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The story of the lyre likpa        Page 3       

Second cycle: The story of the lyre likpa

version française ici Lire cette histoire en français version française ici

tragedy!

 

Dedicated to all the non-human morons who justify, produce, store or use the atom bombs, including the «peaceful» nuclear power plants, which are just another kind of death camps, deliberately decided and built for the sole purpose of torturing the future generations (Yes, yes, guys. Remember that your pro-nuclear propaganda systematically condemned the «utopias», that is any social project for the future) (Ok, we may probably not find proofs on the Internet, since it did not existed yet by the time. But ears were already invented.)

 

 

 

Document 1:

Antakaralik archive N°Lik2345473, the only known historical report on the Lyre Likpas.

 

The Lyre Likpas had light pink skin and very long antennae, elegantly curved on their back, hence their name. It is also said that they were wonderful musicians, although very little is known about them.

 

 

After the Great World War, the Haralik world was still deeply divided by numerous borders, which still prevented free travel. This explains why even sixty years after the Great World War, the Likpas of Antakaralik really knew only about a third of their planet.

 

The agreements, signed at the surrendering of the Mamphallos of Mamalik at the end of the Great World War, placed them under the tutelage of the Likpas of Arnolike and Antakaralik. This allowed them to finally explore vast territories. But many Phallo countries which were not involved in the war were not bound by these agreements, and they continued to prevent free travel over much of the planet, which was known only by stories of Phallos travelers. Amidst these Phallo countries were also Likpas communities, which were thus isolated from Antakaralik, on which there was little reliable information.

 

 

The Lyre Likpas were few. They occupied the peninsula of Karelik, strategically arranged for maritime commerce, in the middle of a large enclosed sea, north of the continent of Arnolike, but separated from Antakaralik by the large country of the pink Phallos. In fact, Karelik was originally a Phallo community, the Karphallos. The Karphallos were traders, who always had the art of avoiding getting caught in the countless wars between the neighboring Phallo countries. This was because those countries still needed a neutral place for trade and supply of scarce resources, and even at the height of the conflicts, Karelik never was the scene of fight or occupations. But they were regularly victims of cultural colonialism and other forms of blackmail. It was the price to pay to maintain their independence.

 

The peninsula of Karelik included an area of wooded hills, relatively sparsely populated, which allowed them to manufacture countless wooden ships throughout their history. Further towards the sea, was an area of farm lands which ensured their autonomy. Finally at the end of the peninsula, between two hills, stood their city and port: Karelik.

 

The Karphallos were known since antiquity for their wealth and cultural diversity. The beginning of the modern era had further improved their situation. Major developments made of Karelik the ideal place for all the transactions, capable of receiving ever more powerful and more modern ships. In this port were of course huge piers and warehouses, but what made the pride of the Karphallos was the large harbor Cranes, which arrows overlooked the masts of the ships and the towers of the city. They were visible from far away, across the plain and from the hills. Each of these Cranes had a name: Grumion, Thouban, Mistran, Tarouk, Terender, Hkirsh, Bellion. But the most impressive was undoubtedly Tarkus, a tracked juggernaut with a disproportionate bucket able to carry half a cargo of ore in transit through the port, for discharging it directly into another vessel. Indeed, because of the different nationalities and bans from entering territorial waters, most ships were transshipping their cargoes. This was the activity of the Karphallos, which earned them a comfortable lifestyle, thanks to the tithes they levied on all shipments.

 

 

 

Each of these Cranes was the object of a kind of worship, and its servants formed teams, each with a suit and badges, which competed in the various sports matches, or which each had their music band or theater gang. This friendly competition was making of the Karphallos very cultured beings, very open to art. The Cranes trades were highly sought after, and objects of a great pride. Even a simple sweeper was esteemed almost like an engineer, from the simple fact of serving his Crane. A tradition was, moreover, two days a year, on the feast of the rookies, engineers and accountants were dedicated to the most humble tasks for their Cranes. They generally used the occasion to clean and repaint, or run the old steam Grumion. Then the acrid smell of coal smoke and hiss of air cylinders filled the harbor, as in ancient times. Here a «real» video of Karelik Likpas liktransshipping ore.

 

The tradition of the Cranes was immemorial. Ancient engravings were already showing impressively sized wooden types, powered by squirrel cage wheels where several boobettes could take place. The industrial era saw the emergence of massive black wrought iron structures, driven by huge air cylinders, of which powerful hiss was covering the other harbor noises. Compressed air was supplied by steam engines, rejecting heavy smoke at the end of a long chimney. With advances in technology, each Crane was rebuilt several times, while keeping its identity (they went so far as reusing the same iron). Thus, at the time of the nuclear war, they had become elegant steel beams laces, painted in bright colors, with swift and silent movement, from powerful computer controlled electric motors. Seen from the hills, they formed a series of arms over the horizon of the city, more the two lighthouses on their rock, and more to the right the high chimneys of the eliktric plant.

 

The Karphallos, since long confronted to many different religions and customs, had to develop a tradition of broad tolerance, and thus dozens of bell towers, pagodas and minarets met the silhouettes of the Cranes on the horizon of their city. Many temples, concert halls and theaters graced the city with as many architectural jewels in very different styles, and they were diligently attended by all the workers of the harbor, stevedores, Crane mechanics, accountants, guards or officials. But the biggest monument was undoubtedly the Capitolium, a vast and ancient palace with columns and pediment of white marble, bronze dome and pink bricks apses. It was the eternal seat of the Families, each owner of a Crane, more the representatives of farmers, shipyards and loggers (who once supplied timber for ships building, but since the inception of iron marine they rather represented the protection of nature). As the number of Phallos was decreasing, and many Lyre Likpas were leaving the city and moved to the countryside, many unhealthy old houses were destroyed and replaced with gardens and trees. Thus the city of Karelik was becoming very pretty, very pleasant, and all the travelers were singing its praises.

 

This peaceful atmosphere, refined and tolerant, probably explains why the Karphallos started turning to the Likpa well before the others, and especially why the two communities were always able to live in harmony. Things however had not always be so easy, and in the beginning, from the pressure of their war loving neighbors, the Families had been about to order the killing of the Lyre Likpas as soon as they were born. In fact a compromise was negotiated, to calm the ardor of the neighboring without engaging in a disgusting extermination: the Lyre Likpas officially had a slave statute, which forbade them access to the Crane trades, and relegated them to farm work (There was a lack of likpower in this sector) plus various prohibitions, such as not building stone houses, not wearing Crane symbols, etc. The Lyre Likpas had no other choice than to comply, but they soon realized that it was their interest. Indeed this statute left them free to live as they wanted, in light wooden lodges which suited them, in nature, and with a very acceptable work rate, leaving them time to do many things they liked. They had access to temples and theaters, with the only condition to wear on the left arm an iron bracelet indicating their slave status. They even had their own representatives in the Capitolium, officially to take orders for farming or logging, but in fact they were soon as much listened at as the other trades, for all their own problems.

 

Shortly before the Great World War, the community of the Karphallos and Lyre Likpas had grown in wealth and refinement, and, frankly, in friendship. People began to say that the Lyre Likpas were one of the Cranes, and, as they were becoming more numerous, it was even needed to divide them into several Cranes: Peasants, Loggers, Roadies (carriers), Eliktricians, Artists, Masons, Scientists, etc. Each likpatous Crane had a different bracelet, still in iron, but much lighter and stylish than the heavy handcuff of the beginning. The Lyres Likpas became very cultured people, as rich and well dressed as the Karphallos. They had many artists, philosophers and thinkers, sometimes of very high level. Their likpatous communities stretched across the countryside and hills, where only few Karphallos were still living. The prohibitions of the past had become traditions: the Lyre Likpas loved their small wooden houses they made themselves, and that they burned after dying. They were in fact accountable to nobody.

 

The World War, which brought so much suffering throughout Haralik, only little affected the Lyre Likpas. Trade not really weakened, because all sides needed it. The Capitolium still decided to raise a militia, to guard the border of their peninsula. It had no occasion to fight, except for a few gangs of looters who imagined they could easily rob these peaceful people.

 

The sixty years after the Great World War were very happy for the Lyre Likpas. Now they were by far the largest of the two communities, and they had access to any position. However, the Likpas by nature averse the practice of commerce, and so they left the Karphallos take care of it, while enjoying the wealth they brought. The Karphallos were also finding their advantage, with keeping the government and the direction of affairs. Thus the two communities were linked by the interest as well as by friendship.

 

The last years before the nuclear war saw many advances of peace and democracy in the neighboring Phallo countries. Treaties enabled port to port trade, without going through Karelik, weakening the main source of income of the Lyre Likpas. However they adapted immediately, developing the production and export of high technology, especially robotics or eliktronics, where the Likpas had always been more talented than the Phallos, let alone the gross ignorant brutes populating the surrounding dictatorships. This explains why this small country has been able to develop a very modern way of life, with many eliktronic devices. Thus Karelik continued to prosper, and the few images which could be obtained of it show many small high-tech factories, scattered on the hills in order not to reduce farmland.

 

The country of the Lyre Likpas was therefore a beautiful country, covered with fields and forests, populated with wonderful little flowery villages and small wooden houses, often painted and sculpted like violins, were worked artists of an incredible talent. However this community, known from Antakaralik, remained isolated, because to get there needed to cross the great country of the Pink Phallos, not bound by the surrendering agreements. This country was officially at peace with the Likpas, but very angry against them, so that they still refused to open their borders. The Likpas would need another war to get there, but they did not wanted to go that route, despite their unquestionable military superiority, and also their superiority in industry and science. At that time there were rumors of a tunnel project linking Antakaralik to the peninsula of Karelik. A 650kms tunnel looks excessive, but the power of the Arnolique had become such that they could consider it.

 

Some wonder if the Lyre Likpas, despite their undeniable moral superiority, did not had some inferiority complex, which made them accept humiliations and prevented them to reject their slave statute. Others believe, however, that this statute was their only safety in a region where the Phallos were the majority, and still very racist. Moreover Karelik never had a real army, just an obsolete bronze guns battery defending the port against potential pirates. Building a real defense would be considered casus belli by their neighbors. Independent, the Lyre Likpas could never resist an invasion of their powerful and unscrupulous neighbors the Pink Phallos, or even from the cruel little dictatorships further north. This is one reason which enticed the Likpas of Antakaralik to consider joining them with a tunnel.

 

This was when the terrible nuclear war broke out, which barely missed to destroy almost all life on Haralik...

 

 

 

Document 2:

Antakaralik archive N° Lik235784, the testimony of Likpato Lyre,
the only known survivor of the Lyre Likpas.

 

«Hello, I am Sylvain Likpato. Sylvain is our loggers Crane, although we hardly cut any trees today. Our bracelet is made of iron and triple intertwined leaves. My nice Boobette and I we lived in the hills with the forest, in a stone house against the cliff, that my sweet Boobette had from her parents who were Grumions. In the cliff there was a small cave, that we used for storing preserves and fruit juices.

«That day we were eating with my nice Boobette, and our two children Likpato and Likpato. We had set a table outdoors, and we ate in the sun. The weather was nice, the sky was blue, and everyone was happy.

«I went in the cave in the cliff to fetch fruit juices. Suddenly I heard a loud noise, and the eliktric lights went off. I tried to get out groping, but I saw that out of the cellar it was full of fire. There was a big fire in the place of the house, so hot that I felt the heat in the end of the cellar. I heard another loud sound like a huge explosion and it shook the earth. At one point the smoke reached the bottom of the cellar. I had to put my nose against a slit in the rock where air was coming.

«It was terrible, I heard the house burning with a great noise, and the rocks cracked with heat, and I had more and more trouble breathing. I wondered how the house could catch fire so quickly, maybe there was an explosion or something with the petrol stove, but it was not on.

«It took a long time, and I wondered why the firemen did not come. Normally they arrive from the city in half an hour. But then the hours passed without anything.

«The fire calmed down, because the house had burned out. But I stayed three days locked in the cellar, because of embers and heat. Even all this time I still heard the rocks cracking, it scared me. Fortunately I had enough to eat and drink, with preserves and fruit juice, but I had to do everything in the dark, because there was still no eliktricity.

«After three days there was rain, which washed the ashes, and I could get out.

«It was incredible, there was not only the house burned, everything was burned, even the forest. There remained only a few black trunks, with smoke still coming out by the holes. Instead of the green we saw only white rocks and black branches. The lawn, the flowers, everything was black, burned.

«There was the body of my Boobette and my children, completely roasted. My children were killed on the spot, and their bodies were all stuck in the melted plastic of the table. My Boobette was completely burned on one side, but the other was intact. She had crawled to the lawn, and had earth in her mouth. Later rescuers told me that many people did that, to choke and shorten their suffering.

«And I understand nothing, I wondered what could do that. We had heard about the story of Auweara on the television the Phallos, but the Phallos said it was not true, it was science fiction propaganda of the Likpas of Antakaralik. And the Families forbid that we criticizes the others Phallos or that we talk of politics. So I had not made the connection, it is rescuers who told me later.

«I was completely scared and very sad for the death of Boobette and my children. So I wanted to leave. There was also a garage in the rock, with a car Boobette size but that a Likpa can drive. Fortunately it was not burned. I took it and I went to the city.

«But the more I went, the more it was burned. It was as if the whole universe was burned. I thought it was maybe the sun had begun to explode. The road tar was melted. And there were burned cars everywhere. Some had remained on the road, and others had kept running into the ditch or against rocks, but all were completely burnt, and grass and trees and everything, I was unable to recognize the landscape, there were only white rocks where there was the forest before. And it smelled horrible, as with the Phallo ogres who eat cooked animals.

«When I came to the city and the port, there was nothing, no more Cranes, no more warehouses, no more eliktric plant, just ruins, with here and there a stone tower which resisted, and one of the two lighthouses cut half height. There was a huge column of black smoke rising from the oil refinery.

«In the plain there was no more houses, everything was burned to the ground. There was even no soot, it was white, bare rock, no trace of grass or earth, even on the road there was only light gray gravel, all the tar was gone. But otherwise the road was not damaged. When I walked in the city, everything was in ruins, there was only stone, all white, covered with a thick layer of white dust which burned the eyes. Even large stone towers were ruined or cracked. The only building which was still recognizable was the Capitolium, but I soon saw that the roof had collapsed and the walls were covered with soot. Even in the stone building, all the historical archives were burned, and there was still smoke. And in the streets, the street lights were lying on the ground and all twisted, softened, blackened, and cars, completely melted, just black iron puddles on the ground, which were starting to rust. I could just recognize the engine blocks, too big to melt. And above all there was a terrible smell, even beyond burned smell, something far worse, metallic, acrid, like eliktricity, which was scary.

«Finally I arrived in the port. The Cranes were completely melted, just piles of soggy beams and completely burned. The boats were all burned and sunk, there were only twisted mast sticking out of the water, with like a sock of rust where the tide had covered them. There was just a beautiful wooden sailboat, all white, in the middle of the harbor, with people on it. But it is probably that it arrived after.

«Into the refinery there was the oil fire, with a red flame and black smoke, extremely compact like a great stone column. It was very strange and scary to see such a large fire burning for three days, and nobody taking care of it. Everything was completely silent, incredibly empty, not a bird, not an insect, not a rustle of grass, there was no noise, just an intermittent hiss of the fire, a kilometer away.

«And throughout the city there was nobody, nobody, nobody. I even see no corpses, no skeletons, nothing. If I saw dead bodies, i would be scared, but then to see not a single one, it was a thousand times worse, I was wondering what had happened, it was much worse than just a normal fire with burned people. On the terrace of the Capitolium Grand Bar, which was always busy, there were only crushed iron tables and gray marks on the pink granite ground, gleaming as if it was frozen. Even the earth of the lawns was scorched, there was only clean sand, yellow, stuck with a kind of glass.

«I was terrified, and I always wondered what could have done that. I did not thought at war, and anyway we were not at war, I did not even think to war.

«When I saw that there was nothing in the city, I left. While driving on roads without tar, my car was making a lot of dust, and I breathed a lot. Ah, if I had known what it was, I would not even approach.

«I took my car, and I left in the reverse direction. I passed in front of our house, and I took food and belongings in the garage, and I departed for the land of the Phallos. I did not know if they would let me go through the border, but I knew nowhere else to go.

«Arriving in the land of the Phallos, it was less burned. I could see soot on the rocks, which were still gray and yellow, not of this white as in our city. There was still earth, blackened, but we still understood what happened, as in a normal fire.

«When I arrived at the border post, the buildings were burned, but not collapsed. There were hundreds of burned corpses laying on the left side of the road, and I had to drive on the right side. In a field, there were tents and rescuers. They first came to me to help me and ask me news of the country of the Karphallos. But when they saw that I was a Likpa, they seemed to be afraid, there even was one who went to get a gun in his tent. I told them I did not know where to go, because we Likpas have not the right to go to the land of the Phallos, not even to see a map. They told me to continue to follow the road to find relief. I finally arrived at a place where the forest was not burned, and finally at a place where there were still fields, houses and people. There was also the rescuers who were trying to rescue people who were burned. There was a large group of children weeping with red blisters all full their faces. But I was told later the real reason why they wept: everybody who saw this dreadful fire had become blind.

«When these other rescuers saw me coming, they did the same as the first, they first came to me nicely to help me. But when they saw that I was a Likpa, they were angry, they were saying that everything was my fault and they would kill me. Fortunately there was one who was less crazy, he was a kind of chief and he prevented them from harming me. Instead he called the police. The police arrested me, they took my car and I could not keep my bag with my belongings. They put me in a place I was not allowed out. I asked what had happened which had burned all my country, and they told me it was a thermonuclear bomb, as in Auweara, because there were too many Likpas there. I did not understand, because we were peaceful, we never hurt anybody.

«After they took me on a long journey in a white van with no windows, and again in a hotel, and in a big city. Then they put me in jail for fifteen days. I was very unhappy, because I did not know how long I would stay, perhaps all my life. After they put me in a car which took me to their city. It was so great we could ride in for hours, and horrible, with old brown stone buildings all dirty, modern buildings all quirky, so high that they hide the sun, it was scary to pass between. There were not many trees, and people looked unhappy, they will not say hello, and they even not dared to look in the face. In a dirty street there were plenty of scraguns dressed with potatoes nets, waiting for I don't know what. I felt as being caught in a trap, and in addition there were gaudy advertisements and posters everywhere, dirty paper and spitting all over the ground, their town looked like a trash site.

«Finally they put me before a judge who told me that I was expelled and I was lucky not to go to jail for illegally entering the country. In addition he told me it was my fault if the bomb had exploded and had caused deaths in their country. I was very angry and I told him that I did not like at all their country, and their restaurants smelled like the bodies burned by the bomb. Then he asked the cops to pinch my antennas to teach me. So I not dared to say anything, because it hurts, with ugly hallucinations. After the police took me to the border to the land of the Pink Likpas, the Arnolike.

«I was scared because I always heard that we likpas of the Arnolike are very bad, and they were thinking only at war. There were mirlitary likpas in uniform at the border post, who looked severe. But as soon as the Phallos officers were gone, they talked me very kindly, they smiled and gave me food and drink. Especially they quickly took me away from the border. They were very happy to see a Lyre Likpa, because they thought we were all dead, there even was one crying with joy, it was strange to see someone in mirlitary uniform crying with joy.

«I wondered how it was a country where the Likpas governed themselves without Phallo owners or Families. I heard that it was all dirty and messy. In fact it was very beautiful, with lots of beautiful homes, as with us, but in stone, and painted with pretty colors, with flowers in the windows. They were of all shapes and surrounded by trees and gardens. They let the grass grow without cutting it, and it feels like in nature, in more beautiful. The Boobettess were dressed very nice, in a lot of different ways, as if each had her own Crane. And the Likpas were very nice, they talked a lot with me and tried to comfort me because I was crying all the time of the death of my family and of my whole country.

«The likpas apologized to still have laws, a government and police, like the phallos. They did not like that, and they wanted to abandon them. But they could not, because there were still Phallos in their country, and they had to defend if they were attacked.

«They brought me in the barracks of the 1824th Motorized Hoplites Regiment. Just in front there was a paratrooper cavalry camp, where we often heard loud engine noises and gunfire. In facts there were barracks everywhere. They told me it was because they feared being invaded by the phallos. Without all these barracks, it would be done long ago, they said, and I think that's true, because the Pink Phallos are really wicked. And as Likpas would spend years in the army, they used this time to do many things in their barracks: studying, playing music, and lots of beautiful and nice things, to the point that the barrack was the social center and artistic center in small towns. But when the sirens sounded, they again became immediately very disciplined soldiers, with severe look, loud cries and scary gestures.

«But we had to leave from here too, because there was other thermonuclear bombs on the Arnolike, the country of the likpas of Antakaralik, and many died. There were plenty of refugees cars on the roads, with refugee campsites, because people were fleeing the cities. We crossed other burned places, one night there were purple flames all around, the next day we crossed a completely black city with just a yellow bulldozer to clear a passage through the smoking ruins. Rescuers had masks, because it smelled horrible. But there was not enough for us, so we left the car windows closed.

«A weird thing that I saw too, many people who remained there to pray, instead of fleeing. They told me that they understood that they could not do anything to avoid death, so that praying to go to the heavens was the only thing they could still do.

«And I went to Antakaralik in the vast underground fortress where I was given a very small room where it was cold, I had to use my bag as a blanket and a pile of books as mattress. The likpas of Antakaralik were very nice, but we could see they had too many wounded to care, they were very tired, so they left me alone, except for a young one who came to see me from time to time.

«We had three shots right on target, atomic bombs directly on Antakaralik. It destroyed all the surface facilities, but the deep underground factories had nothing. Each time it made a terrible noise and dust everywhere, with the panic and screams. The third time we stayed four hours without eliktricity, without light or anything. Everybody was terrified, we were afraid of never see the light again and die like this in the dark. We hear screaming or crying in the hallways. So when the light came back, everyone was screaming with joy.

«After there was the Great Epidemic, and the Likpas of Antakaralik had to dynamite the entries, to not to be contaminated. They were very sad because many of their friends and their families were still outside.

«After I started to be sick, to have breathed radioactive dust when I was in my city. It hurts, and I have more and more trouble breathing. Anyway after seeing all these horrors, I am very sad, I even not want to live.»

 

 

 

Document 3:

inventory of items found on Likpato Lyre at his death.

 

Likpato Lyre died that day xxx from an evolving pulmonary edema, most likely caused by the inhalation of radioactive dust and quicklime dust. When he was found in his room, his death already dated back to 24 hours, and probably in a last attempt to breathe or call for help, he was half fell out of his bed, his nose against the ground. His antennae were soggy like string, we always wondered how such long antennae managed to stay erect. The young Likpato who would sometimes see him felt very guilty, but he had more than two hundred patients to visit.

Likpato Lyre had on him some clothes, hygiene items and a bag, which were incinerated with his body. The ash showed high radioactivity, which had to be thrown into the underground river, by lack of means to isolate it. This is just a detail, these days.

Has been retained:

-The contents of a portfolio: money, papers and family photos. A 100Kars banknote showed a building with the caption «the Capitolium», and another 20 Kars banknote «The Thouban Crane».

-An iron bracelet in the form of stylized intertwined leaves.

-Three small grooved disks music recordings, that we could not hear because the turntables of Arnolike are not to that standard.

These objects were placed in a sealed canteen under nitrogen, in the archive room n° lik5678, for purposes of historical evidence, if there is one day someone to make history after this horrible nuclear war ruining our civilization and our planet. For sealing, we used the gold of the Central Bank of Antennas, what for, now, a bank.

The room N° lik5678 was then filled with nitrogen and the gates lead-soldered. The regulatory pictogram was put on the doors, signaling the risk of suffocation for whoever would open. Indeed it is not known what language these people will speak, if ever someone comes one day to open these doors.

 

 

 

Document 4:

Extracts of the minutes of the inventory xxx
on canteen N° lik564325

 

...Today I attended the opening of the hall N°lik5678 after fifteen centuries waiting. The sign at the entrance indicated that, like dozens of others, the room contained 8675 canteens stacked in haste during the debacle, more the usual warning against asphyxiation. Everything was left without care since then, carefully closed, for lack of time and resources to deal with it. We all knew it would be a very emotional moment, where we would find the world of our unfortunate ancestors, as they left it, with still their vibrations and their suffering. This room was one of the ancient temples, with a statue of an ancient god whose meaning was long ago lost. We did not even knew his image, his name only remained: Azoth. We could not open the doors, and we had to use a cutting torch, ant then pump the stale air inside, while constantly checking for radioactivity. Entering this tomb with a pungent smell was a very moving moment: we were meeting again, intact, the distant and tragic past, just as our ancestors had left it, while in the light of the headlamps we guessed in the back the frightening statue of Azoth, his guardian, 7,000 years old as we were told. These statues, shaped like Boobettes but males, are the origin of the terrible legend of the men. Canteens were stacked on steel barrels which had rusted and crushed, so that the whole had collapsed into a huge mess. This is what blocked the doors from inside. Radioactivity was average, lower than outdoors anyway. Canteens were nearly all of this very common type: cuboid with long convex sides, and lugs for bolting: luggage boxes for the tanks, of which it was made a huge quantity for the Great World War. Discreet but moving signs showed the haste to preserve what remained: a child's teddy rejected after failing to find a spot, a word of farewell to a loved one, a canteen handle stained with blood... We were all very moved, some even in tears, contemplating each canteen, thinking of the moving treasures and memories it concealed, last testimonies of our ancestors before the destruction of their civilikzation.

 

...The opening of canteen N° lik564325 allowed to scan the many written documents it concealed, to keep them more safely.

Furrows discs which belonged to the only known Likpa Lyre were found, broken into 5234 chunks, due to the poor preservation of the vinyl. Each piece was scanned in 3D microscopy, and the puzzle reconstituted in 8 hours by one of the powerful specialized computers of the archaeological recovery services. The content turned out to be the musical passages of three operas of a sublime beauty, which provided an unique, highly valuable and very sad testimony of what could be this beautiful race.

Unfortunately at that time genetic techniques were not yet known, and no sample of Likpato Lyre's body had been preserved. Objects that he could have touched have been placed in GenProtect++ protocol, in liquid nitrogen, in order to permit the preservation of any traces of DNA.

Music recordings were classified to publish in high priority. They could have a huge impact on the younger generation, for whom the ancient Haralik is a rather abstract idea, at best a barbaric time...

 

 

 

Document 5:

Excerpt of the minutes of genetic analysis performed in xxx
on samples N° lik56578ghk said of Likpato Lyre

 

The amount of DNA which certainly belonged to Likpato Lyre was very low. The complete analysis led to the discovery of many already known genes and alleles, and some which significance has not been determined, nor their location. This is most likely specific genes of the race, but the whole is incomplete, not allowing for the reconstruction of a genome and therefore not for the reconstruction of the race.

 

 

 

Document 7:

Summary of the report of the archaeological excavations on the peninsula AA187,
presumed site of the city of Lyre Likpas

 

Like most ancient cities of Haralik, this place is now covered with a thick forest which had long hidden the ruins to the satelliks. It is linear structures in the water which finally attracted the attention: the old piers of the harbor, still visible, but eroded or covered with trees. Many other similar structures are visible all along the coast, so that it was difficult to say that it really was the city of Lyre Likpas, which exact location was lost during the debacle. A first reconnaissance identified the dry docks, the supposed Capitolium and the two lighthouses. It was thought that this could really be Karelik, the elegant city of the Lyre Likpas, although other locations may also fit the description. It is only recently that excavations in the Capitolium have uncovered, etched in the stone in the council hall, the names of the ruling families, which were also those of the famous harbor cranes of Karelik: Tarkus, Thouban, Mistran, Tarouk, Grumion, Terender, Hkirsh, Bellion.

It was also found masses of iron oxide, probably the cranes themselves. Further afield, regular mounds barely visible under the trees, showed to be iron ore stocks, bauxite and wolframite (tungsten ore), of which there are large deposits on the same coast, about 200kms further north. The following expeditions have found heaps of copper oxides and iron, probably the eliktric generators of the power plant, reduced to the state of earth mounds.

The limestone surfaces, including the ancient lighthouse, still bear clear traces of ablation by heat radiation. Isotopic analysis of various materials showed a strong neutrons irradiation, but no direct contamination by fission products (only later fallout, as anywhere else). These features allow to say with certainty that a thermonuclear device of about 250 megatons, FFF type, exploded here at 8000 meters altitude, in order to radically destroy the harbor and incinerate a large area.

By lack of means to explore everything, emphasis was placed on searching for underground cavities, which could contain bones still preserving the DNA of the Lyre Likpas, or graves. Alas no such thing was found, as the Lyre Likpas used to cremate their deads, and they were seldom building underground. Despite multiple campaigns in 25 years, only one skeleton was found, but DNA testing showed he was a Rastalikpa, in what was probably a prison. This cell protected him from the thermonuclear fire, but only to condemn him to die of thirst. Other neighboring cells were empty, and the found traces of organic matter were too much contaminated by rain and earth to be used for any analysis.

The only useful item found was a safe room in the basement of the Capitolium, which sustained the fire with no damage. It contained gold and silver coins, but also numerous administrative files which may yield important information. But they will need many years of careful and tedious reading to be understood.

In hope to one day find the genome of the Lyre Likpas, the peninsula of Karelik in its entirety was declared Genprotect+ protocol, on which no construction or activity is allowed (save the recovery of the wolframite). Many expeditions were attempted in vain, to find bones of Likpa lyre, or places like the cave of Likpato. But in 1700 years many things have changed, even the disposition of the rocks, and we are not even sure of the path of the old road passing near the house of Likpato.

 

 

 

Document 6:

Mail n° lik215478452 from the selection committee
for the cultural database of inseminating probes.

 

content:

The selection committee accepts the inclusion of these wonderful works, in a prominent position in the cultural database. The probes having for mission to warn their protected against the risks of nuclear power, they will be able to use as an argument these beautiful recordings, which evoke an irresistible longing for a beautiful civilization forever lost.

 

Toward the Third Cycle: The fantastic odyssey of the MOTHER (readable by everybody)

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The story of the lyre likpa        Page 3