The Centre had several meeting rooms, which meant it also had corridors. Walter was walking through one slowly. Each corridor had artworks, some elaborate, some very innocent and childlike. But the current hallway was something like a museum. There were half a dozen glass cases mounted on the wall; and in each one was a familiar item.
A pair of reading glasses. A set of dentures. An asthma inhaler… All these things were at least a century or two old, complete with a little reference cards to describe what each item did, and why it was needed.
“You’re not imagining it.” A man said lightly. “They’re museum pieces now.”
Walter jumped a bit, emerging from his thoughts. “I always knew the 23rd Century would be free of such things. I didn’t expect anyone to keep them like this.”
“This one was my idea.” The man said, and Walter noticed he was holding a Bible with the name ‘Alai’ embossed on it. “More people have been convinced of ‘no more sickness’ from this hallway than by anything we could tell them.”
“I’m sure.” Walter smiled.
"You don't remember me do you?" Alai commented.
"Should I?"
"No reason you should.” Alai smiled. “I was a waiter at the East Hampton Yacht Club." He said with a grin. "This was years before A-Day. Years before I heard you'd died. It was that Fundraising Gala for renovations to the Club. I was fetching drinks for your table, I got the order wrong, and your 'guest' for the evening laughed. You didn't like them laughing, so you had me fired."
Walter felt a trickle of fear reach him. He’d faced people with a grudge against their superiors. But in this world he’d observed no police, or private security. For the first time, he was facing that kind of opposition without his protection. "Yes. I remember that."
"One thing I never got, why were you angry, even though they were laughing at me?" It wasn’t an accusation, just a honest question.
Walter found himself answering reflexively. "It was a loss of control. A loss of face."
"Ah." Alai gestured around. "Well, obviously I'm fine with how things turned out. Nice to see you again."
Walter watched him go, surprised. He wasn't expecting that. He'd been bracing for an attack, or at least a lecture, something holier-than-thou.
David and his father, watching the whole conversation discreetly, fell into step behind Walter. "Sixty three thousand homeless people in New York City at your time, and you held a charity fundraiser to make a nicer house for your Yachts?" Hitch said, as though not believing it.
Ah, here comes the holier-than-thou. "You must hate me very much." Walter nodded, expecting it. Jealousy was something he'd known how to deal with his whole life. Like it was evil to be rich.
"Why would we hate you?" David asked, completely guileless.
Walter blinked. He was serious. "Well, you're more evolved than most, then."
Hitch shook his head. "No, what David means is: What would our motive for disliking you be? All those Country Club guys? The ones that made it here are all in your boat. All the homeless people who died alone on the streets are designing their own homes. It's not like anything you did has negatively impacted the life we have here. Anyone that did have a grudge, legitimate or not, has had the scales balanced and been given the same offer of eternal life that you have. That man who you apparently knew briefly, did he have any hatred in his voice?”
“No.” Walter conceded. “In fact, if I had to pick a word, it would be… amusement.”
David nodded. “When I was a little boy, I went back to the ruins of New York for an afternoon with one of the older sisters. I couldn’t figure out why you might seal up a priceless painting in a vault where nobody could see it, or what a ‘gun’ was, or why seeing a shootout would be entertaining on a screen.” He shrugged with a genuine smile of amusement. “Trust me, Walter: A lot of your world is hilarious, now that it’s not hurting anyone.”
Walter took several minutes to digest that as they walked.
“David.” Walter said suddenly. “I… I apologize. What I said about how you should ‘delegate’ the menial tasks? It seems I have behaved… improperly. Such impropriety is beneath my station, and I beg your pardon.”
“I accept your apology.”
“In fact, to be honest, I don’t know why I’m reacting like this.”
“Culture shock.” David said with a sage nod. “I’ve seen it before. I was raised in this world, my brother. It’s like when we were walking to the Centre, and you noticed you were casually walking three times my speed.”
“David, I get that you’ve never known different, but try and open your mind, just for a moment.” Walter scoffed. “There are only two kinds of people in this world. The people on top, and the people being stood on.”
“What a terrible way to view the world.” Hitch said with an almost nostalgic smile. “I’ve heard it said that people of your generation worshiped money. But it just occurred to me what that must mean for someone like you. You were a high roller in that world. People flocked to you to find out where the money was going, and how to profit. In your ‘religion’, you’re a Cleric.”
“I know that everyone expects me to break, eventually; but I won’t.” Walter said with certainty. “Religion is a fairy tale to give the desperate a sense of place. And I already know my place.”
“Well, first of all: I don’t appreciate the term ‘break’.” The Elder Thorne said pointedly.
“Fair enough, would ‘convert’ be better?”
“Conversion is just a fancy word for ‘changing your thinking’.” Thorne said. “And almost everyone alive has had to do it at some point; even before arriving here. Our faith was a lot simpler. An understanding that it wasn't the way we were meant to live, and that sooner or later, God would do what people can't, and fix it.” He gestured across at the Hall, and all the congregation who were sneaking looks at him, and at the other newcomers. “All humanity is undergoing a conversion right now; and you aren’t immune to-”
“Humanity is my business.” Walter quoted derisively. “I am not a character out of Dickens’ Christmas Carol.”
David looked confused. “What’s ‘Christmas’?”
Walter just stared at the man blankly.
The elder Thorne stepped in with a grin. “You’ll have to excuse my son. He was Resurrected, as you were, but for him, he was so young he remembers very little of the Old Days.” He glanced over. “Walter is referencing an old story that was fairly popular in the modern era of OS. A wealthy, but cruel-hearted miser is visited one night by three spirits who show him the error of his ways. By the end of the story, he has vowed to change his life; and become a good man.” Thorne chuckled a little. “Irony of ironies that an old Christmas Story is actually a fairly accurate metaphor for the current world situation.”
“And I object to the term ‘cruel-hearted miser’.” Walter countered.
“It was your metaphor.” David reminded him. “But whether you want to change your thinking or not, surely you’ve reached some conclusions about everything you’ve seen and heard since arriving here?”
“David, I don’t even know where ‘here’ is.” Walter scorned. “I don’t claim to understand all of this, but I don’t have to; because it Doesn’t. Make. Sense.” Walter let that point hang in the air between them for a moment. “And when presented with a question I don’t immediately have an answer to, I’m not prepared to throw away my wisdom, my experience, my reason-”
“Your privilege?” David challenged. “Because I imagine a man like you might have trouble with what he was hearing me say on that platform today. A man who is supremely proud of his legacy? Might not approve of the idea that God brought everyone back down to earth.”
“You bet I don’t. There’s a reason people like me were the first ones on the lifeboats when the Titanic sank.”
“True. But there are some people who might call that unfair.” Hitch observed.
“Those people are the ones who got left to drown.” Walter countered, matter-of-factly. “If some anti-money hippie ever got handed a billion dollars, do you really think he’d give all of it away to the needy?”
“Well, you tell me. You did the same thing in reverse.” David quipped pointedly.
“And by the way.” His father added with a slight smirk. “Just so you know, if you plan to use that Dickens Story as an example, just remember that in that story, Marley and the three Spirits that haunted Scrooge were the real deal; and he did make a change… And his life was far better for it.”
Walter said nothing to that, so David and his father left him alone on that thought.
“Bah, Humbug.” Walter declared finally.
~oo00oo~
Atxi had stormed away from Irsu and Drew and the Meeting Hall for no reason, other than to be away from them for a while. She walked for almost an hour, before she realized she had no idea where she was.
It was the only township on this road, so it wasn’t hard to find her way back.
Irsu was there, with a covered plate. “I figured you’d be back when you got hungry.”
Atxi nodded thickly, and sat down to eat. “I’m hungry, tired, my feet are aching…” She ate a few more bites quickly. “So it isn’t a dream. And it’s not where the Gods live. There’s no hunger and thirst there.” This much she had become certain of.
“This is the flesh-and-blood human world.” Irsu agreed. “But it’s a very nice one.”
“I was meant to be with the Gods.” Atxi bit out, betrayed.
“For what it’s worth, all those Christian Soldiers who came marching on you in the name of their own idea of Christ? They were all expecting Heaven too, and when they get here, they’ll have the same choice to make. There’s no special treatment for anyone.”
“Because humble man can’t do anything against God.” Atxi fumed. “And we’re meant to accept this as an act of love?”
“Would your God care to resurrect people who died to strengthen a rival?” Irsu put to her. “Your people believed that human sacrifice made their gods stronger. If we were living in your afterlife now, would the thousands of millions who followed Jehovah be given a Resurrection at all? Are any of the Aztec gods so generous?”
“Why should yours be?” Atxi shot back. “If my gods wouldn’t bring back their enemies, why would yours?”
“Love.” Irsu said simply. “I’ve met a hundred people from half a dozen different eras, Atxi. Not one of their many gods showed concern and love for people who believed in different heavens.”
“If your God loved me, he would have let me go to The Sun!”
“Atxi, you talk about it like there were multiple options on an Afterlife. There aren’t. This was it. This was always it, even when you were told different. If you were able to go to an Aztec Heaven, why did you wake up in a Christian Kingdom?”
Atzi thought for a moment. “I don’t know, yet. I’ve been thinking on it for a while.” She said finally. “My kingdom is not so… prejudiced against other gods as you are. Each of the Gods had their own Kingdom, and while your God may be jealous, my holy men never begrudged their enemies getting to their own gods. I never doubted any of them then, so why should that change now?”
Her guide smothered a laugh at that. “You think your soul took a wrong turn? Went to the wrong afterlife?”
“I think my faith is strong enough to endure one day that I don’t understand.” Atxi told him. “Have you never had a day when you asked your Jehovah ‘why?’ and got no immediate answer?”
“I would have to admit that’s true enough.” Irsu conceded.
“So what makes yours any more real than mine? Your God forbids people with other faiths getting where they want to be. Mine doesn’t. Who says Tialocan isn’t waiting for me to arrive right now?” Atxi countered, finally feeling like she’d put it into words.
He was silent a long moment while she kept eating. “When you’re finished, I’d like to show you something.” He said finally.
~oo00oo~
Walter came into the library. David was there, head bowed over a Bible. Walter stood at the door and waited while David finished his prayer. When the younger… younger-looking man opened his eyes, Walter spoke. “I know I had a privileged life, David.” He said quietly. “I know I had it better than anyone else. It wasn’t because I was a bad person. It wasn’t because I didn’t care. It’s because I was born to it. My father was bankrupted, worked his way back to wealthy. It’s not luck. Wealth and privilege is a matter of my bloodline. I cannot refuse it, anymore than I can refuse to have my father’s blue eyes. It’s a fact of my life.”
“You think you were destined to have prestige?” David found that amusing. “Like you were better than us by divine right?”
“It’s not a joke, it’s a provable statement. People like me, like my father… We could write laws, move mountains, have anything we wanted. Other people couldn’t feed their families. If they were any better than that, then they’d have been better than that. It’s that simple. The fact that I did it means that it was my right to do it. If I wasn’t meant for better things than anyone else, I wouldn’t be able to point to my life and say it was better than theirs. And it was. It always was. There are self-made millionaires. People who rose from nothing through hard work and sheer talent. I never begrudged any of them. You know how you can tell the Apex people? They’re the ones on top.”
David looked at him. “But… you’re not on top.”
“I think we can both agree that’s not by my choice.” Walter reminded him. “It’s hardwired into me, to be the cream that rises to the top. It has been that way for my whole life, before this commune you’ve somehow built.” Walter stepped forward, genuinely begging David to understand. “It’s not wrong to acknowledge that. It’s wasteful to pretend I’m just another worker bee. It’s a waste of my talent, and my breeding.”
“Aristocracy.” David summed up. “The natural superiority of the high-born. I thought by 2016, that view had faded.”
“I know it’s unpopular to say so, and I wouldn’t, except between friends.” Walter told him.
“Is that what I am?”
“You are the head of your Congregation, and your God had you waiting to meet me, the moment I arrived. Of course that’s what we are.” Walter had reconciled that much. “I’ve never treated anyone as less than they were. And neither have you. I’ve noticed you treating everyone, even a total stranger, like a part of your family. A fine quality, to be sure. But ever since I got here, my life has been less than it should be. Less than it always has been. It’s basic nature.”
“The strong prosper and the weak get eaten.” David sighed, so sorry for him. “Walter, we live in a world where even the lions don’t hunt lambs anymore.”
“But they are still lions.” Walter reminded him, as though that proved everything. “And pretending they are lambs is to insult them. To make them less than they are.”
David stood. “Come with me.”
~oo00oo~
“What is it?” Atxi asked, intrigued.
“The Tree.” Irsu said warmly. “As in, ‘The Family Tree’. Pretty much everyone that has been Returned has put their details in here.”
Axti stared in disbelief. The sun was going down behind them, and the Wall was lit up by the cheery glow. Atxi wandered over closer to it, peering into it. The wall was nothing but names. Millions of names. The Wall was almost twenty feet high, and hundreds of feet long; and the names were small and neat; drawing the whole human family. As intricate as it was, there was plenty of room for far more names to be added.
“It’s amazing.” Atxi declared finally.
“You know where this started?” Irsu asked. “With the opening page of the Gospels.” He pulled out his Bible and showed it to her. A row of names that meant nothing to her. “From Christ to Adam.” Irsu pointed at The Tree. “You can follow that bloodline here, along with all the others.”
Atxi nodded.
“Somewhere out there is the first person who told you that your gods needed human sacrifices. Somewhere out there is the first person who ever said it to anyone. Were they trying to start a religion? Get some money? Eliminate an enemy? Who knows? Sooner or later, maybe you can ask them yourself. But there will be a long line.”
Atxi said nothing.
He came over beside her. “When I first got here, I didn’t know who Ra first spoke to, or what Hathor found so appetizing about humans.” He pointed to the wall. “But I can tell you the entire timeline of the Judeo-Christian Faith, including the people, by name, that Jehovah first called ‘friend’.” He squeezed her hand, and rose to go. “The thing about the truth? It gets easier to spot, because it just makes more sense, the deeper you go.”
Atxi said nothing to that.
“The truth is not hard to find anymore, sister. You, quite literally, gave your heart away. I can understand needing some time when presented with the opposing view.” He told her. “You’ll have all the time you need to make a decision, Atxi. You won’t be restricted from any information, any evidence. God gives freely of whatever people need.”
“Except for the Temples.” Atzi remarked, mostly to herself.
“Those are things people don’t need anymore.”
“And if I had said the same thing to you?” Atxi challenged. “If you had come to my paradise, instead of me to yours?” Having said it, she suddenly felt on firmer ground. “In fact, what if that had happened? Jehovah is a God I’ve never heard of. Christ I know only through the invaders. If you had been taken to some Afterlife run by a God you’d never heard of, and then told your own gods were lost to you, how would you react?”
Irsu took the question seriously. “Forty five years ago, I did have to make that leap.” He said. “My gods were long forgotten by the world. The thing that took me the longest to figure out was that there weren’t other options. You talk like there are a thousand Afterlives, lined up for people to go into the one they pick.” He gave her a sympathetic smile. “There isn’t any other place. You have been dead for centuries and centuries. Did you have any say? A long dark tunnel with light at the end? Were you aware of the passage of time at all?”
“This is worse than telling me I’m in the wrong place. Now you’re telling me I was always chasing a lie?”
“You, and thousands of millions of others.” Irsu said.
“How am I supposed to just…” Atzi waved a hand vaguely. “How do I start again, with nothing?”
“Not with nothing.” He promised her immediately. “With a home, ready to be arranged however you want it. With food, healthy and plentiful, for as long as you need. With the truth, and many people eager to tell you how wonderful it is. As starting over goes, it’s not the hardest landing you could have had.”
“In my head, I understand that. But I don’t recognize anything. None of this.” Atxi said softly, tears forming. “I was to join the gods, in the Great White Place. I gave them my heart. And I think my mother seduced the High Priest to give me and my sister that opportunity, and it was all a lie.”
“I know.”
“I gave my life to them. We all did.” Atxi hissed. “Our children were named by the Diviners. There were festivals every week to every God we had a name for. When the Spanish came to conquer, they sacrificed over eighty thousand people to our War Gods, strengthening him for a victory.”
“And all of them will live again.” He told her. “Every single one of them. Every woman and child, every flayed prisoner. Remember, most of them warred on your tribes in the name of their own gods.”
Atxi heard that, and felt her knees go weak. “If it’s true… If you’re right… Then it’s all such an unholy joke. All our lives. For generations!”
“And now it is over.” Irsu said seriously. “If this is making you angry, just remember that all those lies had one thing in common: They were all told with God’s signature. They gave him the blame; for all of it.” Irsu pointed at the far end of The Wall. “You see that there? Where all those lines just stop? That was the moment where God suddenly declared: No More. And every name before it got a do-over with a clean slate.”
“Not that clean.” Atxi said. “I can’t even figure out the calendar anymore.”
“True, but to be fair, you’ve only been here a day.” Irsu reminded her.
Atxi seethed a moment. “When I was born, the Diviners gave me a name. The Calendar was drawn according to the gods, and no event, from marriage to schooling, to planting, to harvesting, and everything in between… Every single moment of our lives was drawn around them. Every one of our people, from Emperor to slave, lived their life according to the gods. The Priests said that the gods, hundreds of them, sacrificed themselves bit by bit, to make our lives possible…” She rubbed her eyes. “Your world can offer me everything except the Temples. Without that, I don’t know what I am.”
“Whether you are eating or drinking, or doing anything else; do all things for God’s glory.” Irsu quoted scripture.
“I’ve heard those words before.” Atxi bit out.
“Yes, I imagine you have.” Irsu sighed, and gave her a nod. “I’ve thrown a lot of heavy ideas at you today, I’m sorry if it was too much too soon. Take some time. We have all the time in the world.”
Neither of them noticed, but over at the other end of The Tree, David and Walter were having the same conversation.
~oo00oo~
“When the Old System ended, I wasn’t there.” David said. “What I know of that world all came after the dust settled. I saw the ruins of it. Saw the bones of it. And it was already long gone. We’re cleaning up the world so fast that the cites are all but dots on a map that nobody uses anymore. The rest will be restored in time.” David gestured. “The only thing of the Old Days that is guaranteed to be here? The people.”
Walter was impressed by the Tree. The amount of effort that had gone into it was mind-boggling to him. “I know people who would brag about their family line, going all the way back to the time of the Fair Traders, or the Mayflower…”
David nodded. “Walter, all those ‘natural born superiors’ you talk about, all those ‘noble bloodlines’... They’re all on this wall. Or they will be. The people who are listed here, they’re all here in the world, right now. Your name will be added too; if you want it there.” He took a breath. “Trace them all back. Every Knight and Duke? They all came from somewhere. Before there was an America, there were English immigrants. Before there was an England, there was a Roman or Celtic tribe. Before there were Romans and Celts…” David waved at the whole length of the wall. “Trace it back, Walter. Nobleman or Commoner, we all came from the same blood once. How is one descendant ‘naturally superior’ to another when we all come from the same source?”
Walter looked at the wall, humbled by it, though refusing to let that show on his face. “I was named for my grandfather. Who was named for his grandfather. Who was named for his great-grandfather. You say to me that all of us will be here at some point…”
David nodded. ”Hang in there, my friend. Everyone on this wall also had to shake a few deeply held truths. You think it’s hard to deal with the idea of new social structures, try explaining all this to people who thought the Earth was flat.”
Walter sniffed, forced to concede that one. “It’s not quite the same thing. Your talk this afternoon… David, I’m starting over with nothing.”
“Well, if it helps, so did the True Believers.” David offered. “My father was there when the Old Days ended. No homes to go back to, no jobs waiting... But they were happier than they’d ever been.” David waved at the wall. “What you said, about being the first ones on the lifeboat when the Titanic sank? Look at the Tree again. There are no titles written down here, no accolades, honorifics, doctorates… The only thing God pulled out of the Last Days were those faithful to him.”
Walter filled in the unspoken thought. Aristocrats weren’t saved when that ship sank.
“Take it as a hint of what’s important here.” David said. “My father certainly did. God didn’t save the infrastructure, the buildings, the artworks, and least of all the money. God saves the people.”
Walter said nothing to that for a while. “I know the old days were unfair to many. And I know that I was on the higher end of the seesaw. But I imagine it must be easy for you to tell me I’m unworthy, as you happen to be in the superior position now. What you just said, about how it was easy for the Survivors to leave things behind and learn the new rules? I could have said the same thing about my old life. It was easy for a rich man to get the best schools, the best home, the best security…” He gave David a canny look. “Now that the scales have shifted, it’s easy for you to be so high above me.”
“You don’t get it.” David sighed. “We aren’t above anyone. We’re just older than you, and we’ve been doing this longer, and we found out what matters.”
~oo00oo~
Atxi stared at the ceiling for hours. Irsu had walked her back to the Dorms. The people there were like her, and she was glad for it. None of them knew much about this world, and not all of them were thrilled to be there.
Atxi’s arrival had caused something of a stir. But the woman who ran the Women's Dorm was quick to shoo them away. “Give her some privacy!” She told them. “She’s having a big day.”
“I am, aren’t I?” Atxi sighed, overwhelmed.
The Dorms were pretty uniform. Atxi didn’t recognize the style at all. There was a balcony, common to the rooms on this level. Atxi went out, looked down at the plaza on the ground. There was a garden, and a table with food and drink. There was a firepit, the only thing Atxi recognized, and several people gathered around it.
Layla, the woman who ran the Dorm, was like everyone else in this world, older than she looked, totally calm and endlessly patient. A few of the women in the garden plaza were borderline clinging to her, asking permission for every little thing, full of questions that even Atxi could tell were pointless and trivial.
And yet their Host took all of it in total stride.
“You’re not the only one having a big day.” A woman’s voice said.
Axti jumped. She’d been lost in her thoughts, watching the women in the garden that she hadn’t noticed she had company. At the balcony table, the woman with the oddly-shaped eyes was there again, pouring a dark, aromatic tea over a beautiful clay teapot. “Please, join me.” The woman said. “You may not remember, but my name is Kasumi. I’ve been in this world a while now. The Dorms always have rooms free for Travellers.”
Atxi sat, looking at the woman carefully. She couldn’t stop staring at her face.
“Never met an Asian before?” Kasumi guessed.
Atxi shook her head.
“Well, I’ve never met an Aztec.” Kasumi said with a smile. “But such is the world we live in.” She was pouring the tea again, this time over the pot, distributing it evenly. The tea ran off it into a pan, and Atxi could suddenly tell where the lovely color of the ceramics came from. Kasumi then shifted the tea expertly into two cups, and slid one over. The process was very well practiced, ceremonial.
“There’s a question I ask every newcomer I meet.” Kasumi sipped from her cup. “What would you do with eternal life?”
“I don’t know.” Atxi admitted. “I’ve never thought about it before.”
“Well, what did you plan to do, when you reached your own idea of the Afterlife?” Kasumi pressed. “My own people believed in Ancestor Worship. Others, reincarnation. There are a hundred different views on the Otherworld. Does it strike you as significant that we all came here?”
Atxi was silent a long moment. “The people here are smart. The children are quicker at things the Scribes had to do. If they decided to try and confuse me, if they decided to lie to me… I’d never be able to stop them. They have me half believing their story already, and it’s only been a day. I don’t have a chance!”
Kasumi chuckled. “I’ve been traveling for a long time, Atxi. Something I’ve noticed? People like to talk about things they care about. Things they’re invested in.” She gestured at the cup in her hand. “I could go on for an hour about this teapot, of all things. Faith is the one thing that unites all the people who belong here. In time, you may find you share it too. If not, that’s up to you. But there are plenty of people who are passionate about teaching, about learning, about helping. It would not be difficult to find a teacher. And I don’t mean teaching about God. There’s plenty to learn; and you can set your own pace, ask your own questions.”
Atxi bit her lip. “I… I would like to do that.”
Kasumi smiled at her like a daughter, actually tearing up.
Atxi pulled back a bit. “What?”
“Nothing.” Kasumi said softly. “Just… Thinking about how lucky we all are. I was so young when I died. I never thought I’d get to live and do anything at all. I know you’re not there yet; but I envy you, Atxi. The things you’ll see? You’re just at the start of the greatest story ever told.”
Axti shivered hard. She knew Kasumi meant it to be nice, but the intensity she was getting from all these people… This world was scaring her.
Kasumi could see that she had pushed too far, and pulled back to a safer topic. “So. Figured out your room yet?”
“I’ve never seen a room that has light without flame, or its own well-water.” Atxi admitted. “It’s overwhelming.”
“The sink?” Kasumi guessed. “Yeah. They were around in my time, so I at least recognized more than you did. For me, that made the things I didn’t recognize seem stranger. My first day back, I felt like something was wrong with the world. People from your era? They figured the world was a dream, and what’s a minor bit of ‘magic’ like lightbulbs compared to that?”
Atxi nodded, still more overwhelmed than impressed. “The rooms are magical. Even the High Priests didn’t have ‘lightbulbs’ that could make a room as bright as day after nightfall.” She confided. “Layla says that the room is mine for as long as I need it, and that eventually I will want something better for myself; as I learn my way around. This is what you offer to a stranger, for free? Until ‘something better’ comes along? This world must be very full of miracles, to pass them out so easily.”
~oo00oo~
Walter looked around the Dormitory room. “Well. This is unacceptable.” He declared immediately.
“These are the standard rooms, Walter. Everyone builds their own home eventually, to their own specifications.” David said patiently. “If you want a Five-Star Suite, I’m afraid you won’t be able to-”
“No, I understand that these Dorms are complementary, and temporary.” Walter nodded. “Free accommodation is basically a nice way of saying ‘refugee camp’, and I’m sure this place is quite a bit nicer than most halfway homes they put transients in, but it’s hardly appropriate for me.”
David said nothing, but his eyebrows climbed to his hairline.
“I made arrangements.” Walter said, not for the first time. “I have resources; if you’d kindly tell me where a person can access them. Stocks, bonds, precious stones, gold. I have an extremely diverse portfolio, and even if the market changed shape a hundred times in the last two hundred years, I assure you, I can afford a hotel room.” He drew himself tall. “And a very good one, at that.” He gestured at himself. “I mean, look at these clothes. They don’t even have a brand!”
David didn’t even blink. “When I was a little boy, this world was fifty years past A-Day. I went as an apprentice to what was left of New York City. When I needed a bathroom, my teacher levered open a safe deposit box and gave me a roll of hundred dollar bills to use as toilet paper. ‘Good for one use’, she said.”
Walter blinked, brain jarred by the blasphemy.
“That was over a century ago, and I haven’t handled cash more than twice since then.” David continued. “And as for the clothes…” David drawled. “Trust me. You’ve heard of the designer.”
Walter was about to respond with something cutting, when one of the doors behind them opened and a teenage girl stuck her head out. “David? I thought that was you!”
David made introductions. “Walter, this is Mariah. She was Returned a week ago. Mariah, this is Walter; it’s his first day back.”
Mariah beamed at Walter, and threw her arms around him. “Welcome back! Isn’t this wonderful?! This place is amazing! Have you tried the food? Have you been to a meeting? Have you looked up your family? Mine aren’t back yet, but I know they will be! Have you seen the rooms yet? It’s amazing! It’s real! It’s all real! God is real! No more evil!” She spun away from Walter and gave David a similar hug. “David, I never thanked you! I was just too stunned, I didn’t realize!” She was talking a mile a minute, tears streaming down her overjoyed face. “I’ve never had a bed before, let alone my own room! The rooms are so nice! There’s no cracks in the walls, or holes in the ceiling, or... or anything! Thank you, David. Thank you! Thank God for you, and Thank You, Jehovah God!”
David hugged the young woman warmly, and bid her goodnight. Enthused, Mariah hugged them both tightly again and backed into her room, tears rolling freely as she shut the door. Walter hadn’t moved an inch through the whole emotional speech. David just regarded him quietly. He could have said it. He didn’t have to.
Finally, Walter spoke, with as much dignity as he could muster. “How do I get a place of my own?”
David nodded. “I can come by, day after tomorrow, show you how it works.”
“Thank you.” Walter said, and went into his room.
~oo00oo~
Two days later, James noticed the older man from the Meeting wasn’t in class. He had been an early riser, making use of The Database to fill in the blanks and answer questions, as they all did. There were several locals in the classroom, helping people with their searching. Not everyone knew how a Terminal worked. James had spoken a language fairly close to the modern day, so he at least recognized letters on the keyboard. Others didn’t understand writing at all, and needed to speak their questions to the Terminal; getting the answer spoken back.
The young woman was there every day. The Aztec that had caused something of a stir. James noticed Atxi glancing over at him frequently, and he liked the attention, of course; but he had far more important things to figure out first. James had kept his own heritage quiet; just on principle. But after figuring out the simple commands on the Terminal, he’d been asking questions non-stop. The word ‘Pirate’ was known to history, for a dozen different reasons. Some viewed his era as exciting and romantic, others as ugly and full of violence. James believed they were both right; and he was glad to have kept it a secret. The ‘Age of Piracy’ was long dead; and all the people James knew who were like him had also been swallowed by time. He searched for the name of his ship and found little trace at all. He searched for his crew and his family, and found them all listed as ‘Pending’.
Then James searched for ‘Lawman’, ‘Police’, and ‘Navy’, and found something even more interesting. There didn’t seem to be any.
That was all James needed to know, and he immediately left the Centre.
~oo00oo~
Atxi nudged Kasumi and pointed out the empty desk, and the abandoned Terminal. “He didn’t come back.”
“The other Newcomer?” Kasumi glanced over. “What’s your interest in him?”
Atxi flushed. “Not ‘interest’ exactly. But there are only two or three people here who aren’t… like you. If he’s like me, then it stands to reason he might have some of the same questions…” Atxi went silent, staring into space for a second.
“Pay a penny for that thought.” Kasumi observed. “What’s wrong?”
Atxi continued staring at nothing for a long moment. “My first day here, I met a woman named Drew Thorne.” Atxi said finally. “She had my name flagged in the Database. When that ‘Blue Letter’ showed up, she heard the name was listed, and was waiting for me.”
Kasumi nodded.
“How did she know my name?” Atxi demanded. “I died centuries before her time, or so you’d all have me believe. She said herself that she never knew anything about me for sure after a lifetime of studies. I know for a fact that the name of one Temple Girl was not recorded anywhere. Certainly nowhere that would survive the end of my civilization and several hundred years in between. How did she know my name?”
Kasumi considered her answer for several moments. “Someone told her your name. Someone who knew that the subject of Sister Thorne’s study was… well, you.”
Atxi bit her lip. “It wasn’t anyone in my family. I already searched for them. They aren’t back yet.” She turned back to the Terminal. “Aztecs used Pictographs more than writing.” She thought aloud. “I have no idea how to spell names.”
“Much of the Pre-Modern Human Race didn’t have schooling. At least, not in any useful way for Terminal operation.” Kasumi nodded. “But the Database is designed for people like that too. Let’s get to work.”
~oo00oo~
James had been sitting in an unobtrusive spot near the Docks for hours, examining the boats, and the security. As near as he could tell, there was no security at all. Not even a patrol. A sailor welcome in many ports, and infamous in many others, he knew enough of several cultures to recognize this as ridiculous.
The people here made no effort to restrict access to information about the world, which struck James as naive. For explorers of his time, the hand-written charts and rutters were among the most valuable items a Pilot-Navigator would keep locked away.
This world had a hundred different maps with a thousand different measurements, and available to everyone who knew how to read them. His study of modern ships showed that even the sails and mainmasts weren’t needed anymore.
A ship that can sail against the wind? James had thought it to be a miracle, and proof enough that he was indeed a man out of time. But that was a question for another day.
His search had told him about surveillance cameras and bio-metric scanners, along with a hundred other things he couldn’t begin to define; followed by a lengthy explanation of how wonderful it was to never need such measures again.
James watched the Docks for a long time. He wasn’t sure he believed any of what he was hearing, but if any of it was true, this was going to be the easiest job he’d ever done.
The ships in dock were sleek and metallic and looked to go faster than anything he’d ever seen, even while sitting still in the dock. He’d spotted a sleek sky-blue-silver Yacht, almost the size of the Stargazer, and he wanted it so badly he could feel himself drooling.
~oo00oo~
Huitzilin was not an uncommon name among the Aztecs. It took Atxi a few tries to be sure she had the right man. But there was a picture included, which left no doubt. It was him.
Six years before she did, the High Priest had come to Paradise.
The thought made her hands quiver for a moment.
“Are you going to get in touch with him?” Kasumi asked. “His contact details are there. You could talk to him right now.”
“No.” Atxi said seriously. “I think this has to be done in person.”
“Well, you have time.” Kasumi said with a smile, unaware of the storm gathering in Atxi.
~oo00oo~
With a final glance around, James made his move, darting out towards the Docks. The ship he wanted was unoccupied, unmanned; and-
“Take me with you.”
James jumped. The girl from his class was suddenly right there. “What?”
“You’re stealing a boat? I need to go somewhere.” Atxi said firmly. “Take me with you.”
James gave her a lingering look. The company of an attractive woman was never a bad thing. “You’re lucky I’m not superstitious. There were some very specific rules about having women on board, back when I last sailed.”
“Who’s going to complain? We’ll be the only two people on the ship.”
~oo00oo~
Taking the ship was easy. Almost too easy. James actually wondered if it was a trap, or if he’d stolen a ship that wouldn’t sail.
But after a few minutes of experimenting, they’d figured out the controls enough to get them away from land.
“What do you think of what they’re telling us?” James asked finally. “About… all of it?”
“About Paradise? I don’t know. To be honest, this world was similar to what I was expecting, in every way except for the people. But I haven't been able to catch them out in a lie. Not yet.” Atxi admitted. “What about you?”
“I don’t believe in benevolent gods.” James shook his head. “Every church and temple I’ve ever seen, in all my travels? They’re all after money, or loyalty, or in your case; blood. Power and Evil are the same thing. The more power you have, the more evil you become.”
Atxi felt an odd need to defend her old Temple. “I don’t believe that.”
“Believe what you will.” James didn’t push her. “But if someone has power over a small staff, he will be harsh and unkind to them. If a man has command over a farm; he will fleece his customers and work his servants to death. If a man has rulership over half the world, he will burn the other half to the ground for more. I’ve seen it everywhere I’ve ever lived; and I’ve defied power wherever I’ve gone. Power is the ability to hurt people; nothing more.”
“Wherever you’ve gone.” Atxi repeated. “You’ve never been here.”
“No, I suppose not.” James had to admit that. “But it can’t be that different, can it?”
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