11 - The Genius
(tens, or perhaps hundreds of thousands of years ago)
The great genius Alberinthan was busy. She was the first of a long line of intrepid thinkers. She was attempting to raise her clan out of the grasp of neanderthalsim. This was a frustrating task. It was very tempting to laze about throwing stones at antelopes, instead of facilitating proper co-operation.
“Elevate yourselves!” She told them via terse gesticulation, “do you want to be like the Colossal Idiots of the East?”
Their jaws grew slack, and their low brows furrowed. Their eyes took on a glassy sheen as they tried to think this one out. The colossal idiots of the east did seem to have a lot of fun, to be honest.
She tried to reason with them. “Clearly,” she motioned towards the stars, and continued with grunts and tense gestures, “The gods live in the sky. Those are their fires up there.” They nodded along, this wasn’t up for debate. “Now, I propose that we voyage to ask them our questions.” Her vision was great, but her knowledge of physics, astrometry and etcetera were somewhat lacking. She found out, after designing and building wooden boats, and leading them to the distant mountainous land to the west that had beckoned, and climbing to find the Gods who would give them whatever it was they sought, (What it was they sought, well, they hadn’t figured out yet) that the fires seemed just as far away. She found naught but slightly thinner air and a nice waterfall, and on an island above the cascading waters, a strange vessel half covered in sand. Looking out at the god-fires above, someday, she thought, they’d build a boat that could sail all the way.
And as she and her descendants set about their grand vision and sustaining life around it, they discovered within the strange unnatural container, their ladder of the gods - a library of contextual steps, tools (including the non-metaphorical ladder), and concepts and ideas that the gods had left them, an ancient direction, perhaps intended to facilitate a path towards a communion in the heavens.