The Vulgus Chronicles

Vulgus Chronicles - Chapter 12

12

Manny read again what he had been working on.

A shuffling sound announced someone coming through the tunnel. He hoped it was Hannah. She should be back by now. It was her first foray into town to trade the furs and scout.

"Cookie says you should come eat," Dweasel said as he came into the barricaded locker room.

"In a minute," Manny replied.

"You've been in here all day. When are you going to let me use the computer?"

"Later!"

"How much later?"

"I'm working. Leave me alone," Manny said.

"That stupid stuff? I need the computer too. It's not yours, you know."

"This is important stuff, Dweasel. Just let me do my thing."

"It's stupid stuff. What are you gonna do with it?"

"I'm not sure, yet. Is Hannah back yet?"

"No."

"Damn," Manny whispered.

"I don't think she's coming back," Dweasel said.

"Why would you say that?"

"My dad didn't come back. Hannah's not coming back either."

"Don't worry. She'll be back. Her stuff is all here."

"She's not coming back. Cookie says you should come eat."

It was often challenging talking with Dweasel. Manny couldn't convince him of anything. More often Dweasel's unfiltered honesty caused Manny considerable doubt.

"Tell you what. Read the stuff I've been working on. Then I'll let you use the computer for the rest of the day."

Dweasel scooted in closer. "At least Hannah washes. She doesn't smell like poop."

Blunt, but accurate. Manny would have to take his advice.

Dweasel read.

My name is Vulgus.

Every school child learns about the Carthenogens, and how they've been mindful shepherds for humans throughout our history.

We are told that they have always conducted themselves with a "non-interventionist" policy toward human affairs. Their role was to purely observe us, "as humans might observe an ant farm." I'm certain this phrase has been uttered by every school teacher for decades.

I have a cache of computers, powered down and hidden away before "unauthorized discussions" of Carthenogens were banned. On these computers, I have found a great deal of articles by historians in a frenzy trying to review and revise the known history of the day, and find evidence of Carthenogen influence. Some articles were obvious, such as the pyramids, commonalities of ancient art, and crop circles. But others wrote about how the Carthenogens had not only intervened from time to time in human events, but that it was explicitly their intended policies. So, official portrayals of leaving human beings to themselves is an outright lie. They have, at the very least, muddled in human events, and, at their worst, facilitated many of history's most egregious dictators, even perpetrating huge atrocities on humankind.

Such lines of discussion were short lived. I can only imagine what happened to those historians.

What is most angering is the Carthenogens have the audacity to portray their muddling as being friendly gestures of sharing their technologies out of sheer benevolence. Throughout my childhood, I was taught that the Carthenogens were secretly responsible for great inventions, such as controlling fire, the wheel, machines, electricity, motorized transport, mass production, human flight, communications, computers, and atomic energy. I believed all this to be true, that the Carthenogens were the instigating factor behind inventors, providing them with a little nudge, implanting ideas, making certain experiments work, thereby leading these scientists and inventors, almost by the hand, to their discoveries. It appears, according to their propaganda, that humans were nothing more than puppets and pawns manipulated into materializing Carthenogen technologies. If the Carthenogens were so benevolent, why not just hand this stuff over to us. Why leak things to us over time? Why not bring us up to a level of technology all at once.