Encompassing Reality (8 page)

Adam replied.  “There is risk in anything.  We balance the risk.”

Tomorrow pondered and then nodded.

Adam then said, “Personally I am happy we have a meal waiting for us.”

“You don’t like the foods I gather in the morning?”  Tomorrow looked at him wondering if she was meeting his approval.

“You choose well.  I am always happy that you do that while I scout.  But some days a guy just wants to wake up with some meat.”  Adam replied.

“Okay.  There are things a girl wants too, you know?”  Tomorrow looked at him briefly, but turned to gather a few of the things she had carved into weapons before beginning to follow him.

The next day Adam showed her how to make a good hook out of hardwood.  Then she showed her how to gather things to put on the hook as bait.  He gave her several examples and then begins digging in the soil for grubs and worms.  Then he looks up and sees her repeatedly clicking into the water and back out with tiny minnows in her hands each time.  Adam laughed to himself and Tomorrow, hearing his joy in her head looked over to him and smiled.

Eventually Adam said, “That’s enough. They will know something is up if the minnows are all dried out.  Fish are very smart!”  He began explain how to cast a line and demonstrated several times, reminding her often that the hooks could be painful to them if she wasn’t sure to cast safely.  He also explained the usual errors such as getting the line caught in a tree, dredging the bottom and ending up pulling in muck, etc.  She listened very intently and then he let her try.

Tomorrow looked at him, “How as that?”

Adam replied, “Not bad for the first time.  Pull it in slowly.  Then keep working on your cast.”

After a while she looked back at Adam who was simply sitting there watching her.  “Aren’t you going to help?”

“Nah, I have faith in you, Tomorrow.”

“This seems like a lot of work.  It’s becoming boring.”  She announced.

“That’s part of the joy of it.  You know you are working on your survival and not wasting time.  But you start to do it automatically and it becomes a great time to just think about the beauty of the world around you.”

Tomorrow thought about that.  She shrugged and continued.  Then she felt something pull on the line.  She yelled, “Something is tugging at it, hard.”

Adam stood and said, “Okay, pull hard now and then let go.”  She did that. Adam continued with a play by play.  Now slowly pull in the line, but if it gets too tight let a little bit out.  This is the hard part.  You have to feel what it’s doing and try to wear it down so it doesn’t break the line.”

Tomorrow then saw it leap out of the water.  In an instant she was gone and back next to Adam, her pole laying on the ground with the line slack and she tossed the fish that was struggling, in her arms, up further away from the water.  She tuned to Adam excited and asked, “How’d I do?”

Adam rubbed his neck and thought.  He wasn’t quite sure how to answer, but he tried anyway, “Well, not exactly what I intended to teach you, but your clicking skills are coming along well.”

Tomorrow smile faded, “What did I do wrong?  We used the line until it leaped and I could see it then I grabbed clicked out and grabbed it.  Wasn’t that the plan?”

“It’s certainly efficient, Tomorrow.  Now I’ll teach you how to clean a fish so we can cook it and you can taste fish for the first time.  I thought you might catch a salmon given that they are in run right now, but you did even better!  You caught a bass!  That’s pretty impressive!”  He reached to give her a big hug and she hugged him back while watching the fish flop on the land.  Seeing her attention was on her prize he let go as she ran over to pick it up.  He yelled after her, “After I teach you how to clean that we need to make a fire.  Fish meat doesn’t stay good for long.  One day, I’ll teach you how to eat it as sushi.  You don’t have to cook it then, but you have to know what to look for before you eat fish raw.”  Adam could tell she wasn’t paying much attention to him, but he saw her nod.  He smiled.

Tomorrow looked up from what she was doing, “Are you happy with me?”

Adam grinned, “Well, the next lesson was going to be fishing via boat.  I was thinking something along the lines of a tin can with a Johnson 9.9 strapped to the back of it, but after watching your method I can see we're going to need a bigger boat.”

CHAPTER 13

“Just when you think you are beginning to understand people, you find out you know less about them than they do about you.”  -- from the Book of Phillip

“Whatever!” Venetia screamed back at him.  When I brought Marla to this bed it was between us.  You weren’t invited, but you took over that soon.”  Venetia was finding her clothes and putting them on quickly.

Phillip could hear her huffing the way she always did when she was angry at him. “Well, I didn’t know that.  To be direct with you, I’m pretty sure Marla didn’t know that either.  I think she expected it would lead to all three of us, just as I did.”

Venetia huffed even more visibly as she turned quickly and yelled, “Neither of you asked me!”

Phillip lowered his head considering that.  He couldn’t help but think that as outspoken as she is she wouldn’t just say that in the first place.  Then he wonders what exactly that meant for her plans with him.  In his defense he added, “There aren’t that many of us.  These are things that are bound to happen.  We were young when we thought this all out.”

“So if we are a microcosm of society and all of society does what they want without considering the other person, than why are we building a model of the same thing that our ancestors did?”  She swatted her pants at his face and then put them on and pushed her feet into her shoes and walked out.  As she rounded the corner she saw Tina.  Tina waved, but Venetia looked back at her with a very stern look on her face.

As Tina opened the door she thought, “Well, from the smell and dank of this place I see some things worked out.  But apparently not others.”

“Yes, Tina, you were right.”  Phillip said holding up a hand.

“I didn’t meant to be, it’s just kind of predictable between the two of you.”  Tina began to undress and ready herself for sleep.  She was, as she has predicted, extremely worn out.  She crawled into bed next to him and looked at his face.  She very badly just wanted to go to sleep, but she could tell from the look on his face he was thinking about multiple things at once, again.  “Ok, there’s more to that look than just Venetia.  What’s wrong?”

“A lot.  As for Venetia she did say something I should consider.”  Phillip said as he laid back.

“Like the fact that she likes being in bed with you still, but is still angry with you about the Marla thing?”  Tina commented.

“Well of course that, but something else as a result.  I have a lot of things to think about and you look extremely tired.”  Phillip leaned over and kissed Tina on the forehead and then lay back down.

“Yeah, I am tired, but I was kind of looking forward to a better kiss goodnight than that.”  Tina leaned on her elbow while looking down at him.

“I’m sorry, come here.”  Phillip grabbed the back of her head and pulled her down and kissed her deeply.  Then as if he was more fueled than ever he put his arms around her and pulled her body into him.

Tina broke the kiss looked at him and smiled.  “Good to know I’m still attractive to you.  Although, I think the only one you haven’t shown that to is Siri.  Although we’ve seen you check her out once or twice.”

“Hmm, I’ve noted her figure, that’s about it.  Siri and Paul are completely in their own world.  As pretty as you are, I don’t think Paul notices you anymore than Siri notices me.  Besides, polite and informational conversation.”

Tina looks up at the ceiling while still leaning over Phillip.  Then back at him. “Okay.  I’ll agree that’s a pretty accurate statement.  Tell me more about the me being pretty part?”

Phillip grins and kisses her again.  Then Tina leans on her elbow again with her hand to her head and looks at Phillip.

“Venetia and I don’t look very much alike.  Be honest, which of us do you think is prettier?”  Tina asks.

“I’m not playing this game.  Also, personalities are completely different and it’s hard not to factor that in.”  Phillip answers.  “Plus, I’m with you.”

“But because you want to be or because you can’t get along with Venetia and Marla moved on to James?”  Tina asked.

“Marla moved on to James because she noted my interest in you.  How do you feel about Marla going after James?”  Phillip asked.

Tina thought about it and then answered, “I’m not sure it was Marla who started it.  I don’t really care anymore.  I am with you.  Well mostly.  And Marla and James seem content.  Plus, she puts up with him.”

Phillip laughed.  “Funny you would put it that way.  I kind of said the same thing as my own observation to Venetia.”

“She doesn’t seem to like me.”  Tina noted.

“She has her own views on relationships.  Some are things I want to consider.  Some are driven by her anger at the past.”  Phillip pulled Tina in for a last kiss and then rolled over.

Tina whispered in Phillip’s ear, “I’m tired, I’m not dead.”  Phillip rolled back over to look at her as she put her head to his chest and began kissing his stomach.  Then he heard her murmur, “We all owe you our lives.”  She started kissing his body more passionately and he couldn’t help but react.

Phillip didn’t move at first, but he did say, “No, I owe you all mine.”  Then he gave in to her anyway.

CHAPTER 14

“Over the years, I began to understand him and the martyr. I knew I had to grow.  I knew I should thank the martyr by helping the people, the way the martyr had.” -- from the Book of Tomorrow

“So can we agree, we will probably never know who my father was?  Tomorrow’s voice was deeper, more even toned and a lot more direct than when Adam had first met her.

Adam looked at her, realizing it had been a few years already.  Her body had matured, but she was firmer.  Her eyes glowed with direction and goals.  She had become far more accurate than he had ever seen in anyone.  Her speed was something to behold.  Her strength of will was absolute and resolute.  Adam held out his hands to her as he stood.

“You’re planning to ask me to take you back soon.”  Adam pulled her to him and hugged her and smelled her hair.  Then he held Tomorrow away from him and looked into her eyes.  “I understand.”  He was quiet for a few moments and then he said, “First you want me to show you something else, but after that I have something to show you.  I think it will change your mind about going back down there.”

On the bank of the river where they retreated to a long time ago, Adam reached his hands down and grabbed at her buttocks and then leaned in to kiss her.  Adam clicked ant they were back at the house they had made their own.  He could feel her heartbeat rise and he knew she was aware his rose too.  She leapt and wrapped her legs around him and he moved one arm around her waist.  As he kissed her neck he slowly removed her adornments as she quickly ripped at his.  With every heave he could feel her nipples rub against his chest as her hand fell to check his excitement.  Adam again clicked and they were in their old bed.  As he wrapped his fingers in her hair she pulled at him and he gave in.

The next morning she was touching him and thinking to him that she wanted more.  She could hear his thoughts.  He was awake, so she knew he did too.  She reached behind her and touched his arm.  He pushed at her back and infused his fingers into her hair again.  As he moved her into position, she made the most lovely sound as they began again.

That afternoon he got up and walked to the doorway.  Adam yelled back over his shoulder.  Well, crops are still here.”  Then he laughed.  “I suppose this morning s eggs should be thrown out.”

Tomorrow clicked over behind him and leaned over his shoulder looking out at all they had grown together.  “Uh, huh.”  She said. “I have to pee first. I suspect you have to also.”  Then she leaned on his shoulder again and scanned the land that they had worked so hard on.  “We’re not coming back here, are we?”

Adam turned his head towards Tomorrow in time to catch her incoming kiss.

Tomorrow let out a deep sigh, “Well, you were right.  I do like cow the best of all, but chicken is pretty good too.”  The two of them laughed.  Then her face changed as she said, “I can’t hear where you’re thinking about.  How should I dress?”

“Casual.” Adam replied.

Tomorrow sighed at him, “You know what I meant!”  Then she watched as he looked up at the sun.

Adam turned completely towards her and said, “Medium will work for now.  Go pee, I’ll meet you back in the bedroom.  We’ll get dressed and then…”  He stopped while he turned to look out over the land again.

Tomorrow grabbed the back of his head and kissed it. “I trust you.  You should trust you too!”  Then she sprinted off up the stairs towards the secondary bathroom, knowing he preferred to use the primary one.  She briefly thought how much she missed the convenience of the stream that just washed it all away.  Then she heard him yell up the stairs to her.

“I don’t think it matters that we take it out today.”

She thought about that and shrugged realizing that was probably true.  Tomorrow also noted that he had just confirmed that they were not coming back.

While she was finishing she got an odd feeling.  Tomorrow stood and clicked to their bedroom.  Adam wasn’t there.  She couldn’t hear him.  She couldn’t even hear him blocking her from his mind.  He wasn’t anywhere near.  She started to panic.  Then she began to cry.  She hadn’t ever thought about what it would feel like not to hear his thoughts.  She felt as if she had been hearing him forever, but it had only been a few years of her life.  She started re-thinking going back down there.  She knew he would never cage himself in a place like that.  She cried deeper and noticed herself moaning with forlornness.  She crawled into the bed and held his pillow to herself, sniffing at it.  She just wanted to smell his scent, to remind her.  To fool herself into thinking he was there with her.  It only made her sadder that he was not.  Her body began heaving in rhythm to her heart beat.  She had never felt aloneness like this.  When her mother passed she felt something similar, but being able to simply think with someone was a whole different level of close.  She started to wonder if she would live.  Then she wondered how she would live without him.  She lay there for hours staring at the ceiling.

Then she felt a spark in her mind and his wrist was on hers as he clicked.

They were on a hillside.  Adam pointed down.  She ignored what he was pointing at.

“Don’t ever do that to me again!  I was…”  She stopped what she was saying and grabbed him and leaned in to smell him.

Adam put his arms around her.  “I’m sorry, I thought I got the time right, but time doesn’t work the same way it used to, or I don’t.  I was off.”

“Why did you leave?”  Tomorrow asked and then she began to cry all over again.

“I came here, to explain who you were.  There are a lot of people down there.  I only know a few of them.  They were friends with Phillip.  I found them and brought them here a long time ago and they founded a city.”

Tomorrow looked at him, “Out here, in the open?”

“Well, there are no sky crawlers anymore and there are no more Hunters, that we know of, so why not?  We’ve done perfectly well above ground for years.”  Adam replied.

Tomorrow wiped at her tears, but leaned in to smell him again, because it gave her comfort.  “Why did you have to explain to a whole city who I am?  Who am I to them anyway?”

“Well, I didn’t explain it to the whole city.  Come with me.  I’ll show you the city and then I will introduce you to Venetia and Tina.  They pretty much run the city, or at least used to.  They were friends of Phillip’s.  Adam pauses then stands and holds down a hand to get her to stand too.  As they began to walk he adds, “That’s not completely accurate.  They both bore him children, too.  Apparently, on the same day.”

“The martyr has children?”  Tomorrow’s face lit up thinking through what that meant.  It gave her several things to consider.  Then she said, “Amazing!  And he had twins!”

Adam held up a finger in front of her in correction.  “Umm that’s not what I said.”

Tomorrow looked at him and stopped. “But you just said they were born on the same day.”

“Yes, I did say that and that is true.  But they are not twins.”  Adam listened to her thoughts carefully, but she could tell she couldn’t consider any alternative.  “One is by Tina and one is by Venetia.  No, they don’t get along well, but they do work together to make the dream that Phillip had become something.  It’s that they have very different opinions.  They were both chosen to lead as the mothers of his offspring.  In the beginning that meant enough to the first people here.  But they took in thousands from all over who had evaded the sky crawlers and the Hunters for so long.  It grew into a city made up of people from different backgrounds, ideals and beliefs.  That worked well for a while.  In the early days they were just happy to be back in a semi-normal living situation.  People are social creatures, after all.”

“But how…”

Adam said, “Don’t interrupt.  I’m trying to explain this all to you before we get there.  That’s why I didn’t click in directly.  Right now there is a lot of discontent and like every city, there are those who are doing things that harm this way of life.”  Venetia and Tina are trying to keep it under control, but murders have been on the rise, thievery is getting out of control and there’s more.  Drugs aren’t bad, per say, but there are those who gain monies by getting people hooked on them.  That has become a problem here too.  It increases the other problems as desperate people start doing things they would not normally do.  I should have explained a lot of this sooner.”

“You’re intentionally blocking me!  Just answer my question!”  Tomorrow stopped walking and sat down in the tall grass on the hill.

“Phillip liked women.  More than most do.  I was not unlike him myself.  Trust me, it was not easy to be a Gentleman with you around.  So, yes, your logic is sound.  He was with both of them on the same day.”  Adam looked at Tomorrow’s face as he completed his answer.

She began staring out at nothing in particular and he watched her arms go up to hug herself.  Then she muttered, “So the martyr was man?”

“Of course he was.  Hell, I’ve told you he was my brother and my great-grandson.  That doesn’t make his deeds any less noble!”  Adam stopped.

Tomorrow continued to look at nothing.  Finally her eyes turned up to the stars.  “No it makes them more noble.  He had weaknesses and yet he faced his own death to help others.”

Adam thought about that and was surprised by that comment from her.  He decided he should continue with what he was saying before she stopped him. “Anyway, they know you are a bio, and they know what you can do.  They are familiar with it.  Phillip could do it and they have started noticing their children doing some of the same things.  They are willing to give you great living quarters and good food, in exchange for you training their children on how to control their…things.”

Tomorrow turned to Adam quickly.  “Wait, you’re the best teacher.  Where will you be?”  Then she heard his answer and began to cry again.  “No Adam!  No!  I’ve decided!  I want to spend the rest of my life with you.  No, please, no!”

“I’m not leaving you, but I won’t be around as much.  I have a lot to do.  I can’t move forward anymore and I can’t go back past when I was born anymore.  What Stephen did changed a lot of the rules.  I have to accept that it’s not possible to change that.  There are loopholes, but I’m not going to get into that.  I don’t think Stephen’s methods were at all humane or even half way decent.  But, things are the way they are.  It creates a better model for those like us.  I could literally spend another few years explaining that to you.  We can’t use time to override each other anymore.  Trust me, that’s more of a relief than I could explain.”  Adam looks at her with a worried brow, but he was careful to be sure his overall demeanor was calm.

Slowly Tomorrow turned her head to look at him, as if she was in a daze, but she spoke, “What are their names?”

“Huh?  Oh!”  Adam adjusted and thought about it for the first time, “Tina named her daughter Amelia, but she goes by Amy.  Venetia named her son Conan, but he answers to Coco more often.”

“What does that mean?”  Tomorrow looked at his face with a lot of emotion in her own.

“I’m not sure.  I suspect Phillip’s humor at play there.  Coco was the name of an ape that could talk to humans.  While it could communicate it was still considered only an ape.  There’s another reference from the past, but it’s pretty much the same thing.”

Tomorrow was trying hard to be strong.  She asked, “When are you leaving?”

Adam realized he hadn’t thought about it.  Then he answered, “I’ll stay with you long enough to teach you how to survive in an above ground city.  It’s not that much different from down there, but there are things you aren’t used to.”  He reached out to grab her hand and then he squeezed it tight.  “I’ll be back often.  Right now, this is the most sane way for you to continue Phillips dream.  If you meet someone else, don’t hide it from me.  I’ll understand.”

“Adam, I could never meet anyone like you.  Will you eventually stay with me?”  Tomorrow began to cry again as she studied his face.

“How about I make weekend visits.  I’ll negotiate for you to have weekends off.  That’s something they did in the old days.”  Adam looked at her and then realized he had to explain, it made him feel useful, but also old. “For every five times the sun rises, I will be here for two of them after that.”

Tomorrow wiped at her eyes, and said, “OK.”  Then she squeezed his hand tight.

Adam began to rise to continue their decent down to the valley below but she did not stand and held his grasp firm.  He turned and saw the look on her face.  He lay down in the grass beside her and began kissing her back.  He could hear all of her organs churning with fear.  Something that wasn’t her normal anymore.  She showed little fear these days.  He sat up and looked at her and kissed her while saying, “Now’s a good time to let that out!  You certainly don’t want to stink up the meeting room.  First impressions mean a lot!”  He laughed and she smiled at him.

“I’m going to miss you a lot.  I don’t understand why we couldn’t stay where we were, but I suppose I always knew you were training me for something.  This way, I get to help the martyr and not go back to that hole in the ground, as you call it.”  Tomorrow pointed all of this out to make sure he understood she didn’t’ feel he had betrayed her.

“Another thing.  They know all about your mother, but they never met her.  Phillip did visit her almost daily for a while.  Just so you know he had to stop seeing her when he realized he was putting her in peril.  I don’t know the details, but I thought you should know.”  Adam leaned over and kissed her as if the world was ending.