October 18 2318
I awoke this morning with the call. Grandfather has been saying there would be a call and today it came.
Grandfather is the keeper of the Fallan.
With the world becoming narrower, there was a need for some civilizations to be micro sized. In order to retain the balance of past and present and to ensure a future the Fallan were selected in 2030 and preserved and hidden.
Grandfather first told me about them some years before. He sat me down and said for me to look into his hands and tell him what I could see. At first ten fingers.
‘Look closely,’ he said. ‘Look between the fingers.’
Then I saw what I couldn’t believe. The Fallan, whom I thought were myths within our society, were living between the fingers of my grandfather’s hand. It was like looking into a new civilization, there was everything there. They were what I remember from the history book of people who lived in the twenty-first century. Simple folk, with a system of living that enabled them to cope with the crude technologies of their time.
The Fallan are legendary amongst my people. They are said to have magical power. They are said to be wise and compassionate. Not like now where the weak are singled out. In our world the strong and the supporters of the regime live in comfort, others like my family live an almost subsistence life under the shackles of tyranny.
My grandfather has not explained why he is the keeper of the Fallan. Only that one day he would pass it on to me. And today I think is that day.
October 19 2318
My visit to my grandfather was both inspirational and frightening.
On arrival I discovered him lying in bed, his breathing measured and his nurse concerned for his recovery. He had been unconscious for some time and she didn’t expect that to change as he was struggling to breath.
The shock of knowing that my beautiful grandfather would soon pass on was saddening. I decided to sit with him, to be there for him as he had been for me through much of my life.
It was close to midnight and his breathing was agonizingly laboured. His nurse had come regularly and taken his vitals and each time shook her head intimating it was only a matter of time.
As the clock in his room hit midnight, he opened his eyes. He stared at me, looking intently into my eyes.
‘I’m glad you came,’ he said. ‘It is time my boy for you to take over from me.’
All I could register right there and then was the joy of him being awake, lucid and his hand holding mine.
He held up a hand and asked me to look into it. I was well versed in this process now and so I quickly focused on the minute world he held between his fingers.
‘It is time,’ he said. ‘For you to take over the care of the Fallan.
And taking my hand and saying that it might sting an almighty pain shot through my hand and up my arm. Not unlike an electric shock and I could not let go of my grandfather’s hand.
It took all of a few seconds but the pain was immense. Then he released my hand and fell back against his pillows. His hand then gently patted the back of my hand and he smiled softly.
‘Look after them, you are their keeper now.’
And then he left me. It was so sudden I didn’t have time to call the nurse, but rather, went out and said to her that he was gone.
I came home tonight puzzled and querulous about what had happened.
October 20th 2318
Tonight they have come. The Fallan have visited me. I now know why I must protect them. Why their location must be kept secret. The existence of us all depends on them. They have told me to look in on them from time to time but never to try and contact them. They will contact me.
Then again they may not. But in turn they will protect me, their guardian.
Morpethroad 