The Prophecy (Children of the River Book 1)

by Ren Curylo

  Anoba sensed him more than heard him as he approached from behind her. She turned to face him, greeting him with a grim face and merely said his name.

  “Ah, my beautiful green river goddess,” Hermolaos said with a smile that creeped Anoba out.

  “Hermolaos,” she said with a nod. “You’ve come alone, I see.”

  “Yes,” he said, his eyes fastening on her breasts that were outlined plainly in her tight-fitting Chikandi uniform. Normally, she loved the clothing created from the Chikandi cloth—named for the woman who had invented it. It was quite comfortable, and wearable in both hot and cold weather, generally without needing any bulky outerwear. It was thin, flexible, and stretchy. Even their footwear was made of it. It was tough, durable, both insulating and moisture wicking. It also tended to be form fitting—which could be a drawback in the company of lechers like Hermolaos.

  Anoba was glad she wasn’t wearing her one-piece uniform. It was somewhat more revealing than the pants and shirt she currently wore. “Where is your shadow?” she asked, keeping her voice cool. “It’s seldom you come to a meeting without your Éadomhain in tow.”

  The woman Anoba spoke of had experienced almost as much—if not more—of a transformation than Hermolaos had undergone when they did her genetic testing and enhancements. She had been short, dumpy, and plain enough to make dull cardboard appealing. And so timid it was painful to talk to her. Now, Éadomhain was quite striking to look at. No longer dumpy, she had become tall, stately, slender, and elegant, with magnificent turquoise colored hair and eyes. Her dull mousy brown was gone forever. Éadomhain always appeared impeccably groomed, even though she wore similar uniforms to everyone else. No one ever saw her in public without her face made up or her fingernails painted, usually in bright colors that contrasted with her pale greenish-gold skin and her turquoise hair. The only thing Éadomhain was more concerned with than her appearance was Hermolaos. She had crushed on him since they were both ugly and plain and that hadn’t changed with their genetic upgrades. He, on the other hand, didn’t share her rabid interest. He was much more interested in every other woman.

  Tearing his eyes from Anoba’s breasts, he fastened them on her mouth and replied, “She’ll be along, I’m sure. Where is your brother?”

  The door swung open as if in response to his question. “I’d believe he’s arriving now,” she said with a smile, stepping around Hermolaos dismissively.

  Removing his facemask and cloak, Ársa hung them on the peg near the door before he moved into the conference room. “Good afternoon, Commander,” he said with deference. “I don’t think I’m late quite yet, but we can get started anytime you’d like.”

  “There are a few others yet to show up, but have a seat, Ársa.”

  Ársa pulled out a straight-backed chair opposite the Commander and sat, completely relaxed. His attitude, when dealing with the old man, was more as equals than as his superior. Anoba wasn’t sure that Ársa had ever viewed anyone as his superior.

  “Ársa,” she said, bending to kiss his cheek in greeting. “I was worried you’d be late. Commander was fretting over your punctuality.” She took the chair to Ársa’s right.

  Ársa laughed softly.

  “I wasn’t worried, Anoba,” the old man said defensively. He scratched his scalp, leaving his wispy white hair sticking out at odd angles from his knobby head. He coughed a phlegmy, bone-rattling sound resonating deep in his lungs from the many years of breathing air that was more dirt than oxygen. It had taken its toll on his health as it had on many others. “I like it when my meetings start on time.”

  “Who are we waiting for?” Ársa asked. He nodded in greeting at Hermolaos who took a seat at the opposite end of the table, to the Commander’s right.

  “We are waiting for Éadomhain, Moriko, Oseyan, Líadáin, and Taranis. That’s all the crew members I have invited to this meeting,” Commander said. He looked sharply at Ársa and added, “I trust you can organize a meeting with the rest of your Envoy and cover what we’ll be discussing here. If you can’t do that, you might as well pass the crown along now.”

  “I don’t see a problem with accomplishing that goal, Commander,” Ársa said with an easy smile. His officers numbered one hundred twenty-four, so far. Ársa’s officers aboard the Na Réaltaí were among the best, brightest and most dedicated officers in their league. The ones attending this meeting were the highest ranking in his group. He got along well with most of them. He could tolerate those he didn’t particularly like long enough to get the job done. There would likely be several dozen more added to the roster before they were ready to depart. He expected his final Envoy count, officers, and others to be several thousand.

  The door swung open allowing the wind, dust, and chatter to enter the room. Taranis, Líadáin, Oseyan, Moriko, and Éadomhain stepped into the room together. The wind had picked up and Oseyan had to wrestle with the heavy door to get it closed while the others removed their facemasks and cloaks. He quickly stashed his with the others and they joined the meeting without further fanfare.

  Oseyan was every bit as big and muscular as Ársa and almost as handsome. He had stark white hair and his eyes the color of a summer sky, back when their world still had a summer sky. He was as tanned as if he spent countless hours in the sunshine, which was no longer possible since they hadn’t seen the sun in over five years. The only way they knew it still existed was that the days were a slightly brighter grey than the nights, which tended toward pitch black. The moon was a welcome sight once a month when it was still barely visible. They were sure that before long, they would never see it again, even if they stayed here, since the dust-over was now thickening up in the never-ending wind.

  Oseyan sat beside Anoba, for they were both water officers. Where her domain was fresh water, he was quite the expert with the saltier variety. His area of expertise was the ocean and all it contained, and he was as at home there as he was on the land. Anoba had been surprised when they had swum together the first time after The Alteration and she had seen the gills open on his thick neck. He could stay underwater indefinitely. His genetic alteration had caused a significant change in his body structure, but it wasn’t readily visible on land. She had noted that his fingers webbed in the water as well.

  Oseyan and his sister Gealach were Ársa and Anoba’s cousins. Their mothers were sisters and had raised their children in close proximity and in similar fashions. Gealach was part of Ársa’s roster of officers, though she wasn’t present at this meeting. She generally tended the overnight duties.

  Éadomhain slid into the chair beside Hermolaos and smiled at him. She was confident that she looked wonderful and she was aware of his penchant for lechery.

  Anoba wondered if she was smart enough to hold out for what she wanted, whatever that was, or if she’d settle for little crumbs of his attention.

  “Hello, everyone,” Éadomhain said, scarcely taking her eyes off Hermolaos.

  “Hello,” they replied, in turn, without enthusiasm. Neither she nor Hermolaos noticed. His eyes were firmly fastened on the woman’s breasts.

  Taranis and Líadáin sat beside one another, at Commander’s left hand. Líadáin sat nearest the old man. Moriko slid into the chair next to Ársa, completing the gathering at the meeting.

  Líadáin was small and sturdy. She had black, closely cropped hair and brown eyes. Her skin was olive-toned, dark, and dusky. She had full lips and her nose was narrow at the bridge and broader at the tip. She generally wore a smile and she was quick with her hands. She was good with acquisitions and had been instrumental in keeping their compound well supplied. Where she got most of their weapons and food, no one asked. She didn’t like being questioned too closely and since she was good at her job, Commander was willing to let it go without further information.

  Taranis was tall and lanky and he moved with an almost disjointed graceless grace. He had dark brown hair, velvety brown eyes, and a medium dark complexion that wasn’t as olive toned as Líadáin, but neither was he a
s fair as Hermolaos. His hair was bushy and slightly curly. His shoulders were broad and he had a prominent jaw and chin with a cleft at the center. His was a chin that commanded attention from practically any angle; it was strong and bold. He was joyful to be around and he usually wore a smile but when he had to be serious, he was deadly serious.

  Moriko was the last to take her seat. As she sat down, she looked across at Anoba and smiled.

  “Did you find those hyenas you were looking for?” Anoba asked her.

  “Yes, I finally located a pair yesterday,” she said. She glanced, almost shyly at Ársa and smiled. “I’ll tell you all about it after the meeting,” she said, glancing at Commander who was staring at her with his white bushy eyebrows flaring at the ends.

  Anoba loved Moriko. They had been close for quite some time, though The Alteration had changed things. She was as feisty as she was small. She was the youngest of the lot of them, and she was petite to the point of being tiny. She barely weighed a hundred pounds. She had thick, long, dark brown hair, hanging in tangled ropes down her back. At her forehead, it formed a slight widow’s peak. Her eyes were more gold than brown and tilted upward at the outer corners. Her eyebrows were dark and bold, with an upward angle of their own. Her mouth was a bit pouty with a slight upward turn at the corners.

  Anoba wondered what was between Moriko and her brother. Ársa was more than twice her size, closer to three times her size but he always got a bug-eyed, star-struck look on his face when she was near him. His eyes always gravitated to her from the moment she entered the room and when she sat beside him, Ársa smiled nervously. No one else may have noticed, but Anoba did. She noticed it any time Moriko was near him. The one time she had asked him about the girl, Ársa had thundered that they were only friends.

  “Welcome, all of you,” Commander said, bringing their attention to him. “As of last week, we were up to ninety-nine percent finished with our genetic gathering for current as well as extinct life forms on this planet. However, I do not need to tell any of you that the outstanding one percent is the hardest of all things to gather. We’ve been working on it for the last two hundred years, to no avail.”

  Commander cleared his throat and stared at them with a hawklike gaze. “I am here to give you all a list of what’s left for you to gather for this journey you’re embarking on. You must double- check yourselves and one another well before departure because there are no second chances. No two of you have the same lists, and the lists are not duplicated from team to team. Therefore, if you fail to gather something, it will be a lost species to us, going forward— the ultimate extinction, if you will.”

  He scratched around in a case near his chair and withdrew a stack of papers, held together with a metal clip. He waved them toward Anoba and pushed them in her direction. “Here, girl,” he said, “pass these out.”

  She quickly complied and hurriedly slid back into her seat near Ársa.

  “Now, as you can see, your personal objectives are listed here. It will be your duty to gather specimens or genetic material for each Phylum. We have assigned each of you a staff to assist you in this endeavor. I suggest you draw heavily on the researchers at your disposal. As noted in this section, each of you will be responsible for certain types of creatures or plants. For example, Oseyan will be responsible for the plants and animals from the salt-water areas. Anoba will do the same for the fresh waters. Moriko will handle forest plants and animals. We will divide all other landscapes and species among the rest of you and your staffs. We’ve been working on this for centuries now, and our time is growing short. The next section of your documents details the species we have gathered up to this point. It will be upon you to certify that what we currently hold in stasis is still viable. If not, you will re-obtain it. This is our last chance to verify that these are still creatable from genetic material.”

  Commander watched them as they looked over the lists he had given them. “Now, I’ll update you on the inventory of human genetics we have accumulated,” Commander said bringing their attention back to him once more. “We have managed to store hundreds of millions of samples into a relatively small space, which will make the trip easier without compromising the diversity that will be essential in your having a successful mission. This will be far easier than trying to take actual humans with you when you go.”

  “I’m relieved the systems have been completed before the deadline,” Ársa said. “I wasn’t looking forward to having to take along a lot of adult human beings even if they were suspended. What about the Elves and Dwarves, Commander? Are they included in our inventory?”

  “Since the Elves and Dwarves are so small in numbers, we have opted to SSP all of them, Ársa,” Commander said. “The creatures we are having issues with are the other immortals.”

  “Why don’t we create everything on arrival and take bigger Envoys with us?” Hermolaos asked.

  Commander sighed as if Hermolaos were two years old and had asked to have the same book read to him for the hundredth time. “Haven’t we gone over that, boy?” he asked sharply. “Some organisms take a long time to grow therefore you will all be utilizing the SSP method for those things. Others, you’ll simply take the genetic material along in its smallest and simplest form, usually a smear. This includes humans, because of their sheer numbers, and other living creatures that are smaller than wolves, generally mammals, birds, and most amphibians and reptiles. We will SSP whales, porpoises, dolphins, squid and other extremely large specimens.”

  “If I may, Commander,” Ársa said, interrupting the old man politely. At his nod, Ársa continued, “Since I am adept, as is Moriko, at creating trees and other plant life, we will do all the formations for those upon arrival. Then, we aren’t wasting any space we could use for harder to recreate organisms. We are both able to create, almost instantly, fully grown trees. This way we’ll have space to bring more creatures and more genetic matter so we have a bigger gene pool with which to begin colonization.”

  “We have set the date for your departure as well,” Commander said. “It’s to be Devexus 28, this year. We know it’s pushing the limits, time-wise, so it means you’ll have to be all business and work toward getting everything gathered and organized. You have to allow time for the laboratory to implement SSP on those larger or slower growing species.”

  SSP was ‘Suspend, Shrink & Pack’ and Anoba was among the departing crew who had intimate knowledge of it. She would work closely with those in the labs here, as would both Líadáin and Taranis. She was also among those who would reverse the process once they arrived and had a world ready to live in. Before it was created and ready for habitation, those living things would remain suspended, so they wouldn’t age or change.

  “Commander,” Ársa said. His tone was questioning, causing everyone at the table to look his way. He focused on the papers in front of him, frowning as he leafed through each page. He scanned them closely, his dark blue eyes troubled. “What are we going to do about those other immortal creatures you mentioned earlier?”

  “Shouldn’t we leave them behind? Commander already said we were having trouble gathering their genetics.” Hermolaos said. “Why are you concerned with them?” His tone conveyed the opinion that only a weakling would make any other choice. “Besides, there can’t be that many of them. It’s not much of a sacrifice.”

  Ársa looked at him sharply, his bold, black eyebrows cocked upward mockingly. “I beg your pardon, Hermolaos, but because they choose not to show themselves to the likes of you doesn’t mean they don’t exist in large numbers. There are plenty of Fae creatures among us still, not to mention quite a large number of other immortals.”

  “Are you certain of that?” Éadomhain asked. “I’ve never seen any of them either. Are you sure such magical things exist? What proof is there?”

  “It’s plain to see you haven’t bothered to go into the laboratories lately. They are working with this genetic matter all the time. I’ve also seen the living creatures with my own eyes,” Mor
iko said quickly, coming to Ársa’s aid. “I’ve walked among them many times. Just because you don’t happen to traverse into areas where magic still reigns, doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Perhaps you don’t know where to look.”

  “Perhaps,” Éadomhain said with disinterest. “I don’t care about them anyway. If they exist or not, why should we waste time on them?”

  “Because they are living, breathing creatures, Éadomhain,” Anoba said. “The same as you are.”

  “We are leaving behind a lot of things,” Hermolaos said. “We can’t take everything.”

  “No, but we can take enough of everything to give it a fair chance at starting over wherever we end up,” Moriko said. “Even with a sampling of Fae creatures, we can give them a shot at continuing.”

  “I say it’s pointless,” Hermolaos said. “It’s a waste of time and not worth anyone’s effort. If I were in charge that would be the end of it.”

  Commander looked at him with disgust. “Perhaps,” he said quietly, “that is why you are not in charge of anything.” He stared the man into silence. After Hermolaos looked down, no longer meeting the old man’s eye, he turned to Ársa. “Since our work with their genetic bases has failed every time, we have no choice but to SSP these creatures. Ársa, I will give you an opportunity to gather as many Fae creatures as you can find, but it must not take away from your other duties. Enlisting someone with some free time is also an option.”

  “I’ll help you,” Moriko said quickly.

  “So will I,” Anoba said.

  The others chimed in their willingness to help as well, except for Éadomhain and Hermolaos, who sat in silence, frowning.

  “There are Fae creatures in the oceans and I know there are some in the rivers. I’ll talk to them and get them to agree to join with us,” Oseyan said. “I’m sure word of mouth among the Fae will aid us as well.”