Before History Began

Science has suggested of late that there are many planets in this universe that may be capable of supporting life but few that may actually have the right combination of elements and events to produce life.  In my universe, our earth is one of the few worlds which I call “seed planets.”  Life came to exist on earth years ago and it has grown, shifted, been shifted, changed or evolved over the course of all those years producing a rich variety of species in age after age.

In my universe, the powers on the earth (Titans) watched over this ever changing landscape of life and made the effort at certain points in pre-history to preserve that which would otherwise be lost.  This was done by “seeding” other capable but otherwise barren worlds, generally within range of the earth—in this arm of the galaxy.  One of the first was the Diplodocus, a reptilian species that might best be described as “intelligent dinosaurs.”  There were others.

In the “Middle Era,” the so-called elder races were essentially humanoid in shape and type—the more so as time moved toward the younger races.  In the last days of the Middle Era, there were primarily two elder races native to the earth, and one younger race, us.

The Gott-Druk (Neanderthal) worked in stone, and lived for the most part in small and family groups, spread out over the west: North Africa, Europe and the Mediterranean.  The Gott-Druk were responsible for building the Sphinx along the Nile, and their greatest place of gathering was in the place that came to be called Jericho in later ages.  They also built temples on Malta, and a cult of painters arose in Europe—all of which we can see in our day.

The Elenar (Cro-Mangon) worked in wood and thus little, if any of their great works remain to us.  They were more advanced (technologically) at the time, having invented the wheel, the plow, and having domesticated numerous animals and practiced agriculture.

We, Homo Sapiens, the younger race learned fast and had just begun to build our own “cities” primarily in the Tigris-Euphrates area when the unthinkable happened.

By that time, some of the ancient races had begun the exploration of space.  One group in particular visited the earth and set up trade there.  They were the Agdaline, a species of blithering geniuses with little or no sense of humor.  Their faces would be recognized from the many copies carved from the stones of Easter Island—but that is a story unto itself.

These Agdaline were confined by the powers to the area roughly between Jericho and the place of the Lion (on the Nile).  There, they could meet with Gott-Druk, Elenar, and humans, though we humans had little to offer that might interest them.  The Elenar and Gott-Druk began a rapid advance into technological matters, but soon enough the disaster happened. 

While experimenting with zero gravity and potential light speed technology, the Agdaline inadvertently ripped the atmosphere off their home world and sent a small moon hurtling through space, headed toward us.  There was not much time.  The Powers on the earth forced the Agdaline to give near-light speed and cryogenic (sleeper) technology to the Gott-Druk and Elenar who were then directed to new worlds where they could survive the catastrophe. 

Before you think this was an over-the-top leap in technology, though, let me remind you that at one point we had horse drawn carriages and some steam engines with rail tracks and muzzle loaded muskets and within a measly hundred years we set foot on the moon and mastered the atom itself and we do the internet.  A hundred years ago, we were just figuring out the electric light.

And us humans, with this moon hurtling straight at us?  We were left to our own devices.  When the moon grazed the earth and set the planet to wobble in earnest, and melted the ice caps and flooded the planet, a few people survived in a gopher-wood boat, but that too is another story.

The Beginning of History

Once the flood waters receded, the powers on the earth quickly repopulated the flora and fauna from the seed stock carried by the humans.  Repopulating the humans, however, was another matter.  That was just going to take time, and especially since the human population seemed determined to remain bunched up, first on the mountain, and then only slowly moving down into the Plains of Shinar.

At that point, though, three things occurred or began to occur.  One was the powers themselves were busy giving birth to those children that would one day be called “the gods.”  That became important soon enough and it looked like the world was ready to take another turn in the ever changing, living landscape of time. 

Second, the powers began to fill in earth’s empty spaces by reversing their previous work—not by bringing back elder races, but by importing other species from other seed planets that could be compatible with life on earth.  These included many that are still known in myths and legends.  They were the Centaurs, Mermaids (and men), and the Were People—shape shifters accommodated to earth fauna: the bear, the eagle and the wolf.  They did not remember the world from which they came.  And yes, the Were People were responsible for passing into the human race that gene and virus combination that could produce, in humans, the werewolf 

Meanwhile, and third, the fact that the “sons of God found the daughters of men fair” still continued.  This gave birth to the race of giants as well as the Titan form of what we might call “demigods.”  One such demigod was Nimrod the Hunter who took for himself certain authority over the human race and, to serve himself and to his own glory, he had them build a tower on those Plains of Shinar.  You may be familiar with that story.

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They say that early on, the old “god” Chronos (the Greek god of time) had a vision about the end of the earth.  To avoid the horrible fate he saw, he instituted several failsafe measures, the chief of which was the development and birth of the Kairos—a mere human, but one that would be trapped in a series of rebirths.  It was intended from the beginning that the Kairos (a word for event time or what we would call “history”) would remember, not only his (or her) past lives, but also the future.  It was hoped that by remembering the future, the Kairos would see when history began to get off track and somehow drag it back on to the right path…  It was a terrible risk, trusting the future to a mere mortal, and it came to a head under the tower—the last time the Kairos was born with one consciousness in two bodies, male and female.  Not an easy thing to imagine, much less do………….

“Godfather!”  They called him.  He liked that name.  They threw their arms around him and gave him a big hug.

“Time is short.”  He said softly as he pulled away.  He eyed them with a disturbed look in his eye.  He touched them on each head and placed something in each mind and heart and in their one spirit that could not quite be grasped, and then he hugged them again as if for the last time.  “After today the gentle flow of days and hours will become the flow of events and meaning, and then your time, my Kairos, must begin, while my time will be done.”

“What do you mean?”  Zadok asked. 

“Will I not see you again?”  Amri wondered as the tears came up easily into her eyes.  They felt the time connection between the big man and themselves as strongly as they felt the touch of his big hands.  Zadok did not understand it and Amri could not explain it, but it was there, a temporal connection, though in them it was different.  Maybe it was as their Godfather said.  In him it felt like it was just numbers and days.  In the Kairos it was events and meaning, and all twisted up in the human condition.

“You have seen me and known me, my making.”  The man smiled all the deeper, as he seemed to acknowledge their innermost thoughts.  He often called the children his making.  “And you will see me and know me again; but my son is seeking to kill me, and if he should free his siblings, he will succeed.”

“Oh, Godfather.”  Amri did cry at that thought, and Zadok could not help feeling the same tears fall.

“It will be all right.”  The man said, laying a hand gently on each head.  “Only my imitation of flesh and blood will end.  My real self, my Spirit will continue to work as long as the days and hours continue to flow.  This is why I was made.  And besides, the others who helped in your making, the mothers and fathers will continue to watch over you and keep you in your ways.”

The children tried to return his smile.  Amri perhaps did a better job of it than Zadok.

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“Now, if all is well with the days to come, we shall see.”  The man finished speaking and he touched them once more on the top of each head.  The Kairos became dizzy this time and fell into a kind of trance, but both sets of ears still functioned well enough.

“I have given you into the hands of greater friends.  In the future, they want you to try things one person at a time and put a spiritual wall between the two.  I am not sure how that will work other than tear you in half, but in any case, you are out of the reach of the gods to be.  You are only one tool, my making, but in a way you are my best hope to insure the future.  Travel well.”

The earth shook.  Amri and Zadok were lying down and holding each other tight, like when they slept in the night.  They heard the bricks, crumbling.  They felt the tower break, and the whole mountain moved and collapsed, but after that, they felt nothing more.

In my universe, that was when history began.