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The next weeks were spent organizing the homesteads. Hanomer’s village would be located on the low rising hills flanking the high mesa of Torburg, since this terrain was much like the hills of the village they had left. The Halcyonites settled on the flat land near the water’s edge. Here there was ample room for fields and gardens. Dave, Al, and Pam worked with some of the Hansa to construct cottages and verandas on the hillside, while other Hansa dug into the earth and rock to make their underground rooms.
Floyd set the Halcyonites to work right away, planting their gardens with the few seeds they had brought from Halcyon and others that the Hansa had given them. So urgent was Floyd’s desire to get their first crop in that they lived in tents until they could construct log cabins beside their garden plots.
Dave, Al, and Pam decided to build their small one¬room cottages at the base of the foothills on a wide stone terrace where the stream cascaded out of the foothills. In this space between the two villages, they could overlook the fields of the Halcyonites, but were only a few minutes walk from their Hansa friends. They shared a common cooking fire at the edge of a stone ledge that gave them a view of Lake Tor.
On one clear summer’s evening, when the garden plots were in and the cottages of the Hansa were complete, the island’s new inhabitants decided to have a feast. The Hansa had caught a very large fish, which was roasting over a fire pit in a glen formed by the rushing creek in the midst of the Hansa village. The whole island was invited, and everyone sat together late into the evening, laughing, telling stories, and singing. Although the outcasts from Halcyon knew few Hansa words, several of the Hansa were well enough versed in English to carry on conversations with them.
After everyone had eaten their fill, they all sat around the fire, some quietly conversing, others already dozing.
“What should we call this place?” Floyd asked.
Everyone looked at Al. “Why look at me?”
“The Hansa have their sages,” said Dave. “We have to have a sage as well, and you’re it.”
“I see. I’m no Granomer, but I suppose I should give it a shot. Give me a moment.”
They all waited impatiently for Al to speak.
“I think we should call this place Eleytheria, which is Greek for “freedom.” That’s what this place means to us all.”
There was a murmur of agreement.
“We need to have some kind of a leader,” said Floyd.
“You’ve been our leader until now. Why don’t you do it?” asked Dave.
“I have a gift for exploration,” said Floyd, “but I’m no good as a diplomat or as an administrator. How about Al?”
“We need someone who can represent both the Hansa and those of us from Halcyon,” Al said. “I think Dave would be the best man for the job.”
Eventually, both the human and Hansa populations of the island of Eleytheria agreed. In democratic elections, they chose Dave as the first mayor of their new community, and designated Al and Hanomer as deputy mayors.
__________
Mayor Schuster and Deputy Mayor Gleeson were relaxing at the mayoralty mansion, a much larger three¬roomed Hansa cottage built on the stone terrace overlooking the lower village. It had been symbolic of their newfound freedom that one of Dave’s first acts as mayor had been to marry Pam and Al.
“We’ve come a long way, haven’t we, Al?”
“Yes,” said Al. “I wouldn’t have believed it, but the Hansa are so industrious! Everyone has a cottage or a log cabin, and we even have the first crops from our garden plots. At first I was apprehensive that I would see Meglir’s army appearing on the shores of the lake, but since that hasn’t happened, I can hope that either he doesn’t know where we are, or we are too insignificant for him to care.”
Dave gulped down some more siph, a regular gift from Hanomer, then stretched himself out even more comfortably on his homemade deck chair.
“Still,” said Dave as he looked up at the high mesa of Torburg, “I won’t really feel safe until we reopen the fortress and supply it, so that we could sustain a long siege.”
“When are you going to do that?”
“I don’t know. Hanomer seems afraid of the place, and until now he’s refused to attempt it. I’ve let it go because we’ve had so much to do. I should talk to him again.”
Dave stared up the mountain slope as if hoping to unearth its secrets.
“Well, Meglir is a worry,” said Al. “Still, I feel happier and more content than I can remember feeling since the dislocation.”
“You and Pam seem very happy. When I first met her, I remember, she had this touch of sadness.”
“Do you remember,” said Al, “she started to change soon after we were on the river? I suppose being married is part of it, but somehow I think being away from Halcyon is an even bigger part of it.”
“Why is that, Al?” asked Dave. “What was so wrong about Halcyon?”
Al sipped thoughtfully on his tea. “Pam and I were talking about it only this morning. Although we felt the oppression of the place while we were there, we couldn’t put it into words until we got away from there and tasted freedom. You really don’t know how oppressive that place is until you escape it.” Al ran his hand through his hair and leaned forward.
“Halcyon has two major problems. First of all, Hoffstetter and his cronies believed that religion in general, or fundamentalism in particular, was the enemy and was responsible for tyranny and intolerance. By focusing on destroying their enemy, in their arrogance they were blind to their own ruthlessness. As soon as you believe anything to be true, you automatically must believe that contradictory views are false. Tyranny does not originate in a strong conviction of the truth but in an unwillingness to allow others the freedom to disagree.
“It begins with benign condescension. You’ve heard it expressed over a beer at the Student Union Building: ‘Those poor religious fundamentalists! If they only had our intellectual power and education, they’d throw off the shackles of their charlatan leaders and see the world as we see it!’ Next, one becomes convinced he must intervene in other people’s beliefs and lives for their own safety. ‘I must protect those who cannot protect themselves,’ such as children from their parents. By that point, one is already well on the road to tyranny.”
“But aren’t you saying that objective truth is the enemy?” asked Dave. “And doesn’t that lead to an even worse position, where everything becomes subjective?”
“Not at all! That is not where I am heading,” said Al. “I’m a Christian, and so I very much believe that some things are absolutely true and other things are absolutely false. I also believe that acting on that truth is incredibly important, and not acting on it is dangerous. I admit that might tempt me to take things into my own hands and impose my views on others.”
“So what keeps you from doing that?”
“Well, if I truly believe God allows men free will and the right to make their own decisions for good or for ill, then I won’t trample on that right to decide, no matter how high the stakes are. I know a lot of religious people disagree, believing that people need to be rescued whether they want to be or not. I just think that’s wrong and leads to dishonesty.
“It also leads to Halcyon’s second problem. As a theist, I can have a compelling conviction and still believe that others must be allowed the full, unfettered freedom to make up their own minds. Why? Because I believe they have an intrinsic value and so they have a right to choose for good or for ill.
“Materialists, in contrast, believe that human beings are no more than a collection of complex chemical reactions. If materialists believe in some kind of autonomy or intrinsic value, they obtained it somewhere else. It doesn’t come from within their philosophy—it can’t. They are the ones who tend toward tyranny, because they have no rational basis for allowing people complete freedom. Eventually some altruistic impulse that they experience will trump all other virtues, and they will manipulate others to that end, thinking they are doing good.
“Dave, you’re our mayor now,” Al went on. “I hope you’ll make Eleytheria a place of true freedom, where we’re allowed to express our beliefs publicly as well as privately, but where we maintain the deepest respect for those with whom we disagree. A place where we resist using any manipulation to make others believe as we do. Let’s hold our convictions firmly. Let’s talk about them openly. But in the end, let’s allow everyone to choose according to what his conscience dictates. Let’s show compassion and caring, regardless of what others believe.”
“I’ll say ‘amen’ to that!” said Dave.
They saluted their mugs in agreement.
And as the moon slowly edged above the horizon, the two friends lapsed into a comfortable silence, safe and content in their freedom.
Abaddon (A-bah-don): A continent to the east of Halcyon, which consists of a continent-wide crater surrounded by a ring of tall mountains. The bottom of the crater is about 16 kilometers below sea level. The high air pressure at this depth and the warm temperatures sustain many large and unusual life forms, which cannot survive at one atmosphere of pressure. This is the home continent of the Bent-Ones.
Ancients: A race of beings that inhabit the continent of Feiramar. These people were separated by the Great Plague unleashed by Meglir. The guardians or Gurundar (the contaminated ones) live east of the Lake Tolbar and are not permitted to cross over to the western shores. West of the Lake Tolbar live the Naromundar (the pure ones). The two sundered peoples only meet on the Callabar Islands in the middle of the Lake Tolbar. After one of these infrequent meetings the Narmundarians who met the Gurundarians must stay in quarantine on the islands for 3 months before they can return home.
Bent-Ones: Bent-Ones come from the continent of Abaddon off the east coast of Feiramar. The Bent-Ones only come infrequently to Feiramar. They are ancients who have given themselves over to evil. They bend and shape living things through their arts in support of evil.
Feiramar (FAIR-a-mar): The name of the continent that contains the Hansa and the Ancients. The island of Halcyon is off the east coast of this continent.
Granomer (GRAN-oh-mur): Chief Loremaster of the Hansa. Loremasters store up knowledge for the Hansa since they keep few written records.
Halcyon (HELL-sigh-un): An elite island university off the coast of North Carolina. A misguided physics experiment transported the university to a parallel world.
Hansa (HAN-suh): Hansa are furry bipeds that have a prehensile tail that ends in a hand. Although not overly intelligent, they are given to music and poetry and have a highly developed sense of honor, justice, and are self-sacrificing in their service to others. There are left-handed and right-handed Hansa depending on the handedness of their prehensile tail.
Hanomer (HAN-oh-mur): Is a Hansa chief and friend of Dave Schuster.
Kilk: The Hansa name for ape-men.
Meglir (MEG-leer): Meglir, a great king of the ancients grew corrupt and became a tyrant re-opening ties with the Bent-Ones who live on another continent called Abaddon.
Pishon (PEESH-hawn): The Hansa name for the Halcyon River.
Rokash (ROW-cash): A large bipedal reptilian carnivore about 10 feet tall.
Rokomer (ROW-coe-mur): Dave Schuster’s Hansa name bestowed on him after he killed the Rokash.
Siph (SIFF): A golden colored drink made by the Hansa that can be drunk cold or hot.
Tar-en-Nar (TAR-en-nahr): City of Light. The ancient name for the dead city before Meglir corrupted it.
Tar-en-Gorg: (TAR-en-ghorg): City of Death. The name for the Meglir’s city once the great plague was unleashed killing most men east of Lake Tolbar. Meglir and his lieutenants ruled through the ape-men.
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THE Halcyon Dislocation is Peter Kazmaier's first novel. In writing this work he pursued a life-long dream of writing fast-paced novels that explore the intersection between adventure, science, faith and philosophy.
J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings , C. S. Lewis' The Chronicles of the Narnia , Stephen R. Lawhead's trilogy, Song of Albion and Robert Jordan’s Wheel of TimeTM are among his best-loved books. He also enjoys science fiction classics such as Robert Heinlein's Tunnel in the Sky.
Dr. Kazmaier has spent most of his scientific career as a research scientist in industry. He has been an Adjunct Professor of Chemistry at Queen's University since 1999. He has published more than sixty scientific articles in refereed journals and was awarded the Arthur K. Doolittle award for Best Paper by the American Chemical Society in 1993. Cited as the inventor or co-inventor on more than 150 patents, his strong background in science enables him to bring authentic scientific insight to The Halcyon Dislocation.
Dr. Kazmaier joined the American Chemical Society in 1976, the Chemical Institute of Canada in 1980, and The Word Guild in 2004.
He married Kathryn in 1976. Together, they make their home in Mississauga near Toronto. They enjoy spending time at their cottage near Seeley’s Bay, Ontario on the Rideau Canal.