Cradle [AAC]

The celebration continued until nearly sunset, and many hours after the elder Ilu Shiimti had left.

Eventually the new breed of Ilu Shiimti found themselves back in the building that Citlali had called home.
There were still many questions that needed answering, and although Citlali had the most knowledge, she could not answer them all.

Ellyana was back in front of her computer screen waiting for her equipment to spit out test results.

Iain was exploring the structure more thoroughly, marveling at the engineering feat that had been accomplished in the remote jungle, and Drew had buried himself in Graham’s journals.

Citlali, Giavana and Gagan had retired to a corner where occasional squeals of laughter erupted and permeated the room with sexual tension.

Occasionally Ellyana would look up from her computer screen and catch either Drew or Iain staring at her, and she could see desire burning in the depths of their eyes. She felt it too, and still had difficulty trying to sort it out. It seemed with each glance the level of her longing grew in intensity. It wasn’t directed specifically at either one of them and it wasn’t stronger for one over the other.

This time, testing a mental theory, when she looked up, she purposely avoided both Drew and Iain a looked in the direction of Citlali, Giavana and Gagan. The same longing returned as her eyes met Citlali’s, and again with both Giavana and Gagan.

The high speed genetic inquiry machine beeped loudly indicating that the analysis that Ellyana had run had finally completed.

Furiously she tapped on her keyboard, pulling up the graphs she needed. For her, this was the final piece of the puzzle that she needed to understand the awakening that had begun inside her.

She laughed and clapped her hands excitedly and called out for the other’s to come and look.
She pulled up what appeared to be a series of graphs.

“Ok” she sighed, “We are all aware that we are Ilu Shiimti progeny, and as such each one of us has a triple helix DNA structure. If you separate the helix into three separate strands, at the point where the bond is made, the sequence of amino acids for each strand is identical for every single one of us, and it is only where the base pair, is separated by the third string that causes the expression or suppression of our genetic difference.”

“I don’t think I quite understand” Drew said. “Can you maybe explain that without all the genetic gobbly gook?”

“It means that our offspring will always be Ilu Shiimti, and never degenerate into humans again because the way the amino acids are sequenced, a triple bond of identical amino acids can never be made and the third strand can never be dropped. It is the triple bond event that caused the third strand to be dropped, created the Human double helix DNA strand and ultimately caused the Ilu Shiimti to begin to die out in the first place. They could no longer procreate the Ilu Shiimti triple stranded DNA. That will never happen again.”

“Ok, “Iain piped in, “you’ve solved the mystery of the degeneration of the Ilu Shiimti DNA. Why exactly is this important?”

Uncle Charlie had been watching the exchange from the doorway and he cleared his throat and began his interjection.

“Because not only is the human race the result of the degeneration of DNA, they are in fact, degenerates.” He said the final word slowly to emphasize its meaning.

“Along with the loss of genetic information, and chemical bonds they also lost a specific bond that was encoded into the DNA, a bond that ties all of you together emotionally and spiritually. That sense of awareness and attraction that you all have felt, that grows in intensity when there is a conscious awareness of each other is not one that is imagined. It was specifically designed and enhanced in your particular genetics sequencing. It is the result of a specific pattern sequence, which even in the limited dual bond of humans, still exists in the species. Unfortunately the sequence is now very rare and only occurs once in a million births. With over 7 billion humans on the planet, it means that there are only about 7000 people that have that sequence, and possibly far less. It is why humanity is on the verge of self-destruction, they no longer feel that bond that ultimately connects us together. The human race is literally falling apart.”

“You have that sequence don’t you Uncle Charlie” Ellyana asked.

“Yes, I do” he replied softly. “It is what makes me love you so much. It is what made your creation so important to me. When I realized what it was that connected us on a fundamental level, it made it all the more important to bring the Ilu Shiimti plan to fruition. Not only did they want to save their race, but they wanted to save those chemical bonds are responsible for the contentedness that we sense. They wanted to save the one thing that Humanity is hell bent on destroying:

Love

A moment of overwhelming sadness passed through each of the companions, and they each reached out to join hands with the other, finding comfort in their oneness.

“Our time together is almost over. “ Uncle Charlie stated. “By the time the sun rises tomorrow you must leave here and travel to the temple, as humanity is in its death throes. World War three is now in full swing, and it could only be a matter of hours before that which will ensure the annihilation of life on this planet is launched. I will see you safely to the temple to say my final goodbye, but I too must face the inevitable.”

A tear slipped down Uncle Charlie’s face. He tried to regain his composure as he wiped it away, but emotion cracked his voice.

“Iain, Ellyana, Drew, you must understand something very important. Because you were raised in the modern human world, you were subjected to our sense of morals, and our twisted sense of right and wrong. I am sure that at some point in your life, you were tortured by feelings that others deemed as immoral. You must remember that you are not human, and those rules do not apply to you. The feelings of attraction and desire that you share towards each other are natural and exist there by design. You must free yourself and overcome the sense of right and wrong you were taught. More importantly you must come to the realization of two very important things:

Originally you were designed so that you could live side by side with us, to teach us, to guide us and lift us out of the darkness that we had created for ourselves. The world was a different place thirty years ago when I began this task, and there were remnants of hope still left. As we spiraled out of control, it became obvious that we were on a path that would ultimately lead to our destruction. Although each of you may appear to be male or female you are each neither and both. Each set of you, Drew and Citlali, Iain and Ellyana, Giavana and Gagan are pairs of exact replicas. Your outer appearance only created so that you could exist among the degenerate human race and hopefully save us from ourselves. That will no longer happen, and you must realize that your distinction as either male or female is just a façade.

You are capable of mating with each and every other member of your group. I don’t know exactly how the mechanics of it work, but I am sure that the Elders will guide you on that. You must discard your sense of homosexual taboo, as it will be the key to furthering your lineage and increasing your numbers, and expanding your genetic variances.

Ellyana and Iain, you are not brother and sister, and the incestual taboo you have been subjected to is nonexistent, and although it may take you some time, you must be fruitful and multiply.”

A wry smile graced Uncle Charlie’s face as giggles and chuckles erupted from the group.

“It is getting late, and we must make an early start on our journey tomorrow. I will bid you now good-night. “

Uncle Charlie turned to leave, but Drew’s hand on his shoulder stopped him. He turned to face Drew, and Drew embraced him warmly.

Just before breaking the hug, Drew kissed Uncle Charlie on the cheek and said: “Goodnight Father.”


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Drew cradled Ellyana’s head in the crook of his arm, as his hand caressed her swollen belly.
She knew that her first mating would be with Drew, she had always known, and as the still forming life moved beneath Drew’s fingers she smiled inwardly.

What she had not expected was that Drew would bear Iain’s child before she had borne theirs.

She looked over towards the cradle in which the infant lay, the first of the new generation of Ilu Shiimti.

“Did it hurt, Drew?” she asked.

“Yes,” he replied “but in a good way. There is a fine line between pleasure and pain you know.” He chuckled.

“What’s it like, that fine line between pleasure and pain?”

“Do you remember your first release? It’s like that. So painful it makes you cry out, but pleasurable in the sense that you know that you will do it over and over again.”

“Ah” Ellyana sighed and then she smiled.

“Have you decided on a name yet” she asked looking up at Drew.

A broad grin split his face, and Ellyana knew the answer.

Charlie.

THE END