My assumption has been that this journal could be one of thousands globally that’ll form a patchwork of stories of another step in the evolution of the human race and how it led to the Earths restoration. Assuming can lead elsewhere so to the reader, I write both for historians and those of the future who would peak back to understand the exhilaratingly difficult complexities we had to face in the harsh realities of a planet on the edge of massive extinction with the only solution coming from an unintended consequence of a genetic cleanup of our genome, the purpose being to give us a shot at making it through the few hundred years of restoration, as well as for those from elsewhere, picking through the remains after a herculean Hail Mary college try. The message to nomadic astral travelers: We fucked up * We had one last chance * We failed.

  For either of you, this week in the heat of summer was a turning point for me. Even though my human and other were prepared, it was still breathtaking in its scope and responsibility. But what also stood out to me was the Order being placed on our broken world by that unintended consequence, evolved humans who had the implanted memory of this happening eons and light years ago. They knew what they were doing but countervailing forces have become an obstacle.

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  Mystery solved! Instead of checking out the dirt road, I followed Freddie’s map and got a surprise! He did live in a tree house but that was an understatement. He lived in a tree house cluster with a couple dozen others all attached with walkways, rope ladders, open decks, lookouts, and everything with rails supporting planters over flowing with vegetables and herbs. I climbed two ladders, walked through a gazebo type of thing, went up another ladder, walked across a swinging bridge and onto a large deck filled with planters, small pools of water with a fountains of fine mist and sitting mats scattered around.

  There were four radiant children, including freddie waiting for me. This is the story the four who called themselves the Dumpster Gang, all telling me at the same time while pushing images of their journey. Freddie began by welcoming me as a member of the Collective, explaining that this was known as a Loci, a totally functional sustainable habitat where only designated guardians of the forest lived. I’ll get into Guardianship in the next post. When my Mayan group of refugees arrived, this would be for those who had children, and he would stay behind and teach while the others went ahead and started another one. I believe my look of surprise caused the one female, nancy, to quickly say that we were special with a continuous genetic lineage of ten thousand years, mine only just interrupted.

  A year ago they were all living in a dumpster next to an abandoned warehouse in the partially flooded part of old Tampa for three years getting by on food absconded by freddie when his father took off for weeks at a time doing research for NOAA. He was the only one who had a parent, the others losing them to the killer viruses. Freddie was collecting food from the pantry when there was a knock on the door. The man in a suit was sorry but his pop, big Fred had died in a storm out in the gulf. He had left freddie everything, including keys to the computer linked to LUNA.

  That night he turned on the special computer, figured out the password and a world opened up too him. During his search, a game offer came on, wanting to know if he’d like to play. Of course, he said and for most of the night he visited planets, negotiated peace treaties, made deals for resource allocation, developed coalitions, all the while other planetary forces fought to undermine everything with subterfuge and sabotage by alluring beautiful creatures with hidden powers.

  Waking up at the desk, freddie found a message saying that he and whoever he choose would be picked up by a black hawk helicopter and brought to his grandmothers in the Adirondacks. His friends laughed when he got back to the dumpster but not long after a WHO came whooing with the message to get ready.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  When they got there, Freddies grandmother wasn’t the same old person he remembered but a vibrant middle aged woman who summarily hugged and kissed them all. They lived there for a year, created a Loci community with help from young ‘volver females and then moved down here to start a new forest loci where his father’s brothers oldest son had bought an old farm in the Smoky Mountains with his new wife, me.

  Bobby told him the old couple had passed so they could squat there until the forest loci was built. They all expressed their original excitement as they helped the bots assemble the printed parts brought to the site by large drones. First, they explained, the site is selected, then a holo is produced with a loci organically interwoven into the space, parts printed and assembled with instructions given to the kids through an on site WHO.

  I met Nancy, Trigger and Santa, all with their own survival stories and how the dramatic changes had affected them. Freddie promised Bobby that if anything happened to him, he’d help me out which he did until he knew that I was on my way.

  I went back the next day to bring them vegetables from the garden, especially a bunch of those super beans and they were gone. The note said

  ~CU WHEN WE CU This is yours now. Your friends will be arriving shortly, led by ThirdEye or we should say a ThirdEye who we call Nimba.

  A Buck just walked by in the gloom of dusk out on the road headed for the good woods. The full rack is an incorrect feature. It should only have nubs this early in the season. In fact the way the climate has changed, I’d be surprised if the antlers ever fully developed. Was it was a holo, hybrid or mutation? Surely not for my entertainment. I

  ’m not feeling as alone as I once did. There’s an intelligence bearing down on our collective problem, a collaborative effort between human and other. My friends are on the way, being welcomed into this Node. Something called Nimba will lead them in, some to live in the tree houses and others here. I began conceptualizing on just where and how it would work but for now, Fubar sees how excited I am.

  The food drop this morning felt like someone had taken into consideration the favorite dishes for the tired travelers. First off there were two drops, my first frozen drop and the second with ingredients for a number of recipes including freeze dried chillis and spices. I’ve set up the kitchen table with everything they would need along with the dry ingredients. I asked for a two pound bag of Columbian coffee whole beans with a grinder but got ground instead but smelling like just ground, not too fine, not too course. Oh Goddess, talking, sharing, just to be close to another within sensory range, and hopefully smiling, crying, even laughing will crack me open raw. Not evolved me or adult female human me but that little girl inside who wants to belong, needs to be lovingly touched by a warm smile, a hug!I

  Found some large rocks and lined a shallow dug out spot for a fire pit if they need it. Also began collecting bendy twigs from a few downed willows I found on my last walk, for nests. All day I’ve had a great big smile, not because of all of this but for the reactions of the girls when they see their new tree homes. lol! I want to build slides but not sure with what.