The Garden

by Craig W. Turner

  Still, a lot had happened in the last half-hour. They’d been flooded with new information furiously, piece-by-piece, and hadn’t had the chance to discuss anything. A lot of topics had been left open – the suspended animation in darkness they’d experienced, Robert’s experience in Egypt, the development of a weapon that can travel through the time portal, the devil, himself, greeting them upon their arrival to Eden, the appearance of this mysterious woman, who she was trying to convince herself could not possibly be Eve, the fact that she said she already knew the serpent, suggesting that it was a longer-term relationship than the Book of Genesis might have indicated… Amy tried to corral all of the topics in her mind because they needed to be discussed. The international politics of SATP paled in comparison.

  But instead, they were silently following her through the forest. Toward what, they had no idea. She seemed to know where the serpent would be, and the immediate question that came to mind was would it be somewhere near the Tree? How long could the devil have been setting her up? But she remembered that when Landon was talking about the Tree, “Keegan” had been clueless. So, whatever the devil was up to, he didn’t appear to already have an endgame when they’d encountered him.

  She wondered how, theologically, that could be the case. In her understanding of the Biblical chronology, which, admittedly, she didn’t know well, Lucifer would already have fallen with his band of angels, but was still free to roam the Earth and interact with man. But unlike God, as Landon had explained, the devil was not omniscient, so he might not have known what was truly to come if Eve or her husband ate from the tree. But then, according to the story, he’d obviously figured it out on his own. So, had their off-handed comments changed history, really?

  If one believed that sort of thing, of course. Though, Amy felt it was wise to keep every possible option open.

  In the peacefulness, with only the sound of their feet brushing the tall grass and the serene harmonies of wildlife surrounding them, Amy afforded herself for the first time a moment to look around. She was in a forest unlike any forest she’d ever experienced. The landscape was alive with not only rich green, but the further they walked other vibrant colors were joining the landscape. Reds and yellows and purples and even blues begin to fill her view. She couldn’t tell if they were flowering trees or fruit trees, but the colors began to dominate her field of vision. Upon closer inspection, she could see what appeared to be round fruit plentifully hanging from the thick green leaves, and sweet smells began to tickle her nose.

  “What is this?” she muttered, for no one else to hear.

  Claire did, though, and sidled closer to her. “It’s incredible, isn’t it?”

  “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” It was. The closest thing she could liken it to was her grandmother’s garden near their home in Shanghai. She’d been whisked away at an early age, though, so she knew even that might not have been as grand as she envisioned it – more feelings than actual aesthetics. Life as she knew it currently didn’t leave much room for exploration of beauty. Even beyond the supernatural ambience that seemed to surround them, this was a treat.

  “What do you make of all this?” Claire said, quietly. It clearly wasn’t her intent to have anyone else hear, and Amy realized she may have been after some “girl time.”

  She wasn’t going to get it here, though. Not after what they’d just seen. Instead, she laughed. “I think you hugged the devil,” she said.

  Claire grunted, and then laughed herself. “Don’t remind me. Please.” They walked several paces, then she said, “Is this all real?”

  “Seems pretty real.”

  “But how? How could we have been so wrong?”

  Amy took a breath. “I don’t think it’s about being right or wrong,” she said. “I’ve always maintained that there was room for both explanations. There are enough questions on either side of the debate to cast doubt, and enough valid points that can be mutually explained. That’s why I’ve always felt comfortable debating from either position.”

  “But there aren’t questions on the scientific side,” Claire said. “We’re buttoned-up. It’s when you start talking about a white-haired guy in the sky-”

  She held up a hand. “I don’t want to get into that right now,” she said. “I’m feeling pretty confident that white-haired guy is around here somewhere, and I’m not going to be the one to tell him he doesn’t exist.”

  “But you’re a scientist,” Claire said, almost pleading.

  “Yes,” she said, “but I’m a human first. That woman up there? She’s one of the earliest humans ever to live on this planet. And even she wants something to believe in. But there are also reasonable scientific arguments as to why she exists, too.” She paused for a moment. “Do you think we can eat this fruit?”

  “What?” Claire said, the question catching her off guard. Amy had done it on purpose. Claire’s trying to convince her that this was all a mirage was a conversation she wasn’t interested in. Not in this glorious environment. Plus, she was curious about the fruit they were seeing. And, she was hungry. “I don’t see why not,” she answered. “Unless we’re able to time jump soon. Then-”

  “How big is this Garden?” she asked, cutting her off and ignoring her warning.

  “No idea,” Claire said. “I bet Landon knows.”

  “Yes. He seems to have taken charge of the mission.”

  “All because he wrote a paper in college.”

  “Well, he seems to know more about any of this than any of the rest of us do, so more power to him,” Amy said. “Maybe I’ll ask him about the fruit.”

  “I can hear you,” Landon said from six or seven paces in front of them. He turned his head. “I’ll try it if you do.”

  Amy nodded, notwithstanding the rule that they shouldn’t eat and time travel, and they silently diverted from the trodden path that was being created by their colleagues in front of them, approaching the closest tree. Though the trunk of the tree rose seemingly infinitely into the sky, the branches, leaves and hanging fruit started at eye level. Amy, Claire and Landon each pulled a piece of fruit from the tree – this particular tree produced a soft, purple fruit that was similar to a plum, but the size of a large grapefruit. It was supple in Amy’s hand, and she inspected it before raising it to her mouth. It was like nothing she’d ever seen before, and like nothing she’d ever tasted. The sweetness of the fruit matched the smell that had been in the air, and had hints of grape, honey, vanilla and brown sugar.

  “Wow,” Claire said, wiping juice from the corner of her mouth and laughing, almost giddily. “That’s incredible.”

  “This was without question created directly by God,” Landon said in between bites. “No doubt in my mind.”

  “How could it not still be around in our time?” Amy asked.

  Landon shrugged. “We think about extinction in terms of animals, mostly. But flora is extinct, too. These trees didn’t make the cut. Perhaps they were exclusive to The Garden.”

  Amy had already lost interest in what he was saying, taken with the fruit. For several minutes, they stood and enjoyed the food that she could only describe as “heavenly.” Its taste had completely distracted them from whatever their job was, and she was tempted to stuff her pack with more. But as she turned, she saw that every tree within view was similarly adorned with colorful fruit. There would be no shortage, ever, as long as they stayed in the Garden. It made her think for a moment about the food shortages that regularly plagued her overpopulated home country. How far mankind had come, but never close to perfect. This forest alone – just what she could see in her current field of vision – would feed China’s largest cities for generations.

  She also noticed, unfortunately, that the rest of their team was nowhere to be found. “We lost them,” she said.

  Landon and Claire had been too busy gorging themselves, as well. They turned, and a look of concern crossed their faces.

  It was fleeting, though, as a moment later they he
ard Robert’s baritone voice echoing through the trees. “Landon, Amy, Claire… You should get up here.”

  They looked at each other for a moment, the broke into a sprint toward his voice. They passed through a thicket of green brush and emerged into another opening in the trees.

  The rest of the team had their backs to them, and they were all looking skyward.

  Amy’s eyes followed theirs to find an enormous structure towering over the forest.

  To her right, she heard Claire fall heavily to the ground.

  CHAPTER 60

  Dipin had learned when he was sneaking through SATP to get to the media room the evening before that, due to an astonishing security oversight, his biometrics still worked in the facility. He wasn’t sure why, but he wasn’t going to question it – and would use it as far as it would take him.

  He led the Attorney General and his agents into the first control room, explaining the security process. “There are three security checks,” he said. “The first being biometric access here in this room. I am hoping that mine is still active.” He initiated the sequence with a retinal scan followed by thumbprint, and the door slid open. He looked at the AG and laughed. “Looks like they need to fire their IT person.”

  “Indeed,” he said, following Dipin into the long corridor.

  Dipin started to explain the security components of the corridor, but the AG waved to the agents to double-time the length of the hallway. On that order, they hustled ahead, leaving Dipin chasing behind, trying to catch up. As he ran, he continued to consider the potential repercussions of what he was doing.

  They reached the next set of doors and when Dipin caught up, he opened them. The agents burst into the room to find two people that Dipin hadn’t seen in a long time, Agents Mariacher and O’Brien, in ready position with their weapons drawn, pointed in their direction. He noticed a look of surprise on their faces in seeing him.

  “What’s going on, Dr. Chopra?” Mariacher asked, his eyes skillfully scanning the new faces in the room as the agents did the same.

  “The Attorney General is here for Robert,” he said, forcing eye contact with him. “They needed me to usher them through security to the time portal.”

  Mariacher looked confused for a split-second, then nodded. “Absolutely,” he said, dropping his sidearm. O’Brien did the same.

  O’Brien retreated behind the control panel to the side while Dipin once again fulfilled the biometric criteria, and the door slid open. Like before, the agents again burst through the door.

  Into the spacious viewing room designed for seventh grade field trips.

  Had he had control over the door, Dipin would have locked them inside before they realized they’d been duped. But he didn’t. As he tried to communicate with O’Brien, who hadn’t caught onto the charade, one of the agents ran back through the door, his weapon trained on Dipin. As the others filed through, they did the same, and the two SATP agents took armed stances of their own in his defense.

  But Dipin waved his hand at them, advising them to stand at ease. “It’s okay,” he said. “It’s okay.” The SATP guards lowered their weapons. He wondered if his diversion had bought enough time. The Attorney General knew they would need to pass through security checks; so he’d brought him through security checks.

  The AG stormed up to him. “You’re going to jail for this,” he said.

  Dipin calmly shook his head. “No,” he said calmly. “I’m not an American citizen, so you have no jurisdiction over me.”

  “Well, the Board of Nations will hear about this.”

  “I suppose they will,” he said.

  The man took an angry step forward toward Dipin, so they were face-to-face. “Get me to that time portal.”

  Dipin stared him down for a moment. Not because he wanted to intentionally be defiant, but to waste as much time as he possibly could, then softened his stance, nodding. “Okay,” he said. “Let’s go.”

  The Attorney General motioned to his troops once again, and they hurried out of the room and back along the corridor.

  CHAPTER 61

  Claire was beginning to lose faith in herself. She’d now passed out three times in the last hour.

  She’d opened her eyes to find Robert and Amy helping her up off the ground and behind them the enormous structure that had caught her off-guard as she’d emerged from the trees. Somehow, it had been hidden entirely from their view by the thick foliage.

  “I don’t believe it,” was all she could say.

  “I don’t understand what you don’t believe,” Landon said. “Many scholars have talked about the possibility of antediluvian man being far more technologically advanced than we give him credit for. That they were able to construct-”

  “Landon,” Robert said calmly. “Take it easy on her.”

  She looked from Landon to Robert and back again. Landon nodded, and resumed his gaze at the tower.

  “Who built this?” she asked out loud, though she was only enunciating the confusion in her mind. According to the Bible, which was apparently the script they were now following, there were a total of two people here – this woman and her husband. And in front of them was an architectural marvel: a structure reaching upward as high as she could see and beyond. They’d come out of the forest at about the midpoint of one side of the building. Looking in either direction, Claire had to imaging it was at least four or five times the width of the entire SATP campus, which was a massive facility, itself.

  While she couldn’t see the top, the lower portion of the structure was comprised of levels, resembling the Aztec structures that could be found in Mexico It appeared to be made of sandstone, and while the sun’s reflection off of it made it difficult to inspect what was in front of them, it was truly awe-inspiring.

  Though Claire had been simply wondering out loud, the woman answered her. “Our Creator.”

  She brought her eyes down to meet the woman’s. “Your Creator?” she repeated. “You mean God?”

  The woman smiled for the first time since they’d met. “Yes, that is what you would call Him.”

  She noticed that Robert had walked forward, away from the group, and was approaching the closest outside wall of the structure. It was eerie, the existence of this enormous building with not a soul in sight except for them. She watched as he reached out, touching the façade. Some of the others followed him.

  Claire shook her head, then turned her focus back to the woman. “How is it you’re able to speak English?”

  This caused her to have a confused look again, so Reilly jumped in, “How is it you’re able to speak our language?”

  “Am I speaking your language?” she asked. “I’m not speaking any differently than I normally do.”

  “Savez-vous ce que je dis maintenant?” Claire asked.

  “Yes, of course,” the woman said.

  Claire looked at Landon. “How…” She stopped her own sentence, turning back to the woman. “Wissen Sie, was ich jetzt sagen?”

  “Yes,” she said, but then shook her head, smiling. “Why do you keep asking me the same thing?”

  “How can you understand me no matter what language I speak?”

  “Language?” she said.

  “There’s no need for different languages at this point in history,” Landon said quietly. She hadn’t realized he’d been standing beside her. “There’s been no Tower of Babel. This woman is made in God’s image. We’re able to communicate with her simply because… That’s how it works.” She looked up at him and he was grinning. But she didn’t read it as an “I told you so” grin. It was more the pure joy of discovery, and it was mildly contagious.

  But not completely. “I’m going to have to think more about that,” she said. Claire didn’t know if she could handle another Biblical reference, but found herself getting sucked in. She decided to engage, herself. “When we asked you your name, you didn’t answer. You’re Eve, aren’t you?”

  “Eve?” she asked. “What does that mean?”

 
“No, Claire-” Davies said, turning from the structure and stepping forward to stop her.

  She looked at him, then back at the woman. “I don’t know what it means, but it’s your name, isn’t it?”

  Now, Davies grabbed her by the arm, and physically pulled her away.

  “What?” she demanded, roughly pulling her arm back.

  “Eve,” he said, whispering as harshly as he could. “It means the ‘mother of all living.’ She hasn’t been given that name yet. Not until after the Fall. She has no idea what you’re talking about.”

  Claire let out a sigh, frustrated with the rules that everyone seemed to know but her. But she also wasn’t going to accept any blame for not knowing everything that was happening, the way they’d been rushed into this mission. Davies must have been able to tell that she was stewing, because he didn’t push it with her further.

  After a moment, Landon appeared and put his hand quietly on her shoulder. “It’s okay – no harm done,” he said, then pointed at Davies. “Good catch.”

  Claire’s fire left her quickly, and she made eye contact with Landon. “I hope not.”

  Landon nodded to her, and then returned his attention to the woman. “Can you tell us more about this building?” he asked.

  They turned and walked toward the rest of the group.

  CHAPTER 62

  Robert was the only living person who had ever seen an Egyptian pyramid before it withstood three thousand years of weather damage. It had been nothing short of magnificent, and the obvious bright spot of his mission to ancient Egypt.

  The most glorious of all the Egyptian pyramids was nothing compared to this structure.