GEMP Chapter Four
GEMP
Author: J Carrell Jones
Table of Content
Chapter 4
Chapter 4
The Colonel had finished his third glass of whiskey when he hit the send button. It was a report to the Chairman. It detailed the last two weeks of activity and it did not favor the project. Codper injected personal prejudice and corrupted the validity of the report, but he was beyond caring. He poured himself a fourth glass and reached for his bible. It was his grandmother’s. He turned to a random page and read out loud.
“And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and the thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hall.”
He got up and walked into the bathroom. He faced the mirror and stared intently. “Oh mighty Lord, what is your word? I need salvation in a land of non-believers. This land is full of abominations and a false god. Oh Lord, please give me a sign so that I may act accordingly and with prejudice.” The image stared back, but he didn’t like how it looked. It was wrong somehow. He couldn’t place a finger on it, but his image was off. Just a bit. The chin - that was it! No, not the chin. Something else. He stared at the image for a good ten minutes. The thought that he was not firm in his convictions crept in. He was feeling temptation he concluded. He was losing a battle between good and evil, but he wasn’t really sure what was good or what was evil. The lines blurred and a drunken mind exaggerated emotions. He sat back down at his desk. An email came in. A shaken hand moved the mouse arrow over the OPEN button. Click. He read the reply. It took only a minute, but he got his answer. Salvation.
Steve made it back to the observation room 20 minutes later. Kelly came in behind him. He was glad she decided to work on the project. Oscar was happy, too, which made for a better work environment. He was actually surprised that Kelly was adept at special effects, makeup, and pyrotechnics. She was also instrumental in figuring out ways to train the Gemps, toward the last phase before they would be released, without them remembering what humans looked like. It was a combination of puppets, automatrons, and costumes. Steve thought the whole arrangement brilliant.
Oscar noticed Steve. He hooted and jumped into his arms. He finger spelled, “Scary.”
Steve nodded and made a right hand “S” and shook it up and down. He was tired and wanted to sleep, but Oscar came first.
Kelly came up beside him and gave Oscar a scratch behind his ear.
Oscar cooed.
Grenier walked over. “Oscar is right. Great display of power. The fear of God.” He chuckled remembering the earlier incident with the Colonel. “Steve,” he started, “what happens if we get someone who becomes too zealous? Too fanatically?”
Steve sighed. He thought about that. On one hand the Gemps needed to start progressing naturally. On the other, he didn’t want the group becoming extreme. There was the second group – the others, but everyone decided they would be left alone. He’d check in on them every now and then. They were doing well as he supposed wild creatures would do, so Steve focused his energy on this group. His ideas held that there would be a progression on sorts. Mos, being the messenger and emissary, would start the process. This moment was critical. The seed had been planted.
Mos ran to the village. He emerged passed the tree line and headed for the center. Pretty much everyone was outside staring at the sky. They turned toward Mos when he breathlessly said, “It was God.” He pointed a right hand “G” at the sky and drew it down into an open palm in front of his chest.
The others looked at one another then at Mos.
Tutu, the tallest of the Gemps, stepped toward Mos. “God not be!” He signed God, then made a right hand “A” underneath his chin and moved it forward, followed by a right and left hand “L” moving from his waist to his chest. “Only Gemps, here now, ever.”
Mos shook his head wildly. “The Elder is not Gemp. God is not Gemp. Gemp is not alone.”
Tutu stepped closer, “Tutu say God not alive. Mos head damage.”
Mos stood his full height, “What about light in sky and noise? Who make that?”
Tutu thought a moment, took a step back, and said in a softer tone, “Still don’t believe it God. What does he look like?”
“Taller than you. By this much.” He spread his hands apart. “Kind of red, kind of orange hair, but hair only on top of head.”
Tutu bore his upper teeth, “Ugly God is.”
Mos snapped, “No! God not ugly. Different. He spread his arms wide and sky light up. Boom sound next.”
The others had gathered around the two.
Mos continued, “God said he gives us clothes, shelter, basket of food, all. He sent the Elder to teach us.”
Tutu spat, “Why not God show self?”
The others murmured an agreement.
Mos shrugged. “I asked that. He said no, spread arms and light and thunder. He said I was supposed to deliver message.”
“You, Mos?” Tutu asked. “Why?” He touched the fingertips of his right hand to his forehead then drew the hand down to a “Y”.
“I don’t know.” Mos’ shoulders drooped. He pointed to himself, placed his right hand fingertips to his forehead and turned the hand away. “I don’t know?”
Tutu coughed.
Mos scowled. “I just am. And God told me to tell.”
Tutu turned. “Sky not bright and noisy now. I sleep.” As he walked away he pointed an index finger to himself, then put up a left and right hand “A” next to his ears and moved them, alternately, up and several times. He did a sideward glance and pointed to Mos, then made a curved right hand “FIVE” and twisted alternately clock and counter-clockwise several times.
Mos yelled as Tutu disappeared into his shelter. “I am telling the truth! You will see.”
The others dispersed back into their shelters.
Mos dropped to his knees and softly said, “I am telling the truth.” He pointed a right hand index finger to himself, then raised the finger, pointing left to his mouth and rolled it forward. He finished making a right hand “H” and sliding it from his left hand wrist to its finger tips. His hands dropped to his sides.
Only Kiri remained. She walked up to Mos. She touched her forehead with a right hand index finger then clasped both hands together and said, “I believe you.”
Mos looked up. He rose and smiled at Kiri. She was nearly his height, just a tad bit smaller, but quick. She was a good hunter and knew all the great places for hiding and trapping small animals. They talked often about how the food basket appeared in the night and past memories of strange hairless faces – like the face of God. One night they stayed awake the entire time piecing together fragmented memories of a strange building and strange Gemps teaching them to speak. They both remembered the day it happened. No more big room, no more strange tall Gemps, or the ones that moved strangely. They felt very sleepy and clumsy. Then they woke up and found themselves in the village. She was frightened at first, but it was Mos who told her it would be okay. She believed him then. He was right. They learned how to make tools for hunting and how to make fire. Then the Elder appeared, short and different looking. He couldn’t talk with his mouth but with his hands. He taught them hand language and ‘said’ it was important to try and use spoken and hand talk at the same time. He talked of a word that never had a sound. It was a right hand “G” pointing to the sky then drawn down as an open palm near one’s chest. She wondered about the word because the Elder used it often. Today she learned how to pronoun it. “G-O-D.”
“Kiri, it was scary. God chased me through the jungle. He flown overhead and stopped in front of me. Hands glowed and he had cloth over his head and face. He told me to tell the village that he is here. I not believe him, at first. Then he spread his arms wide, like this.”
Kiri smiled as Mos stood up, puffed his chest out and said, “I. Am. God.” He spread his hands out then made explosion sounds with his mouth. Kiri laughed.
Mos smiled and dropped his arms. “Then I ran to the village to tell.”
Kiri moved closer to Mos. He had always been her favorite. She had interesting feelings for him.
What was Mos feeling he asked himself? Kiri, there, standing before him. Under his loin cloth he grew bigger. Kiri noticed and grabbed him by the hand. She led him into her shelter, where they spent the rest of the night embracing new feelings and sensations.
Steve, Kelly, Grenier, and Oscar watched the monitors with great interests. Oscar had his own thoughts in play. He watched how Mos and Tutu argued, then watched how Kiri comforted Mos. He liked Kiri. She was very pretty to him, but he liked all the female Gemps. He thought about what he could do to be invited into one of their shelters. That thought alone got him aroused. The last time he masturbated in public S-Knowledge was very angry. He didn’t say he should not do it, but he should not do it in front of other people. Humans became embarrassed over things like that. It took him months to fully understand. Humans were silly, but that was okay. They still made tasty snacks.
As Steve watched the monitor he frowned.
Kelly and Grenier noticed.
Kelly asked, “What’s the matter?”
Steve took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Now that we are finally doing this I’m beginning to wonder.”
Grenier said, “Wonder? About method or outcome?”
Steve thought a moment, “Don’t know. We raised the Gemps to adolescent. Put them in a secured area. We practically guided their very existence . . .” He paused.
“Go on,” Grenier encouraged.
“What happens when we are done?”
Kelly said, “Done with the project?”
Steve nodded. “Yeah. We have a few more years of study. We have two groups. One wild, another controlled. What happens to the Gemps when we are done?”
Grenier rubbed his chin. He didn’t want to give Steve one of the alternatives.
Oscar walked up to Steve and signed, “I Sleepy.”
Steve hugged Oscar and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
Oscar returned the kiss and gave Kelly one and Grenier one, which was a surprise. He was feeling excited and wanted to head to his room. He had to think.
The three watched as Oscar made his way out of the Observation Room. A minute passed by before Grenier said anything.
“Steve, actually I’m glad Oscar is not here to hear this.”
Steve frowned.
Grenier said, “Let’s take a walk.”
Steve and Kelly followed Grenier into Observation Room Four. It was smaller than the main Observation Room. The control room below had two large monitors bolted onto the wall and only four control stations filled the room. It was manned like the main Control room, but the number of staff needed wasn’t as much. The main monitors showed a sparse area with mud huts randomly placed. The Gemps here ate more off the land and thus were leaner. He sat down and stared at the monitors for a moment. Steve and Kelly did likewise.
Steve had an idea why they were here. Chaos and anarchy reigned supreme. These were the wild Gemps. No help.
“Steve,” Grenier started, “suppose we let these Gemps loose in the wild?”
“Probably not a good idea.”
“How so?” Kelly asked.
Steve said, “Their too intelligent. It would be like Cro-Magnon and Neanderthals. Even though Neanderthals were smart tool makers, they were stronger. However, Cro-Magnon had superior intellect. They were better tool makers. They created better hunting strategies. Against animals and probably the Neanderthal. In disputed territories, Cro-Magnon would almost always win. And they did win. We are proof of that.”
Kelly turned to Grenier, “They could never leave and they could never give birth?”
Grenier nodded. “Remember, all the Gemps are Government property.”
The silence hung between the three.
“We’d have to euthanize them.” Steve said.
Kelly interjected, “How horrible!”
Grenier shrugged, “Probably not kill them. This group is doing a very good job of that. The population is down by a third in the last several months. This group cannot reproduce. It will die out.”
Steve asked, “Why?”
“They’ve broken up into different groups. Two of the groups seem to have declared war amongst each other. Attacks are regular and vicious.”
“My God!” Steve exclaimed.
Grenier stated, “This would have happened with or without you. I’m just glad you are overseeing the controlled group.”
Steve shook his head, “But what will happen to Mos’ group?”
Grenier let a slight smile slip out for a second. “We have data from the last couple years like you wouldn’t believe. Not just from a sociological standpoint.” He left it at that.
“Ken, what are you not telling us?”
Grenier let the smile return. “Classified.”
“Don’t pull that shit on us now. You’ve spilled . . .”
“I know, too much now. Just believe me when I say the Gemps below are a dead end evolution wise.”