Human

by Hayley Camille

“No, Orrin! I’m not – going – to – die here!”

  “I’ll do whatever it takes,” Orrin said, through gritted teeth.

  “Just – help me. Keep helping me.” Ivy squeezed her eyes shut, desperate to maintain the flow of thoughts. “The amulet changed when it happened, okay, it was hot and blue and there was this big flash of light. And the hobbits were singing. They were calling to me somehow. I just – I don’t even know what that means, but I know it’s important. They have to be singing for it to work. The harmonies- the noise. It’s something about the energy from the moon? God, damn it! I don’t know what any of this means. And the stars, I left you a drawing of it, just in case -”

  “I saw it. I saw the stars.”

  Ivy stopped abruptly. “You saw the stars?”

  “It was brilliant. A perfect lunar calendar. I knew it was you.”

  “You did?” Ivy stuttered. “I didn’t think you’d ever find it.”

  “I told you, Ivy. I’ve been searching for you. For clues. Everywhere.”

  Ivy couldn’t help but grin into the darkness. She shook her head and drew her arms tight around her body. Seconds disappeared in silence.

  “Orrin?”

  “I did this,” he said. “I’ve made a mess of everything and I wouldn’t blame you if you hated me for it. But I’ll get you back, no matter what it costs me.”

  “No. It’s not your fault, please don’t say that,” Ivy implored in a whisper. “Sometimes the thought of you is all that keeps me going here.”

  “Really?”

  “God, yes,” Ivy admitted. “This life here, it’s like a beautiful dream and a nightmare all at once. These people have the most incredibly rich existence, and so much life inside their hearts, but there’s so much death all around them. And I just - I’ve already lost so much.” Her heart ached for Rinap and the hunters that she guessed were days buried while she lay unconscious. Turi. Krue. Emiri. And then there were the others. Her own. In another lifetime, so many years ago. I lost them too. Ivy took a deep breath and looked to the night sky for strength.

  “You shouldn’t be there,” Orrin said. “It’s all so wrong.”

  “But that’s just the thing, Orrin. I think I should be here,” Ivy implored. “I don’t know how to explain it, but I think - I’m meant to be here. I always was.”

  “No!” Orrin’s voice was shaking. “It’s not your problem Ivy-”

  “But it is! It’s everybody’s problem!” Ivy shouted. Her voice echoed down the terrace below. Her hands shook and she forced herself to breathe. “They don’t deserve this, Orrin. This isn’t natural selection. It’s genocide. It’s deliberate and cruel and fuelled by greed alone! I won’t just sit back and let it happen. They’re smart and kind and yes, different - but they have a right to fight back!” Kyah shuffled closer and dropped her chin gently onto Ivy’s arm.

  Orrin sighed. “But why do you have to fight for them?”

  She buried her fingers in Kyah’s soft hair. “Because no one else will.” She looked across the black landscape before her. “I want to come home. No, I need to come home, but I don’t know if it’s even possible. I’ve been trying to figure it out but it’s so complicated and - I need you to understand that no matter what happens; I have a job to do here.”

  “Ivy, please - “

  “No, listen! These people, they need me. I want to help them. But I want…” Ivy’s voice softened to a whisper. “My God, I just want to come home. I want to be with you, too. I want you Orrin. So much.” The last admission fell from her lips like a prayer.

  Orrin buried his face in his hands. “You have me.” She wants me. She wants me too.

  “You’re playing my music,” Ivy said. As trivial as it was, the realisation made her blush.

  “On repeat.” Orrin looked to the music dock with its red flashing light. The batteries were nearly dead and the music was beginning to stutter. “It helps me focus.”

  Ivy heard a shuffling sound and a deep breath.

  “There’s something I need to tell you Ivy, about what’s happened. I mean… what you’ve done… to me and… and the way things are now here… everything’s changed…” Orrin’s voice cracked with emotion.

  “Done to you?” Ivy breathed.

  She waited. The rest of his sentence didn’t come.

  “Orrin?”

  Silence. His voice was gone. The music was gone. There were only the night sounds of the forest below.

  “Orrin?” Ivy tried to calm her panic. Please don’t be gone.

  “Orrin?” Nothing. He still might come back.

  “Orrin?” She stared up at the full moon, clenching her jaw.

  I’ll wait.

  Ivy waited, all of her thoughts willing to hear his voice again. Her knuckles turned white as she held the amulet to her chest. She waited until the dawn sun came over the horizon. But Orrin’s voice didn’t come back. The connection was gone.

  But now, there was a new, singular determination pounding in her heart. Orrin said he had her amulet, although how that came to be Ivy didn’t want to know. But the amulet was clearly the key to the time shift, and if Orrin had it, then she had hope.

  She could live here. But I refuse to die here.

  Ivy closed her eyes, imagining the scent of lavender garden-beds, thick green lawns and the cool, stone lecture halls of the university. The forest noise left her for an instant, and the chatter of students filled her ears instead. She retraced the fading sandstone cloisters in her memory, found her musty paper-filled office and the comforting forget-me-not blue kitchen of her little apartment.

  Ivy had exiled those memories from her mind. But now, she savoured every detail. Sprawling jacarandas snowing the earth in a purple drift. White daisies ushering her onto the street each morning. Lazy afternoons in the great court, rolling oranges through the grass with Kyah. The soft swish of starched coats hanging behind the lab door. Even the acrid smell of laboratory floors seemed suddenly appealing. Memories rushed through Ivy and bit her bones.

  My cello. Coffee. Chocolate. Shampoo!

  She allowed the banished faces to creep back. Tom in his tartan hat, tending the garden at a snail's pace. Liam and his fearless energy. Late night gossip with Jayne over a microscope.

  And Orrin. Heat flooded her every cell. His face was the most vivid in her mind and his voice so fresh in her memory. Ivy trailed her fingertips across the skin of her thigh above the poultice that Shahn had put on. She was left with a tingling whisper across her skin and a deep ache inside her that didn't feel like it belonged to the wound.

  I’ve already let time steal too much from me. But no more.

  “How am I going to make this work, Kyah?” said Ivy aloud. Possibilities were colliding in her mind.

  “Home,” Ivy signed.

  Kyah frowned and lifted her face to the trees, apparently searching for an answer.

  Home. Kyah signed back. Liam. Jayne.

  “Yeah,” Ivy sighed.

  Cage. Kyah added.

  Ivy had no response.

  Trahg. Home. Kyah signed. Stay. Trahg. The bonobo dug her toes sullenly into the hard soil of the cave entrance. Then, with a scan of the dawning sky, she leapt with fluid grace into a branch, leaving Ivy alone.

  No. Ivy wasn’t ready for that possibility. She pushed it away, swallowing hard. This is a cage too. For both of us.

  There was still a connection between her old life and this new one. So there was still a chance.

  Whatever obstacles are keeping me here; I have to break them down.

  Behind her, others began stirring. It was time for change.

  They deserve to live. But so do I.

  Ivy lifted her face to the morning sun, resolute.

  She was going to achieve the impossible.

  Not only for her new family, but for herself as well.

  Somehow, whatever it takes, I’m going home.

  Thank you so much for becoming part of Ivy’s journey by reading this book. It has been such a joy bri
nging her to you. Ivy evolved from my passion for prehistory, combined with the habit of disappearing into my imagination as often as possible. Her story is far from over.

  There have been many who have inspired me in the writing of this book, but none more so than Alex, who has supported my passion for human evolution into the creation of this series over many years. His creativity and knowledge are woven into the storyline in countless ways and the beautiful musical composition of the ‘Human’ book trailer is his.

  I am eternally grateful to my mother, Penny, for always reading early chapters when Ivy was just a shadow of the heroine she would later become, and being the first to read the story in its entirety. Most importantly, she taught me to love animals, to advocate and speak for the voiceless and has always been my greatest champion. My father Rob, with his vast knowledge of physics and nature, inspired me to love science and is an endless source of encouragement and support.

  Clayton, the best brother a girl could have, offered his time, skill and creative genius in coordinating and directing the book trailer for ‘Human’, and has always been so supportive and an inspiring collaborator. Thank you to my sisters, Kellie and Jasmine, who never tire of my odd obsessions, and who keep me sane and laughing despite lack of sleep. Thanks for reading drafts and offering advice, there is more of you both in this story than you realise.

  Much love and huge thanks goes to my writing group for their wonderful advice and editing over the past five years, with extra special hugs to Ben Langdon, Kathryn Hall, Linda Bibby and Fleur Guenther who picked up Ivy whenever she was losing her way and threw her back in the jungle where she belonged. You guys are the best.

  Mike and Mel Smith, Malcolm Fenton and Leanda Michelle beta-read the final book for me and offered valuable feedback, which I very much appreciate. Thank you also to Barbara, Teresa and Bill for reading early versions.

  To my little boys, Finn and Orrin, I love you.

  To the late Dr. Tom Loy, for being so kind to a young postgraduate in the residue lab and always so generous with his enthusiasm and knowledge in the field of molecular archaeology, of which he was a pioneer, I will always be so grateful we crossed paths, even for a short time. It changed my world.

  Of course, the real-world subject of this fictional story is owed entirely to the archaeological discovery of LB1 and her fossilised Homo floresiensis companions at Liang Bua in Flores, Indonesia by the late Dr Mike Morwood and his collaborative team of Australian and Indonesian palaeoanthropologists, archaeologists and inter-disciplinary experts. This was a remarkable discovery that really shone a new light on the reconstruction of our hominid family tree and continues to astonish and inspire as new details are revealed. Thank you to all these scientists who reconstruct our prehistory and expand our knowledge with such excrutiating care and detail – I admire your work and passion greatly.

  Above all, I would like to recognise the animals in cages, laboratories, servitude and entertainment all over the world for the suffering, grief, imprisonment and sacrifice they continue to endure for the sake of our species. In a battle that seems sometimes hopeless, your innocence gives us the strength to keep fighting for you. One day, we humans will see you. A change is coming.

  Hayley Camille is a full time writer from Melbourne, Australia. She is a graduate of The University of Queensland anthropology department, with honours in molecular archaeology. Hayley loves dinosaurs, jazz, animals and all things vintage.

  Contact her at:

  www.hayleycamille.com

  hayley@hayleycamille.com

  Twitter @hayley__camille

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