Chapter 25. One


"How is Katie doing?" Jones asked, doing his daily checkup on her health.

"She's doing just fine. Started to walk again." George answered, looking up from his book. "I don't think she will ever be totally strong as she was before but she is stronger then I ever imagined."

On the porch Shadow with his son, Fere, Fown, Mog and Shikha with their daughter sat grouped around each other. BlackStone was also with them with his leg in a stiff cast. He had snooped around in Jones's hidden winery had tried out the bitter juice himself. He was staring off in a drunken stupor but at least his leg didn't hurt so much anymore.

Fere herself was absorbed in the multitude of books Shadow shared with her from the small library inside. She was more into the pictures of long-lost creatures and civilizations then the hieroglyphics all over the pages.

"So this odd-marked animal you call a breza?" She pointed inside a animal dictionary.

"No it's a zebra." Shadow corrected her.

Shikha and Shadow watched as their children tussled at their feet. Favul made it a game to tie Billie's arm hairs into knots. Her mother pulled her hands away and gently scolded her.

"Don't do that. I'm not sure if Billie feels content with pulling them apart." She waved her finger at her.

"Billie likes to do such games. He's a crazy nut-ball himself." Shadow chuckled, giving him a noogie.

"How's Katie?" She asked, still very concerned.

"She's doing very well. She's the strongest person I know." He untied some of the tiny knots from his son's arm.

Fown was stuffing his face with one of the farm chickens he snuck from the coop. "This whatever you call it, chick-en bird is yummy. Such tender meat."

"I'm sure the Time Traveler will love to poke those feathers in your butt and turn you into one yourself." Fere shook her head at him.

BlackStone still moaned now and then, hoping to draw some attention to his wounds. He enjoyed telling his story of his time in the lab over and over.

"When are we going back?" Mog asked Shadow.

"When Katie feels better. I promised her I would wait for her. You guys could go along if you want."

"You don't know the way there." Fere added.

"I also have to gather the others. Master has his Eloi liberated. The word would pass quickly." Shadow stared over towards the mountains. "I will need to fetch my mate as well."

"There will always be Eloi for food. We can't change the entire world." Fere reminded them.

"I know but this is a change." Mog smiled. "Now my mate no longer has to fear."

Katie was dressing herself the best she could. The healing gashes on her back decreased her flexibility. She was deeply afraid of opening them again. Shandow helped her put the tunic back on. The pair have gotten closer now. Shandow was no longer the shallow Eloi she knew when she first met him. He no longer had the desire to mate with the other females as well either. He stuck close by her like a dutiful husband.

"Katie fine now?" He asked, planting a kiss on her lips.

"Yes I am now." She wrapped her arms around him and caressed his face. She was planning on moving back with the other Morlocks to their new home and staying with Shandow. A few of the Eloi followed them as it was their nature. Their fate was different now. The Morlocks ignored them and raised the meat of the new Muumoo creature instead. The Eloi walked among them, nibbling on the fruiting trees, playing, mating and carrying on their simple lives. The few among them that knew how to feed themselves showed the lesser Eloi. Even some of the younger generations of the fair blondes and their once dark enemies started to play with each other. One little Eloi found the simple game of slapping mud-pies on top of a Morlock toddler of his own age a very fun game.

Shandow carried his friend outside with the others. Fere praised him for changing into such a caring gentleman.

"He's changed so much since he met his new friend. Never thought he'd bond with anybody like that." She watched her old stud bend over and cover Katie with kisses again.

"He's a good boy." Katie smiled, twirling his hair tightly around her fingers. "I think I'll keep him." She leaned over to Shandow's ear and whispered future nights to be spent with him.

"Yes I will no longer be needing to breed Eloi." Fere sighed. "I am sort of depressed. Thousands of carefully bred bloodlines now no longer important but I am happy my Shandow is free to wander without fear. The muumoo's proved to be tastier."

George was the last to come outside. The stars were out, shimmering their brightest. The Morlocks got up and stretched out their legs. Fown's hair stood on end as he saw the tall man stand before them. Now he did not seem so evil anymore. Only an old man who's time was coming near.

"It will be time to go soon. We can't linger here forever. It will take several days but there are dugouts along the way. If we walk now we will reach the first one." Fere informed them.

George and Jones offered them a horse for Katie since she was not strong enough to walk yet. The small pony was tacked up by Shadow and brought outside. Katie mounted with Shandow behind her to hold her up. Shadow mounted his big steed with his son in his arms.

"You will be okay Katie?" George tried his best not to show any tears.

"Yes dad." She smiled at him. She reached over and hugged him. "I love you very much. I didn't mean to call you a monster."

"It's okay Katie. You were right about that part. It was a part of me I never wanted to take notice to." He kissed her cheek. "Now you take care now. Visit anytime you want. Along with your other friends."

"Of course I will dad."

The pack headed off across the endless fields towards the mountain chains. There was no one to cheer them goodbye, no medals for their good deeds, nor anybody to record this point in history. Only the silent night and the rustling through the wet leaves reminded everybody that life was just to go on like it always would, forward.

George leaned back against the rail and wiped his eyes. "I will be back later on tonight alright Jones?"

Jones nodded, knowing well what that meant. His old friend was going to go off on another one of his journeys. George opened up the garage where he stowed away his old time machine. It had been a few years since he had taken the last trip in it.

"My old girl." He glided his hand across the railings. He sat on top of the dusty chair and screwed in the crystal lever that helped steer his machine into any time period he desired. For a moment he sat there, brooding in the dead silence around him.

Then he pushed forth the lever, closing his eyes as the day and night sped by. The haziness hovered over his head, he leaned back and watched the centuries, millennia's go by. His house was gone in split second it seemed like. The hills rolled around and the mountains climbed higher as the continent sandwiched itself into tighter folds. He spotted something new in the future he had not seen before. Slowly he pulled the lever back, the sun slowed it's never ending race around the sky. New buildings popped up around him. A new civilization had arrived. Whom was it this time? The Morlocks or the Eloi? He wondered to himself. The numbers on his time machine told him he was ten million years head in time. He stopped his machine completely and saw beautiful and triangular shaped houses with vines shrouding around them. The sun was starting to set, leaving splotches of pink and red in the sky. Flowers everywhere and of course animals. The animal species had grown, recovering from the long ago human intervention.

A giant goat-like animal with horns that were easily over five foot in length twisted over it's back stood tied up to one of the huts. A leather halter around it's head shown it's domesticated nature.

Another animal appeared, this time a humanoid telling by the silhouette it threw off. By the shape of it's contours he could only think of some Eloi descendent. Finally the Eloi had sharpened up and used their brains like their past ancestors have. Then from the shadows came more of the humanoids. Their eyes flashed and glowed with reflection.

"Simbembo fweintakio ir demin." One spoke out to him that stood only a few feet nearby. George spun his head around to see a female. He found her to be a striking specimen. Her hair was long and silvery. Not only from her head but from her arms. It was a good three foot long, falling down the sides from shoulder to wrist like a horse's mane. Her legs and the rest of her body bare from hair. Her face was gently shaped with odd-shaped teeth that meant only vestigial from her once dark dwelling ancestors. Her eyes were a vivid blue that awed him more then fright. Her pupils were large and prodding into his. She was nicely built, not stocky but lithe like that of a lioness. Her lavender clothing was a tunic-like feature of clothing folded around her torso.

She motioned him with her herding stick. Sharp claws on each of her four fingers. Her feet had only four toes as well. He climbed over the rail, taking the lever with him. The female walked alongside him, chattering quietly to the others next to her.

He spent the night with them in observation, not feeling an inch tired. The strange people too stayed up and around, perhaps they didn't sleep at night. Maybe they didn't sleep much at all? All night long they played music with drums and some unique type of violin by flickering fires. The goat-like pack animals lowered their heads with eyes half-closed, mesmerized by the soft tones of the songs.

He noted they sported an omnivorous diet as they hunted the wild animals with amazing hunting skills. They would leap onto the animal's back and supply a killing blow to the spine with a sharp stick. It was usually a short-legged type of deer that they hunted. The fruits haven't changed much from his time period with Weena, only a few different ones and more varieties have popped up.

The next day George decided to make it back home, he finally felt that dark part in his heart vanish forever. The new people of the future gave him necklaces made from animal teeth and feathers to take with him. They did not seem to question his strange machine but simply accepted it. They all circled around him and clapped their hands, singing in choir with each other to his leave.

George smiled, for once it was full and genuine as the day his children were born, the day he fell in love with Weena, their first kiss. It was a smile he longed sought after. His soul renewed once again. He came upon the realization of who these people were. They were not Morlocks nor Eloi but both like his grandson. They had interbred with each other, combined the separated opposites into one conformed unity. They had become one again.

The End