Millennia

2

Michael started his story with a low, soft voice. In the beginning, he was very slow, as if trying to remember those long forgotten events with all the details of joy and sorrow, tears and laughter, moaning and dancing, as if in the process of recalling, in his heart he was living it again. Eventually his speed became smooth and regular, his description was very vivid.

Catherine listened with all her attention. She focused her two wide open eyes on Michael’s dreamy blue eyes. She rested her elbow on the table and kept her chin on the back of her wrist. She was very quiet, she sat there like a marble statue as if any little vibration would mess up the spell of that sacred moment of Michael’s recalling.

Michael wasn’t aware of anything around him, he was totally submerged in his youthful days when he ran from one place to another, learned many skills from many people, roamed from place to place like a restless storm. For several years he was never settled down anywhere, his life was like a lonely nomad-going from one village to another with his little bundle of clothes, old books, dried herbs and dry food. He didn’t have his parents, they died years ago. Michael didn’t know if any of his close or distant relative was alive, he was all by himself. For several years he studied medicine and got his degree. But unlike his fellow students, he didn’t start his practice or didn’t join any organization where he could be used as a skilled physician. There was an inner storm in his heart, he was looking for the remedy of that cruel epidemic which took the lives of thousands of people-young and old, strong and weak- wiped out the villages after villages completely.

In those whirlwind days, he met Aron, the old man with wonderful medical skill. Aron taught Michael many useful and secret things which turned out to be very precious in Michael’s later years. Besides those, Aron, that ninety year old man taught him optimism, how to live a life with hope, even if the problems are very hard to overcome, even if circumstances are very dark and depressing. Michael tried to accept that as much as he could but he knew his heart was too full with grief to believe in it.

Aron loved him just like his own grandchild. Aron gave him his own collection of medicinal herbs and all of his important books. He took Michael's words that Michael will not leave him before his death. So, Michael stayed with Aron for a couple of years. Serving Aron was one of the happiest parts of his life. He had lively memories of those summer afternoons and evenings when he and Aron used to take a long walk along the bank of the river and along the green beauty of the valley and the hills. Aron used to tell the tales of those hills and valley and the river-the days and nights of the past- the invisible flow of time-just like the flow of waves along the river.

*****

Gold Cage

3

Eve was severely punished by her mother. She was wounded and bruised all over. But she didn’t feel any pain; she was so full with joy, the joy of her secret adventure with Robin, the joy of her love for Robin and the unborn child. After spending a sleepless night in her room, next morning, she was permitted to go to the bathroom. She broke the window of the bathroom and escaped through it. Her hands were bleeding from the cuts by the broken glass of the window, she didn’t care. She ran straight to that sunflower valley. That morning was so beautiful, so cool, so soothing! Eve washed her hands in river water. Then she called Robin and said, “ Robin, I’ve come to the valley. Now I’ll start my journey to freedom. I have my heart full of love for you, Robin and for our child. Don’t worry, I’ll see you up there. Don’t worry about Ruth, she’ll be alright, she’ll be safe. She’ll be with us. Nobody will be able to take her away.”
Inside his shady, almost dark, windowless room, Robin’s gloomy face glowed once more. “Ruth! That’s a beautiful name for our daughter. Eve, dear, my love will guide you two in your long journey. I’m coming right behind you. Take care, bye.”
Robin kissed the little communication device and approached the mirror on the wall. The upper left corner of the mirror was shining, it was getting a little light from a small ventilator on an upper corner of the room.
Robin stood in front of the mirror, his image was almost dark, but still he could see the old scar on his chin. It was a mark of a brutal abuse of his childhood. Robin was only four years old when he was badly beaten by his dad. After that event, though Dr. Gregg regretted and tried to reconcile with his son, but Robin went farther and farther from his dad. He was unfortunate, he lost his mother at the age of one. He knew no one of his own except daddy. He couldn’t really recover from that trauma of his brutal punishment by his Daddy, who was the central light of his life. He never felt safe after that, he was always scared of his daddy. Robin did respect his dad but never loved him. He never even talked about it, it was such a horrible nightmare to him. He always felt imprisoned. After spending sixteen years of his life in constant pain, he found a little window of freedom in Eve’s bright eyes.
A sad smile came in his face when he punched hard on the mirror. Numerous pieces of broken glass fell on the floor. His hand was bleeding but he didn’t even notice it. He was busy searching a sharp, triangular broken glass. He picked up one and then did cut the veins of his two wrists.
After a few hours, security officer, Walter, opened the door and saw a pond of blood on which Robin’s lifeless body was sleeping in peace. There was a winning smile in his blue, dead lips. After many, many years of constant struggle, finally he could set himself free from his childhood trauma.
Eve was lying quietly on a smooth stone-slab by the side of the blue river. She also did cut her veins successfully with the edge of a sharp bled of grass. When security robot, Xion1 found her, she was already dead.
Robin and Eve and their unborn daughter, Ruth were all buried together in that sunflower valley. Everyone of EcoII gave flowers and lit candles on their grave. They all prayed for the peace of their souls.
After that devastating event, Dr. Gregg retired from the project and went to an undisclosed place for the rest of his life. Eve’s grieving parents joined him in his exile. It was a remote village deep into the great mountains. Every morning they joined in prayers. Together they prayed for wisdom to every people, for peace to every disturbed soul and for humbleness to every proud heart.

(End)

Gold Cage

2

Nobody suspected Eve. Even her parents were completely in darkness. Robin became a frequent visitor to the new world, but nobody in the project team suspected him either. Dr. Samuel Gregg, the project leader of EcoII, was so careful about every little detail of the work, but his own son, Robin deluded him and his team.
After six months of forbidden adventure, Eve was caught after a regular medical check up. She was carrying Robin’s child. Eve’s mother lost her reasons and punished Eve violently. All of a sudden, Eve, the beloved one of EcoII, the brightest kid of EcoII, became a horrible wrongdoer. She became outcaste overnight because she contaminated the isolated world. Her parents locked her inside her room without food and water. Nobody knew what would happen to her. The decision was to be made by the EcoII project-team.
After a short investigation, Robin was also spotted. In fact, Robin came forward to take all the responsibilities and said that it was totally his fault, Eve was innocent. He begged to set her free and punish only him. But everybody at the EcoII project team was so dumbfounded that nobody could think of a good solution. Dr. Gregg’s security officers locked Robin inside a windowless room. At that moment of time, nobody knew what would be the fate of Robin and Eve.
Eve was not scared at all. She had a little communication devise, a gift from Robin. Eve kept that inside the locket of her necklace. From her solitary room, Eve called Robin. Robin received that inside his prison. They exchanged their plans with coded words and went forward to execute that.

***

Gold Cage

1

It was Eve’s sixteenth birthday. That morning, she first met Robin on the sunflower valley near the blue River. Eve leaned to pluck the sunflower and then put it on her little hairdo. Then she approached the river casually, river was calm like a mirror, as Eve leaned to see the image of her own face in water, she saw the face of a stranger just behind her own. A complete stranger, an unknown young man was standing right behind her. Although he had a friendly smile, Eve was awestruck. She screamed and turned around.
Robin was in his blue jacket and blue trousers. He extended his hand and said, “ Hi, I’m Robin. You must be Eve. It’s very nice to meet you.”
“Yes, I’m Eve. How do you know?” Eve’s voice was a little shaky when she asked.
“Well, I know.” Robin’s bright blue eyes sparkled.
“You’re not from Ecosphere II, I know everyone here. You must be from outside.”
“You’re right, Eve. I’m from the world outside” Robin smiled brightly.
“Then how did you manage to enter? I know Eco II is strictly prohibited for the people from outside world. This is protected by unbreakable code. How come you did enter? ” Eve’s voice was full of curiosity and anxiety.
“Unbreakable, ehh? They told you so. Well, I broke the code, it was difficult, but not impossible.” Robin’s voice was both proud and desperate.
“Robin, may I ask why did you enter? If it is prohibited, then why did you do it?” Eve was concerned just like a genuine friend.
“Well, I wanted to. Are you telling me to leave?” Robin’s face turned gloomy.
“No, no, I didn’t mean that. You must be very smart. Very brave, too. You broke an unbreakable code and you entered a new world! Welcome, Robin, welcome to EcoII .” Eve tried to cheer up her new friend.
Robin’s gloomy face slowly lit up. He said, “Eve, you’re great. Now let’s sit down and let me tell you about my adventure.”

Robin and Eve sat on the grass by the river and Robin told her how interested he was about this Ecosphere II. He was so eager to enter that he worked day and night to break the security code. He also had to make a bugging machine, which helped him to avoid the constant monitoring by the project team.
- “Do you know Eve, all of you, who live here, are always under constant vigilance of the project team? Their audio-visual network is so great that almost all of your moves they can monitor by that.”
- “ What about now? Are they seeing us? Could they catch you later?”
-“ Don’t worry, Eve. They can’t catch us. I’ve made a good remedy. Do you want to see that? ”
Eve nodded. Like a wizard, from his pocket Robin took out a little cubic box with a lot of twinkling violet, orange and green lights on it. He was smiling loftily when he kept that box in front of his face; all those lights were shining on his bright eyes. Eve felt a deep emotional inclination towards the stranger. She knew that was not desirable, but she just couldn’t resist. It was so natural!
Robin left after half an hour but he changed the life of the first born child of that closed world, named Ecosphere II. The name was given by the project leader Dr. Samuel Gregg. Dr. Gregg and his team live outside and the volunteers including Eve’s parents live inside.
Robin disappeared at the point where the road took a sharp hairpin bend on the golden mountains. Eve, still at the riverside, couldn’t suppress her streaming tears. She was wiping and wiping but more and more tears were streaming down from her eyes. She didn’t know why she was weeping. She didn’t feel any pain; it was something else, which she never tasted before. Nobody in that isolated world told her anything about love.

***

Millennia

1

Catherine came to visit Michael as usual, it was her third visit. The night was cold, it was late winter. Catherine was as excited as her two other previous visits, one was in summer and the other one was in early fall.

She tried to cool off the frightened man standing in front of her. Michael was frightened and awestruck. Catherine’s voice was quite friendly when she said, “Michael, don’t worry. Why are you so afraid, man? Relax. I’m your friend. I came to help you and your people.” Catherine took his two cold hands on her warm palms and reassured him, “Let’s sit down and talk. Why are you so afraid of me? I won’t hurt you. Don’t you trust me?”

“No, I’m not afraid of you. You’re very nice. But you always remind me of my late wife. She was as nice as you are. A cursed disease snatched her away from me. Do you know young lady, what is the most painful grief of my life? I, myself, am a physician, but couldn’t save her life.” Michael broke down.

“Michael, don’t blame yourself . You tried your best, didn’t you? Then why are you always blaming yourself? Michael, death is an inevitable part of our lives. You can’t just avoid it. You have three children, you’ll have to take good care of them. So, stop blaming yourself and do what you should do. Now, let’s sit down and start our work. Ok?”

“ Ok. Come lady, sit down here.” Michael directed Catherine to a chair near his work-table. She seated and then Michael took a sit opposite to her.

One blue candle was burning, giving a yellowish white light, Catherine thought of the first visit, that day there was the same type of candle burning on the mantle piece. There was one little fly, flying around glowing flame, Catherine still could hear the "zzzzz" sound from that poor fly’s wings. The wings which turned to ashes..."From dust you come and to dust you return".... Death is a part of our life, yet we mourn.

Catherine wiped her eyes and cheeks to straighten her mind and balance her emotions. Then she said,"Yes Micheal, tell me about your experiences in your budding years as you promised me last time."

*****