Gaia Dreams (Gaiaverse Book 1) (64 page)

Alan Beakman's eyebrows rose, but he grinned at
Phoebe in appreciation, nodding his head at her. She smiled shyly back at him.

"Well, now, alrighty then," Mayor Dubois stated,
looking as surprised as everyone but Maria at Phoebe's sudden contribution, but
always appreciative of efficiency. "Thank you, Phoebe, for that concise and
illuminating report." Phoebe nodded her head jerkily.

"So we know what, we know how, we just don't
know when or where the bomb will be placed to cause this tsunami, correct?" she
asked.

Zack returned the Mayor's gaze with one of
frustration. "As to when, I can't say for sure. I think we have a couple days,
but I could be totally wrong on that. Damn it! I wish someone else had the same
dream."

Maria patted his shoulder consolingly.

He continued, "As to where--I think Grand Banks,
but again, it's sometimes hard to get a location like that when all the really
horrifying action is when the tsunami hits the big cities. In the dream, that's
what I ended up focused on."

"Where the hell is Grand Banks?" the mayor
asked. "And can we get there?"

"Uh, boss, you better see this," Alan said,
turning up the sound on the television.

They all watched as the President mounted the
podium in the White House press room.

"Maybe this will help," Maria started to say.

"Don't bet on it," Dusty said, disgusted. "Why
the hell did anyone vote for this guy? And now he's lost his marbles. If this
speech helps anything, I'll eat my cowboy hat. Once I get one again, that is,"
she muttered.

"My fellow residents of this wretched planet
Earth..." the President said.

"Uh oh," said Mayor Dubois.

Harmony's Cabins-by-the-Lake

Alexandra sat back on the sofa in her cabin and
watched Nathan pacing up and down the braided rug on the floor. She liked the
feel of the cabin, kind of homey and snug. It had been so long since she'd had
a real bed to sleep in that it was taking a while to get used to it. There was
such a lot to get used to all of sudden. She'd never imagined, over in Africa,
a homecoming like this one. Well, hell, she thought, how could she? What was
happening was unprecedented, unexpected, unknown.

"So you think she will become, is becoming a
polysemic personage. A symbol with varied meanings for different groups? She's
only a kid, Alex! You're talking about her like she's the flag of the U.S. or
something. She's a real person, not just a symbol," Nathan said defensively.
Except, he thought, she wasn't just a regular little kid anymore, remembering
his earlier conversation with his niece.

"Yes, I know. But she also represents different
things to different people. Look at the Perkins family today. The kids see her
one way, as a cool new friend who can do the neat new things they can do, if
somewhat better. The parents were reassured by her presence, the knowledge that
she was real. Black, when he arrived, knew everything would be okay once he saw
her. He knew his role would be to protect her, but others will arrive who will
see her as a symbol of their safety and security. She is like the shaman, the
goddess, the seer, the earth mother--she's all of it at once. Tomorrow we're
supposed to get an influx of about thirty people, according to Samantha. You
come up to the house and see the looks on their faces when they meet her. Then
tell me I'm wrong."

Nathan ran his hand through his sandy blond
hair. "Jesus, Alex! I know you're right, but that's a huge responsibility to
put on her, and what does that mean in terms of the leadership of this
community?"

"Well, it's probably going to work out fine
since John is her father," Alex said, rising and walking into the little
kitchen. "You want something to drink?" she called out.

"Yeah, a beer, if you've got it," he replied,
sinking down into a chair by the fireplace that was more comfortable than it
looked.

"Here you go," she said, handing him a bottle of
Heineken. "I liberated this from the liquor store inventory."

"Ah yes, liberating, salvaging...we have such nice
phrases for your criminal tendencies," he said with a grin. "So," he continued
after taking a swig from the bottle, "John stays as the leader of the group and
the town that gets re-established here, eventually...with Samantha's presence
lending him the authority to remain leader. Which we both know is how it needs
to be for now--one accepted leader--democracy won't work right away. If we even
end up with a democracy again." His voice trailed off. Then he said, "You don't
think it will shift eventually into a theocracy, do you? Worshipping her?"

"Who can say?" Alexandra replied. She lifted her
long braid up and fanned her neck. The evening was warm and humid, but the
breeze from the open window behind her helped. She'd kept her long, long hair
all through the year in Africa, so she guessed she'd keep it through the end of
the world as well.

"I mean," she continued, "we can't be totally
objective observers here." She paused, and then grinned and said, "Well, you
and I both know anthropologists are never totally objective, anyway. But we
live here, too, we are affected by all of the changes, we both get the dreams,
you are becoming an animal talker. She's your niece, and I'm going to be her...advisor,
she informed me today. We can try and extrapolate what the future will bring,
but honestly, we are going to be in the dark. Because I don't think there has
ever been a culture quite like the one that will develop here. Sure, there have
been cultures where a religious person had visions, or where certain groups of
people communicated in some way with animals. But there have never been so many
in a society who had prophetic dreams. The animal communication has never been
this direct...at least...as far as we know."

"Yeah," Nathan said a bit dreamily, "it is
pretty darn cool."

"Nathan! Focus!" Alex said sharply.

He shook his head and looked directly into her
alarmed brown eyes. "Oh, don't worry, I'm not trancing out or anything. Just
touching base with Ursula. I heard all about Lisanne almost wrecking her car on
the way here when she first started talking to Merlin, so I'm careful. I'm
still new to it, have to kind of think a little bit to make the connection. Not
like my niece. I think Sam can communicate with any animal between one eye
blink and the next. According to Perceval, we will all get used to it and the
more we do it, the easier it will get."

"And that's another thing," Alex said. "What
role will the animals play in this culture? Do they have a say in the
government? Perceval is as smart as any of us, and probably smarter than some
people who will show up. Yet, we are all still adjusting to this new view of
the animals. Not everyone will make that adjustment easily, particularly people
who are not animal talkers. Some will persist in seeing animals as pets. Some
animals will never be as evolved as Perceval or Merlin...or your Ursula."

"Yeah, probably so. I confess I don't understand
all the animal communication. Will every animal be able to communicate with
every human in the future?" Nathan wondered.

"No way to know yet," Alex responded. "Although
my impression is that there are differences among the animals. I just don't
know enough yet. And what about people who aren't dreamers or animal talkers--how
will they fit in? Will they be considered unskilled? Or deficient in some way?"

Nathan frowned. "Not immediately, not now. But
eventually, maybe so." He sighed and said, "We just don't know yet. As for the
animals, not all of them are as smart as Perceval. And some don't have his
knowledge of what's going on with the...consciousness...that seems to be behind all
this. Are you asking if someday down the road we'll have a Siamese cat for president?"
He chuckled and his face grew serious. "Of course, if we had Perceval as
President right now, we wouldn't be worried about the coming tsunami. When you
talked with Sam, did she seem to know if it will be stopped?"

Alexandra's eyes widened. "Didn't you hear about
the speech? We picked it up on the radio at the Samuels' house earlier. He's
already given the orders. It may have already happened, or be happening soon.
That reporter got out a warning, but--"

"Yeah, but nobody is going to believe it. It's
crazy. I hoped maybe it would be stopped."

Alex shook her head. "No, not now. Evidently
there was some general who could have stopped it, but Sam says he's dead."

"Oh, damn," Nathan replied. "All those people..."

"Yeah," Alex whispered. "All those people."

Onboard a private jet heading West

"Do you have any idea how much money I had to
pay that pilot to convince him to take off? Any idea how much money I needed to
bribe the airport officials so we were allowed to take off? And you're gonna
complain to me about eating McDonald's burgers for supper, Margaret?" Mayor
Dubois said in a rising tone.

"All I'm saying is that we cannot continue to
perpetuate animal abuse, that we have to change our attitudes and stop eating
meat, and that you at least could have grabbed me a salad," Margaret stated. "Besides,
money won't matter soon anyway."

"Oh, for the love of God, Margaret!" Zack
suddenly shouted. Everyone looked startled as he stood up and tore the wrapper
off one of the burgers. "Here--I've removed the offending hamburger patty. Eat
the fucking bread and lettuce and pickles in peace. What do you think? We're
all going to become vegetarians? Sorry lady, but ain't no way! Your view of
what is happening and what needs to happen is just getting more screwy by the
day! I'm--I'm--" he stuttered to a stop and marched off to the back of the plane.

"What's with him?" Margaret questioned as she
munched on shredded lettuce.

Maria glared at her. "What's with him? How about
knowing in advance that millions of people are about to die? And thinking maybe
you could stop that from happening? Only to discover you can't stop that
tragedy after all. And it is a tragedy, Margaret, of colossal proportions. Make
no mistake about that."

"I never said it wasn't a tragedy," Margaret
replied coolly. "Just that the Earth would be better off without all that
overpopulation and pollution on the East Coast."

Maria whirled around and stalked to the back of
the plane to join Zack.

Mayor Dubois sighed tiredly, took a bite of her
Big Mac, and then mumbled around it, "Just shut up, Margaret."

In the back of the plane, Maria handed some food
to Zack and said, "Come on, you've got to eat. Ignore her."

Zack closed his eyes for a moment, and then
stared into her dark, velvety, concerned ones. "Oh, love, I'm sorry for blowing
up like that. She's just getting to me. All this...."

"Believe me, I know," she replied. Smiling
gently at him, she said, "It's funny how at first your dreams scared me, scared
me for you. Now I'm as convinced as can be that they are absolutely true. So
much has been so horrible. Do you feel this place we're going to will be
better? Safer?"

He nodded as he wolfed down a cheeseburger. He
was hungrier than he'd realized. Sipping some Coca-Cola, he pulled out the map
again. "Here," he pointed, "this is the place I've been getting in my dreams.
At first I didn't know where it was. But now I'm sure. There are people there
who are planning for the future, Maria! Hard to imagine, but they are. And it's
safe there--a safe zone is the phrase I've heard in my dreams."

"Wow, safety. After all this," Maria said
quietly. "And a future."

"Yes, and there's someone there, some guy, who I
think is named Perceval, who seems very well informed about what's happening,
and someone else named Sam. Not sure who he is, but he seems powerful in the
dreams."

"Well, I guess we'll find out. Cape Fair, here
we come."

Harmony's Cabins-by-the-Lake

Doctor Mark Shapiro leaned back in the leather
easy chair he'd moved into his cabin earlier in the day. Idly picking up a
medical journal he'd grabbed from the mailbox when he moved, he wondered if
this was the last medical journal he'd see for a while. Probably, he decided.
It was all so unreal feeling! He was sitting in a well-lit little house, with
running water, a fan whirring on the table nearby, a CD on the stereo system;
this didn't look like what he would have imagined as the end of the world. But,
he thought, that was wrong. As Alexandra had said to him, the end of the world
as
we know it
. That was a significant difference.

Alex...now there was someone interesting.
Different. And funny too. He grinned just thinking about her laugh. And, also,
damned pretty. Those long legs, that very long brown hair rippling with gold
highlights. Those--

"Knock, knock. Can I come in?" Harmony asked as
she opened the screen door and ambled in.

"Harmony!" he said, getting up from his chair. "Sure,
come on in. What have you got there?"

Harmony gave him a mischievous smile and
replied, "Well, first, here are some roses. I know men never think of how much
flowers perk up a place." As she set the vase on the coffee table, she looked
around the cabin. He'd made some changes, but it looked nice.

"And some of my brownies." She started to giggle
as his brow furrowed. "Just brownies, doc, no added, um, medicinal ingredients.
Guess you heard about the brownie incident?"

"Yes," he said, smiling at her. You just ended
up smiling around Harmony. "Let me have one of those. They look scrumptious."

Harmony handed over the plate and sank to the
floor, sitting cross-legged. Her long, pale yellow gauzy skirt spread out
around her, her white peasant blouse pulled to the edges of her shoulders, and
with her golden, wavy hair flowing free, Mark decided she was a nice
interruption. A quite beautiful golden vision of an interruption--and so unlike
Alexandra. Hmm.

"You look like you have something to say," he
stated, sitting back down in his chair.