The Future Begins in Anonymity

"The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown." Genesis 6:4 (NIV)

There was only one man who felt he had, at least, some of the answers to the age-old questions. How to survive in an ever-dying world? Instead of continuing with the centuries-old human stock, he sensed that fresh blood, newer genes, enhanced capabilities were in order. Vruughil (vroo-jeel) had no idea when he met Matrunsula (mah-troon-soo-lah) that not only would she be his first Wife, though he had, in fact, been married before, but that she would be the first Matriarch of a race of humans that would meet the future successfully in spite of its temporal shifts and challenges. Most ancient records record his name as Vruughil, though some made mention of a previous name with a secret meaning that has been lost in the confusion of the centuries leading up to the former Vumvuzhil's (voom-vuh-zheel) descendants and their historic departure from Earth aboard the interstellar craft of 2844.

Something in Vruughil's genetic make-up caused his first son, Antares, to develop slower than other children. What initially was thought to be perplexing retarded growth, was later revealed to be growth on a different scale than other human children. Antares grew every three years, though it was gradual so as not to appear more abnormal than was necessary. In order to allow the boy to catch up with other humans his age, the family secluded themselves in the hills outside of upstate New York and home-schooled the child until he was well beyond his high school graduation stature. When he was finally presentable to go to college his education had progressed years beyond that of 18 year olds in their first year of college. Additionally, he had been in possession of cognitive abilities that were not typical of 18 year old humans. He had the unusual foresight to see the distant future backwards, which caused him great perplexity and distress as it did his parents who were ever privy to his startling revelations of Earth's future in retrograde.

His records had to be adjusted, of course, so as not to draw attention to the fact that he was years older than his apparent age. While it was not unheard of for an individual to begin his or her college education at age 54, it would have been too problematic to imagine that the 18-year-old looking male was, in fact, 54. There had been no hospital records of Antares' birth, and since Vruughil's wealth permitted him eccentricity, DNA tests confirmed that, in fact, Antares was his son, and was belatedly issued a birth certificate, thus allowing the medical examiners to determine Antares' chronological birth to be almost 18. His father intentionally selected October 22, as the boy's birthday due to an obscure 19th-century movement that had started on that day in 1844.

Time had a different meaning for Antares, and to delay further suspicion, he finished his education in five years' time, changing majors and schools yearly, and graduated in absentia, though had he simply spent those years in one location, he would not have aroused undue attention. The risk was in accidentally forming emotional bonds that would lead to offspring that were not what his parents had planned for him.

When Antares was 23 he married the first of many women with whom he would sire the special class of humans that would take the approaching turn-of-the-millennium by surprise and leave Earth for worlds beyond and temporal eras ever in flux with the simplicity of Earth's time sequences.