Earth by Berengaria Brown Page B

season so there’ll be enough
sunlight to get the solar panels working to provide us with fuel.”
    “Only problem is, Earth is now filled with illiterate starving savages
who can’t even read and write, let alone maintain delicate equipment.”
    Andreas spoke sternly. “Most of the people there died in the wars. Only
a few survive now. You will know your bride because she will understand the
needs we have. Teach her to read and count. Teach her all she needs to know.
The learning will come fast to the correct woman, the one who really is your
true bride.”
    Gabriel grunted. Andreas found it hard to believe as well, but they had
been promised it was the truth. They would know their bride by their body’s
connection to the woman. Only one woman on Earth would match them perfectly and
she would not be more than a long day’s fast march from where they were to
land.
    The day’s march to bring the women back to the spaceship might be a
problem though. He and his men could easily do thirty kilometers, but the women
would likely only be able to achieve half that. And everything had to be
converted to miles in this cursed land. Although, since there was no longer education
and literacy, maybe they measured things in a different way now. It was
something else they might need to learn.
    So, eighteen miles for the men, possibly as many as twenty if the
terrain wasn’t too difficult, but less than nine for the women. It gave them a
basis to plan from anyway.
    “All the supplies are loaded, Andreas. And before you ask, Chad and I
checked everything twice.”
    Andreas grinned at Duncan, who’d just entered the pod. “Good work.”
    He walked through the ship to the dining room, which also functioned as
the men’s break room. As well as the galley area, which was Chad’s domain,
there were two huge flatscreen entertainment centers
for viewing movies or playing games, and a table where all eight of the men
could sit and use their personal reporting and communication devices. Not that
they’d work completely for long. Earth was much too far for messages to carry
back home. They’d send messages between the men and the ship though, just not
across space once they’d traveled for more than a day.
    Once they were underway the eight would never be able to eat together
either as some of them would always be on duty and others asleep.
    Andreas looked around his team members, his colleagues, and his
friends. Boris, Chad, Duncan, Erle, Fletcher, Gabriel, and Herman. On his
planet children were named alphabetically in birth order and no name was ever
repeated. Each child was unique with a distinctive name that showed exactly
where he or she fit in the planet’s genealogy. He was the leader here, and his
seven friends were here to support each other as four of them found their
brides and began to rescue Earth from her death spiral. He would search out his
bride first. Then the other men would seek for three more women until the power
was complete and the renewal process could begin. Later, after the first
settlement was established, the final four men would begin to search for their
own brides.
    “It is time. Lock the hatch and let’s get underway,” he said soberly.
    Their mission had begun.

 
    Chapter Two
     
    The first day’s walk was easy. Much of it was over land they’d
scavenged for edible fruits and berries. The next three days weren’t too bad,
either. They found plenty of edible plants and the food rule was easy to obey.
No scavenger was ever permitted to take more than half of the available food.
Something must always be left to reproduce in case the people came back this
way again later. With only four mouths to feed, there was more than enough for
them all to eat until their bellies were full each night.
    On the fifth day Raine’s sandal broke and although they tried knotting a strip of fabric around her foot to
hold it on, the fabric frayed and fell off again and again. Raine tried walking with one bare foot but