Delta Core 2519

Charity jerked herself awake. She was chilled and completely disoriented. She was not in a room, or even a building. She was in the middle of the woods. It was night and there was a chill in the air. Fortunately, there was a full moon so she could make out shadows to at least orient herself to her surroundings. The land around her seemed alive with chirping insects. She sat upon the ground in rocky terrain. Tall trees obscured her ability to see far, but it seemed she was on the side of a hill. She crooked her neck. She could smell something in the distance ... smoke. Something was on fire.

She became aware of another person behind her and turned to see the woman standing a few feet away. They were not naked, but their coverings were peculiar, more reminiscent of animal skins. Charity frowned.

“Eve?”

The woman nodded, struggling to breath, seemingly physically exhausted. Charity looked around.

“What is this place?” Charity questioned, standing up.

She was barefoot and the sharp rocks hurt her feet. She studied her clothing as well. She never felt anything like it. It was just like Eve’s, other than to say she was covered – barely – but by what she was not sure.

“I don’t recognize this place,” Charity commented, “nothing is familiar.”

“Of course not,” Eve replied, “you’re on a different continent in a time long gone. We can’t stay here long. This is the longest I have ever traveled. It’s taking a lot out of me to project this, we have only minutes.”

“Why are we here?” Charity asked.

“You asked where you came from,” Eve replied starting down the hill.

Charity reluctantly followed, stepping carefully to avoid the rocks. They moved to a flatter area with grass, making walking easier. In the distance Charity could see smoke rising out from between a large outcropping of rocks. As they moved closer, she could see the orange glow of flames dancing on the side of a rock. The fire was in a small recessed area, barely meeting the description of a cave, but provided protection from the night and whatever moved in the darkness.

Sitting on a rock next to the modest fire sat something with long hair covered in fur. It stared blankly into the fire as it ate, tearing a piece of meat from the bone of some captured prey with its teeth. Charity kept her distance.

“It’s okay,” Eve reassured, leaning against the cave wall to catch her breath, “she can’t see us. We’re not really here.”

“Uh, what about that?” Charity exclaimed, pointing to the far corner of the cave. In the darkness they could barely make out the massive furry shape of a large animal. The eyes glowed in the firelight, staring right at them. “Can it see us?”

“Probably not,” Eve answered, “but animals have the ability to sense things humans can’t. That’s TooKa. She’s the predecessor of the wolf.”

“She’s a pet?” Charity asked.

“Of sorts,” Eve said, “more of a … protector.”

Charity slowly moved to stand in front of the creature at the fire. TooKa seemed to be aware something was there but could not pinpoint anything. Charity leaned over to get more eye to eye with the sitting creature.

“She?” Charity asked, “That’s a woman … human!” Charity slowly crept closer to look, standing almost opposite the woman around the fire. In the dancing light she could see there were no clothes under the fur on her shoulders. The woman’s small dirt-covered breasts were plainly visible from that angle. Charity stared into the woman’s face, studying the long strands of wild gray hair streaked with remnants of brown.

“She’s ancient.” Charity said.

“Not so old as you would think,” Eve shrugged, “she’s only 51. But she has had to fight to stay alive every day of her life for the last twenty-five years. She’s birthed twenty children, only seven of whom reached adulthood. Those seven will breed with other tribes and grow to millions.”

“Who is she?” Charity asked.

“She’s your guardian,” Eve replied, “she watches over you.”

“I’m here?” Charity asked, “Where? How is that possible?”

Instead of answering, Eve merely pointed out into the woods. She was struggling to breathe at such a high altitude. To Charity it was normal. Charity was filled with anxiety and fear, but she needed to know. She walked into the darkness and searched the area for anything that might give her a clue as to what Eve was talking about. She came to a small opening of dirt, devoid of vegetation, but did not see anything of significance. She sensed Eve moving up behind her.

“I don’t see anything,” Charity noted.

“You’re standing on it,” Eve replied, panting. Fearing she was on a grave, Charity quickly moved to the edge of the clearing and looked upon the area. Again, nothing stood out.

“Is this a grave?” Charity asked, “Am I dead?”

Eve slowly shook her head.

“You are very much alive,” Eve replied, “you are ninety feet below the surface, waiting for your time to awaken. With you are your mother and two sisters, along with four others. The eight of you are all that’s left.”

“All that’s left of what?” Charity asked.

Instead of answering, Eve turned and went back to the cave. When Charity caught up with her, Eve was standing in front of the woman watching her eat, gazing into the fire. Charity was about to ask a question when she saw the firelight glistening off Eve’s tear running down her cheek. She had a sorrowful look on her face. Eve looked upon her friend, remembering the vivacious twenty-seven-year-old from long ago.

“Who is she?” Charity asked, “What is this place?”

“Her name is Sorana,” Eve answered somberly, “she was my dearest friend. She couldn’t come with us, so she swore she would look over us for the rest of her life ... and she did. How I miss her. She showed more loyalty and dedication than anyone I have ever known.”

“Where are we?” Charity asked again, “Who is she?”

“I told you,” Eve responded, “this is your beginning. By your calendar, seventy-five THOUSAND YEARS ago. You and your sisters go back to the dawn of modern man.”

As Eve spoke, it finally dawned on Charity.

“You’re my mother!” Charity exclaimed, “Our mother … Evee.”

“My husband’s name was Adam,” Eve explained, “myth, legend, folklore, tradition … religion, they all give US credit for being the first. We were Adam and Eve. But Sorana, was the true Eve … she birthed the civilization that would become modern man. We just followed in her footsteps.”

“I still don’t understand,” Charity said, “none of this makes sense.”

“I’d have to take you back even further,” Eve replied, “Thousands of years earlier, on another planet, to the time of the disaster. I don’t have the energy to do that.”

Charity was about to ask more questions when Sorana slowly started rocking side to side. Charity stared at her with curiosity.

“Shoshanna,” the woman croaked out in a hoarse voice. She had not spoken words in years. Eve bit her lip at the emotional pain shot through her heart. She remembered Sorana’s soft sweet voice from year’s past. Life had been very rough on her. As Sorana’s rocking became more pronounced it took on the feel of a chant.

“Rashida,” Sorana sang in a long drawn out chant. She stretched her arms out as if praying, all while continuing to rock side to side.

“Tajah,” she added, her voice slightly clearer but still hoarse.

“What is she saying?” Charity asked.

Eve just stared through teary eyes.

“Shoshanna,” Sorana repeated, “Rashida, Tajah.”

She started repeating the phrases more quickly, over and over.

“What is she saying?” Charity asked again as Eve wiped the tears from her eyes.

“She’s calling out to my children,” Eve replied, “she promised your names would never be forgotten.”

Before Charity could respond, TooKa snapped to her feet. She slowly crept forward, sniffing the air, hackles raised. With a lunge of her massive back legs she leapt forward and raced from the cave. As Charity tried to understand what was happening, Sorana was on her feet. Her shoulder covering fell to the floor. She wore only a small wrap around her waist, barely covering her sex. Charity could finally see her naked top half in the firelight. She was lean and muscular, the tightness of her body at odds with the gray in her hair.

Around her neck, completely out of place, was a silver necklace holding a red jeweled, heart-shaped locket. Charity stared at it with curiosity. It was a modern trinket totally out of place with their surroundings. Sorana retrieved a shortened spear for close-in fighting. In her other hand she produced something quite different, also very out of place: It looked to be a blade of some sort. As she stood there, the bottom edge came to life with a bright glowing blue line that emitted a subtle low buzz. Sorana quietly moved to the entrance of the cave and crept into the darkness.

“What was THAT?” Charity asked, pointing at the long object with the blue glowing light in Sorana’s hand.

Eve’s mind was still on the locket. Inside would be a picture of the two of them cheek to cheek, from a much earlier time, before the disaster.

“That’s her T-blade.” Eve responded, finally addressing Charity’s question.

“What the hell is it?”

“That’s her weapon.” Eve said.

“There’s no such thing as prehistoric technology.” Charity countered, “that’s electrical. And her locket …”

“I never said we were prehistoric,” Eve commented, staring at the ground, her mind far away, “but we are far from a home that no longer exists.”

In the distance they could hear movement in the woods ... several heavy moving creatures.

“It’s time for us to go,” Eve stated, her body fatigued from the vast time they had spanned, “we don’t need to see this.”

“What happens to her?” Charity asked.

“She and TooKa will kill twenty-eight of the thirty but, in the end, tonight is the night she dies,” Eve said without emotion.

“Can’t we do anything?” Charity implored.

Eve smiled and put a sympathetic hand to Charity’s cheek.

“Sorana has been hunted for a long time,” Eve explained, “she lived – and died – over seventy-five thousand years ago. There will be no funeral, no grave, no memories, no historian to chronicle her heroic adventures … just hacked bones and a crushed skull, picked clean by scavengers. Her bones will eventually grace a museum. She will be considered the missing link … that which bridges the gap between paleolithic and modern man. At any rate, I love her too much to see what happens to her.”

Eve turned to leave. Charity saw the split-second reflection of the matching heart-shaped locket around Eve’s neck, although her jewels were green. Charity gazed upon the fire. Sorana would never feel its warmth again. She never knew this woman, yet she felt her loss as much as Eve. Something caught her attention. In the far corner where TooKa had slept, she saw a dim glow. It was small, barely noticeable, but it was flashing a faint rhythmic green light.

Charity approached it. It was a small rectangular object. She picked it up, it had some mass to it. It was some sort of electronic device, not unlike her smartphone. One long flat side was smooth and shiny, like a touchscreen. As her fingers moved across it, it lit up.

She stared wide-eyed at the displayed text on the screen.

DELTA CORE 2519

Cryo-storage

CONTROL

Date

0025–0527

21:22:08

“EVE!” Charity screamed, dropping the device running into the darkness.