Hecate added, “We can seal away the memories of her time with the tormentors but they cannot be erased. Some may seep out; it is our goal to prevent this fate. The most powerful medication Misti can have is your nearness, Adam. Yet, I fear for the decision that must be made; it is only for her closest kin, husband or blood family, who can decide to allow her to wither and die peacefully now, or come back to the world of the living for a second chance at existence. I am afraid that neither you, Adam, nor Noki, can make that decision. You are neither her mate nor her blood. I am sorry.”
Adam listened carefully then spoke. “You are wrong. Though her blood family is in residence, this cannot be a choice given them nor can they provide the one thing Misti most needs and which I believe she desires. I am her mate and husband under the laws of the country we call home.”
Hecate said, “You are not wed. You have taken neither religious or civil vows.”
“But we are legally mated. In our land we have a form of mating that is called ‘common law marriage’; it is not trickery, it is fact. I claim Misti as my common law mate and, therefore, I choose life for her.”
Hecate said, “I will ask our Lord and, if he assents, we shall accept your explanation and proceed to wall off her memories and continue to protect her as best we can. Hecate has seen to our exile here with you on this miserable planet, so we shall watch over her and strengthen her together as one family. She will remember nothing and have only fond recollections of her childhood with you.”
Hecate disappeared, then returned.
“It is agreed and look who also arrives with me. Hana of the Gens, a very disobedient young lady, and Kendra the Immortal, also disobedient, and who has but one request.”
“Marry us and quickly,” said Kendra. “I much desire to hunt Misti’s tormentor but my Lord has forbidden it until we are united as one.”
“You mean he has rid himself of Fionna and Hecate. You are but the better parts of the deal for he sees great mischief in you two also. Too much time spent with an incorrigible mortal.”
Hana said, “Whatever the cause, we are fortunate and we are here where we desire most to be.”
Kendra said, “Our Lord has just decreed that we are all mated now. Our Lord does not wish to see us return to his realm for weddings or any other reason. Our Master delivers us over to you for care, discipline and … procreation”.
Adam responded, “I am to be Master again then?”
Kendra replied, “We shall soon establish who is Master, and who is Master in name only.”
Adam smiled, but turned serious and said, “Please begin healing Misti’s mind. Then we shall hunt, you and I, Kendra.”
Fionna said, “Remember your obligation. Misti shall remain at your side. You shall not be hunting alongside Kendra no matter how great the desire or temptation unless Misti is with you. I suggest having her in a hunting party is not wise. You must think through your actions after today and decide which are core and important, and which can be delegated.”
“We shall hunt together in a new way; Kendra shall be the instrument of retribution and I but a helping hand.”
Kendra smiled at her new mate.
“Can we have sex now?”
Chapter 29
Hecate and Fionna emerged from Misti late one morning. Adam was asleep sitting on a recliner, feet up and a report across his midriff. It had been over two weeks since the Immortals had begun dwelling within Misti 24/7, doing whatever was necessary to restore her physical being and her mental welfare.
“She’s ready,” said Hecate to Adam. Fionna went out to tell the ladies assembled, patiently waiting to surprise Misti, that they were here by her side in love and support. Adam asked them to be patient just a few minutes longer as he wanted to speak to Misti privately about her memories of the past month. He was cautious and optimistic but filled with trepidation that her memories would leak out and he would lose her.
The Tolan’s were not included in the family reunion; in fact, they had been warned to never approach Misti for any reason, never say a word to her nor congratulate her for her amazing recovery at the hands the Immortals after weeks on end of hideous torture. In the end, without their approval or advanced warning, the Tolan’s minds were sequestered regarding Misti’s incident, as were the minds of every inhabitant of Paraiso.
Adam asked if the Immortals could construct a mechanism that would delete certain memories upon leaving Paraiso and restoring them upon return. Fionna said she could and would; being Immortal had its advantages as a memory sequester field was installed at every exit from the City.
The Immortals could travel as they always had, instantly and invisibly, but their Lord had forbidden, except under emergency situations, the transport of mortals with Immortals in the same instantaneous manner.
“Hey there sunshine,” Adam said to Misti as she opened her eyes slowly and with the sleepy look of someone who has just come out of surgery and recognized family all around. She smiled at Adam and tried to sit up, but Adam gently touched her shoulders and persuaded her to lie back down and go slowly.
“You’ve been under the weather, to say the least, and you’re still very weak. You need rest and sleep. No sparring for you for a while.”
“Really rough sex with you again? I lost?”
Adam laughed, “I wish. No, this time it was a very nasty bug, a virus that you picked up somewhere, though just where we don’t know. Not yet anyway. What do you remember? What were the last things?”
“Hazy dreams, all very hazy but I remember being alone on a dock, seeing a boat approach, then that was it. I think I collapsed and am just now waking up.”
“The boat was our grocery deliveries and when you collapsed, the captain called for help; you were initially sent to a hospital on Crete. Then to Athens, but the virus had never been seen before so then to a clinic in Germany, then Switzerland then finally where I found you in London.”
“I knew you would find me. Find us after that thing with Laura. We should not have kept that from you, but then you were angry and left. Laura tossed her Sat phone and used her cell to call Edward, so we all scattered thinking that Edward and Anna would trace the call. I think I was waiting for a water taxi when the other boat arrived.”
“I was angry and I left, but I was wrong to ever leave you as I did. I went after Laura, but she was gone. I spoke to Edward, Anna and Crissy who said that they turned Laura down on the trade for the Cache to be left alone. They said they found all my ladies, that Eene had OD’d, Alana was turning tricks in Silicon Valley, that Gaea had committed suicide and that Noki had gone back to the Triads in Hong Kong. Laura was gone but they said they would try to find her later. I knew they were lying about everyone except Laura, so I set out to find everyone and bring everyone here, somewhere new. That’s where you are now.”
“Where?”
“In Kenya along the Serengeti in the Great Rift Valley. I built a new city, the New City of Light, and I knew that’s where Noki would go. And that’s where I found her. Here, alone, waiting for me. After that Noki and I searched for the others, including you.”
“But you never gave up and you found me.”
“I did. And the Immortals have returned to us permanently through the cleverness of our Hecate. We are also joined by Fionna who helped heal you, and by Immortals Hana of the Gens and Kendra the Crazy Woman. Hecate conspired to have the Immortals marry me and our Lord decided it was best to send them to me as indentured for a time. He really can’t control them but he thinks I can.”
The four women, Fionna, Hecate, Hana and Kendra appeared in their intermediate form as a hologram. They had been invisible and present, their normal state, and only appeared in physical state when necessary for interaction with mortals, which was seldom. With Adam, it was for sexual congress and physical touch, and rarely for any other reason. With Fionna, she had mated physically with Adam, but bore her children as an Immortal; their children would be Immortals too.
Fionna reminded Adam t
hat their Lord had commanded Hecate, Hana and Kendra to also bear children as Immortals, but Kendra would be last. She was to formally take Fionna’s place as chief enforcer and badass while Fionna attended to her children when visiting in the Immortal realm. Their Lord would look forward to the company of the Immortals’ children as he delighted in them; less so their mothers.
The plan spawned by Hecate served a dual purpose; it “punished” disobedience and rid their Lord of the constant chaos, for which he had no solution other than to make them Adam’s problem. This also kept the other Immortals in line, as they wished no contact with mortals, no congress with them and the mere thought of being indentured to one was abhorrent.
With this ‘punishment’ meted out, the other Immortals thought their Lord both wise and terrible to behold. If their Lord was in mortal form, the Almighty would have danced his “happy dance” for so cleverly having resolved two vexing issues.
Hecate, on the other hand, accepted that her Lord must be a male, giving in and referring to her Lord as “He”; only men, she thought, could be so gullible and easily manipulated. Still she was happy, as were the others.
***
Misti’s reunion with Eene, Gaea, Alana and Noki was a happy one, with many tender and careful kisses being heaped upon the one who had been lost but was now returned. Every day the ladies stopped by to braid and re-braid Misti’s long black hair, each lady claiming her work to be the best and making Misti even more beautiful and desirable that ever before. Fionna was confused by this apparent competition and, in fact, the whole of human conduct. One day she sat down with Adam to ask about these strange intricacies of what it meant to not just be mortal but to be human.
“That would take a lifetime to explain. Hana was both Gens and human, so she too, like you, sometimes struggles with human behaviors. Kendra was human made Immortal, so she understands what it means to be both.”
“I feel left out from my sisters play. I wish to understand them and be one with them in every facet of our Immortality. I sometimes feel as though they know a secret that I do not. I wish to know this secret.”
Adam continued, “Immortals value the acquisition of knowledge and its application, but not the wisdom to use it. Humans value wisdom over knowledge.”
“That makes no sense. If I were a human philosopher, I would wish knowledge first then to learn wisdom. The marriage of the two would be amazing. Knowledge may be sterile but it is precise; wisdom is relative. Even on this planet you call home, what is wise on one region is hideous blasphemy in another. Surely knowledge is superior in value.”
“Welcome to humanity; a collection of contradictions, aspirations and superstitions that make us and our world chaotic and impossible to understand. But there is also love and joy; sorrow and pain. We feel what it means to live, to be alive, to believe in something, to fight and die for it. Sometimes for beliefs that cannot be touched, tasted, felt or seen. We are not rational, though we claim to be. We are a mess. That is what it means to be human.”
“Can I ever know that meaning?”
“Of course. I will give you a book, which I want you to read slowly and think about. Go to a place that has a nice fire crackling in the background, sit in a rocking chair by yourself and read this book.”
“It is a Holy book.”
“No. It is a book called “Sophie’s Choice” by the author William Styron. You are a mom now. It will explain what it means to be human in this world of love and cruelty, sanity and madness. It will tell you why I so desire to create my own family, the one I was denied when I was given over to Edward and Anna, and why the Suarez family is my true North Star.”
“I can read it in an instant and know every word.”
“But you would miss its meaning, its insight into the human condition. It is not just a story; it is literature meant to be read and understood on many levels, the most important being the one that can be summarized in one word. Do this for me, and we shall talk more and enjoy this time together. Perhaps we can slip away when you’re ready and celebrate new knowledge and new insights.”
“Can we also have sex in physical form that I much desire and have missed?”
“If it is your desire.”
“Then where is this book; I shall find a room that meets my needs and patiently try to learn what I do not know about you and your species.”
“I look forward to our talks.”
“I look forward to having sex. See, I’m already learning: win-win.”
***
It took longer for Adam to arrange affairs with the City, its engineers and his women, both mortal and Immortal. His family from Barrows Bay, his Mom and Pops, Rod, Cindy and the girls all came for a visit and decided to stay. The use of their inventions and materials, coupled with the software that Adam had developed, were proving magnificent and the laboratory which was the City of Light was astounding. Adam assured them that more people would come once they knew what had been accomplished. But a city without people was empty buildings and streets. They needed farmers and plumbers, electricians and carpenters, pipefitters and materialmen, those who could build and construct. Skills for a future of mankind that was free from greed and corruption. Hence, the supply and demand for lawyers, politicians and CEOs was limited. Few police, fewer rules and regulation, the need for an internal monetary system was virtually unnecessary. Gardiners, nurserymen and horticulturists as well as teachers and academics, physicists and tech professionals were deemed essential.
Animals would no longer be killed; food of taste and variety would be textured from plants and natural sources eliminating the need for producing large quantities of plant and grain feedstock to support chickens, goats, sheep, hogs and cattle for meat. Ratios of 5:1 grain to meat per pound would be eliminated as would the enormous amounts methane by products from animals, such as cattle. CO2 would be used and converted in the plant synthesis process.
For the time being, the Immortals would provide health care and assist in the R & D effort.
This was the ‘Noki’ dream, made real by the science of committed men and women who believed in a new way, a new economy and the need for change on a planet whose human population was nearing unsustainability.
***
Not all humans were thrilled by this possibility, and Phil and Marjorie Tolan were chief among them. They saw cash sales in the billions; they just needed to get the tech and research out. They would stay for now and work out the details.
Hecate had discovered the real motivations of all three Tolan’s; to her credit, Hecate confirmed that Bitsie saw the upside for mankind and wanted to have a role in this ground-breaking experiment. In her excitement to share with her parents, the elder Tolan’s decided Bitsie would be told of their secret plans after they left Paraiso.
Adam decided he would wait a while to confront Phil and Marjorie and to discuss the matter with Bitsie. They could be returned to San Diego, their memories of the City and Paraiso wiped from their mind. He decided the time needed to be accelerated, so he scheduled two meetings one for the Tolan’s and one for his mortals. Hecate would periodically check on the population to avoid scandal; there were no prisons only banishment. People would leave with only the same knowledge that the individual arrived with. No new knowledge ever left.
Chapter 30
The day had come that Adam had wanted to put off for as long as he could due the task being so unpleasant. Misti was almost fully recovered and her mental state had showed no signs of deteriorating; he could no longer use her as an excuse for inaction and confrontation. In fact, Misti had seemed much happier and calmer, one day asking to meet with Hana and Noki to discuss future duties, the next fantasizing about a normal life in Paraiso and starting a family. She had lost her taste for hostility, conflict and martial altercations whether real or in sparring. She had communed with Hana and somehow understood the peace and inner calm that she, Hana, had felt stretching back to her first life as a Gens Princess of the Wildmen. Her transformation to human form h
ad changed her on a fundamental level. Misti thought she could learn such inner peace, and decided Hana could teach her.
Noki was different. Her life with Adam had been the precipitating factor in her change from assassin to philanthropist; now she sought only a lessening of the poverty and economic injustice she viewed as the root cause of human misery. She could do nothing by herself except speak out; with Adam anything and everything was possible.
The other mortals were due for a talk also; choices had to be made about them, their future in the City and their betrayal with Laura. He loved his mortal women but he no longer trusted all of them. As to Misti and Noki, he had mixed feelings. That they had done what they had done had led to the abandonment of the Island after he left. Everyone scattered, and Misti had been caught and tortured by his parents and their human instrument, some guy, they thought, who would one day pay the price.
But before he got to his mortals, he would speak to the Tolan’s first. They had been watched carefully and Adam had assigned the task of entering the minds of all three to Hecate to assess what they were up to. He was less than shocked at her findings.
The four Immortals stayed invisible to watch, not knowing Adam’s mind, but expecting fireworks. Had Immortals required food, they would have seated themselves in comfortable chairs with hot buttered popcorn and soft drinks to enjoy the show. The only Immortal watching closely and taking the proceedings seriously was Fionna. She had read and reread Sophie’s Choice hundreds of times over, but still failed to understand the point of the novel nor the one word of significance about which Adam had spoken.
The four met in Phil and Marjorie Tolan’s quarters, Bitsie seated near but not close to her boyfriend.
Adam turned to Phil and said, “I understand that you and Marjorie have decided this is not the life for you; you wish to return home to La Jolla and your engineering firm. Is this correct?”
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