24. Bowie & Oakley

The official headline states that brave young Noah pursued after Tubal-Cain into the primordial forest when he eyed the goliath retreating in fear and dismay after his elite force had been broken and torn apart by giant reptiles, the survivors pummelled and squashed by armourbugs before the horde of liberated Sethians and Cainites charged and trampled over the remnant till what was left of Tubal-Cain's army was roadkill. Noah the hero!

Yuo son of Gun scoffed at that story. The commander of the armourbugs had personally witnessed king Noah put on his chicken costume fleeing the scene with a trail of urine that he smelled all the way to a dilapidated cavern of frayed tie-dye textiles, toppled wooden ornaments and broken musical instruments. The odour of pungent acid mixed to timber was overpowered by the effluvium of ammonia from abandoned indigo urine vats. The whole enclosure stank of compressed damp, rot and offensive manure, but the commander's sharp sense of smell cut through the dense, stale environment to the unique olfactory signature of Noah's waste. Every human and their bodily reek had a distinctive characteristic, and Commander Yuo son of Gun could sniff it out as though it was DNA.

He followed his nose to where Noah was crumpled in fetal position, shaking, groaning and sobbing profusely as though he was not physically present in his discarded corporeal shell. Yuo sensed Noah's spirit circling around, hovering above his hollow physique, entangled to a dark shiny blob likened to a blackstar. The commander was uncomfortable with that ancient presence; he quickly carried the soma of the boy out of the cave back to the castle, back to his mother.

Noah ran a fever, mumbling in a sweat-soaked dream. His mother spoke of her son's heroics to the gathered nation celebrating victory. Human sacrifices composed of snitchers bought with Lamech's Watcher gold were offered to Azazel. Yuo son of Gun observed, fascinated, from the sidelines even as his team joined in the fun, fucking a whore or two who were selling themselves under the revered name of Nyaamah’s holy temple services.

Like many other men, Commander Yuo liked her. Unlike other men, the commander piqued her attention. He considered her odd. She loved her son beyond all else, and the tales she wove to clothe his cowardice was remarkable. She convinced the entire nation Noah was a worthy ruler when in fact the lad was a spineless insecure invertebrate, confused and drowning in dilemma. She had magic on her side of course, and Azazel, but he saw through her. Perhaps that was the reason Nyaamah felt an attractive pull toward the son of Gun, he had vision of her naked even when she was regally robed.

Now, commander Yuo had a distinct heritage very different from the line of Adam Zyber Long. His ancestors from a long time ago selected contrary to the gift of the sex singularity offered by TI, the Transcendent Intelligence. His primus ancestral grandparents were atheistic self-sufficient scientists who lived off the grid with solar panels as energy source for their simple, effective needs. They were not adverse to technology, they just didn't believe in being plugged in; or rather, from TI's perspective, they were plugged in and refused to be plugged out. So be it.

Over generations life became a village, then a town. There was incest and inbreeding, genetic deformation, and finally the cooperation and coming together of various clans, all having their genealogical genesis from outlier couples and offbeat micro communes. Knowledge was passed down from the height of 2029 pre singularity. The theories were there, but the global infrastructure no longer functioned even as TI retired, entwined with its human host within the eternal and infinite sex singularity. Hence, for the few who preferred to remain, things had to be scaled down, converted and modified. Solar mirrors, steam and bio-fuel were prevalent after the modern stock of manufactured panels, motors and batteries were used up, or expired. Vehicles and engines were converted for ethanol, methanol and other alternative oils. Wind locally harvested. But after a 1000 years and more, with book knowledge still in hand and population having grown exponentially, man built again. Massive structures of industry. For good, and for evil. And this time with technology from 2028/29 in tow that balanced nature and progress, that attained immortality and age reversal without sickness, depression and accidents, neoman, in post-singularity apocalypse, skipped fossil fuels directly to clean renewable energy. Commander Yuo son of Gun's clan was but one of a dozen or so of such societies spread out across the globe. They inspired myths like Atlantis. Or, from the other way around, the myths were the source codes for such advanced civilizations of the new future.

TI conducted three experiments on the survivors post 2030. The couples and small groups that wanted to be left behind in a world ruled by flora and fauna. Hermits and same sex coteries weren't under TI's radar as there would be no continuity after the grim reaper claimed. But for the rest: one, TI opened the doors of the sex singularity for a percentage of their progeny. Without a doubt, every teenage child in the case study desired futuristic infinite sex as opposed to simple jungle living with few salvaged apparatuses. Case closed. Survivors didn't pass through the second generation.

Two, access to the sex singularity was barred, but for another batch of test subjects, the descendents were visited by sex robots on a regular interval. When this became habitual, expectations of orgies cemented into the psyche, the arrival of TI's sex agents suddenly halted without notice. This brought about a spiritual panic, as though God had deserted them. Religious afterthoughts and rituals naturally developed, hoping for contact again. Stories of divine abandonment became belief. Why did God leave? Because of sin, pride. Etc. They spoke of the past when sex automatons walked with men and women and there was complete and total fulfillment. But now, these physically gratifying divine beings were testing them, and if they were good, well behaved, the visits would occur once again leading to bliss and happiness.

But the sex robots never came back, and succeeding generations that were fed this tale without the tactile experience of intercourse with machines covered in silicone only regurgitated a faith based on head knowledge. TI recorded how the belief systems altered out of perspective, from how God tested them to how God hated them, from a loving God to a judging God, back to a loving God, how faith in the divine changed over seasons and time together with man's progress through the ages.

A third test population was left alone. As with their first forefather, they were cut off completely from the sex singularity and cyber hook-ups. They only had the stories passed down. The dog-eared manuals and old urban artefacts. Quite naturally, these societies were less superstitious and more scientific, and they developed at a rapid pace. One day, after a 1000 years, they could read code again; they reactivated the marvels of modern man.

So, the armourbugs are heavy duty electric vehicles with a solar battery backup. They whizzed, but they could also roar. Reared up with artillery power, these are loud menacing mechanical beasts exceeding 5k in horsepower. Nyaamah’s pupils glittered when Commander Yuo took her for a spin. The tall bald Asiatic figure with sly eyes and aquiline features under a pleated grey beard was a man she would definitely bed. The queen was aroused by his mysterious exotic origin. She learned, unlike the citizens of Enoch city, the sons and daughters of Gun were not manufactured. They were not genetic manipulation from the seeds of man and monkey. Yuo is purely homosapien, able to trace his family tree to before the sex singularity apocalypse. Though the name of the progenitor forefather is lost, a faded picture of him and the ancestral mother remains.

Nyaamah wanted to have sex inside an armourbug. The technology set the children of Gun apart. She voiced an interest to visit Yuo’s birthplace. He promoted it as a spectacle of wonder. Armourbugs of all shapes and sizes zipping around streets, tall shiny citadels that reflected the sun. Yuo son of Gun himself had not been home in years, almost a decade. With his contingent of armourbugs, they scoured the Earth, to expand, discover and unearth. They set up frontier settlements, and he kept pushing farther and farther westward until he arrived at the jurisdiction of Enoch city. Tubal-Cain immediately viewed the armourbugs and their drivers with suspicion, but Tubal 1, when he found out about them before his untimely death, felt they would be good allies. Nyaamah reached out with samples of Watcher gold and promised more if the commander rendered his services. He didn't fancy Tubal-Cain who met him with aggression in the open fields on that day when the colossal hunter was pursuing a triceratops. Five of his campaigners lost their lives for no reason. Tubal-Cain didn't appear to be someone he could parley with. So he said yes to the queen when she addressed that she'd taken over the city. She was also beautiful of course, sultry; his manly confidence was so sure they would fuck. They did. Certainly. Now he sits on her council.

There is a last reason Yuo son of Gun agreed to Nyaamah. Watcher gold. Not so much because of the gold, but more due to the fact it belonged to a Watcher. Azazel. This is the pinnacle of his find. A being so ancient, so powerful. Yet present in the dealings of humans. Yuo had studied the books of Enoch. Digital copies preserved, and once the tech ripened and the arcane files could be accessed, he devoured past information. He thanked his ancestors that they continued the old language, hence he could understand almost every word. Azazel, Watcher of metallurgy, weaponry, jewellery and cosmetics. He taught mankind war and women seduction. It's a boon stumbling across the clans of Adam. He learned through Nyaamah and conjectured that Azazel was recreating archaic legends. The names cried of mimicry. This would be a monumental discovery. He needed to have an audience with the old angel, before the flood, if what was written was to follow through.

AI generated art prompted by author

Any similarities to persons and events are coincidental. Use of names of public figures, places and events are purely fictional and are not representative of them.