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     Within seconds the two girls fell and once again I witnessed the liquid
met
al pouring out of every or
i
fi
ce of each one of them and then each one passed out just like Joe, Ina and Pud had.

     When they came to, they had full heads of hair. 
But the amazing thing was that all of their hair was also red like all of ours.  The girls were beautiful and had blue eyes.  My eyes were green and Joe’s and his family were gray.  I thought both went with the red hair but I liked the blue also.

     “Now you can choose names that you like.  Ashley, she pointed at me, was already named Ashley.  She chose my uncle’s name, Joe for him.  My new name is Pud and my mother’s name is Ina.”

     The girls chose Zen and Zoe and the man chose Robert.  I was glad everyone decided to cho
o
se real names.  I could never get used to all those letters and numbers.

     Now that the man had a full head of hair, he didn’t appear to be all that old.  When I asked him, he said he was 57.

     They chose a yellow house on the other side of Irene’s. 
We showed them how to use the sphere’s like furniture and they stretched out and went to sleep.

CHAPTER 12

     We enjoyed the city and each other’s company for another few days.  Zoe, Zen, and Pud went exploring every day and were gone all day.  No one worried about them.

     I think we would have all been happy to keep things the way they were but one day Irene called a meeting at the front of the cave.  We left the youngsters in the city.

     “I think it’s wise to have our meetings here each time.  It’s too easy to s
tay in the city and be content
.  But we must think of our mission to help others who
still
have to deal with the authorities.”

    
“Robert and I have been talking about this,” Joe said, “And I think we should go down and talk to some of the people who were at the last meeting.  I thought Robert and I could talk to the men and Ina and Ashley could talk to the women.”

     We went down the hill leaving Irene at the entrance of the cave.  Joe took my hand and I looked back and saw Robert take Ina’s hand.

     When Joe saw me looking he said, “They have mated.  They have love for each other just like we do.  I don’t know if she has life in her body yet though.”

     I didn’t know if I did either.  I had none of the symptoms I had had with June, the morning sickness etc.  I didn’t know when my period was in this lifetime so I couldn’t go by that.  But nothing would make me happier than to have Joe’s baby.

     As we continued down the hill, I thought of something I had been meaning to ask Joe.  “Why is there no means of transportation?”

     “From what I’ve studied, I think it’s because, as we concentrated over the centuries on learning and communication, transportation became less and less important.”

     “That doesn’t make any sense, Joe.  In Irene’s time, she had something called the skywheel.  We had cars and trucks and everyone loved to travel.  You gave up travel so you could communicate without talking out loud?”

    
He was in deep thought for so long I thought he couldn’t think of any reply.  Finally he said, “I think, from what has happened now, it was part of the government’s way to control us.  They controlled our mind if you think about it.

     “Now that I don’t have so much going on in my head, I’m wondering how many subliminal messages we got from the authorities.  I never really thought about why we didn’t have transportation.

     “Maybe the authorities got us so busy in our minds with so much other information that we forgot to think about any other way to go besides on foot.  We had everything we wanted so we didn’t need to go anywhere else.”

     “But, wouldn’t you like to drive a car or fly an airplane or fly one of those skywheels Irene told me about?”

     “Now that I can think straight, I think I would.  Maybe we can get the cave to give us something like that.”

     “Or maybe we can learn to build one ourselves.
  I think with an uncluttered brain we can accomplish much.”

     He agreed with me and then we heard Ina calling to us to wait up.

     We were nearing the houses and some of the people came out to stare at
us.  We must have been a real novelty, a group of red headed people.

    
Robert was intrigued with the dwellings and kept rubbing his hands over the exterior like I had when I first saw them.  He said he was amazed they had them out here as well as in the cave.

     As we continued walking more and more people came out to look and soon they were following us.  I didn’t realize there were that many people there but we had so many
people pressing around us i
t became hard to move.

     I began to feel
panic
.
  Joe suggested I sit on a large boulder we were passing and rest, but when I did everyone gathered around me and sat on other rocks or on the ground.

     “Tell them your story,” Joe said and everyone nodded.

     I became very nervous.  I wasn’t used to being the center of
attention.  In 1973
I was a housewife and mom.

     “My name i
s Ashley.  I came here from 1973
.”

     With my first two sentences, the crowd went crazy.  I saw so many emotions and heard so many questions and accusations I became frightened.

      Joe stood and raised his hands, “Please hear her out and then if you have questions or comments raise your hand and talk one at a time.  This here is counterproductive and is scaring her.”

     They quieted down and by the end of my story Joe spoke up, “Many of you know me.  My designation is P65G.  This over here is my
sister who you remember as P42R.

    
“
This gentleman standing next to my sister is Q66F.  I am going to ask that he tell his story and tell of some of the things going on in sector Q.  I want you to hear it because I believe that is where this sector is headed unless we do something about it.

    
“
Some of you have been inside the cave and have seen the city of glowing light.”

    
A woman near my right raised
her
hand.  I recognized her as the woman who had tried to pierce the membrane the first time we tried to get into the cave.

     When Joe acknowledged her she said, “I saw the city and have had nightmares ever since.
”  Turning to the others she continued, “That whole cave is a living thing
,
and it’s evil.”

     “It is not evil,” I cried.  “It’s a healing place.  It’s healed all of us in one way or another.  I have never felt more at peace than I have since I entered that city
.  How can that be evil?”

     A frail looking man raised his hand, “Can anyone enter the cave and be healed?”

     This time Joe spoke up, “You have to be ready. 
I was dying anyway from the voluntary fertility implants.  I didn’t feel like I had anything to lose.  When I went into the city, the implants were removed and my hair grew back and I feel better than I’ve felt in years.”

     I watched as many of the people who had been listening started leaving.  They looked terrified.  This whole idea of the implants had been so ingrained in them that they were afraid of accepting anything else. 

    
It was an age old story.
  People always seemed to fear that which they didn’t understand.  I didn’t understand it very well.  I didn’t know why Irene and I had reincarnated as we were in the other life.  But I was no longer afraid.

     The ones that remained had many questions, “Why was I reincarnated as an adult? How did we find this
cave?  Why did I come from 1973
, of all times
?  Why was everyone’s hair red, why not blond or brown?”

     We answered as best we could but I was disappointed that people were drifting away the whole time.  I couldn’t believe they would rather live like they had been living but then again change is very difficult for many people.  I hadn’t had a choice.

     Joe put his lips near my ear and whispered, “Don’t get discouraged.  It may take some of them awhile to want to change.”

     At the close of the day Joe asked if there were some that wanted to go to the city with us and be healed.  It was mostly the older looking ones that went with us.
  One was a woman who looked so old and trembled so much that Robert and Joe took turns carrying her up the hill.

     We had six people total, three old men, two old ladies and a man who appeared to be in his thirties.  He hadn’t said anything and I was surprised he was with us.

     As
what was becoming part of the orientation for everyone, we sat in the entrance of the cave and we all told our stories, starting with Irene.

     The younger man looked restless and didn’t appear to be listening.  His eyes moved constantly, darting this way and that.  When we got to the entrance of the city, the membrane was back and we were not allowed to enter.

     “One of you is not ready,” Irene said.  She looked at the younger man, “tell us your story.”

     In answer he gave a loud shrill whistle and
eight men came running down the dark passage.  We had been followed and we had been so trusting we hadn’t noticed.

     They all had knives, stones and heavy sticks.  “You’re all under arrest,” The man who had come with us said.

     They were so mean to us, pushing and shoving us, and when the old people fell they actually kicked them and told them to get up.

     Irene, Joe, Ina, Robert, and I were suddenly in the city outside between our houses.  The others were led away by the authorities.  I heard one of them say something about the dwellings that grew and how they would have to destroy them in order to destroy the cave.

     We had talked freely about how the dwellings must have grown from the roots of the cave.  We were naïve and didn’t realize we could have government spies among us when we talked to the people.

     No wonder some of them had been so scared to come with us.  They must have recognized the man who betrayed us.

CHAPTER 13

     We didn’t leave the city for a few days but Irene wouldn’t let us be complacent. 
She called for a meeting and we went to the entrance. 

     The youngsters again stayed behind.  They had found some baby animals which surprised all of us.  We hadn’t seen any animals at all and believed it was the new start given to us by the cave.

     When we got to the entrance of the cave, we were surprised to see around 20 people asleep on the hillside leading up to the cave.  Joe called to them and they woke up and came into the cave.

     One was the woman who had said she had had nightmares about the city.  “They are planning to destroy our dwellings,” she said.  “They believe that if they do, then it will destroy the city and the cave and then they can execute all of you.”

     “Instead of putting us in the museum?” Irene said with a mocking tone.

     “Yeah, apparently they see you as a threat.  You want to change the very fabric of the way we live.

     “I must admit, that’s the way I felt yesterday but now I can see how the authorities have been manipulating us all along.  So how can we help?”

     “Are you ready to join us then?” Irene asked.

     “Yes, we are.”

     “Good, because, then you will be safe from them but I don’t know what’s going to happen if and when they destroy the dwellings.  Where do they expect people to live if they destroy them?”

     She turned to us and continued, “Joe, you and Ashley take Ina and Robert and go down the hill and check things out.  Guard the dwellings as much as you can. 
I’m going to take the rest of these folks to the city and get them healed and then they can join you.”

     Before we got halfway down the hill, we saw many people running up to meet us.  We instructed them to go wait in the entrance of the cave.

     They hadn’t destroyed any of the dwellings yet but were arresting people who had listened to us when we were there before.

     “Where are they taking them, Joe?”

     “Probably to the museum.”

     “There are no jails?”

     “Not for many years because there have been no criminals.  The people in the museum are people who refused to get the transplants and were mostly p
ut in there to put pressure on them to agree to the transplants
.”

     I had another question to
a
sk but before I could phrase it someone grabbed me from behind and held a cloth over my mouth.  I tried to hold my breath but it was no use
.