Year 3 Day 50

African lake at sunrist, rygers@hotmail.co.ukIt seems I am faced with a choice.

I can be treated as a god.

Or I can find some place where the People never come, and live utterly alone, perhaps for centuries.

I cannot face the second option.

I do not want to be a god. But already I have influenced these people, simply by knowing that certain things – like the fish traps or weaving clothes as they weave baskets – are possible. Can I live among them without changing them?

Some of the shamans still fear that I will diminish their authority, but most want me to stay near their gathering place. It is certainly a better place than that where my shelter is now. There is a lake, and trees, and a great abundance of wild animals. When I expressed surprise that they did not stay there, they told me that once they had done that, and the predators became too much of a problem in the lean seasons. So they wander after the herds, now, and staying in one place for more than a season is forbidden by the shamans. I am not sure they understand why.

They have made it very clear that such a prohibition would not apply to me. Am I not a god? And on a more practical point of view, I have the warnoffs, and could influence the minds of the local predators.

I could move the shelter here. After all, I rebuilt it from the escape capsule once. It would mean shutting down the computer for a while, making a new well, rebuilding the shelter—perhaps even better than what I have now.

The People would help me.

But do I really want to be a god in a temple?

Need it be that different from the summer when Songbird’s people lived nearby?

Yes, it’s a day early for the back story for my novels, but tomorrow is the summer solstice blog hop. Click the picture at the top right of the page for details, and remember I’ll be giving away a PDF copy of Homecoming or Tourist Trap, and the top allover prize is an e-reader.