James Scotson - Planets Falling

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.

“The cities are beautiful.”

“Yes, Amy, they are. Earth and humanity may return to its previous glory, for a time.”

We fly to a dried lakebed, dust spinning in the wind. “Where’s this?”

“Yellow Stone.”

“What happened?”

“The portals were overused. Humans and their kindred species altered the climate to meet their needs with unintended consequences. The lake simply receded. You can’t have both. Magic exists either through technology or nature. They aren’t compatible.”

“What can I do about this?”

“The Raven is receiving data as we speak. You can use it as you like. I must go now. We’ll talk again soon.” She recedes into the emptiness. The beautiful, daunting images vanish.

I call, “Fromer are you still there?”

There’s no answer. I feel completely alone. I return to the pilot’s seat of the Raven and return to the Institute laboratory, where Eliza’s waiting for me.

“Did you have a fun day mommy?”

“I saw your grandma. She’s happy and wants to meet you someday.”

Eliza smiles and grabs my hand.

I consider our life here, now. It’s peaceful and exciting. I think of our future and Eliza’s after I’m gone. The burden of the gardens is still there, belonging to my family, but now has shifted to a lake of many worlds and possibilities. If I allow the future to happen as my mother showed it, then I would find myself betraying all that my family has worked for since the fall of the ancient ones — those people who have finally returned. Still, I wonder what the future might look like without the Institute. My mother failed to show me that vision. I can only assume that our fate would be better.

I’m resting in bed staring at the beams on the ceiling. Theo kisses me on the cheek. “What’s bothering you?”

“Do we really need the Institute?”

“They’re teaching the kids and providing us with medicine. I like the toys too.”

“But we used to get by just fine with our knowledge of the land. The gardens always provided. We had trade. I’m not so sure they’re really worth having here. Do they have our interests in mind?”

“Even if we didn’t want them, how do you propose that we get rid of them? I’m thinking they be here to stay.”

“I don’t know yet. And I wonder how our formerly exiled friends feel about this.”

Theo rolls onto his stomach. “We can always ask them.”

We convene the exiles the next morning in my house. I tell them about my vision of the future — the rise of humanity, renewed technology, and the loss of nature.

Grey sips his tea thoughtfully. “Did your mom indicate how far in the future this was?”

“Does it matter?” Bets is angry. “Do we want them coming here, building more and more? They’ll impose their beliefs on us, take away what we’ve built for ourselves. We’ve survived for centuries without them. And your mom didn’t tell us what things would be like without the Institute. I’d prefer to have a future we can control and shape in our own way — not the Institute’s.”