Lillie looked all around herself, intrigued to see other children her age and older for the first time. Up to now she’d only seen adults, babies and toddlers because there were no other babies or children in the cave system where she was born, and, until Carla and Geoff had the twins, she had been the only child at the settlements.
A group of little girls ran up to her trying to make friends, but she was a little unsure of them so stayed next to me.
The room came to order as quickly as before when Chenzira, the cave-dwellers leader, stood up and took his place at the front of the cavern.
He addressed his people, “Seven days ago strangers from the outer-world came here telling us it is safe to live on the surface. I and the other leaders believe these to the same time travellers that Sari, our ancestor, depicted in the closed cave murals. Steve and Gemma met Sari and have images of her and the people of long ago. These two people visited our ancestors and warned them that the poison would fall for another nine thousand years. This time is now complete.
“I spoke to you about the outer-world, and you have had five days to decide what you want to do. Those who want to leave and live in the outer-world are free to do so. Those who want to stay here in the home-caves may stay. Both decisions are reversible; you can change your minds at any time. I will be staying but will travel outside on occasion. I will certainly visit when you build towns and cities.
“Know that the outer-world is a wild place, but these travellers will show you their ways and teach you how to survive. I believe both our peoples have much to teach the other, and I hope this will be the case. Those who have chosen to stay please leave the meeting place now and return to your quarters. The rest of you stay here so we can see who you are.”
Chenzira sat down and waited while several hundred people left with their young families; nearly a thousand remained, the hum of their voices echoing around the cavern. When everyone had stopped moving around Chenzira stood again and the room hushed.
“Ladies, gentlemen and younglings,” he addressed the crowd. “For many, many generations we have had to limit our population by only allowing two children per family. In the outer-world there will be no such restriction. Know that you go with my blessing, and will always be welcome back here in the home of your people. It may not be practical to leave all at once, for you will need food and shelter, but if you wish you may experience the outer-world today, and leave gradually as you build your new homes. Is this acceptable to you all?”
From the applause, the nodding, smiling and hugging, it seemed that it was.
So it was agreed. Chenzira and Ini-herit walked down through the people, shaking their hands and speaking to them. The leader and his son stopped in front of the large rock Gemma, Lillie and I had been sitting on. We stood up out of respect.
Chenzira smiled saying, “Thank you for freeing us. We can finish the murals now. There’s a space in the sealed caves for a picture of you leading the people out of here.
In the coming weeks the last mural was added depicting Gemma and I walking down the mountainside with Lillie sitting on my shoulders, and hundreds of people, young and old, streaming down the rough, dry hillside behind us, overseen in the background by the enormous, weather beaten, granite carvings of four American Presidents of long ago, the last vestige of a once technological society.
This was our new beginning …
Genesis Chapter 1 verse 28: ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.’
This was our new Eden …
The End
By the same author:
Shattered Dreams – Renewed Hope
Born in the aftermath of World War II, life deals Les Deane many blows and over the years he makes many bad decisions.
He engages in a world of crime, becoming a gangster with one of the most ruthless and notorious gangs of 1960’s London. Consequently, he spends time in several prisons and remand centres, soon after his release from Norwich Prison dropping out of society, becoming a tramp and eventually an alcoholic.
After five long, cruel years on the streets, often soaking wet and surviving in the biting cold while not eating for days on end, he discovers something that will change his whole way of life and thinking forever.
Today, he is Pastor and Manager of Freshfields Music Ministries, a Christian music group which ministers at various Churches throughout the country. Having preached at more than 200 different churches over a five-year period, he has been asked on numerous occasions to write his biography.
Shattered Dreams – Renewed Hope is his story …
Available for download at Amazon Kindle and in book form.
ISBN 078-0-9573610-0-3
Soon available on Amazon Kindle:
Displaced in time …
The office clerk placed a large brown and white picture of a First World War soldier onto the desk in front of my friend, Lucinda.
She exclaimed, “Wow … if I met him, if he walked into this room right now, I would fall in love with him straight away.”
Impossible, of course—he died many years ago—but what if it were possible? What if you could travel through time and meet your soul mate?
Displaced in time is the story of Jeff, a photographer, who lives in 2007, and Lillian, a primary school teacher, who lives in 1912. We follow them through the next five years of their lives as they start corresponding though time. Life is harder for Lillian as she lives through the events of the First World War, but Jeff also has his share of disappointments and challenges. They agree to meet up, each waiting in the correct place and on the correct date, yet ninety-three years apart. Both are understandably upset when they think the other has ‘stood them up’. However, it is Jeff’s best friend, Theo, who first suspects the inconceivable truth …
But this is more than a love story. Throw in some adventure, time travel, a group of people who are fighting to restore the original timeline and their enemy, Strada, a sociopath genius, who will stop at nothing to keep mankind on the road to destruction, and you have Displaced in Time.
Empty Planet Page 36
