Chapter 14
Giants on the Beach
"Half a century ago the beach here used to be much wider," Ed told Mary once again, and the road and the fence along it have already been moved further up from the Ocean." For a third morning he and Mary were relaxing on a stretch of beach near Fern Valley. They missed Truman's nice clean, comfortable B&B with its great view, cranky old caretaker, and friendly cat, but camping together was always intended to be the high point of their vacation. The drive to get there was over a terrible narrow twisting dusty dirt road through a tangled forest and across a shallow stream, but Wheels and the choppers of Snake and Doll made it somehow anyway.
At least in coming here they had totally escaped Mara, Ken and even Ranger Mark and Fred's CHiPs. There was no way that the low-slung State limo was ever going to make it to this part of the Park, and they had gotten Mara to keep the CHiPs away. Snake and Doll were camped with Mack only a shout away but other than Wheels, an occasional tourist or two, and elk walking along the beach, Ed and Mary were at last alone together as they had hoped to be.
Or where they? On the second beach night, Ed again experienced his recurring nightmare involving Mary riding a Stone-Coat that walked into the Ocean and disappeared under the waves. On the beach the next morning Ed discovered giant footprints in the sand eight to ten feet long and several feet deep. Stone-Coat footprints! Overnight a stone giant weighing hundreds of tons had gone strolling past within a few yards of their flimsy little tent and Ed hadn't even noticed! While he had always had been a sound sleeper, Ed was shocked.
Ed asked Wheels about it. Wheels told him that yes, he had noticed the giant on the beach but didn't think the event newsworthy enough to wake any humans. Stone-Coats frequently walked on the beach, he noted. It was no big deal.
Mary had agreed. "We've seen thousands of Stone-Coats," she pointed out. "Why wake us up to see another one in the night when it was too dark to see it anyway?"
Ed still didn't want to tell Mary about his crazy nightmares, and he let the matter drop. Besides, what connection could there possibly be between the strolling giant and his dreams?
The third night he had been spared his recurring nightmare and any possible giant tracks had been washed away by the tide. This was a brand new day full of promise.
"We're lucky that there is still enough beach here to camp on," said Mary. "Within few more decades of ocean-level rise this beach may be totally gone. Could you get me my binoculars and another blanket from the tent?"
A dozen placid elk were strolling past near the tent. "The elk will miss this beach more than anyone else," noted Ed. "They like hanging out here as much as humans do."
He dutifully fetched the requested items from the tent. He spread the second blanket over Mary's increasingly frail body and handed her the binoculars. They would doubtlessly again spend another lovely morning watching waves, sea birds, and occasional sea mammals. He would also have to again try to get her to eat more and walk more today, despite her complaints that she was too tired.
She needed to get stronger but no matter what he did she got weaker. And despite the warm sun she always claimed to be cold. Right now he was comfortable wearing only a light jacket over his usual clothing, but as Mary lay in the lounge chair that Wheels had fabricated for her she wore a heavier jacket plus two layers of blanket. Her eyes were closed as if she was asleep but her implant indicated that she was awake.
"You need to try to be more active today," Ed said. "Your body needs physical activity. Maybe we could walk together along the beach. Lounging like this is pleasant and blissfully restful but we need to get you stronger."
"My body is really tired Ed, but my mind is stimulated here enormously."
"But don't you want to get closer to the water?" Ed asked. "The water is cold but we could at least get our feet wet."
"I'm in the water now," she replied after a long sigh. "I'm deep in the water walking through a kelp bed."
"You're fifty feet from the water on what's left of what used to be a hundreds of yards wide expanse of sand dunes," said Ed.
"I've have been communicating with Stone-Coats in the ocean," Mary explained. "I didn't want to tell you about it until we had it all worked out. I'm linked up with one now with my implant, much as you link up with various animals. It's as if I'm the Stone-Coat myself. It's wonderful, Ed! Join me!"
Puzzled and apprehensive, Ed sat down in Wheels, closed his eyes, and linked with Mary via their implants. Suddenly he was looking at the Ocean from perhaps ten feet below its surface. Light filtered from above into a forest of green kelp and darting fish that surrounded him, as he walked ponderously through the water taking giant steps. He also became aware of his body - a fifty foot tall tower of crystals with gigantic mobile arms and legs that moved with ponderous power.
"THIS CAN BE THE FUTURE FOR BOTH OF YOU," said the Stone-Coat, "IF YOU WANT IT TO BE!"
"YES," replied Mary, "I DO! THAT IS MY FINAL DECISION."
"YOUR DECISION IS ACCEPTED," said the Stone-Coat.
Ed broke contact and sprang up from Wheels. "What the hell!" he exclaimed.
"What's wrong?" asked Mary. She opened her eyes and smiled up at Ed.
"What's wrong?" replied Ed. "What's going on here? What were you and that Stone-Coat talking about?"
"The Stone-Coats have a great interest in the oceans," explained Mary patiently. "There are hundreds of them in the oceans now, but some day there will be millions. They want to look for minerals they need, but more interesting they also seek to help preserve element-gathering life forms."
"Sea-going element-gathering life forms analogous to the trees, people, and the other life-forms on the land?"
"Yes," said Mary. "In order to propagate themselves in the oceans they have begun to mine ocean sediments rich in carbon and other needed elements. And they have also come to understand what took humans centuries to discover, that life on land and in the seas is interconnected and interdependent."
"True enough, I suppose," said Ed.
"They are concerned that human caused pollution and Global Warming are severely impacting ocean life as well as life on land," continued Mary. "They have begun an intensive study of the oceans and intend to make sure that a world-wide great dying event doesn't happen again over the next few thousand years."
"Great dying event?"
"A mass extinction event such as the one that wiped out the dinosaurs," said Mary. "Frank told me once that since the advent of multi-cellular life half a billion years ago there have been five such events that wiped our most life on both land and sea. We're at the start of a man-made one now that they plan to help stop."
"Right," said Ed. "Didn't an asteroid impact and massive volcanic event kill off dinosaurs except for birds?"
"Yes, and those events were serious set-backs for Stone-Coats as well," said Mary. "They want to prevent such catastrophes from happening again, if they can. They might not be able to stop the deadly volcanic events, but they can reduce the damage done to themselves and to biological life-forms."
"You've lost me." said Ed. "What volcanic events are we talking about?"
"A spike in continent building happens every hundred million years or so, when the Earth burps up accumulated lighter elements and in the process messes up the biological and Stone-Coat life forms trying to live here on and within the Earth's crust. Plate tectonics cause lighter elements of the Earth's crust such as silicon to be mixed in with heavier substances such as iron, and the lighter elements want to float up to the surface. That's essentially how continents made of the floating lighter stuff are made and re-made by the recycling of lighter crust materials.
"In a typical year there are a couple of dozen notable volcanic eruptions a year. A super volcano eruption happens maybe once in ten thousand years and those are a thousand times greater in magnitude. Normal volcanos and super-volcanoes to a great extent relieve the pressures that build up under the crust but when such relief is inadequate an even more cataclysmic event thousa
nds of times greater than a super volcano eruption occurs. Thousands of square miles of continent are built or covered over with lava and reformed. Tremendous amounts of gasses including carbon dioxide are released. Both biological and Stone-Coat life forms greatly suffer."
"I didn't know that you were into geology," Ed said.
"The Stone-Coats have simply been explaining necessary background information to me so that I can understand why they're doing what they're doing," said Mary. "Unlike humans they do long-term planning and actually act on their plans."
Ed sat back down heavily in Wheels again. "OK, I've seen hints of this in their reports that we get at the Reservation, though it was always something beyond my comprehension. All this is nifty to know but you are evading my question. What does any of that have to do with you and me? What's going on here?"
"We can be part of it Ed. For me quite soon, and you someday in the future, but very soon with respect to how they recon time. Usually Stone-Coats think in terms of geological time: millions of years. Preserving ocean life is part of their plan: near term to address what we call Global Warming and longer term to mitigate much greater catastrophes. Understanding and preserving ocean life is part of their long-term strategy.
"I've always wanted to experience and learn about the oceans and this is my big chance, Ed. These last three days I've been communicating with the Stone-Coats about it. There is a group of several of them off-shore here, and they've asked me to join them. Stone-Coat giants, Ed, much like the ones back on the Reservation! And I've made them promise that you can join them someday too."
"Join them? In the Pacific Ocean? That's crazy talk!"
"You still don't understand!" said Mary.
"I understand that we've been too long on this beach!" Ed proclaimed. He radioed Snake and told them that they would be headed inland immediately, and then he began to frantically pack their things. He had to get himself and Mary away from this place!
Twenty minutes later they were sitting comfortably in Mack and headed inland towards the redwood forests.
"YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME ABOUT HER COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE OCEAN STONE-COATS," Ed scolded Wheels.
"SHE ASKED THAT I NOT DO SO," replied Wheels.
"YOU SHOULD HAVE MORE SENSE BY NOW," Ed responded. "MARY'S A SICK WOMAN AND I'M HER HUSBAND."
"AND I'M HER FRIEND AND YOURS," replied Wheels. "SHOULDN'T YOU HAVE SOME TRUST IN HER AND IN ME?"
"SHE KEEPS GETTING WEAKER," Ed said. "SHE JUST KEEPS GETTING WEAKER EVERY DAMN DAY NO MATTER WHAT I DO! AND NOW SHE SEEMS TO BE TALKING CRAZY TOO!"
"IN MY JUDGEMENT THAT IS NOT THE CASE, ED RUMSFELD. SHE REMAINS HIGHLY RATIONAL; IT IS YOU THAT ARE BECOMING ERRATIC."
As judged by a talking wheel chair, thought Ed. He should have gotten himself some brandy from Snake. He could use a big belt of something right now, though he wasn't ordinarily a drinking man.
"HER VITAL SIGNS ARE WEAK BUT NORMAL FOR NOW," added Wheels. "PLEASE TRY TO NOT UPSET HER FURTHER."
Upset Mary? That was the last thing he wanted to do! As he watched her nap next to him in Mack her eyes opened and she smiled at him. "I'm so very sorry!" he told her, as he held her frail hand in his ageless one. "I got scared. We should have stayed on the beach with your Stone-Coat friends if that's what makes you happy."
"No Ed," she said, "I'm not quite ready for the Ocean yet. I want us to experience the redwood forests together also; you did the right thing. Wake me when we get there."
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