Presently
Creo didn’t care about the story anymore. He turned off the computer after reading the message from Evening Star. Creo looked over at her sleeping. He would tell her when she woke up.
Closing his tired eyes, Creo imagined himself back home, walking through the Autumn Forest of Kaua’i. And as always, near the end, he found her waiting. He followed her up to the rim of Puowaina Volcano. He lost track of the time. She began to talk about tomorrow, but he couldn’t hear her because of the air sirens.
Through the closed blinds, a flash of light slowly streamed into their room, illuminating the floating ashes and ghosts. Then, he heard the explosions and felt the room shake.
She opened her eyes, and they both made eye contact with each other for a split second before the blackout. He should have never followed her. Now, there was no turning back.
Not so very long ago
Creo’s grandmother Sandi was recently diagnosed with cancer. Two weeks after the diagnosis from her doctor, she made an appointment with an Appraiser. Creo didn’t want her to make the appointment, but she told him not to worry. She wanted to know.
At the Appraiser’s office, magazines from yesteryear were on the coffee table. Creo picked one of them up and began leafing through the pages. He stopped at a page and looked over at his grandmother. Creo put the magazine down and looked out the window. It was snowing again. He wished the Appraisers never existed.
Ever since the release of the Almanak, life expectancy after a medical diagnosis could be accurately predicted by the Appraisers to within months. Some people were even going to see the Appraisers to check up on their life expectancy while they were still healthy. But that wasn’t all the Appraisers could predict.
Careers, money, relationships, thoughts, emotions, it didn’t matter, they could predict it all. The Appraisers were never wrong when it came to predicting someone’s future. No mysteries, no surprises, for every action or inaction, they could predict every possible tomorrow. Doubters existed, but eventually, they would find out the truth for themselves if they lived long enough. Many successful people exercised the advice from the Appraisers to make their lives better. And for those who didn’t follow their advice, life was sometimes hard when it didn’t need to be. Nevertheless, more and more people began relying on the Appraisers when it came to making any decision.
“Are you excited about next week?” Sandi asked to break the silence, “I can still remember taking you to your first day of school. And look at you now, all grown up with a full scholarship to Berkeley University.”
Creo felt terrible and didn’t feel like responding, but he managed to smile. He was about to say something, but before he knew it, he heard his grandmother’s name being called. He watched her stand up and follow the receptionist through the open door. Looking up at the clock, he called his best friend, and told him that he didn’t feel like going to Telegraph tonight.
He walked outside and looked across the frozen bay. Smoke was rising again from Puowaina. People around town were saying Puo could erupt at any time. Feeling the cold, Creo turned to go back inside when he heard a girl asking him for directions to the Sinawava Amphitheater.
“Who’s speaking tonight?”
“The Appraisers. Why don’t you come?”
Creo hesitated and told her he couldn’t go. He didn’t want anything to do with the Appraisers. She thanked him and said goodbye. Creo watched her walk away, and his thoughts returned to the falling snow, his grandmother, tomorrow. The girl.
He ran after her. And after catching up to her, he told her he could meet her later tonight. Nervously, Creo asked her for her name.
“Alek.”
A morning with a red sky
Leaving Alek behind to wait for him at the Rouge, Creo walked along the wharf. The longshoremen were on strike again. A felucca’s crew was unloading the day’s catch: herring and red crabs. Creo stopped to look out at the ocean. Fog was starting to form over the bridge of no return. Creo continued to walk until he reached Pier 27.6. He looked at the no trespassing sign. Getting closer to the fence, he stared down the desolated pier. His contact had told him that he would find him here.
Just as he jumped the fence, two men appeared from one of the boats moored to the pier. He tried to climb back up, but they caught him. They punched him in the stomach and hit him over the head with the end of a rifle. Creo lost consciousness.
Hours later, Creo woke up in an empty warehouse. Sunlight was coming through all the high windows. He was tied to a chair. From an umbra, a voice spoke.
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m with the university,” Creo said defiantly. “I’m here to interview Pi. I want to ask him about divination on the old Island of Moloka’i for a three part series I’m doing for the newspaper. My contact tells me he can see the future. Beyond Tomorrow.”
“Beyond Tomorrow?”
Creo didn’t answer. After some silence, Creo watched an emaciated man appear from the penumbra. He was holding a black plastic bag. The emaciated man began to whistle a tune Creo never heard before.
From high above, Pi watched Creo and the emaciated man from the balcony. After leaving the Anasa’e, Pi erased himself from the world. He knew Creo’s source. He only talked about Tomorrow with one other person. They both had worked on the Almanak believing it would help people. They were worlds apart now. They must have intercepted the last message, Pi thought to himself. Pi was beginning to worry. He would have to move up the date.
Thinking about the last time he saw her, over 12.3 years ago, after the earthquake, at the Floating Lantern Festival, Pi watched the emaciated man slip the black bag over Creo’s head. Pi couldn’t risk it. The kid would tell her.
Creo began to struggle for breath like the time he got his foot stuck in some rocks while trying to cross the Mukunweep river. Just as he was about to give up, a stranger pulled him out of the water. Creo told himself all he had to do was hold his breath a little longer and the same would happen again. But instead of rescue, all he heard was Alek’s scream; and then, he blacked out.
Black Tears
Pi leaned back in his chair and looked up at the skylight. Towering, black clouds were drifting by.
“My father’s father was a kahuna on the island of Moloka’i. On evenings like these, whenever there was trouble, he would leave the farm and go down to the end of Kahi’u beach. He would stare out at the horizon and wait for the evening star. That’s where he thought about the old stories. Remembering the stories, predicting every possible tomorrow, would help him to make changes.
In 1680, as the stars appeared out of order one night and a new star was born, the Aumakua came and warned him of strange new stories. Strange tomorrows. The Anasa’e will breach the Na Pali, and they’ll spread, transforming everyone on the islands. At first, he didn’t want to believe the strange new stories, but when people started dying from disease and bullets, he almost became a true believer.”
Feeling the auras coming again, Pi paused and looked over at Alek. His life was almost over, and hers was just beginning. He had a hard time believing he had been her age once, at a time before the Appraisers had become prominent in everyone’s life. Life was different back then. Beautiful, life was like a never ending river.
“When the Anasa’e learned of the last holdouts of Oahu, they had them surrounded and massacred. My grandfather escaped, and so did a few others. They were saved by the cumulonimbus.”
Pi stood up and walked towards the door.
“Forget me, and forget tomorrow. I want you both out of here before I change my mind.”
Alek didn’t reply. She was watching Creo. She was wondering if he was having the nightmare again. She called out his name. Closing her eyes, she listened to him breathe and thought about tomorrow.
Prophesy
Exhausted and shaken, Pi walked into the ordinateur room. The emaciated man was reading the newspaper. Pi sat down and asked him about the Soodzil. The emaciated man replied, “They haven’t made a decision yet. There are some that don’t believe the prophecy.”
“They don’t believe? But some of them sense the prophecy. They sense it every day that passes. That’s why some of them are going berserk even if they don’t know why. You showed them the formulas, right?”
Pi had discovered the Eclipse formulas after years of trying to break the encryption on the Almanak. He had only broken the surface, though. The formulas could predict the outcome of any conflict, between two people or two armies. Furthermore, the formulas predicted the consequences for the loser, and the consequences of being oppressed during good times and bad. People were living in mostly good times, for almost everybody, but Pi knew that the bad times were possible again. There were no promises.
“Yes, I did,” the emaciated man replied while studying the obituaries. He turned the page to the weather section. “It’s supposed to be another beautiful day tomorrow, 79.8 degrees with a 98 percent chance of rain.”
The emaciated man put down the newspaper and stood up. “We’re running out of time. Are we leaving to meet the Soodzil?”
“Yes,” Pi answered. “But, I’ll meet you there in a day or two. I have to take care of some unfinished business first.”
The emaciated man grabbed the briefcase off the desk and left without saying another word.
Pi heard the door close. He stood up and went over to the window. He thought about the Soodzil. Their insurrection was doomed to fail, very much like every other insurrection since the release of the Almanak. For that matter, because of the Almanak, most simply wouldn’t join or even try to start insurrections anymore.
Pi knew Soodzil’s peaceful protests would fail. Peace didn’t work all the time against coercion, fear, and murder. The Soodzil had no leverage, and no one could reassure them that life was going to get better tomorrow. This would cause them to get angrier and angrier. Tomorrow was slipping away from them. The Soodzil would become radicalized over time and finally force the Anasa’e to get involved to stop their momentum from disrupting the Quo.
Feeling the rain, Pi opened the window wider. Pi still had doubts as to whether he could help the Soodzil against the Anasa’e but he was sure he had to try. This would be the last major insurrection before the Anasa’e had total control. After this insurrection, there wouldn’t be anymore.
Pi shut the window. He watched the rain randomly run down the panes. If the Anasa’e got total control, then the prophecy would come true not only for the Soodzil but also for many others around the world who were being oppressed, whether they knew it or not.
The Narrows
“How’s it feel to be another dead journalist nobody will remember?” the emaciated man asked while putting the car into gear.
Creo made a face and stuck his tongue out.
“Alek, what do you do?”
Alek didn’t reply. She looked over at Creo.
“You’re the one who hacked into Evening Star,” the emaciated man continued. “Is that how you found us?”
They drove in silence until the emaciated man made a left turn onto the Narrows. Alek could see lightning off in the distance as they passed the watchman.
“What’s wrong with Pi?” Alek said. “Why does he want to help the Soodzil? They’re all mad! You can’t reason with them!”
The emaciated man didn’t respond.
Frustrated, Alek shouted, “We know about your wife and children dying in the air strikes. Is that why you’re helping him?”
The emaciated man tightened his hands around the steering wheel. He took a deep breath and thought about his wife and children. Hearing his wife’s voice, telling him to control his anger, he relaxed and slowed the car below the speed limit.
“Yes.”
Then, the emaciated man began to cough.
“We’re nearing the point of no return. It’s now or never.”
Alek didn’t want to argue. She didn’t like the sound of his cough. She looked out of the window. They were driving through a million years of history. She wondered about the next million years. She imagined sediments from the river silently drifting hundreds of miles and being deposited on the ocean floor this very second.
As they were nearing the Bend, the emaciated man noticed the speeding truck too late and floored the gas pedal as he was crossing the intersection. He braced himself as the car flipped over several times from the impact before resting on its side.
Fallen Stars
“Yes, ma’am,” Finyt replied. “They’re on their way.”
Finyt ended the call and exited the freeway. He pulled into a truck stop. Watching the truck driver exit the phone booth while he filled up his car with gas, Finyt thought about his dad, who was also a truck driver. He rarely saw him when he was growing up. All he really remembered of his dad was his voice over the phone, telling him to always do his homework. Finyt regretted not spending more time with him. His dad had passed away from a traffic accident several months before he graduated from Polytechnic High.
He climbed back into the car and merged onto the 66.
Driving mile after mile, Finyt began to remember the last summer he spent with his dad. His dad took him and his sister on vacation. They visited the Anasa’e ruins. His dad became obsessed with the ruins one winter after picking up a postcard from one of the trading posts near Yztqer. Some say the ruins were built over 10,000 years ago; others say 100,000 years ago. No one knows for sure.
Walking around the ruins and feeling the warmth of the sun, Finyt became separated from his dad and sister. He didn’t notice until he felt the drop in temperature. Panicking, he thought about turning around. Instead, he walked further until he was in the Krux. Finyt wandered around, admiring the strange mirages even though he didn’t understand them. He stopped at one that really confused him.
“Where does one begin and the other one end?” Finyt heard someone say behind him. He turned around.
“I don’t understand them.”
“There are no words to describe them. They’re out of this world.”
The man walked up to Finyt and introduced himself.
“Do you want me to tell you about the Anasa’e?”
They sat down underneath a sequoia.
“Ever since they could remember, the Anasa’e have wandered. One night, long ago, stars fell out of the sky. Soon after, the men started seeing strange beings outside of the firelight. The Fallen Stars. They became anxious and afraid. But on one moonless night, a young boy went out beyond the firelight to confront them. He never returned after that night, nor did the Fallen Stars. As the solstice turned into fall, almost everybody forgot about the boy and the Fallen Stars. But on one cold morning, the boy returned.
After a while, the boy’s father became alarmed and warned everyone that the boy wasn’t his son. There was something different about him; he wouldn’t stop talking about tomorrow. His father wanted him exiled but his mother protested. She took the boy and protected him. Her son told her about the Fallen Stars and why they came back after not being able to cross.
Slowly and imperceptibly, as fall changes into winter, and winter into spring, everyone in the Anasa’e changed. They stopped wandering and built this place.”
Finyt wanted to know more about the Fallen Stars, but he was afraid to ask.
“The Anasa’e prospered for thousands of years until there was an anomaly in one of their predictions. They had become so sure of their predictions they ignored the anomaly. They kept telling themselves the anomaly was noise. They ignored it until they couldn’t anymore. Many of them began to die. They would have all died but for a few that remembered the Fallen Stars and why they couldn’t cross.”
After calculating the reappearance of the Anomaly, they decided to abandon the Krux. The Anasa’e broke into bands. They spread north and south, east and west. Some of the bands disappeared altogether, never to be heard of again. Some of the bands came in contact with other people. They taught them about tomorrow and helped them build new cities, new nations. Eventually, they crossed the oceans until they were finally able to breach the last stronghold, the Na Pali.”
With so many questions, Finyt didn’t know where to start.
“Did they tell them about the Fallen Stars?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because they won’t believe the legends. They won’t believe the Anomaly can happen because they are so certain of tomorrow. They won’t believe that tomorrow can be any different than today. A thousand times, on a thousand different planets, always the same, if people find out before they’re ready, they’ll retreat and want to stop progress. People don’t want to sacrifice unless they’re forced to.”
“Because of that, it’s better they don’t know until it’s time. There’s no slowing down the Successions.”
Finyt replied, without thinking, after hearing the spirit of his mom, because strangely he was beginning to glimpse the future, “The Successions are tearing this world apart. They’re never going to agree.”
“Meadows change. People change. People change all the time even when they don’t notice it. We have watched them change for the past 5,000 years. When people are ready, we’ll tell them.”
“Why are you so certain the Anomaly will appear again?”
“Because the Anomaly has appeared on every planet before. People experience the fragments from the last anomaly all the time. Accidents, disease, catastrophes. Misery.”
“There’s no stopping, Finyt. When the Zenith is reached, we’ll manage the Fall so no one gets hurt.”
Finyt thought about his mother. He missed her, although he didn’t know her that well. He didn’t have that many memories of her. After work, she would always take him and his sister to the park. She was too far to reach now or ever. He stood up and began walking around the Krux. He wandered around and around until he was woken up by his father. They had searched for him the whole night until they found him the next morning close to death from hypothermia.
On the trip back, Finyt told his dad and sister about the Krux. His sister kept rolling her eyes, but his dad was silent and uncomfortable. His dad changed the subject. He began to talk about his kin, about his childhood, about his home. He talked about mom. Many years have passed since then, but Finyt has never forgotten those few days he spent with his father and sister.
So Finyt wasn’t surprised when he met the strange man again after graduating from Berkeley. He was contacted by the man to find Evening Star.
And to think after all these years, Finyt thought, as he was pulling into the airport, we finally found someone who knows where she is.
Afterthoughts
Creo knocked on the door to his grandmother’s house. Sandi got out of bed and asked who it was. She opened up the door and almost turned away in fear. She rushed them in and began questioning them.
Alek went straight to the bedroom and collapsed on the bed. She was having one of her migraines again, and artificial light made her migraines worse.
“We got into a car accident.”
“A car accident!” Sandi repeated, “Are you hurt? Why aren’t you at the hospital? Why aren’t the police involved?”
Creo was silent. All he wanted to do was sleep. Sandi got up and went to the bathroom. She returned with a basin and towel, and began to wipe the dried blood from Creo’s bruised face.
“I’m calling an ambulance.”
“No! We’re all right. I’ll tell you all about it after I sleep.”
Sandi watched as Creo closed his eyes and fell asleep. She got up after a while and went to the closet to retrieve a blanket. She covered Creo and went to the bedroom to check on Alek. She sat down on the side of the bed and called out Alek’s name, but Alek was already asleep. Sandi covered Alek too and then went out to the porch. Rain was falling, and the puddles were reflecting the light.
She sat down with a photo album. Sandi flipped through the pages until she reached the last one. She stared at a photograph and dreamed about yesterday until she fell asleep herself.
Sort Sol
As Pi was packing his trunk, he began thinking about Evening Star. He wondered what she would predict.
After the release of the Almanak, the Appraisers could only predict the future up to a certain point, a generation or two. As time slowly passed, most people were beginning to believe there was nothing special, magical, or spiritual about the Almanak. But, Pi knew different.
Pi knew that the Anasa’e kept most of the Almanak secret. They kept most of it encrypted. But, Pi knew there was more. The heart of the Almanak couldn’t be broken by even the Anasa’e, that’s why they recruited him long ago.
The Anasa’e only released enough of the Almanak to the public to keep the Krux idling. Pi was worried because he sensed the truth. He didn’t sense an immediate end to man, but he did sense an end to man’s ability to influence and change the future. Today, most men could predict and change, or Bend, the future. Providence and freedom still existed in some places. Sometimes, for an individual, the change was easy and happened in a day; and sometimes, for a country, it was harder and took generations. But not too far off, that would change after the Anasa’e powered the Krux to its full potential. After the Anasa’e were done with this world, the survivors would make the best out of the leftovers, but eventually they too would fade out like the Ishi.
Pi believed there had to be another way, so he built Evening Star. She was a solar powered quantum computer. The only problem was that she was asleep, dreaming of all the possible and impossible plans for tomorrows, and Pi didn’t know if she would ever wake up again in our lifetime.
Pi believed there had to be a sacrifice like no other to stop the Anasa’e from powering up the Krux.
Pi wanted the Soodzil to bring down the world’s Quo. And after Pi gave them the secret, there was a strong possibility that they could. After the Great Collapse, life would hopefully return to the way it was before the Anasa’e breached the Na Pali. And then, learning from the mistakes and stories of the past, people would work hard to rebuild the world again that was fair and in balance. This would give people more time to make the impossible happen. Pi believed there was no other way.
Pi stopped packing; he couldn’t fit anything more into his trunk. He always hated moving: for everything that he took, he had to leave something behind. He picked up and stared at a photograph. There were some memories you could never leave behind. Pi returned the photograph; then, he closed and locked the trunk.
Walking out to the helicopter, Pi didn’t see it coming, but he sensed it, the worst feeling in the world. Feeling the rain drops on his face, he began thinking about her. Seconds later, he felt a sharp pain radiating from his chest as the explosion blew him off the pier. He crashed into the water and disappeared underneath the wreckage and waves.
Fate Reforged
The emaciated man thought about his home as he stared at the fire. So many winters and summers, springs and falls, there was a time when he thought they would never end. He enjoyed the mornings the most when he would go to the fields to work. As he walked in the twilight, he would often dream of her and their life together.
He tried to stand up again but couldn’t. He collapsed and began to cough.
“You can’t escape from tomorrow,” the emaciated man remembered the lecture Pi gave him once as they both walked one moonless night. “No one can escape the Zodiac.”
Feeling the cold, the emaciated man turned on his back and stared up at the Zodiac. He closed his eyes and began counting back the hours, days, months, and years. He wanted to believe if he counted back far enough to a time before he learned about Zodiac, he could fall asleep and wake up again to the sound of her voice.
The fire slowly died, and the stars became still. Hearing his wife’s voice, he suddenly stopped counting. He opened his eyes and called out her name. Zoey was beside him, and she reached for his hand.
“I can’t go on!”
“Yes, you can!”
He turned and looked into her eyes. Stars began to fall. First one, then thousands.
“Get up, Aemeri!”
Letting go, Aemeri stood up and limped over to the car. He pulled the briefcase out. He then looked back at her before he turned and disappeared into the twilight.
Arcana
Alek was walking along the Haight. Fog was everywhere, and she began to worry. She wondered to herself if she was going in the right direction. She stopped walking when she saw the bridge. She didn’t want to leave. Alek began to run.
Turning a corner, she noticed a strange door that was pulling and bending all the light around into spirals. She stopped and turned back. Layers and layers of paint were peeling off the ominous door. She stared at her reflection, past and future. There were faded yellow stars on the door; the borders were frayed. She was afraid, but at the same time, she was curious.
Making a wish, she reached for the yellow stars.
But before she could reach them, Alek woke up from her sleep. Panicking, she began to wonder who she was, and where she was. She tried to get up, but she couldn’t move.
A memory returned, Hueco, then another, Cruces, Cloudcroft. Socorro. She tried to get out of bed but she couldn’t. Her headaches were getting worse, and her whole body ached. She didn’t want to cross. She wanted to escape. She wanted to be free
She brought her knees up to her chest. She began to imagine she was spinning faster and faster, moving past Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Moving, further and further away, until she was out of the Solar. Out of the Milky way. Out of the Cosmos. And beyond.
Almost.
Feeling herself being pulled back by a thought, then a feeling, she opened her eyes again and tried again to get out of bed. Sitting up on the side of the bed, she bent over and picked up her shoes. She stared at them for a while; then, she put them on and went into the next room to wake up Creo.
The Meadows
Creo and Alek slipped out of the house before Sandi woke up. They took her car and drove aimlessly around for hours. They talked about every possible and impossible plan for tomorrow. They continued to drive until Creo pulled into the bus depot on Freedom and Main. Creo decided to send Alek home.
“You know I can’t go back! They’ll arrest me!” Alek said as soon as she noticed the expression on Creo’s face. “We have to stop them!”
“Forget them! I don’t want you getting hurt.”
Creo reached out to her, but she turned away.
“I have the story! There’s nothing more we can do!”
“The story isn’t enough!” Alek shouted as she exited the car after she had noticed two police cars enter the parking lot. Alek began to run, but they soon caught her, screaming, punching and kicking. Creo watched them put her in the police car and drive away.
It didn’t take long for Alek to notice something was wrong with the police officers. She slipped out from the handcuffs and started to try to kick out the window. The policemen ignored her and continued to drive until they arrived at the airport. They pulled her out of the car, blindfolded her, and put her on the plane. On the plane, after she had accidentally seen one of the Fallen, they had to quickly sedate her because of her unstable heart rate. They had a long flight to the other side of the world.
Cheri
Regretting what he had done, Creo wanted to go after her, but he resisted the urge. At least she’ll be safe, Creo thought to himself. Turning off the engine, he sat in silence thinking about her. He thought about the best of feelings, the best of times whenever he was with her.
Falling snow. Animas. Swimming. Seas. Wave after wave. Mustang Island. Running. Flowers and clouds everywhere. Orleans. Walking, side by side. Sun. Soft breezes. Niagara. Sleeping. Mountains. Rivers. Ojinaga. Dreaming. Sunsets and sunrises. Green trees and rest. Honolulu. Counting. Every day, hour, minute, every second. Every moment. Over and over again. Forevermore
Creo loved her, today, tomorrow, and forever. He only wished he had told her more often. The next time he would, Creo told himself. He would try to find a way to make it up to her.
He turned on the engine and was about to put the car into gear when out of nowhere there was a knock and the passenger door opened.
“Creo, I presume? The Sood would like to talk to you.
Worromot rof idaer uoyera?”