Islands of Dark Miracles
Morgan’s Knot – A Serial Fantasy
Episode VII
A woozy Zepallo gazed around the restricted ward in which he was the only patient. The sheets were white. The ceiling, walls, and floor were white. The orbs illuminating the room in soothing pools of cool blue spilling across the foot of the bed, banks of monitoring systems, and the floor just inside the door, cast the rest of the room into soft gray twilight. The effect reinforced the clinically sterile ambiance and grated on his testy disposition.
He struggled to sit up, as The Doctor rushed into the infirmary, a brilliant and determined renegade scientist, with a shock of white hair falling over a pallid complexion, dark deep-set eyes, and a white smock that almost brushed hygienic white booties covering his shoes.
The Dark Lord held up the bandaged stump of his right arm, “So our experiment bears fruit?”
“We are fortunate that the Masters chose you to father the next generation. Although we only have three specimens that qualify as a complete success, we have plenty of spare parts,” replied The Doctor with clipped hints of a German accent.
“You can harvest a hand, my hand?”
“Of course, it will be your hand, with your fingerprints. The only difference is that your new hand will be young and it will develop the strength of a young hand.” The Doctor smiled, “and we’ve added some new…options that you might find useful.”
Zepallo scowled.
The Doctor continued, with due respect but unabated, “The only frustration is that our ability to generate new life on an accelerated schedule leads to rapid aging. We’re working on the problem but our first generation is years ahead of what we consider a normal chronological scale. Your hand will suffer the same progression.”
“So, the hand will have to be replaced again?”
“Yes. We’re estimating ten to fifteen years.”
“How quickly are my progeny aging?”
“Our latest calculations indicate that they are growing at approximately three times the normal rate. They’ll mature at four or five, certainly before the year is out, and they’ll have the size, weight, mental capacity, and physical prowess of a legal adult before the age of seven. At twenty-five, they’ll qualify for retirement.”
“What of the next generation?”
“We’re confident that our success rate will increase dramatically and, through a manipulation of the genes that control aging, we hope their maturation will be slowed to about double the normal rate.”
“How many new citizens might we hope for?”
“In the next group, I would expect, perhaps, one hundred.”
“And the next?”
“We’re anticipating ten times that number,” replied The Doctor, with a confident smile, “but, in spite of learning and adapting over the last few years, there are challenges to be met.”
“And each will be exactly the same as the next?”
“They’ll be identical…carbon copies of our Dark Lord.”
The patient settled back into his pillows, as The Doctor inserted a hypodermic into the intravenous tube feeding into the Zepallo’s veins. The chemicals would take effect within a few moments and the operation could begin.
“This process could conceivably continue indefinitely. The seeds have been sewn for an endless source of reliable, dedicated, and lethal agents to lead the planet to unification under the Dark Powers…”
Chapter 2
Adrian hovered a foot above the ground, eyes closed, hands resting on his knees, palms open to the sky. It was cool in the shade of the huge oak tree draped over the edge of the vegetable garden. A gentle wind wafted in off the ocean tussling the blond hair, hanging in soft waves around his tanned face, like the lazy branches of a willow tree…moving with the breeze and then falling back against his stillness.
The words of his three-hundred-year old self kept echoing through his head, “Life is filled with joy and wonder. It is everywhere and in everything. It’s in every child’s smile, every animal that you encounter, every day that ends without a battle, and every calm moment that you will enjoy.
Looking back on it all, I’d say that you should be thankful for every normal day. Those days when nothing happens, when you could be bored, when things are confined to everyday routines, those are most precious.”
A smile rippled through is mind. The last three months had been calm, allowing time with the people he loved the most. He could honestly say that he found days when he had been bored, in spite of endless chores around the House of the Four Seasons, his work with Alius and the texts at Ponte’s observatory, and days when he got to play in the sunshine, like a normal boy, with his friends. The wound on his chest healed enough to dive with Raffe and help with the construction of the first dome. In spite of missing most of the final semester of classes the previous year and having to make up the work, he had enjoyed his first real summer vacation since he left the little house on the bay.
His Mother told him that the tailors would be shutting down the seamstress shop within the next month. Once everyone was fitted, they would only need to repair or replace diving suits that were damaged or outgrown. Almost everyone on the island completed their training with Soule and Amy and the anticipation of exploring and joining this new undersea world inspired the entire population.
The first dome would serve as the primary interface connecting the dry world with the wet. It would also be the new, though temporary, home for the upper school students because the old school building on the ridge was bursting at the seams with students overflowing every classroom, flocking into the canteen in ravenous waves during extended lunch hours, even packing the playground and the athletic fields during breaks and after classes. The Headmaster, Dr. Carringsworth, demanded that the first undersea dome be dedicated to providing facilities for the senior school to relieve the congestion. Thus, all of the classes for the upperclassmen, which now included Adrian, Alius, and the twins, were transferred out of the old building.
The new classrooms were completed the day before the start of classes, although some had yet to receive the finishing touches or final cleaning, but each had an open view of the sea. Most of the students felt that the younger children should have been moved into the new dome, allowing the older children to finish their schooling in the building to which they had grown accustomed. It was a change that disrupted tradition and, although most young people rebel at such things, they still sought to use any change to their advantage in their eternal quest to rile the elders.
~
Each evening after dinner, Adrian joined the twins to watch the international news on the messenger in their bedroom…he, for the World view, and the twins for a continuing assignment from their political science teacher, Mrs. Hammon, who insisted that her students stay attuned to the political, economic, and social changes happening across the globe. She was known for her pop quizzes posing in depth questions on the latest maneuverings in Washington or Peking, the current political attitude of the oil producing countries, or the impact of an election in some minor country…and this year, they were to pay special attention to the effects of the children’s campaign against war, against the savagery that adults wage upon each other for reasons beyond any child’s comprehension.
Adrian turned to his cousins, “Do you realize that, other than terrorists who prey on common citizens for their own weird political purposes, there aren’t any wars happening anywhere in the world?”
Megan piped up, “I think they have you to thank for that!”
“Oh, I can’t take the credit or the blame, I just spoke the truth and the children of the world did the rest.”
“It’s too bad that President Bartlett can’t run for another term. He was a good president and a true world leader. I wonder who will take his place?”
“The election is two weeks off and the political reporters say it’s dead even,” said Molly.
“I wonder what he’ll do after he leaves office,” pondered Adrian.
“Did you feel that the guy we see on the messenger, was the person you met?”
Adrian smiled, “He’s shorter than he appears on the news but much stronger and even more in command than when he’s in public.”
“Did you like him?” asked Megan.
“Yeah, I did. I thought he was extremely intelligent and polite, genuine in an old-fashioned sort of way. He listened to our tale and didn’t act as if we were just children telling stories and he does have a sense of humor. I’d like to show him the island, especially now that we have the first dome completed. Who knows, maybe after he leaves office, we could convince him to come for a visit.”
“Yeah, like the Secret Service is going to place the security of an ex-president in the hands of a bunch of children and people they can’t trace, on an island that doesn’t show up on their radar, let alone their maps!” laughed Megan. “That’ll never happen.”
“Do you know how to get in touch with him?” asked Molly.
“Sure,” replied Adrian. “I know his personal Internet address.”
“Then you should invite him before he leaves office. I’ll bet he’d come!”
“I might just do that…just to prove a point to your Mrs. Hammon. She’d have to give you a passing grade if you brought a president to class,” smirked Adrian.
“That might be the only way to get a good grade in her class!” laughed Molly.
“I want to take your class,” said Megan.
“Yeah, me too.”
“I’m going to be a hard grader because I want all of you to grasp the potential of the Powers in everybody’s lives. You don’t have to be a seer or a Keeper to find new ways to use this energy. I think most people on the island have a vague understanding of how it works and they enjoy the benefits but what if everyone really understood it? Then we’d have hundreds of different viewpoints seeing things that none of us might have considered,” said Adrian.
The two seers had been tasked with teaching a class together on The Powers. After consulting with Ester and Mary, who knew far more of their history than anyone else, other than Orana, they decided to confine their lessons to those adventures that might serve as examples for the rest of the children to use in their everyday lives. Dadeus and Ponte were working on a new curriculum that involved the use of the Powers with marine life in the ocean but the seer’s class took a far more human approach.
Their first lesson generated more than a bit of trepidation. They were still students with the other children for the rest of each day but they were the instructors during this one hour and wanted to give their friends something more than they received in most of their other classes.
After long discussions, they decided to start with something that Shambala said before Adrian’s speech to the United Nations. “We teach our children that if you truly believe that you can do something…say fly…you might not have the ability now but your belief will drive your curiosity and that will lead you to find a way to make it real. Taking it to its finest level, belief is enough to create reality.”
On the first day of classes, Adrian and Alius allowed their students to enter the classroom, which was on the third level, before levitating through the door behind them, flying over their heads, and hovering above a small riser at the front of the classroom.
The students were awestruck, standing motionless, their mouths agape.
The young teachers descended to the floor and Alius said, with complete confidence, “Why don’t you sit down and we’ll tell you about The Powers?”
The smiling students took their chairs without a word.
Adrian stepped to the front of the little stage, “Our demonstration wasn’t intended to show off our powers for your amusement. It was my personal reminder that, until a year and half ago, I didn’t know that I had any special talents or that I might be called on to do the things that I’ve been asked to do. I was a normal kid, just like every one of you.”
He looked around the room at the students, who were enthralled with his every word. “The point is that each of us has a unique set of powers and talents. Every one of you is capable of doing at least one thing that I couldn’t possibly accomplish and, yet, they’ve become second nature and you do them with ease.”
Pointing to Eloise, a pudgy girl with dark curly hair, a pale complexion, and lips that curled into a most beautiful smile, he said, “Eloise, you can play the flute. You can make absolutely beautiful music. That’s a talent that none of the rest of us has. And Hector,” He pointed to a small boy with red hair, blues eyes, and an impish grin, “You can run faster than any other kid on the island. No one can catch you. Almy, you get the best grades in the school. The rest of us try to complete but you always come out on top.”
“Do you see what I’m saying?” He paused. “Each of you has talents and abilities that make you unique and special. Be proud of those gifts, work hard to develop them, and use them well.
“We have no proof…but we believe that some of the things that we’ve learned to do could be done by anyone. Some of these seemingly magical talents are not confined to those who are born a seer or study to become a Keeper.”
Alius interrupted, “We talked and talked about how to present our view of The Powers to you in a way that would make sense and help you to reach for your own potential. We agreed that our lessons should be based on something that a friend of ours told us…and that was that you might not be able to accomplish everything that you dream of doing, at least not now. But, if you truly believe, that energy and determination will lead you to pursue your dreams and, perhaps someday, allow you to find the path to fulfillment. She said, ‘Taking this idea to its finest level, belief is enough to create reality’.”
With that, Simian strode into the room, dressed in a beautiful yellow sash with a floral pattern that wrapped around his upper torso. He wore blue pantaloon pants made from the same material Sara and Morgan bought from his little stall in Jamaica during their trip to the Island of Children and bright pink shoes that curled up at the toes. His little glasses hung precariously on the end of his broad nose, and his goatee seemed whiter than before he returned to Jamaica after Adrian’s speech.
The old Jamaican carried a bundle of goose feathers in a rough woven shoulder bag, which leaked white fluff that floated to the floor, trailing a wispy veil in his wake. He smiled at the students, “Good afternoon, I’m pleased to be here with you!”
Alius took Simian’s arm and said, “Many of the things that we’ve learned came through the instruction of our friend Simian, a master seer from Jamaica.”
Simian turned to the students with a huge smile, “I want to talk with you about the power that lives inside seemingly inanimate things. There’s energy in everything around us…the trees, the rocks, the ocean…” He turned and waved at the spectacular view of sunlight streaming through the water behind him. “The ocean pulses with its own rhythm. Certainly, the tides are governed by the movements of the moon, and the waves are the product of the winds, but if you look beyond the obvious scientific explanations, it is the home, the origin of all life. Our ancient ancestors crawled out of the sea, onto the shore, where they changed and evolved over the eons to become us!
Everything has its own energy, and we’re affected by the energies around us. Each of you gives off a charge that is unique to you. We call it an aura, an energy field that surrounds everything and everyone…but that is another lecture!”
He pulled a large white feather from his bag and held it on the flattened palm of his hand. “This feather has no weight.”
He blew hard, and the feather leapt into the air and spiraled to the floor. “It is in its nature to fly!”
Retrieving the feather, he held it up to the class. “This feather lifted a heavy bird into the air and carried it for hundreds, if not thousands of miles. It is strong and sturdy, ingeniously crafted to flex in several directions without breaking, and perfectly curved to provide lift. It wants to fly, even if there is no wind.”
He concentrated on the white feather in his hand, and slowly, it began to flutter, rising several inches above his palm to fan his face before returning to rest on his fingertips. The students stared in wonder.
Simian smiled and said softly, “It was not my energy that made it fly. That energy already exists inside the feather. I merely gave it permission.”
Everyone laughed as Simian moved from one desk to the next, plucking feathers from his bag and handing one to each student. He returned to the riser at the front of the classroom with a wink to Adrian and Alius. “I want each of you to hold your feather on the tips of your fingers and then blow on it gently, give it just enough air to provide lift.”
The students puffed at their feathers, which flew into the air, a blizzard spinning down to the floor, as if some giant goose had fluttered through the room, shedding soft, downy snowflakes.
“Now, let’s see whether each of you can allow the feather to show its true character. Don’t try to make it fly…allow it to use the air. Hold it on your palm. Concentrate on the fact that it wants to fly. It’s in its nature, and the only thing holding it back is your hand. Set it free!”
Most of the feathers spiraled to the floor, but every child picked them up and tried again and again. There were fierce stares, as they concentrated on the essence of their feathers, but none showed frustration when the experiment did not supply instant gratification.
Simian spotted Eloise at the back of the room and her feather floating just above the palm of her hand as she whispered and coaxed it into the air. “Ah, I see that one of you has found the magic. The young lady with the dark hair in the back, everyone look, she’s done it!”
The rest of the students gathered around the flautist. “I thought that maybe there was a musical tone that would fit with my feather, so I started humming to it, trying to find the right vibration, and suddenly it started to rise, all by itself!”
There were comments and whispers throughout the group, “If she can do it, then I can too!” and several more made their feathers fly before the young tutors had to dismiss the class for the day.
Simian raised his hands for the attention of the students, “This is a preliminary demonstration. With some practice, more of you will master this challenge. I’ll come back, and we’ll learn a bit more the next time.”
The students applauded and reluctantly moved on to their next classes.