Chapter 24
He was running. His chest was burning as he tried to get enough oxygen into his lungs. An unknown enemy pressed him hard. He stumbled at the edge of a precipice and fell. Dust boiled around him as he came to a halt curled in a ball at the bottom of the ravine. He heard engines and felt the rumble of some kind of vehicle and smelled diesel fuel. Then from somewhere he heard the thundering echoes of the symphony, the voices singing and then the plaintive strains of the violin…. He woke with a start. He could hear the last muffled echo of his own voice. He had cried out in his sleep.
He sat up and threw his feet over the edge of the bed. Running his hands through his hair he went into the wash room and splashed water on his face. He wandered over to the balcony and looked out onto the fountain. The great hall was empty and the lights were dimmed.
He had left Kirah that afternoon at one of the landings and spent the rest of the day in his tree house, staring out into the leaves that were stirred by the mild breezes. He tried a hundred times to understand what he had seen in the painting. Was it his imagination?
After all two blue lines going through a white circle on a black background….it could be something else, it might just be a coincidence. Maybe. But the fact that it was such an old painting made this seem even more improbable. He could barely comprehend what it meant. And the things that he could imagine were too creepy to think about. He decided to just forget the whole thing. It was just some sort of wishful thinking on his part. After all it was just a little symbol. It didn’t mean anything. The small figure of a man holding a something. A man with something around his neck. Something that looked very much like a TransHuman logo.
It just could not be. It was impossible. Ridiculous.
He had excused himself from the after dinner discussions and gone to bed early. But not even sleep would leave him in peace. There was no way he could ask anyone about what he had seen. If he was mistaken they would think he was indulging in delusions of grandeur. ‘Is that ME in that nine hundred year old painting?’ Yeah, that sounded real sane. He had plenty of other things to think about now and that’s what he would focus on.
* * * *
In the end, he did succeed in putting it out of his mind for the most part and lost himself in the routine of his days. His work with Kirah was something he looked forward to every morning. She was an excellent teacher and he became a rather smitten pupil. Her quiet and confident grasp of her world and her subject kept him interested. And the dignity of her trusting nature kept him from making the advances that he found himself thinking about more and more often. He did not feel confident enough with the customs about this kind of thing and didn’t want to make some awful faux pas and end up with some other language teacher or sitting with the children out in the courtyards.
And the work with Qinn was becoming fascinating. He found that merging with the plant matter was not as confusing as with humans and he was making good progress in his skills. Naphor would be proud. He missed the old man and thought from time to time of going to visit him for a few days. But as it turned out he didn’t have to.
One morning when they were out gathering some root vegetables Abe looked up and saw someone riding up the main road on a dappled gray horse. Abe stood holding a bright yellow tuber in one hand and shaded his eyes with the other, trying to see who it was.
“Look, it’s Naphor come to visit!” Someone called out. Everyone stopped what they were doing and walked up onto the road to meet him.
“Greetings my friends!” he said affably.
“Welcome Naphor! What brings you to us today?”
“I felt the need to see you all face to face and especially Aeron. It’s been too long since we played a game of Bagitt together.”
Everyone laughed at some inside joke. He headed on his way to the horse pasture and they finished their harvesting and followed.
The inhabitants of the Tree were chattering about his visit by the time Abe got into the Great Hall and evidently Naphor had already gone up to Aeron’s rooms. No one saw hide nor hair of them all day. Abe went about his duties but was anxious to tell Naphor about his successes in the biology department.
Up in Aeron’s study the two men greeted each other with a warm hug. Naphor held his friend at arm’s length and looked him over. You are looking very dignified and distinguished Aeron. Soon you will be as hoary and rarefied as myself!”
“I could only hope that it will be as you say. But what is this visit? You didn’t tell me you were coming.”
“I have news that I felt should be shared in person. And besides, if things are as I suspect, I will be needing to take someone with me when I go.”
Someone knocked on the door and when they bid them enter, it was Kirah with a tray of food and a pot of tea for the two men.
“Ah just the thing. I must admit that I was looking forward to Misha’s cooking. Are there any seed cakes on that tray?”
“She sent them especially for you. As soon as she heard you had arrived she started a batch.”
“You tell her she is the best cook on the continent and thank her for indulging the whims of an old man.”
“Yes sir I will.” Kirah dropped a little curtsey and left them alone.
“Let me do justice to this and then I will tell you all.”
They made a good meal and Naphor sat back in his chair with a sigh.
“Aeron, I think our long awaited awakening is at hand.”
Aeron looked at him and covered his mouth with one hand.
“Bless the One. What has happened?”
“You remember our conversation about the seed all those months ago? I think all the speculation about what it means and what is to be done about it has come to an end. The council will meet tonight for the purpose of consultation and a vote, but it seems the answer is obvious now that a certain object has appeared in the flatlands.”
Aeron leaned forward in his chair, his hands gripping the arms that were carved with Ting blossoms.
“I became aware of it three nights ago. It spoke to me Aeron. You can imagine how surprised I was. As soon as it was light, I set out to find what was out there. I followed its signal and there in the very spot that G’var Daath had absorbed Abraham’s ship, there stands right now, another ship. Only this is one of the Tree’s making. As near as I can tell, it is a copy, only a copy made in the manner of our world. It stands intact with the door open. I went inside and there in the wall of the ship there is a receptacle in the shape of the petals that surround the seed at Tree Achod.
I believe that our Abraham is supposed to take the seed to his home world. It is the fulfillment of the prophesy. I had no idea this would be the solution that would arise. We knew one day there would be a seed and someone would take it. But the HOW of it - - now that was the mystery was it not? But the Tree has answered that. And it also means we are ready for the next veil to be removed. And Aeron, even I do not know what that will look like. It is hidden from me and from the council too. All we know is, that the time is at hand.”
The elder sat in rapt silence. “To think, my friend, we have lived to see this day.” Tears ran down his cheeks.
“But poor Abraham, he has been through so much. He is just learning to accept his new surroundings and . . . this is between you and me, my daughter has become very fond of him. This will be difficult for them. The Holy One has given him much to overcome, and this may be the hardest of all for him to understand.”
“And how will we know that he will plant our seed in his world? I think deep down he is still convinced that their ways are superior to ours.”
“It is not for us to decide what he does with the seed. It is for us to give it into his care. He has the choice to plant it or let it die. The Holy One is adamant about free will on this point. Whoever planted the seed for our tree had that same choice. We of course think he chose wisely. But who knows what obstacles he was up against, or how he must have struggled. It is no small thing to turn a whole world upside down.”
“But of one thing we are sure.” Said Naphor. “It must be Abraham. No one from Dhriana can take it. It must be someone from their own world.”
“When do we tell him?”
“Tomorrow, after the council has met. Only you and I, and the leader of the council know about this right now. We will discuss it tonight in the Great Moheen.”
“I hope and pray that the Holy One will give our Abraham the strength he will need. The fate of his world will rest in his hands.”
Naphor nodded silently.
* * * *
There was a festive meal that night. Flowers were brought in to decorate the tables and a special chair was brought in for Naphor. He sat there before the meal and families came in groups to greet him. He exclaimed at how children had grown and told others he had heard of their work on such and such a project, and generally acted like the patriarch of a kingdom. Abe watched, leaning on the side of the doorway. The affection that they obviously had for him was evident. And he had to admit he shared in it. This man helped him at his lowest point. Treated him like a man, when he had been behaving like a particularly petulant child.
Finally he took his turn in line and came to make a bow of respect. Naphor took Abe’s hands in his and held them. “Abraham I have heard how well you are doing in your studies. Qinn tells me you are amazing him with your abilities. You must have had a very good teacher.” His eyes twinkled and then he laughed out loud at his own joke. Abe laughed with him, and in open and honest affection leaned down and kissed him on the cheek. Something he never in a million years would have done on earth. But there, it was done.
The old man patted him on the cheek and gave him a look that was a mixture of joy and sadness that Abe could not quite understand. At his touch, he had briefly read a rush of barely suppressed emotions. Naphor removed his hand quickly, and looked around Abe to the next person in line.
Abe walked off puzzled. What was going on?
The meal and the singing afterward went on far longer than normal and when all was cleared away, it was time for bed. Abe watched as Aeron and Naphor walked arm in arm up the stairs. He went to his own room and fell asleep almost instantly.
* * * *
He opened his eyes. In the dim light he thought he had heard something. Whispers. He had no idea how late it was but he got out of bed and leaned over the balcony to see if there was anyone in the Great Hall. It was deserted. The only sound was the water in the fountain bubbling and splashing gently. Wait. There! He heard it again. Voices, whispers and echoes. Partial words and then hints of emotional things, astonishment, elation, worry.
What was going on? He asked himself for the second time that night.
He quickly dressed and opened his door quietly. He crept through the halls following the voices. They were coming from the direction of Aeron’s rooms. He stepped barefoot along the hall to his door. There was a glow of silvery blue light playing out from under the door. The voices were louder now and he felt mildly confused by the emotions that were filtering through. This was the part that he had no experience with while working with the plants. They had only the barest of emotion. Oh emotion was there, but it was the least of their emanations. Here, the emotions were high. Why? He wondered. He thought this was something you were supposed to control when merging.
He nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard, “Come in Abraham.”
Spoken clearly from inside the room. He felt foolish, but opened the door.
There in the ‘dark’, the elder and the old man sat surrounded by shimmering lights that played around them. Naphor spoke. “Please my friends try to focus. Questions only. Try to keep everything else in check for a little longer.” Abraham, say hello to the council.”
“Hullo…” he mumbled looking around the room, seeing no one else. His head was swimming. He felt around for a chair and sat down. He heard a distant jumble of voices now. How they kept them all straight, he hadn’t a clue. But every now and then he would hear his name, and something about ‘zerah’ over and over.
Finally the lights and the voices subsided and the two men were sitting in the room looking a little drained watching Abe shake his head trying to clear his muddled brain. It was nice to be in a room with plain old people instead of shadows who talked all at once.
Aeron motioned for Abe to come closer to the pair who were sitting near the windows looking out into the night sky.
“You heard us.”
“You woke me up.” Abe said defensively.
“He does have the gift then doesn’t he?”
“Comes from good teaching. Naphor smiled with a mischievous grin.
Chapter 25
“Something has happened that I think will interest you greatly.” Naphor said, leaning forward in his chair.
“And that something is of great importance to us too.” Aeron added.
Naphor continued. “Day before yesterday, an object appeared out on the plateau. I went to investigate and found - he looked at Abe who was still rubbing his temple - What I believe to be a replication of your space ship.”
Abe stopped his rubbing as he tried to process this bit of news.
“What?” was all he could muster.
“It is G’var Daath’s interpretation to be sure, as it is made of organic matter. But it seems to be in working order. Although you would be a better judge of that than I.”
Conflicting thoughts raced through Abe’s mind. Could he go home?! Was the thing safe? Home! The Project. Oh the possibilities! The things he could tell them. What about Kirah? He had just started to half way like this place. But home! Then the image of the man in the painting holding the seed came flitting past, but in his typical manner, he dismissed it.
“I want to see this ship. When can we leave?”
“Before we do that, there is something else you need to know.” Said Aeron.
Oh boy, thought Abe, here it comes, what now?
“Almost at the same time you arrived. Our Tree which has grown for a thousand years, has at last produced a seed.”
“Yes, Naphor showed it to me. Well, you know. I ‘saw’ it.”
Aeron continued, “On the ship, there is a special receptacle ready to receive the seed. We believe that none of this is a coincidence. Your coming here, the seed forming and now this ship, ready for you to travel home in. We weren’t sure before and therefore didn’t say anything to you about this. But there has been a prophecy for hundreds of years that one would come to take our seed to another world. It is the fulfillment of not only the prophesy, but a sort of beginning of a new era for us. We have come to the place where our tree has seen fit to produce a seed to share, to give these gifts we have to another world. And this opens the door for our planet, our people to move on to another revelation of the presence of the Holy One. We have waited for this day. That is why there was so much excitement and confusion among the council tonight. They weren’t doing a very good job of containing their joy, and really who could blame them?”
Abe listened to this with his mouth open. “Well, what if I don’t think planting this seed is the right thing for my planet? I mean, if I understand what I have been told, it would destroy everything that has ever been built. How can I make that decision? Who am I to force this upon a whole planet?”
“It is not a requirement that you plant the seed. It is a gift G’var Daath wants to give. You have the choice to plant it or not. No one can decide what to do with the seed but you, when you arrive on your planet.”
“What will happen to it if I don’t plant it?”
“We can only speculate, but more than likely it will wither like any other seed. We don’t really know.”
Abe’s mind was reeling. Why me? He was a getting a little tired of this Tree dictating what was going to happen all the time. But if taking the seed to earth was the price of a ticket home, he would take it.
Abe felt a rush of excitement. Could this be true? Would this ship work?
Maybe it was just a sort of copy, not functional. But if it was a working ship, he would be on his way home soon, very soon. And then a strange thing happened, along with the excitement, he remembered his work here. The carefully written pages of his history and the diary he had started keeping. His language lessons with Kirah, and the work he had been doing with Qinn, Barney, Terren…the golden sky….
But they quickly paled in comparison to a triumphant return to earth as had been planned before the accident. The first man to have left the solar system, and then returned. And he would be there to influence the historical events of his own world. Maybe there would be no need for a seed. Perhaps by now the singularity had taken place. After all he had been over twenty years in hibernation. And if it took another twenty to get home, the world could be a completely different place. For all he knew, his people’s answer to the difficulties facing humanity might have been solved by new technologies. Disaster wasn’t the ONLY way things could go…. His heart was racing at the possibilities. While he would never forget his experiences here, his head told him that his destiny lay elsewhere. He would never have fit in here, not really.
“Can we go in the morning?”
“Absolutely.” Said Naphor.
“I’ll see you at breakfast.” Said Abe…. I just hope I can get to sleep now…”
He was right to worry, he lay wide awake for a few more hours and then fell into a deep sleep. He only awoke when he heard a knock at his door.
When he opened it there was Barney looking like a lost puppy.
“Aeron told me that you might be leaving today and it is most probable that you won’t be coming back. I wanted to say goodbye and that I enjoyed working with you and I am going to miss you and I want you to have this to remember your time with us.
He handed Abe a sheaf of papers hastily laid together in a cloth cover. He opened it and there were the many sheets of notes that they had made together in their early attempts to share the convolutions of English. Some were in Abe’s handwriting and some in Barney’s, complete with drawings.
Abe was touched. “Thank you Doven. I’m still surprised you had the patience to put up with me back then. I wasn’t a very willing student.”
“You had been through a traumatic event, and you were still recovering from your injuries. It’s understandable.” He answered.
“I’ll miss you.” He opened his arms and gave Barney a hug.
At this Barney broke down and cried like a girl. He never seemed more like his namesake than at this moment.
He stepped back and sniffed and tried to compose himself. “All right then, you take care of yourself now.”
“I will.” Abe answered. “I’ll never forget you… Barney.”
This sent him off into another paroxysm of crying and he turned and hurried off down the hall.
Abe heard the breakfast bell ring. He washed his face quickly and changed his shirt.
After the meal, Naphor stood up and everyone became quiet. He told them all that had transpired in the last few days, including the part about the seed. The people began to exclaim surprise and shock. Evidently everyone knew about the prophesy. And before he knew it, they had broken out in a song. People were dancing and shouting, waving their hands and standing on chairs. It was quite simply pandemonium. Naphor and Aeron let them go on for a while and then quieted them down as best as they could. Then the questions began to fly in the crowd. What would happen now? How were things going to change? What would their lives be like? The uncertainty of the change crept into the air and he could sense their trepidation. New things, even wonderful new things were still disorienting. Abe felt for them, as this is what he had been feeling all these many weeks he had been here. It was a rollercoaster ride and now it was their turn.
“I think I will stay here and answer as many questions as I can. The routine of this day will be re-arranged Aeron said to Abe. There is much to discuss. And many fears to lay to rest. You must go without me I think.”
“We will ask Terren to come with us.” Said Naphor. “When can you be ready Abraham?
“ I just have a few things I need to do. I will meet you at the horse pasture shortly.”
Abe searched the milling crowd for Kirah and spotted her with a group of her friends near the archway.
“Can you come with me?” Abe asked her. I have something I want to give you.”
“Of course” she answered and they left together.
“It’s up in my tree house” he said.
They ascended the stairs and went out onto the walkway and made their way to his retreat. He opened a small cupboard and pulled out his history and journal parchments. “Would you have these bound for me and would you please keep them? They aren’t great writing or anything, but perhaps they might be of interest to a historian 100 years from now. I apologize for the bad handwriting. – he pointed to the last few pages he had been working on - Although you can see here that I was improving as I got used to the pens and how that whole ink dipping thing worked.” He smiled sheepishly. “And here are the notes that Doven and I made while we studied together.” He pressed them into her hands.
“I will see to it that they find an honored place in my library.” She was looking down at the floor and Abe could see the tears falling onto her skirts. He reached out gently and folded her in his arms. The smell of her hair filled his senses.
“You are the only thing here that makes me hesitate. But everything else calls me back to my world. And we must remember, we are not even sure if this “space ship” the Tree has copied will work.”
She looked unconvinced. It came from a whole lifetime of experience with an entity that always seemed to do things to perfection. She had no doubts about the ship’s capabilities.
“You have been given a great task, and a weighty decision. The fate of your people rests in your hands.”
Abe cringed inside at the words. He felt it was unfair and arrogant to put him in this position. But he would go through the motions if it could get him back home in one piece….
He felt compelled to be honest with her though. “I don’t know what I am going to do with the seed. I am not convinced that it is automatically the best thing for my world. Not that I think less of your way of life. But things on my planet are vastly different. And we may be able to overcome the pitfalls that befell your people and the Tree won’t be needed. Do you see?”
“Of course I know you have free will. And it is your choice. That is what makes it so important.”
“Well, I have to go, Naphor is waiting for me. Goodbye Kirah.”
She looked up at him with her beautiful black lashed eyes and he bent and kissed her softly. She leaned toward him and put her arms around him kissing him back making his head spin.
In all his preparations for space travel and exploration, this particular dilemma had never come up. There had been no manual entitled, “What to do when you fall in love with a native of the alien world.” God, what a mess.
“You shouldn’t keep Naphor waiting…..”
“No.”
“I think I will stay here. She said, “It would be easier for me.”
“All right. Goodbye then.”
“Goodbye Abraham of Earth, Godspeed.”
He took his last look at her, standing with the crumpled parchments clutched to her bosom, surrounded by leaves swaying gently in the breeze, with the golden sky peeking through the branches of The Tree.