GOD of a man

“Prejudice is the privilege of those with time to spare, those busy with their lives seldom think about themselves.”

Chapter Nineteen: Falling world rousing faith
Dated: 12th November, 2425

Nature has a strange liking for antagonism. Everything exists in contradiction to something else. Day exists in contradiction to night, gravity to zero gravity, fire to water, fusion to fission, so much so that even the starting point of all destruction is creation. Humans like to create, creation leads criticism, criticism leads to disapproval, disapproval leads to provocation, provocation leads to argument, argument leads to duel and duel leads to destruction. What exists today shall be destroyed tomorrow. However each destruction true to it’s natural antagonistic instincts leads to creation, creation of stories, creation of knowledge, creation of mineral or resource wealth. It is the prerogative of the subsequent generations as to how they tap their resources to create things anew.

Andy survived the first assault of heat to live another day and tell his story to his mates. It was his first brush with another extremity of nature that exists in contradiction to the bone freezing chill of Hatsu Saisho, the only weather he was used to before this day.

“And then I felt something solid in my hand. I pulled it out and it was a brick, similar to the one we have kept in our museum at Hatsu Saisho,” Andy’s tales were the bedtime stories for the night.

“Ok Andy, it’s fairly late now! Lets’ all call it a night now and we will hear your story tomorrow as also plan something afresh,” Robin said as he turned on his side to sleep for the night.

“What about Clara?” Daniel asked.

“No luck. She won’t leave Nakata’s body. I wish my wife was here to take care of her,” Steve replied, “I hope she gets better tomorrow cause we really need to give Nakata a decent burial and get on with the stuff that we need to take care of.” Everybody called it a night and slipped under their blankets as the chill of the night started to wrap it’s arms around them. Steve looked at Clara who was still lying by the side of dead Nakata and perhaps wondered if they will be able to save this girl from fragmenting to pieces. She was so lonely out there that night. Her only companion had deserted her.

The morning was quick to approach for those who were lost in a world away from the one they were living in, but for the one who just lost her entire world barely a morning ago it wasn’t much different from the night that slipped past her eyes as they forgot to shut for a moment. A solitary tear took turns to come out of either of them as if playing musical chairs.

“Steve! Steve! Wake up, it’s morning,” Robin tried to wake up Steve who was enjoying every minute of his hard earned rest as everybody else around him woke up on hearing Robin’s voice but Steve, he had to be shaken up.

“Hmm? What happened? Are we there yet?” Steve woke up, his fatigued body having forgotten they were already on land.

“No, we hit an iceberg,” Robin joked as everybody else laughed.

“Damn you lagoons, it’s no time for jokes,” Steve said rubbing his eyes as he regained his sense of place and time, “We got a lot of work to do today.”

“Yeah, me and Daniel will head down south to search for a river while you can go searching for oil today as Andy is not too keen considering his experience yesterday,” Robin said.

“Actually, we all go searching for oil today as our water problem has temporarily been solved and we can survive,” Steve put things into a new light, “Now our major concern is to find oil to get back to Hatsu Saisho as also find some means to bring the rest back over here from Hatsu.”

“But what difference will it make. If Hatsu is cold this place is hot. The food is scarce over here and considering how sandy and dry this place is I don’t think it’s fit for any agriculture as well. Besides we haven’t got any seeds to initiate agriculture in the first place,” Daniel said.

“Daniel, it’s not all about food and agriculture,” Steve reasoned, “This is a place where we will find minerals and metal, things we can mould to change our life styles. We can rebuild everything using the abundant resources over here and the knowledge we have saved with ourselves.”

“Steve is right Daniel, this place offers us a new world of opportunities,” Robin added.

“If you two say so,” Daniel conceded to their reasoning, “But what about our temporary water provision, is the water fit for our consumption? I remember Steve saying it’s slightly saline.”

“It’s only got a hint of a salt in it but lets’ ask Clara about it,” Steve said as they all turned around to look at Clara but Clara was no where to be seen.

“My goodness, what is this girl up to and where has she gone,” Steve jumped on to his feet.

“I hope she hasn’t done something stupid,” Robin said as he and the rest got up.

“We need to find her, and we need to find her quick. I hope she hasn’t done what I am afraid she might have,” Steve got really concerned for the safety of the girl. They all set out in different directions yelling Clara’s name and looking for her. Steve walked up to Nakata’s body and then for some reason decided to have a look in the Church. As he approached the door of the Church and looked inside he saw Clara knelt down infront of the statue of Jesus with her hands folded and head inclined forward, as if in deep prayer.

“Clara! You nearly scared us all. Are you all right?” Steve asked.

“I am fine Steve,” Clara said as she got up and walked to the door, “It’s time Steve.”

She didn’t say another word, she didn’t have to. Steve knew she was ready to bury Nakata. They returned to where Nakata was lying and waited for the others to return from the search.

“There she is. Where did you find her?” Robin asked as soon as he returned.

“I was in the Church,” Clara replied, her voice week but calm.

“In the Church? You are going nuts girl. Someone please talk some sense to her before she looses her head completely,” Robin was outraged.

“Robin, it’s time to give Nakata a burial,” Steve tired to divert the conversation for the moment, perhaps he realized the frail state Clara was in.

When everybody gathered they all buried Nakata in the compound adjacent to the Church as Clara insisted beyond any reasoning. Then they diverted their attention back to the business of the day.

“Clara, we were all wondering if the water we have purified is safe for our consumption considering it has a hint of salt in it,” Daniel asked Clara who was trying hard to compose herself.

“It should be safe enough,” Clara replied.

“What makes you so sure?” Robin asked.

“The only reason sea water can’t be taken in is it’s got too much of salt that it will lead to further dehydration of human body if taken as such,” Clara replied.

“Then how come this water is safe for us?” Steve asked.

“The difference between sea water and the water we have purified is in the amount of salt in it. While sea water is hypertonic for our body cells that is, it contains more salt in solution than the amount of salt in solution inside our body cells, the water we purified contains lesser than that,” Clara tried to explain.

“So?” Andy asked.

“So what happens when we drink sea water is it draws more water out of our cells dehydrating our body even further rather than our body absorbing water. This principle is referred to as Osmosis in scientific terms, a phenomenon where the solvent, water in present case, travels across a separating membrane, cell walls in case of living beings, to keep the concentration of salt in solution same on either sides of the membrane, which are cell bodies and sea water in present scenario,” Clara explained.

“And the reverse occurs when we drink water which has lesser concentration of salt than our body cells, right?” Steve asked.

“Right,” Clara replied, “The water will still be absorbed by our body rather than the other way. So the slight salinity of water won’t make it any dangerous for our consumption. Rather, once the balance is restored our bodies will absorb a bit of salt and recover from the salt loss that we will experience during heavy sweating.”

When their concerns about water were finally satisfied it was time to discuss the next challenge staring them down.

“Friends, now that we know we are at the site of burial of one of the great cities of the past, it’s time for us to navigate through this maze and find ourselves a location where we can dig for some oil,” Steve said, “We not only need to find a buried gas station but also hope, we will still find some gas in it’s storage, which is hoping against hope.”

“Why do you say that?” Andy asked.

“Guys, firstly we don’t know where to find a buried gas station and secondly, even if we find one it’s no guarantee we will find oil in it’s storage. Let’s not forget it’s been four hundred years since these cities were buried and considering the oil was stored in metal containers, we don’t know if they would have survived the environmental corrosion.”

“The first bit is definitely the hardest part but I don’t agree with the second bit. If the oil containers can survive on a ship which is always in the midst of humidity, I am sure the storage containers of gas stations on land would have survived too, especially when they had been covered by a thick blanket of sand for long enough,” Robin quipped.

“Perhaps you are right, perhaps not. Let’s not forget the Phantom was a marvel of military technology. It’s containers were airtight not to let any air inside them and everything onboard it had an inert carborundum layering on it’s outside along with paint to protect it from corrosion,” Steve reminded everyone, “But let’s not freak out before the actual fright. Let’s first start with the first part, where to find a buried gas station?”

“Oh boy, that’s a lot of sand dunes to dig. I don’t think it’s practically feasible. We are stuck in this place forever now. Why did I come on this journey in the first place?” Andy freaked out.

“Relax Andy, we will figure a way out,” Robin said.

“I saw some books in one of the rooms on the side of the Church. Perhaps we might be able to find a map or something like that in there,” Clara who had been listening patiently gave them a hint of hope.

“Great! What are you waiting for then, just rush in and bring out one,” Robin got excited straight away.

“But that’s a lot of books and there are wooden almirahs and furniture collapsed on ‘em. I can’t do it all alone,” Clara explained the difficulties.

“Now you don’t expect us to go in there and risk our lives? Who knows when the structure might collapse? One moment you pick up a book and the next moment the roof falls on you,” Robin wasn’t ashamed of admitting his fears and so were the rest.

“You are the one who believes in GOD, ain’t you? Now go inside and have faith in HIM. HE won’t let you die,” it wasn’t sure if Daniel was ridiculing her or just trying to hide his own incompetency as a man.

Now that Clara’s faith had been questioned she didn’t wait for anyone to volunteer to help her, “If this house of GOD had to collapse, it would have become a sand dune by now.” Her steps were furious, her steps were fast. It didn’t take even a blink of an eye for her to set for the Church. She entered the holy shrine, made her reverence to Christ and then disappeared into the room containing books. She first grabbed what could be grabbed lying on the ground without touching or moving anything and brought it out. Then she went back in and using all her feeble feminine and under nourished strength started to move scattered wooden structures away piece by piece revealing stacks of underlying books. Still no one came to her help until she had brought out atleast two more lots. Finally Steve felt ashamed and went inside to help her.

“Andy, Daniel, did you hear that?” Robin asked the rest as he tried to concentrate on the sound of bricks rubbing against each other when the waves rising and falling in the sea, paused their chatter briefly.

“Robin, I think this structure is about to collapse, lets’ call Steve and Clara out,” Andy said as they frantically shouted for Steve and Clara.

Steve and Clara came out with another lot of books and Steve asked, “Why are you shouting?”

“Steve, Clara, don’t go inside now. This structure is about to collapse. We can hear the bricks rubbing against each other,” Robin said as he motioned everybody to be quiet and as everybody waited patiently for the waves to stop their noise, they heard the sound of bricks moving again.

“Clara, it’s too unsafe to go inside now. Lets’ just stop here,” Steve said.

“That’s fine Steve. If it had to fall on us, it would have already done so,” Clara said as she turned around to go back.

“Stop Clara! Don’t go inside,” Steve yelled.

“It’s just the last lot left Steve. You people better make it to a safer place if you are not sure,” Clara said as she walked through the prayer hall and into the books room.

As everybody grabbed the books that have just been salvaged and dragged them away from the structure Clara emerged from the room. The sound of bricks became louder.

“Clara, come out quick, it’s going to collapse,” Steve yelled hoarse.

Clara meanwhile stopped and turned around, looked at the statue of Jesus Christ, knelt before it and prayed for a brief moment before getting up and moving out again. As Clara put her first foot out of the Church door the structure behind her started to cave in as if following her. By the time her second foot was outside the entire building had collapsed in a heap but not a brick fell forward where Clara was walking.

“Thank Henry you are safe,” a sigh of relief escaped Steve’s mouth.

Clara only smiled in return as she knelt down to put the last lot of books down and as she did so the books scattered around out of her arms. They were torn, worn and mutilated not by mites or silver fish but by moisture, heat and chill. But one book stood out of the rest, still more vibrant than the rest with the faded colours of it’s cover. It was a book Clara picked up the last and made the top of the pile she brought out the last.

“That one looks interesting, what does it say?” Robin said as Steve grabbed the book and tried to decipher its’ faded title.

“It says: Adelaide Street Directory 2011” it took Steve a bit of straining of eyes to decipher the name.

“Great, it’s a map book,” Steve said as he quickly turned a few pages of it, “Clara, I always say this, you are one amazing, gorgeous and brave girl.”

And everybody showered Clara with praises but Clara, only a couple of tears rolled down her eyes as she struggled to remain composed and ran away to where Nakata lay buried. Everybody looked at her, a bit saddened by the tragedy she has suffered but they all soon realized they have things to take care of.

“Careful Steve, it’s pages look worn out,” Robin said as Steve tried to move pages trying to decipher the faded ink, which for some strange reasons was harder than reading Lieutenant Christopher Hahn’s diary. It took them a couple of hours to realize how to look at the maps and decipher the symbols which were still faintly visible. They were all hungry and so Andy and Daniel were sent for fishing while Robin and Steve scratched their heads to figure out where they were. They scrolled every map and by the time Andy and Daniel returned after five hours of fishing they had just about managed to get to the map showing “Glenelg South”.

“Let us try and find the Church of Christ on this page now,” Steve said after they had finished their meal. They looked around the map and finally saw a faint symbol of Church along the beach.

“I am guessing this is the Church that we have behind our backs at the moment,” Steve said as he pointed it out on the map to the rest.

“Great, but what do we do next?” Robin asked.

“If we look at it, the Church that collapsed infront of us collapsed in its’ own compound. Now to think of it, if it was to be layered with sand into a sand dune, the sand dune will still be located in its’ own compound,” Steve said contemplating every word that was coming out of his mouth as he massaged his chin with his hand.

“So what do you make out of it?” the rest became curious as Robin asked.

“Now if we were to hypothesize that every building collapsed and became a sand dune in it’s own compound, that would mean the streets and roads should still be open for walking, still making the same maze that they did centuries ago and still navigable with a map like centuries ago,” Steve replied, his reply lighting up the eyes of the rest along with their hopes.

“If what you are saying is to be correct, it would make our job a lot easier. All we need to do is find a location of gas station on this map and navigate our way through the maze to that spot,” Robin said.

“Yes, as long as we correctly identify and count the streets we have walked across,” Steve added the caution required by the situation.

They all decided to test Steve’s hypothesis and they all walked a couple of sand dunes to come to a spot they were guessing used to be a road. There was a wide space between the sand dunes that stretched in a near straight line towards west indicating it was indeed a road, but they needed to confirm it.

“Andy, dig the sand over here,” Steve said.

“What? Why?” Andy asked.

“If this is a road, it should have a bitumen surface they used to have in those days,” Steve said.

“What is bitumen?” was Andy’s next question.

“Bitumen was a mixture of small pebbles in tar which looked grey in colour. It used to give a hard surface to the road,” Robin replied for Steve.

Andy started digging with his hands as Daniel joined him. After a few minutes of digging out a small pile both Andy and Daniel gave out a loud winner’s cheer, “Yeah!”