24. GONE FOR GOOD?

 

 

I like magic! Early next morning I was dreaming. That is, I believed I was dreaming. As on the previous days, some early morning birds were chirping so I am not sure. When I turned around in bed, the small box was there once again. Nothing rattled inside. I opened the box. There were some sheets of paper. I wanted to read chapter 24.

24. GONE FOR GOOD?

It was morning in the end of September. The mist was lingering in the fields.

-          Where are we, Jill muttered. – It is freezing cold.

-          Do you remember the thunder bolt, and the time traveller who just disappeared, Jack said. If we wait and have patience, maybe he will come back?

-          Back from where, and back from when?

The mist gradually disappeared. Not very far away there was a small fire. Somebody enveloped in black clothes huddled nearby.

-          Do you see what I see, Jill asked. – It has to be the time traveller. Let us move.

And indeed it was.

-          There you are, he said. – I have waited for you. Things are not easy in the real world where the end is always the beginning of something new.

-          What do you mean, Jill felt she was compelled to ask.

-          When we parted last time, the Earth was pristine and looked like new. We are back there now, far into the future. The creature, which named itself homo sapiens, managed to destroy itself and much of life on the planet. By sheer luck this species had built a colony on another planet nearby and brought most of advanced technologies with them. From distance they observed the destruction of Earth, and knew they would never be able to return for thousands, and probably millions of years.

-          Yes, Jack said

-          I am the time traveller, and you have travelled with me in past and future times. Do you see the cobweb full of dewdrops glittering in the sun right here?

The time traveller’s eyes looked in direction of his index finger.

-          It was made yesterday. Spiders have made artworks like that for millions of years, and will go on almost forever. Spiders hunt their prey, and eat it to survive. Homo sapiens is very different. Our species acts as if survival is not important. There are no limits of what is important, but survival is not the real issue. As I am a time traveller, I will show you the tapestry of time. Watch out now.

From somewhere in space, they saw the Earth moving like a greenish, bluish emerald against a background of black, dotted with stars and galaxies. Sometimes it changed to almost white in parts, then back to other colours. There were ribbons of light in some places during night. Suddenly the Earth was enveloped in black smoke, and nothing was visible. The smoke disappeared, and so did the ribbons of light in nighttime.

-          What you see, is what happened long time ago.

-          Why, Jill asked.

-          Stalin’s dagger never really did disappear, and never will. Sorry to say, that is the legacy of homo sapiens. Enjoy that you are here. Now. Watch the cobweb and the glittering dewdrops. Then I bid you farewell. Forever.

End of chapter 24. Never to be continued.