by Sandi Gamble
“Of that number, there were many with diverse knowledge and skills. Fortunately, many had medical backgrounds. But even more than the doctors and nurses, we learned that no skill and no knowledge base was too modest to be of help. Maintenance. Mechanical. Agricultural. Sewing. Everything needed to be done and, fortunately, we were able to find someone who could do it.
“Our compound started out with a relatively small group, but it has been growing consistently over the years. We have continued to expand the land we control. In exchange for skills, we offer protection and safety.
“Even now, we will have random survivors arrive at the gate. Not as many anymore. But some.
“Perhaps most importantly, a number of men who my father had commanded and who survived heard about his command here and sought him out. They are really the ones we can thank for our survival. Warriors and fighters.
“No matter what our other skills or knowledge, they have taught everyone in the compound to fight and to survive. We have an active and powerful militia capable of fighting those within the ARC…”
“What? You fight those in the ARC? We would have thought that they would have been your natural allies…”
Tyrion laughed softly, but before he could say anything more, he announced that we had arrived at our destination. “Welcome,” he said, guiding Jace and me into a large, columned room. As I walked along the long, central aisle, I had the image of a cathedral like I’d studied in the Academy when I studied about medieval Europe. On either side of us, there were long benches of shining, oiled wood. But rather than an altar before us, there was a large table surrounded by chairs, occupied by both men and women in earnest conversation. In the center chair sat Tyrion’s father.
Seeing that we had arrived, Tyrion’s father rose to his feet and walked closer to greet us. “I’m glad I can more personally welcome you, ma’am,” he said in a firm yet kindly voice.
I smiled. I had never before been treated with such respect and kindness. These accomplished survivors were showing me the respect they would show a peer. I was humbled by their consideration.
He reached out to shake my hand. My own hand was nearly lost in the grip of his large hand. Still, like his voice, his grip was firm yet kind.
“My name is George,” he said simply as if we were to be friends and we were meeting at a dinner party.
“Ari,” I said easily.
He turned to Jace. “How are you, sir?”
Jace nodded. He was disarmed by the kind of welcome we’d been accorded. He clearly understood that his role was subservient to mine, but he was still being shown a great deal of respect.
“Please,” George said, gesturing me to take a seat at the table in front of us.
After I had settled in the chair and George took his place at the head of the table again, the other voices died down. There was a gentle tension, a waiting of anticipation. It didn’t last long.
“My son tells me that you claim to be from the future. I don’t mind telling you that that strikes us as very unusual. That said, a lot that wouldn’t have made sense once seems to be the case now, so, we are very interested to hear your version of events.”
I could see that there was some skepticism in the expressions of those seated at the table. “Yes, we are from the future. The year 3014. Several days ago an anomaly occurred that for reasons we cannot understand yet, has thrown us, and our country of Pulchra, back in time. From what we now understand, to the year 2040.
“We had been sent on a mission to make contact with the ARC in Colorado and to enlist the assistance of those inside to bring the world back from the brink, so that we all might survive, now and in the future.” I paused. “As you are aware, things did not work out as smoothly as we’d presumed.”
“What made you think that those within the ARC could, or would, assist you to change the current state of the world?” George asked.
“Had they listened, we could have explained that we carry with us the technology to clean up the distress on the global system, but the process demands worldwide co-operation. It is no use trying to clean only one country at a time.”
“And just how would you accomplish your aims?”
“The ‘how’ is far too technical to address in one sitting. I hope it will suffice to say that in the centuries going into the future there were a number of advances in science and technology that would allow us to reverse the carbon and methane issues that decimated the population during the purge. If that is what purged the population. But again, we need the collaboration of those in the ARC if we are to be successful.”
George listened with a serious, intent expression. When I had finished, he cleared his throat. “You are aware that what you propose will never happen,” he said.
I was stunned by the certainty in his voice. “Surely they would see common sense,” I said.
“Wouldn’t they help if they realized that it was possible?” Jace added.
George smiled, but his smile showed no joy, only a bemused sadness. “Jace, I understand that you have a great deal more knowledge than we have, coming from the future. But there is one area in which I am much more knowledgeable than you. I know who we are talking about. You don’t.
“I am not sure what you have been told or taught where you come from, but those within the ARC have no interest in helping anyone but themselves.”
“That can’t be so…”
George cut him off. “Shortly before my retirement, I was transferred here to Colorado to assist with the final preparations for the closure of the ARC. I was promised a spot for myself and my family in return for my discretion in the task.
“Well, I was discreet, as I was asked to be. I kept their secrets, but on the day when the call went out to close the ARC, I was left behind, as was my wife and child, Tyrion, who was born a few years before all of this happened.
“My wife passed away as did billions of others across the globe when the pathogen and Sarin gas was released.” He looked at me as if to emphasize what he’d said. “Pathogen, not carbon. Not methane. A pathogen. So not just one thing, but both together exterminated the population. Where there were larger populations of people Sarin was used, such as airports, train stations, buildings etc., then the pathogen was released into the general populace to ensure that there were ‘no’ survivors. It didn’t take very long at all, weeks at best before the earth itself went quiet.”
“It happened that I had a natural immunity to the pathogen which thankfully had been passed on to my son. But those bastards looked on as billions died. They lied to those of us who they had promised to help. No, you will get no help from them.”
“Quite the opposite. Even now they want us dead. The leaders in the ARC send kill squads nightly. To be frank, I am surprised that you were able to traverse those tunnels and still be alive when you reached the door of the ARC...”
Jace and I listened in stunned silence to what George was saying. It just didn’t seem possible. And yet, in my heart, I did not doubt his words for a moment.
“They had their reasons, of course. They had their goal, and they would not be deterred. They wanted a One World Government. One Government to rule the world, One Government to dictate everything, a ruling class of the elite. When you have nothing more that you need, power is the only thing you can take.”
“They were willing to establish their government for all the people… only they learned that the people were not interested. They faced so much opposition that they ended up imprisoning detractors in camps. But even as they built more and more camps, they could not keep up with the resistance.”
“They tried to sterilize the population, thinking that that would end the resistance but that too was unsuccessful. Then they introduced a deadly virus, to the children first. And even then, they weren’t satisfied.”
“That was when they decided that they would have to destroy the environment itself if they were to get their way. That wasn’t quick enough though, so then came the Sarin and the pathog
en.”
“They left us all to die,” George’s head dropped as if recalling the very moment that he realized what had been done. “I have nothing but pain in my heart for my part in what took place and the many lives that were lost.”
I felt a tightness in my chest and could not for the moment catch my breath. “We have a One World Government, the OWG,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “They are everything you describe. They dictate everything that we do. Who we can marry, where we will live, how many children that we can have.”
“But certainly there is wisdom in their rule. We live in a peaceful world that does not have the conflicts that your world had. We will never be over-populated and starved of resources. We work for the good of all humanity.”
George chuckled. “Is that what you think, Ari?”
“But it works George! It does. We live in harmony. The world lives in harmony,” I insisted.
“So tell me, what is the version of events you have been told about this point in history, Ari? Jace?”
The others sit quietly, expectantly.
Jace looked at me, then at those around the table. It took him a moment, but then he found his voice. “We were taught that the world had become overpopulated, resources were dwindling, and people were starving. Climate change had taken its toll on the ability to grow food and provide for the masses, so the governments of the world built ARCs to save humanity. The ARCs were locked down for 500 years. Nobody could leave until the doors opened.”
“Were you also told that they caused the climate to change? Were you ever told why they did that?”
Jace shook his head.
“No. I didn’t think so. Your view of the past is flawed.” George rose to his feet and began to pace. It was clear that he felt very taken by the conversation.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “Our conversation is very upsetting. What they did to us… what they did to the billions of innocents who depended on them. And why? To squander the world’s riches among a few wealthy families.
“Ari, Jace, they left us all for dead.” He laughed out loud with anger and pride. “Well, the joke was on them. We didn’t die. We are here, and we are still fighting. We will survive. They are not going to kill us off, not if I have any say in the matter!” He slammed his large fist down on the table. “I can picture them even now, sitting in the ARC counting out their money.”
He leaned toward me. “They came after us. Even safe in the ARC they couldn’t stand that we still lived. They sprayed us with chemicals day in, day out. They changed weather patterns. They allowed mining companies to dig up carbon that had been buried safely in the ground for centuries. The more carbon they pumped into the air, the hotter it got.”
“Industry was allowed to remain operating unfettered. They were warned by the experts that their actions and decisions were unsustainable. But they ignored them. They had their plan, and they were going to realize it no matter what.”
“They confused a very gullible public into believing that climate change was a load of hogwash, made up by conspiracy theorists to bring down governments. To damage the economy!”
“Their strategy had a certain genius, I’ll grant them that. Increasing global temperatures melted the ice caps in Antarctica, releasing previously untappable oil, gas and mineral resources.”
“They gained access to untapped reserves of oil, buried beneath the Russian permafrost.”
“Of course, with the melting of the permafrost came a new crisis, the release of vast amounts of methane gas that had previously been trapped below the surface. We are talking billions of tonnes of methane. They were not interested in survivors.
“And so here we are now. They are not interested in having anyone who remembers what they have done.”
I listened to everything George said. But for the life of me, I could not follow one aspect of his narrative. “George, can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“What is money?”
Despite the seriousness of our conversation, the whole room burst into laughter. George had an astonished expression on his face. “You don’t know what money is? My God, they did all this for what then?”
“May God strike them down dead.”
I tilted my head to the side and engaged the courage to ask, “God? What is God?”
George, who had let his gaze turn to the courtyard visible through the large windows behind the desk, turned suddenly and stared at me. “You’re serious? You can’t be…” But he could see by my expression that I was. “You really are asking me what God is…”
“I am.”
George lowered his head. A tear streamed down his leathery cheek. “Then they’ve won. They succeeded.” He shook his head but did not bother to wipe away his tear. “Those bastards inside the ARC are guided by a Luciferian Ideology. They intend to turn the world into their concept of a Luciferian authoritarian communist state. They want to offer our earth up to the very Devil himself as their gift to him. They have demonstrated that they will eradicate all those who oppose them.”
“Based on your question, Ari, it seems their most wicked goals have been realized.”
I felt frustrated by my ignorance and how emotional George had become. “I truly hate to be tedious but what is this Devil?”
George stared at me with confused astonishment. “Ari, there is so much more I need tell you, but now I need to find out a bit about you.” With that, he returned to his seat.
I remained quiet, trying to make sense of everything I’d just heard. Could it all really be true? For now, I knew that something about George rang true in my heart.
Even so, sitting here, I could hear the Minister’s voice in my head, and I wondered if I hadn’t overstepped – by a lot. I looked at Jace. The expression on his face told me he was thinking much as I was.
“Well?” George asked, neither pleased nor displeased by Ari’s hesitance. Perhaps he understood the reason for it, perhaps he did not. That did not seem to matter much to him. What did seem to matter was that they move forward, if only in fits and starts.
As much as this conversation was a leap of faith for Ari, it was at least that for George. As vulnerable as Ari felt, the risk to George and the others was greater. For it was obvious that they had risked a great deal, and continued to risk a great deal, just to survive. Now, they were showing a willingness to share information with Ari and the others.
But for that, they needed a sign, a show, something to demonstrate to them that their willingness to trust was not ill-placed.
Ari thought hard about how best to go forward. She knew that she should have been thinking rationally, going through a logical strategy for the discussion. At the Academy, the various games they’d played – chess, in any number of dimensions, as well as that a game called ‘Dingo’ – had trained them in the rhetorical skills necessary for negotiations.
However, Ari didn’t feel like this was a negotiation. This was something powerfully different. This was not transactional. She found herself not so much thinking with her head as responding with her heart.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
TALKING WITH HER HEART
Ari drew a long breath and tried to still the butterflies in her stomach. “Butterflies in her stomach” – what an odd expression! She tried to think the first time she’d heard it. She must have been a young girl. She could remember that it was when she was young enough to ask her father, “How do the butterflies get into your stomach?”
He had laughed, that strong, glorious laugh that made her feel that all was right in the world. Then he had hugged her tight. “My little warrior, they are not real butterflies. It is an expression to describe the flittering feeling one gets in her stomach when she is nervous, or excited, or filled with anticipation.”
Ari had scrunched her face. “That seems silly. And why wouldn’t someone know if one feels nervous or excited? They are not the same thing then, are they Father?”
“No, indeed they are not. And it is
important to be able to tell the difference between the two.”
“But then, what do the butterflies have to do with anything? And what kinds of butterflies?”
He hugged her even tighter then. “You will see, my precious warrior. One day, you will know, and when that day comes, I hope you will be able to tell me exactly what kinds of butterflies.”
“Okay,” she said.
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
He smiled, and then he rubbed his nose against hers like he had often done then – a warm, special demonstration of his love and affection for her.
She had thought about the butterflies through the years since. Often at odd moments and always when she saw butterflies flitting in the wind, or in a bush. But she had never really put together the old saying and the actual feeling before. Not during the Academy or any other time. She had simply never felt that wonderful, confusing, unsettling and glorious combination of nervousness, excitement, and anticipation before.
Until now.
She felt a momentary loss. An unsettling confusion. Her stomach seemed to be doing backflips.
“So that’s it,” she whispered aloud.
“I’m sorry,” George said, leaning forward to catch her words. “What is it?”
She laughed softly, the first genuine laugh she’d laughed in… she could hardly remember how long it had been. Be she felt a lightness and delightful joy at realizing that her father was spot on with his description of the butterflies. She shook her head. How she wished to be able to tell him right then about her experience of the butterflies.
It was all unsettling but curiously exhilarating. Ari felt nervous but somehow more fully alive than she had in a very long while.
“I was just thinking of something my Father had told me many years ago,” she said.
George smiled. “Well, judging by the curious light in your eyes, it must have been a very good thing.”