LONGEVITY

By THERESE WINDSER

A morality tale—1960 style.

Legend had it, that many
thousands of years ago,
right after the Great Horror,
the whole continent of the
west had slowly sunk beneath
the West Water, and that once
every century it arose during
a full moon. Still, Captain Hinrik
clung to the hope that the
legend would not be borne out
by truth. Perhaps the west
continent still existed; perhaps,
dare he hope, with civilization.
The crew of the
Semilunis thought him quite
mad. After all, hadn't the east
and south continents been completely
annihilated from the
great sky fires; and wasn't it
said that they had suffered
but a fraction of what the
west continent had endured?

The Semilunis anchored at
the mouth of a great river.
The months of fear and doubt
were at end. Here, at last, was
the west continent. A small
party of scouts was sent
ashore with many cautions to
be alert for luminescent areas
which meant certain death for
those who remained too long
in its vicinity. Armed with
bow and arrow, the party
made its way slowly up the
great river. Nowhere was to
be seen the color green, only
dull browns and greys. And no
sign of life, save for an occasional
patch of lichen on a
rock.

After several days of rowing,
the food and water supply
was almost half depleted and
still no evidence of either past
or present habitation. It was
time to turn back, to travel all
the weary months across the
West Water, the journey all
in vain. What a small reward
for such an arduous trip ...
just proof of the existence of
a barren land mass, ugly and
useless.

On the second day of the
return to the Semilunis, the
scouting party decided to stop
and investigate a huge opening
in the rocky mountainside.
How suspiciously regular
and even it looked, particularly
in comparison to the rest
of the countryside which was
jagged and chaotic.

They entered the cave apprehensively,
torches aflare
and weapons in hand. But all
was darkness and quiet. Still,
the regularity of the cave
walls led them on. Some creature,
man or otherwise, must
have planned and built this
... but to what end? Now the
cave divided into three forks.
The torches gave only a hint
of the immensity of the chambers
that lay at the end of
each. They selected the center
chamber, approaching cautiously,
breath caught in awe
and excitement. The torches
reflected on a dull black surface
which was divided into
many, many little squares.
The sameness of them stretched
for uncountable yards in all
directions. What were these
ungodly looking edifices? The
black surface was cold and
smooth to the touch and quite
regular except for a strange
little hole at the bottom of
each square and a curious row
of pictures along the top.

They would copy these
strange pictures. Perhaps back
home there would be a scholar
who would understand the
meaning behind these last remains
of the people of the
west continent. The leader
took out his slate and painstakingly
copied:

Safeguard your valuables at

ALLEGHANY MOUNTAIN VAULTS

Box #4544356782

THE END