Sumeru - 11. Chapter 11

“What do you mean? Train our brains? Erase our memories? Or what?” Dan asked, disgusted.

Naamah raised his hand. “You don’t have to worry. Calm down. Your memories will remain intact. I’ll explain it to you.”

“Rob said that the humans aren’t ready for contact with an extraterrestrial civilization. Do you also believe what Rob said?” Tamiel asked, turning to the other men.

They nodded, even Dan complied.

“I was prepared for this mission and still I can’t cope,” Dan said. “It frightens me to think of how Earth will react to our findings in space.”

“Earth won’t learn of the truth. The treatment will help you to keep the truth to yourselves, but we won’t erase your memories, I promise,” Tamiel said.

“How will it be done?” James asked.

Naamah held up a small device. It looked like the ones that had been placed on Pete’s head and forehead.

“We will place this item on your forehead. It’s programmed to train your brain,” Naamah said.

The men exchanged doubting looks.

“Trust him,” Pete said. “He does nothing wrong. No harm will be done. I know how it feels. It’s okay. Ask me a few questions, Naamah.”

“All right,” Naamah said. “Try to answer them truthfully, Pete.”

“Sure,” Pete said with a smile.

“What’s your planet of origin?” Naamah asked.

“Earth,” Pete said.

“When did your ship take off from Earth?”

“On August 8, 2068.”

“What was the target of your mission and when did you arrive?”

“The star system X104. We arrived after five months travel time,” Pete said.

“What was the mission of the trip?”

“Investigate the Dyson ring,” Pete replied. “Find out if it’s an artificial structure.”

“Is it an artificial structure?” Naamah asked.

“Definitely not,” Pete replied. “We found that debris of a broken up planet orbits the sun.”

“This is not true,” Dan protested.

Pete gave him a long look. “Well, the images clearly show that debris orbits the sun,” he said.

“That’s wrong, Pete,” John said. “Why do you say so?”

“I have memories of the images the ship’s sensors took,” Pete said. “I can only describe how I feel the items in the images looked.”

“Pete remembers the collector ring,” Naamah said, “but he can’t tell about it. This was part of his treatment in the medical center. You didn’t get the treatment because Sumeru decided to take you to Garada.”

“We sent images of the ring to Earth,” Dan said.

“Earth has not received these images,” Naamah said. “Not the Earth you will return to anyways. A different time thread will be activated upon your arrival. You’ll switch to a time line where the images you took have not arrived at Earth. Earth has no images, no data, no hard evidence of the collector ring. They will know that your ship landed on the planet Cailan, but they won’t know of the ruins and the remnants of an extraterrestrial civilization. Your brains will adjust to the new space-time location quickly. I promise you will keep your true memories. You won’t be able to communicate parts of that truth to others, however. We have no intention to cripple your mind, but the treatment makes sure you will tell what fits in with the new time line. Apart from the missing data and the jump forward in time, there’s not much difference between the Earth you return to and the Earth you left. We have very carefully studied the time threads. That’s the general idea. The treatment will protect Sumeru and it will also protect you.”

“I see what he means,” Rob said. “We will all stick to the same credible story. Even if we wanted to keep the truth to ourselves, you know how things work out usually. One wrong word here, another word slips there, some day one of us comes out with the truth to relieve his conscience. Think of the public responses, think of the national and international consequences, and think of Earth’s future in space. I’m very unhappy with the situation, but I will comply with it.”

“I must protest,” James said. “I’m a physician. I cannot accept this treatment to the brain.”

There was a silence. Naamah studied him, playing with the device in his hand.

James shifted uncomfortably in his chair. The others looked aside.

“May I ask you a few questions, Pete? You’ll answer truthfully?” James asked finally.

“Sure,” Pete said.

“How do you feel? Do you feel as if you’ve lost track of time or parts of your memories?” James asked.

Pete was thinking. “No, the accident on the planet had no effects on my brain,” he said. “You told me you diagnosed an untypical stroke, whatever that is. I recovered quickly, luckily, and I suffer no impairments. I have not lost my memories or track of time.”

“Are you sure you didn’t forget anything?” James asked.

“Yes,” Pete said. “I’ve long thought about everything, our mission, my life, and the cosmos itself. I found it was good. The cosmos is order and order was restored. I mean, I feel okay with the situation. I was confident that we would ultimately get out of the predicament. Gut feeling, perhaps, the voice of the heart, belief in a higher force or god, whatever, there are many words for the same thing. I feel okay, whole, and at peace.”

“And you know exactly how you feel?” James asked.

“Yes, I do,” Pete said.

“And you know exactly what you tell? You are aware of every word you say?” James asked.

“I am,” Pete said. “Words are all put with the best of my belief and knowledge.”

James mustered him. “Okay,” he said finally. “I think he’s all right. I’ll comply with the treatment.”

“What about you, Dan and John?” Naamah asked.

Dan crossed his arms. “I don’t trust you and your species. You may be an old race and you may be far more advanced than we humans are, but I find that you act quite in the same way as we do. You call us primitive, unstable and underdeveloped. Well, this tells me much about who you are. You project on us what you don’t want to be. You want to be advanced and developed and even enlightened. However, you only want to feel superior to others while in fact you are not. Technology-wise yes, but otherwise no. I’ll comply with the treatment because you take us back to Earth. This is noble. I do respect you for it. And I trust Pete. I believe what he said.”

Naamah studied him. He had not hold Dan in high regard, but Dan definitely had a point.

“I think you’re quite correct,” Naamah said in a serious voice. He turned to John.

“Okay,” John said. “When will we be treated?”

“Upon arrival at the edge of your solar system, once you have boarded your ship,” Naamah said. He placed the device on the table. “All right. Is there anything you want to know before our ways will part?” he asked.

“Tell us about Earth’s past. I told you of our view, our research findings and the conclusions we drew, but I learned little from you,” Rob said, nodding at Tamiel. “Let us know your view on human history. Tell us of Earth’s past.”

From the Garadagatha or the Songs of Fate:


He is the Lord of Earth and Heaven
We track the passages of the moon
He held the shrine of cosmic order
While we tracked along a silver trail

He is the Lord of Earth and Heaven
All power is His alone
He erected a house in our precinct
And Sumeru is its name

He is the Lord of Earth and Heaven
His ways cannot be changed
He holds the shrine of cosmic order
While on our ways we fail

“Sumeru has charted the entire galaxy. We know Earth by the name Ki,” Tamiel started. “Ki was discovered in ancient times. Sumeru was built a long time ago close to the core of the galaxy. The outbound star systems were young, stars and planets had just formed when the center galaxies had already grown old. Life had just formed on planets in many outbound star systems when life in many places in the center systems had come to an end. Suns had exploded or had shrunk to dwarfs and planets had gone down, many destroyed by their expanding sun. Civilizations rose and fell, many went down due to a natural cause, and many more exterminated themselves by self-made disasters or by waging terrible wars. Only a few civilizations survived, among them the first race, the oldest race of the galaxy. The first race built Sumeru, a giant space base. It was their refuge when their star system went down. They built Sumeru in the neighboring system where the second race settled on the planet Cailan. The second race had built a megastructure, a ring of collectors, around the sun. The collectors produced vast amounts of energy, energy needed to build Sumeru. The first race and the second rage co-operated and migrated to Sumeru. Many other species followed and moved to the space base when their systems went down. Sumeru built many more stations in space. They’re all connected, but Sumeru has ever since remained the central base.”

“Ages went by. Then the third race revolted and stood up against Sumeru’s dominion. A terrible war was the result. It lasted long and stretched over four star systems. The need for resources was high at the time. Warships were built in big numbers and mining teams were sent to the planets in the outbound regions of the galaxy to mine the needed materials. An Asuras mining team was sent to Earth to mine bauxite. That’s how you humans call the ore. Alulim was the leader of the Asuras team.”

“They needed aluminum for spacecraft,” John said.

Tamiel nodded.

“Aluminum,” Rob said. “The word comes from Alulim, I see. Alulim was the first Sumerian king according to their kings list. He ruled approximately 250,000 years ago. The list is regarded a made-up list by modern scientists. Homo sapiens emerged 200,000 years ago, Homo sapiens sapiens roughly 40,000 years ago. A Sumerian king 250,000 years ago is regarded fantasy.”

“He was real,” Tamiel said. “Ki wasn’t ideal for mining operations. Life had formed on the planet. Sumeru prefers to mine uninhabited planets and moons, but the need for resources was high during the war. And Ki was rich in bauxite. The mining team erected a base on the ground, a space platform in orbit and a base on the outmost planet of the system as a way station to Sumeru.”

“Triple City,” Rob said. “It’s mentioned in the Vedas.”

“Yes,” Tamiel said. “The Asuras kept away from the primitive species on the planet and all worked out well for a very long time. The war with the third race finally came to an end, but the mining activities on Ki went on. Many years went by.”

“And then things changed,” Rob said. “The Asuras made contact with the humans.”

“Yes,” Tamiel said. “The mining activities had dragged on for ages and had become a boring habit. The humans were a welcoming distraction. They had turned into an intelligent species and they resembled the Asuras in many ways. It began long before the flood destroyed the planet.”

“The Deluge,” Rob said. “Megafloods occurred at the end of the ice age, roughly 12,000 years ago. The Earth entered a pluvial period. The entire planet drowned in waters. We have evidence for the Flood.”

“Sumeru ended the mining activities,” Tamiel said. “Many Asuras went to Sumeru or other worlds, but a few hundred individuals stayed in Triple City. They interfered with the humans. They supported them, helped them build up their society after the flood. The humans regarded them gods and the Asuras did everything to support the idea. It’s an unfortunate part of our history. It was also the cause of the war between Asuras and Devas. The Asuras split up in two groups. The split up group called themselves Devas. They wanted to support and further the humans but not dominate them. The other group claimed for dominion. They wanted to carry on their role as powerful gods.”

“In other words, they wanted to rule over the planet,” Rob said. “But the humans stood up against the dominion. The humans would not have won a war against the Asuras. The Devas helped the humans. A couple of ancient writings tell of it.”

“The humans played no role in the war, although they got involved in it. It was for no good,” Tamiel said. “The war was terrible. Asuras and Devas fought against each other on Earth and in space. The war ended with the destruction of Triple City. The Devas destroyed the ground base and the platform orbiting Earth. The main base on the outmost planet of the system was also damaged, but remained intact to a degree, according to ancient Asuras reports. Many Asuras were killed and the rest fled from the system, but many were captured later and taken to Garada, the Sumeru prison in space.”

There was a silence.

“I understood you had plans to come back to Earth’s system,” John said finally.

“Naamah made plans,” Tamiel said.

Naamah straightened. “That’s past history now,” he said. “I gave up on the plan. Things have changed with your arrival.”

“What were those plans?” John asked.

Naamah sighed. “I dreamed of an Asuras space base, but Sumeru rarely gives a species permission to build their own base in space. Tamiel found the arguments I could bring forward in the High Council, arguments that would guarantee official support for our cause. Representatives of all species met. They voted for promoting young species by sending a teacher, an old concept that was neglected over the years. The Devas support the concept strongly. I knew Azrael would support the idea. I hinted at Asuras history and Azrael ran in the trap, at least I thought so. He proposed to send an Asuras teacher to Earth.”

“To make good the damage,” Tamiel said. “After all, the Asuras were responsible for the war.”

“Azrael didn’t run in the trap, however,” Naamah said. “He talked to the High Council. The entire meeting is saved to the archives and billions of individuals downloaded it to their memories. Thus Azrael made sure that our steps would be monitored. Many don’t care what goes on in the outbound regions of the galaxy, but a few individuals and groups would have watched and monitored our steps. Azrael undermined my plan. Like I said, that’s past history now. I was blinded by an ancient war.”

They sat in silence, absorbed in their thoughts.

“We’ll drop back into real space soon,” Naahmah said, rising to his feet. “I’ll take you to your ship. We must part.”

Naamah led them to the cargo hall. They entered spaceship Shiva. The men strapped in and Naamah placed the small device on each man’s forehead. Then he looked at the men.

“How do you feel?” he asked.

“I sense nothing,” John said.

“No difference at all,” Rob confirmed.

“It’s all there,” James said. “I remember everything.”

“I told you so,” Pete said.

“All right,” Dan said. “Let’s get started. I want to get the last leg of our journey done.”

“I thank you for your assistance,” John said. “I speak on behalf of the entire crew.”

The others nodded.

“I wish you good luck,” Tamiel said. “I will sure not forget about you. You came just in time to change Asuras history. I feel very glad.”

“The cosmos is stronger than every civilization. Azrael’s words,” Naamah said. “Maybe the cosmos interfered. Anyways, I also wish you good luck on your journey. We’ll monitor your trip back to Earth. We have no intent to interfere, but we will do so should you face serious difficulties. Our ship will drop back into real space any minute and your ship will be released. It’s programmed to set course on Earth.”

They exchanged good-byes. Naamah and Tamiel left the ship.

The men took a breath and readied themselves. They focused on the screens and displays.

The Asuras spaceship dropped back into real space and spaceship Shiva was released into space and on a different time thread, unnoticed by the human crew. The ship set course on Earth.

John activated the communication system. It worked properly.

“Commander John Ross on spaceship Shiva. Ground control Earth, do you hear me? We’re coming home,” he transmitted.

Fifteen minutes passed. They sat in tension. Then ground control Earth replied.

“Ground control Earth to spaceship Shiva. Glad to hear from you. You’ve been away a long time. Get ready for the welcome. Can you give me your exact position in space, please?”

There was a loud cheer in the cockpit.

The last leg of their trip through space had begun.