Chapter 11

"The islands of Lake Erie? Off shore between Cleveland and Toledo?" I asked.

"Not exactly. Cleveland and Toledo are ports on Lake Ontario," said Dr. Bob.

"You said that," I said.

"Yup," he said and started humming. I recognized it. Redemption Song.

That was interesting ... America never had slavery. I asked, "Redemption Song is all about slavery ... but you said America never had slaves."

"This is true ... but the Spanish were in the southern continent and so were the British. They both imported slave labor. The British were buying slaves from the Ashanti of present-day Ghana and the Yoruba of present-day Nigeria were involved in slave-trading. Groups such as the Imbangala of Angola and the Nyamwezi of Tanzania would serve as intermediaries or roving bands, waging war on African states to capture people for export as slaves," said Bob. "The attitude that prevailed was that the Ashanti were human and the tribes they preyed upon were not.

"Jamaica, Cuba, Domingo ... for that matter ... all the Caribbean Island needed slave labor because the crops were so labor intensive and the African slave traders had excess animals to trade.

"The British outlawed slavery in England in the late eighteenth century and the trade very early in the nineteenth. The slave revolts in Domingo and the eastern Caribbean sealed the doom of the trade ... three hundred years of ancestral slavery is a bit to overcome.

"There's a lot more to it than that ... the north Africans enslaved Christians ... the Arabs enslaved everybody they could. The Chinese, the Russians, the South American tribes ... civilization meant freedom for some but slavery for others who were NOT of the people."

That's the beginning of what turned out to be quite the history lesson.

When he was done he described the islands and the Great Lakes again.

"I forgot ... this is going to take some getting used to."

I decided I'd had it with idyllic pleasures. There was a whole new old world out there ... and it begged to be explored ... until I saw the charts. Damnitall! Previously explored.

"Say Bob, How about the Native Americans?" I questioned, "What did you do with them?"

"You know, I had to drop back a couple of billion years to rearrange things the way they are now."

"You can do that?"

"Had to ... it has to look natural."

"Well ... you did a bang up job. That didn't answer my question."

"There weren't any."

"No Native Americans?"

"No Ice Bridge." That was a positive statement. "The geological glacial stages of the current ice age in America are the Illinoian and Sangamonian. The Wisconsin glacial stage never happened. The last active glacial event ended one hundred twenty three thousand years ago. Homo Sapiens didn't get their 'bump of curiosity' until about one hundred thousand years ago.

"Interested Cro-Magnon people started filling up Asia first. The Pacific Islands were the major focus of inquisitiveness at about forty thousand years ago. Migration has always been a factor of population growth. When each area becomes over populated the impetus to move on is almost instinctive. The nation of Rocky Mountain has just recently exceeded its ability to support its population, they were the second of the two invasion attempts.

"By over populated I mean the ability of the land to sustain a population. Exceed that and the young men move to find places they can call their own. A place of stability will support families and the number one priority of nature is perpetuation of the species. Sex is the prime mover.

"Humans have out grown the ability of the planet to sustain. As the major predators are eliminated in the name of progress, taboos and religion have replaced lions, tigers and bears as the principal control of population.

"Population needs to be controlled because there are NO MORE places to live. As it is, population pressure has forced marginal people out to places that will not support large numbers without access to the surplus of the majority of the people.

"Today, people live in places that are totally uninhabitable. If transportation were to stop ... if trucks and trains ceased to deliver that which sustains life, how long would life exist in the far reaches?

"In extreme situations, educated people who should know better say things of stunning ignorance. Like the college professor who insisted people didn't need farms, ranches or fisheries. When asked how the people would feed themselves, he replied, "Buy their food from the supermarket ... like we ALWAYS have done.""

"Whoa, Bob ... getting a little carried away."

"The ignorance of intelligent species appalls me. You, at least, listen ... even if you do have three wives. You'll soon be doing your part to exceed population limits."

"Do I have money? Can I buy things? I like to think I can keep my ladies happy."

"You have access to the resources of the ship."

"That works ... where are the rest of my possessions?"

"On the ship."

"Where's the ship?"

He did things with a wand ... no ... really ... a wand. then he pointed over the side. I looked over ... the ship grinned. I waved. It looked thinner and smaller. I mentioned that to Bob.

Bob just smiled.

"Oh, I remember ... magic works whether I believe it or not."

"You did remember ... there's hope for you yet. You know ... I did get carried away. I'm fairly sure you had a purpose in mind when this one-sided bombast side tracked me." He had the courtesy to blush.

"Apology ... as off handed as it is ... accepted." He looked appalled. Rather than give him the space to deny it, I hurried on. "I thought an exploratory expedition might be at hand ... until I saw the charts. How accurate are they?"

Bob said, "Very ... those charts ... for all they look official ... are my doing. I keep track of new wrecks and changes in water level. Magic ... look closely. There's been a huge storm up north and the overflow is about here."

I watched a slight change ... only inches ... change on the chart. "That's pretty amazing." The changes in depth flowed across the chart like a tide.

"Lake Erie is still the most shallow of the Lakes ... it doesn't take a lot of water to change things. The northern storm will affect the shoreline for a month or more. The sandy beaches will lose a few feet. The shallows will keep the little ones busy and the fishing will be better.

"The daily rain keeps the ground fairly wet ... the storms drop enormous rainfall that runs off. It keeps the rivers full. The kayakers are happy. Weekend sports are in vogue ... there are enough sedentary people and old and infirm to support a healthy semi professional set of leagues in the various sports. Futbal is very popular, baseball is second in the number of aficionados. Winter is so mild that skiers travel to the Iron chain from all over the nation. Rocky hasn't forgiven the defeat yet so those mountains are closed to them.