The Only Light

The Only Light

Lunar day 110, 459, C.O. (Chronological order)
Journal entry:
The only light in my room is the writing board. I have to capture my thoughts now while they were still fresh. I actually think we have found it! That elusive place known as New York City, it has been considered a myth, a bedtime story told to children. Yesterday we found buried under the great desert a massive complex of ruins marked in the language of the ancients. This is the find of a lifetime. Even if it is not New York, we shall be able to learn volumes about happen to a whole civilization. The area seems so huge—what happen? Where did its people go? It is inconceivable that a whole people could just vanish. Perhaps there was a sudden climate change, a meteor, maybe. There is no sign of volcanic activity. It is nowhere near the sea, unbelievable; it is in the middle of a desert. The only building we were able to enter seems to have been a storage place for memories. There are so many aisles of bound materials and they are so fragile they crumble when touched. The dialect seems similar to the pre---times. Their language, culture habits and just maybe what ancient writings of Tolkien, I think it was all there. We have fifty-four days until the lecture. There should be a firmer idea of where we are and who these people were. Closing this entry at solar hour 6.2 on sky cycle 111 of the lunar year 459, C.O.

Date: Lunar year 459, lunar hour 3.5, sky cycle 164
Journal entry: Excerpt —lecture at Center Hall, Atlantis—written record of one question and answer. Will transcribe the rest later.

?: What seems to have been the reason for the migration from the city?
Response: From the size of the city, there could be many reasons. There may have been a lack of food and space. There is evidence of an armed force that was to keep the peace. Nevertheless, there was a great deal of internal strife. On day 27 of the dig, we found something that gave us a clue—a scrap of paper in a brown glass bottle. There was evidence that the person had had a small fire on what appeared to have been a rooftop or maybe a garden. I will read it.---

“I have come up here to sit, watch the stars much as the ancestors must have millions of years ago. Two weeks ago they declare there would be no holiday week to be celebrated by anyone here in New York or world wide. The governments gave no reason. It seems though that in the last few years, there has been more and more strife. It is odd that it began with those religious factions that had their birth in the Middle East. There were the three religions who said they followed the same god but---oh, well. That is when the Holiday Wars began, each group pointing fingers at the other and when the words gathered enough angry power the fighting began. Well, “they” succeeded there will be no holiday week ever again. I watched as the world that I knew crumbled amidst bombs and rioting. Some have fled to the countryside. Others have decided to stay here in the city. At first, the news from around the world is the same. War has destroyed the major population centers. Billions have died. Slowly the people have dwindled and those who are still here isolate themselves. There have been many more deaths from internal fighting. Civil war within the city, it is almost as though we have reverted to the tribal systems of the ancient times. There was the sound of gunfire night and day for months.

I have heard nothing for days. There has been no communication, no radio, T.V. no digital contact for weeks. So, I have climbed up here to toast the gods, drink to those who have gone before and to those who will come after—. I will sit here on the longest night of the year to see if the sun rises and whether the year will turn beginning life a new---”
It is dated Dec.21, 2304.
There were no more questions. People stole silently from the hall. “Will it happen again?” one brave soul whispered.
The lecture ended.