Chapter Eleven: Now On Earth

Another month or two passed, and the work continued; setting up communications, stockpiling materials, and starting the restoration.

"A few years after your father died, I was part of a volunteer group that planted trees in parks." His mother said softly. "We'd spend all day planting trees, and within two days, they would all be broken off. Some pack of drunken idiots, or a gang of school kids would come through and vandalize the saplings. Cops never caught them, because it's not like anyone cared."

Alec smiled for her. His mother had taken to the Restoration better than most people. "Take a look at this." He held out his phone, showing a picture.

She looked. It was a patch of concrete, with a weed sticking up through a crack. The weed actually had a flower on the end. "Where did this picture come from?"

"Somewhere in Asia. I'm told the road was well travelled a year ago, and intact." Alec reported. "Less than a year, it's been empty; and it's already cracking. We've seen some of the local roads. The ones we aren't using constantly are all breaking apart."

"I had a return visit, once. They had a creeper that climbed up the brickwork in their house… It was eating into the brickwork; and the creepers were in so deep they couldn't pull it out." his mother agreed. "We won't really have to do anything about the cities, will we?"

"No." Alec agreed.

~~/*\~~

What Paradise Means To Me:

My grandfather was a sailor. Twenty years in the Navy. He told me that his direct CO was once charged with Dereliction of Duty, resulting in a mission gone bad. My grandfather told this particular war story, and I asked him why he obeyed the order if he knew it was the wrong choice. He told me that in the military, a Commander has the right to decide if his men go into danger, and if they don't come back alive.

When I met the witnesses, they spoke on the subject of Sovereignty. It made sense to me that God got to give us marching orders. Better him than politicians.

An Admiral would have sent my father to blow up a ship, or hunt pirates. God commanded us to love each other.

I write this as the first man in the family for seven generations to NOT join any branch of the Service. I just didn't see how wearing a uniform and shooting people made the world better; and I didn't understand people who thought it did.

Seven generations of soldiers will learn that I'm the last one of the family left standing after the Ultimate War, and I will have to tell them that they swore fealty to the wrong Commander for seven generations. It will be a difficult conversation, and part of me hopes that someone else has to tell them. But if my Commander tells me that they'll all be on my doorstep tomorrow, I will be ready. God has the right to make that choice, after all.

~~/*\~~

There were only two weeks to go until the first Anniversary, and everyone was feeling the anticipation build. But there was surprisingly little for the majority to do. Alec had done a quick tour of the congregations in the circuit, making sure they all had what they needed, making sure they all had copies of the program. Some people were putting together a meal service for the Convention Days. There was still some food being provided miraculously, but that was more for variety than anything else at this point.

When Alec got home, he found the place was surrounded by military vehicles. He fought down the moment of sudden fear. The most intense period of his life involved hiding from uniforms. Seeing their trucks unexpectedly usually meant someone he loved had been dragged away in chains.

Fighting down the instinct, he came into the main Meeting Hall, and found a small conference was underway. Rachel nodded a hello to him, as she briefed those in attendance.

"Most conventions, you had to organize transport and housing of attendees." Rachel explained to the assembled Elders and Servants. "But this time, for the first time ever, we're sending the entire program global. Everyone can hear it, and watch it. My friends at The Conference are working on transmitters, and the Towers act as relays. We just have to get them in enough places. We figure that in two weeks, we can get them to every community. Once the Convention is over, the goal is to get them everywhere in the world." She grinned. "The choice is yours. You can set this up so that you can put audio to everyone with a device, or you can set it up to project it as video; but you'd have to have everyone here."

"The program is crazy, by the way." Alec put in. "A five day convention? Day One goes for a full twenty four hours!"

"There's a lot of ground to cover. Five days was the norm, once; or so I am told." Rachel excused. "Plus, this program is going global. So twenty four hours is only fair." She held up both hands to forestall any further questions. "Guys, I have it on good Authority that those listening will be able to handle it with ease. Very good authority."

That caught everyone off guard for a moment, before Roland spoke up. "How are you manufacturing all these Towers?"

"Crowdsourcing." Rachel explained. "We don't have to worry about royalties or patent laws any more, so we sent the plans around to everyone we could. Someone knows how to follow directions, someone knows how to make an individual component, someone has a truck. If ten people can each do one thing, over and over, then we've got all the parts we need. Like putting a cart together, plus a little wiring."

"Where are you on transport?" Alec put in. "Can we help?"

"The Postmen are enough for this area, given the vehicles. Beckah is rounding up volunteers for tower assembly. Remember, every time someone is Returned to us, we have a larger workforce." Rachel told them.

"Where did all these vehicles come from?" Alec asked. "I mean, I've seen the roads…"

"You haven't heard? New roads are being paved at a ridiculous speed." Rachel told him. "I got the email from-"

"We have email too? How? The servers were all offline, last I heard."

"You are out of touch." Rachel observed. "The Internet was millions of computers talking to each other. But the Branch offices all had their own servers; and now we have comm towers again. Internet's back. Or networking is, at least. We'll never have what we used to, but the Internet started as two computers in different universities on a phone line. We have the website back." She smiled secretly. "Funny thing, but I forgot to tell my ISP where to send the bill."

"And the roads?" Roland asked.

"You'll love this." Rachel told him. "The problem is transport, right? Too much stuff in the way, bad terrain, etc. So you get some tanks and roll them back and forth in a straight line, and the road is already ploughed, waiting for something to be laid over the top. It's not perfect, but the road will hold for a while, and then get broken down again by nature, just like all the roads are now. By the time that happens, we'll have sorted our long-life alternatives, organized City Planning, and have global communications restored."

"Tanks are now earthmovers?" Alec found the idea oddly hilarious.

"They're perfect, really." Rachel told him. "They're heavy, with solid tracks, they're in more places than you'd think on a global scale, all of them organized… Military transport planes can carry ridiculous amounts of weight, so…"

"Swords into plowshares?"

"Something like that." Rachel nodded, and pulled up a bible on her device. "Kevin showed me this verse in Ezekiel 39: "The inhabitants of the cities of Israel will go out and make fires with the weapons—the bucklers and shields, the bows and arrows, the war clubs and lances. And they will use them to light fires for seven years. They will not need to take wood from the field or gather firewood from the forests because they will use the weapons to light fires."

"I've heard of some places doing that." Roland nodded. "Some places where the Solar Revolution didn't reach, but there were plenty of guns. Gunpowder just burns out too fast, but it does make campfires easier."

"With the Restoration work focusing on planting trees, it's actually very practical." Alec put in. "I've heard of some places taking the gunpowder to make fireworks. The celebrations still haven't stopped. Sun comes up in the morning, they throw another party."

"Have them send some of those fireworks back when the Trucks drop off their Relays." Roland smiled. "I haven't seen Fireworks in almost two years."

~~/*\~~

"Have to admit, I don't feel comfortable with it." Rachel confessed later to Beckah.

"The dorms aren't so bad; and I know you prefer to have your own-"

"No, not that. I mean, you're right; but not that." Rachel assured her. "I was only a JW for a few months before it all went to pieces. I've only attended one Regional, and here I am part of the planning process for the first Global Convention? Briefing the Elders?"

Beckah chuckled. "If you couldn't handle it, you wouldn't be doing it. Besides, you're not giving a talk, or anything. You're a technical advisor. Tell me there's anyone for a hundred miles more qualified to oversee the installation of something you invented."

"Well, that's true enough; but still…" Rachel rubbed her eyes and lay back on her old Dorm Cot. "I'm way too old to think ‘I need to find a grown up'."

Beckah found that hilarious. "I went through the same thing, my first time in the Ministry. The pioneer I was working with showed me a quotation from Luke: ‘I tell you, if these remained silent, the stones would cry out'." She shrugged a bit. "I think she meant we should take the job as a compliment, but personally I would have been fine with a stone doing it instead of me, at least at that point."

"Well you must have gotten over it; you're here."

Beckah chuckled. "You ever wonder if we're going to wake up and find out this was all a dream?"

"All the time." Rachel agreed. "But give it a little longer; it'll sink in." She reached for her bag. "I hear you're going past the printers."

"In that general direction." Beckah agreed. "You have a job for me?"

Rachel handed her a small digital drive. "Tell them this is the latest update to the Book. They'll know what that means."

Beckah froze. "Is this what I think it is?"

Rachel was still stretched out on her cot, and recited the scripture without even opening her eyes, having heard it several times by now. "And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and scrolls were opened. But another scroll was opened; it is the scroll of life. The dead were judged out of those things written in the scrolls according to their deeds."

Beckah let out a squeak of excitement. "New Scrolls! Am I allowed to read it?"

"If you want. But you won't enjoy it. This isn't the new stuff, just the latest update to the new stuff."

"Still, it's-" Beckah shook her head. "Rachel, it's the Bible! An update to the actual Bible!"

"It's instructions about the land allotments, congregation sizes, construction regulations, and planting and harvesting quotas." Rachel yawned. "It's the New System equivalent of Leviticus. Important information, but hardly poetry." She was already drifting. "Be patient, Becks. The really heartwarming stuff will be released at the Convention; with that update included, if we can get enough copies made."

"Digital or hardcopy?"

"Either, but for one you need printers, and for the other you need communications. And we're racing the clock on both."

~~/*\~~

The Global Convention involved little travel, once the Signal Relays were set up. A fairly low percentage of people had moved away from other people; most of the communities sticking closely together. Everyone knew that would change soon enough. Everyone had a list of all the things they wanted to do in the new world. But there had been a gap in their knowledge of what would come, and where they were. A gap that the world was hoping would be filled soon.

Most places had no facilities that could hold everyone, so screens were set up everywhere. In fields, on hillsides, in plazas. Anywhere that people could gather, there were screens and speakers. Smaller communities could get by with just their devices, even some scrounged equipment. It was later confirmed that everyone in the world was watching, all at the same time. It was later confirmed that nobody lost focus, or fell asleep; or even felt tired, though the program lasted a full day.

Rachel would later hear these details and realize that humans were only organizing a very small part of the event.

~~/*\~~

"Rachel tells me that the music was still undecided when she left The Conference." Beckah said as they packed food for the Convention. Nobody expected Communal Meals to coincide with the breaks the Program called for, so everyone was bringing provisions. "They have to rewrite the songbooks. So many of the old songs were prayers for endurance, expectation of the future… Now we're in that future, so there's some revisions needed."

"Part of me expected them to have those songs already written, held in reserve for when they'd be ready to sing them."

"According to Rachel, they were." Beckah chuckled. "But after it all went down, the recordings were lost; and… Well, once you're here, y'know?"

Alec did know. Once you were here, the things you expected, the things you had dreamed off; were less than nothing in comparison.

Beckah looked at her bag of food. "I miss chocolate, though."

Alec laughed.

"I mean it, Alec. You're French. We ran out of coffee and chocolate months ago; how can you stand it?"

"At times like this, it's harder; I admit. The only time I ate junk food was at Conventions." Alec confessed. "It was how my mom got me to behave." He glanced at her, smile fading a bit. "Speaking of…"

"Yeah?"

"If you wanted to sit with us, my mom and I would be glad to have the company." Alec offered.

Beckah bit her lip. An unmarried couple sitting together at a convention was practically an engagement notice, or at least it was a year before. This year was different. Neither she, nor Rachel had any family left. Not an unusual situation, with the younger children having been spared. All the ‘lone survivors' were being rapidly adopted by one family or another. That extended to adults too. "Pity?" She checked.

"Empathy." Alec offered. "At least, as much as I can offer, given that…" He trailed off for a moment. "They warned us, back in OS about forming close friendships with people who didn't believe what we did, or want the things we wanted. I was raised a JW; and the world went nuts before I could support myself, move out of my mom's place, get a full time job... All my friends are in the Cong. I only lost a few, and I feel more than a little guilty about it when I see you and Rachel commiserating."

"It's not your fault. You shouldn't be embarrassed, any more than I should." Rachel was outright gnawing on her lip now. "I… don't think about it as often as I should. Losing family can screw you up for years, and I don't… I mean, is it bad that I'm still happy to see the world get better every day?"

"Everyone made their choice, Beckah." Alec said softly. "You know, it wasn't just our people warning that associations become the people you emulate. If you and Rachel were able to come to the party in spite of what your family and friends were telling you… It just makes you all the more extraordinary."

Beckah glanced around, and then leaned in to give him a swift kiss on the corner of his mouth. "Thank you for that. But I'll be with Rachel for the Convention. We've sort of… adopted each other. Us and a few other people who lost everyone."

"And gained each other?"

"Exactly." Rachel nodded. "I hear that a small group of Elders have started up something of a support group of people who can say the same."

"That'll be a bigger group than you think, you know." Alec offered. "Even Noah had siblings. Wonder what they said when he started building an Ark?"

"I don't have to wonder. Neither does Rachel." Beckah said quietly. "Smart money says it's the same thing our families said about us."

Alec had nothing to say to that. He'd heard it all too, but never from his mom, or any of this friends.

Beckah shook her head. "Don't look apologetic. None of this is your fault. Or mine. A year ago, they were telling us to face the bad days by rejoicing in the hope we had. That's still true for me. I meant what I said, Alec. There are people I wish would be here, but I can dance; and I apologize to nobody for that."

~~/*\~~

Alec came out of the Hall and saw his mother, with her own supplies. "She's not coming?"

"Not with us." Alec confirmed. "By the way, I asked about your requests. Everything's being recorded, and copies will be available to the general public soon, though most of it is also being transcribed, as part of the ‘new scrolls'. And…" His voice dropped. "I asked Rachel. She has no idea what the timetable for the Resurrections are. It's been limited to Brothers so far, but dad wasn't a believer; and we have no idea when they show up."

"I figured." Hannah sighed. "I would have liked to know, but I didn't expect anyone on earth does." She noticed his face. "But there's something else."

Alec gave her a hug. "Mom, in case I haven't said it yet, I just want you to know… I'm really glad you're here."

She smiled for him. "I'm glad you are too, sweetie."

~~/*\~~

They gathered in small groups all over the world. Millions of people, waiting to find out what came next. Where there were seats, they sat; but most of them settled on the grass, on blankets, in their own homes. Anywhere that people lived, they gathered together.

Beckah and Rachel had brought folding chairs, and found themselves a good spot. Given the time difference, it was actually dark enough that they could look forward at the screen, or up at the stars.

And then the Screens lit up with the Convention theme: ‘Now On Earth'.

Everyone burst into applause. Rachel applauded louder than everyone; thrilled to see it was all working the way it was meant to. Rachel smiled a little to herself as she recognized Benedict on the screen, stepping up to the podium. There was a hush as he looked out over his own audience, and the cameras.

"So." Benedict said brightly. "We Made It!"

The audience, the whole world, the whole human race; erupted with cheers in unison. A joyful shout of praise and gratitude that went on and on, sounding all the way up to the heavens.