Before Death--Part I: Past, Chapter One: The Prophecy, Pt. II
Liliana (continued)
She walked up to the interactive security gate to unlock the store. It was more like a blacked-out interface like the one above the kitchen island at home. Instead of actually using the noisy ancient metal gates like the ones people used on planet Gaia 6-514, formally known as Earth in the 21st century, L.I.A.M. for Business Technology was quite the upgrade. Technology had changed drastically over the last 250 years since Gaia 6-514 had to be emergency evacuated.
Liliana spoke to the interface, "Input security apparatus, unlock code and initiate eye scan to confirm authoritative identification." A translucent scanner appeared in front of her and she laid her left palm flat on it.
"Individual hand print initiated, please prepare the appropriate eye selected for scanning," L.I.A.M. requested. She put her right eye up to the scanner and allowed her retina to be authenticated.
"Retinal eye scan entry accepted. Good morning, Liliana," a computerized woman's voice greeted. Liliana walked inside the empty store. "Welcome to work," this version of L.I.A.M. continued. "Would you like me to turn on all the lights and prepare you a cup of chai as you begin your workday?"
She turned and locked the door with the keypad behind her, resetting the security alarm because she was not yet ready to open and accept customers.
"Thanks, L.I.A.M.," she said. The thought of being constantly watched no matter what kind of bothered her, but she heard stories of how bad things got for women on Gaia 6-514 in 2024 that she wasn't sure she could really picture life without the technology the Daughters of the Queen Mother, as they liked to be called, were able to develop.
"Your chai is ready for you, Liliana," she said, taking a ceramic pink mug and filling it.
"Thank you, L.I.A.M. Can you tell me the day's projections and orders, please?"
"Sure, Miss Liliana. Would you like me to read them to you now while I prepare the coffee for our first customers?"
"No, L.I.A.M. That's okay," she replied. "I'll do it."
Walking over to the counter she dumped the old filter from the machine in the trash and began to grind up fresh beans. The customers loved when Liliana worked morning shifts because they said her coffee was to die for. She didn't really drink coffee, she preferred her chai instead, but she had good sensibilities when it came to preparing the coffee so anytime she made it, everyone acted like it was dessert for breakfast.
"Yesterday the store grossed a total of $11,704, and I made sure to electronically deposit it in the work account before closing last night," L.I.A.M. began. "One year ago today the store grossed a total of $15,982, and our projections for the day this year with the cost of production and the events happening in this area and across the city, it should be possible to clear at least $20,000 in sales today. Would you like me to continue by completing a cost analysis report?"
"No, L.I.A.M. That's alright. Can you do me a favor and connect me to my L.I.A.M. at home now? Thank you," Liliana asked.
"Sure, Liliana. Connecting to Liliana's Home L.I.A.M. now."
"Hello again, Miss Liliana," L.I.A.M. said through the store speaker. "How may I assist you?"
"I just wanted your company while I am looking around restocking and tidying things up a bit. While I'm doing that, why don't you tell me about the origin of this planet?"
L.I.A.M. began, "In 2035, humans were forced to evacuate the planet formally known as Earth, or be left to die on a relentless, raging ball of fire that was intent on repairing itself after only about 10,000 years of human abuse. After both World War III and World War IV within a 10-year timespan, humans had almost completely obliterated each other after all the racism, poverty, torture and bombing.
Legend says the Mother and Her Sisters returned to Gaia 6-514 to rescue her daughters in the year 2035, but She was shocked to have only found destruction and obliteration from man turning on man, so the Queen, the Mother, and the Crone rescued any woman They could salvage and fit on the ship to populate the newer planet They constructed together. This is the period known as The Recollection. The Mother started the journey to deliver the diverse group of half a million women to her already-constructed planet with the same properties as Earth, to ensure the highest probable outcome of survival. On the way, She and her angels taught the human women all about super technology and the importance of honoring womanhood as they traveled through space and time. She taught them how to honor the dirt and soil, blessing it so it will reward them with fruitful harvests. She taught them how to meditate and find inner peace, giving honor to each other among difficult times because although they were happy to be traveling to a newer, safer planet where they would thrive and be in control of their own lives, they were still humans after all. She showed them the healing and replenishing properties of water and how it is the basis of all life. All of the women adapted and learned the ways of the Mother quickly, but She did not approve of all of them. Before long She would only speak to those She called her Daughters, and the other women noticed the differences in their treatment.
The women spent so many years while traveling through space together, some of them grew extremely impatient and day by day they became more disgruntled. They spoke and whispered their discontent freely among one another, but never in front of the Mother. The Mother was very vocal about men being a liability and told them they could do well without their burden, and that if one wanted to find and copulate with a man, she would have to imbibe off-plane and she could never bring him back to home plane with her,"
"Hold on," Liliana interjected. "So the women who were rescued during The Recollection weren't allowed to have sex for 150 years?" Her eyes widened to the size of little china saucers.
"Well, the older women did not copulate. The Mother made sure to rescue every pregnant woman from every culture possible to hopefully salvage their traditions and heritages. After the boy children who were raised under the Mother's influence became of age, they were able to copulate with whomever would have them," he explained.
"According to the legend as told by representatives and members of the Daughters of the Mother, as they started referring to themselves, the Mother is quoted as saying,
So long as any man not born of Gotsumei-17 stays away from my planet, I will provide those who are blessed to be born here with domicile and safety without fear of retribution or affliction. He will, in return, honorably commit to a life of solid emotional intelligence and understanding. He will know he does not rule above woman but is there to work beside her. He shall support her with words of encouragement and empowerment, and only offer advice when it is requested of him, for the Father is no more capable than the Mother, yet the Mother is the only vessel that can create life. If such a man born of Gotsumei-17 chooses to fall astray from these beliefs and dishonor his mother's sacrifice for his life with a conviction of any crime against women, he will be forever banished from this planet for the rest of eternity or else risk execution or destruction upon his return and capture.
Upon finally arriving at the planet Gotsumei-17, named for the moonlight from the giant moon that shone over them at night, the Mother and Her Sisters left to allow them to lead their world their way. The moon was very important to the Mother, so when She created Gotsumei-17, she wanted it close enough that she could touch it in the middle of the night. It hung so close to the planet it looked like it was going to crash into them, but it never did.
The women dared not violate the rule Mother implemented for many years, and in return, were quickly successful at developing amazing feats of architecture, technology, clean energy production, and resourcefulness, surpassing the results of man's previous attempt. Under the influence of the Daughters, there were no homeless, poor, or suffering on Gotsumei-17 for at least 250 years. This period is known as The Silver Era. The women who were not privileged with the Mother's approval started to ultimately feel frustrated and dissatisfied with their lives. The Mother promised them peace and fulfillment, but something was missing. The Daughters were fine with the way things were because they had privileges. The Others, as they were starting to be called by certain Daughters, did not.
The men who were old enough to copulate with the women of Gotsumei-17 were grateful for the opportunity, but there weren't enough of them to share among all of the women of their home villages, let alone on the planet. No man or woman was to ever feel obligated to share himself with someone they both don't equivocally choose. The technology the women developed helped to resolve problems they experienced on their former home planet. The talents they nurtured from the Mother made the planet so peaceful and safe for so long. But when some of them started to grow frustrated with not being able to satisfy certain needs, their restlessness grew, also.
One of the younger Daughters, Kamaria, began focusing on finding peaceful resolutions for her nameless sisters. She did not like that they were called, the Others and jeered at, and argued with her sisters about their treatment regularly. This did not stop Kamaria from searching for ways to help them. One night Kamaria was outside in a field, talking to the giant moon when she looked up and prayed,
Dearest Mother, you have blessed us with a new home, skills and talents, and I thank you. Our people are healthy, fed, and disease free. We now live longer than we ever could on Earth, and you have allowed us much success with taking care of one another, but my sisters are hurting. They search for fulfillment they feel they were never allowed, and are too burdened with man's memory. Please show me how to show them the way to happiness from within, so they won't have to focus on what they cannot see from outside their empty souls. I thank you for all things you provide, have provided, and those yet to be. Everything is possible under your name.
After her prayer, Kamaria sat down in the lotus position and focused on her breathing, hoping for a chance to receive a message in response during meditation, or even better, be blessed to see the Blessed Mother while under her trance. She kissed the moon pendant that her sisters had given her upon induction to the Sisterhood and closed her eyes."
L.I.A.M. continued, "During this particular meditation, Kamaria soon felt herself rise out of her body and looked down at her physical being as she floated in the air. She was immediately joyful because she felt the Mother had granted her a gift and she was insistent upon learning how to harness it to share with everyone back at home.
She practiced floating higher and lower, then floated up into what would be the sky if she was on the physical plane. She could see Gotsumei-17 from space, and she didn't need to breathe. She wasn't even cold. She floated back down to the ground and immediately went home. She practiced walking in and out of her house. She talked to people who couldn't respond to her and acted like they didn't even see her there. She waved her hands in front of one man's face, but he walked right through her. Then she saw a woman in a silk scarf standing on a corner on the street. She was looking right at Kamaria, but Kamaria wasn't sure she could actually see her.
The woman smirked, winked, then with her right hand, snapped her fingers, and was gone."
"Whoa. Mom has never told it to me like this before. I'm learning a lot," Liliana said as she restocked the drinks in the refrigerator. "So you're telling me all of this is accurate?" If she was trying to look like she was not shocked by what she just heard, her face betrayed her.
"One hundred percent accurate according to the Daughters of the Mother's description of events, Miss Liliana," L.I.A.M. assured.
"Hm. Okay," she relented. "This is not the story Mama passed on to me at all, but I'm listening."
"Yes, Miss Liliana," L.I.A.M. "Please feel free to continue asking me questions when you are in need of clarification. It will help me learn how to communicate more effectively with you, providing contextual basis for understanding. These are basic facets of proper communication that habits of humans do not allow. I have no feelings involved when I report these facts, I also have no alternative agenda. I am here to serve you by improving your life, therefore it is harmful and reductive to achieve the capability of lying to you. In all possibilities and probabilities it would only result in damage to your lifestyle."
"Wow, L.I.A.M," she said. "That's actually kind of cool. I like that feature."
"Thank you, Miss Liliana. Would you like me to continue?"
"Sure," she admitted. "I'm just gonna open the doors and finish tidying up for the early risers, but you can talk to me."
"Wonderful," he cooed. He seemed to be really enjoying this, and it made her smile. "So the woman disappears in the blink of an eye and Kamaria is searching for her everywhere. She runs to the spot where the woman was just standing and looked around for a hint or a clue of her presence. She needed to know she wasn't actually imagining things. Then she sees the blue scarf laying on the curb right where the woman had just stood."
Right then, the first customer of the morning walked in. "Hey, Liliana! Good morning," a burly man with a gruff voice called out in a cheery mood.
"Hey, Russell. How's it going?"
Russell lived in the building across the street. Usually her first customer of the day, Russell worked down in the Wharf District. A former local fisherman, he liked exerting himself physically, so after the work accident that forced him to leave commercial fishing behind him as he limped away, he bought a speedboat with some of the workman's compensation and compensatory damages winnings he received in the lawsuit and started a business on his own. Traveling the planet, catching hard-found tropical wildlife allowed him an upgrade to his lifestyle, even if he was injured at work.
"Can't complain. Can't complain. The Mother is good to me, you know?"
"She sure is," she nodded.
"I'm just here for my usual morning cup and a fresh cream cheese bagel, if you have any," he ordered.
"Coming right up, friend," she said making his fresh cup with a sprinkle of cinnamon and a splash of vanilla cream--the same cup he had ordered his first day out of the house after his accident. His usual bagel was just a plain original, so she grabbed one with the tongues and a paper napkin, then dropped it into a paper bag. She passed him them both after he paid for his purchase with the chip scanner. The chip scanner made the purchasing experience more private because, instead of announcing the price, the customer can see the purchase price in their eye reader, and pay with the chip that is injected under the skin on the under portion of the designated wrist the person chose at installation. A lot of people were afraid to transition to the chip because on Gaia 6-514 they were taught about the mark of the beast and the antichrist, but being that they were saved by a Mother Goddess and her Sisters, rehabilitated in a space ship for 150 years, and gifted better lives than they ever experienced on Gaia 6-514, a lot of other people didn't care as much.
"Did you remember to put my cream cheese in there this time?" he asked.
Liliana cocked her head, looked at him and laughed. "Now you know there is cream cheese in those little single containers back there in the fridge," she said, pointing and waving with her finger. "They come in all different flavors and even have a little spreader thingy in their tops for you to apply as much or as little as you like. All you have to do is go take your pick and pay for it."
"Eh... I tried," he shrugged. "Have a good day, Sister. See you next time," Russell called as he walked out of the store.
"Okay, L.I.A.M. You can keep going," she coaxed, rolling her eyes. Russell always did that. He knew he could buy his own damn cream cheese. He probably thinks it's some form of flirting or something. Yuck, she thought.
"Where was I? Oh. Yes. So Kamaria sees the blue scarf, picks it up, and sees the most beautiful sparkling silver moons stitched into it. She was determined to find the woman and return it to her. All of a sudden a silver cat with a white crescent moon patch of fur on its back wrapped itself around her leg, tickling her with its tail.
'Well hello, gorgeous," she said, stooping down to scoop up the cat into her arms. "Would you like to be my friend?' Kamaria asked gently. The cat allowed her to cuddle it, but as soon as she finished her cuddle, it disappeared out of her hands.
She jumped back in shock, but then the cat reappeared standing on the awning of a house a block away. She ran after it, still holding on to the luxuriously designed moon scarf. When she got to the awning the cat disappeared then reappeared again at the cross-street corner a block away. She ran and the cat kept doing the same thing until they reached an unfamiliar back alleyway. The cat turned down the alleyway then disappeared.
She didn't remember seeing this alleyway in the physical plane. That's weird, she thought. Curious, she turned down the alley and followed the cat to a purple door in the back of a building on the right side. It disappeared from the ground then reappeared over Kamaria's left shoulder. Kamaria pushed the door open and stepped through. When she walked inside she realized she wasn't in a store at all. She was once again floating, but this time, she was floating through a deep purple and silvery mist with voices talking in multiple different languages at the same time, so it just sounded like a bunch of indiscernible noise. The cat appeared in front of her once again, spinning in a circle and materialized into the woman Kamaria was searching for.
She jumped back in shock, but immediately recovered and apologetically handed the woman her scarf. 'Hello, I'm Kamaria,' she introduced. 'I just saw you in the street a while ago, and I've been searching for you because you dropped this when it was around your neck earlier.' The woman felt like peace and Kamaria realized she didn't hear the voices when the woman was around.
The woman just smiled a big, warm smile, then gently took back the scarf. Kamaria saw that the woman was missing some teeth, but she could still feel the warmth emanating from the woman in front of her. She felt drawn to hug her for some reason, she couldn't explain why, but the feeling gnawed at her. Opening her arms, she asks, 'I'm sorry, I don't know you, but I just feel this strong urge to hug you. Would that be alright with you?'
The old woman just kept smiling her big toothless smile and Kamaria came in for the hug anyway. 'Your scarf is beyond beautiful,' she assured. 'Who performed the stitching?' The woman smiled even harder, crossed her arms, then blinked three times. The woman's actions reminded Kamaria of a genie, but there was no magical lamp in sight around them, and she knew she hadn't rubbed on anything lamp-like when she saw her in the street before. She disappeared from sight again.
When she came back this time, Kamaria asked her, 'Do you speak at all? I feel like you can understand me, but I don't understand what's going on. Where am I? How did I get here?'
The woman, holding an object in each hand, held them out to Kamaria, urging her with her eyes. She was no longer smiling. She looked serious. Like what she was holding was important. Kamaria tilted her head a little, but she took the objects and was wowed by what she saw. The first gift was wrapped in gorgeous purple silk that felt identical to the old woman's blue silk scarf. While the woman's scarf was small, Kamaria realized as she unwrapped it from around itself, the purple scarf was as long as her wingspan. The stitched-in moons were identical to those on the blue scarf, but the pattern spread out as long as the scarf. When she finished unrolling the scarf, it revealed a beautiful raw moonstone as big as her fist inside. Kamaria looked up in shock at the woman to see she was smiling harder than before, still not saying a word.
'For me?' Kamaria asked, and the woman bowed her head and closed her eyes as if acknowledging royalty. 'Thank you,' she barely whispered. 'It's so beautiful. Thank you so much.' She placed the moonstone in her travel bag that was looped over her shoulder, hanging on her hip. 'I'm going to open the other gift now, okay?'
The woman smiled, bowing her head and closing her eyes again she stretched out the unchosen hand. Liliana picked up a jeweled box. It was a little larger than the moonstone. The decorative box was wrapped in gold, mother of pearls, and rose quartz. Little crystalline pieces filled in the white space, making the quartz and gold sparkle. She turned the exquisite container over in her hand, admiring the placement of the jewels. The woman waved her hands at Kamaria, signaling that she wanted her to open the box to see what was in inside. Kamaria unlatched the clasp on the front of the box, lifted the lid, then her jaw hit the floor. A solid pink sapphire heart about three inches wide sat cushioned on the purple velvet lining of the jeweled box.
Kamaria was so shocked she almost dropped it. 'Thank you so much. They're all so beautiful.' The woman nodded her head softly and snapped again, but this time she didn't disappear, she turned back into the cat. The cat continued walking and brought Kamaria out of that room to another door. She wrapped herself around her leg like when she first introduced herself, and Kamaria took it as a cue to go inside. She delicately wrapped the moonstone inside of the large scarf, making sure to protect the sides evenly. She lay the jewelry box in her bag, grateful it didn't have feet and was smooth across the bottom. Then she placed the scarf gently on top of the jewelry box. She figured if it slid off the jewelry box as she walked it would be fine because the moonstone is wrapped up cozy inside the scarf. They won't rub against or scratch each other and will all make it home just fine. Opening the door, she looked back to the cat, who was now sitting on its laurels, licking its paw in a bored manner, not even acknowledging her existence from 30 seconds before.
'Thank you,' she whispered as she stepped through the doorway. Walking through it, she reentered the physical realm.
When she realized she was back in her physical body, Kamaria immediately reached for her travel bag that was draped around her shoulders. She must have passed out and been dreaming. But if that was the case, why was she standing up? Why was her travel bag wrapped around her shoulder just like it was when--there was no way that she--she stopped moving completely and stood there with her travel bag pulled wide open in front of her and her voice caught in her throat. She coughed and, as she reached into the bag with her right hand while pulling it open with her left, lifted up the purple silver moon-embroidered scarf with the large moonstone wrapped inside, revealing the jeweled box containing the enormous pink sapphire underneath."
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