Legacy of the Nyankomsem

Posted on Mon Dec 28th, 2020 @ 6:49pm by Lieutenant Kiam Aax

Mission: 28 Days
Location: Ghana, African Confederation, Earth; Bono Eco-Station; Banda Nkwanda (Bui National Preserve)
Timeline: Mission Day 1 at 0800

 

One day, Kwaku Ananse came to the Sky God, Nyame. The Spider wished to learn the stories of the Sky. Nyame laughed and gave Kwaku Ananse many impossible tasks that no God had ever done before, for Nyame was jealous of the Stories of the Sky and did not want to give them to Kwaku Ananse. Who could be trusted with such wisdom?

Clever Kwaku Ananse the Spider did each task in turn. When he was done, Kwaku Ananse came before Nyame and asked the Sky God to fulfill the promise. Impressed, Nyame spoke to the other Gods of the Sky, belittling their arrogance, and said, "None of you have ever been able to do this. Yet this lowly Spider has." Nyame gave Kwaku Ananse the stories of the Sky. Kwaku Ananse came to the world and gave the stories to all the beings of the Earth that would listen and learn from those tales.

== The Nyankomsem, as told by the Akan People of Ghana

[[Five Years Ago]]

"How long until we bring the deep core tap online?" Director Botwe Nuamah crossed his arms over his chest, filling it out with a deep, held breath. This was a huge moment for the people of Ghana, and the African Confederacy. Generations had dealt with the desertification, deforestation, and rampant resource depletion of the equatorial west African world. Even the generations since the post-Atomic horror and the unification of Earth hadn't brought worldwide relief to every corner of the globe.

This project would level the field for the people of coastal western Africa: a deep core tap would provide clean, efficient power across the region, and was the lynchpin for providing the eco-stations around the Sahel enough energy for the re-nitrogenization of their parched soils.

Nuamah had no screen to look at, yet his dark eyes fixed focused on a dream: a green sub-Saharan Africa, made so again. "We're ready to begin," a woman with a thick cord of tiny braids stated, turning in her chair. "The particle beam is saturating... we are at fifty-six percent and climbing. Heat in the generator shaft is currently stable. I'm running a diagnostic on the carbon plate absorption matrices now."

"Director, message coming in from EcoStation Bono."

Botwe Nuamah turned toward the voice. "On my monitor. Continue the operation." Botwe moved for his panels, diverting attention away from his lovely green dream amidst the numbers and schematics around him. "Nuamah here," he stabbed the visual. Eyes fixed on a woman with ebon skin and proud Maasai features. "Mkiwa." Botwe's knowledge of Swahili was extensive. He'd never asked the woman looking at him through the screen why should be named an orphaned child.

"Director," Mkiwa stated, "Please come to Bono. There has been a development that I think you should see." Botwe wanted to scowl and eventually gave in to the impulse.

"I'm busy right now Mkiwa. We're about the begin the new deep core tap."

Her unmanicured eyebrows rose, "You need to come yourself, Director. This is bigger than just Earth. Or Africa." Something about her statement both chilled and offended Botwe on a visceral level. He hated cryptics and mystery. Botwe Nuamah was a man of order and logic. Mkiwa, though, knew how to push his buttons. She panned the screen to the green terrain beyond. She was walking then, carrying the Director's proxy image to the edge of a dusty terrain. She raised the screen opposite to her face, showing the Director the terrain.

Botwe was staring into some kind of a pit. It took a moment, but he realized he was looking at some kind of a tomb. Ancient walls of mud-brick lined the opening which workers were scaling on ladders and the occasional hover pad. One such worker on a pad briefly blocked Botwe's view, much to his annoyance. He refocused on what he saw.

"Computer, enhance grid Beta 11 through Epsilon 15. Magnify." His console chirped and zoomed in. Scattered pixelations reformed into mosaics- roughly hewn, looking to have been drawn into mud by utensils. Botwe scanned the text and then, finally, the pictography. "I'll be right there. Don't touch anything until I consult the Federation Cultural Preservation Committee."

"Acknowledged," Mkiwa stated before Botwe cut the channel. He sighed, his limbs tense. He was pulled back into the past from his green future. And this was probably a fool's errand. "Continue with the operation," he pushed the comm key, "Deputy Director Acheampong, report to Central Operations immediately."

"Saturation is at one hundred percent," the woman with the thick cord of hair stated, turning to the Director. Nuamah nodded.

"You may begin. I'm turning this operation over to Nyaméama for now. I have to catch a shuttle to Bono, then Paris."

"Paris?" The woman would with some surprise.

"Paris," Botwe Nuamah said with a definitive nod. The doors opened a moment later and a pleasantly round woman with a warm smile ushered inside. "Nyaméama," Botwe greeted with a curt nod, "Please take over here. I'm going to Bono."

She raised an eyebrow, "Why, Director? Is there something wrong?"

Botwe shook his head, "There's been a development. My... Ex-Wife just contacted me from her camp outside of Bui National Park."

Nyaméama folded her arms, "I see. Is there anything we can do here?"

"No, I going." Botwe nodded and stepped around the Deputy Director, then through the doors. Nyaméama turned, eyes following. What could this be about?

= = = = = = = = = =

[[Banda Nkwanda, South of the Bui National Preserve: Western Ghana, Bono Region]]

Nyota Mkiwa folded her PADD back into her satchel, crouching in the summer dust. With a quick gaze up into the harsh midmorning sun, she checked her Chrono. Botwe, assumed he took this seriously, could be here in little time at all. He hated transporters and that irked her- this was important. This was important for Africa, for Earth, and possibly for all of Humanity.

A shadow fell upon her and she glanced up. "Akeem." The Arabic-looking man squatted down and handed her a PADD. She turned it right ways in her hands and surveyed. "Incredible." Her eyes scanned the live feed of the pit below her. A technician was walking the perimeter of the tomb. Her eyes surveyed. "What do you think?"

Akeem breathed out and scratched his scraggly, days past shaven beard. "It probably stood between two or two and a half meters... but we're still trying to extrapolate its stance and girth." Nyota nodded as the scan passed one.... two.... three.... four.... five limb impressions on one side. Two of the legs must have been very large and thick, while two intermediate legs between them seemed more delicate. Then a fifth and final curled up against the impression of body where technicians were using brushes to dust a skull and rudimentary spine.

"Do we have an approximate date of burial?" Mkiwa asked.

Akeem took back the PADD and blew some dust from it, "Nothing definitive, Doctor Nyota. But if we go by undisturbed geology... at least one thousand years ago."

Mkiwa Nyota closed her eyes as that reality- even the possibility- sunk in. Ancient contact. Ancient alien contact. Confirmed? She stood up and brushed herself off, "Let me know as soon as Nuamah gets here. I'm calling the Federation Science Council. I'd like to get them down here."

Akeem nodded as she stepped away, following her shadow with his eyes. Akeem looked at the scans and highlighted, with an overlay of computer mesh, the shapes of the tangled legs. Five per side. Ten legs. A dodecapod?