Torn (50 page)

A thousand years of ice. That’s what was predicted, and that was true. If a line was drawn center
across
the
United States
, c
hances were, without greenhouse
resources, it would be like the North
Pole
.
Uninhabitable
.

Martin knew that.

When give
n
the task to plan, he did just that.

The greenhouses in the
d
ome city were flourishing.
As
soon as one month post-
storm,
people
c
ould venture outside for fresh air, but not for long.

But his plan would take certain conditions. And at three years post
-
storm, the
conditions
started to ripen.

It was time to implement.

Temperatures
down south had stabilized.

Communication
with
the third world and countries below the equator were minimal. Hurricanes, volcanoes
and tsunamis took their tol
l in the last hours of the Storm.

But in New Mexico and in parts of Texas it had leveled at sixty five. It was time to venture out and start planning.

Small farming towns were rebuilt
, and preparations for new farm
land were made.

The livestock that was moved in the GEP were being transported
to the farms
.

The dome city couldn’t exist anymore. They had close to a mill
ion people and they had to find
th
em
homes.

They had close to a year or more to do so.

According to Dr. Colin Reye, t
he discovery that the shifting weather was causing fast glacier
movements
and the face of the earth was going to geologically change, including the
mountain
that
housed
dome city.

That
eventually
would move and
spread
.

Colin
made
communications
with Martin via continuous radio transmissions. They had been
in
communication since six months post The
S
torm.

He
was finally going to meet him.

In the
northw
est
part of
Texas,
a t
own
would hold 30,000 people.

Crews
were there finishing up.
It was o
ne of twenty sites they were preparing.

When he heard Dr.
Reye
had
arrived
, Martin anxiously stopped what he was doing to find him.

Colin was wearing a pair of tan pants and a
golf
shirt.
He
looked ready for spring.

“Dr. Reye.” Martin extended his hand.

“General Myers, it is a p
leasure.” A firm happy grip
from Colin, and he took
off his
sunglasses
. “This is my grandson
,
Luke.”

Luke
,
a tall young man, greeted Martin.

“
Pleasure
,” Martin said.

“Luke has that data for you to look
at. It’s
quite captivating,” Colin said. “Disturbing but expected. It’s been his project. Not mine.”

“Then
,
Luke
,
I owe you our gratitude. You
saved a million
lives over your discovery.”

Humbled,
Luke
shook his head. “You would
have
signs,
sir. But
I have to thank my
stepfather;
he was the one that got me interested in this aspect. And I focused on it.”

Colin interjected. “Young Luke theorized it and he and my son, as you know
,
made several trips up here to measure.”

Martin nodded. “
Speaking
of which, where is Dr. Cobb? I was looking forward to meeting him.”

“Unfortunately he can’t make it. Fortunately it is
for
a good reason,” Colin
explained
. “His wife is giving
birth
as we speak.”

“Wonderful news.”

“Yes,” Colin smiled. “With all the children that they have I’m glad we’ve ventured out into the
neighboring
town.”

“How’s that working?”

“Good. The surviving
l
ocals were
minimal. Not many survivors. So
we’re
adjusting. It looks as you are doing well.”

Martin exhaled. “On schedule. Thank God. It’s a new
beginning. Every
t
h
ing seems so fresh. The air, the earth.”

“It does.
It
has to be a new
beginning
,” Colin spoke as he took it all in. “We’re all still stuck in the
past. We
have to look ahead or we’ll never move forward.”

“The world was going to pot when this happened,” Martin said. “Maybe this ice age was a fresh start we needed.”

After a short star
e
, Colin winked with a nod. “Maybe.”

Joshua wanted to
extinguish
the night light. Put out the flame for the evening. He was tired. His old h
ands ached from sculpt
ing. But there was a buzz. News had spread
through
out the village that the village journeymen that
headed
north, explorers
had uncovered what they believed was the mythical city of Gep, buried in the northern mountain range. They sent back a
messenger
and would be back soon.

They found it. They found evidence.

Suddenly everyone was excited at this
discovery
. The ancient city that many believed
was
just a fable did exist.

Joshua didn’t buy it.

He was eighty-nine years old, his father
had
lived even longer, and so did his father
;
not
once had anyone ever
uncovered
any indication of an ancient city
,
Nor of the
advance
d
civilization that was said to
exist
thousands of years earlier.

Yet
everyone searched. Everyone always searched. Someone always found something. A pot, a bowl, bones. But nothing ever was conclusive.

Ready to set on his bench, he heard the call of his name.

“Grandfather?”

Ah,
Daniel
. The worst of the
m al
l
. The most anxious. Joshua head
ed
to the other
room
to check on him. Daniel lay on his bed. A bed that was like a cot.

“Yes, what is it now?” Joshua asked as he knelt by the boy
’
s head.

“Have they
returned?
It’s been four days. I heard they were almost here.”

Joshua ran his hand over the six
-
year
-old
’s
hair
. “Daniel, it’s not true. Don’t get your hopes up. Since I was your age, I was
hearing
news of the lost
city
.”

“But they found it.
”

“Everyone always finds it.”

His innocent eyes peered up. “You don’t think it’s real?”

“If
an
advanced civilization existed, surely we would have their means. If the myths of their destruction
were
true, would we not have found ruins
somewhere
?”

Daniel nodded.

“God has made us the way we are. We
live
peaceful and simply. How much more advanced, Daniel, can we get
?
”

“The stories say that had things that ran without fire.”

“
Nonsense
.”

“That they had ways to speak to people through the air.”

Joshua laughed. “And i
f
that was possible, do you think we would have
rid ourselves
of that
ability
? No. Now
. . .
sleep
, , , ,
”
H
e stopped and his head cocked at the sound of horses.

Daniel sprung up in bed. “They’re back.”

There was a commotion in the street.

‘
Find
the elder,
f
ind Elder Joshua!” someone shouted.

No
sooner
did
Joshua
hear
that, a knock came at his door.

“Elder. Come quickly.”

Daniel scurried from the bed. Joshua would move as fast as he could

When he made it outside,
a
mob had gathered around the four
returning
journeymen.

“
Clear
way for the Elder!”

Donald broke free of the
crowd
.
He
bowed
his
head to Joshua.

Joshua
felt the touch of his grandson holding his arm. “What is it?”

“We found it
,
elder. We found it. The
ancient
City of Gep. We found the sign, Monroe has it.”

Joshua cocked back. Yet
he
still didn’t believe.

“And
. . .
we found the bible. It was
sealed
in a bag in a
case
with other items. It is ancient as time. A bible that dictates exactly what
happened
.
Written by a God.
Fire. Disease. They had l
eaders
and Gods. I had to know. I was very
careful.
I did not ruin it.
I’ve
read it on the
journey back.
Forgive
me for doing so before you.”
He said as he extended the thick red book, perfectly preserved
, a
h
ard
cover
engraved
with
gold lettering. “I am full of knowledge and
await
questions.”

“
Forgiven
.” With nervous old hands, Joshua took the book. It was
in a
sense fragile. He lost his breath.
Frightened
he lifted the pages, the multitudes of pages. Words
filled
each
page. He had never seen
anything like
it. Their books were bound with wire, string. The covers for their books were leather and the words burned on them. Not etched in gold.

People cheered in the background. But Joshua focused on the book.

“Grandfather,” Daniel tugged his sleeve. “What is it? Is it really their
bible?
”

“
I
. . .
I don’t know.” Joshua looked at Donald. “You say this outlines what happened to their world
?
”

“Yes, Elder,
y
es. It tells of disease and fire from the sky
,
t
he hand of God.”

“Grandfather? May I see?” Daniel asked.

Still shaking and stunned, Joshua lowered the book to Daniel. “It is
documentation
from
an ancient civilization.”

Daniel gasped out as his tiny fingers traced the words. “What does this say,
Grandfather
?”

“Their
bible and
God
’s
name,” Joshua replied,
and then
read the title. “
The Stand
by Stephen King.”