Daimones

Of Men and Gods

The Palladium beamed on its marble pedestal in the center of the square. The beam was visible from miles and miles away and seemed to pierce the sky, uninterrupted. From our hill, two more beams were also visible where other communities prospered and grew as ours did.

Mary was pregnant with our second child; my first of the new generation though I will outlive this baby, too. My dear wife was as beautiful as ever, even more than ever, if possible.

Laura gave birth to our lovely baby girl. We called her Hope. She was smart and extremely clever. At 12 months old, she was starting to walk almost without hesitation. I regretted that Hope had been conceived shortly before I received the Palladium but that made her ever more precious to my heart.

Algea was always present and helped us with everything in her power, which was a lot. Alaston made impromptu visits from time to time, always very welcomed. We discussed all possible subjects, present, past, and future. He revealed to me what existed out there; his civilization and others, too. A humbling experience.

Every Selected community was followed and helped, instructed closely by its own Moîrai. Little by little, we were just starting to have access to their technology. We were “given according to our means, and beyond our means at times, of our own accord” to rephrase what Mênis once told me. I wondered whether someday he would visit us, too. But I knew every Moîrai was quite busy with its obligations and would be for quite some time.

I still don’t know if the Palladium had a role in changing our minds as, bar none, all Selected accepted to work with the Moîrai to rebuild the human race. In one year, more than eight hundred thousand children were born or were due to be and that was just counting the Selected women. No one stepped back from the role that had been planned for us by the Moîrai.

The pregnancies were, in themselves, a revelation. Selected women could feel their babies like no woman had ever been able to. They could also feel when the baby, still in the womb, gained self-consciousness. The regrowth numbers that Algea put in front of me only a year before didn’t seem unreasonably optimistic anymore.

In the past year—with help from Algea and Alaston—others joined us and the spared ones were making our tasks more bearable. With…grace, should I say? I didn’t know many details about the other communities but it seemed everyone got along as nicely as we did.

Jean Claude joined us a month after the Moîrai revealed their plan to me about the Selection process. He was now our Chief Agronomist and had one apprentice: Liliana, a girl from the Italian city of Aosta. Liliana and Jean Claude had a romance going on and, at the moment, they didn’t much care that he wasn’t going to be able to get her pregnant. They had discussions about Liliana having a baby 'otherwise' but it was entirely their decision. None of the Selected, nor the Moîrai, pushed spared women in that direction. For the moment, Jean Claude and Liliana were happy just getting to know each other.

Federico, too, was from Aosta. Together with Liliana, he was surviving in Aosta when we found them. Luckily for me and Mary, Federico was a truly nice guy. Luckily, because he had eyes for Annah. I wondered whether the spared ones had gone through a sort of selection of their own by the Moîrai. I supposed so. He was our handy man, able to fix and repair practically everything. He said he was our Utility Service Engineer and he knew what to do on every occasion. At seventeen years old, that was an accomplishment in our new world and he was instructed by both Algea and the Palladium. After all, the spared ones had an important role, too.

I didn’t fully understand why everyone had not been allowed to receive the Palladium the way the Selected had. Algea was evasive on the subject and once replied that they, the Moîrai, actually felt they were very lucky to have been able to select so many of us anyway. And I wondered why they didn’t select more than just two million? One day, I’ll need to be told precisely the reasons. One day, we will be strong again and be answered to.

Nonetheless, the Palladium was able to act as an instructional device for the spared ones, ‘according to their means and inclinations’ as Algea explained. Federico, Jean Claude, and Liliana were all extremely knowledgeable thanks to it and knew well what to do to run smoothly.

Two girls from the Haute Savoie joined us when we started our journey from Geneva southward toward more clement weather conditions, especially during winters. Sarah and Camille were both about nineteen years old, almost twenty now. They took care of our little farm with its few goats, sheep, and poultry and enjoyed their bucolic tasks a lot.

In the meanwhile, our canine community also had grown and four puppies were happily strolling around, following in the steps of their parents, Taxi and Tarantula. Tarantula only got pregnant after we settled into our new place. I guess Mother Nature is wiser than any human ever could be.

I was in daily contact with the other Selected, especially the immediate neighbors: Marina, an Italian woman, and Luc, a Swiss guy. From their locations, they could see additional Palladium beams, too. We had come to the conclusion that, on average, we had one Selected and related community about every four thousand square hectares. On average meaning everything and nothing, of course.

The beams—and the Moîrai—were making sure all spared ones had joined, or were about to join, a community headed by a Selected. The Palladiums were beacons for all humanity.

Established communities were not evenly distributed throughout all lands or locations. There were higher concentrations in specific, more favorable areas. It was no surprise that the most beautiful places on Eridu had been favored, and many communities thrived. It also favored shared resources and contacts, even among the spared ones. Location, location, location still held true in our new world.

Communication-wise, distance meant very little. The Palladium was the ultimate channel and a more intimate one, too, as the Selected were able to let others feel and see what they were feeling while in communion with it.

After the Palladium experience, I started to call our planet Eridu, and the other Selected did the same. We used the old term ‘Earth’ only when talking to the spared ones. We all shared a protective role for them and were compelled by a sense of urgency. Their life span would be so short compared with ours now and with that of new generations to come. They were weak and vulnerable in comparison.

The Palladium must have provoked some subtle changes the Selected were still discovering with its use. For example, I recently started to know when some of the others, or one of the Moîrai, wanted to enter in communion with me. I simply knew that. The same happened to the others.

We Selected were organizing ourselves, pointing out to each other where and how other communities could help growth and prosperity. Many had relatives who had been spared, the way Mary and Annah had been from the very beginning, or at the very end of it all. It enhanced our collective sense of duty toward all spared ones and I believe it reinforced the protective feeling we Selected shared when talking about them. When all the spared ones were gone and only new generations remained alive, we would enter a new age for those who would carry on and evolve. Their short lifespan represented for everyone a sort of transitional period, where we would have lots to learn and discover about ourselves, and the others.

We established our group on a hilltop in Lazio, a central region on the Italian peninsula located about ninety miles north of Rome. The borough we chose to be our home during the transition was founded by the Etruscans more than twenty five hundred years ago. The little town was situated atop a plateau overlooking the Tiber River Valley. Our community could grow easily and comfortably there before any need arose to occupy other areas.

The burg had a peculiar and unique history, having been practically deserted to become a sort of ghost town at the end of the nineties. Since then, it had enjoyed renewed interest as a haven of peace and an oasis of detachment, almost secluded from modern life. Most of its centuries-old houses had gone through intense renovation by wealthy people years before and the town was now a little jewel unto itself.

Mary had read about it and became fascinated. She always wanted to visit and spend a holiday away from everything. She influenced me into choosing this location for us. It was our home now, a sort of island in the surrounding countryside. I consulted with other Selected and we would not be far away from other communities either.

We had the impression that—through the stone portal gate—we were being admitted into a supernatural world, surviving in another dimension. It was not far away from the truth. The name itself, Civita, had prophetic significance to me as it meant a body of citizens who constituted a social entity—very much like a city-state with shared responsibility and a common purpose. The town itself contributed to our growing sense of community.

With help from the Moîrai, the town church—named after an Italian saint, Donato—had been transformed into our agronomy lab and produce farm. It was the realm of Jean Claude and Liliana and it provided all we needed for our diet, in addition to what we enjoyed from our small animal farm, thanks to the efforts of Sarah and Camille.

Algea also had been instrumental in equipping us with multi-junction solar cells that rendered us completely autonomous as they directly converted light into energy, able to capture the whole solar spectrum with high efficiency. From that point of view, the entire town did not need any other traditional supply. The Moîrai reassured us all, the Selected, that we would not need to rely on our old sources of energy in the future.

I entered the lab. Jean Claude was at work expanding the variety of sprouts and plants, especially the enhanced ones provided by Algea. By themselves, they were reducing the need for us to eat animal proteins.

“How is the crop production, JC? And the hydroponic farm?”

“Amazing, Dan, simply amazing. Look, aren’t they just perfect?” he said and showed me the lettuce, onions, and radishes that were almost ready for consumption. Indeed, they were astonishingly healthy and lush.

“And the new aeroponic installations… already they show progress over the hydroponics system, meaning, we need much less water.” He smiled.

Rows and rows of plants were suspended in a semi-closed environment. The plants’ dangling roots and lower stems were constantly sprayed with a nutrient-rich water solution by a high pressure diaphragm pump that kept plants germ-free at the same time.

I smiled back. “I have never seen plants so beautiful and healthy-looking.”

We could not have achieved so much in so little time if it had not been for Algea's support, and the Palladium itself.

I changed subject. “I think we are going to receive more people next week. I’m discussing this with Marina and she’s not against moving here with us. Both our communities would profit from each other. We might even put the ancient olive press to work again.”

Jean Claude nodded. “That would be nice. The town is large enough to welcome many more people.”

“Yes, I thought that, too. It could happen next month if we decide on it.”

“Is there any reason not to?”

“Not really. It’s just a matter of organizing their move here. By the way, have you seen Federico?”

Overhearing our conversation, Liliana raised her eyes from the spinach and carrot plants she was tending. With the air of revealing a secret plot, she told me that Federico had finished checking the additional solar cell installation for the morning, and then had rushed to meet someone at Saint Mary’s Gate. He was going there with a bunch of flowers in his hands. “He asked me what flowers a girl would like.” Liliana smiled and winked at me. I knew what she meant and I smiled back.

“How is Snowball?” I nodded toward the puppy crouched at her feet.

“Oh, Snowy? I love her. We’re really good friends. Isn’t she adorable? By the way, Annah was with Tarantula.” She winked.

Couldn’t hide anything from Liliana, apparently, and I mentally thanked her for the information. I exchanged a glance with JC who rolled his eyes and gestured as if saying “and you haven't seen anything yet, my friend.”

Really, there was nothing to worry about but knowing Tarantula was with Annah comforted me just the same. I would have given Annah a bit of privacy before going to look for her because her world had changed, too. She was growing up fast.

“Ah...almost forgot, JC. I brought you the manuscript with our story. Everything that has happened since February; the first days, how we met Laura, how we discovered the Moîrai were among us and behind all the events...and why.”

JC took the manuscript from my hands as if it were the most precious object on Eridu. “Excellent. Thanks, Dan. Your memories cannot be lost. Will you share them with all the others?”

“Sure. The Selected are starting to discover we are growing shared memories. Individual souls part of a universal intellect, interlaced like cobwebs enveloping us as we walk on a country path. I have yet to get used to it. For all others…yes, it will be important. It’s the best of my recollection.”

“I will make copies, but first I want to read it myself. Ah, you even gave it a title. ‘Daimones’...very appropriate.”

I smiled and nodded. “That’s what they are.”

“Watu wa wmanga.” Voices from a radio broadcast burst into my mind and soon faded like sparks from a damaged wire. I remembered things. JC noticed my expression changed, as if a shadow had passed and obscured my face.

“What?”

“Nothing.” I left without further explanation.

Everyone but the Selected had lost everything; we had been spared the pain of losing everyone we loved. I reasoned, though, that even with the best intentions cruelty was always around the corner.

***

Saint Mary’s Gate was the only access to Civita via a long, pedestrian bridge that crossed a deep chasm. As the day was sunny and warm, I decided to take a walk there. In the square, Mary and Laura enjoyed the sunlit balm while watching Hope who was playing at their feet and climbing on top of Taxi who patiently endured having his ears pulled by a laughing little girl.

It was an excellent idea to have Marina and her people join us. We all would profit from being a larger community. Although small, Civita was still way too large for us. Together, it would be easier...for many reasons. Sharing the transitional period with another Selected by my side was going to be good.

I stopped and enjoyed the scene for a moment when Annah and Federico showed up, Tarantula trotting gently beside them.

Annah held a beautiful bouquet of flowers and she was radiant. Oh, my little lovely girl. Her eyes met mine and she smiled happily.

Federico was a bit shy and, when he saw me in the square, he blushed lightly. Those signs were unmistakable. Some things will never change...but I could not finish the thought. I glanced at Mary. She was smiling, too, and watched the youngsters walk up toward the square, lightly touching their hands in secret.

Laura stood up and brought Hope with her. “Here, she’s been missing her Dad all day, you know.”

Beautiful Laura, beautiful Hope. I was a lucky man. Extremely lucky.

In due time, my descendants will probably join a community of sentient beings I could only try to imagine now, carrying my genes to all corners of the galaxy.

Algea says I will witness things my mind cannot grasp at this time and I believe her. These few years of learning, the duration of the lifetime of the spared ones, would reveal much of what is expected of us, as a race, in the future.

I stared at the Palladium. A long path was laid in front of us all. The Selected and I grew stronger each day; time had a different meaning and one day, yes, one day we will stand tall again. One day the future will fear our past.

I took a last intense look at my family, one after the other: Mary, Laura, Annah, Hope. And I thought of the new baby, too. Will it be a boy this time? I couldn’t wait for when the baby started to think for the first time in Mary’s womb. I couldn't wait to welcome this new life. Yes, I surely was a lucky man.

They saw me smiling, and they smiled back. It is a moment I’ll never forget, carved in my mind and in my heart. Their lives, and that of Mary’s new child, will pass in front of my eyes like a breeze at the end of a warm day. It will stop blowing rapidly...and too painfully. I and others have a huge price to pay just for having been selected.

I hope the Palladium will change me to be strong enough for when the race of man will be no more, when our obligation toward them will be no more.

I will lose the ones I cherished the most in this life.

I loved them from the moment they entered my life, and I will love them dearly until the moment they leave theirs.

• The Beginning —