And Da’Cince was blinded by fear of the people of Earth. Why?
With all his advisors now present and seated at the small table Da’Cince quietly got up crossed the room to the fire and threw some dried heather into the grate. Only now with all eyes upon him did Da’Cince begin summarising his thoughts.
“I am interested in your collective thoughts regarding this situation. We have the responsibility to make decisions that can directly affect all DiPacha and all our children, present and future. Please don't be shy. Share your thoughts.” Da’Cince remained by the fire watching the small flames flicker but making eye contact with no one.
Cunac could not believe his luck, no not luck. Destiny. He was being handed an opportunity to guide events towards his ultimate goal. To restore the Listeners to their rightful Pacha and responsibility to guide all DiPacha. He needed to be subtle.
Illary started. “Uma, I hear your concerns. The information coming from the WaytaPata emissions is incongruous to our experiences so far with our guests. Though I have noted that the emissions we observe do seem to report the worst of their world. The news emissions they make are almost all negative. It's hard to find positive stories. I am saying this could be skewing our view of their realm. It’s the same for their fiction. The non-factual emissions. They seem fascinated with tragedy.”
“How is being fascinated with tragedy good?” Asked Da’Cince.
“If I may, Uma?” Asked Cunac.
Da’Cince nodded for him to continue, as he remained by the fire throwing on some small logs and a bit more heather. The scent from the fire grew stronger.
“We know that they are unaware of the fortune of their existence on WaytaPata. I have heard our guests use the phrase 'the grass is always greener…’ I asked what this meant. It means that they are never satisfied with what they have. Someone, or somewhere else, is always better off or has more. They are obsessed with taking more and have lost hope in their own existence. This is sad. But I believe that our guests exhibit a portion of their population that is searching for a new way. They have described leaders in their local communities that try to help their fellows. It appears that if we look beyond the big stories they tell there are many small stories of hope and kindness that we do not hear. I would ask how we can find the truth of their culture…”
Ma’Kusi responded saying, “Cunac speaks well. They report death but rarely birth. It cannot be that no one is born? If there are positive aspects to their culture we have a responsibility to find the truth so we judge them correctly.”
“I believe we must be mindful that in their culture, as in ours, a few make the decisions the many live by. The difference I see is that the few on Earth that make the decisions do not reflect the culture of the many,” said Cauca. “The few appear to be guided by their own ambition. They rule the masses and live by their own rules.”
“We must be mindful in these unprecedented times not to follow the same path,” said Cunac “We must hold true to what is best for DiPacha. Remember the wisdom of sharing. At this time we can remember the parable of the ‘surprise party’, sharing knowledge before the right time can ruin everything.” Cunac was very clear in his own mind what he meant. What was best for DiPacha was for the Listeners to reclaim WaytaPata and Da'Cince was not involved in organising that surprise party. He smiled inwardly, his duplicity pleasing even himself.
“I believe we're saying that we cannot trust the emissions,” said Da’Cince summing up. “We need more information before we can contemplate sharing our news with DiPacha for all the reasons previously discussed. But how can we get trustworthy information?”
“We continue to work with the four from WaytaPata and, as with my normal science, we cross check any information they give us with the emissions to verify it. Only once verified do we record it as fact,” said Illary.
“That sounds fair,” said Cauca.
“If that is acceptable why not ask Adam to report back as well. He could keep in contact from WaytaPata,” said Ma’Kusi. “He could be our agent on WaytaPata.”
“This is good,” said Da’Cince. “Does anyone have any other ideas?”
“Uma, it is likely that it will take a generation or more to get to know their culture. We could consider training our own people to go to WaytaPata if the opportunity arises?” Cauca offered.
Illary continued, “That would be possible only if they were fluent in a local language! But I like the idea. If we could have someone we could trust entirely in WaytaPata that would be fantastic.”
“That would take time, Illary,” said Da’Cince. “But I agree. Can you look to make this happen as a long-term goal? Meanwhile, we will check and verify the information from our guests and Adam against emissions.”
Cunac was listening very carefully. If he'd planned this it could hardly have gone better. A gentle nudge had been all they needed to start gathering the intel he needed. He just needed two more things. He knew he'd have to be patient for one, to make his son his successor on Pachamama. But the other…
“Uma and my friends. It occurs to me you have come up with a fantastic way forward to get trustworthy information that will allow us in cycles or generations to come to construct a strategy to integrate WaytaPata back into DiPacha or, as may be the case, to keep the Punku closed to protect us all. But this will all be for nothing if another realm finds a Punku to WaytaPata.”
“Cunac is right!” jumped in Ma’Kusi. “We need a way to find the other Punku and monitor them.”
The gathering ended soon after Ma’Kusi had laid out plans to monitor the other realms. Cunac left quickly not wanting to be drawn further on his thoughts. Everything was too good, yet delicately placed. The pieces of his fledgling plan were fragile. Immediately he went to the Listeners temple which was only a short walk away in the second ring of the city. The second ring was almost as ancient as the Quadrant temple, dating back to the start of the city and the time of WaytaPata, or so legend said. The buildings were large and signified a time of plenty. Some had been rebuilt many times or added to and all bar one were single storey, the Listeners' temple which stood tall above its surrounding being two stories.
Cunac entered through the main entrance and going through the vestibule he opened the heavy inner doors to the main chamber which was cool and silent thanks to the thickness of the ancient walls. The old mud brick walls were so thick the temperature inside never changed and were now so old they had turned to stone. Any organic matter used in the original mud bricks had long since fossilised. The old wooden doors closed behind him.
Cunac had earlier arranged to see his son there. Crossing the main chamber he entered a small door opposite that lead to a small flight of stairs only the Listeners knew about and lead down to Cunac’s favourite place, the basement. It was quiet and almost dark. Only lit by small holes strategically placed to let in a little daylight and the occasional candle.
Sarenen was waiting for his father in the basement of the temple, meditating as his father had taught him; but without the shrouple. He was not convinced by his father's testimonials regarding the benefits of the drink.
“Sarenen, my son,” said Cunac as he entered the chamber. He crossed the earthen floor to his son who stood up from the floor cushion he had been sat on. They embraced and presented their hands' palm up to each other in the sign of the listener.
“What is it you wish to discuss, Father?” Asked Sarenen.
“Let’s sit together, son. This is going to take some time to explain and some more time to understand.”
They sat opposite each other in the listeners pose, each on a floor cushion cross-legged with arms straight out in front and resting on their shins with palms remaining up. In the dim light they could see little of each other or their surroundings, all senses except hearing dulled in the temple basement.
“Sarenen, my apprentice and son. I have some important news I need you to listen to. To contemplate and appreciate before responding. I have been impressed by your understandin
g of the true reason for the Guild of the Listeners. Your philosophy is as mine, finding the path to WaytaPata and the garden of plenty so all Pachans can share in its bounty. You share my belief that the Garden is real and not a parable we tell Pachans to reinforce the philosophy of sharing for benefit.” Cunac stopped aware he was preaching slightly. He asked, “Do you have anything you would add?”
“No, teacher. You speak the truth.” Sarenen was listening carefully. This was not like the usual sessions with his father or other teachers. Something was different.
Cunac continued. “What if WaytaPata could be found? What would we do? I mean you and me and our senior listener leaders, the Wilaq?”
“Are you asking my opinion, teacher?”
“Yes, son. Please tell me…”
“I do not believe that the Wilaq and his followers would know what to do. I have not heard them speak convincingly of the existence of WaytaPata. You, my father, I believe to be a true believer and that has given me the courage not to be led by those who no longer believe.”
“Sarenen, you lighten my heart and give me hope. What I am about to share with you only fifteen people know. You will make sixteen. There is a guild, a secret guild called the Guild of The Punku. It consists of the Da and Ma, Illary, Cauca, myself, five refugees and five others who helped the refugees when they arrived about half a cycle ago. No one outside of the guild knows the true history of the refugees. The story given by our leaders is that they come from Chinchona. They are in fact from WaytaPata.” Cauca let that sink in.
As they sat in the near darkness Cunac found the silence that followed excruciating, he could see no body language or facial cues from his son. Like day breaking Sarenen simply asked, “How?”
Cunac smiled. “The old Punku in the quadrant is a link to WaytaPata, the legends are true. Somehow the five refugees fell through and arrived here. Before their arrival we were finding strange signals coming from the Punku. Illary found a way to interpret these signals. We worked out it was WaytaPata just before the five arrived, but we are convinced their arrival was an accident. Not a plan to return to DiPacha. I myself think it is a sign for the Listeners to restore ourselves as the rightful guardians of WaytaPata, but it will not be simple.”
Cunac continued to explain all that had happened and the history of the earth so far as they had found out. He explained his plan to find followers, disciples, in the other fifteen Pachan realms and wanted Sarenen to be his first disciple. They talked, listened and meditated through the night not realising the time.
“There is one part I am struggling with, Father,” said Sarenen.
“Go on…”
“Why should the people on Earth who have lost their way and do not realise they are in the Garden with all its bounty, why should they suddenly follow us?”
“Their weakness is their ignorance. They do not know what they have. To them it is normal. Their weakness is that they do not value life. When was the last battle here? It is only legend. When was the last malicious killing? I do not know. They do not value life. They value faith above life as they believe that their gods will save them even in death or that death is honourable and it is shameful to live if you do not protect your faith. You and I can manipulate that. We can appear as gods to them from another, a higher reality, use their faith against them. They will die and kill for us. We need not risk the lives we value. If they do not value their own lives let us not be afraid to use that.”
“This will take time, Father.”
“Yes, son. I am coming to realise that I may not see the results of this work we do to restore the Listeners to their rightful realm. We do not know the details of our plan yet or how to control the Punku. All we know is that in the right circumstances people can move between WaytaPata and Pachamama. We do not know if other Punku exist. We will have to make our plans and be patient. Possibly patient over more than one generation. I pray it is my legacy to you.”
“Father this is the greatest gift you can share with me. It will be my honour to serve the Listeners now and into the future. I swear my allegiance to this.”
Cunac almost cried.
“For now, my son and disciple, it is time to go and rest. We will need to meet again after our evening meal to discuss how we go forward and recruit other disciples to our cause. I believe Eik would agree with our philosophies and make a good disciple.”
They got up very stiffly, embraced in the darkness and left. Cunac was very aware he had just started something big, much bigger than he. He was scared and excited in a way he had never been before.
15Destiny and Legacy - Keys to the future
(Earth Year 1998)
Since Da’Cince and Ma’Kusi had started the Guild of The Punku thirty-five cycles earlier they had been busy and patiently researching WaytaPata and the culture of that Realm. Watching and listening, waiting. Attempting to understand. Twenty-seven Earth years had now passed since Betts, Dan, Jane and Tracey had come through the Punku in Millham. They had built lives in their new home while Adam had been in and out of contact via telelink from WaytaPata. He had quickly regretted leaving Pachamama. Earth had been through many huge changes over that period and he had felt lost knowing of a peaceful world without war, commercialisation, famine, gluttony and destruction. The Earth was changing all the time, faster than he could understand. Faster, he believed, than in any generation before.
The Guild of The Punku had held strong. No information appeared to have leaked. Cauca’s gatherings on other Realms brought back no information of similar emissions. Ma’Kusi and Da’Cince, however, were never satisfied that the secret was secure. If they could keep a secret so could others. It was making it hard for them to trust other Realms. Especially Ma’Kusi who was developing a keen mind and eye for anything suspicious.
The one person she was finding it harder and harder to trust was their own Chief Listener. Right from the start with his uncharacteristic outbursts when Adam returned to WaytaPata, to his far too quick agreements about developing members of the Guild of The Punku who could travel to WaytaPata if the chance arose. No one detail in itself suspect but over time the little manipulations lay a foundation of mistrust between the two. Cunac was a very traditional Listener who Ma’Kusi knew believed WaytaPata was real before it was revealed to them. The truth appeared to have unleashed a quiet yet unstoppable force in him that only she seemed to see. Her husband and the Da of Pachamama seemed blind to the old priest's charms and manipulations. But Cunac was clever. He tweaked and prodded. Never directly proposing or suggesting plans but quickly agreeing once he had manoeuvred people into place. She had been a victim of this herself and hated that fact. Da’Cince always told her she was being silly and had studied too much of the ‘Politics of WaytaPata’.
So far the Punku had not reopened so no Pachamamans had had a chance to slip through to study the culture of Earth at ground level.
Meanwhile, Cunac had stayed true to his vision. With Sarenen and Eik he founded The True Listeners upon foundation stones of secrecy and the vision of WaytaPata as their rightful home and birth right. Cunac ensured that he helped guide the Guild of The Punku for the True Listeners’ advantage. He was clear that it was his destiny to provide the True Listeners with the information needed to guide his kin home.
With Cunac’s conviction the True Listeners grew in numbers, strength and influence that they quietly wielded from the shadows. Cunac and Sarenen had now recruited disciples on all realms except Cinchona where it was claimed the five hippies had come from as refugees over a generation before. There was very little interaction between Chinchona and DiPacha. Only their main city, Chonchu, was connected to the neural-net and telelink. The majority of the population of Chinchona was still mostly unknown to DiPacha and visa-verse.
Sarenen's own daughter, Eve, at twenty-one cycles, had now been studying with Cunac for four cycles. Cunac approved of his granddaughter's name, he liked that it was the fabled name of the First Mother. A beacon to True Listeners of the days of WaytaP
ata. Now the name was almost unheard of in DiPacha and only Listeners who had truly studied the recorded history of DiPacha and WaytaPata would know the history of the name. A mythical name. Cunac and Sarenen were horrified however when Kendra and Aranab had called their son Adam. He knew it was after Betts’s lost friend who had returned to WaytaPata thirty-five cycles before but the symbology was not lost on them. To Cunac and the True Listeners, the names had great significance.
Cunac and Sarenen soon recognised that getting disciples to WaytaPata was key to the success of their vision. Disciples not as spies to study and learn, but gardeners to start clearing the Garden of the rot that had set in.
For all their success in developing a following and truly dedicated disciples, Cunac had become more and more concerned that his vision was not complete, his legacy was at risk. He began to obsessively search in his heart and mind for the answers. How to unlock the Punku and control WaytaPata. Finally he concluded he must to enter a deeper meditation than he had ever attempted. He needed to try to reach the Gardener to find the true path.
In the Listeners temple he sat on his favoured cushion in the cool basement, shrouple by his side and his only companion. He sat there for almost a week rarely moving from the listeners pose. He had told Sarenen that he needed to reach out to WaytaPata and the Gardener for true guidance and sworn him to secrecy. He did not want to be disturbed. The shrouple would clear his thoughts and open his mind to enable him to make the connection. For two days now he had been delirious and mumbling words nobody could understand, even with their babel devices. Sarenen had been terrified that in his delirium his father would release all his knowledge onto the neural-net and risk everything they had worked for, exposing the True Listeners and the Guild of The Punku. Sarenen was becoming terrified of both situations for very different reasons. Da’Cince and Ma’Kusi were still around and in his older age Da’Cince had become paranoid of the secret being let loose to the ruin of all.
Disconnected (Connected series Book 1) Page 20
