Comet Riders — Part Three

The Plan to rescue Layall is formulated

The Year 10,437 of Life — The Royal City

King Long-stick sat on the throne in the Great Hall of the Royal House. With Queen Meadow at his side, he greeted the members of the Royal Family as they passed by. There must have been a thousand citizens of Layall who could claim to have a portion of royal blood in their veins. Most of these held administrative positions of importance in the Royal Services. However, there were only a couple dozen members of the family core which were commonly referred to as the Royal Family. Nonetheless, a royal funeral brought as many relatives as could possibly travel to Royal City.

“I’m so sorry. He was a great man,” one distant cousin said, as he passed the throne.

“Thank you for coming,” Long-stick replied, for the hundredth time.

King Red-sky had indeed been a great man. He had rallied the people of Layall to accept an immense sacrifice for the good of their grandchildren. It had been Long-stick’s genius who had developed the plan to save them from the comet, but it had been Red-sky who brought the plan forward. Long-stick was going to miss the counsel of his father. He was on his own now. No, he was not alone in this venture; King Long-stick had his wife and children, and he had the extended Royal Family.

There were more than a hundred relatives and their spouses gathered in the Great Hall; another hundred waited in the yard.

The Royal Family had been born from a clan of survivors of the Great Death. They grew to be the most influential clan as Layall was repopulated. There was no physical evidence of life before the Great Death; the art of writing had not been developed until two thousand years later. The Great Death loomed like an impenetrable curtain concealing humanity’s history.

It was not the practice of the Royal Family to marry within. There were a few couples who were second or third cousins, but most everyone selected a spouse from outside the family. This practice entwined their influence into the population. Long-stick had been twenty-two years old when he fell in love with Meadow of the Spring Mountain; although, they had only married seventy years ago. He had known then, as he knew now, he would not live to see the success or failure his plan. If they failed to move the comet’s orbit, no one currently living would still be alive when it brought extinction. All of his work, and all of that of his father, was for his grandchildren’s lives. It would have been so easy to simply ignore the looming disaster as someone else’s problem.

“Father.” First Princess Bright-sky nudged him, bringing his thoughts back to the present. As he grew older, he found himself spending more time thinking of the past. “It’s time,” she added.

He drew a deep breath. “Yes, it is time.”

King Long-stick rose from the throne. Silence swept the Great Hall. The gathered family parted, creating a path, as the King slowly made his way to the door. Queen Meadow, Princess Bright-sky, and Prince Red-stone followed. On the porch, they were joined by his younger brother, his wife, and two children. His brother lit a torch and passed it to him. Together the brothers walked to the pyre in the center of the yard. Long-stick passed the torch back to his brother, and then the two men mutually held it as they lit the pyre.

Everyone stood in silence as King Red-sky was returned to the ashes from whence he had come.

***

King Long-stick rested in his horse-hair stuffed chair. He sat in the library watching the flames dance in the fireplace while sipping dark red wine.

Responding to a soft knock on the door, he said, “Please, come in.”

First Princess Bright-sky and Prince Red-stone entered the library and closed the door behind them.

“Sit,” their father invited, and poured them some wine. “It is time to read from the Book of Life. It is time we read what your grandfather wrote.”

This exercise was a fulfillment of tradition. King Red-sky had completed his memoirs a dozen years earlier, and they had all read the words before. However, the Royal Family was the foundation of Layall’s traditions, and it was these traditions which held the society together and safe.

The Book of Life was not a book at all. It was a collection of stone tablets and copper scrolls, each one etched with the permanent words from past kings and queens. In Long-stick’s library, as in more than a hundred other libraries scattered among Layall’s clans, there were paper copies of the Book of Life. When studying the past, these were what scholars used. The original words from the ancients were kept locked away in a cave. However, for this traditional reading, King Long-stick shared the actual copper scroll his father had etched.

He handed the scroll to Bright-sky in a symbolic gesture affirming her as the next Queen of the Royal Family. As she read the words from her grandfather, Long-stick’s mind returned to a day 57 years earlier. On Bright-star’s tenth birthday, Long-stick and Red-sky had taken her to the sacred vault to read the original Book of Life for her first time.

On that day, the year after Red-sky had abdicated the throne to Long-stick, they had rolled back the stone protecting the ancient tablets — the first written words of the Royal Family.

“Granddaughter, place your fingers in the groves engraved in the stone. Do more than read the words of your ancestors. Feel their very existence, and know they were real humans. Trust that they spoke the truth,” Red-sky had said.

“From the beginning, humans lived in harmony with Layall,” Bright-sky read.

Of course, Long-stick knew there was no evidence to support these early words etched into these tablets. There were a few oddly shaped stones scholars declared to be tools used by the early humans before the Great Death, but Long-stick knew these might be nothing more than oddly shaped stones. But, why would the ancients lie?

“For as many generations as there are stars in the sky, humans existed with the animals. Yet, only the humans ate both flesh, as did the carnivores, and fruits of the soil, as did the herbivores.”

The records in the early stone tables told of times before writing was created. During these early times, the words of the ancients were handed down from parent to child in oral stories. A thousand years after the Great Death, the Clan of Life began using plant dyes to write upon animal skins. None of these survived to the current day. Two thousand years after the Great Death, hard metals were smelted from ores. Using metal tools the words were etched into the stone tablets to preserve the truth for all generations to come.

“As generation followed generation, humans hunted the herbivores and ate the fruits Layall provided,” Bright-sky continued her reading.

From the beginning of the written word, the term ‘Layall’ had been applied to the soil, the island continent they lived upon, and the entire planet. To the ancients, these three were considered to be one element. The exact meaning of each use of the term was determined from the context of the story. It was clear, early humans had no concept of what lay beyond the ocean that surrounded them.

“Man loved woman, and children were born in abundance,” Bright-sky read. “However, in the same manner as the herbivores fell victim to the great carnivores, the young and weak of the humans fell victim as well. For countless generations, this circle of life kept the humans, animals, and plants in a harmonious balance.”

The words of the ancients continued to tell of how humans slowly learned to use tools. With these, they learned to plant gardens instead of merely gathering the food nature provided. They learned to herd animals instead of hunting them for meat. They learned the secret of fire and using wood to create shelters. Lastly, they learned to kill the great carnivores to protect their children. Freed from the carnivores, the human lifespan grew to a hundred years, and they had abundant children. The population of humans swelled to encompass their entire island continent.

“After countless generations, the day came when Layall could provide no more. All of the forest trees had been cut down, all of the animals had been eaten, and all of the fruits from the soil had been picked. On this day, the Great Death began.”

The harmony was lost, and the society of humans collapsed into murderous chaos. There was no record of how large the human population had grown, but the Royal Family kept the current Layall population at one-hundred-million people. This was the number which provided a good life for all. There was no record of how low the total population fell as the Great Death consumed the humans, but the Clan of Life dropped to a mere two dozen people before they finally succeeded in turning back the hordes of murderous scavengers.

“The first great king of the Royal Family of Life declared an end to death. This was the first Year of Life. From this time, man would love woman, and children would be born, but only in numbers that could be fed from the resources of Layall. Humans would shun the tools which had brought them to the brink of extinction.”

The first king guided his family to a simple life of farming and herding animals. The following generations waited for the forest to grow back. As they develop new resources, their numbers slowly increased. Population control was fairly easy. Like all animals on Layall, women only conceived during the days surrounding the longest day of the year in the late spring. Thus, children were always born during the last days of winter. The King educated his family on the need to constrain themselves during this brief fertile period. During these days of celibacy, Helos was celebrated. Men and women were separated for great parties. An even greater celebration ensued when the couples were reunited. This was the way it was each year. However, each couple was granted two children, and thus twice they were exempt from the celibacy period.

“The Royal Family of Life was not the only clan to survive the Great Death. As the Family prospered, they shared their traditions with the other clans. Harmony among the people of Layall was restored.”

First, the Family created the education service to spread the good word with all the other clans, to teach them how to live in harmony with Layall. Money was created to simplify the bartering between the people and the educators. The medical service was second, and the health of all humans improved. Soon they lived to be two hundred years old, or more. As the human population once again grew, colleges were created. People from all the clans were invited to learn the skills and join the services.

When Bright-sky completed the reading of the ancient stone tablet, Red-sky took her small right hand in his left hand. Long-stick placed his right hand atop hers, and Red-sky covered them with his right hand, sandwiching the hands together. He held his gaze upon Bright-sky’s eyes.

“For ten-thousand years, the Family of Life has used tradition to protect the people of Layall,” Red-sky said. “Our traditions have withheld scientific and technological advancement from the population to hold the Great Death at bay. Today, a new threat of extinction is upon us. To defeat the Death Comet, the people of Layall must build a machine hitherto unimagined. This will require a fantastic leap forward in our science and technology. This mission falls upon your reign. You have no choice in the matter. The Universe has chosen you, and you must do whatever is required to protect your people.”

With the memory of his father’s words echoing in his mind, King Long-stick returned his thoughts to his two children with him in the library.

First Princess Bright-sky cleared her throat and began to read the scroll written by King Red-sky. She read of the discovery of the Death Comet, and the anticipation of another extinction. She read of the plan to save Layall, and of the sacrifices required of the people to create a great machine to move the comet.

She read King Red-sky’s final words, “The ancients have not left us unprepared for this challenge. They have created for us the colleges, the services, and the University of Scientists. While the general people of Layall have been protected from harmful advances in technology, the scientific foundations for these advances are not unknown to the Family of Life. The unborn generations must stand on the shoulders of their ancestors to reach into the heavens with the great machine. It is through these words alone that salvation for Layall will be ensured.”

Bright-sky finished and rolled the scroll.

“Father, we are progressing quite well at the University of Scientists,” she said, upon completion of the reading. “We have used the new materials and tools created in your time to build a flying machine, though it is carried aloft by hot air and cannot yet direct its own direction of travel. Nonetheless, we are learning to command the forces of nature.”

As Long-stick had been, his daughter was now the administrator of the University.

“This is good news.”

“Soon the flying machine will be used to carry a human aloft in the air. Additionally, there is an action-reaction engine being developed. This creates an action. The reaction is to propel a machine. This new engine has been dubbed: a rocket motor. However, it is not yet powerful enough to move the manned flying machine.”

“Your progress has been amazing. I trust you will succeed in developing the required machine to move the Death Comet in, ah, one-hundred-four years and twenty-seven days.” King Long-stick exhibited his mental command of the task. “However, I am a hundred and forty-two years old now and will not live to see that day.” Long-stick retrieved the scroll from his daughter and refilled the wine glasses for his two children.

“As you prepare to send a human aloft into the air, I must recognize that this presents a risk to the one chosen for the task. As you conduct flying experiments with human passengers, there will be failures and there will be deaths.

“Through traditions, the Royal Family has imposed its will upon the people. There are certainly people who do not wish to follow our guidance; however, the pressures of society bend these wills to do our bidding. Additionally, while the Royal Family is developing the machine to defeat the Death Comet, we are not doing this alone. We are performing this work using the excesses generated by the labors of the people of Layall. We will not ask the people of Layall to carry this risk as well.”

King Long-stick drew a breath.

“Three thousand years ago, the University of Scientists was created. Our ancestral king established his first born child as the administrator of the new house of learning, and his second born to administer all of the Royal Services. And thus, it has been ever since.

“Today, I am establishing the Flying Service to conduct the experiments leading to the machine to move the Death Comet. With this decree, the first born of my second born will be the first human to test all new technologies.” He turned to stare into his son’s eyes. “Thus, Red-stone, in the spirit of the ancestor for which you were named, it will be your first born who will shoulder the great risks to come.

“As it has always been, couples who sire a child, who is incapable of reproducing, have been granted a third child. Red-stone, for the risk being placed upon your future child, you and your betrothed will be granted a third child. As your children have not been born, it will be my brother’s first son, Long-shore, who will be first to fly in Bright-sky’s flying machine.”

Long-stick sighed and stared into his wine glass.

Turning to his two children, he said, “Your grandfather has died, and now it is time for you two to marry and have children.” Then, focusing on his daughter, he continued, “When I have two heirs, Bright-sky, I will abdicate the throne to you. I expect you will have humans flying by then. It will be my turn to write in the Book of Life, and to play with my grandchildren.” Long-stick drained his wine glass, but did not refill it.

Per the tradition established by the Royal Family for the people of Layall, one set of grandparents lived with each wedded couple to raise the children. As the children grew, they took on more of the family business. In most cases, this was farming, although there were families dedicated to the Royal services such as education, blacksmith, and medicine. Between the ages of 20 and 25, a child would select a mate and become betrothed; however, they would not marry. As the years passed, the children would care for their grandparents. Upon the death of a grandparent, a child could wed their mate and move into the room vacated. Sometimes the man would move into the household of his wife, and sometimes it was the other way around. The new couple would take on the family business, raise children, and the cycle of life would repeat.

Both Bright-sky and Red-stone were betrothed. Being of the Royal Family, their path through life would be somewhat different than the common citizen of Layall. With the death of their grandfather, they would both now marry. They both already lived in the Royal City and administrated Family enterprises.

Long-stick and his wife Meadow were looking forward to enjoying their grandchildren.

THE END of Part Three

Part Four, Destiny takes a left turn

Copyright ©2023 by S. M. Revolinski All Rights Reserved

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