07:20 (Paris Time)
Monday, September 26, 861 C.E.
Northern tip of the l’Île du Grand Ramier
200 meters upstream from the city of Toulouse
Kingdom of Western Francia
A nearly imperceptible vibration transmitted by the dirt floor of the family hut awoke young Jehan, who had been sleeping near his older sister on a pile of hay. Being intensely curious by nature, the seven year-old boy quietly got up, not wanting to wake up his family, and walked out of the hut to go see what was causing the vibration. It was still dark outside, with the Sun still due to rise, and the thick curtain of trees around the hut prevented him from seeing the rest of the island, so he didn’t notice anything at first. Jehan suddenly froze and looked up at the night sky, where a huge black mass floated silently above, obscuring the stars over a wide part of the sky. Fear filled him for a moment as he stared at the gigantic object, which was round like a bowl and had a number of lights of various colors on its surface. A rectangle of light suddenly appeared on one side of the flying object, as if a gigantic door or window had just been opened. Jehan’s jaw fell open wide when what looked like a giant flying spider came out by the lit opening, some kind of big, box-like object hooked under it. Still frozen in front of his family hut, the boy followed the flying spider with his eyes as it silently flew south with its load while losing altitude. Suddenly deciding that he wanted to know more about this, Jehan started running southward among the trees of the forest. Despite the darkness, he wasn’t afraid of getting lost, as he knew well every corner of the island. He also knew that there were no wolves or other dangerous beasts on the island, those having been hunted down to the last in the past years by Count Raymond and his sons, who occasionally used l’Île du Ramier as a hunting and fishing ground. Jehan thus didn’t fear much from running around like this, except maybe a spanking from his father once the latter would see that Jehan had left the family hut without permission.
As Jehan was following the shore of the island that faced Toulouse, on the right bank of the Garonne River, he noticed more lights, this time at the surface of the small islet situated between the northern tip of the main island and the right bank. Slowing down and then hiding behind a tree, he examined the lights for a moment. They were not shivering like the light from torches, but were bright and steady. The lights were actually forming a large rectangle that covered more than half of the surface of the islet. A dozen flying objects, each the size of a cart, suddenly overflew silently Jehan’s position, scaring him and making him crouch to hide better. The flying objects didn’t seem to notice him and continued flying towards the islet, where they soon landed inside the rectangle of lights. Not even a minute later, the noise of saws cutting down trees started to be heard. Jehan also heard similar noises coming from deep in the forest on his own island. Now more than ever intent on seeing what was going on, Jehan went deeper into the woods of the l’Île du Ramier, guiding himself on the noises from the unknown lumberjacks.
After covering maybe 400 meters, Jehan had to stop and hide again behind a bush when he started to see in the growing light of the day shapes move between the trees ahead of him. He then realized with a shock that the forest, which had been a dense one covering the whole island only yesterday, was now cut down over a surface of many hectares, with more trees kept coming down still. Flying objects were busy picking up the trees that had been cut down, lifting them in the air as if they weighed next to nothing, to pile them up into a number of big piles along the periphery of the deforested zone. Jehan then saw the giant box that he had seen under the flying spider: it now rested on pillars in one corner of the clearing. Now that he could see better thanks to the growing daylight, Jehan realized with a shock that the giant box and the things that were cutting and picking up trees were made of metal. Someone thus had to have built them, but who? Sorcerers? Demons? No normal person could fly or build flying things. Angels maybe? Jehan dismissed that last thought at once: why would angels cut trees down? The forest represented life and God cherished life.
As Jehan was watching the machines at work, his eyes caught a fleeting movement a short distance to his right. Concentrating on that spot, he saw a small shape move slowly between two bushes. He smiled when he recognized the other person, who was wearing like him a tunic made of rough wool: it was Isabelle, the nine year-old daughter of another fisherman living on the island. Jehan often played with her and they were good friends. Like him, Isabelle was curious and mischievous, something that often attracted a spanking from her parents, who already had a hard time feeding their family with the little that slaves could hope for in life. They, and also Jehan’s parents, were however lucky to belong to a decent man like Count Raymond. Basically, the Count let them live undisturbed on the island, ‘forgetting’ to levy from them a part of the catches they made. He also had made an habit of inviting all three families of slaves that lived on the l’Île du Ramier to share a feast every New Year with his servants and the poor of Toulouse. Whistling discreetly to Isabelle, Jehan made her join him behind his bush. The young girl smiled on recognizing him.
‘’Jehan? Those things also woke you up?’’
‘’Yes! What do you think that these things are?’’
‘’Uh, I really don’t know. I however saw earlier two men, who seemed to supervise the work of those things.’’
‘’Men? Where are they now?’’
‘’They entered that big iron box over there, using a staircase on one side of it.’’
That brought an idea to Jehan’s mind and he smiled to his friend.
‘’I think that I will go try to go inside that box to see what is happening inside. Will you come with me, Isabelle?’’
‘’Oh yes!’’ Replied at once the little girl, enthusiastic.
‘’In that case, we better make a large detour inside the forest, to avoid those things that cut trees. Follow me!’’
Taking their time and advancing cautiously in order not to be seen, the two children finally arrived near the giant metal box and hid behind a bush situated along the intact tree line to examine the box from up close. The box was actually gigantic, measuring easily over a hundred paces in length and eighty paces in both width and height. It rested on ten thick metal legs that kept it high above the ground, plus had a number of large doors at its extremities. Jehan and Isabelle looked on, fascinated, as a flying object grabbed with its big pincers a cut tree from one of the piles, lifting it and flying to the metal box with its load. The flyer then dropped the tree into a roof opening of the box. The noises of numerous saws was heard nearly immediately as the flying object was returning to the pile of cut trees to pick up a new load. As the second cut tree was dropped into the huge box, a large rectangular bundle of wood beams came out through one of the doors at one extremity of the box, suspended under a telescopic arm. The bundle of wood beams, which was bigger than Jehan’s family hut, was lowered down on the ground near the giant box. A second bundle of cut wood followed less than two minutes later, with a third one following soon afterwards. Jehan exchanged an incredulous look with Isabelle.
‘’How could they work so fast? The Count’s woodcutters would take a good day to turn beams and planks out of a tree that size.’’
‘’I don’t know! Why don’t we use the same staircase used by the two men I saw earlier and go see inside how they do it?’’
‘’Good idea!’’
This time, it was Isabelle who led Jehan to the foot of the metal staircase. After a short hesitation, the little girl started climbing the steps, Jehan close behind her. Once they had arrived on top and were standing on a landing made of a metal grate, Jehan tried to open the metallic door on the side of the box. It however proved to be locked and refused to open. As Jehan, frustrated, tried again to pull the door open, Isabelle noticed a small box on one side of the door. There were small squares with numbers on them at the surface of the box.
‘’Damn! I think that we have to compose some magic number to open that door. What do we do now, Jehan?’’
‘’Try some of them at random: maybe we will get lucky.’’
Making first a short prayer in order to attract luck, Isabelle pushed in succession a few of the buttons, then looked at Jehan.
‘’Try now!’’
Jehan did, but the door refused again to open. Isabelle then tried many more combinations one after the other, but still without success. The two children were about to abandon their efforts, disappointed to see their little adventure end like this, when the door opened with an audible, metallic ‘click’. The children sucked in a cry of fear on seeing that but, with nothing else happening afterwards, gathered their courage and pulled the door wide open to look inside. What they saw was a long corridor illuminated by the same kind of cold lights Jehan had seen earlier. There were also a number of doors spaced along one side of the corridor and at each end.
‘’There is no one in sight, Isabelle. Come!’’
Following Jehan inside, Isabelle then looked up and down the long corridor, hesitant.
‘’Which way should we go?’’
‘’That way!’’ Said Jehan, pointing the door at the nearest end of the corridor. The two children approached that door cautiously while constantly looking over their shoulders. That was when the external access door closed back by itself with a loud metallic noise. Jehan and Isabelle ran back to it at once and tried to open it, but without success. Now terrified, they nearly jumped from fright when a woman’s voice came from behind them.
‘’Don’t worry, my children: we mean you no harm.’’
Turning around in a flash, the two children then saw a tall woman in her thirties who wore a sort of body-clinging blue outfit and who stood in the frame of the now opened internal door they had planned to use. The stranger smiled to them with a mix of amusement and tenderness while slowly walking towards them, her two hands up in a sign of peace.
‘’You are brave indeed for approaching our sawmill like this…brave and curious.’’
‘’Who…who are you, my lady?’’ Asked Isabelle in a shaking voice, while Jean partly hid behind her.
‘’I am part of the group of strangers who killed two days ago the Vikings approaching Toulouse. As a reward for that, Count Raymond gave us these islands on the Garonne, plus a lot of land on the right bank to build a commercial exchange post.’’
‘’Does that mean that we and our families also belong to you now?’’
Isabelle’s question seemed to profoundly shock the stranger, who however kept her tone friendly.
‘’You, belonging to us? I don’t understand.’’
‘’But, it’s simple enough! Our parents are slaves and belong to Count Raymond, like I and my friend do. If he gave you those islands, then he must have given you possession of our families as well, no?’’
To the surprise of the two children, tears came to the eyes of the woman, who then got closer and crouched in front of them to gently take their hands.
‘’My poor kids! In our society, slavery is strictly forbidden. You are now free, along with the rest of your families.’’
‘’We are free?’’ Asked Jehan, unable to believe his ears. The woman nodded her head while wiping her tears away with one hand.
‘’Yes, you are, my little boy.’’
She then eyed with sadness the thin bodies of the two children, which showed signs of malnutrition, and smiled gently to them.
‘’Are you hungry, children? Our sawmill module includes a small kitchen and dining room.’’
Both Jehan and Isabelle eagerly nodded their heads at once at the mention of food: while they and their families had not been truly starving, the meager catches their fathers could take every day were barely sufficient to provide a bare minimum of food to their families. The stranger was about to get back up when she sniffed while frowning.
‘’Uh, I believe that a good shower would be in order before you eat, kids. Follow me!’’
Taking one hand from each child, the woman walked through the open door at the near end of the corridor, then climbed wide steps that led to a control room two levels above. The three men occupying the control room looked with both curiosity and kindness at the children as the woman spoke to them in a language that Jehan and Isabelle could not understand. The woman then switched to Occitan while smiling down at the children.
‘’These men are my work colleagues. You will have a chance to speak with them after you have washed and will have eaten. This way, please!’’
‘’How should we call you, madam?’’ Asked timidly Isabelle as the woman led them to a locker room two doors down a short hallway connected to the control room.
‘’Just call me Tina, girl. And you? What is your name?’’
‘’Isabelle! My friend is Jehan.’’
‘’Pleased to know you two. Well, here we are! Please undress while I go get some towels for you.’’
Isabelle and Jehan removed without hesitation the dirty tunics that were their only clothes and stood naked in the locker room. As children of poor peasants living in tiny, overcrowded huts, they were accustomed to nudity, including adult nudity. Tina quickly came back with two large towels and two adult-sized T-shirts on one arm.
‘’You will be able to wear those T-shirts while eating. That will give me time to wash and dry your tunics. Let’s go into the showers section.’’
Leading the children to one of the shower stalls, Tina opened the water, adjusting the temperature to a comfortable warmth. She then showed the water spray falling from the shower head to the children, who were looking at the shower with big eyes.
‘’Time to jump in, kids. Take your time, as I will want to give you a shampoo on top of soaping you up and scrubbing you.’’
Jehan first tested the water temperature before walking inside the shower stall and stand under the spray, quickly imitated by Isabelle. The latter sniffed the liquid soap Tina collected with one hand from a soap dispenser, smiling widely on smelling the fruity aroma of the soap.
‘’This smells good! What is in it?’’
‘’Essence from apricot fruits. Most of the soap we use incorporate such fruit or herbal flavors. They are however not to be ingested, or you could get quite sick. I will now rub soap on your bodies. It will then turn into foam. Be careful not to rub any of it into your eyes, or it will sting your eyes.’’
Thoroughly washing the two kids took Tina two soaping, scrubbing and rinsing cycles, so dirty they were from living in a hut with a dirt floor and from walking around barefoot. It also took two shampooing cycles to clean their hair. All the while, the children obediently obeyed Tina’s commands while giggling and playing under the water spray. Twenty minutes after going in the shower, Jehan and Isabelle, clean, dry and wearing the oversize T-shirts, went with Tina to a small lounge with a table and a small kitchen corner. The children watched Tina with intense curiosity as she took two ration bags from a refrigerator, then put them into a microwave oven to heat them up. They grabbed at once the glasses full of milk that Tina served them, marveling at how fresh and cold the milk was. Isabelle finally asked a question as the technician served them each a plate of ham omelet.
‘’Tina, what are those things made of iron that are working outside?’’
‘’Those are machines specialized in the cutting down and picking up of trees. You are presently inside one of the mobile sawmills transported by our fleet.’’
‘’And…the huge thing that was in the sky above the island?’’
‘’That was one of our ships. After you will have eaten, we will go see together your respective parents: I have important things to announce to them about your future.’’
‘’Our future?’’
‘’Yes, the future of you and your families.’’ Said softly Tina while smiling. ‘’These islands are now ours through a gift from Count Raymond and we are preparing the grounds to build a city on these islands, plus a market place on the right bank. That will mean however that most of the trees on these islands will have to be cut down, while we will be building a flood protection wall around their banks. Your families will have to move out of their huts but we will in return provide them with new, much better lodging. But don’t worry about that for the moment and eat your breakfast. In the meantime, I will be going to discuss things with someone.’’
Jehan waited for Tina to have walked out of the lounge before whispering to Isabelle.
‘’Do you think that they are sorcerers or magicians?’’
‘’Uh, I frankly don’t know, Jehan. What they do is like magic, but they have been nice to us, up to now. They certainly fed us well, though.’’
‘’True!’’ Said Jehan before biting with delight in a piece of ham. ‘’I could eat here every day.’’
Tina returned into the lounge a few minutes later and sat down at their table while smiling down at them.
‘’Good news, children: I was able to speak with my superior and he agreed with me on what to do with your families. Do you know if there are other families on these islands on the Garonne?’’
‘’There is only one other family living on these islands apart from my family and that of Jehan, Tina.’’ Answered Isabelle. ‘’The hut of my family is along the west bank, while Jehan’s family lives on the northern tip. Charles’ hut, on its part, is situated near the southern tip of the Island of Le Ramier.’’
‘’Thank you for that information, Isabelle. I will go see that Charles after escorting you back to your respective family huts.’’
‘’Be careful when you will go see Charles.’’ Cautioned Isabelle, surprising Tina. ‘’He lives as a solitaire and is always worried that anyone approaching his hut would come to steal from him. My father already fought once with him when Charles accused him of fishing in a spot that Charles considered to be reserved for his exclusive use.’’
‘’I see! I will then take my precautions when going to see him.’’
A half hour later, with their belly full and wearing their now clean tunics of rough wool, Isabelle and Jehan left the sawmill module with Tina and headed towards the hut of Isabelle’s family, walking through a now deforested area. Before they could get to the hut, the group heard a man’s voice that was shouting loudly.
‘’ISABELLE! ISABELLE! WHERE ARE YOU HIDING, DAMMIT!’’
The little girl paled on hearing the voice.
‘’Sweet Jesus! That’s my father’s voice. He will beat me for leaving our hut without his permission.’’
‘’Not if I can help it.’’ Replied Tina, her face hardening. She hurried her pace, taking some advance on the two children, and soon met a bearded man wearing a dirty wool tunic and carrying a wooden stick. The man looked relieved on seeing Isabelle, but then eyed Tina with suspicion.
‘’Who are you, and what are you doing with my daughter?’’
‘’Please calm down, mister.’’ Said Tina in a firm but neutral voice, stopping ten paces from the man and keeping her right hand near the butt of her stun pistol, the retaining strap of its holster undone. ‘’My name is Tina Deloran and I am the crew manager of the construction site where your daughter Isabelle and her friend Jehan came to pay us a visit. We then invited them for breakfast before escorting them back to their huts.’’
‘’You are on lands belonging to Count Raymond and you obviously are not from Toulouse. Who gave you the right to start a construction site on this island?’’
‘’Count Raymond did! This island and the other islands adjacent to it now belong to my people, as a gift from Count Raymond for having killed the Vikings threatening Toulouse. Our machines and ships may appear to you like sorcery or magic, but we are not magicians nor sorcerers, just people with highly advanced science and knowledge. We intend to build a city on this island, while a market place will be built on the right shore, level with this island. By the way, you don’t need that stick, mister: we mean no harm to the people of Toulouse, on the contrary.’’
Isabelle’s father didn’t seem to believe her at first, but a look above at the big cargo ship floating in the sky finally convinced him to throw away his stick. Isabelle then ran to him, with her father opening his arms to greet her.
‘’I am sorry, Father: I should have asked your permission before going into the forest to see what was happening there.’’
Her father gave her a severe look and shook his index in front of her face.
‘’It will be okay this time, Isabelle, but don’t do it again, or you will taste my cane.’’
‘’Yes, Father.’’ Replied Isabelle, looking repentant. Tina then spoke again.
‘’Mister, your daughter told us that you were slaves belonging to Count Raymond. Since these islands are now ours, with Count Raymond having given us full possession of them, you and your family are now free people. My society has banned slavery millenniums ago. Also, being residents of this island, you and your family, along with the few others living here, are now citizens of the Human Expansion, with all the social benefits that our citizens are entitled to.’’
The man, not believing his ears, put his daughter down on the ground before staring at Tina.
‘’We…we are free? And what are those social benefits that you just mentioned?’’
‘’First, your children will be able to go to the same schools as our other children, for free. Second, you and your family will have access to full and free health and medical care. Third, like all our citizens, you will get for free enough food to stay healthy and will also have free lodging. All these things are considered basic rights for our citizens. In return, our society expects its citizens to do honest, reasonable work while you are physically and mentally apt to do so. You will also have to respect and follow our laws and customs and not use violence against others, including your wife and children, except in self defense or in defense of others.’’
‘’And the laws and customs of the Kingdom, they won’t apply here anymore?’’
‘’No! Count Raymond will continue to enforce his laws inside his county, but only the laws of the Human Expansion will apply on these islands. Even King Charles will not have authority here.’’
‘’But, your laws…I don’t know them!’’
‘’Our laws are actually quite simple, mister. Suffice to know that slavery and slave trading are for us capital crimes punishable by death. Corporal punishments and any other acts of cruelty are also considered serious crimes, while it is forbidden to discriminate against others on the basis of race, sex, social rank or spiritual beliefs. Violence against children, even coming from a parent, is also severely frowned upon in our society.’’
Isabelle’s father took a while to digest all that. After looking down at his daughter, he faced Tina again.
‘’This is well and good, madam. What do you expect from me now?’’
‘’As you may see further today, we have started some extensive work to prepare for the building of a city on this island. That work will include the building of anti-flood walls along the banks of these islands and I am afraid that your hut may probably have to be demolished in the process. However, we will provide you with temporary accommodations until our new buildings are completed. You will then be provided a permanent lodging unit. Your family will also be fed by us.’’
‘’But…I want to work! Could I work for your people?’’
Tina smiled and nodded her head at those words.
‘’I like your attitude, mister. I understand that you are a fisherman, right?’’
‘’Correct!’’
‘’Then, you will be able to work on one of our fishing vessels, two of which are due to be assigned to Toulouse. They in fact should arrive here in the next few days.’’
‘’Uh, how big are these ships? I am accustomed to fish alone in my rowboat.’’
‘’Quite big, since they are built for the high seas, but don’t worry: if you know how to gut and cut fish, you will have plenty of work aboard to do.’’
‘’Then, I am ready to go fish with your people any time. By the way, my name is Grégoire.’’
‘’I am pleased to hear that, Grégoire. Now, could you show me where your family house is?’’
Grégoire didn’t correct her at the use of the word ‘house’ and simply nodded his head, turning around and starting to walk while holding Isabelle’s hand. Tina followed them, herself holding Jehan’s hand.
After less than four minutes of walking, the group arrived at a wood and straw hut built near the shore, with a small, primitive rowboat tied to a nearby tree. Grégoire didn’t miss the shocked look of Tina when she could detail the rickety hut, with the opened cracks between the roughly cut pieces of wood summarily filled with clay and mud. Tina was even more shocked when she could see the inside of the tiny hut and saw as well that it housed a family of seven. A fire pit made of rough stones was the only amenity of the hut, while piles of straw in the corners served as beds. Seeing the pained expression on Tina’s face then convinced Grégoire about the good intentions of the newcomers. His first gesture once inside the hut with Tina, Isabelle and Jehan was to present his family.
‘’Milady, let me present you my wife, Emma, my sons Armand, Pierre and Simon and my daughter Élyse.’’
‘’Pleased to meet you all. I am Tina Deloran, and my people are now owners of these islands, after Count Raymond gave them to us as a reward for us killing the Vikings threatening Toulouse. By the way, as I already told Grégoire, you are now all free people and citizens of our society, which is named the Human Expansion.’’
As Emma stared with deep shock at Tina, her husband hurried to repeat to her what Tina had told him. Isabelle, having a sudden idea, took her mother’s hand and nearly dragged her outside while verbally encouraging her siblings to come out of the hut and look up at the sky. The sight of the giant cargo ship still floating some 400 meters above the island made most of them kneel down from the surprise and disbelief. Pointing the cargo ship to them, Tina then spoke in a sober tone.
‘’This may look like magic to you, but know that we are simple human beings that came from both the stars and from over three millenniums in the future. You are now part of us and I promise you that you will now be able to live decently and comfortably as free people.’’
16:28 (New Zealand Time)
Command conference room, H.S.S. MARCO POLO
Temporary landing site south-southwest of Auckland
New Zealand
‘’You wanted to see us, Madam Tsu?’’ Asked Ann Shelton on entering the large conference room with Vyyn Drelan at her side. Lynn Tsu, sitting at the conference table with Commodore Henry Ferguson, two uniformed fleet officers and three civilian advisors, nodded her head and pointed two unoccupied chairs facing her.
‘’Yes, I did, Doctor Shelton. Please, have a seat, along with Doctor Drelan.’’
Tsu waited for the two historians to have sat down before speaking again.
‘’First, I want to congratulate both of you for a job very well done in Toulouse. Doctor Shelton, I must praise in particular the courage and diplomacy you showed during your initial meeting with Count Raymond: you took a big risk then, but it paid off handsomely. First, may I ask you about your personal assessment of the character of this Count Raymond?’’
Ann acknowledged the compliment to her with a smile, then weighed carefully her answer before speaking.
‘’My personal impression of him is that of an intelligent, open-minded man who, while holding power of life and death over his citizens, actually cares for them, contrary to many other nobles and rulers in this century. He accepted our nature much faster than I hoped for and forcefully reined in his confessor, who was the Church’s representative attached to his court. He then proved to me that he was no stooge of the Christian Church, nor was he intimidated by it. His family is still mostly an unknown quantity to me, but I believe that it will abide by Count Raymond’s words and commands. However, the case of King Charles II of Western Francia could prove much more delicate and difficult, in view of what I know of him through history. We may have to lend our protection and support to Count Raymond in the very possible case that King Charles turns against him for having allied himself with us.’’
‘’And he will get that protection and support from us, Doctor Shelton.’’ Replied without hesitation Lynn Tsu. ‘’Know that our future outpost in Toulouse is now considered as one of our top priorities right now. Until we ca