Epilogue

Well that happened over four years ago. In the meantime, dwellings were built, children born, crops had grown and had been harvested and our little society continued to grow and had flourished. We are now up to eighty-nine souls living in our little community. We even have a community orchestra composed of Sonia, myself, Amber, Maria and a number of others. We have taught them how to play the many instruments that Malok had so graciously left for me in the hidden trap door beneath the smaller pod. Our little musical group has now swelled to almost thirty members.

Malok, the surprising versatile individual he is, plays a number of instruments, but his most treasured is a real Stradivarius violin. He and his wives have often joined us, as we play the likes of Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn. Our biggest challenge yet will be the Greig Piano Concerto in A Minor. Millie was an aspiring concert pianist when Mal had found her, so she can more than hold her own. Hopefully we’ll do her proud. Our community now has twenty-four children under the age of four (eighteen are mine!), so we hope we can teach our children how to become better musicians than their parents.

So far, the Consortium has given the experiment a reprieve. Although my part of it is still suspended, we are adequately taking care of ourselves. Our gardens, orchards and fields have produced plenty of grains and fresh fruit and vegetables. We are able to preserve plenty through canning. Our live stock continues to flourish as well, as we discovered a large, grassy, box canyon less than a mile away from the woods to our east. We had to create a trail to allow our herds to get through the woods so we could drive them there periodically for them to get their fill. Otherwise we grow our own feed to supplement their diet and get them through the winter. As far as any surplus in our crops, we trade to our neighbors to the north.

Speaking of our neighbors, our relationship with both our neighbors to the north and south tend to be what I would describe as “benign indifference.” Aside from occasional missions to trade, we don’t bother them and they don’t bother us. The other exception is when some of the members of those communities have family in ours. Both groups are close enough where family members can visit each other and the camp leadership of both the Cro-Magnons and the Neanderthals have been amenable to allowing our folks to visit their camps (but seem reluctant to allow their folks to leave). I gather in several years, young warriors will come to us looking for mates, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

As for Jeremy, we have not seen or heard hide nor hair of him. Malok insisted that he still lives in Africa but even now, he refuses to tell me exactly where. Despite our friendship and his affection for me, he has made it clear that I am not allowed to breach the African continent. A couple years ago, I tried to sneak over while on a fishing expedition in the Med, but the yacht’s power mysteriously cut off. When I tried to put up the sails, we found that we were in the Mediterranean equivalent of “the doldrums” (not a puff of breeze to be found) and we were becalmed.