In 1791, descendants of the Speaker's Line gather in the Himalayas to discuss the recent advances in balloon travel. The Himalayan Gathering produces the first documented evidence of the Speaker's Line, as they wrote out a manifesto, of which only three copies survive; the manifesto details their plan to utilize their vast network to encourage governments to develop air travel over the next century.

In 1659, Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell disbands the English Parliament. The Conquerors of the Speaker's Line have achieved their greatest victory with his ascension to power over the British, but they are not prepared to rule, which leads to the fall of Cromwell?s government in a few short years. The Conquerors gather after the failure and refine their techniques.

In 1599, the most successful Conqueror of the Speaker's Line, Oliver Cromwell, was born in Huntingdon, England. For a few years, he held control of the British Empire, and used it to further the goals of his faction as much as he could before his death and the loss of Britain back to those not descended from Telka.

In 47,392, BCE/the Dreaming, as Telka the Speaker lay dreaming, a spider crawled down upon a massive web from heaven and stared at her. 'Sleep well, Speaker,' he told her. 'Your children will find me soon enough.' He then crawled back up, but his web remained behind. The Speaker thought that she woke then, and followed the spider up his long web. From the spider's nest in heaven, she looked down upon the world, and the spider told her, 'Remember it well. You shall not see it again.' The Speaker woke in truth, then, and almost fell into tears from her earthbound condition.

In 47,392 BCE, a few hundred feet up the side of the Himalayas, Telka the Speaker slips into a crack and twists her ankle. She is trapped for hours before her great-granddaughter Swikolay is able to free her. Unable to continue on, she tells Swikolay, "The mountain has beaten me, for now. But, we will be back".

In 47,392 BCE, Telka and her great-granddaughter Swikolay reach the mountains of the Himalayas. The two slay many animals over the next week, and tan their hides into furs that they can wear. They start up the mountain as the years turns, and Telka tells Swikolay, 'This mountain will allow us to touch the sky.'

In 47,402 BCE, Telka the Speaker became a great-grandmother as her grandson had his first child, a daughter that Telka named Swikolay. Swikolay became Telka's most constant companion in her later years, and the first leader of the Speaker's Children on Telka's death.

In 47,416 BCE, Telka, the Speaker, climbed the great mountain she had named Ketsuma, and attempted to touch the sky. It was still beyond her reach. She turned to the young son she had brought with her and told him that they would find a taller one and try again.

In 47,425, BCE a young girl of a tribe in central Africa conceives of a unique idea; she can make hundreds of sounds, each easily distinguishable to the human ear. She thinks that if she attaches a specific sound to an idea, or to a thing, that she would be able to communicate her very thoughts to other people. The first sound she designates is for herself, and she calls herself Telka, the Speaker.

in 47,392, BCE Telka the Speaker and her great-granddaughter Swikolay begin walking away from the Himalayas to the southeast. In her dreams, she had seen a great island in that direction, and she thought that it might have a better vantage point from which to reach the sky.

In 47,391 BCE, after a year of walking, Telka the Speaker stands at the southeastern Asian shore and ponders a way across the ocean. Swikolay, her great-granddaughter and traveling companion, has an idea for going out into the waters. She hollows out a tree and they ride it into the South Pacific.

In 47,373 BCE, after her second rainy season with the Australian tribe she had married into, Telka the Speaker falls ill, and calls out for her great-granddaughter. Swikolay had been traveling around the continent, and it took several days for Telka?s tribesmen to find her. By the time she arrived, the Speaker was almost dead. 'I will not touch the sky,' she told Swikolay. 'Touch it for me.' Those were her last words; she lapsed into a coma and died within hours. Swikolay asked that she be burnt and her ashes thrown into the wind so that she might touch the sky in death.

In 47,385 BCE, a local Australian tribe finds Telka the Speaker and the members of her family that have crossed over from Asia. The Speaker teaches them her tongue as she recovers from the long journey, and joins the tribe by becoming the mate of the tribe?s chief.

Before,  
When Kevin hit the Austin city limits, he started fighting against people who were starting to use the inbound lanes of I-35 as outbound. Up till then, the traffic on his side had been pretty light; now, cars were coming at him at high speed, driven by people in a high panic.
Not that he really blamed them. He was kind of panicky, himself. According to the lady on the EBS, Waco had been completely evacuated from fear of nuclear fallout, and citizens were being urged to stay home unless the National Guard requested that you leave.
Requested. Sure.
He found the downtown-only lane and slid into line behind several hundred cars. Since he was at a virtual stop, he pulled out the lottery ticket he had come to redeem. 3 million bucks, after taxes. The little orange and white slip had seemed like pure gold last night when he read the numbers from the lottery web site. Now, it just seemed like an unimportant scrap of paper; worse, it was bait that had lured him from a fairly safe location to what was probably a huge terrorist target.
He pulled out his cell phone and dialed the only person he still knew in Austin. The phone lines, unsurprisingly, were very busy, so he hung up and tried to dial his mother in Bryan. That was busy, too. So were his sister, his brother, all of his friends and his job, now. He wondered who had called him earlier, and checked the call log on his phone. It was a number he didn't know, so he tried to call it, expecting failure.
Instead, he got a clear line. "KBE Enterprises, this is Lilly, may I help you?"
"Uh, yeah, someone called me from this number a couple of hours ago. My name is Kevin Bradley".
There was a clacking of fingers on computer keys. "Yes, Mr. Bradley, please hold for a moment".
The line of cars ahead of him wasn't moving at any great pace, so Kevin shrugged and held on. Thinking that it might be a while, he plugged the cell phone's battery charger into the cigarette lighter and hit the loudspeaker option. The sound of the light muzak filled the cab of his truck.
Janice filled up the last empty jug she could find and capped it. She filled up the tub again and left the water standing. She could use that if the water was cut off. She had tried to call her parents, but the lines were all down, now.
The EBS was still broadcasting vague warnings to stay home and obey any orders the governor or National Guard might issue, but no real news on why martial law had been declared. She gathered that something had happened to Crawford, the president's ranch, but there was some doubt as to whether he had been there or not. That worried her a little bit; while she had voted for the man, she didn't like his vice-president, and didn't trust him like she trusted the president.
She looked around the house to see if there was anything else she could do. She wished that she had gone to the store last night; there wasn't a lot of food on her shelves, and if power went out, the fridge only had a few hours before it stopped holding cool air in.
She also pulled out the gun she kept by her bed and loaded it. If somebody decided that this house looked like a nice looting target, they'd be getting a big surprise.

Conspirators Assassinate "Caesar and Antony"	Death of 23rd President "John. A Logan"	Death of "Peter the Great" at Battle of Narva
Edward Rutledge's conciliatory "Letter" to John Jay	First US Chief Magistrate "James Wilson" is born in Scotland.	Harrison Ford in "Star Trek: Voyager"
Hannibal Barca wins the "Battle of Zama"	Half a century after its controversial publication, Beast Boy premieres in "Doom Patrol Origins".	Hamilton succeeds Washington as "Republican King"
Hero Judas betrayed in the "Field of Blood"	Jimmy Hoffa's remains are found in "Mobstergate".	Judgement Day arrives in South Africa with the inauguration of "the Troublemaker".