Gaia Dreams (Gaiaverse Book 1) (70 page)

Sam and Harry both looked down to the ground,
and then back up at Margaret in some confusion. "The dirt?" Sam asked.

"Yes, the dirt, the soil. Do you realize
satellite imaging has shown only about sixteen percent of the world's land is
free of things like chemical contamination, acidity, salinity, and poor
drainage? We had too many people on this planet, and we farmed badly, unwisely.
Why, the aluminum contamination is high enough on seventeen percent of farmland
around the world that it actually is poisonous to plants. And--"

"Wait, wait," Sam said holding up her little
hand to stop the flow of statistics. "What is alinity?"

Margaret looked puzzled, then smiled and said, "Oh,
salinity, you mean. That's too much salt in the soil. Salt deposits develop in
land that has been irrigated. Millions of acres of land are lost to any use at
all due to excessive salt deposits every year. And then there is the fact the
natural, organic things in the soil are diminishing, which means that there isn't
enough moisture in the soil and there is more carbon dioxide released into the
air. And we all know what that means...global warming."

"Ohh," Sam said. "So you think all this bad
stuff people did to the dirt, that is why all the disaster things happened?"

"Well, of course! You see, Samantha," Margaret
explained, "people like you and me, those of us who have a connection to the
animals, to the planet, we will have to show the way to the others, teach them
that we can't act so irresponsibly anymore. The planet clearly is displeased
with us and has enacted a punishment on us. By eliminating so much of the
population already, the Earth is making it clear what we must do."

"I never got any feeling we were getting a
punishment," Sam said firmly. "I got a feeling that there are self-correcting,
um--" She paused, stared off in the distance for a moment, and continued. "Self-correcting
mechanisms within something as huge as a planet. Animals and people, plants and
oceans and mountains--all of these have changed over time, sometimes really big
changes, sometimes small ones."

Margaret didn't seem to notice how Samantha's
vocabulary expanded suddenly, too caught up in her need to explain the way it
really was. She interrupted the girl.

"No, no, we humans, we are the problem. We have
used up the Earth. We have polluted it and destroyed so much, all in our need
to make life easier. We wanted fast cars, fast food, cell phones and instant
messaging and computers in every room of the house. We wanted medical
technology without thinking about how to handle medical waste. We wanted
nuclear power without considering how to cope with nuclear waste. We dumped
toxic chemicals into the seas, or buried them in the ground, leaving them to
seep out and contaminate the Earth. We put a hole in the ozone layer. I'm
telling you Sam, this series of disasters is a judgment of us, of humans, and
the few of us lucky enough to survive will have to radically change our way of
life. Ultimately, who knows? Maybe we will have to be eliminated completely for
the healing of the Earth to occur. But we have to start now, right now, in
making changes. We have to show the Earth we are willing to make sacrifices,
willing to do whatever it takes, to help her recover."

Samantha stood up next to Harry, her little face
bleak. She sensed...so much. Letting her connection to everything around her
expand, she felt the trees around her, the dirt and rocks beneath her feet, the
very heartbeat of Harry next to her, the concerned thoughts of Perceval up at
the house as he understood the conversation she was having, the emotions of her
mother and father anxiously awaiting her return. And as that circle of
connectedness widened, she saw clearly the sharp, jarring edges of Margaret.
Margaret was right in many respects, but oh, so wrong about others. Her vision,
her perception of what had happened, it was just wrong, thought Samantha.
Humans were as much a part of the planet as the trees and oceans and dirt. Margaret's
way would take them backwards, not forwards. And Margaret--Margaret would
ultimately ruin them. Sam knew this suddenly with a clarity that was startling.
She saw possibilities: Margaret trying to wrest leadership of the Gaians from
Sam's father, Margaret trying to eliminate every piece of modern technology
from their midst, wanting to abandon modern medical techniques, changing the
ways they farmed, fished. And Sam saw that Margaret's ways, left unchecked,
would lead to death. More and more deaths. Deaths which Margaret would see as
ultimately necessary. As sacrifices to the greater good of the planet. Never
realizing humans were also a part of this planet, this living organism that was
Sam's world. Margaret's way would be the ultimate disaster. And Samantha couldn't
allow it to happen. As she began to probe more deeply into Margaret's essence,
into her mind, Sam knew any effort at mind pressing against Margaret was going
to be difficult. Maybe even impossible. The woman was so fixed, so certain of her
path. But she had to try, Sam thought anxiously. She had to--

Harry's barking brought her back from a deep
place, and Sam let her senses expand from the focus on Margaret to the rest of
the world around them. "Oh, no," she said brokenly. "It's happening, the
earthquakes are gonna happen, after all. The energy released in the volcanoes,
the earlier earthquake, it triggered the faults in San Francisco."

Margaret looked at her sharply, and then her
eyes glazed over. Sam watched as a little smile appeared on Margaret's lips.
Margaret said, "Yes, I was right. We still haven't done what she wants us to
do. You see that now, don't you, Sam? She's telling us we have to end the old
way of life completely. We have to stop all of it, right now!"

"But, Margaret, it's not like you think," Sam
said, willing the woman to hear her. "We are all connected. Those poor people
in San Francisco who are gonna die--they are just in the wrong place at the
wrong time. They aren't being punished. None of us is being punished. We just
have to--"

Margaret stood up and said resolutely, "No, Sam,
you're only a child. You can't see it and understand it as I do. This is
another judgment by the Earth. She's telling us what we must do. If we want to
live at all, we have to change everything." Margaret turned and looked up
toward the house, seeing the glowing light spilling out from the windows far
ahead. "And that's the first step. I see it now. You people just haven't
understood, but what you're doing here is wrong. You can't keep electricity and
cars and computers and ice makers and expect the planet to let you live. You're
holding on to the very things that are destroying the Earth. I can't let you
continue to do that, I just can't."

"Margaret, no!" Sam cried out. "You're wrong,
you're so wrong!" and watched as Margaret began walking quickly up to the
House. "Oh, no, Harry, oh, no." Tears flowed down Samantha's face. "She is the
one, and she doesn't get it. Oh, Harry, I don't think I can stop her."

Harry whimpered and moved closer to the little
girl, bumping her with his head until she realized what he wanted. "Okay, we
have to go back up there and tell Daddy, you're right."

But just then, Samantha and Harry were hit by
the images from San Francisco. Sam's body folded slowly down to the ground as
she fought to stay connected to here, to Harry. She reached out with her senses
to all those who helped her before, to her mother and father, to Perceval, to
Mrs. Philpott, to Black and White, to Harry. And as she did, her mind picked up
on the consternation emanating from others--a phone call just received--no!
Grandma Abby was missing.

Monique felt the first small shaking begin as
she stepped out of the shower. Slipping a bit on the shiny, white tile floor,
she thought it wasn't too bad. Her neighbor with the weird dreams must have
been wrong. Silly woman. Trying to convince Monique to leave her nice apartment
and go to some small town in Idaho, of all places! This was just a normal
little temblor, nothing to panic over. Sure, the world was in a fucking big
mess right now, but no way was Monique leaving her life here, no way.
Bam
.
The force of the jolt threw her into the full-length mirror and onto the floor.
As her stunned mind tried to figure out how she got there, her fingers felt
blood pulsing out of her upper thigh. Another sharp jolt. Another. Another. Oh,
she thought weakly, as her life drained away. Guess those dreams weren't so
weird after all.

The Farm

Gracie got off the phone and turned to a waiting
Harmony and Janine. "Okay, Jessica knows and is heading over here right now.
John will bring Samantha--she's evidently not at the house. He's calling Black
and I think they'll organize some kind of search party. You, Janine, need to
get with the horses and ask for their help. Somebody, or some animal, has got
to have seen her!"

Janine nodded and ran out the back door to the
stables. Harmony said, "She must have overheard us talking about the
earthquake. Because I swear she wasn't acting strangely earlier, or any more
strange than usual. That has to be it."

"Yes," Gracie agreed. "I think you're right.
Okay, I'll stay here and wait for the others--or perhaps Abby will show up back
here. You head on out with Clay. Take flashlights! It's getting dark, and the
last thing we need is for you guys to get lost. You've got the cell phone? And
the two-way radios?"

Harmony held up both items. "Yes, yes, I'm all
set. Where is Clay?"

"Right here," Clay said, entering the kitchen as
he spoke. "I wanted to grab the first aid kit to take with us...you never know...."
His voice trailed off, anxiety written across his face.

"She'll be okay," Gracie reassured him, patting
his arm. "We have all these people now who can sense things, the animals will
help look. She can't have gone far--the cars are still here."

Clay nodded jerkily and motioned for Harmony to
follow him out the door.

Gracie called after them, "Stay in touch! Check
in with me on the radio every twenty minutes."

San Francisco Earthquake

Christian Culver listened to the talk radio
station as he headed into work using the Bay Bridge, arguing back loudly with
every caller. It was the best way he knew to wake up and to prepare as he
headed in for his job on the late shift as a switchboard operator. He had to be
so nice and polite for the next eight hours that he really needed this time to
spew out all his vitriol at the radio and world at large. So he was completely
absorbed and didn't first recognize that his car was not behaving properly. It
was slewed across into the next lane. It was falling. The bridge itself was
falling, he realized with a shock. Those damn politicians! Never fixed the damn
bridge after the Loma Prieta quake, never took it seriously enough, all their
pork barrel additions driving up the costs, and--oh, hell, he thought in growing
irritation while he looked ahead and saw buildings collapsing, the bridge
coming down--it wasn't a problem with the bridge--this was it--the big one. A
steel girder pierced the side of his car door impaling him and ending his
futile tirade. He hadn't even had time to be afraid.

Power Station, Table Rock Dam

Andy walked in carrying a basketful of food as
Waldo whimpered. "What is it big guy? Oh, oh. The San Francisco thing, it's
begun." As Andy set the food down on a work table, Lisanne came in from the
control room.

"Oh good, you're back," she said anxiously. "I
don't mind being here alone, but with the earthquake stuff and now this thing
with Abby...."

"What are you talking about?" Andy asked
urgently. "You shouldn't be here alone! Where the hell are Black and Rachel? I
was only gone for a few minutes to get food! What the heck happened?"

Lisanne motioned to him to sit down and pulled
sandwiches out of the basket, only to stop and stare at them. "I don't feel
like eating. I'm getting bit and pieces from the earthquake. But it's Abby I'm
thinking about. She ran away, Andy. They think she must have heard them talking
about the quake. Nobody knows where she is and it's dark now, and--" She paused
and then continued. "Sarge left right after you to get food as well, and since
we didn't expect anything very soon--"

Andy sighed and said, "So they pulled everyone
off to go look for her. Okay, I get it now." He pulled a bottle of juice from
the hamper and asked, "So they don't think there will be a problem here, after
all?"

Lisanne picked up Merlin, who was mewling at her
feet, and sat down at the table. "I'm not sure. Merlin doesn't seem sure. I
think the earthquake is futzing the communication band or something. Nobody
mentioned anything new about a possible attack here. And Merlin says Sam was
working on something about it, and then stopped when the earthquake started. I
just don't know."

Andy shuddered and Waldo made whimpering noises.
"Oh, man," Andy said, "they are having one damn bad earthquake. It just doesn't
stop! I guess the whole San Andreas Fault has let go now."

San Francisco Earthquake

Quincy Walker was taking the garbage to the curb
when a sharp movement of the land beneath his feet knocked him to his knees.
Damn, he thought, stupid little quakes all the time lately. Well, if they
knocked over the garbage cans on the street, somebody was going to be mightily
pissed, he thought. Of course, there had been no garbage pick-up last week in
Alameda, but he was optimistic about tomorrow. The rest of the world might be
going to hell in a hand basket, but Alameda had been getting its act together.
As he rose, an eerie sensation hit him, causing his stomach to feel almost
nauseous. What the...the ground...was shaking...but it wasn't like anything he'd
ever felt before. Then, a series of loud crashes and booms sounded around him.
Car alarms and fire alarms went off and ceased abruptly. Lights went out
everywhere. He remembered the map from the USGS, the one his realtor and
insurance agent had explained to him before he bought his duplex. The map
showed he was in a liquefaction zone...which meant...his brain racing faster
and faster...coming to a conclusion...he felt his face smashed into the ground
while a tree crashed onto his back...oh, yeah, the shaking would cause the land
to act sort of like a bowl of jelly...because of the sandy soil the house was
built on...the shaking was liquefying the earth beneath him....funny how he
didn't feel any pain....he didn't feel anything at all....