The Book of Kalli

Deep in the cavern, two hundred feet below the surface, Kalli checked the time and decided three days of isolation would do for this trip. She scuttled backward to the last turnaround point.

Kalli, five foot three and athletic, had been a spelunker for years. She found a sense of peace in its solitude. Her psychiatrist claimed her comfort came from the simulation of a return to her mother's womb after the traumas of war and her professorship at VMI. Kalli the only black female on the faculty taught hand-to-hand combat and could kick any one of their asses. The men struggled with that concept.

Marv, her husband, on planned leave from Fort Lee and would be home tonight. He knew the intimate benefits of her cavern therapy.

She had seventy feet to crawl before she would stand in the main cavern high in the Shenandoah Mountains and head home to the valley below.

The tunnel shimmied with a long vibration, and the floor shook. She moved faster as rock fragments and dust rained down on her helmet. Kalli laid flat, connected her oxygen canister, and continued up the narrow seventy-foot passage toward the cavern.

The mountain rocked as she climbed into the cavern and stood. The floor quaked and heavy debris fell from the ceiling and glanced off of her helmet. Kalli knocked unconscious, never felt the hard gray floor slap her in the face.

Hours later her eyes fluttered open, brought her hand to her wet face, and felt the gash that oozed blood and grit down her cheek. Though in pain she didn't find any fractures. Water from her canister revived her and she stumbled up the long slope toward the entrance of the cavern. Her Chrono watch read 4:10 pm and she'd be off the mountain before dark.

She thought, "What a day!"

Kalli shielded her eyes and exited the cavern with the expectation of the bright sunlight. Instead, the sky reflected the black and gray of a desolate landscape. The Evergreen trees and shrubs that painted the landscape eight hours earlier were gone. Black rock formations had replaced the mixed palette of gray and brown boulders. The sun fought in vain to penetrate the charred sky. Bolts of amber slithered, and slashed like angry reptiles, across the sky. The ground shook again and she knelt for stability.

"What in the world is going on?" She said aloud, took out her cell phone, and powered it up.

It showed no signal.

Kalli retrieved the satellite phone, used only for emergencies because the rates cost ten dollars a minute. It powered up with a five-bar signal and a voicemail symbol flashed. She thumbed the icon and heard her husband, Marv's, panicked voice.

"Kalli, oh my God, where are you? Kalli.... Missiles are inbound, the emergency broadcast says we have less than fifteen minutes to take shelter. The attacks are everywhere, DC, New York City, London and...." He stopped, "They're nukes," and in a strained whisper said, "I ...love...you...Ka...." and the message cut off.

Her hand quivered as she tried to replay the message but tears blurred her vision. The salt of her tears burned into the gash on her face and she smeared the cave dirt with blood onto the back of her hand. The phone lost its signal.

A flash of bright light blinded her as the Sat phones emergency strobe and tracker deployed. Her military training kicked in and she removed the battery, ran to the ledge of a nearby hundred-foot-deep gorge, and threw it as hard as she could. Someone had triggered it by remote access.

Kalli, once an Olympic-level gymnast, had been recruited and trained in tunnel warfare by the U.S. Army quick-timed back into the cavern to hunker down until she could figure out what had happened. Someone had pinged her Sat Phone and they had her location.

********

8/16/2021

I don't know what to do Marv, I'm shaking. I think I'm in shock. This diary is in case you find me.

What the hell happened? We're at war? I feel like I’m back in a combat zone. I'm sure someone's coming. I only have enough water and rations for a few days.

8/17/2021

My tactical radio doesn't work, must be the EMP effect. I don't know. I miss you, baby. The sky cleared enough for me to scout out the valley with my binoculars.

"In the beginning, the earth was void and without form," comes to mind. I guess we’ve come full circle.

8/18/2021

Rations are almost gone and I have to move, Marv.

8/19/2021,

The atmosphere is still burning. Air flows out of the cavern, drawn from the depths below, like a moth to a flame. I guess that's why I am still alive. The radiation can't enter.

Marv, I’m out of water and food. It's just a matter of time and I will be dead. The outward airflow has slowed and the cavern's air quality is poor.

Tomorrow, I’ll go. I have the tactical masks. Either I die in here or survive out there. I choose out there.

8/20/2021

Dad's old '67 Bug started without a problem that you kept running for so long. Thank you, love. I drove down the mountain and everything is gone, trees, houses, and buildings. All consumed, burned, and black. The earth is desolate. I need you, Marv.

I hunkered down, for the night, in what's left of a distribution center's massive freezer. It's free-standing in the middle of a burned-out foundation. The doors unbroken seal secured its air supply. The temperatures are cool but bearable. I found some concentrated orange juice and hotdogs that are edible. Everything else is spoiled and smells like death.

8/21/2021

I re-conned the area and discovered roadside checkpoints controlled by a local militia. They look to be weekend warriors in their mismatched fatigues and various weapons. A man and woman came through to seek help and they shot him, then raped her. There was nothing I could do to help them. Our civilization is gone.

Their leader, a fat man in fatigues yelled, "Quit your sniveling, bitch,” laughed and shot her in the back of the head.

I knew what they would do to me so I exited the area and returned to the bunker. The freezer's oxygen quality is dropping and I might not survive much longer. An ulcer that feels like a burn is expanding on the back of my hand, it hurts.

Why am I the only one I know left? I don't want to live in this world! You're gone Marv and all I have left is the gold, heart-shaped, locket with your photo in it. You gave it to me when I shipped out to Afghanistan. I love you, Marv. I need you. Why am I here?

8/22/2021

My head hurts. Seven days have passed and I'm exhausted. Maybe, I just need more slee.......

********

Kalli's eyes fluttered and squinted to bright light, and then opened. She lay in a bed with a panoramic view of a lush garden of yellow, orange, red, and violet flowers with a vibrant green frame. Behind them stood a backdrop of tall Evergreens. Confused, she closed her eyes and reopened them.

The rainbow garden remained. Thoughts skittled through her head the possibility of a vivid delusion or heaven. Exhausted, her eyes closed and she slept again.

She woke again and the window, black from the night, reflected the interior of the room. She could see her bed in the middle, a nightstand to the left, and a chair to the right. A woman sat in the chair. Kalli turned her head to her.

The woman's gentle oval face was sculpted with soft cheekbones, rounded brown eyes, a sharp chin balanced below a full mouth, and golden skin. Her face emitted compassion.

"Where am I?" Kalli asked in a hoarse whisper. "Who are you?"

"My name is Eleanor and I'm here to welcome you to Mother Earth, on the other side of the sun. Our rescue ship pinged your Sat phone and the decision was made to rescue you, though we almost didn't find you in time. Did you know you were pregnant?" Eleanor said.

Kalli's education about Mother Earth began the next day when Eleanor walked her to a training center. When they walked into the sunlight, Kalli witnessed a transformation. Eleanor's eyes transformed from round to slanted, almost wolf-like, and her skin transitioned dark ebony.

"What just happened?" Kalli demanded.

Eleanor laughed,

"I'm sorry I forgot to warn you. We are far more evolved than you. Our bodies shift and adjust to the environment. It will be a shock for you to see us in the winter when long body hair, from the cold, retracts when we walk into a warm building.

As to skin color, there are no blacks, whites, yellows, reds, on Mother Earth. We are all human and the same color. We are unified with our environment and our bodies acclimate to it. Your earth used to be the same way in the beginning."

Kalli learned that Mother Earth and her birth Earth were twin planets. They moved in the same orbit and rotated around the sun one hundred and eighty degrees apart. One could not be viewed by the other.

In recent years technology advances on earth had required some cloaking but that had been planned for in advance by Mother Earth.

Kalli also learned that the UFO sightings were not aliens from deep space but missions from Mother Earth. They spun around the same sun and travel was simple within the same orbit. The great mysteries of Atlantis, the Mayans, the Pyramids, and the Bermuda Triangle were resolved.

Orientation and therapy began the next week and Kalli adjusted to the beautiful, pristine planet. The planet utilized no fuel stations, no fossil fuels, and no livestock. The entire planet's food supply existed off of vegetation. The sole source of energy was the sun with their advanced technology that harnessed solar flares. Their propulsion systems used solar-powered gravity drives.

Her tutor taught her, "We don't eat animals, Smallpox, from Bovines, almost destroyed your existence when farmers lodged their Cows inside of their own cottages. Your people never learned. That is why there is not a single living human left on your earth. Chaos and evil killed millions and the nuclear winter killed the rest. You’re the only survivor of your planet, Kalli."

Eleanor shared her apartment with Kalli and their bond grew. Kalli woke from a nightmare to find Eleanor holding her. They shared a bed from that night forward.

The love that grew between them didn't interfere with her love for Marv. It was unique, simple, and pure. Eleanor's skin shimmered with rainbow colors when passionate and turned translucent when she climaxed. She was beyond beautiful.

Seven months passed and a decision had been made by the Mother Earths Queen that Kalli, accompanied by Eleanor, would return to her earth together. Their affection for each other had bloomed and both were pregnant. Kalli expected a son and Eleanor a daughter conceived in vitro. Kalli’s son needed to be born on her earth.

The Queen’s decree stated,

You are hereby commanded to return and replenish the earth, once destroyed by flood and now by fire. Carry with you the wisdom of the mother,

“From darkness, bring light and Be fruitful and multiply”.

Kalli and Eleanor landed on an island off the coast of Argentina. The island, by fluke of winds or design of that hemisphere, had been spared destruction. The sun in the blue skies shone down on its pure waters and lush vegetation. Kalli took out her journal, opened the golden locket, and laid it on the page.

Day 1

Marv, we are home and you are missed. I have decided to name our son, Marvin. Eleanor will name her daughter, Gaye. You always did like his music.

I hope we get it right this time.