Dormant Seeds

By Terry Brazier

With global warming threatening the very existence of humankind, satellite imagery of the earth revealed one area with green vegetation that appeared to have been resistant to the droughts and floods. When Federal investigations were conducted to investigate the reason for this, they discovered more than they expected. For not only was the land still producing crops and the livestock thriving, but the farmers were too. There was only one problem. The farmers, on further study, werent human.
DORMANT SEEDS is a psychological sci-fi thriller that chronicles the adventures of the aliens, Caleb and Gretchen, as they seek to evade the authorities on the streets and in the sewers of Washington, D.C., and the scientists, Erin Fletcher, a botanist, and Mark Jansen, a molecular biologist, as they befriend the alien girl, Gretchen, and seek to save the human race from extinction.
With a cast of characters that continually demonstrates mans inhumanity to man, the reader may find themselves rooting for the aliens.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Mar 21, 2017
• ISBN: 9781524675882

Terry Brazier

Terry Brazier earned his B.A. in psychology and M.B.A. from the University of Missouri. After graduation, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps. His professional career spanned forty years in systems analysis and application programming for a variety of industries and major computer manufacturers. He lives near St. Louis, MO.

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© 2017 TERRY BRAZIER. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Cover Art: Aglaia’s Dance by Adam Long Sculpture www.AdamLongSculpture.com

Published by AuthorHouse 03/20/2017

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017903942

ISBN: 978-1-5246-7589-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-7588-2 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

DEDICATION

PROLOGUE

PART I

ONE MILLENNIUM LATER – THE CURRENT DAY

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

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19

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21

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23

24

25

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30

31

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34

PART II

TWENTY-THREE YEARS INTO THE FUTURE

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EPILOGUE

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my brother, Michael Allan Brazier. Mike worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in St. Louis for 32 years. In his career, he was the Chief responsible for the environmental protection of navigable waters, rivers, streams and wetlands. For his dedication, he received numerous awards for his work, including special recognition from President Jimmy Carter for cost reductions in wastewater designs.

Mike loved nature, especially the waterways that he helped to preserve. He spent much of his free time with the family in the outdoors hiking, biking, kayaking, and camping.

Mike always had a pleasant disposition and frequently wore a smile showing his kindness to all those he encountered. He had a great sense of humor and laughed frequently.

I can only add that as wonderful a place as Heaven must be, it’s just that much more of a marvelous place after Mike’s arrival. No angel will have a wider smile than Mike’s.

We’ll miss you dear brother, husband, and father … till we meet again.

MICHAEL ALLAN BRAZIER

July 8, 1946 – August 19, 2015

The World

The world as a whole, by one it is meant,

is dead of the sea and climate is spent.

The world as a whole, it may not stay –

the world is leaving us from day to day.

The world, when gone, be no rain or shine,

cause the world we all spent our share of time.

William N. Brazier

1988, 8th grade

PROLOGUE

The solar winds on Mars had stripped away the planet’s atmosphere. The once formidable magnetic poles were now non-existent. The thin atmosphere remaining consisted of less than .2 percent oxygen with the remainder mostly carbon dioxide. Surface temperatures averaged minus 81 degrees F. It was so cold that during the planet’s winter, the atmosphere’s major constituent, carbon dioxide, froze into large white deposits, covering the barren landscape.

It was an uninviting place. Million of years before, the once fertile landscape and rich, oxygen-saturated atmosphere had been teeming with life but was now a windblown hostile place devoid of all living organisms.

However, that wasn’t entirely true. Lying deep within some of the surface rocks was an infinitesimally small remnant of creatures that had once controlled the fate of the now nearly dead planet.

These creatures had transformed the then thriving landscape with a habitat that served its communal existence. A system of laws and its industrial complex had governed its society and science foretold a magnificent future waiting on its horizon. However, in the process of using up the resources of their world, their planet began to change.

Slowly at first, then gaining speed like a roller coaster charging from its summit to the valley below. With temperature changes, life began to migrate from one time zone to another seeking hospitable habitat. When that became even more difficult, the multitude of life forms inhabiting the planet for thousands of years began to become extinct.

The most advanced form of life, in addition to seeking zones that were more temperate by migration, sent ships of its inhabitants into the heavens in search of more desirable worlds. Those remaining behind underwent a genetic metamorphosis. Those whose genetic makeup was no longer conducive to the new environment were culled out while those who could adapt had thrived, albeit in a different physical state. Instead of its mammal like form, it had evolved into and adapted so well to the adverse conditions on the planet, that it had ultimately become a sort of time traveler, a small seed of life that had gone into hibernation. The planet that had once been its home had now become its tomb.

This speck of life had lain in this state for millions of years until the bright light from the heavens crashed into its desert plain and carried away chunks of the planet along with the marauding comet.

The dormant seeds were on a journey to find their new home.

PART I

ONE MILLENNIUM LATER – THE CURRENT DAY

1

Enoch Shining awoke from another restless sleep. He had dreamt of better days, of clover filled pastures and hillsides filled with a variety of flowering plants – morning glories, violets, interspersed with dandelions and wild mustard – and covered with early morning dew, sparkling with a kaleidoscope of colors – blues, whites, purples, and yellows. Those days seemed to be gone forever. In its place grew a more desert variety of plants. Now when he viewed the hillside, he saw a parched desert scene with a multitude of cacti like plants: barrel, crimson hedgehog, and pancake prickly pear. Although they could have beautifully colored flowers of their own, it amazed Enoch that such plants could be celebrating life in such a hostile place.

It would be another scorcher of a day. The sun was about to peek its fiery head above the eastern Appalachian Mountains and had already chased the temperature into the mid ‘80s. It was time to rise and begin performing his morning chores. Raising hogs was a lot of work. His family raised other livestock besides hogs: some cattle, chickens, and a few horses. Then there were the fodder crops grown to feed the livestock and smaller vegetable gardens used to feed Enoch’s family. Each year their plantings had felt the throng from the incessant heat; but unlike the rest of the country, they had survived better than most. They were nearly self-sufficient like most of the farms in the central Appalachian Mountain region.

Enoch would be celebrating his 23rd birthday in another week. Like most children and young adults in the valley, he was expected to assist his parents on the farm, ultimately inheriting it from them. Enoch had two brothers. Tony was a couple years older than Enoch, and Nick Shining was a couple years younger. Both of his brothers were married. One had a two-year-old boy and the other had a three-year-old girl. Enoch, his brothers and their families were sharing the same house as their parents.

Although crowded, no one complained. They enjoyed the elbow-to-elbow existence at the dinner table and the comradery it afforded. Everyone seemed content, except for Enoch, who simply couldn’t imagine himself living on the farm until his death. He had always wondered what lie beyond the distant mountains. He’d often query his brothers, Did you ever wonder, Tony, what it’s like out there?

Out where? Tony would reply, oblivious to the feeling of yearning that plagued his younger brother. Enoch was bored with the life of a farmer. He was fully aware of what the elders told him. They had preached for as long as he could remember the perils of science and the satisfaction of earning a livelihood from the land.

They would say, "Enoch, remember what our ancestors taught us through the mistakes that they made? Embrace nature and it will embrace you in turn. Put your faith in science and it will not only destroy your environment, but also in the end, destroy you. They would then describe the mistakes their ancestors had made and conclude by comparing them with the same kind of mistakes humans were inflicting on their own planet – Earth.

Enoch found it strange the way these memories would flood back in waves of emotional torment. The memories seemed like they had always been a part of his being. It was the significance of these memories and the life lessons that had been gleaned from them, that the elders wished to instill in the young.

But to Enoch, it appeared that God had forsaken them. It did little good to blame the humans for their own troubles. They were all in this together. Their life would surely end as if they had embraced science as dearly as the human race. Perhaps, with the power of science, they might have wielded it against the humans. What was done, however, was done. Enoch remembered an old proverb from his self-taught schooling, Know thy enemy, and that’s just what he intended to do.

Enoch knew there would be consequences if he rebelled against the elders. He knew what would happen if he voiced his opinions, especially, to outsiders. He knew what would happen if he tried to leave the confines of the valley. Everyone had heard the tale of Isaac who rebelled against the elders and left the valley for the city and the community of earthlings. The Elders had no choice but to hunt him down and terminate him before humans learned of his eccentricities either directly or by accident. The Elders explained that they had to terminate him for the good of their community.

Enoch knew all this, but he persisted. Come nightfall, he would make his escape.

2

Dusk settled over the valley like a thick blanket filling in the nooks and crannies of the valley below. The heat hadn’t abated that much. It would be a muggy night with clouds forming; but instead of bringing the hope of rain, the inversion layer covering the mountains like a shroud would hold in the sweltering heat and pollutants from the day before. The light of the moon lapped through the dense, thirsty air as if it were reflecting off the lapping waves on the surface of a pond.

Enoch listened closely. The sounds of crying youngsters finally faded into the darkness. The noises that had emanated from the family bedrooms, that had made their house a home, had finally been smothered by silence making it feel like a tomb. Enoch’s bedroom was located on the lower floor of the grand old farmhouse. He glanced towards the stairs that led to all the other bedrooms on the second floor. The stairway was still vacant. No one had been alerted; they were all settled in for the night.

He had his knapsack stuffed to bursting with changes of clothes as he made his way to the kitchen. He wasn’t sure what clothes would be appropriate in a big city like Washington, D.C. having never been far from the farm, but it didn’t really matter. The only kind of attire that he owned were his work clothes – a couple pairs of bib overalls, some undershorts, and a large straw hat to shade his face, head, and shoulders from the sun’s incessant rays. He hoped he wouldn’t stand out too much in a crowd.

He placed a chair near the kitchen wall, just barely grasped the ceramic jar from the elevated shelf, and removed the wad of bills inside. He carefully placed the jar back in position. He felt guilty taking his family’s money, but he rationalized that it was a small down payment on his share of the farm. He knew there would be no returning to the life he had known for the past 23 years. He knew he was giving up everything for the chance of freedom. He prayed he wouldn’t be giving up his life as well.

The house was silent as he returned the chair to the table and exited the kitchen door. He hoped to catch a ride come morning to Front Royal and from there a bus to Washington, D.C. He walked quickly towards the hillside and the Skyline Drive beyond.

He never looked back.

3

John Lambert had been an employee of Assured Drilling Services for the past ten years.

Many of the farmers in the valley had hired his company to dig their wells and maintain them. They had complained of dry or drying wells, wells that had never had a scarcity of water before the drought and were now becoming as dry as the parched land above them.

John was a supervisor and had been checking on the status of various job sites distributed among various farms in the valley. He had finished late the night before; and rather than drive the 40 miles back to his home in Front Royal, Virginia, he decided to recline in his truck front seat, open the windows to try to get some slight breeze, and make the return trip to Front Royal in the early morning. Front Royal was also the headquarters for Assured Drilling Services.

No one would miss him until morning. It wasn’t like he was married or anything. His wife had dumped him years before for a travelling salesman working for Kimberly-Clark. She always complained to him, You never take me anywhere. There’s nothing to do around this place. I want to see the world. He had miscalculated the attraction of the mountains and view. She had been raised in upper New York and wanted to see something besides mountains. Well, he thought, I guess she’s happy now seeing the world through boxes of Kleenex Tissues and Kotex.

He knew Assured Drilling wouldn’t be happy with his status report. The jobs had been proceeding slower than expected. The ground water was simply drying up. There was no telling how much ground water was still down there. John was hoping they wouldn’t have any dry wells after digging deeper necessitating searching for new sites of underground water, if there were any to be found.

The drilling expenses were mounting up with few results to show for it. Labor, fuel, and maintenance expenses were beginning to take their toll. So far, they had been able to get the fuel they needed; but there had been talk of rationing fuel. Although, they were fortunate to be able to get the fuel they needed for their drilling rigs; fuel in short supply would mean, if they could get it, inflated prices. They’d be forced to pass the costs on to their customers because drilling and finding water was becoming more and more expensive.

As his truck rounded the curve atop the mountains surrounding the valley on the scenic Skyline Drive, John spotted someone on the side of the road ahead with his arm extended, his thumb raised, and a stuffed backpack weighing down his shoulders. John’s mouth dropped open in amazement, not because hitchhiking had become relatively dangerous and less common, although both conditions had become true, but because John was surprised to see someone hitchhiking on this particular scenic drive. This was the first person he’d seen in ten years hitchhiking on the Skyline Drive.

His breaks squealed as he came to an abrupt stop along side the hitchhiker. His window was down as he motioned to the person to get in. The young man opened the passenger’s door, placed his backpack behind the seat, and made himself comfortable.

John said with a smile, Good morning. How far are you going?

The young man said, Front Royal, if you’re going that far."

That’s just where I’m headed. My name’s John.

The young man hesitated just a moment. My name’s Tony.

What brings you out hitchhiking on the Skyline Drive, Tony?

I’ve got a couple days off, he said offhandedly, so I thought I’d visit Front Royal.

Then you’re from around here? Without waiting for a response John said, We do a lot of drilling on the farms in the valley. What’s your last name?

Again a hesitation, I don’t actually live on any of the farms, the young man guardedly said. I just hire myself out – wherever I’m needed.

John knew it was a close-knit community down there. He didn’t believe they accepted strangers too readily. If the guy didn’t want to give him any specifics, that was okay. They drove in silence for a few minutes.

John finally said more to make conversation rather than being serious, You know, Tony, if you ever need work, the company I work for, Assured Drilling Services, is always looking for some strong hands. Have you ever done any drilling before?

No, but thanks for the offer.

John thought his passenger had written off his offer of employment pretty flippantly. He thought he might volunteer what jobs he’d had before, but he was just met with the sounds of the mountains and its creatures waking up to face another day. They drove the next fifteen minutes in silence.

As John entered town, he asked, Where would you like me to let you out, son.

Does this town have a diner?

Sure enough, Holly’s serves some pretty good grub to get you going in the morning.

As John pulled to a stop, he reached in his wallet, pulled out his business card, and offered it to Tony. If you need a job, like I said, give me a call.

His passenger accepted it, smiled, grabbed his knapsack, exited the truck, and entered Holly’s.

John thought as he drove off, what a nice young man even though he wasn’t much on conversation.

4

The breakfast was good but not as good as his mom made.

The waitress at Holly’s was a friendly, young girl about Enoch’s age. She said, I haven’t seen you before. Are you new around here?

Enoch gave her the same line that he had given John – that he was for hire and he was following the work, but he was taking a short break.

She seemed to accept that and said as she laid the bill down, Well, don’t make yourself a stranger. Be seeing you.

Enoch liked the girl and he thought she might like him; but he figured, realistically, he would never see her again. He looked at the bill. It said at the bottom, Thanks, Brenda – Don’t make yourself a stranger.

When Enoch paid, he asked Brenda the location of the bus station. Ten minutes later, Enoch approached the ticket window. The ticket clerk verified that the next bus to D.C. would be leaving in less than 30 minutes, and it would take about an hour to reach its destination.

The ride was uneventful. As the bus entered the outskirts of D.C., Enoch stared out of the bus window in awe. He was spellbound at the wondrous sights in the city.

He had never been to Washington, D.C. He had heard of it, of course, but only in clandestine conversations among the adults when they didn’t realize he was present and listening. The adults thought of it as an evil place where the leaders charted the misinformed future of the human race based on the technology known at the time. The Elders taught that if there were any trade-offs in a given technology, and there always were, that the bad would far outweigh the good.

There were certain groups of humans that the Elders admired: Quakers, Shakers, and Mormons – down-to-earth people that didn’t believe in the enticements of science that drew you further each day from the simple life. Enoch had never watched TV or listened to the radio. He had never tilled the land with a motorized device called a tractor or harvested the crops with anything other than sweat, brute force, and the help of his trusty horses and oxen. He had never sat behind the wheel of an automobile.

It was impossible for the Elders to hide such enticements from the youth. As hard as they might try, the valley was open to the public. The young of the community could see the automobiles filled with humans parade through their towns. They could see the large 18-wheel semi-tractor trailers loaded down with the newest scientific marvels such as tractors, harvesters, automobiles, and all manner of motors and generators designed to make the life of the human being more comfortable – but at what expense?

The Elders preached that their community had already been there and done that. They understood where following that road would lead them – polluted air and water, noxious emissions, and ultimately the environment suffering with climatic changes resulting in droughts and floods that would seriously affect the food supply. If the youth didn’t believe what the elders were espousing, they’d say, Just look around you. Change is on the horizon and it isn’t for the good.

As Enoch let his gaze travel from one scientific marvel to the next, the teachings of the Elders faded further and further from his consciousness. He squinted at the white slab-like facade of the government buildings that looked like jewels in the bright summer sunlight with their faces of white marble and majestic columns, pillars, and stairways that reminded Enoch of pictures he had seen of Rome. The lessons of the Elders flashed back into his mind. See, they taught, with all the grandeur that was Rome, the only thing left of their civilization were these ruins. Enoch quickly put the thought of the Elders out of his head.

There were all manner of flying machines that were so thick in the sky that their shadows darted in and out of the buildings and thoroughfares on the ground. It made Enoch dizzy to look up and follow the course of a ship. The sleek planes with their swept back wings roared above the city. He had seen them, of course, over the valley back home; but there they were mere dots in the sky, never up close like this.

Enoch was here to learn all he could about the advanced human race and their wonderful gadgets; but practicality demanded that he find a source of food, water, and lodging. He had known for some time where his parents hid their cash. He didn’t expect to ever return home alive; so he had taken it all – all five hundred dollars worth.

When he exited the bus terminal, he thought he’d just try to blend in – follow the pedestrian crowds and get familiar with the city. He noticed that people were staring at him, though.

A woman with a young daughter was about to pass when the daughter pointed at him and said, Look at that man with the funny clothes, Mommy, as her mother forced the daughter’s pointing hand to her side, at the same time telling her to hush up.

Enoch had been hoping his attire would blend in. Overalls had been the only clothes he ever wore or owned for that matter. He’d have to do something about that; but right now, his stomach was growling.

His eyes wondered back to the bus terminal; and he noticed the young girl was still obstinately standing there staring at him, her mother still tugging on her arm. He also observed a sight that reminded him of back home. Numerous buses circled the terminal, their snouts pinched together into the loading area. It reminded him of the farm and the piglets squeezed together next to mom, each vying for a space at the dinner table. He had heard of something called homesickness; he wondered if this were it.

As he walked a little farther, he spotted a man sitting in the park across from a large white building surrounded by a metal fence and guards. The sign read White House Guided Tours. The man was eating a sandwich from a bag with golden arches displayed on it. He’d ask the man where he got it. He thought he couldn’t get into too much trouble doing that, could he?

5

The floor of the barn had been swept, cleaned, and fresh straw spread throughout. The ten Elders sat in a circle in the middle of the barn floor. Their ruby robes with embellishments of golden embroidery reflected the sun’s rays breaching the cracks in the slats of the barn walls. The only exception was the one Elder wearing, instead of ruby, a white robe with the same golden trim. The white robed Elder had been leading the discussion. He now looked from one Elder to the next before addressing the next topic.

Brothers, it has come to my attention that one of our youth named Enoch has forsaken us and ventured out into the world of humankind. We all know the dangers inherent in this act. We must attempt to find him and return him to his home. If he refuses, we must terminate him to protect us all.

One of the ruby robed men then asked, How long ago has this happened and how did we hear of it?

It happened several days ago before our representative discovered his desertion.

The leader explained that the normal checking was done by a representative of the Elders to insure that no one in the colony was missing. They would never again rely on the family of a deserter to report that he was missing as they had in the case of Isaac decades earlier. It was natural for a family to hide their disappearance if they knew that their loved one might be terminated when found by the council of Elders. It was asking too much of a family to betray one of their own. That is why a representative would visit each of the families on a weekly basis for the roll call. At a predetermined day and time each week, the roll call would be made. If someone were unavoidably detained, he had 24 hours to show himself to the representative of the council. It was a great inconvenience to the individual to do this as the representative might be hundreds of miles away by that time.

After 24 hours, arrangements were made to apprehend the deserter. If they hadn’t deserted but had merely been absent from the roll call and hadn’t corrected their absence status by personally confronting the representative, a substantial fine would be exacted from the family of the would-be deserter. It was enough of an incentive for the other family members to force compliance by the wayward family member in any manner possible.

After the new policy had been established after Isaac’s desertion, years had passed with no transgression until Enoch’s defection.

The white robed Elder announced, If there are no objections, I’ll make the necessary inquiries.

The ten Elders rose in unison in the middle of the barn. They all looked at one another as the light streamed through the cracks in the barn slats giving the appearance of their features being cracked beyond repair, but their resolve was as solid as rock. They lowered their gaze; their eyelids seemed even heavier than their hearts.

6

The six foot frame of Victor Sheridan strolled into the bus station and walked leisurely over to locker 89, his short ponytail bouncing in cadence to his step, his steely