“Nope. They did have an interesting conversation about Grey’s dad. No matter to us. How was your day?”
“That Captain Leo is a sly one. He’s been handing out toys, candy, and clothes to villagers all day. If you thought you were popular after crushing Thresh, then you ought to see this fellow in his glory. Oh, I have something for you.” He produces a beautiful necklace adorned with rare gems.
“Where’d you get this?”
He looks guilty. “Captain Leo.”
At mid-day of the second set of talks, largely among Grey and the Institute delegation about mostly nothing, Ricard stands up frustrated. “When are we going to talk about the damn lake? You people needn’t spend your time talking frivolities with us. I’ve seen what your Captain is doing — buttering up my people. Fattening them up like pigs before a slaughter. If you want cooperation from us, then treat us with respect.”
Etch bellows with laughter. “Vanne, Institute diplomacy is not going to work with my friends.”
Vanne regards Ricard for the first time. “Yes, we do want to explore the portal on mutually agreed terms. What do we need to do to begin accessing it?”
Ricard looks at me. “Amy Marksman is the keeper and a pilot. She will provide you with information about the lake, as you need it. In return, Yellow Stone wants assurances that you will not occupy it. And I want you to stop Leo from poisoning my people with material crap.”
Vanne looks at Amanda and Vincent, who nod slightly. “Agreed. Excuse me.” She retreats to the end of the room and talks into a communication device. She returns to her seat. “Done.”
Amanda speaks. “The Institute would like to build a small outpost on the lake for research and to house scientists. We would like to include a teaching facility for your children.”
Ricard looks to Bets and Grey nervously. Grey responds, “We’ll take that into consideration.”
Chapter 63 – Progress
A sleek silver and glass building is perched on the shore of the lake, making the walls of Yellow Stone look old and worn. I spend much of my days here with Eliza and the Institute scientists studying the miracles of the lake. The scientists are polite but distant. They do enjoy the information I provide. But they have no interest in me or what I envision our future should look like. Eliza has emerged from her shell, seeming happy and engaged. She occasionally plays with other human children, but seems drawn to Iggy’s family. Somehow, she’s learned to communicate with them through telepathy — something I have no clue how to do. When I try to enter their minds, I’m floating in an uncharted sea of vowels and syllables with no cogent words.
Many of the village children come to the laboratory each day to learn from Institute teachers. As their eyes open to the universe around them, I can see them grow restless with their surroundings. The urge to build, to improve, to want more is mounting within them. Their parents look to Ricard and me for guidance. I can see both pride and worry in their eyes when we talk of the Institute presence and its influence on the younger generation.
Quite a clandestine market has developed for Institute wares, to Ricard’s concern. Many of these items are relatively harmless — rare foods, liquors, and toys. However, somehow weapons have begun appearing. One of the villagers murdered another with a rifle. When we asked Amanda, now the Institute governor, about this, she claimed it must have arrived with a supply transport and that they’d tighten security. However, people, whether they come from earth or the stars in sky, are ingenious when driven by greed and desire. This leads me to despair for Yellow Stone, and for that matter, the earth’s future. Perhaps an answer lies in the depths of the lake.
My belly is distended with my second baby — Theo’s first — when I step into my beloved Raven.
“How are you coping with the morning sickness, Amy?” the ship asks.
“I’m in my third month now. It’s gone. Thanks for asking.”
“You are my friend and companion. Your welfare is of the highest importance to me.”
“Let’s see what we can find in the lake today.”
We’ve spent the past year tracing the patterns of the lake. I settle into the pilot’s chair and instantly perceive the many doorways opening in and out of reality. Today feels different than other days, however. Fromer appears in the void as he often does.
“Good morning Amy.”
“Hi Fromer. What’s my lesson for today?”
“You’re finished. I haven’t anything left to teach you. I do, however, want to show you one more thing and then I need to leave.”
“Leave? Where are you going?”
“Away from here. I’ve got other places to visit and things to experience. I won’t live forever.” He smiles in that strange place.
“But, I need you. I don’t know anything yet.”
“You’ve got your own strength, a wonderful family, and a future that only you can control. Follow me.”
The Raven travels with us as we reach a part of the lake I’ve never visited. I look down and see thousands of people milling about, talking, and laughing. I look closer and as Fromer promised long ago, I see my mother. She looks up and then we are together in the void.
“Amy, you’re pregnant. How wonderful for you.”
I can only croak, “Mom?”
“Yes, it’s what’s left of me. We have the rest of your lifetime to catch up. But we’ve got work to do.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s time to learn how to patch up a hole in this continuum. As Fromer told you, there are lots of them in the universe. But, this one concerns the two of us and, of course, our world. We can’t let them escape again.”
“Are you talking about the others?”
“Yes, the greedy ones that used the fog to overcome life on earth. We need to work together to keep them out. You see, the portals not only open to other parts of space and time, they also allow the energy we produce — our souls — to exist beyond your reality.”
“Heaven?”
“Sort of sweetheart. What we can do is close the door to the others from both our sides and they won’t be able to come through anymore.”
“What happens when I die? Will the door open again?”
She shakes her head. “Then we’ll work with that baby of yours from over here to keep it shut. It always requires one person on each side … one living and one dead.”
“Mom, you have another baby already born — a grand-daughter, Eliza.”
“Joy of all joys. That’s so wonderful. Fromer didn’t tell me.”
We walk in the void until we reach what looks like a creaky, wooden doorway with rusted hinges. “Amy, just push it shut.”
“It’s that easy?”
“Yes, it is.”
With a thud, the threat from the greedy lifeless ones on the other side pass from earth — at least while I am on watch.
“Now, the real work is ahead of us.”
“Mom, what do you mean by that?”
“The infection is spreading through the hearts of people on earth.”
“You mean, the Institute?”
“Well, people have always been greedy. But the Institute’s providing a temptation that’s going to prove difficult for earth, and ultimately for all living beings. You’ll have some difficult decisions to make. And I can’t make them for you.”
“I thought our reunion would be joyful. To be honest, this is a little daunting.”
She smiles sadly. “No matter what side you’re on, you always have the burden of decisions and their consequences. Your decisions just happen to affect an awful lot of people. Let me show you the future of earth, with the Institute on it.”
An enormous vista appears before me, with images morphing in and out of my reality. I feel like I’m back in Troll’s compound watching images of the cities of earth before the fall. We’re floating above earth, except the surface has been transformed into vast expanses of buildings and geometrically exact sections of greenery.