Through the Gate: The Chronicles of Cornu Book 1

by L J Dalton Jr

  The next night, he once again met with Dr. Jorgenson. “Thank you for coming Randall. This will be much more pleasant than our discussion yesterday. As you know I come from the home world. I imagine that in the time I passed through the gate, science has advanced dramatically. I doubt that I am the last person who will come over from the home world. Hopefully, the next person will bring more advances to Cornu. Advances of the right kind. It will also be confusing. The custom of two wives here is not normal in most of the home world. Although some nations still allow it, but not many. Norms are different here. I don’t want them to have figure it out on their own. I spent years learning to live here. I’ve written down what, what I think and my advice on things to avoid. I’ve written it in English my native tongue and in our tongue. My guess is that the person who next comes through the gate will speak English. My children speak English and can help. But they were born and raised here, they just don’t have the perspective of what it’s like to find yourself on Cornu with no inkling of how things are. If I’m wrong about the language, then they will have to wait until they learn the language. I’m asking you two things. First, when the next person comes through the gate, make sure that they have access to the journals. My children can help. If they speak English, they should be able to help, especially Morton. They all have copies of the journals. Also, there is an English to Landian dictionary. If worse comes to worse, they are here in my library locked in as fireproof a safe as can be made. The second, thing is harder. If they talk about improving the military or conquests, then they may have to be killed.”

  Randall readily agreed to do what the doctor asked. After hearing about war on the home world, he had no desire for such inventions be introduced here. He left two days later for home. He resolved to talk more with parents and grandparents about what he learned from Dr. Jorgenson and other things. He followed through. Both his parents and grandparents where pleased that he’d become more thoughtful and mature. The conversations also got the royal family once again thinking about technology and how to introduce it.

  Mike Mulvaney, the early years

  John Mulvaney was born in West Orange, New Jersey to Brian and Eve Mulvaney. He was the youngest of three children. John was tall, dark haired and athletic. At Seton Hall Prep, he played football, basketball and baseball. While a ‘jock’ he did get good grades and upon graduation he got an NROTC scholarship to Boston College to study economics. He was a walk on for the football team, and actually managed to play in a few games. When he graduated, he became a gunnery officer on a FRAM destroyer. After his first tour, he volunteered for the brown water navy in Viet Nam. John arrived just in time for Tet. The south was in turmoil and there were sharp firefights between the boats and the NVA. He didn’t realize that his future brother-in-law was an eighteen-year-old Marine fighting in Hue.

  When John got out of the Navy, he enrolled in the Stern School of Business at NYU to get his MBA in Finance. While he was there, he met Mary Fitzpatrick, who was the oldest of two daughters from Long Island. She had graduated from the NYU school of nursing and was a Med-Surg nurse at Bellevue. When he got his MBA, John got job as a junior bond trader with Solomon Brothers and married Mary. Mary must have gotten pregnant on the honeymoon because nine months later they welcomed fraternal twins into the world, John Jr known as Jack and Julie.

  Even though it was rough times on wall street,John seemed to have a knack for bond trading and was doing all right. He and Mary quickly decided that they needed to buy a house. They picked a nice four bedroom, two bath house on a shady street in Montclair New Jersey, a commuter suburb of New York. The town was upper middle class, with tree lined streets and good schools. The main thoroughfare was Bloomfield Avenue, which ran east to west through Essex County. This was busy street with a lot of traffic and congested parking. There were a number of higher end stores and restaurants along it. But once you got a block away it was very residential and peaceful. The Mulvaney house was a blue two-story wooden structure with a front porch that ran the full length of the front of the house. The driveway led to a smallish two car garage. Like most yards in these small New Jersey towns, it was not large. The house itself had four bedrooms and two baths on the second floor. It was almost something out of ‘Leave It To Beaver’, 1950’s America.

  They planned on having one more child. Four years later Sharon was born. With this Mary and John figured that they were done with the having children. When Sharon was old enough, they got a female yorkie puppy named Misty. Misty was a lively and friendly dog who everyone loved. Jack called her a foo-foo dog, but he could often be found playing with her. Misty spread her attention around and slept with both the girls and occasionally Jack.

  When John got a particularly big bonus, he purchased a small bungalow down the Jersey shore in Lavallette a couple of blocks from the beach. He also accepted an offer from a boutique bond firm that was headquartered in the World Trade Center.

  Much to Mary and John’s surprise, she got pregnant again. Both had thought that they were getting to old to have children and Mary had become a bit sloppy with the birth control. The couple kept up the same sexual tempo of at least once if not twice a week. The idea that they weren’t susceptible to an unplanned pregnancy was naïve given their age. Mary was 37 and John was 42, old but not out of the running as they thought. Michael John Mulvaney was born on March 17, 1983, St Patricks Day.

  The first thing that Mike’s birth did was to cause a minor uproar among his siblings. Up until then they each had their own room, and nobody wanted to have to double up. That was solved when a portion of the attic was converted to a fifth bedroom. Jack immediately claimed that for his own. John then followed through on a promise to have a half bath put in under the front stairs. That settled those sibling issues. Although Julie and Sharon complained constantly that the toilet seat was always left up. Once Mike was old enough, he was the one who got blamed, even if his dad or brother were really to blame.

  The other thing was that the Volvo station wagon that could seat six and one small dog was now to small. John went out a bought a middle of road Dodge Caravan. This would take the whole family and allow for some luggage. A series of Caravans became the family car as Mike was growing up. Misty took Mike’s arrival in stride. She could often be found lying by his crib when he was napping, ‘guarding it’. Once he started to crawl, she followed him around, making sure to stay out of the way of a baby’s clumsy hands. Mike would sit and roll a ball to her and she would bring it back to him. Mary could hear Mike laughing merrily as he and Misty played. Misty also alerted Mary anytime she thought that Mike was getting in trouble. Jack claimed the dog ‘ratted his brother out'. But he found it funny.

  Once Mike had moved out of his crib. Misty helped Mary get Mike down for naps. Mary would say. “Misty let’s go take a nap with Mike”. Misty would run upstairs and jump in Mike’s bed. Mike would then go up and cuddle with Misty and fall sound asleep. She also helped with putting Mike to bed at night. Though once Mike was asleep, Misty came downstairs to be with the rest of the family.

  The girls thought that little Mike was really cute until they found out how much of a pain that cute baby could be. Jack was unimpressed. One thing that both Jack and his father made very clear was that Mike would not be called Mikey. Although his sisters did occasionally call him that when they were annoyed with him or wanted to get under his skin. As little brothers go, he wasn’t bad. Mike adored Jack and tried to follow him.

  All the Mulvaneys were above average in intelligence. John was a senior member of a mid-sized bond firm in New York City. That was a lucrative and challenging position. His wife Mary had been a surgical nurse and before becoming pregnant with Mike had considered going back part time. Jack was much like his father, who was six foot and athletic. Julie, at first was considered the ‘brain’ of the family and had her heart set on becoming a doctor. Nobody doubted that she had the intelligence and drive to make that happen. Sharon was smart and very good looking. Luckily, her looks didn’t
go completely to her head. She did well in school and like the whole family was very social with a good circle of friends.

  For the first few years nobody realized that the real brain of the family was Mike. He walked quicker than normal, talked earlier and knew his letters and numbers prior to kindergarten. His parents didn’t really notice it. John was busy with work and the family. He chalked it up to Mike having older siblings that encouraged him to reach out. Mary was a soccer mom and was playing chauffer, running the kids to this and that activity. Mike just sort of breezed along. Mary and sometimes John, read two to three books to Mike each night before he went to bed. Often, they would find Mike ‘reading’ the book the next day. Eventually, they hear Mike reading the book to Misty. They thought that he’d memorized it. He had, but he had also figured out most of the words on his own. He was teaching himself to read.

  Eventually, Mike hit the big store of children’s books that they had in the house from his siblings. It took a while, but he was able to figure out most of the words. He devoured the PBS kids shows and taught himself his numbers. By the time he was four he knew his alphabet and his numbers. What his parents didn’t realize was that he could read at second grade level and could add and subtract. He was busily memorizing the multiplication table. The only people in the family who had any idea of how smart he was, were his sisters. Even they didn’t realize what he could do.

  The children did their homework on the dining room table. It made sure that it got done and there was somebody to help if needed. When he got into kindergarten, Mike wanted to be included. He did his ‘homework’ coloring between the lines and other exercises to develop dexterity and visual skills. One-night Mike looked at Sharon’s math homework and asked. “Can I see, Sharon?” Sharon looked at Mike until he said “Please”

  “Mike, you have to remember your Please, Thank You and May I; you can look but don’t mess it up OK?"

  “I’ll be careful Sharon, I promise” and with that Mike started to look closely at her homework, sounding out the numbers quietly to himself.

  When they were going up stairs Julie turned to her sister. “It’s cute that Mike is trying to imitate us in doing homework. Even if he doesn’t understand it.”

  “Don’t count on him not understanding it.” Replied Sharon

  “NO WAY” said Julie

  “WAY” replied Sharon. As her sister looked at her, she went on “Notice how he reads books to Misty. Mom thinks that he’s just memorized those books. Those are from second grade and he seems to be reading them. When he doesn’t know a word, he asks how to pronounce it and what it means. Mom’s too busy to notice, but I’ve spotted it.”

  Julie asked her sister. “So, you think he’s reading second grade books?”

  “Not only that. He’s found the math flash cards that we used to use for addition, subtraction and is learning the times table. He’s going full bore on those. He finished the addition and subtraction ones and is working on the times table.”

  “Sharon, what do you think we should do?”

  “Nothing just let the little kid have his time. If this continues somebody will figure it out and then we can see what happens.”

  “Good idea Sharon, but if he keeps going maybe he can do your homework for you.”

  “Yeah, but mom would never let it fly. Goodnight, I’ve got some things I want to catch up on.”

  “Goodnight Sharon.”

  From then on, the two sisters watched Mike closely. They noticed that by the end of the school year that he really seemed to understand Sharon’s math homework. Also, he’d moved on from the second-grade books and was working on the third-grade books.

  When he got home from kindergarten, Mike would sit in his room with Misty and read his books. He would often read out loud to the dog, who would occasionally wag her tail to show her appreciation. When he wasn’t reading, he was going over the math flash cards. He found the vocabulary flash cards and started to use them as well. Mike was ‘home schooling’ himself, with only his sisters being even vaguely aware of what he was doing.

  Luckily, Mike was a social child. He liked playing with his friends and classmates. Hide and seek, riding bikes all the stuff that young children liked to do. He also loved going to the library.

  Mike started youth soccer in second grade. He liked it because it was what his big brother Jack did. At this stage soccer was just a gang of kids running up and down the field kicking a soccer ball. He’d go watch his brother practice. The high school was only two blocks from their house, and it was that kind of town, so Mike was allowed to walk there. Jack was on Montclair High’s varsity soccer team as a striker. His athleticism and great co-ordination made him a very good player. One Saturday, John came out into the yard to find that Mike had set up various things in the yard and was practicing dribbling the ball between them. He was having trouble, but he was keeping at it. As time went on Jack gave Mike some tips and pointers. Both Jack and his father were impressed by Mike’s persistence. It was something that Mike had. If there was something he was interested in doing, he kept at until he got good at it.

  Bart

  Bart wasn’t a tall man, he was of average height, but heavily muscled with red hair and a red beard. He waited by the road for the trader’s caravan to arrive at his ambush. He had fifteen men hidden in the woods by the side of the road and four more ready to step out behind the caravan. This was his second raid as leader of the bandits. Before assembling this band, he’d been a member of another group of bandits. That group had been badly led by an impulsive outlaw. Unlike most bandits, Bart wasn’t banished or left civilization running from the law. He was from a small farming village and he left because he didn’t want to live that life. After leaving he eventually fell in with bandits. Bart was brutal and dishonest, but he was smart and a planner. He didn’t take unnecessary risks, unlike his previous group, most of whom were dead.

  When Bart left the band with two other men, he vowed to start his own band. He’d been lucky. He found a hidden alpine valley deep in the Sud mountains. There was only one entrance to the valley. A twisty winding track with numerous places where an ambush could be staged. Over the past three years he’d built his band until it now numbered twenty-five men. This was going to be their biggest haul. The caravan was carrying spices and silks from across the ocean. These were easily fenced. There was also gold from sales in several cities. This opportunity came as a result of careful planning. Bart kept men on the lookout in several large cities where the caravans came and went. One of them had notified him that this caravan was on the way. He and his men had been in position for two days. A couple of travelers and a small caravan had already passed. Bart had simply kept his men hidden while they passed.

  As he saw the caravan approaching, he gave the order for his man to prepare to cut the ropes that were holding a tree upright. It would fall across the road blocking the caravan and his men would make it impossible for them to turn around. When the time came, the man cut the rope and the big tree crashed onto the road, blocking it. The lead rider in the caravan rained in and there was confusion among the merchants and the guards. Bart took that opportunity to show himself. As soon as he did his men rose up from cover and covered the caravan.

  The leader of the caravan shouted. “Who are you and what do you want?”

  Bart replied. “Who I am is of no consequence. If you’ll notice I’ve got a number of men covering you. If you co-operate, they’ll do nothing. If you don’t, they’ll shoot you down. Now as to what I want. I’ve come to relieve you of the burden of transporting all your goods to the next town. We’ll be taking them off your hands. You’ve got just a couple of minutes to decide. If you don’t turn them over peacefully, we’ll take them anyway and you’ll be dead.”

  The merchants quickly realized that they stood no chance. If they fought, they would die. The caravan only had four guards. That was all anyone thought were needed to hold off any robbers. But the redheaded man demanding their goods, had more men and in
better positions. Reluctantly, they agreed to turn over their goods.

  Thirty minutes later Bart’s men were leading the horses back along the way that merchants had come. The merchants and their guards were tied up back at the site of the ambush. He had no doubt that they would be able to free themselves after a couple of hours. But they had no horses and would have to walk miles to the next town to report what had happened. A few miles from the ambush site, Bart and his men turned off the road and started to follow a narrow track towards the Sud. Bart intended to wait a month or so to start unloading the stolen goods. That would give them some time for the excitement to die down. The gold that they’d taken would be a good haul in and of itself. The silks, spices and other goods would more than double the haul even after getting less than full value from the fence.

  Bart was pleased with the outcome. He didn’t lose any men and there was no bloodshed. That meant the authorities would be disturbed by the robbery, but there wouldn’t be an all-out manhunt like there would have been if there had been a number of deaths. This haul would draw more men to his band. He would carefully choose who he let join. He didn’t need hot heads or people without discipline. Getting caught was a death sentence, either by swift execution or banishment into the far north, depending on which realm caught him. He intended to make enough money to live comfortably in one of the southern kingdoms. They were far more corrupt than the ones north of the Sud and more to his liking.