Alpha 1472 (21 page)

“We have felt honoured to be in your presence these last few days and would like to leave you with a gift to remember us by.” Both of the men reached into their back packs and took out a craft knife.
Then carefully, to avoid damaging the gift, they began to pick at the stitching which secured their insignia badges to the flap. Within minutes they were removed and the small remnants of cotton were plucked away from the badge. They then presented them to the three kings. One was given to Melchior, and one to Gaspar. Reaching once more into his bag JD produced a third patch which was almost identical to the other two but which bore the name Travis Wheatley. The look on the faces of the elders was beyond gratefulness, it was as if they had been given a whole new world. The crew knew that these patches would be treated the exact same way as were the original ones. They would be encased in orange stone and revered for all time. With this it was time for them to go. As they left the tent they noticed that it was the only one left standing. The entire camp had been struck and this was the only evidence that there had been a temporary population occupying this valley for the last four days. They made their farewells and started back for the ship.

As they were about to mount their cycles they turned back for one last look. They saw the three kings standing in a line in front of the entire tribe who once again fell to their knees. Outstretched their arms and bowed in unison. The crewmen returned the gesture and then left.

The journey back to the ship was largely uneventful.
After the last few days they were glad of the journey. There was no hurry to return and so they leisurely cycled back using the global positioning to guide them. En route they located their costumes and dressed back into the garb of the area in case there was someone around who may see them. Having done this they continued on their way. The sun was beginning to set when they arrived back at the beach. The heat of the day had passed and they were now standing on the shoreline experiencing a pleasant balmy early evening. They stored the gear that was not being taken back on board at this time in the cave with the rest of the equipment, then, they returned to the shore to allow themselves some free time. Walking in the sea, they had time to reflect on the previous few days. The general consensus was that they had been privileged to have met the tribe who had helped them to shorten their task by so much time. They were amazed at their dedication to their predecessors and astounded that a complete society had developed from the teachings of three of their fellow compatriots. They had been walking for about fifteen minutes when they decided to turn around and make for the ship. Their bodies had now become used to the temperature of the water and to their feet it felt like a tepid bath, the occasional wave demonstrated that the actual temperature was lower than their feet would lead them to believe as it lapped onto a previously dry area of skin. JD instructed the computer to activate pod location for DeVie and Watkins and they began to hear the homing beeps in their earpiece. They quickly located their pods and began back for the ship.

They walked into the cockpit and joined everyone else who had been waiting for them. It was time to debrief the mission. Everyone was fatigued, not tired, fatigued the sleep inhibitors had done their job and allowed them to continue working around the clock.
But, the body needs quality rest to recuperate and their bodies had been used constantly for six days. They all felt slightly irritable and they all needed a rest period. There was no chance of them falling asleep, but there was a real danger that if they overdid the inhibitors mistakes could be made, costly and potentially dangerous mistakes.

The first order of business was to download all of the information collected from the caves and to transmit it to the home world. JD and Watkins took the cameras out of their bags and handed them to Hatch who began the download process.
The amount of data that had been recorded would take many hours to transfer from the cameras and then even more time to transmit. Hatch began by sampling some of the images to check the quality of them; he was more interested in the images taken by the scribes. There was no need for concern; the work undertaken by the inexperienced team was of the same quality as that of JD and Matthew. Having checked everything he began the download, and then he turned his attention to the meeting.

The Captain began debriefing the crew.

“OK, so here we are on day six, according to the rotation of this planet. It has to be said that we have already exceeded all expectations, and now, we are well ahead of schedule. Before any of you get excited, we will not be going home early. This is a one off opportunity and we have to take full advantage of it. While JD and Matthew have been otherwise occupied, Mary and Anne have been ashore and have spent time with their friends and also have been making regular soirees into the town and now we have a fully functional translation for the indigenous language. The language base for the language of the Roman inhabitants is slowly growing but at best it is a little sketchy, so wherever possible we need to eavesdrop on these guys to increase the database. Remember these people do not seem to be as docile as the locals so, you must always be on your guard when you are near them. We have found out that the money we have been manufacturing is of a predominately high denomination, so we have obtained samples of other coins and have begun to make smaller, more manageable values. You will all be issued with a supply of these coins for your next visit ashore. Mr Hatch has managed to liberate the storage device from the orange resin casing. But, the connection is so primitive we have not as yet been able to connect it to our computers. The boffins back at home are working on the problem and hopefully we will soon be able to take a look at what it contains. Anne reports no medical anomalies; this atmosphere seems to suit our physiology perfectly. Finally, we have all exceed the regulation usage of the sleep inhibitor, so, tonight we will all, with the exception of Mr Hatch, be administered with the antidote and will rest for one rotation. Mr Hatch will be afforded the next rotation for his rest period.” Although they had all been expecting this statement, it was still nevertheless comforting to hear it in an official capacity. They were all relieved, and would under normal circumstances, have shown more of a celebratory reaction, but the fatigue they all felt at this point was telling on their bodies and their emotions. The best that they could muster was a grateful nodding of the head. Daniels summed up the meeting.

“
If anyone has anything to add or if there are any questions. I suggest that we secure the ship and prepare to go to sleep” 

Everyone busied themselves with the tasks involved with preparing for their sleep period and when all was ready, they each retired to their own quarters. In turn Anne Homer visited them to administer the antidote.
The last visit on her list was the captain. By the time she entered his quarters; he was already in his sleepwear and tucked up into his bed. Anne administered the injection to her commander, bade him, fond dreams and left him to rest. Her final job was to administer the antidote to herself. She walked into the cockpit to bid Hatch goodnight then went to her quarters. She was in a shared room with Mary who by this time was soundly asleep. Changing into her sleepwear she mused over the last six days. She climbed into her bed pulled the cover up and over herself, injected herself, placed the innoculator on the table beside her and within five minutes she was asleep.

Hatch knew that for the next rotation he would not sleep and would be alone. Unperturbed by this he shut down all non essential functions of the ship, dimmed the lights in the cockpit and settled down to occupy himself until it was time to awaken the rest.

One entire rotation had passed when Hatch walked into Anne’s quarters. Both she and Mary were sleeping soundly and it almost seemed a shame to wake them. He gently shook Anne, and she gradually came out of her natural sleep and stretched herself as she woke.

“Time to get up, come on, I do not come equipped with a snooze button, this is your one and only call.”

With this he left the room to allow the two women a little privacy as they roused themselves for the rest of the mission. When she had completed her ablutions and was dressed she systematically checked on all of the crew to make sure they were awake and that they were fit to continue, and to administer their next shot of the inhibitor. She then turned her attention to Hatch who had retired to his quarters and was awaiting his dose of the antidote.

It had been decided that due to their prolonged absence from the ship, JD and Watkins would be the crew members who would stay on board this day to monitor the rest of the shore party. The assignments for the day were simple. Anne and Mary were to revisit
Aaron and Beth, while Travis would team up with the Captain and visit the town centre. Their mission that day was to seek out Romans and to eavesdrop on them allowing the computer to compile more of their language base.

This was the first time that Daniels had been ashore and his first experience of using the pods. Countless simulations in the pools back at the training camp had prepared him for this moment. Or so he thought.
The mechanics of operating the pod were, of course, exactly what he had trained for. But the experience of actually being in this place, at this time, on this planet was more that he had expected. He was enjoying the journey from the ship to the shore and made sure that he took full advantage of the trip and consequently was last to arrive. He anchored his pod and walked through the refreshing water onto the sandy beach and for the first time he had the chance to survey the scene before him with his own eyes. He was used to seeing it through a camera lens. But to see it with his own eyes, and to have all of his senses working, feeding him all of the information around him was truly breathtaking. It was a sensory feast. The rest of them waited and allowed him time to take in his surrounding. When he was ready he joined them. All four of them walked across the beach and exited into the overgrowth. Once there they parted company for the day. Anne and Mary started towards the house of Aaron and his family. Travis and Daniels started towards the town. For the duration of this day Daniels had instructed Travis to address him by his first name. He thought that it would be safer this way should they be overheard at any point, it would be one less embarrassing question they would not have to explain.

Jason and Travis had decided to try to find the tavern where JD had been on the first day.
It was as good a starting point as any, and would allow them to retrace his steps through the town leading them up to the large building where the Romans were encountered. The Captain turned to Travis and asked him if he had bought any of the money with him. “Yes sir” he answered. Daniels stopped in his tracks and looked at Watkins. “Sorry Travis you can’t call me sir today just treat me as you would JD or Matthew.” “Yes sir, sorry sir” he replied and almost immediately cursed himself. Daniels shook his head, gave him a humorous shrug and they continued on their way.

As Mary and Anne rounded the outcrop to where Aaron’s heard were usually grazing they were surprised to find that they were not there. At this stage they were not suspicious that anything was wrong, they simply thought that he had changed his grazing pasture. They decided to go directly to the house uninvited. They were just about to knock on the flimsy door when it opened. Aaron and Beth were leaving. Aaron was carrying Luke and Beth stood behind them sobbing uncontrollably. The instant they saw her, their womanly instinct to support a fellow being in distress kicked in. immediately they placed an arm each around the shoulders of the distressed woman and asked what the problem was. She tried to explain the problem but every time she did so, she would break down in floods of tears. On a couple of occasions the level of distress would cause her legs to buckle beneath her causing the two women supporting her to take all of her weight. Eventually they sat her on the rustic bench that sat along the front wall of the house. They gave her a drink and tried to calm her. Turning their attention to Aaron they could see that he too was distressed. He was, however, more capable of composing his emotions. Enough to tell the crew member what had caused so much distress. Beth’s distress had caught the attention of everyone, who by now was listening intently to the conversation. Aaron explained that Beth’s brother had fallen foul of the Romans and was due to be executed that very morning. They asked what his crime was and Aaron told them.

“F
or the last couple of months he has been publically vocal about the tyranny that the Romans bring. They had taken his livestock and ravaged his land leaving him with nothing. He had a right to speak his mind but the Romans do not allow any dissent. Late yesterday a group of their soldiers came and took him and today, he is due for execution. We have to go to be with him. We are his only family and we need to claim his body otherwise there will be no one to help him to his final resting place.”

They were horrified that this was happening to their friends. But in reality they should not have been. It had been well documented within their own history that this sort of thing had been prevalent throughout the ages. Why should it be any different here?
True, it part of this society that seemed a little distasteful, but they had become fond of these people which made it all the more difficult to accept. They asked what they could do. Aaron said there was nothing anyone could do and added that the Romans did not grant clemency, they were ruthless. Jason Daniels spoke. “Ladies, you should accompany them to the execution to offer support, it sounds like they need some friends right now. We will join you as soon as possible.” The women agreed and said to the distraught couple that they would go with them. “There is no need, this is not your problem but thank your for your kind offer” Said Aaron. The women insisted that they would be there for them. Aaron and Beth gratefully accepted the offer and all four of them started in the direction of the town. They mused over the method of execution that would be used. As yet they had seen no outward signs of advanced weaponry. The only thing they had seen to date were cutting and stabbing weapons. The most popular guess from everyone was some form of beheading; it seemed to be the quickest and most compassionate form to take. Mary and Anne were, of course, not a party to the conversation to decide the method, but that was their guess also. It took almost an hour to travel to the town where the execution was to take place. Jason and Matthew was no where to be seen, so Mary requested the computer to activate the proximity alarm between Daniels and Emmanuel. The audible beeps began instantly in their ears and within a space of five minutes they had located each other. The instant Jason has seen them he instructed them not to reveal that they knew each other. The plan was for the two men to be in close proximity to the others without revealing who they were, this would enable them to observe without interruption and also to be close should they need assistance. Aaron, Beth, Mary and Anne walked in the direction of the execution site. Mary and Anne had no idea where they were going, but Aaron explained that the place was set aside specifically for the purpose. This statement gave rise to fears that this was more than a regular occurrence. Mary asked Aaron what this town was called. He said that the Romans called it Tiberias but its true name was Kinneret and that it used to be the most beautiful city in the region. She then asked where they were headed. He answered that they were headed for the main building at the centre of town the execution fields were behind the palace. He also added that they were situated there because the occupants, meaning the Romans, enjoyed the misery they inflicted upon others. As they approached, they could see the majesty of the palace. It was built in stark contrast to the rest of the buildings that surrounded it. Rising like a monument reaching for the sky, it featured impressive columns crowned with arches that supported the upper levels from where more columns reached skyward towards a sloping roof which was crowned with the most exquisite statues of what they guessed could be their deities or leaders. It was constructed with absolute symmetry in mind, obviously the work of master builders. The one thing that struck them was how secure it looked, not just the robustness of its construction but it also looked like an impenetrable fortress. Each entrance was protected by a number of guards barring the entrance to all but the chosen ones who were granted access to this great edifice. Separately, all seven of them walked along the rough path, around the palace, to an area that stretched for a great distance. There seemed to be a large flattened area where spectators were already gathering. In front of this area the land dropped off into a small valley which had a depth of ten feet or so. On the other side to where they were, was a series of mounds. Rising from each mound was an upright post. They estimated that each post rose to a height that easily equalled two or three times the height of an average man. This was clearly not the arena for the type of execution they had envisaged. They were confused and bemused and were just about to ask what was happening here when their attention was drawn to a procession of people entering from their left on the other side of the rift. As the scene played out before them they found themselves being drawn into the theatre of what was happening. They came to realise that the crowd, who by this time had swelled to occupy almost every inch of free space that was available to them, were here for some form of macabre entertainment spectacle. Heading the procession was a column of soldiers, immaculately dressed in white and red uniforms dressed with leather belts which featured broader leather straps which hanging down their legs. All of them wore helmets and armour, and carried a sword and a lance. Three people followed each of them was dragging a smaller beam of wood and were dressed in nothing but a loincloth. They were unshaven, sported long bedraggled hair and wore no shoes. Behind them was another column of soldiers. The procession walked until the three central participants were about level with the upright beams. It was at this point that a solitary figure crossed in front of them. He wore an all white robe with a red sash. His head was crowned with a headpiece of golden laurel leaves. He stood and unrolled a scroll of parchment. He began to speak, and as he did so the entire crowd was reduced to an eerie silence which was only broken by the distraught wailings which came from the families and friends of the condemned.