by J. K. Haugen
John looked back at the pictures of the devastation on the monitor. “I know I sound like some kinda nut-ball conspiracy theorist, but after reading the scrolls and seeing all this down here and now it looks like the surface world has lost its mind. I’m not too sure that there isn’t more happening here than they want anyone to know about.”
John had obvious fear and concern in his voice. “Ayden, mute audio please,” he said, “but stay connected to the system while we are in range in case we want to hear more.”
“Understood.” said Ayden.
“We have got to find a way out of here.” he thought. “Ayden, can the communication system that receives these signals, send any signals out?”
“Yes John,” he answered, as his holographic image again appeared in front of them, “however it is unlikely that anyone would be monitoring the signal on the surface.”
“Well it’s worth a shot, right? Let’s give it a try.” said Sarah.
“Okay, the CHD can record a repeatable message that can be continually broadcast through the system. If a response is received I will open that channel for 2-way communication. You may begin recording when you are ready” said Ayden.
John began to speak in a slow and determined pace…
“…Hello, My Name is John Williams. Can anyone hear this message? We have crashed our helicopter and are now trapped underground. There are two of us who have survived the crash, the pilot Dr. Sarah Warren and me. We are alive but need help, please respond on this frequency. Again this is John Williams and we have been in a helicopter crash. If anyone can hear my voice, please respond…”
“Message has been sent.” said Ayden. “I will alert you if a response is received.”
“What did you mean when you said it was unlikely that anyone would be monitoring the signal from the surface?” asked Sarah.
“The DCCS has been transmitting a base signal for 223,489,687 rotations. And has not received one response from the surface as of yet.”
“That’s like 600,000 years!” shouted John. “That can’t be right.”
“According to the satellite data the system has received, it is an accurate estimate.” answered Ayden.
“What was that base signal’s purpose?” asked Sarah.
“It was sent to the surface and into space as a welcome beacon originally, looking for any signs of intelligent life. The message,” he continued, “was later changed to include a warning of my peoples impending demise. In a way, it was a call for help.” said Ayden.
“How do you know that?” asked Sarah.
“Because… I wrote the message.” Ayden said with sad eyes and a heavy heart.
“So it was kind of like our S.E.T.I program aimed into space listening for signals?” Sarah asked intrigued.
“More like the Pioneer 10 space ship and the newer voyager craft we sent out.” said John. “It has onboard, a gold record that plays music and animal sounds and a message of peace. It also has plaques that show pictures of our race and location using star charts and our solar system for reference. It contains mathematic calculations and other things. Just in case it comes across any other life forms out there, they will know who and where we are.”
“Unfortunately,” said Ayden, “our signal was never answered and my people did not survive.” He looked down at the ground with sadness.
“Why did you assume that someone out there would answer?” asked John.
“Well, because when the Council found the lost pages from the Beclay, they learned that our planet once had a race of people before us,” answered Ayden, “and they had left our world to find a new home. It tells a story of some of them returning later, thousands of years before I was born, to give us the Beclay, and to guide us in our lives and evolution and to warn us. Their leader, some say, was Agodah and his son was sent back here to save us.”
“The man in the white robe.” said Sarah, with a soft tone of intrigue in her voice.
“Yes,” said Ayden, “and so, we believed that if they came back once, that they surely would return if they knew we were in trouble…but I believe now, that if they received the message it would have taken them too long, hundreds of thousands of solar rotations, to get back here. We would have already been gone and a new race of people would just have been born…your people. However, I do not know if our saviors ever came back for us.”
“Can you read us those passages from the Beclay?” asked John.
“I’m afraid not,” answered Ayden, “this information was accessed from a memory file from the real Ayden. The actual story is included in the pages that he hid in the city. They will have greater detail than the brief memory files included in my personality program.”
“Then we need to go to the city and find them.” said Sarah.
“Oh, now you trust him?” asked John with a smile.
“No, but if he is telling us the truth,” she said, “we could be on the verge of solving the greatest mystery that mankind has ever known. We have to go…now!”
Chapter 7
~City Gates~
As the three of them continued on their journey, Sarah asked Ayden for more stories. She was curious and wanted to hear more from the Beclay and more about Ayden’s race and the race of people who came before them.
As they came to what seemed to be the main entrance and exit to the mall-like complex, John and Sarah began to walk faster as their minds began to imagine what might await them outside.
John put his hand on the control panel next to the large door that led outside and Whoosh!! The door slid up into the ceiling. Johns face filled with disappointment and a bit of fear, as he stood silent staring at what appeared to be an opening into a large main water tube. It looked like a bus stop, or tram stop that you would see in any major metropolitan city. But there was nothing else around only one large tunnel that the tube ran down.
“I thought we were in the city.” thought John.
“Well, looks like more water slides!” laughed Sarah.
“Just great!” answered John with sarcasm in his voice and rolling his eyes.
Ayden’s voice came again from the CHD, “As you travel, I will access the tubule’s audio system and tell you what I have in my memory about the city.”
“That’s good Ayden” said Sarah.
“I’m not sure if I am ready for another ride,” said John, as his voice trembled, “I can’t take much more excitement.”
“No Worries!!” said Sarah. “It’ll be fun Johnny. Come on, let’s go!”
Ayden’s projection, again quickly disappeared, and John and Sarah walked through the opening in the tube. As the water began to fill the tube, John felt his heart began to beat fast and hard. He began to fight with his own anxiety and he felt like he might pass out from the mixture of his fear and hyperventilation. Sarah noticed his angst and quickly grabbed his hands.
Once again he began to feel peace as he gazed into her eyes. The water began to rise. It was almost up to John’s chin, and had already passed Sarah’s mouth and nose. He squeezed her hands and bent his knees lowering is head and face to Sarah’s level. If he was going to drown…again, at least he would be staring into the face of the most beautiful woman he had ever known.
As his eyes sunk beneath the water he noticed Sarah smiling at him, her mouth slightly open. She was no longer holding her breath and John noticed she was breathing. He closed his eyes and once again let out all the air he had desperately been holding in. He took a big gulp of the water and sucked it into his lungs as he opened his eyes. Sarah, still holding his hands, said, “You’re ok Johnny, come on, just don’t fight it.”
John smiled, as she gave him a wink. “Wow,” he said, “I am never gonna get used to that!”
Sarah had a look on her face, as if in her mind she was thinking, “What a big baby.” She then said, “It’s not as bad as you make it, Johnny.”
“Yes it is,” he said back, with an un-easy grin. “Ayden,” he spoke out loud, “are you there?”
“Yes John, I am here,” Ayden’s voice seemed to surround them, “I am now connected to the audio system, we should be able to communicate freely.”
“What information in your memory do you have on the City of Tamarac?” asked John.
“I have a memory file of Ayden’s,” he answered, “that contains a description of the city and what he knew of its history and beginnings. I also have a chapter of the Beclay, that talks about a magnificent city in a hill that was to be created in honor of Agodah. Which would you like to hear first?”
“Let’s hear the story from the Beclay.” said John inquisitively.
“Okay!” said Ayden…
Chapter 8
~The City in the Hill~
“…Agodah sent the man in the white robe to teach us and to protect us. He told the man that one day he was to have the people construct a massive city project that would connect all the peoples of the world to each other, a Magnificent City in a hill. ‘Surely the people will find this to be an impossible task!’ the man told Agodah.
Agodah replied by telling him that when the time came, he was to convince the people to begin the incredible project. He was to assure them that if they started the project, it would convince Agodah of their love and faith in him. He would also need to tell them that Agodah would help them to complete the city.
He would give them the power, to find, create, and move the tremendous amounts of ground and materials that would be needed to complete the task. They were to trust in this new found power to move society into a new enlightened era, where they would be closer to Agodah then ever in their history.
The main part of the city was to be the size of an entire island and placed in the very center of the world’s land mass. Like a giant web, the city was to be connected to every far reaching corner of the world. So that every people from every land could easily meet in the central city to worship Agodah and come together as a single unified people.
The city would be a monument to the universe and a reminder of Agodah’s divine power. It would be a beacon of hope and prosperity to all the peoples of the world for the rest of time…
This is how our city is said to have been created and this (power) that Agodah had given the people was the knowledge of the very workings of nature and the world around them. It led us to incredible advancements in our technology.
This knowledge is said to be hidden within the city in the Library of Agodah. They say it had been hidden away for tens of thousands of rotations and only a select few, the ones chosen by Agodah to protect it, have had access to the library. Some had said, that all of the most recent advancements were not just thought up and invented by anyone, but actually released knowledge from the library. And that each Compania who is credited with the inventions, were just given the technology and asked not to tell anyone where or how they were able to come up with such wonders.
When Agodah first gave this power to our people he warned that if too much of this new found power was used at one time that it would surely lead to our destruction and so, over a great amount of time, the knowledge would be slowly released by the protectors, for the advancement and good of the people.”
“That is all the Beclay has on the City,” said Ayden, “but I also have extensive memories from the real Ayden about Tamarac, if you would like to ask me some questions.”
“So if I understand correctly,” said John, “the city was built long before Ayden’s generation? And his people had just lived there as long as their entire recorded history? That doesn’t make much sense to me. How is it that they could have no actual memory of their own city being constructed, only a short story from their Beclay.”
“Yes,” answered Ayden, ‘my people seemed to have always lived in the city. The city had grown and expanded and had been upgraded with new technology over many thousands of rotations, but as far as Ayden’s memory shows, the city had always been there.” he said.
“What descriptions of the city can you find in your memory Ayden?” John asked, wondering what they might expect to see when they got there.
Ayden continued… “The walls of the city are carved right from the stones of the cavern. The ancient builders did not use walls for protection, as they had no wars nor any enemies to fear, but they were for determining the boundaries for each separate part of the city. Each wall is polished to a shine and is light in color so that the light and heat from the sun will be reflected throughout the entire city.”
“Where did they get enough oxygen for everyone, so far under the ground?” asked John.
“Air from the surface did at one time get pumped into the city caverns,” said Ayden, “but eventually it was no longer needed as the plants and trees and terrariums grew large enough to scrub the carbon dioxide and replenish enough oxygen to make the city completely self-sufficient and separated from the outside world. Water is also plentiful from the Source, so there is no reason for pumping fresh water from the outside.”
“It sounds incredible!” said Sarah.
“What is truly incredible,” continued Ayden, “is, at the center of the city, the largest structure ever built by our people. Our learning and worship building. It gives us all the power we could ever need. I have discovered from your internet, that you would call it a pyramid. Not only is this the largest structure in the city but it is also the oldest. It is designed to harness all the power of our Almitay, and send the signal to every inch of the city.”
“Really?” asked Sarah. “How?”
“The angles, size, and shape of the structure create an amplifier that takes in all the power from the people who learn and worship there.” he answered. “As well as all the power from the earth itself and it is stored at the very tip of the pyramid. The shafts that move through the pyramid are lined with what you call granite, this is a radioactive stone. It also releases a radioactive gas into the air. We call it the living stone.”
“I always knew that the pyramids weren’t just burial chambers and tombs!” said Sarah excitedly.
“The design is meant to collect and send an electrical signal through the shafts and up to the top.” said Ayden as he continued. “The golden tip stone at the top is made from an ancient material that was left here by Agodah and the man in the white robe. It was one of the first bits of knowledge that was given to the builders, and it allows the Almitay to be stored, transformed and then broadcast in every direction. This is what powers our city and all of our technology and allows us to communicate with each other, both on a verbal and, subconsciously emotional, level.”
“What do you mean, subconsciously emotional?” asked John.
“Well John,” said Ayden, “we all work and live almost as one mind with thousands of voices in perfect spiritual harmony. This has allowed my people to evolve, create, and prosper at an incredibly advanced rate.”
“So everyone knows what everyone else is thinking?” asked Sarah. “Privacy must not be a very easy thing to get where you’re from huh?”
“I see from your internet,” continued Ayden, “that one of your scientists in your early 20th century used the same principles, trying to give free wireless energy to the world.”
“Oh yeah?” asked John. “Who?”
“It was called the Tesla tower.” he answered. “It works very much like ours does. It harnesses negatively charged particles from water running through a limestone quarry underneath the tower and uses shafts very much like the ones we use to move the energy up to the top of the tower to be broadcast. It is a shame that someone went to such lengths to stop his research, or your people might have use of the Almitay as we did.”
“What about the whole reading each other’s minds, and privacy thing?” Sarah asked again.
“To answer your question Sarah, when we use the Almitay, we still have control over what we share. It is a bit like your cell phone network that I discovered hidden in all the signals from the surface.”
John slapped the palm of his hand to his forehead and just about bumped his head
on the ceiling of the tube as he rolled over and looked up at Sarah. “What?” he said franticly. “You can access our cell phone towers? Why didn’t you say so?” he added in disbelief. “Can you send a signal? Ya know…make a…a phone call?” he asked. His voice was trembling with excitement.
“Yes John, I believe I can.” said Ayden in an almost bragging manner.
“Sarah, we’re saved!” said John. His eyes were now wide open and a smile was running across his face.
“No John, we’re not. Do you know how to tell anyone where we are, so that they can find us? ‘Cause I don’t!” she said with sadness.
John’s smile began to fade as he watched Sarah’s eyes begin to tear up. He couldn’t bear to see her so heartbroken. He had to figure out how to get them out of this. But the only way he could think of, was by moving forward. They had to finish their quest… that was their only way home.
He took her hands and gripped them tight. “I’m so sorry Sarah, we will make it out of this.” he said, not really knowing if he was telling the truth or not.
“I know Johnny. I’m just miss’n home…and my dad. But it’s not your fault and actually I’m really having the time of my life. An adventure like this is what I have always dreamed of. I just always imagined he would be here to share it with me. He’s the one who got me into all this when I was little… It’s his dream too. And I can’t even imagine what it would do to him if we were lost forever, how he would blame himself, or what it is doing to him right now.”
“Well, let’s call him!” exclaimed John. “We may not be able to tell anyone where we are, but at least he would know that you are safe, and happy. That should give him… some peace.”