Through The Gate
The Chronicles of Cornu Book 1
By L. J. Dalton Jr.
Copyright 2019 all rights reserved
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to people or places is coincidental.
Cover Design by James, GoOnWrite.com
I can be contacted at [email protected]
Contents
Prologue
Cornu
Man Arrives
Nordia
Doctor Jorgenson
Randall’s Education
Mike Mulvaney, the early years
Bart
Juliana
Mike’s new school
Mike discovers the outdoors
Dravid and Alania
College
A Summer Interlude
Randall’s Family Grows
9/11
Bart’s Caravan Raid
Starting at MIT
Christmas
NROTC
Life at MIT
On Cornu
The Plot
Almost There
The Basic Course
Iraq
Going semi-prepper
Teaching at Lejeune
Classes and Angela
Dreams
The Last Deployment
The Grand Tour
Randport
Centralia
Westland
Great Falls
Hoods
Attack on Vinfarm
Through the Gate
Saving Vinfarm
Prologue
Mike Mulvaney surveyed the carnage in the field in front of him. The last of the bandits were down as were all the guards. The guards had protected the four women and the young boy with their lives. The bandits had appeared to be ready to gang rape one of the women. When the big red headed guy had torn her clothes off and then knocked her down; Mike had smoked him. He then shot the dozen or so men standing around, it took under 20 seconds. It wasn’t a fair fight but then he wasn’t looking for one. His life and the lives of the four women and the boy were at stake. He’d used almost all of the 25-round clip, but none of the bad guys were moving.
He rose from the prone position and ejected the magazine from the AR-10 and stowed it. He shoved another 25-round magazine home. The first magazine wasn’t empty, but he wanted a full magazine as he walked out of cover. He knew that he must look strange and frightening to these people; dressed in cameo with brown and green paint on his face, carrying a strange weapon. And he’d just put down about twenty bandits, while everyone else only had single shoot flintlock muskets. He looked over the field as he stepped from cover. There were bodies all over, as a Marine platoon commander with two combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, he’d only seen this many people dead or wounded twice. He noted his callous attitude towards the dead bandits, but they deserved it. The guards, he viewed as fallen heros. They died protecting the women and the boy.
Cornu
The planet Cornu circled a yellow dwarf star, like earth’s sun. It was in the Perseus arm of the Milk Way, thousands of light years away from earth. The star was a little hotter than earth’s sun and the planet orbited a little farther out than earth did. The result was that a single rotation around the star took 392 days. The planet rotated a bit faster than earth and the day was 23 1/2 hours long. Two moons managed to stabilize the planets axial tilt so that the seasons were regular. Cornu was a bit smaller than earth, only 24,000 miles in circumference and its gravity was 98% of earth’s. Seventy six percent of the planet was covered by ocean with four large land masses and two large islands as well as numerous island chains. The lands were drained by rivers with numerous lakes. The deserts, such as there were, were in the equatorial regions.
The four continents were Landia, which was primarily in the Northern Hemisphere with only a portion extending below the equator. Mortona was the largest land mass and ran for 8,000 miles east to west south of the equator. Some twenty percent of Mortona was either desert or arid. Astica was the closest continent to Landia, at the one point they were only 700 miles apart. The continent straddled the equator and from space looked like a misshapen hourglass with the small portion centered on the equator. Finally, there was Rangeland. It was shaped like an upside-down ice cream cone with the large part south of the equator and the tip of the cone extending into the northern hemisphere. The poles were covered in ice the year round and extended a bit further north and south than they did on earth.
Like most rocky worlds in the liquid water zone of their star, life had started on Cornu billions of years ago. As on earth microbes evolved that gave off oxygen as a waste product. So, the atmosphere was very similar to earths with a small amount more oxygen. Small multi-cell plants and animals evolved in the seas. Lichen like plants and ferns colonized the land. Then life seemed to stall. For whatever reason, that was as advanced as it got. It remained that way for billions of years. The land was covered by ferns and simple plants and fungi. It was the same in the sea, seaweed and kelp like plants. It stayed like that for billions of years. That was not unusual in the universe. Most life bearing plants only had very simple organisms, only a small percentage of them made it past that stage and those continued the climb up the evolutionary ladder to sentience. Those planets with sentient life faced the same dangers as all the others. Impacts with other objects in their solar systems, which devastated the fragile ecosystems. Environmental disasters such as super volcanoes going off on the surface. Being too close to a supernova and having life devasted by radiation. In some sad cases, the sentient species spelled their own doom with war or by ravaging their own planet. The universe is a violent, inhospitable and unforgiving place. Life is abundant in the universe, sentience is rare.
Man Arrives
25,000 BCE Ice Age Europe.
It was bitter cold; the small band of Neolithic hunters was struggling to survive. The cold and hunger had already claimed the older, weaker members of the band. They were moving forward amid the swirling snow heading for a large outcropping of rock. Maybe it would give them shelter, or maybe there was a cave where they could shelter from the storm. Their leader, Urlick, did not have much hope. He was sure at least half of the 20 or so people in the band would die. The children would go next. They reached the outcrop. There was a break in the rock wide enough for two people across to move in. The snow on the ground in the break was much less. If they could fit the whole band in, with the shelter from the wind and the shared body heat, they’d all survive another day.
They crowed into the break. It seemed to go on and on. As they went onward it felt warmer. Then they saw sunshine and moved towards it. The band emerged into a landscape far different than the ice age one that they left. The temperature was much warmer, the sun was shining, and they could see a river and in the distance game. They were saved. Two of the men went off to see if they could get fish from the river, while everybody else set to gathering food. They found abundant fish and food. They’d stepped through onto the world that would become known as Cornu.
Urlick and his band were among the first humans to come to this world. Animals and seeds from earth had been arriving for millions of years. These had taken over the ecosphere. None of the original species had been very advanced, just small multicell animals and plants, lichens and ferns. Evolution had been stuck for billions of years until the life from earth arrived. The earth species easily took over the ecological niches. Some of the lichen and ferns that had evolved managed to survive and still grew. As did the small multi-cell and single cell organisms in the ground and the oceans.
Over the intervening centuries more people
would arrive from earth. The population would grow, but over the last 2,000 years, the birth rate slowly decreased. There was always enough good land for expansion so most large-scale conflict was avoided. There were never enough people to really tax the land and the animals. As the birthrate declined the ratio of boys and girls born started switch to more girls than boys. It soon became very lopsided with 150 girls born for every 100 boys. Waging war where there were numerous male deaths, often led to a population decline that was very difficult to reverse. The same was true of any significant civil strife. The inhabitants took this to be God’s disfavor.
The imbalance did lead to the practice of multiple wives. Men of means often had two wives. With the low birth rate this was a biological necessity. Having more than two wives though was very rare. With the shortage of men, women had to take a more prominent role. Over the centuries more women rulers started to emerge than men. The societies that evolved were monarchies, with nobility and commoners. In the nobility the heir was often the first-born, regardless of gender. In some kingdoms, primogeniture determined the heir, so all the rulers were male. In the more well-run realms, the other nobility had a check so that an unfit heir did not inherit. It was female equality brought about by necessity.
That did not mean that all the ills of humanity were cured. Far from it. There were raids and banditry. People still cheated, stole and occasionally murdered their fellow human beings. Struggles over dynastic succession could turn bloody, although in those cases it was contained within the confines of the rulers and their immediate supporters. The general population usually took no notice. Poor rulers rarely lasted long, either being deposed quietly by assassination or palace coup.
Another phenomenon came to be during the intervening centuries. Children between the ages of eight and nine developed a fever that normally lasted two to three days. Most survived it but those who didn’t slipped into a coma and died. This became known as the ‘Choosing’. It seemed to weed out the unfit and genetically inferior children. Over time the population became a little smarter and genetic abnormalities exceedingly rare. Children resulting from incest, rarely survived. So those families who wanted to keep their bloodlines pure by inter-breeding close relatives gradually gave up the practice, as few children of these unions survived. Other, less obvious changes also started to occur in the population. Women were fertile fewer times a year and conception was difficult. Libido didn’t decrease, in fact it may have increased. Life expectancy increased and people could expect to live vigorous lives well into their early 100’s with very few physical changes. The end when it came, came quickly. Once people started to decline, they were dead inside a year. This longevity offset to some degree, the low birth rate.
The number of people coming from earth fell drastically. Over the last 2,500 years, it was only one or two every century or so. Most of the time they introduced some new ideas and technology. Occasionally they only caused strife.
Nordia
The kingdom of Nordia occupied the northeast corner of Landia, one of Cornu’s four continents. It was a temperate land that stretched north from the Sud Mountains for some six hundred miles. The river Ro which ran west to east, was fed by mountain streams and rivers from the Sud. It also drained a good portion of the northwest portion of the continent and rivers from the northern interior added to its flow. The Sud Mountains ran the length of the continent from east to west and effectively divided it in half. They formed the southern border of Nordia and the other northern kingdoms. The Sud were much like the Alps, relatively young and still very high and rugged. The main pass through them in the eastern part of the continent was the Nordia pass. Even in summer there was snow and ice at the highest altitudes and glaciers.
The kingdom had started with a settlement, named Nordport at the mouth of the Ro river where it emptied into the Eastern Sea. There were several things that made this site appealing to early settlers. While the main channel of the Ro flowed into the sea there was a large fertile delta that offered easy farming and fishing. The Ro, like the Nile on earth, overflowed its banks each year depositing rich soil brought down from the mountains. The river valley had some of the most fertile farmland on the planet. This allowed the population to grow and prosper.
At first, the expansion was to the west taking advantage of the fertile farmland along the river. The river also provided a highway for transportation of goods. It was over a hundred miles from the banks of the river to the start of the high ranges of the Sud. That land was good for grazing and was rich in timber. The people established small farming communities that relied on grazing animals, mostly sheep and some cattle. They raised crops for their own use and traded the animals with the farmers along the river for grains.
There was an outpost established some two hundred and fifty miles to the west of Nordport on the Ro to receive goods from the coast and ship the goods from the interior to the coast. This became known as Midport. As time went on it prospered and grew into a major city.
Rich fishing grounds were found a couple of hundred of miles north of Nordport and a fishing village was established there on the banks of the Rand river. It was called Randport and it gradually grew and expanded to become the third large city in what would be Nordia.
At first, each of these were city states that controlled the area around them. Over the years, treaties, marriages and trade had them join together to form the kingdom of Nordia with the capital at Nordport. The king lived there with his family and each of the other two cities were ruled by dukes.
Once this union was established, they worked together to build the roads that would tie the three major cities together. The River Road ran from Midport to Nordport. The Coast Road ran from Nordport to Randport. At first, they were little better than dirt tracks. These were useless during the spring rains. Over the centuries they were improved so that they could support travel year-round. Small towns and inns were established approximately a day’s travel apart.
Another feature that made the location of Nordport especially appealing was its closeness to the continent of Astica. At the point where the Ro emptied into the sea, Astica was only 700 miles across the sea. Trade winds blew east to west for part of the year and reversed later in the year. At first, only hearty explorers set out to test the seas. Many didn’t return. As sailing technology improved, the journey became more practical and trade between the two continents increased. Trade also went south to the kingdoms and the lands south of the Sud mountains. As trade increased people worked to make sailing technology better. It was a virtuous circle and seaborne trade became established, much safer and brought wealth and prosperity to cities such as Nordport.
In the first few thousand years of man’s arrival on Cornu, their numbers grew quickly. The fertility of the land and the abundance of the resources in the sea meant that there was plenty of food. If populations grew, there was always empty land to expand into. There were occasional out breaks of violence, but the three cities of Nordia were large enough to protect themselves and if necessary, come to each other’s aid. As the demographics slowly changed the balance of the sexes, more and more women took prominent positions. Eventually, it wasn’t uncommon for there to be a Queen in Nordport or a Duchess in either Randport or Midport.
Once the demographics had taken hold, war was not reasonable, but a vicious war broke out between Mitha and Suda. The exact reason for the conflict was never clear. What was clear, was the terrible cost in lives. Many of the men in both kingdoms died in the war and there was population collapse. The inhabitants blamed the kings and thought the Gods punished the kings and the people for a stupid and wasteful war. Nordia took over Mitha at the request of its people and Tandor did the same with Suda. The former Mitha capital at Great Falls became the western anchor of Nordia. The kingdom now covered over 250,000 square miles. The population grew to a little over five million souls. Even that population left the land sparsely settled.
Doctor Jorgenson
The Minnesota Iron Range June 19
25.
Paul Jorgenson was looking for fossils. He was a rugged six foot and 180 lbs.; his looks reflected his Scandinavian Heritage. He’d joined the army just out of high school to serve in the great war. That experience disillusioned him and many other Americans about war and getting involved in the affairs of Europe. After the war he got his degree and went on to veterinary school at the University of Minnesota. Paul was a large animal veterinary and worked with the farmers around his hometown of Duluth.
He was following a stream that emptied into Superior. He’d been doing it for about an hour and had his attention focused on the ground in front of him. He would pause occasionally and pick up a rock and look at, searching for any fossil. As a result, he wasn’t paying that much attention to his surroundings. It took him a while, but he noticed that the stream was different as well as the surroundings. He latter leaned that he’d gone through a gate, as the locals called it, to another world, Cornu.
At first, he was confused and tried to retrace his steps. He walked for miles back up the direction he’d taken, hoping that at any minute he’d spot the waters of Superior in the distance. After two hours, Paul gave up and sat down. His mind was in turmoil and he didn’t know what to think. So, he started to walk downhill. He remembered the old axiom to walk downhill and that there would probably be water and maybe a road. After an hour he came to a road with wagon wheel ruts in it. Paul mentally flipped a coin and turned right. It was a good choice because in about two miles he came over a rise in the road and saw a small village about a mile away. He kept walking towards it, a bit nervous because he didn’t know his reception.
As he neared the village, he was spotted, and several people ran up to him talking in a language he didn’t understand. He tried to talk to them in both English and the little Swedish he knew, they just looked at him blankly. He was relieved that they seemed friendly. The people led Paul inside the gates of the village and there he was met by a man and two women, all of whom looked to be in their late thirties. He assumed by the way the man was being treated, that this was the village elder. After realizing that Paul had no idea what they were saying, the man led Paul into a building with chairs and tables and motioned him to sit. Then somebody brought out some water, fruit and cheese. Paul gratefully ate it. While he was eating Paul noticed, the headman as he thought of him, talking to a young man. The man nodded and left.
Through the Gate: The Chronicles of Cornu Book 1 Page 1