Dark Ages

But these geysers were only the side effect. Two geysers also formed in the Antarctic, where the millions of gallons of water froze—and stayed. In its solidified form, it didn’t return to the oceans like the water from the other geysers. It just kept piling up as more and more ice. Sa Mangsang, true to his prophecy, was draining the oceans dry.

Desperate scientists had come up with a hundred different eventual outcomes—none of them good. Some said that Earth would shift in its orbit. Some said the climate would become radically unstable. Some said the weight of the ice would build up to such a degree it would impact the actual drifting of the continental tectonic plates.

Whatever the outcome was, they concluded that the human race would not be around to see it all happen. Climate extremes would have wiped out everybody soon enough.

There was more to the looming catastrophe, of which the world knew nothing. Sa Mangsang would feed off the “sensitive” people of the world, consuming them for the vital nutrients their specially tuned minds gave him.

Remo might have been used as the delivery boy. If Sa Mangsang had succeeded in holding Remo in his thrall… But Sa Mangsang failed—with the help of the gentle chant of a man in a cave in the Amazon rain forest.

“You’re right,” Remo said. “I should have thanked the Caretaker. If it weren’t for his chanting, Sa Mangsang would have turned me into his gopher.”

Chiun said, “On the mountain, the Caretaker showed me the cave where his legend is engraved. There was a speaking tube there. I did not know of its existence.”

Remo wanted to stay irritated, but he was also curious. “How’d the bird fit into all of it?”

“The bird was a gift to the Caretaker from his grandfather, who mentored him. The grandfather fetched the egg for his protégé and was killed from the fall. The bird hatched, and the people believed it was the reincarnation of the dead Caretaker.”

“Maybe he’s in there, but he’s not alone. When he was talking sense, the bird spoke like the head of a committee. What about the dirty ditties?”

The parrot had displayed a vast repertoire of bawdy limericks—in English.

“The legacy of an anthropologist who lived with the People many years ago.”

Remo nodded absently. “You know I didn’t fulfill any stupid prophecy.”

“I know nothing of the kind.”

“Look, I was bored. I had no clue how long you were going to be hiking the foothills. Call me a neat freak— I just wanted to tidy up the place. When I started seeing all the greenery under the bodies, it made me feel good. After the drug lord ran out of steam, I buried the rest of the villagers and buried all the dead animals. I had to stand under a waterfall for an hour to get the smell off.”

Chiun nodded. “You should have stood under it for two hours.”

“The point is, I was just passing the time.”

“What of the new People?”

“That was a hundred percent the bird’s doing. I found him flapping around the tree about midmorning with the kid. The bird told me he had more People on their way. Of course, you can’t put faith in what the bird says, so I climbed up the tree and watched him until I spotted more People. He was leading them to the tree where the boy was. I figured I might as well fix up the village, feed the kid, get the supplies.”

“Restore the village for the new People,” Chiun concluded.

“So call me Suzy Homemaker. But don’t call me Qetzeel the Destroyer.”

“I did not call you Qetzeel.”

“You believed the old man.”

“The Caretaker’s faith served him well, Suzy. Why should I not believe what he believes? He has seen the legend of his creation reenacted before his eyes. The People are made anew. They were gathered together around the only survivor, the Caretaker, and this is precisely how the People came into being in their previous incarnation. And in the incarnation before that.”

Remo saw green under the helicopter. It went off in every direction. The jungle was huge. But when they were on the ground, in the midst of the dead zone, it had felt like the entire world was dead.

“What do you mean, the time before that?” he asked suddenly. “You mean this happens over and over?”

Chiun was still staring out the window. “That is the legend of the People.”

“And the Caretaker is always the one who survives to reform the new People?”

Chiun nodded. “So the legend says. I know not if it is true. I do not know what catastrophe comes to slay the people—if it is not always Sa Mangsang.”

Remo became angry again. “So why didn’t you tell the Caretaker to move the damn People somewhere else? Obviously, that patch of real estate ain’t safe. Maybe if they moved away from the cave with the speaking tube, they wouldn’t get wiped out over and over.”

Chiun considered that. “The Caretaker’s role is not to care for the People, Remo. Even the man himself does not realize the scope of his destiny. He is the Caretaker of Sa Mangsang. He lives to do what this man did—speak to Sa Mangsang—or to train a protégé to carry on for him. The People’s purpose is to sustain the lineage of Caretakers.”