Earth Before Man

by Allan E Petersen

  They all stood stunned watching the shadow. Pia too saw the ghost but refused to accept its reality. She was sure it must be a trick of the light. The one thing she knew for sure was that she was too smart to see something like this and think it was real.

  Oblivious to being spotted, the dark spirit walked up to the farthest capsule and slowly swiped his hand through the metal and then through the head of the poor soul in it. It was not a big explosion, more of a ‘pop’ but it was enough for Santo to understand that like the Rosetta book and notes amassed by Zak, this shadow was eradicating the body in there along with valuable DNA that for some reason the Anannaki did not want the humans to have.

  Knowing how important the DNA was to Maria, Santo ran toward it yelling,

  “It is destroying all the specimens and their DNA.”

  His intention was to tackle the specter and prevent the destruction of the DNA but on contact quickly realized the folly of tackling a shadow. He passed right through it and crashed into the wall. To the shadow, it was as if nothing had happened. It did not seem to care that a human had run through him or that others were in the room watching his destructive mission. They could not do anything to stop him.

  As if to guard the coffin containing the most valuable DNA of all, that of the Anannaki, Maria bravely stood between it and the approaching shadow. She screamed at Santo,

  “Stop him.”

  There was nothing he could do but helplessly watch it destroy the contents of each coffin and coming closer to Maria’s treasure. It was a hopeless situation. Fearing that the fatal touch of the shadow could also erase the DNA of living humans, Santo ordered everybody out of the cave. Pia and Kirk ran up to Henrik but Maria stubbornly refused to budge from her prize. She was postured as a ferocious dog bearing teeth protecting its bone.

  Santo noticed another danger. Right behind the destructive shadow was a visible distortion of the air. It wavered as if a heatwave off the desert sands. Looking into it there was nothing to see, as if everything had disappeared. Kirk recognized what was happening and yelled at Santo,

  “It’s a dimensional warp bubble just like the one Jessika activated and almost engulfed us. Run Santo. If it touches you, you will be sent into another dimension.”

  Looking back at the rolling distortion coming closer, Santo had good reason to assume Kirk was correct.

  As everything behind the shadow disappeared into goodness knows where or what world, Santo started a fast run to safety. It was clear that Maria was oblivious to the danger, still stubbornly standing by the Anannaki coffin to protect her DNA. She screamed at the approaching shadow and the bubble of death behind him,

  “Stay away from my DNA.”

  On his mad dash out of the cave, Santo did not slow his run. He grabbed Maria by the waist, swept her off her feet and whisked her to safety.

  All stood at the entrance and watched the shadow pass his hand through the rest of the metallic capsules and explode the DNA inside their bodies. From the elation of discovering what was desperately needed to save the true creation of man, to the bitter disappointment of seeing it all end was too much for Maria. She stood there helpless and fighting back tears. It was clear that whoever or whatever this shadow was, it was his duty to stop her from getting the precious DNA. It was an Anannaki fighting to save their species.

  The shadow was now at the last capsule and the bubble of death was right behind him still devouring everything in its path. Maria stood slumped watching the bubble destroy the Anannaki coffin, her last hope and dream for humanity. Suddenly Santo remembered what the Snow Monk in the red cape had given him to combat the Anannaki shadows. He ran back to the D-wing and returned with the Snow Monk’s weapon in hand.

  When the shadow approached the entrance to the cave, everybody ran away except Maria. As the shadow raised his hand to her forehead, everybody screamed at her to run but she could not. Desolation and bitter defeat had pulled everything from her body. She stood frozen staring at the approaching executioner.

  As Santo ran toward her, he understood that he would not be able to close the gap in time to pull the trigger on the device. At a dead run but still far away, he aimed and pressed the button. True to their claim, it transmitted a frequency disruptive to the shadow. With a dark hand inches from a mesmerized Maria’s head, the disruptive frequency had the same effect as turning a bright light onto a dark shadow. As if by magic, it disappeared. Still unaware of what could have happened, Maria did not care. Wherever it had gone or whatever happened to it, her precious DNA went with it.

  Thinking that everybody was now safe, sighs of relief echoed through the cave. Pia turned to Henrik and although not admitting that he was right about seeing strange things, it was in her eyes. Her acceptance was deep felt and although trying, he was unable to hold back a slight, ‘I told you so’ smirk. Like a defeated General suddenly losing a battle, Maria lowered her head and walked away from the cavern. Just as she passed Henrik, he once again pointed into the cave and yelled, “Look!” Santo snapped around and saw the danger. Although Santo may have sent the shadow to oblivion, whatever he did, it had not affected the rolling intrusion of another dimension. The devouring bubble was still slowly coming at them.

  Standing in what they thought was the safety of the main cave and watching everything disappear into another dimension it quickly became painfully clear that it was not stopping just at that room. To everyone’s horror, it was now slowly oozing into the main chamber. The realization and fear of what was coming at them hit everybody at once. Maria was the first to yell,

  “We have to get out of here.”

  Santo snapped around to see the lone two-seat D-wing in the cave and recognized the hopelessness of them all getting out of here, at least safely. He did not want to know where they would end up if devoured by the bubble. His biggest fear was not where but rather having his atoms scattered through the universe. He only knew one thing for sure. Not all of them were getting out of here alive. Turning back to the consuming bubble now in the main cave, he yelled at Henrik,

  “You and Pia use the D-wing and get out of here.”

  As they jumped into the cockpit, Pia looked at Maria and sadly stated the obvious.

  “But it’s the only one here. How will the rest of you get out?”

  Maria understood the urgency but also that there might be a solution. She looked to Henrik and with a tinge of hopefulness, said,

  “Just get to the edge of the lake, jump out and set the auto controls to navigate a return command. It will come back to us.”

  Henrik nodded and Pia objected,

  “But there will not be enough time to get you all out.”

  Maria looked back at the destructive bubble and said,

  “There will be if you stop arguing. Just go.”

  As the canopy closed, Pia did not hear Maria’s final desperate request, “and please hurry back.”

  Kirk was intently staring at the advancing bubble and mentally timing its forward motion. Even with a limited knowledge of mathematics, it did not take much to figure out that no matter how fast the D-wing returned, he drew the same conclusion as Santo, not everybody will make it out alive.

  Maria ran over to the cave where the alien spacecraft and Dr. Marls was. She presumed that despite everything going on out here, he was still deeply preoccupied with trying to figure out how to operate them. She yelled into the cave,

  “Doctor, get out here right away.”

  She was not surprised at his reply.

  “I’m a busy man. What do you want now?”

  There was desperation in her voice, more of a scream than an angry request.

  “You get the hell out here right now!”

  By either desperation or anger, perhaps both, her yelling suggested he obey right away. As he came into view, his grouchiness prevailed, asking,

  “What? I was busy.”

  It was then that he saw the dimensional death slowly rolling toward them and asked a fair question.

  �
�What the hell is that?”

  Half of the cave was now gone, or perhaps had entered another dimension. It had also expanded into the cave of the alien crafts. Maria glanced into the cave and saw one of the Anannaki space craft swallowed up. She had called the Doctor out of the cave just in time. The only celebration possible was that she had the foresight of telling Otto to remove the three Great Gray antiquated D-wings to their laboratory in Switzerland first. It was little compensation for the loss of the technology inside the three war ships now being swallowed up.

  All four had now retreated to the last half of the cave not absorbed by the steadily encroaching death. Anxious eyes darted to the holding tank hoping to see the returning D-wing suddenly pop out of the water. Suddenly like a deadly hick-up, the death bubble doubled its expansion rate and in the wink of an eye the overflow tank as well as the underwater tunnel was encompassed. Instantly all four survivors saw hope quickly replaced with sure death. With the entry tunnel gone, the D-wing was not coming back for them.

  All eyes darted back and forth to the remaining part of the cave desperately looking for any sign of hope. Santo would have gladly accepted a miracle. It was then Maria saw hope for two of them. She suddenly ran over to the bubble devouring the holding tank, or as Santo saw it, was running straight toward a sure death. He darted after her. Thankfully she came to a grinding halt inches from the crackling wall.

  She reached dangerously close to it and pulled the two pogo sticks away that Jessika had tossed out of the D-wing. Santo, in his desperate attempt to save her from what he thought was an insane dash toward death but now saw what she was really doing, halted just behind her. Unaware that he was chasing her, holding the two pogo sticks, Maria turned around and saw him come to a grinding halt. Thinking that he came to help pull them away from the destruction, while walking back to safety she casually said,

  “That’s okay, I got them.”

  She approached the befuddled Kirk, pointed to the vertical shaft they had first entered the cave in and said,

  “Take these and the Doctor and get yourselves out of here through the shaft.”

  The doctor had no idea what the pogo sticks were or even a clue what she was offering. Kirk did but it was not an acceptable option. He was adamant in his refusal.

  “No, you are the leader of the House. For the sake of Belle you and Santo take them and get out of here.”

  Determination and desperation quickly surfaced. She yelled strong and clear words at him.

  “There is no time for a debate here. I’m ordering you to do as I say. Get into that shaft while there is still time. When you get to the surface simply drop them back down so Santo and I can use them.”

  Because he was not fully in approval of the plan, he looked to Santo who nodded. Still, his feet only moved when she snapped, “Move it!”

  Both watched as the Doctor and Kirk disappeared into the tunnel.

  Kirk made the mistake of assuming the Doctor knew what the pogo sticks were and how to use them. In the tunnel and below the vertical shaft, Kirk stood on his. He was ready to crank the lever lifting him into the shaft when he noticed the Doctor had not moved.

  “Come on Doc we have to hurry.”

  The pile of human and animal bones against the wall distracted the Doctor. He slowly turned to Kirk and with fear asked,

  “What happened here? Are they the ones who fell?”

  Because of the obvious stalling question, it came to Kirk that the Doctor was afraid and had no idea of how to use the sticks.

  It took a few precious minutes to explain the operation of the stick and convince him to take that first brave step onto the foot lever. Finally, when the Doctor was precariously balanced and floating just a few inches off the floor, Kirk said,

  “Good, now simply turn the lever back and you will float up the shaft with me. What he should have said was ‘gently’ turn the hand control. A timid and very unsteady Doctor, while struggling to keep his balance made the mistake of cranking hard on the lever.

  Although there were safety protocols in the computer program preventing disastrous functions, regardless, the Doctor shot straight up. Unfortunately, he was not under the shaft and smashed his head into the ceiling. Aside from a nasty bump on his head, he was not seriously hurt. There was sarcasm in what Kirk said,

  “Should I have mentioned to get under the shaft before attempting to lift into it?”

  A woozy doctor tried again. He was far from mastering it but time was short and the situation dire. What little control he had of it will have to suffice.

  Kirk was now at the top of the shaft and struggling to pull out the wedge keeping the lid locked in place. Finally, with a great heave, he held the rock in his hand and the lid was free. He forgot that the Doctor was struggling to keep his stick steady and hovering just below him. He dropped the rock and only realized his mistake when hearing a great whimper of pain from below. He yelled down to the Doctor,

  “Be careful doc, there are lose rock up here.”

  With great caution and concern for what might be lurking in the field, Kirk slowly pushed the lid open.

  ***

  Oblivious to the catastrophic destruction of the cave far below them, an irate Inspector Buruk was walking across the field with a guilty Yesin right behind him. Yesin was desperately trying to defend falling asleep while on duty.

  “I swear to you Inspector, he was there and then all of a sudden he wasn’t. I thought maybe he had fallen into the lake or something.”

  He then made the mistake of adding,

  “You fell asleep too, I saw you.”

  The Inspector was not pleased being accused of also sleeping on duty when he was only resting his eyes. There was a big difference. As he snapped around to reprimand Yesin, something out in the field stopped him cold. Seeing the Inspector’s wide eyes and open mouth, Yesin knew there was something going on behind him. He snapped around and too saw what was impossible.

  Members of the Nazarene were not the only ones seeking to escape the dimensional death devouring and expanding down in the cave. Two black spirits floated out of the ground and stood on the field. Rats were abandoning the sinking ship. They seemed confused, looking this way and that perhaps wondering where to go. They may not have known what to do but Inspector Buruk certainly did. He snapped a command,

  “Shoot them!”

  Both reached for their side arms and before even aiming, fired a volley in the direction of the dark shadows. It was irrelevant that half of the shots missed for even the ones that found their target went through them as if they were only bad dreams. The lost souls were not even aware of the bullets. Two stunned soldiers watched as the dark spirits did the only thing they could do. They drifted straight up to become stranded on Earth joining the forever drifting journey of the clouds. Both men stood agape. Stunned and in disbelief, both turned around and ran off the field.

  ***

  Kirk heard the shots but there was no time to reconnoiter the land and no time to make sure it was safe. Regardless of what was in the field, he cranked hard on the lever and shot out of the shaft. Landing, he jumped off his pogo stick and yelled down to the Doctor.

  “Hurry Doc, we have to toss these things back down the shaft right away.”

  Perhaps he should not have used the word ‘hurry’, for when hearing it, the Doctor panicked and again cranked back on the hand control. He shot out of the shaft and like a screaming firecracker at a fireworks display.

  Both Inspector Buruk and Yesin were not completely off the field and heard the horrific screaming. Thinking that the dark Spirits were after them, with firearms at the ready, both bolted around to defend themselves against things they forgot bullets had no effect on. At a distance, they saw the Doctor shooting out of the shaft upside down and hanging on for dear life to one of the handles. Despite the screaming, he was lucky enough to hear Kirk yell up at the quickly disappearing Doctor,

  “Crank back! Turn the handle back!”

  It was a comedy of
errors. Both stunned soldiers watched as the Doctor zipped horizontally across the field while desperately holding on to a strange looking stick. Yesin thought it was a witch flying upside down on her broom. They watched as the screaming man somehow managed to get his feet back on the footrests and gain control of whatever he was trying to do. Eventually he abruptly landed at the feet of the other man. The Inspector and Yesin watched as they threw the two sticks down a shaft and quickly ran off the field toward the lake. Now their only dilemma was whether they should report what they had seen or for the sake of simplicity and fear of reprisals from their superiors, keep their mouth shut. Both holstered their weapons and slowly returned to the village with the wisdom of a shut mouth.

  At the bottom of the shaft, Santo and Maria were impatiently waiting for Kirk to drop the pogo sticks back down to them. Suddenly she heard a crackling sound like crumpling paper and inquisitively looked over her shoulder. There was just time to scream at Santo who was preoccupied, looking up into the shaft waiting for the pogo sticks to return when she grabbed his arm and ran as fast as she could with him in tow. Not sure what the panic was, he figured it out fast enough when looking back. The encroaching dimensional bubble had broken through the tunnel wall just inches from where they were standing.