MuTerra-kindle (13 page)

“It was a little longer than a day, and we can use this story again until it is time to reveal what we are doing to everyone” his father said before changing the topic, “Let’s just make sure you do what the doctor tells you, and we’ll go from there.”

―

When he returned to his apartment, Terri was not home. He looked through the cupboards to see what they had to eat. His appetite was immense. Once he started eating, he could not stop.
The high protein food they created wasn’t the same as ‘all natural,' but it was sure satisfying now,
he thought as he ate. What he did not know was that he was compensating for the changes his body was already experiencing. Soon after he had finished eating, he heard the sound of the front door opening. He remained in the other room while waiting to surprise his wife. When she entered, he said, “Hey lady, if you don’t expect your husband anytime soon, I can think of something we could do to occupy the time.”

“Keith,” Terri said happily, as she walked to him and wrapped her arms around him.

“Hey honey, how are you?” he said returning her embrace.

“Me? How are you? I’ve missed you.”

“It hasn’t been that long baby,” he said thinking back to his conversation with his father. He held her close to him once again and turned to see the calendar they had hanging on the wall. As each day passed, they marked it with an X. There were five more X’s on the calendar than there were when he went to the lab.

“Is the calendar right honey?” he asked her.

“What? Oh, no, I just didn’t get to it today.” She walked over and marked off another day.

Six days,
he thought.
It seems like it was just yesterday.

“So, did you find anything on your hike,” she asked as she started to change from her work clothes.

He sat on the bed. “No. But I may need to go out again to explore further.”

“Yeah, your father told me what you were doing. It must have been exciting. I don’t get to see much outside of white lab coats and microscopes.”

“Well doctor, we each have our role to play,” he said in banter.

“I don’t think I will ever get tired of hearing that,” she said as she stopped undressing to look at him.

“You shouldn’t. Be proud of yourself, I am.”

She smiled at him. “I only wish my parents could see me now,” she said wistfully.

“I know honey,” he replied as he came near her, “We do the best we can, and take it one day at a time.”

They embraced once more. “If you don’t have any plans I thought maybe we could ‘play’ a little doctor,” he said while leaning his head backwards to look into her eyes.

She leaned forward and kissed him tenderly on the lips. When he started to return her kiss with more intensity, she backed away and said, “We can’t. I mean we can’t right now. That’s why I’m home early. We’re having a little get-together over at Matt and Tracy’s, just a bunch of us from the lab.”

“Wonderful,” he said without much enthusiasm.

“Get changed, you’re going too,” she said matter-of-factly.

“I’m not really…” he started before he was interrupted.

“You’re going. I haven’t seen you in a week, and I can’t back out of my plans now. When we get back, we can discuss what you brought up earlier.”

He knew there was no sense in trying to get out of it. He didn’t want to leave her anyway, but he was not exactly thrilled with the idea of having to make small talk with people with which he had virtually nothing in common. He would call Cam when they were finished with their party, and would tell him that he would see him in the morning.

****

Life in the valley was improving. The population had finally stabilized, and was beginning to increase for the first time. They had buried close to seventy-five percent of those who had initially made the journey. Instead of burying them in the valley itself, they made the effort to find an area suitable for digging out on the rim, and transported them to avoid polluting the area, and to escape the constant reminder of the dead. At first, the birth rates were under ten percent. That is, less than ten percent lived beyond their first year. Now it was reaching almost forty percent.

Over the years they completely removed every viable piece of equipment, building material, and other furnishings from the nearest ruined city. They brought these provisions to Gateway, and carried them to the other villages as necessary. Now, there were only two. Bardin was simply a manned outpost. The elders, or leaders, of each village remained the same. There was no need or feeling of competition as they all knew what must be done to survive. There was no glamour, notoriety, or riches to complicate what was an already arduous life. 

They all dealt with the effects of exposure to the radiation. While there was no significant radiation in the valley, they had been contaminated prior to reaching it. Their food and water supply also affected them. Some had lost all of their hair, their teeth, and a few lost the ability to speak due to deterioration of their vocal chords, while many of the young, developed more obvious deformities through birth and growth. There were those who went through secondary growth spurts, long past the age for such things, and became almost as giants among them. Others gained some curious abilities such as being able to see at night, and for some their skin became as tough as rawhide. Those who were no longer severely affected by the radiation were the ones chosen to explore the regions outside of the valley. They hunted, gathered, and learned. They had made a determined effort to keep the balance, within the valley itself, as it was. They were producing crops, not much at first, but more each year as they produced more seed, and made sure the animal population remained healthy. The animals knew to stay in the valley through their own instincts, but it was troublesome when the creatures that lived outside found their way in.

It was one such animal, which had gotten the attention of the hunters from Gateway. The tracks were discovered that morning by a young man at the side of the valley stream. They belonged to the great cat. It appeared to be a hybrid of the jaguar. It was dark brown in color, and much larger with prehistoric type features; large curving teeth and oversized paws. It was rare that they ever saw this particular beast, or even the signs of them, on the rim, but with one making its way in, they had to rid themselves of it and fast. The damage they could do to their herds, and other animals, was too great. Let alone if one of the villagers should come upon it alone.

Instead of tracking it, they decided to lure it to them. The firearms they had were of no use. The ammunition had been spent years ago. They crafted their own bows, crossbows, and spears along with an array of smaller weapons. While on their way to the place where they intended to set their trap, one of the men killed a rabbit. They left the bolt in the animal, and tied a thin rope to it.

One member of the party climbed a pine tree, and suspended the rabbit until it was about five feet off the ground. Another took his knife and sliced the rabbit open to allow its entrails to spill out and for the rest of the blood to drain. The man in the tree sat quietly with his small crossbow and spear, while the others took their places nearby.

It was well into the afternoon when they were aware of the presence of the predator. Sounds from birds and other small animals had ceased. The only thing that could be heard was the mild breeze sifting through the leaves. They knew it was near and no doubt, the beast could smell them. It was hoped the easy meal was too much of a temptation for the cat to pass up. When they finally saw it, they remained calm, yet excited. The cat took his time approaching the bait. He looked at his surroundings and sniffed the air periodically. He walked slowly to the hanging pile of fur and blood and sniffed once more. As soon as he was directly below the man in the tree, the hushed thud of the bolt from the crossbow struck the cat between its shoulder blades. Rather than making its escape, this only managed to anger the beast. He snarled and let out a cry as he extended his great claws and began to climb the tree toward his attacker.

With his crossbow now dangling from a string on his side, the man in the tree clutched his spear. It was a spear
constructed of solid metal with a very sharp and virtually unbreakable tip. When the cat was almost on him, he thrust the spear into the beast, missing the center of its chest, but striking the bone of its front shoulder. The hunter barely kept his balance from his effort, but was able to hold himself to the tree with his weak side arm. Falling would have meant certain death. His attack was enough to encourage the beast to turn aside. He bawled once more as he retreated to the ground.

When he was once again on the ground, he was not quite ready to leave his intended meal, or the possibility of getting to his attacker. By then, two other hunters had moved within range and fired bolts from much larger bows. They struck the beast, one on each side, and this solicited a violent and angry response. The cat would eventually die from these wounds, but not soon enough to ensure their safety. It turned on the men as they quickly retreated, and gave chase. When it emerged from the corner they had rounded, another bolt let loose hitting the large cat in the chest. Immediately after the creature stopped, in reaction to this last attack, another hunter ran up from the beast’s blind side and drove a metal spear into him piercing the heart. He pinned the beast to the ground, and held him there until he no longer moved, being careful to stay out of the way of the sharp claws.

They retrieved and cleaned their homemade arrows, and prepared the cat to be moved. Nothing went to waste in the valley. It was a hard life, but one that was getting more manageable as time went by.

SIX

Keith was on his third and final checkup with Dr. Maddow. He had undergone every known, and previously to him unknown, test and examination a body could go through while still
alive. He was not completely comfortable with his new condition and he was starting to wonder if in fact, he had made the right choice even though he had never felt better, physically, in his life. After satisfying his insatiable appetite through the first few days following the procedure, his eating habits had returned to normal. He at no time felt fatigued, nor tired, regardless of how many hours he was awake, or what activities he had been involved in. His mind was sharp and his senses acute. In fact, he had to learn to concentrate to keep from being drawn into conversations held across the room. Dr. Maddow had assisted him in adapting to these changes.

He only slept for about two to three hours each night, and sometimes felt like he did not even need that. This put a strain on him as he began to feel a bit alien, and not as close to his wife as he once was. He did not understand why this was happening, but Dr. Maddow had assured him it was only a naturally occurring adaptation. He did not know if he believed that, but he hoped it was true. He tried to focus on why he had agreed to this in the first place, to help his mind adjust.

After the last of the tests had been administered, he decided to ask the question that had been on his mind since his father first talked to him about the procedure. “If you had this same procedure, why do you still look old? I mean, obviously not as old as you are, but still not young either?”

Dr. Maddow turned from reading the medical charts he was holding to regard his patient, “I look the same now as I did when I was treated. It will be the same for you,” Dr. Maddow said.

“So what, we just live forever,” Keith asked.

“Forever is a long time. A lot can happen in time. And before you start to think you are invincible, keep in mind that your body is capable of repairing itself within its own limitations. Should you sustain more damage than it is capable of repairing, then you will succumb to whatever fate has in store.” 

“What about Terri? What if we have children, would I pass on these characteristics to them?”

“That is an unknown. I haven’t been able to duplicate the performance of these characteristics of the planarian from treated animals. And so far, none of them have passed along any of their altered genetics. I don’t know why this is, but I am continuing to look for answers. As for humans, we will only know in time.”