The Prophesy: Book 4 - Armageddon

Chapter 29 - The Australopithecus Mystery

 

The night passed quietly, and morning came. As the Sun pinked the eastern sky, the Australopithecuses stirred. Tarik had managed to fall asleep in the crease of a branch, holding the little Australopithecus on his chest for the night. He had been awakened during the night when the Toddler had peed on him, but decided not to fuss about it, planning to wash by Magic before even moving in the morning.

"Are you okay, up there?" asked Harp as he watched Tarik move gently while holding the Toddler with one arm.

"Yes. It is easy to move around. I am coming down for breakfast."

Tarik used levitation to gently drop down from the tree, much to the amazement of the observing Australopithecus troop. He brought his little protégé with him and began feeding, giving the Toddler chunks of fruits as he ate his own. The Toddler was a mess of fruit pieces, of dripping juice, and sticky all over in no time. Once the little one was no longer interested in food, Tarik used a snap of his fingers to clean the Australopithecus and himself of the goo that had dripped all over their bodies.

"Count yourself lucky to have Magic, Tarik. Can you imagine the fun you would have had washing all that sticky juice out of your fur?" said Ian.

"Do not remind me! And he peed on me overnight. I wonder what will happen when he craps?"

"Let go and nature will take care of it, I guess."

"I suppose so. Ah, I recognise that sign: water, thirst." Tarik made a big bowl of water and helped the Toddler drink from the clear, crystalline water, until the youngster stopped. He had barely stopped the water source when he felt wet in the legs. The Toddler was peeing.

"Hey, if his digestive system is as short as his urinary tract, you better get to a dump hole!" exclaimed Paschal, as he saw the fountain leaving the little guy.

"You may have a point. Let me see if I can ask if he needs to go."

It took some trials and errors, but the Toddler finally understood the question, and signalled he was beginning to feel the urge.

"I will be right back. Timor, would you accompany me? I will be too busy taking care of that little one to monitor the environment."

"Sure. You know, you would do a marvellous Daddy?"

"Or Uncle!" added Colibri, as he watched the three moving away.

The troop watched Tarik and Timor leave with the youngster, and a Juvenile, one that Paschal recognised as the keeper for the Boy leaving with Tarik, immediately climbed down and followed at close range.

«A Juvenile is following you. Timor, include him in your protection circle.»

«Okay.»

Tarik created the proper equipment for the need at hand and positioned the young Toddler telling him to let go. It took some doing, but the result was smelly and unmistakable! As soon as the task was completed, a thick layer of dirt filled the hole, and Tarik washed the Boy by dousing him with warm water, much to his surprise. A dry spell finished the cleanup.

"Done. We can go back to the tree."

"Better not, there is a rain of crap! We all moved away just in time!" said Ian as they reached Tarik. "We flushed ourselves by Magic. Hygiene is not the Australopithecuses’ forte."

"Given the kind of visitor their bathtub gets, can you blame them?"

"Tarik, you have a point. Anyway, we are not here to solve their domestic problem. Have you remembered more of that sign language?"

"Some, mostly related to basic body functions. We can spend another day or two trying to communicate with them."

"I have no objection, but you have a hang-on problem. What will happen to that little one when we leave? It is attached to you with emotional cables thicker than a wrist."

"I will try to figure out something. Would you mind if we took him back with us?"

"I would not mind in the least, as long as you assume his education. Remember, you still have to do your Ordeal."

"Oh yes, I forgot. We will see when the time comes. I plan to come back here every week, even if I decide to leave him behind, which, given how I feel about the little guy, is very unlikely, unless the troop has other ideas. By the way, Harp, Colibri’s Ordeal is due when?"

"If things continue the way they are going, he should be ready say in six months? Why?"

"I am considering taking him in the team, along with your Brother Alexander, Sven and that quiet Kid, Germanicus."

"You know Germanicus has never shown any Magic?"

"Yes, but I think that, placed in the proper context, he will find his confidence and show Magic. After all, he survived to his Dad. And I will add I also want you, Rockhook. Do you think you will be ready?"

"I cannot tell. After all, the Prince of Magic knows better than I."

"We will see, Rockhook. You still have a lot to learn, but six months can make a world of change."

"By the way, your Dragonling is more than enough to help your team and you succeed in the Ordeal, Tarik," added Typhoon.

"Anyone else you want to add?" asked Timor.

"I am thinking about Alaric and Jefferson."

"Okay. Let us go back to studying their sign language."

"Why not simply pick it up like we did everywhere so far? I know Yamato considered the idea, but lacked the mental flexibility to do it," replied Timor.

"Because I find the idea of a sign language fascinating. It might prove vital one of these days, should we need to communicate without the use of telepathy but silently."

"Oh. I did not think of that Ian. But nothing stops us from developing our own language."

"Yes, but why not try to skim a rock on the water for as many jumps as possible? We learn their language, we start with a base, we teach them more as we develop ours, and it eases their learning curve so we add up another species to our list of Atlanteans."

"No wonder you are the Heir. I was seeing no further than my nose, which happens to be relatively short as it is!"

"Heir, hair and hare, what is the difference?"

"Do not be a tease, Ian."

"Ian’s idea of a sign language is neat, but I still think we should read their thoughts rather than try to guess what a sign means. It would speed up the process. Let me try to find their range."

Harp began focussing on the troop, and came back with a small whistle.

"What is the issue?"

"I started fairly low, at the Ogre level, and pushed up. I happened to pass within the frequency of our Sabre-tooth Kittens, well Cats now, and they are looking for us, both of them. They are several million miles away in virtual space, but yet they are making their way toward the tessaract exit! How they know where it is, I have no idea."

"You mean Fang Chao and Spare Ribs are looking for us? I thought we were forgotten entities in all that time?" asked Ian.

"It does not seem so."

"Can you find out why they are looking for us?"

"I wish I knew. We will visit them during our next trip here. Here is their thought range, if you wish to monitor their progress. Now back to our problem."

Harp resumed his scan and made it to just below the Orc species before getting a positive reading.

"I should have started top to bottom. I would have found it more easily. We again underestimated a species. They are between the Dolphin and the Orc."

"Do not blame yourself. Had you done so, we would not have learned of the Cats’ search."

"Do I detect a sense of sorrow, little Brother?"

"Well, yes. I miss them a lot. They were little pests, but I love them nonetheless."

"Will the Cats meet the Australopithecus Tribes?"

"No, each tessaract is by layer, and at the exit, it becomes narrow passageways, narrow as several hundred miles wide, but separated by a Magic shield. When the Cats do reach the exit, they will meet full-fledged Atlanteans. The Ark is designed to protect each species’ environment. In fact, given the situation we observed with the Crocodiles, I plan to do a duplicate and separate between the Crocodiles and the Australopithecus environments, more to protect the Australopithecus from predation then anything else. They are too few to allow predation of that nature."

"Ian, what you propose is dangerous," replied Paschal. "Predation is vital to maintain their health and a balance in nature. Without predation they could devastate their ecosystem."

"You have a point, I need to think things over."

"Hey, talking about ecosystems, did I tell you I managed to regenerate the Dodo Bird from a couple of very badly preserved skins? That species had been extinct for over 7,000 years! Two females and two males were regenerated from the skins. Now the issue is breeding them while ensuring a maximum of variance within the Dodo species. That will be the hardest task."

"No, you did not tell us, Paschal. Enron will be pleased," replied Harp.

"While you guys were discussing ecosystem maintenance, I scanned the Tribe, as they call themselves, and I think I have extracted their language. What I still have not figured out is why they are mute?"

"Dump the language, then we will figure that other problem out, Ian."

After the exchange, Harp looked at Tarik reproachfully.

"What?"

"Why did you not tell us that part of the sign language contained spelling?"

"It does?" asked Tarik, wide-eyed.

"Look for yourself. See that word, pineapple? It is spelled out as pine fruit tree apple."

"That is spelling?"

"Well, as close as one can get for a species that is mute!"

Tarik mulled over the comment before nodding.

"That is effectively something, but you miss the important part: there are no apples in their diet, because there are no apple trees around, and come to think of it, there are no pine trees either. That sign language must be very old, and have been learned from generation to generation with next to no change!"

It was Harp’s turn to look at Tarik thoughtfully.

"That can only mean one thing. That sign language is synthetic and is of laboratory origin. No natural language would be that complicated to name a single object. Let me contact Enron, he can do a quarry for us."

«Enron! Priority request! Search for sign language, origins development, Primates!»

«Okay, as soon as I am done taking care of some personal issues, and no, it is not what your runaway imagination displays, pervert!»

«Eww, did you need to project that image!»

«While I am listening in on your intimate exchange, can you ask the Ark AI to track the displacement history of Fang Chao and Spare Ribs?" asked Ian, with a lot of hardly suppressed laughter at the images flying between his two big Brothers.

«Okay. When do you need it?"

"Yesterday."

By then the Tribe had begun its daily migration to the water, and the Atlanteans had taken the far defence over from the Tribe males. Things went relatively well until they met another Tribe near the water hole. The males began signing some rather strange symbols, and Ian had to read their mind to catch the meaning of the gestures.

"We got a territorial conflict brewing. Many Tribes share the water hole, but they all come at different hours of the day to minimise conflict. Apparently, the Tribe we are now honorary members of has come early, probably because they feel safer and moved a bit too fast."

"Let me deal with this," said Colibri.

"Go ahead. You showed a knack for diplomacy in the Amazon," replied Ian.

Colibri walked at the edge of their adoptive Tribe’s defence apparatus, and signed to the Alpha couple and the Adult males to back off, leaving him exposed to danger from the other, still very aggressive, Tribe.

He then gestured the word ‘offering’ and produced a banana he had been keeping for his own lunch. The Alpha of the other group looked at him suspiciously, but finding no real threat in the diminutive figure Colibri projected, he came close and snatched the banana without even taking a pause to say thank you. Colibri signed his displeasure to the Alpha, asking for at least a thank you gesture, much to the big male’s surprise. Seeing none was forthcoming, Colibri used his increasingly powerful Magic to grab the banana and get it back. No thank you, no food was his next series of signs. This shocked the big male, who began stomping the ground in frustration. The next few signs shocked the Alpha: big Baby used to getting everything! No trade, no peace. It became apparent that the Alpha of the second group was not too liked within his own Clan and that Colibri had hit the nail hard on the head. As the male began building a temper, a group of females, more likely the matriarchs of the group, stood up to him and made it clear the little one was showing more character than the Alpha. He started beating up on one female but the others teamed up and gave him what he had coming. Frustrated and humiliated, the Alpha decided to change target and came running directly for Colibri. Colibri waited until the last second to apply some pretty nasty judoka moves and send the Alpha flying right over and land belly-first in the dirt, much to the females and the Alpha’s surprise. The Tribe that had adopted the Atlanteans watched, wide-eyed, the events unfold, and were shocked when the Alpha of the other Tribe landed in the dirt. Who would have known this Juvenile could take an Alpha and trounce him thoroughly?

Several failed attacks later, Timor decided he had seen enough and walked in on the fight, grabbed the Alpha by the neck and shook him so violently the Fleas lost their grip on his opponent’s body. He then bared his Canines, which were getting rather impressive since he had now gotten his Adult dentition, and grunted, while looking at his opponent barely an inch from his face. He then nonchalantly threw the totally shocked Australopithecus in the bush several yards away, and stood to his full height, giant knuckles on his hips, defying anyone to tackle him.

"Did you notice Timor is as big as his Dad, and he has yet to enter puberty?" said Colibri.

"Yes we did, young Man. I wonder what size he will get to," replied Ian. "It seems you found yourself an additional protector. By the way, that show of judo was well done. Sitar’s lessons bear fruits, it seems."

"Yes. I never thought I might need them, but I like the sport. Now, back to negotiating the peace, since the big obstacle is nursing his pride. We need to monitor that rock head. I do not trust him one bit the moment we are out of sight. Sorry, Ian, I know you did not want to get involved in domestic squabbles, but we are deep in it."

"I know, Colibri. You did your best. Not everyone wants peace."

Colibri moved slowly toward the group of Matriarchs and again offered a banana to one of the gravid females, who delicately took it and thanked him for the food. Colibri repeated the gesture with all the females, and then proceeded with the Toddlers, the Juveniles, and finally the Adult males of the new Tribe. Once everyone was supplied with a banana, he signed water and share. The oldest Matriarch, the Mother of the current Alpha female signed her acceptance, and the others followed suit.

"How did you know she was the one to talk to?"

"First, she is the oldest; she has silver hair. Second, all the females share a common body smell, indicating they are her Daughters. I can also tell you the Alpha male is the Father of most of the females, which indicates he has chosen as Alpha female one of his own Daughters once the older female was unable to give offspring. The oldest Daughters, numbered two, are not of the same Father, telling me there was a change of leadership some time back. The males also tell me part of the story. Thee of the oldest Adult males are related to the Alpha, more than likely Brothers. The others were there before and share common body odour with the two oldest Daughters, while being considerably younger. I think that the change of reign was bloody, with the old Alpha getting killed by this one, along with those that tried to fight on his side. There is another thing. I noticed our adoptive Tribe is rather open with sex, and that females and males intermingle freely, with only the Alpha mating with the females in heat. When a female is not in heat she can mate with any male she chooses. In that other group, it seems the Alpha has been grabbing the females for his exclusive use all the time, giving the other males no chance for release. There is just no odour of male body fluids on the females except the Alpha’s. Both groups also reveal intensive same-sex mating, both male and female, as we saw yesterday in the Tribe, but the males of this new group are all exclusively male-male, irrespective of age differences. It is also true of the females. There, I can understand why: when the Alpha is mating with one female in heat, he cannot reasonably satisfy the needs of the others, and since the females have lost access to the other males due to the jealousy of the dominant male, they satisfy each other. I suspect there will be a change now that this jerk got his jollies shaken up by Timor."

"All that from your nose? Are you sure you are not a Bloodhound?" said Ian, impressed.

"Hey, I survived my Grandfather by developing a sixth sense about these things. I made myself scarce when he was smelling like death on the prowl."

"I will not ask what we smell like. I do not want to know."

"Certainly not roses, this morning!" replied Harp as he smirked at Ian.

They had reached the river while Colibri had explained what his nose told him. He stopped and looked at the river for a second before saying: "There are predators lurking below the water. They are not sated."

"Crocodiles, much like the Alligators you are familiar with," replied Ian.

"And they will not be sated today either," said Timor as he brazenly walked in the water, grabbed a Crocodile by the snout and used it to bat off the others in every direction, creating a foam of white water that made swimming an impossibility. That morning, the Crocodiles admitted defeat early, and the Australopithecus troops settled to enjoy the river with some peace of mind, as the Atlanteans insured protection.

As Timor was busy with the Crocodiles, the defeated Australopithecus Alpha tried to sneak on Colibri only to discover the diminutive figure knew where he was at all times and he could not get near him by surprise. Tired of the game, Colibri decided to deal with the importune individual, and literally sent him flying right in the middle of the Crocodiles waiting out of reach of Timor and the other Atlanteans. The Crocodiles were not phased one bit by the arrival of a flying food dish and they did not miss the opportunity. So perish those that try to harm us, signed Colibri to the assembled Australopithecus Tribes.

Tarik had been keeping a close watch on his charge as he played in the water, and the Juvenile did the same with the other Toddlers that were now one less in number.

"What have we learned so far?" asked Harp.

"The Australopithecus cannot even emit a peep, but they can exchange via sign language; they can be aggressive to each other and to us given the proper context; they have a high sense of family and Tribe. They sure are not paragons of cleanliness, and are infested with Fleas and skin parasites. They are predators of small Rodents, from the observation in Africa, but they are also prey. They eat mostly fruits; they can make tools, and even offensive military tools. They are totally ignorant of the notion of incest, and from the females we observe, they become in heat once a month I think; we would need a longer study to establish when, and at what frequency. They have no qualms about any form of sex, even between Adults and Juveniles," said Colibri, making short talk of the results so far.

"Nice and to the point. What should we try to learn?"

"Why they cannot even peep. Every other animal can, why not they?" asked Colibri again, getting right to the crux of the issue.

"And that is in line with the quarry I forwarded to Enron, relative to the origin of the sign language we observe. That the Orcs, in their youth, use a similar sign language indicates a common origin."

«And you are right, Harp. They have a common origin. The language was developed at a primate research laboratory, at Yerkes during the Great Cataclysm. I have tracked the research from the beginning in what they called 1960 onwards. There was a return to nature movement in the early 1980s that led to the displacement of the laboratory to Africa, and the return of the pensioners in the laboratory to a semi-wild environment. Later, as the Yerkes Laboratory lost more and more control over its equipment there, the research was detoured for unsavoury purposes by unscrupulous researchers and local governments in search for the perfect Soldier. The final Cataclysm, the Atomic War, broke any control, and the Crocodile Priests began in earnest their research for substitute females from the super-Soldiers. There were two attempts: top-down and bottom-up; the top-down led to the Australopithecuses, and the bottom-up led to the Orcs. They are Cousins, and Cousins to us as well, resulting from two approaches at creating females for the Crocodile Priests. The Australopithecus, being smaller, were found unfit in the end, and abandoned to their fate, while the research continued on the Orcs, leading to the African subspecies, which is much larger than the now extinct North-American variety. It seems the Crocodile Priests abandoned the American variety and it migrated on its own to America, still conditioned to hate us with a passion. Eventually, Africa proved too dry for the Crocodile Priests, and they too migrated to North America, only to meet their old product in the wild, that hated them even more than they hated us. Paschal, sending your Collectors back in time for documents was a stroke of genius. We would have speculated for thousands of years on these facts, but both the Primate laboratories of the Ancients and the Crocodile Priests were maniacal in documenting their research and their decisions.»

«What about sound production?»

«That was done to the top-down lines to quench protests. A silent species is less likely to complain about abuse. They found the genes controlling the production of the vocal cords and derailed their activation by directed radiation mutations. There was a comment from one of the creeps saying that silence had finally descended on the laboratory with the death of the last vocal subject and that they now could remove their earplugs! Yet, they were totally taken by surprise when the Orcs showed they too could speak, due to neglecting that aspect of the re-sequencing to produce them. Apparently, the Orcs kept that hidden from the researchers and used their new-found capacity to organise a massive revolt and escape in the wild, killing the few Crocodile Priests left behind by their massive migration to North America. The last Crocodile Priest wrote the report in the hopes that some day, the North American Crocodile Priests would return to the laboratory and find the document. It never came to pass, and, from what I read, the Orcs had taken to eating the Crocodile Priests in the most gruesome way, so, rather than fall in their hands alive, the last one committed suicide. I have found his suicide note. Just so you know, the researchers used local Human populations for their top-down line of research, equating them with subhuman. Sick, if you want my opinion.»

«I piss on the Crocodile Priests. Can we fix the genetic shenanigans?»

«Keep your dick shielded in asbestos; they are now part of a molten ball of lava. But yes, we can fix things, but that will require reconstructive surgery of the vocal box via nanobots, and a genetic re-sequencing. Luckily, we have the Human genome to help us reconstruct the proper sequence, and also the Orc vocal box, that seems closer to the Australopithecus one than the Human one. I have anticipated your request, and we will be able to proceed as soon as the last Orc is out of the stasis chamber. The process is short, and takes a maximum of a week per individual. Given the low numbers of Australopithecus Regressi, it should be done very rapidly, probably within a month of initiating the project.»

«Set AI-4 to the task at hand in creating the schematics for the nanobots. I want results like three days ago!»

«You are bossy today Harp. You need to get laid! I will send you your love, Thorsten.»

The exchange produced an explosion of laughter from the Atlanteans, much to the amazement of the Australopithecus Tribes present.

«Have you any reports on the Cats?» asked Ian as he gasped for breath.

«Thanks for reminding me. Yes I do. There are eight signals forming two clusters following a beeline to the Tessaract entry. They keep to the high ground except when they need to cross a valley. They seem to try and cross rivers before they get too wide.»

«There are two clusters? Explain.»

«As you know, each birth and death is recorded in the Ark tessaracts. The AI keeps track of everyone’s fate. What we have here is Fang Chao and Spare Ribs, two Adult females, and four Kittens, two per pair. Apparently, Fang Chao and Spare Ribs are Dads and are travelling as a family with their mate. This behaviour is rather strange for big Felines, except Lions, but we are talking about Sabre-tooth Leopards, a species more known for its staunch individualism than for its family traits.»

«This is strange indeed. Even stranger is how they know how to get to the exit of the tessaract. We ported them at two far away points. They are like homing Pigeons! Keep track of their progress please. As soon as we have finished learning the essentials to resolved the Australopithecus mystery and are out of here, I am going to visit them.»

«Do not worry, this has piqued my curiosity, and I have set way-points that will trigger an alarm the moment they get near one within 100 miles.»

The day passed and the Atlanteans began to look at how the two Tribes interacted. Strangely, the other group, rather than move away during the day, stayed close, sensing they were safer near the Atlanteans than on their own. The fact that the Atlanteans supplied enough food for all helped in reducing causes for friction, as there was no competition for limited resources. Both foraged for fruits, and it became apparent that the new Tribe better knew the upriver segment and the lower segment was the prerogative of the first Tribe the Atlanteans had met. It also became clear that Tribes were the size they were because bigger Tribes would need to move on the ground more often, as it depleted resources in an area with a speed proportional to its membership.

"I managed to get a blood sample from the Toddler while he slept today," said Tarik, "I have asked for a full cytoplasm analysis. We should have it by sundown."

"Why did you ask that? It mobilises a considerable amount of laboratory resources."

"My Lord, we will need them anyway, later on. Second, there is something that happened today as I was playing in the sand with my protégé."

"Please elaborate."

"How many Toddlers can make sand fly without touching it? It was not a sandstorm, but nonetheless, it was visible as a small spiral of sand, a very small daredevil, and it was intentional. I verified and asked for a repeat, and was served with it. "

"Okay. Harp? Verify with the Toddler for Magic."

"I have been on it ever since Tarik opened up on that. The Toddler is low-end magical, but nonetheless magical. I am checking on the others. Enron is getting all the results as soon as I have them."

"Okay. We are almost through our stay. What do you plan to do with him?" said Timor as he indicated the Australopithecus Toddler in Tarik’s lap with his right hand.

"I have given thought to it. I have decided to bring him along with us, not as a pet, but as the first member of his group on his way to become Atlantean, that is if you are ready to approve this move."

"Ask the Tribe."

"How? We only have a limited language, centred mostly on such things as prey, predator, food, water, displacement, and sleep. They are apparently ill-equipped to exchange on such things as taking one of their Toddlers to bring him up to par with us."

"I see. Colibri, what do you suggest?"

Colibri sat, still as a Buddha statue, thinking hard. His idol asked him an important question, and he had to find a solution.

"Let me see. We need to take this in steps. First, we know the sign for Mother, Child, safe, and carry. Then I can hope the sign for far combined with carry will be seen as travel out of tribal territory. We figured out the sign for Tribe from the confrontation we had to fix. They must realise we are another Tribe, if only because we just do not look like them. I do not think they are stupid enough to see us as Australopithecuses, not that they know the name. I have tried to see if there was a notion of time. It is limited and certainly not distinct in the sign language. They see the day as split into basic necessities and dangers."

"Okay. Harp, can you project an image of what we want to do?"

"Yes."

"Try that first!"

"Hold it!" said Colibri. "We have another issue."

"Yes?" Ian asked.

"We now have two Tribes, not one. I suspect one Tribe would feel left out if we took a Child from one Tribe and not the other. If needed I am willing to assume paternity of one of the Toddlers to even out things."

"Okay. Do you have a preference?"

"I got elected big Brother by that little black-headed ball of perpetual movement. He is one heck of a troublemaker, from what I have seen, but the moment I look at him he calms down and comes to hug me. I have to be careful to put a force field or my neck would be crushed. I think it is hero worship at its full."

"Payback is a Bitch, Colibri. You wanted to be a God, well you are one now!" said Ian. "Choice approved! I noticed the most troublesome were generally the brightest."

The others laughed at Colibri’s expense, which had the grace to blush considerably under his permanent tan.

"Okay. Spin your sales pitch, Harp. I hope you are as good a Salesman as Colibri!"

Harp aligned his thought frequencies with the Australopithecus Tribe members. His first observation was that the individuals present were all sharing a common, rather narrow band. The next surprise was the amount of apparently unintended transmission. If only he could check if they had capacity at reception, it would ease his work considerably! But how to do this without blanking out everyone and put those who might be exchanging critical data at risk? Then he remembered how bananas were liked by everyone. He moved toward the Alpha of their adoptive Tribe, trying to hide his feelings about the strong body odour the male was dispensing liberally around him. If that was the Human male pheromones, he certainly preferred washing five times a day!

«Would you like a long fruit?» he asked as he projected the image of a banana.

The Alpha looked at Harp, surprised and clearly replied «Yes, where can I find it?»

«Right here,» replied Harp as he materialised a banana and handed it to the Alpha.

The Alpha took the banana and began munching on it making gestures of appreciation.

Going back to standard Atlantean frequencies while he watched the male eat the banana with ravishment, Harp revealed his discovery to the others.

«I think we have solved one mystery. Sign language is a stepping-stone used with the youngest. They use telepathy to communicate! They do not need to talk! I think the destruction of their capacity to emit sound prodded the emergence of that form of communication, and that the Crocodile Priests never had a clue! It is still emerging but I think we could prod the growth so it would become wideband, allowing for more intense and sophisticated communications. That they could not hear telepathic communications from us, added to the fact we did emit sounds, made them think we were unable to talk like they do and they have been using sign language with us out of courtesy. Let me see, the male is looking at me quizzically.»

Harp looked at the male. «You were saying? I was talking to my Tribe.»

«Talking? I heard nothing.»

«We have a different language than you. I have to change to be able to talk to you.»

«Oh. Okay.»

«What will happen to the other Tribe?»

«They are choosing a new leader. You disposed of one we never liked that was always making trouble. We never learned how he came to take this role because that Tribe used to be our friends.»

«We believe he and two of his male siblings took the Tribe by force, killing the previous leader at a weak moment. We thought of disposing of the two siblings when we disposed of the leader, but they are merely followers, and have no sense of leadership. They will probably get expelled from the Tribe by the next leader, if not, they certainly will lose considerable status.»

«Both solutions are acceptable.»

«So is the law of life.»

The Australopithecus nodded.

«Do you wish for another banana?»

«Can I have one for my expecting females but not for me? They do not eat enough and are sick.»

«They suffer from childbearing sickness. They crave food but they cannot hold.» Harp then produced two bananas, one for each female.

After the bananas were distributed. Harp sat on the tree trunk that had conveniently drifted to the riverbank, and invited the Alpha to do the same.

«We will be leaving after the Sun has reached the top of the sky and begins to decline. We must go back home to our own Tribe and do what is expected of us.»

«It is so for everyone. I will be sad to see you go, we have felt secure with your presence around us, something we never felt before.»

«One of your young ones has grown attached to one of ours, and this process repeated for another young of the other Tribe. We wish to bring them with us. They will be well-cared for.»

The Alpha seemed pensive for a few minutes, and then decided.

«You can take them. Their Mother died some time back, both. They have been taken care of, but they both feel they are un-welcomed. One female drowned, and the other was the dominant female of the Tribe before these nuisances came. She probably fought back and they killed her as they did the previous leader. We saw many things we found unacceptable, but we could not fight the big one. Your intervention was a balm on a sore wound.»

«Will the other Tribe not object?»

«Until they choose a leader, I lead both.»

Harp informed Tarik and Colibri of the Alpha’s decision and both hugged their charges and beamed happiness that could be felt by everyone within several miles.

«I made the right choice.»

«I agree. Choice is always difficult. Let us share food before we depart.» Harp created a buffet of fruits fit to feed an Army, and the two Tribes began eating, while the Crocodiles tried, unsuccessfully, to nab an unsuspecting meal.

After the lunch, the Atlanteans regrouped, along with the two Toddlers, held tightly in the arms of Tarik and Colibri.

«We must leave now. Beware of the Crocodiles. We will not be there to protect you. We wish you long life and good food. Do not forget to share members and to split the territory in fairness so no one feels hungry. We will be back to check on you when we have less to do with our Tribes. Yes, you understood me well. I said this intentionally. We are of different Tribes, and these two young ones will become your initial steps in fully joining us as one additional big Tribe,» said Harp. «Before we leave, one of us asked if you wished to recover the capacity to make sounds? Yes, you used to, and one day, we will explain why you lost it. Exchange with all the Tribes and, when we come back, we will talk more about this offer.»

«Live long and prosper!» replied the Australopithecus Tribes in a single voice.

The Atlanteans left the Tessaract to return home.

***

"Do we have the time to visit the Felines before we deal with the unpleasant things?"

"Not really, Ian. We came back somewhat late. Let us go wash, I feel like I have been living in a Pigsty. Just look at the on-board clock."

"It is because it was the case, Timor."

After spending an hour in the Royal Baths, and washing the two Toddlers thoroughly, which revealed rather pinkish skin under the crass, the Boys moved to the Bridge, where Harold and Samson met them.

"Hey Boys, I see you brought back two friends?"

"Yes Dad. These are Toddlers of the Australopithecus Regressi species. After what we discovered during our three-day stay, we believe we have a potential species for Elevation underfoot. It is a bit easier to deal with them than with those we rescued from down below or the Dolphins. Their respective Tribe gave these two to us. I have cleansed them up inside and out, and put on diapers because they still lack bowel control."

"Okay. Boys, I have news for you."

"Yes?"

"Ian, I felt you were blaming yourself for the destruction of the three civilisations we found here. Rest in peace: You only accelerated an inescapable event. To put it bluntly, they were doomed even before the Enemy began making them into Fish and chips. We, meaning Samson and I, have been studying the pattern of movement of astronomical significance. Apparently a meteorite measuring six miles in diameter would have hit this planet within the next two years. Yes, we could have used this time to rescue more, had the Enemy not destroyed everything, but in the end, the meteorite would have done them in."

"I so feel better. What about the wall that is coming our way?"

"That is coming on time. It should reach us in 30 minutes. What are your plans?"

"Wait until the last minute to leave. I want to make sure the Enemy gets caught its pants down."

"Because you think they wear any? And what about you, Son?"

"I do not have clothes, so they cannot be down. Anyway, stop trying to embarrass me, you have lessons to learn!"

"I should give you a spanking!"

"Promises, promises!"

"Harold, our Son has a kinky mind, you know. He is getting hard at the idea!"

"I noticed, Annabelle. By the way, I do not remember you naming the two Australopithecus Toddlers?"

"They do not have a name yet. I do not know whether the species names its members."

"Give it some thought, and come back with a good idea. A1 and A2 will not do, just in case you think that!"

"Tom and Jerry?"

"Okay."

"What is our next objective, Ian? I need to plot the trajectory," Samson asked.

"Lupus-Alpha. We are going to visit the Lupus stars and I want to start with the brightest. We are going home, to what is left of it at least."

"Fine. I am on it."

"Enron, to the helm, Harp to Sciences, Timor to weapons, Sitar to Strategic, Paschal to Engines, and Tarik, to nursing, you will keep these two tornadoes quiet while we move out of here. Paschal, we will jump into transwarp right out of orbit; we have no time to stage our accelerations. Will the dampening fields hold?"

"Yes Ian, without any doubt."

"Enron, can we pull it without colliding?"

"Yes, but I will need to do some fancy trajectory changes. Do not expect a straight line."

"Okay."

"How fast can we go from stealth to transwarp?"

"The time it takes for the signal to travel to the engines, why?"

"We do not want to give the Enemy any indication of our presence. Since we are some one light-second away from their apex, we can assume the signal we will give when we leave orbit will take as much to reach them. That means we must leave orbit when the wall is at half that interval in time from here. It is still progressing at warp 8, Samson?"

"Yes."

"Calculate the distance it will travel in half a second."

"0.0009 light-years," replied AI-6 instantly, taking Samson by surprise.

"When can I learn to add and subtract if you always do everything for me?" moaned the Elf.

"When the information is not endangering everyone!" replied the AI.

"Paschal, I did not know you gave a lip to these AI!"

"Hey, they are growing as well. They have a conscience, contrary to the Enemy, that has a hunger."

"Talking about that, have you managed to download their programming in a safe manner?"

"Dad, where was I for the past three days?"

"Playing Baby-sitter to Australopithecus Regressi members "

"What are you planning to do about the issue?" asked Annabelle.

"Nothing. It is too risky."

"What if they did have a conscience?"

"Dad, when Ants invade your home, you do not call an ethics committee to determine if the nest has a conscience. You terminate the Ants. These things act like Ants devouring a meal. Scientific curiosity has its limits, especially when we are the meal."

"We are at 10 minutes to jump. Everyone is in lock-down; all airlocks and bulwarks are locked. Engines are on standby," reported Timor. "Ark population in dens."

"Trajectory once out of system established! It is in helm," added Samson. "Enron, do I need to adjust?"

"Not so far, we will be exiting the system less than 10,000 miles from your planned exit point, and I will bring us on asymptotic convergence to our expected trajectory."

Tarik noticed the two Toddlers were becoming nervous.

"They are sensing something is up. Colibri, suggestions?"

"Start singing to yours, I will deal with mine in the same manner."

For the first time, the Atlanteans heard Tarik sing; his calming deep voice was effective. As it began to repeat what a chorus would normally have sung, Timor began to sing too, following Tarik exactly one strophe behind, thus creating an even richer sound environment. Colibri’s crystal-clear voice then added a third harmony, followed by the deep voice of Harold and finally the sound of Annabelle, somewhat lower than Colibri’s. The two Australopithecus Toddlers cuddled against the breast of their adoptive Father and began sucking their thumb before slowly falling asleep.

«We are one minute to jump. Standby for countdown! AI-6, telepathic countdown only!»

«Acknowledged. Enron in trance! Harp in trance! Paschal in trance! Mental state synchronised! We are linked! Thirty seconds! Twenty seconds! Ten seconds! Nine, eight Jump initiated!»

The jump produced a powerful flash of light that got immediately wiped out by the incoming event horizon. AI-6 continued its report.

«The wall is receding behind us! It just hit the planet! System destroyed! We are 30 light-years ahead of the wave, and distance is increasing exponentially. Convergence trajectory is established! Convergence achieved! Wall is now 600 light-years behind and increasing. ETA to Lupus-Alpha is estimated at three minutes 25.02 seconds. Disengaging transwarp. Current speed is at warp 9.95. ETA now estimated at six hours, 10 minutes and 22.72 seconds. Emergence from trance for all involved.»

«Thank you, AI-6,» said Ian.

"Tarik, I will go with you to the Imperial Suite and help you put to bed these two cuties. Given how their eyes were looking around before they fell asleep, Colibri, they have you beat flat in the puppy eye department!"

"Oh well, I cannot always look innocent!"

"I think loss of innocence comes with knowledge. Anyway, I will be going to see what is up with the Cats as soon as these two are in bed. Colibri, I would like you to come with me. Be aware that Fang Chao and Spare Ribs are considered wild Sabre-tooth Snow Leopards."

"Okay. That promises to be fun!"

"Enron, as soon as you can disengage from the helm, I want you to track where the two Cats are."

"Okay. We are passing inside a rather tightly packed star cluster. It will be a few minutes. Where should I send the information?"

"Directly to me by telepathy. Paschal, can you check on how the so-called secretarial Staff is handling its latrine assignment?"

"I was planning to. I learned never to leave these people with any rope unless I want them to hang themselves."

"Dad you have the Bridge."

"Finally? I some time feel like I am a decoration here."

"Because you are!"

"And did I hear right? What is this with the Imperial Suite?"

"Nothing Dad!" was heard from Ian as he popped with Tarik to the suite in question under a lot of laughter from the others.

***

"Okay. Here is the issue, Colibri. When we rescued the two Kittens, they stayed with us until they became a bit too turbulent to be kept with us. Since they kept fighting each other all the time, we ported them as far away from each other in a rather cold tessaract sub-segment, After all they are designed to survive rough, cold weather, in rugged terrain. Harp was scanning brainwaves to find the Australopithecus frequencies, and happened to pass within the range of the Cats’ brainwaves. From this, we learned they were both looking for us, which piqued our curiosity. Enron did a trace on them and found out that two groups of four Cats are converging toward the tessaract exit. Further analysis revealed two families, led by Fang Chao and Spare Ribs. From the last position reports, they have been travelling for quite some time, nearly two years, in an almost straight line, notwithstanding natural obstacles, which are many, including powerful streams. At 100 miles a day, they have covered over 7,000 miles, which is remarkable."

"I see."

"I want to see why they are travelling so far so fast. That is why I am going there. I am expecting Harp to join us shortly, and then Enron will be transmitting the last position, to the nearest square yard. In order for us to be safe, I will port us right in their path, a few miles ahead of their projected path. That way, they will walk on us, not the other way around. I know Cats do not like surprises."

"No animal does."

Harp walked in the living room, having changed to warmer clothes.

"I prefer to come prepared then get frozen meat balls."

"Okay. I will be going in my Cat form. Colibri! Put these on."

Colibri got help from Harp and Ian to get into late autumn warm clothes, and when everyone was ready, Ian converted to his female Cat form.

«It is beautiful, but deadly.»

«Yes. Enron, I am waiting!»

«Verifying, There they are. You got them?»

«Yes. I am picking Spare Ribs as initial objective. See you shortly. Keep track of Fang Chao.»

The group of Atlanteans ported five miles ahead of Spare Ribs’ family, somewhat above his current position. After studying the terrain, Colibri suggested they move down to a narrow ridge where the Cats would have to pass in order to maintain both their direction and their policy of keeping away from the lowlands. Ian noted, and told Colibri to lead them there by the safest, shortest route. The group began climbing down and they were at the exit of the narrow pass half an hour later, slightly above where the Cats would come, but still visible for them.

"We are downwind. We will smell them before they smell us. They must be very anxious. Travelling with the wind in your back is highly dangerous, even for predators."

The Atlantean party waited patiently for the Felines to come within sight. They were moving at a snail pace, and kept looking around with extreme care, but nonetheless, they progressed along the ridge. Ian smelled the approaching Cats a mile off, and sat in the middle of the planned travel path, waiting. The others stood with the Cat, slightly behind.

As Spare Ribs emerged from between rocks, he came to a halt, having just spotted Ian. Initially, his reaction was to raise fur and growl, but Ian looked at him with icy stare and growled back, before changing briefly to his Human form and back to Feline form.

«Lucky I am insensitive to cold. It is icy!»

The quick demonstration must have triggered a memory in Spare Ribs because he made his way to Ian, and sniffed his butt, before beginning to purr loudly. He had recognised one of the females that had fed him. As he spotted Harp, he made for him and again sniffed, then began purring even louder. He had found his family, even if some did smell strange. Harp scratched the ears, and that confirmed everything to Spare Ribs. He remembered that gesture of peace and pleasure vividly.

"I wonder what brings them so far from their home?" asked Harp.

The voice produced a considerable amount of rubbing. Spare Ribs had found his family! Yet his mate stayed back, weary of these strange animals that seemed not to fear her mate. They seemed to be food, but did not behave like food?