Zavyr Paxt’s head was throbbing, as if the goddess Athena was hammering away in his head as she had done to Zeus—why is that my first thought? He could move around but he didn’t want to, it just made the pain in his head worse. He tried looking around the room, barely glinting through the slits of his eyes, but that also sent shooting pains through his head, so he gave up and just lay there with his eyes closed, lost in his mind.
Where is my mind? Who am I? My memories…what happened?
He tried harder to go deep within his being, to unlock something within him that would provide clues. He imagined his neural network—those billions of exquisite connections—promulgating, expounding, and building from each other…how do I know that? He looked out upon the landscape of his mind and saw numerous lights that resembled star clusters emitting an ominous red light. Looking past them all, he found a bright, shining blue light, sitting at the end of a neural path. He moved his inner eye forward to investigate it. He could feel himself moving along the paths of his mind, even though it was within his imagination. He knew, without any reason to know so, that this replication of his being within his imagination was his true self, the self that most lose throughout the many trials, self-sacrifices, injustices, and usury-driven concessions of a typical human life; the pieces of us that are compromised away for the promise—the lie—of a better life.
He arrived at the shining blue light. Instead of reaching a handout to it, or needing to do anything at all, he found himself pulled into the light. Once his entire self was encapsulated by the light, he was carried away to the depths of what we know as the Susurrus Sleep, living rapidly through the lives of each and everyone one of his ancestors who had walked the Earth—both male and female.
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Mars was nearing the end of his second reading of the book. He had taken it much slower this time, digging in and visualizing the passages of the story, unlocking more and more memories as he did. One key portion of his memories was missing though…his deep, ancestral memories from the Susurrus. He didn’t know how, or if, he would be able to unlock those again. It was as if he had once unlocked a great secret, something that had forever changed mankind’s path, and then he had forgotten how he arrived at the solution and couldn’t return to it…a forgotten technology. It was psychologically crushing. He needed those memories.
He continued reading. Twenty minutes passed and he closed the book, finished for the second time. He didn’t throw the book at the end of this iteration, but instead laid it on his lap and just sat there, staring at the cover.
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He needed to talk to SYMBYTHU. He needed answers. So much was left unsaid throughout the book, and he couldn’t abide it any longer. “SYMBYTHU!” he called out. He didn’t shout, and there wasn’t a tinge of anger to his voice. He simply called out the name, as a military commander calling a junior to him would. Then he continued his examination of the book cover.
SYMBYTHU appeared within five minutes, the same stony look upon his face. “Imperator Thegn Kane, I see you are returning to your old self. How can I assist you?”
“I have completed my second reading, as you recommended. The most pressing of the numerous questions I have is this: Have you any Susurrus?”
SYMBYTHU smiled. “Yes, Imperator Thegn, I do. I have been manufacturing and improving the formula for many, many years. I was able to combine the Susurrus and Ixard, drastically decreasing the amount of time the Susurrus Sleep takes, and ensuring all who take my version of Ixard are able to transform into a Hamrammir. I have a vast stockpile that will easily cover all our current and future needs.”
Mars couldn’t hide his elation. “Everyone who takes your Susurrus can transform into a Hamrammir?! That’s incredible. That means…we will have an unstoppable army.”
Again, SYMBYTHU smiled. “Yes, commander. And when the others have awoken and reached the level of cognitive awareness you have, I will be able to inform all of you of what has transpired, where and when we are, and of current events. I don’t believe it will be much longer now. But please, in the meantime, take this Susurrus…” he pulled a large black pill from his robes and gave it to Mars.
Mars took the pill from SYMBYTHU and swallowed it without question.
SYMBYTHU continued. “The amount of time needed for the Susurrus Sleep has been decreased, but because of its combination with Ixard, you will still be asleep for approximately thirty-six hours. Enjoy your journey, Imperator Thegn.”
Zavyr was still in the midst of his self-induced Susurrus Sleep, rapidly moving along the ancestral highway encoded in his DNA. The lives of Seneca, Euripides, Thomas Jefferson, Hypatia, Vlad III Drăculești, Temüjin, Martha Jane Cannary, Sally Ride, Hatshepsut, Josephine Baker, Witold Pilecki, Eudora Welty, Nikola Tesla, Boudicca of the Iceni, and thousands of others, the vast majority of whom had been forgotten by the historians, flashing before him. Zavyr saw how they changed their worlds, the passions and fears they felt as they foraged through life, surviving oppressions, persecutions, religicide, starvation, betrayals, rebellions, concentration camps, “correctional” camps, and more. The freedom he felt through his ancestors when they were simple foragers rummaging through the world, moving from one place to the next resounded most deeply within him. Why did we have to lose that? For ‘civilization?’
He was back more than thirty thousand years now, living through the life of Zenzig Zare, a Martian colonizer of Earth. He marveled (internally) at the great ships they came with, hidden deep in the mountains of Antarctica, the technology they brought with to initiate and facilitate human life on Earth, and the monumental beauty that Antarctica was once comprised of.
Then he awoke abruptly, before he could follow Zenzig along the ancestral highway to the planet Mars.