Anarchistbanjo's World

Chapter 23

It was Llana that caught the wolf bitch in her snare and feeling sorry for the orphaned pups convinced Tobal they should try raising them as pets. It seemed like a crazy idea but she did it anyway. She had a primitive animalistic aura and sensuality that was almost overpowering and frightening. Gradually Tobal felt some of that developing within himself.

The cubs stayed with them and didn’t have the instinctive fear of fire most wild animals have. They loved Llana and wanted to stay near her. They barely tolerated Tobal.

They spent the days out in the wilderness in extreme physical exertion combined with drawing energy from the earth and recharging themselves. In one day they did more than Tobal had ever been able to do in three days. She taught him to lope at a tireless mile eating pace they would keep up for entire days at a time stopping only to recharge and then move on. They practiced sending physical earth energy out and taking physical earth energy in. They absorbed it from the earth and living things and gave it back to the earth and living things. His physical body began to live and breathe physical earth energy.

These were the things she taught him about. The life force and energy within all things and how to feel it and tap into it. She taught him how to purify his own energies and work with them to make them strong. She said she couldn’t teach him much more until he had completed the Journeyman degree.

Nikki, Melanie and Becca each had their fourth newbies to solo. But Tobal made heads turn as he proclaimed Llana ready for both initiation and to solo. She was questioned at length by the elders and then approved to solo. There was a bit of grumbling but Tobal didn’t care. Llana was his last newbie and next month he would be initiated as a Journeyman. He was happy and that was it. Tyrone had soloed and he received his fifth chevron.

Green grass was starting to show in places and the melting snow made tiny rivulets of water running down toward the lower foothills. The weather was beautiful and it was warm in the afternoon.

Tobal watched as Angel acted as High Priestess. Tobal was surprised to see Dirk in red robes training as High Priest for the circle. It felt good and comfortable to see people he knew and trusted advancing into these positions.

He found Tyrone and asked him about his solo. Tyrone laughed and said it had gone well except for the wolves howling every time he played the fiddle. He had gotten lonesome for company though and was looking forward to training a newbie of his own.

The big news at camp was that Sarah, Anne, Derdre, Seth and Crow had all returned from the village and been waiting at sanctuary for newbies. Since they had been waiting for two weeks it was unlikely there would be enough newbies to go around. Several members had gone to sanctuary only to find a large line of people waiting for newbies. Zee was pissed, Kevin was pissed, Mike and Butch were pissed, Tara and Nick were pissed, Wayne and his student were pissed, Char and her student were pissed. They had all been hoping for newbies. Now Becca, Melanie and Nikki were going to be looking for newbies too!

Zee and Kevin had decided to stay at sanctuary with Crow and his group. The others had come to circle steaming mad and needing to vent. They were glad the kids had come back from the village but it struck them wrong that Crow and the others could spend a cozy winter in the village and then just waltz back here and get newbies in the spring. Tobal’s sympathies were with Crow and his friends. They had been at sanctuary when the newbies were and that was what mattered. He had camped out more than once waiting for newbies.

He hardly saw Becca at all. She was there to proclaim her newbie ready to solo and then came up and kissed him.

“I’m going to sanctuary,” she said simply. “If I leave right now I can be in line ahead of these others.”

He pulled her into his arms and held her against him. “I’m sorry it has to be this way. You’ve only got two more newbies to train. Then we can be together all we want.”

Her green eyes flashed as she smiled at him. “I’m going to hold you to that. You better really mean it.”

“I mean it,” he whispered. “Now you’d better go so you’ll beat Nikki and Melanie. You know they will be right on your tail.”

Becca laughed, “We’re all going together. If we need to we will draw straws to see who goes first.”

He gave her a final hug and kiss and then watched as she headed toward where Nikki and Melanie were waiting for her at the edge of the gathering spot. He waved at them and they waved back. He missed Becca and didn’t really feel like talking to anyone else so he kept to himself during circle and the initiations.

Later it was only Ellen and Rafe that were there to talk about what had been going on between the Circle of Elders, the village and the City Council. The others were probably on their way to sanctuary to try for newbies. Tobal simply felt fortunate he was done with all of it. Ellen told her version of what had happened the past week when they had gone back to meet with the City Council.

“This time we were expected and warmly welcomed. They even had a conference room set up with seating for everyone, not just the City Council. The Mayor welcomed us and then introduced a Federation officer named General Grant.”

Ellen looked at Tobal and Rafe but neither had heard of him before. She continued. “General Grant addressed the room and reported there was classified research taking place within the mountain complex that he was not at liberty to discuss. He said several members of the city were involved in this research and knew of it. I saw several City Council members glance at each other nodding. In fact, the general continued, they recruited heavily from the city itself for people to be involved in the project due to the unique training each of them had been given before being granted citizenship.”

“Again there were several nods around the room and I was able to tell that none of this was new to the members of the City Council,” Ellen said. “ Then the general categorically denied that the classified project had anything at all to do with the lake or what had happened there. The military complex in the mountain had nothing to do with rogue attacks on clansmen and the village had nothing to fear from them. He was deeply hurt at the unfounded allegations and hoped improved communication would prevent further misunderstandings.”

Ellen’s eyes flashed. “I asked why we had been ordered to keep Crow and his group from the village and what made the general think they had the right to order us to do anything. The general reddened and said a mistake had been made. We were civilians and should not have been ordered to do anything like that. They should have sent a military unit.”

“When the City Council asked why it had been so important to keep Crow and the others away from the village the general said it had been considered important to preserve the integrity of the training itself and not compromise the intent of the requirements of citizenship. Open communication with the village would jeopardize the quality of the training the Apprentices were receiving and complicate the duties of the medics.”

Ellen stopped a moment before continuing. Her eyes were flashing in anger. “The general went on to assure the room there had been no bad intent and the interests of the city had been foremost in all of these activities. The mayor seemed content with this and asked the City Council and any of the circle members if they had anything to add before adjourning. I was furious at the general’s denial of military involvement and the City Council’s apparent acceptance of his explanation. But I knew when I was outclassed. There was simply nothing more that I could do.”

She continued, “The mayor was about to adjourn the meeting when something impossible happened. Howling Wolf appeared in the middle of the room out of nowhere. He simply appeared out of thin air and addressed all of us.”

“He told us that General Grant was telling lies. Then he said he would tell us the true story. He said that thirty years ago Ron and Rachel Kane were citizens of Heliopolis and involved in the creation of the social experiment we are all familiar with called Sanctuary. Their main circle and gathering spot for the Apprentice degree was located at the lake by the waterfall. The Journeyman and the Master locations are the same today as they were then.”

Ellen paused before continuing. “Howling Wolf said the social experiment was funded by the Federation and closely monitored within the mountain complex. It’s commanding officer was Lieutenant Colonel Harry Kane, brother to Ron Kane. Ron and Rachel Kane were the parents of Tobal Kane who is now soon to enter Journeyman status. There were whispers around the room at this as several City Council members looked at each other.”

“Then Howling Wolf explained the Sanctuary program was just a front for a type of much more advanced research, namely time travel. Some gasps filled the room and I noticed there were several white faces including the general’s.”

She looked at Tobal. “He said Ron and Rachel Kane created a machine capable of sending a person forward in time into the future or backward into the past. The problem was Ron and Rachel were the only ones that could use it. It wouldn’t work for anyone else and no one knew why.”

“Ron and Rachel continued travelling forward and backward into time. The scientists continued to think of way to improve the machine. Ron and Rachel believed it was a human problem and not a machine problem and worked in secret with a small handful of trusted friends. They developed techniques that would prepare an individual for time travel. The most important was the technique of bi-location.”

“Howling Wolf told us that he appeared in the room using bi-location techniques he learned from Ron and Rachel Kane and has been teaching to his own students since that time. There were gasps and hard looks on the faces of some of the City Council members.”

“He said the bi-location process does not require a machine. Time travel does not require a machine either. There was a small handful of people taught to how to time travel by linking with Ron and Rachel and then they were able to do it on their own without help. He said he knew of several others still living that were now doing this and teaching others how to do it.”

“Howling Wolf said the group was time traveling when the massacre at the gathering spot occurred. His wife and children were murdered and so was Sarah Gardner’s mother. Sarah is another Apprentice that is now teaching her second newbie to solo. Fortunately two of his grandchildren were not at the gathering spot and are alive today. They are also currently enrolled in the Sanctuary program. He told how stunned the group was when they arrived back at the gathering spot and found everyone murdered.”

“He then told how Ron and Rachel told them to flee. They were going to talk with Ron’s brother and find out what had happened. They agreed to meet at a specific location in history where they often met up before. The entire group fled and later tried meeting but Ron and Rachel never came. Howling Wolf got very angry and said his son and wife were hunted down and executed. He found out later that Ron and Rachel had been declared dead by his brother Harry and their son, Tobal was taken by his uncle to be raised.”

Ellen paused in her story to see how Tobal and Rafe were taking it. Tobal was very grim and Rafe looked almost ill. She continued.

“Howling Wolf told how their group had perfected time travel without the machine, but the scientists had been working on it separately. Ron and Rachel were involved in that part because their machine had been needed to locate time periods and initially propel a person into a specific time. Simple bi-location was not enough. The military believed time travel required the intense magnetic fields the machine produced and they didn’t know about the secret research done by the other group.”

“He told how Ron and Rachel solved the problem temporarily by wiring themselves into the circuit making it tolerable for other humans by acting as buffers for the energy. When they were wired into the circuit others could go through the gateway and time travel. Lieutenant Colonel Harry Kane was the first one to successfully go through the machine in that manner. This was an exciting scientific breakthrough and many excursions were made into the past and present doing research on the nature of time itself.”

“Soon regular trips were being made every week. Howling Wolf told us the problem was that Ron and Rachel needed to be wired into the circuit for the entire time that the operative was gone and it was very draining on them personally. That meant the operative could not stay in the past or future for an extended period of time the way Ron and Rachel were able to. The military needed operatives to spend larger portions of time away on missions. The military was intent on seeing if it was possible to alter history for political power and influence. At least that was the military dream. Ron and Rachel refused to take part in any tampering or deliberate altering historical events.”

Ellen laughed. “ Howling Wolf really had everyone in the room listening to him. I saw several faces on the City Council that were almost pure white. It was obvious he was telling us the truth. Then he told us Ron and Rachel remained the only ones that could successfully be wired into the circuit of the machine.

Lieutenant Colonel Harry Kane and his wife tried it with disastrous results. She died and he was paralyzed for life. Ron and Rachel were devastated and Howling Wolf said it was then they refused to cooperate with any more experiments involving the machine. They already knew time travel without the machine was possible and much safer. They believed there must be some safer way of initiating time travel to an unknown location without the machine.”

“It was about a week after their refusal to participate that their bodies were supposedly found floating in the lake by Lt. Col. Harry Kane. Howling Wolf explained to us how this could not be true since Harry Kane had just been paralyzed and was still in the hospital trying to deal with the loss of his wife. He had suffered a serious mental breakdown at that point.”

“Howling Wolf swept his eyes around the room looking at each of us. He said the simple truth was that Ron and Rachel Kane were taken prisoner and wired permanently into the machine against their will so the military could continue to operate it. By being hard wired into the machine longer missions were made possible so operatives could be gone for days at a time.”