Divine Deception: The Will Traveller Chronicals by Robert James Page A

absolute
unison. It was readily apparent that this was a long rehearsed
welcoming ceremony. Clearly, these people knew I was to come back.
At this point, two dozen older youths marched into the centre; each
pair supported a banner held between two poles.
    Each banner
depicted me doing battle with giant animals, on land, under water
and in the air! Given my interesting trip up the stairs, I
wondered, could the invincible Lord Robert also fly? I walked to
the very front of the richly carpeted Dias, even though the
microphones were all on the lectern behind me. I knew that it was
time for my automatic voice to speak, so I held up both my hands
and the massive crowd fell completely silent. I spoke in a
moderated, public speaker voice, not loudly, yet I was quite
certain that every creature in front of me would hear every single
word with crystal clarity. I sensed a vital moment in this world’s
history.
    “Not so long ago,
your Forefathers came and tamed this land” I began “Now your work
here fuels half the New World” I told them. There was a loud and
long response to that information.
    “I want to say to
every one of you” I began again “To all the people of Carabindy
Province, that I am proud, so very proud of what you have achieved.
Of what you have become!” I raised my voice towards the end and
received an ear-splitting response from the people. Even the dogs
barked and those enormous horses tossed their manes and whinnied “I
have come to launch you on your next great journey” I continued
telling the mass of people “I have come to bestow upon you
Nationhood!” My voice announced. After a second of stunned silence,
the whole multitude erupted once again, all of them cheering and
clapping. I waited until they had quietened down a little then
raised my hands
    “I thank you for
your most gratifying welcome” I continued “Now would you guide me
to your great city so that I can, along with your leaders, begin to
forge the future of the Carabindy Nation!” I asked them and
received a tumultuous, positive response. While they roared their
approval, there was still clear organisation amidst the joyous
melee. The largest of the three gigantic elephants lumbered over
towards me.
    “I am honoured to
serve Lord Robert” Came into my head, as the mastiff stood there,
his huge head almost level with mine. Down below, they attached the
giant creature to thick vine ropes. With his two almost as large
companions on either side of him, the huge elephant began to
effortlessly tow my near twenty metre high, very solidly built
podium structure to the town. The T.T.V., with Zoran and Susan
riding the transom, got nearly as much attention as I did.
    They hadn’t seen
one around here in twenty years. Of course they had never seen
anything like this one. In this seemingly non mechanised society,
it looked like a visitor from space. Soon after we started, I was
able to get a look at the first of their suburbs. They stretched
endlessly, all single story houses, with generous green yards that
grew much smaller as we neared what these folks called their city.
This was more of a large country town than a city. No tall
buildings here, in fact, the only imposing building was the State
Government’s Headquarters. Along the way, the near hysterical
cheering and clapping had actually got even louder, so I set my
outward self to smile and wave automatically and asked a silent
question or two of my pachyderm powered transportation.
    In fact his female
colleague, on my right, provided most of the important answers.
From the questions that she answered for me, I found out that this
was the centre of the New World’s mining operation. They piped
their raw material to a processing plant and dispatch port, over a
hundred kilometres to the West. I also found out that they were
environmentally considerate people, who were good to the many
animals they used as beasts of burden. They bred and humanely
slaughtered their own cattle and sheep