by Don Dewey
“Not forever Em, not forever. But I love our life, and I don’t want it to end.”
“Everything ends, Gheret; nothing is forever. We have now, and we should live it well.”
“You continue to teach me all these years later.” He said this to her with a warm, sincere smile. “You’ve filled me with love, and have given me the ability to extend that love to others. You’ll never know all that you are to me.”
“But,” she said, coaxing him to continue, “there’s more.”
“Yes, much more. Not everything ends as we expect. Myself, for example; I’ve lived longer than you would think. How old do you think I am, dear?”
“Hmm, it’s never come up, and because of your Inuit tongue, and shall I say, ‘rustic’ background, I never asked. Perhaps fifty, though you seem, under the false image you attempt, more like thirty. And in all truth, you must be older than sixty. Will you tell me?”
Gheret looked at her for a long time, and made his decision. He had shared his life with her, but only this period of his life. He would share it all. “Yes. I will. In the far west and south, long ago, a man was savaged by a great bear, and lived when he should have died. He recovered, from that and everything that came at him. He was attacked and stabbed by his tribe mates, and still recovered. He led that group for more years than I can remember, and finally just didn’t want to live anymore. He found a lonely place to die, and lay down. But years later he woke up, like in a fairy tale, and continued to live. He sought a change and headed for a cold climate, and eventually settled there to live.
“He fathered sons, two of whom were alive when he, well, kind of died. He never found out what happened to them. I really don’t know for certain, but oh, several hundred years ago, he went on a wolf hunt.” He hesitated and smiled at her. “He was too stubborn to give up such dangerous pursuits. He was flushed down a chasm by an avalanche, to remain buried for many years. When he woke up, the ice had receded. It seemed to have been a very long time. He then moved around just a bit and found a wonderful woman, fathered some great children, and lived a wonderful life. In his new home he worked as a lumberjack. Unfortunately he got his leg caught and pretty well crushed, but it corrected itself and healed in just weeks, so he knew his abilities hadn’t diminished. It’s a simple story, really.”
“But incredible. If it were anyone but you, I would not, could not believe it. But it’s true, isn’t it? I’ve known you for only this brief portion of your long life?” There was still a question in her voice as she stared at this man she was afraid she didn’t really know.
“Yes, my love, but this has been the happiest time I’ve ever known.”
“So, how old do you think you are? How old a man did I marry?” There was both humor and a deep question in her eyes, and he knew he had to answer her.
“My best guess would be that I’ve consciously lived between twenty and thirty centuries, but I’ve been alive far longer. I skipped periods of time often in my earlier years. I grew bored, and life was always a struggle. I don’t really recall how many times I did it, and I never knew for how long I was ‘out.’ I am convinced that I have skipped far more years than those in which I have stayed awake.
“I don’t believe I’d have lived through being buried by that avalanche except for the extreme cold. It must have allowed my body to survive longer than it otherwise could have. I believe I was frozen solid, and only used whatever ability it is that keeps me alive after I began to thaw as the worst of the ice receded. I was there long enough for the great crevasse to clear of ice, and for the normally snow-packed ground to be green. It was a long time. My first people were brute savages, with no real language. I was with them for generations. I’ve tried to date it, but I still have to guess. You married a very old man. But I don’t feel a day over 400.” He smiled at her.
Emma pulled back from him a bit, and had a look of, what? Fear, perhaps, in her eyes. That he could not bear. “You could be what? Four, five thousand years old? Eight thousand? Were you alive when the great pyramids were being built?”
“I don’t know, but does it matter? I live a full life with you and the boys, and am happy to hide my lack of aging. Do you understand that my love for you will not diminish, and that I love you more than I ever, in all these years, believed I could love anyone?”
She snuggled close to him, and said in almost a whisper, “It has been a good life with you, love, and I’ll take all of it I can have.
“But what of our sons? Will they share your ability? Will they live for hundreds of years?”
“I can’t know the answer to that question. As I told you, I don’t know what became of my past family due to the great passage of time. Perhaps I have sons still alive, and perhaps it’s just me, and my children will always be normal. I just don’t know. I do know that you’ve helped shape me into a better person, and a man who can love, and learn. You’re still my teacher.”
He drew her close and kissed her and her tension evaporated. Time stood still for both of them in this precious moment they shared.
Chapter 34
Session 11
His host seemed distressed in some way and simply walked out. Kenneth was afraid to try to go back to his room, for fear of giving offense and bringing on some physical reprisal again. Not knowing what to do, he simply waited. He waited, juggled fruit, played mind games, and generally was very bored. Hours later Bertram came and took him back to his room with no explanation.
The next morning his Host entered the interview area as though nothing had happened, and Kenneth wasn’t about to ask any questions about his abrupt disappearance.
“Gheret had his moments of fleeting happiness, as most of the Pure have had. The next two became a couple over time, and are still together. That’s what amazes me about them. Ruby and An’Kahar are still together.”
Chapter 35
Intimacy and Family
Ruby and An’Kahar weren’t wicked, nor were they solicitous of others, or even philanthropic in nature. They were somewhat amoral, as they searched for others of their kind. They were curious. They felt like curiosities, and perhaps that’s what made them so curious in nature. An’Kahar had a driving need to find others, while Ruby seemed more contented with life, but was willing to help him. He was generally kind hearted, while Ruby had a deep hurt for children she saw abused. She’d donated a great deal of money over the years to shelters, wanting to somehow help women and their children. She helped in that way, but didn’t get directly involved.
They became lovers over the course of time, which was not a surprising aspect of their long lives. They were, after all, the only ones of their kind they had found, and they had far less in common with Normals than with each other. It took Ruby a long time to open up to An’Kahar, with her suspicion of men, yet he had earned her respect and her trust. First they became friends, then finally intimate. Even An’Kahar’s patience moved her.
Centered in a suburb of New York, they ran a transportation business together. They had developed new kinds of fuels, but found they were hard to implement and market. They themselves used them, of course, and profited from it. They had several hydrogen vehicles in their fleet, which they could refuel anywhere. It just involved setting up a mechanism that removed hydrogen from the air and compressed it into the storage membranes of the vehicle. They also pioneered compressed natural gas, which had finally gained acceptance and was being used by more commercial fleets every year. They found that the urban myth of government and big motors keeping such things off the market was mixed with the difficulty of getting past mountains of red tape and making the new tech profitable enough to mass market. The blame wasn’t on any one group or thing.
In the course of business, An’Kahar, still using his original name, as was Ruby, would follow up leads when he heard rumors of people with exceptional longevity, or spectacular recovery from an accident. On one such follow-up he went to “interview” a man named Gheret McStieve. Rumor had it, based on a newspaper article and
a pretty spectacular YouTube video, that he’d been partially crushed in a motorcycle accident. He was put in a full body cast, life support, and there didn’t seem to be much hope for his survival, let alone his recovery. Yet he did recover, and went back to his quiet life of business and philanthropic endeavors.
An’Kahar had tried several times to make an appointment to see him, but was rebuffed every time. Changing tactics, he camped out in the hills near McStieve’s home. He’d been watching the man’s home for three days when he finally saw him. He was in the back by the Olympic sized pool. It looked like he had just gone out to lie in the sunshine. He had on loose shorts, a muscle t-shirt, and flip flops. He was well muscled, and the picture of health – hardly the portrait of a man who had been broken and disfigured.
This was his chance. He used all of his stealth as he crept through the grounds, avoiding people he assumed might be more than just gardeners and landscapers.
Since it was a talk he wanted, when he got close enough he stepped out boldly. “Hello, sir. May I have a word?”
Gheret’s response wasn’t encouraging. Without more than a glance at him, Gheret sternly said, “Get out! Now, or I’ll call for security. How did you get past them, anyway?”
“I’ve had a long, long time to develop stealth. I just came to ask your age, Mr. McStieve?”
“No, get out. Guards!” He shouted toward the house.
“Please, I just want a moment. I’m not a threat, but we may have…” He didn’t get to finish because the first of the outside guards was on him. The man rushed him like they were playing football. An’Kahar stepped aside quite nimbly and let the man rush past, giving him a blow on his shoulder, which put him down and out. “I just want to talk!” he pleaded with Gheret.
Three more men had arrived, and seeing their compatriot already down, sized the intruder up and were more cautious. One drew a sidearm and gave an ultimatum, loudly and clearly. “On your knees and you won’t get hurt.”
An’Kahar was a determined man, so he rushed the three. They were unprepared for one opponent, seemingly unarmed, to try such an audacious tactic. The one with the gun was closest, and An’Kahar got to him before he could fire. One midriff punch and an elbow to his face bloodied the man and put him out of the fight. The next one swung at him, but An’Kahar ducked and knocked the wind out of him with a stomach punch. He didn’t follow up because the third man was closing in, and when An’Kahar looked at him, he fired the pistol An’Kahar hadn’t noticed. The bullet struck An’Kahar in the thigh. The guard wasn’t interested in killing anyone, but he was going to take this intruder down. Unfortunately for him, An’Kahar kept coming and bowled him over, taking his gun away in the process. He stood there, gun in hand, bleeding profusely from his thigh, and looked at Gheret, who didn’t seem all that concerned or impressed. Gheret watched the wounded stranger collect his guards’ guns and toss them all in the pool. Gheret looked at his men one at a time. “I’m glad you didn’t kill them. They are pretty good guards, actually, today’s disaster notwithstanding. What was it you wanted?”
“How old are you, Mr. McStieve?”
“Huh! Why do you care? We’ve never met.”
“But I suspect you’re as old as I am, or older. And I suspect this isn’t your first identity. It certainly isn’t mine. How old?”
The guards were coming around, and as they recovered and got up, their first sight was their boss, kneeling over them to check their vitals and make sure they were okay. One seemed too dazed, and Gheret told the others to take him to be checked out. He sent them on their way, and assured them he would be fine with this wounded stranger. They still gathered out of earshot but close enough to be of help if needed, not that they had been much help yet. Gheret waved them off and said to them, “Go on, take Riley to Teddy and have him checked out. If he thinks it’s something he can’t handle, take him to the hospital. I’m fine. Go!”
Their boss looked An’Kahar over and sized him up. “Do you need a hospital too, or should we try to take care of that leg wound here, before you lose any more blood.”
“It won’t matter; I’ll be fine in a little while. It doesn’t hurt much now.”
***
“Well, very well then. Let’s take this inside, just you and me, shall we?”
After being seated in the house Gheret called for coffee. They sat there waiting quietly, and after it had been served by a young maid, An’Kahar returned to his topic. Like a tenacious bulldog, he asked his question again. “How old are you? Or do you even know?”
“Well, I don’t know exactly, but as you suspect, I’m much older than I look. Do you represent someone, or is it just you? Where are you from, and if I may ask, how old are you?”
“Fair enough,” An’Kahar responded. “I’m originally from the northern wilds of Alaska, and am, by birth, Inuit.”
Gheret stared open-mouthed.
“What is it?” An’Kahar asked.
“Are you Achar, or An’Kahar?”
“How do you know me? And my brother. Achar died a long time ago. I’m An’Kahar. Who the hell are you?” He was quite unsettled. He had gone from being the investigator to the one whose history was apparently known by the one he was investigating. It wasn’t possible!
Gheret stood, as did An’Kahar. “Sorry to hear about Achar, and now I’m truly sorry you killed your other brother, Luntar. But, he challenged you, and you met his challenge there on our fateful caribou hunt. I told you then that we wouldn’t speak of it again. You seem to have grown into a fine young man. Well, not so young, but you understand what I mean. I am Gheret, your father. I’ve been alive much longer than you, of course. You may count your life in centuries, but I’m afraid I count mine in millennia. You and your brothers came from my second stable life, my second family, as it were.”
Now An’Kahar dropped his jaw and stared. “That’s impossible. My father was killed in a…”
“Wolf hunt” interrupted Gheret, finishing the sentence as he brushed a lock of hair from his face. “I went every couple of years. Yes, I know; I was there, remember? I didn’t die, and you never saw a body. I was lost in an avalanche, found shelter in a crevasse, and then, a long time later, revived and started my next life. There was no way to find you.”
They stood staring at each other. “My son.” Gheret raised arms.
“Father.”They embraced awkwardly.
At that tender moment a short man named Teddy rushed up. “I’m so sorry sir, but I just heard your guest was injured. Let me look at that wound sir.” He was quite insistent.
“I’m fine. Really.”
“That’s nice. Slide your trousers down please. You can’t push your pant leg up that far, and I need to see the wound. Please!”
“Go ahead and do it,” Gheret said with a sigh. “Teddy won’t be denied. He’s been taking care of me and most of the injuries that happen around here for a long time. How is James, Teddy?”
“On his way to the hospital, I’m afraid. Not everyone is as easy a patient as you, sir.” Teddy looked at his boss and said, “James accidently stumbled down a whole flight of stairs. Very clumsy man, at least that’s what they’ll hear at the Emergency Room. He has some broken bones.” He turned back to An’Kahar. “Did you have to be that rough with him, young man?”
An’Kahar stared at this odd little man for a minute, then defended himself to him. “He was shooting at me!”
“I’m sure he had a good reason. Sit still and let me see the wound!” Finally satisfied after bandaging the wound on both sides, Teddy said, “The bullet went straight through obviously, and the bleeding is almost stopped.” He looked at An’Kahar slyly. “Just like Mr. McStieve.”
“Thank you Teddy, I’ll take it from here, please. We wouldn’t mind some food and beverages, though.”
“Absolutely sir, coming up.” The diminutive houseman rushed out.
“Teddy is an acquired taste, but he’s a wonderful person, loyal, trustworthy and maybe even a little bit clairvoyant
,” laughed Gheret. “He anticipates me far too much.”
***
They shared their stories that night, each telling where and when they had lived. An’Kahar told his father about Ruby, and Gheret was both pleased and amazed. “Ah, so there are more of us still alive.”
“Pures, I call us. We must have the purest blood, or genes, in the world.”
“Hmm, well said, son. So, any children? With Ruby, I mean.”
“No, I’m afraid not. We started out not wanting children, but now we really do. She never got to really mother her own in the past, and in those days the man was everything. She’d be a great mom. We’ve tried, but nothing seems to help. Every time we decide to try again she either doesn’t get pregnant or she miscarries. She’s understandably reluctant now; too many heartaches over it.”
“I’ve wondered if such a thing is possible. I had children twice, with Normals, but with another Pure there would be two incredible hardy, well, systems, trying to dominate. Think about it; you have boys, and I presume she’s always has girls?” At an affirmative nod from An’Kahar, he went on. What will the mix give the two of you, if anything? Obviously I don’t know enough about it to have a credible opinion yet, although I do hope you keep trying.
“By the way, do you know how long it’s been since my fateful wolf hunt? I’ve not been able to date how long I skipped in that crevasse.”
“Well, I’ve had several identities since then,” said An’Kahar. “I was just a boy, as you know, but it’s been over six hundred years.”
Gheret sat quietly for a long moment before he responded: “I skipped many periods of time prior to that, so I still don’t really know my age. But I don’t feel a day over 800!” They laughed an easy laugh together.