Rembrandt Born

The state of TIAH

July 15th, 2006

in 1606, the Dutch master Rembrandt van Rijn was born in Leiden, Holland. Although he painted some of the most exquisite portraits of the 17th century, only one exists of the master, himself, because of the actions of a jealous young student. Paco Rinaldi, a Spanish artist who never made much of himself, began to hate his master so much that he decided to kill him; he attacked Rembrandt with a knife and slashed the Dutch painter's face so horribly that van Rijn never went out in public again without his face covered. Rinaldi was hung for the unprovoked attacked, but his revenge was complete – Rembrandt never painted another portrait after this attack, and turned his attention to dark religious matters, painting his beautiful yet horrible Revelation series illustrating the Book of Revelation from the Bible.

in 1947, the Air Force reverses its statement on the “flying saucer” that it recovered at Mac Brazel's ranch outside Roswell, New Mexico. Now, they announce that it was simply a weather balloon, and Major Marcel poses with what looks like a sheet of tin foil to demonstrate the material that had “fooled” them. The Brazel family do not recognize the tin foil as something that they picked up off of their ranch, and Mac Brazel calls up the base to question this Major Marcel. He is told that Major Marcel will, instead, be paying a visit to him. That evening, the Air Force officer and two men in dark suits sit with the Brazel family and tell them that in the name of national security, they need to keep everything that they know about the wreckage and the two bodies on their ranch a secret. Mac is outraged, and says, “You're telling one lie after another about this, and I'm supposed to trust you now, just cause you say it's national security? That stuff almost killed my daughter!” One of the men in dark suits leans over and whispers in Major Marcel's ear for a moment, then turns to the rancher and says, “You don't want anything else to happen to your daughter, do you, Mr and Mrs Brazel?” The implied threat of the simple statement chills the Brazel family, and they soon agree not to speak of what they really found on their ranch.

in 2017, Najib Kasem of the human ship Eagle finds a new setting on the golden device that brought them to the Amandara system. But, as he turns to tell one of the Quarai working on the device with him, he feels the left side of his body go numb. A stabbing pain shoots through his head and he collapses. The Quarai immediately offer assistance, taking him to the human doctor, Dmitri. With some help from Quarai medicine, Dr. Dmitri is able to bring Kasem out of the stroke he just suffered. “You had a stroke,” the doctor tells Kasem. “I want you to rest for a couple of days. The Quarai and I devised a way to heal the damage in your brain, but it needs time to work.” Kasem, although hearing all this in a fog, manages to nod his head in agreement, which Dmitri and the Quarai doctors take as a very good sign. Commander Patterson wonders if working on the device may have had anything to do with Kasem's condition, but all of the scientists who have been studying the device say nothing about it could have triggered Kasem's stroke.

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