We the People

Serenpiphany Publishing

1120 Huffman Road South, Suite 24 #458 Anchorage, Alaska 99515-info@serenpiphany.com—www.serenpiphany.com

ISBN 9781543956115

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number:

Copyright 2018 Serenpiphany

—First Edition—

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Manufactured in the United States of America.

Children’s books by Thomas A. Myers

Hip-Hop-Opotomuses…Swillina the Beautiful Pig… Wolfgang the Kindly Pup… Atuk and the Gooch… Alaskan Zombie… Dragons of Denali… Frank Stein… Inukuns… Island of the Unicorns… Mano Uhane… Na Teekon… The Fairies of Rainbow Falls… The Troll of Talkeetna… The Turnagain Ogre… The Witch of Kenai Canyon

Novels

Powers of the Earth series: "A More Perfect Union… We The People… Abuse of Power… Self Evident Truths… Justice and Domestic Tranquility… The Blessings of Liberty"

Reign of Blood series: "I Dracul… The Cabal… Vampire Nation…United Nations of Vamps… Vamp Empires… World War Vamp… The Arisen… Man on the Verge… The Purge… The Coven… In the Hands of Thine Enemies… Vlad’s Revenge… Resurrection… The Secret… The Meek Shall Inherit The Earth"

The Enquine Enchantress series: "The Awakening… The Manifestation… Those Who Shall Not Be Named… The Depravation… Thine Own Soul… The Source"

Non-Series Novels:

The Alaskan…The Amish Ninja…True Love…Thule…Team Zero …Islands in the Corn

Text Books

Of God and Man (comparative world religious analysis)

Your Organization is FUBAR (book one in Quality series)

You are the SNAFU (book two in Quality series)

Fear the BOHICA (book three in Quality series)

Poetry

Too many to list:  See website thomasamyers.com

Dedication

To all of you who have believed in me and have pushed for the series to continue as you are excited about where the story will go…so am I…I hope you enjoy the tangent through time.

Acknowledgements

As an exploration of the human condition, there are many aspects that can be examined…sex…religion…politics…all those things that we are supposedly not to discuss in polite company. I hate that idea! If we do not discuss them, we will be left to the whims of those who tell us how to live, what to think, how to act, and the list goes on and on.

This series is about freedom and human action necessary to secure it from those who would seek to take it away. In the first book I think this was abundantly clear and we will look at it from a different perspective.

If you were going to start a society from scratch with everything we know today…how would you do it? What would you keep from our modern society and what would you throw away…and what would you seek to never have happen again???

Please think of these questions as you read and imagine them for yourselves…sex…religion…politics…

Introduction

Question everything! Leave nothing to chance! You have one chance.

As I write and research, so many of the things that I thought were true, have turned out to be created out of thin air. In fact, there is very little that I can find where this is not so! And if that is true, do we not create our world with each idea that we embrace or choose to discard?

I look around at the people who pass me on the street…so many going about their lives oblivious to almost everything but the basic necessities. You cannot blame them…ignorance is truly bliss at times and some people just want to be left in that blissful state as long as it can last. But I see others…you can see in their eyes that their minds are engaged…some for good and some for evil…it is easy to see who is who…predator and prey. When a predator notices that you have seen him, he will either engage or slink away…and slinking is the greater response.

Those that are un-engaged…the sheeple will be preyed upon sooner or later and no matter how vigilant you cannot save them all by identifying the predators. In fact…your act of saving them may only open them up to greater predation later.

Rather…teach them to see…wake up…engage.

Remember…text that is in Italics is the actual words of the person from history.

Table of Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5: The Design of the Religion

Chapter 6: Preparation

Chapter 7: The Plan

Chapter 8: Acquisition of The Supplies

Chapter 9: Finding The People

Chapter 10: Acquisition of The People

Chapter 11: Acquisition of The People

Chapter 12: The Design of the Culture

Chapter 13: The Design of Society

Chapter 14: The Collection

Chapter 15: The Solidification of the Code

Chapter 16: Sentience

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Excerpt from Abuse of Power volume 3 of the Powers of the Earth series.

Prologue

He was running but it was gaining on him. The scream was deafening! He dodged under a fallen tree and out the other side but it leaped over the top and was back on the chase. His legs felt like stumps and his lungs were burning. His heart was pounding so fast he thought it might just burst right out of his chest. It wouldn’t be long and it would overtake him. Why had he not brought some kind of weapon with him?! The reading of history and the research of scientists had been far off the mark. There was a reason they had all been systematically wiped out. He could hear its footfalls behind him and could almost feel the heavy wet breath on his back. Just a little further, he pushed himself as hard as he could. There was a snap of jaws behind him as if it was already savoring the meal to come.

At full speed he entered the brush. It was four times his size and the brush slowed it down somewhat, but it screamed again and kept on coming. He felt like a mouse that was being chased by a cat through the tall grass and he knew what happened to the mouse if the cat ever caught it. He was down on all fours now pushing his way through the dense undergrowth. He was still being followed but he was gaining a little ground. It began leaping from clear patch to clear patch. It didn’t want to lose sight of its prey.

He crawled under a brush pile just before it caught him. The snap of jaws had missed him by inches. He sat in the middle of it to catch his breath. It began screaming again in frustration as it walked around the accidental pile looking for an opening. Its huge eyes bulged out the sides of its head and it began poking its head between the branches to see if it could reach its prey. The large head would come into the pile between the branches and snap at him. When it failed to reach him it would look for another opening and try the strategy again.

Each time he moved just out of reach and tried to swat at its head with a branch and each time it failed it became more pissed off. It was screaming almost constantly now and he looked out the side of the pile and saw another one approaching at a fast clip. The first one turned to confront the one that was coming and he used it as the break that he needed. He climbed out the other side of the pile as the two started screaming at each other. He took off at a fast run. It had not been that long ago that a different set of predators had been chasing him, but these seemed even more determined. The two stopped squawking and screaming at each other as they realized the prey was getting away and now both of them joined the pursuit.

He had created a good lead but they were far faster than he could ever hope to run. One of them moved to flank him on the right and the other pressed hard from behind to catch up to him and was soon within seconds of making its catch. He threw off the pack that carried the almost football sized eggs that he had collected but that deterred his follower only a moment before it again gave chase. He was back on a familiar trail now but with little brush on either side he was more exposed than ever. Just a little further he kept thinking to himself.

The one behind him was very close now. It swung its head on its long neck to try and take a bite out of him. The one to the right was closing on an intercept course and it screamed at the other as the bite just missed the target. He gave it all he had as he neared the precipice and launched himself out into the empty air. At first he seemed to continue straight out on his trajectory with his legs still pumping frantically for purchase as if he was in some kind of a cartoon. Then he began falling faster and faster. He looked behind him and up as the one behind ran into then one that had been closing from the right. The two tried to stop their momentum but the collision sent one of them careening down the rocky side.

Had he jumped far enough was all he could think of as the surface rose up to meet him. Had he jumped far enough out to get past the jagged rock surrounding the edge of the pool? He hit the water hard after the more than 100-foot drop but all he felt was water. He kept sinking for another moment and then swam back to the surface. The Moa up at the precipice was still screaming but the other was a bloody mess lying in the rocks. He wouldn’t be eating eggs for dinner but a drumstick the size of his body would make a nice roast. Everything he had ever read said that Moa were vegetarians.

Modern New Zealand from satellite still looks wild.

Zooming in on Akaroa.

Focus on the large fjord leading south to the Pacific.

A land suited for Vikings.

The small Island where Ed finds himself and the area of the settlement where now sits Duvauchelle.

CHAPTER 1

Ed emerged from the wormhole from where he had just left Thomas Jefferson in 1789 and was standing in the room that was his laboratory not so very long ago but in this timeline it never was in the year 2037, the specific instances that had led to him creating the equipment that eventually allowed him to create the device he now wore on his arm to travel through time, had not happened since the last changes with Jefferson. He didn’t know what had happened to the nation outside the walls of the Smithsonian and right now he didn’t really care. Though he didn’t know exactly what time it was, he knew it was late and that most people had gone home, only security personnel would be left at this time of night.

There were just a few things that he needed access to. The new device on his arm could measure and record the tachyon time hack and estimate the number of years between the current time and the time of the state change of the material it is scanning. It could then use that time hack at any instance without having to refocus on the material to open the wormhole. The only limitation was that it still needed an external power source to generate enough charge to engage the system and open the wormhole. Ed estimated that with a few modifications he would be able to hold enough of a charge to be able to accomplish two or maybe three engagements before the power was too low to open up another wormhole. He also calculated that if he designed the power discharge coupling correctly he could open up wormholes of any size he needed based on what he was sending. The larger the wormhole the more power and of course the smaller the wormhole the less power. If his calculations were correct he could open up and target a wormhole from 12 inches to 12 feet in diameter.

There was no such thing as size inside the wormhole, it was only the event horizon on each end that took the power to generate. The event horizon on each end was a mirror of the other and transition through was almost instantaneous before the two ends closed at the same instant. An event horizon was not an opening to a funnel or tunnel or like one of the slides on a children’s playground where you jumped into the top end and then slid round and round until you dumped out the bottom. A wormhole is more like the surface of a pond where you entered and then emerged on the other side. It has no real thickness or depth. The momentum that you possess upon entering the wormhole, you carry through to the other side. It is much more like an open door but you can’t see the other side, you have to take a leap of faith as you jump into it in hopes that the fall will not n

be too devastating. Because it is an opening it cannot open up into a solid or a liquid of any substance. It will always open up into the emptiest space in the vicinity of the original location and time of the substance being targeted to establish a lock on the tachyon time hack.

As quietly as he could, Ed slid the door of the room to the side and peaked out into the hallway. There was nobody that could be seen, so he stepped out and reclosed the door. He walked down the hallway and over to the bank of elevators. He watched for a moment to see if any were in operation and when he was sure that there was no one in them he turned to the staircase and made his way up to the janitor’s office and smiled when he saw Thom’s throne sitting in the break area. He grabbed one of Thom’s janitor coveralls and put it on so that even if someone did see him, they would think it was a janitor working late and it covered up the device on his left arm. Then he pushed one of the cleaning carts in front of him as he started down the hallway. The Smithsonian is such a huge building with so many different displays that it took a while for Ed to find the ones he was looking for even though he had worked in the building before.

The first display that he knew he had to find was the one that contained the artifacts from before human habitation of New Zealand. This was not a permanent display but as luck would have it, it was out. Ed walked up to it and started looking for the items he remembered. It was sitting in a section of the display on the extinct birds of the southern island. The large bird skull had been found in the mountains just south of Christchurch and had been dated to being from between 200 and 300 A.D. Ed focused the device on it and copied the tachyon time hack. He would now be able to create a wormhole to that time and location anytime he wanted to.

Ed then began looking for the other display that he wanted to see on this night. But as he searched from hallway to hallway and floor to floor, he realized that it wasn’t where it had been in the previous timeline. He was so focused on his task that he didn’t hear the person walking up behind him.

What the hell are you still doing here? The security guard asked.

Ed spun around, Just trying to get shit done so I don’t get in trouble.

If the folks up in the Executive Suite knew you were down here at night without advance permission, you would be in trouble. What’s your name?

Ed smiled. I’m Ed, you know, the new guy that Thom brought in. Yeah I suppose you are right but I was told to clean the Viking display and the Jefferson display but then I forgot…you ain’t gonna write me up are you?… Ed tried to remember the guy’s name… Bob?

I don’t want to deal with the paperwork and besides you are not in a secure area. The problem that you got and the reason you didn’t get your shit done is because the Viking display is in prep room one and Jefferson is in three. Come on, I will walk you down there and open the doors, but when you are done you have to promise to relock them on your way out. They talked as they walked.

You betcha Bob, I really appreciate this. I would hate to get my ass chewed just because I didn’t know where stuff is. Ed stated.

No problemma, but next time come and let me know first so I don’t get an alarm going off or some shit down here. I just about pissed myself when I walked up on ya not knowing you were here. Bob replied.

Ed laughed a bit to release the tension. Sorry dude, it won’t happen again.

Yeah…you bet yer ass it won’t! How long have you known Thom?

For a while I guess…a little over a year.

You ever sit in the throne? Bob asked with a smile.

I hate that damn thing! Once you get in its all comfy, but when you try to get out, you are just about stuck!

Bob laughed. Yeah it only took me only one time to figure that out. Sat down in it to take a little nap one night when I was exhausted but when I got up I had to climb over the arm to escape. I ended up on the floor. How the hell does that big man do it?

He maybe old but he is strong…and he kinda has a process.

They stopped at a door just down the hall from the expedition staging room where teams of archeologists would get their equipment ready to go out on a dig. Bob pulled out his keys and unlocked it. He swung it open and turned on the light. It was a large room filled with display cases.

Bob just shook his head. How they expect you to get this done on your own. You could work all night and not finish!

Well, I plan to just work for a while so that they can see that something was done and then go home. That way I can say that I worked on it and not be lying. Nothing Thom hates more than a liar!

Bob nodded his head in the affirmative. When you are ready to go, just lock up and pull the door closed.

Sure, you want me to come and let you know when I am leaving?

Yeah, I think that would be best. You got a car in the garage or the lot? Bob asked.

Nope, just riding the bus.

That’s good…that way nobody will see ya leave. Well, good luck and see ya later.

See ya Bob…and thanks! Ed responded.

Bob closed the door as he left and Ed could hear his footsteps echo down the hallway as he walked away. They got quieter and quieter the further he walked. Ed breathed a sigh of relief. It had actually been lucky that Bob had found him. He would have never found the displays on his own. He began looking for the items that he wanted. There were writings and clothing from different periods ranging from around 100 A.D. up through the middle ages from Norway, Sweden, Denmark and even Iceland. He scanned each one and set their tachyon time hacks in the devices memory with a listing of what it was. It took almost two hours to dig through all the cases. When he was done he opened the door and pushed the cleaning cart back out into the hallway and over to prep room 3. In one of the cases he saw what he was looking for…Jefferson’s diary, and he stuffed it into his pocket. As he walked back to the janitor’s office he stopped every now and then to add another item into the memory. As he walked past the Early Man display he stopped and just for the fun of it gauged the tachyon time. The skull of the Neanderthal was over 15,000 years old but Ed set it in the memory. He then aimed the device at a Woolly Mammoth and it showed over 12,000 years. He set that hack in the memory as well.

Once he had stowed the cart away, he walked back up to the security station. Bob was sitting there watching a number of projections, but the one he was most interested in was a sporting event. He barely looked up as Ed walked over to him.

Well, I’ve done enough for one night…and they can’t say that I didn’t do nothin! Ed stated with a smile.

Bob just laughed back at him but didn’t look up from the sports projection. Then a beeping sound and a red light next to another projection caught his eye. Fucking shit!

What’s up? Ed asked.

God damned kids again that what’s up! Always fucking up my night! Bob looked up at Ed. Hey, would ya stay here for a few while I go chase after them kids...won’t take more that 15 or 20 minutes.

Yeah…sure. One good turn deserves another!

Good, we will be even then. Don’t touch shit and I will be back in a jiff. Bob said as he ran down the hallway towards the doors.

Ed sat down on the stool and looked at the projections. He saw Bob running down the side street after some kids and shook his head from side to side. It was then that he saw the door into the security desks back office. He got off the stool and walked through the door. He stood in amazement as he looked at the large gun safe sitting wide open. There were pistols and shotguns and even a few AR15’s with cases of ammunition stacked at the bottom of the safe. There was a sign on the door that said it was to be kept closed at all times, but Bob had obviously forgot to do so as he was so engaged by the sports event. Ed got an idea, but he would have to work fast.

He ran back down to the janitor’s office and grabbed the cart. He pushed it as fast as he could back up to the security station and threw all the guns into it along with all of the ammunition. He also grabbed the tactical belts and all the gear he could grab. He had never been a thief before and his heart was racing and his adrenalin pumping…it was a rush the likes of which he had never felt before. Once the cart was loaded to the top he pushed the door of the safe closed and grabbed the master key off the desk. He then pulled the cart back down the hallway to the door of the room next to the one that held the Viking display. He unlocked it with the master key and swung open the door. He pushed the cart in and quickly looked around. It was like an outdoor supply store. He backed out and left the door slightly ajar and headed back up to the security station.

He put the key back where it was but was only back for less than a minute before Bob walked through the door and back up the hallway. He looked at Ed strangely. You OK?

Yeah…never better! Ed said in a voice that was clearly out of breath.

You look whipped out man. Bob stated as he looked around the station and then focused on the projection of the sporting event. Holy fuck! No wonder you are worked up. God damn it! I always miss the good shit! The Vikes are my team man!

Mine too. Ed stated as he smiled. Its nice to see them kicking some ass. You will just have to watch the replay.

"It ain’t the fucking same. Damn kids, its like they know just when the game is getting good. Well, thanks for watching things Ed.

No problemma Bob, see ya in a few. Ed walked back down the hallway as Bob was re-glued to the projection. As he reached the door he had left open, he walked through quietly and then locked it from the inside and then pushed a desk up against it. He rummaged through a few boxes and found an extension cord and plugged in the device on his arm. As it powered up he began staging supplies to throw into the wormhole once he opened it. At the back of the room he found a generator that ran on propane and four cases of gas cylinders. Then he saw the tents and grabbed the biggest one he could lift. Next to it was shelving system lined with boxes of MRE’s (meals ready to eat) and he moved them over with the tent.

His device was at full power but he had not realized how loud he had been in staging the equipment. He heard Bob out in the hallway and saw the door handle move. Ed opened the wormhole and pushed the cart full of weapons through and then began throwing his stack of supplies. Bob was yelling on the other side of the door but Ed ignored him. As he threw more and more stuff into the wormhole. When he finally got everything he wanted thrown in he saw the door being pushed open inch by inch as Bob shoved his shoulder into it over and over. Ed dove through the wormhole and Bob finally managed to push the desk to the side enough to stick his head into the room. It was empty and dark.

CHAPTER 2

Ed landed hard on the pile of supplies. His device read the year 307 A.D. It was bright daylight but there was a smell of old death. Under the pile of gear was a large bird that had died, rotted and had since dried out, but it still stunk. Ed looked around at his surroundings and climbed to the top of the hill behind him. It seemed he was on a small island surrounded by water and then mountains. The shore to the west was very close, maybe a mile away and to the east it couldn’t be more than three. To the south the waterway seemed to go on for quite some distance before the mountains turned and obscured the furthest shore. Ed walked back down to the pile of gear and grabbed a shotgun and loaded it. He climbed back to the top of the hill and followed a running peak to the north. He could see the shore to the north and could tell it was quite close. He walked down towards the water and followed the shore as it continued north. He was on a very narrow isthmus that at the farthest point north was a sandbar that was under only a few feet of water before it became the spine of another hill that connected up into the mountains. Ed reached down to the water and put some to his mouth. It was salty…it was seawater. Somewhere to the south the channel must connect up to the ocean.

Ed could have waded across to the mainland but thought better of it for the time being, besides it looked like at low tide he could walk to the other side without getting his feet wet. He walked back south looking down the sides of the hill as he went. There were not a lot of trees or underbrush to speak of and it was quite open and grassy. He didn’t see any other animals except for birds flying around and chirping at each other. It was a good location but he would have to bring in water, but it seemed to be safe. On his device he began reading about the location and the flora and fauna. There were no large predatory animals on the islands of New Zealand and humans would not show up from Fiji for at least another 1200 years.

Ed decided to set up his camp on the flatter top of the south end of the island. He began moving all his gear up to that location. It was not until he had moved most of the gear that he saw the true size of the animal it all had been strewn on top of. The bird had to be 12 to 14 feet from one end to the other and the feet alone were about three times the size of an ostriches that he had seen at the zoo when he was younger. It is a good thing they aren’t predatory, Ed thought to himself. The bones looked more like a carnivorous dinosaur than a vegetarian bird.

The tent was far bigger than he had imagined and was made for polar latitudes with an inner and outer wall, it was about 15 by 15 feet square and Ed didn’t like the flimsy carbon fiber poles that came with it. It was not that he thought they would break, but they sure would move in the wind if there was any. He decided to cut some new poles out of the trees that surrounded the site. Ed selected four similar trees in shape and size and one a little longer for the center he dug the four holes at each corner of the tent about three feet deep to hold the pole securely. He packed the dirt in around the base and then dug the hole for the center pole. The tent was designed to have a hooping top with the carbon fiber poles bending over the gap between the walls. Ed rolled out the tent and tied up the tops of the outer corners to the tops of the poles. He then went inside to place the center pole.

There wasn’t a place to put the center pole through the floor so Ed cut one that fit the pole perfectly. He then crawled under the tent to fill in the dirt around the base and tamped it down to hold it vertically straight. He did end up using some of the carbon fiber poles as additional support from the tops of the corner poles to the center pole. And he used others just like they were intended to hold up the screened area at the front of the tent which was faced to the north. Then he moved everything in and set things up. He had stole the whole camp set which meant he actually had a camp bed with a rolled mattress, a few sleeping bags with some sheets. There was two folding camp tables with two chairs each and he laughed at the thought of having company when the nearest human being was over 1500 miles away and people that could understand his speech were on the other side of the world…if they even existed yet.

Ed used the footlocker standing up on a large flat rock to store the weapons and ammo. He set up the two desks across the room from each other, one as a makeshift kitchen with a camp stove on top and the other as a desk for his equipment. He put the generator in the screened in porch area and ran cords for lights. He had over a hundred canisters of propane and each one would run the generator for six hours. He had boxes and boxes of MRE’s of all kinds and figured he had at least a year’s worth of food. What he didn’t have was water. It was getting later in the day and he decided to go and see if the water level had fallen enough to walk to the mainland. He felt silly as he carried the shotgun in a sling over his shoulder while wearing a utility belt full of gear. He also carried two water jugs that would each hold five gallons of water and some clear plastic tubing.

He headed north up the ridgeline until it sloped down to the shore. The tide had gone out and he could see small fish in the pools left behind on both sides of the land bridge. When he reached the area that had been under water a few hours before, he was happy to see that he was correct as it was now high and dry. He decided to follow the shore to the left and he didn’t have to go far before find a small stream running into a marshy area. He climbed up the side of the slope and found where the water was coming up out of the ground forming a natural spring. Ed set up some rocks to hold the tubing where the water was coming up out of the rock and then tied the other end to a small tree leaving about six feet hanging. He then placed a flat rock directly under the end of the tube and made sure it was stable. He placed the first jug on the rock and then started sucking on the tube till he saw the water coming through. The dropping end of the tubing created the siphon to keep the water continually flowing through the tube and since it was only a small part of the flow of the spring, it would flow without stopping. Once the first jug was filled, Ed put the second in its place and watched as it filled.

He looked around through the trees and down to the small marsh and felt silly carrying so much fire-power and a belt full of weapons. All he saw was birds, no other small animals at all and not very many insects either. Once the other jug was full, he put the cap on it and began walking back to his camp. He was please to find good water so close and have a camp that was so secluded and half the time protected by water on all sides. It took less than 20 minutes to get back even with multiple stops to rest. Ed kept looking around expecting to see something but all he saw was more birds. High above there was what looked to be an eagle and a big one at that and then it was gone over the next ridge.

Ed started a fire in a pit he set up and surrounded it with rocks. He set up a spit to hold a pot to boil water in. As he sat waiting for the water to boil he poked at the coals with a stick…that’s when he heard it. It was a scream from the opposite shore to the west. Ed grabbed a pair of binoculars to try and see what had made the sound and then he heard it again from a little way further up the beach. A large Moa emerged from the brush and out onto the sand and screamed. It was answered a moment later from another back down the beach where Ed had heard the first scream from. The birds headed toward each other at a quick pace and then danced around each other as they each sized up their opponent. Short head thrusts ensued as they sought to take a bite out of the other and then they began jumping and clawing at their foe. This went on for a few minutes until one of them seemed to get the upper hand and the other took off at a run back to the south with the second closely behind. They ran up into the brush and were gone. It was quiet again.

They must be males fighting for dominance, thought Ed. He was surprised by how fast those big birds could move. He wondered how big the females got. When the water had boiled he used it to heat up a Chicken ala King and mixed some of the water with the packet of Tang to drink. There was a small bottle of McIlhenny hot sauce. Ed laughed to himself that if the ComOrgs had caught him with that little bottle, he could be sent camping and then smiled at the thought as he looked at his tent…I am camping! He said aloud to himself. Ed sprinkled the whole bottle on the food. It was not much better than a ration. He looked at the packing date. 1997, it was 40 years old…it was older than he was and it tasted like it. I may have enough to last me a year but I’ll be damned if I am gonna eat this crap every day!

He threw more wood on the fire just in case any animals got nosey and looked up at the night sky. There was a constellation of stars in the shape of a cross that he had never seen before, in fact all the stars were different. He looked at them for a while and then walked into the tent and went right to sleep.

CHAPTER 3

Ed had a fit-full night’s sleep. His stomach tossed and turned and he dreamed of Beth. He was always so close yet just out of reach. He woke bright and early but laid there for a while thinking about his decisions and if they made sense. Here he was, far away from everything and everyone he had ever known and there wasn’t a soul to share it with. He had lost two wives and a child in his short life, one to murder and the other to disease. He shook his head to clear out the thoughts before they became overwhelming. He put on one of the utility belts that also had a holster, loaded a pistol and reached into the gear trunk and pulled out a small fly-rod. He assembled it and strung the line and pulled out a small box of flies. He had decided a little fishing would clear his head. He walked back north to where he had seen the fish caught in the pools the day before and tried casting to them.

Although he had seen it done on a projection, he had never actually fished before, but he didn’t need any skill because each time he flipped the fly out on the water a fish rose to take it. They had never been fished before and were not in the least wary. After Ed had caught three that were large enough together to make a meal, he walked back to the campsite and after discovering that they had no scales to remove, he cut their guts out an strung them over the fire to cook. As he waited he got a whiff of himself and decided that he would have to find a spot where he could go to bathe. He could wash up at the little spring if he hollowed out a small pool, but he wanted to do some exploring anyway. He decided to keep his dirty clothes on and bring some clean ones with him to change into once he had washed the grime off. He looked at the utility belt and felt silly for even thinking about wearing it in a land that held no predators. Instead he decided to take a backpack and see what kind of foods he could find.

After his breakfast was done he headed back north. From the crest he could see the valley to the west that he knew at one time in his past future held the road to Christchurch. He would explore that valley first because he knew that every other direction led directly to the ocean. With a water bottle in one hand and one of the carbon fiber poles in the other, he headed out following the shoreline. Where the sand turned west he could look back at his camp and it looked like the perfect secure location. He was pleased with himself. About a half-mile further he reached the area where he had seen the two birds fighting the night before. The size of their tracks was surprising and Ed had a second thought about going on an expedition without a weapon. Then he laughed at himself, they were just birds and vegetarians at that.

He turned up the valley and into the brush along another creek. Ed decided he would follow it to see where it would lead. The temperature started to get hot as he climbed higher and deeper into the valley. After a few miles he came to a deep pool at the base of a waterfall. The water was wonderfully cool and he stripped down to his birthday suit and dove in. the water was crystal clear and except for a few spaces the pool was surrounded by jagged rock that had fallen down from the heights up above. Ed estimated the drop to be over a hundred feet. He swam back over to where the water exited the pool and where he had entered. He pulled some soap out of his pack and first washed himself and then his messy clothes. He hung them up on some branches to dry and then sat out in the sun on a large boulder to dry himself off.

Ed ate a little of the food he had brought with him and had a few drinks before dressing again. He looked up at the edge of the cliff above and wondered how to get up there. Throwing on his pack but leaving the wet clothes to dry, Ed backtracked along the face of the cliff as it sloped down to the terrain he was walking on. It was there he found the game trail. He could see that it ran up the side of the mountain in just the direction he wanted to go. It was tiring but not a difficult climb and as he reached the top the brush gave way to a park-like setting of short grasses and intermittent large trees. Ed walked along for almost a mile as if he didn’t have a care in the world. He was free. As free as any man had ever been, the difference was that he knew it in a way that other men wouldn’t be able to understand. Not so long ago he had come from a most un-free society that man had