Continuum - Part Two

Climbing from the sands, velociraptors turn as one Triceratops and stegosaurs arise to share the fun And then they march en masse toward that briny maelstrom And Adam Adams yells, “They’re heading back where they came from!” Suddenly, so many ramps stretch down into the sea Beast by beast our history shall simply cease to be At my feet a manlike creature clambers from the sand A spear across his back, a flint-stone dagger in his hand Everywhere I look are creatures clambering up ramps As though they need to board before the silver disc decamps From the east, the west and every other compass point No direction seems to feel a need to disappoint As I stare dumbfounded at a scene completely smothered With creatures out of text books and a few not yet discovered Their numbers only dwindle as this day is growing dark And Adam Adams yells, “I think it’s one colossal Ark.” This ruptured beach now occupied by nought but modern man Quakes as ramps arise to seal the vessel like a can Almost indiscernible, the rotation was slow But now it’s in a rapid spin amid a neon glow Adam Adams cries, “If I am right they will not go… But if they do I’ll wager there’s another one in tow.” And just as though ‘someone’ aboard decided to react I watch the spinning slow, then stop, then… Oh… the top just cracked The top half rises up to hang suspended in the air To leave a crowded upper deck… and there are humans there Adam Adams backs away, he doesn’t make a fuss He simply tells a nearby guy, “Here comes the next of us.” I flip a mental penny and I follow Adams’ path And here behind a fallen boulder, watch the aftermath We huddle here while helicopters fall dead from the sky And any man who holds a gun is very quick to die Bewildered men and women stand enraptured on this shore And now police and military men stand guard no more We watch un-human humans take to ramps and slowly walk Until we face men, tall and thin… and one decides to talk, “Such times as man has stood tall over all breeds on this earth His intellect raised him above all else to show his worth Capacity to learn has let him shape his world at will Yet, most of all that he has learned is many ways to kill.” Adam Adams swallows hard and makes himself a dare To ask the being standing there about his who and where The man-thing contemplates this as companions join him there And then he answers, fixing Adams with an icy glare, “To use the language of your time, we’re human twelve-point-six You, to us are version two-point-four and need a fix.” Adam Adams stammers, “Are you here to wipe us out?” The being snaps, “We are not you, we’re neither fly nor trout “We bring here version three of you and you must blend or lose The path you take is one that we leave free for you to choose.” Adams breaks eye contact and the fallen grab his stare “You say you are not us but you killed all those people there.” The slender being rubs his chin and nods in recognition As though he sees in two-point-four a twelve-point-six condition “A valid point you make but do you see a celebration Defensive actions do we use in sheer necessitation “For so vast is the ‘all of things’ that though we choose no kill Entities in many forms are sent and mean us ill Placid peace, our chosen aim but if man shall survive It always was and always is, a fight to stay alive.” Adam Adams, angry, says, “You bring a race, advanced And then you say we blend or lose to humankind, enhanced We cannot and we shall not sit and watch our own demise We make it though to twelve-point-six… unless you tell us lies.” Mister Twelve-point-six just shakes his head and turns to go But now he stops and turns right back then calmly says, “You know… Two-point-three had none of the integrity you show But evolution starts with mother and she’s how we always grow.” “But,” Adam Adams asks, “why have those beasts all been revived?” The future man says, “That’s a plan that twelve-point-five contrived, In our time, Earth is ailing and we’ll need to move on soon We’ve sought new worlds; potential homes; one even has a moon “Twelve-point-six shall soon up sticks; our new home has been chosen A world that is near perfect neither molten rock nor frozen But flora there can’t flourish in its nutrient poor sand And nothing beats the dinosaurs to fertilise the land.” Adam Adams’ open mouth is hushed by upheld palm The future human says, “Just know we did not mean you harm.” He turns once more toward his craft and walks directly there And once on board he and his craft dissolve into the air. It takes some time but finally I relocate my voice, “Is it me or did he offer us some kind of choice?” Adams nods. “I ask, in spite of all that we have seen… What on Earth did ‘evolution starts with mother’ mean?” His question goes unanswered as disturbance on the sands Makes us stare agog, as everyone who ‘died’ now stands Each man and woman, risen, turns and looks upon the sea And the sight that has ensnared them all, ensnares Adams and me Continued in Part Three