The
Healer
Copyright
1995 Deborah Greenspan
CHAPTER 2
Time is a funny beast. If
one were going to change the future by changing the past, how would it
work? Would the difference in
the past create sweeping changes in the future instantly or gradually?
Does past time run next to future time in some kind of parallel
sense, or is it strictly linear? And
if it is linear, then how is it possible for the future to have any effect
on the past?
These were the kinds of questions Garret Walker and Evelyn Chandler
asked themselves and each other constantly during the last days of their
lives. Time wasn’t their
specialty, but it had become the center of their universe.
As New Scientists they were desperate to turn back the clock on a
venture that had reached a dead end.
In
the year 2128 science was holistic and creative rather than reductionist,
and for the last 83 years it had had only one goal--the restoration of the
earth. Science and technology
had destroyed it; it was fitting that science and technology return it to
its former beauty and diversity. Evie
and Garret were dedicated to the earth project; it was their life.
Evie looked at Garret and thought once again about how fortunate
they’d been in having been born only two months apart.
They were fast friends nearly from birth. Evelyn was the younger of the pair, a brilliant little girl
who astonished her parents and teachers from the day she was born.
Her mother swore that Evie, on her second day of life, had looked
at her and replied to her greeting with a "Hi" of her own.
She
constantly amazed her teachers with her ability to remember everything
that reached her awareness and some that never made it that far.
She was able to listen to two conversations at once, or to hold a
conversation and absorb the message in another source of information.
Her mathematical ability brought her in contact with quantum
mechanics at the tender age of 13. She
received her first Ph.D. at the age of 17 and was well on the way to
earning the several degrees that would qualify her as a new scientist.
Evie was not surprised or daunted by her capacities. She knew that her father had been a world famous physicist
before the Fall, and that her mother was a writer of essays and scientific
papers whose capabilities were quite widely admired.
She was, additionally, an unspoiled child with a sweet disposition
and a beautiful face-- the darling of East USA.
Garret, on the other hand, her best friend and confidante from the
age of three months, was not a darling.
Hardly anyone but Evie liked him.
He was egotistic even as a boy, and wanted more than his share of
attention. Yet no matter how
obnoxious he could get, his ire was never turned on Evelyn.
He, like all the rest of the world, was smitten with her.
The
two of them as small children often played that they were married.
Caroline Weston, another baby, was born when they were three and
they loved to play that she was theirs, that they were a family.
As Carrie grew older she followed them around the halls of East USA
like a chick imprinted on its mother.
Garret, in spite of his personality flaws, was intellectually the
equal of his comrade. Their
friendly rivalry spurred each of them on to greater and greater
achievements and they secretly laughed that no one could ever best them.
They were a team. They
were the best.
Garret and Evie had another secret.
Once, in their eighth year, they'd been studying food production
and had taken a walk over to the 4th quadrant where the food vats were
located. Here, genetically
altered microbes went about the business of producing amino acids,
vitamins, carbohydrates, essential fatty acids and other nutrients out of
petroleum and the waste products taken from the water and air.
Once the microbes' task was done, the resulting green mush was
processed into various foods and made to resemble in taste and texture
substances that were more palatable to the human psyche.
As they studied the workings of the food processors, they talked
about the system and how it related to the main work of the city, for, as
the wastes of the inhabitants were recycled in these vats, so had the
earth once been able carry on the sequences of life.
They knew that the major area of study was the use of microbes to
restore balance to the atmosphere and the water.
They also knew that success was a long way off.
It was one thing to recycle the wastes in a small city where
anything that could not be restored to use could be vented to the outside
or buried, and another thing altogether to recycle the wastes of a planet,
so that everything was utilized and in balance.
Although Evie and Garret knew how the operation worked, they'd
never been there before and after awhile they began to explore the
workings of the vats, interested in the machinery itself.
"Here's something!"
Garret called out. They
didn't have to worry about adults because everything was automated here
and people rarely wanted to look at or smell the slimy mess that would
become their food. Behind one
of the enormous vats Garret found a door.
It was tucked into a nook in one of the stainless steel walls,
barely noticeable. Not waiting for Evie to arrive, he turned the handle and
pulled.
"What is it?" Evie
asked as she came up alongside him.
"I don't know," he said, tugging at the massive door.
She added her wiry strength to his, and they succeeded in pulling
the heavy portal open. In
awe, they studied the rock tunnel that was revealed.
It was unlighted and darkened into impenetrable obscurity.
"Wow!" The
exclamation came from both of them simultaneously.
"It must be an Exit," Evie said. "It must go to the
surface."
"Didn't they tell us that all the exits have been closed
off?"
"Yes, Susan told us that.
She said that all the exits were sealed so that no one could get
in."
Garret thought a moment. "Maybe
this one is closed at the other end," he said.
"We need a flashlight."
"So let's go get one."
Quickly, they pulled the door closed, and turned the wheel to latch
it. Then, giggling and
excited, they ran back to 1st Quad to find an electric torch.
Evie's mother was not in their
quarters so she had no trouble getting the necessary equipment.
Trying not to look like they were up to something, they walked
nonchalantly through the public areas of the Quad, smiled at the people
they were supposed to smile at, and greeted those they were expected to
greet.
As quickly as they could they got through the first quadrant and
into the fourth. Here there
were fewer people and they began to run.
Arriving back in the food processing plant, they paused to catch
their breath and think through what they were planning.
"What if the air's bad in the tunnel?" Evie wondered,
"and what if we get to the end and it's not sealed?
Then what? We know the
air's bad outside."
Garret shrugged. "We
know it's full of toxins, but they can only hurt us over time, not
immediately. We could
probably stay outside for hours without any ill effects.
I'm more worried about the ultraviolet rays."
"I want to see Outside," Evie cried passionately. "Let's do it, Garret.
Let's go!"
Once more opening the door, they shined their lights into the
dimness and could make out a short tunnel, the end of which was lost in
the shadows. Cautiously, they
stepped into the murkiness, smelling the dampness of the rock walls and
feeling, for the first time, the closeness of their surroundings.
Garret took a few short breaths, sniffing the air, trying to
discern any difference other than the smell of dampness and mold.
He looked at Evie questioningly and this time she shrugged.
"Let's just do it," she said quietly.
Pulling the massive door closed completed their sense of isolation.
The darkness surrounded them and only their feeble lights separated
them from the gloom. Their
hearts beat fast, and perspiration coursed down their little bodies as
they boldly stepped into the unknown.
At the end of the tunnel was another door, the same type as the
first and, as before, they turned the wheel and struggled to get it open.
As the first rays of light showed through the crack, Evie squinted
her eyes. The brightness was
overwhelming. In all their
lives they'd never seen the sun, never imagined its brilliance or heat.
The door opened and they stood Outside, their hands shading their
eyes, and looked about themselves in awe.
It
happened to be spring and even though the Earth was dying (from the human
standpoint) it was the most beautiful, wondrous moment they'd ever
experienced. Life!
Life was all around them. They
could feel it. They could see
it. They could taste it and smell it. They felt as if they'd been dead and had suddenly come alive.
Evie fell to her knees in the scrubby grass and her mouth dropped
open as she took in the little blue flowers running down the hillside, the
green of the stunted trees, the ridge of rust colored rock and the
enormous blue distances. It
was obvious that some plants were able to survive and flourish in the
surplus of carbon dioxide despite the ultraviolet rays.
She was literally stunned by the beauty before her.
It didn't have the rich, lush variety that it once had had but it
was still magnificent. The
heat of the sun on her skin seemed to melt her very bones.
Looking at Garret, she saw that he was similarly moved.
In fact, Garret had moved beyond his first emotions on encountering
the dazzling scene. In one
instant he'd felt his oneness with the planet and in the next he'd felt
his loss. For Garret, his
whole life was suddenly explained and completed.
He knew what he had been missing all his short time on earth. He knew why he was angry, and he knew that, no matter what,
he would find a way to reclaim the world, to be part of it once more.
Evie was in ecstasy, but Garret was in despair.
She noticed the tears running down his face and understood their
source. She knew in that
instant exactly why she loved him. In
fact, in that instant, at the tender age of eight, she knew that their
destiny was tied together as completely as the earth was tied together.
They would be great New Scientists, and together they would solve
the puzzle and become part of Life...
**This book
is now available at Llumina
Press.
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