Prologue to "The New Dawn"
----------------------------------------------------------
Story copyright (c) 1998 Siergo Desteran.
------------------------------------------------------------------

All stories have a beginning. Of course, it's just A Beginning, not The Beginning. All stories have a beginning because you can't start a story at The Beginning. If all stories started at The Beginning, it would become a very dull thing to read any story. One book started at the Beginning and the world was changed forever.

One thing you have to remember, though, is that there must always be a beginning to a story. A story can never truly start at The Beginning, because something Had to happen before that, didn't it? Do you think a thing just appeared and said 'Alright! Let there be...'? Maybe something did appear and say that, but where did IT come from? And does it really matter?

People have thought about such things for a long time, some people more than others. Some people don't think that at all. Some people think humanity just evolved, starting with chemicals that developed life and eventually an ape or something picked up a stick and began to use it for all sorts of mundane things.

One person, though, doesn't believe either theory (Ok, more than one, but I'm trying to focus your attention here, *sigh*). One story is too far fetched. The other is all to convenient. One flaw of humanity is that it took a wile before they learned how to record history. In fact, far to long before anyone who could remember The Beginning died. But that one person found something interesting, something that she could show to all the world. Something that would explain everything. So now, let us watch as A Beginning unfolds...

I was so excited! The plane had touched down only a few minuets before a man in a jeep arrived to take me to the excavation. He introduced himself as Jerry Samson, and we left immediately. He was about 6'1" with deep brown hair and matching brown eyes. He had a light beard, as must archeologists do since they hardly ever stop to shave when something important was going on. He didn't look very strong, so he obviously wasn't an excavator. As we drove down the makeshift road in the shade of the tropical forest, I tried to find out as much as I could about what was going on.

"So, Professor Hamil didn't give me much information about what was going on down here, do you think you could fill me in on anything? I'd like to get started right away.",I said, with a little too much enthusiasm.

"My, we are very excited, aren't we?", he said with a huge grin and peculiar accent. "Didn't he tell you what we found?"

"No, actually. He just sent me a package with a plane ticket and enough money to put my stuff in storage for about a year. He said that he had discovered something profound and wanted me to examine it with him."

He smiled again and said, "He told me you were an expert at ancient languages. You look a little young to be an expert in something like that."

"Don't let my looks deceive you. I happen to be 28 years old and I've been learning dead languages since I was 15 years old. I can translate 17 different ancient languages, given time."

"Translating is different from interpreting."

"Interpreting? Oh my, you mean to say you've discovered a new written language?! That's incredible! I can't wait to see it. Well, now you have to tell me more or I'll bug you about it all the way there." I gave him a very arrogant,evil grin and waited.

He pretended to be frightened for a moment then smiled again. That smile was becoming a favorite of mine. "Alright, alright. You are very direct, you know. You could try being a little more professional, though."

"Speak for yourself."

"Good point. Well, Alexandra Desteran. What do you want to know first?"

"Alexi." I said, "My friends call me Alexi."

"Fair enough." He thought about it, and added, "Alexi."

This time, I smiled. I'm sure my smile wasn't as friendly as his, but I tried my best. "You can start with what you found that needs to be translated."

"We found several things to be exact. Professor Lang thinks we may have uncovered some sort of religious ground. The first thing we uncovered was a statue with an inscription on the base. After a while, we found three more like it in four corners of what appears to have once been a perfect square. It isn't anymore, of course, because it was buried in the dirt, but we found where they were originally placed, we think. One of the states was broken when we found it and we just began reconstruction. Anyway, after a few more months, we uncovered something even better. A slab in the middle of the square. The slab had the same thing that the statues did written at the top along with a very lengthy passage of some sort." he said in a very well thought out script-like dialog.

He was purposefully skipping a very important fact, very deliberately. "What were the statues of?"

It took him a few minuets to respond. "Well, I think you'll have to see that when we get there. I wouldn't want to spoil it for you with my inadequate description." he smiled again, and I decided not to press the subject.

"What about you," I said quite suddenly, "what do you do? Are you an archeologist? Or just an errand boy?"

"An errand boy? I'm shocked! Do you think they'd send an errand boy to pick up someone as important as you?" he gasped in a mocking voice.

"Yes."

He smirked. "Well, I'll have you know I'm an assistant to Professor Hamil."

"That's odd, he never mentioned you." I said, accusingly.

"Well, he's said quite a bit about you. Apparently you were his favorite student for a number of years and you've been friends ever since."

"Actually, I've known him longer than that. He was a friend of my father. He used to visit us and tell me stories about all the fabulous things he'd worked on. He's the one that got me in this field, actually."

He was silent for a moment, then he asked, "What did your father do?"

"He was the curator of the a museum in Arizona. My father worked with Hamil on one of his first projects, before I was born." I trailed off. I knew what his next question would be.

"Was the curator, did he retire then?"

"No....... He died of a heart attack last year."

We traveled on for what must have been half an hour. I watched the trees as we passed by. "I'm sorry." he said without emotion.

"It's alright, really. He died happily. He told me before he died that he was proud of me and glad that I was doing what I wanted to do."

He smiled again. This time warmly. "I didn't mean to s....."

"No, really, I'm fine."

"So," changing the subject, "What about the rest of your family?"

"I didn't know my mother. She divorced Daddy when I was only three and ran off with someone else." a pause "Don't have any brothers or sisters either."

"Apparently I'm not very good at this."

I giggled calmly. "It's alright, I'm used to it. It's funny how small talk always begins with the family. Speaking of which, what about you? Do you have a family?"

"Look, we're almost there."

I didn't mind that he didn't answer. I was to excited. A new language; possibly a new civilization was being discovered and I was going to be there. We drove past a number of other vehicles and pushed on through the foliage and then....

"What in god's name!" he shouted. I simply stared at the scene. Everything was smashed beyond recognition. The statues, the slab, and...... the people were...... "They.... the....." he gasped.

We both jumped out of the car and began examining the bodies. They were all dead. They looked like they'd been torn to pieces. Everyone.... was dead. The tents were torn down and burnt, some of them were still burning. We ran to them to look for someone, anyone, who might still be alive in them.

"Professor!" I shouted. He was laying on his stomach, a gash across his back. I turned him over and he groaned. "Professor! You're alive! Jerry! Quick! Get the first aid! We ha..." my shouting was interrupted by Hamil. He had grabbed my arm.

"Alexi...... The.. they didn't get it.... the e.... etching......" he was grasping for air. The gash had punctured a lung.

"Professor! Don't talk. I.. I'll help you. Tr.. Try and stay awake professor." I was trying not to cry. He had a look in his eyes. The same look my father did just before he died. "Damnit, Jerry! Where are you!" I screamed in desperation.

Hamil reached into his coat pocket and produced a disk. "Take ..... it. Do.... don't let them get away with this.... I..." his breathing stopped, and he collapsed. I cried for days....

Alexi recovered a few days later and returned to Arizona with Jerry. They worked for 4 years, trying to decipher some meaning from the etching of the slab that was on the disk the professor had given her. As time passed, they became good friends. Almost like brother and sister. She told him about her life, her father, and Professor Hamil. She never noticed that he never talked about himself. They were both consumed with their work.

At the end of the 4 years, things were becoming very bleak. The money her father's family had left her was running low, and they couldn't ask for grants to continue there research, as they were afraid of what might happen if anyone knew that the etching existed. They never talked about what happened at the ruins. It was on the news for almost a year, before something more important came along. Know one could satisfactorily explain what had killed them all.

As they were driving home one night after visiting with Alexi's friends to try and borrow more money......
"I don't blame them, actually. They probably all think I'm mad."

Jerry remained silent.

I laughed. "They probably think I'm having an affair with you. Most of them don't approve of that sort of thing, being so religious and all."

"Is there anything wrong with that?" he said, somewhat coldly.

"With what? You mean you and me?"

"No. With being religious."

"Not exactly. It's just that I could never understand it. Don't think I ever will. Why? Are you a religious man, Jerry?"

He looked back at me through the mirror. "You could say that." He smiled again. "Anyway, I could have told them I was married if that's why they were so rude to me."

"You're married!? I had no idea! Why didn't you ever tell me about it? Is that why you're always going off after we discover something important about the etching?"

He bit his lip. "Um.. yes.. um.."
Just then, a car came around a bend in the road fast. It was swerving from side to side. The man in the car was drunk, and he didn't even time to blink when the cars collided. Alexi was through forward then yanked back by the seat belt. Her head crashed against the back of the seat and she fell unconscious. Jerry acted quickly. He had jumped from the front seat of the car faster than anyone should have been able to. As he landed, he immediately swung around and ran back towards the cars. With in-human strength, he ripped the back door off of the car and pulled Alexi from the burning wreckage.

She was dying, he knew it. He didn't have any other choice. She cannot be allowed to die, he told himself. It took him only a few moments to open the gate and jump through.

To Be Continued.....

Go back