The only seed vault they still needed to link into this food circle was Bjørg’s vault in the north. She had been trained by her father to guard the vault for future generations. Simik tried to convince her that the people needed the seeds now. The seed vault was the largest he’d ever seen. The broad range of seed types amazed him. They could of course force her, but Simik didn’t want that. Though his soldiers didn’t trust her, he believed she was a good person underneath her brusque demeanour. Smart and beautiful too. She even knew how to fight. Simik didn’t admit it aloud, but he really liked her. He smiled. It had been a while since he’d visited the island. I really should try to get some time off when this mission is done. Then his mind darkened. If I survive.
A few of the soldiers wore headlamps. The others carried torches in their hands. They were all fully charged. The best strategy would have been to arrive under cover of darkness, Simik thought. But since the people at the base of the mountain had already spotted them, the soldiers might as well use their torches to see where they were going.
They’d walked a few hundred metres when someone yelled at them in a foreign accent: ‘Stop right there!’
Simik raised his hand to the men, and they stopped in their tracks. He pointed his torch in the direction of the voice. Out of the dark and into the beams of their lights came four men. Boys, Simik thought, surprised. They appeared to be still in their teens. One had let his moustache grow out, but it looked out of place in his young face. Another had a face full of acne. His hand glided up to scratch the pimples now and then. The third had thick, tightly coiled black hair that stood up several inches, a compact mass that didn’t move in the strong wind. The fourth had many thin black braids criss-crossing his head. He looked older than the others and had an air of command about him. The leader, Simik thought. He pointed his torch towards the ground to avoid blinding the boys, and signalled to his men to lower the power of their headlamps. Then he fixed his eyes on the eldest boy: ‘Hello.’
The boy didn’t respond, but gazed at them from under heavy eyelids, as if half asleep on his feet. But Simik noticed the flash in his eyes; he was alert and sharp. He was intelligent, this one. Simik waited patiently. He guessed that the boys lacked a sense of civility. Wild. But more importantly, they were heavily armed with rifles and knives. All four wore long robes made out of patches of many different fabrics, with long sleeves and hoods. Simik had never seen such clothes. The wind rippled their skirts around their bare feet. They didn’t seem to mind the frozen ground.
‘Do you speak Nordic?’ Simik asked, raising his voice to be heard over the roaring wind. The boy inclined his head.
‘I’m Simik. We come in peace.’
The leader suddenly laughed loudly and the others joined him. His eyes were cold. Then just as suddenly, he stopped laughing. The boys quieted.
‘I am Kofi. You are not welcome here.’ He spat on the ground.
Simik cringed at the hostility in Kofi’s eyes, but stood his ground. ‘This is not your land,’ he said calmly.
‘Nor yours,’ Kofi said, his eyes narrowing.
Simik smiled a little. ‘No, it’s not my land, though my forefathers have wandered here for thousands of years.’
Kofi inclined his head. ‘I respect that. But it’s still not your land.’
‘Nor yours.’ Simik sighed. We’ll never get anywhere this way. ‘We’ve had reports of people missing in these mountains,’ he said.
Kofi didn’t respond to this, but looked at him from under his heavy eyelids. The other boys shifted restlessly. The acne-scarred one scratched his face.
‘A man came to Nuuk last week,’ Simik said. ‘He travelled through these mountains.’ Kofi stiffened, but said nothing. ‘This man told us some strange tales. Said his friends left for Nuuk a month earlier and should have been there by now. Said that when he walked through these mountains, he saw a bonfire in the distance. Said that when he approached it, he saw horrible things: people inside the fire, tied up and screaming. Said he ran away as fast as he could.’ Simik cocked his head and let his eyes travel slowly from boy to boy, lingering a moment on each. ‘Strange tales indeed.’
Unable to return his gaze for long, the boys stared down at the ground. All except for Kofi, who glared at him with a grim expression, not blinking. A sneer curled his lips. Finally, he shrugged. ‘You tell funny stories.’
‘You see these men, these soldiers?’ Simik continued as if he hadn’t heard Kofi’s reply, and moved closer to the boys, who took a few steps back. Kofi stood his ground. ‘They fought hard to free this land. They lost brothers in these fights,’ Simik said. ‘They sacrificed themselves and fought to make this land a place for everybody. They fought so everyone would be able to travel through this land without being threatened or murdered.’ He paused and fixed his eyes on Kofi. ‘So, this is the situation. We guard our people. So when we heard this man’s tales, we had to investigate. And we found you. You tell me what to think.’
Kofi was still staring at him with his unnerving, icy eyes. Simik wondered if the boy had any feelings at all.
‘You want to know what I think?’ Kofi asked.
‘Well, yes.’
‘I think you are idiots. Coming here thinking you are something. Telling me you guard people. So where were you oldies when we were starving? Where were you when we almost froze to death? I see no food in your hands, only your weapons and your accusations.’
Simik’s men murmured angrily. Simik lifted his hand to quiet them.
‘I think you should leave,’ Kofi said. The moustache boy nodded. ‘Leave us alone.’
Simik gave them a long look. Then he sighed. He didn’t want to fight these kids. But he needed to be sure they hadn’t done what the man in Nuuk had described.
‘Listen. We’ll leave,’ he said. ‘But I want to be sure first that you are as innocent as you say you are. Can we check your camp?’
Kofi’s nostrils flared and he opened his mouth as if to protest. Simik quickly added: ‘Then we will leave.’
Kofi closed his mouth and seemed to be thinking it through. Then he nodded. ‘Only you. The rest stay.’
Simik’s men started to object, but Simik silenced them.
‘We have an agreement,’ he said.
The boys had covered the entrance with thick fabric that blended in with the dark mountain rock. What had looked like a small bulge from the air was the antechamber to an enormous cave. Simik couldn’t even see the far end. He wondered how deep it was. Several openings along the cave walls indicated that other caves or tunnels linked up to it.
What was most surprising wasn’t the size however, but the blinding light inside. Must be the same light they’d seen from the air. Once his eyes adjusted, Simik noticed long strings of bulbs travelling all over the ceiling. The wires crossed the room and entered two huge wind chargers near the entrance. He wrinkled his forehead. They hadn’t seen any signs of any wind turbines outside. Must be placed in the mountains somewhere.
Kofi followed his look and grinned. ‘It’s quite impressive, no?’ Simik thought he heard pride in his voice.
‘Yes, it is. Did you do this?’
‘No, it was like this when we arrived. Lucky that we even found the cave. We have improved it a little, though. Tuned the chargers so the power lasts longer. It’s very powerful. Smart. Think it’s quite old.’
Kofi gestured for Simik to walk further into the cave. His hand rested loosely on the shoulder band that tied his rifle to his back, but now and then Simik saw the boy’s knuckles whiten when he tightened his grip.
The cave was sparsely furnished; just a couple of bed mats, some shelves and a table. To find any furniture at all out here in the wilderness was extraordinary. Simik wondered who had lived here before Kofi’s little group. Maybe miners. Was there a mine nearby?
‘Do you know anything about the people who were here before you?’ he asked.
They were deep down in the cave now and he had to concentrate to breathe normally. Simik had never felt comfortable underground or inside caves. He felt trapped and short of air.
Kofi didn’t seem to notice. ‘We don’t know who they were,’ he said. ‘But we think they were some sort of alternative community. Religious.’
‘Yes?’
‘I’m not sure about this, but we’ve found some drawings in one of the caves and remains of what looks like what they used to call an altar. Come. I’ll show you.’
He sounded eager. Simik wondered about Kofi’s age. Now that he’d forgotten about being alert and tough, he seemed very young and innocent. The rumours have to be false, he thought as he followed Kofi into one of the tunnels. He couldn’t fathom that this boy could do the gruesome things that the man in Nuuk had seen.
They walked for a long while in the narrow tunnel. Turning here and there, Simik quickly lost his sense of direction. They came to a tight passage and he thought it was impossible to go any farther, but Kofi wiggled himself through, so Simik followed close behind without uttering a word. He had lit his torch, but he almost preferred not to see anything. At the sight of the narrow space, his breathing became shallow, and he fought to keep the panic from erupting. He was unsure about the time, but hoped that his men weren’t too worried, that they wouldn’t do anything stupid, like storming the cave. The thought of his men running around in the tunnels and getting lost unnerved him. Good thing he’d ordered them to inform the pilot about the turn of events, so they wouldn’t be stranded here. He wondered if Kofi could hear his struggle to keep his breathing under control.
‘We’re almost there,’ Kofi said. The tunnel bent in a steep curve and suddenly they stood in a vast chamber. Kofi looked amused when he saw Simik’s wide eyes. ‘It’s something, isn’t it?’
‘Yes.’ Simik could hardly answer. Nothing could have prepared him for this sight in the middle of the mountain. The room had to be at least twenty metres long and almost as wide. The walls soared several metres to the ceiling. The air was good too, he thought, surprised. Drawings of every colour covered the bright, almost white stone walls. At the far end of the room, a dozen or so stones formed a circle on the floor in front of a high stone table. He could see why Kofi had said it was some sort of an altar.
‘Is it a church?’ he asked. He walked around the room, letting his light glide over the stone and the drawings, and touched the cold wall, wondering what medium they had used. Could be some sort of paint.
‘We don’t know,’ Kofi said. He stood in the middle, observing Simik. ‘It looks like it’s some sort of story.’ He pointed to the altar. ‘See there. It starts with drawings about a world with strange creatures. Animals, I guess.’
Simik moved back and pointed his torch towards the end of the room. ‘Yes, I see them.’ It had to be animals, he thought. Four legs, tails, teeth, claws. But there were so many kinds of animals, so many sizes, crawling, flying. He played the light across some huge beasts that looked like Bjørg’s isbos, but these ones seemed enormous in comparison. The animals were drawn on a white background. Here and there he could see drawings of people standing on their two legs, but not many. They were draped in furs as if freezing. One person stood on a vehicle of some sort, pulled by a long line of animals. Dogs, he thought. He remembered his uncle telling tales about this. At the bottom of the drawing were more animals, but against a blue background. The sea. Some of these animals were huge, but they had no legs. Whales.
‘If you follow the drawings around the room, you can see that they change,’ Kofi said. Simik walked along the wall. The drawings were simple, but clear. The animals were there for a long stretch, but the background changed as he walked, becoming green, then brown, then black. Then four-legged skeletons were depicted lying on the ground and after a while only humans were left in the picture. He stopped at the end, on the other side of the room. The beam from his torch made a circle of white light on the grey-black background. Now the only drawings were skeletons lying on the ground. Human skeletons. At the far end was nothing but black.
Behind him, Kofi spoke quietly. ‘I think they have drawn the world.’
Simik jumped a little. Deep in thought, he hadn’t heard Kofi approaching. He turned towards him, but Kofi didn’t seem to notice. He gazed at the blackness in front of them.
‘Yes, I believe you’re right,’ Simik said. ‘I wonder when this was drawn.’
‘We found things here when we arrived,’ Kofi said. ‘We found things from our time, of course. Like the wind chargers, even if they were a little old-fashioned.’ He smiled. ‘We even found a small animal laboratory. Weird-looking little things. Insects, I think they used to call them. Nothing alive. Pity.’
He moved towards the stone table. ‘Then we found this.’ He crouched down and pointed towards the back of the table. ‘See these things here?’
Simik crouched down too. In the middle of the massive stone slab was a small platform with a few odd-looking objects on it. Simik wrinkled his forehead. ‘What is it?’
Kofi picked up a large sharp tooth. ‘I’ve checked. This is a tooth from a lion or a tiger. Big cats. I heard they went extinct quite fast.’ It covered the palm of his hand. Its surface was smooth and white. Kofi put it back and picked up a book. He cradled it carefully in his hands. ‘The tooth could have been from our time. I mean, they could have brought it here in our time. But then we started to look in this book and now we’re not sure.’ He handed it to Simik.
It looked ancient. Simik gave the torch to Kofi and leafed through the yellowed pages. A beautiful curvy handwriting stretched across them. In a few places, it was barely visible, impossible to read. Here and there a date was noted. “2049”. He looked up at Kofi.
‘Is it some sort of diary? Have you read it?’
‘Yes. Many times. I think that’s exactly what it is—some sort of diary. It tells of a world falling apart, and strange weather. But...’ He hesitated. ‘The odd thing is that the last part of the book seems to continue the story of the world for several more centuries. And it looks like it’s the same handwriting.’
‘What are you saying?’
‘We think this book was some sort of a prophecy. I have searched in the databases and it seems that much of what is written here did actually happen.’
Simik turned the pages. On the last one, there were only five words: “The end of the world.” He stared at the phrase, then looked up at the drawings, barely visible in the darkness.
‘I’m not sure if the drawings were made at the same time as the book. But they fit together, so we think it was the same person. We think someone had visions and wrote the book and painted these walls,’ Kofi said.
‘Some sort of prophecy,’ Simik murmured. He wasn’t sure what to think.
‘Could be fake.’
‘And the altar? The tooth?’
‘I don’t know. Maybe this person made some religion out of the visions. Maybe they had ceremonies in here. Prayed that it wouldn’t happen.’ Kofi shrugged, but Simik saw the shine in his eyes. The boy was not unmoved by this. Kofi pointed to the tabletop.
‘There are stains there. We think it might be blood.’
Simik studied the tabletop. ‘Yes, I think you’re right. They probably made some sacrifices here.’ Then he looked closer. ‘Looks like it’s lots of blood. They must have performed these sacrifices for a very long time.’ He didn’t say it aloud, but he noticed that none of the stains looked fresh. Judging by the colour, the blood had been shed years ago.
‘Yes, we think this place must have been some sort of temple, and it seems that there was a community of religious people living out here in the wilderness for many years. They must have thought their rituals could somehow stop the world from ending.’
‘Do you think they killed people here too?’ Simik mused.
‘Probably. They must have thought it had to be human
sacrifices, because the book and drawings indicate that humans are to blame for the world changing.’
Simik’s torch light dimmed a few times. ‘I would have loved to study this closer.’ He put the book back on the platform, ran his hand over its cover and sighed. ‘But my torch needs recharging and the others must be wondering where we are. Let’s go back outside.’
Kofi nodded, then moved towards the opening that led to the tunnel back out. He turned to look at Simik. His dark features were almost lost in the shadows.
‘We don’t have anything to do with the deaths you spoke about. I can’t prove it, but you must believe us. I really want to stay out here and study this room further.’
‘You want to stay?’
‘Yes, I’m interested in looking closer at this, both as researcher and as philosopher.’
‘Are you religious?’ Simik asked, thinking about the strange clothes Kofi and the boys wore.
‘I’m not sure,’ Kofi answered. He sounded sincere. ‘I find it fascinating that someone has prophesied the future so accurately. Makes you think, no? Maybe we are doomed. Maybe we really are on the doorstep of the end of world. But I don’t think killing people will stop it.’
Simik thought Kofi sounded much more mature than his age. Maybe I underestimated him. Kofi doesn’t sound wild at all. Maybe he has feelings after all.
‘How do you survive? There is no food or water here.’
‘We manage, but it would be nice to have more food.’
It seemed Kofi didn’t want to reveal how or where he and his boys got their nutrition. Maybe it wasn’t his business anyway, Simik thought. ‘I’m not going to force it out of you,’ he said. ‘As long as you give your word that you don’t harm other people.’
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