The Pole Shift

Years Gather

The Vet was old. Near his time. At his feet tumbled a litter of Border Collies, bigger than their recent ancestors, returning to the wolf's range.  His whole face smiled, creaking with age. Delighted at their frolics in front of a crackling fire.  He tried to teach them their first note, but his lips were dry and cracked and no whistle emerged. He remembered back all the years, to Flea and Kit. They were the first Border Collies of the New Islands. Islands that were once the backbone of a land called Australia.  Inseminated artificially through a plethora of distinct sperm, the pups represented those loyal bitches. The Vet's eyes glistened in the flame light.

                "To , to!" He croaked, trying to make the litter heed his words. Suddenly he was struck with a memory. Flea and Kit, they had rounded on the Orange Orbs as he ordered, the Orange Orbs that rose like twin Suns and held within their glow the man and the woman. The Macka, The Lett. He was the last that had seen them with his own eyes. The others were dead, many within the weeks after the event. The twin Suns had become legend and even now sixty years later the peoples of the Island called them Gods - The Moon and the Sun. Their simple prayer was spoken at each rising:

               

                Sun, I am you and you are me,

                I love you and you love me.

               

                Then at moon rise:

               

                Moon, I am you and you are me,

                I love you and you love me.

 

                He said the words himself, strangely comforted even though he knew there was some other truth. He fell asleep for a moment and when he felt a gust of fresh air interfere with his warmth, he opened his eyes. There in the door way stood a striking woman. Old yet young, dark hair flowed straight, deep eyes pooled jet as she watched the pups. She padded into his modest dwelling, her attention firmly on the litter. At her heel a Labrador, it too seemed old yet was held up by some power. The Labrador wagged it's tail slowly, like a planet's precision then circled the pups as the woman handled a figurine. The carving looked like a bone fossil in the shape of a wolf. 

The pups had gathered together, all seven had their heads cocked. She made a motion and they flattened their ears, not in fear but in obedience. Flea and Kit had done the same when he was twenty seven.

                "Who are you?" Spoke the Vet, enthralled, feeling that this animal woman was more to him than Sun or Moon combined.

                "Mnem, Mnemosyne." The woman smiled, it opened him and a peace nestled close to his old heart.

                "What will you do with them?" Already the pups were at her heel and and as she turned, nine faces looked at him. Mnemosyne, her care pristine, spoke:

                "The litter walk the same line as mine. Old man, here is peace." She made a hand motion and memories engulfed The Vet.  The memories all spoke of a good man as if singing to him in chorous, they cried for him who above all was good to animals.

***

Mnem watched The Vet die.  She had seen death many times in many different ways since the Pole Shift. Her innocence had long fled. The battles she had fought, mostly to stay alive had turned her heart obsidian. Her immense powers strove to counter the powers of others. The Giant - who pursued her without ever tiring. The Lord Jimmy, who could see forward and back. The Demi Gods whose crystal ears could hear words spoken in lands far away. The Macka, The Lett, who would kill her but whom she loved.

                "Pups, come." The troupe walked through a stone age village that had once promised a future of Elite striving. Instead a few dozen men and women slammed doors and prayed for "The Macka' and 'The Lett'  to save them . Mnemosyne ignored them, her ivory face deep in thought.