Alpha 1472 (17 page)

“Why don’t we send more of us to assist and get the job done sooner?”

The captain dismissed this idea saying that the rest of the mission was equally as important and that they should complete the other elements between them. At this point JD’s voice came into the captain’s ear.

“Sir, are you near a screen you need to see this”

Daniels stopped the conversation around the table and told everyone that he was about to open communications between all of the crew and instructed them to pay attention to the screens.

“Go ahead John what have you got”

As he spoke the screens began to show what was being seen from the cameras in the head cams of the two men from their vantage point at the mouth of the cave. The third guardian had returned. But he was not alone. From where they stood, they could see a crowd of about three hundred people making their way down the valley towards where they were. Daniels asked Hatch to see if he could zoom one of the cameras to get a closer look at what was heading in their direction and as he did so they could see that, to all intent and purpose they were being visited by a tribe of men. They could detect no women in the gathering and all of the men were dressed in three distinct types of garb. Furthermore, they could see no evidence of weaponry apart from a few staves. There was no urgency; it was an orderly march in their direction.

JD asked if the captain had any orders for them and the captain said that there was no provision for this and that they were to ‘play it by ear’ but be careful. This was not comforting to the two men who were by this time being filled with apprehension as to what the next hour would bring.

As they stood looking at the approaching crowd they could hear the two remaining guardians shouting up to them from below. Having attracted their attention they began to beckon to them to come down to the base of the cliff and greet the newcomers. They looked at each other and after deciding that there was no where else to go they reluctantly decided to leave the safety of the cave and trust their fate to the guardians and their tribe.

Standing at the base of the cliff face they were in two minds whether to try to make a run for their cycles or to stay and see what would ensue. As unsure as they felt, they decided to stay. They stood rooted to the spot, every fibre of their body wanted to run. Every muscle was on the verge of involuntary spasm and they were both 
experiencing a feeling that they could throw up at any second. But they fought their inner demons and stayed.

The tribe approached, and as they did so they could see that they did so in three separate columns, all wearing what could only be described as a type of primitive uniform to signify the difference between them.
The front of the column stopped about ten feet in front of them and stayed there until the rest of the column had caught up. When the entire tribe were lined up the leading three men raised their hands in the air and the entire group sat cross legged on the ground. The middle of the three men, who remained standing approached JD and Watkins, followed by the other two. All five men stood there together for a while looking at each other. The three newcomers then fell to one knee and with heads bowed they offered their outstretched hands. Held within their hands were three translucent orange blocks. Embedded into each of these blocks was an extremely old piece of fabric. Each of the artefacts that were being displayed differed slightly from the next, but generally speaking, they were the same. As JD and Watkins looked down at what the tribesmen were holding the image also appeared on the screens on board Alpha. Everyone stared at the screen in total disbelief. None of the crew was prepared for what they saw. What the tribesmen were offering was the original mission badges of Alpha 106.

“Err…OK, well, that was something that I didn’t expect. Captain, I think that this one is a little beyond us where do we go from here?”

Both JD and Watkins were confused and for a while no one spoke. All on board Alpha sat in stunned silence. Eventually the captain managed to break his trance like stare from the screen and became suddenly aware of what he was looking at. Quickly, he gathered his thoughts and asked the computer for a translation. Almost instantly it was available and he instructed JD to repeat it to the tribesmen.

“Please stand up. Come and join us, we have much to discuss.”

There was no time to contact the home world for advice and orders on this situation. This would be a situation where Daniels would have to make decisions based on
the developments that would occur during this encounter, he would report later.

The three leaders plus one other joined John and Matthew in a small hollow at the base of the cliff. The shaded area was large enough to seat all six of them in a circle. They sat cross legged and each of the leaders placed their respective artefact in front of them. The fourth member of the delegation placed a box in front of him. At this point there was no indication as to what it held.

So far this had been a day of surprises. Not, however, as surprising as it was about to get. Daniels instructed JD to become the spokesperson and asked him to relay any message that was offered to him. He then asked the computer for another translation.

“My name is John DeVie and this is my colleague Matthew Watkins. We have travelled a great distance to be here today”

The three tribesmen exchanged glances with each other and without speaking they nodded in agreement. Then one of them spoke.

“We know who you are. We have been awaiting your arrival for many generations”

All of the crew were shocked. Shocked to the point that all of them jolted in surprise when they heard the tribesman speaking in their native tongue. It was unexpected and it threw them into a momentary panic. People were checking the systems for errors, checking the earpieces to see if there was any anomalies or if they really did hear what they thought they heard. The plain truth of the matter was that the crew and these people shared a common language.

Daniels addressed the crew.

“OK, John, Matthew stay calm, do not panic ask them to give you a moment to…to…erm…to give this situation some thought”

They passed on the message and all was agreed. The party sat quietly waiting.

“Everyone else stay calm, let me think.” For a while he massaged his eyebrows deep in thought, trying to find the best next move. Suddenly it became clear. “Matthew where are your backpacks?” he asked. Watkins replied that they were in the cave. He was then instructed not to alarm the others but to tell them that he had to retrieve something of great importance from the cave and to go and get them. If he had to, he was to invite one of their party to accompany him. Duly, he made the offer but they all declined saying that whatever he had to do, he had to do and that they were his servants. This statement confused everyone but at this time nothing was said. With this he went to get their backpacks.

Part of their expedition kit was spare earpieces. Daniels had decided that
, with their permission, they would use the spare ear pieces to allow greater communications with the crew. Now that things were calming down they had all realised that this was an opportunity that could not be missed. By the time Matthew returned with the back packs DeVie had already been talking with the tribal leaders and secured their consent to place the devices in their ears.

They took the ear pieces from their back pack and showed them to the people before them who looked at them quizzically. Making hand gestures only JD and Watkins suggested that they insert the devices now to which the elders agreed. At this point everyone of the crew remained silent. They then proceeded to insert ear pieces into the ears of the remaining two at which point one of the elders interjected and prevented the fourth member from being fitted with a device. He waved his hand in front of him indicating that he was not to be privy to what was happening to them, he pointed to the main three of the party which suggested that they, and only they, should use whatever it was
. After they had all been fitted with the devices Daniels spoke in a quiet voice and in his own language.

“Do not panic. My name is C
aptain Jason Daniels”

Despite his request for them to stay calm, the sound of this dismembered voice in their heads  was, at first too alien for them to digest and in a minor panic they abruptly got to their feet and started to display outwardly visual signs of panic. This in turn prompted a reaction from the waiting tribes.
Who, started towards the party. Realising that their fellow tribesmen were intent on protecting their leaders using whatever force was necessary the three leaders quickly composed themselves and held out their outstretched arms in such a way that it quelled any uprising instantly. The mob stopped in its tracks and after a questioning look at their leaders and the leaders assuring them that all was well, they returned to their crossed legged positions. JD and Watkins breathed a sigh of relief, as did the rest of the crew. The leaders re-joined the circle ready to talk. Daniels waited a few moments to allow them to settle themselves and to become more accustom to the strange voices in their heads.

“Don’t panic. M
y name is Jason Daniels and I am the leader of a small band of explorers sent here from the sky to collect the information held within the cave above you. We are seven strong but represent a people who number many, many millions. We come from a place called God and we only have limited time in this place. We therefore beseech you allow us to continue our work. We will, as far as possible, not disturb this place and will leave as soon as our mission is complete. However, we would like to learn more about your people. Who are you, where did you come from and most important why are you here now?”

The middle of the three chieftains spoke first.

“In time, all will be revealed to you but first we must facilitate your mission. We have selected members from each of our tribes to assist you in your quest. They number thirty six, twelve from each tribe, and are at your disposal to perform whatever duties you see fit. They are sworn to you and are yours to command.

Also, we bring the sacred gift for you. It has been in our care for two millennia but now it is time to relinquish it to
its rightful owners.”

At this the first elder motioned to the fourth member of their delegation to hand over the box which had sat in front of him since they sat down. Having delivered the package, he was dismissed, and he duly took his place among the ranks.
Watkins received the gift and thanked them. The third elder instructed him to open the box which he did. It contained another block of the orange transparent material but this one was different. Contained within the block was a package and clearly visible was a note it read…This is a record of the crew of Alpha 106, it spans a period of sixty years. This disc is the last record of a mission that we consider to be a complete success. To whoever finds this, please use the information wisely and treat the bearers with ultimate respect as they will treat you. We have lived fulfilled lives and have found a home among these people. Do not grieve for us, celebrate our lives. God speed. MK,GP,BH.

Watkins read out the inscription and when he had finished a wave of emotion washed over the crew. It was a proud emotion for a crew that had died over two
and a half thousand years earlier. Anne Homer wiped a tear from her eye and said “that’s beautiful.” Everyone heard what she had said but it was something she meant and felt no embarrassment for saying it. Daniels said that he was going to dispatch Travis to their location to collect the disc so that it could be processed and transferred back to the home world. Now it was time for the elders to tell their story. Before they began they stood up and faced their brethren and motioned that the selected few should now attend and become the workforce for JD and Watkins. Now that they had a workforce the two men returned to the cave and began work in earnest. They would of course be able to hear what the elders had to say via the ear pieces. The three kings sat with their backs to the cliff face looking out onto their tribes and taking the story in turns, they began.

“We three tribes are the direct descendants of your original mission to this planet. My name is Melchior, this is Balthazar and this is Gaspar. We are the current kings of our tribes. Our names are inherited when we take our rightful place and directly reflect the original names of our forefathers. Everyone is only known by one name, so, in our history the name of each member of the trinity was shortened to suit.
We are each strong nations and from the teachings we have always known that this day would come. We, and generations before us, have been expecting this day for hundreds of years. Our scriptures began on the first day of their arrival and have continued ever since. The place where we are now is the most sacred of all places to our tribes it was selected by your people to be the place at where the records lie. It is called
Secacah
, and has been protected day and night by specially trained members of our tribes since records began. At this time there are four chambers containing our complete history from day one.

At first there were only the three of them but over time they took wives, had children and attracted followers to their way of life. Before long their community had grown to such an extent that they were attracting attention from outsiders. The attention was not always welcome and for many years the tribe experienced many losses due to malicious attacks from outsiders. It was decided by the trinity that it would be better to split the tribe into three distinct tribes each
being led by one of the trinity, and that our ancestors should shun outside contact in favour of a more secluded existence and through this we have lived a peaceful way of life for hundreds of years. We are a simple people who live off the land, and due to the teaching and guidance of our elders throughout the years, we have become self sufficient and have no need of others.