the devices were that the two men were using. Matthew explained that it was a device that allowed them to record an entire document in the blink of an eye. He was careful not to get too technical because he knew that Melchior would not understand unless it was explained in the simplest of terms. Melchior was none the less intrigued by this wondrous machine. The one thing that occupied his thoughts was not the mechanics of it, but the operation. He wanted to know if this machine was difficult to use. Not thinking Watkins said “hell no, you just point and press” Melchior was confused and repeated “point and press?” immediately he realised his error and thought that a practical demonstration was in order. He waited until the next scroll had been laid out on the floor in front of them and then he showed Melchior exactly what happened. He pointed the camera at the scroll and when it was perfectly located in the view screen he pressed the button. He then held the camera in front of Melchior to show him the image he had just taken. Melchior was in awe. He had never seen such magic. He looked at the perfect reproduction of the scroll and mused over the fact that an exact copy was now in the machine. “Can anyone do this?” he asked. Matthew said that in principal it was a fairly simple task. He then asked if it would be permissible for him to talk to his fellow elders using the ear device. Watkins said that, of course it would be fine for him to do so. For some reason he felt that he should be holding something while he spoke, but he brushed this aside and addressed his compatriots.

“Gaspar, Balthazar, this is Melchior can you hear me?”

It was strange for the two men to hear an unsolicited remark from their friend. Up until now they had only heard him during normal conversation with the crewmen and their unseen colleagues. The acknowledged that fact that they could indeed hear him and asked what he wanted.

“I have been speaking with Master Watkins and I would like for you to send the scribes to join us in the caves”. They had of course heard what Melchior and Watkins had been talking about, but had no idea what was happening. They did, however, agree to send the scribes and duly went to summon their attendance.
Within half an hour the scribes had arrived in the caves. Melchior beckoned to Watkins to join him near the mouth of the cave, which he did.

“Master, these are the scribes of our tribes. They and their ancestors have been responsible for the documents which you now see before you.
They are amongst the wisest men of our tribes, and I feel sure that if you were to instruct them on the operation of your recording device, they could relieve you of the burden of your task. Matthew thought for a second and then spoke to the captain.

“Sir, what do you think?” he asked. Almost immediately the captain replied.

“Well, it is a relatively simple process so why not give it a go. But make sure that you check occasionally to see that everything is OK”

Watkins, with the permission of his captain, proceeded to instruct the scribes in the operation of his device.
They were quick studies and very soon they could use the cameras sufficiently enough to do the task. Once they had mastered the skills they needed they were incorporated into the workforce, assigned a place in the rota, and took over from JD and Watkins.

For the next three days JD and Watkins spent the time studying the geological
and meteorological traits of the area. They were always escorted by a detail of guards who watched over them wherever they went, and were attended by servants who looked after their food and refreshment needs. Periodically they would return to the caves to check on the progress of the work and to check on the quality of the scribe’s camerawork. And for the next three days this is how things progressed.

The sun was directly above them and it was the fourth day of their stay in this valley when they received the call from the elders summoning them to the cave. The task had been completed, and when they arrived back in the cave it was exactly as they had found it. All of the urns had been resealed and restacked in their original places. There were teams of builders repairing the false walls that they had blown up on their arrival. And very soon there would be no evidence that they had ever been here. Once they were satisfied that everything was as it should and that they had collected all of their gear, they left the cave for what was to be the last time, descended the cliff and congregated at the base with the elders.  They told the leaders that now the work was ended, it was time for them to go. However, they would like the opportunity to sit with them for a while before they departed. The elders felt honoured that the almighty ones would want to spend time with them in a social aspect before they left. It was agreed and they retired to one of the tents on the edge of the horseshoe. On their way Melchior told one of his subordinates to begin striking camp. Without the presence of their guests it was time for things to revert to normal for the tribes.

They all sat on the animal skin covered seats around a central table that had been set with a modest meal and drinks. The conversation had been of a general nature until the voice in their ear told them that it was time.

“The time has come for us to take our leave of you and unfortunately we have to take the voices out of your head. Your world is not ready for this type of technology yet, one day you will develop wondrous devices of your own. But for now…” They understood. But before they offered their ear towards Watkins for him to remove the earpiece, they wanted one last chance to say farewell to the voices they had become so accustom to. “Almighty ones, it has been an honour and a privilege to be a part of your great world for these few days. We are here as your servants and will always remain so. If in the future you need to call on us. We and our progeny will be at your service. We are your humble servants and will always be so. Farewell masters, speed safely to God.” It was an emotional speech that affected all of the crew who felt humbled by these simple people who had developed such a devotion to them. Each in turn the crew responded with thanks and farewells to each of the leaders. Matthew then removed the earpieces. There was one last thing they had to do. It seemed unfitting to leave without bestowing a gift on these people and, it was decided that in light of the fact that they had virtually nothing to offer, that they would leave them with a legacy that they felt sure would last for thousands of years.