Act - 2 - Liberation - Chapter - 4
Grab You Toys
Act II: Liberation
Chapter 4
Three Days Later
Earth
A tiny, short-necked yellow bird hops around in pursuit of its lunch. It chases two insects through loose brown sand as they scurry for their lives. Amargi, a regular guy in a regular mushroom-gathering village, prostrates himself next to his family. Together, they all three kneel at the front of their circular village’s sacrificial grid formation. The loincloth-clad father can only pray to the gods that his daughter’s affliction won’t be discovered. Whispering into the sand beneath his knees, he begs, "Don’t let her say anything. Don’t let her say anything. Pleeeeeeease, don’t let my daughter say anything."
Two white-suited Annunaki medical personnel manifest every villager’s worst nightmare. With a singular focus, they strap a woman to a stretcher. The reptilians coordinate her lift with a hiss and then carry her across the sandy jungle clearing. Nearing pharmaceutically induced sleep, the human mumbles, "Freedom—freedom." For three whole days now, their village has been descending into chaos. Several citizens, including Amargi’s brother Aaron, mysteriously defected. They had disappeared into the dense jungle that surrounds their bamboo-walled, thatch-roofed huts. As a result, the village’s customary sacrifice time this afternoon was being replaced. What was taking place instead was the Annunaki-sanctioned kidnapping of four of its inhabitants.
A utilitarian square-body Annunaki medical transport had managed to squeeze its massive frame into the jungle clearing. Somehow, almost an hour ago, it landed in front of Chief’s pedestal without a scratch. Three abduction victims had already been loaded onto the spacecraft, and the Annunaki were working on their fourth. The humans had all been quarantined due to their mad ramblings for "freedom."
Fewer people in the village tonight means fewer people for the sacrificial grid. Amargi even occupies a new position in formation. He sneaks a peek inside the visiting Annunaki vessel. Four gurneys contain three unconscious humans. They are all haloed by illuminated medical equipment and beeping monitors. Amargi buries his face and eavesdrops as much as he can. Despite the doctor’s full-body canvas breathing suit, he overhears an Annunaki physician determine, "I can’t find anything wrong with them. Maybe this one will give me some answers. Load her onto this bed here." The mushroom gatherer concludes that the gods don’t know what’s happening any more than his village does. His remaining neighbors, however, do know Chief betrayed them all. At some point, the chief told his little crystal that a potential rebellion was brewing.
Two days ago, Amargi’s daughter also began whispering "freedom" to herself. He pulled her into their hut through their leather doorway flap. "Nin, are you alright?" the concerned father asked, shaking the girl’s shoulders.
Nin could only respond with one word. “Freedom."
Amargi gathered his five-year-old daughter once again as the strange airship began its descent into their village. “Remember,” he reminded her, “The gods cannot hear you say freedom. Okay?" Nin had nodded in response, and to this point, the father is grateful his daughter has listened.
The god’s medical transport seals its full-height rear door with a loud mechanical buzz. Its volume interrupts some aggressively chirping insects. Chief kneels on the top level of his platform. He oversees another violent displacement of wind-driven sand. It blows into the prone villagers' faces as the craft’s engines roar back to life.
Amargi buries his face into Nin’s long, jet-black hair. He shields his daughter’s tiny head from stinging particles with a protective embrace. The mushroom gatherer tries his best to comfort her as he promises, "It’s almost over, Nin—they’re leaving." As it rises, the spaceship casts its shadow over the villagers. It wobbles its short wings above their tree line, dips its nose to gain altitude, and rumbles its thrusters toward the horizon. Amargi consoles his daughter’s shock. He uncovers her and strokes her back softly. Nin’s father takes stock of the villagers still present. He notes that a population of over forty had been reduced to twenty-five in three days.
The chief rises to begin his speech. Before the vessel had even left his village’s sight or earshot, he announced, "Your constant demands for freedom have put all of our lives at risk. You have all been selfish and ungrateful for all the gods have provided. To maintain our livelihoods, we must now all work twice as hard. That is because we have been abandoned by weaker villagers. As of right now, your community’s production quota has tripled." A collective, exasperated moan spews from the village. The chief continues, "Keep your faces buried in the soil so we may pray our transgressions away. Then we may be redeemed in the eyes of our gods." Lifting his arms to the partly cloudy sky, he prays, "Forgive us, oh merciful gods. We have challenged you, and you have deemed some of us unworthy. Several of us have been taken, oh gods. We who remain swear our undying loyalty. We now know our freedom has already been achieved, oh gods." Lowering his hands, Chief inquires, "Who has prepared the evening’s batch of ceremonial mushrooms for sacrifice?"
"It was I." Amargi stands from his prostration to approach his chief’s wooden pedestal. He laments the inevitable arrival of a second Annunaki spaceship this afternoon. Nin’s father confesses, "I was the one who prepared the ceremonial mushrooms."
The ruler of the village orders, "Ascend my throne and receive your blessing of spirit. Cleanse your hands of their demon hoard." Draped in a slim-fitting, tie-dyed red sundress, Chief’s wife approaches. She empties a small portion of her glass bottle’s contents into Amargi’s palms. The gatherer rubs his alcohol-soaked hands together. His chief commands, "Retrieve the mushrooms for our nightly ceremony."
Amargi cuts through the middle of prostrated villagers on his way to their preparation hut. Several of his neighbors let out a very audible gasp. They cause Nin’s father to flinchingly turn back. Hastily, two young men burst from the dense tree line. Each of them aims a piece of the god’s divine iron at Chief’s three guards. Before anyone can twitch in reaction, the larger of the two invaders plants his hand on the side of the chief’s pedestal. Aggressively, he launches himself up to bound across the short stage. The man wears the rainforest’s traditional loincloth. He places his active weapon directly on the side of the medium-height leader’s feather-adorned headdress. The chiseled stranger takes Chief as a human shield and screams, "Everyone stay right where you are!"
Three village guards are wide-eyed and frozen in fear. They have been trained to police the small clearing and are woefully unprepared to repel an invasion force. Amargi instinctively turns to retreat. He is unsure whether to flee into the woods or retrieve a hunting spear. Kicking sand into an armed teenager’s shins, the mushroom gatherer halts his flight. The boy had silently moved into position behind him. Pushing aside foliage, a fourth, much older, divine-iron-wielding human emerges from the right side of Chief’s pedestal. He calmly gestures toward the ground with the barrel of his black energy rifle. Outgunned and outmanned, all three village guards wisely cooperate. They shove their stone spears into the soft sand.
“Mason!” Chief splays his arms in a desperate maneuver to prove his defenselessness. He demands, “Do something!”
Mason, the village's short but stout main guard, struggles to yell, "F-F-F-FREEDOM!" He raises both hands in surrender.
Chief leans his head away from the barrel of his captor’s gun. He screams, “Has everyone in this godsforsaken village gone mad!?”
“Desiring freedom is not mad,” insists the teenager behind Amargi.
Mason’s thoughts spray out of his mouth as though first passing through a pressure valve. He spouts, “Freeeedom freedom freedom freedom freedom.”
“I’m Ezekil.” Patting the baggy sleeve of Chief’s long crimson robe, the large, muscular man searches methodically. He tells his hostage, “We’re going to become good friends.”
“Oh, I doubt that.” The mushroom village’s patriarch submits to the unconsented search of his person. He asks Mason, “How long have you been hiding your treachery?”
Answering in a detached tone, the head guard shrugs, “Freedom?”
Ezekil retrieves a small crystal from Chief’s concealed sleeve pocket. He cries, “I found it!” After spinning to throw it deep into the rainforest, the young man proclaims, “You won’t be needing that anymore.”
Chief is confused by the invaders’ intimate knowledge of his hidden communication device. He asks cautiously, “Who are you?”
A light breeze moves Amargi’s long hair. The boy behind him tells them all, “My name is David. That is Israel, and that is Raji, and you already know…”
“No, no, no!” Careful not to lower his hands, the chief interrupts, “Why are you here?”
Answering without a thought, David explains matter-of-factly, “We are here to bring you liberation from the Annunaki.”
Standing closest to the platform, Israel beams, "Bringing humans their freedom near you!"
Two birds near the edge of the village exchange a battle of chirps. A tiny voice asks Amargi’s wife, “Freedom?”
Turning, Amargi inquires, “May we come with you, David?”
Again, with barely a thought, the boy answers, “Of course.”
“NO!” The muzzle of Ezekil’s divine iron dishevels Chief’s headgear. He objects, “None of us are going anywhere!”
Chief’s wife is clearly offended after having been spoken for. She stands firm: "Oh yes, we are!" Placing a hand on the hip of her dress, the mahogany-skinned woman demands, "I want freedom too! And if you want to keep me, we’ll go with them!"
“Aw, c’mon baby!” Chief awkwardly smiles. After a moment, he agrees, “Okay everyone! It looks like we’ll all be going with, uh, what’s your name again?”
The fourteen-year-old turns his weapon off. He tucks it into the hemp band of his loincloth and answers, “David.”
The chief of the mushroom gatherers grins. “It looks like we’ll all be going with David here.” He tells them, “Get what you can carry, everyone!”
Amargi’s wife caresses her daughter’s soft hair. She smiles and says, “Get your toys. We’re leaving for freedom.”