“You’re not [sst’sst’sst]
God,” Over-Captain Kel-Lek told the doctor who had the patient on the table.
“But to me, you are performing alterations to these beings like you are.”
“No, I’m not, but
I have studied this world exclusively for more than 143 circuits of their
planet around their sun. I know this species very well and I can help them,”
[vAr’ul] Sr. Dr. EHolham said without looking up from his work. From the
information from the first drone that had discovered the planet, to riding herd
on various preliminary survey ships to the outfitting of this orbital platform,
EHolham and his staff learned everything they could about the beings below.
“So you’re not
God, you’re just playing God,” Kel-lek told him.
“Look, Over-Captain
Kel-Lek,” the doctor said finally looking up from the microscope, “your job is
to support my work here, not to judge my proposal, which you know so well has
the approval of the council. I believe this planet’s beings have possibilities
of something great. I plan on proving it.”
“Yes, doctor,
we’ve all heard of your work,” exasperation apparent in her voice. “You’ve told
everyone on the ship, some of us many times, of your plan for these beings. You
propose changing the sequences in their DNA so they will change the way they
think and understand their world around them.” The Over-Captain repeated the
tired summary the doctor had spewed out too many times before.
The doctor, famed
throughout the [..tP’aael] Thousand Stars Conclave, of which they were both a
part, had worked on his current project for more than a third of his adult
life. He had earned honors from most of the major medical foundations and been
awarded plaques from more than three dozen systems. He was brilliant, but he
was also arrogant.
“These beings are
some of the best examples I have found that resemble my species. They are
bipedal, have two eyes, two nostrils, a single mouth and a circulatory and
respiratory system which nearly matches our own.” The doctor was referring to
his own species, not the species of the platform’s commander.
“The problem is they
are not evolving. In the records we have, they have shown no evolution in more
than [11,000 Primary Star Time (PST)] 10,000 years. They have stagnated. My
work will nudge them along.
“They use simple
tools but haven’t managed to cross from animal to thinker. Where we have the
ability to reason, contemplate our lives and our future, these beings are
ignorant of anything more than their now. They exist, they eat, they procreate
and they die, and they die quickly. Their lives are short, averaging less than
[21 PST] 19 years.
“They don’t even
know they are alive. They’re no more than animals, right now,” the doctor
explained as he finished up on the patient and closed the brain.
The being on the
table remained motionless, even though its eyes were open. The doctor had
injected him with a drug that paralyzed his body when they found it on the
planet. It had been feeding on berries and the left-over meat from a kill made the
night before with a female of his species. Both beings, once paralyzed where
brought aboard.
It had taken Dr. EHolham
several months to find two individuals, male and female, of the species by
themselves. Capt. Kel-lek was curious as to why they couldn’t take an entire
clan, but EHolham insisted the only beings he would take would be a male and a
female, and unseen by the others.
“We will
transport the beings back down at first light once my associates have finished
the environmental details,” the doctor instructed the commander, referring to
the team of 20 he had working on a sequestered and shielded nature preserve in
which he’d place the two beings on the table. He needed time for them to
acclimate to their new abilities without the fear of wild animals or others of
their own species damaging or killing them.
“You really
believe that what you’re doing is the right thing for this species,” the
commander said as a statement, rather than asking. “It might take them longer
than others to evolve than others and you’re changing what they would evolve
into. You don’t know what their future holds and what you’re doing will forever
change it.”
“The Conclave is
well aware of your species reluctance to interfere with other cultures, but
this mission has been approved of at the highest levels. We will proceed along
my timeline and under my direction and you and your people have been ordered to
provide us all necessary support, not argue philosophy at every turn.” The
doctor’s face was turned red from anger. He’d worked for [191 PST] 174 years on
studying the planet, another 30 writing proposals, raising capital, applying
for permits, getting approval from the Conclave and arranging the proper
support and ship to support this mission.
***
The commander of
the ship was not humanoid as EHolham. The doctor was a member of one of the
very few remaining bipedal species in the Conclave. Humanoids did not have the
same longevity of life expectancy like most species, and in the history of the
Thousand Star Conclave only four remained. Six others had destroyed themselves
or their planet through war or disease. It was Dr. EHolham who proposed
modifying the gene on the species found on the planet below to improve the
long-term survivability of the bipedal species.
Over-Captain
Kel-lek was a species of Lepidosauria, a serpent-type species that had evolved
to be both warm-blooded and intelligent and locomoted on either two or four
legs, depending on the sub-species and evolutionary advancement. Some other sub-types
evolved leather-type wings instead of tails because of their planet’s unique environment;
this was the sub-species Kel-lek belonged to. On planets with gravity equal to,
or less than her home planet and which had atmospheres with sufficient density,
she could fly with equal ability as walking.
These serpent-type
beings filled one-quarter of the Conclave’s membership. There were also
insectoid, aquatic and true avian species which made up another 74% of the
Conclave. Bipedal humanoids, and a few other more exotic types of beings, made
up the other one percent.
Humanoids
occupied just six stars, four of which were originally settled from the same
parent planet. The two others, while humanoid and bipedal, were still in early
star exploration stages and on probationary membership.
The Thousand Star
Conclave accepted full membership of any species that had achieved a level of
evolution which included: 1: Unity of Compliance – the people of a planet to
have decided on one-type of cohesive planetary leadership; 2: Acceptance of
Reality – that no one species had a right to dictate morality unto another and
that each member planet has a sovereign right to its laws and traditions; 3:
Cleaved from Parent – that the species has travel to, and colonized at least
one other planet with a survivable population; 4: Provide for Mutual Protection
– that each member of the Conclave provide protection from outside influences first
to the Conclave, then to it’s parent planet, then itself and it’s people and 5:
Enjoin the Conclave – Submit to the authority of the Conclave’s elected
officials on matters outside of internal autonomy.
The Conclave had
more than 1,000 star system members, 1,249 to be exact, but the committee to
rename the Conclave decided that until the total number of star systems grew to
more than 2,000 members, the name would remain Thousand Star Conclave.
Once full
membership was accredited, the star system and its species had all rights and
benefits to the help of the Conclave, or could limit the amount of intrusion by
others into personal affairs. Each planet provided an ambassador and staff to
the Conclave General Assembly and acted as the liaison to their planetary
leadership. It was a complex arrangement, but after more than [11,000 PST]
10,000 years, the system still functioned for the greater good of its
membership.
Conditional
membership was granted to species that had evolved to develop the ability to
travel between stars, but had elected not to colonize other planets for
personal beliefs or preferences. Provisional memberships were granted to
species that had fulfilled all of the requirements for planetary leadership and
space exploration, but had not satisfactorily colonized another planet.
[System 22344]
The Sol system and earth had been discovered during the Third Great Expansion
of the Conclave. It was discovered to be a habitable planet with a native
bipedal species which might, with time, evolve into a higher order of being.
Detailed analysis
showed the planet had gone through several cataclysmic changes in the past
[450,000] 409,000 years, but a thorough examination of the solar system and
thousands of mathematical simulations showed the current species of bipedal to
have the most positive chance to evolve into an intelligent beings given enough
time.
Dr. EHolham,
noted for his work in humanoid biology and genetics, petitioned the Conclave to
attempt to improve on the species already on earth in such a way as to refine
their development. As they currently evolved, it might take tens of thousands
of [PST] years for the next step in their evolution to breakthrough.
EHolham’s theory,
the one he proposed to, and was accepted by the Conclave was a simple
manipulation of the being’s DNA to speed up the natural evolution of the
species. The Conclave’s Committee for Underdeveloped Cultures was swayed by an
impassioned speech by the doctor to bring the bipedal species to a peaceful
development of higher thought in one-tenth the usual time, thus improving the
chances of bipedals on the planet as well as bipedals in general. The other
species on the committee felt sympathy for the doctor and his species and
allowed the experiment to proceed. There were so few humanoids in the Thousand
Star Conclave, experimenting on one to improve the entire species was a “humanitarian”
gesture.
Over-Captain
Kel-lek was an experienced officer in the services of the Contact Arm of the
Conclave. She had join the service when she reached the Age of Choice nearly
[225 PST] 205 years ago. She moved up through the ranks by following orders and
became most effective at leading those under her command to competently
accomplish goals and objectives set by those above her.
She was a well-respected
leader. She was chosen for the mission by the Contact Arm specifically because
of her experience and abilities to form an effective team of fiercely loyal
underlings. The species EHolham would be working on were not space-faring, they
weren’t even tool-using for the most part, but the Contact Arm wanted someone
to watch and report on the experiment, someone who had first-hand knowledge of
cultures in various stages of development.
The orbiting platform
housed 557 beings from the Conclave. Twenty of them were Dr. EHolham’s people
and the other 537 were for operations, engineering, transportation, science,
medical, computer, sensory and support and fell under Kle-lek’s command.
Compared with
some of Kel-lek’s other commands, this was a small contingent. She’d commanded
more than 2,200 while serving at [System 17854] Alula Australis, a system with
two suns and two planetary masses with two separate species types, both of
which had achieved space flight. The planet below, however, was special because
of the experimental nature of EHolham’s work.
***
“The decision has
been made,” the doctor said one more time, “and at tomorrow’s morning sun on
the reservation, this being, this Man, will begin a new life under my watchful
guidance.” Kel-lek hated the man’s arrogance as well as what he was doing to
the two beings on the tables. She left the operating theater while the doctor
contemplated his work and rifled through notes made by the computer and
operating robots.
The Over-Captain’s
species were long-lived and peaceful compared to the bipedals. The last war
fought on her home planet had been more than [17,000 DST] 15,500 years before.
She’d been alive and a few years short of joining the service when the Conclave
News Net reported the bipedal species on [System 20004] 41 Arae had succeeded
in developing and deploying a viral infection that mutated out of control,
killing 6.825 billion beings on the planet.
Kel-lek believed EHolham
was wrong in trying to manipulate the beings below. She believed they could
have a long and happy existence without the introduction of intelligence. She
believed EHolham was practicing [Gh~ujj] Lording – the practice of some beings
to treat lesser-advanced beings as inferior through the use of technological
superiority.
When she had been
tasked to the mission, she had been briefed by the [LRecs-rush] Assistant
Undersecretary to the Deputy Commissioner for Non-aligned Star Systems AalRaal.
The briefing had lasted seven-eighths of a [ler] year and had prepared her for,
what he believed would be, the idiosyncrasies of the mission. She believed,
once the briefings were complete, she was ready to oversee every aspect of the
mission. She was now having second thoughts about the motivations driving the
doctor and his staff.
The Over-Captain
returned to the [clecll] bridge/command center still deep in thought. It was
important to her to follow the rules and regulations of the service, but she
also had a personal opinion, which sometimes conflicted with her duties.
This mission was
shaping up to be one of them.
The platform was
of the standard triple wheel design. Each outside wheel was roughly [700
reases] 2,000 meters in diameter and each wheel had a circumference of [175 reases]
500 meters.
There were two
smaller wheels inside the larger wheels, connected with travel tubes at 1,200
meters and 600 meters. They spun around a central axis which served as the main
travel corridor, even though there were eight more connecting tubes equidistant
around the perimeter.
The wheels spun
around the central axis providing outermost wheel [1 hre] 2.1 g for Kel-lek and
the crew of her species, while the second wheel furthest from the central hub
was [.505 hre] 1g for the bipedals and the third was for the two avian species
aboard which had [.206 hre] .32g.
The innermost hub
housed the engineering section’s ion pulse drive which kept the massive ship in
orbit around the planet and 22 landing craft, hydroponics, medical bays, a
mess, ships stores, live animals and science suites, and decontamination
chambers.
The center hub,
which was mostly empty for this mission, with only 20 bipedals aboard, also housed
science stations, but also included the communications department, computer
cores, defensive weaponry control, a medical bay, hydroponics, mess and
berthing accommodations.
The outer hub was
used mostly for the serpentine beings aboard. This is where Kel-lek felt most
comfortable with the gravity that kept her feet planted on the floor plating.
All the serpentines had quarters on this deck, along with a mess and activities
center.
It was also the
command deck for this mission and where Kel-lek could monitor all activities
aboard the platform and the planet around which it orbited. The sensory department
had the best equipment available in the Conclave, but for this planet they were
not concerned with electronic emissions, other air or spacecraft or reciprocal
investigation. They concerned themselves more with visual observation,
cataloging plants and animals and forecasting weather patterns and movements of
the few clans of bipedals. When she entered the bridge, the [wseer-srrr] flight
officer was effecting a correction to the orientation of the platform to put it
in a synchronous orbit above the location the doctor had ordered prepared for
his experiment.
The motion of the
platform was barely noticeable to those aboard. The flight-officer was an
experienced handler and his sensitive digits moved across the control board
with practiced ease. The officer manning the board monitoring the magnetic
bands surrounding the earth was transferring information to the flight officer.
Another monitored the gravitational eddies from the planet and the position and
pulls from the one satellite.
Kel-lek watched the
main view screen on the command deck. It was overlaid with the current position
of the platform in relation to the planet’s magnetic poles and the desired location.
As the platform moved closer to its final orbital coordinates, the screen
zoomed in give a better view of the platform’s intended destination. Green text
scrolled up the left side of the screen giving the flight officer more
information than he needed.
An engineer from
below decks called up, informing the flight officer of a failure of one of the
maneuvering jets. The flight officer acknowledged and adjusted for the lack of
power from the jet.
It took about
[101 nenss] an hour for the platform to reach the point in space the flight
officer wanted. Kel-lek watched the procedure without commenting until the
final maneuvering jet was secured. It was an interesting procedure she’d seen
dozens of times, but never grew tired of watching. It also gave her time to
reflect on the doctor’s experiment.
She had been
amazed at how everything the flight officer needed was provided to him as he
maneuvered. The other officers on the platform, most trained personally by her,
were ready with the information he needed, sometimes without him having to ask.
One of the
dictates of the Conclave was to allow cultures that were evolving to grow as
they would, without intervention. When they achieved star flight, the ability
to transverse from one star to the next, the civilization was contacted by the
Conclave. The contacted civilization was sometimes able to provide technology
to others in the Conclave, but more often, the Conclave was able to provide
help to the emerging civilization. Some of the technology provided seemed, to
the younger culture, like magic, until they understood how the science worked.
Kel-lek, thinking
about the doctor again and the bipedals, thought about the beings themselves
and how in the morning, they would wake with a new view of their world.
To them, it would
be like magic.
The flight
controller contacted the doctor after informing the Over-Captain that the
proper orbit had been achieved and the platform was stationary. Kel-lek gave
the landing craft that had been prepared for the doctor clearance to leave the
station and she watched as it de-orbited away from the station.
EHolham landed
with his crew and unpacked a floater and transferred his subjects to the
location which he’d inspected via video hook-up. The sun was nearing the horizon. It would
shine brightly on the new day of the settlement the doctor had arranged for the
beings.
Dr. EHolham had
his assistants lay the two beings on the ground, comfortable on the soft grass,
unaffected by flying or crawling insects. Their naked bodies were so similar to
the doctor and his assistants. The male, who he identified as Edem-prime, and
the female, Lilit-prime would be coming out of their anesthesia just as the sun
rose. EHolham had planned it that way. He wanted them to experience their new
world for a full day.
The doctor
dismissed his assistants. More than a quarter-hour later he heard the rush of
their shuttle engines as their landing craft lifted off in the far distance. He
wanted nothing to disturb this [ah’dehn] garden spot so they had landed several
thousand meters away. The sound faded and EHolham, garbed in his ceremonial
[canther] white robes which flowed in the gently blowing wind, stood over his
two subjects. They were beginning to wake.
Edem woke first
and was sitting up as Lilit began to stir. EHolham saw realization in his eyes,
but remained silent, his hands folded inside the sleeves of his robes.
When both were
awake and sitting they looked at each other.
They smiled with
the realization they were now alive. They stood, naked and unashamed. Lilit noticed the man in white first, but she
wasn’t startled.
This was all new
to both of them and they were not afraid.
EHolham walked
over to his two subjects and spoke for the first time. “I have created this,”
he said, a deep baritone that was pleasing to the subject’s ear, “for you. The
earth is yours to enjoy. Water will assuage your thirst and be used by the
plants to grow and feed you when you hunger. The sun will rise in the morning
to wake you and enjoin you to live your life in the light. When the sun rests
below the land, you’ll see the stars above and know this is night.
“There are fish
in the waters and birds in the air to share your world with you.
“You will join in
love and populate with people like yourselves this world I have made. You own
this world and will fill it with those like us, like you, like me,” he told
them, speaking slowly as they began to understand.
“Six settings of
the sun ago, I took you from the dirt and breathed into you a new life. Today
you will live as you have not before, and you will enjoy the fruits of the
trees and the plants of this garden.
“All of this I
have made for you and your offspring to enjoy. The one exception in all that I
have given you, is the fruit from this tree here,” he said as he walked with
them around the garden. “From this tree,” he told them, referring to a
camouflaged sensor/weather control device from the platform which would
regulate the habitat to make it a friendlier environment for the two, “you will
not take anything. You will not touch this tree for it is forbidden.”
Edem nodded his
understanding of EHolham. Lilit nodded, but she was looking around the garden
and not paying close attention to what EHolham was telling her.
EHolham said to
them, “I must go, now,” and then left the two, gliding through a break in the
heavy foliage and leaving his two alone in the garden.
***
Edem looked at
Lilit and smiled again. “Let us make love as we have been told,” he said to the
woman.
“No, Man. I wish
instead to look about this land we have been given. We have been honored and
chosen by EHolham to rule over this land and I wish to do that now.”
“We were told to
multiply, Woman. It was commanded of us,” Edem insisted.
“We were given
minds to use as we want. And now I want to explore this land,” and then she
left Edem’s side and walked unto the garden. She walked in one direction for
most of the day. She never turned around to see if Edem, who took EHolham’s
instructions seriously, stayed near the center of the garden, waiting for Lilit
to return, which she never would.
When the sun
crossed its zenith in the sky and was halfway to the horizon, Edem fell to his
knees and wept. “I’m sorry EHolham. I have tried to do as you asked, but she
left me alone. I do not know what I am to do alone. Please help me EHolham,” he
cried out.
EHolham, hearing
Edem’s plea returned to the garden. He asked the man on his knees what was the
cause of his heartache and tears.
“EHolham, I tried
to get her to do as you asked, but she took her own head and left me. She would
not hear as I pleaded for her to do as you commanded us,” Edem said through
tears. “Please do not banish me from here, EHolham. Please do not leave me in
this beautiful garden which you have created to be for me alone.”
EHolham saw that
Edem was genuine in his request. With his assistants already off the planet, and
with Lilit was gone from the garden, he did not want to chase after her. He
couldn’t leave Edem here alone in the state he was in. He didn’t have many
choices and the danger of leaving Edem alone in this garden could cause his
mind to break down.
He reached over
to Edem and touched him on the shoulder. Edem didn’t see the tranquilizing
device in EHolham’s hand, and the man fell into a deep slumber.
EHolham didn’t
have many choices. His landing ship was limited in its medical facilities. The
tranquilizing device had a power source that would last six days. It would take
many weeks or months to find another female of his species, alone, and then
modify her DNA to be compatible with him.
Lifting Edem, he
walked back to his ship. It was a long walk and he arrived just as the sun was
setting. EHolham considered his choices eventually realizing it might be better
if instead of trying to find a female compatible with Edem, he created her.
He laid Edem onto
a cart and pushed him to the medical bay. There he harvested several cells from
the man’s rib. He placed the cells into a crèche and watched the woman grow
over the next few days. He modified the chromosomes and DNA just slightly,
keeping her red hair and fair skin, like those of Edem, but making her softer
and kinder, increasing her maternal instinct.
He tweaked and prodded her cells to do his bidding and on the fifth day
he removed the woman, who looked much like Edem, but different enough to be
separate from him. She was whole and slept in quiet beauty.
On the morning of
the sixth day he again took the two to the garden. He allowed them to wake,
again, but this time Edem knew he was awakening. He didn’t know how much time
had passed, but he knew this day was different and the woman beside him was
different.
Again, EHolham
spoke of the garden and warned of the tree. He had worked very hard to create
the woman and told them how she was created from Edem’s rib. Edem looked down
at his naked body and saw no blemish on his skin, but he believed everything
EHolham said.
EHolham was feeling tired now and said to
them, “I must go, now, because it has been a long six days and I must rest.”
Again EHolham
left the two, Elam
and Hawaaw, in the garden. The sun was rising and Edem, still stung by Lilit’s
leaving, something Hawaaw knew nothing about, spoke to the new woman for the
first time. “I am Edem. I am Man.
I was first.”
“Yes, Edem. You
were first. I am Hawaaw, made from your rib.” She bowed her head and acquiesced
when Edem said “Let us go now and make love so we may do EHolham’s bidding and
fill the earth with our children.”
What had
surprised Kel-lek, as she watched the doctor’s progress on one of the repeater
screens in the command center, was the first woman. The woman had walked away
from the garden’s center soon after EHolham had left the two humanoids the
first time. The woman, Lilit, just left the male standing near where they had
first awakened and the male had failed to follow. Kel-lek saw the original plan
fail.
Kel-lek had watched
EHolham walk away from his two subjects returning to his landing craft, only to
be recalled three-quarters of the day later at the behest of the man. EHolham
listened as the man used speech and hand gestures to explain how the woman had
failed to follow his instructions. He cried tears of sadness and fear. She
watched as the doctor sedated the man and took him back to the landing craft.
She had to admit,
his decision to create another female of the species was a good idea. She
didn’t want her people to have to search over the entire planet again, looking
for a male and a female, alone, and start the process again. The doctor had a
long communication with his assistants on the platform before telling the
captain that he was going with the clone solution. Kel-lek was relieved; she’d
been anticipating another long hunt for appropriate beings for the doctor.
When the second
female was created and completed and readied, the process of implanting them
began again. This part of the mission had been planned for as a very remote
possibility, but not expected. EHolham had spent many years searching for two
subjects who would work perfectly together. He had chosen two who had already
shown a penchant for being together, assuming a bond between the two beings
would transcend the genetic manipulation he was introducing into their bodies. The
doctor had been wrong and the first woman had left the first man and instead of
looking for another woman, who would have to be vetted and tested and modified,
he instead took the less preferred, but still viable solution of cloning a
female from the male.
The Over-Captain
listened both times to the little speech Dr. EHolham had given the two beings. It
was simple and succinct, just as she had read in his pre-mission briefing. This
part of the mission was as had been planned, though she disagreed with the
amount of knowledge they were to be given. She believed the two should be given
the true nature of their life.
Again she watched
as the doctor left the two alone to discover their new world. This time the
woman stayed with the man. The basked in the joys of each other, enjoyed the
fruits of the trees and bushes, and slept in peaceful dreamless slumber under
the stars. There was nothing but joy in them. They had no fear of their
surroundings, no trials to undergo, no hills to climb, nothing to push them to
be more than they were now.
This was what the
doctor had predicted and wanted. It was the most contentious point of the
mission between the doctor and the captain.
“If there is no adversity
in living, there is no growth in life,” Kel-lek had once read. It was the basis
of her life. She made sure there was always a demand before her, a chasm to traverse,
a spatial gulf to cross, a struggle to overcome, lest she become apathetic to
life and stagnate.
The doctor
remained below and observed the two as they went about their lives. After a
[bn’t] month, the doctor moved his landing craft 10,000 meters away from the
garden, having seen the two had accepted what they’d been given and were
acclimating, not needing him to interfere. The device he’d left camouflaged in
the middle of the garden kept him informed of the progress of the two subjects.
Their lives were unsurprisingly boring.
The doctor
decided he didn’t need to watch the two all the time and began spending time on
another project he had planned for this planet.
Into the second
month, Kel-lek was watching the two on the planet while finishing up a report
to Assistant Undersecretary to the Deputy Commissioner for Non-aligned Star
Systems AalRaal. She had little to say except there was no struggle for them to
face and she voiced her doubts of the long-term survivability of the species in
this configuration.
The
Undersecretary, whose hands were tied from interfering with the doctor’s
experiment because of the doctor’s influence in the Conclave government, asked
for suggestions from the captain. “Allow me the chance to interact with the
beings below surreptitiously, and I will give them reason to struggle without
putting them in danger,” she communicated to her supervisor. The Undersecretary
explained to her that he would disavow any knowledge of her influence, but
allowed her to proceed.
Kel-lek acknowledged
the receipt of the communications and devised a detailed plan which would span
hundreds of years, giving this experiment a chance to succeed as more than a
people without struggle, without something to achieve. She took her plan to her
[cal-tey] chief-of-staff and they discussed it for several hours. The plan was
tweaked and adjusted before she presented it to the others of her inner circle
who she trusted to keep the information from the doctor and his staff. She
realized what she was asking, but they had been together for more than three
dozen years and she was confident they would help without reservation.
[Xexxes’Tha]
Senior Transporteer Vwew provided Kel-lek with a vehicle that could de-orbit
and land near the garden without being observed by the doctor. She landed far
from the two humans who continued to frolic in the garden.
Kel-lek waited
and watched. Her plan was to speak with only one, without the other to see or
overhear. It took hours before the man fell asleep, having satiated himself with
the love from the woman.
Hawaaw, the woman’s
name the captain recalled, got up and walked a distance away to refresh herself
in the pure, cool flowing waters of the stream that ran through their compound.
Hawaaw made sure to circumvent the camouflaged sensor array the doctor had
installed. Kel-lek made notice and planned to use this information.
The platform
captain waited for the woman to begin cleansing herself before moving up to the
array, disguised as a large tree. She opened the panel on the front and
adjusted the settings. She then waited until she saw the woman returning. Wearing
a cloak of scarlet red, the captain could not have been missed by the woman.
Unafraid in the
garden, Hawaaw saw the being by the forbidden tree. The stranger was standing
unthreateningly, hands clasped behind her back. Hawaaw wondered if this was someone
new EHolham had created to live here and walked up to the being that looked
different than Hawaaw did when she looked at her reflection in the water.
The stranger had
a longer face that was covered in a grey skin that looked like bark from the
good trees of fruit and life. The being had no ears with which to hear and her
nose wider and much longer than Hawaaw was used to seeing. Her body was very
slender, with a very long neck and limbs which were smaller, though longer,
than Hawaaw’s.
But Hawaaw was
not afraid. She knew there was nothing to fear here in the garden.
“I am Hawaaw,”
the woman said, looking directly in the newcomers dark eyes.
The stranger did
not say who she was; instead, she directed her attention to the array that
looked like a tree. “Did EHolham tell you you must not partake of the fruits of
this tree?” she asked in feminine, yet guttural voice. It was deeper in pitch
than Edam’s,
but still that of a female.
Hawaaw nodded to
the newcomer. “We are not to touch or take from this tree anything, for we are
forbidden. All other trees from here we can eat from, but this is not for us.”
“No, you are not
forbidden,” the newcomer said.
“We are
forbidden,” Hawaaw insisted. “EHolham told us not to and we have not.”
“Eholham knows if
you took from this tree that your eyes would be open and you’d receive more
wisdom than he has given you. There is knowledge here that is being kept from
you.”
Hawaaw looked at
the beauty of the tree. It was taller than any tree in the garden and had a
plumage that was bright, almost glowing in beauty. She thought about what the
stranger had said and she wished for knowledge.
Kel-lek left the
woman to stand by the tree. She returned to her landing craft as the woman
contemplated what she had been told. Inside the craft she turned on the monitor
with which she could see if the woman had been convinced to touch the array.
The woman stood,
still not afraid of what had happened. There was no fear in her. She thought
about what she had been told. She was happy here with Edam,
and EHolham had told her and Edam
to not take from this tree.
She wanted
knowledge that the stranger had offered her, but still she was hesitant. She
wasn’t sure what to do.
She heard
something behind her and thought it was the stranger. It was not. It was Edam. Hawaaw explained
what had happened, what she had been told by the stranger in their garden. Edam
refused to touch the tree first and told Hawaaw that they should not partake of
this tree as they had been told by EHolham.
“There is
knowledge here we have not been given,” Hawaaw said to him. “I don’t believe it
would be wrong.” She reached forward to touch the bark of the tree. It was
smooth like the ferns on which they slept. There was a tingle in her hand and
it felt good to Hawaaw. She looked at Edam
with a new light in her eyes. “It is beautiful. There is so much I did not
know,” she said, smiling. “Oh Edam,
you must try this.”
Edam, truly in love with Hawaaw, finally
touched the tree.
He felt the same
tingle and Edam
felt knowledge flow into him. He began to understand so many things he’d never
thought about before. He began to laugh and Hawaaw did too. There was so much
from this tree they could learn and it had been kept from them. They pulled
their hands away from the tree.
Edam looked at Hawaaw and saw she was naked
and understood what it meant. Hawaaw saw Edam
and knew he too was naked. They covered themselves and ran from the tree, each
to a different grove of trees. They hid their nakedness from each other by
fashioning coverings from fig leaves before they returned to the middle of the
garden.
They looked at
each other, not knowing what to say. They had more knowledge than before but
they didn’t know what to do with it. They talked about what they had felt and
saw and learned.
As evening approached,
they were returning to the places they slept each evening when they saw EHolham
approaching. They hadn’t seen him in several days and were afraid to see him
now. They had violated his directive to stay clear of the tree.
For the first
time in their short lives, they were afraid and they hid.
“Hawaaw, Edam, where are you?” they
heard EHolham call. He was replete in his white robes which made him look
brighter than anything in the garden. “Where are you?” he called again.
Edam could not hide any longer. He stepped
out from his hiding place.
EHolham saw that Edam had covered himself.
“You are covered,” EHolham said, seeing Edam.
“You know you were naked. How did you learn you were naked?” Edam bowed his head, feeling a new feeling he
had not felt before, shame.
“Have you taken
knowledge from the tree? I forbade you!”
Edam, head still bowed in shame said “the
woman entreated me to do what you commanded us not to do. I could not refuse
her.”
“Hawaaw, come out
from there!” he called to where Edam
had been hiding. She slowly crawled out from her hiding place. Like Edam, she had covered
herself below the waist to hide her womanhood.
“I was deceived,”
the woman cried. “Another was here and she told me I was wrong to not learn
from this. I was deceived,” she cried, covering her face as tears fell.
EHolham knew
Kel-lek had done this to his experiment. He opened his cloak and called the
platform commander. “Come to the garden, immediately,” he ordered. She arrived
moments later.
“I curse you,” he
said to the captain. “Because of you, all things are now wrong and must be
changed. Away with you, evil one, be gone. Slither away like the serpents of
the sand for you are not welcome here.” Kel-lek, not wanting to cause more
problems, bowed deeply and left the garden, bent low.
“Edam, because of what you
have done, forever more you will no longer enjoy peace between man and woman.
Henceforth, there will be conflict and animosity with which you and all future
man will feel.
“Hawaaw, because
of what you have done, I will make your childbirth painful and you will no
longer live in joy and frolic. You and all future women will be in conflict
with man and he will try to rule you and you will rebuff his authority.”
“Edam, from this day
forward, you will have to forage for nourishment. No longer will food be grown
for you or fresh water be yours for the taking. Each day you must work and toil
to fill your stomach. You will bend your back and work until you sweat until
the day you die and are returned to the dust from whence you came.” EHolham was
angry and lashing out at the two beings he had made. They should have just
ignored Kel-lek, but they had been curious.
“I am now sending
you from this garden I have made for you. No more knowledge from this tree will
you receive. I will give you clothing to cover yourselves from the coldness of
winter, but from this day, you will now have to care for yourselves.” EHolham
knew the knowledge they could have received from the array could have told them
all he had done, that they were modified humans that instead of living just 19
to 25 years, they could live hundreds of years. He reached up and laid his hand
on their shoulders and both fell to the ground, sedated.
EHolham returned
to his landing craft and retrieved two sets of robes. They were his work robes,
but brown and dirty. He returned to his two subjects and dressed them in the
cloaks and awoke the two. “You will now leave and you, Edam, will need to till the land so you must
learn to use tools. Go now. I so command it.”
When the two had
gone, EHolham went to work on the array. He set up a restrictor field around
the garden so the two could not return to their paradise. It would take him
many long days and weeks to remove the array from the garden and he did not
want the two returning.
Not today, not
ever.
Edam and Hawaaw did as they were told and
left the garden in tears.
