The Mother of All

by Dana S Reiner

  Once I finished devouring the fruit, before I could even say a word, the creature cracked another fruit in its hand and offered it to me. I grabbed it quickly.

  “Thanks again,” I said.

  As I began to bite the second fruit, the creature continued to swish its hand in the pool again in a clockwise direction. I suddenly became drawn to the pool.

  I placed my free hand in the pool. It was warm, very warm. It reminded me of a hot spring. The pool immediately began fluctuating like the skin of a cuttlefish. The texture was unlike anything I had ever felt before. The state of the fluid inside the pool was thick, almost like yolk from an egg. The fluid seemed like it would solidify, then at times it felt like it disappeared right in the palm of my hand. I wondered if this pool was actually a living organism.

  After I finished the second fruit, I placed both of my hands in the pool and began to swish my own hands in it, as well. The pool began to flicker again.

  Suddenly, I began to feel a little lightheaded, not in the sense where I was about to lose consciousness but enough to know that I wasn’t in my usual state of being. I inched closer to the creature for comfort. The creature took the shell of the fruit, crushed it in its hand and placed it in the pool. It appeared as if the creature was feeding the pool. Like it, too, fed off the nourishment of the fruit.

  The creature began swishing both its hands in the pool rapidly. I could see the flagella of microorganisms coming more alive with every passing second. The microorganisms were so breathtaking. Suddenly, they started to move in a uniform way, painting patterns that appeared to be morphing into motion pictures.

  Puzzled, I looked at the creature. Its big black eyes looked back at me, square in the eye, almost as if it was reading my mind. As the creature continued to hum its peaceful tune, my attention turned back to the pool.

  The ground began to shake. It must have been a small tremor inside the cave. I started to get dizzy. Something about the fruit caused me to hallucinate.

  I then began to dream. I saw my family inside the pool, not just my parents but my cousins, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Everyone was so happy. Then they vanished. I then set my eyes on a jungle of flames. I was scared, crying as I was running. Then, suddenly my vision was black. I could see nothing. Finally, I saw a little glowing dot moving around rapidly. It was alone for a while, then the dot multiplied again and again. I saw volcanoes and streams of water. Finally, I saw more glowing organisms; they were very small, as well. The microorganisms then appeared to morph into what looked like a fish. I tried to remain focused when suddenly plants appeared! They were growing out of some type of land. I then saw a variation of creatures on the land. First, I saw what appeared to be a crab or scorpion of some sort. I then saw what had to be a salamander or some type of amphibian.

  The speed of the dream started to increase rapidly. My body still felt the rumbling of the earth. I saw forests and jungles that had insects flying around. I then saw what appeared to be a lizard running toward me. It then jumped into the water, swimming peacefully. The fish quickly morphed into dinosaurs. I then saw a bird flying over a variation of small mammals. The large bird continued to fly until it reached a range of beautiful flowers; they were absolutely gorgeous. I could still feel the light rumbling of the earth. Finally, I saw nothing but a field of grass for as far as the eye could see. I saw a group of creatures that I had never seen before. I could tell one was a feline of some sort. It was walking among what appeared to be a horse of some kind. Next to the horse was some type of elephant. Then suddenly, I saw the creature I was with in the cave, walking with other similar creatures. Suddenly more of their kind appeared, at least five or six of them. I saw an enormous tree, like the one outside of this cave and lots of vegetation. There was peace and harmony everywhere, with an abundance of plants and animals. The creature appeared to be with its entire family. They all stood next to the tree eating fruit. They appeared to be so happy.

  Suddenly the image started to shake, and rocks began to fall. I could see ripples in the water. The creatures began to run away. There were lots of cries and confusion.

  Suddenly, I saw nothing but one of the creatures. It was all alone, full of fear.

  I felt my body starting to shake for what seemed like forever. I then came back to consciousness. I immediately felt myself gasping for air, as if I had just had a nightmare.

  I laid there in paralysis for what seemed like a handful of minutes. The creature splashed some of the pool fluid on me, and I came to my senses.

  Thousands of emotions ran through my head. I didn’t know if I should scream or cry.

  “What was that?!” I said breathing and sweating heavily.

  The creature cracked a fruit seed and tossed it into the warm pool. The pool maintained its glow. The creature then looked at me and grabbed my hand, leading me into a portion of the cave I hadn’t seen. It then uncovered what had to be a few dozen of this unknown fruit.

  As the glow from the pool lit up the cave, I saw that the roots from the enormous tree had been damaged.

  “Where did you get these? Is this all that’s left?” I said concerned.

  The creature then made a soft whimpering sound with a few hand gestures that, oddly, I was beginning to understand. The creature was sad. It was implying that the tree

  stopped bearing fruit. The seismic activity and small earthquakes were probably to blame.

  I had so many questions running through my head. I began to wonder how old the creature was. Where was its family or did it, too, lose everything that was dear to it?

  I felt that maybe with all the nuclear explosions with the war, our history of fracking, mining, and removal of material from the earth had to have a direct correlation with all the tremors and earthquakes.

  I wished my parents were here to see this all. I focused my attention on the creature as I was starting to feel helpless. I could tell the creature knew that the tree was dead. I remembered Marina talking about being able to clone a tree by just taking a part of the tree and planting it. I was almost certain that the tree had to be alive in order to clone it. I thought about what C.O.C.A. would do if they found this tree. I am sure with their advances in science that they would find a way to replicate it. I promised myself I would keep the cave hidden.

  The creature scurried over to the pool one last time. The creature bit into the fruit and quickly offered to share. I gladly obliged as the creature placed the fruit in my palm.

  As the neurological effects of fruit began to take its course, I found myself making hand gestures and communicating telepathically with the creature. I used the pool to explain some of my thoughts. I explained how I was running from C.O.C.A. and that I needed to journey back to campus to gather some of my family's belongings.

  Then suddenly I blacked out.

  Chapter 25

  The Need to Return

  I woke up feeling absolutely refreshed. I wasn't sure if it was the sleep I was finally getting or if it was one of the advantages of eating the mysterious fruit. All I knew was that I had not felt this great in quite some time. Something about the fruit was magical.

  I wondered what kind of nutritional value the fruit consisted of. I remembered certain fruits that my mom would eat that allowed her to go without a meal for hours.

  I began to prepare for my journey back to campus. If I could just access my father’s lab via the hidden door he had, it would allow me to gather plenty of supplies without being noticed.

  “I have a long journey ahead of me,” I said as I unintentionally made hand gestures as I spoke.

  The creature then complied with a hand gesture of its own. It was the oddest thing in the world, but we were somehow communicating telepathically through our eye contact and hands.

  The creature’s eyes were as dark as the night on moonless evening. It gestured that it wanted to follow me on my journey. I had so much interest in the creature! I couldn't get over its big, long muscular arms and unique characteristics.

 
; Knowing that going through the jungle and back to campus would be terrifying, I took a knee for a few seconds to talk to myself and gather my thoughts. I began to plan the route I would take to get to my father’s lab. I kneeled, rehearsing different scenarios of what could possibly happen.

  Sensing my focus and concentration, the creature handed me a piece of the decaying tree’s root to chew on. The unique taste immediately stimulated something in my body and increased my senses.

  I wanted nothing more than to save my family’s dignity. I had to recover what I could of my father’s research and find a way to communicate with Marina. I wanted to warn her about C.O.C.A.

  I rose to my feet, beginning to walk slowly to the large vine that helped us cross the crevice that separates the pool from the cave’s entrance.

  Again, glowworms lit up the cave’s ceiling. I could tell the sun was down, moonlight reflecting from the waterfall.

  The creature took the lead as we approached the cave’s entrance. It exited the cave and immediately lifted its nose to the sky, sniffing the evening’s air.

  The way the moonlight reflected off the hidden waterfall complemented the cave’s beauty. We began walking into the dense jungle, jogging when we could. I wanted to utilize the coverage of the night’s sky.

  The creature seemed to be aware of everything that was going on around it. Its dark eyes gave me a confident sense of direction. It moved silently like an anaconda, not making a sound. The creature knew every secret of this jungle.

  I made a rough estimate that we had to be at least 10 miles away from campus. My sense of hearing allowed me to hear movement I wouldn’t normally hear or feel.

  Suddenly, the creature gestured for me to be still. My senses grew with awareness. I wondered if we were in danger or if the creature even had any natural predators. As we stood silent in the thickness of the jungle, I began to hear something in the distance. It wasn't a threatening sound, but rather a cry of some sort.

  The creature then began to move slowly toward the cry. I mimicked its every move. The creature instructed me to focus on the pitch of the cries.

  After a few short moments, I placed my eyes on what had to be a dozen emperor tamarins. Their very distinguishable long white mustache gave them away.

  I have not seen emperor tamarins in this area of the L.R.R. for as long as I could remember. They appeared huddled as they simultaneously all let out cries, one after another.

  The creature gestured for me to be quiet again and remain still. I didn't move a muscle, trying not to disturb the tamarins.

  The creature then let out a series of humming sounds and clicks. The tamarins all became silent at once. Turning their heads in all directions, they tried to locate the creature’s call.

  The creature then revealed itself from behind the jungle. We were roughly 20 to 30 feet away from the family of tamarins. I remained in the distance, hidden in the jungle.

  The tamarins welcomed the creature. Not a breath of fear was present in any of them. As I focused on the creature, I could see it was approaching an enormous pitcher plant. It was unlike any I had ever seen before. It was roughly five feet tall and absolutely beautiful, yellow with brown spots. It looked almost like a banana. I recall hearing about carnivorous plants like the fly trap and the tropical pitcher plant, but just not in this area of the world.

  As I looked around, I saw a couple more pitcher plants in the entourage. My attention was quickly drawn back to the cries of the tamarins, as they all looked directly at the creature. The creature looked inside the plant, realizing what had happened.

  I recalled from my past instructors that in the eastern world, tropical pitcher plants were often called monkey cups because monkeys would drink rainwater out of them. They also possessed a nectar that was used in vaccines and drank by creatures in the wild.

  However, the reason for the cries was not due to the desire for the nectar, but because a baby tamarin had fallen into the plant. I wondered if the tamarin falling into the plant was caused by the recent tremors.

  The creature removed the baby tamarin that cried from inside the plant, laying it down on the jungle floor next to its family. The tamarins let out sounds of gratitude. Then all the tamarins one by one started to lay on their backs. The creature proceeded to touch and pet their bellies.

  When he was done petting the tamarins, the creature returned to my side.

  The tamarins watched us from the top of the trees as we disappeared into the jungle. We made a short pit stop at a banana tree. I ate two bananas while the creature ate numerous more, a dozen bananas, at least! I couldn't make out the whereabouts of our location. I tried to get an idea with the placement of the stars, but the cloud coverage was a little thick.

  We approached the river. Being so close to the river worried me. I just knew that whether it was via boat, chopper, or drone, my chances of being found increased significantly. Not to mention all the predators that lived near or in the water, but I had no other choice but to trust the creature.

  The way the creature knew the jungle was scary. It seemed like only 45 minutes into our trek, and I could already see some of the lights from campus. My father’s secret entrance was just around the corner, about a half mile away.

  Chapter 26

  The Last of My Family

  We approached the secret entry to my father’s lab. The creature refused to enter the building and gestured that it would wait for me in the shadows of the jungle. It knew I would do my best to hurry. I immediately entered the password and the door unlocked.

  I began to jog down the tunnel that led to the marker boards and rearranged the boards so I could enter the lab.

  The first thing I grabbed was some of the food, immediately stuffing my face with nuts and berries. I then grabbed a small backpack to store some food and other supplies.

  I entered the glass room my father had his computer in. As I approached the monitor, I could see his computer was still powered on. I moved the cursor and saw that his work was still on the computer monitor.

  I urgently opened the messaging system in the computer to try and contact Marina. Instead, I accidentally hit a button on the keyboard, a video began playing.

  It was a video of my father that he was rehearsing to send to C.C. and Marina. Seeing his face immediately grabbed my attention. Hearing his voice again made me cry.

  “Hey team. I have taken into account much of what has been occurring on planet earth in the last few decades. From fossil discoveries in caves to our discovery of medicinal plants that have helped aid in our latest vaccinations and pharmaceutical drugs. The current state of the planet has forced me to harbor many of my ideas, research, and theories. I have done so to protect my family from the laws of C.O.C.A. I have come to believe with my latest discovery that it is quite possible that while a majority of our ancestors have migrated throughout North Africa and eventually Europe and Asia, I feel with the recent shifts of earth’s magnetic field, that it is quite possible that an enormous magnetic shift, millions and millions of years ago, could have altered the migration patterns of many species that were both predator and prey.

  “I do believe when the continents were connected, that it is quite possible that a potential ancestor that solely had a flight response when it encountered conflict could have rather headed west. This would be due to the change in migration patterns, along with a sense of urgency to avoid predators and follow their own food source. This theory would also lead me to believe that the world as we know it today could be misunderstood.

  “This theory has led me to believe that a hominid species could have made it as far west to what would have been formerly Central and South America -- therefore, placing such a creature of this sort in the jungles of the L.R.R. If man and Neanderthals have always shown the ability to fight and defend, along with the ability to contemplate a fight or flight response, I find it quite probable that a species of man or ape similar to the creature we just discovered could have existed that possessed advanced senses
to the point it would resort to a flight-only response. This type of behavior would contribute to an evolution of species that would be somewhat untraceable for all of mankind – especially if this species was in fact able to sleep one hemisphere of the brain at a time. The evolution of such traits would be beneficial for safety and survival.

  “I believe with the increase in fossils that have been discovered in caves throughout the continents, it has dawned on me that perhaps these creatures were not, and have not, been maneuvering deep into caves to bury their dead, but perhaps looking for a way home. Whether it be these old ruins or places like Atlantis. One thing has been certain, earth itself has been changing since the beginning of time, implying that maybe this creature was looking for a jungle or home that would now be underwater.

  “With advancement in our digital technology, we have been able to locate ruins throughout the world. Which leads me to believe that the multiple ruins that have been discovered throughout the world all had one thing in common -- they all praised an ape-like creature.

  “With the current global affairs, we as the human race have to be skeptical about our language, research, and behavior when conducting such research and beliefs. Which, again, is why I have not gone public with my true beliefs. C.O.C.A. 's law strictly forbids me from making such claims, which is why I am sending you this video. Let me know what you think and message me back.”

  Tears streamed down my face and dropped down onto the keyboard. The palm of my hand rested on the computer monitor in hopes of channeling some connection with my father.

  Thoughts of my murdered parents angered me and quickly motivated me to wipe my tears and avenge the honor of my family.

  I opened the messaging system and attempted to quickly send the video to Marina. The video began to upload.