Damian stood at the bow of the Liberty, his neck craned back, eyes alight with desperation as they searched the vast expanse of sky. He lingered in an almost hypnotic trance, yearning for a sign—a pregnant cloud, a whisper of hope. Yet the heavens offered only an unwavering blanket of mockery that had glowered down upon them for six relentless months.
The beauty of it: the clear blue sky, the gentle breezes; the calm, dark waters, had lulled he and his crew into a false sense of security. None of them ever thought much about the flip-side of enjoying over a year of the most perfect vacationing weather; until they stopped at an Island to replenish their stores and found that the place was dying from drought. They had departed the Island with far more brown and rotting vegetation than fresh green. There were no animals, small or big. That was two months ago...and there was still no signs of rain in sight or on the horizon. Suddenly the severity of their situation hit him as it should have long ago. He and his crew were facing starvation. There was no reason to believe that any other land masses on their route is going to be any more fruitful than the last. Damian lowered his eyes and tried to think of other things--fill his head with less tormenting thoughts. The only memories that could provide him with comfort were of the past. Strength and hope lay within what he had already experienced. He luxuriated in reminding himself that he and his crew have conquered impossible odds before; been dragged from the jaws of death time and time again by fates and powers that none of them could claim to be their own. His mind began to wander backwards as he plunged deeper into the mental escapism facilitated by the warm pleasant weather.
Six years has passed since a nine hour sustained blast of undiluted UV rays broke through the ozone layer and turned the entire earth into one giant swirling ball of death. Heat, cancer, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes plus an altered atmosphere which eventually became too heavy to breath for lungs that had not adjusted to it--had ended most life on the surface of the earth. The species of men and women, never had a chance though Damian had worked himself to the edge of insanity in his short career to give at least a significant number of people what they needed to survive.
He failed.
Hope waned further when the U.S. unleashed its wrath on Iraq, igniting a conflagration that heaved scorching particles into an already beleaguered stratosphere. A desperate world trying to stitch itself together since the cataclysms of World War II could only watch in impotent silence.
The first tear in the ozone had been revealed to the world when two atomic bombs rained down on Japan; subsequent nuclear tests by global powers only deepened the divide, entrenching humanity in a spiral of despair. Planes had scoured the skies in futile efforts to slow the decay of the ozone, while the privileged few—the Insiders—reserved their places in the burgeoning underground cities, foreseeing a future that would leave most of humanity to fend for itself. Many of these Insiders had long since grasped the inevitability of their fate, long before the old man who had recruited Damian to Harvard knew how really bad things were.
Douglas McCloud, a once-idealistic visionary, had been shattered by the war. Stripped of the time needed to perfect his groundbreaking artificial ozone spray, he abandoned his environmental aspirations for the more urgent task of creating a biological remedy. With a fierce determination, he set out to mold his protective balm to shield the skin, but uncertainty plagued him; seeds of doubt sprouted in his mind—there simply wasn’t enough time for him and his weary team. He needed someone outside the confines of his small vulnerable group—a gifted voice, a prodigy who had written a celebrated treatise on environment and biology. That young luminary was Damian Marson. McCloud’s discovery of him had come through scientific journals that heralded the boy’s precocious insight as if graced by divine wisdom.
In a calculated move, McCloud sought out a professor of African American history, hoping she could help him secure the boy’s allegiance. His research into the boy’s life led him to believe that she could help him win the kid’s commitment. With her encouragement, the old man caught a flight out to Richmond Virginia to talk to the seventeen year old wunderkinds mother.
The first few years after the great breach, Damian believed he and his little group were the only people left on the surface of the earth. He and his fellow scientists had spent three years together trying to find a way to help the bulk of Mankind to survive the coming calamity. During that time they had learned all that there was to know about what was coming and the best way to try to survive it. What they didn’t discover on their own, was what they needed to know most. They had been trying for years to find a pattern so they could predict when another major breach was going to occur in the Western Hemisphere, and where they had to go to escape its tumultuous aftereffects. They got unpredictable help in that area from NASA, and so they had began a journey to a new genesis. Damian and his crew didn’t think anyone without the group’s expertise and the balm that McCloud had discovered could have made it past the first year above ground after the big breach hit. They were wrong. They were also right in a way. There were others who survived past the first year, topside, but they didn’t make it by sheer luck or numerical odds. They had been specially chosen by powerful interests and they had been helped.
Damian met them after he and his group had already lived alone on the earth for two years.
There were the Iowees...two small stature Hominids with green hair and yellow faces. They looked strange, but they were irresistibly charismatic. Elite, hardened Killers fell in love them.
He met the Iowees at the same time that he met the elite killers—Special Forces soldiers, who were essentially holding the Iowees hostage though they would have died to protect them from harm even as they fought to carry out their orders to breed and enslave the little beings.
These soldiers had been so genetically enhanced, they all looked perfect in body and face. Damian could easily tell that the beautiful soldiers were as much the work of some lab as the Iowees.
Later Damian met another group of Special Forces soldiers. This group had normal looks and bodies. Damian could tell that their method of survival was more like his own –far less expensive--and more due to knowledge and a protective skin balm than to advanced technology. That told him that there were two different factions who had planted these soldiers on an earth that they had known would be depopulated and open to future planning and manipulation. One of the factions was far less wealthy than the other. Damian later found out from the Commander he had befriended why the opposing groups of Elite Futurists had left their Gunmen to try to take over the earth and steer its reality. It was the same old slavery/freedom dichotomy that had been struggling for control of the universe from the beginning of time. This time the Iowees were the key to a whole new beginning.
Damian thought McCloud was a brilliant man, but the people he called “Undergrounders” had an army of geniuses working for them. The NASA scientists were just one group. Years later, Damian and his group sailed to a Caribbean Island that surprisingly had over 300 healthy people living on it. He still could not figure out how it was accomplished.
The reason Damian and his crew were at sea was because of an unsolicited package he had received in the mail with the NASA seal. It contained graphs of the illusive pattern McCloud had not been able to find. That pattern showed Damian when to expect the next breach, and where to go to escape it.
Whether he and his crew were also "chosen" to survive was still debatable in Damian’s mind. There was evidence that McCloud’s spirited recruitment of him was less flattering to his ego than what first appeared. One of the Special Forces Units had the same balm that he thought McCloud had exclusively discovered and he himself had perfected. Someone clearly had helped him and only two groups had the ability to do it. Whether it was the pedophile elites, or their poorer opposition he wasn’t certain.
There was no question that it was the Pedophile elite Undergrounders, who had chosen and equipped—genetically, chemically and technically --the Iowees and the lethal troops of Matinee Idols. It’s possible they were the ones who sent him the computer disc with the pattern on it. They might have tried to seize an opportunity to use him and his companions as breeders like they planned to use the Iowees who were created small, docile, loving and lovable—the perfect, controllable slave. But it couldn’t have been part of their initial planning to help him. For one thing, he and his charges weren’t docile, they were fighters and they had a giant among them. His crew wouldn’t have made the best progenitors of a race of slaves. Two: if they had he and his crew in their early blueprint, they wouldn’t have allowed their henchmen to try so hard to kill them. It could be, though, that the Undergrounders have lost all ability to communicate with the surface. The breach destroyed and rearranged the very atomic structure of the earth’s magnetic field. So it’s possible the Undergrounders could be imprisoned in their subterranean cities in more ways than one.
Since the Undergrounders didn’t stay above ground, as he and his crew did, to allow their biological systems to adapt along with the changed earth, they will never be able to resurface—not for long anyway. Any communication devices they have would be as useless as the Liberty’s engines or those elite soldiers’ impressive weapons which emitted nothing but a puff of smoke when fired. Obviously, not even the Undergrounders and all the great minds they employed expected the sun breach to disrupt the very nature of the way the smallest particles reacted to friction.
Still...Something or somebody wanted him to survive. Maybe it was the enemies of the Pedophiles who sent him the disc. Maybe they were still helping him by some technological means he didn’t understand. Maybe that “providence” he was starting to believe in, consisted of a group of men and women who were sending energy signals his way to manipulate things around him. He was certainly starting to feel providential. Maybe that’s why it took him so long to accept that he and his charges were facing starvation. Providence has gotten them this far. Why would they be abandoned now?
Chapter two
the crew
Chandra Fontaine: Daughter of a Rastafarian and the love of Damian’s life. When Damian first laid eyes on her, he was struck with disbelief; she appeared no older than seventeen. Standing at about five feet four inches, her figure was delicate yet resilient. Her hair was a cascade of intricate braids that spilled gracefully down to the small of her back, framing her youthful face. But it was her eyes that captivated him the most—extraordinarily large and haunting, they hinted at a lifetime of pain and struggle, evoking the image of a kicked puppy searching for solace. She was stunning, radiating a kind of innocent beauty that made his heart race and nearly choke him when he learned that she was the all-important Roots-woman he had requested his Godmother to find for him. It struck him then that her youthful exterior must have been a heavy burden; to bear the weight of adulthood, complete with its responsibilities and harrowing experiences, while resembling a high school freshman must have created a painful dichotomy. To compound her challenges, she spoke a rich, lilting pidgin English, infused with the rhythm and soul of her culture, characteristic of other Islanders and Rastafarians. Chandra was actually twenty-six years old, five years older than Damian, and to him, she seemed like an ethereal being—more a creature of dreams than of his reality. He found himself watching her intensely after she was once again the target of someone’s careless remarks;her right to adult respect dismissed so easily. In that moment, he fell deeper in love with every flicker of emotion that crossed her expressive face and every defensive posture she assumed to shield her vulnerable spirit.
Sheree Fontaine: Damian’s godmother and Chandra’s aunt, a woman of sharp intellect and deep compassion. She had promised her dying friend to take care of her son, a promise that she took almost as the purpose of her life. She was the one who had wounded Chandra. She knew what Damian was expecting to see in a medicine woman. She knew his reaction at finding out Chandra was his Roots-woman, would be good for a laugh. People laughed, though it was at him and the look on his face than at Chandra. The horror on her face when she looked at Chandra was telling. Damian never thought for a moment she did the prank with the slightest intention of hurting her niece. Neither, apparently did Chandrawho accepted her aunt’s profuse apology with a forgiving hug.
Steve Gunthor: A colossus of a man, towering at seven feet, with a mane of fiery red hair that matched his exuberant personality. He was a whirlwind of jokes, impersonations, and sketches, a human puppet show that could fill a four-hour variety special with laughter and mirth.
McCloud had grand ambitions for Damian when he recruited him to Harvard; plans that held the promise of painful disruption for the tightly-knit team of researchers. Damian couldn’t help but imagine the shock waves rippling through the seasoned ecological scientists when the old man proclaimed that an eighteen-year-old Black kid, fresh out of high school, was to lead them. The emotional tempest of resentment and disbelief wasn’t surprising; it felt like betrayal to the men and women who had dedicated their lives to the field. Yet, amidst the legitimate anger, he felt they should have had faith in McCloud’s judgment. He felt their reactions uncharacteristically petty for a group of scientists.
What truly astonished Damian was Steve’s reaction. Steve welcomed him as if he were a long-lost friend. Even called him“boss.” Steve made that declaration loudly and earnestly, shifting the onus of the situation. This pivotal moment transformed Damian’s internal struggle; instead of feeling overwhelmed by the hostility, he saw a glimmer of hope in Steve’s apparent sincerity. Convinced now that there was at least one person in the lab he could count on, Damian felt an eagerness to tackle the critical breach problem. In a prestigious, predominantly white field such as environmental science, he faced the inevitable challenge of navigating prejudices, but McCloud was offering him a golden opportunity, a chance to make a meaningful impact under the guidance of one of the world’s foremost experts. Steve’s support somehow fortified Damian’s resolve to seize this opportunity. Yet, a lingering suspicion remained; in Damian’s world, such friendships were rare, and he braced himself for the inevitable betrayal, even as the big redhead had him in stitches, pantomiming and mocking the others. Over the six years that passed, time would prove Steve’s sincerity, not only revealing a bond that defied Damian’s world view as a Black kid growing up in the projects, but also solidifying an unwavering friendship.
Ada Lightfoot: Damian smiled when he reflected on how she had stood there leading the voices of dissent against him like a big-breasted Napoleon Bonaparte, her ample bosom heaving in and out like a windblown mast; her high pitched tone rising far above all the lower pitched exclamations of distress. He had mentally labeled her the “pipsqueak” that day. She resented him for most of the 3 years he’d worked with her in the lab. After her family and friends started dying around her, she had leaned on him during a weak moment. Damian still didn’t know why she, Mike and Steve survived when all the others in the lab but him—the only Black-- died of cancer. These days she was like the dearest sister to him.
Mike Steinson--the third and last member of that scientific team of eight-- who was still alive and with him. Mike was not only brilliant; he had seniority in the lab when McCloud brought Damian in and made him lead scientist. Mike never got over the affront because to him McCloud was a father figure. A stranger had come in the house and stolen his father’s favor. Mike knew he deserved better. He knew he was a far superior candidate for lead scientist based just on experience and knowledge alone. He was right. But for what McCloud needed most at that point, Mike wasn’t even in the running with Damian and McCloud had callously made that clear.
The Iowees: Both stood about three and a half feet tall. The male was slightly bigger. They had green hair and yellow faces. They were named First-he and First-she. Damian guessed they got the transparent names because they were the first of their kind. They were the prize in a tug of war between two opposing units of Special Forces soldiers. One group wanted to enslave them and the other group was determined that the earth would not be claimed by the forces of oppression. Both groups were considered “spiritual warriors.” These soldiers knew a lot of classified information that they didn’t mind talking about now that there were nobody left to tell. From them Damian learned that the world was a lot different from what most people lived and died believing it to be; that myth and fairy tales were a lot closer to the truth of the world’s past and present than so called rational thinking and belief.
Feifong: Five feet tall, coal black hair with curled bangs that framed both sides of her face. She was born in Vietnam. She married Mike Steinson two months before the big breach. Mike saw her more as an instrument to use against Damian than as a sincere mate for his love and respect. Despite that, she remained eternally grateful and loyal to him for giving her a ring...even after he left her for another woman. She became Damian’s Scribe. Damian suspected that she first offered to serve as his secretary so she could spy on him for Mike. Over time, he and Feifong grew very fond of each other. She later fell in love with Bruce.
Bruce Akimoto: Special Forces soldier of Japanese descent. He left his Unit to follow Feifong who refused to leave her long time companions. He took the lead in training Damian and the other civilians in combat. Like Steve, but on a much smaller scale—especially for an elite soldier--he fell into following Damian’s lead with inexplicable ease.
Chako Morningsky: Special Forces Soldier; Native American. He was from the same unit as Bruce. Given a choice by his Commander whether to stay in the western hemisphere, or sailing with Damian to a Continent that had already suffered its last hit for the foreseeable future-- he chooses to leave his unit to follow a woman. He had fallen in love with Ada. He also fell easily under Damian’s authority although no proclamations were ever announced about who would be leader. The man took to Damian’s command like he had served under him for an eternity.
Michelle Johnson: Special Forces Soldier; mixed-race. She was tall with an uncanny resemblance to the actress Angelina Jolie. Her unit had been in a running battle with Bruce’s and Chako’s unit. Her group had orders to secure and enslave the Iowees. Bruce and Chako’s unit had orders to keep the Iowees free or kill them. She developed feelings for Steve. By refusing a direct order during combat, she had endangered herself with her Commander and her unit. Chandra, seeing it, invites her and she joins Damian’s crew.
Jane Smith: Daughter of Damian’s most racist lab partner. With his dying breath the man begs Damian to take his daughter along on the quest to survive. He instills in his daughter the need to attach herself to the one most likely to come out on top in a new genesis. Her infatuation with Damian, or the power his leadership position represented, was a torment to her. She was her father’s daughter but something ancient and powerful lay deep inside her soul.
Janet Rivera: Hispanic; the perfect face with a million dollar smile. Sheree had begged Damian to take her on/off again lover along on the quest. Later the bi-sexual woman falls in love with a soldier named Felix Santiero. She chooses to stay with him and not cross the sea with Damian and Sheree. Felix is later killed in a battle that wipes out the anti-slavery Unit ,commanded by Damian’s friend Lee Robertson. The loss of Chako, Bruce, and a recruit named Patrick Henry, who had followed Jane Smith, had left Damian’s friend severely short-handed in his running battle with his enemy. The coming breach would have killed them anyway and Damian had told his friend so. That’s why Lee had given his troops a choice. Most of them preferred to take their chances with the breach rather than try to sail across the Atlantic on a ship with no engine. Unlike his hopeful charges, Lee had believed Damian when he said they stood no chance of surviving the breach. Lee chose to stay and die with the majority of his soldiers anyway. He was digging an underground bunker when his outnumbered crew was attacked. Janet was taken captive but was later rescued by Damian and his group.
Elizabeth Wanatua: Seventeen years old, born in Trinidad. She had long curly hair, with the model face and body that was always the advertisement for the Islands’ tourist industry. Damian and his crew rescued her and her people from a group of British commandos who had emerged from underground bunkers and taken over the Island and its people. Elizabeth had escaped rape and brutality and was running in terror of every man she saw. Bruce chased her down and brought her to Chandra for medical attention. Elizabeth’s Island and the three hundred living people on it were an anomaly. None of the other Islands had even the smallest of animals surviving on them. Damian felt sure that the place had somehow been protected from the breach by the Under-grounders. The British soldiers and the Natives were probably part of an experiment. If his theory was true, the Under-grounders. suffered a major ruin in their plans. Damian and his crew defeated and executed the Slavers who were mere shadows of their former elite warrior selves. Ghostly white, even the ones with Negro facial features, they had ridden out the manifestations from the great breach in underground bunkers. They emerged weak and they were growing weaker every day they remained above ground. They would have soon died but they were having children with the Native women. They were also beheading and drinking the blood of some of the Natives in an attempt to build up their immune systems. The scheme had the potential to work. It was probably a reason, beside slavery, why the 300 Natives were preserved.
Sheba: Three hundred pound Bengal Tiger. She was starving midst an abundance of prey when Damian and his crew first saw her. It was clear that she had been raised by and around people since she was born.
Haj ramsoon. Born in Pakistan, he was an engineer and all around genius, who saved Damiam over and over with his inventions.
Each and every one of those with him meant the world to Damian. They trusted and put their faith in his ability to lead them to safety and a new chance at life. The thought of them dying a slow death had lodged in his mind despite his best effort at mental distraction. He could feel the migraine building.
It was the sound of raucous laughter that saved him from the encroaching agony in his temples—at least for the moment. If they knew what they were facing his companions obviously had no intentions of letting it spoil a good episode of Steve unleashed. He decided to try to join them and see what kind of show the big guy was putting on this time.
“Ar, dar he be,” Steve said when he saw Damian enter the room, “and a damn good thing for Sheba that ye showed up when yar did, Cap’n. We were about to abuse her with one of yar smelly socks and send her off to fetch ye.”
“Oh no!” First-she proclaimed in mock horror, “not the smelly sox!”
Damian looked at the little Iowee, highly bemused. When he first met the Iowees, both of them were too shy and timid to barely breathe. Now...from hanging around him so much, First-she had become almost as big a ham as Steve.
Ada scooted over closer to Chako so Damian had enough room to sit beside Chandra. Once he settled, Chandra laid her head on his shoulder. Sheba deserted her spot between the two Iowees and walked over to Damian. He gave her the obligatory scratch behind the ears. Feifong smiled at Damian and turned beaming at Mike, who was watching Steve like a kid at a circus. She was ecstatic to see her ex-husband laugh, which he rarely did, even before the brutal beating that permanently wrecked his face.
Late into the night the fun ended and the room was almost clear of the people who were all heading for their bunks. Steve approached Damian. Chandra was wrapped around Damian’s waist barely standing up under her own strength. She had been as lethargic the entire evening.
“What’s bothering you boss?” This was the serious Steve.
“Haven’t any of the rest of you noticed what’s happening?”
“You mean the lack of rain?”
Damian sighed. “What are we going to do? I’m wide open to any advice?”
“I don’t know. I just figured...hoped, something will come ,up.”
“So did I. But not now. It’s not going to rain Steve. Even if it did, it might be too late. We’re in trouble...big trouble.”
“You think the next stop is going to be like the last one?”
“I think it’s going to be worse. The farther we make south, the less the weather varies in any measure. The mornings are not even cool or damp.”
Steve mumbled under his breath, “God help us!”
Damian reached out and laid his hands on the big man’s shoulders. “Go on and get some sleep. I’ll call a group meeting in the morning. I didn’t want to do it but I think it’s time we all stop avoiding it and face up to this situation.”
“I agree.” Steve’s head lowered, “Goodnight, Chandra.”
“Ni’ Steve,” she murmured.
Steve looked at Damian questioningly before he left for his cabin. Damian reached down and scooped Chandra up in his arms. The expected giggling did not follow. She was like a rag doll in his grasp. Something wasn’t right. This wasn’t the bundle of energy that was always the first one up in the morning. Damian carried her to their cabin and laid her on the bed. She was already asleep when he bent over and lightly kissed her forehead before covering her up. There was still too much on his mind for him to sleep so he headed for the stairs and his favorite spot above deck.
Minutes later, Chandra stirred and reached out for Damian. She sat up when her fingers neglected to touch what they expected. When she awakened enough to think clearly, she knew where he was. She got off the bed. She was still in her day clothes. She stripped them off, glanced over at the clock and saw it was 3:00 in the morning. She didn’t bother to dress before leaving the cabin to find Damian.
“Bwoy...”,
He was right where she thought he’d be. Damian turned toward her voice, saw her nakedness silhouetted upon the deck in the faint light of the quarter moon. She reached both arms out towards him.
“Com’ ti bed.”
Damian was the last one to wake up the next morning which was usually the case when Chandra made love to him as long and hard as she did the night before. The last time she had clutched at him that desperately, it was after she had dreamed that he had been beaten to death by a Special Forces soldier named Mustafa. The dream came true but she got the ending wrong. Until the last minute the long, brutal fight could have gone either way, but both he and Mustafa had survived it. Damian believed in her and her spiritual abilities but he felt that her feelings for him clouded how she interpreted what she saw in her dreams when they were about him. Damian suddenly knew why she was so tired and quiet lately. He wondered why she would worry so much about him at a time when they all were facing the greatest crises of their lives. Why didn’t she dream about the looming threat of starvation—or has she?
When Damian got to the dining room they were all already there, eating and discussing the drought situation. Chandra got up as soon as he entered the room. She smiled warmly at him as she brushed by his shoulder. Minutes later she returned with a plate for him. The offering was the least appetizing dish she ever set before him. She and Jane were scraping the bottom of the barrel. Their food supply must be lower than he had been informed about. Ada was saying:
“We have hundreds of miles of water to cross. What if we can’t resupply on any of the land masses we come to?”
“We can’t change course,” Steve said, We have to make it to the southern Continent before the manifestations of the breach catches up to us.”
“I’m curious Steve, Jane leaned slightly in the big man’s direction, “what can happen at sea if we don’t reach land in time?”
“There will be hurricanes and storms. If we are still on the water when the after-affects of the breach shakes up the western hemisphere, we will be chased by wind and rain, swallowed up like minnows, if not broken to pieces or blown off course into the North Pole somewhere. We have to get off that water and we have about a year and a half to do it.”
Mike spoke next and Damian listened carefully. Mike had always been one of the smartest people he’d ever met.
“Steve, you see any low lying Islands on that map? Land masses that are at, or below sea level tend to be wetter. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find enough vegetation on one to load up. Chandra will probably find something that can be used as a preserver.”
Mike’s speech was slow and slurry, but he was a lot easier to understand than he used to be. Sheree smiled broadly. “That’s a great suggestion Mike!”
Damian couldn’t have agreed more. Suddenly he felt like the weight on his shoulder lessened a bit.
“Still depends on some luck,” Mike cautioned.
The mood of the entire room had lightened. “What have we been doing the last six years, but living on luck, Feifong asked brightly.
Damian peered over Steve’s shoulder. “See anything?”
“As a matter of fact,” Steve pointed at the charts he was studying, “there’s a group of low lying Islands about 40 miles due west—a week off our course. We’ll lose maybe two, three weeks if we go for them.”
“We have about a three month window of cushion before we have to be off the water and on land. We don’t know what other delays we may encounter but do we have a choice, Damian asked. He turned to Jane. “We have enough food for that detour?"
Jane shook her head sadly. “We are going without for a few days at least.”
“Well, Bruce said, let’s just pray we don’t get there and find the place barren.”
Damian stood up signifying that for him the meeting was over. He was barely able to concentrate for worrying about Chandra. She was too quiet. He sensed she was upset. He had to find out what was bothering her so much. Whatever it was, concerned her more than the drought, which to him seemed kind of ridiculous. The others followed Damian's lead and stood up too. They all went to their cabins.
Chapter three
He found her standing in his favorite spot at the ship’s bow. She was waiting for him. Her eyes were moist.
“You want to tell me what’s wrong?”
“Mi gwan ti lose you.” Her voice sounded distant, disconnected.
“You mind elaborating on that implausibility?”
“Yuh gwan ti be king of the whole world bwoy. Dem gwan call yuh Emperor.”
“You dreamed this?” He had no Idea who “Dem” could possibly be but he learned long ago to take her visions seriously. She nodded.
“There is a wombman by yuh side.” .
“Of course there is. No matter what the future holds for me Chandie you will...hopefully... always be by my side.”
“Di wombman is nuh me.”
“How can that be...I will never leave you.”
“It is I who who will flee from yuh.” Damian was shocked.
“But why? I don’t understand.”
“It’s fuh mi soul bwoy, and fuh you. I canno be Empress and Chandra too. As Empress I will betray and plot endlessly against yuh. Only as Chandra and Damian can us be together.”
“Then fuck all that Emperor stuff Chandie, I don’t need a crown. I need you.”
“It’s nuh dat simple.”
“It is to me.”
She linked her arm in his. “Come ti bed with mi now.”
“Bwoy,” she was calling to him softly. They had just made love but he never got fully into it. He gave her his full attention, us still have a long time together.”
He shook his head. “If I’m living, I want forever with you Chandie. I can’t settle for anything else." He sat up in the bed. “Your dream shows us being apart. That doesn’t mean we will never come back together again. Wherever I am—wherever you are, I’ll find you. As long as we are apart I’ll search for you until we’re together until death do we part.”
Her face brightened. “And mi nuh ever stop waiting fuh yuh.”
“Chandie,” His eyes searched her face.
“Yes?”
“Who is that woman you saw sitting in your place?”
Her face clouded and she turned her eyes away from his scrutiny.“Mi dun kno,’. The first time she ever lied to him and probably anybody else.
He pulled her close and hugged her tightly. He kissed her forehead and wiped away her tears. He looked into her eyes and smiled.
"I love you Chandra Isi Fontaine, and if things happens as you dreamed, I swear I will never stop looking for you."
Chapter four
“Land ho! Steve yelled even though everyone was above-deck and could see as well as him.
“You just love playing pirate don’t you? Damian grinned at the big man as he fought to hold the ship straight.
“Think I can borrow one of Chandra’s gold hoops?” Steve walked over to Damian.
“I don’t know but you can borrow this wheel for a while.”
“Ask her for me boss.“
Ask her yourself. You going to shave your head too?”
I’ve thought about it. But I’m afraid Shelly might wake up one night and mistake me for a great white shark. You know how efficient she is with a weapon."
“Damian laughed. "I’ll get the dingy ready. You coming with me?”
“You have to ask?”
“I guess not. What about Michelle? She’s going to want to come too.”
“I know, but don’t sweat it boss. I’m okay with it. She’s not going to let me play shining knight, besides I’ve learned that she can kick my ass easier that I can save hers.”
That might have been true before Bruce trained them all in combat. Damian doubted if there was anything left on earth that could best Steve in a fight now. Michelle was a special forces soldier and her former Unit’s best medic. That’s why she was such a logical choice to bring along on potentially dangerous missions. She and Steve had argued about her refusal to “stay safe” like all the other women.
“Who else you taking?" Steve yelled to Damian above the noise of the wind.
“Bruce, Chako and Sheba!”
“Sounds like a winning plan to me."
Damian, Steve, Michelle Chako and Bruce armed themselves with knives and spears. The others came over to help steady the dingy and see their love ones off. Bruce kissed Feifong and climbed down into the dingy first. Chako hugged Ada and went down.
“Be careful bwoy.” Chandra kissed Damian and wished him luck.
Steve grabbed Michelle and bent her over, smothering her faces with kisses.
“What are you doing Steve, I’m coming along.“
“Everybody else got some, I don’t see why I should be deprived just because my woman is an Amazon.”
Michelle laughed along with everybody else. Steve helped her into the dingy and then climbed down after her. Damian whistled for the big cat. She appeared out of nowhere and leaped into the big dingy landing as lightly as a stuffed bear.
“Bye Sheba!” The Iowees waved.
Chapter five
It didn’t take long to row to the beachhead. When they exited the dingy, the burning heat of the sand was the first sign that their prayers for a fruitful Island wasn’t going to be answered. The closer they got to the trees, the worse things looked. The trees were all leafless. They entered the woods and their worst fears were affirmed. The Island was a wasteland. They had sailed a week off course for this. They now had only a one and a half month window of time left to make it their final destination. There were more Islands to this cluster but no one thought there would be a point to holding on to the slight hope Mike had given them. They were going to starve to death and they knew it. Chandra was wrong. He wasn’t going to be a future anything. He was going die of starvation.
Without a reason why, Damian lead the party deeper into the woods. They walked over a mile in silence before Bruce finally suggested that they turn back and go back to the ship.
“Might as well call Sheba.”
“Sheba,” Damian spoke his thinking out loud, she’s not back yet. Something out there is keeping her and it might do us good to find out what it is.”
“You’re absolutely correct, sir.” Damian, along with the rest of his crew turned heads towards the unfamiliar voice. A tall, skinny, brown-skinned man with a flowing black beard was approaching them.
“Been watching you folks since you reached shore.” The man boldly kept coming forward until he stood directly in front of Damian. Steve moved closer but the man had no visible weapon.
“Didn’t know if you were going to greet me like a friend or eat me like a T-bone. Then I decided it didn’t matter either way. I’m so glad to see you folks I could dance a jig.”
For a minute Damian thought he was going to do just that, but he just reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He offered, but nobody accepted. None of them smoked even before the breach.
“If you don’t eat me I can show you where there plenty of grub to take back to that ship of yours.”
He reached a hand out to Damian.
"My name is Haj Ramsoom. I guess you’re the one leading these fine specimens of man and womanhood, and I say to you welcome sir, welcome to Haj’s paradise.”
So many thought were running through Damian’s mind he didn’t know what to do or think. He shook Haj’s hand.
“My name is Damian Marson.”
He introduced the others whom were all looking at Haj, as if he had come from heaven. Not only was it a miracle that a man was alive and living on this desolated Island, he sad something about there being food enough to take back to the ship. They heard it. He heard it but looking around the scorched place, he wanted to be sure.
“You have food here?”
“Indeed I do, and plenty of it.”
Damian looked around again.
“Aah,” Haj grinned. “I know what you’re thinking, but the drought didn’t happen until last year. Before then--Haj paused- It’ll be easier for me to show you. If you all will follow me.”
Damian looked from Bruce to Chako. They both nodded their assent. Without moving from their spots Damian knew they had scoped the surroundings thoroughly.
“Let’s go,” Damian said to his crew.
“You have a garden here?” Steve asked, his tone transmitting his doubt.
Haj never looked back as he led them deeper into the forest.
“Not just a garden—a garden of Eden, but you know Eden..., he looked around briefly at Michelle, isn’t all it can be when there’s no Eve to share it with-If you know what I mean? You wouldn’t happen to have an Eve back there on that boat would you Damian?"
Damian knew exactly what he meant and he instantly thought about Jane. He liked Haj. He didn’t think it would be a bad idea if Jane liked him too.
“Maybe.”
Haj clasped his hands together. He exclaimed with delight, “Excellent!“ His stride seemed to take on an extra step as he led them onward. Minutes later, they came to a clearing and it was like they had entered another world. Haj hadn’t exaggerated a bit when he said he had a garden of Eden. The vegetation seemed to bloom as far as the eye could see. How could he had done this?
In the mix of it all lounged Sheba, looking as full of stomach and contentment as a Sultan. Her eyes was asking what took you so long. Steve growled at her and she turned over on her back.
“How did you do this?” Michelle’s tone was full of wonder.
Haj’s eyes got that longing look when he looked at her. “I’ll tell you all about it and anything else you want to know, but why don’t we first go back to the ship and get the others. There’s no dangers here and I’m in the mood for a feast.“ He turned to Damian, “How about it sir.”
He kidding? He and his crew hadn't had a decent meal in weeks.
“Sounds good to me.”
“Excellent.”
Jane, Chandra and Michelle were like kids in a candy store. Haj had given them free reign to his garden and they were skipping like little girls. Each of them loved to cook and it has been a long time since they’ve had a chance to do any real cooking. Haj brought out some wine.
Wine too, Damian marveled, this guy is amazing. The feast became a party. Steve and a party was like a baseball and a bat—they just belonged together. Steve, and alcohol was like a cherry on top of a triple deck of ice cream--just completely too much.
Haj was born in Pakistan. When he was five years old he moved with his parents to the United States. When he was 16 he finished high school with a scholarship to attend Princeton university for free. While there, he trained to be a Biologist. After he graduated he decided he wanted to be an Engineer too. So he went back to college for another four years. There he married a woman he had first dated in high school. Five years later he and the woman were divorced. Completely disenchanted with life, he decide to drop out of the rat race and live alone on an island. He left the mainland four years before the big breach destroyed the world. He had known something was going to happened. It took six months for the after-affects of the breach to reach his island. By that time he had dug himself a crude bunker which stayed wet with about a foot of water. His bunker was nothing but a hole in the ground which he kept covered with a tarp. It rained on the Island everyday and he believed that was why he was able to leave his bunker every few days to exercise and search for food.
Two years later later he was able to leave the bunker altogether with no ill effects from the sun. A year ago the rains stopped completely and he began to put his degrees to use. He started building his Eden.
“How did you get water to your crops,” Damian asked.
“My very own irrigation system,” Haj said proudly. Damian looked around and for the first time noticed the rows of bamboo that was arrayed throughout Haj’s garden. They had holes in them that constantly sprayed water.
“You see it,” Haj asked.
“Wow!” It must have taken you years to do all this, Sheree exclaimed.
“I built the irrigation system in a few weeks. So much of it already lying around. All this is really more than I ever would had needed. I‘ve created a problem of overabundance for myself simply because I had nothing else to do. I started out with about half an acre. Out of boredom I kept adding on until I got what you see here. Most of this food was going to rot.”
“How is water being pulled through the bamboo? Feifong asked.
“Those bamboo stalks are running about a mile down hill from the ocean. I’ve stuff them with netting to filter out as much salt as possible. I built a dam back there, Haj pointed, and that’s what’s keeping the water boxed in with only one way to flow.”
“You ever think about leaving Eden?”
Damian had never been more impressed. He could see Haj as a tremendous asset.
Haj looked at Jane. “Only every blessed day for the past three years.” He boldly held Jane’s eyes with his own. She did not look away.
Damian lay awake beside Chandra that night thinking of the dream she told him about. He never doubted her. She saw everybody alive, years into the future. That morning he could not see how it could ever happen. Hours later he meets a guy stranded alone on a drought stricken Island—with a garden of Eden to boot. What were the odds?
Chapter Six
Soon as the Liberty was loaded with as much supplies and food as they could fit on her, Damian had lifted anchor. They had lost two weeks from their planned course. No one knew what delays lie ahead of them. They could afford to squander no time they didn’t have to.
Feifong sat before him, pen in hand. They had to make the records the old fashioned way because no mechanical or electronic devises worked in their new world.
“You ready?” Damian asked the beautiful little woman who had been serving as a scribe for him for nearly six years.
Feifong shifted a little in her chair and smiled as she gave him a mock salute.
“Ready sir!”
“Very funny.”
“Solly”
Damian laughed. He’d never seen Feifong so lighthearted and playful.
“What’s up with you today?”
“What do you mean?”
“Solly?”
“I can’t talk about it,” she giggled. Damian’s ears perked. He looked at her closer. A grin spread across his face. She was literally glowing. Over the years he had gotten to know Feifong in a way few people ever get to know one another. Girlishness from Feifong was like getting a lap dance from mother Theresa. She seemed to be born old with a total inability to find pleasure in anything.
“Oh…it’s like that,” Damian teased. She blushed red.
“Stop it,” she begged.
“Alright but you started it. Coming in here lit up like Christmas tree, joking and everything.”
“Can we get on with the dictation please?”
“Okay, Okay. I’m getting serious now.” Damian paused a few seconds.“It was that good, huh?
“Damian!”
He laughed again.” Alright, this is going to be a long one anyway, so I guess we best get started:
“One more has joined us on our journey.”
Damian walked back and forth as he spoke. Feifong had long ago stopped watching him and took his dictation with her head down.
“His name is Haj Ramsoom. He is a biologist and an engineer. He had already done much for us by saving us from starvation. I am confident that he will do much more for us in our quest to survive and I feel blessed to have him with us. Today is the sixth day of June 2014.”
“So short and sweet.”
Feifong smiled as she put the pen and tablet in the metal box.
“Thank you Fei.”
It had been a while since he’d last called on her to take his dictation. It showed how much he was concerned about the drought. Although he thought providence was looking out for him, deep down he actually thought they were going to starve to death.
“Don’t.” Feifong said softly.
“Don’t what?”
He sensed that she was suddenly upset about something.
“Start that again thanking me...that’s what.“
They had had this discussion before. He should have known better.
“Okay.”
“You know how much these moments alone with you mean to me.” She looked for a brief moment like she was going to cry.
“Is something wrong, Fei”
She smiled and stood up leaving the room without glancing back.
Sheree Fontaine: Damian’s godmother and Chandra’s aunt, a woman of sharp intellect and deep compassion. She had promised her dying friend to take care of her son, a promise that she took almost as the purpose of her life. She was the one who had wounded Chandra. She knew what Damian was expecting to see in a medicine woman. She knew his reaction at finding out Chandra was his Roots-woman, would be good for a laugh. People laughed, though it was at him and the look on his face than at Chandra. The horror on her face when she looked at Chandra was telling. Damian never thought for a moment she did the prank with the slightest intention of hurting her niece. Neither, apparently did Chandra who accepted her aunt’s profuse apology with a forgiving hug.
