New Pangaea Pg 230 -237

Week 37

Day 1

Bubble Two on routine patrol saw the advance column of fifty chimps on the way to here. They seems to be marching fast and covering the distance double quick. I comms Outpost Six for status. Its almost ready and they are doing the foundation touch up. I also checked on Village Two and the wall is only half way up. This is more disheartening, but at the steel mill is going fine. Base Three is doing fine.

‘Doctor Leong, get your pets back into their pits and do it fast. Use the M-Bots and tried not to rust them please. I need them for the coming battles.’

‘Get me Code One to Earth Council. I am coming back to BASE now.’ But I already know the answer; ‘we will advise’.

Just when I thought it was bad, it began to rain and it poured for hours. As usual the local residents came to seek shelter and we all stood there like characters in an old fable of an ark.

Day 2

Bubble One reported the column of fifty chimps missing in action. I think they gone on separate routes to recon and confirmed our positions. I advise all Outpost to be on the lookout and move all cannons including the twin mounted to hidden spots. We do not want them to report our numbers. There was still reports coming in of sick creatures and dead ones too. The plaque has spread as feared but we have done the spraying with the help of the Bubbles.

‘Commander, our sonic wave chimp disrupter or SWC disrupter is ready,. We tested it on a passing by ape and it dropped off the tree holding its ears. The time taken was a few seconds and I think we really need to apologies to that ape.’ I looked at Doctor Sze Thing and wondered if he has ever served in the military. We do not apologies; we only brush it off. But Micheal was very excited to try it on a larger scale. I left it to them as long as they get something worth fighting with.

‘I am here, Doctor Bashir. Tell me what happened to Tony Adams here.’ I am looking at the teen who is lying there breathing through life support.

‘Tony has come in contact with a reptile which we did not know exist here. Its Phyllobates terribilis or Golden Poison Frog; a frog which secretes steroidal alkaloids batrachotoxin, homobatrachotoxin, and batrachotoxinin A. These compounds act to keep the channels open and depolarizing nerve and muscle cells irreversibly, potentially leading to arrhythmias, fibrillation, and eventually cardiac failure or in this case of Adam’s, he has touch it with his right hand and it caused burning sensation.’ The doctor was showing the right hand. ‘He has ingested the poison when he placed the hand into his mouth.’

‘What can we do now?’ I asked as I pulled the doctor away from hearing of the teen.

“We are trying to catch the toad and synthesize a cure. We have no cure at this facility, as that toad has been extinct since we lost the rain forests. But here we might it.’ I am concerned on this as we need to advise the other kids not to touch any creatures until its verified.

‘Excuse me, Doctor. Could be it be harvested to become a poison?’ I was removed by the doctor for intruding his works. I caught Doctor Leong outside the Infirmary, and told him to get me some toads.

‘What kind do you want? I like them with long legs.’

‘Golden ones.’ I am sure he shudder for a moment. Then he said; ‘First snakes now toads. You are one crazy bastard.’

‘And I will be one mad bastard if you don’t get me the toad.’ He ran off for his unit.

‘Commander, this is Bubble Three on patrol. I saw the chimps or maybe some of them. They are north west about one distance by my reckoning. I think I saw Corin too. She is with the chimps.’

This is unbelievable.

Day 3

Special Report from Corporal Pedro

Day 3 Week 37

1602hr

I left BASE with Corporal Micheal Burns and Corporal Kano on the LTV at 0734hr. Our mission was to intercept the column of five chimps and captured/rescue Corin. Air Wing will be on our lookout and provide support. Bubble sighted the chimps at 1012hr; they must had marched through the night for them to cover that distance.

We split up and took firing position.

At 1105hr, we had visual on the chimps. They are about eight hundred yards away and Corin is walking in third in the column. All snipers confirmed visuals, but we are holding fire till they are five hundred yards.

Four hundred yards.

Three hundred yards.

Wait! Corin is holding a white cloth and so are the other chimps. Could it be they want to talk?

The Sniper Team brought back the six chimps to the yard of Outpost Six. It was already past noon and I left them there to feel the heat. It was only at 1500hr, that I walked out to see them.

‘Corin, may I ask of your role here?’ Doctor Boris was kind to translate; I am sure he used better words than mine.

‘I am leading my people to see you, Commander. They are not the same as Tano. They are chimps as you call us, but they are known as good ones. We are all good ones. We don;t like to fight but love others. We come in peace and to join you in fighting the others. We want to stopped them and be friends with others, not kill every time.’

‘Corin, you are only five....sorry six and how do you expect to fight Tano. He has thousands.’

‘We have few but we have more than six. We have a few hundred and we have you. You helped us and we helped you.’ She is a fragging diplomat in her own way. I told her we would have a discussion and advise tomorrow. Meanwhile they are to be kept in the yard but they will be given food and drinks.

‘You are fragging crazy to work with them. I will have you reported.’ I looked at Major Chavdar who has never supported a single discussion of mine. I removed him from the conference and continued with the rest.

At 2300hr, Major Chavdar walked into the  conference with three of his men. They are all armed with PH762 and they had it pointed at us.

‘Commander Scott Bent, I am taking command of the colony and the Bases under Article 109 of the Military Rules of Conduct. I have advised Earth Council and they have consented to my request.’ I looked up from table and stared at the four men who dared to point their weapons at me.

‘Major Feeley, activate the self destruct now.’ Major Feeley stood up and walked towards the door which was blocked by two of the specialists. Major Chavdar looked towards her and shouted at her to stand down. It was then I had my PH350 drawn and shot him in the head. I point the same gun at the other three Specialists.

‘Make it four, as I have more than enough to shoot.’ But by then Major Feeley had disarmed the two at the door while Major Shaw has kicked the other in his guts. More of my personnels came running in, but I told them we had an accidental discharge of firearm and Major Chavdar is dead. Doctor Bashir tried to save the Major but he was dead.

‘You could had wounded him instead.’ I looked at the Doctor. ‘I don’’t shoot to wound. I do to kill only. Get his body out of this place now.’

Day 4

Major Chavdar did make the call to Earth Council and he was asked to stand down. I made my report that night to Earth Council. By morning, there was still no reply. But I had one for Corin.

‘We accept your terms but your friends do not fight from here. You fight from your own place. We will coordinate and fight Tano.’ She agreed and she left with her people.

On my table was a report from Doctor Sze Thing.

Special Report from Doctor Sze Thing, Archaeoacoustics

Day 3 Week 37

1602hr

Just a quick note. I think we may be onto some thing bigger here. But before I do that, allow me to introduce to you my specialty. There is more to digging and studying an artifact; we are now moving from two dimensions to the third or fourth level. We want to see the real thing beyond its physical properties for view is not enough. Sound can de-myth the view as i the past we live in more serene environment with less pollutants or contaminants in the environment. Its sound can tell us more of those days. Archaeoacoustics is that discipline that explores acoustic phenomena encoded in ancient artifacts, caverns, landscape. We read and study a pot or a bone like a music score; as we weaved through the lyrics and tunes. It has been proven that rock can produce echoes that tells a story of its day. As here on Monolith its rock that sings to me; its creation and dying days.

In brief, Commander; I think there are something inside the Monolith. Can I have your permission to drill its crust?

And the metal piece we found; its a coin and its from Ancient Greeks. We did a carbon test. We also found remains of possibility bones. Its dated back by fifteen thousand years. Its human in the test that supports it. Boris seemed to think this is a burial ground. He is quite fixated on the funeral rites which Corin did. But we are still exploring.

I wanted to throw that report away if not for the next report from Doctor Tanaki.

Special Report from Doctor Tanaki

Day 3 Week 37

1602hr

Frost and myself has been exploring the monolith as you call it. To us its rock and we done our climbing. We find something interesting on the west wall. It does not looked real to us. Its like as if its pasted on. Ironic perhaps but we think the monolith or rock could be a plaster job. We seen many rocks and climbed them in and out, but this one is unique.

Will explore more.

I also found Doctor Moshe report below all these reports.

Special Report from Doctor Moshe

Day 3 Week 37

1602hr

From Earth archive, we are able to find the cure. It shall be ready in two days. You owe me two dates.

I got a bunch of crazy scientists here. Maybe they should switch brains with Rexy, it might matched inch for inch. But the crazy idea of Monolith hiding something is very interesting.

Day 5

The warning buzzer went off and I was to rushed out of my bunk to Command Unit. There was chaos there as officers rushed to manned their positions. I saw Major Shaws with her uniform partially buttoned and she is putting on her comms set.

‘What’s up?’

‘Bubble Two said they saw a new column of chimps at North West about half days march. They  just had walked in the night or run faster than we know. He estimated nearly a thousand or more. Its the biggie now.’

I comms to all Outpost to get ready for battle. I took the bike to ride out to Village Two. They have made half the wall with stones but the unfinished parts are barricaded with stones and logs. Micheal has contributed twenty Napoleon cannons which he has fashioned for them. They had it lined up in the yard facing the wall in two rows. Ten Catapults is behind the cannons with their loads of oil bombs. They have also crates of moonshine with crude oil mixture for the use as grenades. Two hundred colonist are in the position all around the units surrounding the cannons. Gaps in between the units are barricaded with logs to overturned wagons. Their commanding officer is Admiral Stokes with his grandson, armed with the PH925.

I rode onto Outpost Six and saw the defenses are up. Four twin mounted cannons are on the wall facing river.  The castle walls of thirty feet high build with stones and the another ten feet of wooden logs above it stands proud with its twenty five Napoleon cannons on it. The moat is all ready and filled with water, plus some nice welcome reptiles which swam in. The towers (or keeps) are manned by three armed men each. The others are all on the wall or in the yard manning the five catapults. The yard has its landing bay for the Bubbles and HELI-PODs stacked with missiles and cannon ammo. Cheng has rigged up some of his bombs on the outside area near the wall. Chemical Agent has brought in their case of bombs with the words printed on the side; ‘use with extreme precaution. We are not responsible if you blow up.’ The other Outposts are status quo, while the MSV are on standby. A hundred defenders including the Fed’s people.

Now we wait for them to come.

Bubble Three reported that the column has stopped and camped near us. Bubble Two reported another column of about a thousand on the horizon with about one two day’s march away.

‘Commander, we got an issue on the river. There is a a number of Deinosuchus just arrived from downstream and they are floating your way. Thought you like to know. ‘Deinosuchus; big crocs of about thirty feet long and loves meat. So they could had smell blood or someone comms them to come. Rumor that they even attacked T-Rex of their size coming close to the river. And they come to join the coming buffet.

 Day 5

They started their bombardment at 0500hr at Outpost Six.. The boulders they threw at us slammed hard against the wall and we need to do something. Some of those boulders went over the outer wall and landed on the yard. One hit a catapult and broke the unit causing it useless. I called in the Bubbles to withdraw for Village Two while I told the remaining Catapults of us to throw some light for the Air Wing. The five catapults shot off the pots of oil with the lighted wicks. When it hit the trees which is already spaced out due to the last firing exercise, it exploded into flames on the undergrowth. It not only highlights the hidden catapults but also the chimps lined up for the assault. I saw them all lined up in their rows of twenty and they numbered more than a few hundreds.

We launched the HELI-PODs which stayed behind on the yard of Outpost Six. Its mission is simple; search and destroy. The HELI-PODs went up and saw the lighted areas along the river banks. 

Instead of shooting off its cannons and missiles, it flew over the chimps location and dropped more bombs on the chimps. But this one is highly flammable and deadly; the phosphorous loaded cannisters exploded with the builtin detonator. It lit up the river banks to near daylight view. As the chimps came running out, I had the twenty odd Napoleons introduced itself, firing the cannister blocks at the jungle. Still they pressed in with their cries and screams. Suddenly without any warning, I saw volley of spears that sailed through the air into our yard and also some on the walls. The first volley took some of the defenders including colonist who came to assist us. I saw Specialist Melon getting in her chest and she dropped off the wall onto the yard. Corporal Kano barely missed one on his right shoulder but he will survive.

The chimps has reached the moat and momentarily they paused and screeched at the reptiles in the water. We took the delay to cover them with flames from our flamethrowers. Some of the chimps held up their shields to protect themselves while others retreated back. But the rear is still throwing their spears at the yard now. I recalled the HELI-PODs to rake them down with missiles and cannon fires. It came in swooping like a eagle at an angle of forty degrees. But its run was short as one spear pierced the side of the HELI-PODs and it losing its control.

‘I am going down...... see ya.’ That was the pilot and he crashed into the chimps in the clearing. The explosion was massive as its load of missiles on the HELI exploded on impact. The impact also took out a chunk of the invaders, but the chimps are roaring in defiance now they have silenced the flying threat. Then the horns blew again, and they are retreating back to the river banks.

‘They gone?’ Vickie asked, as she wipes her brow of the grime and sweat.

‘For now. I think they are testing our new defenses. What are the damages and KIA?’ Sighing, I looked at the ranks and I see more injuries than unhurt personnels.

The reports came in.

Of the twenty five Napoleons, only ten is working now as they was hit by the spears or damaged by over firing it. The cast was not tested for constant firing as in this case. Two mounted twin Taser cannon also damaged due to the spears. One HELI-PODs with crews.

On the personnels, we lost twelve of them, and wounded numbered twenty two. I don;t think the wounded will make it as the spears are smear with poison. Medic confirms it. Poison unknown.  One of the dead was Specialist Micheal Burns; he had a spear impaled on him at the back.

I comms Village Two.

Special Report from Admiral Stokes.

Day 5 Week 37

0733hr

They started their bombardment at 0513hr on the wall. It was solid boulder from stones; hitting constantly at one section of the wall. I got the cannons and catapults moved up to cover that area. We saw the Bubbles arriving and they swooped down on the jungle edge firing missiles. They burned the jungle clearing and it stopped the bombardment. Later the Bubbles landed at the rear of the Village for refitting of the missiles and ammo.

At 0556hr, they started again and this time it was more intense in the bombardment. We also had volley of spears thrown in. We were a safe distance for their volley but our Bubbles could not fly as yet. I held them back for the later fight.

At 0615hr, the section of the wall gave way and collapsed to a width of fifty feet across. We can see the logs fell apart and the stones crumbled down, and the dirt was flowing into the air. It was tense then, and everyone had a prayer in their mind or mouth. Even before the dirt settled , the chimps came charging in with their cries and spears. I ordered the firing of the first line of cannons loaded with cannisters. Then the second salvo from the second line. Bodies of chimps are flung back on impact or down, but they still coming in. I fired off more salvo but the chimps are already in the yard. The colonists on the firing position released independent fire on the advancing chimps.

Then came their calvary; chimps on lizards which stomped over the fallen wall and wounded chimps. I had them shot by our rifles or cannons but they are too agile and fast. They were onto the defenders of the cannons and I told them to retreat at our second line of defense; the new barricades. Then the Bubbles came in and laid cover fire and bombing runs. Two Bubbles got hit by spears and they crashed into the chimps taking a lot of them in the follow up explosions.

I had no choice but to call for a retreat but not before I activated the timer on the explosions. The survivors retreated to our last barricade and we await any assistance or help. The bombs went off in the different locations and took down a number of chimps and also some of our own. They stopped the advancement and concentrate on the fighting at the wall and the cannon sites. I see the wounded colonist stomped to death, while we fired at them from our last bastion. The last two Bubbles went up and fired missiles at them but they just keep on pressing in from the jungle and through the wall. They have established their beachhead on our land now. I counted my survivors; we are down to fifty three only. And ammo is getting low and so are the power packs for the PH762.

The chimps are lining up again in their rows and he riders are on the sides with their reptiles. This could be the final push. My comms rang and I know its the Commander, but I have no time to reply. We went up to the barricade and get ourselves into it. My grandson, Vincent held onto me with his right hand. We said a prayer for a merciful death.

The chimps came and charged on us. It was met by a volley of fires from the ATV twin mounted Taser cannons. There was eight ATV including the ATV2 at our rear and they were offering us firing power. I saw  Major Feeley asking us to board the ATV to be rescued. I called for a withdrawal to the vehicles. We all boarded it and the vehicles took off for BASE.Once we were cleared the Village, I removed the master control detonator and pressed the switch. Two hundred hidden bombs in the village exploded.

I cannot explain the effect as I was in the ATV. But it must had been big as we could hear the blast so loud.

I heard the explosion and saw the smoke; its billowing into the morning wind and the ground I was on shook from the impact.

‘You think anyone made it?’ It was Corporal Pedro asking and I shook my head. He either take it from me as ‘I don’t know’ or’ there was no survivors’. But my thoughts was disrupted by the call from the walls.

‘They’re back again.’

Be darned to Hell on this. I got up and moved towards the battlement. There they are again. All lined in their rows and the unhurt holds the wounded. The riders on the lizards are at the fore and trying to rein in their restless rides. I counted maybe two hundred here now.

And I have not got my morning coffee yet. There is Vickie next to me on the other battlement counting her ammo and reloading her PH900. She took it up and rest it on the battlement. I saw her firing it and I looked out. She hit the officer strolling up and down the line of column. She hit it on the head and the rider went down. As expected, the lizard went berserk and the other riders put it down.

At 0746hr, they marched towards us.

At 0747hr, I signaled the cannons to be ready to fired on my command.

At 0753hr, the chimps marching towards us, stopped and looked to the east skies.

At 0754hr, six HELI-PODs came from across the river; they are in row formation with three in front and three in the rear. The six crafts fired twelve missiles into the band of chimps on the riverbanks. The impact of the missiles broke the formation and created chaos among the ranks. Cannons fire followed the missiles as the HELI-PODs’ took turns to fired at the chimps. Then they did one more round of missiles on the chimps.

At 0811hr, the surviving chimps are running or swinging through the swamp regardless of the reptiles and water.

‘Thank god for our calvary. Commander, say hello to the Fed’s Flying Boys.

Odysseus Part 11

X1

“Heave those oars or has one year of rest made you forget your places.” It was not me who was doing the commands but Eurylochus. We looked to the stars to head north to find the Kingdom of the Dead. The men are wary of this journey; this is like asking them to commit themselves to death. They know not what they will find there and they feared what they find. Mues came to me and questioned my command.

“I speak for the men, Odysseus. We will go anywhere with you but to the Kingdom of the Dead is not what we had in mind. We all agreed that when the times, we will be there but not before and not now. Please allowed us to sway your mind and we can turn this ship now.” He is pleading and I can see the fear in his eyes.

“We are to head there and that is what I commanded. None may change the ship’s direction as I am the one steering it. If you do want to go, then jump ship now or wait for me to land on a nearby island for you. But till then, we rowed and not a word from you all.” They followed my command but they are getting frightened by the day. Soon we reach the land where the sun shines no more. All is dark and darkness covers all the light. Where we had once felt heat, now we felt the coldness of the ice. Even the water which we sailed is murky and the bottom beneath the hull cannot be seen.

“Odysseus, I plea to you. Have some thoughts. Maybe Circe lied to you. She is sending us to be wandering spirits.” I hear the words of Eurylochus but I heed not him, as I see land ahead. Land of dark shadows and dark overcast skies. I find even the beach is dark with black sand. We beached the ship and moved inland. I hear the sound of rivers and I followed suit. The tales tells of three rivers that flows to Hades; Styx which the is the main passage to Hades, with Charon and his boat. There is also the river Aherodas and Coquitos which flows to river Styx.If one follows the rivers, you will come before Cerberus, a dog with three heads. Cerberus permitted new spirits to enter the realm of dead, but allowed none of them to leave. Only a few ever managed to sneak past the creature, among which Orpheus, who lulled it to sleep by playing his lyre, and Heracles, who brought it to the land of the living for a while. But our journey ends at the river Aherodas.

“Dig me a deep pit. We have some sacrifices to be done. Dig it fast and deep.” The men started on the works as they do not want to stay here any longer than they can. As they dug, they felt movements around them yet they sees no one that a naked eye can see. Once its done, I brought out the honey, wine and water into the pit. I also spread barley flour around it and did the sacrifices of the lambs that Circe offered him. The blood from the lambs soon coat the flour and seeped into the ground. Within seconds the lost or wandering souls came from everywhere to feast on the offerings, but I told my men to keep them at bay with the torches.

“Lit those torches and shone them at the deads. None may touch the sacrifice unless I will it so.”  I awaits one and only one; Tiresias. But he did not come as yet, but many of mine; known friends and loved ones came. I saw also my mother, who died while I was still at the Trojan’s war. I reached for her but I could not touch her at all, for she is in spiritual form. Its customary for a son to offer his parents food and drinks on seeing them after such a long absence but here I am not able to.

“Odysseus, my son. Let me drench my thirst with your wine. Do you not offer it to you mum who gave you life?” But I declined to do so. I prayed for her soul and apology but I am to stay with my oath. I prayed to Zeus for strength to see this day through. I prayed to Apollo to guide me on this ordeal. I told her I will do so when I reached back to Ithaca but she has faded away.

Has myself become so cold even to the ones I love?

I hear more pleas of fallen warriors; once known to me and fought with me with their life's. I saw Agamemnon, whom I thought was at his palace but he is actually dead; murdered by his grandson and banished to here. We sat down and talked of the better days and valor was appreciated. But when he asked, I declined his request for the sacrifice. I went on my knees to beg his forgiveness and I was given a lashing of his tongue on my cruelty. But nothing ails me than to see Achilles who came limping to me. He still pained in the leg which killed him. He asked of his family and his mother, Thetis, but I bear no words for him. I was also begged by him to taste the wine like what we used to do, but I had to hold stead my oath even my tears flowed ever earnestly down my cheeks. But I was not expected to see Elpenor. He limps too but he is still whole as one.

“Elpenor, we left you at Circe and now you are here.” I wanted to hug him but he pushed me off.

“A dead man like me does not deserved to be hugged. I was careless to stay on the roof when I should be joining you all in the preparation to leave. I regret my decision to have the last moment of joy on the roof. And I paid the price. I am now in the waiting for Charon, but I have no gold coin to pay my passage. Be fair to me, go back to Circe and retrieve my body for the proper funeral. If not for the warrior spirit, then at least for a fellow Greek.” I cried on hearing his words and I promised him that. I was to asked him why he did not asked for the feast but he truly answered me.

“Its a feast grand for for a King and if you have refused other Kings, then I am most unworthy of it too.” He walked back to his place on the river to await my contribution to his funeral. Finally Tiresias came forth.

“I am Tiresias, and I appreciate your sacrifice for me. And also for your steadfast to hold it in my name and against many you have denied including your own mother. I have my respect for you, Odysseus.” Tiresias was the son of Everes and the nymph Chariclo; he was a blind prophet, considered to be the most famous soothsayer of ancient Greece.  The most famous account of the origin of his blindness was that he was made to judged between Zeus and Hera on which had more pleasure from sex. He sided with Zeus who said it was man. Hera in anger, blinded him but Zeus in regret gave him the gift of prophecies as compensation. But Tiresias eventually died from drinking from the spring Tilphussa, but even after death his soul which appeared here now was able to offer valuable prophecy to me.

I offered Tiresias the blood of the lamb and he took his share.

“You offended Poseidon when you blind his son. For your redemption, complete one more final quest upon your reunion. Find the island of people who knows not the sea. Offer you sacrifice to Poseidon there. Then you may return to Ithaca.” I thank him and we opened the feast to all who are around us. We made our way to the beach and on our ship. The men were quiet and I am sure they see people they had known too, and feel the same as myself. We went back to see Circe not so much for food and drinks, but a time to contemplate our next moves. More so our aims in this life, as most of them saw their departed and they had been questioned on their role here. Its not fools chore to live a life of mortality and waste it on idle things like long voyages when they could be with their families and teaching the youngs. They were taught responsibilities just like me. I was with Circe as she is nearest I could lay my emotions on and she comfort me when I am in distress. We spend our time here to recuperate and regain our senses and self worth. We also buried Elpenor with the proper funeral rites and leave an oar on his grave as he died a mariner and warrior.

But the next task will be more daunting as we are to passed by the islands of Sirens.

"You will come first of all to the Sirens, who are enchanters of all mankind and whoever comes their way; and that man who unsuspecting approaches them, and listens to the Sirens singing, has no prospect of coming home and delighting his wife and little children as they stand about him in greeting, but the Sirens by the melody of their singing enchant him.” She did forewarned me of these Sirens.

I asked her who are they. She was to tell me that they are mermaids like creatures, who are seductresses who lured mariners with their enchanting music and voices to drive their ships against the rocks on the islands. Their names are Peisinoe, Aglapoe and Thelxiepeia. They sit in their meadow, but the beach before it is piled with bone-heaps of men now rotted away, and the skins shrivel upon them.

“You must drive straight on past, but melt down sweet wax of honey and with it stop your companions' ears, so none can listen; the rest, that is, but if you yourself are wanting to hear them, then have them tie you hand and foot on the fast ship, standing upright against the mast with the ropes' ends lashed around it, so that you can have joy in hearing the song of the Sirens;but if you instruct your men that they must tie you fast with even more lashings. Once its over, they can released you.” Circe was explained more on the Sirens.

“I heard of them before from the Argonauts. Orpheus sang sweetly enough to keep the men from succumbing to the Sirens. But Orpheus is not here to assist us now. If we are to survive this, we have to do as Circe advised.” I told the men as the sail takes us ever close to the straits where the Sirens dwelt.

“Is there no other route we can take?” asked Meus.

“Yes, there is an a distance of another two years more in travel whereas here we cut short the trip to one week to get across.” I dare not tell the men I want to chanced this journey as I am intrigue by the Sirens. I have told them to lash me tight to the mast while they rowed with honey wax in their ears to block the muse singing. I prayed to the Gods to forgive me and yet give me courage to go through this. I been near to the Kingdom of Death and now I am forsaking sanity for the voyage through the Sirens.

“Heave those oars!” but the men hears me not for their ears are waxed, but their backs bend as they move those oars. No words need be spoken as the men wants to get this through fast but will the coming passage be kind to us. That was what we are to find out, as we meet these creatures named as Sirens.

Legends are told of the two who lived by cliffs that narrows the Straits as they engulf mariners who sailed past. They are named as Sirens but described as dangerous monsters that dwelt on either side of a very treacherous strait.  Scylla was once a beautiful maiden loved by a sea god, but she cross the path of Circe who transformed her into a hideous monster. It was all because of one Glacus who desire Scylla but used Circe to make him a love potion. Circe found the truth and she punished the lady and not the man. This transformation became a cave-dwelling monster that is over twelve feet in length with six long necks that each possessed a head like Medusa.  Each head had three rows of teeth that devoured anything coming within their reach.  Her dwelling located on a cliff overlooked the narrow passage of water.

Opposite Scylla, there is the opposing cliff low to the water where on the top there grows a fig tree, and living under it is the other monster, Charybdis. She was cursed by Zeus to be a huge whirlpool that would suck water in and out three times a day. Thrice each day the water rushed into a frightful chasm, and thrice was disgorged.  Any vessel coming near the cliff will be engulf by the whirlpool with the tide rushing in.

We near the Straits passage and the Sirens came a  calling.

"Come this way, honored Odysseus, great warrior of Ithaca. We offered you and your men a good stay and that includes also your ship, so that you can listen here to our singing; for no one else has ever sailed past this place until he has listened to the honey sweet voice. We sing of glories and epics that mellows from from our lips; making the events ever true and bigger than the actual event. We know everything that the Greeks and Trojans went through the period of ten years, and how the Gods came to intervene. Nothing that happens on this world that evade our ears for we know everything that happens.”

They sang sweet words that mellows into our ears and brings out the emotions in us. I can hear my heart beats to  their words, as the heart within me desired to listen. I strained at my ropes and holler for my bindings to be open. I called on them, command them, pleaded with them but they hear me not. Much as I struggled, the bindings lashed tighter onto my flesh. Its the working of a good mariner who knows his knot. I saw Eurylochus rising up to come to me but instead of releasing me, he fastened me with even more lashings and squeezed me tighter. I cried for the Gods to help me from this madness. Its like a withdrawal of love yet its pains even more than the death of grandfather. We sailed too close to cliff where Scylla dwell. She took her payment with six of my men with her six heads sprouting out of the cliff cave entrance. Each head grabbed one men each and they are gone in seconds. I cried for their soul but the danger was not over as yet. Our ship sailed towards the other cliff where Charybdis dwell.

There was the whirlpool that is the works of Charybdis. She twirl the water in front of her into a spinning vortex and its movement holds my men in trance over its spin. I shouted to them to row but they are in the trance of Charybdis. I holler loud and something must had shook the men out of their trance. On seeing the danger, they rowed the ships fast passing the whirlpool. It was a fight of man against the elements but as its sucks in, its also sucks out which what saved my ship.

New Pangaea Pg 221-229

Week 35

Day 1

The patrols sent out came back with no chimps activities. The progress at Monolith has stopped as we used the available W-Bots on the new castle. The castle will extend out to the central bastion built earlier by Philip. It will not go all the way out but part of the distance like a jetty. The MSV will docks there on the east side of the jetty the outer perimeter will be fenced up with steel mesh and poles. The scientists are looking to rear fishes there. That was their idea of a joke. The castle walls be thirty feet high build with stones and the another ten feet of wooden logs above it. That will give them a height of forty feet from the river and ground level. The walls around the rear facing south and east will have a moat measuring twenty across and twenty feet deep which makes the whole castle surrounded by water from the river and swamp. There will be three gates; one to the jetty, one to the south and other towards east.

Towers (or keeps) are the central part of the defensive castle plans. We build ten of them with two on each North and West wall as they faced the water and swamps. The other six spread out on the east and south side of the walls. They are build square with windows on all sides and would have living quarters on the lower floors. The towers and walls has battlements on it, so the defenders could be covered in an attack like spears.

Within the outer castle walls is the large yard and then the second castle inside. It actually a second castle within the first, albeit a smaller version but with lowered walls at twenty give feet but its all build with stones. Inside the mini castle are the command center and housing units for the personnels assigned here. The outer castle wall measured over two thousand feet and the inner one is only six hundred feet square. But its has a landing bay for the Bubbles and HELI-PODs. It can accommodate two hundred personnels including colonist when its ready.

It will have its own mini farms and corral for the herbivores.

The castle will be under two Commander; General Seeker for her people and the newly promoted Captain Ludwig. SWAMP now will be relocated to near Outpost Eight area and be on land as BASE Three. The Chengs has installed in the force field for them from the last of the units so that they are well protected.

Day 2

The local residents are not ignored in our pursuit of warmongering efforts as Doctor Leong requested permission to visit the apes again. He was articulate in this arguments that I let him go. Specialist Dixon also volunteered. I think there is more than meet the eye here to see. In the absence of Doctor Leong, Doctor Bormann offered to feed his pets in the pit.

Corin came out of her seclusion and asked me if she can perform some rites for her fallen chimps. I approved it as a gesture of trust and friendship. Corin staked out an area on the open yard at where we were re-building  Outpost Six. She laid down some of the items she collected from the yard that must had belonged to the chimps. She even found a red tunic which we helped her fished it out of the swamp. She found a head wear form the jungle and all of this was accumulated on the area she has staked out. She then sat down before those items and started what sounds like chanting or ‘raving lunacy’ as said by a colonist. She did not move from her position for the day and ignored all food and drinks. Then she got up and walked round the items and even stomped them. She was very intense in her emotions and she went back to her chanting again. She will repeat the same process a few more times the next two days.

‘Corin is telling the story of the Ancient Greek death ritual to the departed and the Gods so that they will allowed them to go over peacefully. To them death is what will be on the other side with what the living did here too. As there was no body to be cremated here, she is chanting on their deeds so that it will pay for their passage to the other side. In the proper ritual, payment has to me made to cross the divide between life and death on the River Styx manned by the rower named Charon. A coin was to be placed under the tongue of the deceased one for the purpose of paying the fare. If there is no fare, then the soul of the dead person would never get to cross the river. Sometimes the souls would return to haunt the people who had failed to provide them with the fare’.

‘Once across the river, there is this huge wall guarded by a Cerberus, the three-headed dog. He will attacked anything that is living. If you passed him, you will reached the gate to a large field shaded with trees, called the Field of Asphodel. This is where the departed wait for judgment by Minos, Rhadamanthys, and Aeacus. If you are not received by them, you stay there for forever. Its like a no-mans land. If you are bad, you faced Sisyphus and Tantalus and its equivalent to the Devil. If you are good, you were sent to live in the Elysian Fields, where its like Heaven to some of the faith believers. You can be reborn but not all do it, as only the bravest would return. If you do it for three times, then the Isles of the Blest awaits you.’

‘She is paying their way through with good deeds in lieu of payments. So they can go to the Elysian Fields. She cares for her people. She is after all a healer.’ 

When Boris tells me such long tales, I either fall asleep or gain more of an insight. In this case, it was the later.

Day 4

‘Thank you. Its done.’ That was what Corin told me. I went to her so called chanting site and saw it was cleared of all traces. ‘She threw them all in the swamp.’ That was one of the colonist helping in the building. ‘Loony I tell ya, if you want my opinion.’ I agreed with him on the loony bit as we are all loony to be here, but on the so called ceremony, its her right.

She did speak after that event.

‘I have appeased the souls of my dead people. You may build your castle without fear of them hounding your people.’ I could only do was nod at her comment. Then she sat down and told me what happened after she left the colony.

Statement from Corin, healer and free chimpanzee

Day 4 Week 36

1012hr

My troops walked for days to go back to the camp. We wanted to go back and convince the Tano to listen and work with your people. We wanted to explain to him the loss of life's if he fights. We wanted peace just as some of us in the people wants too. We were intercepted by Beno; my previous mate and turned traitor on us. He was with a troop of fifty chimps and they held us as prisoners. I pleaded my case but he will not listen. He accused me of treason and collaborating with the enemy. For five days , he staked my friends to the stakes and let the creatures killed them. He ravaged me for his own and leave me in pain. But in the end of the five days, he has to go back to the camp. He wanted to kill me but the others stopped him. They had their orders to take me back alive.

I saw Tano, but Beno spoke first. He speaks of lies and untruth of me, and how his men had to fight my friends. I protested but none would defend mine nor disclaimed his words. In the end, Tano imposed the oath of silent on me. I am not allowed to speak unless I am told to do so. Its our sacred oath. I cannot break it until the day has come. Tano listened to more lies and untruth before he declared that war would be the answer. Just as we fight the lizard men, they will fight you. He called the troops to march and I was be led there too. I was made to followed like a slave, but I escaped one night. I run and I run till I come here. I broke my oath to tell you of their coming. I know and I renew my oath again, I was silent because of my oath but my tears cry for my friends. They died fighting you as they are with the others. Anger knows no friendship and I cried.

When the oath was lifted, I did my service for them. I released their pain and soul so they can be free. I do not want them trapped here. I wanted to join them but I cannot. Not now as I am needed to close this war. You can help me but I do not know how. Maybe one day the signs will come and we do it together.

I was touched by her statements but the question still remains. Do I trust her or not? She could be lying and I may be led to another trap. But one thing is confirmed. Doctor Liam confirmed that she is pregnant.

‘You believed her?’ I looked at Vickie who asked me that question. My reply was; ‘do you?’ Well, she took it literally and was upset with me. All I wanted was her opinion as a woman.

Fragged, I was.

Week 36

Day 1

Unless we are willing to settle down into a world that is our prison, we must be ready to move beyond Earth. . . . People who view industrialization as a source of the Earth's troubles, its pollution, and the desecration of its surface, can only advocate that we give it up. This is something that we can't do; we have the tiger by the tail. We have 4.5 billion people on Earth. We can't support that many unless we're industrialized and technologically advanced. So, the idea is not to get rid of industrialization but to move it somewhere else. If we can move it a few thousand miles into space, we still have it, but not on Earth. Earth can then become a world of parks, farms, and wilderness without giving up the benefits of industrialization. - Isaac Asimov, 'Our Future in the Cosmos—Space,' lecture given at the College of William and Mary, full transcript online, 1983.

If he was here today, he would had realized we do not have that many of people on Earth, although we did explored them out to other planets and we have no more nature parks, farms and wilderness to call it our own on Earth. Here in New Pangaea, we can probably create it and with the industrialization and technology we can made it good like the old Earth. But before we do that, we had already end up in conflict with the first known intelligent species here.

Are we truly selfish as an explorer or we agents of destruction?

‘Commander, this Major Shaw. You are needed here on Monolith fast.’

‘Cronus or Kronos is the first generations of Gods in the Greek mytholodogy. He was part of the children of Gaia ( Mother of Earth ) and Uranus ( the God of Sky ). Cronus symbol is the sickle and worship in ancient Greeks to celebrate the harvest. He is the patron of harvest. He is also known as Saturn in one other civilianization named Roman. Cronus was said to usurp his father, Uranus and became the ruler of the Universe. He was to start the Golden Age where there was no need for law and rules as every act was the right one. This so called piece we found may be a coin with the image of the sickle and the sun on one side, and the words in Ancient Greeks; Kronos. We may have discovered the first signs of civilianization on New Pangaea.’ Doctor Boris was holding a metal piece that he claims is a coin from Ancient Greece.

‘No, Doctor Boris; there are possibility the second civilianization after the apes. And don’t you forget Corin speaks ancient Greeks. It could be from the apes who uses the coin and it was found here. There may not be a second civilianization. But how Corin’s people learned ancient Greeks remains the puzzle. Assuming there was another civilianization which taught the apes, could be these inhabitants be from ancient Greece and are these inhabitants like us and thus taught  the chimps. So what happened to them?’ Doctor Sze Thing was throwing in his share of the theory. ‘I did some tests on the so called coin and think it may be pre-dated back fifteen thousand years ago. The only nation who could traverse space was then the Atlantean’s and they were around when Athens was around. But that was also a myth.’

I picked up the metal piece and turned it over.

‘Has anyone considered that this could be button or part of a panel cover instead of the so-called coin. I see some edges which are off.’ I got the scientists on a new level of chattering as I withdrew to see the progress on Monolith.

‘Nice move there, Commander.’ I looked at Major Shaw and smiled at her. Diversion is a basic tactic of the military. “Anyway what is a coin? I never seen one in my lifetime? We all used credits now.’

‘Neither do I, Major. But keep up the good work.’

Monolith One and Two is ready with housing and storage units. Farms are already started on the hydrophonic plants. I am actually impressed with the works. The winds here are fierce and fast but the wall design pushed it up and away from here. Some more colonists has moved here and the place is getting packed.

‘Doctor Tanaki and Frost would like your permission to explore the Monolith.’ I knew they would; its the latest theme park in the city. I duly approved it. ‘We are also planning to build some towers like the ones on the Castle. It will served as lookout and defensive points.’

The lady has it all in her palm.

Micheal Bent came to see me on the possibility of relocating the people in Main Village to Village Two. He felt they could strengthen the defenses and with its close proximity to Outpost Six, it will be strategic. Main Village can be converted to become a Military Base. But I said to him; I have limited personnels in the military. He said no, you have an army now; the Village Guards are now numbered a hundred. They can operate Napoleons’ and Catapults. I told him to speak to Admiral Stokes.

‘Already did.’ He was walking off with his usual jolly mood. But it was not far as the tremors came suddenly and the whole place shook badly. This is the next BIG one, we been waiting. I saw Micheal fell and I rushed over to hold him. He was shaken but he is okay. The tremor lasted ten minutes and the reports starts coming. Uncompleted walls are down and so are some of the housing units on Village Two. Monolith was spared in a way, but BASE Three had one tripod damaged. I saw Doctor Leong running towards me.

‘The pit broke up and came up. The reptiles escaped.’ So much for his effort  and care; them snakes were never meant to be kept as pets anyway.

Day 2

I relooked at my roster. There has been changes.

Outpost One / Tip’s Nest; Corporal Micheal and one specialist. Travel time half an hour.

Outpost Two / East Ends; Corporal Saidin and one specialists. Travel time ten minutes

Outpost Three / Wide Plains; Corporal Duffy and nine specialist including recruits. Travel time thirty minutes. The other four are from Outpost One and Two.

Outpost Four / Cavern; Sargeant Keefe and nine specialist including recruits, with four at the ramp. Travel time ten minutes to the vertical cave.

Outpost Five / Southern Belles; Sargeant Kabe and six specialist including recruits. Travel time is forty five minutes.

Outpost Six; Sargeant Sharon and Mick O-Brien,with ten specialists.

Military Village: Twenty  Village Guards

Village Two; Seventeen guards and Sixty Village Guards.

Patrol; Corporal Pedro and three specialists; New Furies.

BASE; Major Feeley, Major Chavdar and eight specialist and recruits.

BASE TWO; Major Shaw and nine Specialists including recruits.

BASE THREE:; Lieutenant Carlos Manuela and Sargeant Ali Hamid plus the remaining personnels; Captain Ludwig and three pilots.

Forty Village Guards in training.

And two hundred armed colonist. I gave the women some weapons.

I got eighteen M-Bots left as some won’t work or are damaged. We been using them for construction with the W-Bots.

Vickie got only thirteen military personnels, whereas the rest are colonist. Likewise I will reinforced Outpost Six with colonist when its ready.

‘Commander, do you remember Mathew Burns? Well, he is dead. He died last night in the Infirmary. But we have another problem. The disease could had spread. Encephalitisn symptoms are in ten patients now, including one of my nurses, Susan Bent.’ Doctor Bashir does not mince his words when he tells me bad news.

‘How bad?’ I was more concerned on Susan.

‘Not sure as yet. Its still too early. We are treating them but we fear an epidemic. Maybe even to the creatures.’

‘I thought you had him quarantined?’ I am very upset at the lack of medical procedures.

‘Yes, but there are nurses in and out of the place. They could had transmitted the disease or the materials used on him. We do not have a full medical facility here. We were improvising for the war with the chimps. No one cared about Micheal Burns.’ The Doctor is showing his anger at me for my focus on the war. I neglected his request for more medical equipments; the medic aids are basic for wounds and cuts. Virus detection units are not available. They had to rely on the scientist to help.

‘Okay, do what you can. I will speak to Earth Council.’

‘You might be too late. Our Parasaurolophus herd has three casualties and so is our Troodon. The virus was found in the blood streams. We believed the carrier are the flies that caused the tsetse disease but we cannot confirm.’

Now that is bad. How widespread is the disease, we do not know but we know we could be the first carrier.

‘Catch me those flies. I need confirmation. And cull those in the corrals.’

‘I can assure you, Commander.  My position here is well fought out for. I am Doctor Ziva Moshe, Entomologists/ Anthropologist/ Biologist, which is more than most of them are. Unfortunately, I have better brains than them and aged slower. Yes, I am just thirty eight and single, Plus I did a stint in the military and an expert in Krav Maga. I am free this evening.’ I looked at the petite looking Middle Eastern lady dressed in her doctor’s flock over her jungle camouflage dungarees. She is dissecting a fly as we speak. Not a very good sigh to look at though considering the large screen is giving me a full display of the flies internals.

‘I am busy these days, Doctor. But could we speak on the fly please?’ I am still attached to Vickie for now. And Mediterranean is not my favourite dish.

‘Aha.... I think we may have something ..... soon enough. So forgive me, if I would asked you leave me to my intellectual works. I will advise when we have some or any discovery.’ That was very nice of her to tell me to buzz off as in the words of the flies.

But nothing was to compared to the Earth Council’s call, which fried my ear drums with their shelling on the stupidity of the act to allowed a virus to spread on New Pangaea. After that call, I paid a visit to Rexy who was nearby. We had our chat from within safe distance. He is still alive accounts for the epidemic has not spread.

Day 5

Our creature counts outnumbers our human count; one T-Rex ( but not Rexy ), one more Troodon, two raptors and three apes which we could find intact with the signs of the virus. We do not know what others are there who has been gobbled up. But we are still searching, and for those we discovered; the only way to BBQ them.

But the good news came soon enough.

‘You owe me a date, Commander. I may had found the stop gap cure. But its unconfirmed unless we do a field test. No promises.’

‘No promises..’ I agreed. She wanted to cull the flies for now. If we can do that we can stop the spread of the diseases. These flies typically produce four generations yearly, and up to thirty one generations in total over their entire lifespan. In order to curb, we use the steriled insect technique and it has worked but its not widespread in use to reduce tsetse populations those days as it involves  large doses of gamma rays to make them sterile. Then we have to release them into the wild to see if they will mate. We do not have conclusive results but there was some which said it worked.

‘Firing blanks, huh.’ She nodded.

‘But the culling process is the rapid action deployment move.’ She added and also read my thoughts and said ‘When Earth had flies, they numbered billions so don’t worry about them going extinct.’ But in actual fact, its extinct on Earth as there was no place to lay their larvae or seek food. This particular disease has been non-occurring since the flies has stopped in existence on Earth., So no tsetse flies, no diseases so no antibodies.  But there were earlier tests done and she is trying to figured them out. She is in talks with Earth for any solutions.

We took her advise and layout a plan to spray the darned stuff all over the area of over two hundred miles.

‘What if they are outside the zone?’ I looked at Major Shaw and said; ‘We are not responsible for cross borders contamination.’ She did not like my reply. I know I am just giving her a wild statement, but I do not know what else I could do.

 A Spinosaurus came to Village Two farm and went on a rampage.  I had it put down using the Bubble as this is one helluva big one. Doctor Boris took samples of its blood but found no signs of the virus, but it did has some bad wounds on its hind legs. They do not look like bites but more like large traps contraption that slammed into the flesh. It could be manmade.

But what worries me more was that Corin has disappeared. She was last seen in Outpost Six yard and then gone. I got Bubbles to search for her and they could not see her at all. She may know how to hide from Bubbles now. Or she is dead, which is most unlikely.