Beyond Armageddon: Book 03 - Parallels (74 page)

            The Old Man sat silent. The sound of the fire played evenly in the background.

            Trevor said sincerely, "Thank you."

            The Old Man blinked once, then twice, and then looked at his protégé. "Oh, now stop that, Trev. You really do have a—what do they call it?—yeah, an in-maj-i-nay-shun. Hehe."

            Stone shook his head. The more he learned the tighter lipped his benefactor became. Trevor decided he did not want to spar anymore. He took a few steps along the streambed. The trees there thinned and allowed a view of the stars. He gazed toward the sky and squinted.

"Oh, it’s up there," the Old Man called. "Just look toward Orion’s belt, then over to the left of it."

Trevor saw a brilliant, blue-white star beckoning in the night sky.

            "I…I can see it." He felt goose bumps on his arms. "It’s beautiful."

            "That it is, Trevor. That it is. Say, if you ever get a mind for it, you may wanna head on down to your local library and go looking up a group called ‘The Dogon’."

"The Dogon?"

"Yep. That’s what I said, wasn’t it? Seems there’s this group in western Africa that goes waaayy back. Yessir. They came from Egypt originally. You know, some folks think civilization started in Egypt. Anyway, well, they got themselves a real funny idea, see? They have this—what would you call it?—I guess a legend or whatnot. It’s all about how man came to Earth from this pretty place far away."

            "Sirius," Trevor deduced.

            "Yeah! That’s it. Any-who, you’d probably just love reading ‘bout these guys. They’re a hoot. They got all sorts of funny thinking going on. Yeah, stuff about DNA and cutting up somebody’s body and scattering it across the universe. Oh yeah, a real hoot."

            "A real…a real hoot…"

"Why, they knew about Sirius B—that’s the second sun there—before astronomers did and, geez, they told everyone there’s a Sirius C and ain’t no astronomer found that yet.”

Birds chirped in the woods, a gentle breeze blew through.

            "Yeah, them Dogons, real crazy. You know, no one could quite figure out why them Dogons had a calendar that worked out to being a fifty-year calendar. Fifty years! Don’t that just take the pie? Anyways, turns out that them fifty years is how often it takes for Sirius B to pass real close to Sirius A. Ain’t that something?"

            Trevor remembered his conversation about Sirius with Major Forest.

            "Every fifty years, magnetic storms."

            The Old Man asked, "You going to be heading back now?"

            Trevor considered. Heading back to what?

"I thought, I mean, if you don’t mind, I thought I’d stay out here for a bit. Do you mind?"

He turned and looked to the Old Man through hopeful eyes.

            "Naw. You can stay out here for a spell, Trev. You got things to do, but nothing that can’t wait ‘till the rooster crows."

            Trevor returned his gaze to the heavens. Toward Sirius.

"So, would you like me to tell you about it? You wanna hear about Sirius? I think I could drop a few descriptions without causin’ the universes to go tumblin’ over."

            Trevor swung his head around. "Yeah. I mean, sure. Yes. You can do that?"

            "Oh, I don’t see no harm telling you about the giant waterfalls and the pure white trees on the sandstone mountains. Hehe. They got a wildflower that has petals that feel like glass, ‘cept they change colors with the seasons. Yeah, really purdy. Real…a real beauty."

Trevor told him, "I’d like that. I’d like to hear about it."

"Then pull up a seat by the fire an let’s pass a few hours."

            Before Trevor sat, he took another look above at the beautiful glowing ball named Sirius. He knew that for the rest of his life he would look toward the sky.

            Look toward the sky…and remember.

END BOOK III

Tony DeCosmo, February 25, 2005

Next: Beyond Armageddon Book IV: Schism