I awoke to a beautiful spring day. I felt particularly good today for some inexplicable reason. I didn’t know what it was about today that was different than any other day, but something was different. I looked in the bathroom mirror and I looked the same, except for the big smile on my face. I brushed my hair and teeth, and then walked into the living room and plopped down in front of the TV to check out today’s weather.
“It’s going to be a beautiful day today, highs in the low 80s, no rain in the forecast, with a current temperature of 72 degrees,” the weatherman announced.
It looked like it was going to be a perfect day, so…I decided to go for a run. The trails near my home were paved for bike riders but were seldom used for that purpose, so they made the perfect place to run. I got dressed and began my workout with some light calisthenics. I hate stretching before I run, but find the warm-up of the calisthenics to be very beneficial and invigorating. It may sound strange to some people, but stretching nicely warmed joints and muscles is much better for you than stretching cold joints and muscles. So, I save the stretching for after my runs.
I stepped outside into the cool clean air and took a couple of long deep breaths. The air was cool with a sweet aroma. The aroma of the honeysuckle in my garden was scenting the air. I walked over to my arbor, laced with honeysuckle vines, closed my eyes and took a deep inhalation of their perfume. I slowly opened my eyes, turned and began to run.
The route of the trail is relatively flat with only a couple of gently sloping hills. It is about 3 miles long and very relaxing as it winds through the woods behind my home. I usually start out slow, and then gradually increase my speed until I’m comfortable. I reached my comfort zone about a half-mile into the run and relaxed into my pace. I thought, “What a beautiful day” as I looked up into the sky while passing through a small meadow in the woods. The sky was blue with only a few fluffy wisps of clouds. Then the woods closed back over the trail in a green canopy of maple, ash, and oak. I continued down the trail to an abrupt decline to a wooden bridge over a small brook. My feet hitting the boards thumped very loud in the relative quiet of the woods. I sprinted up the other side and resumed my pace. At the 2-mile point there is a large bolder that I often stop at if I’m tired, but today I felt great and didn’t plan to stop. Well, …plans change.
As I was rounding the bend, I saw the boulder. I remember starring at it because it was one of my favorite spots for relaxation and contemplation. I had spent many hours alone at that spot, just enjoying the scenery and my own thoughts. Then, as I drew closer (about 25 feet away) a monstrous being appeared. There was no flash of light, no space ship, not even a gradual fade-in, it was just there! I stopped dead in my tracks and stared at the creature. It was humanoid but definitely not human. It was short and stocky with massive muscularity and a yellow/orange tint to its skin. Its brow was thick like that of our distant human ancestors, and its head appeared small for its body.
Unconscious in the hospital, Bob thought: “Distant ancestors?” We are human and always have been, created in God’s image.”
He was considerably shorter than my 5 feet 9-inch frame, so my startled fear quickly turned to daring curiosity. I was no slouch in the martial arts and felt confident that I could at least defend myself if attacked. But it didn’t attack…it smiled.
Smiled? Why is this critter smiling at me? I tentatively said, “good morning”. It replied, in perfect English, “good morning, how are you today.” Startled, my eyes widened…“I’m fine,” I said, “and who are you, if I might ask?” “I am Jamook…Master of the universe”. Master of the universe? I thought. Well, I felt the statement was a little pretentious, so I asked how he became the “master of the universe” and asked him why he was here. He smiled again and asked me to sit down. Warily and without taking my eyes off of him, I walked over to my favorite spot on the bolder and sat down.
He looked down to the object dangling on his chest, and then he lifted it up and showed me his amulet that was hanging on a stout silver chain. It was plain and simple and didn’t look to be of any value. It was pewter gray, round with elliptical rays around the border that were recessed behind the round face of the amulet. In the center was a polished stone that looked like hematite, because it sparkled in the sun, but it was darker, like onyx. I had never seen a stone like it. He flipped the amulet over and it was smooth and polished on the back as if it had been worn against his skin for years. The only markings were three glyphs that I had never seen before. He said “this means [life, knowledge, power] in the tongue of the first one”. “The first one of what?” I asked. “The first master of the universe,” he replied. Then he proceeded to tell me the story of the amulet.
The amulet was created by an ancient race in a solar system not too far from Earth. Earth is on the Orion Spur of the Milky Way and the race that created the amulet was at the midpoint between our solar system and the center of the galaxy. They were called the Mirrioda of the planet Mirron. The amulet was created to preserve the accomplishments and history of the Mirrioda. It was a receptacle of the music, art, literature, philosophy, and science of the Mirrioda and much more. You see, the people of Mirron knew that their world was doomed to destruction. A rouge planet was on a direct collision course with theirs. They had considerable scientific knowledge and possessed interstellar flight capabilities, but knew they couldn’t save all of their people.
They began a massive campaign to save as many of their people as possible. They also addressed the need to protect their people during their long flight into the unknown. The Mirrioda had explored the systems nearest to them but had not as yet found another Mirron-like planet. They had to prepare for a long voyage that could possibly see the eclipse of several generations of their species. They didn’t want their people to forget their home and they needed to protect the people who were going to venture forth from their planet. That’s where the amulet comes in. It was designed to enhance the physical and cognitive skills of its recipient, as well as uploading the entire accumulated knowledge of the Mirrioda into the one chosen for this honor. It was not only a repository of knowledge but a conduit that would permanently change the wearer. It would give him all the knowledge and wisdom of the Mirrioda and increase his mental and physical power beyond any being known to exist.
The choice of who would be honored with the task of being the protector of his people and the receptacle of the accumulated knowledge of the Mirrioda was not an easy choice. Unfortunately, the Mirrioda had little time to make the choice. Chosen from the best of the Mirrioda was a man named Sway. He was an accomplished scientist, young and healthy. He was led to a room in the medical facility and prepared himself. He put the amulet on and felt the surge of power and knowledge flow through him. His head swam and his legs almost buckled, but shaking the cobwebs from his mind he quickly recovered. The amulet worked, but as the hours folded into days the knowledge, strength, and power that flooded Sway, began to change him. Unfortunately, the amulet worked too well. The leaders and scientists of the Mirrioda noticed the change in Sway almost immediately. Their people had never heard the human expression, “Absolute power, corrupts absolutely.” Sway quickly began questioning all authority, and soon thereafter, felt too important to carry out his task as a repository of knowledge and protector of his people. He felt he had transcended his own species to the point of being a god.
One evening, several weeks after obtaining his new power and knowledge, he decided to leave his world and his people behind. He left his quarters and proceeded directly to the ships created to carry his people to safety. He arrived at the spaceport and found it guarded by only 4 men. They stood no chance of stopping him. He killed each of them with a single blow then proceeded into the hanger. All the knowledge of the Mirrioda was at his command, so the hanger door codes, the shipboard security codes and all the skills and abilities needed to pilot the ship were hardwired into his mind. He took one of the 15 ships that were each meant to carry 10,000 of the best and brightest of his people and alone piloted the craft away from his planet to fulfill what he felt was his destiny…To be the master of the universe.
Jamook said, “Sway did not fulfill his destiny.” Sway, during his savage campaign to rule the universe, had usurped power from several formidable species, which were vastly more advanced than the Mirrioda. He considered his own species to be inferior and unworthy of his rule. About a year after leaving Mirron, Sway received a dispatch from one of his fleet admirals about a small fleet of ships interloping on his territory, who would not acknowledge any communication. He immediately ordered the Admiral’s fleet to intercept and destroy them. The defenseless fleet of 14 ships, carrying 140,000 souls, entered the area of space that Sway had conquered and without forethought, he ordered them destroyed. Sway…the master of the universe inadvertently ordered the destruction of his own people. Sway’s fleet completely destroyed the helpless fleet of the Mirrioda. He never meant to completely abandon his people, much less destroy them. He was going to take over the galaxy, then reunite with them as their ruler, (he reflected in a feeble effort to justify his actions). Now his entire species was wiped from existence except for himself. His entire species was exterminated in accordance with his thoughtlessly arrogant order.
This swept Sway into a deep, dark depression that made him want to end his life. Writhing in anguish he realized, there was only one way. He must find another being to entrust with the amulet…a being from a less evolved and benevolent species. He no longer felt worthy of the gift he was entrusted with. “I must find someone to be a receptacle of my people’s culture, accomplishments, and knowledge.” He searched throughout the galaxy for worthy species. 252 years had passed before he finally found Jamook’s people. They were simple people, of an agrarian society, that did not know violence. They didn’t have any concept of violence, because it had never existed within their social structure. It was idyllic but created a vacuum in technologic advancement. Jamook’s people, the Joonum of the planet Joon, existed in much the same agrarian way, without significant technologic advancement over the past 21,886,252 years of their recorded history.
Unconscious in the hospital, Bob thought: “That can’t be true! There is much too much evidence to the contrary. No species could stay viable for that long.”
Jamook was the leading citizen of a small community and served on its council of elders.
Sway appeared before Jamook exactly as Jamook had appeared before me. At 6’2” Sway was much taller than Jamook and looked very different. Sway was bipedal but had four arms and an elongated cranium with a dorsal ridge and a child-like face with blue/gray skin. The appearance of Sway startled and frightened Jamook so much that he dropped to the ground prostrate then curled his body into a protective fetal position, cowering. Sway without saying a word closed his eyes and transferred all the knowledge of his people, as well as all the knowledge that he had accumulated, back into the amulet. He then walked over to the still cowering Jamook and placed the amulet around his neck. As it touched Jamook’s skin it instantly transferred its repository of knowledge and its unbelievable physical power into the unsuspecting Jamook.
Enlightenment, but not welcomed enlightenment, for in that instant Jamook knew what Sway had perpetrated against his own people and the people of many other worlds. He knew anger, hatred, envy, murder and the feeling of ultimate power in that instant. After that instant of enlightenment with his instantaneous newfound physical power, he reached up and tore the head from Sway’s body and violently dashed it to the ground. Jamook stood over Sway’s body quivering with hatred and murderous rage. A few moments passed and as they passed the rage became remorse. Jamook acted upon new feeling before having the opportunity to explore them and understand them, and his regret was profound. As a gesture of repentance, Jamook buried Sway in the manner customary to the now extinct Mirrioda. Sway’s head was reattached with needle and thread, the body was wrapped in a purple cloth tied in red rope and lowered feet first into a 20-foot hole so that the body remained erect. The head was tilted back to look up into the heavens. Then Jamook buried Sway. It took several hours to acquire the needed materials, dig the hole and perform the ceremony, giving Jamook a great deal of time to reflect on his newfound powers.
His task completed, Jamook returned to his home, wife, and children. Unfortunately, his life could never be the same as it was. His wife noticed the change right away. She questioned him about why he was late coming home, but he would not answer and became angry. She had never known anger, so could not understand it. The more Jamook interacted with his family the more troubled and disgusted he became. They were unworthy of him now, but he still loved them. His psychological changes worried and distressed his family to the point of utter despair. He loved them, but couldn’t control his newfound negative emotions, so in order to protect them; he decided that he must go. He tried to explain this to his wife and children, but they didn’t have the intellectual capacity to understand. So, he made sure that they were well provided for and would never want for anything and left. He had all the knowledge of the Mirrioda and Sway, so as if he had piloted the ship himself, he went to the place Sway parked his landing vessel and departed his homeworld forever.
In the spirit of the Mirrioda, he became an explorer. He visited many worlds. If they greeted him with open arms or indifference, he showed them kindness in the spirit of his people. Those that would harm him he left alone never to visit them again. Killing once was enough. The fact that he had killed at all tortured his existence. He was filled with remorse and regret. He had traveled the galaxy for 426 years, but now his ship was over 678 years old and had been repaired as many times as possible. The systems were failing and he had to land. He found a nearby planet that he felt would be comfortable and accommodating to his physiology, and landed. It just happened to be Earth.
He landed in an abandoned quarry about 10 miles west of my home, away from prying eyes. As he walked, he thought of how good it would be to rejoin his wife. The life span of his people was no more than 50 years, so he knew she was dead. As we believe, Jamook’s people also believed in a Heaven-like place where their spirits dwell after they die. He wanted to be with his wife and his children. Unfortunately, the amulet made that impossible. The amulet not only increased intelligence and strength, but it also imparted the ability to continuously regenerate. He could not get old, he could not be killed, and he could never die. He knew that the only way he could be free to die is to put the power he had been burdened with back into the amulet and find a new host for its power.
So, there I stood in the presence of an immortal that no longer wanted to be immortal. I thought, “This is crazy…what do I do now, offer my sympathy or what?” Before I could think or react Jamook lunged at me placing the amulet around my neck. When the amulet touched my skin I felt all the knowledge of the Mirrioda, Sway, and Jamook and all the knowledge of all the worlds they had visited fill my mind. I felt a wave of power through my body and the power of my mind leap millennia beyond that of the average man. My mind was opened, and I could remember every detail of my entire life and every detail of everything that I had ever learned. “What a rush!” Fortunately for Jamook, I did not instantly kill him as he had killed Sway. I was more adaptable to the information, emotions, and power that were imparted to me.
I quickly realized that the human mind was vastly superior to that of both of the former hosts of this power. Our brains were much more adaptive, had greater capacity, and extrasensory potential. The Mirrioda were only more technologically advanced than us due to the fact that they had more time to develop than us, hundreds of thousands of years were required to develop their technologies, and their entire planet was united. They all had a common goal. They wanted to explore and find additional worlds to colonize. They were amazing beings, but were also frail and lacked our intellectual capacity. Never the less, their extinction was a horrible loss to the galaxy.
I was now the embodiment of their dreams and aspirations, their hope to keep their memory and knowledge alive. Unfortunately, there where no Mirrioda left to appreciate their accomplishment. They would never witness the fulfillment of their dreams and would never know the unbelievable power bestowed upon me. I now possessed the power to be the master of the universe.
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