The Archaeological Chronicles - The New World

All these voices

Tellin’ me I got no choices

All a bunch of crowded noises

Everyone’s an enemy

--

Mari

We’re seated in the study, which is actually quite cozy. The interior is surprisingly warm, and reminds me of a movie scene, to be honest.

It was a lot of plants, scattered around the room. Creating a calm atmosphere. The green really did the room good.

Like all the other rooms, this room had a long window going from one end of the wall to the other. Putting the endless mass of stars on full display. They move like a blur, and it was overwhelming to look at. I had to force myself to look away.

It was full length, so the room felt much bigger than what it really was.

I had placed my laptop on a dark mahogany desk, so that Zuuri could see the screen as well.

I had explained the basic idea of prehistoric humans, on a general basis and he was nodding furiously and asking a lot of question.

I quite liked that.

He was so engaged in it and actually really interested. You don’t even meet regular humans that are into either archaeology or history.

‘’So what do you really know about homo sapiens sapiens?’’ I ask.

I need to be certain of how deep I have to get into the explanation, so that I know that he gets what I’m talking about.

He smiles a little. ‘’Quite,’’

‘’Okay, so you know how we came to be in this evolutionary form?’’

He shrugs a little. ‘’I’m best at autonomy and internal organs,’’ he says as he points at my stomach. ‘’Oh! I also know a lot about your brain,’’ he says as he taps my forehead with his index finger lightly.

‘’Like psychology?’’ I ask.

He nods and places his hands in his lap again. His body language is way easier to read than Kai’ine’s. Zuuri isn’t stoic and void of emotion. His movements sometimes appear stiff and almost a bit robotic – almost like he does it because he knows I understand it better – but he still has the same expressionless face quite often.

‘’Alright, I suppose I can start with the Stone Age then? I don’t have too much knowledge of it, as it’s not in my biggest interest areas,’’ I explain.

‘’What are your interest areas then?’’ he fires back quickly, eager to learn.

‘’The Iron Age, but I’ll come back to that later,’’.

’’After the last ice age started to retreat, a lot of Europe was already populated by then. Therefore, Europe has another time period within the Stone Age, that Scandinavia doesn’t. This is because Scandinavia is much further north, therefore the ice took a while longer to melt. This period is called the Paleolithic time.

The Stone Age can roughly be divided into three different periods. It’s the Paleolithic – that Scandinavia has no archaeological remains of, therefore we assume that it never occurred – the Mesolithic and the Neolithic. The main things that divide these periods are mainly the tools they use and how they manage and create them.

Most of the material is of flint, well, flint is the material that is still left behind after twelve thousand years of decomposing. This is the reason why we call it the Stone Age, even though it’s quite misleading. Flint as material was used all thorough history and is very common to find in other time periods,’’ I explain.

I take another breath, and I can see Zuuri in deep concentration. He is really into it.

’’The most common sites to investigate are settlement sites. These are usually high up in the landscape due to the fact that the sea levels were higher than they are today.

After the ice age melted completely away, the pressure lying on top of the continents subsided, and they slowly rose from the sea. Side note; this makes it easier to date a site, just from looking at the placement of it in the landscape.

Stone Age settlement sites is usually on top of hills and in direct contact with the sea. Bronze Age is a bit further down, as the water retreated, and the settlers in Norway used all of the resources the ocean had to offer for the longest time.

This way of placing settlements continues downward, until the population retreats a little from the ocean and start exploring the inner parts of Norway. I’m not exactly sure when they started doing that, as it seems unlikely that the Stone Age settlers just settled by the ocean. They combined fishing and hunting and was greatly rewarded with a lot of food resources,’’.

I open my laptop and type the password quickly and the screen lights up. I start opening a lot of files, so that I can show him the types of settlement sites and the finds from these places.

‘’That’s a really beautiful place,’’ he notes. I look at him in question.

‘’The picture in your computer. Have you been there?’’ He asks as he points at the laptop.

‘’Yes. It’s in Northern Norway. It was my father’s birthplace. He grew up there. We’ve been there every year since I was young,’’ I explain.

I notice a fond smile forms on my lips.

Gosh, I miss that place.

For a time, I wanted to move there and just live the simplest live one can imagine and enjoy the nature. Realistically, that would have been difficult considering my line of work.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to move there some day.

‘’It’s really beautiful. Never seen anything like it,’’ he says in awe.

Talking about home made my stomach churn. I didn’t know what this trip to another planet had in store for me, and I missed my home terribly.

My eyes stung painfully, and a lump formed in my throat. I cleared it slightly and shook my head.

This is not the time to let my emotions get in my way.

‘’Anyways,’’ I sigh, ‘’these are some of the flint daggers found in the area around Trøndelag. We also have some arrowheads, and what we believe were for tying around the fishing net to make it sink,’’ I click through the pictures as I point and explain to him these magnificent finds.

‘’I find the Stone Age hard to reach, hard to imagine, because we only find mostly flint. A few tools and mostly pieces that were considered waste to them. I cannot grasp their culture, their identity or what they believed in. What they fought about and what they loved. I know they weren’t as different from present humans, but I still find it hard to imagine,’’ I explain.

I show him a remake of a settlement sites with a few stone age people present.

‘’This is what some archaeologist believes them to have dressed, looked and lived,’’ I point at the picture on the laptop.

‘’What do you believe they did?’’ he suddenly asks, after looking at the picture for a long while. Studying it.

His white hair was falling in front of his face and he nudged his head regularly to move it from his face. His hair was floating a little, not as much as Kai’ine’s, but it was still floating as if there was a breeze in the room.

‘’I think they were just like us. The only difference is the time they were in and the time we’re in. Culturally speaking. I think they argued about the same things and loved just as hard as we do,’’ I say truthfully.

I don’t think there was much of a difference from them to us. The only difference is how society has changed and our basic knowledge of the world.

He hums a little to himself. A small smile playing on his lips. His piercing yellow eyes moves from the screen, to meet mine.

‘’Based on my knowledge on the human brain, I think so too,’’ he agrees with a smile.

‘’I’m surprised of how much you actually know about this,’’ he muses. ‘’Haven’t met many humans who do,’’ he says.

I see his eyes widen a little, just regretting what he said. His easy-to-read demeanor changed and his whole body turned stoic and emotionless.

‘’I’m not stupid, Zuuri. I have already figured that you must’ve had contact with humanity before me,’’ I state.

His demeanor doesn’t change. His intense cat-like eyes continue to stare at me.

‘’Just, just don’t assume me stupid,’’ I push out, as irritation washes over me.

I rub the place between my eyebrows angrily – a force of habit when I get frustrated.

‘’I never assumed you stupid, Mai’yri,’’ He finally answers.

‘’Anything but,’’ he adds.

The tension on the room grew thick and I tear my eyes away from his and starts closing all the files on my computer.

I miss home.

‘’I can tell you about our history, if you want?’’ he offers, and looks at me with hopeful eyes. His stoic demeanor loosening a little.

Just a little.

I give him a stiff nod as I close the laptop. Still a bit upset. I don’t like the situation I’m in.

He gives me a satisfied smile.

‘’Our planet is called Ter’ais and is about three thousand light years from Earth. Our development, evolutionary speaking, is not as different from yours. The biggest difference is that we lie ahead of you, our planet is older, and we develop way slower than you. Our planet is therefore older than yours, and our slow development has led us to be more advanced in technology and such compared to the Earth and many other planets,’’ he explains.

’’Our race is called Daque, as you might have noticed; our skin tone is white with blue pigments in it. The intensity of the color varies greatly, often showcasing social status. High born have fairer skin and the lesser have darker. There is seldom discrimination based on skin color. We are also a bit more genderfluid – as you would call it – compared to the Earth.

What we define ourselves as is not as important, even though we are, biologically, two genders. Male and female. Companionship between the same gender is very common, and not frowned upon. The same goes with everything that has to do with genderfluidity, we just really don’t put much thought into it,’’.

‘’That’s really cool,’’ I comment. I wish humans had the same way of thinking too.

’’Ter’ais is about twice the size as Earth, but we are quite a lot less Daque’s living on it. We are divided into three zones, rather than countries. The zones are basically countries, and the only thing dividing them is the landscape and nature.

Both commoners and high born live in all of the three zones. Zone one holds the capital, so the population numbers is at its highest there,’’. He fishes a small device out from his pocket, flips it open and it’s the same, big and clear screen as Kai’ine used earlier today. He taps a few times and several pictures show up. He points to each zone.

‘’Overpopulation has never been a problem, though underpopulation is one of our biggest issues for the last ten thousand years,’’ he points to a number, I’m assuming is the total number of Daque’s.

‘’Our lifespan is longer than most species, but for some reason our reproduction seems to slow for each thousand year that passes,’’.

‘’As you can see-,’’

The door opens silently, but Zuuri hears it and snaps his head towards the direction of it.

It seems their hearing is better than a regular human, too.

I turn my head as well, dreading the person who might be standing in the doorway.

Please don’t be Kai’ine.

There he was, in all his glory. Stoic and emotionless as ever.

Fuck me, can’t I ever get a break?

He doesn’t even acknowledge his brother. His gaze is directed straight at me.

‘’Feeding,’’ he announces.

‘’No thanks,’’ I shrug him off.

Fuck him and his food.

I don’t want it and I don’t need it. Well, I kind of do, but I don’t care. He makes me lose my appetite.

Sexual offender.

Just thinking about what happened earlier today makes my whole body shudder in fear.

I have to swallow hard, twice, to be able to push it to the back of my head.

Zuuri’s eyes flicker uncertainly over to mine and back to Kai’ine’s.

‘’If you tell me about the Bronze Age tomorrow, I’ll tell you more about Ter’ais?’’ Zuuri suggests.

I momentarily forget Kai’ine’s annoying presence and nods enthusiastically at Zuuri.

‘’I’d like that,’’ I smile.

Zuuri gives me a final nod and gets up from the chair.

‘’I’ll see you tomorrow then, Mai’yri,’’ he says as he gives me a small wave before leaving the room.

A silent conversation was exchanged between the two brothers as Zuuri passed Kai’ine in the doorway. Only communicating through their eyes.

When Zuuri walks through the door and leaves us, Kai’ine’s eyes snap to mine.

Those goddamned eyes.

They are so beautiful and unique, but they belong to this horrible creature standing a few feet away from me.

He crosses his arms across his chest. Motions his head to the door, signalizing me to get up and go with him.

I clutch the fabric of the pants I’m wearing, tightly in my hands. So tight that my knuckles turn white. Grind my teeth together. Frozen to the spot. Yet another internal battle on what to do.

‘’It is only food, Mai’yri,’’ he sighs, annoyed.

I don’t see him blink once. Not once. During the stare-down we share.

‘’I’m not hungry,’’ I press out.

I can feel my chest tightening. I’m ashamed that after such a short time, he can make my body react this way.

So scared. Terrified. Terrified of him and what he’s capable of.

‘’You are not going to starve under my care. Get up,’’ he orders.

I shake my head no.

‘’I’m not hungry. I won’t starve that easily,’’ I retort back quickly.

He stares at me once again. Still impossible to read his body-language. Stoic and emotionless.

‘’I don’t care for your feeling about this. You are going to eat. Now,’’ he orders once again.

Even without emotion on his face, I can still see that he’s not happy.

‘’If I eat, I want you to not shower with me,’’ I press out. Testing the waters.

He shakes his head in amusement. A fraction of a hint of what could be categorized as a smile graces his lips.

‘’It’s funny how you think that you’re in a position to make demands,’’ he chuckles dangerously.

He takes four long strides across the room, and before I even manage to leap from the chair, he has grabbed a hold of my upper arm. Tightly.

I try to cover away, with no such luck. He only pulls me closer.

‘’This whole ordeal would be way more comfortable for you, if you just do as I tell you,’’ he says calmly as he inhales deeply, his nose in the crook of my neck.

I don’t answer.

When his eyes re-open after the inhale, they glow. Literally glow.

Like a glowstick.

‘’I think we need to change the sleeping arrangements as well,’’ he smiles menacingly.

My eyes widen and panic strikes me yet again.

He cannot be serious?

’’Or maybe if you behave, I might change my mind,’’. His smile is so evil, so horrible.

He’s playing with me. Like I’m some sort of toy. Anger bubbles deep in my stomach, almost overtaking the crippling fear. Almost.

‘’I’ll eat,’’ I snarl.

If he’s satisfied with my answer or not, I don’t know. His face is back to being emotionless as he pulls me out of the study.