The Last Silver Bullet Read online

  The Brotherhood also wanted to test whether the humans could keep their curiosity in check and preserve their innocence. Everything was supposed to be done in a way that humans didn’t come to know about the involvement of the fraternity. The primate subspecies had to be nudged and not pushed into fulfilling their destiny of becoming the Guardians of the Tree of Life.

  An experiment was designed for the evaluation. The Brotherhood chose an area for it at the head of the Persian Gulf where the rivers Tigris and Euphrates ran into the sea. The site was chosen since it was fertile enough to support a great forest with every tree and plant pleasant to the sight, and good for food. Soon a forest was ready for placing the test subjects in.

  There was vegetation that yielded aromatic raisins and resins to burn for illumination, olives for oil, figs for vitality, and dates for energy. To provide hydration, vines like Grapes and Melons thrived under the given set of climatic circumstances.

  Bloomans like Jasmine were asked to germinate too. Inhaling the alluring and sweet fragrance of Jasmine flowers transmitted messages to certain areas of the brain involved in controlling emotions – it kept the human subjects harmonious. There was sporadic traffic of government officials too, like the fast-growing Poison Ivy would prop up from time to time, just to see what was going on.

  Finally, two orphaned human toddlers – a male and a female, Adam and Eve – were placed in this magnificent crib. Toddlers were chosen since the Brotherhood could raise them the way they wanted and conduct their tests. It was ensured that they were kept away from any contact with other humans.

  To deter any human groups from venturing inside, certain trees that produced disorienting gases guarded the outside perimeter. Ferocious animals that were otherwise friendly to Adam and Eve also didn’t let any outsiders in.

  A wandering tribe from the North had once tried to enter, but they had been repelled by a tiger. One swipe from the tiger had broken a black bead necklace that one of them was wearing. After the tribe fled, Adam and Eve – all grown up by now – found the beads. Their metallic luster enticed them to no end and Eve strung them up again. She loved wearing the necklace, fondly going about looking at her reflection in the water.

  Adam and Eve didn’t have to work for a thing. Finally, when the two test subjects were understood to be ready, the Brotherhood thought it was time for testing their readiness for receiving the critical knowledge related to good and bad.

  The brotherhood asked an Apple tree to assume the role of the Tree of Knowledge and made a cat eat an apple off it. Apples are toxic to cats since their seeds contain the poison cyanide, though only in small amounts. When the cat started having violent convulsions in front of Adam and Eve, instinct told them not to eat an apple.

  The Brotherhood would have eventually directed them to eat the juicy fruit, but at the moment they wanted them to obey the laws of basic logic and reasoning; they wanted them to be careful about things, especially the seemingly poisonous ones.

  One day, Eve took her bead necklace off before a swim because she had already seen a couple of times the beads losing luster after coming in contact with water. When she got back, she noticed that the beads were glowing like red embers and spewing smoke. She could only gawk. The smoke ribboned up towards a snake lurking on the Apple tree, before it dissipated completely. As the smoke died down from its source, the snake started creeping about a ripe apple in hypnotizing movements; its scaly skin glistened in unusual brilliance.

  For some reason, the otherworldly transformation of the beads didn’t frighten Eve, neither did the antics of the snake – she was rather entranced by the reptile’s movements. She felt it was inviting her to eat the apple. Eve knew other creatures ate it too, and wouldn’t get poisoned like the cat. Without a second thought, she picked one off the tree and took a scrumptious bite. Adam followed suit.

  The Brotherhood’s command center at the site didn’t panic and quietly sent the incident's observances to their superiors. The test subjects had broken the trust and thrown caution to the wind. It was the first time they had let go of logical thinking. In no time, the Big Brother at the time contacted the president of the day.

  ‘We must postpone any further developments to Project Human right away, Mister President,’ suggested the Big Brother.

  ‘I’m afraid we can’t do that,’ clarified the President. ‘We have invested too heavily into the project and the world needs to see results.’

  ‘Well, we can make a fresh start; re-sequence their genetic code so they are not susceptible to such follies.’

  ‘How long will it take?’

  ‘That would be difficult to determine at the moment.’

  ‘Are you suggesting we spend millions of years more to create a new human race and then resume with our plans?’

  ‘We can speed it up, Mister President.’

  ‘Too late for that, respected Big Brother.’

  The Big Brother could see that the President wasn’t willing to reconsider. ‘Mark my words, Mister President; this has disaster written all over it.’

  ‘Ah, dear Big Brother, you are overreacting. I don’t see how they can suddenly fall from grace by merely eating an apple.’

  ‘Can’t you see? They have failed us. We can’t let a glitching subspecies do a job so critical to the rest of us; can’t let them be the ones who watch over the Tree of Life.’

  ‘Relax; it is just a minor blip. I’m pretty sure we can correct that along the way, in fact, I wish to propose a new strategy.’

  The Big Brother knew he wasn’t going to be successful in convincing the president. He had already consulted the Brotherhood Elders and had no option left but to back out of Project Human. ‘If you are not going to listen, then I’m sorry to say but the Brotherhood won’t want to be part of the project any longer.’

  The President had a hunch on this hence it didn’t come as a surprise to him. ‘As the Brotherhood wishes; we had a great run together and the world is indebted to the Brotherhood for its enormous and invaluable contribution, but you are right, a more democratic process, when it comes to the decision making for Project Human, can benefit it so much more,’ he stated diplomatically. From his perspective, the Brotherhood had germinated the seed and now the government was in a position to reap the fruits and get all the accolades.

  To begin with, the government decided to scrap the Garden of Eden experiment. All that remained of it was a file brushed under the grass carpet. Hoards of government officials began propping around the site in no time. It was like a posting to exotic lands. Well-fed and sunbathed, they grew uncharacteristically big. Ultimately, their paid vacation became a problem because Poison Ivy gave a painful rash when the naked bodies of Adam and Eve brushed against them. Since most of their protective body hair had already gone by that time, the two were forced to stitch Fig leaves together to cover up and protect themselves from the rashes.

  It was the first time they were covering themselves up other than for weather. Ultimately, the two moved out of the Garden of Eden. They discovered that what was left of those beads worked like a charm when applied over the rashes. Now they wanted more of the beads.

  The government spokesperson portrayed the results as something they had always wanted to see before the humans were eased into their next evolutionary leap. With their cushy positions at the experiment site, they called the experiment a success and were awarded highest honors – one behavioral scientist also won the Sowbel Prize for his work there.

  Even though it appeared that the Brotherhood had played its last hand, it wasn’t going to let go of Project Human. It was decided that they should continue monitoring the humans, and intervene without letting the government know. They knew that the SFLA had made the snake lure Eve into eating the apple.

  One thing was crystal clear – the humans had gone astray and it was only going to get tougher for them from then on. In a way, Adam and Eve were the first humans; the first to challenge the Laws of Nature, somethin
g the coming generations would make into a habit.

  Nothing was going to come easy any longer. Even though they were going to have knowledge to their aid, mostly the knowledge of evil was going to dictate their ways for times to come. Scarily, their judgment of right and wrong was going to get cloudier by the day too.

  4

  Round One

  Thousands of years went by and the humans began toiling over the soil to grow their food, and started rearing livestock. Along with grapes and melons, olives were the first to be cultivated by them.

  When the Great Flood was to occur, some Brotherhood trees sacrificed their lives to provide Noah with the wood for building a durable Ark that would save animals, birds and seeds. The global event that had been registered in all ancient human cultures was used by the Brotherhood for dealing with some of the bacteria and viruses that were mysteriously infecting the humans since a long time. It was ensured that the pathogens were sent with the flood waters to the Arctic region so that they could be trapped within the ice and permafrost.

  After things settled down once again, human civilizations started popping up everywhere and the Stone Age gave way to Bronze Age. Humans had begun using metal, building enormous structures and meticulously planned cities.

  When the next-level Iron Age dawned, human consciousness started getting peppered with newer advancements like never before. Iron being stronger than bronze, gave rise to deadlier weapons and heavy-duty tools.

  The Blooman government marveled at the developments, ignoring every subtle sign of the invasion stealthily assuming ominous proportions. Nonetheless, the Brotherhood was quietly keeping an eye on the proceedings. They knew the SFLA had scientists and technicians secretly working on certain technologies they would need to arm the already squabbling humans with. These technologies were going to be critical to the SFLA’s world domination plans.

  In 10th century BC, the Brotherhood made its first decisive move after identifying a human tribal chief from the Judean Desert of the Middle East. His tribe had settled over a mount near a spring that flowed from three to five times daily in winter and twice daily in the summer.

  He was chosen after a little test. In his dream state – under the influence of a truth serum – he was asked about what he wanted the most. He didn’t go for those self-serving rewards like immortality or wanting to become the ruler of the world; he chose wisdom.

  With the question of the Tribal Chief’s morality out of the way, he was given the knowledge of certain procedures – ones the SFLA became greatly interested in after the news of the Tribal Chief’s glorious talents spread through the lands. Among other things, the procedures were said to have the power to impart accurate visions, excite wars and achieve victories. One could also gain knowledge and understanding of all things through them. But, what really caught the SFLA’s attention was that one procedure which had the power to control, capture and lock them up.

  They decided to destroy the know-how on that procedure, and learn how the other ones worked. A contingent of their top scientists and technicians was dispatched, along with a group of fighting elite. They were masters of camouflage and could go invisible for all practical purposes. Only thing that could give them away was the sharp, suffocating odor they carried. They had to be careful of that.

  To the luck of the raiders, they were able to go about their initial spying business totally unnoticed. The Tribal Chief was conducting experiments on medicine. He had already found ways of using various herbs, the bile of hyena, the blood of an ox, flesh of lizards and the fat of lions for curing various diseases.

  To the Brotherhood, it was all pretty primitive, but this was a start nonetheless. The SFLA raiding party wasn’t interested in any medicinal sciences – they weren’t looking for cures; they were looking for diseases. Best option possible for them was to wait and watch.

  Soon enough the perceptive Chief started to get a sniff on their presence – his pet cats and dogs had already been trying to get him to notice that. This time, the Brotherhood didn’t have to do anything since he had already learned the ways of capturing the raiders. He built a chamber made of special copper of the mountains. Through his experiments in alchemy and knowledge of stones, the Tribal Chief knew about those properties of the metal that would work for him. He had chosen copper because he didn’t exactly know who or what he was going to be dealing with, and also for its antibacterial and antimicrobial properties.

  Now he just had to get them inside the chamber. Wise that he was, he placed a thick book inside, ritualizing the whole thing with chants. He sealed the entrance whenever he went away, but one day he left it open on purpose.

  The raiding party had already been sending scouts inside and it looked perfectly safe. This time around, the entire party went inside, barring a couple of lookouts – there were enough places to hide inside the chamber had the Tribal Chief returned.

  It was the book on the procedures all right, but it appeared blank because the Tribal Chief had used an invisible ink made of lemon juice. It was transparent but turned visibly brown when subjected to heat. The raiders had seen him work with it. They needed some heat inside the chamber.

  ‘We would need reinforcements for taking the book with us,’ the SFLA mission commander spoke to the rest in the tongue of the land.

  A subordinate analyzed the suggestion, ‘It would be too risky, Commander, and they might not arrive in time before the Tribal Chief locks the book forever in this impregnable chamber.’

  The mission commander knew that the subordinate was right. ‘Guess we will have to do it ourselves then. Let’s split up into groups and go out to trap heat within our bodies for reading the contents.’

  But while they were busy shuttling in and out for heat, the Tribal Chief sealed the entrance, trapping them inside. The ones left outside were quickly finished off by the Brotherhood sentinels who had been asked to germinate strategically at the possible escape routes of the raiders.

  With a little help from a neighboring tribe, the Tribal Chief was able to build a magnificent structure in seven years over the spot the prison chamber was to be buried in. The floor was made of gold-overlaid wood, with chains of the precious metal marking off the main chamber from the rest of the compound. The gold chains had been put there for symbolically reminding folks that it was a prison facility.

  The SFLA raiding party had already deciphered all the procedures and were dying to report them to their leader, but they were hopelessly trapped. Copper was going to keep them somewhat calm, rather than aggressive about wanting to escape due to the inevitable cabin fever – they had no option but to wait to be rescued anyway.

  Moreover, it wasn’t that the time they were to spend in confinement was going to have any effect on their bodies. They had already transformed their bodies into ones that could last till eternity – provided they could be kept safe from a thing or two.

  Without wasting much time, the Tribal Chief started getting the lockup buried inside the Mount. He was happy because he had been successful in securing the cache of 72 of the SFLA’s finest scientific elite – including warfare ones.

  By the time he got a set of principles related to ethics and worship placed in another facility within the same compound, there was a huge overpowering cloud built up inside the complex. It disrupted the seven-day completion ceremony for a while.

  It was a sign for the Brotherhood that their strike had been successful. Judean Date Palms were ordered to guard the city on the Mount, clearly instructed to provide the human dwellers with enough sustenance to be able to defend it from other humans at least.

  ‘You are making a big mistake, Chief,’ warned the SFLA mission commander from inside the prison. ‘We can give you anything you want. If you help us, you’ll be remembered forever; otherwise, we’ll make sure you are forgotten by history.’

  ‘We’ll see. Kindness and faithfulness keep a chief’s position safe,’ famously replied the pious Chief.

  ‘Anyway
, you wouldn’t be able to hold us in there for long,’ were the last words spoken by the mission commander before the prison chamber was finally buried.

  His words were to come true 470 years later. The city was besieged by a Babylonian king, whose advisors had been mind-controlled by the SFLA. A cave – later to be known as Ploutonion – sat on a fault line and had an enclosed area of 2,000 square meters in front of the entrance. It was chosen as the SFLA Command Center for launching the rescue mission.

  The mysterious site in Southwestern Turkey was perpetually covered by a thick layer of suffocating gas leaking out of the fault line. Though the toxic gas was potent enough for killing any human or animal trying to venture inside, it had no effect on the SFLA operatives stationed there.

  It was also called the Gate to Hell by some, since whoever slept in its vicinity would get terrifying visions and prophecies. Some of the Babylonian King’s advisors had visited it and were brainwashed by the SFLA so that they could coax the king to invade the Tribal Chief’s city.

  After two and a half years of laying siege, the Babylonian king’s armies finally managed to breach the Mount City walls. What followed was a spiral of mayhem, looting and executions. The Judean Date Palms were left helpless in the wake. As death gained victory after victory, it was a matter of time before their worst fears came alive.

  As soon as the warlord reached the main chamber of the prison complex above the buried cell, he could sense there was something underneath it; something important. He didn’t pay any heed to the chains of gold cordoning off the burial spot.

  Must be more of the Chief’s fabled gold and riches buried underneath this, he thought.

  They unearthed the copper confinement chamber and opened it. The SFLA prisoners blended away and quietly escaped. Furious about only finding a book in there, and not any treasures, the warlord tossed the book in to the fire, putting all of the Tribal Chief’s knowledge to waste – the SFLA didn’t have much need for the book any longer. They already knew everything they’d need for the future.