Forever Young

Chapter Twenty-two. A Problem with Chronology

Chapter Twenty-two.

A Problem with Chronology 

After Erika had made what she considered an appropriate choice of magazine, she followed Janik through the massive doors leading on to the main steps fronting the building. Before them lay a vast grass covered oval sloping gradually towards the deciduous trees edging the rapidly flowing river. 

"I think the Discovery is moored down to the left a bit. This path will take us to the river and we should be able to follow it back to base." 

"Are you sure, Janik? We didn't follow the river to get here." 

" I know, but if you recall Leitus was quite interested in the large sphere that he saw on the hill about a couple of kilometres inland, so we sort of circled round to reach here." 

"That sphere was incredible. All those instruments. It had to be a sciientific installation of some kind."  

"There's so much here that I don't understand," said Janik. "When we went up to the sphere, we passed over a couple of broken down bridges spanning weed covered highways full of potholes but we haven't seen any form of transportation. It's weird." 

"I agree. It's difficult to imagine what has happened.Just over two hundred years ago, many people from Darsis settled here and their letters described what we would call a normal way of life. I suppose that's why we're here, to find out what caused this calamity, and we won't do that standing on these steps all night." 

Janik took the hint and  led the way down a well-marked path to the water's edge. Their route along the riverbank wound through a densely wooded area. Erika, unnerved by the encircling gloom, stayed close to Janik. Overhead, a large white owl hooted. Erika clutched his arm. He turned towards her. 

"Don't worry. We're almost out of here. Look you can just see the Discovery across the bay."

She made no attempt to remove her hand. 

The boggy nature of the terrain blocked their path to the boat and necessitated a short detour through a burial ground. In an older section, they found stones engraved in various languages, some of which were familiar to Janik. Most of the stones merely mentioned the name of the deceased, the life span, and date of death. None bore a date later than 1486D.  

Looming over the graves, at the back of the cemetery, stood a marble wall, twice the height of Janik, and at least as long as the Discovery. The ubiquitous three pronged symbol, with the number 101 carved across its base topped the structure. Innumerable rectangular metal plates covered the wall. Each bore a name in Myrian script, and a number. A prolonged torch-lit search revealed seventy-five to be the  predominant number on the wall. It was also the lowest; the highest, one hundred and twenty four.  

*****

That evening, Leitus held a group meeting with his research students to discuss progress. He saw no reason to alter his routine just because they were in the field. As usual, they met in the lounge on the main deck of the Discovery.  

"So, have you two changed your minds over what might have happened here?" 

"Not really," said Janik. "Everything seems to corroborate my earlier idea, that there has been a mass suicide, or maybe genocide."  

"I tend to agree," said Leitus. "But either way, I cannot imagine how it was carried out. I'm also having difficulty on the time scale. It's obvious that this happened recently,but when? We have reliable information right up to the time of the Isolation Act in 1486D."