In 15,000 BC, the Ice Age was at its end. Much to the team’s relief, they found the homo sapiens have dispersed to all the continents. Nengut was astonished but not surprised that four dominant races came out from one species of Homo Sapiens. Since all four races were irreversibly headed towards higher intelligence, Nengut and Femed were ecstatically happy. This time, they were optimistic.
As planned, they conducted a behavioral experiment to validate Nengut’s Lion-Monkey hypothesis.
On the first experiment, they used a remotely activated Rian-like dummy the size of a monkey that held a stick. The dummy swung the stick at curious monkeys at striking distance. The monkeys reacted as predicted---did not raise their arms in defense but ducked then ran and never came back. When the same were done to cavemen using a life-size Rian dummy that held a stick, the cavemen defensively raised their arms and retaliated by clubbing the dummy until certain it was dead or retreated then later came back with more cavemen that ganged up on it.
On their last field trip, one of the cavemen groups studied placed gifts on the dummy’s feet while a young girl in vibrant-colored attire, knelt before the dummy with her forehead touching the ground. She was adorned with shell jewelries on her neck, arms, wrist, and ankles. Her hair, sprawled on the ground, was beautifully covered with flowers, some small, and a few proportionately larger. Men and women around danced to the rhythm of their chant as they stumped the ground; whirled around; hands flailed in the air; heads bobbed up and down. For a while they danced to an increasing tempo of the beat till it became a wild unsynchronized fast motion of bodies and arms. Then a distinctly dressed man with a colorful ritual club bashed the girl's head. Everyone stopped dancing and bowed their heads to the ground. Nengut could not explain the act, at least logically, to relate the barbarity as an offering to something abstract, God.
Completing their mission, they woke everyone for the pre-arranged general meeting.
Everyone was present at their conference room seated on wooden benches that formed a half circle. Nengut, standing at the front, announced the success of their Ape Project. She reported that crude but intelligent beings have populated most of the continents. She also reported her concerns over the degree of predatory instinct the humans had. An open discussion ensued. She listened. Everyone seemed to have part of the answer but together had no agreeable conclusion on the type of people they will have to deal with. If there was something vitally important they did not consider in their discussion, even by Nengut, it was greed! Rians knew little to associate it with intelligent beings. To Rians, greed was an irrational behavior and unlikely to be present in rational creatures.
At the meeting's conclusion, the assembly agreed and the amo concurred---under no circumstance were they to provoke the humans that may incite aggressive behavior. They were like monkeys: therefore, the situation might not rise. They also agreed that they would start negotiation when the humans became intelligent enough to learn and not when they have the technology to pose any threat to them.
After the meeting, Nengut pondered as she walked, 'Is it possible? If reason directly clashed with instinct, would it result to an irrational behavior?' As Nengut deliberated, Amo Obib, with Ningning, called her attention from a distance.
They walked toward each other.
“Nengut,” Amo Obib said, obviously perplexed, “If you don't mind, Ningning and I were discussing responses resulting from . . .”
The three discussed the subject lengthily and left each other wondering---is it possible: an irrational intelligent being?
Everyone hibernated again but this time Nengut and Femed were to wake five-thousand years later.