Cognizance

9781543920758

Forward

This story is the first in a trilogy involving the history and expansion of the human race. It re-imagines history and explains mysteries which abound in the past. It also imagines a future where we can re-connect with our origins.

The human race has come a long way and perhaps for a lot longer than currently believed. Time will tell if there are any grains of truth in this theory. Either way, it’s fun to ponder and wonder about the alternative histories that are possible.

S.A. Wallace, 2017

Table of Contents

Chapter One – Jungle Discovery

Chapter Two – The Library Room

Chapter Three – The Documents

Chapter Four – A Desert Mystery

Chapter Five - One Final Discovery

Chapter Six – A Watery End

Chapter Seven – Where to Start?

Chapter Eight – Music to my ears

Chapter Nine – Translation machine

Chapter Ten – The Talking Documents

Chapter Eleven – Beginnings

Chapter Twelve – An Unlikely Scientist

Chapter Thirteen – Boring but Awesome

Chapter Fourteen – Rebooting

Chapter Fifteen – The Beginning of the End

Chapter Sixteen – Keystone’s Grand Plan

Chapter Seventeen – Final Preparations

Chapter Eighteen – The Last Tote

Chapter Nineteen – Epilogue I

Chapter Twenty – Epilogue II

Chapter One – Jungle Discovery

Drip… drip… drip… . .

The incessant sound of dew dripping from every twig and frond surrounding them was almost maddening. Especially at times like this; when sleep would not come and every little sound was magnified tenfold. During the day when things were busy it was barely discernable but at night it was a welcomed and soothing sound for drifting off to sleep.

Not this night, however. They had moved rapidly all day in anticipation of reaching the temple before morning. It became obvious that this goal would not happen but within an hours’ travel at dawn, they would stand at the crumbling steps of the oldest known building in existence, hidden for centuries by the jungle. Even more exciting was the knowledge that the new information they had arduously obtained from several ancient texts and artifacts could finally be corroborated.

Drip… drip… drip… DRIP!

Dave grabbed his pillow and wrapped it around his head in frustrated desperation, attempting to try and catch at least a little sleep. It was uncertain what might be encountered tomorrow and he wanted, no needed, to be alert and agile.

Chenoa lie awake as well. Not because of the dripping or any of the other night noises from the surrounding jungle. She suffered from childlike anxiety as if she was expecting Santa to slip into her tent with a bag of toys. She had spent her whole life waiting for this moment. The last four years of challenging research and exhausting translation from hundreds of clues collected over various parts of the globe. It also seemed fitting that the builders and original inhabitants of the temple were part of her long lost heritage. She knew she was a descendent of the tribes that migrated out of this region so it stood to reason that her lineage could be traced back to the temple if they could find a genealogy list of sorts.

Mark and Matt had no problem sleeping and were, in fact, snoring louder than the sound of the surrounding insects, frogs and night birds. Perhaps it was because they were less than convinced that this expedition was little more than an exercise in futility. After all, the bits of broken pottery and other clues that led them here were spotty at best and the translation was rushed and not at all certain. It did, however, provide a great line for the resume as well as doubling as credits at the University where they were both employed and in grad school.

Alejandro also slept easy as he and his employees were exhausted from transporting everything except the personal backpacks and cameras of the University representatives. He and his men had been hired at port to make the trek inland thru the thick jungle surrounded by mountains. It was not their first trip to one of the long deserted cities or temples but it was the first to this particular site. It had been first discovered some seventy years hence and everything of scholarly and monetary value had been taken or recorded at that time. He smiled because of this when he accepted the money for the job but did not offer any advice or recommendations regarding that knowledge. The money paid the same and usually these employers were less than appreciative of local opinions.

The night clamored on while the monotonous dripping continued. Once the bright red moon rose to full overhead, small slivers of light sliced thru the canopy like swords in a magicians’ trick that miraculously missed the tents as they would miss the pretty assistant laying inside the box. The moon itself was not visible beneath the foliage but the monkeys atop the canopy began a cacophony that was unparalleled as they chased and caught a myriad of insects silhouetted against its’ shimmering light.

This continued throughout the remainder of the night until the rising suns’ warm rays pushed the moonlight toward the opposite horizon and replaced the monkeys with morning birds and their medley of songs. The monkeys merely crept deeper inside the canopy in search of nuts, berries and other fruit but were much quieter in this task.

The sun had a little better luck than its twilight twin in penetrating the jungle and provided plenty of filtered light to the camp while the occupants began disassembling their campsite and consumed a small but high energy breakfast.

Swallowing the last two gulps of coffee from his mug, a very tired looking Dave posed the question to Alejandro. So, how long before we reach the temple?

Consulting the maps that he already held in his sun worn hands and the GPS device beside him, Alejandro contemplated a moment. It would appear that we will be there within the next hour or two. We have to cross that next hill and a small stream at the bottom of it and then we should arrive at the valley where the temple lies and can probably see it from there as well. The dark eyebrow on his left eye rose slightly beneath his wide brimmed hat as he spoke.

The reactions of the expedition scholars were very different.

Dave was glad that this part of the trip was nearly over. Getting to the endgame was always the most challenging part of any expedition. Once they were set up at the temple, sleep would come easier and he could focus on why they made the journey.

Chenoa was almost giddy with excitement and was already packing the remainder of her things, ready to travel that last hour or so. Her dark, twinkling eyes already anticipating the next phase which was to prove one way or another if the new translations had any merit. Since she fully believed that they did; she expected to find out what they led to.

Mark and Matt just looked at each other and continued with their breakfast at a normal pace. They had no intention of choking down their food so they could rush to get someplace that was so close. At worst, it would take them an extra ten or fifteen minutes to finish up and get camp buttoned up.

‘Nothing worth getting indigestion over, after all.’ They thought simultaneously. Both had the too-soft hands of desk jockeys which were showing signs of blistering if the trip went much further.

"Come on fellas! Please finish up so we can get to the temple early enough to check out the translation information! I’ve waited a long time for this and I don’t want to have to wait another day!" The disdain on Chenoa’s face was unmistakable. Her finely chiseled nose and matching chin contorted slightly from the stress.

It took a full twenty minutes for the remainder of the breakfast to be eaten and the camp broken down for travel. By this time, Chenoa and Dave were ready to leave the slackers behind but they knew this was not reasonable or even allowable. Safety was always the first priority. They assembled in single file order behind Alejandro and a couple of natives with machetes. Assuming the lead as usual was Dave followed by Chenoa, Mark, Matt and then the packers.

Cutting through the jungle was slow, hot work. The trail had been traversed enough to make the effort a lot less than it would have been for the first expedition who discovered this temple. It was still incredible how fast the jungle repaired any damage from invaders. The ‘hill’ they needed to cross turned out to be more of a miniature mountain. It proved to be very steep on the ascension and once at the top was followed by a sharp decline. The steep slope made traveling and cutting through brush exhausting.

Perhaps it was the fact that they had already travelled a long way or that knowing they were close to the end created the illusion of proximity. Palpable anticipation created the sweat dripping from Dave’s medium length brown locks. It was probably a combination of anxiety coupled with Alejandro having underestimated the time frame due to the jungle grown over as it was. Regardless, the one to two hours he suggested had already turned into five or six and they had not yet reached the stream.

As he wiped the sweat off of his brow, Dave thought ‘I sure hope his recollection of the stream is not as off as his time frame! We could be looking at trying to cross a major river and we really have little equipment for such a venture.’

Footing was treacherous travelling downhill and great care had to be taken to ensure that no one was cut with the machetes swinging wildly at the jungle undergrowth by tired arms. Alejandro suggested that the four scholars hang back and allow his men to clear the way and avoid such injuries. They agreed and although it was difficult to just set back and watch others hard work, the path opened quicker and the men managed to avoid each other with the sharp steel they weld so nimbly earlier.

A couple of the men took the lead and cut a smaller pathway which was widened neatly by the remaining crew. The two in the lead had worked ahead a good fifty yards or so and after a short time the sound of splashing water echoed strangely through the jungle to the expedition.

Minutes later, the other brush cutters opened up the small trail so that all could see the stream ahead. It was not a river as Dave had feared but the rains had swollen it to a level higher than the traditional concept of a stream. The lead natives had located a place to safely ford to the other side and all began making their way towards it.

As they cleared the brush at the edge of the stream Chenoa looked out towards the opposite side of the water and a gasp escaped her slightly chapped, natural colored lips. Her heart was pounding and her legs quivered and after a small pause that felt like centuries, she managed to utter LOOK! and pointed out across the stream.

All eyes followed her outstretched arm and traversed an imaginary line from the end of her trembling finger. There it was. It was standing across the stream and several hundred yards down the valley. Jungle growth had consumed over half of the temple structure like some saprophytic vine clinging to a tree while it slowly sucked the life out of it. They took it all in and allowed the scene to sweep them into a far away past when the temple was new and pristine. One could almost hear the sounds of natives while they prayed and danced around the marvelous structure.

They were snapped back to reality by the rapidly clicking shutter of Chenoa’s camera. She had recovered from her initial shock and was capturing the image for their permanent records.

The humidity was beginning to creep up and everyone was glad that the first part of the journey was close to the end. The lead brush cutters were across the stream and had only now observed the ancient structure ahead and yelled out excitedly, The temple! It is here! We have found it!

‘Found it’ may have been a bit of an inaccurate description since the temple had actually been discovered a long time ago. The site had been documented and plundered of all monetary value. None knew of the library then and as far as was known, it remained intact. The meaning, however, was understood and the exploration party acknowledged the news with waves, not needing to say they had already spotted it. Only minutes passed before they were all standing in a clearing about the size of a football field, staring at the structure that brought them here. The vegetation that clung to the temple they saw from afar only existed on the back side of it. The side they approached had a completely different appearance. It seemed odd that only grasses grew around the border of the temple and on this side no trees or other vegetation encroached further than the barrier they just crossed.

I really can’t believe that we are here! Dave almost whispered as his eyes ran slowly over the architecture in front of him. The base of the temple was a simple geometric form. A four sided pyramid to be exact and it was formed by carefully placed stone blocks. The two opposite sides rose in awkward spires with no apparent purpose and between them where the pyramid should have grown to a point, it ended with a flat, square shaped rock. It could have been used for observation or sacrifice – impossible to tell from this perspective.

Chenoa just gazed in mute awe at the building that perhaps housed the greatest archeological find of all time. Her heart was pounding so loud that she could barely hear herself speaking. Let’s set up camp and get the maps and notes out so we can plan our strategy. She deftly used a hand to comb her hair behind her ear on one side. This was her trademark move to show that she was getting serious.

Alejandro and the natives were already making preparations for camp and gathering fuel for the fires. They were well versed in the needs of a campsite such as this.

The transition from grass covered field to full campsite complete with twin fire pits, a primitive shower and half a dozen tents required slightly over an hour to complete. The natives were so adept at the task that the tents were all positioned perfectly so as to avoid the morning and evening breezes created by the thermal currents and at the same time not catching any stray smoke from the fires. The fire pits themselves were good enough to be certified by Smokey himself if the natives actually knew who that was. They recognized the value of their surroundings and how devastating an uncontrolled fire could be so they had deep pits with river rocks surrounding the opening and buckets to hold water in case the fire got a little out of hand and needed to be persuaded to stay in the pits.

Two of the tables had been set up just past the tents toward the temple. A canopy tent was erected over the top of them to protect anything setting on the tables from the elements. This would be the command center where everything would be planned and coordinated.

It was barely noon and there would be a good eight hours of daylight left to get started. The natives had just completed the last tie-down stake for the canopy tent when Chenoa pulled the laptop from her backpack and plopped it down on one of the tables and turned it on. While it was initializing, she dug into one of her three leather bags and pulled out a thick journal and a pair of map cylinders.

Hey Dave, could you give me a hand with the maps please? I would like to get them laid out so that we can begin to get our bearings and maybe have a preliminary look at the temple with the new information.

Dave moved toward the tables with a wide grin on his tanned face. You know, you look like an excited kid on their first trip to the toy store! His sense of attraction was only superficial and one of a genuine friend and colleague. They had been working together for two years, were teammates on several expeditions and had been college classmates for a couple years before that. They had a mutual respect for, and genuinely liked, one another. The fact that she was definitely married to her career and he had a long-standing fiancé also figured into the mix. The lack of personal involvement worked well for them because it allowed them to focus on the work at hand. This slightly detached friendship was instrumental in them obtaining the grant for this extremely important effort.

The maps and aerial photographs were laid out and oriented exactly as the temple so that as they stood in front of the table and gazed at the maps they could lift their heads and see the actual 3-D version before them. A thick piece of flexible Plexiglas was placed over each of the three maps to protect them and allow a wax pencil to write over the tops of the maps without defacing them.

Chenoa opened a file on the laptop that listed words, letters, sounds and symbols with very primitive looking shapes and forms posted beside them, indicating that they were similar or had the same meaning. Many of them were duplicated on the primitive side and had copious reference notes and numbers in parenthesis. As often was the case, early writings had a limited set of symbols or shapes that took on multiple meanings depending on what other symbols they were paired with and the context in which they were used. This was one of the reasons that translations were difficult at best even with an accurate key.

She nervously opened the thick journal to a place marked with a red ribbon. It had the following heading underlined at the top of the page: Temple Edifice – Library Entrance

The hand-written text beneath the title began with a short description of where the ancient writings were discovered and followed with a dissertation of how additional information was discovered and utilized with the new text to derive the current translation. Each facet of the derivation was critical to record so that if a snag were to come up it would be possible to retrace the steps taken to arrive at the