The Tunnel - Part 18

Paris slowly recovered.  After a few days, he opened his eyes to see Atesta at his side.  He smiled and they kissed for the first time.  He said that he loved her and Atesta smiled.  Atesta told him that she would always be here for him and that her love for him will always protect him.

After a few days, the exodus to the new Calarrosa began.  First were the engineers armed with maps of the underground cave system in the planet.  Their mission was to begin building the water storage and pumping systems to lower the water levels in the planet.

After a few months, the fort and the meadows were visible.  It was time to start building a city.  For this, the architects and builders were sent to map out a fully sustainable city.  They chose a new site away from where Partica' shiny city was built.

The knowledge repository helped speed up many of the tasks.  The cube helped keep everybody heathy as they built their new world.  Farmers began to plant new fields and the rest of the people began to cross the portal for their final destination.

The green light was still there but fading fast.  They wondered who was still living in the planet.  Who was keeping that green light alive.

Finally, only Marcato, Paris, Lorca and Atesta were left in the old man's planet.  Atesta and Lorca were packing their few belongings and Atesta began to speak.  Lorca looked at her in the eyes and told her that he knew. Atesta asked him to come with them. That they could go get mother and make a new life in the new Calarrosa.  Atesta looked at Lorca and she knew the answer.  They hugged.  The legend says that they stood there, hugging, and whispering things in each others ears as they had always done.  To this date, nobody knows what was said.

When it was time to go, Lorca was there as he saw Marcato, Paris, and Atesta enter the portal to the new Calarrosa. Lorca reminded them that it was very important for them to find out the human life that still lights the new Calarrosa green.

And off they went.  Lorca felt a big void in his soul but he still felt that special connection with Atesta that transcends time and space.  He knew she was happy.  And he knew that they will see each other again someday.

THE END.

The Tunnel - Part 17

Tarania ran to help Paris who was badly injured.  She grabbed the repository and managed to get him back onto the floating platform and quickly headed back to the fort.

Marcato was waiting.  Nobody else was there except for Partica who was just sitting on the floor in one corner.  Everybody had successfully gone through the portal.

As they arrived, Tarania gave Marcato the cylinder and instructed him to put his hand on it so she give him access to it in case Paris died.  Marcato was more preoccupied about helping Paris but did so as instructed.

In that moment, Paris opened his eyes and tightly held Tarania's hand.  He thanked her for help. Tarania hugged him and with tears on her face quietly told him she was sorry for everything her people had done to his people.  She told Paris that she knew that he would be a good leader for his people as they built a better world somewhere else.

Marcato lifted Paris in his arms.  Paris would not let go of Tarania and asked Tarania to come with them and to let the portal decide whether she was true and ready to love again.  Tarania was allowed to go through the portal. And, Partica was left alone in the world it helped destroy.

As Marcato, Paris, and Tarania arrived to the old man's world, they were greeted by Lorca and Atesta.  Atesta alarmed ran to see why Paris was in Marcato's arms. He was unconscious. Marcato and Tarania explained what had happened.  Atesta asked Marcato to follow her to the tower room.  Once there, Marcato lowered Paris onto the bed in the center of the room and Atesta put the cube on Paris' chest, as she had done with Lorca before.  Atesta sat on the floor next next to Paris' bed, held his hand, and waited.

She remembered what Lorca had said about the meaning of life and how understanding the things that you were willing to live or die for was a way to center yourself on the things that really matter.

Lorca had said that this force, this feeling to give it all for others, was love and that love was the primordial force that drives the universe in the direction it was created for.

Love will eventually conquer all.  Humans vibrate and resonate with the universe when they are true to this force, when they listen to it, and when they let it guide their actions.

As she sat at Paris' bedside, Atesta thought about her feelings for Paris.  She had never felt what she was feeling at that moment.  She asked herself if she was willing to do anything for him.  Even die.  She then realized that this was it, that she loved him with all her heart.  And, at that very instance, she realized that the universe was quiet and at peace for a moment.

Lorca was looking at Atesta and Paris from the other side of the room.  He understood that the universe had managed to connect two souls that needed to be together to further its mission.  Lorca knew that soon he would have to say goodbye to Atesta as she embarked on her own quest to find her place in this vast universe, with Paris.

Lorca felt tears in his eyes, and smiled.

TO BE CONTINUED ...

The Tunnel - Part 16

After hearing that somebody was not able to enter the portal, Marcato and Paris ran to the beginning of the line.  There they found an old woman with ahead covering but with the same yellow jumpsuit as all the underground people.

They moved her to another part of the fort and began questioning her.  She said her name was Tarania and she confessed that she was one of Partica's council members.  She told the story of what had happened after Partica's people ran out through the back hatch in the underground bunker.

After a long tunnel, all 100 of them found themselves at the foot the orange mountain ranges that lined the horizon around the shiny city.  Partica had built a secret summer retreat half way up one the hills so we all went there to plan our next move.

After everybody settled in the myriad of rooms in the retreat, we all assembled in the central patio.  The retreat looked like a combination of a buddhist temple, roman summer house, and a Mexican hacienda.  It was built all around a great central court with fountains and gardens with a nice covered porch in front of all the rooms.  There were probable around 50 rooms all around.

Partica told the people assembled there that priority one was to recover the cube that the newly arrived girl had brought back with her.  We quietly understood that without it Partica will soon be loosing his power to control all of us.  In fact, secretly, many of us wished that the cube was never found so we could end Partica's reign.  That is, until something strange started happening.

We all started to notice that everybody around us was beginning to age noticeably.  We have been without access to the cube in its healing and regenerative powers for more than a month now.  This is when things began to unravel.

Partica lost control.  The guards stopped taking orders, dropped their weapons, and the infighting began.  Some wanted to try to defend and save the city from the flood, others wanted try to reach the fort and the portal to escape with the underground people, others were so angry that all they wanted was to recapture the underground people and force them again to work to get Calarrosa working like before, others simply began to cry and pray.

Tarania knew that was not going to end well so she decided to escape quietly through one of the windows of the retreat.  She told them that she had decided to join the resistance in any way she could as her last act of goodness in this world. She knew she would die soon.

Marcato and Paris looked at each other wondering if she was telling the truth. So, they asked her if anybody else followed her.  As she was saying no, Marcato's men shouted again that there was another portal rejection.  It was Partica.

When Marcato met with Partica, he could not believe what he was seeing.  A very hold human being, hunched over, with a cane, barely able to walk.  Immediately, upon entering his mind was telepathically filled with a plea for mercy.  Partica was begging for access to the cube to survive.  Marcato calmly explained the cube was no longer in Calarrosa and that the portal would not allow sentient beings with low vibrations pass through and that there was nothing he could do.

Even after everything that had happened Marcato felt sorry for Partica.

As the flood water continued to rise, the underground people kept moving into the portal.  As the last person went through, Tarania said to Marcato that before they left, they should take the royal repository of their people's knowledge.  This repository contained all of the accumulated scientific, engineering, astronomical, and medical knowledge from thousands of years.  This should help them restart a new civilization somewhere else.

As the flood waters began to enter the portal room in the fort, Marcato asked where this repository was. Tarania said that it was in a vault at the top of the tallest spire in the city and that she would take him there.  Marcato asked Paris to take Tarania on a flying platform back to the city to try to bring the repository back.

As Paris and Tarania arrived to the city, they could see how the water outside and inside the city was now at the same level.  The surrounding wall was not visible anymore.  You could only see the tips of the tallest buildings rising above the water. Nothing was moving or alive.  An eerie view.

So, they docked at the spire and went inside.  Tarania took Paris to a vault in the main room and put her hand on a panel to be scanned.  The vault opened and inside, on a pedestal, was a silver cylinder with blinking lights all around.  Paris asked Tarania how they would access the knowledge inside.  Tarania told Paris that she would grant him master access to all of its contents and to put his hand on the cylinder.

Once Paris had access, Tarania explained that to navigate its contents, he would he would first touch it and then navigate through it with his mind.  He could also ask the cylinder to display the contents he selected to the outside for others to see.

As she finished explaining this, they heard the door to the main room close behind them.  They turned around and saw Partica's chief guard blocking the exit with a spear in his hand.  He called Tarania a traitor and called Paris an ungrateful peasant that should go back to where he came from.  And then he charged.

He struck Paris in his abdomen before Paris could fight him off and subdue him.  During the altercation, Tarania ran to the door and opened it yelling to Paris to hurry.

Paris was on the floor, not moving.

TO BE CONTINUED ... 

The Tunnel - Part 15

The old man was waiting at the other end of the portal when Paris and Atesta arrived.  He told them to follow him in an urgent tone.  They walked through halls, doors, passages, stairs, to a great round room in what felt like a tower.  The room had windows all around and you could see the sand dunes, palm trees, and the lake with the portal in it in the horizon.

In the middle of the room, there was a bed with Lorca in it and Marcato at the foot of the bed.  Lorca had been unconscious for a few days and slowly getting worse.  Atesta ran to her father, held his hand, and hugged him.  Marcato and Paris tell the story that Atesta whispered something in Lorca's ears and at that moment Lorca opened his eyes and smiled.

Atesta got the cube out of her satchel and placed it on Lorca's chest.  The cube starting glowing and pulsating.  It was like life energy was being summoned from the universe and funneled into Lorca's body.  For 2 days Atesta held her father's hand and whispered into his ears.  Slowly Lorca began to get better.

At the end of the 2 days, Lorca woke up and smiled.  With Atesta's help he stood up, turned around to face Marcato and Paris, who were sitting on one end of the room, and introduced Atesta, his daughter, and told them that now there were 2 of them to help lead their people's exodus.

The four of them started getting everything ready to get back to Calarrosa.  As they were sitting down for one last meal with the old man, the old man brought the 3 dimensional map of. the universe and showed them that the green light in the new Calarrosa was beginning to fade.  He reminded them that if the light disappeared the portal there will also close.

He explained that what is probably happening is that the last person on the planet is either old and dying or not well.  In any case, he estimated that they had no more than a week before the portal closed.

Marcato, Paris, Lorca, and Atesta thanked the old man and told him that they would be back soon to guide their people to the new world.

The old man wished them well and reminded them that only people vibrating closer to their true nature will be able to use the different portals and tunnels and to expect a few of their own people may have to be left behind.

This had never occurred to Marcato.

When they arrived at the fort in Calarrosa, the underground people were already lined up waiting for instructions on how to proceed.  Marcato pulled out a metal rod with an emblem at the end that looked like the one in Atesta's necklace.  Atesta wondered why.

Marcato explained that they needed to touch every person going through the portal with the rod.  The rod will create an indelible mark on each persons' forearm identifying them as settlers of the new Calarrosa.

So, the exodus began.  Lorca and Atesta went ahead leading the way.

Marcato and Paris were marking everybody as they entered the portal. Marcato was still thinking about what the old man said about those that may not be able to enter.  All of a sudden, it dawned on him that the only people that are likely to be rejected are Partica and Partica's people.  With Calarrosa being flooded and on its way to its original state, Partica would definitely try to sneak through to escape.

He summoned a few of his men to be prepared in case Partica and his people show up.

And then, one of Marcato's men shouted: we have a portal rejection!

TO BE CONTINUED ...

The Tunnel - Part 14

After a week, a small party of underground people came up from the caves to liberate Lorca.  They came in the middle of the night dressed in black body suits made of a special textile that absorb all light.  When in the dark, they were practically invisible.  Using their strange sticks with the glowing tips they managed to stun all the armed guards they touched in all of the floors.

Once Lorca was safely underground they began the execution of the plan to destabilize the planet.  The plan was called Operation Phoenix and it centered around leveraging the one thing the underground people controlled, the water.  So, the plan was to put explosives in strategic points to destroy the well engineered water management systems that had been built over many many years to cause the planet to flood again.

Lorca had explained to Marcato and his people about the portals and the 3 dimensional map and how he had found a new portal that connected to Calarrosa but 67 years in the future.  The planet showed "green" in the galactic map which means there were people living there.

The assumption was that if Operation Phoenix was successful, Partica would have lost control of Calarrosa and he would be nowhere to be found in 67 years.  But they did not know for sure if that would be the case.  But, that was the plan and that was all they had.  So, they would have to take the risk.

Operation Phoenix called for getting the planet back to its original state.  A world of water.  By stopping the underground systems the water would slowly rise and go over the wall surrounding the city.  This was the only option because the material the wall was built from, the smooth white stone, was practically indestructible.  Trying to destroy it with explosives was futile.  

Once water began going over the walls and the city began to flood, people in the city would seek shelter in the flood hatches around the wall.  Once in the shelters, the underground people would come up and commandeer all the available flying platforms to begin the mass exodus to the fort and to the future Calarrosa.  Guided by Lorca.

So this is how the rebellion started.  Coincidentally, Atesta arrived in Calarrosa a few days before.  With the cube.

Unfortunately, when the underground people went to start the rebellion by stopping the largest pump and generator in Calarrrosa, Partica's guards ambushed them and in the fight Lorca was hurt but not captured.  Marcato decided to take Lorca off-planet to keep Partica from capturing him.

All that Paris knew was that they took the portal in the fort and that Lorca needed help.  When Paris finished the story, he grabbed Atesta's hands, and while looking at her in the eyes fro a long time, he finally said that saving Lorca was now his mission too.

So, they entered the portal in the fort and left Calarrosa.  With the cube.

TO BE CONTINUED ...

The Tunnel - Part 13

Once away from Calarrosa, Lorca was able to retrace his steps back through the different tunnels and lakes and chambers and caves to his own world and back to Atesta.

Lorca got back into his village in the dark of night and went to Atesta bedside without anybody seeing him.  Lorca knew that while he was in Calarrosa time in his world had stopped so in this world he had only been gone for a couple of days.

Atesta was asleep.  Lorca held her hand and hugged her for a long time.  He told her that she was going to recover in a few days.  He also told her that he was not able to stay but that he would be back soon.  He told her that he loved her with all his heart, and that, regardless of what the future held, he would always take care of her.  He was not sure if she heard him.

Lorca knew that he had to get back to Calarrosa to carry out the liberation plan he and Marcato had carefully devised. Lorca was a critical component of the plan as he was the only one that knew how to navigate the portals across space and time.

The plan centered around the idea of getting all the underground people through the portal Lorca went through back to this his, 165 years in the future, and then take everybody to the next portal opening up to Calarrosa in the future.  He explained that the 3 dimensional map of the old man he met in the desert showed a new portal opening again to Calarrosa 67 years into the future.

The hope was that without the cube and with no water infrastructure to keep the land dry, Partica would not have been able to keep subjugating the people of Calarrosa into the future.

This way the underground people could rebuild a just and equitable society like the one they intended to build when they first arrived to Calarrosa many many years ago.

As he prepared to leave, Lorca decided to leave marks along his route in case something happened.  He knew that Atesta would be able to figure things out and follow the marks if things did not go as planned.

So, he put the cube in a wooden box that he started carving when he was a boy.  The box showed the paths that he and Atesta had explored together and also the exact location of the first tunnel. Then he decided to use the symbol in Atesta's necklace as a way to show her the way.  At the entrance of the first tunnel in the cave behind the waterfall and at the entrance of the different portals and chambers.

When Lorca finally made it back to Calarrosa, Partica's guards were waiting for him at the portal in the fort. They immediately grabbed him and took him to the tall building in the city where Partica was.  This was part of the plan.  This is how the underground people would know that Lorca was back in Calarrosa.

Partica was hysterical and wanted to know where the cube was.  Lorca said the cube was gone and in another world.  Partica threatened that he would destroy all the caves in the planet and all the people in them if Lorca did not bring the cube back.  Lorca explained that the cube was several worlds away and that the portals connecting these worlds only admitted humans vibrating at a certain level.

Lorca explained that humans that were closer to acting in accordance with the instructions built into their biology would vibrate at higher frequencies. These are humans using love as their prime directive and guiding principle for all of their actions. Because that is who humans were built to be.

On the other hand, humans that are constantly acting in conflict with their true nature would vibrate lower.  That is why Partica's guards could not follow him into the portal.  Lorca let Partica realize that he and his people would not be able get through the portals and go where the cube was so he devised a plan to bring the cube back to Calarrosa. And the key to his plan was Lorca.

Partica locked him up with no water or food in a cell that would go from excessive heat to freezing.  Now, it is known that this was the time when Atesta first felt that his father was in trouble and that he needed her.  This is when Atesta embarked on her quest to find her father.  With the cube in her satchel.

Unbeknown to Partica, the plan was working.  The cube was being brought back to Calarrosa.

TO BE CONTINUED ...

The Tunnel - Part 12

One day, right after midnight, when everybody had retired for the day.  Lorca took a floating platform and quietly flew to the cube building.  The cube building was a massive structure in the middle of the main park.  It was covered with thin sheets of gold foil and lit somehow which made it shine in a way that it looked like something worth worshiping.  The whole thing was an amazing sight to see.  A monument to power.  And, Partica controlled access to it completely.

The building was a perfect cube many stories high with no windows or openings of any sort, surrounded by a round moat, and covered by a sphere of what looked like glass to prevent floating platforms from getting close.  On one side of the cube, half way up one of the walls, there was the only visible feature of the building. A small round feature that looked like a stained glass window in the form of a beautiful eye.

Once there, Lorca pulled a disc that Marcato had given him out of his satchel.  The disc was made of the same material that most things in this planet were made of.  Nice and smooth.  This disc had been developed by Marcato's ancestors as a way to cross solid objects without having to carve tunnels.  The disc was instrumental in the early days to quickly explore the underground vastness of the planet as they tried to find large natural salt caves that could be used for directing the water from the surface of the planet.

Lorca put attached the disc to the glass sphere and tested it.  He tried to touch the disc but his hand went through it as expected.  He went through the disc and once inside the sphere and at the foot of the moat, he pulled a short thin rope from his satchel that Marcato had also given him.  The rope was no longer than the length of his arm and it was very light and made of what looked like shinny rubber.

The rope had small cylinders attached to both ends.  When the cylinders were pressed, a light beam would show, and a second later the cylinder would fly to wherever the light was pointing.  The rope between the cylinders would stretch regardless of how far the cylinders were.

Lorca aimed the light beam of one cylinder to the floor and got that cylinder attached.  He aimed the light beam of the other to the stained glass eye across the mote and the cylinder did its thing.  Once the rope was in place he went up.

Lorca got the disc out again and attached it to the eye and Lorca went through it into the golden building were the cube was.  What he did not expect was that inside the building there were a number of motion sensors that triggered an alarm that reverberated throughout the whole city.

At that moment, the city lit up.  Lorca ran into the chamber where the cube was.  He later told us that the cube was suspended inside a floating sphere of water that was kept in place with a gravity field that came from somewhere.  He thought it was the cube itself because when he stuck his hand in the water sphere and took the cube out, the water sphere came crashing to the floor.

He knew time was of the essence and that the guards will be there any minute so he ran out the building, down the rope, out of the sphere, and onto his floating platform.  He glanced around and saw a swarm of platforms full of guards approaching from all directions.

He flew on the flying platform he had as fast as he could towards the fort. He knew Atesta's life depended on him being able to leave this world with the cube.  Lorca knew that he was ready to do anything that needed to be done to save her.  He wondered if Atesta felt his love across worlds and dimensions at that very moment.

As he arrived at the fort and as he was getting into the portal, the guards stormed the fort and barely missed him. For some unknown reason at the time, the portal refused to let the guards in to follow him.

Partica was livid that he had lost his most precious possession and the source of his power and control over Calarrosa.  Partica also knew that Lorca would eventually come back.  He knew that it was in Lorca's nature to help people especially those suffering like the underground people under his control.

TO BE CONTINUED ...

The Tunnel - Part 11

On the way to the fort, Paris continued explaining to Atesta that when Lorca arrived he found one of our tunnels right outside the fort.  So, he ventured underground and finally some of our people found him..  At first we thought he was one of Partica's people but quickly realized he was not from this world.

Marcato, the leader of the underground people, met with Lorca and he explained where he was from and why he was here.  He told him about the legend the curanderos had told him about a thing that had healing powers and how he was searching for it to save his daughter who was very ill.  Paris said that he remembered very well how his face lighted up and how he smiled time he talked about Atesta.  How the room seemed to fill with good energy.  He also said how talking about Atesta would also amplify his suffering.

Paris said that this was his first encounter with what the true meaning of life was.  Paris asked Lorca why he was risking his life in this quest and putting himself in such danger.  Lorca asked Paris if he knew what the meaning of life was.  Paris said no.

Lorca explained that finding out what life was about was as simple as asking oneself who he was willing to die for and who he was willing to live for.  He said that he was always surprised how amazingly simple the answer to those questions was.  How it always came back to the people he loved.  Lorca told Paris that love boils down to wanting the best for somebody else without expecting anything in return.  He said that life is just a long long journey to learn how to love.

While recounting this story to Atesta.  Paris realized that there was a new person he was willing to die and live for, Atesta.  He smiled and quietly thanked Lorca.

Paris continued with the story.

At the time, Marcato explained to Lorca that there was in fact a cube but it was in the hands of Partica, Calarrosa's despot tyrant.  Marcato spent days getting Lorca up to speed on the history and situation of the planet.  One day, Lorca asked to see the council and told them about his plan.

He told the council that he was not only going to get the cube to save his daughter but he was also going to help liberate their people.  He talked through the details of the plan and the plan was put in motion.

The next day, Lorca left the tunnels and went back up to the fort, walked through the meadow towards the city just like Atesta had done.  He was eventually found and brought to meet Partica.  He very quickly became Partica's favorite advisor and counselor.  Partica specially enjoyed learning about Lorca's knowledge of things that were not known in Calarrossa.  Things like magnetic fields, compasses, maps, weather patterns, and many other things that he knew from observing the world where he was from.  Partica's citizens had no time to pay attention or notice these things.  Their life was a trouble free life.

Lorca never talked to Partica about Atesta and the true purpose of his quest.  For Partica, Lorca was just an adventurer with a bad case of wanderlust, and he respected and admired that.

Partica grew fond of Lorca and named him First Advisor to the Leader and asked him to sit in all the council meetings.  Eventually Lorca learned about the cube, where it was kept, who had access to it, the security measures in place, and how its healing powers were administered.

One day, once everything was in place, Lorca put his plan in motion.

TO BE CONTINUED ...

The Tunnel - Part 10

As soon as they were out of the dome, Atesta could not believe what she was seeing.  Water was coming over the top of the amazingly tall wall encircling this amazingly beautiful city.  Water was pouring in like waterfalls.  If she did not know better, she would think it was a beautiful sight.

They boarded some of the floating platforms and floated up towards the tallest building in the city. She noticed that the usual traffic of floating platforms was nowhere to be seen.  It was like the city had been abandoned.  

Atesta looked over the walls and saw a world completely flooded.  In the distance, the fort where she arrived seemed to be floating in the water.  The only thing visible in a world covered with water all the way to the horizon.

Once they arrived at the building, the platforms docked on the side and the glass panels opened.  She had seen this before.  Inside, there was a lot of activity.  A lot or resistance people, with their dirty yellow jumpsuits, were moving things around and setting up what looked like dormitories, and kitchens, and infirmaries as people that looked tired, hurt, hungry, and blinded by the daylight kept pouring in from floating platforms docked all along the building.  Children too.

Atesta asked Marcato who this people were, where they were coming from, and if she could help somehow.  Marcato asked her if she could take care of the children while she went to coordinate the next phase of the assault.

Before he left, Atesta asked Marcato when she would see her father.  Marcato explained that her father had left this world on a very important mission for the resistance and that they were preparing to go there.  It will be soon.  Atesta again felt somehow that her father needed her.  She felt a tightness inside her that she had never felt before.  

She remembered the days back in her world when they would explore her world and write their sightings and learnings in their map.  When they would just sit there, enjoy nature, and just talk about things.  It all seemed like a lifetime ago.  She missed those days in the village with mother making everything feel good and safe.  The village traditions.  The festivals.

Atesta got busy making sure the children were looked after.  Some were injured, some were hungry, some were scared.  But most of all, they could not stop looking outside the windows to the vastness outside.  To the gleaming city with its amazing wall around it and the vast ocean outside the walls.  

Atesta met a boy that seemed to be her same age.  He was also helping take care of the children.  When the boy looked at her, he stopped what he was doing and asked her who she was. Atesta introduced herself and the boy told her his name was Paris. Atesta told him that she was not from this world and that she was here to find her father.  

All of a sudden, the boy realized she was Lorca's daughter.  He approached her, and he hugged her, and he thanked her for everything, and he told her not to worry that they were going to find him. Paris also told her that he was pledging to her that he would do anything in his power to get him back, even if it was the last thing he did. He told her that thanks to him, he finally understood the meaning of life.

Atesta started to cry.   She knew what he meant.

After getting the children settled, fed, and mended, Paris and Atesta sat down to talk more.  Paris told her that in his world in the caves light was scarce and artificially generated, and that the biggest cave was only the size of this room.  Throughout the years the people living in the caves had developed a functioning society.  They had carved an underground city with rooms and passages everywhere.  They had built schools, food halls, kitchens, dormitories, all connected with tunnels going up and down.  With the electricity they generated with the water coming down from the surface and into the caves, they also developed farms that grew crops with artificial light.  The plants' photosynthesis helped purify the air.

Atesta asked Paris how it was that they ended up living in the caves when there was such a beautiful world and city on the surface. Paris explained that it all started when they arrived on the planet.  At first, people would rotate working in the caves to lower the water levels so they could build a city.  After a few years, the water had receded far enough that meadows began to appear and the building of the city began.

During those time, while working in the caves, my father discovered the cube and its healing and energy powers.  The cube became a shared resource for all to use when needed.  However, when the plague hit Calarrosa, Partica, who was the elected leader at the time, became obsessed with the idea of using the healing powers of the cube to take over society.  By controlling who got access to the healing powers of the cube, he demanded onerous taxes from people.  

When the people began to revolt, he sealed the caves with 90,000 people inside and turned them into a prison. The people in the city became Partica's accomplices and enablers.  They turned a blind eye to what he was doing as long as they had access to all the riches of the planet and the healing powers of the cube.  Today, there are only 1,432 of us but we are strong and we have a plan thanks to your father. 

Paris turned around when he heard a loud sound outside.  The walls encircling the city were finally collapsing and water was flooding the streets.  Paris turned around and told Atesta that they do not have a lot of time and they needed to leave now before the portal closed.

Paris and Atesta took a floating platform and headed towards the fort in the horizon.  Now completely surrounded by water.

TO BE CONTINUED ...

The Tunnel - Part 9

In that moment, a big rumbling was felt outside the hatch, like an earthquake.  Atesta could not tell whether the people inside the dome were scared, or simply surprised, but it was certainly something that she had not seen in them before because everybody turned to look at it.

Atesta asked Partica what that rumbling was.  Partica ignored the question and asked Atesta again where the cube was.  This time with a more menacing tone as Partica stood up and began to approach Atesta.

Atesta finally understood that the cube was the key to finding her father.  There was something about the cube that was extremely important to Partica.  Desperation crossed Atesta's mind.  So, Atesta responded by saying that the cube was in a safe place and that she would be happy to give it to Partica but first Partica needed to help her find her father.

As she was telling this thought to Partica, one of the guards came running and yelling that Level 2 evacuation was now being carried out and immediately led Partica to a very small hatch in the back of the dome where all the people were now squeezing through.  Partica instructed the guard to grab Atesta and forcefully lead her to the small hatch.  She was coming with them.

Atesta was the last one in line waiting to get through the hatch.  The guard strongly holding her by the arm.  The noise and vibrations at the front gate were getting louder when all of a sudden the main hatch exploded and crashed open.

She turned around and saw people coming in.  Strangely, water was also rushing in at their feet.  Could it be that the water had gone over the city wall and the city was now flooded?  Atesta was wondering who these people were and where they came from.  She noticed that they looked different than anybody she had met in Calarrosa.  They were all tall and strong, with long dark hair, the men with long dark beards, they were dirty, and they were all wearing dirty yellow jumpsuits.  Atesta also noticed that they were all armed with something that looked like weapons made of a strange shinny metal with red glowing tips.

The leader of the armed group ran to the back of the dome and grabbed Atesta by the hand before she was she was pushed through the small hatch.  He pulled her hard enough to break the guard's grip.  The guard startled hurried through the hatch and closed it behind him leaving Atesta with the armed invaders.

Atesta did not know if she had been rescued or if she was being taken prisoner by a group of savages.  Before she could say anything, the person holding her hand told her not to worry and that her father had sent him here.

He introduced himself as Marcato, the leader of the resistance, and explained that she was in grave danger and that her father was in a safe place, for now.

Atesta had a thousand questions but before she could ask any of them, Marcato quickly explained that Partica was a despot ruler that had enslaved most of Calarrossa's population shortly after they arrived to the planet with the help of the cube.  He explained that Partica was 20,000 years old when the average life span for people here is only 500 years.  The cube had allowed Partica to literally become immortal. And by holding on and administering the healing powers of the cube only to those that did his bidding he has been able to maintain control.

Marcato explained that not long ago, the salt caves began to fill up with water and Partica started forcing people to go down into the caves to drill additional holes and wells to prevent the planet from being covered in water again.  With time, those people down there were forced to work around the clock, hungry, prisoners, and unable to visit their loved ones on the surface. It was then that the resistance was born.

Another explosion outside interrupted and startled Marcato. The water coming into the dome from the main hatch began to pour in faster. It was up to their knees now.  Marcato motion to his people that it was time to leave and told Atesta that they can continue their conversation once they were in a safe place.

Before leaving, Atesta stopped Marcato and asked if her father was safe, Marcato said, no.

TO BE CONTINUED ...

The Tunnel - Part 8

The sky was a strange color of pink.  Atesta figured this is what nights looked like in Calarrosa.  She also saw the sky reflected in what looked like a mirror extending outward from the walls of the city all the way to the mountains far in the horizon.  It was water.  And it was rising.

She saw people all over the city moving towards the base of the wall and entering what looked hatches that led underground.  At that moment, she saw the same guard that greeted her the day before float up to the window in his floating platform.  The window opened and she asked her to step out.  His voice had a sense of urgency that worried her.  She asked what was going on.

He said he would explain on the way to the underground shelters but that they needed to go now.

As they floated out to the farthest part of the wall he explained that this planet was once totally underwater.  When the first inhabitants arrived from Aztlan, they set out to create some land to rebuild their culture.  Aztlan was a far away world that was slowly destroyed by overpopulation.  When the people their went over the resource exploitation tipping point, things unraveled quickly.  The story says that in the period of 1 year, Aztlan became a barren, uninhabitable planet devoid of life.

It is still not understood why or how but during that year a portal opened between Aztlan and Calarrosa. So the exodus began.  This was 23,000 years ago.  At first a group of scientists and engineers arrived to figure out how to create land for the people from Aztlan which would be arriving in 1 year's time.  Eventually, after careful geological exploration, they discovered a network of deep salt caves that could hold huge amounts of water.  So they created these gates that would connect the surface to these caves to begin to funnel some of the surface water underground.  They also thought, clever as they were, that this would be like a waterfall so they installed massive underground electric generators to power their future city without any pollution.

The guard explained that when the migration started, the engineers and scientists had managed to clear about 1% of the surface of Calarrosa, which is the land you see today.  All 100,000 people from Aztlan arrived and came through the same fort in the middle of the meadow where Atesta had arrived.  What they saw was hard to believe.  A world that was so beautiful, with beautiful meadows, nascent vegetation and flowers, beautiful and colorful mountains, that from that point forward they vowed to take care and protect like they had never done before.  This nature-protectionist mantra became part of who they became and who they are now.

They finally arrived at one of the hatches at the foot of the massive wall encircling the city.  They opened it, went in, and closed it behind them.  It was a well appointed room in the shape of a half-sphere, shiny and made out of the same material as the wall.  No seems.  Just smooth.

Inside Atesta saw about 100 people.  As soon as they entered the room, the most beautiful being she had ever seen began walking towards her.  Atesta was unable to determine if this being was a man or a woman but the being was smiling and its presence was calming and reassuring.  Atesta found herself strangely drawn and somehow implicitly trusting it.

The being was tall and its turban and caftan where beautifully embroidered.  A coat of arms with an arm holding 3 arrows was in the front of the turban and a larger one in the back of the flowing caftan that went all the way to the floor.

The being welcomed Atesta to Calarrossa, introduced itself as Partica, and apologized for the present circumstances and emergency they were under.  Atesta noticed that Partica had not opened its mouth or move its lips to communicate this.  It was communicating directly into Atesta's mind and it was as clear and indistinguishable as real speech. It was disconcerting at first.

Partica asked Atesta to follow.  They went to a small drawing room in the back of the dome so they could talk.  Partica asked Atesta if she was hungry as Partica began pouring what looked like tea into cups that seemed to be made of the same smooth material as everything else in Calaroosa.

Once situated, Partica asked Atesta if she could tell her story.  Where she was from, what her world was like, about her family, why she left, about her journey, how she had arrived here, and, most importantly, why she was here in Calarrosa.  Atesta did not understand why she felt she could share everything so she told Partica everything.  She could not resist. Partica's presence extended into her being and permeated it with this feeling of trust and familiarity that Atesta found strange at times but could not explain why.

Once Atesta finished, Partica asked her were the cube was.  Atesta found the question strange, too direct.  Of all the things Partica could have asked, why was the cube so important.  So she asked before answering.

Partica explained that this cube belonged to Calarrosa, and more specifically, to Partica, and that her father had stolen it.

All of a sudden, Partica's expression changed.  Atesta felt the anger, and all of a sudden, she knew she was not supposed to be there.

TO BE CONTINUED ...

The Tunnel - Part 7

Once inside the temple, Atesta found herself in a dark room with stars all around her. It was so beautiful.  At first she thought she was floating, but she was able to walk.  The room seemed to have no walls because she walked for a while and nothing in the room changed.

She did not know what to do next. She sat down to think and to observe.  She looked for a sign from her father but there was nothing in the room but open space and stars far far away.  She pulled the cube from her sack and opened it to see if there was a clue there but the ball inside was dark.  She thought about the old man's map trying to remember any patterns to no avail.  She did notice that it looked like she was inside the old man's model of the universe.  She wondered if the old man's hand gestures would work here.  She stood up and tried.

First she moved her right hand from her heart outwards and the stars began to move around.  Then she tried her left hand and time began to move backwards. Now she needed to figure out how to find the portal connecting this world to Calarrossa.

She was trying to remember the old man's hand movements so she swiped right with her right hand and her hand closed, then she opened her hand and made a circle in the air clockwise, she then moved her hand forward as she closed her hand and made the tips of her fingers touch.

With these movements she repositioned the stars in a way that this world and Calarrossa where in front her and in front of each other.  One large and the other very small and very far away.  

With her left hand she began doing a downward zig zag in the air and things began to go back in time.  She slowed the movement to slow the passage of time and then, all of a sudden, there it was, the bright portal connecting the two worlds showed up.  With her right hand, still in the air, she open her fingers to bring the entrance to the portal closer to her until she was standing right at the entrance.

The entrance to the portal reminded her of what she saw at the waterfall, back when she started her journey, when the sun went through the water at dusk and revealed the tunnel. 

So, as soon she stepped in the portal, she felt very light and she could no longer see her body.  All she could see was Calarrossa approaching.  After a few minutes, she was at the other end of the portal standing in Calarrossa in what looked like a stone fort in the middle of a beautiful and very green meadow.

There was nobody around. She went outside the fort and saw a pristine and beautiful world.  The colors were like in her world but more vibrant and full.  There were also strange things in this world.  For example, the trees had two trunks and formed arches, all the flowers seemed to grow in pairs and their colors were very unique and surreal, the mountains in the horizon were orange and purple, the sky was a beautiful deep blue with three large moons of different colors, and then, she saw it. A shinny city far away next to the mountains.

Atesta could see that it was a beautiful, gleaming city with tall shinny buildings. However, strangely, she noticed that she did not have the sense of foreboding about her father anymore.  She felt uneasy about that.  She knew it was probably not a good sign.  So she hurried and began to walk towards the city.

As she approached the city, she noticed that there was a very tall wall around it with people walking on top of it.  The tall seemed to be made of one solid piece of something like concrete or metal or plastic.  It came out the ground and curved upwards. There were no marks on it or seams or anything. Just a smooth surface, impossible to climb or escalate, going up at least 10 stories.

As she approached the people on top of the wall noticed her and started pointing.  More and more people gathered until finally somebody in what seemed like a uniform stepped into what looked like a platform with a hand rail and floated over the wall and down to were Atesta was.  Atesta was mesmerized by the vehicle, the beautiful clothes the guards wearing and his tall, elegant and regal demeanor.

She was wondering if they spoke the same language.  The guard ask her who she was, where she came from, and why she was here and she was able to understand.  She thought of the ring she was still wearing.

Atesta told him her name, that she was a traveler from another world on a special mission.  She did not feel comfortable yet revealing what her mission was in case her father was in trouble.  She figured that her father would have done anything to secure the cube to save her.

Atesta added that she was hungry, thirsty, and tired and asked if they could help her.  The guard instructed Atesta to step on the platform and floated up and over the wall.  As they went up, she could see, in the distance, the fort in the meadow and, strangely, a very faint beam of light emanating from the top straight into the sky.  It was the portal.

As they came up over the wall, she saw incredible things.  She saw a very technologically advanced society with people everywhere floating in platforms like the one she was on going from building to building, parks with families playing, with no pollution, or garbage, and everything was pristine.

The guard took her to the tallest building of all. A building that looked like a tall needle with a spire on top.  They approached the middle of the structure and one of the glass panels opened up.  The guard told her that this is were she would stay while she was in Calarrossa and that the ruler of the planet would like to meet her tomorrow morning.  He said he would be back in the morning to get her there.  Before she could ask any questions, the guard vanished in front of her eyes.

She turned around and looked at her accommodations.  There was food, water, a closet full of clothes, a beautiful bed, a big bathroom, and a view of the city like she had never seen before.  She could now understand why a thing like the cube and its healing properties could have come from a place like this.  They certainly were technologically advanced.

She ate, bathed, and put some clean clothes.  It was hard to pick because they were all so beautiful.  Strangely they all fit her perfectly.  She chose a soft gown that went to the floor and she fell asleep almost immediately as soon as he touched the bed as the day was becoming night.

A few hours later, a massive explosion in the middle of the night woke her up.  She ran to the window and what she saw outside the walls frightened her.

TO BE CONTINUED ...

The Tunnel - Part 6

What Atesta saw was a 3-dimensional model of the universe but with a dimension of time added to ti.  The old man was able, with his right hand, move around the model.  Up, down, right, left, in, out, around, and over.  With his left hand he was able to move time backwards and forwards.  What she saw was hard to comprehend at first.

In certain areas of the universe, at a certain level of detail, and at certain times, Atesta would see colorful and bright lines connecting worlds appear and disappear. She also noticed that some of the planets in some solar systems where blue and others green.  The old man explained that blue planets had developed life but only the green ones had developed human-based intelligence.  He showed her that today there were only 13 green planets, but when he moved the time back 100,000 years, the green planets dwindled down to only one, but if he kept going backwards another 100,000 years, the grew into the hundreds.

Atesta asked what had happened for the green worlds of old to vanish and for only one to survive.  The old man said he was not sure but he had heard from travelers legends that talked about some sort of event that prevented life from replicating in all those worlds so they died down slowly.  Except for this one planet, Calarrossa.

Atesta asked the old man if it was possible to travel to any of these worlds at different points in time. He explained that traveling was only possible one of two ways.  The first was at the precise time when the bright lines connecting different worlds appeared and the second was to transport our consciousness to a compatible being in those worlds temporarily.

He explained that the former option is straightforward but that it could take years for a portal to open between the right 2 worlds.  The latter option could be done anytime but it was more challenging.  Under this option, the traveller would have to arrive in the right partner and that was as of yet a random and yet unexplained process.  Compatibility with the host is critical if the host is to join and help the visitor with whatever the visitor was there to do.

He had heard of instances were the transfer was so fought with incompatibilities that it resulted in the death of both the host and the visitor.  This option is not be taken lightly.

And now, Atesta was ready for the big questions.  She asked the old man that if her father was in Calarrossa, how did he get there? And, more importantly, was it in in this time period or sometime in the past?

The old man said he did not know.  He showed her father that there was a portal that opened and closed between this world and Calarrossa about 175 years ago.  He also showed him what it takes to do a conciseness transfer in the present time.  The old man said he did not know which option he chose and that he has not seen him ever since he left.

Atesta knew she would probably had to try both, but which should she do first.  Going back to Calarrossa 175 years ago seems safer but also risky because we do not know if the cube had already been developed.  The consciousness transfer seemed riskier, the cube was definitely there, but what if the transfer went wrong.

Atesta's father had taught her how to build decision trees when they found themselves exploring areas or caves back home that they had never been to before.  Decision trees that documented possible outcomes at specific events with their probability for success.  Multi-level trees always helped them clarify what the best decision was in complex situations.  She knew her father had approached this decision this way.

The key decision the tree had to help her clarify was whether to go back 175 years or go now.  The key variables were whether the cube would be there, whether ability to return was there, the possibility of danger and of a hostile environment, the timing because at the time Atesta was dying.

She knew her father has done the same thing.  Going back 175 years and returning in case the cube wasn't there to try the consciousness transfer seemed the safer thing to do.  A consciousness transfer may not give her the chance to come back and try the other option.  The first option also had a great advantage.  The time in this timeline would stop until she came back.  She knew this was key for her father's decision.

So, she decided to go back through the portal first and she asked the old man how she could do this.  The old man and Atesta set out on foot towards the sand dunes.  On the other side of the first dune, the old man pointed to a structure in the distance in the form of a temple.  It had spires that went up into the sky from every corner and a bigger one from the top of the cupola.

The old man told her that this was as far as he could go and gave her a sack with some food, water, and her cube.  And with sadness in his face, he touched Atesta's forehead and said something she could not understand.  Atesta hugged him and headed down the dune towards the temple.

As she approached the temple, she noticed that there were no doors or windows.  It was a solid structure the color of sand.  She walked around it and on one of the walls she saw a carving in the stone that caught her attention.  It was her father's carving.  She knew what to do.  She walked through the wall right through the carving.

TO BE CONTINUED ...

The Tunnel - Part 5

Atesta stared at the book for a while.  She then got her cube out of her sack and opened it.  The ball inside was began pulsating at the same speed, color, and intensity as the book, in perfect synchrony. The old man was smiling.  He knew he had found her.

She opened the book, and realized the book did not have any pages.  It was more like a box in the shape of a book. As soon as she opened the glass cover, the wooden cube next to her began to float in the air and before she could do anything, the cube moved into the cavity inside the book disappearing completely.  A moment later a ring floated out of the book.  The old man instructed her to put it on.

At that moment, the old man began to explain that he had been waiting for her for a long time.  Atesta was startled because all of a sudden she was able to understand him.  He also said, he had met her father when he came through here a few years ago.

The old man explained to Atesta that the book had been in his family for generations.  Nobody really knew how far back but his family's job from time immemorial was to help travelers coming through the portal in the water and to help them with their quests.

Over the years, he had been fortunate to meet a lot of travelers coming from all over the galaxy searching for all kinds of things.  Some were looking for fortune, others for love, and others for great adventure.  But at the end, he was only able to help those that were doing something out of selfless love for somebody else.  They were the only ones able to open the book and wear the ring.  For the others, he was only able to provide some food and shelter for a few days before they set off to continue their search for whatever they were searching.

Atesta asked the old man if he knew where his father was.  She explained where she came from, how she fell gravely ill, and how her father set out to find a cure after the curandero in town had relay a story passed on from his grandfather about a thing in a far way land that could cure her.

She also told him that she now felt somehow that her father was in trouble and that she was here to find him and to bringing home.  The old man told her that he also felt that her father was in grave danger.

The old man got up and told Atesta that soon it will be dark and that they should go to his casbah to get some rest and that tomorrow they could talk about what they could do to find and help her father.

The next day, the old man was at the big table next to the fireplace where some food was already waiting for her.  The old man was bent over an unfolded old map.  She asked him what the map was.

He explained that over generations his family had been documenting the different worlds the travelers came from in this galactic and inter-dimensional map.  Even though all the travelers were human, his family had developed a system to classify the worlds they came from and their subtle differences.

The system had been used over millennia and it relied on very methodical and structured conversations with the travelers.  These conversations, with those that they had been able to secure a ring from the book, would cover things like language structure, physiology and cognitive development, cultural and societal developments, technological advancements, architectural preferences, biodiversity in their worlds, physical characteristics of their worlds like weather, geography, natural phenomena, and if the time allowed it, they would discuss their history as well.  With all this information they developed a classification method and discovered that all these travelers came from only 13 different worlds.  What was interesting is that they discovered that there were 3 distinct trees-of-life.  Three independent biological beginnings that, over time, had mixed and populated all 13 worlds. They had discovered where 2 of those trees-of-life started but have been unable to find the origins of the third. This was the old man's quest.

The old man told Atesta that he thought his father was not in this world.  He thought Atesta's father was in world number 7.  A world their people called Calarrossa. A world that had achieved remarkable advances in science and technology but that remain oppressed in a feudal system with one ruler that had ruled the entire world for 1000 years.

Atesta asked why he thought her father was there.  The old man told her that he told her father about the stories he had heard about the cube and its amazing healing properties.  He also told him about how there was only one cube in all of Calarrossa and it was well protected.  He told him that the cube was developed by the best scientists there and that once the cube was finalized, Caslo, the dictator and ruler in Calarrossa, had imprisoned them all to keep the cube secret for himself.  A way for him to rule Calarrossa forever and to retain power over his world.

Atesta told the old man that she needed to go there and asked if he could help her.  The old man wanted to show her something on the map so he asked her to come closer.  What she saw fundamentally changed her understanding of how the universe worked.

TO BE CONTINUED ...

The Tunnel - Part 4

The next morning, Atesta woke up and looked around the well lit chamber that she discovered the night before.  The ceiling was very high, with intricate carvings, and in the shape of a dome.  The chamber was round and the walls also had intricate drawings, including doors and windows with incredibly realistic nature scenes, but they were all just paintings.

She grabbed some of the sand from the floor and opened her hand to take a closer look and something very strange happened.  The sand started to float up, grain by grain, from her hand towards the top of the dome.  

She stood up and noticed that more sand would now float up.  She also noticed that she felt lighter when standing up than when sitting.  It was like there was a gravitational pull from above that was not strong enough to pull her up but enough to make her feel lighter.

As she collected her things, she started to wonder where the sand that went up was going.  So, she grabbed more sand and threw it up in the air.  All of it would go up and converge in the zenith of the dome.  But there was no accumulation as far as she could tell.  It did not matter how much sand she would send upwards.  

She could not tell what was at the zenith but she began to wonder whether she would be able to break through the force that kept her down by jumping high enough.  She wanted to see the zenith and the carvings around it. 

After a few attempts, and after taking her shoes off and emptying her sack of everything but the cube, she finally succeeded.  At first it was like floating in mid-air but then she began to feel the acceleration upwards.  When she floated to the top, she had to put her hands up to avoid hitting the ceiling with her head.  

Once there, she turned around and sat down on the ceiling.  She was upside down but it did not feel like it.  If she looked up she could now see the sand floor and her things way below.  

She began studying the carvings in the dome when she noticed that at the very zenith, a familiar inlaid carving lay there, just like the one by the waterfall and in the amulet around her neck.  

She tried to touch the carving but, again, her hand just went through it.  It was there but it wasn't.

She pulled herself closer and forced her whole body though it without hesitation.  She knew this was the way.  She also knew that most likely she would not be able to come back.  But she did not mind, she felt she was getting closer to her father.  She also knew somehow that she needed to hurry.

As she went through the zenith, she found herself submerged in water not being able to breath.  She saw light above and swam straight up until she emerged over the surface of the water gasping for air.  

She looked around and realized she was floating in a sort of large water hole in what looked like an oasis in the middle of the desert, sand dunes and palm trees all around it.  She noticed a person, a fisherman, on the shore staring at her in awe.

She swam towards him.  Once at the shore, Atesta noticed the fisherman had a long beard and was unusually tall and skinny.  She could not tell how old he was but he had a calm demeanor that inspired trust. Atesta said hello and told him her name and that she was looking for her father.  The fisherman, still in awe and carefully observing her, replied in a language that Atesta did not understand.

The fisherman had trunk next to him with supplies and other things.  He dug out a blanket for Atesta to warm up, and some fish and rice for her to eat.  Sitting around a small fire they looked at each other in silence for a while.  Atesta knew this was somebody special but could not explain how she knew.

After she ate, the man went back to his trunk and pulled out a package from his bag and gave it to her.  It was a book with a hard cover made out of glass.  As soon as she touch it, the book started glowing and pulsating like a heart.

TO BE CONTINUED ...

The Tunnel - Part 3

Atesta was sitting at the edge of the pond that formed at the bottom of the big waterfall. The whole setting was very special.  A lava stream many years ago solidified at the top of the waterfall creating a suspended ledge. The waterfall seemed to jut into mid air and drop right in the center of the pond, covering a big short cave behind it like a crystal curtain. 

Atesta was sitting there trying to understand all of the coincidences that brought her to this point. A cube with lines and patterns that when applied to the map converged here. A ball inside the cube that only in this place shined the brightest and changed colors. An old entry from the map journal that she kept with her father that said that this is "where the water, the light, the sound, and the colors can form a mirror to the universe where you can see what you desire most.”

Atesta thought about it.  What does she desire most? That was easy, to get her father back. But, what is she supposed to do now that she is here. She stared at the waterfall as the sun set.  It was a beautiful setting that reminded her of the many times she and her father sat at this very spot to talk about things.

All of a sudden, as she watched the sun setting reflected in the waterfall, she was able to see a tunnel behind the water.  But she knew there was nothing behind the water that looked like that.  She got up and walked around the pond until she was behind the waterfall where the tunnel was supposed to be.  All she could see was a wall of rocks at the back of the cave.  But wait.  There was a carving inlaid in the stone. No bigger than the size of her hand.  It was the same carving in the amulet Atesta carried around her neck and the one inside the ball in the cube.

As she tried to touch it her hand went through the rocks as if there was nothing there.  She got closer and the wall was definitely there, but it wasn't there.  She tried it again and saw her entire hand and arm disappear.  She knew this a sign.  She knew this was the way.

She turned around and she saw the last glimpse of the sun as it fell below the horizon shinning through the waterfall, she could hear the birds.  She missed her mother. She tuned around and walked through the rock.

On the other side, she found herself in the tunnel that she had seen through the waterfall.  Behind her, a wall, a real, impenetrable wall, right where she just came through.  She knew there was no way back now. 

The tunnel had a natural glow to it.  A kind of blue like a full moon.  She walked for a few hours until she arrived at a chamber, deep in the mountain, with a tall cathedral vault and a floor made of sand.  She was tired. She stopped to eat something and fell asleep. 

TO BE CONTINUED ...

The Tunnel - Part 2

So, this is how the mysterious journey began.

After saying goodbye to Atesta, Atesta's father left the village that same day carrying only a small sack with some food and some water. He promised Atesta's mother that he would be back one way or another with the cure.

All that people remember now is that a few days after his departure, a small wooden cube with intricate carvings all around had shown up at the doorstep of Atesta's home. Inside there was a round ball that seemed to glow from within. Inside the ball, a small amulet could be seen. The amulet was in the shape of a bone carving that Atesta's father had made for her when she was 6 and that she still carried on a leather string around her neck.

They say that as soon as Atesta's mother brought the box into her room, she opened her eyes and reached out for the cube. She hugged the cube tightly for 2 days without waking up. And on the second day, she woke up, walked to her mother, hugged her, and told her she was better now.

Atesta has told people in the village that at the moment she felt the cube in the room, she felt her father's presence and also that she knew that he was alive somewhere.

Nobody really knew what had happened to Atesta's father or if he was still alive. It had been almost a year since he was seen leaving the village. Atesta knew he was still alive somehow but, recently, she also began feeling a worsening sensation that he was in trouble. She could not explain how she knew. All she knew is that she had to go help him.

For months, Atesta stared at the cube and whispered things into it as she ran her fingers through the intricate carvings on the outside. People thought that was strange but they wondered if the old bond somehow was transcending time and space.

The lines and patterns on the cube were becoming more and more familiar but Atesta did not know why. For months, she took long walks to all the special places she would visit with her father. The caves, the ponds, the creeks, the meadows. She would carry the cube everywhere she went.

Early on she noticed that the round ball inside the cube changed colors and intensity as she walked. It was brighter at the entrance of the caves, bluer when she was close to water, and redder when closer to the meadows. She started tracking and documenting the intensity and color on an old map that her father and her used to record the amazing things that they would see everyday in their walks.

This map was very special to her, and old. When Atesta was 4, her father gave her the map and told her that from this point forward they would record the most beautiful, meaningful, and special things they would see everyday day. But only one thing everyday. He had said that this was a way to better understand the one thing's magic and connection to the universe.

And this is how their bedtime ritual had started. Every night, at bedtime, Atesta and her father would review their day and select the one thing that deserved to be recorded in their map. It was like a diary of a journey of discoveries of the miracles of the world. As a result, they also learned a great deal about each other.

Today, as she looked at the map and some of the old entries, she realized that the lines documenting the ball's color and intensity began to resemble the patterns on the cube and, for the first time, she realized that many of the lines seemed to converge into one distinct area.

Immediately, she knew what that meant. She ran back to the village to collect a few things. She was going to find her father.

She was 14 now and felt confident enough and old enough to do anything humanly possible to find her father and bring him back. She knew people in the village would not agree with what she was about to do so she decided to not tell anybody. She did write a note for her mother explaining that she had to do this. That she could not live a life knowing her father needed her.

And, as her father before her, she left the village with a small sack with some food, some water, her maps, and the cube. And she set out towards the big cave. The one behind the big waterfall. The one where they had written on the map many years ago that this is“where the water, the light, the sound, and the colors can form a mirror to the universe where you can see what you desire most.”

She knew this is where she had to go. She knew this is where her father went.

To be continued ...

The Tunnel - Part 1

Erase que se era una vez ... hace mucho tiempo ... there was a little girl named Atesta that lived in a far far away land around the 19N, 99W coordinates on planet Earth.  She was 11 years old.  This little girl was not an ordinary girl.  She grew up in an area that had been covered by 2 back-to-back major volcanic eruptions over the last 100 years. These events created a strange and hard to define landscape.  Beautiful forests with rocky outcrops of frozen lava here and there.  Rivers, waterfalls, and ponds with water coming in and out of the mountains.  Beautiful caves that formed a labyrinthic playground up and down the hills.

For the girl, this was home and there was nothing special or different about the area that surrounded her village, other than she knew deep inside her that she had a special connection to all that surrounded her.  She didn't know why she knew but she knew it best every time she played in the caves.

During each of the volcanic eruptions, rivers of lava poured down the mountain and created layers of porous rock as it cooled.  The network of caves, subterranean rivers and chambers it created had slowly become part of the spiritual make up of her village.  Over the years, there have been a number of unexplainable events and people began to attribute them to a higher power, as it is often the case when things are not well understood.   Some people simply called them anomalies, discontinuities, reality warps, and sometimes even portals.  But all of these were just stories that people loved to tell when they got together for some event in town.

Atesta loved to go explore in the caves with her dog Pichicuaz.  The combination of nature's incredible beauty, the surreal nature of the village's legends, and the special feelings she felt when playing and swimming in and out of the caves was just too much to pass.

Today was Atesta's 12th birthday.  She loved her birthdays because they always fell on the same day as the village's celebration of the dead.  In the village, the day of the dead meant music, food, games, and the best part, spending time with her grandmother, her mom, and all the cousins, uncles and aunts.  They would all go to the cemetery with food, drinks, sweets, and a guitar to tell stories about those that had gone.

For Atesta, this was a special time because it was the day that the village would remember her father.  The day when people would tell stories about him, his adventures, and all the crazy things he used to do.  Sometimes she would also hear stories she had never heard before.

It had only been two years and Atesta still felt his presence.  She knew he was around, and with her, somehow but she could not explain why.  She knew he was still alive.

Atesta and her father were inseparable from the day she was born.  Her family always talked about how it was like the too of them knew things that the outside world didn't.  It was like they knew what needed to be done next without speaking.  Just a glance and they both knew.

It had been two full years since Atesta's father had disappeared.  Atesta had fallen gravely ill.  The curandero did not understand why or how to help her.  There was nothing to do but hope that her body would fight the disease somehow.  Things got worse.

Atesta's father did not leave her bedside for days.  He would hold her hand and sing to her all the songs they would sing while exploring the caves and the woods.  Her favorite was the song they always sang as they were starting a new route.  It always filled her with a sense of complete connection with everything.

At some point, Atesta was not able to wake up anymore. She had not opened her eyes in several days and her breathing was very shallow.  Through the fog, she remembered how her dad, crying, would ask the curandero if there was anything else that could be done.  The story in the village is that at that moment the curandero told Atesta's father an old story that his grandfather had told him about a place beyond the caves, but in the caves, that had the only thing that can help Atesta at this time.  This place beyond the caves had a thing that would completely reset a human body.

Atesta's father told her mom that he would set out to find this place. That he would not stop until he found this thing and brought it back.

So with this, he hugged Atesta for a long-time and whispered something in her ear.  Nobody knows what he said, but people remember that Atesta in that moment opened her eyes and smiled.   With her hand on his face she also said something inaudible to him.  And he smiled.

To be continued ....