But first, the fourth chapter of "The science of nostradamus" in celebration of reaching chapter 16 in the first edit of the 45,000 (now) word text.
This is just the first edit of a very rough group of chapters in several stories which form this book.
1.
Before the ice age 1
The perpetual spring sunshine washed over the four
travelers walking in a line. There was
no road, although the trail was more pronounced because of the increasing
traffic. If things did not change,
wheeled vehicles which had been discussed around communal cooking fires would
expand these paths. The prototype with
two solid wheels, a cart dragged by men sat in the central market.
They
could see the low walls and the huts within the breastworks of the new
city. Already they were at the fields
where the trees had been pulled from the ground by long ropes pulled by much of
the population to plant the first true farms.
There
were 2,000 people living within the walls, the first superpower of the
primitive world even though the walls were nothing more than dirt thrown up and
felled trees stacked between the gaps.
Of the small group moving afoot, two could be recognized as
modern men, one was a Neanderthal. Following
in the rear was a female, more human than not.
“Marrr,” The leader said looking back, “What do you see?”
“I see the fire and then snow. It no change,” Marrr said with a combination
of grunts and hand signals. His concern,
however, was clear.
“How can there be nothing beyond the snow,” the woman
asked.
Marrr grunted. He did not have the same ability to speak at
the others, but like many of his kind, he could see the future. In a cruel irony, those who saw the future
had almost no ability to pronounce words and the lack of words prevented them
from explaining how it was done, but the only half man who could speak and see
in the future explained that it was like a stream coming out of the future but
from all directions at once, like remembering history, but it was the future,
confused with the past. It was useful to
prevent surprises, but lately there had been this strange new vision, nothing
but snow.
It had not snowed in many years and the winters had always
been mild in the memories of the occupants of Plaent, the name of the new city.
This
disturbing vision of constant snow bothered Nord who led the city. They were coming up to the law mud
walls. The city was the only one known
to the new men who until now had always lived in small camp like communities,
often migrating with herds.
A few
generations back, one of Nord’s ancestors had proven that by loosening the
soils and spreading the most edible portions of the grains and the least edible
parts of the trees that the food yields could be increased and kept close to
the community, storing food in clay huts, reduced the amount of grazing
required in the winter. This supplemented
the meat from hunting and the winter feed allowed for animals to be kept in the
pens year-round. It was a time of great
excitement and hope, but then came this new, terrifying vision.
There
was more free time to worry about new things, like the terrifying vision; but there
was also talk of a new idea, “experimenting” to improve the mud records that
were used increasingly. One of the
visions was of huge volumes of writing tablets in high shelves in clay huts
like the crops, storing words like food till it became too numerous to describe.
One
man talked about building taller buildings and already they had added moveable
gates where the walls met the paths.
But
all of the happy ideas, were eclipsed by the talk of snow, at least for the
four travelers.
“The
idea,” Nord had argued, “Is to visit the witch who lives by the volcano. She can see further into the future or she
can help Marrr see further and we can see what lies beyond this snow.”
The
small group was returning to the city from attempting to recruit the powerful,
black haired hunter, Horenz, who stood almost six feet
tall. He had been to the great mountain
that smoked where the witch lived. He
was the only one who had ever traveled so far, having gone in pursuit of
raiders who had taken his wife. He had
caught them at last, killed them everyone, but his wife was dead.
Afterwards,
Nord had attempted to talk Horenz into returning to the city to take another
wife, but he had refused.
The
woman stopped to pull a sharp stone from her bare foot. They all were barefoot, although some were
beginning to wear animal skins on their feet.
“How
will we live if this happens?” The had asked Horenz. Skella was Horenz’s dead wife’s sister. It was felt she could convince him. “Crops do not grow in snow.”
“I do
not care if you live. All I want is to
live alone. Even if you see the witch
and the fire, it will not stop the snow, if the snow is coming.”
It was
disappointing to come back with Horenz who might have guided them past dangers
only he knew. As they approached, a
curious crowd opened the wooden gate to the city and came out to meet the small
group. Others stood looking out over the
waist high wall.
It
would be disappointing for the people behind the walls and terrifying for the
group that would travel to the mountains.
Horenz was one of the strongest hunters of them all, yet when he had
returned he had been thin and wasted.
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