Burt & Maria's Amazing Journey
Chapter 4

Copyright© 2010 by Old Fart

We met as a group and made sure that the new sleepers knew what to do, assured them that someone would stay the whole time they were asleep and then everyone hugged everyone else. Grace and Christine went into the far healing alcove while Vicky and Kyle took the front one. I heard Grace pointing out Christine's healed knee and then a newly persuaded Christine took her drink and went to sleep.

Val and Bev put the second batch of meat on to cook, then we all cleaned up and replenished our water supply. I think Val splashed Bev first but before long, all of us were acting like a bunch of kids in the river. Including the pups.

I made love to my wife that night for the first time since we were both enhanced. We'd tried when I got back from being cured but I wore her out before I was completely satisfied. Not so this time. Maria was a sex demon and it was well into the following morning before we quit and went to sleep. Judging from the noise coming from further back in the cave, we weren't the only two sharing our love.

We fell asleep cuddling each other and woke in the same position. I looked up to see Val and Bev standing next to us, their arms around each other and big grins on their faces.

Maria wanted to go back and check on the four sleepers so the rest of us got breakfast going. The wolves had followed us up front and I told Subi to take the others out to get something for their breakfast. All three took off.

Maria came back from her bed check. "They look fine. Did I change overnight like that?"

"What do you mean? Are they changed physically?"

"Yes. They seem to be bulking up; their bodies are changing like ours did. I thought it took longer for some reason."

"Well, it took around a week before I saw any changes like that in you."

Val and Bev both said that they'd never seen anyone manifest any visible changes in less than a week.

Well, it was what it was. There wasn't much we could do about it. Dreamer would tell us what was going on if he felt it was important.

Our breakfast was good. The coffee tasted better than usual and the venison Bev heated up was fantastic. Maria mentioned that she missed having fruits and vegetables so we decided we'd go searching for some later on.

After breakfast we spent a little over an hour using the latrine and cleaning up ourselves and the dishes in the river.

We were walking back to the cave when Maria said, "I know I haven't been here as long as any of you, but does it seem different to anyone?"

Bev said, "I thought it was just me. Everything seems brighter, a little cleaner."

I took a good look, something I hadn't done for a while. Amazing how we take our environment for granted.

"It looks like someone peeled off a layer of film. Like that UV stuff they put on windows."

Maria said, "It smells better, too. Fresher."

Val said, "There's no smog."

"Come on," Bev said. "We're in the mountains in Montana. There's no smog here."

My wife said, "I'm afraid you're wrong, Dear. There's smog all over the planet. It's obviously worse in the big cities, but it gets picked up and circulated by the wind currents and it's everywhere." She looked up with a curious expression on her face. "Except here. As of this morning."

Bev said, "That would explain the smell."

"Partly," Maria said. "I think it's more than that. You know how an overcrowded room with a lot of people smells? Compared to, I don't know, our living room? It's like that. I agree that the smog is gone from here, but there's more."

"Something tells me we need to get back to the cave," said Val.

"That's where we're going, Silly," Bev answered him.

"Well then we should go. Instead of standing here talking about what's different."

We didn't run but we did walk briskly. It took about five minutes to get there. The wolves were all waiting just outside the entrance. They looked alert, on guard, like they knew something was amiss. As soon as they saw us, Subi came over to me, Betty went to Maria and Alfie attached himself to Val and Bev.

I think we were all surprised to see the four "sleepers" sitting down inside the cave, each with a plate of food in his lap. By all appearances, they'd finished the healing and growth regimen. Grace looked like she was in her mid twenties. She had no reason to feel ashamed or show concern about her body. It rivaled Bev's and Maria's. My daughter looked real good, too. She and Kyle both looked like they'd matured three or four years and worked out at the gym five times a week. I think Christine was the most surprising. She looked like she had grown from the eight year old we put to bed last night to thirteen or fourteen. She had that look that young girls get when they're ready for sex. She would be able to focus it like a laser beam on whoever she chose and that young man wouldn't stand a chance.

"I'm surprised to see all of you. We just put you in to start healing last night," I said.

"Burt, you and the rest need to get yourself some coffee and food if you need it and sit down. It's time you found out some things you aren't aware of."

I heard it in my head or felt it or whatever it was with Dreamer. It's like I knew it. Suddenly the concepts he was putting out were there, where there had been nothing before. I looked around and could tell that everyone else had heard something.

It's strange to become aware of something new, something never experienced before. Until my adventure in the cave, I had no concept of telepathy or whatever this was that Dreamer used to communicate to us. Yes, there were words in the English language, but they weren't totally correct, having been invented to describe something that was only suspected to exist. I could use words like send, intuit, receive, know, understand, concept, but every one of them fell short of the truth one way or another. And every one took that split second of thought to figure out what was meant when someone used it to communicate to someone else. It was easier to say that Dreamer talked, he said things, we heard him. We talked back, sometimes verbally, sometimes by thought. Even though these terms were further from the mark than the others, they described things we were familiar with and it was easier to understand them and modify their meanings a bit so that they fit. It was difficult to use one set of terms for Dreamer's communication and another set for everyone else, even though they were completely different. The same was true about calling Dreamer 'he.' Dreamer was probably as close to a male as we know it as a rock or a tree. But 'it' just didn't seem to work. We had no concept for a being such as Dreamer.

"You have begun to notice that there have been some changes," Dreamer said to us. "Some of them I can tell you about, others will be beyond your understanding. I may be able to relate actions but the reasons or motives or principles involved may be too esoteric to describe precisely.

"First, we are not human. I include myself among the people even though I was made by them. We are far more advanced than you and what you call the laws of physics and other 'unchangeable' concepts can be ignored or changed as we see fit. For example: Burt's cancer. It is impossible to cure that amount of cancer at that concentration in the time period we did so. Actually, the cancer was cured in about a week and the second week was used to build up and improve his body. Four of you went in for healing last night and another four of you went to sleep last night. Well, it was last night and it was two weeks ago and it was ten years ago. It was 40 days and 40 nights ago. It was all of those and none of them. And that's the best I can explain it to you.

"You are all aware of how this cave and its pond came to be and part of its purpose. I've shown you some of the others who were helped over the millennia. You have all been tested and have passed. And that's why you are all here today.

"Val, you were given the ability to make things happen by wishing for them. As the test proceeded, barriers were made up to prevent some wishes from coming true, specifically to test your ability to come up with some other solution. A solution that was more 'right', to use a word that has been perverted as much as any other over the ages. You are not the first to be given this gift. Most are compelled to abuse it as fast and as much as they can. You kept from acting at times because you knew doing so would be 'wrong.' You will no longer be able to wish things into being. The test is over, and because of it, your family and friends have also been tested and found to be uncorrupted, virtuous and ethical. Yes, you each have your failings; you are not perfect. If we wanted that, we would just stock another planet with mechanical life and be done with it. We have done that countless times on countless worlds and they all turn out the same. There is no meaning to life, no purpose. And the societies grow to a certain point and then become stale.

"The same can not be said for sentient beings. They have free will so there is no telling which direction their growth will take. The society I am from, the one that started life on this planet, is what most would call ethical. Each contributes and each gains. Power is used to create for the general welfare, not as a means to promote some and enslave others. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. Peace on Earth, goodwill toward men. Live long and prosper. May your children and your children's children survive better than you. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Every religion, every society has some 'rule' that is pointed to as the ideal way to act.

"As I have shown you, we create life and guide it forward. As with any parent, we want our progeny to do better than us. Yes, we'll make excuses and hope that things will change for the better and we give second and third and thousandth chances. This is not the first planet that we have populated. I could give you a number but it would be beyond your comprehension. Some have been very successful and some have been complete failures. Is Earth the worst planet we have seen? No, not by a long shot. But Earth is beyond redemption. The predominant characteristic of Homo sapiens on planet Earth is greed. I have shown all of you countless examples of the corruption and enslavement of the weak by the powerful on this planet and it has gone beyond containment. All you need to do is pick up a newspaper, take a look at any governing body, be it national, for a state or down to the city level, check out any major corporation and you'll find example after example of this cancer that has taken over society. It's too prevalent, it's too overpowering. It's beyond healing. The only way to handle it is to excise it."

 
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