Chapter 26: Advent time

[November 2373 AD – January 2374 AD – POV Timotheus Sinterguth]

When October had turned into November and that month was also mostly gone, one of my favorite times of the year started. Advent and Christmas had been a very special time in good old Germany for many centuries, and we, both the people in my family and those in my church community, plus many in the city and the country, even non-religious people, had upheld that tradition. While some regarded the season just a time with special decorations and the holidays as an opportunity to present gifts, we focused on the real background and meaning, as the large inscription on one my sweatshirts pointed out: 'Jesus is the reason for the season!'.

In the week prior to the first Advent Sunday, workers in the city were busy with setting up decorations, and many small fir and spruce trees were placed in large pots in various places in the city. Elementary school classes and some kindergarten groups had worked on decorations for them as part of their arts education, and each tree had a label pointing out which class of which school had done the decorations for it. Corinna Seeberger, the youngest girl in my youth group, was in her final year in elementary school, and on the Saturday prior to the first Advent Sunday, she asked me to go with her, and she led me to the street where the small tree with decorations from her class was located. I had to admire the decorations properly, and then we also looked at some of the other trees. In the center of the city a larger tree was located, like a dozen meters high or so, and it had lights all around it. Below the tree, a nativity scene had been placed, which had been a tradition for many centuries. We looked at that for some time, and when I noticed that the girl was getting cold, I invited her into a small bakery for a cup of hot chocolate and a piece of cake.

Eventually I got Corinna home, and when she had rung the bell, her oldest sister opened the door to the Seeberger apartment. As soon as she saw me next to her youngest sister, Primrose blushed, opened her mouth, and closed it again without saying something. I was not really sure what was wrong, but on the other hand I was happy that I did not have to say much, as she looked quite stunning, even in her usual shabby clothes; I had trouble not to ogle her too directly. Quickly I forced myself to turn to Corinna, who had observed her sister's behavior with obvious amusement, wished her a nice evening and walked away with as much decency as I could muster, which was not much at all. Of course I should have introduced myself properly; I guessed I had messed it up once again. This was not news to me at all; young women frequently confused me, and this one in particular. In addition to that, of course, I still recalled my bad experience a few years ago.

During advent time we had an afternoon of crafting together, like 50 or so people from our church community, both adults and children, in the largest room in the parish hall. We prepared candles, advent wreathes, and other decorations, to be sold and the money donated to a charity. When I and two of my friends had picked an empty table and sorted the material we had, Corinna came in with both of her sisters and dragged them to our table right away. Primrose, the oldest, even seemed to be taller than last summer; she might have grown another few centimeters, and for a brief moment I imagined her in heels, bringing her to exactly my own height, so that our faces would be on the same level for something like…

I forced myself to not follow those thoughts any longer and instead noticed that the tall young lady seemed to be a little reluctant to follow her sisters; maybe she had her own friends at another table? Maybe even a boyfriend? Anyway, Corinna did not give her a choice, and she quickly introduced herself and her sisters to us. My friend Norbert, his girlfriend Anne and I also introduced ourselves, and when I shook hands with Primrose, she blushed again, quite madly. Poor girl.

Soon we started to work together. I was not very skilled in crafting, but my friends Norbert and Anne next to me were, and I tried to learn from them. Primrose also seemed to be slow, but her sisters educated her nicely, and I found that Corinna in particular was very quick with her small hands. While we worked, I tried to initiate some conversation, although this was not one of my fortes, and it took me at least ten minutes to collect enough courage to do so. At least I was able to avoid real stupid phrases like "So, you are here as well?", and I asked:

"So, Primrose, are you still going to school?"

She slowly shook her head without saying anything, and she avoided looking directly at me. Well, I guess that she did not want to have a conversation with a nerd like me. Corinna answered for her, though:

"Primrose graduated from 'Realschule' last summer, and she has started an apprenticeship as a doctor's assistant and receptionist."

Well, with her looks, whatever doctor who employed her would probably gain a lot of new patients, I thought, but of course did not say. I found that I actually had to make sure to focus on my crafting rather than looking at her too much. Since my first attempt to have a girlfriend had turned out not well at all several years ago, I had been getting quite cautious, and I expected to be laughed at if I even attempted to make a compliment, like telling her that I considered her pretty. Thus, I clad myself in silence again and kept working.

Thinking back about the couple of years before, with myself spending a lot of time with the Madison family, I sighed. Communicating with younger girls was so much easier than with older ones. I thought that there was no way I'd be able to keep handling my youth group once the girls were about 14 or 15 years old; that would not work at all, for me, that is. But at that time I would probably not be around in this area any longer anyway.

Corinna did not give up, though:

"Timotheus here is doing Öko-something, and he is trying to save the environment."

I almost had to laugh about her simplification of what I was doing. Was she about to advertise me or so? No, just conversation. Primrose was still silent and did not look up. Well, Corinna had told me that she was shy, and I told her:

"Look Corinna, your sister apparently is here mostly for the crafting and not so much for talking. Give her a chance to do that, will you?"

Talking to Corinna was easy for me. She was also quite pretty, but she wasn't the drop dead gorgeous young lady her older sister was; most specifically, Corinna was nine years old, and talking to her was as easy as talking to Ruth was; as a matter of fact, Ruth and Corinna were almost exactly of the same age, whereas Christine, the middle sister, was between them and Primrose. Half an hour later, though, Primrose asked me in a low voice:

"Did your parents name you after the Timotheus in the Bible?"

That was a topic I was willing and able to talk about; I nodded and confirmed: "Yes, they did. They always liked the character who spent some time with Paulus. Naturally, this section of Acts has become one of my favorite parts in the Bible, and I like my name."

"So do I" was her response and she focused on her crafting again without elaborating any further. I thought about asking what exactly she liked – the character in the Bible, his name, my name, or maybe her own name, but I did not dare to ask and stayed silent again.

This year's Christmas family celebration was going to happen in Riesenwald, northeast of Erlangen; last year we had met in Rainbow Valley in Panem. At this time there was not much snow on the ground, so that when I arrived a few day prior to the holidays, I learned that a winter hiking trip had been planned from December 22nd to 24th, with outdoor camping and all. We were one happy group of campers of all ages, and even children were allowed to come if they wanted, provided that they were already able to sustain a proper hiking speed, which basically excluded preteens; a few volunteers had prepared a separate and smaller event for the younger children.

My cousin Daniela had come from Panem, and some of her friends were with us, too. Daniela was one of my best friends, and I was as close to her as I was with my twin cousin and his two sisters. Speaking of them, they had of course arrived as well, while Rue had stayed with her grandparents. The Heideckers were with us as well, and many others, both family, extended family and good friends, from Panem and Europe.

I managed to spend some time alone with my cousin Daniela, and I mentioned Primrose to her and the effect she was having on me. Daniela was fifteen years old, and almost since her birth, we had been very close, and we were able and willing to share all secrets with each other. When I mentioned the frequent blushing I used to observe on the tall girl's face almost every time I saw here, Daniela nodded and showed a strange expression, but neglected to comment that any further. I admitted that I had some feelings for the blond girl, and Daniela told me that she was happy to hear about that:

"It would be about time for you, you know. Let's see what happens; maybe she starts to like you, too?"

"Seriously, liking me?"

"Why not? Once people manage to look around your nerd attitude, there's a lot to like!"

I was not so sure about that, but I still had a little hope that some time a girl might like me just as I was and for who I was rather than for my family money and connections or for helping them to study.

Our hike started in mid morning of December 22nd from Riesenwald, and our target was called 'Burg Rabeneck'. The place was a castle ruin, but close to it there was a group of log cabins, and they were booked by us for two nights. A small van had already left to carry our heavy stuff, like bedrolls and such, so that we could walk with just light backpacks. Our hike started through forests and hills, and sometimes we walked close to a small river called 'Wiesent'. The tour was more than just about walking, though. There were a few places with panels explaining about the environment, and at one location we could see one of the few ancient small water power plants which were still there in the river. At one location a modern generator powered by a set of small water wheels was installed right next to one of the ancient ones, so that we could compare and notice the differences; a large sign showed the numbers, technical details, and major improvements. The area had a number of smaller caves as well, but most of them were locked at this time of the year due to hibernating bats.

We arrived at the campsite just when dusk settled down, and the two van drivers had already started a huge campfire. We took over from them and they left with their vehicle, leaving us all alone in the camp. We had a large supply of food, though, and soon the smell of roasted meat from the fire filled the air. A large pot hanging from a tripod had some vegetable soup, and when the stars came out we all sat around the fire and enjoyed our meal.

Naturally, after the walk most of us were tired, and we looked upon sleeping accommodations. Most of the cabins had eight beds, and my twin cousin and I found ourselves in one of the cabins together with my cousin Primrose, the three Heidecker children, Daniela, and one of her friends, Carmen. Timotheus Mellark and I were by far the oldest people here in this cabin, but being with the other young people was nice. Of course most of them were girls, but expect for Daniela՚s friend Carmen, we had known all of them for many years, so that it was not awkward for us at all, but more like extended family. We had some nice talking going one in the evening before we eventually fell asleep in our warm sleeping bags.

The next morning was cold; the cabins were all unheated, and getting out from the cozy sleeping bags and into our winter clothes was a challenge. The thermometer showed minus twelve degrees, and we soon found ourselves around the fire one of the others had just started. Once we had had breakfast, the group leader, one of my second degree uncles, decided that we needed to walk in order to keep warm, and thus we left the camp and hiked down to the valley ground. The 'Wiesent' river was there, but most of the water was ice covered. In normal years, the river rarely froze as it flowed rapidly, but there had been a few quite cold days and nights already, and at least the sides were frozen over; this was a very scenic view. While we looked at the river, our guide explained upcoming plans:

"Half an hour from here we have a wonderful icy gorge for climbing and hiking. It will be safe, but strenuous, and not everybody will be up for that, I assume. We have ropes and harnesses to support you, but the tour still requires stamina and some courage. Those who are up for that stay with me, and the others can go with my wife for an easier walk, which is also supposed to be nice."

It turned out that all who were in our cabin went with my uncle, and I was happy to see that. Once we had separated from the other group, we hiked upriver and soon encountered a creek which came down from a side valley; our guide pointed us in that direction. After a few hundred meters a gorge opened right ahead of us, and it looked very icy.

"Look ahead," my uncle suggested, "as we are going to go in there. A few steps ahead there is a large box with harnesses and ropes, and we are all getting those, no exceptions. Understood?"

He was prepared for the fact that not all of us were experienced climbers and hikers, and in addition he knew that conditions were very icy today. As a matter of fact, the tour was closed for normal traffic at this time of the year; with the proper gear it was not particularly dangerous, but there had been a number of events with visitors not following the strict rules. We had a special permit, and soon we got ourselves equipped with the harnesses and safety lines; when everybody was done we started to clip ourselves to the guide ropes at the start of the tour. I had been in the gorge a few times before, and my twin cousin as well as Daniela were also experienced in those kind of treks, but the Heidecker kids and Carmen were not; my twin cousin and I helped them along in some of the more challenging sections. Nevertheless, we all had a lot of fun, and despite the occasional slipping on the icy ground, we managed to get to the center area to admire the partially frozen rock walls and in particular the frozen waterfalls. There was a small pond, and from three sides small creeks fed into it; all of them were frozen over, although one could hear some water gurgling below and behind the ice.

At the end of the day we were happy to get back to the camp and to the big bonfire there, and due to the exertions of the day we fell asleep quite quickly. On the next day we walked back to Riesenwald using a different route, and as we had left early, when there was still darkness around us, we arrived there for a late lunch. The excursion had been quite nice, despite the cold temperature, and now we could be looking forward to celebrating Christmas together, mostly indoors.

Snow coming down during Christmas had been a rare event for many years, and this year was not going to be different. The low temperatures on the days before had gone, and rather than snow, we had a lot of rain, but fortunately the expansive family home had a lot of space available. Similar to our main residence in Rainbow Valley, we had a huge mansion for family and good friends, built almost like a hotel. Each section on each floor had many individual rooms with private bathrooms, and there was a common kitchen and living room or two to share, so that everybody could spend time for themselves or together. Basic services like restaurants, laundry, janitorial services and such were available, and the ground floor had a huge banquet hall with a high ceiling, taking the height of two floors.

Of course, a nicely decorated Christmas tree was set up in a corner, and on Christmas Eve a cousin of mine came in, dressed up as Santa Claus, and he brought presents for the younger children. There was a cold buffet on that evening, and the real festive meal was going to be offered on the 25th of December, focusing on goose and duck and such. One of the cooks had even tried to prepare something really complicated, and he called it 'turducken' - a dish consisting of a deboned chicken stuffed into a deboned duck, further stuffed into a deboned turkey. It looked like it had been very challenging to prepare, but it was a very interesting taste. Naturally, there were a lot of side dishes as well, like dumplings, rice, and many kinds of vegetables, in particular various types of cabbage, including my favorite, savoy cabbage.

In the late afternoon of Christmas day the rain stopped and the sun came up just before going down, and some of us opted to go for a walk at dusk. We had quite some fun walking in the dark, and movement was good after all of the food we had enjoyed earlier in the day.

On the days after Christmas Grandfather, the Sinterguth family and holding patriarch, followed his yearly ritual to spend a little time with each family member. That was his way of making sure that he knew what was going on not only in our companies, but also in the extended family. On December 28th it was my turn, and as I had done in the years before, too, I took my twin cousin with me. Tim M was not strictly part of the family, but as we shared almost everything and he was our unofficial contact to Panem՚s District Twelve, that was all right.

Grandpa received us in his study, sitting in a big easy chair next to a lit fireplace, and we first talked a few minutes on political and economical topics and about the progress in our studies. He was particularly interested in the cooperation regarding the hydro power storage plants, and this was a topic we both like to talk about.

Soon he got us to a much more sensitive topic:

"Now, boys, what about your private lives?"

I pretended to not understand:

"What about it?"

"Come on, Tim, you know exactly what I mean. What abut your love life?"

I may have blushed a little, but there was no way even trying to keep something from Grandpa, so that I reluctantly told him about the tall girl I had been introduced to. Of course I pointed out that I basically knew nothing about her and so far basically just admired her body. He just nodded and then turned to my twin cousin:

"And what about you?"

He smiled and replied: "Well, I do have a girl close to me now, but she is just fourteen years old and looks like not even ten."

Grandfather raised his eyebrows and Tim had to tell the story. When he was done, Grandpa shook his head, and before he let us go, he said:

"Well, considering your youth group in Erlangen and your sister and her new best friend in Appacolia, I do believe that the phrase 'Timotheus and his girls' is quite appropriate for both of you. It is about time to focus your attention to a single one, but I realize that this takes time, and only God knows when this is going to happen. The proverb 'Gottes Mühlen mahlen langsam, aber trefflich fein' ('the mills of God grind slowly but they grind exceedingly small') hopefully applies here, too."

Back in Erlangen after New Year's Day I met Sabine and Daniel Sinterguth, the two guides from the cave tour, for a shopping trip. We used to meet once or twice a year to do something together, and today we had a specific target, the big store for antique books in the city. Collecting old books in general was not our hobby, but we were always interested in finding more references to some specific topics, like the caves and also a very exotic topic – theories about alien beings visiting earth before our current civilization came to life. We owned a few books from the Swiss researcher and author Erich von Däniken, who had lived in the 20th and early 21st century. He had looked into many indications which, in his opinion, more or less proved that earth had been visited before, by sentient beings from outer space.

"Hey, Sabine, do we already have this one?" I called over to my friend when I saw an old book with the familiar title 'Zurück zu den Sternen' (back to the stars). She came over, looked at it, and replied:

"I have seen it before, but it is still missing in our collection; let's get it!"

It was not just fascination for the unknown and for odd theories which made us look for book like this. Our families had actually, starting centuries ago, found something very interesting and fascinating in the caves we owned, and we, or rather our ancestors, had come upon some very strong indications that von Däniken had actually been right. I am not at liberty to talk about details, at least not yet, but most of the family's current wealth and flood of technical innovations had been triggered and impacted by our discoveries, and our family had harbored that secret since we had started to tap it centuries ago, knowing that making it public was likely not a good idea for various reasons.

After the shopping tour, Sabine, Daniel and I sat together in my apartment and had some tea and cake together. Thinking about the book we had acquired I mused:

"If von Däniken had known what we know, he would have had better arguments to present, and more people would have believed his theories."

"Yes, sure, but what would have happened?" Daniel replied. "If lots of people had learned about cool gadgets based on alien technology, that would have started a very harsh competition. As usual, only rich people would have been able to benefit, and the gap between rich and poor would have increased even wider."

"And not only that" Sabine added. "If the big super powers had learned about the potential for more advanced weapons, they would have killed to get exclusive access to those."

"Well, there was not really much on weapons, but they would have expected that, of course" I responded. "But the Great War did happen anyway, and it was real bad."

"And it would have been even worse with alien technology" Sabine claimed.

"Of course you are right. There was no way we could have done what Perry Rhodan did in the series, even if we had found some of those alien weapons."

My favorite science fiction series, 'Perry Rhodan', had indeed to deal with a somewhat related problem. Right at the start of the series, a spacecraft from Earth finds a few aliens with their crashed spacecraft on the moon, and the human commander recognizes that they could not just land on Earth as usual and present the technical innovations, as this would have likely caused war. Rather than doing that, he decides to land in a desert and declares an independent state, to make sure that a united humankind can benefit, and long term this actually works out quite well. War started nonetheless, but alien technology prevented all nuclear weapons from going off at least.

"No, of course not" Daniel agreed. "But at least we still have the ability to use the resources we have for the benefit of humankind."

He was right – this was something our family had done for a long time. For some centuries already, we had been blessed by having very smart people in our family who had been able and willing to investigate notes and some quite odd constructs we had found. We had been able to provide some advanced knowledge and technical means, but it had always been a decision of the people and the governments how to use them. In particular during the first half of the 21st century, most people in the highly developed countries had lusted for more and better tech gadgets, and this had been a higher priority for most than protecting the environment. While we had been able to make some progress in developing countries, aiding them in using more green power, improving access to water and food and such, that had not been enough by far, and the ever increasing pollution and generation of global warming gases had eventually started a process which could not be reversed any longer, at least not for the time being.

Since the Great War, our foundation had used a significant portion of the income generated by our various companies to provide benefits and education to poorer countries, including but not limited to use of green energy and water purification. Our investments were regulated by a strict moral and religious codex, which excluded weapons manufacturing, for instance.

[Author's Notes: Those living in 'Mittelfranken' in Germany or interested to look up places on a map might find out that some of the locations I use exist in reality, like the 'Wiesent' river.

The author 'Erich von Däniken' is a real person, and I own a few of his books; I find his theories quite fascinating indeed.

The science fiction series 'Perry Rhodan' is the largest SF series in the world, and it is written in German, with translations into many other languages of course. A team of authors started to write it in the early 1960s, and it is still active and continued.

I intend to reveal a little more about the Sinterguth family secret in later chapters.]