Now Ellen and I are asking ourselves questions about way back, when Himoti put her original proposition to us. We even wonder if she knew about the estrogen complex before we left the Celaeno. How seriously did she look into other alternatives? How much did she manipulate the colony to follow her own dreams and delusions? Why weren’t we more skeptical that she could engineer psychic ability but couldn’t engineer a solution to the male infertility? Why didn’t we ask more questions?
28-May-61: Ellen’s grave looks very peaceful. I found myself talking to it. Just like I talked to her SA chamber when I was on the Celaeno. The children have promised to bury me alongside her. It can’t be that far off.
The Sisterhood is completing their plans to build a memorial over Himoti’s grave. From what I can see, they’re reinventing the temple, but there is no point trying to argue with them. Some young fanatics who lack the brains to join the Sisterhood have formed themselves into a sort of honor guard, styled on the rangers. They worry me.
Sometimes, they seem to treat all of the original colonists with reverence. They call us ‘the elder-ones,’ which is, I guess, partly our own fault for always calling them ‘the children.’ I think they would be quite happy if I was to claim to be a saint. I can see the graveyard being turned into a field of shrines. I trust our kids will know that neither Ellen nor I would want that. We did our best for the world. The lives our children create are the only monument we want.
Last entry in diary
Mid-winter’s day-67: There’s just us four original colonists left, Karin, Jade, Carma, and me. We met together to celebrate mid-winter and talked about the Celaeno. She’s still up there over Landfall, parked in geo-stationary orbit. And we talked about the Earth. We wondered what it looks like now, who lives there, if our children will ever meet up with them, and what they’ll make of each other.
Afterward, I got home and read back through all my diaries. When I boarded the Celaeno for a new world, I never dreamed I’d end up being the last man on the planet. It’s been a long hard job, building a world. I don’t know how our children will judge us, I only pray we did the right thing.
About the Author
Jane Fletcher was born in Greenwich, London in 1956. She now lives alone in the south-west of England after the sudden, untimely death of her partner.
Her love of fantasy began at the age of seven when she encountered Greek mythology. This was compounded by a childhood spent clambering over every example of ancient masonry she could find (medieval castles, megalithic monuments, Roman villas). It was her resolute ambition to become an archaeologist when she grew up, so it was something of a surprise when she became a software engineer instead.
Jane started writing when her partner refused to listen to yet another lengthy account of ‘a really good idea for a story’ and insisted that she write it down. After many years of revision, the result, Lorimal’s Chalice, was published. This book was short-listed for the Gaylactic Spectrum award in 2003.
Lorimal’s Chalice will be re-released as Book One and Book Two of The Lyremouth Chronicles in the coming year (Book One: The Exile and The Sorcerer, Book Two: The Traitor and The Chalice) along with the all new Book Three in the series: The Empress and The Acolyte.
Jane is also the author of The Celaeno Series. All three books in this series will be available from Bold Strokes Books in 2005 (The Walls of Westernfort, Rangers at Roadsend, and The Temple at Landfall).
Jane can be contacted at [email protected]
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