They all laughed again, then Timothy pointed to a pile near the hearth. “Is that what I think it is guys?”
They all turned to look. “Yep,” said Wayne, “Dried Cow Shit. That’s the only fire wood available in Bhutan these days apparently.” As he picked up a ‘cow cookie’ and chucked it onto the fire, there was a collective “Gross”, and then Wayne realised that he had nowhere to wash his hand. “Oh well,” he said as he picked up his bowl to finish his Dhal Bhaat. “Lucky I used my left hand.”
They all moved their thin sleeping mats as close to the fire as they could and settled down to sleep, trying to wrap every bit of warmth out of the yak wool blankets that were left for them.
David was pleasantly surprised at how warm his blanket was. As he lay down on the hard mat, he looked at the inscription on his staff. “Outer Space Nature Boy, Ha Ha Ha Ha,” it read. “So now I have a laughing stick, I wonder what will happen tomorrow,” he thought to himself as he drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 22
“Outer Space Nature Boy”
It was still dark when David awoke. Trying to be quiet, so as not to wake the others, he moved to the hearth and with his left hand, stoked the fire and loaded more cow cookies onto it. He looked at his ‘laughing stick’ and noticed that there was no inscription on it. “What does that mean?” he thought to himself.
The staff glowed, and the inscription, “I need sleep too,” appeared.
“Fair enough,” said David quietly, as he gently stoked the fire.
“What’s fair enough?” asked a sleepy Skye.
“Good morning,” said David. “I was just talking to the stick,” he replied.
Skye raised one eyebrow, “OhhKayy.” Does it talk back to you David?” She said with a mocking tone.
“Well actually, it does,” David said with a deadpan expression.
The door cracked open, and in walked the six young monks, once again carrying food bowls. As the others stirred, Skye thanked the monks and tried to make some conversation with them. But much to her dismay, they bowed politely with their hands pressed together as a thank you sign and left without saying a word.
They all stood around the fire, eating their rice and vegetables.
The door opened again and Ugyen stepped in. “Namaste,” he said as he walked over to the group. He started passing some straps around. “These are to tie up your bed rolls, you will need to take them with you.” Ugyen demonstrated the method for tying them up, “If you do it like this, you can use the loop as a shoulder strap to carry them. The mat is made of yak’s wool and is highly water resistant, so keep it to the outside, with the blanket rolled up in the middle.”
They all attempted to roll and strap their own bedding, wrapping their roll of prayer flags inside, with varying success. Ugyen laughed, “Practice makes perfect, trust me, within a few days you will be able to do it as well as me.” He indicated towards the door, “Please head out to the courtyard, gather your shoes, and the young monks will guide you on your journey today. They have taken a vow of silence for one year, so you will not be able to talk with them, but that won’t be necessary.”
“Oh,” said David, “That explains why they wouldn’t talk to me before, I thought they were being rude. I must apologise to them.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Ugyen replied kindly, “They understand that you were not to know this. This is where we must part however. Good luck ‘Outer Space Nature Boy’ and friends.” He laughed good naturedly as he slipped out through the other door.
David rolled his eyes. “I’m never going to live that one down, am I?”
“Nope,” said Wayne, Tim, Skye, Flynn and Lurch, all at the same time. They all laughed as they headed for the courtyard door. “We’ll make sure that never happens Outer Space Nature Boy,” laughed Wayne, “Never.”
Flynn said, while indicating towards David’s staff, “Let’s go have an Adventure.”
Everyone looked at the staff, and repeated. “Let’s go have an Adventure.” Reading the text emblazoned across its length.
“Well,” said Timothy, “If the adventure hasn’t started yet, I don’t know what the last few days have been about then.”
They all stepped out into the bright morning sunshine. Across the courtyard on a low wall, sat the six young monks. They indicated to David, that they should follow, they jumped down off the wall and headed out of the courtyard.
They were soon following a dirt trail along a small stream, slowly going down. This lead down to a broad, shallow, fast flowing river, where they turned left and headed up stream and away from Paro even further. They walked along a well made path that later crossed a road. While they wouldn’t talk, David quickly got the idea that the monks didn’t want to spend any longer than necessary on the road, and hurried them onto the path, which continued on the other side.
It was nice walking, the roar of the shallow Paro Chu (river) was always present. It seemed as though they had been walking for hours. None of them actually knew what time it was. They crossed the river twice on rickety suspension bridges, both laced with prayer flags, fluttering their good intentions away in the breeze.
They walked out of a wooded area into a small clearing, one of the young monks indicated that they should look up and to the right. David turned and looked, his mouth fell open as, high up on the mountain above them was an ancient stone building, perched right on the top of the cliff. It looked like it was hanging there, it was so precariously placed.
“Wow,” said David. “Is that the Takstang Monastery? I’ve never seen a more beautiful building.”
The monks nodded that his assumption was correct.
“How on earth do we get up there?” asked an astonished Flynn.
The monks once again motioned for them to follow, and walked on down the path, which re-entered the forest, causing them to lose sight of the monastery. They caught occasional glimpses through the tree tops.
After a short while they could hear small bells ringing. The sound was more like tinkling than ringing, and it was obvious through the different tones that there were three of them.
They emerged from the forest once again, this time a much larger clearing. The trail meandered across it to a small conifer forest on the high side of it, towards the base of the cliff. The bell ringing was coming from within the conifer forest.
As the unlikely group approached, they could see that there were three small buildings built over a small stream that later emerged from the forest and continued across the clearing. The trail led to a small wooden bridge that crossed the stream just below the closest building. The ringing was much louder now, and David realised that inside the buildings were giant prayer wheels that were being turned by the steady flow of the stream. He could see inside them and as each one turned a full revolution, there was a small golden bell hanging from it, that hit a strategically placed stick, creating the beautiful ringing sound. All three were turning at slightly different rates which meant that they were out of rhythm. But this created its own wonder as it became a wondrous melody as the timing between notes constantly changed and created a random music that created the most wonderful atmosphere in the little valley.
David glanced further up the trail and noticed a large stone with unusual Sanskrit lettering carved into its face. He suddenly realised where they were, and he rushed over to the Mani Stone and knelt before it.
The others followed, concerned about the look on David’s face as he picked up a handful of dirt from the ground in front of him.
“The Mani Stone,” David said, pointing his dirt filled hand towards it. “This is where he died. Great Great Grandpa Jack Matson died right here, shot through the heart with an arrow all those years ago.”
All of them crowded around David, the monks included. All of a sudden, they felt exposed and in danger. Skye placed a shield bubble around them all without even thinking, allowing them the time to respect this sacred family site.
Wayne was the first to break the silen
ce, “I think we should move on guys, I know Skye is shielding us, but I feel like we are way too exposed, better to keep moving and get the mission done, yeah?”
David stood and looked at all of them, the monks looked nervous, agitated. They wanted to keep moving too. “Om Mani Padme Hum,” he said, and walked on up the path with a determination that he had never felt before.
The path was well trodden and wide, but it steepened rapidly, turning back on itself quite often as it switch backed up the steep slope. Skye was trying desperately to stay with David as he powered on up the slope. She wanted to maintain the shield around him, especially him. Skye knew that if anyone was to be targeted today, it was David. But then she realised that Grandpa Jack didn’t have to be targeted for him to lose his innocence and fail the mission. They were all at risk, even the young monks. She found some inner strength and put some effort in and caught up with David at the next switchback as he stopped for a breath.
“I think we should stay together David.” Skye implored. “I can protect us all if we stay together. Remember what Grandpa Jack was saying, about when he made this climb? He had to pace himself, even though he could go faster. Otherwise he would have had no energy when he really needed it at the top.” A shield wrapped around them both as they waited for their breathing rate to ease off.
“Ok,” agreed David, “You’re right, I was getting carried away, sorry. How come I have the energy to go faster than you guys? I’m even faster than the monks and they live here.”
“I can’t answer that David,” Skye said. “Maybe it’s as simple as one eye is green, one eye is blue. Or why your name is Outer Space Nature Boy now. Maybe we don’t need to know why, just that it is and accept that.”
David nodded as the others arrived gasping for breath, he took what Skye had said in, and nodded again. “Maybe it is all that simple,” he said, smiling back at Skye. “I think that may have been what Grandpa Jack was trying to tell us. If we can accept what is, then we can move on with freedom to what’s next. I feel powerful Skye.” He walked on.
Chapter 23
“A Key Moment”
Jack and Lauren sat with Sonam and Pema in the same palace kitchen that he, his Grandfather and Sanjay had breakfasted in with the Royal Family the morning of that fateful day all those years ago, the day where his Grandfather had died with an arrow through his heart. The day where Jack had lost his innocence a few hours too early.
Jack couldn’t sit, he got up and paced the room. “If only we knew that archer was a risk. If I had got there with my innocence intact, the kids wouldn’t have to be put at risk like this now. It’s all my fault, I have to do something to help, but if I do, I’ll stuff everything up again. How do I reconcile that? How?”
Sonam walked over to Jack and wrapped him up in her arms. “They are our Grandchildren too Jack. We are all sitting here as frustrated as you are Jack, but we cannot intervene, the ramifications are too momentous. We may even put them at more risk if we do. So please Jack, whatever you do, don’t lose your cool now, you have done so much to prepare them, don’t put them or the mission at greater risk by helping. Be here and ready for when we can help. That will be soon enough now, I have a funny feeling that once the device under Takstang has been activated it will be just the beginning.”
Jack looked at Sonam quizzically, “What do you mean by that?”
Pema replied for Sonam, they had been completing each other’s thoughts since they were able to speak as infants. “What we mean Jack, is that the device, whatever it is, will activate when David is successful in doing so. But what is it activating? It is obviously the beginning of a process, otherwise what would be the point of activating it? The prophesy says, ‘That the device must be activated in order to begin the process of re-setting the environment of the Earth’. You can’t seriously tell me you haven’t thought long and hard on what happens next, Jack?”
“Well of course I have, but I’ve been raising five amazing kids on my own for the last eleven years you know. I thought about it heaps before the kids were born and we knew about David. But since then, I have put everything into arriving at this day. So honestly, I have no idea what happens next, other than something will happen. I don’t even know if perhaps this device has worked out that it has to wipe humanity off the Earth to save it. We all know that there are plenty of people who will agree with it if it does, and plenty who are afraid that that is exactly what will happen. Hence why they murdered my Grandfather.”
Jack shook with rage and walked out through the kitchen door into the bright sunshine of the courtyard outside. Fifteen was sitting on a small chair under a stunning flowering cherry tree, that was a gift to Sonam and Pema by the people of Japan on their birth.
“I understand your anxiety Jack,” said Fifteen.
“No disrespect Fifteen, but how can you possibly understand. Eleven years ago, I had to fire all my children, with the exception of Lauren, into outer space in a flimsy tin can in an attempt to preserve humanity, just in case we fail again. And now I have to risk all of my Grandchildren in an attempt to fix this. On a scale of one to ten, my anxiety is at Eleven, and there is nothing I can do to help.” Jack collapsed onto the bench alongside Fifteen.
“Your anxiety is based on fear Jack, understandable, but just another emotion. If you could consider that all the help you can provide to all of them at this moment is all that you have already done, you would know that you are helping them now more than anyone could, just by all the work you did in arriving at this point. Soon will be a time for celebration Jack, soon after that will be a time for more help. You need to clear your thoughts now, know that you have done all you can do, and then prepare to do more, much more, sooner than you think.”
Fifteen continued, “They are a little over half way up the climb to the monastery now Jack. I believe that David will be successful, and even I don’t know what will happen next. But I am ready. And more than a little excited you know.”
“Thank you Fifteen, you are undoubtedly as wise and insightful as your predecessor,” Jack said very quietly. “Tenzin was a great friend and mentor you know, I used to visit him occasionally in Dharamsala. But sometimes I rue the day that he vocalised this prophesy.”
“You seem to forget Jack, that I am Tenzin, and his predecessors reincarnated. So of course I know that. And yes, you are a great friend, both to us and the Earth Jack. Don’t ever underestimate the contribution that you and your family have made.”
“And a prophesy is exactly that Jack, ‘A Prophesy’. It is not something that Tenzin had control of, it just is what it is. And on the up side, it may be a true opportunity to set the environment on the path to recovery,” she said.
Jack thought deeply before he continued, “Perhaps what I am truly afraid of is that if it fixes or resets the environment, what then. If stupid humans continue doing what they have always done, and just set us back on the path to destruction, because they now know that some great power will turn up to fix everything just in time. This could be more dangerous than everything that has already occurred in history.”
“That,” replied Fifteen, “is exactly why I don’t think that this will be a wipe the slate clean type of event. I believe that it will put in place a series of events or tasks that all of us will have to engage in, to ensure we change our ways.”
“Either way, I think we are about to find out.” Fifteen stood up and walked toward the kitchen door, “I think we should eat Jack, who knows if we’ll have time later, would you care to join me, I’m famished.”
Jack looked Fifteen in the eye and said, “I just realised something Fifteen, how did you get here so quickly?”
“Another time Jack, lets eat.”
Chapter 24
“Numb Nut?”
A shimmering transparent dome with twelve figures encapsulated within it, emerged onto the small plateau that marked the half way point of the climb. They walked slowly, gasping for breath and came to rest briefly alongside a large, brightly painted
prayer wheel. They all put the effort in, to start it spinning as they walked on past it on their right side.
They walked a little further, then, a series of gasps of wonder escaped as they emerged onto a vantage point with a view up to the monastery. It was still quite high above them, but obviously much closer than when they had first seen it.
“What an amazing sight,” gasped Flynn. “And what an awesome engineering feat,” he added. “Imagine getting all the building materials up there for that, let alone building it in such a precarious location.”
David saw that Skye was suffering more than the others, and shot her a look of concern. The others noticed, but before any of them could say anything Skye cut them off.
“It’s not because I’m a girl alright,” she said, a little too firmly. “I think the shield is sapping a bit of my energy as well.”
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