09-5 Panta rei

  Scene 09-5 Location: Niajin’s native village. Time: 01.09.02. 08:30:00 UTC-5 Setting: A government official at Niajin’s door.

  Three days later a government official knocked at her door. He carried a Golden Card of the WO Army. Inside was the account information and her first salary deposit. Niajin had been commissioned as a senior officer in the armed forces of the WO. A single month of pay was more than she had seen in her entire life. But that was not all.

  There was an invitation for her and for the entire village to relocate to the restricted zone. A fragment of the lost Amazon rainforest had returned to life, and the Yanomami could return to live there, together with the plants and animals of the forest, which would fully recover with their help. It was also possible to build small “fincas” all around, to cultivate food crops—potatoes, yam, yucca, rice, corn, quequisque—and fruit, tropical fruits in abundance: maracuya, mango, nancite, jicaro sabanero, cacao, coffee, carambola. The climate around the site had changed; the mountain-pyramid attracted water and would continue to draw it, and the river system was reconstituting itself.

  And the water had begun to follow the ancient paths, opening its way as a small rivulet, like a child who was being born.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  An old man, very old, was carried before the ancient forest that emerged from the pyramid. He was one of the last who had seen the final remnants of what had once been the largest forest on the planet disappear.

  The old man looked, and his eyes filled with tears.

  Then he made one last great effort. He rose from the stretcher of rags on which they had carried him there. He walked toward the nearest tree, a strangler chilamate with powerful, twisted roots and a towering crown.

  Everyone watched him advance, slowly but inexorably, toward the tree that stood motionless, waiting for him at the entrance to the base of the pyramid.

  Moments passed, becoming seconds, then minutes, but at last the old man managed to touch the tree.

  He touched it with his hands, almost embraced it, and then let himself go.

  A hollow among the roots received him.

  All he desired was to become nourishment for the tree. And that final wish of his, without a word being spoken, was granted.

  The earth covered him, and stones were brought to mark his grave.

  The man had returned to his ancient home forever.

  Clouds gathered as they rose toward the summit of the three-kilometer-high pyramid. And once more the rain fell among the branches, and heavy drops settled upon an ancient bed of leaves and wood.

  The water made its way forward and flowed out in abundance, retracing ancient routes long forgotten. With it came mud, stones, fallen fruit, and seeds.

  The Amazon River was flowing once again.

  THE END (OF PART I)

  END OF PART I

  Here ends the first part of Kalypso. See you in a few months or two or three weeks, if the goddess Tethys so wills. Kalypso is waiting for it.