The Ring Makers: Chapter 16

Monica Deaver offered the moonshine to Ellie. Ellie demured.

 

They sat in the soft glow of red coals. The bright stars wheeled imperceptibly overhead. Monica stared up and Ellie stared at Monica. Monica’s cohort clustered in groups around other fires. Most slept but some also looked skyward.

 

“Going to be tougher tomorrow,” Ellie said. Monica nodded.  “We’re getting close now.” Monica nodded again and Ellie asked, “Are you crazy?”

 

Monica looked at Ellie. She drank. “No, we’re not crazy. We just want to see it.”

 

“What?”

 

“It. Whatever it is. But when the ring closes, something is going to happen.”

Chapter 15

Chapter 17

The Ring Makers: Chapter 15

Lajos chased Eberardo through the tangled green. The jungle had reclaimed the land swiftly, but neither knew that. To them the Ring had always been surrounded by vines and saplings.

 

“Catch me!” yelled Eberardo.

 

“Slow down!” laughed Lajos.

 

Lajos was scrambling over a boulder when he heard Eberardo’s cry. Exhilaration became fear and he hurried.

 

Eberardo lay at the bottom of a pit, his leg twisted. He was crying. Lajos started to call out but then Eberardo’s face paled and he quieted and shook his head slowly.

 

Lajos felt the presence behind him but could not turn to face it.

Chapter 14

Chapter 16

The Ring Makers: Chapter 14

“Sir,” Miss Ryu said hesitantly.

 

Hyong stirred and  looked up from his console sleepily.

 

“The Supreme Leader–”

 

“–Yes,” he said. He waved and she retreated back to her desk.

 

The door closed. He pushed a button and said, “Supreme Leader.”

 

“Is there any progress, Doctor?”

 

Hyong’s search for the words took too long.

 

“I see,” said the Supreme Leader. “I am sending General Namgung to support your efforts.”

 

“Sir, I do not believe military–”

 

“Belief is irrelevant, Doctor.”

 

Hyong said, “Yes, sir,” through his teeth. The line went silent.

 

“Miss Ryu,” he said over the intercom, “you may go home.”

Chapter 13

Chapter 15

The Ring Makers: Chapter 13

On the patio the midday sun blazed. Jazarah looked at her brother sternly. “Come home, Genet.”

 

Genet rolled his eyes and collapsed into a chair. “This again!”

 

“Yes! And again and again until you see sense.”

 

Genet waved. “No, big sister. God has my heart now.”

 

“Ephrim has your heart.” She snapped, the words bitter and scolding.

 

Angry, Genet leaped to his feet. “God brought me to Ephrim and through him, Heaven!”

 

Jazarah raised her hands to sooth him. “We are afraid. The Ring, it–”

 

“It is of God, Jazarah, and Ephrim will show us the way.”

 

Jazarah left, crying.

Chapter 12

Chapter 14

The Ring Makers: Chapter 12

Ellie and Luiz watched the dust cloud grow in the distance.

 

Luiz said, “There’s a lot of them.”

 

“Yeah,” said Ellie. She checked the safety on her AR-15 again.

 

“You don’t need that,” he said.

 

“I hope not.”

 

There were a dozen vehicles or so and perhaps fifty people among them. Most stayed back a few hundred yards but a Mustang approached and parked in front of Ellie and Luiz. A woman emerged. She was dressed like a high school English teacher.

 

“We’re not here for trouble,” she said. “We’re going to the Ring and we could use a guide.”

The Ring Makers: Chapter 11

“What?” the Supreme Leader had demanded to know, and Doctor Bae had no answer.

 

For a month he poured over the data. He knew the Ring was built by nanomachines that rained down with the extrasolar meteor. He even knew when the ring would complete. But he had no idea to what end. “What?”

 

He knew the Ring was charged with an extremely powerful electromagnetic field, but the circuit was not complete. He knew that when it was, the release of energy would be immeasurable. It was, to his mind, like watching a lightning bolt in very slow motion.

 

“What?”

Chapter 10

Chapter 12

The Ring Makers: Chapter 10

The pilgrims walked and worked among the stones in the ejection field. They cleared a  wide field. They carried away the black stones and piled others for future construction of the shrine. 

 

Genet sketched the scene from a rise nearby from which Ephrim observed. Occasionally a pilgrim would come to him for direction. Always before the pilgrim left they would kiss Ephrim’s hand and bless him.

 

Miles away the Ring loomed. Genet caught Ephrim stealing glances at it, his eyes full of awe and anticipation.

 

“God is coming, Genet.”

 

“I feel it too.”

 

Ephrim kissed Genet’s forehead and Genet ached.

Chapter 9

Chapter 11

The Ring Makers: Chapter 9

Cracking was not the worst job. There were latrines to deal with, after all. But cracking was hard.

 

Ellie brought the hammer down. The black stone was a little bigger than her head and it was defiant. She hit it again. And again. Finally it cracked. Ellie dropped the hammer and looked.

 

She smiled.

 

The inside was geode like, full of crystals. They were harder than diamond and conducted electricity better than anything. You couldn’t eat them or fill a half track’s tank, but you could trade them for food and gas.

 

Ellie sat and watched the sun go down.

Chapter 8

Chapter 10

The Ring Makers: Chapter 8

One Ring stood alone, unwatched.

 

Like the others, it grew slowly. It began as a crater and ejection zone. Over years its base formed by the nearly imperceptible movements of nearly invisible machines. Then the arc of the Ring itself emerged. The arms extended to make a circle that would reach a half mile in diameter.

 

Like the others, it was close to completion and ready to achieve its purpose. But it was patient. It spoke to the others by means unknown to what remained of human civilization and they coordinated. Their growth would end and something new would begin.

 

Chapter 7

Chapter 9

The Ring Makers: Chapter 7

Doctor Bae finished his presentation and then stood with his hands folded behind his back. Miss Ryu hurriedly took the tablet and the projector, bowed low to the Supreme Leader and scurried out of the room. When the door shut the Supreme Leader let out a sigh that Bae did not interpret as positive.

 

“Your Most Honorable–” Bae started.

 

The Supreme Leader waved dismissively. “You said seven months. Then what? What will happen?”

 

Bae, Minister of Special Sciences, had no answer.

 

The Supreme Leader sneered. “I thought so.” He waved again, this time a command.

 

Bae bowed stiffly and left.

Chapter 6

Chapter 8