by Dan Glover
He didn’t wish to alarm his family over the nightmares that troubled his sleep yet he understood as long as they stayed on the planet they were subject to incorporation into Micah's ideal society made of blended machines and human beings. Even if they managed to find another far off world upon which they could survive, Micah would follow in the streams of time.
Over a century ago he once spoke to Karen about his concerns but she only sought to alleviate them by proclaiming her friendship with Micah and how he affected her in her youth... the pity she felt for his loneliness and genius that set him apart from his peers.
"I never suspected he had thoughts of dominating the world, Nate. Those two weeks I spent with him convinced me that Micah is not only insane but that he has always harbored deep-seated hatred for the sense of free will the rest of humanity embraces.
"I remember visiting Cornell University when I was a college student and meeting Micah. He told me how he felt imprisoned by the disease that was threatening to kill him. He was but a young boy and I felt so bad for him I didn’t understand the underlying dynamics going on in his psyche. I thought he was being driven by a fear of death. I was wrong.
"I believe Micah has what was once called Napoleon complex. The disease was named after a French emperor who sought to subdue the earth. Like Micah, Napoleon was afflicted with a host of maladies that seemed to cause him great angst. To compensate, he put all his will power and all his energy into remaking the world in his own image.
"Micah genuinely believes that what he is doing is for the better of all human beings. That has blinded him to the odious consequences of his nanobots upon the flesh. To him, the side effects of his machines is a thing of beauty... they saved his life, or so he reckons, and so they might well save the rest of humanity from the sufferings that besets them all."
Karen was one of the few People who understood Nate's concerns. It saddened him that she and Pete preferred to make their home on the Isle of Skye rather than here at Toulon Castle but he respected their decision.
Last year, Karen, Sileas, and Pete made a flight to old France aboard a restored jet. When they arrived she shared some of her anxieties with him over a late night bottle of wine. She seemed to have had second thoughts about Micah and his threat to them, perhaps as a result of having more children of her own with Pete.
"Are you saying he developed his nanobots as a weapon, darling Karen, and not as an altruistic device aimed at helping humanity?"
"Micah was dying, Nate. He didn’t care about anyone or anything but himself. He talked a good game and for a time I even believed him when he told me how his machines would cure all the ills that human beings suffered from, including death.
"When we sailed to old America and I met up with him again, I realized his true intentions were to infiltrate humanity with his own vision of the future, to lead us all down a path not of our choosing but his. He won't rest until he achieves his goal."
"How can we stop him, sweet Karen? Is there any way to mitigate the effects of his nanobots?"
"The presence of the Ladies nullifies any effects of Micah's machines. I imagine he has instructed his nanobots to evolve a way of bypassing what he sees as a biological defense mechanism obstructing his objective at mastering the world and everything in it."
"How long will that take?"
"There's no telling, precious Nate. I think he realized he made a mistake by not kidnapping Lady Lily when he had the chance. He may yet make an effort to do so."
"So you're saying Lily is in danger?"
"It is not only Lady Lily but any of the Lake people or their descendants that could inform Micah on what his nanobots must achieve to overcome the natural resistance afforded by the parasites harbored in their bones and bloodstream. I suspect Micah will mount an effort to abduct someone soon."
"The dragons are coming."
"What do you mean by that, sweet Nate?"
"It's a recurrent dream I have, darling Karen. Metallic dragons appear in the sky."
"I have that same dream, precious Nate. I wonder what it means?"
Chapter 22 —Terroir
The soil was poor—not much more than clay—and not worth cultivating.
Niall walked along with Grandfather Nate as he checked the grape vines and spoke about how the sweetness of the fruit was enhanced by the nutrient-deprived land and the sparse rains.
"We live in a valley here, Niall. The storms blowing in from the Mediterranean are diverted by the low pressure system that hovers over the hills and generally blow east or west. It's pretty rare for us to receive any appreciable rainfall. The best wine comes from vines that have to struggle to survive... sort of like people.
"Did you ever notice that folk who have everything given to them in abundance are lacking in some fundamental moral character? They've never been tested under fire, so to speak. You never know if you can trust them in a bad situation. The same thing applies to making wine. If we lived in an area where the soil was excellent and we received plenty of rain, the grapes would become lazy.
"Look how dry the soil is here. If I didn’t know better, I'd think nothing could grow in it. Hardly anything does but thistles and weeds. It's perfect for the grapes we use for our wine, however."
The vineyard stretched out as far as Niall could see. A breeze redolent of salt water and shrimp wafted over them stirring up tiny copper dust devils that danced along the rows between the carefully tended grapes that hung in thick bunches. Grandfather Nate knelt down to take one particularly hardy vine in hand.
"Look here... this vine is over two centuries old yet it continues to thrive year after year. The winters are mild here as are the summers so the plants don't get stressed out over temperature extremes like they might farther north.
"The sea breezes bring just the right amount of moisture to the grapes... and the morning mists that form here nourish the plants with vital nutrients that escape up out of the soil at night, and out of the ocean water."
"How did you learn so much about grapes, Grandfather?"
"I've discovered if you do anything long enough, you get to be an expert on it. Tell me, Niall... how is your mother?"
"She seems lonely. Father is away most of the time and all my other brothers and sisters have moved away. Karen and Pete are still there but they keep to themselves. I wish mother would think about moving here but she won't leave the Isle of Skye without father, and he won't hear of it."
"What about Maon and Sileas? Aren't they still there?"
"Not on the Isle of Skye... they live farther north now. They do visit quite a lot but mother goes for days without talking to anyone... sometimes weeks and months. I worry about her."
"She can take care of herself. How was your trip getting here, Niall? What route did you take?"
"I knew the roads were impassable so I took father's motorcycle. I had to rebuild the engine since it sat for so long without being driven. I took the western coastal route and skirted around Orchardton Hall since I thought the Ladies might make me go back if they caught me.
"Going through the Chunnel spooked me. I looked at maps and read articles in the archives about it but I didn’t realize how wild animals have made dens inside the tunnels. I saw things that I'd never seen in the forests. I guess those things must like the dark."
"What kind of things, Niall?"
"I thought they were human beings at first... but now I don’t think they are. I didn’t get close enough to really see one up close. They looked like overgrown monkeys. From the noises they made there must be thousands of them underground."
"The old London zoo had a collection of great apes. It could be some of them escaped and bred. But as far as I know, apes prefer the forests, not caves... and I wonder what they ate? There's no food down there."
"I'm not sure but I thought I saw some of them carrying the bones of the dead. I didn’t stay long enough to find out. I must have startled them at first but by the time I had reached the other side they seemed to be massing, a
s if they planned to attack me. I was lucky to make it out of there. I wouldn’t go back through that tunnel, Grandfather."
"That's not good news. The Ladies use that route when they travel to Lake Baikal. On the other hand, noise in those tunnels is often amplified so when you thought you were hearing thousands of those creatures it may well have only been a few of them. Perhaps they were migrating like the gnus."
"I'm sure you're right, Grandfather. But I still wouldn’t go back through the Chunnel. I'd rather swim across the Channel than go underground again. Shouldn’t we warn the Ladies? What if they go that way?"
"I'll warn them, Niall. Thanks for letting me know."
"You don't think those things will come here, do you grandfather?"
"I don’t believe they will but it is strange. If I have some free time I might take a trip north to investigate. I imagine those beasts must find the Chunnel a good sheltering place. Now... let's go down to the caverns where we ferment our wine. I want to introduce you to the process we use. We use the caverns to maintain a steady temperature. When I first started making wine I used cultured yeast to enhance the characteristics of the varietal."
"What is a varietal, grandfather?"
"Ah, good question... a varietal is wine that's made using only one grape variety. In winemaking, varietal refers to the wine while variety refers to the grape. Now, here in old France, terroir refers to sense of place and it is thought to be just as important or perhaps more so than varietal. Wine takes on the characteristics of the land. Geography, geology, and climate all affect the taste of wine, interacting with the genetics of the plant to produce specific tastes.
"Here in this valley the topography affects the weather but more, it imparts its own unique terroir to the wine. The altitude of the land, the amounts of rain and sunshine, even the distance from the sea all combine to render the grapes either more or less suitable for winemaking.
"The minerals in the land vary by region. Here, there is more chalk which contributes to the poor quality of soil when it comes to growing vegetables and other fruits. But it just so happens that grape vines flourish in this type of dirt. Even if we mixed it by hand we couldn’t come up with a better soil.
"Even other plants that grow in the same region can affect the characteristics of wine. The oak trees that flourish in this region impart their own intrinsic nature into the grapes which in turn can be enhanced by using oak casks to age the wine. I haven’t decided if it helps to bring out the terroir or to mask it."
"Wow. I had no idea how complex winemaking really is, grandfather."
"Nor did I when I first started out. I thought all we had to do was to mash up the grapes, throw in some yeast, let it stand a while, strain it, and viola! Wine! I've been at this for over two centuries and I feel as if I am just beginning to learn a little about it."
"My mother says that the food we grew on the Isle of Skye tasted different than the food grown at Orchardton Hall. Is terroir why?"
"Yes, exactly... food takes on terroir too, even milk and cheese. The meat of animals that are raised in a specific area will taste different than those raised in other areas. The difference is subtle, just like in wine made from grapes grown in different regions. Someone who isn’t attentive to the nature of taste and smell might never notice the dissimilarities but they are there nonetheless.
"It is almost an aftertaste. Most folk are so busy eating and drinking they never take the time to savor their food. Here... let's try something."
Niall watched as Grandfather Nate uncorked a bottle of wine, poured two glasses, and then handed one to him while taking the other for himself. Niall began to raise the glass to his lips when grandfather stopped him. He put four glass decanters on the table opening one at a time and holding it under Niall's nose.
"Wait... first I want you to take a whiff of this. These bottles contain herbs that grow in this particular area of old France and nowhere else. I use them to teach the People about the taste of wine. Can you tell me what it is that you smell?"
"Lavender... this one smells of lavender... and this one is like cinnamon only there is something else I can't quite place. The third bottle smells like thyme. And the fourth is licorice. Yuck. I hate licorice."
"Okay... now, close your eyes and take a sip of wine. Don't swallow it right away. Hold it in your mouth for a few seconds and sort of swish it around."
Niall did as he was told. The scent of lavender still lingered on his palate making it easy to identify it in the liquid he sloshed in his mouth.
"Now swallow it and tell me what you taste, Niall."
"It's incredible, Grandfather Nate... I can taste the lavender and the thyme while I'm rolling the wine around in my mouth but as soon as I swallow it, the cinnamon and licorice come to the forefront... oh! It's ginger root mixed with the cinnamon that I taste and smell! How did you learn so much about wine?"
"I learned mostly by trial and error. I read a great deal, of course, but books cannot help you taste the wine. That part you have to figure out for yourself. I made up this kit years ago when the children were small, to try and interest them in winemaking. But they all left Toulon and settled in other parts of old Europe. I suppose we all have our own callings."
"My brothers and sisters all moved away from the Isle of Skye too."
"I'd be proud to teach you all I know about winemaking, Niall, and I'm sure Kirk will be happy to help you too. Just promise me you won't go taking off unannounced again."
Niall grinned as he finished his glass of wine before holding it out for more.
Chapter 23—Storms
She didn't understand how she could have ever hated Lily.
Hearing Natalia's words unleashed a torrent of love for her sister. Guilt rushed over her like a waterfall of tears threatening to drown her the same way she thought she might surely die when she surfaced and breathed air the first time.
"She is gone."
Natalia's lament portended more than Lily leaving Orchardton Hall again to take up with her erstwhile lover. Lauren heard a note of finality as if Lily was gone for good this time. Though she knew her sister was an immortal she caught a sickening whiff of death from Natalia's tears.
"Where has she gone, precious Natalia?"
"I tried to hug her the way we used to do but she shoved me away. I must have stumbled into the wall and hit my head. I passed out. When I woke Lily was nowhere to be found.
"She must have known I was hurt. Why didn’t she stay and tend to me, sweet Lauren? I know she didn’t mean to push me so hard. It was my fault that I stumbled. Still, I thought she would be there when I woke."
"Do you remember what happened just before she pushed you?"
"I hugged her... no, wait... when I hugged her I heard something, like a hissing sound high above us. The sunshine dimmed like heavy storm clouds were rolling in. No... it was more of a mist, a gray mist. I remember hugging Lily and she began to take me in her arms when she looked to the sky. When I tried to follow her eyes, she pushed me away. She was trying to save me from something, my precious Lauren."
"I have a confession to make. I don’t understand why, my darling Natalia, but I have been assailed by the most awful thoughts of late. I've loved sweet Lily for thousand of years and yet that love somehow soured into hatred. I blamed her for everything bad that ever happened to me. Something is attempting to come between us."
"Whatever it is, it took Lily. Remember the time we sailed to old America and you stayed home, my darling Lauren? Lily, Karen, and Nate went ashore in old New York City. When they didn’t return we went in search of them. We followed their tracks to an old building. When we entered I heard that same hissing sound coming from upstairs.
"Karen told me later that the sound was made by tiny machines engineered to enter the body and make repairs to any cellular damage occurring. But something went wrong. Those machines caused horrible side effects. When they were injected into their bloodstreams, they kept the men alive but they disfigured their bodies and
muddled their minds.
"The man's name who invented them was Micah. Karen said she knew him from before the Great Dying when she went to the university. She said that was why he wanted her to stay with him and it was also why he allowed her to leave in the end. He loved her. She tried to get him to go with her but he refused.
"Karen once told me how worried she was about Micah and his tiny machines... how one day he might come to Orchardton Hall searching for her. She explained how those machines of his evolve on their own plus they're self-replicating. That's all they do. They strive towards what is better and they make copies of themselves.
"She told us about a dream she had while he was holding her captive. She was flying high in the air and below her the entire earth was seething with gray metallic clouds. Micah's machines had replaced every living form of life on the planet. Karen also said we were all exposed to those tiny machines during our time in old New York. We brought them home with us.
"What if they were affecting your thought process, my sweet Lauren? You wouldn’t have even realized it. I know how much you love our precious Lily. Those evil thoughts of hating her might well have been implanted in your mind by Micah's machines. Don't blame yourself."
"We have to find her, sweet Natalia. She might be in real danger. From what direction did that gray mist come from?"
"It rolled in from the west, my precious Lauren. When I looked into the mist I thought I saw shapes... like we sometimes do when we are laying down watching clouds float overhead. But the shapes I saw in mist weren’t changing like the ones we see in the clouds.
"I know there are no such things as dragons, but that is the impression I got... great dragons swooping high overhead searching for something... or someone. I think they had come for Lily. That's what carried her off. I'm sure of it.
"Micah had his chance to keep Karen prisoner. He allowed her to go. He wanted more... he wanted Lily. Her presence changed Micah back to human form... he must wonder how that happened. The only way to find out would be to take her captive, to bring her back to Cornell University for study."