Things were not all they should be in The Garden of Eden. The forces from The Desolation of Cain were trying to level The Forest of Able. A cruel spectre was assisting a genocidal sorcerer and between them they had designs on destroying all life on the Egg.
The Garden was the collective subconsciousness for all the different dimensions of Earth that made up the physical parameters of the Egg.
The forces of Cain were one of a selection of cancerous tumours that developed in the Garden after Adam chopped down the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. As a punishment for this act men were banished from the Garden until the new Tree of Knowledge was full-grown. Both Eve and a serpent asked the Goddess if they could receive the same fate as Adam since they did not prevent Adam’s act of pride and ignorance. Since they were present when Adam committed this awful deed the Goddess agreed to banish them too.
The forces of Cain conspired with the most powerful and greedy men on Earth in their attempts to eat away at the resources in the Garden. In the last decade of the twentieth century indigo coloured pills were made available for corrupted humans. These enabled them to gain access to the Garden in the form of goblins, trolls and ogres.
Fifty-foot fire-breathing dragons guarded The Tree of Life in the Garden. They had taken over from the cherubim. Apart from making sure that the forces of desolation did not attack The Tree of Life they were also given the task of preventing any humans from eating its fruit. Eating the fruit of The Tree of Life awarded immortality and the Goddess had explicitly ordered that humankind were not to regain that attribute until they were collectively allowed back into the Garden.
The evil sorcerer Anthrax had already poisoned one of the good dragons and now he was primed for his ultimate aim. The destruction of The Tree of Life.
On Earth a collection of discerning radicals had chanced upon some of the pills that had been produced for Cain’s human allies. After taking these indigo coloured pills the thirteen radicals concerned had, through a variety of paths, ended up in The Garden. Their experience was; however, profoundly different from the mutation that Cain’s human allies went through. They had ended up in The Garden in their original forms as human beings.
Penicillin the the black elven druid was ecstatic....
“A whole gaggle of human beings! This isn’t merely a projection of human thoughts into the consciousness of a few of the residents of Eden. There’s thirteen of you! This is a full blown visit!”
“We’ve still got to put some distance between us and The Forest of Able.” said Shiva the lioness.
“Yeah and there’s been no sign of Meg and her dinosaurs.” said Penicillin.
“Well she wouldn’t launch a suicide mission in our absence would she?” asked Buffalo the badger.
“No she’d seek council first.” assured Penicillin.
The newly arrived humans all looked on in shock. None of this made much sense to them.
“Well I think we should seek council too.” said Shiva the lioness.
“Right, follow me.” said Penicillin. He then added, “You humans stay tight there and you be sure to say if something’s bothering you ‘cos we sure have no idea how Eden will affect you. We’re going for council over how we’re gonna’ return you to Earth as well as forming a plan as to what we’re gonna’ do about the invasion of Able. Is that alright?”
They all said that was fine as they stared around them in total amazement.
All the humans started talking feverishly about their recent experiences and their present ones on Eden. It seemed that all eleven of them who had been in the club “Trepanation” had had similar mind-blowing experiences on their metaphysical journey into The Garden.
Shiva and Buffalo were the two humans who had arrived in Eden first. Initially they had taken the form of a lioness and a badger respectively. They then split from the actual lioness and badger whose bodies they had originally shared. Now there was a lioness and badger called Shiva and Buffalo as well as two humans called Shiva and Buffalo.
It appeared that humans were known to have linked minds with residents in Eden before but those Edenites present had never actually seen them physically manifested in The Garden. After the human manifestations of Shiva and Buffalo the other eleven humans had quickly followed.
There was Bobby Rewind who was an anarchist musician and avid diary writer whose memoirs had ended up on Eden as part of a growing library of literature known to Edenites as “Earth Tales”. Some Edenites regarded “Earth Tales” as works of fiction but the arrival of actual humans had now kicked that theory well over the horizon.
Next there was Brecht. He was a scientist from what was formally known as East Berlin and his two main projects in life were the manufacture of psychedelic drugs such as LSD and MDMA and experiments into developing a genetically altered plant that could draw toxins out of the soil. He was a committed environmentalist and saw it as the responsibility of humans to clear up their own mess.
Next there was Billy Fish-Head who was a drug taking tenant liaison officer for one of the toughest areas of Saaaarrrff Eeeeaast Lundun.
Next was Pod. She was Billy’s partner and worked as part of local environmental group who were committed to the prevention of defoliation in Saaaarrrff Eeeeeaaast Lundun. Next there was Tonna. He worked in housing covering the same area as Billy. It always seemed amazing to their friends that both Billy, Pod and Tonna could get so smashed of an evening and then carry on with their strict 9 to 5 routines.
Next came Kazz Kaos. She was a one-time partner of Bobby Rewind. She was a particularly riotous anarchist who divided her time between demonstrations, a succession of lovers, heavy drinking and taking part time jobs in bars, clubs and bingo halls. She came from Catford which was a particularly challenging part of Saaaarrrff Eeeeeaaast Lundun. Their mate Ronnie Twelvetrees once said of Kazz that you can take the girl out of Catford but you can’t take Catford out of the girl.
Next came Donald the Druid, so named for his extreme knowledge and application of psychedelic drugs and his proclivity for relentlessly planting trees wherever he could.
Next there was Isis. She was an anarchist from Brighton whose life was totally enmeshed with parties and Direct Action. From her mid-teens onwards she had been constantly involved in trying to tear down the State. Isis had just turned twenty.
Next was her partner The First Class Ticket. He was an ex-mod who was in his mid-thirties. He was roughly the same age as Brecht, Bobby, Billy and Tonna. Other than Buffalo he was the only one out of the company to have kids and, fortunately, they were with their mum on Earth right at this moment. The First Class Ticket was a camp crusty who dressed like an Arab and provided Brighton with one of its more radical residents.
Next came Slithey Tove. He was the bass player of “Whip the Minister”, one of the bands Bobby was in. Together he and Bobby were strongly involved in the free festival and squat rave scene as well as being regular fetish club goers who fused anarchism with a sense of extreme aesthetics. Slithey was a computer wizard and in an age of hacking and surveillance he was a valuable asset to any revolutionary cause. He was in his mid-thirties too.
Then there was Gary the Gardener. He was a Skunk grower extraordinaire. What Gary didn’t know about psychedelic horticulture wasn’t worth knowing. He was in his late twenties like Kazz, Pod and Donald.
Buffalo was a ukulele player in his late thirties. He’d been the drummer of “Psycho’s Mum” a band Bobby had been in in the mid 1980’s and had a daughter who was rapidly screaming through her teens.
Shiva was Bobby’s girlfriend. She was in her late twenties and was a highly qualified physicist who had dropped out of conventional employment owing to the patriarchal stranglehold men seemed to have over the scientific fields she was interested in. She was now a confirmed counter-culturalist who tried to apply her wealth of knowledge to the fight against international capitalism. She was, at this time, considering re-entering the world of conventional work as a subversive influence in the teaching profession but her plans had been waylaid by her sudden transportation to The Garden of Eden.
It must be noted here that all species could communicate with all species in The Garden of Eden. The human inability to understand other species on Earth was part of The Goddess’s punishment.
For a short period of time Shiva and Buffalo had been scrubbed from the history books on Earth and only Shiva’s boyfriend, Bobby Rewind, had realised that things were amiss. Now they were all on Eden they all remembered who Shiva and Buffalo were and their memories were now that of citizens in the former reality that Bobby had thought he’d lost. Shiva told them what had happened to her and Buffalo when they arrived in The Garden and introduced everyone to Shiva the lioness and Buffalo the badger.
Other moles, badgers, insects and a whole flock of birds scampered, flew and buzzed around the humans in fascination. The presence of the crowd from Saaarrf Eeeast Lundun seemed to be having the same effect on the inhabitants of Eden that you would expect a visit from a mythological creature to have on Earth.
“We’re joining a conference that has already begun. It’s being hosted by Rosa who is probably the most formidable of the good dragons on Eden.” said Penicillin. There was a succession of “wows” and “ooohs” and “blimeys” from the human posse.
Penicillin addressed the humans who he understood had some catching up to do.... “The conference began when we got news of a goblin infestation in The Forest of Able. Now there is a full-blown invasion of Able so we need back-up and quick.” He continued.... “We could have attacked immediately but strategically that would have been suicide and it would not have saved Able. Also we have to assess the effect direct human involvement will have on all of this. I gather, from what Shiva and Buffalo have told me, that you have all had these indigo coloured pills.”
All the humans nodded feverishly.
After a few minutes walking they all entered an area of tropical rain forest.
“This is The Forest of Id. While we pass through it you will get all manner of flash-forwards and flash-backs. There is little danger here because the forces of Cain are terrified of it. Obviously their memories and their possible futures are rather unpleasant for them. Can’t say I’m surprised. Your only problem here is your own conscience.” Penicillin was addressing the humans again. He carried on.... “I apologise in advance if there is any discomfort but it is the only way to the conference. The conference is guarded by the forest you dig?”
They dug.
Bobby drew in a deep breath of rich, moist smells that made him sigh with pleasure. There was suddenly a flash of light.
He was suddenly at the Brighton Free Festival in the summer of 1996. Shiva was with him. He had a sudden panic that Eden was a figment of his imagination.
“Do you remember Eden?” he asked her.
“I do.” she replied.
“Thank fuck for that!” he said.
“We’ve moved forward in time,” said Shiva, “I don’t know how or why but I am familiar with all the things that have happened to me on Earth since February 1996 even though February 1996 is the month that we all ended up being transported to The Garden!”
Bobby spoke…. “I think all this has to do with Eden not existing in a strictly linear progression through time as we understand it. It is allowing us an overview of disparate blips in our own lives. I don’t know why but I’m pretty sure that the reason we’ve both ended up here is because this moment in time has some bearing on what’s going on in The Garden. I think that there is an overall theme of connectedness here.”
“I agree.” said Shiva. She continued.... “On Eden Buffalo and I initially inhabited the bodies of two of its indigenous creatures as you now know. I dimly remember using Earth tales as a way of trying to ascertain what the fuck was going on in Eden. I think the reverse is also true - that Eden’s experiences shed light on experiences on Earth.”
“I agree.” said Bobby.
“While we’re walking through The Forest of Id we must make full use of this flash forward yeah?”
“Alright.” agreed Bobby as he laid back in the sunshine.