55 Mount Everest

As we approached the tallest mountain on Earth, I could see why the keepers chose this location for their base. With the exception of a few access roads and one bright red tent half way up the mountain, the entire area is very isolated.

At the Eastern base of the mountain, a large boulder rose up into the air and a brightly lit tunnel was revealed. We quickly entered the tunnel and the boulder noiselessly closed the entrance behind us.

The large central vault has a rough stone ceiling lined with natural stalactites and many lights from levitating lamps. The floor has many domed buildings of different sizes and colors. There are also three large square buildings and a in the very center there is a wide open space full of equipment.

After landing inside one of the domed buildings, keeper Melissa asked me to follow her. She said we were going directly to the main archive vault, where another keeper was waiting for us.

We entered an elevator that took us fifteen levels down into the main archive vault.

I could not help feeling awestruck from the experience of being here, in this very place, for the first time. I tried to take in the view by looking all around us; the many new sights, the many new sounds, and even the new smell of crisp clean air. I guess this is what tourists feel like when they visit unknown places for the first time.

54 Keeper Archives

Keepers move around in narrow crafts that look very much like the canoes used by humans on Earth. In fact, canoe is what keepers call their transport craft. However, unlike human canoes, keeper canoes can fly at very high speeds.

When we got into the canoe, keeper Melissa told me that we were going to the central keeper archives of planet Earth. This very special place is hidden deep beneath Mount Everest.

Since I am the first of my kind to be invited inside the ancient historical archives, I told keeper Melissa that I am very grateful for the honor; but since keepers say very little, I got no reply from her. They are not impolite. It is just their way.

Once we were on our way, keeper Melissa told me to make myself comfortable and that we should arrive in less than one hour. Being a historian and passionate bookworm, I am really looking forward to pour over the records that keepers have about Earth and the history of humans on this planet.

53 Keeper Melissa

Since we are going to remain here on Earth for while, I was officially assigned to assist keeper Melissa. My job will be to sort and then archive all the historical information about the work that keepers have been doing on Earth since the beginning of time. This enormous historical archive will then be uploaded onto our drone vessel's computer.

I was told that Keepers can live for a very, very long time. So I got curious and asked Keeper Melissa what her age is. Although she refuses to tell me her exact age, keeper Melissa told me that she has been on planet Earth since before the dinosaur experiment. She also explained that in the very beginning, the Earth's atmosphere was not quite suitable for people and the oxygen levels had to be artificially increased before any humans could even begin to develop.

There are many things  that I still don't understand about the keepers and it will be hard for me to learn all there is about them. It will be hard because, as far as I know, keepers don't seem eager to answer direct questions. For example, each time I ask keeper Melissa something, she always answers with another question. Eventually, her questions end up leading me to discover the answer I originally sought. However, this tedious process always tries my patience

I suppose that the first thing I need to do is learn how to have more patience. I will need a lot more of it working with keeper Melissa. That's  for sure.