The Drop Out Part VI

Continued from Part V
Part VI
I was almost excited about this new friendship with the mysterious Frank. He didn't have to worry about me telling anyone, I wanted to keep him and his secret all to myself. I ate my breakfast, packed a lunch and set about to walk back to the cave. Frank was waiting for me. He had already explored the caves but was more than willing to tell me what the writing and etchings on the wall said. He was glad, in fact, to have another explorer with whom to travel into the depths of the cave. This became our daily ritual.

The cave was not a holy place but a safe place for the tribe. They hid from the visitors from skies in this location. As Frank translated the writings, I realized these people were far more advanced than I ever dreamed possible and the walls told the stories of their accomplishments. Each room was another generation of inventions and true scientific marvels etched deeply into the walls to save for posterity. As one petroglyph noted, the rock lasts far longer than paper. It wasn't just pictures on rocks but a language. The pictures was their way of telling those that couldn't speak their language of the tribal history.

One night we stayed late, investigating the twists and turns of the cave and the paintings on the wall deep into the interior. Because of his gift, Frank always knew what they said even though they were written thousands of years before our time. As we entered deeper into the cave, the writing let us know that the area was man made, not natural. The pictures became more graphic and the writing said we needed to fear the visitors from the sky. Suddenly, abruptly, the writing ended. There was only a partial phrase for Frank to translate, "Run, hide..." and that was all.

We went back to the cave opening and left our place of solitude for the evening. We took the old highway on our first leg of our long walk back to Greetings. There is normally no traffic here but tonight was different. Tonight, we saw the headlamps of a vehicle coming in the distance. Frank pushed me off the road and behind the rocks. He motioned with one finger to his lips to be quiet as the car slowed down and parked directly in front of the rocks where we hid. A second set of headlamps approached from the other direction. The two cars had the insignia of the World Committee. As the occupants left their cars, I recognized both as key political figures from the board.

What happened next sounds almost too strange for me to believe and I witnessed it, so I don't expect you to believe it. In front of me, the figures changed from human form to something I'd never seen before in my life, except on the cave walls. They spoke in a language I didn't understand but I knew Frank was absorbing every word. The two communicated with short grunts and chirps and then did something even more bizarre. The laughed. At least that's what it sounded like. It was short, weird laughter that wasn't like ours but you still knew it was laughter. They patted each other, returned to their cars, turned the cars around and went back from whence they came.

When they were safely out of our vision, we stood. "What did they say, Frank? I heard them laugh. That was laughter right? Those were heads of the World Committee. I recognized them. What did they say and what language did they speak? Did you see them change?" He put his hand over my mouth to stop my babbling.

"The first one said that the experiments were perfect. He used a word, I pretty sure that he was referring to humans. He said it's almost time for the rapture. I don't think he meant the Biblical rapture, however, but something else based on the rest of the conversation." Frank paused and heaved a sigh.

"Did they laugh? I could swear I heard that creature laugh."

"He did. Right after the first one asked if the experiment was successful, the other replied yes. The first one then said something to the effect of tell me more. That's when the second creature laughed. They both laughed after he said the last thing."

"Frank, what was the last thing. Tell me. Why are you being so elusive?"

Frank continued in a slow, deliberate tone. "Right before and after the laughter, he said, and this the only translation I can find that fits, 'As our experiments might say, 'they taste just like chicken.' "