The Last Afterparty
The Light Of The Past Casts Shadows Of New Days
Welcome to fiction “From The Future” for this entry.
Congratulations, you have stumbled on a work-in-progress, it will not be emailed. It will change. What you see right now, will not remain the same. It will change.
This is also a new drafted chapter for a novel, “RETRIEVE”, being written this year.
Future + Fiction is the formula for everything, whether it’s an essay, story or chapter.
These long pieces are best read online, via the Substack App, when you have fifteen minutes.
"Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you." — Walt Whitman
Part 1
The final gatherings
The Island, Hour 32 of 48
“This way, getting close to the signal.”
“Who’s taking point?”
“Eris.”
“She’s already on it.”
Eris made hand signals for all clear. They advanced through the brush.
“Any sign of the thing, whatever it is?”
“Nothing… not yet.”
“Someone’s ahead! Down.”
“I know them. An Archivist Tactical Advance Team. I thought the Curate just sent…”
“Really? What took them so long?”
“You have a sense of humor.”
“Just what is it that we’re looking for, if a group of librarians with guns are here?”
“Quiet. You won’t believe who is at the rear, marching towards us.”
“Wow.”
With a time tested, fully blooded, tactical team, leading the way, one of the most august of the Nodes was walking behind them. She was dressed in tactical, looking much like the rest of the team, the small hint of a pendant revealed, that an Elder Node came in person to The Island, escorted by a personal army of specialist operators, the equivalent of Nodes special services.
“It’s… The Curate.”
“I heard of her, never thought that I’d see…”
“Me too.”
“Who is that?,” asked one of the surviving Carbons in ST12.
“Ah, that’s someone from Intelligence services, you could say… someone high up… at the top….”
“Could say? What does that mean?”
“Let’s just say it’s above almost everyone’s pay grade,” explained Stephen.
“What do we do? Salute?”
“Just keep quiet, let me do the talking…”
“I knew there was something about you, you’re not an ordinary sailor, are you Bella?”
“I guess you could say that, I’m not a sailor, not Navy at least….”
“She’s not ordinary,” said Pallas.
“How would you know? Who do you work for? You’re a spy too or something? Nobody briefed us about your team and you showing up…”
“I work for another branch of another service, but that’s classified. Officially I’m with the NSC?”
“NSC? You don’t look like an ivory tower desk-jockey, Uncle Sam’s gift to the services…”
“Hah, no, I’m not a desk-jockey.”
“Quiet everyone,” said Bella, who approached the Archivist Tac-team.
“We weren’t expecting another team, Ma’am.”
“We have been monitoring these insertions on the Island. And the resistance both teams are meeting. It was deemed necessary to authorize increased deployment, given the circumstances.”
“Ma’am? Circumstances?”
The Curate drew close to Bella, and Bella almost took a step back but stood firm and calm. She understood, she did not want some of the operators in either of the teams, the Carbons drafted unofficially by the Nodes, to listen too closely. Let them believe this is all Intelligence classified secret games.
“This island has something which cannot neither be allowed to be taken nor destroyed. It must not fall in the hands of the Carbons, who will soon enough push through on their own, or fall even to our temporary allies from the other Clans … Some of our kindred you might say, set this chain of events into motion… necessitating your team, and apparently, unsurprisingly, others have authorized their own teams, given your known association… with the Node called Pallas, and his team’s assistance of what is left of specialist team ST12…”
“Ma’am…”
“We are here. I am certain the other Clans are here. Our alliance of convenience might end soon. Be ready and remember who you serve and what’s at stake.”
“Yes, Ma’am…”.
Part 2, The first departures
The Island, Hour 33 of 48
“Landing in this clearing. We’re not invisible. SLN is running interference but boats in the water will pick us up. Not just the ones controlled by any Clan, but the Carbons too.”
“It doesn’t matter. By the time they can do anything about it, it will be too late. All the Clans have embeds everywhere, and we’re using different branches of Overland Ventures and SLN too. We have to get there, and get to the signal before the Curate can act.”
“And… and the other one sir? And his followers?”
“Oh him? He might be wild be he knows he’s in a temporary alliance just like the rest of us. We’re all cooperating but we all know that changes the moment the signal becomes something more. Then, everyone is on their own. We’ll be in a race to secure and control the Reactor Core as soon as possible.”
There was rumble and then a few seconds of settling, as the whine of the engines softened.
“Landfall. Powering down.”
“We have a fix on their position.”
“Let’s move.”
“Fragmented reports of some kind of phenomena on the island. Powerful. Potential threat.”
“Double check charge and calibrate our field weapon.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Let’s head out.”
Part 3
The final moments of the first events
The Island Hour 34 of 48
“Pontoons deployed. Landing.”
“That’s us, let me help you into a vest, just to be safe.”
“We’re landing on the water? In the middle of the ….”
“No time to do it in style, I’m afraid, but it will be fine. I’m here. This plane was built for ocean deployment. One of Overland’s toys, from an aviation startup.”
“Aren’t they going to see…?”
“No, we’re very small, and they’re preoccupied treasure hunting and my kindred siblings are psyching themselves up to strike first. They’re close so they’ll stab each other in the front, instead of in the back.”
Aglaea looked a little confused and frightened.
“No, not stab, just a metaphor. The real thing might be worse, actually.”
The raft was waiting for them. The plane took off after they were far enough away.
“Just two of us… going there…?? And the plane’s gone.”
“We won’t be catching a ride on that plane back. And yes, it’s just us, that’s right. We’ll be more than a match for them,” winked the Mad One.
As he steered the powered raft towards the Island, Aglaea shouted over the engine and water, “just what happens when we get there? What are we doing?”
“Why, what I’ve planned for a long time. Making sure the future is safe for you, and many others. Nobody’s going to hand it, sorry to say, but it’s there. The Future is not taken, it is fashioned by hand. It is protected, nurtured, and guided. We credit old gods but it was always us. Our stories of the past, even our myths, are a message to the future. The light of the past casts shadows of new days.”
Aglaea shook her head and laughed, which surprised her, “do you always talk that way?”
The Mad One laughed, “like what?”
AFTERWORD
Author’s Notes on what’s going on:
This “Book #3” project, “RETRIEVE”, is meant to be a prequel to two other books, “Box Of Stars” and “Harvest” but this piece could be read as a standalone story.
The prologue for “RETRIEVE”, “An Impossible Island”, was submitted as a short story.
Prologue: “An Impossible Island”, Part One and Part Two, and Part Three, was inspired by writing prompts from the Soaring Twenties Social Club (STSC) creative community, beginning with an STSC Symposium monthly theme of “Beach”.
Chapter 1, “Older Than Bones”, was inspired by the theme, “Dinosaurs”.
Chapter 2, A Love Trinity Denied, was inspired by “Romance”.
Chapter 3, “A Forgotten Circle Of Hades” was inspired by “Superstition”.
Chapter 4, “Reading The Room” was inspired by an image of a wall-sized bookshelf.
Chapter 5, “The Bittersweetness Of Deep Times”, was inspired by “Isolation”.
Chapter 6, “The Weaving Of Split Infinities”, was inspired by “Dreams”.
Chapter 7, “Dead Languages”, was inspired by “Propaganda”.
Chapter 8, “Path Not Forsaken”, was inspired by “Risk”.
Chapter 9, “The Last Word of The World”, considers words as worlds unto themselves.
Chapter 10, An Intimate Path Of Desires
Chapter 11, Absent Without Longing
Chapter 12, Lonely In The Same Room
Chapter 13, Children Of Daedalus
Chapter 14, People Of A Faraway Land
Chapter 15, Distant Shores, Distant Worlds
Chapter 16, The Rules of New Places
Chapter 17, Space To Breathe
Chapter 18, The Extra Air
Chapter 19, The Clash Of Selves
Chapter 20, The Last Meme
Chapter 21, Mistakes And Memories
Chapter 22, The Confusions Of Things
Chapter 23, The Senses Of Wonders
Chapter 24, The Gambits Of Curiosities
“RETRIEVE” chapter and notes will be posted in this Substack, while I edit books #1 (“Box Of Stars”) and #2 (“Harvest”). All will be in the archive, not all will be emailed.)