Blind Justice

Graham Heights 

Rainier 

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Chapter 33
Blind Justice

Journal Entry - March 18th 2095
Elder Julia Scott

Julia got up with a head of determination and was getting ready to head back to Fort Lance and address the Captain of Creatos.  She was going to plead her case or she was going to devise a plan to get...Well to get on the colony ship.  She went to the kitchen and noticed the journals still on the table.  She went to collect them and a few pages fell out and onto the floor.  She bent to pick them up and noticed the name on the journal.  It was not from her great grandfather, but his best friend.  Julia did not recall any journals or notes from Mike, so this intrigued her.  She sat the journals on the table and put Mike’s entry on top.  She then went to the kitchenette and demanded a cup of coffee from the dispenser.  It complied with a hot cup of coffee with cream and sweetener.  Once the first sip was enjoyed Julia returned to the table.  She picked up the journal and started to read.

August 25th 2015

Journal of Elder Mike Lethol

I don’t typically write my thoughts down, but this was an extraordinary day.  I have been friends with Alan since we were young adults.  He is very loyal and trustworthy.  Even Though his life was not a bed of roses, he was always ready to help me.  So, when he and Allison decided to adopt two kids out of the foster care system, I told him that I would be there for him.  It was not going to be easy, but Alan’s life had been a string of difficult things, so how hard could it be.  Well here is just one of three times where it got hard…..

It was a typical hot summer evening when Alan called and started yelling obscenities over the phone.  Not exactly sure what he was yelling about, but he was mad, hurt and angry.  He kept saying “They did it again! Those stupid black hooded liberal morons did it again.”  which was followed by a string of curses and derogatory remarks.

There was no sense in responding, he was far from done and I knew it. I also knew that it had something to do with the kids, but until Alan was done with the yelling and screaming, there was just no talking to him.  

“They did it again…” then heavy breathing.  Alan was about spent and with his anger abating he was becoming more coherent.

“Those stupid liberal morons, they call judges... in king county, did it again.  They seem to have an agenda to screw up every child in the foster care system.” Alan was moving from anger to grief.

“What happened.” Mike asked.

“Well the social working went in armed with a ten page affidavit of all the wrong things that their mother has been doing and the judge shit canned it.”  came the angry response.

“How could he do that.”  Mike asked

“She!  She’s an idiot.”  came the well rehearsed response.

“I don’t understand, I thought the visits were terminated because she was not doing the court ordered treatments and allowing dangerous elements near the kids.”  Mike asked again.

“For some reason that liberal morons of a judge thinks the more chance you give these P O Ses, the more they will rise to the occasion.”  there was a pause as Alan was getting wound up, “After four fucking years you think that stupid bitch would have gotten something right, but no!  All she has is some charity housing and a car she can’t even put gas in.  Some food that was probably given to her… Oh!  And a free layer.”  He paused again.  “Why the hell should she change, no one is actually holding her accountable.” Alan took a breath and continued,  “So, she gets a chance to kill them again.”  his voice trailed off

Alan was real angry and I was sure that he was not at home.  Allison would never allow him to talk that way around the kids or herself.  “Where are you.”  I asked.

“I don’t know, a field...I think Roy….Hell, I don’t know, I just started driving when I heard the news.”  Alan was confused, and still angry.

“Hey, you know the back way to the Cross Roads?”  Mike asked.

There was a pause “Yeah, it’s, well I think it’s just South of me.” Alan said then continued “I can GPS it.”

“Do that, I’ll buy you a beer.” I said.

“I can’t, I gotta get my head on straight and head home, Allison is not taking this well either.”  Alan admitted and was starting to come to his senses.   

Allison was Alan’s second wife and he loved her more than life itself.  He knew he had to blow off and then return home and comfort his wife who would be grieving as well.  

“So what did the judge say, exactly.” I asked.

“I don’t know.  I couldn’t make it to the hearing. Oh and that's another sore subject.  The only reason we even knew about this hearing is that the older boys were visiting and one got a call from his lawyer.”  Alan’s pitch started to rise. “They don’t even give us the decency to tell us what is going on. God this system is so broke and no one will touch it.”

“What do you mean?” All the while I knew exactly what he meant.  As my experience with “The system” ended with a child that we’ed had for almost three years, being removed under the pretenses of some false accusations.  All of which were unfounded, but the child was placed with another sibling and the system refused to bring her back.  Yes, I was all too familiar with the shortfalls in “The System”.

“Well they passed a law that states, that as foster parents, we have a right to address the judge, so now, they just don’t tell us when the case is going to court.”  Alan was disgusted, “It’s like they want us to put our lives aside and support these kids, take them to all their appointments for physical and mental health, after their parents just about kill them, and then hand them back to the same P O Ses that put them there in the first place.”  There was a pause

I just stayed silent as the raging storm passed over the airwaves and out of his phone.  

Once the profanity stopped, “I guess I wouldn’t mind it so much if the parents were trying to change, but these two are doing as little as they can while crying boo hoo, the state is mean.”

“When do they have to go back?”  Mike asked

“In a week.”  Responded Alan then he continued, “And the worst part is, two social workers, the cosa, even the lawyers say these kids need someone else, that mom is just using them so she can live off the state for free.”  More profanity and then the phone went dead.

“Alan!”  I shouted into the phone.  “Alan!”  

I waited a few minutes, but Alan did not call back.  I then contemplated running out to Roy to see where Alan might be.  It’s not a town so much as an area and if Alan was in a field, well his truck should be by one of three roads.  I put my shoes on and located the truck keys.  I was headed for the door when the phone finally rang.

“Alan, what happened?” I asked.

“I threw my phone.”  Alan answered.

“I guess you found it then.”  I said jokingly

“Yeah.”  Alan said dejected

“Hey, you sure you don’t need that drink?” I asked

“No, I need to get home.” Alan said with a note of defeat

“I want to say God is good and it will all work out..” I started, but knew that Alan already believed that.  It was just painful to have to give up something that you love, loves you and is going to a crappy place.  

“They don’t deserve this.”  Alan said

“I know.” I responded

“She’s going to destroy them and break their hearts again.” Alan said

“I know.” Was all I could say.  Of all people, Alan and I know how hurt people just keep hurting others.  We’ve seen our share of it while working with children and youth.  Decades of hurting people tearing down the ones they are suppose to love.  There were so many reasons, but reasons didn’t matter when you saw the pain they inflict on the kids.  

I remember Alan had made a comment, at one of our visits, how the mother of the kids in his care, hit the genetic lottery and that the kids were very good hearted.  They were easy to discipline and genuine in wanting to please and lean.  They were kids and as such, got into their share of trouble, but nothing out of the ordinary and nothing that needed corporal punishment, aka a spanking.  Not that the state would allow that, but it was never necessary.  

Alan broke through my thoughts, “She’s going to run.”

“What do you mean.” I asked.

“She doesn’t have the first clue how to take care of kids and her mother in law…” Alan paused, “She came to court smelling of piss and body odor.”  

“What does she have to do with it?” Mike asked

“She’s suppose to be the second parent helping to raise the kids.” Alan said

“You’re kidding.” I said.

“No, fraid not.”  Alan responded.

“How can…” I was asking

“Blind justice.” Alan responded.

“What do you mean?”  I needed to know where Alan was going with this.

“The judge was prejudiced against the state and blindly sent these kids back to hell.”  Alan responded.

“What do you mean prejudice”  I asked him to justify his statement.

“Two social workers, one not so good and one good, have worked for four years to get these kids freed from those two.”  Alan said.

“Social workers can be get jaded.”  I responded.

“The first one was,”  Alan said. “She personally witnessed the kids being pulled out of a garbage heap covered in shit.”  

“You mean garbage?”  Mike asked for clarification.

“No! Dammit, rat Shit and they had rat bites all over their bodies.”  Alan anger was rising again.

“Oh crap.” was all I could say.

“If it had been someone else’s kids, they would have been charged her with attempted murder!”  Alan was ramping up.  “But no, since they are hers, she can…”

The phone when dead again.

I thought “Crap did he threw it again.” I tried calling back, but it went straight to voicemail.  I waited for about ten minutes then the phone rang again. Mike answered, “Took you a little longer to find it this time?”

“No, the damn thing went dead.”  Alan paused.  Alan sounded different and I could hear wind in the background. “I’m in the truck and headed home.”

“You okay?”  I asked,

“No, this is not okay and I’m not okay, but….” Alan paused, “I need to be by the time I hit the house.”

“Do you want me and Deb to come over?”  I asked.

“No, we are trying to keep it low key for now.” Alan responded.

“K, man I so sorry for you guys, those kids were so happy with you two.”  I had only met them a few times, but they were happy kids that loved to jump and run and play with the dogs.

“There is no logical sense in sending them back.  She can can’t take care of herself without everyone doing it for her.  Her housing, was given to her and it’s only temporary.  Her food and vehicle, the lawyer were all free.  She has done nothing in and of herself, to make things better for the kids.  Hell, she can’t even feed them a decent meal.”  Alan was deflated.

“No, it doesn’t make sense to normal people.” I responded.

“It’s about as irresponsible as putting six tons of shit on a one ton trailer.”  Alan was looking for logic.

“That would be bad.” I said.

“You know what she did when the state’s lawyer talked about all the sugar and crap she feeds them?” Alan asked.

“No, what.”  I asked

“She laughed at them.”  Alan said with anger growel. “Their teeth are rooting out of their head and she laughs.”

“Didn’t the judge hear that.” I asked.

“I don’t think these judges hear anything.” Snapped Alan.

“I think this would make a great story if it weren’t real.” I said.

“It would make a hell of a dramatic story if it didn’t hurt so much.” Alan responded then continued, “I asked the social worker, who we could go to, to get someone to stick up for these kids.”  Alan voice had a ring of defeat in it. “She said there was no one.  No one to stick up for the ones that have no voice.”  Alan paused, “No one to complain to about the ruling, no one to stop these kids from being returned to someone destined to fail.”  

“God, I am so sorry….”  I had nothing else to say.  

“It seems the definition of blind justice is nothing more than despicable people hiding in the folds of our judge’s robes.” Alan said.  “That’s not justice… This isn’t justice!”

I wish I could comfort him… but the grieving process takes time and I did what Alan needed, I listened without judgement, to my friend being human.

Julia finished the journal and was amazed at what she read.  Alan Scott cursing and swearing, not to mention the fact that he was in some type of custody battle with the state over kids.  She knew that he had adopted some kids, but did not know much about them as they were never referred to as “adopted”.  They were his kids as if he had spawned them and raised them all their lives.  The Graham Heights records did not single them out as any different.  It was this way because in the early days hundreds of kids were brought to the gates and left.  We took them in and gave them families.  They were not to be treated different and it actually helped the genetic diversity.  

That’s when it hit Julia, she needed to look at the genetic makeup of those that were chosen.  She had to make sure that One World was keeping the genetic diversity broad enough to ensure a healthy future.  

Julia also could not help but think, that her judges were prejudice as well, and as her grandfather eventually prevailed with the courts back in his day, she too was going to have to prevail in her struggle to get the spiritual people on that ship.

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Book 4: Obsidian Arrows

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Inner Strength

Graham Heights 

Rainier 

Wikipedia

         

Chapter 32
Inner Strength

Journal Entry - March 15th 2095

Elder Julia Scott

Our population was down almost seventeen hundred men and women and children.  A quarter of which have been integrated into the fleet and the others were shipped to the colony ship in orbit.  They will be another five hundred gleaned from this colony or others before the ship will have its full complement.  As with herself, many of the more spiritual members were passed over, so we sit here and plant our crops and live our lives and hope for the best...  

Jason still keeps in touch and slips Julia information on those that are chosen to be transported to the colony ship and those assigned in the fleet.  He also is keeping an eye on the kids.  They have processed  close to four hundred kids for training and education.  We try to keep track of what they are studying and where they are shipped to.  Some were shipped to Panama yet most remain at Fort Lance.  We are hoping that some of the kids training to become medical doctors, would be released to help in the clinics.  As we are always short on those that have the capacity to become so skilled.  

Julia was  back at the cabin again looking over reports that Jason had provided.  They showed who was going where and when.  she did not understand some of the jargon, but she did see the overall trend of taking the best and brightest minds and shipping them to the colony ship.  Julia poured hours into trying to understand the criteria that One World was using to determine who did what and where.  It just didn’t add up in her brain and after the sun went down she noticed the cold bite of the evening air.  So she picked up the pile of reports and headed inside.  As she entered she looked at the old clock on the far wall.  5:59.  She dismissed the clock and put her pile on the dinette set.  

Julia was about to put on water for her evening tea when the old clock caught her attention again.  It was an old hand crafted time piece from the early nineteen hundreds.  Its hands were stubbornly stuck at 5:59.  Despite the best craftsmen they could find, the clock would run for a few days and then stop at 5:59.  Julia did not know what it was about the old clock, but it seemed to bring her comfort.  You see, to know that no matter what was happening in the world, she could come here and looked at this hand crafted masterpiece and know that it would say 5:59.  

Why was that a comfort?  That was a good question.  A clock was suppose to give you the current time.  Cause stress as you were late to be somewhere or because you were waiting for something to happen.  And a clock will let you know just how soon or how late you are to any particular event.  All but not this clock.  No this clock kept time frozen at 5:59.  Nothing would move it.  No amount of stress or pressure from the mechanics could get it to move along with the time.  

Despite the lack of function, the clock was beautiful and the loving touches of the artist was evident in the lines and shapes that complemented the wood grain.  Julia loved looking at the clock and would not have it packed away.  Was this why she wasn’t going?  Was she incapable of letting go of things from the past to include a God that apparently… well, gave up on mankind?   

Julia looked at the clock and was comforted by the sight of the hands at six and the one minute before the hour.  It will always be 5:59 here.  Never a minute more or less.  

I Am. “I am the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.”

Julia took a step back.  That was weird.  She could swear the she heard that out loud.  Julia started thinking.  She had heard those words before.  She went to a chest in the bedroom and pulled out a some old notebooks.  She started going through the books looking at the index and after three she found what she was looking for.  She brought it back to the dining area where the light was better and put it on the table.  She then went to the kitchen and started the kettle for her evening tea.  

Once back at the table she opened the journal and looked down the index.  “Who does that, indexing your journals?”  But she was grateful because it helped her find what she was looking for.  She started reading.

“It’s January again and we still don’t have a code or moral contract to work from.  Our elders are afraid that if we try to impose such a thing on the people they will leave.  I personally would not mind if some of them left.  They fight us on every topic and make stupid demands of our time.  They are just close minded, selfish individuals that want to remain immature and self centered.  I have no patience for this attitude and would love to escort them from our protection.

I’m not faulting the elders, we have invaded the privacy of every individual on the colony with the genetic plan, the planting procedures and resource development.   With everything being limited we needed to create a priority list and then distribute what we had as far as it would reach.  This meant taking from one and giving to others as well as not fulfilling certain requests.  Hell, we went so far as to develop parenting classes to ensure that the children that do survive would be given the best chance at being a contributing member of our society.  

Yes, we have been invasive.  Cruel at times.  All the while we have strived to base our decisions on the good of the colony over the good of the individual.  Someday this will change.  Someday they will wake up and say, enough.  We need to have a moral code that will govern why we do what we do and why certain sacrifices will be necessary.  

It must be a code that will stand the test of time, much like the passage I read last night.  “I am the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.”  It must be able to stand a thousand years from now without getting in the way of what we can do or how far we can reach.  And most of all, what God we chose to serve, if we chose to serve one at all.  

Some of these rules are simple.  Don’t lie, steal or break a promise.  Then you have the integrity rules that require a bit of philosophy to enforce.  Which is where we have to get down to the real meat of the problem.  How we treat each other.  My dad use to tell me, “We need to see the world in a bigger picture and ask ourselves if we should do something?”  Once we see the world as a larger organism we stop focusing on ourselves and then you can see how what you do has an affect on other.

That didn’t make as much since when I was young, but as I grew older I realized just because I could do something, didn’t mean that I should do it.  As the effect of what I did would have negative consequences for others.  Case in point, as a youth I had a motorcycle and being a typically mentally impaired teenager I drove it like a bat out of hell.  Easily weaving in and out of traffic and smiling to myself at all the cars I was leaving in my dust.  Then one day as I was careening down a rural road passing not one, but three cars and doing, well let’s just say slightly more than double the speed limit.  I came face to face with another car that was hidden in a depression in the road ahead.  If it wasn’t for the quick thinking of the motorist, I was passing, I would be dead.  The lady, in the last car I was passing, saw what was about to happen and jammed on her breaks giving me the room to get over and avoid a certain death.

You see, I grew up in a generation of “Just do it.” or “blab, it and grab it.”  Don’t think about the credit card debt, just buy, buy, buy.   These slogans are great when you are trying to build something that others said was impossible, like the heavier than air flying machine.  A.K.A the airplane, but when it comes to everyday life, careening down a rural road at close to 100 mph or weaving in and out of cars down the freeway,  is just plain irresponsible.   Just do it does not apply to this set us circumstances, but irresponsible humans use any excuse they can to justify stupidity.  

It was also used to justify greed and many other negative aspects of humanity.  Capitalism has always had its checks and balances, but when both corporate and personal greed set the course for the world, things started going south.  True capitalism would have corrected it, however greedy people don’t let go so easily so they bribed officials and politicians to bail them out.  And the process continued to its bitter end.  Just Do it turned into trillions of dollars in debt, while the very people that were bailed out of their mistakes washed their hands of issue and walked away.  

We left the moral covering of our God and chased vanity, money, and stuff.  They even made a term for it, affluenza.   Yet we still justified our stupidity.  We justified our lifestyles and desires with yet more slogans and forgot to teach our kids the golden rule.  People would sleep overnight at stores to buy crap that failed long before the credit card debt was payed off.  This insanity became the norm and the God of our fathers waited.  He had never changed.  He remained the rock that we discarded in the middle of the desert where few would go and seek Him.   

As an elder, of which I never volunteered, I will dedicate my life to penning the code that will be taught in our schools, churches and places of business.  It will be a code that will be built “line upon line and precept upon precept” (yes, I stole that from the Bible) so that it will be passed down the generations and hold us away from the precipice that consumed billions of lives just a decade before.  I pray that God guides my hand and forgives me at the same time.  As I don’t want to call it a religion of a God, but a guide for humanity.  The code must be the seeds of god and religion without forcing people to worship him.  A human moral directive or base line of conduct just because you are human and not because it was mandated by a religious organization.   

We were not doing away with religions or the worship of God, or gods as some wished, but elevating the baseline of what it meant to be a human in this society.  It would be unacceptable to create something that required one to worship, that was a personal choice, but it would require that all persons be treated with a level of respect.  Again I plagiarize “All men (humans) are equal, there is not Jew or Gentile, Slave or free, men or women.”  We all start out as a naked child and we should all be able to work, love and live to the fullest extent of our abilities.  Nature and nurture working to create the best we can be.  

No, I’m not delusional, I’m a philosopher.  

Nor am I mad. I know that the number of variables that make up human existence is almost incalculable, but when good men do nothing, evil will fill the void…

Julia closed the journal and wondered if this One World was good or evil.  They were different, but was it evil?  Would all her great grandfather’s work be erased by this machine called One World?  Or will the moral code that was so painstakingly built into each and every individual prevail over the weapon, Technology and promises of a a new world.  

Suddenly a resounding gong filled the cabin and startled Julia.  Somehow the old clock had reached the top of the hour and in the final throes of the potential energy stored in its springs, it expressed one single note.  Despite year, no decades of inactivity, this clock had pressed through and gave it her a deep, clear and final note.  

Julia just stared at the clock as the vibrations subsided.  That note sparked a declaration in her mind.  We are not done.  The rally cry of thousands of lives will not be unheard.  Julia settled the matter in her soul.  Yes, she was Human... and  Spiritual.. and she was going.  Her kind would be needed even if One World did not think so.  

Next Chapter

Please add a comment.

If you like Graham Heights, please share the link with friends www.rogeratlarge.com.

As you know this blog contains two books of the Remnant Series. Graham Heights is book 3 of the series. Below is more.

Book 4: Obsidian Arrows

Book 1 is now available in paperback or kindle The Grey Abyss

You can Leave a comment.  

Or follow us on Facebook.  

Or hit the subscribe button to get updates on new chapters or books.

Thank-you
R. A. Legg

Learn about the individual heroes of Graham Heights. 

R.A. Legg © 2016. All Rights Reserved.

Rejected

Graham Heights 

Rainier 

Flickr

   

Chapter 31
Rejected!

Journal Entry - July 24th 2094
Elder Julia Scott

After the last formation in our Training, I was called to the commander's office…

“Cadet Scott, reporting as ordered.” and I rendered the commander a salute.

Without looking up from her pad the commander said, “At ease cadet.”  and continued to read the report.  After what seemed like a half hour the commander looked up.  With no emotion or expression of any sort she finally said, “You have not been selected.”   She looked at the report again and then said, “Sorry we have wasted your time.”  

Julia stood there for a second as the thoughts raced across her mind. “That’s it.  Thanks for trying but we don’t want you.”  Out loud she stammered, “But, I did well”  slight pause, “For my age.”

“You did fine.”  the commander looked at her, “For your age.”  The commander looked at her pad again, “You are dismissed.”

The hair on the back of Julia’s neck stood, “How dare you dismiss me.” Julia was not going to have this, “I’m the head Elder in this community and where it goes I go.”

“You are not fit to go where we are going.”  The commander said with a bite in her voice.

“What’s wrong with me?” Ask Julia with a bit of surprise.

“Nothing physically.”  was the commander’s response.

Now that was an insult, “What the Hell does that mean.”  Julia face was starting to flush.

“I don’t owe you an explanation cadet.” the commander was growing annoyed with the whole conversation.

“You better start spilling it or I’m going to walk out there and shut this whole game down.” Julia was bluffing, but there had to be a reason for her rejections and she was hell bent to find it.

The commander rose to her feet as to increase the level of intimidation on the cadet. “You are too old, too set in your ways and…” the commander paused.

“And what the hell else makes me so bad.”  Julia spat back.

“Your test show that have faith in mystical nonsense.”  the commander finished her sentence.  

“Faith?” Julia was shocked.  She didn’t think she was that faithful to her religion or God.  She rarely had time for the weekly services and prayed sporadically.  Did she believe in God, yes.  But most of the time she seemed distant from him and He from her.  “I haven’t been to a religious service in over a year.”

“No, your the worse type.” The commander cut in. “You believe in this God even when no one's looking.”  She turned away. “It’s not just a religion to you, He is so real to you that you would do what He says despite your orders.”  The commander turned around, “That makes you an unacceptable candidate.”

“You don’t believe in a higher power?” Julia asked.

“There is no god.” The commander took a step forward. “No God would allow the entire world to blow up on us.”  the commanders was allowing her emotions to break the edge of her military training. “What god would wipe out entire countries….”  There was a pause then in a more controlled voice she continued, “Everything we built, our families and ….”

“God didn’t do that.” Julia said.

“And the son of a bitch didn’t do anything to stop it either.”  The commander bit back. “If there was a great and loving god, he would have stopped the madness.”  the commander waved her hand in the air. “But He, it, what the hell ever being you think is up there, did nothing for us.” The commanded settled her gaze on Julia, “There is no God, no merciful being up there and if there was, he, she or it could give a shit about us.” The commander waved off any further discussion and returned to her place behind the desk.  “You are dismissed.”  And she returned to her tablet.  

Julia gathered her thoughts and dignity and turned to leave.  She knew that she needed to defend her Gob, but how would you do that with so much evidence to the contrary.  Why didn’t God stop the near extinction of the human race?

I Am spoke to Julia “True Love does not force itself on someone.  It but knocks on the door and waits for it to open.”

Julia thought to herself, “Is that what happened to us, too few people actually opened the door to Him?”

The booming voice of the commander broke Julia’s thoughts, “You’re dismissed Cadet!”

Julia opened the door and left, but a thought raced through her mind, “The door to the commander’s heart was obviously closed.”

Julia walked at a brisk pace back to her bunk.  She had to gather her stuff and make her way back to her… life?  This was not what she had in mind for this day.   She was not going.  She was staying on this dying planet.  No, this is not what she had in mind at all.  

Julia had to go and get her mind wrapped around her fate.  She had started the day with such high expectations and to be given a death sentence was just a bit much.  She needed to go to the cabin.  To scream and or cry.  To work out what she needed to do next.  

No one was going to understand why she was rejected.  She didn’t fully understand.  She just knew there would be others and that they would feel as she does now.  

Julia reached the barracks door and gathered herself as she grabbed it and twisted.  There were only two others in the dorm.  Most likely other rejects that have not received an assignment.  They looked at Julia with hope.  Hope that there was an answer as to why they were still waiting.  Everyone else was gone.. Gone to their new lives.  Only the rejects are still here.

One approached Julia and asked, “What did you get for an assignment.”  She said hopingly. “It must have been great, because you got a personal invitation to the commander’s office.”

Julia didn’t want to dash her hopes, but what could she say.  The truth is that she was rejected by this system and most likely so were these others.  The best she could come up with was “They don’t have an assignment for me at this time.”

The second girl came into the conversation, “That’s what they told me too, but I didn’t get a trip to the commander’s office.”  There was a little bit of suspicion in her voice.

“I guess they figured that I needed a person of equal.. Well higher than..”  She stammered.  Julia knew that she was not being very convincing.  “I’m the head Elder and as such they have treated me with certain... courtesies.”  She was going to leave it at that.

“I see.”  said the second girl  

Luckily they did not pursue the conversation any further.  Julia packed her belongings and picked up her communicator.  She had left it in her personal belongings back for the duration of the training.  Now she had her link to her old life in her hand again.  She summoned a car to pick her up at the camp as it was on the South Edge of town overlooking the bay.  She did not feel like walking back to Fort Lance.  

The car arrived and she climbed in with her bags.  The car asked, “Destination?”

Julia just sat there.  Where was she going to go?  

“Destination?”

Julia said nothing.

“Destination?”

“Scott farm.”  Julia finally said.  

The Jordy modified autonomous car chind the acknowledgement that it received a destination and understood.  The car moved off smoothly and Julia went back into her mind.  The training and the rejection filled it.  She worked hard to finish and for what?  She thought about what they would do once the One World organization stripped them of the strongest, brightest and best.  What would be left behind to run their equipment and manufacturing?  And what would it matter?  The reports that One World had provided them, showed a decline in every indicator that sustained life on this planet.  Oh a remnant of life could survive, but most likely it would be single celled organism or something similarly small and unorganized.  If what they said was true, then most complex life would die to be replaced thousands of years from now by other types of life.  

The Idea of no humans on Earth was overwhelming and depressing.  

The car announced “We will be arriving at the Scott farm in two minutes.”

Julia snapped back to reality, “I’m not going to the main house.”  There’s a road that leads up behind the farm.”

“I am not equipped to traverse unapproved roads.”  the car said.  

“I know, just get me half way there and you can turn around at the gate.”  Julia said hoping that the car would comply.

“Acceptable.”  said the car and it turned up the dirt road that lead to the cabin that was on the south side of the hill.  It was a place of quiet solitude.  A small river sped past it and Mt Rainier loomed over it.  From its high perch the cabin offered an incredible view of Rainier and the valley.  Here Julia could sit and wait… Think and gather herself for what comes next.

The car came to what seemed like a sudden stop and then the door opened.  “Your destinations Mam.”  The car sounded pleased to have brought its passenger to the desired destination.”

Julia gathered her things and got out.  The gate was closed and she didn’t bring the keys to undo the lock.  She huffed at the notion of climbing the gate to get to her desired location.  But what choice did she have.  She turned back to the car and said, “This will do.  Thanks for the lift.”

“Your welcome, please call again.”  said the pleasant voice of the automated vehicle.

Julia stepped away from the car and it left.

The half mile walk from the gate to the cabin was hot and uncomfortable.  She didn’t have the right shoes or bags to be traipsing around in the foothills.  However, it was where she was and it was where she was going to stay until she could sort out what to do next.  

Julia finally made it to the cabin and dumped her stuff on the front porch and walked the six paces to the hand pump that pulled cold water from the well below.  She started pumping and when water spilled down the spicket she put her head under it.  It was a bit of a shock, but a well known and welcomed shock as the cold water splashed over her head and down her back.  

Julia stood up quickly and flung her short hair back over so most of the water would go with it.  She then looked out over the meadow at the majesty of Mt Rainier.  Slowly her gaze moved down the mountain and onto the dark forested foothills.  As she moved from the foothills of the mountains to the hills around the cabin she saw the telltale signs that things were not perfect.  There were dead trees speckled into the dark forest.  Thousands of dead trees and with every passing year there were more.  Over the last decade the Evergreen territories was turning brown.  

“Standing firewood.”  Julia heard the words of her great grandfather Alan Scott. Her great grandfather lived to be 96 years old.  He loved spending time here at the cabin.  Said that he had had enough of people during the dark days after things fell apart.  Too much time with people that complained or simply tried to derail the efforts of the first council.  By the time Alan was in his seventies he quit trying to convince the people and the elders that they had to find a way to fix their piece of the world or it would die.  Most just wanted to do what they were doing and get as much for themselves as they could.  

I could hear his words over the crowd, “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is the definition of insanity.”  he would pause slightly and continue. “We must be different.  Use what we have learned to keep life in balance.  All Life.”

Julia looked back to the mountain. “Well Gramps, you said they would come and they did, but I’m…. not.”  Julia stopped, sat down on the step and cried. Deep sobbing cries.  

Next Chapter

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As you know this blog contains two books of the Remnant Series. Graham Heights is book 3 of the series. Below is more.

Book 4: Obsidian Arrows

Book 1 is now available in paperback or kindle The Grey Abyss

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Thank-you
R. A. Legg

Learn about the individual heroes of Graham Heights. 

R.A. Legg © 2016. All Rights Reserved.