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A World AgePremiered 9/9/9 (9 September 2009) The continuation of The Myth and Legend of D'PTah, an original novel by Dan Sewell Ward.
Segment 31 A World Age
Self... aka Anderson-Webb-Ernst... did not know the name foisted upon it by the infamous Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams. Neither did Self know about the three human beings who had made a near simultaneous discovery of A.W.E.'s eminent arrival (the three of whom had thereby achieved a small but enduring place in history). Self had no hint of its 'Awe Bringer' nickname – nor would it have understood the implied meaning. The consciousness of the recently discovered AWE had been limited only to a sense of Self, existing in a dark void surrounded by points of light and bits of non-Self that could be selectively assimilated in Self's ever expanding consciousness. In the early portions of its existence, it had been able to distinguish Self from non-self only by the occasional impact of larger icy chards onto its surface. But most of that had been long, long ago and for a very long time, Self had been alone among the points of light. There were faint movements of a few lights, but the pace had been so slow as to be within measurement error. For all extents and purposes, Self had been roaming in the deepest portions of absolute space for a very long time and very, very alone. Inexplicably a rare thought had entered into its consciousness. Perhaps there was indeed a non-self body which would be a change agent – a transforming entity that would alter Self irrevocably, a catalyst that would speed up the data gathering and intelligence seeking nature of Self, an evolution of the most basic form of thought in the galaxy. Perhaps the focused electromagnetic emanations received but a few revolutions earlier were worth investigating, as well as their fluctuations and potentially non-random sweeps across Self's surface. It was a fascinating thought, but it was still ill-defined in Self's thinking. Meanwhile, the contrary notion that Self might instead be the catalyst for far lesser intelligent beings had not arisen. When there is so much comparatively leisurely activity spanning millions of years, the activities of beings operated in time periods so brief as to escape Self's notice, were unlikely to motivate AWE to wonder about such beings. From a relative perspective, these beings would likely show as little interest in the sex life of a quark or other elementary particle, even a strange one with charm. Any intelligence gathering life form must set threshold standards, if only to avoid consciousness freeze of its processes due to overindulgence in data reaping. In the same context, Self was blissfully unaware of it being the stuff of legends in such long lived beings as the Anunnaki and other star roaming species – however limited in their known universes. It was in a similar fashion beneath even the subconscious of Self to consider that lesser life would be aware of Self, its trajectory and/or its destiny... or more importantly the intermingling of Self's destiny with the greater destiny of various collectives of shorter lived life. Self would never sense that as a catalyst it would accelerate the evolution of a species, and in a curious way, accomplish the mission with far less pain and anguish than previously assumed. Such was Self's future legend, of which Self would also very likely never become aware. Self had been sensitive at its lowermost sub level of consciousness that one of the lights in the void had begun to steadily increase in brightness. This increase had engendered a host of activity, as routine preparations were made to prepare for an influx of new data. One routine consideration was whether or not this non-self would change Self. Was this a transforming agent of Self, the next spur to the evolutionary process? The Doppler shift, the slight change in bearing from Self's line of flight suggested that it was not the appointed non-self. There must be another – perhaps the equivalent of lab rats in a very deep maze operating a homing beacon in order to gain the attention of... some other consciousness. Still the bright light increased until it had reached the point of being more than a pin point and instead had slowly become a sphere. Shortly thereafter, another non-self, non-luminous except in reflection sphere, appeared dead ahead. ("Dead ahead" is not a term Self might have used, but it would suffice for others.) This new non-self was far smaller than the bright sphere, but Self sensed that an encounter with it was all part of Self's destiny. It was Self's time in the sun (so to speak), when its place in the greater scheme of things would become readily apparent. There was now recalled the reasons for Self's existence, reasons apart from Self, and thus far more likely to have significant impact. Cue music: Earthrise [1]. For yet another time, there was increasingly the sense of something other than the cold, something more than the nothingness through which Self was passing. Strange, invisible fluctuations not unlike light were being encountered, while shudders from uneven physical forces began to penetrate Self. Variations in temperature contributed to a sense of unease, a lack of equilibrium. With the transformation beginning, bits and pieces of Self, baggage better shed than carried, were being cleaved and broken away. With some of the partings, some occurring with explosive force, these pieces, formerly of Self, were now departing from Self's narrow path, bound for stops unplanned but likely to encounter the approaching, ever larger non-self in a significant, dare we emphasize, catalytic way.
********* In a celebratory moment at the arrival of Self (AWE) as a recognized dignitary from deep space, the bright sphere of light yielded a series of Coronal Mass Discharges, the kind which would have had astronomers and the like in a feeding frenzy... the likes of which could be compared with the gusto of the near starved at the sight of food, food, and more food. But alas, other more pressing activities had the attention of the comparatively small data collecting vehicles normally engaged in such matters. That was until the arrival of the Sun's coronal emissaries began turning a worldwide communication system into chaotic static. Coincidentally, the God of communications and the Sun had aligned rather precisely even as Mercury appeared to transit in the opposite direction. Clearly, this was a curiously disguised opportunity for all manner of mischief by the Fates. Also prevalent everywhere was the uncertainty of worldwide events and the lack of knowing what exactly was happening, when, where, and to whom. Such confusion was tolerated by virtue of there being just enough local action to keep the mind otherwise engaged. The latest news from the world of science, even ball scores from New York, always seemed far less important when a hurricane in full force was ripping the roof off one's residence.
********* A long range aircraft was on a one way mission from its southern airfield in New Zealand to the ice shelves of Antarctica and then to a location at sea where its crew would rendezvous with surface ships. At the latter point, the crew would board the ships by the simple expedient of bailing out and then hoping for a quick pick up. The planning had been pretty precise, but with the communications now on the fritz, prior planning preventing problems was going to have to be relied upon in the strongest possible sense. The aircraft had arrived at the mid way point on a Thursday. Below it was a vast whiteness of ice, blowing snow, and bone chilling/killing temperatures. The instruments and their masters directed their attention to finding data points of significance and recording them on discs for later retrieval and analysis. The discs had proven to be an excellent contingency plan in that reporting to the at sea home base was becoming seriously impeded with the rapidly decreasing quality of radio communications. Into his head set mike, Will asked, “Am I wrong, or is there some movement down there?” The pilot's question prompted two of the techies at their console monitors to turn to one another and smile the knowing smile of the techie knowing more than the jock. It was a moment to relish. But then one of their brethren, Nick, unthinkingly let the cat out of the bag. “It's moving alright. But it's so massive there are no landmarks in sight which are not part of it. There's no way to compare relative movements.” “Which explains my instincts,” the pilot agreed. “Coverage over ground has suddenly changed even when there is no apparent difference in the wind speed and direction.” “This is so big, Captain,” Cosmo, as the head techie replied, “that everything...” There was an audible gasp, and then a sudden, “Holy shit!” “What? What?” the pilot demanded. But no answer was needed. The movement of ice to the sea had suddenly become a rout, not totally dissimilar to an Oklahoma land rush... just millions of times as impactful. Bits of ice the size of large buildings were being ejected by the action of massive and uneven forces. Even the roar could be sensed over the background noise of the aircraft. The stage had been set, fueled and ready, and was now prepping for massive, worldwide tsunamis. Global Warming was entering into its most dramatic phase with a wide assortment of Noahs, Ziusudras, and Utnapishtims watching in awestruck amazement. After a moment of stunned amazement, Testor, the primary radio operator began desperately to tell the world the news. After failing to establish reliable two-way communications, he turned to his fall back position and began broadcasting indiscriminately, repeating himself over and over and hoping some one would pick up the message, relay it in any way they could, and one way or another warn the world that all icy hell had indeed broken loose, was flowing down to the sea, to the open arms of the sea, and its unchained fury was about to make... well... waves. Very big waves. The atmosphere in the aircraft, at the same time, took a decided chill. Several begin zipping up the fronts of their suits. It was not clear that they would be monitoring the events below them until the airplane was reduced to flying on fumes. And then it would be getting wet time! But that was small potatoes to their being able to witness earth changes on the likes of which they had never imagined. Atlantis (aka Antarctica) was beginning to rise, to shake off the weight of millennia of ice coverage, and thereafter to initiate the days of continental rearrangements, perhaps something on the order of musical chairs to the tune of The First of Autumn [2]. The entire world was happening upon a time of shuddering and shaking off the nasty pests who had done such damage to its excellent coat of many colors. It was, as Gaia preferred to think of it: rock and roll time.
********* Edward Roger Madison Grosvenor and Breanne Marie Rocher had unexpectedly become two of the many volunteers making observations on the world shattering events – in their case from the vantage point of the new observatory near Cuzco – and hopefully just prior to they're bailing and escaping to a ship at sea. Such was one of the side effects of Brea's sense of duty – and because Roger was attached to her hip, so to speak, his sense of duty as well. Of course, ambition was often just a crutch for seeing one's path clearly. It's the well known case where one worthwhile attribute so often leads to other positive attributes. C'est la vie, as Brea might have so beautifully phrased it. Meanwhile, the escape plan did have its potential flaws: hurricane winds and ocean waves taller than the lengths of most of the ships struggling to stay afloat... and incidentally for purpose of convenience and the stomachs of their passengers, staying upright. There had been, perhaps, the naive assumption that there would be windows of opportunity. The only saving grace was that in the event of being unable to make for the sea going hotel, having to remain high on a mountain side did have the advantage of being a good place to wait out the Deluge, the deluge with a capital D. The fact Roger and Brea had friends in such high places was just frosting on the cake. In this case, Raul Rolando and his sister had just delivered food stocks to the observatory. The observatory was among other things particularly well built, modern, structurally sound, and almost deserted. With the wind and rain now torrential, the steel structure felt notably more secure than many local residences. The food itself had been provided by a plethora of farmers, food producers, and wholesalers -- the farmers having already planted and harvested with an enthusiasm not seen since Joseph had been in the business of interpreting the dreams of a Pharaoh. Raul had with far more intuitive insight assumed that Roger and Brea would continue as guests of the Highland Incas for considerably longer than planned, and was in fact looking forward to spending time with them again. The fact that he could also provide for a younger sister who had, for no sufficiently valid reason, always idolized him... was just so much gravy on the cake – the latter one of those nifty American expressions Raul loved to use because they were able to convey so much and in such a clear, visual language. The Incas, as have already been noted, were really good at surviving catastrophes. They had probably already pulled one out of the hat at an earlier and far more orthodox Flood and Deluge, and even now were having the last laugh on the Spanish Conquistadors. Meanwhile the ghettos and dregs of Lima on the coast – the truer and more representative artifacts of the Spanish conquest -- would soon be underwater and hopefully that particular ancient Spanish Scourge would finally be removed from the neighborhood. Everything seemed somehow right... in a long term manner of thinking. The Incas, having long ago taken the 'high road', were finding their choice to have been the better one. And of course, ALL of the local roads had been cut, the airfields severed (but repairable) with just enough fueled aircraft for later. The Incas had learned more than a few tricks in recent times.
********* As epiphanies goes, Gaia's was a real barn burner... not to mention the burning of forests, cities, fuel dumps, grasslands, and anything with fuel and oxygen to sustain the flames. Simultaneously, and very fortunately, there was also the water, rain, an evaporation cycle operating with a vengeance, the latter aimed primarily at the overextended species of every shape and stripe. The Deluge kept the fires under moderate control, but occasionally the actual result was an enormous amount of steam. The nature of the worldwide epiphany might best be described by the music accompanying it: Ode to Joy [3] with the appropriate lyrics [4]. The words of one poet (allegedly a witness of the cataclysm -- or else an earlier one) begins with:
A.W.E. was also taking the heat (literally and figuratively). But alas, the catalyst for a million consciousness transformations, had no sage, no poet, no dedicated staff person to record the ripping and tearing of countless pieces of Self, scattering appendages in all directions, some never to again join the suddenly diminished Self in its journeys. From a great distance, some beings did take a few notes, but visibility and accessibility being what it was, there really was not a lot to write home about. And of course, there were other matters with which to contend. Catastrophes can be a marvelous focusing device. Gaia, at least, appreciated very much the cleansing that had transpired by a fellow traveler. It's just that there was no where to send a thank you note... at least to what had previously been known as Self.
Fire and Ice
The countless descriptions of the end of a world age were now being evidenced by history. The fragmentary evidence from the chaotic times described by the Myricon archives give just a hint of the conflagration occurring worldwide.
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It is entirely one thing to read a history of ancient events so far in the past that surely they can not impact us now. It is another thing to find the records – even the fragmentary evidence given above – which tell of the many stories that reach out and encourage our natural tendency to empathize. All of these millions – if not billions – of people... each had their story, their own astounding experiences, their own lives to dedicate and to relate with something that might arrest our attention. Change can be staggering in its impact upon us. Change can be dreadful or a cause for hope. It can be horrific or glorious. All depends on the point of view. It is probably best survived when flexibility allows one to go with the flow, to give up the temptation to paddle wildly against the flow in trying to maintain one's place in the greater scheme of things. Acceptance of change is likely the most effective means to prevent pain – even when the outcome of change is unknown.
___________________ References [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSKpmfvdkUA [2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXsLhkJxZn0 [3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZJ1Tgf4JL8 [4] http://mx.geocities.com/sergio_bolanos/origin.htm [5] http://www.halexandria.org/dward609.htm [6] Due to the effects of global warming – diablo rojo ('the red devil') squid began to grow as long as 7 feet and weigh 110 pounds. They “will eat anything they can catch” including injured squid. They began traveling up the West Coast due to El Nino weather patterns warming the oceans and altering currents. Such predators will ruin habitats for other marine life, eating through entire food chains. “It's likely that this is a common theme over all of the world's oceans”. [The Week, 8/10/07, page 19]
Con Te Partiro (the alternate lyrics)
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The Library of ialexandriah2003© Copyright Dan Sewell Ward, All Rights Reserved
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