The Renascent Epoch of Mankind Chapter 1

Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM

Human Time Line

Book Four -The Renascent Epoch of Mankind

Chapter 1 Godhood & other Miscellaneous Things

Introduction

No one ever really knew that we were among them. Us 17 billion were unknown to them, although the Humans were well known to us. It was true, however, that myths & legends from the mists of the past were well known to the Humans of the First Age. But in 1945, & even more so in 2001, many Humans had become sceptical & stopped believing in the legends. This scepticism suited us, the Spiritous Sanctus Sapien (SSS), just fine. It meant that our lengthy work may finally produce the genesis of the Second Age which technically had not yet occurred, yet in our existence it had in 1945.

Many historians lately have even begun to question the various "Ages" in our timeline. Ironically, even though we exist, our time line no longer does. Besides these academic forays into the past of the SSS, arguments have now spilled over into what we once called the First Age of Mankind. As confusing as it may sound, in actuality, there are now two time lines running concurrently. Historians are currently split over which Age our ancestor Humans are in. Either it is near the end of the First Age, or they are at the beginning of the Second Age. Adding to the confusion, in our time line, it should be the Second Age yet, with the results of the Vale Gateway disaster, they (Homo Sapien) are now at the end of the First Age. What is certain, regardless of what some historians may argue, is that the SSS Humans are in the Renascent Epoch of Mankind. Such are the arguments over dates. So it was with our time line & so it is with the new one.

A long time ago, although for the SSS it only seemed like yesterday, the 17 billion sacrificed themselves in an attempt to thwart the Delquin assault on the Earth. Civilians & military combined into a single community. It was later suggested that this act was the only time when the Human race, then Homo Spiritous, had truly come together as one. Certainly it was very true of Homo sapien. But death did not wait for them, although that was clearly the fate of the Delquin. The enormous power of the weapons of the Delquin, combined with the "spiritual" power of the Homo Spiritous, combined to transform the 17 billion into the SSS - the most powerful specie known to exist in all of known Creation. Our enemies, the Delquin, merely brought upon themselves their own destruction, while giving birth to the universe itself.

The SSS had become God in a sense. Only one problem, however, eventuated. At first the SSS could exist anywhere; regardless whether it be in real time & space or Beyond the Vale. This ensured that travel, exploration & above all intervention was unlimited. Existence Beyond the Vale, known now to the SSS as Elysium, was advantageous to say the least. Importantly for all the civilisations, time did not exist. Nor did space as understood by those in the real time & space dimension. Rather the real time & space universe "surrounded" the Elysium universe. It seemed that Elysium was the centre & could only be entered by defeating the barrier using a Vale Gateway.

Some civilisations had these & would travel back & forth between the two dimensions for various reasons. For the SSS, it was to protect & help Homo luminous on Earth & the struggling Europans. Unfortunately, the Europans were none too friendly over being visited by aliens (the SSS). They quickly defended their water moon, albeit in a fruitless manner. If the SSS really wanted to take Europa from them, it would have been done in the blink of an eye. Alas when we finally left the Europans, they began to quarrel among themselves. Finally a dreadful war spread across Europa. It was a sad developed for a specie that had been, up until our interference, peaceful.

Fortunately, the opposite took place with Homo luminous. Luminous was the youngest of the Human species. They showed much promise & as with the Europans, the SSS decided to help their cousins along. Contact, at first, was not all that successful, but after a period of time, Homo luminous accepted the SSS as some form of elder sages. At this point, their development took off at unprecedented levels. Language, both spoken & written, developed across the entire specie. Furthermore, it was the same language. This unity ensured that peaceful existence continued amongst the Luminous nations. If this period of peace was going to last indefinitely it, alas, would never be known. The catastrophic Vale experiment by the mighty Federal Galactic Commonwealth of Planets ended it all.

Beginnings

When the Vale experiment ended in disaster, the SSS (and all the other species) were stranded in Elysium. The real time & space universe had reset itself back to the Human calender date of 1945 - the beginning of the Second Age of Mankind. Any attempt to cross over into time after 1945 always met with annihilation of all the members of the mission. Actually annihilation was incorrect. Their atoms would reset to their existence in 1945: & that could be anything. Needless to say, the individual that was alive & well in the SSS community was no more.

But life for us went on. We now had, for the very first time, our own existence to consider. For it appeared that we were once again all alone. Unlike previously over one million years ago, the Human non-corporeal beings had been joined by all the other non-corporeal beings of the Federal Galactic Commonwealth of Planets (GFCP). So once more the Vargary, Lyonies, Zargah, Unis & the others (albeit in small numbers) joined with the Humans in the struggles that lay ahead. Yet even though the SSS had familiar company, once again we were all alone in the dark.

Before much could be done, however, a formal structure of this new civilisation, that was trapped in Elysium, had to be established. This formality had been deliberately ignored by the majority who still considered themselves to be a defacto part of the GFCP. Thus an adhoc advisory council had been satisfactory which more or less conducted the affairs of government along GFCP lines. This arrangement appeared to work well at first, but as its critics continued to point out, it soon meant anarchy ruled. Many too concerned themselves with the rather undemocratic nature of the council.

These concerns were eventually vindicated with the Europa debacle, when it became very clear that the Europans had rejected the SSS & began to war among themselves. Then when the Vale Gateway experiment proved to be a tremendous disaster, the council appeared nothing more than incompetent & inept. Many began to agree with Lucifer who argued: "Although we have changed so much in such a short period of time in such a positive manner, I find it hard to believe that our government should regress into the negative. We should be a democracy; not an oligarchy." And with these words, debate erupted.

The Advisory Council had no defence against such matters. In fact the Council was only meant to be a temporary solution for the immediate situation. A permanent solution was always meant to take place, but no one had gotten around to it. The SSS had not even began any serious discussion on a replacement. Too many had been busy experiencing godhood & paid little attention to the business of everyday life. Now everyone was involved.

Of all the changes in the evolution of the SSS, communications between members of the specie had been made incredibly easy. Likewise, unlike before, the requirement for material objects, regardless of how functional over luxurious, were not required. As being totally "spiritual" in manner, physical requirements were unnecessary. Thus in this "spiritual" form, it was an amazing fact that 17 billion beings could all communicate with each other instantly. The words of one being could be heard, or "sensed" (being the more accurate term), by everyone else. Furthermore, billions of conversations could be taking place instantaneously & yet each conversation could be understood & commented upon at the same time by an individual.

It was in such an environment that Lucifer’s call for a President & Congress along similar lines to the GFCP, where soon discarded in the debates. As each individual contributed, it soon became clear that such a governmental structure was far outdated. As the SSS had evolved so too civilisation had to evolve. And although Lucifer objected to anything more than what had come before, he could claim that he was the instigator for what was finally agreed upon.

The new civilisation came into being as the Elysium Union (EU). Although not literally true of the Elysium Universe, it was nonetheless a union of all the races transformed by the Delquin Intervention. The name, however, was not the important or impressive part of this new civilisation: it was the full participatory structure of the Union. Every individual was truly equal. Every voice was heard in government. Everyone truly decided the fate of themselves & the EU. Truly the Ancient Greeks ideal of a democratic participatory government had finally arrived. It was to be seen, however, if this new government structure & society could withstand the stresses that life could throw at it.

Old Instincts

It did not take long for the SSS to get itchy feet. Regardless of what form the Humans came in, many of the other races could never understand why Humans had to go off exploring. The Human’s instinct of curiosity was unparalleled. Only the Vargary & Unis came close. At first the SSS got involved in the affairs of the Europans & the Homo luminous. Many questioned these activities, but there was no authority to stop such activity. In fact the Advisory Council for all intents & purposes had endorsed such activity.

After the Vale Gateway disaster, such activity had ceased, not through any laws or orders of the Council, but due to the drastic changes brought upon the universe itself. Not even the SSS were powerful enough to reverse this fundamental change. With the coming of the Assembly & the EU, however, activities of exploration were strictly controlled by government acts & laws. These restrictions, however, had more to do with coming to terms with the changes in the "Real Space-Time Continuum Universe" than anything else at first.

It was fear, though, that crept into the Assembly that was motivation for what happened next. Fear of the unknown. Now that the SSS were trapped in the Elysium Universe, they were truly living in the unknown. Humans at the best of times have always been contradictory & it seemed that little had changed - Humans had always been willing to go off & explore the unknown, yet this very same unknown also caused fear.

This may had been the case with many, but not all. As it was in the "civilisation" debates, soon discussion began over exploration. Amongst the issues was initiating contact with other civilisations known to exist in the Elysium universe. Amongst the leaders of the reform group, Michael argued "As we have begun a new civilisation that is worthy of our ancestors, so we must continue what they began so many eons ago. Among many things we are explorers. We would not be who we are today if it wasn’t for this fact."

Not everyone, however, agreed with this line of debate. In fact many were convinced that the dangers involved with exploration at this time could lead to their destruction. Lucifer, who had by now become one of the chief leaders of the EU continued his objection: "Once again we find ourselves as children against adults. We must remain invisible to these other civilisations in Elysium. We are totally ignorant of who they are, how powerful they are, & what their intentions are towards others. We are no longer the once powerful GFCP & if attacked I fear there maybe little that we can do in order to defend ourselves."

The debates continued until Raphael pointed out that: "… conflict & wars have often started on the basis of ignorance & misunderstanding. One of the greatest conflicts of all time, the Zargah War of distant past, took place for exactly these reasons. We need to send out explorers & ambassadors representing the best of what we’re about. We need to make friends with all those around us. Furthermore, we also need know who are our enemies."

The final vote was not a confident result. Many still disagreed with the pro-explorers group. The Lyonies as a whole voted no as did many others. Even after it was established that the yes vote had a small majority, debate carried on ensuring that the issue was not yet final.

The explorers, as a result, did not get everything their own way. The Assembly placed strict guidelines upon their activities. The issue that attracted their highest attention was First Contact. It was well known in previous encounters with the Vale Ancients, that the Humans were not overly liked by a number of them. Lucifer was quick to point out that the: "… Essence Ancients conducted a great war against us. The Delquin even tried to destroy Earth because of us. Even though neither civilisation may continue to exist, it is safe to say that others will be our enemies in short time. If the majority Assembly would not heed my warnings in the previous debates, I urge it to only proceed with First Contact with the utmost caution. Anything less will lead to our destruction."

Lucifer would get his way with First Contact. Even the most extreme supporter of First Contact, Raphael, reluctantly concurred with Lucifer’s concerns.

First Contacts

It did not take long, however, for the SSS to begin exploration of their new universe. Small advanced teams of explorers headed off into the unknown. It was not unlike the travels of the first Human explorers who ventured over the next mountain, or the next river, in order to satisfy their curiosity as to what was there. Unlike the first explorers, however, the rest of the SSS came along for the ride.

After a short period of time, so to speak, the explorers came across the first nearby civilisation. A corporeal specie had crossed the Vale & had establish a fantastic artificial city that floated in the void of the Elysium universe. Due to the very nature of the existence of the SSS, the exploration team could remain hidden & observe the activities of the Ongoum. It soon became obvious that the Ongoum were an ancient race that never went through Catharsis. That did not mean that they were any less. In fact, from the explorer team’s observation, the Ongoum were a peaceful, extremely intelligent & wise people.

Having established the necessary data to fulfil the First Contact guidelines, the explorer team made contact. The Ongoum’s first reaction was surprise. They were fully aware that non-corporeal species existed in the Elysium universe &, as a result, had developed technology in order to warn them of the approach of any such species. But this was not the case of the SSS. Even though the Ongoum were cautious at first, they were intelligent & wise enough to realise that the SSS were peaceful.

Meetings & diplomatic negotiations were highly successful. In fact they were more successful than anyone had expected. The Ongoum supplied the SSS team with detailed information about the Elysium universe. Much of it was worrying. It appeared that Lucifer’s fears may have been correct after all. Soon the Assembly halted all the exploration teams activities while debates about their future operations were determined. Although Lucifer demanded their return & a cessation of all exploration, the majority disagreed, albeit with conditions.

The debates resulted with the establishment of a formal authority to strictly oversee the activities of the explorers. Previously the explorer teams acted in an autonomous manner from any authority other than the Assembly. Their activities were not monitored & little coordination took place between the teams. But with the information gained from the Ongoum, all that would now change.

The Union Explorers Agency (UEA) now would deliberately plan the movements of the exploration teams. These plans would deliberately avoid civilisations that were considered hostile, while unknown or areas considered peaceful would be given priority. That was not to say that hostile zones would not be explored - they would, but teams to hostile zones would not be for peaceful exploration per se: they would be for clandestine purposes.

Although several missions occurred at once, two missions were considered to be of the upmost importance. The first was to a peaceful zone to observe a civilisation known as the Tempilous. According to the Ongoum, the Tempilous were known to be a peaceful civilisation. They were also non-corporeal. The UEA teams, nonetheless, approached the Tempilous in a cautious manner. Even though the SSS were confident that they would be always more powerful than a corporeal specie, this theory did not apply to a non-corporeal one. Clearly experiences with the Andromedans certified that wisdom.

Yet even with every caution, the Tempilous were aware of the SSS presence. The UEA team had little choice but to reveal themselves. Thus First Contact was made in a rather unorganised & unwanted fashion. For their part the Tempilous displayed no aggression & welcomed the unannounced visitors. As with the Ongoum, negotiations were successful, although any mention about the Ongoum met with little reply. The UEA team did not push the issue, but the team noted the lack of enthusiasm whenever the Ongoum were mentioned.

Elsewhere in the Elysium universe other UEA teams approached their objectives. One particular team’s mission was, however, not to make any contact whatsoever, but to clandestinely observe the targeted civilisation. Luckily the information of First Contact with the Tempilous was readily at hand, so UEA Echo Team was forewarned as to the "early warning" abilities that could be waiting for them. Although no one in the EU had any independent information on the Apparitions (as the Ongoum called them), the information on the Apparitions that had been supplied seemed to portray them as anything but neighbourly.

It did not take long for Echo Team to begin collecting data. Paul, the team’s leader, wished for the old days when stealth spy probes could collect data in secret. Now that was not the case & individuals had to do the same job. When applied against corporeal beings, it was usually safe. But against non-corporeals, as the Tempilous had shown, the team could be discovered. It meant that such work could be deadly - even for a member of the SSS. Such it was the risk with Echo Team. Thankfully for them their cautious observations were successful. Unfortunately, it was soon discovered that the Apparitions were possibly worse than analysis of the Ongoum data suggested.

Reactions

The Assembly were quick to act on the information supplied by Echo Team. Even though Lucifer was eager to once again stop all exploration, the majority led by Michael, successfully argued that lengthy analysis should be conducted before any decision should be made. Many institutions had still not been established in the EU, as few considered that a totally formal structure was required. It was only out of necessity that a government was actually established & even the adhoc Advisory Council was originally an afterthought. Then, due to the fact that a formal government was needed, was one established. UEA was established in a similar manner. As more was discovered about their new universe, it appeared more of the old universe’s ways was just as relevant. It appeared that this was not utopia after all.

It was in such an atmosphere, & thus with much sadness, that Sariel recommended to the Assembly that some form of military would once again be required. Although, as more & more data came in from the UEA teams, much of the surrounding civilisations could be considered peaceful, there were clearly some that required vigilance. And this vigilance required more than a clandestine UEA team. It would require dedicated citizens ready to give battle in order to defend that & those which they cherished.

Many in the Assembly, however, wanted nothing to do with a military. Fyn Lonlyon, the defacto leader of the Lyonies, was quick to point out that the EU did not even have a police service because it did not need one. "Similarly, if the Apparitions were as bad as the data suggests, they should & can be avoided accordingly. Clearly the EU has been given a second chance - one free of crime & violence. It is clear that other civilisations in the Elysium universe are peaceful & have no military: I can see no reason why the Union cannot exist in the same fashion".

It was a convincing argument, especially among the non-Human species. For some reason, only the Humans felt some concern over the discoveries thus far found by the UEA teams. Yet even a number of Humans, lead by Lucifer, agreed with Fyn Lonlyon’s arguments. The end result was stalemate. Neither side had enough numbers to really ensure that a decision could finally be made on the matter one way or the other. And the data coming back only ensured that a final decision was far from near.

It was the head of the UEA that forwarded a compromise, that at least in the short term, appealed to most. Instead of an institution that was solely dedicated to military endeavours, a new "support" section of the UEA could be established that would be given the duties of Guardians of the Union. The Guardians would be a small group that in practical terms, would be a cadre of a much bigger military service, if such a military service was ever needed in an emergency. Although trained in military ways, their primary duties would be those of any other explorer. However, in times of crisis they could be brought together to either act against the current threat or become the cornerstone of a military force.

Although this was a major concession to the anti-military faction, it was seen by all, except a few, as a wise policy. Soon the Guardians became operational. This appeared to comfort most, knowing that a defence of the Union could now be conducted. Furthermore, UEA teams continued to send encouraging news about the universe around them. Even though all was not a perfect utopia, it appeared that it was the next best thing.

In the aftermath of the military debates, what then appeared to be a functionary administrative decision by the Assembly, the Apparitions were formally placed on the boycott list: a list of civilisations which were to be avoided at all costs. As the UEA teams continued with their missions, only a handful, thankfully, of civilisations were place on this list. Most civilisations were either approachable, although not all overly welcoming, while a handful wanted no contact at all & were content to be left alone in peace. Fundamentally, it appeared that peace between civilisations in the Elysium was the constant & not what was at first feared. Even so, as the great & ancient Lyonies philosopher Dyn Lishary once said: "The only constant in the universe is bureaucracy; all else is negotiable".

On to Chapter 2

To see the beginning of the Human Time Line saga visit Second Age Chapter 1

This creative work is the property of David Mark Atwell.

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