Earth Before Man

by Allan E Petersen

  Although Santo had practiced many scenarios and felt he was capable of the task, he was glad to hand the complicated matter over to somebody with more experience. Curiously, Quastima turned the screen away from Santo and said,

  “Stay like that. Don’t let them see you.”

  From that angle, Santo could just barely see the screen but understood nobody on the other end could see him. He wanted a better look at it but recognized the situation. He watched as Quastima placed his thumb on the proper key and spoke.

  “Sky Person is calling the leader of the Great Gray Council.”

  Surprisingly, at least to Santo, the screen lit up and the face of a very old and wrinkled Great Gray appeared. Through the translation program, he heard the ancient Gray say,

  “What a surprise it is to see a Sky Person calling from the planet Earth. By this time you must be the last of that pitiful race.”

  Ignoring the insult, Quastima replied,

  “Sadly that is true. I am the last of a great race.”

  The reply was insensitive.

  “Do not be so sad, your race was never that great.”

  Santo understood why Quastima claimed to be the last of his race. He was protecting Liana.

  The Great Gray looked hard at Quastima and added another offense to a once proud race.

  “You look old and feeble. I suppose it will not be long before you too die and the Universe will finally be rid of the pesky Sky People.”

  Taking it in stride, the reply equaled the impoliteness.

  “How unfortunate that your race does not age gracefully. It is well that you have never invented a mirror.”

  Because the conversation was going in the wrong direction, information being the main purpose of the call, Santo put up a halting hand and shook his head. Although seeing the request for tact and diplomacy, Quastima ignored it. Santo heard the Great Gray say,

  “Tell me Sky Man, why are you bothering me?”

  As Quastima related the story of the humans slowly assimilating into Anannaki DNA, although the Gray was listening, Santo could not help but notice there was a touch of indifference in him. Quastima continued,

  “So you see, although your great enemy the Anannaki has reached their evolutionary time, now unable to replicate their DNA sequencing, it must of course greatly please you. Now there will not be a great planetary war between you. The end DNA sequencing has defeated them for you.”

  The Gray scoffed and said,

  “Ha, you think the end of their DNA evolutionary cycle was by nature? You are as foolish as you look. We are the ones who initiated that fragmentation program into their spirals. Generations ago, it was our scientists who hacked into their genome sequence and through a virus eventually sterilized that sequencing. Although it took some time, we have won a war without weapons and very little cost.”

  Santo was astonished to hear that it was possible to de-code DNA but Quastima seemed to take it all in stride. He said to the gloating Great Gray,

  “It is you who are the stupid ones. How did you ever struggle up the evolutionary scale? Did you think they would just sit back and watch themselves disappear from creation? Generations ago they came to this planet to regenerate their failing DNA.”

  Then with a large degree of hostility he added,

  “You fool. Within a few generations from now all the inhabitants of this planet will be giving birth to Anannaki. You have not eliminated them but rather helped them proliferate. Soon the inhabitants of this planet will be your sworn enemy. Are you prepared to let the Anannaki return from the brink of extinction only to propagate here? If you do not help the humans, you will be responsible for their annihilation and the continuation of the Anannaki. All the humans are asking for is the data you have that will free their DNA from the Passive Genetic Colonization strain initiated by the Anannaki.

  It was not the reply Quastima was hoping for. Apparently logic was not in the Great Gray cards.

  “That may be so, but we care little for the inhabitants of Earth. We have excommunicated Earth and its evil inhabitants from our Council. To us, they no longer exist.”

  Santo thought it was a little insulting. The great Gray continued.

  “The obstinate creations denied our teachings and have become a bitter disappointment to us.”

  Quastima cut in.

  “That was in the past. You have to admit that it was by your hand the Anannaki came to be your enemy. You tampered with the Anannaki Passive Genetic Colonization of Earth. You tampered with human DNA trying to erase what you referred to as the flaw in God’s creation of man, the so-called ‘killer gene’. You tried to improve man’s creation by breeding it out of them. By doing so, it was you who set the Anannaki time schedule of complete regeneration of their DNA back by thousands of years.”

  Santo leaned forward a little more than he should have and the Great Gray saw his face come onto the screen. In anger, he bellowed,

  “Why is there a human with you?”

  Understanding that he was caught, Santo contributed to the plea of getting the information Maria needed to neutralize what the Anannaki had done. He said to the Great Gray,

  “It is of great concern and regret to us as members of the House of the Nazarene that you left us. You have it in your records who really killed Kalian. You know it was the Duchess, a leader of the House handpicked by you to lead it. You know it was not all of humanity but simply the foul deed of a woman who had evil intentions toward you. Do not blame us all for what one human did to you.”

  A snide remark from the Great Gray transferred through the dimension.

  “No matter. We no longer listen to barking dogs.”

  Santo shot back.

  “I must agree with my honorable friend here. It appears that the once Great Grays have become complacent if not outright stupid.”

  Quastima nodded his approval of Santo’s tactic. Santo continued,

  “Even a child is smart enough to heed the warning of a barking dog. Apparently, it has somehow escaped you that humans will eventually mutate into the Anannaki. They will then grow to be abundant and strong, a gift from you. You know they wanted to start a war with you and that is why you destabilized their DNA. You intended to eliminate them. Now, without your help to stop the recolonization of this planet, they will bring their terrible weapons of destruction with them and be ten times stronger. Stop that war now and give me the code to stop our transformation to Anannaki. If you help the human female stop the passive genetic takeover of this planet, you will force the Anannaki to stay on their own planet and eventually their DNA sequencing will unravel and be no more. You must try to think better of what I am asking of you.”

  There was a pause, the Gray looking to his right. Eventually he said,

  “The answer is no. We have excommunicated the planet Earth from the Council records. You are no longer a concern or interest to us. It pains us to be of assistance and by that, your plea will go unfulfilled. We do not fear the Anannaki.”

  Again Santo stayed with Quastima’s negotiation tactic. He yelled at the screen.

  “Indeed you are stupid. Do you really want a declining enemy to regroup and become stronger than you? Would you rather confront a weak enemy of dying Anannaki on their own planet or millions of strong ones on this planet? All we are asking for is the computer formula written in your book that would neutralize or destroy what the Anannaki has done to our DNA turning us into them. You have the power to prevent that from happening. You can guarantee the extinction of an enemy so your kind can live in peace forever. You must think with a better mind than you are now doing.”

  Again the Great Gray looked away from the screen, this time to his left. It was clear that he was somehow communicating with somebody off screen. Santo looked to Quastima who was nodding. A few minutes later, they heard,

  “Very well. For a human, there is logic in what you say. With the understanding that animosity between the Earthlings and us remain intolerable, with no intent to forgive the murde
r of Kalian, we have agreed to send you the correcting formula.”

  Quastima quickly cut in,

  “Transmit that data to this computer using human equations so I can download it to her computers.”

  The screen then went blank and Santo anxiously asked,

  “Did you get it?”

  Quastima patted the computer and nodded.

  As Quastima got up to leave, he spit a wad of sugar root into the bowl. When they left the discombobulated room, Santo, with the computer safely tucked under his arm hoped all would be right side up once they got outside. As the intolerable heat and bright sun slammed into Santo, it took him a few seconds to get used to the way things were supposed to be. Walking toward Liana, still enjoying the shade under the tree, Quastima said to Santo,

  “You may not be able to handle women but you can certainly handle the Great Grays.”

  Liana’s jungle instinct told her danger was coming. Looking over her shoulder, she saw both men approach. She quickly spit out her wad of sweet root. Once Santo was under the protection of the shade, she asked,

  “Did those Gray obstinate fools give you what you needed?”

  Santo patted the computer and nodded. Liana then said,

  “Maria will still need to get Anannaki DNA as a comparative sample. Good luck getting something like that.”

  Not deterred from the difficult task Santo said,

  “I just might have that figured out.”

  As he walked toward his D-wing he heard them arguing.

  “You have been chewing sweet root in that stupid man cave of yours haven’t you.”

  “No I haven’t. Besides, I can smell your breath. You were chewing on it while I was in there.”

  Chapter 38

  As Santo flew to the Amazon seeking Quastima’s help with the so-called babble box, Maria was in the cave looking around. It looked different this time. In just one day Kirk had turned it into a major research project. Stacks of equipment cluttered the floor. She looked to Kirk and said,

  “You’ve made a few changes.”

  Proud, he waved his hand through the cave and said,

  “Come on, I’ll show you around.”

  At one end of the cave was a table with a selection of soup and sandwiches. He explained,

  “We call this our cafeteria.”

  She was quick to smell the elixir of caffeine and made a beeline to the coffee urn. She quickly guzzled a few gulps down. Holding the steaming coffee cup in her hand, she waited for him to continue the tour. Instead, she saw him staring at her in amazement and therefore was prompted to ask, “What?” He pointed to the coffee in her hand and said,

  “That’s fresh coffee, it’s steaming hot and you just guzzled it.”

  She just waved him off as if it were nothing and he wondered what else he did not know about his boss.

  He was about to show her what Jessika had been up to when she stopped him, saying,

  “I’d like an air quality and toxicology report first if you don’t mind. Where is this Pia woman, the alien toxicology and micro-organism expert from Spain I sent you?”

  Kirk stopped dead in his tracks. It was clear that Maria had never met Pia and was now in for a surprise. Maria wondered why there was a sly grin about him.

  Looking around, he saw Pia over at her table mixing something in a test tube and aiming a laser at it. Pointing, he led Maria to the table. Kirk was right. Maria had never seen Pia. When asking the Spanish laboratory for their best toxicology and micro-organism expert, she naturally assumed it would be an adult. As they approached Pia, there was still enough distance between them for Maria to safely whisper,

  “Is that really her?”

  Kirk’s reply was not a whisper, rather deliberately loud.

  “Yup.”

  At the table, Pia was disturbed from her analyzes by two people seemingly sneaking up on her. A sixth sense made her turn around to meet the intruders. She knew who Kirk was but knew nothing about the woman standing next to him. Kirk politely announced,

  “Pia, this is our boss, Professor Espinoza.”

  Recovered from seeing a little girl, Maria stuck out her hand. Pia pulled off her latex glove and accepted the greeting. Maria smiled and said,

  “It’s a pleasure Pia, I’ve heard so much about you.”

  She was quick and smart enough to add,

  “And your work.”

  While still holding her hand, Maria continued,

  “I usually severely punish people who introduce me as Professor Espinoza. Maria will do just fine.”

  It was strange how both slowly turned to Kirk, tilted their head, and jointly produced a most sly smirk. He quickly calculated the odds, two against one was a formula for defeat. A good soldier knows when to stand down. Maria then turned to Pia and asked,

  “I’m worried about this many people in here all at once. How is the air quality?”

  Instantly liking her boss, especially the quirk about using only first names, Pia reported,

  “That is one of the many mysteries to be solved. Despite a closed environment and considering the amount of people here, there should be much more carbon dioxide in the air. Right now I am reading a mixture of 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen. That’s pretty close to our atmosphere but not exactly. The air in here is slightly different than outside. I suspect that something around here is scrubbing the air, perhaps a filtration system or something. There is also a higher than normal concentration of moister in the air. I suspect it might have something to do with that entry tunnel under the lake.”

  Kirk and Maria turned to look at the basin at the far end of the cave where the entry and exit drain was located. Pia continued,

  “I think what scrubs the carbon dioxide out is that whenever a D-wing comes in from under the lake, it pushes water into that holding cistern creating a variance in air pressure. The incoming water pushes volumes of air out of the cave and an equalizing vent returns it.”

  Maria voiced her suspicion.

  “So there is some sort of natural air circulation going on. That coincides with my suspicion about another vent being here somewhere. ”

  Pia agreed, saying,

  “Exactly. Where that vent is, is just one of the many mysteries of this place.”

  Pia then looked to Kirk and added,

  “I think something like that should be low on the floor somewhere.”

  That was all Maria wanted to know, the air quality was acceptable for human habitation. She was about to thank Pia for her contribution when Pia added,

  “There is one other thing.”

  A nod indicated for her to continue.

  “It’s at the end of the tunnel where the skeletons are. I suspect that tube you discovered might be an emergency exit in case something bad happens here. Because of the trip lever at the top, over the years animals and a few humans managed to step on it and fall to their death. Naturally, whenever death and decomposition are present you expect to see parasites and bugs crawling around. I know it has been years, and yes, probably hundreds of years but still there should be some remnant of them around or at the least an indication of a virus. Nothing. There is no contaminant. This cave is mysteriously germ and virus free.”

  Maria thanked her for her diligence. Before leaving her to work in peace, Kirk offered another olive branch to Pia. Making sure Pia could hear, he said to Maria,

  “You chose her well. She has done an exceptional job for us, not to mention saving our lives.”

  He then told Maria how they discovered an opening to one of the two hidden caves. She heard how a mysterious dimensional warp was accidently created and how Pia saved them from being absorbed by it and sent to goodness knows where. Hearing this, Pia pretended to sneer at Kirk. However, it was forced and he understood the real meaning behind the fakery. As they left her to her work, Maria realized it was strange that the air could be so pure and sterile in a cave sealed for thousands of years. She accepted the possibility of the undulating water in the basin might act
like a pump but also understood that for the few times the D-wings had come and gone, in just a few days that was not enough to clear all the air bringing it back to purity. Allegedly, the cave was untouched and the air quality was stagnating for thousands of years. Something else was filtering the air.

  While walking around a couple of crates piled in the middle of the floor, Maria saw Jessika at the computer panel. As they approached, Kirk said,

  “Although by accident, it was Jessika who discovered how to open a door to that other cave.”

  Jessika was standing at the panel frustrated because she could not get a satisfactory understanding of the complexities of the controls. There was no rhyme or reason to what she perceived to be only a random scattering of keys and levers. Considering what happened the last time she tinkered with them, restraint was now in control. Better put, fear was preventing her from tampering with them.

  When Kirk called her name, she snapped around and saw Maria. She also reached up to swipe a dangling blond hair out of her eyes. He saw that as damn sexy while Maria saw it as bloody annoying. Every time she did that, and it was often, Maria wished she had a pair of scissors in her pocket. She again heard the story of how the hidden cave was revealed and how Pia saved them. Maria spun around looking for the cave and Kirk took the hint. As they walked away from the frustrated Jessika, Maria said,

  “If you need help understanding the alien characters, call Zak Zander in on it.”