The Journey to Tarah is epic novella about Mars before the destruction of the fifth planet (now the asteroid belt) in the solar system. Knowing their race was doomed, the Oracle of Shambata (Mars) reaches out to the inhabits of Moldonar (the fifth planet). Upon the building of a great monument (the Mars face) the Oracle asks the Moldonites for help in evacuating their doomed world, with the hopes of journeying to and colonizing Earth.
The Journey to Tarah is epic novella about Mars before the destruction of the fifth planet (now the asteroid belt) in the solar system. Knowing their race was doomed, the Oracle of Shambata (Mars) reaches out to the inhabits of Moldonar (the fifth planet). Upon the building of a great monument (the Mars face) the Oracle asks the Moldonites for help in evacuating their doomed world, with the hopes of journeying to and colonizing Earth.
Excerpt
Shalima was but a young girl of twelve, living in the urban region of the Laambaka Valley. Shambata was a beautiful world this time of year, and Shalima felt fortunate to live in this region. After all, Laambaka was heaven for philosophers and scientists alike, especially since this was the year the Great Oracle was about to make an announcement that would change the lives of all Shambatans.
Shambata was a primitive world, which was lush in many areas, but also had its desert regions. It was here that the main city of Laambaka was situated, with evolution roughly equivalent to Earth’s Egyptian civilization. Its citizens lived in small adobe houses, and made their living through farming and fishing from nearby rivers. The planet itself was small, with two irregular moons– Shama and Leema, which among the Shambatans, were two of the highest gods of which they worshiped. Laambaka itself was a mecca for the planet’s intellectuals. People from around the globe would spend months, even years, traveling there. It was the home of the Great Oracle, the ruler of Shambata.
The Oracle was said to have many gifts that allowed him to peer out among the stars. Among his visions was one where he had seen Shambata being the fourth of ten planets. He had stated that the second planet had been destroyed in a war with an unknown enemy millennia ago, and the third planet had been devastated through an ice age. The fifth planet was the World of the Gods, where he described beings that looked very much the way the Shambatans do, except they lived in a world beyond imagination. With these visions in mind, the Shambatans were very anxious to hear what other wondrous things the Oracle would have to tell them.
Shalima herself was a gifted child, both in intelligence and imagination. At night she dreamed of traveling to the Gods’ world, and being blessed with whatever knowledge they would impart upon her. She longed to speak with the Oracle, and to study among the Laambakan philosophers. Many times she asked her family if she could travel to the inner city and watch the philosophers at work, but they had told her that she was too young for such things. She was also told that even if she were old enough, that the woman’s place is in the home, and that her station was next to her mother learning the crafts a young woman should know.
The world of Shambata was a patriarchal society, in which only men held jobs and went to school. Women stayed in the home and raised the children. Boys were taught the family trade from an early age in addition to going to school, and girls learned domestic crafts from their mothers. Some men treated their families better than others, but Shalima was from a home where she was not only disrespected, but abused.
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The big day had arrived, and the main square was packed with people. Shalima had argued with her family over and over again about her traveling to the inner city to hear the Oracle, but Shalima was not about to let that stop her. She had put on her best white tunic and turban, and climbed out her window. She ran as fast as she could to the main square– she didn’t want to miss one word of the Oracle’s speech. When she got there, she managed to snake her way close to the front as her small size made this a rather easy task. She tried her hardest to look over the shoulders of those in front of her, and when she finally did manage to find a place where she could see, her eyes became glued to the area from which the Oracle would speak. The area in which the Oracle would speak was a podium located in front of Laambaka’s largest pyramid. On the podium she had noticed a huge stone tablet with hieroglyphs painted on it. Since Shalima was illiterate, their meanings escaped her.
Just then, the Oracle stepped up to the podium. He was a wise old man, with long flowing white hair and beard, and his shining gray eyes peered out from beneath creased skin. He was dressed in a white robe with a purple sash, and a white turban, and held a diamond tipped white gold scepter in the air as he spoke– the light bouncing off it was very dramatic, and only added to his presence.
“My fellow Shambatans! What I have to tell you will change your lives forever! I had a dream, a dream in which the Gods have noticed us! They are looking down on us, and we must greet them! We must let them know that we hear and understand! Starting immediately, Laambaka’s strongest men will start work on a monument to the Gods! All of you will carve out of the rock, the face of a Laambakan man – a face large enough to be seen from the very heavens in which the Gods dwell!”
The Oracle’s speech continued as Shalima’s imagination soared. She envisioned the monument complete, and herself lying awake unable to sleep, only to see the night change into day. She would look out her window to see the Gods coming down to reward the Oracle for his diligent and faithful efforts. The Oracle would want to give the Gods an offering– one of his world’s brightest students for the Gods to take with them back to their world. Shalima dreamed that she was this student.
Shalima woke from her reverie and saw the crowd dispersing. She cursed herself for daydreaming through the rest of the Oracle’s speech. Shalima saw the Oracle leaving, and took it upon herself to follow him. She followed him closely through the narrow alleyways of the village, totally unaware that the Oracle knew that she was behind him.
The Oracle went into a small adobe house. Shalima watched him through his window. He took off his ceremonial garb and put it into a wooden trunk, left wearing only a plain brown tunic, of which its common appearance greatly surprised Shalima. The Oracle himself was much more frail in appearance then what he looked when in his robes. The robes added bulk and covered his thinning white hair. But none of that changed the wisdom that could be seen in his deep gray eyes, and this was something that anyone who ever gazed upon him would agree upon.
The Oracle stepped away into another room, and this was Shalima’s chance to sneak into his house. She moved swiftly but quietly into his house, and quickly crawled underneath the first thing she could find to hide under, which was an ordinary wooden table covered by aging brown burlap. The weave in the burlap was just coarse enough for Shalima to peer through if she looked really close. The Oracle came back into the room and tended to his dinner, which was a thick stew in a black cauldron hanging in a nearby fireplace. The Oracle took a small bowl and filled it with stew and set it on the hearth. Shalima grew puzzled as she witnessed the Oracle produce another bowl and proceeded to fill it with stew. The Oracle sat on a mokaio (a large double humped camel with black fur, ram-like horns and long fangs) skin mat on the stone floor and chanted a prayer of thanks to the Gods. The Oracle was just about to begin eating, but as the large wooden spoon was lifted to aged thin lips, he set it down in the bowl and broke out into a deep and hearty laugh.
“Come out my child! You must eat!”
The Oracle heard a shocked and scared sigh emanating from beneath the table.
“Come Shalima Oavay! No need to be scared– what harm could an old man be to a swift and cunning child such as yourself?”
Shalima crawled out from under the table, her robe badly soiled. She bowed at the Oracle’s feet and lifted his robe to expose his bare feet. She pulled over a bowl of water from the other side of the hearth and began to wash his feet with her long dark hair. The Oracle grabbed her hand and stopped her.
“My child, I am not a god. I am mortal, just like yourself. However, your actions reveal the humbleness I have seen in you for so long.”
Shalima’s lips quivered as if she wanted to say something.
The Oracle smiled.
“This is my home. You are welcome here, and you may say anything any time you wish without having to ask permission. Go ahead my child. Speak.”
Shalima was in silent shock.
“How do you know me? I know you are gifted, but I never would have thought your gifts would focus themselves on someone as insignificant as myself.”
The Oracle laughed again, leaving Shalima looking very puzzled.
“My child, you are many things, but insignificant is not one of them.”
Shalima’s head tilted and her brow knitted.
“Do you remember what I said about my successor, a great leader that is to follow me in just a few years?”
Shalima faltered.
“Well I ummmm…”
“Ahhhhh yes! You were daydreaming about the Gods coming down and taking you back to their world as my offering to them.”
Shalima’s mouth dropped.
“Anyway, in a few years, after my death, my best student, a young GIRL of sixteen will take my place and will eventually lead my people on a great journey.”
“Girl? But my lord, Great Oracle, all your students are…”
“In this house, I go by my name, Osheiya Shanai. But you can call me Shanai. Yes, all my current students are traditionally males. But I am about to take on a new student, one of whose abilities have pervaded my dreams for many years.”
“Is it… could it be…” whispered Shalima, with tears welling in her eyes.
“Yes my child, you are to be my successor. But be warned– if you choose to follow your destined path, it will mean leaving behind your home, your family, everything you know, and dedicating your life to study and service. You must come here and be my apprentice. Your studies with me will be very intense with long hours that begin before sunrise which is accompanied by hard work that will often stretch late into the night.”
“My lord, Shanai, what must I do?”
“You must go and prepare your family. But be warned, they will not let go of you easily. Also…”
“Oh thank you! I won’t disappoint you! I will go now!” shouted Shalima anxiously as she ran out the door.
“But wait! There is something…” shouted Shanai, but it was too late, as Shalima was already gone.
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