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THE OCCURRENCE

A Science Fiction Story

By John Baxter

Completed 2011

Chapter One
Azel, whose name was pronounced as A (for apple)-Zell (rhyming with yell), sat on the
very top of the large flattened top of a very large rock, from where he could see for miles
around and below him, unhindered, watching the amazing sight unfolding before his
eyes. The ancient prophets had foretold of this celestial conjunction from the ancient past,
and like all of his race and creed who had gone before him, he had prepared for this
amazing sight, something he had waited, and expected to see, almost all of his life. His
belief was that, if all of these ancient prophecies were correct about the next occurrence,
this spectacle would happen again sometime within his lifetime. They had been correct,
and it was just starting.
These ancient prophecies, more like old wives tales really than the usual thundering
texts taken from dusty old scrolls, delivered by equally old priests or clergy, which would
normally used for this type of occurrence. You would expect the scrolls to tell of major
events of this magnitude in great detail, foretelling of really amazing things about to
happen again, things that had happened before in a long and forgotten past. Magical
things, and mystical beings, the past, the present, and the future all becoming more
difficult to isolate from the reality of life, and all caused by some spectacular, celestial,
twice a millennium show.
While Azel sat, and gazed up at this changing sky above him, observing the millions of
different fractal colours becoming more and more fused as the weeks went on, yet still
able to remain detached from each other somehow, the occurrences of these sky colours
were becoming more numerous, almost by the day.
As he sat there, he wondered to himself, Am I in any real danger?
The ancient prophets had said that, working on the very sketchy historical record that
had remained in their culture so far, on previous occasions of this happening occurring,
lives were changed forever, and many people were lost forever, but still here
Am I going to die? he thought.
He had told himself that all he needed to do was be on his guard, as this coming
phenomena was supposed to take some weeks to begin, and months to complete, and lets
face it, there was nothing he could do about it anyway, other than learn from it, that is if
he lived long enough, and to use the knowledge he would hopefully glean from the
experience for the future. He could write accurate records from this occurrence, to ready

the populous for the next occurrence, in another five hundred years or so, so they would
be better prepared than he was at this point in the coming.
The sky above him had started to show really small colour changes from about two
months ago, and, looking at it now from his vantage point on the rock above his village,
was showing more signs of changing even further. The predicted banding of the
atmosphere, similar to an over the whole planet rainbow effect, was starting to form, and
the weather patterns were starting to get a little more erratic, especially the winds. These
winds, according to the many folk tales handed down through the generations, would be
normal, and would precede these natural events that were to come. They were still
frightening, as the coming changes had never been analysed or understood, explained, or
documented. There was little or no knowledge of what was to happen, other than the few
snippets of legends and folk stories handed down, which no doubt had been added to
immensely in the telling of the stories over the many generations, to leave a very small
basic outline of reality, and massive amounts of mystical folklore.
Would Magis; powerful wizards who could control the elements appear, as prophesied
in the tales, or would it be some kind of religious God-like type Shamans, Priests or
indeed Deities themselves visits our people?
This could only be answered in the fullness of time.
Azel had thought that to understand what had been foretold by the ancient ones, and to
tell of the occurrences that would happen, he needed to go back in time a long, long way.
He had to try to make some sort of sense out of the old texts, and not only read the old
scripts, but translate them into a form he could understand. The original scripts had been
left by the elders so very long ago, for a reason, and he had to find out why, and to see
what had happened all that way back then.
To understand the future we must sometimes look to the past for the path we are to
take, and to follow the path we find, to help us find the beginning, and start at that
beginning.
This was a problem in itself. There were so many places that could be started from, as
Azel had found when he attempted to do his research. Too many beginnings.
He thought to himself, Pick one
In his heart, he hoped he had picked the right one.

Chapter Two
Azel had been doing a lot of research over the past year or two; in the time he had
available outside of his normal work that is, reading through and trying to understand, the
few remaining scrolls and stone tablets still in existence today. There were not many, and
whether there had been more at one time, which had been later destroyed, or that this was
the sum total of the evidence, he might never know. There were no records of any
documents in any of their history being destroyed on a large scale, or being hidden and
then lost, though this would be hard to prove.
His findings so far didnt really amount too much in the way of evidence.

The folk stories handed down by word of mouth foretold of a change occurring, the
last occurrence happening about five hundred years ago, and from that period, which is in
history terms not so long ago, he deduced that there must have been some of their race of
people both before this change, and after it too. This was not going to be an extinction
event. The population records available showed no sign of either a rise or fall in the
numbers of citizens around the time of the last occurrence, but more a sort of unexplained
side shift. Their lifestyles changed little by little over the next few years. Scientific
advancement seemed to get a kick-start.
Why hadnt someone written it all down? The rest of their peoples long history, from
the time they had invented their style of writing to more or less now, and it had all been
very well documented, extremely well documented in fact, so why not this?
Perhaps this occurrence, in reality, was not as spectacular or meaningful as the folk
tales foretold, a bit of a damp squib, the stories being changed later by the many narrators
so as to make them interesting, then added to and added to again, so that through time
they would become almost unrecognisable from the original, legends steeped in
magnificent mystery and myth, whereas in reality it was possibly something so
insignificant, it was not worth writing about.
Azel had pondered these points many times, dismissing the second option quickly,
otherwise the scrolls that had been written telling of the event would not have been
written at all. They revealed more by what they didnt say rather than what they did, the
way the writings were actually written was similar to a disjointed list, with gaps and
jumps in the timelines, nothing like the movie style of flashbacks, but still interlocking
with each other somehow. This was more like a map of events rather than a story. It was
as if all you had were the pencilled notes found in the margin, the main block texts
missing. Without the rest of the main block of text, decoding these writings could take
many years, and he didnt have that sort of time as the events were already starting to
unfold around him.
It had taken Azel this first year of study just to understand how the scrolls were to be
read, the information on them out of any understandable chronological order, and out of
synchronisation, with no points of reference to try to find a point to start. The pieces of
information before and after the section being studied seemed in no way relevant to that
centre section, the symbols were not repeating themselves in any known pattern, but they
must fit together somehow. It was all so frustrating, but he wasnt giving up yet.
As he sat, looking up at the small changes that had already occurred in the sky above
him, sitting on his favourite observation rock, as he liked to call it, he was able to mull
over any findings from his work on the scrolls, and allow himself time to think. He knew
from experience that things could be missed completely if the answers are not allowed to
reveal themselves, and this revelation would take time. Something he had less and less of.

Chapter Three
Azel had returned to his laboratory, and sat in his chair, the copies of the scrolls and
copies of relevant writings found over the past few years spread out over the desk. They
all bore a different mark, a symbol really, which in itself appeared not to have any
relevance to the translation of the scrolls. The mark was a sort of symbol printed all by

itself in the top left corner of the pages of the documents. It was thought by many of the
previous academics studying the scrolls that these could be the identifying marks of the
writer of that particular set or even page of the parts of the scrolls, so they were usually
kept with the similar symbols together, then each scroll or paper put into some sort of
order by any means possible. There was no key to unlock how these went together, if at
all they did. All Azel could do was to try to understand each piece of writing in its own
context, as a stand alone fact, and then, when more was translated, put them together in
an assumed correct or logical order.
To make matters worse, not all of the writings were here. Some were in museums
elsewhere, from which he had requested, and not always successfully received, copies,
and some were in the hands of private collectors, also reluctant to give the information on
their property as they believed that copying for scientific purposes might reveal
something wrong with them and this may decrease their overall appeal, and therefore
their resale monetary value. Some, of course, were in the hands of the Black Marketers;
International criminals who moved around the law, which in effect meant that these
scrolls didnt officially exist at all.
It was from these Black Market dealers that Azel had surprisingly received the most
help, since they needed someone qualified to be able to understand which scrolls were the
important ones, and therefore capable of bringing in the better prices, and which were of
little or no value. By helping out the criminals, something he would not have done if it
had not been so important, he had been able to copy, for his study and valuation purposes,
most of the historical records held by the Underworld in the world, and, he was given a
few of them too, the ones that appeared to have no monetary or bargaining value at all.
These were scrolls or parchments with just a couple of symbols on a page, and nothing
else that could be seen or detected on the blank paper. Tests had been done on these in
the recent past, but these revealed nothing. He was determined crack this code. It had
become his lifes work.
That night, he went home as he usually did, intending to eat something first, then start
and do even more study with his daily notes and findings so far. Nothing made sense. The
notes from today only deepened the mystery. This would have remained a mystery if he
hadnt received a strange phone call from one of the criminal type suppliers, wanting him
to re-examine the scroll in their possession. Something was wrong with it.
Azel pulled out his copy of the document from his computer file, and printed it, so he
knew he could make a comparison if it was needed, and then travelled, alone, and under
cover of darkness, to the unmapped premises of this rich and very powerful person.
On his way there, he kept trying to work out what they meant by this something being
wrong with it. How wrong? What wrong? Why wrong?
This particular document had a great deal of symbolic writing printed or written on it,
though the writing was scattered about all over the whole page, in what can only be
described as a seemingly random fashion, but there was nothing which appeared in any
way to be an outstanding symbol on any of the scroll that could be described as wrong.
He would soon find out what they meant when he got there.

Chapter Four

The large mansion house looked almost deserted, and it seemed to be in total darkness
as Azel approached it. The huge metal gates, which lead to the equally huge tarmac drive,
had been opened for him on his arrival, and as he drove along this long roadway, he
hoped that his exit would be as trouble free as his entrance. He knew of the dark
reputation of this particular Crime Lord.
He was now starting to have doubts. What if he couldnt help?
On arrival at the house, he was shown into a sort of large drawing room and told to
wait there by this huge man who must have been the butler. He remained there, standing
still, just in case. These places sometimes had security cameras in the rooms.
After about three minutes, the Crime Lord himself walked in, his huge frame filling the
gap for the door, his height just fitting through too. He was looking a little angry too,
carrying the scroll that he owned with him. He briskly asked, this more as a request than
an instruction for Azel to be seated, something he did very quickly.
The Crime Lord began,
I bought this scroll from another dealer, some years ago, for a great deal of money, a
huge amount of money in fact, because one of the symbols on one of the pages looked
like an outline of my young daughter
I then called this scroll by her name, and told her, as she was growing up, that it was
the Ancient ones saying that she would be born a princess, and how special she was
Now look at it!!
He thrust the unopened scroll into Azels hand, and walked over to the huge fire
surround that bordered an equally huge log-burning fireplace. He placed his arm on the
edge of the mantelpiece, and looked straight at Azel, as if he was waiting an answer.
Something Azel at that time didnt have.
Azel took the printed copy he had made from the photograph of the scroll he held on
his computer and gave it to the Crime Lord, and asked him to indicate which symbol he
was referring to when he said it looked like his granddaughter. The Crime Lord looked at
the printed sheets then pointed to one of the symbols, which in a strange sort of way, did
look a little like a silhouette of a young child.
Laying the original scroll on the small table in front of him, Azel could see that this
was not the same scroll as the scroll he had copied and spent his life studying. Something
had changed.
He placed his copy next to the original scroll, and there were now many subtle
differences, the symbol shapes appeared to have changed slightly, and in some cases
moved or rotated. He had taken these copy photographs himself, and knew that they were
genuine copies. This was something he had never met before.
He was totally awestruck. He could not speak. He had no answers.
In front of him, every symbol, and even their relative positions to each other, were
slightly different now then from the time he had taken the photographs.
Looking up at the Crime Lord, he had to admit that he had no idea what had happening
to the scroll, but that, in everybodys best interest, he suggested that he should take it with
him to his laboratory, and have it checked, and if necessary treated just in case there
could be something chemical or biological that could cause some permanent damage to
the scroll itself. He also asked the Crime Lord, more as an after thought than a direct
question, when had he noticed the changes in the scroll, as time may play a major part in

the restoration. He was told that they had only looked at the scroll earlier today, for the
first time in about six months, as they were not on display within the house. This scroll,
officially, didnt exist.
Not a lot to go on, but he had to try and save these historical documents. It could be
dampness stretching the parchments; humidity is a bit of a bugger with paper and
especially parchment, or any number of other things in the air that could do it.
He left the huge mansion house a lot quicker than he had arrived, and with a valuable
cargo too, and went straight to his laboratory. The Crime Lord really trusted him.
All the way back to the lab, he was planning his sequence of tests.
On arrival, he immediately set up as many of the tests as he could to follow the order
he had worked out in his head on the way there, so that as one test was being done, or
awaiting the results, he was preparing for the next one, and so on. He had to see what
could possibly be causing this strange transmutation of the symbols or the paper. Test
number one was now giving its results on the printer. It wasnt water or humidity. He
carried on working right through the night, and still came up with nothing.
The paper was as good as the day the symbols were drawn on it, the inks or staining
agents, as some of the symbols looked almost picture like and similar to jigsaw pieces,
these were in equally good condition.
These scrolls, all of them, were in perfect condition, physically.
He then decided to photograph the scrolls again, all of them, and date the pictures, so
he could hide the originals from prying eyes until he needed them later in the
investigation. He needed sleep and time to think.
Sleep was becoming a much needed item, so Azel thought hed take a short power nap
on the old sofa at the side of his office, hoping the noise of the staff coming in for the
morning work would wake him and he could start again, fully refreshed. They let him lie
in.

Chapter Five
As Azel slept, he dreamed of all manner of chemical testing, and heat sensitive inks,
like the old fashioned invisible inks that only show up when heated. He dreamed of silly
tests, with mixed results. He finally dreamed that, during a heat test, the scrolls caught
fire!
He was awake and sitting up in seconds, wiping the sleep from his eyes, and sighing
with relief that the scrolls were perfectly fine. He sat still for a moment to give him time
to realign with reality. Hed had a scare, and was still feeling the effects.
The coffee machine was only a short walk along the corridor outside of his office; so,
he stood up, and stretching his stiff muscles, received from sleeping on this short couch,
and began to walk to the door.
Oh, to be young again, he thought, as the circulation returned to his legs.
The main laboratory seemed quieter than usual, though still quite a hive of activity. The
many technicians were still running about with the same pieces of paper they had held in
their hands since last week, and the supervisors issuing instructions to keep them moving
about. A real case of looking busy to keep your importance, so keep your job.

In truth, the laboratories here had very little to do now since first of all some new food
hygiene standards had more of less dictated which chemical additives could no longer be
used in foodstuffs, so getting rid of the need for sample testing.
The lab was then used to check pollutants in the air and water table, once again finding
that new legislation also protected that too.
Finally, they were put to use trying to see what effect this expected Celestial
Occurrence was going to have, or indeed might have, on the environment, if any, and if it
did, what the people could expect to see or protect themselves from.
This in itself was a bit of a conundrum, a farce really, as things were happening so
slowly, it was difficult to even detect any changes at all until about three months ago, and
the lab had been investigating phenomena for over two years now.
It was getting to the point where, if your glass of water on your desk was a tiny
fraction above the normal temperature, it was an O.E., the shortened term for an
Occurrence Effect, not taking into consideration that the glass had stood on the desk, in
full sunlight, for over an hour.
With the many unexplained O.E.s that kept coming up, fully investigated for any
information that could be gleaned from it, and finally written up and debunked, this tied
up the lab resources, preventing any serious research being properly done. The sky colour
change, even though slight had already been proven to be a sort of cosmic dust that the
planet was starting to pass through, so the research was halted on that, even though the
dust was now starting to give a banding effect, like a multi-shaded pink rainbow, different
hues at different times of the day. Only Azel carried on this branch of the work, and still
studied the ancient texts for clues or guidance.
If he had expected any assistance from any of the lab staff, he knew he wouldnt get it.
He was on his own on this one. He knew more than they did about this O.E. more than
anyone else in the whole lab, so he was never questioned about it, just ignored.
He arrived at the coffee machine and inserted his staff card, the cost of the coffee
would be deducted at source, pressed the keys, and waited till the small cup filled with
the black, hot, liquid. Trying not to burn his fingers, he took the cup out of the vendor,
and walked back to his own lab, and into the security of his own office. He closed the
door behind him. Only then did he take the scrolls out of their hiding place for reexamination.
In his mind, and from his notes, he ran through the sequence of tests already done, the
types of tests, and the unfortunate predictable negative results. He looked in his memory
for any other kind of test that may give a clue as to what the lettering on the scrolls were
doing. The tests had already proved that they were not deteriorating, in fact, if anything
the pigmentation of the inks was becoming even more opaque.
Today was to be a big test day, the Crime Lord had already been on his mobile phone
asking of any progress had been made, and he was informed that the simple tests revealed
nothing, and they, or at least he, was moving to the next level of testing. This seemed to
work, especially when Azel told him that he was working slowly and carefully on his
valuable document with extreme care.
Azel started with Radiography, Carbon Dating, then used X Rays, and then into UltraSound, all of which revealed nothing from the scans. There were no inner markings, no
minute hidden chambers, just a really good paper, and this parchment paper was of very
high quality at that.

The carbon dating however showed the scrolls to be brand new. There was no
recordable dating evidence either, so it was impossible to calculate the actual ages of the
scrolls, and whether they were all written at around the same time.
Strange stuff this parchment. Not the normal stuff anyway.
Azel was about to give up and go home for the day when his office phone rang.
This in itself was unusual, as very few people would need to call him about his work,
other than the occasional other member of his staff. The Crime Lord always called him
on his mobile while he was at the lab so there would be no record at the exchange of his
calls. He casually picked up the handset, and said his name.
A very shaky voice spoke,
Azel! Its Dano! From the Museum of Ancient Art, Azel remembered him from when
he had been trying to obtain or make the copies of the scrolls kept there, and had found
this chap unhelpful to say the least,
You must come at once. Something has happened to our scrolls!! All of our scrolls
seem to be affected, and the symbols on them seem, well, different. They are not right,
this is not right at all!!

Chapter Six
Azel was starting to get a little concerned, as he climbed into his car and headed to the
Museum of Ancient Art. This was now two phone calls about the scrolls in two days,
from different sources, both saying something was wrong.
The Museum must not be told about the work he had already done on the Crime Lords
scroll, since to the outside world they didnt exist, so in a positive way, it would now be
easier for him to make his investigations and findings public, working with the Museum
in a sort of advisory capacity. Azel had no intention of telling Dano anything about the
scroll markings he had already tested, or the results so far, as he wanted to see if he could
get these scrolls back to his lab too, where he could work with some degree of privacy.
He arrived at the Museum, and Dano, the curator, was waiting at the entrance for him.
I cant understand it the Curator said in a higher than normal pitch, and a lot faster
than normal too,
When we had these scrolls on display for the exhibition at the end of last year, they
were perfect, and they were carefully cleaned only a few weeks ago
Azel could see the beads of perspiration on the furrowed brow of the ruffled curator, no
doubt from the fear of what his peers might make of it all this when it all came out.
They were perfect then, and we made sure that they went into the store properly
These scrolls were kept, page-by-page, behind glass, in something similar to picture
frames, so they could be hung up on display, should they need be, on display from time to
time, when it was their turn to be on exhibition, and then stored in a cool, dark, and
slightly vacuumed repository.
No, their storage is not the problem, as none of the elements that could harm the scrolls
in any way could get to them. Azel already knew this, but he gambled that Dano did not.
You are quite sure that they were cleaned correctly Azel asked, piling on the
pressure to the poor, already almost bursting curator

None of the cleaning agents got in behind the glass, or in through the back seals? he
carried on, so as to throw as much doubt as possible into Danos mind, making it easier to
request that he should take the scrolls for testing, something Dano would have normally
have said no to.
Im sure, absolutely sure, Dano replied, shooting a look of utter distain at that
remark, We are very meticulous with all of our ancient artefacts like this
He was staring at Azel as though all of this was his entire fault, so it was up to Azel to
put it right again.
It was time for Azel to make his play.
I need to take these scrolls to my lab to test them. In fairness, your facilities here are
not bad, but are nowhere near as well equipped as ours for the various tests I will have to
do on these items.
He saw Danos face change with this request, knowing that he now had him backed
into a corner, and he wasnt going to let him out easily. Hed waited years for something
like this to come along so he could study these scrolls, and he wasnt about to waste it.
And I am aware of the great value of these artefacts, I will endeavour to protect them
from any harm or deterioration which might be happening to the scrolls themselves. I
give you my word
It worked.
Azel left the museum with the whole twelve huge cases of scrolls, helped to his car by
Dano himself, the man who had tried as hard as he could to withhold them from Azel in
the past, but was now more than willing to give them to him. His job was on the line. The
museum had paid a small fortune for these from a private collectors family when the
collector himself died, some years ago.
Squirm, Azel though, as he drove away.

Chapter Seven
It didnt take long to travel from the museum to his laboratory, planning his methods
and checks. Azel knew that he was already ahead on the test sequences anyway, so could
miss out a major part of the preliminaries.
First of all, he needed to check what changes had occurred since he had taken the
photographs of about seven of the originals, the remaining five being withheld from him
in the preliminary investigations, deemed to be of too great an importance to be released
or copied, for any reason, from the Museum.
This would cause problems with the other five, because Azel had nothing to check their
alleged changes against. He would only be able to work with the other seven, which
should be enough to start with, and photograph the new five scrolls so that if there were
any further changes occurring, he would see and monitor them from now onward.
He arrived at the gates to the laboratory complex, still planning his next tests, the
security guard opening the gates as he approached. It was not uncommon for Azel to be
working unusual hours lately, so his late appearance did not alarm the guard, only amused
him. He pressed the electronic operating button to open the gate, waved and smiled as
Azel drove through. Poor man, he thought, having to work another late night.

Azel opened up his part of the lab, and got straight to work, photographing and
copying the scrolls he had been denied access to as a priority, just in case they asked for
them back before he could solve anything.
Next, he took out the scrolls, which he had made photographic copies of, and started to
run overlay comparison tests with his equipment to see if he could detect any changes.
There were many, in fact all of them showed changes, some greater than others, though
all of them very subtle.
Even with this new evidence, he was still no further forward in finding out what was
causing these strange changes, and indeed why they were changing at all. If Azel had
been a logical man, he would have concentrated on the changes themselves as a clue.
He was not a logical man, he was an experimental scientist, and so he concentrated his
efforts and focussed on what was causing the effect rather than the effect itself.
Somewhere, there was an answer.
Looking at the timeline for the changes in the scrolls to begin to change, all of the
reports and explanations seemed to point to about the same time as the sky started to take
on its banded pattern. Was there a connection? Did this ionised dust in the upper
atmosphere have anything to do with all this?
In the lab were samples, taken over a long period in time from the air, by vacuum
filtration, at various heights around the globe, and at various times of the year; all very
neatly labelled and stored in their own little jars, in their own little boxes in the archive
sample room. Azel would start with them.
He collected a few of the samples, more or less at random from the store, and returned
to his lab, not exactly sure what he was going to do, but thats what science is all about.
Experiment. Create, and learn from it. There is no failure; it is just not the right answer.
The first samples he used were from the early period, and on exposing the scrolls to
them, they had no visible effect. All of his samples he tried did the same, bringing him to
the conclusion that the cosmic dust was not the cause of the changes in the scrolls. He felt
he knew the answer but he just couldnt put his finger on it.
While he gave himself time to think, he set about looking at all of the scrolls he had in
his possession, to see if he could detect any further changes in them.
After about three hours of close scrutiny, checking and double-checking, he found that
the changes were becoming greater as time went on. Tiny movements were now
becoming little movements, and so on, none of them making any sense yet, but perhaps
as the changes accelerated he would be able to make more sense out of them.
That still didnt answer the question as to what was causing the changes, just that the
changes were becoming more noticeable.
He still had a couple of tricks up his sleeve to try to find out the cause, but he was
totally convinced that these scrolls were to play a major part in the occurrences that were
to happen soon. He just didnt understand the mechanics of it all.

Chapter Eight

Over the next few weeks, Azel monitored the scrolls, and received a few more to his
collection, sent for analysis from various sources around the world, all of them suffering
from these unexplained changes.
As a once totally ignored and ridiculed specialist scientist, he was now gaining
notoriety from his understanding of the scrolls and the forthcoming occurrences, a
position he really didnt want as he only had the same evidence as everyone else, he had
just monitored the changes of the atmosphere, the scrolls, the climate, and came up with
an easily predictable theory, something anyone could have done. When you see big black
clouds in the sky, you expect rain. When you feel the pressure drop; you know you will
get strong winds. His peers were elevating him to the world expert of all of the O.E
happenings, and in truth, he didnt really like it. He became the Experimenter.
It was because of this unwanted attention that he now spent most of his time safely
hidden in the confines and seclusion of the lab, almost living there. Not because he was
working twenty hours a day, because he wasnt, but more because he could not answer
the many direct questions thrown at him by the media, all of them in search of the story
of a lifetime.
There were no answers to be had, or none that he had found so far.
The scrolls continued to change, little by little, the sky continued to become full of
these dust created banding effects, and the life around their world went on as normal.
Something big was coming, everybody knew that, and everybody wanted to cash in on it
too. Franchises, business deals, TV coverage, the works. The big executives in their ivory
towers were hatching massive money making schemes. They would make a killing. Real
estate increased in value, and the stock markets buzzed with excitement.
Azel sat, in the subdued lighting of his office, going over the scroll number whatever it
must be, for the by now, too many to count number of times, wondering to himself if all
this was worth it. Hed had a sort of snack earlier, but his stomach was almost crying out
for real food. He couldnt go and get it, hed be recognised. Better to stay put.
He sat back in his chair and stared at the ceiling, allowing his eyes to change focus
from close work to distance, and put his hands behind his head, more or less looking at
the ceiling for inspiration.
Something moved just out of his centre of vision.
He had seen something.
It was there, and then not there, a fleeting glimpse like a feint shadow. He looked at the
area where he thought hed seen this whatever it was, but there was nothing. Everything
was normal.
He put his head back, and thought to himself that if he was starting to see things that
were not there, it was time to raise his blood sugar levels with food, and to try to sleep,
after all hed been at this now for over eighteen hours, and solved nothing. Perhaps, with
a fresh mind, he could solve the things that still eluded him.
He slid down in the big chair he was sitting in, and thought to himself that maybe a
couple of hours sleep would refresh his mind enough to carry on. He lifted his feet onto
the desk, and reclined into a more comfortable position.
Just before he finally dozed off, he felt the slight draft of what felt like something
moving passed him. He couldnt see or hear it, he was aware that he just felt it. He
couldnt lift his head to look, and his eyes stayed shut.

Must be dreaming he thought as he drifted off into a deep sleep. That night he had an
uneasy disturbed sleep. Nothing specific, just jumbled snapshots.

Chapter Nine
Over the next few weeks, the scrolls continued to change, at a steadily, almost
controlled accelerated rate, some of the markings were now starting to be discernable as
either some form of text or even a diagram, though unfortunately, still making no sense.
Azel still worked alone, by choice, fearing that any assistant assigned to him could leak
information, which could be sensitive, unproven, or incorrect about this very exacting
work, and the whole thing could be totally misunderstood. If nothing else, Azel was
thorough. He was still working long hours too.
From the beginning of yet another few weeks of analysis, Azel was feeling that his
work was having an adverse effect on his sanity, to the point of him believing that he was
seeing things. On more than one occasion he had sensed someones presence in the lab,
though he could see no one.
A small faint movement just out of his centre vision would cause him to look up from
the work, and to see absolutely nothing. This was becoming more and more regular.
Time to rest, or slow down or something, before I kill myself, he thought,
Imagination is really playing tricks on me
He stepped back from the large desk on which the scrolls were laid out, and rubbed his
tired eyes. He could carry on tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, hopefully finding
the answer he was seeking.
His body was telling him to take a long break, have a weekend off before he went
crazy altogether. Nature was taking command. Stop or be stopped.
He walked from the large lab area, turning out the lights as he went, and into his small
private office area where he had erected a camp bed, for occasions such as this, when he
had to overnight in the lab. He was using this camp bed almost all of the time now.
Settling down for a sleep, he really had no idea whether it was day or night outside but
assumed it had to be night, as he could not hear anyone else working or moving about in
the complex.
He started to try to sort out in his head the many different changes hed found since he
started, both in the scrolls, and the planets sky, this banding of colours in the atmosphere
now starting to become quite prominent. The folk stories of old said that this was normal,
but it was still worrying. The powers that be wanted answers.
Sleep deprivation can lead to many things, nightmares of great terror, dreams that
mystify, and an uncomfortable falling feeling. Azel had none of these. He slept, soundly
for over twelve hours, almost unconscious. He slept the sleep of the innocent.
When he awoke, he felt as if he could take on the world, his mind much clearer and
sharper, his focus returned.
After a visit to the toilet and that necessary trip to the coffee machine, followed by a
quick change of clothes that had followed a nice hot shower in the main labs locker and
changing room, he was feeling ready to take on the day.
He returned to the table where he had left the scrolls laid out upon it, and found
something he wasnt at all pleased about.

Someone had been in and moved the scrolls from where he had set them into
apparently random positions. Those page numbers they had always followed were now
out of sequence, and were grouped in blocks that had no resemblance or anything in
common with each other. Someone had been in this room, and was trying to sabotage his
work, perhaps one of Danos associates from the museum, desperate to discredit Azel and
his work on the Occurrence. It could, on the other hand, be the criminal element people,
checking out what Azel actually had in his lab, and whether it was worth anything in real
money.
Azel would, when he had the time to do it, make sure that the person, or persons
responsible, would be taken to task for their indiscretion.
As all of these thoughts were going through his head, Azel was physically checking
that all of the scrolls were present, and that this had not been a burglary.
They were all here.
For no reason, Azel stepped back from the table, hands on his hips, and surveyed the
scrolls together as a whole, trying to make sense as to why they were now in this
particular and peculiar order. This was not random placement, it was as if someone was
looking for something contained there, but even their new position now, it still didnt
make sense either.
He spent the next hour returning them to the fixed and accepted order as understood by
the side margin markings, the order they had always been placed in, and left them spread
out in that order again. Time to go and research some more out in the real world.
Locking his lab, and alarming it for security, he left for the house of the Drug Lord, to
deliver his findings so far, a fairly uncomfortable visit, but nevertheless fruitful. He was
able to find out while he was there that a long lost scroll was in the possession of an
acquaintance of this powerful criminal, and arrangements were being made for this scroll
to be sent to Azel, hopefully not acquired from a body bag.
All of the other contributors or owners of scrolls were notified by email of the findings
so far, but as the scrolls from this, and other major Crime Lords, legally did not exist, it
meant that every so often, a car ride to the house to deliver the report personally.
Report delivered, back in his car, travelling via a food hall, and returning to the lab.
The daylight had given way to darkness as Azel made his way back to the complex,
amusing the security guard once again on working another late night, though he himself
was not aware of the guards amusement at this. He had more important things to do.
As he unlocked and opened his lab door, turning on the lights as he went, he saw the
scrolls had been moved again. This made him very angry indeed. A joke is a joke, but this
is going too far. Once again they were in this previous apparently random order, as
before, so it could be assumed that the perpetrator was the same as before.
What were they looking for, and why?
All of the accepted primas on the scrolls were wrong, all in a different sequence, going
against what had been believed to be the correct order, yet not wrong either, as something
on them was starting to make sense.
This time, Azel decided to leave the scrolls laid out in this newly found order for the
time being, as whoever it was who had moved them would have to return to work on the
scrolls, and Azel would be waiting.
This time, he would watch, and record anyone entering or leaving his lab. He would
make sure that the law dealt with them most strongly.

Chapter Ten
Three hours into the new tests, everything seemed to be normal, nothing new on the
scrolls, minor changes on some, and none that could be seen on the others.
This cycle of checking and re-checking would carry on for a few weeks, with no
further progress with regard to the text on these documents.
The missing scroll had been delivered through the crime source, and added to the now
re-ordered pages. Nothing was changed by the addition of this scroll. It was just another
day at the office. Most important was that no-one entered his lab when he wasnt there,
giving him confidence to carry on trying to break this ancient code that had tantalised
him for many years.
It was after he had delivered one of his personal update visits to the Crime Lord, he
had returned to his lab, something he did on a regular basis, and had noticed something
strange, something different with the actual writing or marking on the scrolls themselves.
The colour of the writing was changing from a brown stain type of dye colour to a shiny
metallic golden colour, and was starting to reflect the light. It was becoming metallic.
Azel knew that the Occurrence was on its way, but could still not find any more
answers to the many questions still unsolved. There is only so much that can be learned
by observation. To move forward really needed experimentation, and that was a luxury he
could not afford.
He sat back in his large recliner, his hands behind his head, closing his eyes so he
could think without looking at some distraction.
He heard a slight noise.
He felt a slight breeze on his cheek.
Opening one eye slightly, so as not to be detected as searching, he scanned the room.
Nothing.
He opened both eyes, and still nothing.
He could hear something, and sense something, he just couldnt see anything. He was,
by now, starting to become a little concerned, starting to doubt his own sanity.
Then he saw it, a shape, but just a shape.
It was almost the shape of a floating upright rectangle, there for about a second then
gone. It was not solid, he could see right through it. No, it was more like thin spiralling,
swirling smoke, almost black, and in wisps. The wisps were at different thicknesses over
different parts of the image, and moving constantly.
The upper part of this vision appeared to be almost human like in shape, but the lower
parts, where the legs would be, was constantly whisping off in swirls from what looked
like a black cloud made up from photocopier toner, spinning off in all directions,
swirling, shimmering, thinning, and finally disappearing from that point as this apparition
moved.
Azel watched, and observed. He was terrified.
This smoky, liquid graphite looking ghost, for want of a better description, appeared
again, over at the table with the scrolls laid out on it. It paused there. It turned, vanished,
and re-appeared in front to Azel. Right up to his face it came.

In all of this, there was complete silence.


The apparition vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
Azels first thought was for the scrolls and their safety, so he rushed to the table to
examine them. They were fine.
Next he tried to make sense of what he had really seen, and discount what he may have
thought he had seen. This was hard.
Had he really seen a ghost, or was his imagination going into overactive drive due to
the pressure of work, after all, ghosts dont exist.
That said, he still felt a little shaken.
It could have been a government spy using some sort of secret invisibility cloak,
though it certainly didnt work, as it didnt make them totally invisible.

Chapter Eleven
As the time passed, Azel thought little of what he assumed must have been a dream, as
he had work to do, so concentrated on the scrolls, on which there had started to appear
some letters, forming from the fragments that had been drawn onto the scrolls, and
written in an ancient dialect. Too fragmented to make out anything he could work with,
but enough to excite his curiosity. They were still exhibiting signs of a metallic change in
their makeup, though this metal failed every test used to identify it.
Now it was time to spend a little more of his routine understanding what was written
on the scrolls, and not so much on what they were written with
He had finally decided to let these changes run their course instead of trying to find out
what was causing the changes, and work on the reason for the changes themselves.
He started by taking a totally different approach to the markings, and attempted to look
for possible lettering developing on the scrolls themselves. He took pictures of them in
their position on the table, and then the scrolls themselves, putting the photos onto his
computer so he could upload a few days worth, and then run the pictures in a sort of time
lapse sequence, hoping this would help him predict the direction each mark was moving,
and then plot its eventual destination. This achieved limited success, but still it was
success.
By the end of the first week of the experiments using this method, he was able to
predict some of the developing wording, and a couple of diagrams, none as yet making
much sense, but he kept adding the new photographs taken during the day to the movie
as he called it, and was able to change some of his predictions from the new data. He
soon found out that the marks didnt always travel in a straight line.
By the end of the second week, he was making good progress. He was able to translate
lists of items, some hed never heard of, possibly some object, which was now obsolete
with the passage of time, and some he had, though it would be difficult to get the
quantities given. The first scroll appeared to be a sort of non-food shopping list, and, if he
had translated the amounts correctly, it was going to be a huge party.
One of the other scrolls appeared to be part of a map, and those scrolls with very little
on them appeared to be the oceans or lakes between the other sheets. Azel had not been

able to work out the scale of these drawings, so they could be local, they could be
anywhere in the world. At this time he just didnt know.
It was scroll number seven; the one owned by the Crime Lord, that was revealing the
most of its secrets up to now.
This particular scroll had both maps and text on it, and, day-by-day, the information
held on the page was being revealed. It spoke of an area, this area being not too far from
where Azels lab was if the very distinctive shape of the topography was to go by, and
this would be the first meeting place of the Ancients with the Dependants. Where the
wonders would be bestowed on the people of the world. The Occurrence would be upon
them.
As the days went by, more and more scrolls were becoming more easily translated
using the prediction method, but still not really making any sense as a whole, so this gave
Azel an excuse to keep these new developments out of the press, the Museum, and the
Crime Lords, till hed researched these maps further.
The more he thought about it, the more it made sense.
He would go to this distinctive place, and check it out. See if there were any clues he
could glean from the area, geographically speaking, to add to his other findings so far. If
he found nothing, it was worth a try. Only a days drive there, so there should be no
problem. No one would miss him; after all, no one had bothered to check on him in his
lab over the last few months.
He picked up his self-made predicted printout of the map, looked at it again, and
compared it to his atlas from the car. The location seemed correct, the topography
matched, though the details of what was there had changed quite a bit since these scrolls
were written. Instead of a large open plain, it was the centre of a large town.
As he put his suitcase in the boot of his car, he mused
This should be a very interesting little trip

Chapter Twelve
The drive up had been uneventful, almost to the point of being boring.
He had locked up the lab, and drove home to pack. The security guard had opened the
gate for him as he left, waved, and gone back to reading his book. It seemed as if no one
cared what was coming, there was no excitement, no apprehension. People just went on
with their lives, blissfully ignorant of what was to come.
Perhaps it might be better not to know, thought Azel as he filled his car with fuel,
paid at the cash counter to an equally unexcited attendant, more interested in the
television program he was watching than to have a conversation. He got back in his car.
He made the town of Hasame in good time, and was able to find a small hotel to check
into. He picked this hotel in preference to the others as it was away from the glitz and
glamour of the main thoroughfare and the named brand hotels. He couldnt take the risk
of being recognised from all of the newspaper reports that had been published only a few

short weeks ago. This could severely hamper his investigations, and he needed to be able
to move about unhindered to wherever he needed to be, when he needed to be there. He
still wasnt taking any chances though either, and wore a disguise to make him look a lot
older. It seemed to work.
Hasame, (which is pronounces Hass-Army), was a busy place, with the major
industrial sectors occupying the outer suburbs on the eastern side, where the land was
more level and therefore making the building of the large factories or warehouses needed
a lot easier, and the infrastructure with the road and rail links easier.
To the west lay a more undulating landscape, the lower bedrock echoing the same
shape as the surface, with small outcrops of rock breaking out of the ground here and
there, the signs of tectonic movement below over the millennia. Looking further West,
these outcrops then rose up to what could be described as a sort of plateau, not a great
deal higher than parts of the town, but enough to make a difference, till finally rising up
to become the hills that ran in a sort of semicircular pattern around the North, the West
and then the South sides of the town.
It was this strange geology that had guided Azel here in the first place. Looking further
East from the Industrial Sector, the land became a little more uneven, ending in a large
circular rift type of valley, the rift finally being scoured by a river to make this shape
many eons ago.
When viewed from a great height, and a little imagination, the whole area resembled
an extremely large ear.
Azel knew that the predicted scroll map in his possession seemed to be concentrated on
the areas more to the West than to the East of the town, so he drove up to the top of the
plateau to see what signs or symbols he could see from there. With binoculars in hand, he
scanned the full three hundred and sixty degrees. Nothing. Not a special rock, or any
indicating marks to be seen.
This disappointed Azel, as he had expected to find or see something that only he would
recognise from his studies, a marker or pointer that only he would be able to put the two
and two together to make four. It was not to be.
Returning to his car, he mused other possibilities. Perhaps it was not the surface of the
land, but underground, in some unseen caverns or some larva tunnels from eons ago. It
could be anywhere, or it could be everywhere.
He looked at his map, trying to see if he could work out a more precise location of the
indicator marker shown that he had predicted on the scroll. He estimated, now he could
visualise the scale, he was no more than a mile from the assumed target, but no road of
any kind existed in that direction. He would have to walk.
Putting a pack on his back, quite heavy as it included some fresh drinking water bottles
purchased earlier in the town, he set of in a rough North Westerly direction. The sun was
bright, though not too hot as the banding of particles in the atmosphere was tempering the
rays a little. Not enough to make the temperatures drop, but enough to help face intense
heat comfortably, and he would need to be comfortable on a walk like this, a slow and
gentle uphill with a couple of ridges, finally arriving somewhere in the middle of the
plateau. He had made good time so within a few minutes, he was where he wanted to be.
He took out his binoculars again and scanned to see what could be seen from there. It
was about the same as before. There were no clues in the landscape or in the
surroundings. He would have to think again.

He sat down on one of the rock outcrops for a moment, and had a drink from one of the
water bottles while working out his next move, when the wind swirled around him,
whipping up a little dust in the process.
He closed his eyes against the rush of dust, and the wind whistled passed his head. He
thought the wind had whistled the word, stand as it passed. There was none of those
swirling ghost things here, he could see for miles and miles. Nothing here but his own
imagination, and it seemed to be working overtime.
The wind swirled again, and this time he heard the word, stand more clearly.
Something was playing with his mind. He was now starting to get a little concerned for
his own safety. Had he done the right thing coming here?

Chapter Thirteen
Azel stood on the plain above the town, looking around him. He could see nothing out
of the ordinary. He had been told to stand but he could not understand by whom or why.
As he stood, bewildered by this revelation, a slight hissing sound could be heard in his
ears. He looked around, and still nothing out of the ordinary. A voice spoke his name.
This was starting to freak him out. He was hearing things now. He knew he had
overdone the work, but not to the extent of making him hear things.
The voice spoke his name again. Azel looked around and said,
Who is that? Who is trying to make a fool out of me?
This is not funny, and I will defend myself!
There was a pause, then the voice inside his head spoke again
You are Azel, is that correct? Are you the person who is the Experimenter for the
Occurrence?
He still could not see anyone or anything and any direction. Whoever this was knew
who he was, and so had him at a disadvantage. He decided to play along, for now.
Yes, I am he, he replied, wondering where this was going.
The voice spoke again, a steady monotone, almost expressionless in its delivery. This
made Azel think its origin might be mechanical or electronic
I am communicating with you from a great distance, from within what you call the
Occurrence, using a highly focused beam of sound. Please do not move from your
position or our contact will be lost.
Azel froze like a statue. This was intriguing to say the least. He felt he was in no
immediate danger, so hed keep it going. The voice continued,
We are your ancestors on our way to you for the conjunction again, the skies above
you should have already started to change, and the scrolls will have started to change
their markings and becoming proper texts.
You will now have the lists of things we will be bringing to you all
Azel thought for a moment, and decided to interrupt this voice, hoping that the
communication would work both ways. He said, out loud,
That is not quite true. I have the scrolls, and they are changing, but I used some
predictive computer software to try to work out the content of the texts before they really
fully changed

Because of doing that, I have only part of the information


There was a short pause before the voice spoke again, as if it was taking in the
implications of what he had said. It started again, this time with more feeling,
We understand now why we have not been able to make contact properly with you, as
the scroll with the manufacturing plan for the communication device must not have
become legible to you yet
You have been able to decode the first scroll ahead of time, and this is excellent work
on your part, but it means we will have to explain everything to you, otherwise you will
not understand, and could make errors. That must not be!

Chapter Fourteen
Azel stood there, beginning to doubt the wisdom behind using the predictive software,
and thought to himself perhaps it would have been better to let things run their course.
Perhaps it would have been better if he could have drafted help to make sure that he made
no mistakes, no critical errors. He now seriously doubted his ability. The voice started
again,
A long time ago, many eons in our past, our little planet strayed into a passing cloud
of ionised particles. These had a profound effect on life that existed then, and our planet
had an effect on this cloud too as it changed the clouds direction through space, our
gravity sending it into an elliptical orbit, so that we passed through it every five hundred
years or so.
It was the effect on life that was really startling though. The past would merge with
the present, and a little way into the future too. It is really confusing to meet your
ancestors when they look younger than you. Not just your parents, but going back
generation after generation, all the way back to the first occurrence well over many
thousands of years ago. I must warn you that this will disorientate you at first.
Not everyone will meet a huge family, some family histories have been removed by
the Ancestors themselves, for reasons known only to them, but assumed that somewhere
in their past, all was not well.
For we the Ancestors, time is almost irrelevant. The five hundred years or so from one
occurrence to the next is to us only about a week. We learn all of the knowledge you learn
as you learn it, and more ready to present to you on our arrival, but to us its condensed,
and we cannot explain how or why we know it all, we just do.
One of the major factors within the Occurrence is that two of them can never occur
within any one persons living memory, so there is no-one alive who can tell the whole
story. Only small parts are allowed to be written down. This is one of the rules.
Azel tried to grasp this information and make sense out of it.
The Occurrence occurred, but no one was allowed to write anything down. This
seemed to defeat the object.
The voice continued,
We understand that this will be very confusing to you, but in time you will be able to
understand it, and understand it all.

Because you have become the Experimenter for this Occurrence, we can give you this
information, as you will understand everything that will transpire in the coming months.
First of all, when we arrive fully, there will be great joy and a huge upsurge in the
spirit of the people. New discoveries will be planted into the culture itself so that they
will be discovered a little at a time to benefit all of the people of the planet. Many great
discoveries of recent years were put there throughout the many passings of the
Occurrence for the scientists to find, and we will leave more.
When the Occurrence fades, so will the memories of the people. They will remember
the joys, but not the details. There is a valid reason for this.
The scrolls, written by the Sages at the end of the first Occurrence all those years ago,
will revert to their nonsensical form once more as the ions in the atmosphere fade, those
being the trigger that activates them each time.
You must be wondering why the happenings in each Occurrence are kept apart from
the previous ones with no written record of what happened or how, other than the scrolls
themselves. It is a safety measure.
If a person other than the Experimenter could know what was to happen in the
Occurrence, not only when, and also to whom, that person would wield a huge power
over all of the people, and could, and would, use the knowledge gained from this to his
own ends, and not for the general good of all of the people on the whole planet.
That is why these scrolls exist.
All of the fragment owners are driven, though they do not know why, to give their
sections of the scrolls to whoever is the Experimenter in their time, and therefore cannot
steal the knowledge contained within the scripts as they are gradually revealed, then after
the Occurrence has passed, the scrolls revert quickly back to their original form, so the
owners never sees the fully worded scroll.
Azel, you have much work to do in preparation of our coming, and for the joy that
will come with our presence. You will be a very good Experimenter,
The voice softened a little, and continued,
And that is why, as a reward, after the Occurrence you will join us here in the Ribbon
of Knowledge, to learn everything there is to know, till the end of time.
Azel sat. This was everything hed ever wanted.

Chapter Fifteen
Azel looked at his lab for the last time. The Occurrence had been, and was now leaving
their world. It had been everything he had expected, and more.
Many wondrous things had occurred, and the people of the planet had a new vigour
and direction to take.
He had returned to the lab to label the scrolls that were to be returned to their owners,
those bright golden texts now brown smudges and weird shapes, as they had been before.
Nothing had been written down as the experience was too overpowering for the masses
to fully comprehend, and Azel had wiped all of his data, and reformatted his hard drives
to leave nothing.

He went onto the rock where he had sat many times before to look at his world for the
last time. He was becoming one of the Ancestors. They were coming for him soon.
In the fading light, with a now blue sky, Azel felt a change within himself.
He looked at his feet, but they were not there, only a wispy cloud of swirling black
dust that looked like photocopier toner

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