CHILDREN OF TIME (2025 Edition) by Michel Poulin - HTML preview

CHAPTER 5 – NEANDERTHAL

 

02:41 (Paris Time)

50,000 Before Common Era (BCE)

Time Patrol scoutship ANGEL OF MERCY

Over the Dordogne region, future territory of France

Sylvie Comeau was alone at this late hour on the bridge of the scoutship ANGEL OF MERCY, floating silently high in the night sky of the Dordogne region, in Central France, or rather what was to become part of Central France in 51,000 years or so. The rest of the crew and of the supplementary mission specialists involved in this historical documentation mission were sleeping, like the targets of the crew’s mission. The scoutship had been following and studying discreetly for four months via remote-controlled spy probes a small group of Neanderthal Humans as it traveled around the forested, snow-covered hills and valleys of the Dordogne region, following the herds of reindeers and buffalos which constituted its main source of food. That group of Neanderthals had proved quite unlucky so far, barely

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surviving in the harsh climate of this ice age period, known as the Würm Glacial Period. They had first lost a hunter to an infected wound three months ago. Then, one month ago, a young woman had died in labor, along with her baby. That loss had particularly devastated the small group, for which women able to reproduce were a vital factor in their long term survival. The group was now down to only two adult men, two women and three children, ranging in age from four months to six years. As a doctor of medicine who had recently chosen anthropology as her second area of expertise, Sylvie Comeau had deeply felt the sense of loss and despair of the surviving Neanderthals in that group. Contrary to long-held myths, Neanderthals were far from being the massive, savage brutes they had been believed to be during most of the 20th Century. They were surprisingly human in appearance, apart from being a bit smaller but also much more robust and muscular than modern Homo Sapiens, adult males typically reaching heights of around 160 centimeters and a mass of eighty kilos. They were incredible long distance runners, could throw spears or stones further than a modern man and also had better hearing. Their skin was typically pale, with often blue or gray eyes and red or blond hair. More importantly, they had proved in the last four months of observation to be basically as intelligent as an average modern man and had an articulated language, even though it was a rather simple one. They also had shown distinctly human feelings, often displaying love or affection for others in their group, while proving able to show solidarity and to help strangers, like when they had helped another group which had crossed their path three months ago. When the young mother in their group had died in labor a month ago and when one of their hunters had died from a wound earlier still, they had buried their dead in simple but moving ceremonies. All that had been filmed and recorded from various angles, with the goal of producing a visual documentary and an illustrated book at the end of the mission. The mission team had already more than enough quality material to produce something that was going to force many to completely reassess their opinions about Neanderthals.

Fighting the urge to sleep, Sylvie, sitting at one of the sensors stations of the small bridge sphere, grabbed her cup of coffee and took a sip while keeping her eyes on the screen showing the view from the large spy probe floating under cover of a cloaking shield near the entrance of the hillside cave used as a shelter by the Neanderthals. One of the Neanderthals, a young man named Tar, was presently on guard duty besides the small fire maintained just inside the shallow cave. A beeping noise and small flashing

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red light on her control panel then made Sylvie straighten in her seat: the sensors of the spy probe were detecting something approaching the cave. Pushing a button that would order the three spy probes posted around or in the cave to start recording from all their sensors, Sylvie looked at another viewing screen which showed a thermal sensor scan of the area of the cave. Her heart jumped in her chest when she saw a group of five thermal signatures approaching the cave from one side of the hill. Zooming one of the surveillance cameras of the scoutship on those signatures, Sylvie felt dread on recognizing the five quadrupeds approaching silently the cave, obviously intent on catching the Neanderthals by surprise.

‘’Cave hyenas! Shit!’’

Sylvie then punched a button on her intercom panel, calling Angie Wells, the pilot and mission commander of the scoutship, hoping for a quick answer from her. Cave hyenas were nasty, ferocious predators with powerful jaws able to rip apart even a bear. Against five hyenas, the group of Neanderthals would be lucky indeed to survive, especially if caught by surprise. It took a few seconds for Angie to answer in a groggy voice, by which time the first hyena was less than fifty meters away from the cave.

‘’Yes, what is it, Sylvie?’’

‘’You better wake up quickly, Angie, along with the rest of the crew: a group of five cave hyenas is approaching the cave used by our Neanderthals. This could end in a bloodbath.’’

‘’Oh my God!’’ said the blond pilot, waking up fully. ‘’Are you recording this?’’

‘’Yes, for the good it will do for those unfortunate Neanderthals.’’ Angie didn’t make a remark then about her last comment, simply acknowledging her information.

‘’Very well, sound the general alarm! I am on my way to the bridge.’’ Sylvie immediately opened a large red lid on her control console and pushed a red button, starting the modulated howling of a loud alarm. She then returned her attention on her observation screens. The Neanderthal man on watch duty was now clearly suspecting something and had gotten up on his feet to go look outside the cave. Things then happened very quickly. The watchman barely had the time to see the approaching hyenas and to start shout an alarm cry when the five hyenas broke as a group into a run, rushing towards the cave’s entrance with ferocious snarls. Tar, despite being visibly terrified, bravely held his ground, his spear held solidly and pointing at the rushing hyenas while taking a few steps in order to better block their path to the cave. The

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leading hyena jumped on him, only to skewer itself on Tar’s spear, which went all the way through the beast’s torso, killing it nearly instantly. Tar was still trying to take out his spear when the following hyena jumped on him and snapped its jaws around his left forearm, making the man scream with pain. Another hyena then bit him deeply in the right leg, making him fall on his back. Sylvie watched that with horror from her station in the scoutship as the other male hunter of the group, Kem, got up from his deer skin and grabbed his own spear to face the two remaining hyenas of the pack, who had gone around the unfortunate Tar. With the two women of the group hurriedly gathering the three children in the farthest corner of the cave, Kem made a series of quick jabs with his spear to keep the hyenas away. He managed to wound one hyena before he himself had his left leg partly ripped away by the powerful jaws of one of the hyenas. With Tar now being eaten alive by two hyenas and Kem down, reduced to punching with his fists the wounded hyena intent on ripping open his throat, one hyena attacked the group of women and children cowering in one corner. It went after young Kiri, the widow of Dan, the hunter who had died from a wound three months ago. Kiri held on to her infant daughter in her arms and tried to simply kick the beast on its nose but missed. The jaws of the hyena opened wide before it lunged at her, closing on her joined arms and her baby. The screaming Kiri and her infant, the latter already mauled to death inside the jaws of the beast, were then dragged away by the powerful predator, to be eaten outside the cave. Nana, the wife of Kem and the last adult remaining intact, then jumped forward and grabbed the spear dropped by her husband. Her strength doubled by her fury and despair, she skewered the hyena biting Kem with a mighty downward lunge, making it howl with pain. One of the two hyenas eating Tar, seeing its mate being killed, then attacked her. Nana was able to wound it seriously before having her left arm literally ripped away above the elbow. With blood pumping out of her body through her terrible wound, Nana grabbed a large stone lying on the ground and smashed it on the hyena’s nose, making it retreat in howls of pain, Nana’s arm still in its jaws. As Nana slowly collapsed to her knees, her six year-old son Kin grabbed a few small stones around him and started throwing them at the two hyenas devouring Tar, screaming as loudly as he could at the same time. The desperate act of the small boy

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succeeded in convincing the two hyenas to leave, dragging away Tar’s disemboweled body.

Utterly horrified and with tears in her eyes, Sylvie Comeau could do nothing but watch the tragedy on the viewing screens of her bridge station. As the last hyena left the cave with its human catch, she saw young Kin go to his mother, who had now fallen face down on the ground, dying. The sight of the small boy crying over his mother then made her snap. Getting up from her station and going in a couple of steps to a nearby emergency equipment locker, she opened it and grabbed the large medical first aid bag inside, along with a machine pistol in its belt holster. Buckling quickly the pistol belt around her waist and slinging the first aid bag across her chest, Sylvie looked at the coordinates of the cave entrance visible in a corner of the viewing screen of her observation station, mentally reading them so that the computer of her implanted time distorter could register them. She then mentally ordered her time distorter to jump to the cave, disappearing from the bridge in a flash of white light just as Angie Wells was emerging at a run from the access door.

Falling down a few centimeters to the snowy ground at the entrance of the cave, after having appeared out of nowhere in the air, Sylvie quickly looked around her, her machine pistol firmly in one hand. With the hyenas now disappearing in the night, Sylvie then ran to Nana, who was apparently still alive. Her intact right hand was squeezing the bleeding stump of her left arm in an attempt to stop her remaining blood from pumping out. Little Kin, who had by then being joined by four year-old Ani, was still over her mother, crying for her while Nana seemingly talked in a weak voice to her son. In the four months that Sylvie and her comrades had been watching and studying the Neanderthals, Sylvie had been able to pick up quite a few words from their language, which was actually quite simple. Nana was basically telling her son to protect the toddler girl. Nana stopped speaking and gasped in shock and surprise when Sylvie knelt beside her, while the two young children recoiled away, looking at her with wide eyes.

‘’Ne, ada te.’’ said softly Sylvie, meaning that she wanted to help her. She then started opening her first aid bag as Nana eyed with incomprehension her uniform, weapon belt and multi-function helmet. The Neanderthal woman’s eyes were however already becoming unfocused as Sylvie was starting to apply a garrote around the stump

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of her left arm. With an ultimate effort, she managed a few last words while pointing the two children to Sylvie.

‘’Ada le! Ada Kin u Ani!’’

Nana’s eyes then became fixed, staring at nothing, while her breathing stopped. Sylvie, despite not wanting to accept this at first, understood that she was now beyond help. Nana would need an immediate, massive transfusion of blood in order to be revived, something that Sylvie didn’t have with her. Still kneeling besides the Neanderthal woman, Sylvie cried silently over her, gently caressing her dead face. Seeing that, the small boy, who had retreated to a far corner with the toddle girl, cautiously approached, finally kneeling himself besides his dead mother, opposite from Sylvie. Both exchanged long, sad looks in silence. As little Ani joined Kin behind Nana’s body, Sylvie took a decision from deep in her heart. Slowly putting her left hand on her chest, she softly said one word, then pointed the two children and said five more words.

‘’Sylvie… Sylvie ada Kin u Ani.’’

She then opened her arms wide in an inviting gesture. After a short hesitation, the boy got up and walked around his dead mother to be hugged by Sylvie, soon imitated by the toddler girl.

Sylvie was still emotionally holding the two children in her arms when she heard a radio message in her helmet.

‘’Sylvie, we have you and those two children on our cameras. Jack is going to go down now with a team of combat robots in order to hunt down and kill the hyenas and recover the bodies of the Neanderthals dragged away. How is that wounded

Neanderthal woman doing?’’

‘’She is dead, Angie.’’ said softly Sylvie in English, surprising Kin and Ani. ‘’She died from massive blood loss before I could help her. Angie, we can’t leave those two children here: they would die within days. I am going to bring them back to the scoutship.’’

‘’Uh, we should study this situation first, Sylvie. Normally, you shouldn’t even have shown yourself to any Neanderthal.’’

Sylvie, from sad, then became nearly enraged but she kept her voice down, in order not to scare the two children she still was holding in her arms.

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‘’There is nothing to study, Angie. Those two children are now orphans and will die if abandoned here. I am a doctor and have vowed to protect and preserve life, and that’s what I intend to do.’’

‘’But, what will we do with them, Sylvie? They were not meant to see or meet modern Homo Sapiens. And who will take care of them?’’

‘’They will do as you did yourself in 2021 ‘A’, Angie: they will disappear from their original time period to go live in the future. I will take care of them: I am adopting Kin and Ani. Now, I believe that we should do the decent thing and bury properly those poor dead people before leaving, Angie.’’

There was a long silence on the radio before Angie Wells spoke again.

‘’Very well, Sylvie. Four of us will come down with picks and shovels to do the burial work once Jack Crawford has recuperated the remains of the others. You should come up now with the two children.’’

‘’Not yet! Their parents died in front of their eyes and they will wish to see them buried properly. I want to give them closure on that, Angie. I will do my best here to reassure them in the meantime.’’

‘’As you wish, Sylvie.’’ said Angie in a resigned tone. ‘’The others will come down in a few minutes.’’

Now feeling better, Sylvie looked softly into the eyes of the boy and girl still in her arms.

‘’Kin u Ani, oot u oum fa Sylvie. Kin and Ani, son and daughter of Sylvie.’’ The children’s answer was to hold on to her even more tightly then, bringing warmth to her heart and fresh tears to her eyes.

The first to show up at the entrance of the cave was young Karen Taggart ‘A’, one of the three sensors operators assigned to this mission on the ANGEL OF MERCY. The American teenager, carrying two picks and two shovels, plus a spare winter coat, entered the cave slowly and fully standing, trying not to scare the two Neanderthal children. She stopped just past the entrance, so that the children could have time to examine her by the light of the fire and decide that she was not a threat, then spoke in a soft tone.

‘’I brought your winter coat, Sylvie. Angie noticed that you went out in a bit of a hurry.’’

‘’Thanks, Karen. It is indeed quite cold down here.’’

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Releasing her hold around the children, Sylvie got up and quickly put on the coat offered by Karen, putting on as well the gloves stuffed in one cargo pocket. In the meantime, Karen eyed soberly the two children and the dead Neanderthal woman: to study Neanderthals from a distance via a camera and facing them from up close were two very different things. Even for Time Patrol members, this type of meeting was a first.

‘’Poor kids: to see their parents killed in such an atrocious way right in front of them. That woman showed a lot of courage in defending these children like this. Many modern women would have simply cowered in a corner, too scared to act.’’

‘’That’s quite true, Karen. Hand me a pick, will you? I will start digging Nana’s grave.’’

Giving one pick to Sylvie and putting down her other tools, Karen then slowly approached the two children while smiling to them and pointing at herself.

‘’Karen, amosh. Karen is a friend.’’

Searching in a pocket of her coat, she took out an energy bar and, unwrapping it, broke it in two before giving one half to each child.

‘’Fom! Food.’’

Ani, still too young to understand yet the full extent of her situation, obeyed her instincts and took the piece of energy bar readily enough. She however sniffed it before biting in it, soon masticating it with obvious pleasure. That convinced Kin to accept his own piece but he was still clearly on his guard. Before biting in it, though, he took the time to bend down and grab the bloody spear that Nana had used. Karen tensed up on seeing that but the boy then simply took a step back and started eating his piece of energy bar, the spear in one hand, while keeping his eyes on Karen. The latter understood that the boy still didn’t fully trust her. In view of the circumstances, she could certainly understand his caution. Karen thus didn’t insist for the moment and joined Sylvie in her digging work. The ground of the cave was frozen and it proved to be quite hard work, even with picks, to dig a shallow grave for the dead Nana. They were still working at it when William McGarry ‘B’ and Sally Nolan ‘B’ showed up, carrying between them a plastic ground sheet supporting the horribly dismembered body of Tar, the young watchman. Little Ani, on seeing the body of her father, forgot at once her energy bar and ran to it, screaming and crying.

‘’ATA! ATA!’’

One look at the body was enough to make Karen turn her head away: the powerful jaws of the cave hyenas had literally ripped to pieces the Neanderthal man, apart from

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disemboweling it. Another vision of horror came when Jack Crawford ‘A’ and Prince Len of Cardiff ‘B’ arrived, carrying in a ground sheet what was left of Kiri and of her baby. Len, a bald giant teenager from the now erased 34th Century’s Imperium ‘B’, eyed sadly the five Neanderthal bodies now on the cave’s floor, then the two Neanderthal children. At seventeen, he stood close to two meters tall but was actually rather small for an Imperium teenager. He was however a very intelligent young man and also a kind and sensitive one, apart from being a promising historian. He fully realized the seriousness and significance of this moment, for both the surviving children and for the potential impact of this on the society of the Global Council, in the 34th Century of Timeline ‘A’.

‘’What a tragedy this is. It makes you wonder how humans survived in such conditions.’’

‘’Well, the Neanderthals did so for nearly a quarter of a million years, Len.’’ said Jack Crawford, an assault trooper who had become the Time Patrol field expert on early hominids. ‘’Compared to them, the average modern man is a wimp, and not much more intelligent, on top of that. Let’s start digging more graves.’’

As the six Time Patrol members worked on digging four separate shallow graves, Kin went to the body of his father, kneeling besides it and caressing Kem’s head and face, while little Ani stayed by the side of Tar. After about twenty minutes of hard work, the graves were declared ready and the group gently picked up first the remains of Kiri and of her baby daughter Rana, depositing them at the bottom of one grave. Kem was next to be put down, with Kin holding up his head as his body was being carried. Kin did the same when Nana was put down in her grave, while Ani had to be picked up by Sylvie Comeau after she refused to leave the side of her father. As the group stood by the graves in a moment of respectful silence, Kin grabbed a few stone tools which his father had made and solemnly deposited them besides his body at the bottom of the grave, adding his spear as well. He next put Tar’s spear next to his body, then climbed out of the shallow grave. At the end of the minute of silence, the six modern humans poured back over the bodies the dirt and stones dug up, then piled on top of the mounds large rocks, to deter predators from digging up the cadavers. As the group got ready to return to the scoutship via space-time jumps, Sylvie grabbed Kin in her arms, while Karen took Ani. Sylvie then spoke softly to Kin in order to prepare him for what he was about to experience.

‘’Kin u Sylvie shou. Kin and Sylvie will leave.’’

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Sylvie disappeared from the cave first, followed closely by Karen, then by the others. All of them reappeared in the large cargo bay of the scoutship, brightly illuminated by ceiling lamps. Kin looked wide-eyed around him at first, then started howling with fear while trying to wiggle out of Sylvie’s arms. She had a hard time calming him down, her Neanderthal vocabulary being too limited to be able to explain to him what had just happened. The boy finally calmed down enough to let Sylvie bring him to the crew quarters of the scoutship, Karen following her with Ani. Sylvie’s first order of business was to show them a bathroom and make the children understand as best she could tell them with words and signs that only a toilet was the proper place to urinate and defecate. While there were a number of janitor robots on the scoutship, Sylvie didn’t wish for her or others to inadvertently step in a puddle in some corner of the ship. Once Kin and Ani seemed to have mostly understood her, she then undressed them with the help of Karen, unlacing the pieces of animal fur which had protected them from the intense cold of the glacial period. Karen wrinkled her nose on smelling the body stench from little Ani.

‘’Phew! They sure didn’t bathe too often.’’

‘’Would you bathe often if you lived inside a cave with sub-zero temperatures, Karen?’’

‘’Uh, maybe not.’’ recognized the teenager. ‘’Let’s see if they like showers.’’

The answer to that was soon a resounding ‘yes’, with Kin and Ani giggling and screaming while playing under the spray of warm water. Sylvie, smiling at that spectacle, reasoned that a shower was very much like a warm rain for the two children. She was however cautious when she applied cream soap to their bodies after two thorough, successive cycles of soaking, scrubbing and rinsing meant to remove the thick coat of grime on the children’s bodies: she didn’t want them to get soap in their eyes, something that would somehow ruin part of the fun. The hair shampoo part was definitely the trickiest one, needing repeated rinsing and scrubbing before Sylvie was satisfied that the long curly hair of both children was reasonably clean. While drying Kin up with a towel, she was able to appreciate how robust and strong his body already was. His prominent eyebrow ridge and receding chin however left no doubt that he was not a Homo Sapiens, even though his expression was most human. Despite all of that, Kin and Ani were still quite pretty children by any standards. Finding something the right size to dress them up was however a challenge, until Karen came back with two T-shirts which belonged to Jenny Kawena ‘B’, a rather small young woman from 1942 ‘B’ Hawaii who was one of

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the sensors operators of the scoutship. They were still too big for the two children but made the equivalent of robes for them, with the bottom of the T-shirt worn by Ani nearly dragging on the floor. Sylvie grinned as she eyed the now clean and dressed children.

‘’Well, that should do it for the moment. Now, let’s give them a decent meal for a change.’’

‘’You do realize that they eat with their hands, do you?’’ said Karen. ‘’Are you sure that you knew what you were getting into when you decided to adopt them?’’

‘’I know that raising and educating them will be hard work, Karen, but I believe that it will be well worth it in terms of human rewards.’’

‘’What about the reactions of others to them, Sylvie?’’ then asked the teenager, her tone cautious. Sylvie took the time to think her answer to that: Karen’s concern was both logical and justified.

‘’I will deal with that as things arise, Karen. If anything, the people living at our secret main base are by far the most susceptible to be open and tolerant to Kin and Ani. I will however wait at least a few months or years before introducing them to the Global Council society or to that of 20th Century ‘B’. I can already guess the reactions of my parents, who live in 1943 ‘B’ Montreal. They still have not digested the fact that I decided not to go back to Montreal to live near them. To be frank, I have lost much of the love I had for the Quebec of the 1940s since joining the Time Patrol, after seeing how intolerant and bigoted my original society was and still is. My Montreal has in fact very little in common socially with the Montreal of Nancy in 2015 ‘A’. I certainly will not expose Kin and Ani to the abuse and loathing I expect them to get from what calls itself ‘the good society of Montreal’ in 1943 ‘B’.’’

Karen winced slightly at the bitterness in Sylvie’s voice. She didn’t know much about her past life but Karen knew that the welcome Sylvie had received in Montreal after reappearing in 1942 ‘B’ as a member of the Time Patrol had turned frosty quite quickly. Much of that was due to the negative reactions of the Catholic Church, which had a tight grip on the Quebec society of the time, to what it perceived as the immoral and heretical attitudes of the members of the Time Patrol. Nancy Laplante, who should have justly been considered a local heroine for her role in putting an end to World War Two in 1942 ‘B’, was being increasingly bad-mouthed by the Catholic Church and by many Quebec politicians, who were afraid of her quasi-messianic status in Jerusalem as the ‘Hand of God’ and of her supposedly communist-like social views. A brief flash of white light then permeated the inside of the ship, interrupting Karen’s train of thoughts.

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‘’I think that we just jumped space-time back to base. I guess that we might wait until out of the ship before offering a meal to your two kids.’’

‘’I think that you are right, Karen. Let’s go, kids! Ye shou!’’

10:06 (New Zealand Time)

Wednesday, December 7, 3,000 BCE

Main Time Patrol base (mobile), future site of Auckland New Zealand

Alerted by a radio message from the ANGEL OF MERCY, Farah Tolkonen ‘A’ was present when the scoutship entered its hangar, after cycling through the main ship airlock of the huge cylindrical structure which constituted the secret main base of the Time Patrol. Present besides Farah was Miri Goshenk ‘B’, previously First Mistress of the erased Imperium ‘B’ and now the head psychologist of the Time Patrol. Mike Crawford ‘B’ was present as well. All three were grave, not because they were unhappy at Sylvie Comeau but because they were genuinely saddened by the tragedy that had happened in the Pleistocene. Tenderness showed on Farah’s face when she saw the two Neanderthal children come out of the scoutship with the mission crew, holding hands with Sylvie Comeau. On her part, Miri eyed carefully the expressions of the children, trying to ascertain how traumatized they were. The only thing she could see in their expression right now was a mix of wonderment and curiosity, something quite understandable. Angie Wells was the first to report to the trio in the informal manner customary to agents of the Time Patrol.

‘’We had to interrupt our mission when the Neanderthal group we were studying was decimated by a pack of cave hyenas, Farah. Only two of the seven Neanderthals survived the attack. It was a rather horrifying affair, by any standards. Sylvie took on her to go help the two survivors, who would have certainly died within days from either starvation or from predators if abandoned.’’

Sylvie Comeau then came forward, still holding the hands of the two children.

‘’I am sorry if what I did may seem rash, Farah, but abandoning these children was not an option in my mind.’’

‘’Sylvie, you do not have to excuse yourself for saving two young children from certain death. Without a written Neanderthal language, this incident will be quickly forgotten in history, even if some survivor would have escaped and then seen you.’’

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Farah then crouched and smiled at the little boy and girl.

‘’And do you have the names of these two little ones, Sylvie?’’

‘’The boy is named Kin and he is about five or six years old, while the girl’s name is Ani. She is three or four.’’

‘’Kin and Ani. Cute names indeed. Uh, did they witness the death of the others?’’

‘’They saw everything, Farah. Kin’s mother and father were killed in front of him, while Ani’s father was killed first by the hyenas. They however defended themselves quite fiercely, killing or wounding three of the five cave hyenas which attacked them as they slept inside a shallow cave. Kin even threw stones at the hyenas, chasing the last ones away. What I would like to do now is to bring them to our mnemotronic lab, so that they could assimilate our language and be able to understand us.’’

‘’We will have to proceed cautiously in this respect, Sylvie.’’ Cut in Miri Goshenk. ‘’We still know little about the morphology or functioning of the Neanderthals’ brain. We thus don’t know if our mnemotronic techniques will be compatible or even safe with them.’’

‘’Then we can take a brain scan of them, to see if their brains are similar enough to ours. If they are, then we could proceed one language at a time, in order not to overload their minds.’’

‘’That sounds reasonable, Sylvie.’’ agreed Farah. ‘’Go with them and Miri, then. Oh, and consider yourself from now on as on maternity leave. Concentrate on taking care of them for the weeks to come.’’

‘’Thank you, Farah. You are the kind of boss I like. Kin, Ani, ye shou!’’ Farah and Mike watched Sylvie and Miri walk away with the two children, then looked at each other somberly, with Mike speaking first.

‘’The knowledge of these children should be restricted to members and dependents of the Time Patrol only for the moment, Farah. I have no wish to see a wave of anthropologists and historians descend on these kids with the goal of studying them like lab rats. They have already been traumatized enough by the tragedy which struck their parents.’’

‘’I agree. I will circulate right away a directive to all members to avoid mentioning those children to outsiders, and that until further notice. I just hope that our own people will be open and tolerant to these two poor kids. There were so many ignorant beliefs and misconceptions going around about Neanderthals in the 20th Century and before.’’

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‘’I know. I am not however worried about our adult members, Farah. You know how cruel children could be without realizing it. Much will depend on the reactions of our own young children here.’’

Four levels down from the main hangar deck, Sylvie had Kin sit in one of the assimilation chairs of the mnemotronic laboratory, speaking softly to him to chase his sudden nervousness at facing this incomprehensible contraption. Miri, sitting at the lab’s control station, then initiated a slow, cautious brain scan of Kin. The boy quickly fell asleep in the chair, hypnotized by the color patterns swirling on the screen close in front of his face. After a few minutes, Miri spoke up, apparently satisfied.

‘’The brain morphology of the boy shows only very few minor differences with that of modern human brains. I believe that we can proceed without significant risks with an assimilation program.’’

‘’I will still wait to confirm that everything is alright before having Ani go through a session as well, Miri. Kin might as well learn Neo-English first.’’

‘’I concur. I am loading the program now… Here we go!’’ Sylvie, staying near Kin’s chair with little Ani, watched on anxiously as the mnemotronic session ran its course. Normally, a modern human took an average of twenty minutes to learn Neo-English or another language of similar complexity. The speed at which Kin would complete the assimilation was going to tell them a lot about his true intellectual capacity. Sitting Ani in a nearby assimilation chair, so that she could be more comfortable than just standing around, Sylvie armed herself with patience. A surprised exclamation from Miri Goshenk about ten minutes later attracted Sylvie to the control station of the lab.

‘’Is something wrong, Miri?’’

‘’Uh, not at all, Sylvie. In fact, the verdict from the mnemotronic computer is now in on Kin: your boy has an I.Q. of 98, very close to that of an average modern human.’’

‘’But, that’s very good news!’’ exclaimed Sylvie, overjoyed. ‘’This means that Kin should not experience serious problems in adapting to the modern world.’’

‘’Hopefully, no. You still should go cautiously about that, Sylvie. Oh, by the way, your little Ani has fallen asleep in her chair, I believe. Should I use that chance to start her own assimilation program?’’

‘’If you think that there is no danger, then I would say yes.’’

‘’Then you may go position the mnemotronic helmet around her head.’’

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‘’Right!’’ said Sylvie before walking to Ani’s chair to adjust her helmet.

Eleven minutes later, Miri announced Ani’s measured I.Q.: 97. As Sylvie and Miri were pondering that, Kin woke up from his assimilation session. Opening his eyes and seeing Sylvie over him, he spoke a few words in his dialect, to which she replied in Neo-English.

‘’Can you understand me, Kin?’’

‘’Yes!’’ replied the boy in Neo-English, still sleepy. Kin then opened his eyes wide when he realized that he now understood a new language and nearly shot out of his chair, only stopped gently by Sylvie.

‘’How is this possible, Sylvie? Did the Great Spirit do this to me?’’ Sylvie and Miri were left with their mouths open ajar at his last question.

‘’The Neanderthals believed in a spirit?’’ Said Miri, stunned. ‘’Just that notion would be enough to reassess completely the public knowledge on them.’’

‘’What knowledge?’’ asked Kin.

‘’Kin,’’ said softly Sylvie, ‘’we will have ample time to discuss all this in private. Do you feel any confusion in your head right now?’’

The boy thought for a moment before shaking his head.

‘’No! Why do you ask?’’

‘’Because we could then teach you another language right now, along with Ani, a language called English which would help you two better play with other children here.’’

‘’I believe that we can even add French to that, Sylvie.’’ said Miri from her station. ‘’According to the readings from the control computer, learning Neo-English didn’t stress Kin’s mind at all. In fact, his reaction was no different from that of a modern boy.’’ Sylvie was thoughtful for a moment before nodding her head.

‘’If you think that there is no risk, then I agree. Kin, would you mind sleeping a bit more, so that you could learn more?’’

‘’I can learn more?’’

‘’Yes, Kin. We use these machines often in order to perfect ourselves and learn about many new things.’’

‘’Will you stay near me and Ani, Sylvie?’’

‘’Yes, I will, my sweet boy.’’ replied Sylvie, moved by his question. ‘’Now, you just need to lay back in the chair and watch the images.’’

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Kin did as told, allowing Miri to reprogram his chair and that of Ani, who was still asleep and learning Neo-English. Miri smiled to Sylvie as she pushed a button that would initiate the additional programs.

‘’This is a very good piece of news for them and you, Sylvie. Being able to use the mnemotron will speed up greatly their ability to adapt to their new world.’’

‘’Yes, but will the modern world accept them as they are?’’

‘’Only time will tell, Sylvie.’’

14:39 (New Zealand Time)

Daycare and playground complex of the mobile Time Patrol base

Sylvie felt warmth in her heart when she saw Kin and Ani open wide their eyes and grin happily before running to the large, colorful play module where other preteen children were playing. She watched them mix and play with the other children for a moment before going to sit on a bench nearby, besides the large sand square of the playground complex. Suzan Laplante ‘B’ and Miriam of Magdala were already sitting on the bench, watching respectively one year-old Nancy Laplante ‘B’ and two year-old David of Nazareth play in the sand with plastic toy shovels and buckets. Both women, who had heard about the arrival of the two Neanderthal children, smiled in welcome to Sylvie.

‘’You did a good deed by adopting those two unfortunate children, Sylvie.’’ said Suzan Laplante ‘B’. ‘’What happened to them was a true tragedy.’’

‘’It was a tragedy indeed, Suzan. I could not in good conscience let them be abandoned in the Pleistocene, with no adults to protect and care for them.’’

‘’Yeshua would have smiled on you for what you did, Sylvie.’’ added Miriam of Magdala. ‘’You showed true kindness and compassion, the way he preached. I understand that your new children were able to use the mnemotron without problems.’’

‘’That’s correct, Miriam. Miri found then that the respective I.Q.s of Kin and Ani are 98 and 97, very near the average I.Q. of modern humans. Furthermore, we found then as well through Kin that Neanderthals believed in a greater spirit. That, along with what we saw and recorded during our four-month mission, will prompt major changes to the outlook we had before concerning the Neanderthals.’’

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‘’Farah did well to put you on maternity leave, Sylvie.’’ said Suzan after a short silence. ‘’You may find that raising two little children out of the blue like this will be quite a challenge.’’

‘’I already am starting to find that out, Suzan. Talking of maternity leave, I heard that, now that Nancy ‘A’ has been confirmed to be pregnant, she has decided to stay for a year in Jerusalem ‘B’; to avoid the people from 2015 ‘A’ learning she is having a child. Are the Israelis still after her in 2015?’’

‘’Well, not for her time machine, although the Russians may be after that now. The Israelis simply want her dead for the humiliation she inflicted on them during the Israel-Iran conflict.’’

‘’The Israelis started both that war and the confrontation with Nancy.’’ cut in Miriam of Magdala in an incensed tone. ‘’They got what they deserved.’’

‘’I can’t agree more with that.’’ replied Suzan. ‘’I was happy when Farah decided that further attacks on Nancy would attract in return an anonymous but stinging response.’’

‘’Well,’’ said Sylvie with a smile, ‘’let’s hope that your little Nancy here will not grow up to be as much of a shit disturber as her big timeline twin is.’’ In response, Suzan looked down at her little toddler daughter, still playing in the sand near David of Nazareth, smiling to her.

‘’You are not going to be a shit disturber, are you, my sweet Nancy?’’ The toddler girl looked up at her, grinning, then flattened with slaps of her two hands the sand castle David had just built, attracting screams of protest from the little boy. Sylvie, like Miriam, broke out in laughter on seeing that.

‘’You sure got your answer on that, Suzan.’’

Suzan could only roll her eyes as Nancy ‘B’ giggled at her exploit.

09:06 (Paris Time)

Wednesday, April 28, 1943 ‘B’

Louvre Museum, Paris, France

The close to a hundred anthropology experts and historians assembled in an empty exposition lounge of the Louvre Museum, sitting on folding chairs facing a huge video viewing unit, fell silent when Jan Bella walked in, coming through a door situated behind the video unit. The chief historian of the Time Patrol took place behind a lectern

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equipped with a microphone and looked briefly around at his audience before starting to speak.

‘’Welcome back to this conference on early humans, ladies and gentlemen. Since this Monday, you have had the chance to view a number of video documentaries and expositions of ancient artifacts which were the result of extensive research and of on-the-spot studies in the distant past by agents and reconnaissance probes of the Time Patrol, some of it conducted as far away in time as five million years ago. You, as known experts on early humans, were invited by the Time Patrol to be the firsts to view and discuss the results of our work in the past. You certainly realize by now the amount of controversy our results and conclusions could raise, or in fact already raised, thanks to early unauthorized disclosures.’’

Many heads nodded soberly at that. The reactions of the Catholic Church and of other religious orders and conservative associations to the leaks about the studies of early hominids done by the Time Patrol had been quick and fierce. It basically came down to the tired debate about scientific facts and research versus the beliefs based on religious books like the Old Testament and the Bible. Due to her high visibility in this time period as the Overseer of the Holy Land of Palestine, Nancy Laplante ‘A’ had received the brunt of the criticisms and protests from the various churches and even from some governments, with the Catholic Pope even calling her ‘The Witch of Jerusalem’. By now, both Nancy and Jan Bella had had enough of this nonsense and had decided to counterattack with the best weapon they had: the truth.

‘’Well, the Time Patrol deals with facts, not fiction, ladies and gentlemen, however old or supposedly holy that fiction can be. After the viewing of the next video documentary on Neanderthals, the Time Patrol will release to you free copies of illustrated book versions of our various documentaries. Those illustrated books contain a wealth of still pictures from our documentaries, plus maps and various analysis and annexes. Furthermore, the Time Patrol will release next week for general sale to the public the same illustrated books and will distribute them as widely as possible. At the same time, various selected theaters around Europe and Asia which have accepted to show our video documentaries will do so, starting Friday of next week. Some religious fanatics may call that propaganda work but I call it educating the public about the scientific truth.’’

As the experts and historians smiled and looked at each other, babbling excitedly at these news, one anthropologist got up from his chair with a question.

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‘’DOCTOR BELLA, WHY SHOW YOUR DOCUMENTARIES ONLY IN EUROPE AND ASIA? WHY NOT IN THE UNITED STATES?’’

‘’Because the American cinema censorship board has refused to let us distribute our documentaries around theaters in the United States, on the pretext that they are blasphemous and go against public morality. The sale of our books was blocked there for the same reason. We still hope to convince eventually the American government to change its mind on this. However, when considering that many American states still refuse to allow the teaching of the theory of evolution, this could take some time.’’

‘’Indeed!’’ replied the American anthropologist, sounding discouraged, before sitting back down. Bella then flashed his best smile, trying to raise the spirits of his spectators.

‘’Well, let’s forget all this obscurantism for the moment, ladies and gentlemen, and let’s watch some facts. I will now start the viewing of our latest documentary, filmed in 50,000 BCE in the Dordogne region of France. I hope that you will enjoy it.’’

After activating the large viewing screen and starting the documentary produced from the work of the team from the scoutship ANGEL OF MERCY, Jan Bella sat in a chair of the last row, in order to watch the reactions of the spectators. The excitement among the anthropologists and historians, who came from dozens of various countries, including the Soviet Union and the United States, was palpable as the first images appeared on the screen. Hardly anybody got up to go to the washrooms during the two hour presentation, so captivated the audience was. The final scene, showing the attack by the cave hyenas and ending with little Kin and Ani crying over the dying Nana, struck many in the audience hard, with more than a few crying on seeing the tragedy. Despite having reviewed the documentary many times already, Jan Bella still had a hard ball in his throat when he got up at the end to return to the lectern.

‘’Before I make my concluding remarks on this video documentary, I will now give you a ten minute washroom break, for the benefit of those who have been holding it in and are now dancing on their chairs.’’

Laughter greeted his announcement, with many then rising from their chairs and leaving the room in a hurry. Those who didn’t go to the washrooms went to the tables lining one wall of the room and supporting hot and cold beverages and a collection of sandwiches, cheese bits, cold cuts and other snack food. Jan Bella made sure in the meantime that nobody went sneaking before the appropriate time towards another line of tables

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supporting piles and piles of books covered by linen sheets. More books were prepackaged in boxes under the tables, with the boxes being pre-addressed in the name of the most prestigious universities and history institutes of Europe, to be shipped out or carried away after the conference.

Once everyone was back in their chair, Jan Bella spoke softly in his microphone.

‘’Our documentary ended in what was certainly a true tragedy. Unfortunately, life in those past millenniums was harsh and unforgiving. It is to the tribute of the Neanderthals that these hardy, exceptional hunters survived for over a quarter of a million years in such conditions. I would now like to bring to you one happier ending to our documentary. As you were able to see by yourselves, little Kin and Ani survived the hyenas’ attack but were left stranded and alone with their dead parents. What our documentary didn’t show, however, was what happened afterwards. SYLVIE, YOU MAY COME IN NOW!’’

Stunned gasps and exclamations went around the anthropologists and historians when Sylvie Comeau, wearing her Time Patrol uniform, entered the room by its back door, holding the hands of Kin and Ani, who were dressed in colorful children’s clothes. All eyes stayed on the two Neanderthal children as Sylvie took place behind the lectern and spoke in the microphone.

‘’Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Sylvie Comeau, a doctor of medicine and amateur anthropologist with the Time Patrol. I was part of the team which filmed the scenes from the Pleistocene that you saw. When tragedy struck the group of Neanderthals we were studying, I could not in all conscience do nothing and let Kin and Ani die from starvation and neglect in that cave. I thus decided to save them and adopt them. They now live with me at the main base of the Time Patrol and are being educated along other children of the Time Patrol. I can tell you that they were able to assimilate various learning programs through our mnemotronic techniques and that they proved to have I.Q.s very close to that of average modern humans. Kin has a proven I.Q. of 98, while Any’s I.Q. is 97. Both now speak Neo-English, English and French, plus of course their native Neanderthal dialect. I must caution you right now that they are not to be considered like study specimens and that I will protect their privacy, fiercely if need be. You may now approach them in an orderly fashion to speak to them. Please keep in mind that they are only six and four years old, respectively, so don’t expect scientific dissertations from them.’’

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Still stunned and not believing their luck at being able to meet true Neanderthals, the anthropologists formed quickly an orderly line, with Kin and Ani then going slowly down the line, speaking briefly with the scientists and shaking hands with them. Sylvie watched the process from a few paces away with Jan Bella, speaking softly to the chief historian.

‘’I hope that Kin and Ani will still be able to live like normal children after this. I would like so much to be able to show to them Paris after this without being pursued by a horde of reporters and photographers.’’

‘’Don’t worry about that, Sylvie: I have already taken care of that. Otto Skorzeny and Jack Crawford will escort you and your kids around Paris this afternoon, so that you can enjoy a nice trip with Kin and Ani without being annoyed.’’

‘’Jan, you are a sweetheart!’’

‘’For them, nothing will be too good, Sylvie.’’ replied the historian, his eyes moist as he watched the two children go down the line of anthropologists.