• Secret Times



    Dr. Myra Almas stood at the cusp of time as she looked down the mouth of the massive cave. This pocket of history was accidentally discovered by a team of mineral hunters in the middle of a mineral rich valley. Myra had been sound asleep in her lab when the call came in, she thought it a dream when the person on the line told her they had found the cave and in it was the remains of what appeared to be nine adults and four children ranging in age from infants to about four years. But what felt like the dream part was that the person’s excited and awed tone rushed into a description that caught her breath in her throat. The voice told her the remains looked human but with distinct Neanderthal characteristics, and like in any dream where sight and sound are distorted her response was “alright, I am on my way just save me two milkshakes.” She hung up and sat for a few minutes wondering if what she had heard was real and if she had actually said that. When the phone rang again she snatched it up and blurted out “where am I going?” the voice on the line in a measured tone replied “Croatia, and I doubt you’ll like the milkshakes there, a car will be waiting for you at the airport.”
    Myra boarded her plane five hours after the call, her stomach was fluttery and she thought she might heave. In all her life she never thought an archeology site would ever be discovered that housed so many remains of what sounded like intermixed homo sapiens and Neanderthals, she could only hope that what she heard was right. Only once did the scientific world ever uncover such a find, only to unearth a separate world of here say, theology, and as well, set off a fire storm of nay saying that these two species could not intermix or produce fertile offspring. Yet in the Lapedo valley in central Portugal a largely complete skeleton of a 4 year old child was recovered and found to have modern human and Neanderthal features and a very thick bone structure. Although the one theory of their offspring being fertile or not is still sitting in the shadows, Myra hoped that this find would prove something on the topic.
    The plane made it’s decent to the run way, engines roaring and wings making their last adjustment for a soft landing. Myra was anxious to be on her way to the cave, so much that she even gave into a fanciful thought of just opening the door and tucking and rolling or she if could pull it off make sure her legs were in running position then leap and keep running, she would be fine she thought. That, was how much she wanted to be on the ground and on her way to the cave. When the plane came to a complete stop she nearly leapt out of her skin with joy, the doors opened as she was racing down the aisle forgetting her carry on luggage, Myra had to spin around and run back and snatched up her bag. Finally making it to the front entrance of the airport she spotted a man in front of a black hummer with her name on a white piece of paper in big bold letters, she thought to herself ‘walk casually, breathe normally and not act like a school girl’ with an air of indifference she told the man who she was and was allowed into the mini tank. It was another five hours before she arrived at the site, but as excited as she was it felt like days.
    When she got there a team of anthropologists and archaeologists rushed the vehicle all talking at once and in languages from all over the world. Myra’s mind got caught up in the hubbub and before she could make her introductions she was yanked from the hummer and literally dragged to the cave. The hands released her and left her at the opening, her breathe came in ragged pulls as she gazed down the mouth of the cave, all the others had left her to her thoughts, although none actually took form. Finally Myra’s feet were moving, taking her slowly down the corridor of time. As she walked, with what little light was allowed in, she could make out the paintings on the walls and ceiling, some figures she knew others she could only guess. Upon reaching the “housing” area her breathe refused to come, there in front of her lay the remains of what appeared to be a family, all laying together as if they were asleep when time told them ‘no more’. Her vision suddenly blurred and without warning she could hear herself softly weeping, in all her life she would have been fine just seeing pictures of such a find let alone standing among it. Myra silently said a prayer for these people and beseeched their forgiveness for disturbing their rest. She turned on her heel and made her way back to the mouth, back to her world, as she emerged all the faces looking at her had knowing smiles and a few nods.
    The only words that came to her were “ladies, gentlemen I do believe we have work to do” with that, the sounds of equipment being hauled from trucks and excited chatter sprang to life. The excavation team was the first to go in and within minutes very carefully the first “person” taken from the cave, within three hours all the remains were removed and carefully placed in special coffins and then taken to a make shift lab of tents and machines. Myra had to wait her turn to examine the remains, it would be up to her and her team back home to figure out the riddle every human had thought about once in their life, did we actually descend from these being and how. Myra’s work in ancient genealogy had put her name at the top of the list of the best to decipher Man’s lineage. When all the others were satisfied with their colleted samples was she allowed into the tent, and there all in a row was the find deemed “the first family”. She made her way around the tables and with the steady grace of a surgeon she meticulously took bone marrow, scrapings from the inner pelvis’ and scrapings from the inside of the vertebrae, every vertebrae from every individual. With what she came here to get Myra raced back to the hummer with her treasures and made arrangements for her plane home.
    The plane touched down in the US and within forty minutes she was back at the lab, with her team waiting for her. She carefully opened the samples and set to work in her element. It would be days before any results would surface, so in her spare time Myra studied more into the world of these “mythical” people only to discover, yet again, only theories, she then started looking into degenerative diseases/hereditary abnormalities. But no real information into this species, she was working blind. Feeling down and hoping the results would hurry and finish she began pacing, for two days she paced back and forth until finally hearing the machines stop, Myra, shaking and breathing hard reached for the paper with the results, holding it up so her team could see she read the words out loud “non conclusive, no match found, five adult males, four adult females, three female children, and one male child. Date of death 649,500 B.C.” Myra’s heart sank, she had the real deal here in her lab but not enough info to prove or disprove anything. She knew she shouldn’t have let herself be caught up in the talk her lab research assistant offered, that maybe this could be the missing link to man’s evolution, but as wisely as she could manage she had made the speech her father gave her when she had asked the fabled question, as gently as she could she laid it down “The science of finding and identifying man's "prehistoric ancestors" runs in a predictable pattern. A press conference is announced, the discovery of an ape-like "ancestor" revealed with an artist's impression of what the creature looks like, and the discoverer becomes famous, earning money on lecture tours. The actual fossil bones are scanty and the imagination runs wild. Later, when more evidence is found, the "ancestor" turns out to be totally human or totally ape.” The dejected look she was forced to endure was enough to snap her mouth shut, but to let them believe in something like that, that may well turn into nothing was something she couldn’t do lest they start to question wrongly of their ability in their work. So to put their minds at easy she ran the mostly disassembled genome into her trusty machines a few more days went by and when the test was done everyone in the lab held their breathe. Myra took the paper and read the report “non conclusive, evidence of two species, each incompatible with the other, trace amounts of mutation, origin unknown, type unknown, species unknown, cause of death trace amount of viral mutation” the last words sent Myra’s mind in a tail spin. Mutation, impossible she thought. She knew for a fact that the genomes of the homo sapiens and Neanderthals had a .4% margin in difference, sapiens being at 99.9% and Neanderthal at 99.5%, for a mutation to occur is slim. But here it was in her hands, the lab was in an uproar, she swore them to secrecy, for such a thing to leak out would not only disrupt and turn back human evolution and scientific merit world wide, it would set off a fire storm of religious contradictions. Myra didn’t want to even say it out loud but her thoughts raged to have it said, could it be that humans did not evolve but were a genetic mutation from an unknown source? Were we no more then a plague of sickness that wiped out our actual ancestors? Her mind reeled at the thought, she had to get back to the cave, and with that she was back in Croatia the next day. To her surprise all the other scientists were there but once she seen the look on all their faces she felt as though an axe was coming down on her. “Doctor Myra Almas, it is with deep regret that we come here with unfavorable news.” Myra looked toward the voice, it was from a man of tall stature, a hard look to his eyes and a mouth that looked as though it had never cracked a smile. He took three long strides toward her blotting out the sun behind him, he raised his hand for an introduction but she didn’t take it, after lowering it he straightened his shoulders and held her with the gaze of a hawk. “I am High Bishop Adadtine, I was sent here when the cave was opened with my team, it is with my apologies that this site is to be shut down, all materials are to be destroyed and the men and women of this find are to be relocated and their services terminated.” The silence rang so loudly Myra had to swallow to make sure her ears didn’t have to pop. How could they have gotten here so fast? She thought, she had heard rumors of a “Temple Team” that went or studied archaeological dig sites, but she thought it was something that was meant to scare the newbies in this field. It was said that this “team” was the enforcer of religion, not just one religion but all, and for this dig to be shut down she was now sure these people had found something not to their liking. “May I ask why this is to be?” Bishop Adadtine rolled his broad shoulders “All I am able to tell you, is that it would be in the interest of Man that you come quietly with us and leave this alone.” Myra looked at her colleagues, all had the haunted look as though they had seen death. Myra noticed that the eight highly esteemed scientists were not among the ones standing in front of her. Adadtine stepped in front of her “Doctor Almas may I inquire what you have found in your tests?” she could see the other teams visibly stiffen. “Doctor Almas?” Adadtine’s voice boomed. “I found that there was a mutation in the genome to suggest…..” she couldn’t finish her sentence. Adadtine held his hand toward the cave. “I am sorry Myra, but that is the reason this must be shut down, all the others have found something similar to your tests, your efforts will not go unrewarded. If you will please follow me to the cave for one last look before we seal it for good.” Myra walked numbly to the mouth, as she passed the others, some were weeping others wouldn’t look at her. When she was just about there she cast her eyes to the sky, the sun had went down and the stars were shining, she wondered when that happened and where the time went from when she landed. Myra gave herself a mental shrug she looked back to the sky and watched the stars dance for awhile, so many stars. As she entered the cave Adadtine was right behind her, while she walked she turned backward and asked “Why? Why do this? Is it not Man’s right to know where he came from?” Adadtine looked in her eyes “You of all people should know that answer. Man will not be able to fully comprehend what was in this cave. This is something that should have stayed buried and left for another time. Yes we have known for a very long time what Man is and was, how can anyone tell them that we were nothing more then a virus, a bacteria, a spore call it what you will, people aren’t very smart under panic and others would take advantage of this and who knows maybe a purging of this “plague” would commence. Through out history Man has wondered where he came from and if there is a higher form of being that made us. You can’t tell a faithful person we were no more then a reptile’s sneeze. Man would lose his way, war and death would be our world. No, this must not happen and so it shall stay where it belongs, lost in time and consumed by the earth.”
    As Myra thought this through she glanced to the ceiling and noticed for the first time the stars and moon had been painted there among the creatures of the night. She kept walking until his hand pulled her to an abrupt halt. She looked at him and his eyes took on a timeless glaze. “I can not be a party to this, this find must be known. Man has a right to know, they have the right to know where we came from…..” Her words trailed off as he looked at her like she was some kind of rodent. “I was to ask you to refuse the knowledge you gained from this and your agreement to live with this as your secret. But you had given me your answer. I am sorry Doctor Myra Almas.” Myra couldn’t make her mind work, what was he saying? With a bright flash of light and a loud report she knew something happened, she was confused, wasn’t she just standing in front of him? Why was she on the ground? Why couldn’t she make her mouth work? Adadtine stood over her looking down, his hands trembling with smoke coming from one of his fingers, he held it up and she realized it was a gun. “I am so sorry Myra, may the good spirits embrace and welcome you, .I am sorry for what I have done, you are a threat to Man kind with knowledge no person should ever possess. I do it for our future.” Myra could barely move her head but from the corner of her eye she could see the other eight scientists sprawled beside and behind her. For the good of man, she thought, bull, for the good of ignorance. Adadine was still standing above her, he was praying! Praying for her! Myra couldn’t look at him so she moved her eyes back to the ceiling, her thoughts still on what she had discovered, her find, gone, her life’s work, gone, her life…..as she looked at the ceiling the little painted stars seemed to dance and brighten, her mind was getting thick she couldn’t remember if she was outside or indoors. So many pretty stars, she couldn’t remember if it was her mother that told how many stars were in the sky, oh well, she thought she would just have to count them and find out 1…2…3…4…