Chapter 2

A further eighteen months passed before the propagation systems were satisfied that all of the remaining seven Wodenites were physically mature enough to fend for themselves.

After a thorough scan of the surrounding area, the systems determined that there was nothing life threatening and they simply turned themselves off.

For most of the boys and girls that was physically fine, but for the twins that had been growing beneath the ocean waves it was a rude awakening. The startling transition from the security of a warm amniotic existence to the much colder salt water almost resulted in further tragedy.

The shock of the change in temperature caused the boy and girl to try to draw sharp intakes of breath, but of course, all they managed to draw in was a mouthful of seawater. Instinct kicked in however, and they held hands as they kicked strongly for the surface.

For this pair, the fact that they had been subjected to the action of the water and the tides for twelve and a half years had at least helped to build some muscle. They therefore found the act of swimming to the surface relatively easy and soon they broke from the water and began to gulp in their first lung-full of air.

The five land-based boys and girls managed to sit upright and looked about themselves. Natural survival instincts and their inherited DNA knowledge of the Woden civilisation helped them to quickly identify with each other. Splashing noises had all of them turning to look at the ocean.

The 'water-twins' emerged from the water, still holding hands, and walked towards the others. They waved in acknowledgement and their mouths worked but no sounds emerged.

This inability to communicate was extremely frustrating for all seven, highly intelligent, youngsters. They each had a considerable vocabulary and could 'picture' the words they wanted to speak in their minds. However, their unused vocal chords and their physical bodies didn't know how to form the various sounds required for speech yet.

It was a strange sight. All of them had come from the same fragment of Simeon's skin. There were three sets of twins who looked identical, but all seven of them were quite clearly cut from the same cloth. Only the blonde hair and blue eyes showed minor variations in colour and some of the facial features were slightly different.

Imagine the scene.

Imagine what was going through the super efficient, highly intelligent brains of these twelve-year-olds. Imagine waking up, naked, surrounded by wilderness, with no signs of the civilisation your memory told you should exist.

Imagine having such a wealth of knowledge about the fantastic technological advances your people had made, but no personal memories of your childhood, of your family, of growing up.

Imagine knowing the words that described emotions, but having no sense of ever having experienced them.

Imagine never having had the chance to grow amongst others and to develop a personality.

Imagine seeing your first member of the opposite sex naked.

Imagine having heaps of sex education knowledge, but no experience and being surprised and embarrassed at your inability to control your body's reaction.

Imagine finding yourself cut off from everything your brain was telling you should be there to comfort and protect you.

Imagine seeing the bones on the ground that told you there was mortal danger somewhere close by, but having no experiences to draw on to tell you how to react to that.

Imagine the overwhelming confusion and fear that a twelve-year-old would feel.

The 'twin' of the girl who had emerged first and had been killed, looked around himself, aware that he didn't have a girl twin like the others did. His eyes spotted the scattered bones and his quick brain told him what they signified.

Having been nurtured in isolation for twelve and a half years, each of the seven brilliantly gifted children had absolutely no social skills. They had developed no personality and their emotional intelligence was rock bottom.

Normally these aspects of their lives would have been nurtured, encouraged and directed by their parents as they grew, but none of the seven had had that opportunity. They now found themselves in a social group, aware that everything was wrong, but with no idea how to react.

They were unable to speak with one another, there were no adults in sight and one of their number had clearly already been killed. None of them had the mental maturity to know how to cope with all of these factors at once. Certainly none of them was able to naturally take on a leadership role.

Three sets of twins looked at the boy who was on his own and didn't know how to react.

The 'odd one out' looked at the scattered bones and then the others and didn't know how to react.

He felt a strange emotion - loss - sweeping over him, but at first he didn't know what it was, he had no experience to draw on.

He thought he was somehow different to the others, as he was on his own. Tears began to stream from his eyes unbidden and he didn't know why. The tears frightened him, but again he couldn't immediately put a name to yet another new emotion he was suddenly feeling.

The twins all watched him closely, affected by the tears but not understanding why the boy was crying. Some natural reaction caused each set of twins to draw even closer to their partner, the physical contact making them feel better somehow.

The 'odd one out' saw the reaction from the others and it simply made him feel worse. He was alone. He didn't have a mate to cuddle up to. Now a flood of jealousy swept over him, closely followed by anger.

In the space of only a few seconds he had experienced the pain of loss, the fright of being alone, jealousy and rage - all of them powerful emotions - and he didn't know what they were or how to cope with them. The boy collapsed and let himself cry into the grass.

The others were gripped by their own reactions. Nothing in their inherited DNA could have prepared them for what they now faced. They knew how civilisation worked, but nothing remotely resembling civilisation seemed to exist at that moment.

At a basic level they knew individually that something was badly wrong - how had they suddenly become conscious with no knowledge of a childhood? Where were all the things that their memories told them should exist?

They all wished they could speak so that they could ask the others the answers to the questions that they each thought only they had. At least the circumstances stopped them from thinking about sex - a minor blessing perhaps given all their other problems.

The fact they were exceptionally bright meant that they had quickly and accurately analysed the position they found themselves in - even to the extent of having identified that they needed food and water to survive and that the bones lying on the ground suggested there might be danger, but they didn't know what to do about these things.

They knew what 'showing initiative' was, but none of them knew how to actually do it. Instead they looked at each other, waiting for someone to do something.

The heat from the planet's 'sun' beat down on the naked boys and girls and more than embarrassment was turning their skin red. First one set of twins and then another moved out of the direct sunlight to sit under some nearby trees. Soon all seven of them had taken shelter and once again they tried to speak with each other.

Some grunts and other noises were achieved, even some that resembled basic words, but not enough yet for them to share with each other what was storming around inside their heads.

One of the girls, the 'water-twin', pulled herself over to the banks of the river and lowered herself to take a drink. A rush of pleasure swept over her at the feeling of the water filling her mouth and cooling her throat as it made its way into her stomach. This was the first sustenance she had taken in directly through her mouth and the sensation was delightful.

"Perhaps that's what pleasure feels like?" she thought to herself as she quickly re-joined her twin.

The girl's actions and the happy look on her face as she swallowed the water encouraged all of the others to copy what she had done. The grins were child-like at the simple pleasure of drinking and they nodded at each other to mark the shared experience somehow.

As the darkness began to fall on their first day of conscious life, so too did the temperature, and the youngsters huddled together to share their body heat. In the darkness they were conscious of their nudity and the boys in particular awkwardly tried to avoid the girls realising they were hard.

No one thought to mount a guard to watch for danger, but then, no one slept very much either due to the cold.

Continuous grunts and other sounds came from each of them as they worked and worked at trying to recreate the sounds that their minds told them were required to form words. Gradually they began to master the use of their mouths, throats, tongues and facial muscles and more and more they came close to being able to form words. At last, one of the girls managed to form an entire sentence.

"Who am I?" she asked.

All of the others sat up and stared at her. She had voiced a question that had been worrying all of them - none of them could think of their own name.

Of course, the question was much deeper than that. They each knew how Woden society worked, they knew about birth, parents and families. But their memories could tell them nothing about themselves, where they had come from, who their families were, how they had gotten 'here'.

"Food," one of the boys managed to say next, giving voice to the feeling that had been growing inside him, which he guessed was hunger. Without realising it, he had just confirmed millennia of stereotyping. Man's first word on this new planet had been about filling his belly.

The other six nodded when they heard the word, agreeing that 'food' was indeed a useful word to be able to say at that moment.

"Where? What?" asked another of the girls.

"Don't know," said two boys together.

Despite the welter of conflicting and unfamiliar feelings that were swamping the youngsters, the progress in forming even these basic words and the realisation that they all understood them was a welcome success.

However, two further days with only water and little sleep left all of them crotchety, hungry and no further forward. All of them were suffering from mild sunburn too, despite trying to keep in the shade (their bio-engineered DNA was already working to repair the damage though).

The inherited knowledge they had was both a massive advantage and a huge curse. They knew the scale of what was possible, but had no experience of how to achieve anything and no one to show them.

At least their speech progressed rapidly - they already knew all of the words they needed and once they began to master how to string the proper sounds together it came together quite easily.

Their emotional immaturity showed through in a number of ways with sudden tantrums and fits of tears from each of them. They didn't know how to handle what life was subjecting them to - didn't even know how to handle being with each other.

Sheer necessity drove the next breakthrough. The boy half of the 'water-twins' was feeling so much pain from his hunger that he decided to try to do something about it. His DNA memories provided a historical picture of an almost savage Woden catching fish with a spear.

The trees around them were over twelve years old and some of the branches were thick enough for his purpose. He carefully selected one that seemed relatively straight and tried to snap it.

The boy found that his muscles weren't yet strong enough even for such a simple task. The 'odd-one-out' cottoned on to what he was trying to do and the first example of teamwork took place on the planet. He ran to the other boy and lent his weight to the branch. Between them, they managed to break the limb from the tree.

By sheer luck the break was a jagged one, leaving the end of the branch with a sharp point. The first boy stripped the offshoots from the branch and made his way to the bank of the nearby river and then waded into the water.

Fortunately the fish were plentiful. His bio-engineered brain also meant that he already understood the concept of refraction from the water and he made allowances for it when he tried to stab his first fish. He missed. Moving slightly further upstream he settled himself and soon had another opportunity. This time he was successful.

With no thought for the others, not even his twin, the boy began to eat the flesh of the fish while it was still wriggling in his hands. He decided the taste of the raw fish was rank, but his hunger forced him to continue eating until only the head and tail remained. It was only at that point that the boy looked up and saw his six companions lining the riverbank, drooling jealously as they watched him eat.

The boy grinned and realised they were all just as hungry as he had been. He turned his attention to catching more fish and, over a period of several hours, he managed to stab enough so that each of the youngsters could have one.

When he returned to the bank he was mobbed by the others in appreciation for his efforts.