The Archer's Paradox - The Travis Fletcher Chronicles (27 page)

“Hang on, you said ‘their own’ and not ‘ours’.” Travis interrupted.

“This was millions of years ago, I cannot think of us,” she waved at the City around them, “in the same context.”

Travis considered this and thought of the old civilisations of Earth like the Romans, Ancient Greeks and so on and could only agree with his friend’s logic. “Hang on, did you say ‘millions of years’?” His brain had just caught the implication of that statement.

Niji No Tori nodded again.

“Shit. That puts the human ra…sorry, Earth, into perspective.” He corrected himself, remembering their previous conversation on the ship. He apologised for interrupting and asked her to continue. “So, religion.” He prompted.

“Yes, every planet evolved its own religions to explain natural phenomena like wind, rain, death and so on.”

Travis nodded. He had no truck with religion himself, mostly because most religions were against drinking and sex outside marriage, but also he could not reconcile the contradictions in the Christian religions, especially Catholics. He could not stand the bowing and scraping to a man in a dress and a funny hat waving incense about, that preached about the evil of worldly possessions, but was part of the richest organisation in the world, let alone the bowing and scraping to a being that obviously had no interest in the welfare of its subjects, but he could understand how people could cling to the hope that there was something more than their pitiful existence and it did not all just end in death.

“Yes, religions gave primitive people simple explanations and even hope.” She had picked up on some of Travis’ thoughts. In most cultures they were also responsible for the beginnings of education by teaching people to read and write.”

She paused for a moment to savour the wine Travis had chosen. This one was completely different in colour and taste to the last. She liked its rich red colour and big round flavours. It also gave her a different buzz in her head which warned her of the headache that always followed an evening with Travis Fletcher. But she was getting distracted as the alcohol in the drink was starting to take hold.

“But there comes a point,” she continued, “where religion clashes with science.”

Travis nodded agreement and mentioned a couple of instances in Earth’s history that illustrated such cases.

“The simple fact is that if religion wins, then the race will wither and die, either by disease or war, because religion will always stifle free-thinking and the exploration of self. After all,” she added, thoughtfully, “how many religions want their followers to achieve the same level of consciousness as their gods?” She paused for a moment, looking at her distorted reflection in the wine glass. “Also, religion will always be a point of conflict between people.” She finished, quietly. She had meant it as a general statement, but the meaning could easily be expanded to include The Fall.

Again, Travis had to agree. The number of wars that had been fought because one religious group did not agree with another or, as in the second world war, someone wanted to annihilate particular religious groups just because of who or what they worshipped or setting neighbour against neighbour as in Northern Ireland. Even the word ‘worship’ made Travis cringe. Why should any man bow down to anyone or anything?

“So how does this relate to what you told me on the ship and to The Fall?” He asked, dragging himself back into the present.

Niji No Tori contemplated her glass a moment. She had read and reread the texts surrounding the experiment on Sol 3 in anticipation of her friend’s questions, but she was not sure if she could go through with it because she knew it would rock her friend’s perception of reality to the core. She took a deep breath. “The scientists and philosophers of the time got into a big debate that went on for years about what the ideal model for the evolution of a race would be. Each group had its own ideas and its ideas were always better than all the others, and without facts there could be no conclusion.

Travis smiled. This seemed all too familiar, all too…human. “So what happened?” He prompted.

“The arguments raged for generations, until the idea of a compromise was formulated.” She answered. “A Grand Experiment that would furnish the data they needed to answer the questions.” She spread he arms expansively, spilling some of her wine on the floor. She giggled a moment then all humour drained from her face and she looked Travis in the eye. “Promise you will not hold me responsible for what I am about to tell you.” The wine slurred her speech slightly but she managed to maintain her centre.

Travis was starting to put two and two together, but he wanted to hear it for himself so he nodded.

“An expedition had found a world by accident, well away from any other inhabited systems, that was inhabited with primates that were uncannily similar to our own primitive ancestors. It was the earliest signs of human evolution that had been found, so it was divided up between each of the Xi Scorpii suns.”

“You’re talking about Earth, aren’t you?” Travis’ tone had turned accusative.

Niji No Tori nodded and made to continue, but Travis held up his hand. In silence he refilled both their glasses, sipped and stared deeply into the ruby red liquid. Two plus two suddenly equalled…

“So you divided the Earth up between you to see which of you had the best plan for the evolution of a civilisation?” The emphasis he put on each ‘you’ was like a slap round Niji No Tori’s face and she winced each time, but Travis had not finished. It was as if a floodgate of knowledge had just opened in his head. “You,” he pointed at Niji No Tori, “you look Japanese, Chinese, Asian, sort of. Your boss, the doctor she looks Indian. Whatsername, the bitch that tried to kill me she has a distinct South American look and the bastard that tried to kidnap me, he looks African. And those people with him, they looked like, well ME!” Travis’ head reeled and threatened to explode. “Oh, fuck! We’re all literally descended from you! WE were your ‘Grand Experiment’.” He got up and staggered to the edge of the balcony and looked down at the streets far below. “That’s why you came to Earth. Not because we were similar but because we ARE you, literally.”

“You told me on the ship that life on Earth was started by your ancestors, not that you had actually altered the natural development of Earth and you never said why.” There was a long pause while Travis tried to make sense of everything. Eventually he broke the silence. “I think you should leave now.” He said quietly, through gritted teeth, as he stared out into the night refusing to catch her eye.

“No!”

Travis wheeled round to see Niji No Tori standing foursquare in front of him with her legs apart. Her cheeks were reddening, her eyes narrow and lips pursed in anger. “I thought you were my friend, Travis Fletcher and you promised not to hold me responsible.” Her dark eyes flashed dangerously. “Did you lie to me?”

Travis immediately regretted his remark and his heart sank. Out of everyone he had met, she was the only one who had not tried to kill him, involve him in a conspiracy or look on him as nothing more than a commodity. He had watched her change in a couple of months from a wide eyed and enthusiastic girl, bouncing through the corridors on the ship, to the self-assured woman standing in front of him now, but she had always treated him with respect and even as an equal. He bowed his head in genuine shame. “I’m sorry, Rainbow. That was totally out of order. Please forgive me.” He was about to justify himself by saying that it was a lot to take in when he saw his friend looking at him with her head cocked to one side and an eyebrow raised.

“Why did you call me that?” She asked.

“What? You mean Rainbow?” It was a reflex and he had not realised what he had said until she pointed it out. She nodded and smiled. “That’s your name isn’t it, Rainbow Bird?”

“Yes but…”

“It came to me in a dream,” he adlibbed quickly, “and I can’t pronounce anyone’s name without upsetting them or getting laughed at so…”

“I have never laughed at you.” She countered, maybe more harshly than she meant to, but she was still angry at him.

“That’s because I never tried to pronounce your name in front of you.” He explained, trying to lighten the conversation a little.

She played with the unfamiliar syllables and smiled. “I like it.” She affirmed. Her anger was draining away slowly.

He caught the change in her mood. He put his glass on the balcony wall then took hers from her and put it next to his. He took her hands in his and looked straight into her eyes. “I really am so sorry for what I said. Please forgive me. My honour is in your hands.” He finished, looking at the floor.

Niji No Tori gave a little gasp, too quiet for Travis to hear as she felt his sincerity brush her consciousness. She too had seen him change from the pathetic broken form in the Healing Tank, railing against the universe with all his might, to the man in front of her now; so far from home and trying desperately to come to terms with his new environment, but with a wealth of friendship and compassion missing from many of her fellow Xi Scorpii. Still so young and naïve, but at the same time, so old and wise. She smiled and nodded. No words were needed between them.

He leant forward and kissed her cheek tenderly and hugged her. He pulled away and looked back over the city, taking a long swig of wine so she could not see his face, but she felt the wet patch he had left on her cheek.

She sat back in her chair and left him alone with his thoughts. After a while he turned away from his contemplation and sat back down in his own chair and turned the conversation back to small talk. It was obvious to her that he did not want to jeopardise their friendship any further by pressing her for more information, so she was happy to let it slide.

After Niji No Tori had left to make her way home, somewhat less steady on her feet, Travis had immediately sat himself at the computer console. Holographic symbols floated in front of his eyes; their information enhanced by the neural interface of the console. When he had finished he had a complete picture of how the evolution of Earth had been engineered by the Xi Scorpii who had posed as gods to guide and mentor their particular sections: Xi Sorpii A had what is now the Indian subcontinent, Xi Scorpii B had Asia, Xi Scorpii C had South America, Xi Scorpii D was Africa, and Xi Scorpii E had Northern Europe and Scandinavia. Each star engineered a facsimile of their own ancestors and they introduced themselves as gods to the primitive people, founding most of the ancient religions and civilisations: Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Shinto, Maya, Aztec, Toltec, Inca, Egyptian, Judaism, Norse, Finn, Greek and even Roman. They mentored their ‘flocks’ for centuries, all trying to prove that their way was best. They had carefully curtailed the higher mental functions they possessed, leaving just enough to allow them to communicate with their gods. After all, you can’t have your flock having the same powers as you. They had also dramatically decreased the life expectancy of their test subjects in order to stimulate rapid evolution. Travis noted, with some irony, that there was no mention of Christianity in any of the archives. They had also created ‘control groups’ with no higher functions at all that were given no guidance. These ‘control groups’ were left in isolated areas around the globe.

As Travis read further, he saw the breakdown in alliances between all the Xi Scorpii stars. Philosophical arguments that had bubbled along for millennia, once the lifeblood of the science that held the races together suddenly became obstacles between them until finally war broke out. This was where the archive on Earth ended. It was obvious that, as the war raged between the five stars, Earth was left to its own devices. The old civilisations, without their gods to guide them, floundered and died or were besieged by new aggressive and greedy civilisations who had invented their own god or gods, and were subsequently subsumed into the ‘Modern World.’ Maybe that was what Xnuk Ek’ meant when she had rounded on him saying that The Originals were all but extinct. While The Originals stagnated without their gods to guide them, the control groups rose up and overwhelmed them. Travis didn’t know whether to laugh, cry or just throw up. So, he was the product of some Grand Experiment that had failed. A lab rat, or the direct descendent of a lab rat. At least, he thought with some irony, he was descended from the original lab rats and not one of the ‘control groups’.

K'an Aayin exited the bounce tube under the Central Pyramid. The Council Session had gone on much longer than he had planned. It was not surprising considering the subject matter, but now he was late for his next appointment and the person he was meeting was not known for his patience. He hurried to a waiting vehicle and programmed a course. As the vehicle shot forward he weighed all the arguments from the day’s debates and he did not like the outcome of any of them. Neither did he like the decision he had made during the debates, but he was doing this for the whole of the Xi Scorpii, it would be up to history to judge his actions honourable or not.

Vita Nyundo had correctly surmised that the survivors of the destruction of Éðel were mostly warriors that were off world fighting the other stars so when they settled on their new home planet, Níwlíc Éðel, without any form of civilian leadership they had degenerated into a military regime based on the chain of command and absolute obedience. Tocha had also suffered the same loss but the imbalance was offset by the survivors from the other planets. From what Vita Nyundo had learned, The Children of Éðel had not redeveloped any diplomatic skills, preferring to extract what they needed from their neighbours by force, including food, labour and skills to maintain their technology. This meant that it would be highly unlikely that they could be persuaded back to discuss how the cure that Travis Fletcher possessed could be shared between all the Xi Scorpii races.