by Ava D. Dohn
SECTION THREE:
Finding Future’s Past
The journey from Palace City into the heart of the Second Realm took several days. Lowenah could have done it in an instant if she had chosen, but taking along mortals forced her to travel by conventional means. Besides, she felt Ishtar needed time to adjust to her new friend.
Needless to say, the community atmosphere during the first part of the trip was rather icy. Lowenah expected the girl to be troubled by memories Treston would rekindle in her. It must be remembered that although the girl had been sleeping in the Web of the Minds for nearly two millennia, to Ishtar, her murder in the arena was only a few fleeting months ago. It took a great deal of talking on Lowenah’s part to convince the child that Treston was no longer her enemy. Also, thanks to Treston’s herculean efforts at trying to make peace, by the time the party reached their destination, the child had almost become cordial.
Ishtar was so excited about being back home again she was nearly impossible to deal with. Lowenah finally had to sit her down and give the girl a lecture. “My dear, we are not here on an outing. Business first! One thing you must learn is that duty and responsibility come first and foremost. Then, and only then, if there is time, one may take in the more self-indulgent pleasures of life.” She slapped the child on the leg just above the knee and stood. Pointing a scolding finger in Ishtar’s face, she asked, “Do you understand?”
Ishtar nodded, her sparkling eyes and wide grin revealed no hint of fear or trepidation, but the talking to did slow the girl down.
“Good!” Lowenah cast a motherly frown. “Now do be nice and act proper. If you’re good we may…mind you…I said ‘may’… we may visit your old home. And if you’re really well-behaved, there could be an added treat in it for you.”
Ishtar jumped up from the chair, hugging Lowenah in a suffocating embrace. “Oh, thank you! Thank you!” she cried, squealing in delight.
Lowenah only smiled helplessly, glancing toward Treston. He watched Ishtar, saying not a word. The girl acted like a foolish little child at times, and he knew she would be a very difficult pupil to train in the art of war. At least that’s how he saw matters in his mind. In his heart, though, it was a different picture. Ishtar was still the golden goddess, and he the villainous murderer, the unforgiven...unforgiveable. He would rather stand a thousand spears than deliver up to the girl what she must receive. It made his heart sick to think the tortures she must endure before her training was complete, and he able to prevent it, but for the Fates, he must allow it. No! Must welcome it...
He offered a weak smile in return. ‘At least she - Lowenah - understood’.
Lowenah finally pulled herself away from Ishtar’s embrace and took a deep breath. Then clasping the girl by the shoulders, she went on to give her instructions. “In a few hours, we shall pay a visit upon someone I have brought you here to meet. This boy is very special to me and, as you will see, to many others as well. It will be your job to get to know him over time. Let me warn you, he is still young…” She poked Ishtar in the ribs, “just like you are. And he still acts foolish at times…” She poked the child again, “just like you still do.”
Ishtar giggled and stepped back so as not to be poked again. Then she reached forward, grabbing Lowenah’s extended hand. With a twinkle in her eye, the child promised, “I will do as you say.” She laughed. “If he is like me, then he must be a pretty nice fellow.”
Lowenah gave the girl another motherly frown, slowly pulling her hand away. “Whether you think he is a nice fellow or not is of little importance to me at the moment. For now, I wish you to become acquainted with him. He will eventually consume much of your life.” Lowenah glanced at Treston. “Enough said! Today you shall meet your future trust.”
She turned and walked out of the room. Calling back through the door, Lowenah added, “Join me at the forward ramp in twenty minutes…both of you.”
Twenty minutes found two wide-eyed sojourners staring out an open gangway into a world neither had ever seen. This was the Middle Realm, the land where it had all begun. According to Lowenah, she had first built this place as a giant observatory to study all her other universes as they developed after being created. “Oh, yes!” She told her captive audience. “My children know of only the two, the First and Second Realms, but I have made many more.”
Lowenah went on to explain how, once she birthed offspring in the First Realm, her heart didn’t allow her to depart. Because of that, she moved her home from the Middle Realm to the First Realm, calling it the ‘First’ because it was the home of her first children. “Every ‘realm’ or ‘universe’, whichever you wish to call it, has a palace – well, really an observatory - such as the original home palace once was. There is one, still, on your old planet.”
Both Treston and Ishtar were filled with questions. Although more restrained in asking, Treston was just as excited to find out more. Lowenah patiently explained many things as the three walked through this strange and exotic land. The wonder of sights never before seen and sounds never heard elsewhere, all taking place under a sky filled with a dancing glow-like northern lights, but of every color and hue imagined, only added to the delightful stories the Maker of all things told them. Suffice that time permits the revealing of only some of the intrigues shared that day.
The palace - yes, there was a palace in the Second Realm at one time. Indeed, it was still there, but it lay hidden under the rubble of a vast mountain of rock that collapsed upon it during a monster deluge. She told them that one day, when all things were made right again, the palace would be revisited and restored to its former splendor.
Where was it? Where it had always been, but hidden far away from prying eyes. Even some of Lowenah’s children wondered where it was. Asotos often had searched for it. Indeed, when he wasn’t able to locate it, he used the men of that planet to search it out. The lost city of Atlantis, the Fountain of Youth, and other such legends were built on stories shared with humans by Asotos’ followers.
Why was he so interested in it? He was familiar with the palace and knew quite well its value and also because he knew it had not been destroyed. Where it was? Oh yes, I digress. Lowenah said it was located at the edge of a place humans called ‘Eden’, but it was really the ‘Garden of Eden’. The palace’s name was ‘Eden’, the garden being only one part of the palace complex. The destructive power of that great flood and the rapid breaking up of the landmasses afterward confused everyone as to its true whereabouts. And Lowenah was not ready to reveal its exact location...not yet.
As for Asotos wanting to find Eden, Lowenah asked, “Remember those locked doors in my inner palace? Ishtar? Treston? Beyond those doors lie passage chambers that will take an immortal...like myself...to any universe one chooses to go to. A mortal cannot go because the person’s essence of life is directly tied in with the Web of the Minds. That web was created to exist and work within the laws written in the web or fabric of the universe. The transport chambers do not operate within those given laws. A person must shed their mortal body and travel only in the essence of an immortal one, like the one you’ve seen in your blood vision.” She pointed to Ishtar. “It’s one of the many ways I travel around my worlds.”
“Asotos doesn’t believe that’s really the case. He feels that I have other trickery involved and the doors are sealed to keep them hidden. Well, let me tell you that is not the case, for any mortal trying to use the machinery could die a most horrible death.” She leaned nearer the two and raised her finger into the air, adding, “Unless…” Then, in a near whisper, explained, “I also built those machines for the future, when some of my children would become like me. I knew that it could be difficult for them at first, to remember how to reproduce the proper body for any given universe.”
“If the chemistry of one universe were mixed with another’s…well, really bad things might happen. So, when an immortal child reaches the desired destination, t
he machine will fashion the needed body exactly for that universe. Although the person’s appearance is the same, their chemistry - inner structure - matches where they are.”
Lowenah returned to strolling in the grasses. “I made some changes over time to protect my children just in case a door might accidentally become opened. Now, when someone enters the chamber, he or she must dispossess his or her mortal body, personally. If it’s not done, the machine does a quick scan to make sure a suitable body is in the chamber and the person is told to exit. So you see, Eden the Palace would do Asotos no good, but he refuses to believe me, although I have told him that many times in the past.”
Lowenah sadly shook her head. “He thinks me a deceitful liar, believing I am trying to hide secrets he deserves to know. How little he understands my real desires.”
A shadow crossed Lowenah’s face, but she refused to allow dark thoughts to ruin the day. Forcing away the gloom, she shrugged, “It isn’t wise to waste a beautiful day on wistful regrets, is it?” Her piercing gaze burned into Treston’s heart.
Ishtar chimed in. “Tell us more, please, tell us more about the palace. Was it as beautiful as the one I’ve seen?”
Lowenah laughed, “My little ray of sunshine!” Ishtar oblivious as to what Lowenah meant. She answered, “No, no, it was hidden well, looking more like one of the surrounding mountains. You see, the garden I spoke of was really part of a network of outdoor control laboratories that surrounded the palace. Near vertical walls that looked like mountain peaks jutted hundreds of cubits into the sky to separate the various gardens I had built. All in all, there were seven of them, each with its own special environment.”
“What’s an ‘environment’?” Ishtar asked.
Lowenah paused. Yes, how would the child know? In her day, such a term did not exist among the common people. “I’m sorry, my dear.” Lowenah apologized. “Let me explain. An environment is what you live in. Some places are very dry, others are wet, some places are cold, others hot. In each place, different animals and plants can grow. Back at Palace City, the environment can change from hot to cold and back again. It will be snowing in a few months. Then you’ll need to start wearing clothes again.” She gave Ishtar a little love poke on her naked body.
Although a very simple explanation, Ishtar understood well enough. She giggled and then pleaded, “Go on, please tell us more. Please!”
“All right.” Lowenah was now in her talking mood and wanted to go on. “There were tunnels with watchtowers built along the entire length of all the walls, so we – my children and I - could observe what happened in the different gardens. You see, I wanted my children to experience the thrill of creation - that is, taking a design thought up in the mind and seeing it all the way through until completion. Over the many, many thousands of years, they invented countless things!”
A frown clouded her face. “You see, life is very complex and it all begins with what some call ‘genes’ or ‘DNA’. That’s the part of living things so small you cannot see it with your eyes. These genes are the building blocks of all living things. It’s like a pile of different length sticks.” She held up her fingers to represent the little pieces of wood. “Although they mostly are all the same, you can arrange them differently to make different life forms.” Lowenah twisted her fingers this way and that. “If you’re not very careful, you might twist them into something that can be very bad for other living things. For that the reason, I designed confined areas to test all the new living creations and observe the resultant growth of the genes.”
Lowenah sighed. “When I closed the palace after your parents were evicted from the Garden, I stationed my flaming Cherubs around the whole place, not allowing anyone entry into it. This also took away access to the machines that gave my children the power to put on bodies that enabled them to live in the Second Realm. I didn’t realize just how determined my rebel son was on dominating that world.”
“I had given my oldest child untold wisdom and knowledge. There were few secrets between him and me. Eventually he figured out how to make new machinery that once again allowed my children to walk in your old world. Besides cohabiting with the earthly women in an attempt to create a new super race, those rebellious sons restarted genetic experimentation in a new location further to the east, calling it ‘MusolEgypt’ meaning ‘energy’s pyramids’. But they were careless in maintaining safe controls and some very nasty things escaped.”
Lowenah saw a look of confusion growing on the other’s faces. “I’ll leave the telling of that for another day. Let me explain more to you about genes.” She picked a wild flower and smelled it, smiling. “Genes have some interesting potential abilities. They possess, what might you say, a desire for self-preservation, which is independent of the thinking process like we have. If the surrounding environment should change to the point of endangering the living organism, its genes will attempt to adjust to the new surroundings in order to keep the organism alive. Over time, through migration and planetary changes, a great variety of different creatures have come into existence.”
She waved her arm. “That’s part of the reason you see so many species of dogs and cats. And that’s what brings me back to genetic experimentation. In what some call a ‘laboratory’, a similar process can take place. Usually it’s done under controlled conditions, like I did in my many garden laboratories. Over a long enough period of time, you can watch how the different genes react to certain conditions. This helps you decide if the genes are safe to release into the wild or uncontrolled environment.”
“When I placed your parents in the Garden, they were provided a safe and healthy environment in which to grow and learn. I put nothing there that could cause them lasting harm. Oh sure, there were plants and animals with prickers and stingers, and if certain parts of some plants were eaten, they could make a person ill, but they wouldn’t die from eating them. Other what you might call ‘deadly plants’ were not found in the Garden.”
“In the outer world beyond the Garden, a yet untamed land existed. When thoroughly instructed as to the ways of that wild world, the land was to be handed over to your first parents, just as I did with my children on EdenEsonbar. Out there, with proper education, your parents would learn to use what you call ‘dangerous plants’ as tools to build their civilization. Not only would your parents be highly educated, but they were also created with very keen abilities that could sense danger. But that’s a story for another day.”
Lowenah shrugged, smiling sadly. “What I’m saying is the plants and animals I gave to your parents for food were good to eat and safe! There were no hidden dangers to be found in any of things given them. But that eventually changed.”
“After the Rebellion, some of my children made a returning to this planet, claiming that it was their possession and I had no right to refuse them entry to it. Those rebels built cities for themselves and convinced many humans to bow down to them in worship. In these places, great machines in the shape of towers were built - round at first, like a woman’s breast and, later, squared off, often in the shape of a pyramid. To these, the people were forced to prostrate themselves in worship of the Mother-god. That’s when humans started fearing me, because of the false stories my rebel children told.”
Lowenah shook her head. “I thought the raging flood sent against your planet would destroy all vestiges of those cities. It did not. Children of the survivors of that storm soon discovered the few existing ruins of MusolEgypt. Although little remained, there was found enough written and pictorial information to confirm the stories told by Noah and his family, proving a highly intelligent and powerful race of people had roved about in the earth. It was from the discoveries found at MusolEgypt that most of your old planet’s religious philosophies sprang and spread.”
“Well, these cities were also the places where genetic experiments were conducted…all different kinds. There were also many what you might call ‘sexua
l experiments’ done on hapless victims. This was all part of Asotos’ great plan, one that would produce a universe of people able to traverse both realms without putting on different bodies. That was bad enough, but other gene experiments threatened most life on your planet.”
Lowenah sighed as her shoulders slumped. “I would like to think it was an accident. Anyway…” she sighed again, “some of the things made in those laboratories escaped into the wild. They were mostly very tiny - too tiny to be seen. They infested living organisms…you know, plants and animals…and people. Many of my wonderful creations died, some en mass. There were places on your planet where most living things died almost overnight. It seemed to affect the large animals the quickest.”
She frowned. “Other life forms changed themselves to survive. In those mutated states, otherwise harmless plants and animals became deadly to my children.” Lowenah waved her arms. “Part of the reason I sent a global deluge over the planet was to eradicate or at least reduce the killing effect of these tiny monsters. Maybe I should have acted more quickly. The Flood destroyed most of the bad inventions, but the damage was already done. The animals I had your ancestor preserve alive were free of what some might call the ‘genetic virus’. They had built up an inner defense against its effects and are pretty much free of it down to this day. The plants were another story. Although now mostly free of the virus, they were permanently altered and many are now dangerous for humans to eat.”
She looked toward the sky, scanning it as though searching for something. “The devastating effects of the nasty things released by my rebel children spread throughout the lands and seas, contaminating all vegetation.”
Ma-we reached down and pulled a grassy stalk from the soil. Shaking it, she added, “Every growing thing on your old planet is contaminated. In other words, you must eat to survive – yet, if you eat, you will slowly poison yourself. That’s one reason that after the Deluge the lives of men grew so short.”
This was stunning and sobering news to say the least. Ishtar and Treston both were affected by it. Lowenah lifted the gloom by changing the subject to more pleasant matters. She had a way to make quite interesting stories by painting vivid word pictures. In short order, the party found itself in a jovial mood. Lowenah then proposed a late lunch after which the trio would carry on with the day’s adventure.
