The Event Series (Book 3): The Archive and Beyond Read online

  We will be starting the planting cycle again soon, it is not as bad as it once was, and there are fewer of us now. We are at 10 left. We have no new ones, we don’t know why. Akiri and I are, were bonded, and we tried, but it just did not happen. We think we know, but are no sure.

  May 19th 2056

  I am sorry; I am not the journaler like some of the old ones. I write when I am bored or sad, mostly sad. I am sad today because Jan, she was Fred’s mate, went to sleep today, she is at rest. It was a painful time for her. We think she had a form of cancer. She became sick about a year ago. It was a stomach thing, lower actually. If the one they used to call Doc was still here he could maybe have helped, or at least knew what it was. But over time Jan wasted away. When she left, she only was about 80 pounds. It was terrible to watch. She was strong, she held on to stay with Fred, but in the end, she couldn’t.

  It made me remember the others that had left in a similar way. The Doc was one. Teckla was another. It leads me to an interesting question. Is it better to die quickly and not know it, or to die slowly and have time to put your things, your mind, into order?

  September 11th 2056

  The harvest is pretty much in. We have a few apple trees that still need to be cleaned, but it will be enough to get us through the winter. Mom (Margo) and Delaney have been doing the hunting; they have a good supply of meat laid in.

  I think back as a kid, Mom had this cat, a big cat. She was such a nice animal. It would play with me, and at night, sleep next to me to keep me warm. I miss Elizabeth, I called her Lizzy. She became old, and went to sleep when I was 17.

  That was the year the Michelle became ill and went to sleep. She was quick, the Doc was still around. He cut into her, into her lower stomach. It was an appendix; appendicitis was what he called it. But his surgery was too late, the appendix had burst, it poisoned her.

  November 11th 2056

  It is what we call ‘Remembrance Day’, each year on this day we think back to those who were once with us and have moved on, have passed on what Margo, Mom, used to call the rainbow bridge. Part of you passed on to the Sky Father while part of you, the physical part remained here with the Earth Mother. It was a legend that the ones called Matt and Tanya had left for us.

  This year we added Jan, to the list. I read the names,

  Jan

  Al and Margie

  Anne

  Tom and Asuna

  Laura and Nick

  Cyril and Arcelia

  Elgin

  Teckla and Lincoln

  Frank

  Ethan and Chelsea

  Ron and Karen

  Alexander

  Charlene and Doctor Barkley

  Maria

  Daphne and McManus

  Mark and Michelle

  Washa Brown

  Joseph

  Armand and Grace

  Keith and Pam

  Henry

  Billie

  The people of Stanwix

  There are two that we talk of, but they are no longer here, in the Archive, and we have never known if they are still alive, or if they too have perhaps gone to sleep. That is Matt and Tanya. They left to search of other places on a mission from outside themselves. We still add them to the list, but as more a not sure but we remember you.

  I do not know the end of many of these people because they were gone before I was born or old enough to remember. But some, of those gone are remembered regularly around the nightly campfire.

  The campfire, it was once called Vespers and then became Fire Pit, and now, campfire. It is a time each day that we sit, bond, remember, and just share time. It is one of the things that keeps us going as a Clan.

  April 9th 2057

  Akiri and I have pretty much given up hope on a child of our own. It is just not happening. It is actually a tragic mystery that years ago many of the youngers, Margo and Cody, Delany and Lance, Fred and Jan, Gilbert and Taylor were unable to have children. Jan came the closest with a miscarriage but none of the others could even conceive. It would have been nice if Akiri and I had playmates, then, and even now. We are in our 40s, the rest in their late 50s or older. To hear children, to see a future.

  July 14th 2057

  Molly left today, we are down to 9 left here. It was weird, she just stood up at breakfast this morning and told us that it was time for her to go. Her voice was funny, it sounded different than usual. It was her trance voice.

  She left the Archive and just walked west.

  November 11th 2057

  Remembrance day, we read the names; I will not list them here because today we added no one to the list of sleepers. But like Matt and Tanya who may or may not still be alive we added Molly’s name.

  I will list the living however. It is Me, Akiri, Taylor, Gilbert, Fred, Lance, Delaney, Mom and Dad

  February 3rd 2058

  We had a storm start yesterday, it is a bad one. The doors are sealed, and we keep losing power to the Archive. It is still warm enough here, underground, it stays at about 60 even on the coldest days.

  February 7th 2058

  We are still trapped, but the power is back for the most part.

  February 12th 2058

  We were able to get outside again, sunlight, it is a beautiful thing.

  November 11th 2058

  Remembrance Day, we lost one this year, Not sure how, or what was wrong, but Lance did not wake up one morning in Early October, it was the 10th I think. We sealed him into one of the drawers in the Morgue. It has become the custom.

  So now there are eight.

  November 11th 2059

  We all made it through the year but I am thinking that we have a couple of bad times coming up. Taylor is not doing well, she had been having trouble breathing, and has lost a lot of weight, there is little left to her.

  Fred is also not doing well; he has taken up consuming alcohol, a lot of it. We often find him unconscious laying in a hallway or in the Rec Room. He has lost touch; Jan going to sleep has left him adrift with nothing, no one to focus on.

  January 5th 2060

  Fred has become un-manageable, the drinking is bad, and he is acting out, violent toward us. Gilbert has had to restrain him on a couple of occasions over the last few weeks. We need to talk as a group. He actually tried to set his room on fire. We caught it in time, but it could have been bad.

  January 6th 2060

  It was necessary, Fred had to sleep, and he was too dangerous to allow him to stay with us. He crossed the line when he shot up the kitchen. We had kept guns away from him, but he must have had one stashed.

  May 1st 2060

  Taylor slipped away last night, peaceful, in her sleep, her pain is over.

  November 11th 2060

  Remembrance day, I read the list, it is too long, there are only six of us left. I hate this.

  November 11th 2063

  I have not written on Remembrance Day for a while, it is too hard, but this year, I guess I have to there will not be many more of them left. We are at three of us left. It is Akiri, Mom and me. Delany fell and broke her leg while hunting, there was an infection, and there was nothing we could do. Cody just went to sleep in the summer and did not awaken. Losing Cody has been hard on Mom, she is the last, the only one left of the old ones, and you can see, feel the strain on her, the sadness eating at her.

  March 23rd 2064

  Mom did not wake up this morning, the sorrow overwhelmed her, it has hit me hard. Only Akiri and I are left. We talked about taking our own lives, but it is not time yet.

  November 11th 2066

  It is just me. Akiri, the brightness in my life has gone out. She slipped away and I am left alone. It has been three weeks, we knew it was coming since the late spring, but we had the chance to spend that last, wonderful summer together. We watched summer turn to fall, and now as winter creeps in, the coldness, the emptiness it is closing in on me. I will not last the winter, I am tempted to end it today, but I have some things that need to be finished first.
/>   November 15th 2066

  I have begun working through the rooms of those who once lived here. It is my intention to clean the place up, just in case someone, anyone ever finds it. I want them to see that we were proud, and lived well, while we lived.

  December 20th 2066

  In the course of cleaning and straightening I spent a day or so in each room, some days it took more than that. The kitchen and some of the work rooms took a couple of days. Most of the canned foods are gone now. Most of them had long since been eaten. But I found a couple of cans of a meat product called SPAM. I remembered it from when I was young. I remembered that Tom had talked, joked about it being around after he was long gone. I set one aside.

  The regular rooms, quarters were easy in some cases, hard in others. Asuna and Tom’s room was pretty easy, Akiri had seen to that one years ago. It was a little dusty, but neat and organized.

  The room that belonged to Lance and Delany was the most cluttered. Over time he became kind of a hoarder, but that was after Delany went to sleep. He just gathered and gathered. He hid in that room most of the days as he came to his time. At that time, I thought he was foolish to hide away, to wallow in the loss that he had suffered. Now I see it a little different, I understand.

  I saved Mom and Dad’s room for last. I knew it would be the hardest. In it I looked at the sketches that Mom had done over the years. There were detailed drawings of insects and of a coyote, one that lived with us, she was called Lucy. There was also a beautiful picture of Lizzy (Elizabeth), the mountain lion. That was Mom’s spirit animal.

  I think the most ‘frightening’ of the images was one of Dad; Mom had drawn him on the bed, I am guessing back in the days when they all lived at the Camp. Wow, somehow, naked drawing of your Dad, done by your Mom….just wow.

  I found some notes that Mom had written after Dad died. She was broken, they had been together for 40 years, and I never realized how close they had actually been and how much in love they were. I can understand it because in the end, Akiri and I were the same. I miss her, I miss them both.

  I found something else. It was a pistol, a 9mm Smith and Wesson. I remembered it. Mom carried it all the time after Tom went to sleep. It had been his. She told me some about it, and how important it was to her. He had used it once to save her and one called Anne, I remember that she was Margo’s mother.

  It has become a game of Clue for me. I know that I am going to sleep, and sleep soon, I am Colonel Mustard and I have been handed the means by which to do it, Mom’s pistol. Now all I need to do is figure out the where.

  December 24th 2066

  It is what was once known as Christmas Eve. It was a time we, the Clan, would get together and share, give gifts, give memories. Those memories are swirling around in my head, it hurts, and yet at the same time it is wonderful. I remember Mom’s smiling face; I remember the singing, and meals.

  I had a meal, alone in the Dining Hall. It was not much, the last can of beans, some jarred tomatoes from the last spring’s crop and that can of SPAM. I also found a bottle of wine. I have never been much of a drinker. We always have had it available to us, and in Fred’s case, too available. But it seemed to be the right thing to have with this dinner, this final dinner. I made a toast, to us all.

  December 25th 2066

  Christmas Day, what better day than this to rejoin the Clan. It is time for me to go home. I will seal up a few things, and have answered the final question about dying.

  I will be near them; I will sit in the Infirmary as I join them.

  First Son Note: This was the final entry or note that we found in the Archive that was created by those who lived here, the Predecessors. In reading all the documents, it has been a moving story, the hope and determination to survive and then in the end the devastating inability to grow as a population.

  When Lance had been able to reboot the readpad that was identified as Winston, the device was able to actually determine that it was May 17th 2075 in their time line. We have decided that we will call it Cycle One.

  May 1st Cycle 1

  In some ways we have taken over for the Clan by living in the Archive. We had settled into the various rooms that were already established.

  We have moved the nightly gathering from our video ports in the transport pods to actually sitting outside in the evening at sunset and having a group meeting. We have spoken about the history that has been laid out and yet we are still sorting parts of it out.

  Nicholas has re-established the food preparation area; they referred to it as the galley, and he has made it functional again. He and Grace have begun to move the larva and grubs that we eat into the new environment that they have created for them. They have been assisted by Tyler. They have also taken time to build new beds for the fungus to grow in a dark area of the Archive. This is a major relief because I think that so far none of us are in favor of consuming the flora and fauna that live outside in this world.

  As I have said before there are 26 of us and we have moved from our pods to the inside. First Daughter and I have taken the room that once belonged to the ones called Tom and Asuna. It seemed correct because First Daughter and I were the chosen by our Father to lead the group. The room is pleasing, the surroundings, a sort of mix of light blues and oranges.

  The others in our group and their assigned tasks are:

  Lance (Head of Science) and Delta (Protector)

  Margot (Protector) and Cody (Protector)

  Markus (Food Science) and Michelle (Maintenance)

  Nicholas (Food Science) and Grace (Food Science)

  Ethan (General Science) and Chelsea (Recon/Research)

  Teckla (Law/Rules) and Francis (Mechanics)

  Matthew (Spirit Guide) and Tina (Spirit Law)

  Stewen (Astro Physics) and Hesther (Pod Maintenance)

  Barkel (Medical) and Carleen (Medical)

  Alexander (Engineering) and Elissa (Terrain Science)

  Joseph (Navigation) and Tyler (Data Retention)

  Chris and Helen, (the twins) they have no real assignment but seem to have a connection with things outside our physical surrounding and often through visions share insights that are lost or unseen by the rest of us.

  I have found it ironic that many of the names that were given us by Father were so similar or the same as those from the former inhabitants of this place or the camp to the west. I cannot help but feel that there is a reason for it. Even in the case were the names are not exactly the same, it is a small difference.

  The other curious factor is that we are all the same age. We are all 23 years old and share birthdays within 5 days of each other. That is very odd.

  May 8th, Cycle 1

  Weekly Cycle Status report by First Son. Since we have moved in to the Archive, things have progressed smoothly. The food processing is up and running and we are good now for the long haul. Nicholas has reported that he has discovered additives that we might consider adding to the protein composite made from the blended larvae and mushroom. The additives are in the form of dried powders referred to as ‘spices’ that apparently were used by the Predecessors to enhance food flavors and taste. I have authorized him to experiment and determine if it is something of value for us nutritionally.

  We have been sending teams out to explore the surrounding territory to better understand where we are and what this new world is like. Some of the teams have reported finding buildings and locations of interest. The team of Teckla and Matthew sought out and discovered what was once called “the Farm”. The buildings have been damaged beyond repair or swept away by ravaging waters leaving only stone lined holes.

  Lance has reported that there are a series of wires or lines that run through the ceiling area of the Archive and at points disappear into the walls. He is particularly puzzled by one that leads to a back wall at the end of the tunnel of the Archive. He knows from the journals that there is something dangerous behind it and is very interested in trying to discover exactly what it is.

  All of the t
ransport pods have been maintained and are charged and ready to be used. The food production units have all been removed.

  First Daughter and I are still puzzled by some things. The most puzzling is this idea of ‘having babies’. We have found no indication of a nursery in which the embryos would, or could, be developed.

  May 15th, Cycle 1

  Weekly Cycle Status report by First Son. All is well. We have had no issues of significance. We are continuing to explore the surrounding area. It is kind of surprising that the structures of the old ones have been overrun by the plant life. I would not have expected that. In many cases the transport ways (roads?) of old have large trees grown up in the middle of them.

  After reviewing the written materials for the former residents, in particular Tom’s Journal (hand written), it seems prudent that we do not go into the area behind the cement wall. It is thought to contain things that might be harmful. The Twins had stood before the wall and confirm that it would be not wise to open the wall.

  Nicholas has created a couple of masterpieces in adding ‘spice’ to the usually bland flavor of our sustenance. He has added something called ‘chilly powder’ to it. But I am not sure I understand why something called “chilly’ would make the mouth burn.

  We have continued with the nightly fire gathering. It was noted that the last couple of nights there were eyes watching us. We believe that they are from some of the fauna that is in the area. We have detected traces of waste material (poop?) as well as foot impressions.

  Medical Officer Barkel has shared some information with us about the nursey, or lack of it. It appears that the Predecessors used the female body to produce the new humans. It is a rather revolting thought, and it sounds very messy and primitive.

  We have come to begin watching what the old ones called ‘movies’. It shows the civilization before the end. Father would not allow us to watch the monitor screens when we were on the Sky Crystal. He only said that KHriz, the First Hatched would not approve. I can understand it now because the people depicted in the images were truly unkind and often brutal to each other. It is not a place or way we should live.