Growth (GAIA Trilogy Book 2) Read online

  The Gaia Trilogy II

  GROWTH

  Morton Chalfy

  READING BONUS

  SAMPLE CHAPTERS MORTON CHALFY’S GAIA III: GLORY & THE CAVÉ OF LOST LOVE

  STRANGE PARTICLE PRESS

  ISBN: 9781615086344

  Copyright 2016 Morton Chalfy

  This is a work of fiction. No resemblance is intended between any character herein and any other person or fantasy archetype, living, dead, or commercially viable; any such resemblance is purely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Strange Particle Press is an imprint of Digital Parchment Services.

  Front page and back Cover image: Donald Chalfy

  MORTON CHALFY’S GAIA TRILOGY

  I. GAIA

  II. GROWTH

  III. GLORY

  OTHER BOOKS BY MORTON CHALFY

  ANTLER’S POINT

  THE CAVE OF LOST LOVE

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  READING BONUS

  The Cave of Lost Love

  The Gaia Trilogy 3: Glory

  Chapter 1

  Harrison checked the time. They were due to leave in half an hour and would miss their connections if they were late. Their luggage was packed and waiting but Helene was still at her desk dictating instructions and directing operations.

  Since becoming the executive head of the Gaian Foundation she had become subsumed by the work of realizing its vision. Under her leadership the number of members had grown exponentially, the wealth of the emergent religion had piled up despite its rapid re-investment and the efficiency of her organization inspired nothing short of awe from her colleagues and workers.

  These accomplishments came at a price though, a price discernible in her frequent fatigue, her rapidly graying hair, the hollows under her eyes and the difficulty she had with movement. Harrison had watched the changes taking place day by day in mute despair. He wanted her to be vibrantly alive as usual but her devotion to her tasks made it impractical to advise her to slow down, let alone stop.

  "If saving the world isn't worth some hard work, what is?" had been her invariable reply.

  Until now. This trip they were about to take had been her idea though it was one brought to her by the President of Brasil. Rejuvenation City had gradually grown on the outskirts of Brasilia until it was the global destination of thousands of the world's elites. Brasil had invested heavily in bio-engineering techniques, DNA restructuring and stem cell therapy until it was the global leader.

  The original basis of Rejuvenao as it was called was plastic surgery and body reshaping but it had grown into the most sophisticated system of methods for extending life and restoring vitality. In a private meeting the President had said, "It will extend your working life for twenty or more years - isn't that worth a month's investment of time?"

  Helene had quietly agreed once she discovered that recuperation would take place in a hotel suite, and that she could take along a small group of assistants and world wide communications would be at her fingers. Harrison thought that quiet bed rest might be a better prescription but kept his opinion to himself.

  At last Helene appeared in the doorway trailed by the two assistants who would be traveling with them and nodded at Harrison, "Time to go, sweetie."

  They were flown in a robo-copter to the airport where a private plane was waiting. Their party joined a group of several others in a luxurious cabin and as soon as they were seated the plane took off. The jet was a private shuttle owned by Brasil that was solely for bringing clients to the hospital complex.

  Helene sat with her two assistants and continued dictating a stream of orders which they dutifully noted and relayed while Harrison gazed out at the tops of the clouds and thought about their destination. One hundred and fifty years before their trip Brasil had faced a huge crisis over the Amazon basin. Illegal logging and the clear cutting of the forest to plant sugar cane had reached the point of nearly no return when Brasil's first indigenous President had been elected. Her first act had been to declare that all the laws governing protection of the Amazon forest would be fully enforced.

  Enforcement had always been the sticking point. So much money and political power was arrayed on the side of the loggers and corporate farmers that the laws were disregarded with impunity. "La senhora de estillo" reversed that course through a series of draconian measures which began with arming indigenous militias and empowering them to put an end to the logging, a task they were eager to undertake. After a massacre of over a hundred illegal loggers it became more difficult for the brokers to hire replacements.

  The government used a combination of satellites and drones to pinpoint clandestine logging camps and directed the militias to them, sometimes airlifting the Indians to the sites. The very fact that the government had finally turned against the trade had been enough to close it down almost completely within a year.

  Intelligently the President made the militias permanent and put them on the government payroll. The death of the internal combustion engine gradually wiped out the sugar cane - ethanol business and the jungle did the rest on its own.

  It was in pursuit of foreign exchange to replace the money made by logging and farming that Rejuvenation City was conceived. From its slender footprint as a plastic surgery center it had grown into a powerful and lucrative enterprise which included half a dozen hospitals, labs, treatment centers and a university which served the world's wealthiest. The prices charged were enormous but as they were being paid by people whose fortunes were even larger the system worked. Its consequences were still to be fully understood but the support of the status quo was an immediate one.

  Because of Rejuvenation City the executive suites of the world were occupied by the same people for forty or fifty ye
ars now. Heads of states ruled for decades upon decades and some families were frozen in time and place by the fact that the ancestors never moved on but only refreshed themselves.

  Harrison was bemused by the developments but conceded he was willing to have them applied to Helene and, if he was being honest, to himself.

  "It's beautiful, isn't it?" Helene's voice came in his ear. They were flying over the forest now, dipping below the clouds on a long approach to their destination.

  "Yes, it is," he replied. "Amazing how it's all grown back. Forest cover is twice what it was last century."

  She had slipped her hand through his arm and was leaning across him to peer out the window.

  "You know that part of this process involves hormone therapy, don't you?" she asked.

  He smiled at her. "Yes, I know that. I'm counting on that to give us the first big payoff for going through this."

  She grinned at him. "You mean having sex is the main thing you want from this?"

  "Well, yes. Sex with you, that is."

  "How wonderfully shallow," she said gaily. "That's why I love you."

  Chapter 2

  A year earlier representatives from the hospital had visited Harrison and Helene and had gathered a number of biological samples from them. The material had been used to grow new organs, in Helene's case a kidney and in Harrison's a liver, and to produce a colony of stem cells.

  Their operations were scheduled over a period of two weeks and began with injections of stem cells into all their joints, cells which would grow into healthy cartilage and repair the grinding effects of a lifetime of wear. They also began a course of hormone therapy designed to re-energize their libidos.

  Both operations included a small amount of plastic surgery, small by Brasilian standards, which restored a certain youthfulness to their faces and in Helene's case, to her breasts. After the organ replacements they recuperated in their shared suite attended to by the hospital staff. Facilities were comparable to the most luxurious resorts and after a week both patients were clearly recovering well. So well that Helene insisted on resuming her duties, at least for part of the day, and her assistants took to arriving mid-morning and working with her through lunchtime.

  Harrison spent his recuperative time on a lounge on their balcony, reading mostly, but intermittently working on "The History of The Gaian Movement" which he hoped never to complete.

  Two weeks after the operations the residual puffiness had faded from their faces and stiffness in their limbs and joints had loosened considerably. They had taken to showering together to inspect each other's bodies and were beginning to eye each other speculatively and lasciviously. The doctors had warned against vigorous exercise before all the healing was done and put a big NO next to sexual congress until at least six weeks had gone by. Both Helene and Harrison secretly thought a month would be enough.

  After the third week they were prepared by the hospital staff to receive a visitor, the President. To receive him they were dressed in formal work attire and met with him in the sitting room of their suite. To their surprise he shooed everyone else out of the room in order to speak with them privately.

  "How do you feel?" he asked pleasantly.

  "Getting better," said Helene. Harrison grunted.

  The President made small talk for a bit, clearly assessing the pace of their recoveries and then said, "I have a request to make of you which requires the utmost secrecy."

  He looked at them expectantly waiting for assent but instead was met with two suspicious faces. He sighed and continued, "Let me say I would very much appreciate if you keep what I am about to tell you in confidence."

  Helene smoothly said, "We'll do all we can to respect your wish."

  "I'm sure you will," he said resignedly, but great harm could come if this comes out prematurely."

  He had both of their undivided attentions now.

  "Perhaps you know that my brother is the head of this complex, of Rejuvenao?"

  Harrison nodded, "And an eminent biologist in his own right. The author of Directing Human Evolution."

  The President looked pleased, "So he is. And he requests a visit from you."

  He was looking at Harrison.

  "Why me?"

  "Ah yes, why you. First, as a representative of the Gaians. He wants to become part of the secure network we've heard about..."

  He paused while both Helene and Harrison carefully closed their faces. The network was a secret to most and they didn't want to betray acknowledgment.

  "... and second," he continued, "to show you what he is working on so that it might be possible to enlist the aid of the Gaians." The President paused before adding, "of course, if you keep our secrets, we'll keep yours."

  "Visit him where? And when?" asked Harrison.

  "In a week at his research facility in the forest. We can transport you there in an ambulance-copter and of course he has full medical facilities at the laboratory so you'd be safe and secure."

  Harrison looked at Helene for her reactions and saw her studying the President's bland face. Beneath the smooth exterior she thought she detected a tightening of his jaw line which she interpreted as a strong desire for the visit to take place. She nodded at Harrison who said, "I'd love to. Just to see what he's working on would be a privilege."

  The President's features relaxed and Helene noted his relief.

  "Excellent. I'll have a liaison officer visit later this week to make preparations and to accompany you. But please, tell no one. We will have a suitable story to explain your absence if need be. If that's all right with you?"

  When the President had gone they discussed what had happened. Helene focused on their desire to be part of the network and Harrison speculated on what the secret project could be.

  "I'll contact Lucas and have him prepare what you'll need to plug them in," said Helene. "That way a call will be all it takes to start the process."

  Harrison looked thoughtful, "I'd better re-read his book on directed evolution. I'll be surprised if it's not something to do with that."

  "Does he want to play God?" asked Helene.

  "I wouldn't be surprised. Part of his thesis, if I remember correctly, is that humanity is in an evolutionary bind right now and natural evolution is too slow to fix it and that we have the tools to speed it up."

  "Ugh," said Helene distastefully, "the arrogance of eugenics rears its ugly head once more."

  "It certainly could be something like that," said Harrison.

  "I don't know how much of that we could keep secret," mused Helene.

  "Well, we can decide that when I've seen what's what."

  For a long while they sat together sunk in their own thoughts.

  "There is no ideal human," muttered Helene eventually. "None at all."

  Chapter 3

  Lucas sat behind his desk idly musing over the message to prepare the ground for a group in Brasil. Exoticism colored everything that came out of that country from Carnival to sex change surgery and he wondered where on the spectrum the new group would fall. He hoped it would be toward the lighter end.

  The network he had so carefully built over the past years had introduced him to more heavy secrets than he cared for. The weight of the knowledge he carried needed to be set down occasionally and his mind relieved of their pressure otherwise he wouldn't be able to function at all. A lightweight secret would be very welcome.

  He was keeping an eye on a screen showing the Reception Room at the complex where Maeve was still at her station greeting the line of important visitors who wanted a personal visit with the High Priestess. She met them in her High Priestess gown seated in an ornate chair. Cindy, who had grown from her personal bodyguard to a trusted confidante and the head of her guard detail, stood beside her naming the visitors, handing her information on them and generally stage-managing the sessions.

  Lucas glanced at the clock and saw with relief that she was with the last visitor of the day. He could see from subtle signs in her posture that s
he was tired. At last the final visit ended and Cindy signaled to close the Reception Room door.

  In a moment the door to Lucas' office opened and Maeve and Cindy came in. Maeve collapsed on the sofa and began to strip off the heavy gown.

  "Gaia, that was a long day. I'm beat."

  Cindy had gone to the Food and Beverage robot and ordered up two cups of hot tea for Maeve and herself. "I thought that last woman would never leave," she said. "I thought she was going to kneel in front of you."

  "She was," said Maeve embarrassed. "As it is she managed to kiss my hand."

  Beneath the gown Maeve wore a tee shirt and shorts and Lucas found himself admiring her body. "Three kids and twelve years on and she still makes my heart race," he thought.

  Maeve caught his look and smiled at him in appreciation. That visual exchange took only a few seconds and then she asked, "What's the schedule for this evening?"

  Cindy consulted her calendar. "Nothing. See the kids, have dinner, get some rest. We'll shoot the sermon in the morning."

  Maeve nodded and sipped her tea.

  "How about you, dear?" she asked Lucas.

  He had checked his calendar and quickly decided to cancel a meeting with staff in favor or family.

  "Let's see," he said, "I've got to see the kids, eat dinner, relax a little and have a date with my wife."

  Maeve grinned, "I'll add that last bit to my schedule."

  "Seeing the kids meant moving from the offices to the living quarters, a matter of a hundred yards walk that included Cindy and the two other guards and two assistants for Lucas. Once in the living quarters the assistants faded into the background, the guards checked the premises and then joined Lucas' aides in the break room which featured screens showing every room.

  The kids came bursting through the door to the living room to bombard their parents with stories of the day. Eleven year old fraternal twins, Jack and Robbie, and their nine year old sister Miriam. The boys were sturdy and energetic and came tumbling in full of anecdotes about the games they'd been playing at school. They were boisterous with Lucas, leaning on him and twining their arms through his and generally pulling him two ways at once. They were much gentler around their mother and left her when Miriam climbed into her lap.