“...So this extraordinary moment should summon all of us to become what we profess to be: one indivisible nation. Let us pledge ourselves to the ideal that the people's will should be heard and heeded, and then, together, let us find what is best in ourselves and seek what is best for America.
“Two hundred years from now, when future Americans study this presidential election, let them learn that Americans did everything they could to ensure that all citizens who voted had their votes counted. Let them learn that democracy was ultimately placed ahead of partisan politics in resolving a contested election. Let them learn that we were indeed a country of laws.” -- Vice President Gore, 11/27/2000

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation under God, indivisible, With Liberty and Justice for all." -- June 14, 1954 Graphic: Stars and Bars

Once upon a time there was a city named Ajksoi. It was known far and wide for its culture and art, its fairness and pleasant ways. Waters so clear that the iridescent hues of khy and lkn, its main aquatic life, shone from a mile away. Vegetation of nearly uncountable kinds covered its bhvu, Ajksoin for any rise of ground. Disease was rare because Ajksoini kept their minds clear and bright, filled with beautiful images from the land and air. The Ajksoini were joined by a spirit they called pquigd. They never spoke except bkles! in alarm at natural calamity coming on. The only reason for words, by the way, were for recording events, births and deaths, catastrophes and wondrous signs. Their numismatic system was very convoluted, and to this day scholars have not deciphered many glyphs. The reason was not stupidity but number, name and grammar complexities to force Ajksoini through all the mysteries of life and death, eternity and nonentity as they sought to keep track of their tribe so what they finally recorded incorporated all history since time began, and perhaps before. Of course, we’re still learning about them, their counting, customs and language.

It isn’t clear if they wore clothes although remnants of art featuring figures adorned with natural and woven objects suggests that they may. Or it may have been for ritual; at this point, it’s difficult to say. One thing is clear from the transcripts so far. Some time in what appears to be around the year 789,734 b.c., their system and lifestyle began to give way. It’s difficult to discern today why that happened, but a heavy heart descended on the pquigd, as Ajksoini graphics and glyphs relay. Little by little their vigor was lost. Art that remains shows dark countenances and dismay. Although Ajksoini social structure had seemed to be fairly flat, ugly caricatures appear suddenly on rock face, now petrified and partial.

Tablature from the time appears to display how elders were chosen by lot and then a leader from those chosen by all Ajksoini in the spirit of pquigd. Evidently, in the year 789,733 b.c., or thereabouts, the wrong leader was chosen in defiance. It appears from the glyphs that year that rather than 34,806 Ajksoini choosing a leader, one dropped out, and the difference began a distortion and destruction ultimately of pquigd that had held the Ajksoini together in camaraderie, compassion, construction and creativity for many years. Where once the bklqwe, or choosing, had been a cheerful meditation on the spirit and will of pquigd, the bklqwe became a kind of war, perhaps about the true nature of what unified the Ajksoini since one had dropped out, or at least not chosen. The word bkles! appears frequently in glyphs from that time, as does the onset of quickly spoken words. In particular, hjvba! and bjhqw!, Ajksoini for die and kill, are hurled, along with feet and hands and stones and other words increasingly from that date forward between beings of the tribe. Where once they appeared in art to laugh with good humor and joyously, “bad jokes” appear, belittling the pquigd and Ajksoini themselves. The bklqwe become increasingly violent as the pquigd breaks, or so the record shows. Art of the time portrays it as black, bubbling, bursting out of control in sharp-edged sections and coils that wither in red air, and more of the tribe fallen coarsely every year.

Today, we found evidence at the site of our excavations that might indicate a portion of the pquigd survived, although it may be in an altered form. We have much research to do and feel at this point in our understanding of pquigd and the Ajksoini that there is a .000000003 statistical probability that its ancient tribal voice may be, though buried in bkles! all these years, still alive. Interestingly, this is by our calculations a bklqwe, or primal pquigd choosing, year.