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     I stood up and began pacing the cave, “Are you trying to tell me this cave has some sort of magical powers?”

     “It’s more than that, Ashley.  It’s actually a living thing and will not let you go once it has bonded with you.  You woke up this morning wishing you had a cup of coffee, am I right.”

     “Yes, everything I wished I had was on the table including the table and chairs.”

     “I’m sure they had the saying in your time, ‘be careful what you wish for?’  That saying is very true here.  Try not to want anything.  I’ve learned to eat off the trees and bushes surrounding the cave.

     “I keep thinking that if I depend on it less and less, then I can eventually leave.”

     I had a hard time taking in what she was saying, “If it gives you everything you want, why do you want to leave?  From what I’ve seen of the rest of this place, this is better than out there where you have to get stuff implanted into your brain.”

     “It doesn’t matter what’s out there, Ashley.  A prison is a prison.”

     “What happens if you do try to leave?  It lets you go outside.”

     “Yes it does and at first I didn’t understand that I couldn’t leave.  It will let me leave
for a little while but then brings me back.  The first time I tried to leave I saw all the people walking around with shaved heads.  When I tried to approach one of them, I blacked out and the next thing I knew, I was back here.

     “That’s why I was so glad to meet Joe.  He was the first person I was able to talk to since I’ve been here.”

     “Do you know how long you’ve been here?”

     “At least a hundred years.”

     “Is it going to let me leave?”

     “I don’t know, Ashley.  Now that you’ve accepted it’s hospitality it might not.”

     I was suddenly furious, “You know, I heard you last night as I was going to sleep promise it that you would deliver me if it would let you go. 

     “How could you do that?  I thought you were being kind when you asked me to spend the night, but you weren’t being kind, you were being selfish.”

     “No, I was being desperate.  I don’t know if it will let me leave even if it keeps you.
  We’ll see when you try to leave.  I’m going to try to leave with you.”

     I began to feel panicky but just as soon as I began to feel that
,
all of a sudden I was calmer than I had ever been in my life.  This living cave was very seductive.

     Then I thought of something I hadn’t considered before now, “Do you think it can hear our plans.  Maybe we should discuss this outside.”

     She shook her head, “It probably wouldn’t matter.  Whether or not it can hear our plans, it will keep us if it wants.”

     I walked to the entrance of the cave intending to see if I could leave when I saw Joe coming up the hill toward the cave entrance.

     He saw me and waved.  I waved back and felt like he had touched me.  This connection we had seemed to be getting stronger.

     Irene invited him inside and she fixed tea for us all.  It had a minty flavor but with a touch of clove and I loved it.  I hadn’t noticed her brewing it but it didn’t surprise me that it was suddenly there.

     I decided to tell Joe about the cave but the cave wouldn’t let me.  As soon as I said, “This cave…” I felt like my throat was stuffed with cotton.

     “Let it go,” Irene said and I pictured in my mind the cotton leaving my throat and almost immediately my throat cleared.

     Once again Joe took my hand and turned it over and lightly ran a couple of fingers
over my wrist and once again I gasped.

     I wish I could describe the sensation.  It was so much more intense than an orgasm that I knew if I ever had sex with him I wouldn’t be able to bear it.

     When I thought about it everything here was so much better than ordinary.  The food was wonderful, I had the best coffee I’ve ever had this morning and I had never slept better or more comfortable than I had since I’d been there.

     I was thinking about all this and not paying much attention to what Joe and Irene were saying until I heard Irene say, “I think she has a right to know.”

     I looked from one to the other and Joe nodded and looked at me, “I’m dying, Ashley.  The last implants I had put in were relatively new and were supposed to enhance the sexual drive and sexual attraction.

     “You see, over the years, since we’ve been getting implants we
have become more and more a
sexual.  P63G is one of the
very few children who have
been born in recent years.

     “In fact, it looks like she is the last one.  Not one woman has gotten pregnant because most of them are infertile.  It’s a side effect of the implants.

     “The sexual drive of both men and women have declined so much that not many people even bother anymore.

     “When they came out with this new implant that was supposed to enhance the sexual drive and increase the sperm count, I was one of the first to volunteer.  What they’re finding is that the part of the brain they were trying to stimulate contain
s
some of the hormones that slow down the aging process.

     “In stimulating that part of the brain, some of those hormones were actually
destroyed.  So, I may not look it but I’m dying of old age.”

     “Why don’t you just have the damn thing removed, in fact, why don’t you all have all those wires and things removed and live like people lived in my time?”  I knew I sounded angry but I didn’t care.

     He glanced at Irene then back at me, “There’s an underground movement that wants to go back to your way of life and I believe you were sent here to help us do that.  We’re having a meeting here in this cave tonight and I want you there.”

     “Wait a minute, wait a minute, what do you mean I was sent here to help.  You mean like a savior?”    
     “Yes, just like tha
t.  We believe that was why you
weren’t born to this world like everyone else and your m
emory erased when you were born.  Instead, you came as an adult and with your memory intact.”

     “When Irene came here the same way you were, she came from a more advanced era.  She couldn’t help us.  But you came from a time before we got crazy with technology.

     “As soon as I saw you I knew this, I don’t know how but I did.  I’ve been spreading the word around to the others, which is not easy to do without the authorities finding out, and they want to meet you.  Will you come?”

     “Since I’m already here I’ll stay.”

CHAPTER SIX

     Joe and Irene agreed that I should wait at the back of the cave until everyone had come in and then they would introduce me.

     As I stood watching from the shadows, I was amazed at how many people were at the meeting.  I hadn’t seen this many since I had gotten here.  I noticed several of them walking very slowly like old people even though they didn’t look old.

     When everyone was seated on the spheres, some half reclining, Joe motioned for me to come forward.  I felt very nervous and it didn’t help that everyone was whispering and pointing.

     “Hey, 65G what did you do, rob the museum?” and everyone laughed.

     Joe and I stood in front of the crowd and I noticed that Irene hadn’t taken a seat but was standing off to the side.

     Joe laughed good naturedly, “She’s the answer to our prayers.  Her name is Ashley, and no, she’s not a pet.  She comes from a time when they had names like that.”

     “She’s beautiful,” I heard a woman whisper from the front.

     No one had ever called me beautiful before and I wondered if I looked the same as I had in my other life.
  I had seen no mirrors and could see why they didn’t want to see themselves with the shaved and scar
r
ed heads.

     One man in the back raised his hand and Joe recognized him.  “I’m going to trust that this cave is safe, like you say, and speak my mind.  I think what you have in mind for her is to use her as a breeder, is that right?”

     Joe glanced nervously at me and nodded
.  I couldn’t believe it.  I thought I was here to teach them about the old ways.  No way was I going to be what they had in mind.

     There were murmurings and nods of approval throughout the cave.  I assumed that, at one point, I would be given a chance to speak and a choice, so I remained silent.

     Joe raised his hand and things quieted down.  He then introduced Irene.  Everyone had been staring at her but had made no comment about her.  “Irene is going to tell you her story.  She has never told anyone yet and she will tell you about this cave, which she hasn’t told me about either.  I believe that, between her and Ashley, they can help us.”

     Joe rolled one of the spheres over and we shared it.  It fit our bodies perfectly.  It felt like the most intimate thing I had ever shared with anyone.  I would gladly have sex with him and be a breeder, I wanted more children anyway, but no way w
ould I sleep with anyone else and I would make that clear.

     Everyone was very attentive as Irene told her story and
they
began to marvel about the powers of the cave.

     When she finished a woman with oriental looking eyes raised her hand, “I believe I can see where this is going,” she said.  “You think we can all hide out in this cave and escape the authorities and, what, build a whole new civilization?”

    
Irene raised her hand for silence, “As I have been talking, I believe I understand what my purpose in coming here is and why the cave will not let me leave.  Now that I understand it, it doesn’t feel like a prison anymore.

     “I believe both Ashley and I have come here in this unusual way because mankind is on the verge of destroying itself.  I believe I was sent here as a gatekeeper.
”

     “A gatekeeper of what, a cave?” someone yelled from the back.

     Irene smiled and I thought she was beautiful, “There’s something about this cave that I’ve told no one.”

     She spread her arms wide, “This that you see here is only the entrance to the rest, the rest being a city.  I have only seen the city from this cave and have not been allowed to enter it.  I think I wasn’t ready and had to be prepared in some way.”

     No one spoke for several minutes.  I think we were all in a state of shock.  Joe stood, “I think we have a lot to think about.  I’m going to close the meeting but if anyone wants to stay and discuss this some more, you’re welcome.”

     He looked at Irene, “Would you be willing to show this city, to those who want to stay and see it?”

     It looked like everyone wanted to see the city and no one left.  We followed Irene to the back of the cave and as we went deeper it became darker and harder to see.
  I was beginning to think it was just another cave when all of a sudden I noticed it got lighter and I could see a city up ahead.

CHAPTER SEVEN

     It was not like any city I had ever seen and I heard several people gasp.  It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

     “It looks like it took your idea of the houses you build and improved upon them,” I said to no one in particular.

     “We didn’t build the dwellings we now live in,” Joe said.  “They sort of grew.  We used to have houses like in your time made of brick and wood
etc.

     “As we became more and more interested in information and communication and began having the implants in our brains, our houses began to deteriorate.

     “It was about this same time that we started noticing these small strange mushroom shaped things.  They grew into what we call dwellings.  They appeared to have almost magical powers.”

     “No one questioned these strange things?” I asked.

     “Well, at first we did and some people tried to cut down these mushroom looking things.  But one day as I was out hiking I came on one that was the size our dwellings are and I felt it.  It felt sturdy and I wondered if I could go inside it.

     “I was mumbling to myself and at one point I said
, ‘I wish I could see a way to enter it,’ and as soon as I said the word enter the wall disappeared and I went inside.  The opening closed over and I couldn’t see where it had been.

     “At first I was worried I wouldn’t be able to get back out and decided to try the exit which worked.  I came in and out using those words several times before I felt comfortable staying in there and looking around.

     “I saw th
e spheres and started to roll one
but when I put my hand on it, it conformed to fit my hand.  I decided to try and sit on it and it did the same thing to my whole body.”

     An older man I had noticed before took up the story, “65G told us to let the things grow and he believed we could live in them and so we did and he was right.”

     I realized my mouth had been hanging open and I closed it, “Didn’t anyone ever try to figure out where these things came from?  I mean, I would have dug underneath them and tried to figure out if there were roots and where they came from.”