Bitter Oath (New Atlantis)(16)

That lifted the sadness between them. Rene laughed loudly, drawing her in so he could embrace her, and place a kiss on the top of her head.

‘Chere, the first lesson you must learn about living in the future is that there is no women’s work, or men’s work. We all do what we are capable of doing. And when you see our cooking facilities, you will understand that in this moment, I am more capable of preparing our meal than you. Come, I will show you.’

Taking her hand in his, Rene led her out of the bedroom, down the hall, across the parlour and into the small, strange kitchen. Then he dropped her hand as he opened a top cupboard, selected two numbered packages, and placed one onto a dinner plate and then into another box. He pressed one of Jane’s ‘buttons’ and, in seconds, removed a steaming hot meal from the box.

Astonished, Liv looked into the box and then back at Rene. He grinned and repeated the procedure, as she watched more closely. There was nothing in the box, until Rene put the plate with the package into it. The button was pressed, and almost instantly, he opened the box again, and produced another plate of food. It was a magical trick. It had to be. Or there was a cook, behind a sliding door at the back of the box, who placed the food there when the button was pressed.

‘Come, let us eat. He left the plates on the counter while he retrieved mats and utensils from a draw. He placed them on the whitewood table, and then transferred their meals to the mats. Then he pulled back her chair so she could sit at the table.

‘Would you care for a drink?’ he asked, before seating himself.

‘No, thank you,’ she replied in bemusement.

Rene smiled at her, and sat down. Then he gave a little bark of amusement, and jumped to his feet again. In a moment, he was gone and returned, with table napkins in his hand, one of which he lay across her lap. She felt its texture. It didn’t feel like damask. It almost felt like paper. But that could not be. Could it?

As they began to eat, Rene watched her like a cat watches a mouse. He was intent on her ever reaction. Cautiously, she tried a mouthful of what looked like chicken breast covered with a white, creamy sauce. It tasted wonderful. With more enthusiasm, she carved off another small segment of meat, and ate it with relish.

With a chuckle, Rene turned from her, and began to focus on his own meal. They ate in silence until they were both finished.

‘Good?’ Rene asked.

‘More than good. Excellent. My compliments to the chef.’

‘I will pass that along. All our meals are prepared in an enormous kitchen many miles away. They are then packed in edible wrapping, and then processed. By putting them in the Chef – the box over there – I reconstitute the food into its edible state.’

‘So the cook is not here somewhere behind that box?’

Rene smiled, took her hand, and kissed it. ‘No Chere, there is no cook here. It is one of the many little miracles we take for granted. When I live with the Obejwe for many years, and then came home, it is often difficult to cope with the change. So I know how odd this must all seem to you.’

‘You lived with your mother’s people as you were growing up?’

Rene’s face closed down, and he dropped her hand gently. Without replying, he stood up, and collected the plates and utensils. He carried them into the kitchen. All the while, Liv sat quietly waiting for what was to come. She didn’t know why, but she sensed that what he would tell her next would make the news she had travelled five hundred years into the future seem like child’s play.

He busied himself in the kitchen, and when he came back to the table, it was with two cups of milky tea. She took hers with soft thanks, and continued to wait. Finally, after clearing his throat a few times, Rene started to speak again.

‘When I said I spent many years with the Obejwe, I meant many years – whole lifetimes – with different tribes, across vastly different terrain. I gathered information on nature, and how the First People interacted with nature – worked in partnership with it. You see, my mother’s people did not own the land, as white men would see it. They were own by the land, or by the Great Spirit that made all things. They protected the land, and in turn, were provided for by that land.’

‘That is a truly profound. It is as it was in the Garden of Eden. God made Adam to husband his creation.’

‘Yes, and when Adam started to see himself above the other creations, he was cast down, and the land he ‘owned’ became dry and desolate.’

‘Hmmm. I am not sure about that. We husband our land well, and it provides well for my family and our tenants.’

‘For the short term. In the long term, your farming methods will destroy the land. Not in your lifetime, or the lifetime of your great grandchildren, but one day…’

‘That makes me very sad. But the future now seems wondrous.’

‘We have struggled to sustain the small population left on this planet for hundreds of years. So much has gone. But we are now regenerating the natural world with extinct creatures, like your giant earthworm, and with work, we may well be able to save ourselves and the planet.’

‘I do not know this word “planet”.’

‘The world.’

‘Oh. It is that calamitous?’

‘Yes. But we are fighting back, and we take our role of husbandman very seriously now.’

For a moment, Liv sat quietly sipping her tea, considering everything she had heard. It seemed impossible that the world could have come to such dire straits that it required men such as Rene to heal it from species of the past. That he spent years as a native … lifetimes… Suddenly that statement caught her attention. How could he have spent lifetimes as a Red Indian? Surely he would age, if he had done so.

‘You have drunk from the Fountain of Youth then?’ she asked slowly, as she put down her cup.

‘Not in the way you mean it. But, in our own way, thanks to modern science… er natural philosophers, we have discovered something close. We age, and when our bodies are too old, we take on new ones, young ones – like this,’ he said, indicating his own body. ‘A year ago, I was an ancient, wizened man, half blind and almost deaf. That is the man Jane befriended. Otherwise her Julio would never have felt comfortable with our friendship.’ He laughed with a certain arrogant amusement, as if revelling in a memory concerning Jane and Julio.

Liv’s head was spinning again. She consciously dismissed the information he had given her, and focused on her environment. She studied the sea as the storm quickly approached. She studied the enormous glass windows that seemed too thin to withstand the coming storm. She studied the strange napkin that still lay across her lap – anything that would keep her from tipping over into hysteria or unconsciousness.

‘Too much?’ Rene asked, cautiously.

‘I am afraid so. I think it better that I focus on the here and now for the moment. It has all been too much to take in.’

‘I understand. For you, it is like when the First People came in contact with white man. Can you imagine what those stone-age men, with their bows and arrows, thought of guns and metal swords?’

‘Guns?’

‘Muskets.’

‘Oh. Yes, I think I can well imagine. Would you mind very much if I lay down for a little. The meal was delicious, but I… I am exhausted by the events of the day.’

‘And for you it is late evening. Your body has yet to adjust to the time difference. Please, go to your room and rest. I will find you a tunic to wear for bed. You will find our clothing revealing, at first. But once you become accustomed, you will prefer it, I can assure you.’

‘Thank you Rene, you are kindness itself.’

She stood slowly, aware that her legs felt weak beneath her. Then she began to totter in the direction of her room. After only two or three steps, she felt her body lifted into strong arms, and with relief, she relaxed into Rene’s comforting embrace. Resting her head on his shoulder, she sighed tiredly.

‘My poor Chere, I chided Jane for her insensitivity, and here I have been just as inconsiderate. And I do not have the excuse of youth on my side, as she does.’

He strode down the hall and into her room. Then he laid her gently on the bed, just as he had the last time she had an attack of the vapours. Without another word, he opened doors that lined the wall until he came to a wardrobe that contained white linen. He selected an item, then an even smaller white piece of cloth, and then closed the door.

‘If you feel up to it, slip on this tunic and shorts… um undergarments. There will be brushes for your hair in the bathroom. As you may have noticed, our women do not go in for intricate headwear or hair styles.’

‘Thank you, sweet man.’

He shot her such a look of longing, when she used the endearment, that she instantly felt the yearning return. But she beat it down, and closed her eyes. Moments later, she heard the bedroom door close quietly, and she knew she was alone for the first time since she had arrived in this strange future world.