by Kurt Winans
As Ross went over to get another piece of bread from the plate, Colt nodded and responded, “I understand sir.”
Ross reentered the room where he and Gabriela had slept, as it was now time to wake her. The increasing morning light coming through the window hit her just the right way, and he wondered if he had made a terrible mistake the previous night. Ross knew that mistakes had been made throughout his entire life, as working in politics had been inherently wrought with them. This situation however, was very different.
First in a low whisper, and then with ever increasing volume, Ross repeated, “Gabriela, wake up!”
She was either exceptionally tired, or a sound sleeper, because he called out her name nearly a dozen times before receiving any hint of a response. When Gabriela finally opened her eyes, she saw Ross standing several feet away from her.
Reaching toward her with the piece of bread, he said, “Good morning. Are you hungry?”
Rubbing the sleep from her eyes while sitting upright, she responded, “Yes I am, thank you.”
The morning light from the window behind her lit up her hair as she stretched, and Ross’ thoughts of having made the wrong decision were further solidified.
Handing Gabriela the bread, he said, “You seem as if you could sleep through almost anything.”
As she munched away on her snack, Ross had no idea that Gabriela had been awake most of the night in the hope that he would change his mind and make love to her. She thought several times about waking him to initiate the action, but something had held her back. Eventually she fell asleep after surrendering to the fact that Ross was either afraid, or not interested. Perhaps there would be another chance for them in the future, and she would embrace such an opportunity if it arose. She understood the reality, at least for the present time, that she was much more valuable to him as his interpreter than as a lover. Realizing that value would keep her close by his side, Gabriela decided she would make full use of that opportunity to hopefully break down his defenses.
A moment later they emerged from the room to find the other ten members of the scouting party enjoying the food that had been provided for them.
Ross said, “Good morning everyone, can I talk to you for a minute?”
Returning the well wishes, the group gathered around to hear what Ross had to say.
He was brief, but to the point when he said, “I’m sure you may all have your own thoughts on the matter, but the two of us believe that the people in this city are descendants of the Mayan civilization!”
While some within the group looked surprised, others nodded in agreement at having reached the same conclusion.
Ross continued, “I have asked Gabriela to teach me some of the basics of their language when we return to the colony. I want to wait until then so that others, including all of you, who desire the same instruction can share in the benefit of her expertise. It would be foolish to believe that we will never encounter a Mayan citizen again, so we should be prepared for the eventuality of when we do. There are many things that we can learn from them that could make our future easier, and improving our verbal communication is the key to accessing that knowledge.”
Once the entire group digested the concept of their hosts being direct descendants of the Mayan civilization, they began to bounce ideas off of one another. There was spirited discussion of how the infrastructure of the colony could best be improved, and an enthusiasm among the group became plainly visible. Ross hoped that mindset would also become infectious back at the colony. One idea that could be implemented was to copy the Mayan example of using small sticks, dry grasses, and mud to construct more complete and stable structures.
Ross hated to interrupt the collective creative flow, but added, “There is much that we can do for the colony in the long term, but our first most pressing concern must be to prepare our people for the upcoming eclipse.”
The quiet murmurs of agreement were then interrupted when the second Mayan escort of the previous day announced the arrival of the King.
Ross, with Gabriela by his side, greeted the King with a slight bow of respect. Per previous instructions from Ross, she said good morning to their host and thanked him again for his gracious hospitality.
The King responded with a slight bow of his own, then spoke frankly to Gabriela for several minutes.
She listened intently, and then began her translation of his warning to Ross by saying, “The King wants you to know that there are conditions to our two civilizations living in peace, but if we can meet those conditions you are welcome to visit his city whenever you desire.”
Ross replied, “Please tell the King that I understand, and that we will do our best to meet his expectations.”
“Sir, I think it only fair to warn you that his conditions may not be easy for our colony to live by.”
“That sounds serious, what exactly are the conditions?”
“First, he demands that our people be careful with our use of the natural resources. He has been informed by his own hunting parties that we have already destroyed an entire section of forested land with no regard to what effect that might have on the surrounding area.”
“We had to do that in order to provide ourselves with shelter and protection from the wild animals.”
“He knows that sir, but he is also aware that we can’t continue to take anything that we need from the land without thoughtful consideration.”
“The King makes a fair point on that topic, and is correct that we should be more cautious. What else did he say?”
“Our multiple fires have been too large. At our current rate of consumption we will burn through all the trees before others can grow to take their place.”
“If that is true, then we will need to monitor how much wood everyone receives for their campfires. The colony will not be pleased with such a restriction, especially when they learn there will be four days of total darkness occurring every month. Is that all the King requires?”
“Not quite sir. There is one more condition, but as I said, it will be a challenge to enforce upon our people.”
“What could be more challenging than depriving them of a much needed light and heat source?”
“Sir, the King wants us to also be mindful of our future population growth. It all ties in with the limited supply of food and natural resources.
“Are you serious? How in the world are we supposed to regulate that?”
“I don’t know sir, but yes, the King is serious. He told me that during their time on this moon, his people have found it necessary to regulate their numbers. Only a certain amount of babies are born each year as replacements for the elderly who can no longer work, or have passed on. They have maintained a fairly stable number of citizens of differing ages for all job classifications, but there is a minimal surplus.”
“That’s a very interesting strategy from a management perspective, but I have no idea how I, or anyone else for that matter, could promise the King that we will keep our population from expanding.”
“Sir, he’s not asking for zero population growth. He is requesting slow growth to help preserve the food and natural resources on this moon that his civilization, and ours, must now share. When you look at it from that angle, it becomes a very reasonable condition for a lasting peace!”
Ross looked at the King for a long moment, and could see in his expression that he was deadly serious about what had just been discussed. Then he turned back to Gabriela, and said, “Please tell the King I will do my best to meet his conditions.”
With a polite bow from both leaders, followed by a firm hand shake, the meeting was concluded. Ross then instructed the scouting party to gather their few belongings, as it was now time to depart. After leading the small group out of the Mayan city and along the path toward the water’s edge, Ross became lost in personal thought.
By setting a brisk pace at the instruction of Ross, the scouting party covered a significant percentage of the distance back to the colony before nightfall.
A first light departure the following morning enabled them to be within sight of the colony well before the peak of the midday sun. Rounding a rocky point along the shoreline of the massive lake, the peninsula housing hundreds of the population had become the scouting party’s first glimpse of home. A short time later, they reached the area that had been designated as crop fields.
Megan Crenshaw, along with many of her hand-picked staff, listened intently as Ross and the others explained what they had seen and heard during their visit to the Mayan city. She was thankful for the valuable information pertaining to how the Mayans rotated their various crop fields, the growth period before a yield could be harvested, and the duration of each eclipse cycle. Those factors would each play a major role in her ability to provide the maximum amount of food possible for the colony. Ross also found it interesting that Megan didn’t seem to care that the information had come from a supposedly lost civilization of Earth. To her it was simply helpful agricultural information from the next farm over, and that was all there was to it. He admired her for that, and hoped the entire population would receive the upcoming news with similar grace.
Upon reaching the plateau, Ross and the scouting party were greeted by a large group that included Janet, Jessica, and Aurora. Ross asked, “Did anything of major importance such as wild animal attacks, or fighting within the population, take place during our absence?”
Jessica stepped forward to hug her brother and said, “No threats or problems, but a significant event did take place.”
“What do you mean?”
Colt’s earlier bold prediction had become reality, as Jessica said, “The representative council has been informed by their constituents, and has concurred with the decision, that you should become the official leader of the colony. In short, the population has just elected you as their President.”
Janet then came forth to give her son a hug, and said, “Congratulations Ross. I’m so happy for you, and that I could witness your second ascension to President of the people.”
With an expression of disbelief on his face, Ross looked around at the many faces present and said, “Thank you all very much for your belief in my abilities, and I shall do my best to help our colony survive and move forward. As long as we work together, we can accomplish anything we put our minds to.”
Colt stepped forward with a congratulatory handshake and said, “Should I start calling you Mr. President again?”
“That will not be necessary my friend.”
“Very well sir.”
Janet released her son from the embrace, and asked, “Do any of you in the scouting party need medical attention?”
Colt quickly responded, “Could you please take a look at my shoulder? It’s pretty sore.”
“I’d be happy to, come with me to the medical facility.”
As Janet led Colt away, Ross said to Gabriela, “That’s curious. Colt never mentioned that his shoulder was hurting at any point during the journey.”
Gabriela stared back at him in disbelief, and said, “Sir, I hope I don’t need to translate that for you too.”
Turning to Jessica and Aurora, he said, “Do either of you think that mom and Colt are possibly interested in each other?”
“Well, my big brother just had a light bulb moment. It has been obvious to most everyone else for a few weeks that the two of them like each other, where have you been?”
“I guess I just wasn’t paying attention to that sort of thing, and never gave it much thought until this moment.”
Aurora added, “Dad, it is truly amazing what a man of your intelligence can miss sometimes.”
Gabriela couldn’t stop her verbal reply quickly enough, and softly uttered, “I hear that!”
Ross turned to her and said, “You knew Colt and my mother liked each other too?”
Knowing she had been given an opportunity to escape from the self-created potentially embarrassing moment, she replied, “Yes sir, it has been obvious to me as well.”
Turning back to Jessica and Aurora, Ross asked, “Could you please get word out to the members of the representative council, the astronomers, and all the translators, that I would like to meet with them later this afternoon.”
Before leaving, Jessica looked beyond Ross to Gabriela. Due to the woman’s previous comment, Jessica had a suspicion that she was perhaps interested in Ross. That suspicion was confirmed, and the message conveyed, when Gabriela smiled toward her with a slight shrug of the shoulders.
Returning the smile, Jessica said, “I understand.”
Gabriela knew the message was intended for her, but it had been delivered in a way so that Ross would believe she was responding to his request. Now knowing that Jessica seemed supportive of her interest, Gabriela suddenly felt more at ease around her than at any time previously.
A few hours later, Ross stood at the opening to one of the small caves about ten feet above the group of roughly two hundred. They had gathered on the plateau so that he could address them. He began with, “Please move in as close as possible so that you can clearly hear everything I have to say. I have some important and startling information to share with all of you that our scouting party has learned, and it will be up to all of you to pass that information on to the general public.”
Jessica and Aurora, who had not yet been privy to the information looked at each other with puzzlement, then turned to ask Janet if she had any insight as to what was happening.
Janet, who was standing at Colt’s side, nudged his ribs and asked, “Will you tell us what is going on?”
“Please be quiet. Ross has some important information to pass along, and you will want to hear every word of it.”
With a communal look of disgust at their inability to unlock the secret, the three ladies returned their attention to what Ross had to say.
Ross continued, “First, please pass along my thanks to everyone. It means a great deal to me that they, and you, have faith in what we have all come here to accomplish. Your hard work and dedication since we arrived on this moon has not gone unnoticed. There have been many difficult challenges for all of us, but we can persevere as long as we remain strong. Second, my condolences also go out to those families who have lost a friend or loved one due to some of those challenges along the way.”
Janet applied a little additional pressure, “Colt, please tell us what is going on.”
“If the three of you will just be patient, Ross will tell you everything you need to know.”
Throughout the next hour, Ross told of how he and the rest of the scouting party had discovered, and been hosted by, descendants of the Mayan civilization. He spoke of the pending eclipse that would need to be prepared for, and the conditions set forth by the Mayan King so that peaceful relations between the two civilizations could exist.
One member of the representative council created a murmuring buzz when he stated, “The Mayans were incorrect about the destruction of Earth when their calendar claimed the end of days would occur in December of 2012. How can we be sure that they are correct, or telling us the truth, about when an eclipse might occur?”
Fearing that question would arise, Ross was ready for it. He asked, “Would the individual who asked that question please step forward so that I may address you directly?”
A hand shot into the air as the young man shouted out, “It was me sir, and I’ll be right there.”
Arriving at the spot just below Ross’ perch, the young man may have wished he had never asked the question. With a stern tone, Ross began to shut down his counterparts’ narrow minded and extremely arrogant response to the knowledge that the Mayans had passed on. He inquired, “Sir. With everything that you, and the rest of the colony, have experienced within the last year, you pick this critical time to question the validity or intent of another civilization.”
“Yes sir, I do.”
“Alright, let’s discuss a few of the facts. An extremely advanced alien civilization that has been studying Earth at various intervals for pe
rhaps thousands of years comes forth with information that could lead to the extinction of the human race. That same alien species then offers a solution to a very small percentage of us that could save the human race from that terrible fate. You, along with most everyone else in this colony, take advantage of that opportunity, and climb on board one of their deep space transport vessels. We travel for the equivalent of six weeks of our own internal body clocks across a vast unknown amount of space to a solar system containing this moon, while understanding that thirty-five years have passed on what might remain of Earth. You must have had some level of faith in their good intentions throughout that entire process, or you wouldn’t have made the journey.”
“That’s true sir.”
“Well I’m glad to hear that, because that faith must have continued until this very day. Remember when we were all informed by our transportation hosts that our species could survive on this particular marble. Thankfully the atmospheric conditions here are similar to those of the world that we left behind, so adaptation in that respect was minimal. We then learned very quickly due to animal attacks, lack of food, water, and adequate shelter, that our survival wouldn’t be easy. You know it has been a struggle from the first night. Our death count from the various challenges has reached four hundred and forty-two souls, unless a few more passed away during my absence. There will undoubtedly be more to come, but we can’t give up. As a colony of pilgrims, we have begun to carve out an existence that can, and will, become more stable. An abundant source of water sits at the edge of our colony, and rudimentary shelters, including a medical facility, have been constructed. We have located additional food sources within the surrounding terrain, and crops will eventually be harvested. Do you see where I’m going with all this?”
“Yes sir, I think I understand.”
“Sir, I’m not sure that you do. Now we have discovered that a civilization representing another segment of time in the human evolution of Earth has also been brought to this moon. They have obviously been here for an extended period, learned what needed to be done in order to survive, and are willing to pass some of that information along to us. Now you stand in front of this quorum willing to question not only their extensive intelligence, but the peaceful intent with which they wish to share it. This is not the time for anyone, let alone a member of the representative council, to be casting negativity throughout the colony. Now I must ask you sir. Please tell me just exactly when did your faith in this entire endeavor vanish?”