Book One: Rise of the King

Chapter Four

 Charlie was a thinker, a man of science. Gray was always fascinated by his mind, his creativity, the things he saw that everyone else seemed to miss. Charlie felt the same way about Gray. Over the years, the two men had become as close as brothers, working together, coming up with ways to track the life the survivors had built for themselves.

Time passed but it wasn't until he put together a chronometer that they realized how much. Charlie had been marking down the days since they had arrived. It was a curiousity to him. Just like all the differences of this world.

Eighty degrees every day and every night in the forest. A twenty-seven hour day. A four hundred and twelve day year. Ten lunar months. Two moons. A planetary rotation that went west to east rather than east to west. The plenitude of the crops. The good health of the survivors. The change in gestation periods. For, yes, the survivors had found new lives, new loves, created new families. For the most part, that is. Gray was the only remaining hold-out. Even Charlie had eventually settled down. It was only after Alison assured him that she had never been with Gray, of course. Charlie was in no mind to share that much with his friend.

The day that Charlie turned on the chronometer and saw the numbers right before his eyes, he would never have believed it had been that long. Twenty-eight years, six months and eleven days they had been on this planet. Looking around at the people, Charlie didn't see how it was possible. Other than the children, no one had seemed to age. It was as if they had been frozen in time somehow. He had to find Gray.

The irritating thing about Gray was that he could be anywhere. He could be in the library that housed the books they had brought with them. He could be working the crops, tending the animals, drawing water from the nearby stream that ran through the forest. He could be talking to his father, goofing around with one of his brothers or Josh. This time, however, Charlie found him at home after an hour of looking everywhere else.

Charlie knocked on the door of Gray's dugout before walking in. That was the most warning they ever gave each other. He didn't think anything of it. "Gray?" he called out. There was the soft sound of female laughter from up the stairs. Charlie rolled his eyes and went to the bottom of the steps. "Graham!"

"Now's not a good time, Charlie." was the response.

"It's important. Get your pants on and get down here." Charlie ordered, walking over to the table and sitting down.

Gray came down the steps, jeans on, bare-chested, hair mussed, frowning. "What the hell's so important? I've got company." he hissed.

"I looked for you for over an hour. Haven't you got anything better to do in the middle of the day?" Charlie grumbled as Gray glowered at him, arms across his chest.

"This one has to be in the middle of the day." Gray told him.

"I don't wanna know." Charlie shook his head. "One of these days somebody, probably Shannon, is gonna shoot you, you know that?"

Gray shrugged. "There's nothing else to do around here." he complained. "Tell me what you want. She's gotta leave soon."

"I got the chronometer working."

Gray's expression turned to one of curiousity. "And?" he asked, walking over to join Charlie at the table.

"I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't done the counting myself. I even counted three times to be sure." Charlie looked bothered, which was unusual and made Gray worried.

"How the hell long has it been?"

"Almost thirty years."

Gray stared at him. "What?"