Repeating History

Maxis Mardus stood in front of the high supremacy locked in shackles. He had just sat through five minutes of a list of dishonorables against Treopian life he had made throughout his lifetime. After looking at list for a lengthy minute, the supreme ruler looked down at him and shook his head.

"Well, what do you have to say in your defense?" he asked Maxis.

"All is true, your supremacy. I deny none," he replied.

Coughing loudly and then clearing his throat, the supreme ruler bellowed, "All is said and all has been acknowledged. Therefore, due to your disgusting acts against the way of life of all Treops residing within the connecting citadels of our communities, I take away your right to live as one of us. From now on, you, Maxis Mardus are banished to only the outside world for the rest of your pitiful existence! Punishment commences immediately."

As soon as the last word of the supreme ruler was finished, a thin blanket was thrown over his head and tied with a rope around his neck. Next, he was picked up by his shackles, carried some distance, and placed on something hard. An engine started and he was moving. He tried to lift up his head, but as soon as he lifted his head, something hard slammed it and he was knocked unconscious.

Maxis felt the pain the second he came to. Shooting pains ran through his head the second he moved it. A taste of blood filled his mouth. Groaning, he started to feel around the ground he was lying on. Unlike any surface he had touched before, it was soft and cool, yet with a fringe feel. He started to get up and gather his senses; however doing so, he still kept his eyes closed. The eye of a Treop was that of just a white eyeball with tiny dot of a pupil. Light in the Treop society was very dim and little eye protection was necessary. Up on the surface, though, the natural light was intense and the eyes could not adjust. Along with eye protection, body protection was almost none. The citadels were very cleanly and there was no light or other weathers, so Treops had no hair or other types of natural "body armor."

Taking small steps, he began to move slowly forward. To his dismay, reaching out to touch any standing object ended up resulting in empty space. He stumbled around for quite some time trying to gather his senses, however, after some time of coming up with nothing, he just sat down on the soft fringy ground and began weeping.

"Hey, guys! He’s here!" a voice interrupted Maxis’ sobs. Sounds of creatures approaching him frightened him and he quickly quieted. Keeping as still as possible, he kept thinking, Just go away. Maybe they can’t see me if I don’t move.

Suddenly, something touched him. "Ahhh! Please don’t hurt me!" he cried out.

Laughter filled the silence.

"Don’t worry, we’re here to help you," one voice rang out.

"Congrats about losing your Treop status!" another said.

Several voices shouted out "Yes!" and "Welcome!"

"Who are you? When can I…"

"You’ll know everything soon enough. Just calm down and let us take care of you until dark," a low soothing voice of a woman cut in.

Dark came after long hours of traveling. The creatures that had found him put him on some sort of wagon that was attached to a motorized vehicle. Maxis slept most of the way. When he awoke, they had stopped moving and he was lying on something very soft. He realized that the blanket on his head had been removed and had been placed on him. The pain in his head had started to reside, but was still a dull pounding. Standing up and stretching he started to look around; it looked as if he were in a type of rock overhang. He walked through the opening of the overhang towards a fire he saw burning outside. Eight creatures sat around the fire. They looked similar to him with body structure, however they all had some sort of shaggy bristles hanging from their heads and some of the white in their eyes had been replaced by colors.

One stood up and came to greet him. "I hope the ride was okay. We tried to make it as smooth as possible for you."

"Yes, it was fine."

"Good, my name is Ericca."

"Hello Ericca. My name is…"

"Maxis Mardus. We’ve been waiting for you."

"What? How do you know my name?"

"Quiet yourself," another creature said standing up. "If you’ll be patient, you’ll soon realize everything. My name is John. Please join us and have a seat."

As he took a sit by the fire, everyone else went around and introduced themselves. John began to speak again.

"You’ll realize we are very similar to you in looks, in speech, and in personality. In fact, everything about us is similar to you except the fact that we have hair and we have color in our eyes. Soon, you’ll be that too. You see, Maxis, we ourselves are like you in the nature that we’ve been banished from the Treop civilization. Forced to live on the outside for one reason or another. At least that is what they tell you when you leave, but it all ends up being because you think. You know this well, Maxis Mardus of The Underground Electric News…ah, yes, you didn’t think we knew, but Maxis, you actually are the one person that we’ve been waiting for."

"John, you’re getting ahead of yourself," Ericca cut in.

"Yes I am, sorry. Let me tell you briefly that you are the last of a select group. Treop and all they stand for are falling apart as we sit here. You know this; just as well all have known it. The Treops are killing each other off. Growth and advancement have been a strong force in the citadels on Clepartoop for as long as anyone can have knowledge of. However, they have let religion come in and slow it down. Basically, from the beginning, all their fundamentals were wrong and they have been in a downward spiral."

"Religious controversy has actually been a large part of the downfall of us, I mean, the Treops," Maxis agreed.

"We call ourselves humans."

"Humans…okay."

"Religions were only created to have reason for the destruction of the citadels. Every time controversy broke out, sure, it was attributed to some religious difference.

"There has always been something fundamentally wrong with the Treops. They are all a bunch of takers. This planet of Clepartoop has been their life support since they were created by whatever they were created by. Every single one of them has been involved in the destruction of their kind since the beginning. However, there are those of us," John said smiling at everyone else around the fire, "that are different; special."

"I’m assuming I am one of such?"

"Indeed you are Maxis Mardus. You are the last of all of the ones that we had figured would get thrown out of the Treop way of life; or as we like to say, you were made your way to the surface because you earned it."

"Okay, I am kind of understanding some of this, however, I’m trying to figure out why you all look so differently than I do if you were Treops just as I have been."

"We’ve been up here for awhile. Our bodies have grown accustomed to this environment. Hair grew to keep us warm. Our eyes changed with time, just as yours will!" Ericca exclaimed.

"To let your eyes adjust slowly, take these glasses and wear them during any daylight hours. After a little while you’ll be able to wear them less and less until you’ve adjusted totally," John said as he handed Maxis a pair of sunglasses.

"Why is it that all of you have such different names? You know that John and Ericca and Steve and such aren’t what you would find among the Treops."

"Well, we’ve changed them to more simplistic names. We’re tired of everything the lifestyle we were socialized with from."

"See, John read this book. This ancient book, hidden from all Treops, was mysteriously written a long time ago. It’s a story about another place in another time. In this story, there was a wonderful planet and the people all had simple names. So, we named ourselves after some of the characters and the rest we just kind of made up with a similar theme!" Ericca threw in.

"We have saved a name for you. Would be accepting of the name Shuan?" John asked Maxis.

"I’d be honored. Thank you."

"Shuan!" the group shouted.

"Where are we going?" Shaun asked.

"Everyone that is up here is up here because they are free thinkers. Everyone up here is more intelligent than any of those fools down there. We’ve been working on a project for quite some time. As soon as everything is set, we’re getting out of here. We’re going to get away from here before the Treops destroy every last bit of their civilization," said John.

"What is this place we’re going to start over at?"

"A new planet with a new beginning. We sighted this planet quite some time ago. It’s a similar atmosphere and such as Clepartoop. We’ve been monitoring it for some time now and we’ve noticed little to no activity. Vegetation seems to be plenty. There are a lot of weird objects we can’t quite understand. However, they haven’t moved at all through our observations. So, we’re pretty set on it."

"What’s the plan when we get there?"

"Live as simply as possible. Just work enough to live. Enjoy ourselves and make life a worthy one. No more wars and competition. No religion. Peace."

"When do we leave for this planet?"

"As soon as we get back to the base, we’re going to get everything set. We have enough food and water to keep us alive for a year in case our observations were wrong. And you don’t have to call it this planet. That ancient book I read where I got our names had a name for the planet. So, after this sacred book, Life Science, we’ll name our new planet Earth, and the place we land and begin our simplicity, Peoria."

"Everyone please take your seats. We’re approaching Earth. Please secure yourself and prepare for landing," the captain of the ship called from up front.

"Earth! Our new home! Here we come!" Ericca shouted from the back.

Shaun closed his eyes. A new place away from that society he had always hated. Away from it all. A chance for a new start. Soon, he was sleeping.

Before he knew it, something was shaking him.

"Hey sleepy head! You missed the landing! We’re here! Come on…let’s go see home!" Ericca cried out in joy.

Shaun looked around and saw that most of the ship had cleared outside. He took Ericca’s outstretched hand and followed her outside. They had landed themselves in a clearing surrounded by trees. A lot of the humans began unpacking the gear to set up a camp for the night. Shaun let go of Ericca’s hand and began walking through the tall fringes. He heard her calling her from behind, but something was drawing him towards the trees. Climbing through the brush for a small distance, he saw a clearing ahead. When he reached it, he realized it was a hill. After looking up from the downward slope, the sight before him was something he had never seen before. There was a river and then just beyond that strange structures loomed. They were all different sizes. However, they were run down and a lot of vegetation seemed to be growing around the structures. Shaun kept walking. As he got closer to the structures, he noticed a broken surface below his feet. It looked similar to those that he had seen in his dream. Looking up from the surface, a sign loomed out from behind the trees.

"Oh my," his jaw dropped as he read the sign.

The City of Peoria Welcomes You.