"Why is it that we so fiercely believe our civilization is the greatest, the most advanced, the most accomplished? Life has been on earth for longer than we can imagine; what else than to create is there to do?"
Year 1803AD .
Sema was waiting for that first run through the fields after the disappointing and uneventful train ride to the country group home for orphan children.
All that was stopping her, besides a whole night’s subjugation to a box-spring for a mattress, which poorly distributed her weight and an old spiky feather pillow that hurt her face, was for her brother to take her outside.
She knew he had promised to come get her and told her to wait for him, but Ambrus loved to sleep and she wasn't about to wait for him any longer than she had to.
She slid out of bed and crawled past the beds lined up in the room. Thinking the other girls were still sleeping she was careful not to make any noise.
The door creaked as she opened it and after a quick evaluation of the room she noticed she was the only one there. She felt safe enough to walk into the hallway; but not safe enough to close the door. The hallway was long and smelled like the barn did back home after the flood hit, but it had only two doors; one with a window and another that looked just like the door she had just walked out of. That's gotta be it, she thought.
She walked up to the hallway door, listened for activity in the dorm room, then proceeded to open it. It didn't creak, but the hinges were loose and caused the door to stick on the frame and skid against the wooden floor, which made a lot of noise. Sema's heart missed a beat; she pressed her teeth together and closed her eyes.
She opened her eyes to see empty beds, except one: Ambrus' bed. He was in that big room all by himself. She smiled and ran in, skipping as she passed the old, yellow and dusty beds. She jumped on Ambrus' bed, “Ambrus! Ambrus!”
He ignored her.
“I know you're awake, I can tell,” she said. “It's morning, let's go outside and play.”
“Actually, we slept all morning and all afternoon,” Ambrus said. “I woke up a couple times. All the other children are doing chores, I figured to pretend to sleep would get us out of it.”
“Really? How come we slept so long?”
“We spent a long time on that train and you didn't sleep at all and kept us both up.”
“Let's go outside and play!”
“You crazy? They'll make us do chores. I'd rather pretend to sleep than work here.”
“We'll sneak out, it'll be fun,” Sema said.
“Ok, but just for a bit. Then we sneak back in. I don't want to meet all these people today. I'm still thinking about—” Ambrus said, but forgot that Sema wasn't aware of what had actually happened during the flood in which their parents had died. She thought the group home was a school and that their parents were busy finding a new home for them. “I—am just thinking about home.”
“Look, I know they aren't coming to get us. They sent us here because they can't take care of us. I'm not stupid.” Sema said, “But I don't care. You have taken care of me since I can remember—and you're all I need,” she said, smiling at Ambrus.
Ambrus was speechless, but it was true. After the flood, Ambrus managed to take care of her for seven months before being shipped off to the group home.
“So . . . let's go outside and run around, like back home,” she said as she took his hand and pulled him off the bed.
Ambrus looked out the window to the west. “We'll climb out here and walk around a bit,” he said.
“No, let's play tag!” Sema said.
They were on the first floor and Ambrus was able to jump out the window and land on his feet. Sema needed help, but when she landed, she took off as fast as she could.
“Don't go too far,” Ambrus yelled out to her.
“I am going to go really far and you'll have to come too,” she said.
They finally hit the top of the hill as the sun set. Sema wanted to keep moving and expected Ambrus would follow.
With his hands on his knees, panting, he looked up at the faint stars in the sky. “Hey, Sema!” he called out. It could get dark soon.
Sema smiled and laughed. She was so filthy from dirt and mud that Ambrus could only see her eyes and her smile in the dim light from the sun already below the horizon. “No! I don't want to go back yet,” she said, “Come and get me!”
Ambrus' big brother sense of responsibility always melted away when Sema begged him with her eyes. He stood up with his hands behind his head. How can a six-year old have so much energy? he thought.
Sema stood in the distance as she was making her way down from the hill, uncertain if Ambrus had given up or if he would continue to chase her. She screamed out again, “Come get me. I'm not going back now!”
Ambrus stared at her with a blank expression. She could see his face just fine, since he was exceptionally clean for a ten-year old and white as paper. He had already decided to continue playing with her, he just didn't want her to know that, yet. The surprise of the chase was half the fun and always made her pause and scream before she could take off running.
Ambrus let out a yell, “I'm coming!”
Sema put her hands over her mouth and screamed, like she was truly frightened. Paralyzed only for a moment she started laughing and ran; arms lagging behind, her body and size shrank as she came closer to the ground, picked up speed, like gravity was pulling at her, “I'm faster than you!” she said.
Ambrus slowed as a flash of light, in front of Sema, appeared out of the dimly lit sky. It pulsated and hovered slightly above the ground. He called out, “Sema, stop!”
Sema looked back at Ambrus, smiled and laughed. Unaware of what was in front of her she ran straight into the mysterious radiating light. It was circular in shape, large and made no sound.
Her tiny body made a splashing sound against the light, like she hit water from a dive. Her laugh echoed, then she was gone.
Ambrus cried out, “Sema!”
Before he could run up to the time gate, five mysterious men appeared from within the light.
The men wore robe-like clothes in light shades of white and seemed to have a sense of urgency about them. As they turned to look at Ambrus, the light faded and a solid round glowing ball dropped to the grass in its place.
Ambrus ran up to the men, “Where is she! What did you do with her!” he cried out.
Tanis, whose eyes flickered like a flame from a candle, kneeled down to size with Ambrus, “Who, boy?” he asked.
Ambrus, perplexed for a moment as he peered into Tanis' eyes, caught his strength and managed to speak, “My sister, she ran into your . . . thing and disappeared!” Ambrus kept looking and could not see any sign of her. He jumped on Tanis, swinging and hitting him as hard as he could. Aiming for his eyes, the strikes resembled smashing into a small fire as embers and sparks flew from them. “Where is she, Where is she?”
Tanis, without putting up a fight, raised himself from the ground, turned Ambrus around and held his hands and arms to restrain him. “I will tell you where the girl is.”
Ambrus stopped struggling.
“I'll take you to her, but first you must tell me your name.”
Ambrus' expression changed from anger to a frightened byproduct of curiosity. “My name is Ambrus.”
The men looked at each other; the ground began to shake and vibrate as the light from the time gate ball became brighter. They all stepped back as it grew larger. It hummed as grass and soil levitated around it.
Ambrus looked in awe, before Tanis pushed him into the gate and he, too, disappeared into it.
“Those children were sent to an ancient destination, Master Tanis. The Ancients have never taken kindly to visitors.”
Tanis did not reply and started walking towards the 18th century city off in the distance. His crew followed.
6.2 - The Ancients.
Year 12,300,609BC
“Ambrus! Ambrus!” Sema screamed. She put her hands on his face, shaking him. “Wake up! Wake up!” He lay still on the oddly colored grass. She looked around her, A stick . . . I sure hope he won't be mad at me, she thought, before striking him.
The pain of the stick striking his forehead woke him. Sema did not know she had it in her, she even broke the stick.
Ambrus opened his eyes to see Sema, even dirtier than before, looking down at him. “I thought you were gone . . . ” he said as he sat himself up, rubbing his forehead. “Where are we?”
Sema looked left and right, shook her head and said, “Don't know. But it smells strange here and there are two moons in the sky.” She pointed. “See?”
Ambrus looked into the night sky at the moons, first the more familiar one that had a slightly different size than he remembered and then to the other that he could not recognize. It was very small and bright orange.
“And look down there, it's a city. But it doesn't look like home. Nope, not at all does it look like home," Sema said, while shaking her head in doubt. “I'm scared Ambrus.”
The city was lightly lit with blue and green lighting. Not too bright, but bright enough to blind the eyes from seeing the surroundings outside of the city. The city itself was in a valley with perfectly rounded mountains around it. There were only four ways in and out of the city, shown with brightly lit roads.
Ambrus stood up, then turned to the city, looked up at the moons, then at Sema. “We'll go down to that road and then into the city and find someone to help us get home.”
“Do you think the grownups at the home will be angry with us?” Sema asked concerned.
“Not you . . . ” Ambrus replied.
The trip down the mountain took much longer than Ambrus and Sema expected. The sun had already risen and it was daytime by the time they got to the road leading into the city. The road looked like something out of a painting. It was solid as rock, yet had a sense of softness to it.
“Something ain’t right," said Sema. “The trees are funny looking and when they move with the wind they get all blurry. There ain’t a sound to hear, only our feet." She jumped up and down demonstrating. “Those clouds over there are moving awfully fast and I don't hear or feel any wind on my skin. The wind isn't taking my hair with it either.”
Ambrus stopped and looked at Sema. “You're right." He looked at Sema's hair, motionless in the wind and listened to the lack of sound around them. He clapped his hands together as hard as he could to test if he could hear it.
“This is a dream," he said.
Sema pinched Ambrus’ arm as hard as she could and Ambrus screamed out, “Ow!”
“See?” said Sema. “I can hear you, you can hear me. But we can't hear anything around us and, hey . . . how come there ain’t nobody on these roads?”
Ambrus looked down the road and behind them while rubbing the pain away from his arm. “I don't know, I guess we'll find someone in the city.”
“I'm hungry and thirsty," Sema said, holding her stomach and giving Ambrus the eyes.
“I know, so am I. Tired too. Let's take a break. Maybe, just maybe someone will travel down the road and they can take us into the city.”
Ambrus and Sema lay on the grass by the road asleep, while being observed by two very tall people. They were dressed in loose leather-skinned clothing and had soft brown skin with a tattooed black mask spanning from ear to ear covering their deep blue eyes.
“I've never seen a traveler, never thought I would. When do you think they will adjust to our time?” Nierri said. “What do you think the Preira will do with these children?” she asked. “I did not take this responsibility thinking I would ever actually have to bring a traveler child for judgment. I—”
“I do not know, but if they do not adjust to our time soon, they will die of thirst and hunger," T'toc said. “When I was with the Preira, we destroyed a group of travelers from the chaos of time," he said.
“But they are just children T'toc!” she said.
“I know, yet we still have our orders. You know what the Elders say. No travelers allowed in our time-space, that's why we are to destroy their time gates and send them to the Preira for judgment," he said.
Nierri looked at the children curled up together sleeping. They looked strange to her. Their faces were smoother, more rounded. Their eyes were much larger and their jaws and mouths were smaller.
“They're so adorable," she said. “If we bring them to the Preira they will die.”
“If we do not, everything that has been planned may fail," he said.
“How dangerous can two children be? If they were warriors from the future, I could understand. But these children are just innocents.”
“Warriors? Hah," T'toc laughed. “They only live for a couple hundred years, it's impossible to bend the physics of nature in such a short time frame. No traveler could possibly match a true Priest from the Illuminated City.”
Nierri grinned, “Exactly, T'toc. You see? Look at these two children then.”
“Mhm," he said.
“They are no danger. Right? Even the most dangerous of the travelers are no danger, so why should they have to die?” she argued.
“Technically, it's not up to us we are just following orders," he said.
“Well, if you look at it that way," she said. “I see it like this; if we bring them to the city, they will face judgment, die and that will be our own doing. If we take them somewhere safe, they survive.”
“If they adjust to time and are strong enough. We will take them and hide them with the Sitas," T’toc said, allowing Nierri to believe she had convinced him not to destroy the travelers. He made plans for them the moment he saw them come through.
Nierri smiled, put her hand on his arm and she hugged him. “The Sitas are very primitive, are you sure they will take care of these children?”
“If they were grown, the Sitas would probably kill them. But since they are still young and as you put it, adorable, I am quite certain they will be just fine. I spent enough time trading with them to know they are not the savages most make them out to be.”
The tall woman kneeled down to Sema and Ambrus and smiled while covering them with cloth from her bag, hoping to comfort them. “Do you think the people from the chaos of time sent these children on a mission?” she asked.
“You heard them as well as I did while we followed them from the where they came in. They are clueless as to where they are, what they're doing and how to get home," he said.
“Poor children," she said. “At least they are in a safe time now and they no longer belong to the future.”
They waited, invisible to Ambrus and Sema until they adjusted out of time awe.