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Humanity: The Predecessors

Chapter 2

With the end of Human Education came the end of the day for everyone at East Edge University. Students and teachers alike began to make their ways home. The Medera siblings and their friends, the Etton siblings, lived close enough by that driving to and from campus was not necessary. They just hopped on their skateboards or bikes, whichever they brought for that day, and rode home. The four did just that today. After HuD had finished, they all got out their skateboards and headed home. They rode together for about a mile before reaching the crossway that branched off to their own streets. With a quick, "Later guys, see you tomorrow," from Jerondax and Vitrina, and a short, "Later Jax, see ya Vitty," from the Etton twins, they split up and skated down their own roads. Jax and Vitty made it home, hopped off their boards, and kicked them up into their hands in one smooth motion.

The Medera home was a simple ranch-style house. Nothing spectacular, or out of the ordinary from the other half dozen or so houses on their street, but it was home to them. Inside, they found their parents standing at the island in the kitchen, talking about planting a garden in the backyard. "Hey you two. How was that new class you decided to take? It wasn't as boring as you thought it would be, right?" their mother asked.

Vitty, who usually did the talking for both her and her brother, responded first. "It was pretty neat, actually. First, we did our introductions, got the class rules and expectations out of the way and all that. You know, the usual start of class stuff." Her mother nodded in agreement. Vitty put her bag on the table next to her brother's and continued. "Then the teacher got into what we were really going to be learning about. It was pretty much just what the sign-up sheet said we would be getting, but at the end of that, he said that we did a lot of class trips, as well."

"Oh, that's nice," her father chimed in. "Did he say anything about when these trips were, or where to?"

"Yeah, he said they are usually to places with some of those ancient human structures. Like that old skycraper, or those huge stone structures. Our first one is in about three weeks. We're going to some sort of human suburb in the forest. It's some of those trees planted in long lines. The ones with the artifacts preserved under them."

"Now that will be interesting to see. I went on a trip to see those when I was a kid and really enjoyed it."

"So I guess you two will be getting permission slips or something like that soon, right?" her mother asked.

"Actually, we have the permission forms already. He gave them to us to get signed with our syllabus."

"Okay, lets take a look at it and we'll see what else there is to this trip." Mother said, accepting the forms Jax had pulled out from their bags.

At that time, Ilex and Zena Etton were just getting home. They lived on the same street as Jax and Vitty, just on the other side of the intersection, and a little further away from it. They rolled into the open garage of their three story home. They left their boards in there and entered the house. They weren't rich, by any means, but their parents had gotten this house for less than the smaller single story homes around it. It was believed to be haunted, or cursed, or something to that effect. The real estate agent hadn't been able to sell it after a few families had lived there and resold it shortly after with complaints about strange and frightening occurances in it at night. That story is for another time though. As it was, Ilex and Zena lived there now with their mom and dad. It was a nice place. A big old building with a lot of character and surprisingly well cared for.

"Mom! Dad! We're home!" Ilex called out as he and his sister entered the hall to the living room. "And we have got some cool stuff to tell you about this new Human Ed class."

"Hey son. We have some news for the two of you. We need to have a talk, so just sit down for a bit." That was their dad. He had sounded very grave about it. That was unusual, because he was always in good spirits, even if he had a bad day. Ilex and Zena were unnerved by this as they took seats on the couch in the living room. Their parents looked very upset.

"Mom, Dad, what's going on?" Zena asked, tentatively.

"Well, your Dad's work has been loosing business to one of their competitors, and has been making cuts to stay afloat." Their mom started.

"Yes, those cuts include cutting their work force. 500 workers had to be laid off from work to bring the company out of the red. That's over half of them, and I was one of those 500," their dad continued. "So we're going to have to start making some sacrifices in order to keep our necessities, and some of our smaller luxuries."

The twins couldn't believe it. Ilex was especially unwilling to believe it. "Why did they get rid of you, Dad?" he asked. "You're one of their top mechanics! Why not someone else?"

"I don't know, son. All I know is that more people are using that other company's services, and ours is loosing them. They had to make cuts primarily to our district. Three shops were shut down completely, and mine was one of them. I'm going to be looking for another job starting this week and try to get a jump on it before everything is taken. I'll find something, I'm sure, but until I have a job for certain, we have to make some cuts of our own."

"Cuts like what? You mean internet, phones, things like that, right?" Zena asked, worried about her and her brother's hard earned ATVs in the shed.

"For now, yes," their mom answered. "Hopefully that's as far as we have to take it. As long as you two have your jobs at the coffee shop and the board shop, you shouldn't be affected much more than that." Guessing at her daughter's concern, she added, "Don't worry, we aren't even close to needing to sell things to stay alive yet. With only two more house payments, we'll be okay on my income for a bit if your dad, for some reason, hasn't found a job by then. We just want you to be aware of that when you find our phones not working at the end of the month, and not having internet and all."

"Oh," Ilex and Zena said at the same time. They were horrified that their dad had been laid off, but they both knew that it could have been worse.

"Now," their dad said, trying to return to his normal, positive attitude, "You two said you had something interesting you wanted to share about your new class?"

Zena tried to say something about the trip, but she had lost her enthusiasm, and was more worried about her dad finding a new job. Ilex, on the other hand, was with his dad in trying to lighten the mood. He pulled out his permission form and set it out on the coffee table between them. "We have a lot of trips in this class, to placed where human artifacts are on display. Now I know they would normally be out of the budget under normal circumstances, let alone the current one, but it's totally free. I was reading through it, and the only thing we would have to pay for is souvineirs, if we wanted them. The Human Artifacts Research and Preservation Foundation takes care of all transportation, lodging, and meal expenses. All we need from you is a signature for permission to go." He gave them a weak smile. "Just something cool we're doing in class. Thought I'd mention it." Zena put on a little smile, and so did their parents. It was the first one they had seen out of their parents since they got home. When they thought about it, it was the first smile they had seen out of their parents since the beginning of the week. Their parents sat down in the armchairs they had been standing by, and they began to go over the permission forms before signing anything. They were very particular about paperwork, but it looked like they were satisfied with what they read.

Jason and Alexander left the university in their pick-up. Jason drove home today. They lived out on a small farm a few miles out of town. The story behind why Jason lived with Alex and his family was a difficult one to tell, and very emotional. To put it short and simple, it involved a car accident, the loss of a wonderful raccoon couple, and Alex's lucky discovery of a third, younger raccoon , on the brink of hypothermia and death.

Jason had been adopted by the Prim family, when it was discovered that none of his relatives were fit to care for him. He lived with them in their old fashioned two story farmhouse, with a small single car garage off the right side, and a very large red walled, gray roofed poll shed a short distance behind it. Jason drove down the long gravel driveway and pulled off to the side of the garage. Jason and Alex climbed out of the truck and went into their home, where they found their parents waiting for them in the living room.

"Hi boys," Alex's mother greeted the two as they entered. "Your father and I just wanted to hear about your new class. We know you were really interested in it."

"Hey Mom, hey Dad," Alex replied.

"Hey Ma, hey Pop," was Jason's reply. Even though he was adopted, he had taken to calling Alex's parents the same thing he had used with his own parents, years ago.

She went up and gave each of the boys a quick hug before going on. "So, how was it? Do you think you're going to like it?"

Alex and Jason nodded. "Yeah," Jason said. "From what the teacher described to us, it sounds like it's going to be a very interesting class."

"And on top of that," Alex added, "He said we would be taking a lot of trips to places where human artifacts have been found. The trips are all paid for, and all we have to do is keep our grades up."

"Huh. Already paid for? Did he mention where the money was coming from?" Their father inquired.

"Yeah, he did." Jason said. "It comes from the HARP foundation. He said they were funding it completely, even down to meal expenses. All we would have to pay for are souvenirs. If we wanted them, I mean."

This response seemed to satisfy their father. Their mother had a question of her own, of course. "Well, that's a plus as far as financing is concerned, but will they be safe trips? I mean, you aren't going anywhere dangerous, like those antarctic wasteland facilities, or that ancient rainforest bunker, or any steep, high altitude mountain top fortresses, right? Because I hear those places are filled with all kinds of old traps, not to mention the dangerous locations."

"No Mom," Alex answered with some amusement, "Those are for the actual HARP guys to deal with, and the Artifact Recovery Corporation." Alex had done a lot of research on these and similar organizations, which are well known around the world, with his adopted brother. Between Jason and himself, the two had a massive amount of knowledge concerning these organizations.

"Well, I had to ask. You know how I worry about the two of you."

"We know ma" Jason said. "But believe me, we won't be going to those places anytime soon. It takes years for anyone to get on those exploration teams, even with the perfect background for it."

"I'll bet," Their father said, "Well, I don't see any reason not to let you go, do you hon?" he asked his wife.

She shook her head, then asked, "When do you get permission forms for these trips?"

At that time, Jason and Alex pulled them out from their backpacks. The family then began to review the forms together, and got to work filling them out.

Jack Bennit and Roger Gladsen arrived home about an hour after class let out. Jack stormed into the house, practically ripping the door off it's hinges. Roger had never seen his step-brother so upset. It was strange that he would get that way over such a great opportunity that their Human Education class was giving them. Roger followed at a cautious distance, and prepared himself for the argument that he knew was coming. Jack stepped into the living room to find his step-father reviewing some files. The panda looked up at the discontent rabbit before him in confusion. "Hey son, what's the matter?" He barely got out that much before the rabbit was firing questions and accusations at him.

"What's the matter?" he cried out, "You know what's the matter. You wanted me to get into those stupid human studies classes, made me take them, even though you know I don't want anything to do with anything human. You know I never wanted to learn about human history, or culture, or anything like that. Not after what you told me HARP had learned about them. And then you go and pull a stunt like this! You could have at least given me a heads up that they were going to make me go to those places! Why did you have to do that!?! Why can't I just do what I want to? Why can't you just let me live my life!?!"

"Whoa! Hold it right there Jack!" The panda quickly responded with anger at the sudden accusations. "I have no idea what you're yelling about, but I know you had better drop the tone and the attitude before you say even one more word to me." He waited as his step-son got his anger under control, then, "Okay, now tell me just what's gotten you like this."

With his temper now somewhat contained, Jack began. "You and your company. That stupid HARP foundation setting up those trips for my class. That's what has me so ticked off."

The panda looked at him with a questioning look. "Son, what are you talking about? HARP hasn't said anything about any class trips for human education classes anywhere in the country."

"Oh, they haven't?" Jack said, the skepticism clear in his voice. "They just decide to fund a bunch of really expensive trips to all kinds of human ruins for the entire class, for the first time, just when me and Roger happen to be taking the class? I doubt it."

"What? They're funding class trips? I never got word of that. Are you sure it was them?"

"Positive. Are you seriously telling me you don't know about it?"

"That's what I'm saying son." The panda watched his son's body slowly untensing. It had really wound him up. He had never seen his son in a state like that. "I know about nearly everything they fund, and this was never mentioned. I'll have to look into it when I go into work tomorrow."

"You really don't know about it? But you know everything about them. You're the head of their project management..." Jack's anger was almost completely drained now.

"Dad, you didn't plan this?" Roger asked tentatively. He had made his way into the room once he noticed that the shouting hadn't continued and got out of control like it had in previous arguments.

"No. And I'm really wondering what's going on, that this would be hidden from me. I assume they gave you permission forms in class? That's how you learned of this on your first day?"

"Yeah, here," Roger said, handing the two permission forms to his father. He had barely managed to save his brother's from being torn in half in class.

"Yep. That's the foundation's trademark symbol, the golden harp. The question is, who's signature ended up on these forms?" The father panda said, more to himself than to his boys. He scanned through the packet of forms until he got to the last three pages, and he stopped.

"That's interesting. These signatures are from the specialized division of the foundation. They almost never show up on forms. And when they do, it's on something to do with extremely valuable or important findings. I'll look into the situation tomorrow, as soon as I get in. Until I do, I don't feel comfortable signing these. I'll hang onto them for now." With that, he picked up the folders he had been looking through, and went to his private office upstairs.

Roger and Jack gave each other uncertain looks, before Jack sat on the couch with a great sigh. He propped his elbows on his knees, and put his face in his hands. Roger knew what his brother was feeling when he did this. On rare occasions, conflicts the family had would set Jack's emotions in a tailspin. Luckly, Roger had enough sense about him to know how to comfort his step-brother. He sat next to him, and put an arm around the rabbit's shoulders. Those shoulders then began to shudder as Jack began to sob quietly into his hands.

"Hey, Jack, it's okay," Roger said in a soothing tone. "You miss mom again, don't you? I know it's tough, having your mom gone so often. She's my mom, too, remember. It's part of her job, going far away and fighting. The whole special operations aspect just makes it harder. When she comes home this time, she'll be done, and you won't have to worry anymore. She can keep you out of that human stuff you hate, you and dad will get along better, and we won't have any more fights."

Jack continued his sobbing for a little longer, with Roger gently rubbing his back in a comforting way. When he was through, he looked up at Roger with two defined tearstreaks coming from his eyes, down his face. "Thanks Roger," he said with a weak smile. "You're always here for me."

Now for our final two students of interest. Miss Avangaline Gracewater and Linda Borderland. The otter and meercat were great friends, and were step-siblings, like Jack and Roger were. As the two siblings drove home, they chatted about the trips they were going to be taking in HuD. They enjoyed each other's company, even if they did have the occasional sibling rivalry. As they neared home, their conversation topic turned to their parents' reactions to the trip. Both of their parents worked for the foundation funding the class excursions. Their parents were split between many of their decisions, but it seemed that the better decision always won out in the end. That's why it came to their surprise when both parents agreed to letting them go on the trip.

"Wow really? That's it? No 10 hour long debate over the risks and benefits? No hours of research into the matter, just a flat and simple yes?" Ava asked her parents, incredulously.

"That's right." Her father said, simply, "we are surprised that the foundation is paying for it all, but I trust the higher-ups, and so does your mother." Ava and Linda's mom nodded her meercat head in agreement. He went on, "So if they think it will aid our mission of preserving human artifacts and the like, we'll support them, especially if it means you get to have some fun learning in class."

"Great! I'm so excited about this class!" Linda exclaimed. She had been looking forward to this class to begin with. In fact, it was her that dragged Jack, Roger, and Ava into it. She was especially glad she had done so now.

At that time, the phone rang, and their mother went to pick it up. They stayed silent for a minute, to find out who was calling. Mrs. Gracewater's voice could be heard from the kitchen. "Hello? Oh, Mr. Gladsen, how are you? Oh, is that so? Why so glum? Yes, we just heard about it. We wondered just what you had in mind when you set up that fund for the kids' HuD class. Uh-huh. No, we haven't seen the forms yet." The sisters listened intently now. This call was about their class, and probably had to do with them. Mr. Gracewater was listening with the same intensity. Mr. Gladsen was his boss in the foundation, but he rarely recieved a call from him unless it was something serious. The conversation went on. "What? It came from higher authority? Oh, okay. Is there anything we can do to help you? Yes. Yes, absolutely. We'll do our best. I'll let him know, but would you rather speak to him directly? I understand, we'll make sure we don't sign anything until you've gotten back with us. Okay then. Alright, you too. Goodbye." She hung up the phone and came back into the living room, where she was greeted by three questioning looks. "Mr. Gladsen says HARP is funding the class activities, but he wasn't the one who approved it. He told me it came from above his position."

Mr. Gracewater gave his wife a dumbfounded look. "But why? If it's something as simple as funding the class activities, why did they sign the funding papers themselves? Why not let Mr. Gladsen take care of it?"

"He said he thinks that they are planning something. He's not sure what, but he want's your help with finding that out, hon."

"I'll help, of course, but I don't know what I can do. Maybe I'll go talk to him in person, and we can think of something. But before I go," he said, directing his attention to his daughters, "I need to see your permission forms."

The daughters handed them over, and Linda asked her father, "Dad, we're still going to be able to go on the trip, right? Please?" Her eyes almost tearing up. She had desperately wanted to go when she found out about the trips, and now she was afraid that opportunity had just vanished.

"Sweetheart, I just don't know what to think about it," He said to her, accepting the forms from his daughters. "This whole situation makes me uneasy. I just don't feel safe sending you on this trip until I know why the foundation has funded this." As he flipped through the forms, something caught his eye on one page, and he stopped on it. "I have to go speak with Mr. Gladsen about this. Don't worry hon, we just might be able to let you go on these trips." The young meercat let out a squeal of excitement at this news. "I'm not making any promises, but this chaperone thing might give us a way to see what's going on, if anything. I'll be back later tonight, and I'll let you know tomorrow after school if you can go or not."

"Oooooh thank you, daddy! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!" She exclaimed, jumping up and giving her otter dad a fierce hug. "I love you soooo much!"

"Oh, come on sis," Ava said. "Dad still has to talk to Mr. Gladsen about it first. Now come on. We have some homework to do, and I need your help to review my paper. I'm trying to turn it in before Friday." She practically dragged her sister to her room.

The whole time, Linda was poking fun at her sister. "Just make sure when you turn it in, you don't turn in one of your naughty fanfictions by mistake like last time," she said, giggling profusely as she recalled that memory.

"Shut up Lin," Ava said loudly, blushing as she, too, recalled that major embarassment. "It was a one time thing. It won't happen again."

The parents watched as the two sisters left, then Mrs. Gracewater said, "Are you sure it's going to be safe? The class I mean. I don't like how shadey it all seems."

"I don't like it either, Kree. At least if one of us goes along, we will know what to look for, and keep anything dangerous from happening to them. I don't think anything will happen to our children, or the Gladsen boys, but I worry about the rest of their class. You know what the foundation has done better than most. HARP has gotten out of hand with it recently, if what I've seen on order forms is correct." Mr. Gracewater said to his wife.

"I guess we'll talk with Mr. Gladsen, then?"

"Yes, we should do that. Let's just let the girls know to lock up behind us." At that time, the Gracewater parents told the girls to lock up the house behind them, and they left for Mr. Gladsen's house.