Legacy

Chapter 1

Home is where?  Where you hang your hat?  Where your loved ones are? Where you were raised?   Someplace  that looks good?   A place where you have spent time and gotten used to?   Yes, all of that and more.

A true and full sense of home is something we all look for and some of us find it.  Some places we have been even if only for a brief period can take our fancy.  So it was initially with James C. McCain, age twenty nine, on his first visit to a place with no name.  It probably had one; James just didn’t inquire.

The route to this place was unusual.  He had noticed an old abandoned brick one-room school house nestled in the woods with the front side barely protruding out from the rather dense woods.  He thought the old school house was interesting and decided to explore.  Inside it was a typical old one-room school house with desks still in place, but obviously they hadn’t seen use in many a year.

James noticed it had a back door so he decided to go through it and look around on the backside.  He opened the door.  However,  it didn’t go to the outside; rather it opened to a hallway about forty feet long with a door at its other end.  Strange architecture,  James thought, but he kept on going and opened that next door.

That one did  open to the outside to a long narrow path with lots of beautiful wild flowers along it, and tall dense woods continuing.   James followed it for about a mile where it opened  into a clearing.  He could see up ahead somewhat built on to the hillside what appeared to be a fishing village with a fair expanse of water that had no visible opposite shorelines in the distance.  Now all this wasn’t that far from Lake Michigan, so James didn’t give it much thought other than he must have been closer to the lake than he realized.

He forged ahead and entered the village that appeared to hold perhaps forty houses and a couple of stores and small restaurants.  Very charming.  James visited a store and had a coffee and roll at one of the small restaurants.  When he went to pay for his coffee and roll, he was shocked when told there was no charge.

James continued to look the little village over and wandered upward a bit past the last quaint house, then up a slightly steep semi-wooded hill.  As he crested it, he could see a plateau of meadows and woods that went on as far as he could see.  How pretty, he thought.  When he  turned to go back, he noticed that the hill dropped off rather sharply to what was now his left side.

James could not help but notice about thirty feet down where the ground  was flat with some expanse, a most beautiful and large older style brick mansion.  Its architecture was stunning.  In front was a sleek-looking automobile.  He was so taken with the structure that he just had to go down for a closer look.

He  had hoped to knock on the door and ask permission for a tour, but as he approached, someone drove off in that automobile in a direction away from  the village.    In the yard he saw a beautiful young girl who identified herself as Judith.  She told James politely that it was private property not open to tourists, but he was welcome to take a few pictures before leaving.

James got the idea and apologized for unwittingly  trespassing, and left.  On the way back James commented  to a villager that it was one fancy automobile he saw by that mansion.  The villager replied, “What’s an automobile? That’s a strange place anyway; no one is supposed to go up there.”   James was getting that idea pretty clearly, but found something puzzling..  No matter, he shrugged it off and headed back down that path to the old school house.

He went back through and then turned around and snapped a picture of the old school house.   James walked around the school to get the angle of the backside for his camera, but was dumbfounded when he saw no skinny-like hallway extension and couldn’t see even a back door.  Of course grass and weeds were overgrown and he wasn’t putting two and two together so well at that point.  So he just muttered, Crazy building!, and went on home and on with his life.

Home was in Benson City in northern Michigan  twenty miles from Lake Michigan.   It was an up and coming town of about twenty thousand.   James worked there as an accountant and met his wife Becky when he was thirty.  They had two sons, Thomas and Jason.

When James was forty-nine the extreme  solar flares started.  It was late in the year of 2012.  No one knew what to expect.  Serious scientists said they shouldn’t be that big of a worry, just occasional communication interference would be the size of it.

They were wrong.  Things intensified and deadly levels of gamma rays would bombard the earth without warning and at irregular intervals.  If you were inside when they hit, you were safe.   But if you were outside, the effect, while you saw and felt nothing, was that  you would be dead in three days.  By the time the heads of state and the scientists knew what was happening, a great portion of the world’s population was decimated.  People were afraid to go outside, but it couldn’t be totally avoided.  Instruments were able to measure what people couldn’t see or feel.  Accordingly it had then been noted that the closest intervals were around three days and the longest about seven, but there was no way of knowing how long between the last one and the next one.

The government would announce when one was over and people would figure according to published data they could safely risk two days before holing up again.  But  that was no guarantee either.

James and his family  were among many who didn’t like living with such a hazard.  They knew that it might take a few years before things settled down and there would no doubt be some survivors.  Then it could be several thousand years before another bout of such solar-caused catastrophes.  That was well and good, but James thought surely there must be a better way.  Escape to where?   It would be a good idea if there was such a place.

Now in the years that had passed since James was twenty-nine, science had advanced greatly, as had science fiction and many theories about dimensional gates, alternate realities, parallel dimensions, black holes, and a host of other mind- boggling fancies.

James thought perhaps some of that theory was actual and factual.  He thought back to when he was twenty-nine and remembered everything about his visit to the fishing village accessed through an old brick school house.  He recalled how he simply shrugged off the lack of an extension at the rear of the school house when viewed from the outside, and the lack of a back door or overgrowth covering one.  His current memory and fresh focus brought him into the sudden realization that the school house was a gate to somewhere else, perhaps not of the earth as he thought he knew it.  But somewhere.

He decided that since it would take less than a half a day to go back to that old schoolhouse,  it would be a safe idea to try it.  What was there to lose?  If he was right, wow!  Considering what James thought to be a very high chance of that old school house having been a gate to elsewhere, he thought he’d try to save as many others as he could.

So James and his family found an abandoned TV station truck with a loud speaker.  They drove it around announcing that a safe haven was a likely thing and people should gather at the edge of town and follow him.  Now no one knows for sure how many survivors were left in that small city, probably not many.  And it will never be known whether or not they all gathered to follow James.

But seventy-eight souls did, some men, women, and children.  One skeptical man hollered at James, “Who made you leader?”

James replied, “I appointed myself because I’m the one who knows the way.  Maybe you would like to lead?”  That shut the fellow up quickly.

So off the entourage went.  They arrived at the old school in less than two hours  and parked their vehicles a little bit of everywhere.  James said,  “This is home,” silently thinking, I hope.  A lot of folks began mumbling that it looked like a   screwy deal, but others said they had nothing to lose.   So they all walked through the school house.  Needless to say, there were a  lot of gasps of surprise when they saw the fishing village.  A couple said they must be disoriented as they didn’t think according to their pocket compass that the expanse of water could possibly be Lake Michigan.

James led the group  up the hill through the village and down a very narrow path heading towards the mansion.  Yes, James knew he’d been told it was private property, but he figured he could get permission to simply pass by and head the way he’d seen the car go.  He thought a point of safe refuge and a new life might be found in that direction.

As he approached  the mansion, the same young girl that he had encountered  thirty-one years earlier came out to confront him again.  She hadn’t aged one day.  That made James’  jaw drop a good bit farther than simply when awestruck.  He  was trying to think of what to say, but for a moment was speechless.   He was sure he looked stupid,  like didn’t he remember what he had been told.

Then as if he wasn’t already awestruck enough, she said, “Hello James, you were expected.”  Now he knew that he’d never given his name, so how did she know?  She, the one who called herself Judith, explained that the first time he was there was semi-accidental, but this time a bit of mental telepathy  had made suggestions that he followed.  He and his group were on Argos.

Judith was an Argonian, and Argos was a planet in a parallel universe next to Earth.  She explained that out in that large expanse of water there were remnants  of many past civilizations and cultures from Earth.  They were rescued from natural catastrophic events through out  many millennia to insure their survival.  Each was on a different island so there would not be a conflict of cultures and each could develop naturally.  There was commerce, however, between the fishing village and those islands.

Then Judith went on to tell James that in about an hour busses would arrive to take him and his people  in the direction he had in mind at the beginning.  They would arrive in four hours to a great expanse of virgin land, with both forest and meadow.  There they would find temporary mobile shelters to use and plenty of food and medical supplies to get them started.

All the lumber and other materials it would take to build a small town and houses would be available.  There would be plenty of game and fruit to live off the land until farms got started.  All the equipment needed for farming would be provided. It was an humble pioneering-type new beginning for James and his followers.   It would be hard work, but satisfying and fruitful.  Indeed, it was a new home and sense of belonging for all.

Chapter  2

It was the second day after James McCain and family along with the seventy-eight other men, women and children had arrived at the site on Argos that would be their new home.  Everyone was impressed with the beauty of the land and with the equipment and material provided for them by the Argonians.  Indeed it was an easier start in taming the land and building homes than the original pioneering families of  the United States had to deal with.

While the original pioneers somewhat knew how to fell trees,  build cabins and pile stones for fireplaces, this was a weather worn hardy group who were formerly for the most part city dwellers.  They were not hardened in the same way, they had no cabin-building skills to speak of.  Then even though the material provided was first class for constructing modern homes like they had lived in, most hadn’t the foggiest idea of where to begin.  Yes, even solar panels were provided to be an energy source for lighting, heating, and cooling.

The basic problem was that no one understood exactly how to install or hook up, etc.  There was no supply  of carpenters, architects, and construction engineers and other skilled laborers.   Compared to original pioneers, these were a bunch of softies short on know-how but  long on willingness to try.  Most figured they could fabricate some sort of shack, but nothing elaborate for which the provided material was meant to be used.  Babes in the woods.  Their former occupations were more in line with store clerks, accountants, school teachers, small factory workers, etc.  Builders, no. Farmers, not exactly, though some had small gardens.

They became  painfully aware that they were like a bunch of fish out of water.  Yes, there had been people with the needed skills among them back in Benson, Michigan, but they weren’t  present in this group.  It didn’t take long for an assemblage to form and a lot of sad faces looking at James McCain,  wondering what he had gotten them into.

James had began to wonder that himself.  He told them that Judith the Argonian who had met and hosted them had given him a communication device similar to a cell phone.  She said he was free to use it if there was a problem.  He assured the group he would take the situation up with Judith and get back to them with her answer.

James did exactly that.  Her reaction was one of both surprise, shock and embarrassment.  She said intentions had been good, the materials provided were first class, but she had failed to do, how would one put it?, entrance interviews to determine the people’s individual backgrounds, skills and abilities.  She apologized.

Judith assured him that she would make the necessary calls and within a couple of days a task force would arrive to assist them.  It would consist of architects to determine size and style of home each family or person would like, and builders to erect and instruct in how things would operate, including appliances that were a bit different from what the group had been familiar.

That pleased James immensely.  However, being a curious soul, not always knowing when to keep his mouth shut, he asked whether would it  have been simpler to assimilate them into existing communities.   That was a good and fair question, but it caught Judith off guard.  She said there is an answer to that, but it’s a long and complicated story that he needed to hear, for no doubt someone will ask the same question.  She told him to go ahead and tell the group about the pending arrival of the task force.  She would  pick him up in about four hours in that fancy automobile he originally noticed and they would come back to the mansion for coffee, lunch, and explanations.  Then she added, with a note of glee in her voice, that he had wanted to tour that mansion the first time he saw it, and finally he will get to do it.

James told the group the good news and they were pleased, as other questions hadn’t entered their minds yet.  Judith picked up James and they headed back toward the mansion.  On the way James learned much. He commented that personally he would have been content to  become a resident of that quaint fishing village.

That comment started the explanation process.  Judith explained that the fishing village is like a port of entry, not only for Earthlings coming through the gate, but as a commerce distribution point with all the various cultures of the ages on many islands in the great expanse of water.  Its population size has to be kept stable for those reasons, as well as to minimize cultural shock.

She said that Argonians are a diverse and flexible people themselves, who,  by utilizing the gates, have over the centuries sent people to assimilate with Earthlings and help them advance.  Generation have passed and some  of the original Argonians’ children never realized their true heritage.  Argonians and Earthlings were biologically identical.

James said that would mean that some Earthlings are in fact blended and in a sense a hybrid.   She responded that that is true, and while the gamma rays were decimating the Earth’s population,  some would survive even though it would be difficult for them.  One of the things that will make it difficult is the fact that the gamma rays were also having a negative  effect not only on animal life, but vegetation as well.  It will take a couple of centuries, but the vegetation will recover.

She stated that meanwhile  Argonians, by use of other gates scattered around the Earth, will continue to rescue as many as possible.  For cultural shock to be prevented they will place people from different parts of Earth into separate areas so that their languages will be consistent with their cultures.

James noted that technically speaking Earthlings are now Argonians.  Judith laughed and said that one could say that.  Then she added that some day it will be by choice of  the individual  Argonian or Earthling or hybrid to go back through the gates and help repopulate the Earth again, as has been  done before.  Meanwhile, the separation of cultures will eventually and naturally start to blend, but at a slow rate to avoid cultural shock.

James asked how  the gates came about in the first place.   Judith said that is a big question and the answer is not an absolute.  Though they don’t know for sure,  they were discovered by accident millennia ago.  The locations of thirty-four of them have been  mapped, and it is believed there may be more yet to discover.  Their scientists have expressed a theory  that it may somehow involve quantum entanglement, and they are not even sure what that is.

Since he had no further questions,  Judith took James back to his soon-to-be-built point of home.  James knew in his heart that he had become part of an event of great magnitude.    He had more information than he would have liked to have, but it was necessary.

He imparted as much information to his group as he thought prudent, saving some of it for later.  He found out the hard way that knowledge can sometimes be a burden.  He  reconciled himself to the fact that there are times when great change cannot be avoided.

While James was greatly appreciative of the Argonians and all they had done, if you listened closely, on occasion you might hear James mutter something about “those darn old gamma rays.”

Chapter 3

James became the leader of this small band of less than a hundred  refugees from Earth.  He became so by accident of fate.  He did well in fielding the concerns of his group back to his Argonian contact, Judith.

The task force to assist in constructing homes for  James and the others arrived and got right busy.  In a couple of weeks  a variety of eye-appealing homes were erected, landscaped a bit, and pathways in and around were graded and graveled.  Rudimentary in a way, but no one at this point had any mechanical conveyance, so regular streets weren’t needed.

Almost everyone, even some of the children, had assisted however they could to help the task force complete its mission.  Even simple things like carry material, hold a ladder, fetch, fix lunches for the Argonian workers and so on.  It was an amicable cooperative effort and everyone was pleased with the end results.  The task force having finished its mission said goodbye and left with cheers and good wishes ringing in their ears from the very happy refugees from Earth.

Happy didn’t last very long.  After a few days of the people getting used to their new homes and putting their individual touches on them inside and out,  boredom started to creep in, and with it questions and grumblings. A couple of men said they might just go back through the gate and take their chances.  Of course it was quickly realized that it was not a good idea, even if one could dodge the gamma ray cycles.  You see, that little band of refugees had been  surviving on the  fast-dwindling stocks in several of Benson’s grocery stores.   That wouldn’t last much longer, so forget going back.  Then someone mentioned that the stock of supplies including foodstuffs placed there for them by their Argonian hosts was dwindling.

James had to concede that was a good point and it was of concern, one that would rapidly become a real problem.  Several recalled that they were told there was plenty of game in the area and fruits growing wild.  Immediately committees were formed to designate those in charge of gathering fruits and roots, and eatable greens.  Of course one wasn’t too sure how similar Argonian vegetation was to Earth’s, so it might be trial and error  to a point.

Others said they had indeed in their walks into the woods and meadows noticed plenty of game that was very similar to Earth’s.  Some then were designated to be hunters.  That group immediately had a problem.  They shared that while one or two of them had learned as boys how to set rabbit snares in game trails, that didn’t help with getting larger game such as the Argonian equivalent of a deer.

Yes, they knew what a bow and arrow was, but weren’t too sure about their ability to fashion one that would do the job.  A rifle or several rifles for that matter would be a big help.  However, no one had brought any with them.  Someone mentioned there would be plenty of rifles and ammo back in Benson if someone would be willing to go back through the gate and fetch them.

It seemed like a good idea until it was mentioned they should draw straws for that task.  Someone wanted to know why.   The answer was it would be a pot luck chance getting in and out between gamma ray bombardments.  That killed the whole idea right then and there.

Then someone suggested that surely somewhere within a reasonable distance is an Argonian city with a store that sells food and other things they needed.  That sounded reasonable, but they didn’t know where it would be, how to get there, and how they would  pay for the things needed.  And no one knew what the coin of the realm on Argonia was nor how to get it.  They had no jobs.

Having heard all this, James knew there were problems not addressed adequately.  He was beginning to think his life would have been simpler if the gamma rays had gotten him.  Leadership can be very burdensome, and while some seek it, others get it thrust upon them.  It’s not necessarily a happy event for that lucky person, but one he has to deal with.

James was starting to get some thoughts he knew he couldn’t share.  His mind went back to a couple of thousand Burmese refugees who  had been transplanted to Benson much like they were transplanted to Argos.

He hadn’t  previously given the Burmese refugees all that much thought, but now he began to understand how they must have felt.  Something like kept pets in a community zoo;  being totally dependent, and not having an adequate sense of community or self-worth that normally comes from being a contributing member of a society.  Indeed, finding himself on the receiving end of refugee status gave  a new awareness about that situation.

He then told the group he would do the only thing he could think of.  That would be to contact Judith again and take up the whole ball of wax.  He did that, and Judith came, picked up James, and  they went back to the mansion to work things out.

On the way there, Judith was nearly in tears as she listened to James’ concerns.  When they arrived they were greeted by  an Argonian by the name of Johann, whom among other things was Judith’s husband and fellow coordinator of refugee affairs.

Johann was also apologetic and said that he and his wife Judith had dropped the ball in many ways; they had over-looked some details, but primarily failed to communicate what was in the works.

Johann said we don’t offer this as an excuse, but we have been trying to coordinate the arrival, placing and situating of the refugees coming through thirty-four different gates representing many cultures and languages.  Each had a different set of needs to be addressed.

Then Judith took over the explanations and provided further information.  She told James that there would soon be built near them a small factory that would be making a variety of goods, such as small tools, small appliances, and a fairly diverse range of clothing.  On-the-job training would be provided.  James’ people would be salaried and paid with the Argonian coin of the realm based on money they called Goulee. What’s in a name?  No problem, thought James.

Judith went on to say that their salaries could be spent as needed when the weekly boat came in from a large Argonian city  downstream.  It would not only carry away the factory products, but be a floating store with all the goods any community might need. The factory is, of course, close to the river within  a half-hour walk.

She said the farmers from three different gates located in your states of Iowa, Kansas, and California are, at this very moment, being located about thirty miles to the west.   They will become a farming community.  Eventually the two communities, their and yours, will expand and somewhat grow toward each other.

Judith apologized for not letting them know up front what was coming down.   She said they are sensitive to the obvious need for the refugees to be   self-sufficient and have a sense of contributing to everyone, including the original Argonians.   In their haste to field many situations, she and Johann  over-looked some things and now have to pick up those pieces.   James said he understood and thanked her for the information knowing it would make a tremendous difference when he reports back to his group.

She added that James will be taking a little cargo in the car trunk back with him, namely a half dozen fine hunting rifles and a good supply of  ammo, and more will be available on the floating store.

Anticipating a future question, Judith advised that these refugee communities are being established somewhat in what one might call a wilderness. However, with time,  needed infra-structure will be added such as paved roads and highways connecting the communities and existing Argonian cities.  Needless to say, cars and trucks will come right along as the roads to drive them on become reality.

James took all that information back.  It put a lid on everyone’s worries and concerns.  It was like a ray of sunshine parting the gloom.  Things went quite well and over the next few years more formal organization was happening.    The little community began to grow and by popular vote was named Benson.  It was a touch of home  to remind all of their beginnings.

Then, as with any growing community, the subject came up concerning who should be mayor.  That sounded like a good idea, so elections were held.  James was a candidate,  as it was expected of him.  However, his son, James, Jr.,  also ran.  It was a close race, but James’ son James Jr. won by one vote.

That night James’ wife asked him how he voted.   He said he  voted for his son, and he couldn’t wait until Junior got a nose full of the joys of leadership.  His wife knew exactly what he meant, and they had a good laugh about it.   James, Sr.  could now focus  his energies elsewhere.

Chapter 4

It’s been seventeen years since James McCain and his family, along with  seventy-eight others, fled earth to make a new home on Argos.  Things had gotten off to a rocky start but it all smoothed out and James and the others were feeling more and more like Argonians.  Yes, they were adapted and settled in pretty well.

Since they named their new community  Benson for old times’ sake, and James’ eldest son Thomas had been elected mayor and James had more time to relax and remember.  It was the reminiscing that became a thorn in James’ side.  He was remembering his first forty-nine years on Earth, people and places,  events, and especially his house that held all the family photos and other small heirlooms.

The pictures went several generations back and were precious to him.  By now, mechanized vehicles had became part of everyday life, and his pet was a little motorcycle.

James suddenly had an idea.  He would go back through the gate if he could and retrieve some of those things,  including the family’s world atlas.  In the local school reading,  writing and arithmetic were taught, of course.   But the only history was from the founding of their new home on, with only a cursory mention of Earth.

Kids would sometimes ask what Earth was.  The answer to that was complicated and somewhat evaded when possible.  Memories can be painful.  New memories are not so much. he thought that an atlas would be graphically helpful in explaining heritage from a place they could not see or conceive.   Yes, new children grew up thinking primarily in terms of being Argonians, but  there was a lack of information on that also.

So James told his wife that he had to go see Judith and Johann about something and he would explain when he got back.  Now he wasn’t selfish; but he thought it prudent not to broadcast his intentions because then everyone would want to go.  This would be understandable, but not practical, particularly with possible unknown hazards.

Judith and Johann were happy to see him.  He explained what he had in mind and why.  Before anyone could talk about whether going back through the gate at this point was feasible, Judith said she understood completely about the need to know one’s total roots and the histories associated with that.

She went on to say that the large Argonian City, which was downstream fifty or so miles from the community and called Watoona City, would be accessible in about three years after highway infra-structure bridged the two points.  She said there was a fantastic Public Library there as well as many fine book stores.  Not only would maps of Argonia and Argonian history be available there, but all of Earth’s history also.   The Argonians had kept good track of things through their brethren who had lived on Earth.

Learning that such would soon be readily available pleased James to no end.  Missing pieces of the puzzle for the new children  would soon be available to give them the needed picture of many things.  As to personal items James wished to retrieve, Judith was a little tongue in cheek on that subject out of concern for James.  She said it was not likely that any of the vehicles they had  abandoned near the gate will even operate now.  Batteries would have long been dead.  James said he’d thought of that and figured his motorcycle would not only traverse the narrow path, but fit through the gate door as well.

He said he didn’t plan to retrieve a large volume of items, just a suitcase full which he could strap to the carrier behind the motorcycle  seat.  Judith gave him permission but advised that Gamma radiation had stopped years ago and Earth was in the early stages of healing itself.   The danger might be in the fact that some people survived.  By now society and its remnants would have deteriorated back to a primitive feudal system,  which was expected given the circumstance.  Yes, they would eventually repopulate the Earth and become social again, but meanwhile it’s dog eat dog, and he needed to be very careful.

James thanked Judith for the heads up and said he’d stay alert.  You see, no one knew whether or not all remaining persons in the original Benson had escaped to Argonia, or if other migrant survivors might have begun to reside in the area.

He went back through the gate and reached town in about half an hour.  Along the way, he could see how badly vegetation had been affected.  But he  also noted here and there it seemed to be recovering.  He saw an odd bird or two, also  so some animal life had somehow survived.

James reached his former home and was joyous on one hand but felt like crying on the other hand.  Time had not been good to the house.  Paint was mostly peeled off, some windows were cracked, and the roof looked pretty sad.  However, when he entered the house he was pleasantly surprised to find the inside had fared better than the outside.  It was actually still decent inside, except for an  unbelievable layer of dust.   First he found a couple of suit cases, one more than he’d planned, but he thought he could handle two.  He scurried here and scurried there, gathering up a full suitcase of family pictures.

Then there were those other items.  His great-grandfather’s old Colt 45, several pieces of his wife’s bric-a-brac, his old high school letter sweater which was a bit deteriorated but sentimental to him, a few old silver dollars, and a couple of his sons’ favorite childhood toys.  He took his full load and headed back toward the gate.  On his way he saw an very old couple sitting on their porch.  The paint on their house was still in good condition.  They had kept it up, no doubt by getting paint from an abandoned hardware store, but who cared.

He stopped and greeted them.  They were happy to see him and were  very friendly.  They said it was rare for them to see travelers, and he was the first living soul they had seen in five years.    James invited them to follow him back to a better life.  When he explained where and how, they gave him funny looks like he was nuts.  Being polite and not wanting to rile a nut, they simply said they were both very old with little time left anyway, and preferred to stay with what they considered home.   He knew there was no way of tying them up and throwing them across his motorcycle like sacks of grain, so he said he understood and respected their wishes.

James left Benson of Earth and returned to Benson of Argos. The information about history books and big city access soon to be available delighted everyone.  He prudently took the two suitcases into his home on Argos, and did so without any fanfare.  His wife and two sons  were overcome with joy at the surprises he brought them.  They all  agreed that it should be kept in the family and not broadcasted that they had such goodies.

James himself could hardly wait to see maps of Argos, as it was now his home and he wanted to know more about it.  He was so anxious he knew the three years would pass painfully slow, or at least seem to.  But best of all, he really felt he was home.

Chapter  5

James McCain and family, as well as the rest of the little community of Benson, were anxiously awaiting almost on pins and needles for the roads linking them to other places, especially the large city, Watoona City, to be completed.  Watoona City was  the subject eighty percent of the time whenever small groups gathered at the local coffee shop.  Speculations about it were legion, imaginations painted all kinds of word pictures.

In close to twenty years now, the little start-up community had grown by almost fifty percent, and now boasted sixty homes.  Projections were that with the advent of roads connecting numerous locales,  the population should double in the next ten years.  It was with great jubilation that the Earth refugees who formed Benson, greeted the news that the roads were completed six months ahead of schedule.

Of course the entire town wanted to jump in their cars and head for Watoona City.  However, James’ son Thomas, the mayor, said that was not a good idea, the town couldn’t be left unoccupied in case there were any bad  guys around , though they didn’t know of any.  Also, the people, most of whom worked in the factory, couldn’t just waltz off from their job responsibilities.

All agreed that was disappointing, but prudent and realistically necessary.  So Thomas quickly organized  a lottery system wherein ten families could head out each weekend over a six or seven-week period  until all had a chance to see Watoona City.  James and his wife were one of the second-week winners.  He  had already checked with Thomas about loose funds in the town budget, as he had specifics in mind for bringing back material on the history of Earth and Argonia, as well as maps of Argonia.  Since home was now on Argonia, it would be nice to know more about it and just where Benson was in relationship to everything else. Those materials would be not for just James to enjoy, but for the town school and a yet-to-be- established town library.

James was getting excited about seeing Watoona City.  Reports that came back were so entrancing that James was getting ants in his pants waiting for the weekend and his turn.  One of the interesting pieces of information brought back from the first group was the fact that all Argonians spoke English fluently, as well as other old earth languages when needed.  The native Argonian tongue however was very similar to English with some colorful slight variations reminiscent of the difference of pure English as spoken in most of Earth’s England and cockney.  Out word additions such as  found in Australia’s outback,  yet basically like English.

It would probably be simple enough to get used to without a whole lot  of effort.  James headed out from Benson in his Argonian equivalent of an Earth Sedan. The trip to Watoona City was awesome; the scenery was magnificent.  James thought as he arrived and read the welcome to  Watoona City signs that also stated  the population, that Judith hadn’t been whistling Dixie when she said it was a large city.  The population was three hundred and twenty five thousand.  It was a beautiful place and a river town to boot.

The central part of the city had magnificent skyscrapers.  There were happy, friendly Argonians everywhere.  The floating store cargo boat that had come to Benson weekly carried a lot, but nothing like was in Watoona City.  It was obvious to James that since it was only about an hour’s drive each way, Watoona City would rapidly become the place to go while still enjoying the simplicity and peace of Benson.

He loaded up primarily things for the community school and soon-to-be town library,  but included a few niceties for himself and his wife.  He was awestruck.   It wasn’t like he’d never been to a larger city on Earth, but it had been almost twenty years since he had last visited one anywhere.

James  arrived back at Benson with his load of valuable books and maps.  All were pleased with the material and knew as the town budget permitted, many more copies would be acquired.

The old timers could more or less remember Earth history and maps, but the children who were younger when the group came to Argonia and newborns since, had no idea, but were fascinated and eager learners. Everyone was interested and eager to learn about Argonia.

It seems that according to the maps,  Argonia was similar to what Earth was when all the continents were joined and called Pangaea.  That land mass on the maps was called Grassian.  It was the name for a singular country and was divided into six similar sized areas, but of various configurations due to natural boundaries such as rivers and mountains.  Each area was like a large Earth country, but thought of more like large states. However,  they weren’t called states, they were called stratas.  What’s in a word?  It was the Argonian prerogative to use whichever word they wanted.

The six stratas were called Dixon, Elan, Cuber, Artiso, Jowan, and Misla.  Everyone was excited that Benson was located very close to the northern border  of Jowan.

Jowan was the southern-most strata on the eastern side of Grassian.  Grassian’s southern border was that great expanse of water which now had a name.  It was the Sea of  Many.  An odd name somewhat, but then again maybe not so much when you looked at the maps and noticed several hundred islands.   A few were the size of  America’s state of Iowa,  and one or two the size of Texas.  There were hundreds of others, most were bigger than a wee dot, and in some cases strings or clusters of dots.  Too many names to be listed here.

They were mostly habitations for all those over the millennia who had been saved through the gates from other Earth catastrophes and placed where the habitat was sufficient.   There was enough separation as to prevent cultural shock conflict between the cavemen from the  Ice Age and the more advanced such as the Mayan and other similar empires.  Of course, just as  some Argonians had  migrated to Earth in different time periods to help man advance, so they were doing with the residents  of these let’s call them island kingdoms.

James’ head was almost swimming in the sudden flood of information.  Over the next few years, television, computers and cell phone came to Benson,   benefits of regular contact with Watoona City.

It was interesting to note that from looking at the Argonian maps  there was still quite a bit of wilderness areas to be explored and perhaps even homesteaded.  Let’s just tuck that thought away for now and take note of the fact the obvious happened with the trips to Watoona City.  Benson boys met Watoona City girls and, as one would expect, marriage between former Earthlings and Argonians took place. Children were born that by blood were half Earthling and half Argonian.    This was no problem since the two were biologically identical in the first place.  That is one of the reasons that Benson has now grown to a community of three hundred houses, sporting a population of around twelve hundred souls.  Not a bad gain from more than seventy-eight souls in just a little under thirty years.

Life is indeed good in Benson.  At this point James and his wife are pushing ninety, but are in good health and enjoying the action as seen from their front porch while sipping coffee and giving their rocking chairs a robust workout.

Chapter 6

James shared a few inner thoughts with his wife Becky, thoughts that had caused him much consternation in specific reflections for many a year.

James said  he recalled his times and home on Earth.   He remembered they had lived in more than one house on Earth, and had mostly good memories.  He also remembered every day of their time and home here in the Benson of Argos, and those also are good memories.  But starting back when he was on Earth, he always had a sense of wanting to go home, never sure exactly where that was.

He did know that part of being home was being where your loved ones were.    But even so, he didn’t have that full sense of home. In driving around the countryside he saw places that were quite appealing,  places that he thought might give him a fuller sense of home.  Places he could put his mark on to complete the feeling.

He dreamt of fancy places that were beyond his financial means.  Then one day it occurred to him that those with unlimited means who built those fancy places were really just trying to find home, but for all their money they weren’t anymore successful at acquiring that feeling than he was.   Being with his wife and their  children always gave him a high sense of home.  And with more time spent in a given place, that sense became even more heightened.

Yet there was always a small grain of something that left that sense a bit lacking from fulfillment.  He noted he and his wife had  been together a long time and been through much.  There is a high sense of home, but he thought that last wee bit of sensing of being truly home doesn’t lie in this life.  It lies in the next one, when they get to be with Jesus and his Father, He Who Is.  Then and only then will the sense of home be one hundred percent.  That sense is close to being achieved.

People struggle all their lives trying to acquire the full sense of home. Man, his children and their children, and their children’s children will experience the same  struggle.

It is a fairly safe guess that even though the grandchildren, which are half Argonian and half  Earthling, or their children’s children will get an abject interest in what they will call their roots.  They will probably want to visit Earth for a look-see, or even live there, who can say.

James said he’d had a conversation with Judith about that just a few days ago.  She concurred that mostly likely that would be the case.  However, the Argonians were keeping tabs on things and were ready to be helpful when the time was right.  Not only on Earth and its unrescued survivors, but to potential returnees to Earth.  In the case of the later,  there probably would not be any, even in her longer lifetime because it wouldn’t be permitted until certain things had re-evolved.

Judith had gone on to say that the old Mayan and other stone structures they had a hand in building have mostly endured the ravages of time as stone doesn’t wind erode all that quickly.  It gets overgrown with vegetation, but does not crumble.   With man’s more modern materials of iron and steel, rust  would cause relatively swift devastation of  infra-structures, and crumbling and vegetation overgrowth would all but hide that they ever existed.

The good news is that the Argonians have continued to monitor the progresses of the unrescued survivors, and can report that agricultural efforts have started to be successful again.  Some of the abilities to get back to a more modern civilization were realized because of the availability of salvageable tools and equipment.  Yet there is a long way to go.

Society, as it is rebuilding, is now similar to what it was in the Earth’s Dark Ages.  In other words it was a feudal system with war lords constantly battling for control of territories.  The now equivalent of peasants or serfs, in other words, the masses, are caught in between and it’s not pleasant.

James went on to say that Judith’s projection, or best guesstimate from prior experiences, is that this go around will be at least two hundred years before  it would make sense for any of us to safely return even for a visit.

After James’ musings, Becky noted that by then Benson would probably have grown to a population of three hundred thousand and Watoona City to a population of two million. And if someone said “Earth,” the response would be, “What’s Earth?”

And with that James and Becky had a very good laugh.  For they knew that everyone was looking for that full sense of home, but would probably be as old as they were before the light came on and the truth of where home really is dawned on them.