The Children Beyond Earendel
PART ONE
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No wind stirred in the Gate Acre Wood
No bird entered where the black trees stood.
The old folk warned ‘nothing was good
So, keep far away from the Gate Acre Wood.’
Tales were told about a wind and a flood
Bringing bugs and slugs and dark foul mud
So, not much survived and the trees didn’t bud
Which made people afraid of the Gate Acre Wood
Every day everyone kept away from the Wood
Where trees would trap you if only they could
Nobody knew what might grow in the Wood
Where voices whisper ‘we’d escape if we could.’
A notice declared no children were allowed
No matter how small or big was the crowd
To pick up stones or take away seeds
That stuck to the roots reaching out from the trees.
But two brothers called Zac and Reubs were bold
Often refusing to do what they were told
It didn’t make sense why a group of old trees.
Ate ladybirds, flies, and large bumblebees.
‘Let’s find out why the Wood is a mystery’
Zac thought the answer might lie in its history
‘There’s nothing inside so it can’t be that risky
What if the Wood is a magical fantasy?’
So, passing tree by tree they went into the Wood
Making sure it was safe wherever they stood
But as daylight faded and shadows moved around
The trees uprooted and slid over the ground
A sudden bright light made them cover their eyes
Until they saw two figures about half their size
Standing quite still at the far end of the Wood
Repeating ‘this isn’t our neighbourhood.
We’re trapped and desperate to get out of this Wood
Everyone’s scared but we’re misunderstood
We must signal our friends with fire made of wood
Even if it burns down the Gate Acre Wood.’
The two strange figures changed shape as they glowed
No sign of eyes, ears, a mouth, or a nose
While sharp points of light stabbed the bark on the trees
Carving a ‘Z’ and an ‘R’ and then the word ‘PLEASE’
The night brushed away cloud and in came the stars
Peering at what they could see from afar
Listening to the footsteps in the Gate Acre Wood
Where trees turned around and nothing was good.
PART TWO
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Reubs reached out and touched the scarred bark
The marks were hot and fizzed in the dark
The brothers stood still hardly able to breathe
‘What do we do? Do we help them or leave?
We could turn back now and never return,
Or try to help them and watch the Wood burn.’
‘At school,’ said Zac ‘we talk of homo sapiens
But they look more like a couple of aliens.’
Reubs pulled his hand away from the trees
‘Why?’ he said, ‘have they picked you and me?’
He shook his head frowning ‘do they know our names?
Or are they in disguise and just playing games?’
Roots inched closer as the boys remained still
While the two figures sounded louder and shrill
‘We have little time,’ they called out with one voice
‘We must get to the sky we’ve no other choice.’
‘Where are you from and why are you here?’
Reubs shouted out as the figures drew near.
Zac muttered to himself ‘this is terribly weird
Nothing and no one should be living in here.’
The alien figures waved to a dark distant cloud
Pointed to the boys then spoke out loud
‘We left together from our faraway stars
On our very first journey past Earth on to Mars
But we took the wrong route and soon we got lost
We dropped into this Wood when it was covered in frost
We had no way out no matter how hard we tried
Because your clouds keep changing the shape of the sky.’
The figures shone a light on a circle of stones
‘If you are brave we will show you our homes
Beyond Earendel your furthest known star
You can see how we live and see who we are.’
The boys looked at each other, not sure what to do
As the circle rose from the ground and started to grow
Into a dome where light started to glow.
‘What if we get stuck and have nowhere to go?’
Gliding over the ground without breaking their stride
The aliens hovered and merged and vanished inside.
Reubs said ‘We can’t do this we don’t know you
We might end up as specimens in a test tube.’
A whisper replied ‘my name is One and the other is Two.
We heard you were determined to find out the truth
‘Help us get away so we’re not stuck here forever
Our pathway to Mars must be interstellar.’
PART THREE
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Zachy started to laugh. ‘It’s just so absurd
That wherever you’re from, you speak the same words
We’ve always been told no humans existed
In any other worlds where life forms subsisted.’
‘We learned the same,’ the aliens said to the boys
‘Even though we hoped we would hear a noise
Reaching us from a faraway galaxy
But our teachers told us that was a cruel fantasy
And nothing and no one could look like us.
So, instead of false hopes we placed our trust
In the belief no other humans emerged
From our ancestors who in time had converged
To become who we are as you see us today.
We can understand what you think and you say
And this makes us sure we can safely depend
On both of you helping to signal our friends.’
‘But’ Reubs insisted ‘there’s so much we don’t know
Please show us where you come from before you go?
No one will believe us when we try to explain
We’ve met other humans with much bigger brains.’
On the ground the aliens drew curious shapes
And gradually built-up enormous landscapes
Of many domed buildings and enormous silos.
‘These are our homes and where our food grows.’
‘How did you get here when you live so far away?’
Zac asked as the odd shapes started to fade.
‘We followed sunbeams but somehow got lost
And fell into this Wood when it was covered in frost.
No one entered the Wood, so we wanted to see
What it was like to be surrounded by trees.’
One whispered, ‘this chance might not come again
And who would believe us when we told our friends
That we encountered strange human creatures
Who had eyes, a mouth and other odd features?’
‘We’re really the same,’ Reubs said. ‘And one day we’ll find
A spaceship which can link your world with mine.’
‘But now,’ said Two, ‘we must try hard to get home
Back to our friends and to our family dome.
We promise we’ll tell them how you live and thrive.
And the way you helped us both to survive.’
The boys built a fire as a signal to the sky
The aliens disappeared calling out goodbye
‘Look out for our gift of two magic stones
They hold secrets you can keep as your own.’
PART FOUR
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Tales were told of the trees that stood
In a circle inside the Gate Acre Wood
And how in the course of just a few hours
It lost all its secrets, its mystery and powers.
Only the stumps of hollowed out trees
And the empty hives of dead bumblebees
Together with roots now blackened and scarred
Were left as signs of a Wood badly charred.
Years passed by as the brothers grew older
Zac and Reubs still remained bolder
Than all of their friends who had never gone near
The Gate Acre Wood which once made them fear
That if they ever went in they would never get out
Trapped by roots that would suddenly sprout
And according to rumours, move over the ground
Taking intruders who were never again found.
So the Wood was left to wither and rot
Weeds grew tall as people forgot
About the strange light that shone between trees
And rose to the sky in smoke on a breeze.
Reubs and Zac kept hold of the stones
Bleached by the years and looking like bones.
Then early one evening when moonlight shone
The stones showed the path where the aliens had gone.
The boys followed the route to where they once spoke
To the aliens before they vanished in smoke
Surprised to find one tree had been saved
And marks in its bark had survived unscathed.
Zac and Reubs read ‘this is for the boys.’
The stones touched the bark with a quiet cutting noise
It carved the name ‘One’ and then the name ‘Two’
And underneath they saw ‘We’ll remember you.’
As the brothers traced the shape of each word
A woodpecker flew in and soon they heard
The sound of hammering into the tree
And the rest of the message was easy to see.
‘We kept our promise and told our friends
About the humans we met who helped us send
A signal to the sky that lead us back home
So we all now know other humans will roam
The worlds that surround us so we’re not alone.’
Time went by and still one tree stood
To remind generations of the Gate Acre Wood
And the idea that aliens are bad is just a falsehood.