The Dawn of Day - 5. Chapter 5 - The Dawn of Day

The Aryaka were an old species. They were among the first species that had evolved in the star systems close to the galactic center, more than four billion years ago when these systems were young and the galaxy small. They ruled over twelve star systems and 127 planets. They had explored even more. The Aryaka had never shied away from deep space travels. They were a reptilian species and could spend long times in hibernation. Sophisticated technologies, implants and nano treatments had vastly increased their lifespans and they had long solved the mysteries of space-time. The Aryaka had developed the warp drive, the gravitational drive that made faster than light travel possible and had long perfected the technologies. Their ships had been the best and they had reached regions of space far away from the galactic center.

Time went by, eons passed. The star systems close to the galactic center aged, their suns grew old, expanded and finally destroyed the planets. Many suns exploded and others turned into red dwarfs. It was the age of doom when many species died and many worlds went down. A few civilizations survived by building gigantic space stations where entire populations migrated to. Others left the galactic center region and moved farther away, settled on young planets that had formed in the outbound regions of the galaxy.

Izanami was the central space station, the undisputed power of the galaxy. The entire galaxy was being watched and monitored by Izanami. Any upcoming threats were immediately stopped, the criminals were taken to a prison in space or sometimes banished to a place in the galaxy far away from the galactic center.

Banished to a far-away place but not thrown out on a rotten planet in a spiral arm of the galaxy, Nahusha thought. How long had they spent in hibernation? A couple of months. It felt only like a day or two, luckily.

Shesha snapped his head. “The Dragon computer detected a programmed take-off sequence. They’re preparing the ship for take-off. The ship might launch to orbit anytime soon,” he said in alarm. “They didn’t shut down the drone for whatever reason. We’ll lose connection to their ship once the drone is shut down.”

“That’s not going to happen,” Nahusha exclaimed, jumping from his chair. He started for the exit of the ship. “Combat mode. We’re entering their ship,” he ordered.

Shesha and Vasuki followed him. Shesha took a portable device from the console. The Aryaka donned their helmets and left the ship. It would be a tough walk trough the nightly rainforest.

Dave was in the cockpit, his eyes fixed on the monitoring screens. An hour went by. Neither Eric nor Brandon contacted him. Dave grew increasingly restless and he had a sense of foreboding. This was not how a scouting mission was supposed to be. The situation was getting out of control. Dave tried to contact Eric and Brandon, but none of the men replied. Dave followed his gut feeling. He donned his suit and helmet, opened the hatch of the ship and let the second ground car, originally bound for the platform in the Kuiper belt, down. He locked the ship and entered the coordinates Eric had sent him. A map on a screen showed the route from the spaceport to the monastery. Dave steered the car cautiously across the sand dam and then switched the car to automatic drive mode. The car proceeded quickly despite the difficult terrain and disappeared into the night. The USS Explorer was left behind, on full alert but without a crew.

All eyes turned to the Eric and Brandon when they entered the yard. The monks were staring at them with widened eyes. When the initial shock subsided, they fled, hitting a hand against their forehead and chest. Ainesh stepped out of the temple building. He stared at the group, his eyes and lips narrowed. Brother Kheti hurried to him and talked to the High Priest, pointing at Vaajat and the humans. Finally, Kheti waved his hand and shouted a few words to the novice. Vaajat moved towards him and the humans followed. Ainesh turned around abruptly and went inside. They all entered the building. It smelled of old stone.

Kheti led them down a dimly lit hallway. They entered the assembly hall where the nightly ritual had taken place. The room was lit by several torch lights. Brother Kheti locked the door and then pointed at the stone benches. Vaajat sat down in the first row. Brandon and Eric sat down beside him. Ainesh was standing by the altar, his eyes fixed on the novice. Vaajat shifted uncomfortably.

“How art thou fallen, shining one, son of dawn, star of the morning. Too soon returned to Sin!” Ainesh said.

Vaajat protested. Ainesh silenced him with a wave of his hand. He turned to Brother Kheti. The elder monk talked long, gesturing and pointing at Vaajat and the humans. Ainesh looked at the strangers and ordered Vaajat to rise to his feet.

Vaajat was afraid. He pointed at his forehead, told Ainesh of the accident and the events that had led to it. Eric and Brandon watched silently, not understanding, only guessing from the looks and gestures what was being said. The hall reminded Eric of an old Roman church and the men looked like monks. Was it just coincidence? Eric told himself that he must not conclude their thoughts from their gestures and looks. Those people looked human-like, but they were aliens who had evolved on a different planet than Earth.

Vaajat sat down. Ainesh looked at the humans. Minutes went by before the High Priest spoke again.

“It happened in great antiquity. Let me show you, so you understand,” he said.

Brother Kheti jumped to his feet. He made an inviting gesture to the men. Vaajat stood also Ainesh moved to a side door, took a torch from the wall and left the room. Kheti and Vaajat followed him quickly. Brandon and Eric exchanged a look but then left the room, too.

They went down a narrow hallway. The corridor led downwards and the air was getting crisp. A waft of fresh air suddenly filled the hallway. The High Priest had opened a door. Ainesh put the torch into a metal ring on the wall. The room was semi-dark, but suddenly a bluish light came on. It came from a lamp on a table in the center of the room.

Eric took a breath. “An electric lamp,” he said in disbelief.

Kheti lowered his head as if in prayer and Vaajat approached the lamp cautiously. His trust in Ainesh and the priests had returned. The light was truly a thing of magic and Ainesh was the master of it. The priests were not guardians of madness but guardians of wonders unseen and unheard of on Sin.

Vaajat looked at Ainesh in awe. He bowed his head. “Imagine a being so vast and powerful, it could snuff out our sun as you would a candle between your fingers. Such beings exist. If the splendor of thousands of suns were to blaze forth all at once in the sky, even that would not resemble the splendor of that exalted being,” he said under his breath.

“I’m not this being. I’m just a worm,” Ainesh said, casting Vaajat a bitter look.

Vaajat looked bewildered at the man. Brother Kheti placed his hand on Vaajat’s shoulder.

“All at a time,” he said in a low voice. “I have seen the wonder of the lamp and I have seen more wonders in the room, but I have not seen all of them. Ainesh will open the last door now. It is opened usually only once for the High Priest, on his appointment day. Ainesh will make an exception because the circle has closed.”

Vaajat cast Kheti a questioning look.

Brother Kheti smiled encouragingly. “The Transit,” he said. “The journey that the elders told us of. Sin was the end of their journey, but the starting point of the journey is unknown. It happened in great antiquity, but our visitors may know.”

Vaajat looked at Brandon and Eric. Kheti patted his shoulder.

Ainesh took the blue lamp from the table and opened the last door. “The sun will be dark when it rises and the moon will not shed its light,” he said. He turned back to the others. “But maybe the time of the light has come and light will illuminate the darkness.”

The room was dimly lit by the torchlight but, once their eyes had adjusted, they saw items on tables and painted pictures on the walls.

“Artifacts,” Brandon said. “Artifacts of an advanced civilization. Look, this is a sheathed cable and here, a gadget with buttons on it.”

“This could be a watch. And here, look,” Eric said, pointing at a plate embedded in a bigger object. He reached out his hand and touched it. “A screen.”

There were more items, clearly artificial, built by creatures with an advanced technological knowledge.

“What do you think?” Brandon asked. “Are they the descendants of an advanced civilization that went down a long time ago?”

“I don’t know,” Eric said. “It’s hard to tell how old these items are. They’re aged but otherwise look well-preserved. The air is dry in here. They could lie here for decades or even centuries.”

“The population is small,” Brandon said. “They could be the only survivors of a catastrophe. Think of the ancient spaceport. Someone built it a long time ago.”

“But otherwise we have not detected any signs of a civilization, no ruins, no big roads,” Eric said.

He turned to the paintings. Brandon joined him and took a flashlight from his belt. He switched it on without a thought. The natives let out surprised cries. Brandon turned to them and made a calming gesture. He pointed at the lamp in Ainesh’s hand and then to the flashlight. Ainesh held up the lamp and nodded.

“Strange pictographs,” Eric said. “A mixture of crude paintings and modern looking maps.”

The third pictograph from the left showed a map of a star system. A yellow big dot was in the center. Nine circles were drawn around it, each with a white spot. The sixth dot was marked with a cross. A small red dot was painted on the right.

“The 55 Cancri star system,” Eric said. “How do they know?”

“The first image shows a yellow sun and nine circles. No red sun,” Brandon said. “A different star system?”

“Maybe,” Eric replied. “Look at the second picture. Is this a bird or a flying vehicle?”

Ainesh stepped forward. He pointed at the first and the third pictograph and then spread his arms as if imitating a bird.

“I think he wants to tell us that a spaceship flew to the 55 Cancri system,” Eric said.

Brandon glanced at him. “Do you think their ancestors established a colony on the planet?”

“This is exactly what we plan to do. Someone else could have had the same thought,” Eric said.

They moved closer to the next sequence of pictures. The images showed figures working above and under the ground. Others stood by a vehicle. The wheels were drawn distinctly.

“Mining activities,” Brandon said.

The following pictures showed people building houses, people exploring the rainforest, people celebrating and many more activities.

“The artifacts on the table tell of an advanced civilization,” Eric said. “They came from a different star system. They established a colony here. The pictures, except the first ones, tell of a more primitive civilization. I think the colonists dropped from an advanced level to a more primitive state.”

“But they remember their origin,” Brandon said. “I doubt they have a true understanding of their origin, however. The artifacts became holy objects. They have built a cult around it. Why did he take us here?”

“We’re visitors from space,” Eric said. “We remind them of their origin. We’re living proof of their myths. We have traveled through space.” He pointed at a table. “What’s this? It looks like a space suit.”

The men went to the table.

“It looks very similar to the suits we’re wearing. Amazing,” Brandon said. He bowed forward and froze. Brandon pointed at a logo. “Look,” he said under his breath.

Eric stepped closer. “Oh, my god,” he whispered.

The logo was a blue circle with a spaceship orbiting a yellow planet. The word NASA was written on it in white letters.

The men exchanged a look.

“How can it be?” Eric whispered.

Ainesh joined them. He pointed at the logo on the artifact and the identical logo on Eric’s suit. Then he mustered the men with a grave look.

“What does he want?” Brandon asked in confusion.

“I have no idea. I don’t understand a thing,” Eric said. “This suit is old, very old. How can it be? When did they send a spaceship here?”

He fell silent. Brandon gazed at the artifact suit. Ainesh stared at them and crossed his arms in front of his chest. Kheti and Vaajat watched the scene in bewilderment.

“Time effect,” Brandon said finally. “The gravitational wave that hit our ship. It carried the ship to the 55 Cancri system and into the future.”

“For heaven’s sake,” Eric said.

Ainesh suddenly rose a doom-filled voice.

“It happened in great antiquity
That their ship set ashore
On innocent Sin
Their ship touched down on Sin’s shore

It happened in great antiquity
That the lords sailed the heavenly seas
The vast and wide deep
The lords crossed the expanse of the deep

It happened in great antiquity
That the lords descended to Sin
The crown of heaven
The lords descended the crown to Sin

It happened in great antiquity
That the lords built their house on Sin
The House of the Lords
God’s dwelling on untouched Sin”

“What does he want?” Brandon asked with a desperate undertone. “He sounds enraged. Why?”

“Whatever happened, it happened a long time ago,” Eric said. “We’ve jumped into the future, but the monk doesn’t know. A human colony was erected here long ago. The ancient spaceport was built by humans. They must have left the colony to itself at some point, long ago, for whatever reason. The civilization here dropped back to a primitive state. The monks know. They know that their ancestors were abandoned by a more advanced civilization. The colonists were left to their fate.”

“We are proof to him that this advanced civilization still exists, prospers and is much better off than theirs,” Brandon said. “Now that they have gotten hold of us, they can finally make their demands.”

“Back to the car,” Eric said.

His eyes met Ainesh’s. Eric was sure they had the same unpleasant thought.

Ainesh pointed at the door. Brother Kheti opened it. Vaajat left the room. Eric and Brandon followed him. Kheti and Ainesh stayed behind. Eric and Brandon heard their clipped talk.

“Let’s get out of here,” Eric said.

The men ran down the corridor to the assembly hall, crossed it hastily and hurried along the hallway to the temple exit. Vaajat ran after them. Ainesh bellowed a command. Brother Kheti tore open a narrow side door and hastened up a steep corridor.

The men stepped outside and looked around in the night, searching the gate of the monastery. They ran towards it, but a horde of black figures threw themselves at them, shouting, kicking and hitting them with shovels and pitchforks.

Brother Kheti watched the scene from the distance, breathing heavily after his sprint through the steep corridor, a shortcut, an exit path in times of emergency. The exit wasn’t far from the dormitory where the priests and novices had retreated to after their encounter with the alien visitors, the evil lords, the destroyer of worlds, the lords who had left behind the Sin people in ancient times, the destroyers of the early Sin civilization.

“Bind them. Lock them up in the cattle shed,” Kheti shouted.

Eric and Brandon struggled, but the monks overwhelmed them. The men were struck down on the ground.

Ainesh joined Kheti.

“Shining morning star, how you have fallen from heaven! In the darkest of the nights you fell,” he said in a spiteful voice.

“You destroyer of nations, you have been cut down to the ground,” Kheti said, gloating.

“We will praise another glorious morning. Dawn is near, ending the rule of the fallen one,” Ainesh said, rubbing his hands with satisfaction.

The monks set to bind the men’s hands and feet. They stopped any protests and shouts with a slap in the face.

Vaajat watched the scene helplessly. He had overheard Ainesh and Kheti’s talk. Vaajat felt their words were a lie. He felt a different truth in his heart.

The shot of a gun silenced them all.