Like here, this is dandelion. It has many uses. The leaves are delicious as a salad green. The roots can be made into a kind of coffee. It also has medicinal uses. Or here," Eye of Eagle continued, "these are blackberries, and this is a hazel nut tree. That stand of grasses over there is a kind of wild wheat." He stopped talking for a while.
"It's beautiful," Evie whispered to no one in particular.
"These are legumes aren't they?" Garret asked, stooping to touch a drooping pod.
"Right," Eye of Eagle replied. Pulling a pod off the vine and splitting it with a fingernail, he offered a pea to Garret who tasted it carefully and one to Evie, who chewed with relish.
"But what about water? We thought this area was pretty much desert."
"Come on," Eye of Eagle said, "We'll show you."
They walked through the farm, past flowering vines and confusions of berry brambles, stands of wheat and rye, patches of beet and dandelion, and under fruit and nut bearing trees. A squirrel scurried across their path, startling Evie into an exclamation half fright, half delight. Laughing, she leaned momentarily against Eye of Eagle. Emerging from under the trees, he pointed out the foods that needed full sunlight and grew in the meadows. Beyond the meadow, the hills dropped away to the river. "We get our water from this river ... "
"But isn't the water polluted?" Garret interjected.
"Actually it's a lot cleaner than it used to be. It's also a lot bigger. It used to be just under 1000 feet across, now it's more than a mile. Part of the Greenhouse Effect, you know, more evaporation, more rainfall. We get some really serious storms; that's why we picked this place; it's high ground. The river seems to have stopped rising in the last few years, and it seems to be slowly cleansing itself as heavy metals get washed out to sea and clean water is recycled up to the mountaintops, but we still distill it."
"But doesn't that take an enormous expenditure of energy?"
"No," the mountain man replied. "When we came here in 2010, we knew that things were going to get worse, not better, so we planned for that eventuality. We built solar distillers to clean the water, you can see them over there." He pointed to a wide swath of land, at the edge of the palisade, which was covered with long lines of metal and glass rectangles, catching the sun's light and heat. "We think that in another fifty years or so, the water will be clean enough to drink again, but we know that irrigation can ruin the land, leaving salts behind, so we will probably always distill our irrigation water."
"How do you get the water up here?" Garret wanted to know.
"The pumps are solar powered too."
"But this is wonderful!" Evie exclaimed. "You have food and water, and you've adapted to the air and the ultraviolet. You've survived!"
Eye of Eagle exchanged a glance with Teller before answering. "Yes and no. We do have food and water, for a limited number of people. And the air is okay, but there are problems." He sighed. "Come on. Let me introduce you to some of our people."
"What about our van? We need it ... "
"We know. Don't worry. We'll bring it around."
Taking Evie's hand, and signaling to the others, Eye of Eagle continued across the meadow, through the trees on the other side, and into a large wilderness area. Here, too, everything that could be green was green. Pathways were made of natural rock and weeds grew profusely. "We call this the garden of the Goddess."
"That's because we don't touch it," Teller added. "We've done nothing but water it for over a hundred years. We've often found valuable food plants growing here and added them to our stock."
"How big an area is it?" Garret asked.
"It's about 100 acres."
"But I thought we were heading toward your village?" Evie said.
"We are. It's on the other side of the Garden of the Goddess."
"But why does this Garden stand between you and your farm? That doesn't make sense." Garret said.
"Actually, it makes a lot of sense," Teller replied. "If we'd located the Garden at the outskirts of the farm, then how would we expand our areas under cultivation? By destroying the Garden? This way, when we expand we only reclaim the desert. We never touch the Garden."
Garret smiled. "I see. You're right, of course."
"It takes a little more work this way," Eye of Eagle added, "to move food across these 100 acres, but we think it's worth it."
The Garden of the Goddess, except for a system of pathways crisscrossing it, was a complete wilderness. Evie breathed in the fragrant air, savoring a moment of complete happiness. "Why is it called the Garden of the Goddess?"
Eye of Eagle laughed, "I could give you a quick and easy answer to that, but it's really a complex question ... .I guess by the time you leave here, you'll know."
Ducking under the branch of a tree, Garret waited for Evie to catch up. Cries at the Moon seemed to have disappeared, and Garret assumed he'd taken a different path. He was worried about the van, and questioned his judgment in leaving it behind. What if these people weren't as well-meaning as they acted? What if he were being careless? After all, his and Evie's life depended on that van.
It was stupid to leave it in the hands of others. Because of his anxiety, he was in a hurry to get to the end of the Garden, and kept walking ahead, only to have to wait for the others to catch up. He tried to communicate his apprehension to Evie by catching her eye, but she was so lost in the beauty of the place, she didn't get his feeling at all. He felt strangely alone, in a way he'd never experienced before.
Almost from birth, he and Evie had been inseparable, and here she was so busy with the place and the people that she seemed to have forgotten him. At that moment, she and Eye of Eagle caught up with him. As Garret held the branch up for them to walk under, she looked up and smiled into his eyes. Recognizing his distress, a question replaced the joy in hers.
"Are you okay, Garret?" she asked.
"We need to get back to the van," he replied.
Teller, who had been bringing up the rear, asked if he was all right.
"Yes. I'm fine."
"I feel great!" Evie said.
"Don't worry," Eye of Eagle said. "Your van is just ahead. Cries at the Moon has gone ahead to get help to bring it around. No harm will come to it or to you."
Evie smiled, and Garret felt the constriction around his chest ease up a little, though he wouldn't be happy until he was back in the van.
After a few more minutes, the group emerged into a large clearing. Built into the hill, on the north side, were several long and wide porches with sliding glass doors leading inside. The south side sloped down toward the cliffs at the edge of the river. A barn and animal pens lay to the east, and beyond that, the desert began again. The entire farm sat in a little valley surrounded by rocky hills on three sides with the river completing the enclosure. In the center of the area was a large open room with a thatched roof. Wooden picnic tables took up most of the floor space. Some people were sitting in the shade having a heated discussion. They looked up at the arrival of the small group, and watched them intently.
As Evie and Garret tried to imagine the kind of society they were exploring, the noise of their van rounding the hill attracted their attention. Driving the van was Cries at the Moon, another man at his side, and riding on top were seven children, more children than Evie or Garret had ever seen in one place, at one time, in all their lives.
The children scrambled off the roof, and ran laughing and shouting to get a closer look at the strangers, who, taking advantage of the situation, also got a closer look. The children were, like the others, covered from head to foot. In addition, they each wore sunglasses as protection from the ultraviolet radiation. Still, their clothes didn't hinder their movements in any way, and they were as agile as only children can be. They ranged in ages from three to nine. Standing out of reach of the strangers, the children observed them solemnly.
"She's pretty," Holly announced, and the others murmured their agreement. Holly was only four, but it was well known that she was smart. Taki
ng off her sunglasses to get a better look, she was surprised when Evie did the same. The scientist was startled by the girl's eyes, which were an uncanny shade of green. The other children looked normal, each having two arms, two legs and so forth. She wondered about those little ones that Teller had lost, and why. These were obviously healthy. Holly reached out and took her hand and began to lead her toward one of the glass doors. Evie wanted to go in; she was so curious, but looking at Garret, she saw that he wanted to go to the van. Gently disengaging herself, she said, "We'll come later if that's all right."
Teller shooed the children away as Evie and Garret made their excuses and retired to the privacy of their life support systems. When the door of the van closed behind them and the soft shush of the air recycling began, Garret sat down on his cot and let out a sigh. "What a place! It`s too bad we can't stay to really explore it."
Evie looked at him sharply, "What do you mean? Why not?"
"Evie, we have to deliver this food and these producers to Southeast!"
"Oh. I forgot. I just plain forgot. Of course we have to do that first, but as soon as we're finished, we can come back here, can't we?"
Garret shrugged and lay down.
Not getting any response, Evie lay down next to Garret on his narrow cot, and looked into his face. His eyes were shut. "We have to come back here, Garret. I want to come back here. We have a million things to learn here."
Garret just grunted. "Please, Gar," she said, rubbing her nose against his. "Please," she repeated, kissing his cheek and ear. When he didn't respond, she sat up. "You know how important this is to our work. Why are you acting like this?"
Garret opened his eyes and looked at her. "I know it's important, and I don't know why I'm acting like this. I just can't seem to help it. I feel ... so, I don't know, threatened, by this whole thing, in every way. I mean, who are these people? How is it that they can survive out here, and I can't? Why can't I? I resent it. I'm angry, and at the same time, I know this is just what we were hoping to find. And you, you like them. You trust them just like that. I feel lonely ... confused. Evie, I don't know, I just never felt like this before."
Perhaps the most wonderful thing about Garret, in Evie's eyes, was his complete honesty. He never covered up his feelings, or pretended to feel something he didn't. As always, whatever exasperation she had been feeling at his behavior dissolved when he spoke. "Oh Garret," she said, nuzzling against him. "Don't worry. Just don't worry."
Their kisses became more ardent when an unexpected knock came on the door of the van. Stifling a curse, Garret got up and answered it. Eye of Eagle was a big man, and his presence in the van seemed to dwarf it. What had been a comfortably warm space was suddenly enormously crowded. "I wanted to know if you two were hungry. We're getting dinner on now, and we thought you might like to join us."
Evie smiled and accepted the invitation. As Eye of Eagle was turning to go, Garret spoke up. "We can't stay, you know. We have to continue on and bring the food and producers we spoke about earlier to Southeast, as we set out to do."
"We can help you. You'll need our help actually, because you'll never make it in this machine."
"Why not?"
Eye of Eagle sat down on the edge of one of the cots. "After the Evildoers disappeared, that is, went underground, what was already a hellish situation got worse. We were pretty much okay, living here, isolated from most of society, but out there, in the cities and suburbs where most of the people lived, it was a catastrophe. Those who'd run away were the ones who'd previously run things. Those who were left didn't know how to do that. Not that they didn't try. Not that they weren't capable if they'd been given time.
The world was already in bad shape, what with the pollution, the global warming, well you know. When the leaders all disappeared, chaos stepped in. All the power plants went down. No more light, no more heat in winter. Crops rotted in the fields and in the granaries, and people starved to death. Plagues and wars followed over whatever food and water remained. The worst of it was what men did to other men in their struggle to stay alive. Some resorted to cannibalism. Only the strong survived.
These people, or their descendents anyway, are still alive. They live near the cities, near the roads. They live like animals; kill at the blink of an eye. They're complete barbarians. And yes," he continued at the question in Evie's eyes, "some of them are still cannibals. Some hunt the wild dogs, cats, raccoons, lizards, snakes and other wildlife that remain, some raise animals for food, but you can't be sure. You will never get past these people without our help."
Evie had grown pale.
CHAPTER 6
East USA Habitat: 2128
Jersey Lipton had to sit down after Morgan left. He was unaccustomed to the flood of feelings suddenly screaming to be released, and didn't know how to handle them. Fear, anger, gratitude, these were all alien to him. Jersey's life revolved around machines, transistors, and computer chips. He felt a great love for his work, for what would someday come of it, but that was it. When Morgan had threatened that, Lipton had suddenly discovered within himself the capacity for hate and for rage. When Morgan had inexplicably saved him from the disaster Morgan himself was threatening, he had felt gratitude.
Now he sat and tried to sort through the unfamiliar emotions, to get them under control, so that he could get back to his work, but he kept coming back to a question. Why had Morgan taken his lab and then given it back? Was he just being nice because he'd seen how distressed Jersey had been? While the physicist was not very familiar with the personalities around him or, for that matter, personalities in general, there was something about that that just didn't sit right.
If space was available, and Morgan could set up his lab elsewhere, then why take Jersey's space in the first place? And, if space wasn't available and Morgan needed it, then why not take Jersey's? Apparently the space was both available and unavailable. Maybe Morgan was going to take someone else's lab. Was that possible?
He mulled that over for a while and then went to the computer. It wasn't difficult to discover that there were several spaces available with lower priority than his. Ergo, Morgan did not really need his space. He'd wanted it for some other reason. Perhaps he'd not really wanted it at all.
Jersey sat down heavily as he realized that Morgan had been manipulating him. Morgan wanted him afraid and at the same time grateful. Why? Of course it was true that available space or not, Morgan could probably succeed in taking over his space if he really wanted it, but it wouldn't put Jersey out in the cold. He'd just have to move; so why? What did the man want, what did he stand to gain? He never had trusted him, anyway, not since that day, nearly twenty years ago, when he’d come out of Evie Chandler’s quarters covered in blood.
"He wants something from me," Jersey muttered aloud, "something he doesn't think I'd do if he just came right out and asked for it. Well, I won't put up with it. I'll just go and tell him so."
When Jersey burst into Morgan's office, Morgan realized instantly that his plan had not worked. For one thing, Jersey was not acting the part of subordinate. He was acting quite triumphant. Oh, this should be interesting, Morgan thought. This will be very interesting.
"Morgan," Jersey said, "just what are you up to? You had no intention of taking over my laboratories, did you? You were just trying to manipulate me, and I demand to know why."
Morgan, stalling for a few moments to think, got up and went to the drink dispenser. "Would you care for a drink, Jersey?" The man was naïve; otherwise he'd have bided his time.
"No, I want an answer."
"Well," Morgan said, "you're absolutely right, of course. I knew you'd figure it out, and I told the others so, but they insisted that I try."
"What others? What are you talking about?"
"The fact is it's a secret. I just can't tell you at this time, because it's a matter of security."
"Security! What rubbish! Who's going to threaten us?"
Morgan looked worried. "I know it sounds unlikely, but w
e are in danger, and you may be called upon to help. We thought we could get your cooperation without telling you the facts; we don't want to start a panic, you see, but I guess that's not going to be the case. If you'll just give me a few days, I'll discuss this with the ... others and see if they can give you security clearance."
Jersey didn't know what to say. Security. Clearance. These were a foreign language to him.
"Trust me," Morgan said, grabbing the advantage. "Just trust me."
The physicist mumbled his agreement and left the great manipulator behind. Morgan put his feet up and grinned from ear to ear. Lipton was going to be fun. It was going to take some real creativity to get the physicist to cooperate. The idea added spice to Morgan's heady sense of personal power. It made him, literally, high.
CHAPTER 7
Mountain People: 2128
The camels were unexpected. Everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours was unexpected, but the camels went beyond the realm of the unforeseen, and into the surreal. Garret could not believe such ungainly, smelly creatures even existed. Oh, he'd seen them in books, but the picture did not remotely compare with the reality.
Camels! Evie, on the other hand, took to the camels as easily as she'd taken to the Mountain People. She petted them and fed them grasses. She even climbed on and took a ride. Laughing, she walked over to Garret and hung her arms around his neck. "Oh Garret, isn't it wonderful?"
The plan was that several men from the mountain people would take the food and the producers to Southeast via caravan. They'd discussed it over dinner the night before, and Eye of Eagle had insisted that it would be faster, and safer, and that the food had a much better chance of getting there.
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