Second Genesis Book 7

By Steve Howard

Chapter 37 Lost Civilization. A new land is discovered. It is sparsely inhabited by distant relatives that had gone thousands of years without following the laws of the main lands or the language. Some chose to return on the ships and some on the ships chose to live on the new land.
Chapter 38 takes us Back to Barbancor by way of many islands. Some exploring and fun before returning to life at home. After a few days and celebrations, most of our team decided to live in the new thriving Bridgetown. Barbaralba still had a few fights but she found a new love for piano. The world was advancing quickly into the space age. Freedom was as busy as the war years.
Chapter 39 age of hockey. Not to worry if hockey is not your sport, you can still grow. Seriously, it is not a big part of the story so much for the reader as it is for Alexandria. All of our heroes play it. Even Janja, the girl we first met on the world journey, is old enough to play on the famous Ice Birds team.
The significance of hockey is that advanced technology is required for such a sport. They have only warm weather on the island. No real seasons. So hockey season is one. And that means electricity and grand architecture.
We still have basketball and football. Both kinds. The Americans, who we love, call football soccer.
Chapter 40 is a bike trip. Namor and Barbaralba on their own. They bike through the metal islands up to Gadavida. There are fun times there. Even on the way, Barbaralba kills a few sharks for village parties and Namor gets up on stage a few times to play guitar. In Havatara there are events and Janja joins them for the boat trip to the three cities in the north. Three Rivers Orchestra invites Barbaralba to preform some concerts. She is the piano master.
Chapter 41 on to us a child is born. A true angel. Luna Sophia is the new boss. Barbaralba and Namor raise her so. She is adorable so everyone loves her. We have some more sports, science and technology to go with some of Namor’s philosophy. He is the true Philosopher King.
Chapter 42 To Alexandria. This is a big event. We have gone from locked in a castle with suffocating law and myopic dictatorship to discovering space technology. And to make the story even more brilliant, they find out that one thing they had forgotten was the giant ring world of Alexandria. Luna Sophia has her own continent. Not without sharing. It is barren and there will be many years of work to make it into another paradise. Third Genesis.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Steve Howard
• Release date: Mar 27, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215201336

Steve Howard

Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada 1960. Moved to London, Ontario, Canada in 1967. Started playing hockey and piano. Went to Sir Wilfred Laurier High School and played the trumpet.Studied Architectural Technology at Fanshawe College of Applied Arts and Sciences. Started playing guitar and writing a little. On a trip to the mountains in 1982 with a friend I decided, or was awakened to the knowledge that I was going to pursue writing. Graduated 1984 and moved to Toronto.Moved to Saarbrücken, Germany in 1993.Have traveled many places in North, Middle and South America and Europe.Besides reading and writing also work on photography and music.

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Second Genesis

Book 7

Steve Howard 773U5

PUBLISHED BY:

Steve Howard 773U5 on Smashwords

Second Genesis

Copyright © 2022 by Steve Howard 773U5

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Table of Content

37 _ lost civilization

38 _ back to barbancor

39 _ age of hockey

40 _ bike trip

41 _ on to them a child was born

42 _ to alexandria

book 07

We are already here and this is the real trip.

37 lost civilization

local settlement date 35,997

Using words to make a creed is like pinning butterflies to the wall.

King Namor Zujahrah

Namor was watching the little girl and noticed she went from a golden smile to a serious look at Barbaralba. Namor looked to see Barbaralba had a similar look then a look of surprise. The golden smile returned and the little girl took Barbaralba’s hand and started talking again. Looking at the others to see that they were coming.

Barbaralba held her hand out for Namor to take.

My mother.

Namor looked at the little girl obviously just discovering how to talk and enjoying it. The Draves saw their dead friends and family in their children. Barbaralba was crying a little but she had only been surprised for the instant.

I know her love.

Namor watched and listened to the little girl.

It was a long walk back to the little girl’s city. The way was beautiful. The little girl pointed at animals and birds explaining what she knew. No one understood her words. Everyone could see clearly her love.

The ship was sailed a little farther south to dock in the cove of the most northerly city of the newly discovered continent. It was a city of simplicity. There was wood and stone construction and the people fished and hunted and grew vegetables and berries.

None had seen such a ship made of metal. And the tools were equally fascinating. So there was much excitement and leaning of language and the world.

With the understanding that the crew would not be sailing anywhere as long as they were learning a new language, teaching their language, reading and writing, The Old King and Namor worked on making a large radio antenna between the masts of the ship. Line of sight communication was useful for telling the ship crew to sail south or any kind of discovery for the excitement of it. Hand held devices were limited. However, there was also the ionosphere and the moons. As wild as the knowledge was, it was a project the Old King wanted to work on.

Lack of easy electricity was their biggest inconvenience. The Old King had to modify Barbaralba’s amplifier. It was a procedure that took many days and attracted much attention.

The new country was a new way of seeing for those from the ship crew. There were not many of the locals, the natives of the foreign land.

Narnok started sea plant and shellfish farming. He explained to his many helpers that sea plants could be used as food and building materials. Plants could be used to harvest minerals and metals.

Iron, of course, was plentiful enough in the rock. That could be extracted and made into tools.

The locals liked that sea plants could make glue and the things that glue could do. Narnok explained how the building of structures with wood cleanly planed to wood cleanly planed, glued together, could create magnificent buildings. The advantage of a little wood technology was that the large and ancient trees need not be harvested to make large beams. Ancient trees were good to keep around. The insects, birds and the animals that lived there were dependent on them. And among the plants there were the medicines for health care. There was shade from the blasting noon sun.

Namor, there are things in this world we cannot see but are part of what we are.

Instinct. Though I suppose I can see it.

Gravity.

The mother of instinct.

The Old King laughed.

Yes. Gravity, instinct and electromagnetism.

The goddess in three entities.

All part of the one thing.

A thing that is like an infant coming onto herself.

I like how you see it, King Namor. I think we can give this thing a try.

It was making static noise. The Old King laughed.

We have it. Now we just need to find where to look.

They were occupied with their radio communication around the world for a few more days until they finally found a signal. Castle City had been sending signals since their departure. At last, it was time to acknowledge and respond.

Hello Known World. This is the Old King with King Namor docked in a harbour of a people with an unknown language. We are learning it and they are learning ours. We are having fun teaching them our ways and they are teaching us that there are still things to learn.

The communication was received by a few ships and radio receivers at universities on Castle City Island.

There was another ship on its way up the coast to where Barbaralba 2 waited in the harbour of the Unknown City.

The second ship, from Salt Lake 17, was within radio distance over the ocean. That was still the rest of the day. They had news of more settlements and news of other ships that had found more lands and islands. There was much excitement and radio chatter.

Barbaralba decided to kill a shark for the festivities that were about to happen when the second ship made anchor.

Driftwood was collected. Sea plants were harvested or found to stew and some to hang in the sun. Drummers practiced their festival rhythms.

Before the two ships could set sail, there had to be sporting events. Zarathustra had basketball organized. And fighting. There were many beach sports organized. Volleyball. Water polo. Rowing. Swimming races. Football tournament.

The ship from Salt Lake 17 was met by rowboats that tugged the ship into the harbour. The excitement was expected yet overwhelming. Few of either crew had ever met any of the other crew. Most knew who Barbaralba and Namor were on sight. Zarathustra and Artemis were also bigger than life and the unspoken authority of Sallandrah and the Old King were unquestionable.

The party started in the afternoon with beach sports and some smoking and brew. Grills were full with seafood, both plant and fish. Shark steaks were a feature of the day. Many caldrons of soups.

The Old King put his arm around the Drave King.

I have stopped asking if life can get better.

Hard to imagine anything like this from a room in the castle.

Narnok came with two coffees and a full pipe.

I love this planet.

Narnok let his pipe fall out of his mouth when a little girl attacked him. Namor grabbed it before it hit the little girl on the head. She was speaking a language similar to the locals with a different accent. It took some time before the little girl let go of his legs so that Narnok could sit down on the sand and look at her. What he still could not do because he could not get his eyes to stop producing tears. Namor and the Old King sat down beside him.

The little girl laughed and put her hand on Narnok’s face. It is you.

Namor lit the pipe then handed it to the Old King. Narnok would need some time. There was enough of it. There were many years before his love had grown again into a woman.

We are a pack. Death is a temporary condition for an individual character as long as the pack lives.

It is a wild thing to see.

We are parts of a universe that is alive. A thing that evolves. A creature become. Awakening.

Narnok nodded as he attempted to listen to his philosopher friend but watched the little girl explain her version of the story.

Barbaralba and her infant mother came to sit with Narnok. He had finished blubbering and managed to drink a coffee and adjust. He had got to know the little girl who was Barbaralba’s mother and understood what had been explained. He had watched the Drave King on his manic journey from the material to the mystic. He saw him and all his madness and his love for the Drave Fisher Woman. The two were divine and the beasts showed the Drave King their regard. And there she was, the love he had lost in a senseless battle. Come back as a child.

Born again in heaven.

Narnok watch her run away to play with the other children. He declined the pipe offered him by Namor. He needed time to adjust his concept of the real.

The ships were prepared for the journey back to the north. Not all crewmembers would return to the north. Some of the locals would take their places on the ships. The young mother of Barbaralba wanted to return to her village. She did not remember it. Death wiped away memory. The field that remained was instinct. Love was known after rebirth. It was the nature of the pack. The pack was old and maybe not quite wise but something much like it.

___toc___

38 back to barbancor

local settlement date 35,998

Life went through billions of years of hell before one of the life forms began to understand that it had inherited paradise.

King Namor Zujahrah

The route back to the west coast of Barbancor was not the route either ship had taken to visit the south. Thanks to radio communication, their maps were closer to complete. Not all island were marked. Many big ones or chains of islands were now known.

Their course would take them northeast to a chain of islands that they would follow until they gave way to open ocean and the west coast of Barbancor.

It was a few days of sailing, day and night, before the two ships were near the island chain. The islands were paradise never visited resorts, natural islands along a continental plate that divided the ocean. The first islands were too mountainous to make for a small temporary town of two ship crews. They were visited for a bit of mapping and water collection and animal and plant identification.

The third island was mountainous but large with a natural harbour that was inviting like an ancient myth. The kind of island that necessitated exploration and amusement. Driftwood was gathered to make a temporary town center for sleeping and feasting. Caldrons were filled with fresh water for making coffee, tea and soup.

It would be their only long stay on their way back to the known world. Other islands were visited for an afternoon and a few nights of camping on solid ground. Mostly the ships made their way home.

The two ships made anchor on Barbancor a few days north of Gadavida City. It was the former military harbour where the Old Priest had his best ships sent while not sure of the protocol with the Royal Family. The Old Priest awaited them. He wanted some time with his friend before the 30 days of celebration in Gadavida.

Namor saw him coming out to greet them in the first rowboat and jumped into the ocean to swim to him. It caused much laughter. He pulled himself into the High Priest’s rowboat and embraced his old friend.

I am going to lock you in prison until you tell me everything.

It is a beautiful story, my friend.

Both ships, with most of the crews, returned to Anamata. It was where the maps were being brought together and worked on to make a fairly good global map. Many would return to Gadavida for the festivities but some wanted to go back to wherever they had been before their trip. Family, friends and sports.

Namor and Barbaralba, along with Alexandria, Lexus, Sallandrah and the Old King, stayed with the Old Priest in a small coastal village.

The Old Priest was close to not being contained in his own body when it was explained that God the Father was not true. Or better said, backwards. The universe was an infant. She was waking up through humans that could speak and tell stories. The toolmakers with their wild imagination, they were her. She was them.

And you talked to her.

She won’t shut up.

Barbaralba hit Namor. She had to. He would have worried had she not.

The God in the flesh. The Goddess in the flesh.

Namor explained to the Old Priest that though she was young for a universe, she was billions of years at it. Instinct was part of what she was. Gravity and electromagnetism and the evolving of galaxies. It was a dimension beyond what was their world. It was real and it was alive. The communication was at a different level. She was something to listen to. One did not petition with prayer. That was redundant misdirection. She was you and you were her.

Why her.

Namor laughed and shook his head.

I don’t know. Old Priest. There was no way really to look at it. I had the sense of dark orange vastness like an eternal gentle mighty dragon. She just seems like a goddess child busting out of her own womb.

In the lap of the goddess.

Namor and Barbaralba were taking a short trip inland up river to visit some small settlements and to do some riverside camping. It had been some time since Barbaralba did any fish smacking. It was a sport that was best done in a relatively shallow creek. She also liked to have Namor to herself when she did such food gathering. He was attentive when he watched her fish. Every little movement, every laugh and smile was eaten up and stored for later physical attention.

He usually did not get too much writing done when they were together. There seemed to be no time. Not with the sky as a background to the trees and birds and Barbaralba wanting his attention.

The first thing in Gadavida was a concert. The opening night concert. Namor and Barbaralba were rested from their long journey after their relaxing time with the Old Priest and the enjoyable boat trip down the coast. They had stopped at many villages for a day or two visit. The had fish feasts the odd time and told a bit of their adventure and discovery of the connection between one’s will, the will of the goddess and that she was instinct which was gravity and that was in and of everything and the new science would be a living adventure. Machines would become part of life and everything would work and play as one entity with many components.

Barbaralba had a fight. There were many other sporting events for the 30-day celebration. Everyone wanted to see the master of the beast fight. Namor declined to fight in the cage. He loved team sports. He would be in Barbaralba’s corner and train with her. He was too reckless for cage fighting.

Barbaralba punched Namor a few more times to get mentally prepared. The crowd loved it. It made Zarathustra laugh and Barbaralba loved seeing her laugh.

You ready, Bitch.

Barbaralba laughed and gave Namor a few more punches in his stomach.

I am always ready.

There had been much talk and much written about Barbaralba’s return to the cage. She had been a long time away and her title as best fighter was in question on account there had been many other fighters fighting while she was absent. It was known that she had her team with her on the ship. There was no one who would think to question Zarathustra. Not including a couple of fighters that wanted a go at her.

Neither Zarathustra nor Barbaralba paid attention to what was written and talked about. It was part of the entertainment for the fans and not to be taken seriously. Barbaralba would take her time.

Her opponent was the same arrogant loud mouth she pounded down before she went on their trip. She looked different. Meaner and stronger. She had been training and fighting every day, looking forward to putting down the legend. She did not go in for master of the beast propaganda. The king who was famous for fighting for the enemy. A traitor. She had no love for a warrior who was led by a little Drave bitch.

She had some supporters but most did not think it necessary to talk mean about the Drave King or Barbaralba.

Barbaralba let her think she had a chance in the first round. She did not allow any hard punches to get through to her face. Namor got too nervous when she got a bleeding lip. He feared there might be a reason for her not to kiss him. She did allow punches to her stomach. She traded punches to the stomach with Namor and Zarathustra most every day.

In the second round she started kicking her opponent’s leg. Inside and outside. Not too hard. But hard enough to get points and throw off her opponent’s rhythm.

In the third round, Barbaralba got a little nasty. She was pushing in, up against the cage, and smacking her elbows into the head of her opponent to cause pain and bleeding.

In the forth round, she took her to the mat and punched and elbowed her until the referee pushed her off. She was done. It took a while for her to get up. She did. And like it should be, she did give Barbaralba a hug and she won the favour of her fans for it. Leave the fight in the fight. After the fight, go to the party the next day with a smile and a laugh. Admit that the Bitch Queen is the real thing.

Let’s go, fable writer. We have a basketball game to play.

Namor dropped his pen and put some appropriate clothing on. He was not playing. He was, as was the Old King, the coach of Zarathustra’s Salt Lake 36 Woman’s basketball team. She had been away from being part of it for far too long but it was no matter. Most of her team had been on the ship and trained together every day. Not always basketball but always together.

It was their first game since they were back in the homeland. The game was played in the once palace of the High Priest and his closet men. Now it was wide open to the sky and more fans than could possibly see the game. There was radio coverage and a fairly good large screen where the game was projected. Not everyone liked basketball. Many watched because they loved Barbaralba, even if she was not the star of the