“Agreed,” said both Eik and Sarenen.
“Genet, are you okay right now?” Asked Eik sounding genuinely concerned for his daughter by marriage.
“Yes. Thank you, Eik. I’m just adjusting to the new reality and checking I remember our story. We have a piece of the Cranial Stone from HuñuyPacha that Eik brought us after one of his first visits to Khalil. I will show this as David’s implant that he removed when he left in shame so he could not be traced.”
“I have an idea,” said Eik. “To help Genet. For both True Listener and family, I will offer to move to Khalil. I have no family left on Stacha since David’s mother passed twenty cycles ago.”
“Father, I must speak to Eve while I can,” interrupted David. He was panting as he ran towards the Golan rings and the Punku. “I had an idea as I was grabbing my things for WaytaPata. I’ve taken the largest lump of black rock I could find. When I get through I’ll leave it next to the Punku on the other side. Hopefully, it will work with the black rock we placed on this side several cycles ago. It may keep the Punku open long enough for you to get here. I calculate that if you can get a TuyTuy stone to the HuñuyPacha Punku on Pachamama and then from there to Khalil and onto the Golan ruins that you could be here in half a day! If you’re quick! I can wait for you near the Punku on WaytaPata… I hope?” he said with a short pause. “What do you think?”
“Agreed,” said Sarenen thinking of the strategy, not the personal element.
“David are you sure…” started Genet but was cut off by David.
“I’m at Golan. I can see the Punku shimmer. I need to go now in case I lose this opportunity. I love you all. For the Garden I go!”
“I’m on my way, David!” said Eve. And indeed she was. “Father, I love you. I’ll speak to you when I get to Khalil. Tell Ma’Nina I’ve gone on Listener business to support Genet and search for David.” As Eve was saying this over telelink she was already out the door and heading up the central road of Millham out towards the TuyTuy stone bunkers.
David was not stupid or foolhardy. He was scared. He’d travelled through the Punku many times before but always on a well-trodden path knowing the destination. This was different. He may have spent the last sixteen cycles studying Israel and Arabic, the part of WaytaPata believed to be beyond the Golan Punku but preparing for a journey was never the same as making the journey. Theory was about to become reality and each small step he took over the loose black rocks at Golan was one small step for him but one giant step into the unknown.
David had crossed the outer three rings of stones that made up the rings of ruin that was old Golan Punku. Rings of crumbled black stone that had once been buildings surrounding a circular courtyard in the centre of which was a shimmering form hanging in the air. It was like a giant rectangle about eighteen feet across and thirty feet high.
The familiar heat haze fuzzy view of all Punku was apparent but unlike all other Punku, David had seen before it was not like looking through the Punku to the realm beyond but more like looking at a reflection. David kept moving forward fast while taking in the scene. Through the Punku he could see ruins almost identical to those here in Khalil. He was confused but kept going.
He was now at the horizon of the Punku. Bracing himself for the stretch and snap he took his final step in Khalil and his first on WaytaPata.
Watching his body stretch to infinity one moment and snap back to normal the next David emerged into the ruins of what he would soon find out to be Golan, Golan on Earth.
The ruins were different but not that different to those he had just left however, here there were people nearby. He was on Earth, in WaytaPata! He needed to get into a crowd and disappear. David moved forward quickly only to find his way blocked by a barrier made of a thin hard strand covered in tiny spikes at the edge of the ruins. The strand was attached to posts and it ran all along the outside of the ruins in a big circle. It seemed to keep people off and away from the ruins. David was on the wrong side of this spikey strand and would soon be seen if he could not disappear into a crowd. He still had his long tunic on, as he moved along the barrier looking for a way through as he moved his robe got caught in the spikes stopping him in his increasingly panicked tracks.
Bending down to untangle himself he suddenly heard his name…
“David, are you there?”
He was relieved.
“Yes, Genet, but I am stuck in a barrier of thin hard strands with spikes. Other people are near but I'm caught in the barrier. Also, the Punku leads to a place that looks almost exactly the same as that at the Golan ruins. Rings of crumbled black stone surrounding a central circle where the Punku is. I can still see a slight shimmer but it is fading. I've dropped the black rock and Cranial Stones at the Punku to hopefully keep it open enough for Eve and so the Cranial Stone can help us to communicate. So far it's working!”
“Son,” said Eik. “Well done. I am proud of you. I know you will make the Gardener and us proud! Do not panic. Stay low, be slow. Breathe.”
“Got it! I'm free. Low was right father. I can get under these strands by lying on the ground. Thank you.”
“David, you are doing well. Go. Follow the plan and your destiny. We will listen for you and listen for your pruning in their news!” said Sarenen.
David merged into the background and lay low waiting for Eve. Hopefully, she would soon join him and they could disappear together into WaytaPata.
17Back to reality - Fruit of knowledge
(Earth Year 2041)
Chris slid from the stone he’d been sitting on as he came out of the trance and cursed himself as he lost his balance and slid sideways into the wet mud of the paddy field. He really should have chosen a more secure position than sat balanced on a stone. That was a learning moment. At least only his left arm was wet. The shock of the cold mud had brought him back to reality sooner than after any previous escapades into the neural-net. However right now his cold wet muddy arm was very close to the back of his mind. He had a very good idea now why Adrii had looked so terrified.
This society, for all its poverty, appeared utopian in many ways but Chris had just seen behind the curtain. The same level of human intrigue and deceit seemed to exist here as it did on Earth. This scared Chris but not as much as the phrase ‘pruning away the rot in the Garden’ He felt cold all over.
“Chris, where are you? I thought you’d be right behind me.”
The call came right into Chris’s brain bypassing his ears. The experience was still new and disconcerting. Adrii was calling him on telelink, she must be at the house and wondering where he was. For a moment he panicked like a young child who’s just discovered the truth about Santa and is unsure whether to let his parents know.
“Err Adrii, sorry. I’m at the top of the slope. I’m on the way. I’ll be five minutes… I’ll be there shortly,” he added remembering that minutes meant nothing here.
“What’s taken so long, are you okay?”
“Err yes. Adrii, you need to know I ended up viewing more than you said. I’ve seen the combined memories from the True Listeners. The memories kept coming after I started viewing them. I saw what Cunac did and that David and Eve got to Earth… That Sarenen and his followers want to reclaim Earth as their birth right.”
There was a long pause. Chris was already running to catch up with Adrii and be with his friends. The pause was killing him. He had no idea how Adrii would react. He was sure that there could be no secrets now, their cards were on the table.
Eventually Adrii simply replied “Okay, thank you for being honest. We’ll talk when you get here.”
To Chris this was worse than being yelled at. Now he had no idea what reception he’d get when he got to the house and he felt like Adrii still had an ace up her sleeve. He was still sure he’d done the right thing for him and his friends though. They all needed to know the truth, to be able to make the right decisions about their future. Protect themselves and their home. A home that was oblivious to the worlds or realms he now found himself in. As
his legs carried him down the hill his mind raced trying to remember all he knew of Earth’s history. When did David and Eve get to Earth? Chris thought of the times Sarenen had said how many cycles he’d waited for the Punku to open, what was it; fifty one cycles. Trying to convert cycles to years from the dates he knew Chris landed on approximately 2009 as the year David and Eve arrived in Israel.
Could he think of any evidence of pruning of deadwood since 2009?
Paranoia was taking place of rational thinking. He needed to get a grip. Be there for his friends, those here and on Earth.
He was rounding the last corner of the path that led from the paddy fields to the river. Soon he would need to turn left onto the dirt track back to the house. The fruit he had in the front pocket of his poncho was bouncing about as he ran. He’d been trying to control it while going as fast as he could but he was sure it was bruised now. Chase and Stu would not be pleased about that but at least Adrii had the Bliss flower to take the edge off. Remembering Chase and Stu, Chris recalled how he had found that he was not alone on the DiPacha realm on which he had arrived. The thought struck him that he could know their story. How they had found him. They’d been so busy escaping flyers and evading other Pachans that they had not had time to exchange stories. The Flyers, they had been fun in a terrifying sense. He shivered at the thought of them and hoped never to see them again no matter how awe struck he had been once the fear had worn off.
Shaking his head to clear the memory of the flyers he realised that he was on the track. It was clear ahead of him. A thought struck him as he pictured entering the house to see Chase and Stu. If they were shown the information from the beginning of the others story it would be harsh. Far better to let them into the power of the neural-net gently with familiar memories and people. He stopped for a short moment and sat securely cross-legged on the floor. He would let his memory of arriving in DiPacha into the Guild of The Punku room. First, he sent a message over telelink to Adrii. Chris did not want to waste more time.
“Adrii, before you reveal everything to Stu and Chase please let them see my memory from when I arrived and ask them to place their memory of how they found me in the room. This will help them understand how the neural-net works without freaking them out completely, I mean upsetting them. This will help them before we share the revelations you have shown me today…”
Chris did not wait for a reply. He let his memory out and into the room for all who had access to see.
17.1Product field test
The last time I remembered waking up this anxious was after She Who Shall Not Be Named dumped me. But I would have given all the tea in China to have been waking up with her rather than on a damp woodland floor. I could feel the moss and leaf litter under my body and on my face and the smell of the woodland was unmistakable. It reminded me of my dad's woodland back in Devon, but that was impossible. I cannot recall how long I lay there trying to work out what was going on. My eyes were firmly shut as I did not trust what I might see. My memory and my senses could not account for a cold damp woodland floor.
I could remember being on the phone to Chase. There had been a storm. I had run for cover under the Puma Punku stones at Tiwanaku. A normally arid cold windswept place. Very few plants and open desert-like vistas. Not a damp woodland.
The pain in my head was subsiding slowly. I was able to think more clearly. What was obvious was that I had to move and open my eyes. I could not just lie here forever like a petulant and scared child. Nobody was coming to get me from Puma Punku until morning. I counted to three and opened my eyes. I shut them within a second, what I could see made no sense. From the glimpse I had seen I tried to place myself, join the dots and find a memory. Anything that explained what I’d just seen.
The closest impression I could come up with was a giant redwood forest. That was the closest, but it was like comparing scots pines to giant redwoods. Both trees but there it ended. What I saw was certainly not Puma Punku.
I opened my eyes again and looked around me while the scared child inside me ran to find a sofa and hid behind it. What I’d seen could not be explained by what I knew. I was looking at trees that were as tall a skyscrapers. I could only see a few trees, maybe a dozen in a circle around me. It was like standing in the centre of Central Park, Piccadilly Circus or looking up at the skyscrapers of Shanghai. These giant trees penned me in so they were all I could see except for the sky high above. I seemed to be in the centre of the clearing surrounded by these ridiculous trees. I was too small and too insignificant to see the forest beyond.
The ground beneath my feet had the soft damp feeling of years of rotting plant material and with almost no airflow and the smell of a forest surrounded me.
I looked at my hands, feet and my bag that lay where I had fallen. They all looked the same. I was trying to find some scale to comprehend what I was looking at. My imagination fired by my fear was working overtime and I kept expecting to see giant bees overhead or other insects hunting through the undergrowth that surrounded me. Everything I knew and understood told me that I could not have shrunk to about a centimetre in height but that was how I was feeling. I remember physically slapping myself around the face and rubbing my eyes but all this did was blur my vision briefly with wet salty tears. I just stood there looking up at the trees trying to see the top. It was at that point I properly saw the sky. Like no sky I had ever seen before. It was blue but a greeny blue, like blue-green algae was growing in the atmosphere. I stood there like one of those living statues found on high streets around the world, ut there were no streets here. No sign of any human impact at all.
Again I cannot say how long I stood there looking and trying to understand. I know it was long enough for the scared little boy to bravely come out from behind the metaphorical sofa, curiosity had got the better of him.
Shaking myself back into the moment I realised how thirsty I was. Walking over to my sack I sat down and pulled out the drinking straw from the shoulder strap. I took a hopeful sip. Blessed cool water was indeed in the reservoir. I took three mouthfuls before checking to see how full it was. I’d felt sudden fear for my reserves. I had no idea where I was or where I could get food or water from. I sighed knowing I at least had water. It was extremely plausible that Barnacle’s sack, bivvy and all the kit I had was going to get a full field test! The Turtle was going to get tested in a way none of us had imagined, not even Barnacle!
I had brought breakfast with me so I had some rations. I was ravenous but I could not afford to eat all I had here and now however tempted I was. Years of outdoor living, planning and watching too many apocalypse movies was kicking in. What I needed to do was ensure I had shelter, water and food, I had food and water for about forty-eight hours. Next, I needed to know where I was, but I had no map. Suddenly I remembered my phone, the GPS.
I had been holding it when I jumped the ropes and ran for shelter at Puma Punku. Retracing my steps from where I’d woken up I set out in a grid pattern searching the ground for the phone. My panic was increasing by the second. Like all people of my generation, and the one before, we felt naked and exposed without our phones. Detached from the world and helpless. I was normally okay while on an expedition as some places still did not get a signal, even with the global network in place. Although that was changing with the new generation of phones, like the one I had. Network coverage could now truly be global. I needed to find my phone right now! I was fixated on finding that phone. It was my salvation. To this day I am not sure what I expected the phone to do. Fly me home?
After what seemed like an eternity I found it under a leaf the size of a very large dinner plate. I sat heavily, breathing deeply and holding the phone in two hands like some kind of sacred relic. Time continued to move slowly. I just watched the small red blinking light at the top of the phone confirming it was on and charged. The comfort holding my phone gave me was as close to a religious experience as I have ever had.
Many people and tech firms were saying that the next stage of our ev
olution was to become cyborgs like 20th century sci-fi characters. Right now I wanted to merge with this phone so I could connect with the rest of the world, let them know I was okay, and to please, please come get me. I'd never been so far out of my comfort zone, certainly never enough to need rescuing. If anything I thought that I would be the rescuer. Feeling this out of control made me more anxious than I had ever been!
Action was what the situation demanded. I turned on the screen and found the GPS function and clicked search. I sat and watched an icon of a satellite faded in and out, in and out, in and out. Nothing.
I checked a couple of other functions. The phone was on and appeared to be working but there was no signal either. In good tech practice, I turned the phone off and on and repeated the search. Still nothing. I had forgotten my immediate surroundings and was in that anti-zen world of tech frustration. I was now completely obsessed with trying to get the phone to work, I even tried hitting it. Still nothing.
I was roused from my frustration by a squawk like no animal I had heard before. My blood ran cold. It was a chilling high pitched metallic sound and had to have come from a large animal and judging by the size of the trees here the size of this animal could be large indeed. I was not a violent person and had never been in a fight outside of six months of Taekwondo classes I had taken. All I had to protect me was a small knife. I felt even more exposed than I had before and very alone. More alone than I had ever known. Isolated.
Looking around I could see no stones as the ground was strewn with plant litter and small plants none of which I really recognised. There was the occasional flower and what looked like fruit on some plants. The trunks of the trees were as wide as football pitches. So wide that they barely seemed to curve. I reasoned they surely must have deep fissures in the bark which could easily hide and shelter me. The only issue was that if I was cornered I would be trapped unless I could climb the bark as if it were a cliff face. This would take tree climbing to a level I had never considered and I would have to rely on whatever may chase me not being able to climb. The trees were probably close to three hundred metres apart but judging distances was hard as all sense of proportion was lost to me. My sense of exposure was complete. I stood frozen not sure what to do.
Disconnected (Connected series Book 1) Page 25