Chapter V
The Gong of Wonder

Oh glorious day! This is the 3rd anniversary of Mother Kini joining her beloved Hong and it is also the day we finally assembled the Gong of Wonder.” I Noriko as the eldest surviving elder was voted by the tribe as first person to ring the gong and lo and behold it granted us an abundance of badly needed food.

I know the whole tribe is delighted to see this day. In celebration of it, and in memory of Hong, Kini, and Kamin, we the four living elders have proclaimed a week long holiday in which no work will be required. After all, the tribe has earned this holiday.

When Kini was dying, she made Kamin, who would become the senior elder promise that we would assemble it as soon as humanly possible. She had been conversing with ROM and he had warned her that the tribe could be in serious danger if we didn’t get the gong reassembled. He wouldn’t say what the danger might be, only that it was very important.

Kamin assembled the elders and informed us of this, so we agreed that all other work must be stopped except for the planting and harvesting of the crop, which would be done by the elderly, until we could recover the last piece.

Hong had told us before his death where all the pieces were located and what we had to do to get them. He had received this information in a vision from ROM. At the time of Kinis’ death, we were still only about ½ way done clearing the vines off the wall of writing.

You, of course know that we had to finish that plus clean and reassemble the pieces of what we call the painted floor in the ancient place. Oh the tribe was quite unhappy, for we drove them mercilessly to complete this work. Once it was done, all the tribe was given a day of rest then we voted on whose totem to use for the final task. The vote was hugely in favor of using Hongs totem so that’s what we did.

Now that the deed is done, we will rest and recuperate before getting on with the daily task of living in paradise, or at least our part of it.

One funny thing though, ever since ROM finished melding the pieces of the gong like he promised, none of us has been able to contact him. Frankly as senior elder, this frightens me a little, for we have come very much to depend on his help and guidance. I sure hope he hasn’t left us for some reason.

Noriko said the last message he got from ROM was something about having to go save those ingrates who had left their kids to fend for themselves.

Chapter VI
Prologue

I am Tia Kini and I am ashamed at how long it's been since anyone has written in the history journal of this tribe. I should explain a few things before we get started.

It has been about 300 years as near as we can figure since Mother Kini left us. Completing the Gong of Wonder was the last significant challenge left to our forefathers.
Because of this, shortly after it was completed, hardly anyone bothered to become a scientist anymore. I fear that we have stagnated a bit in these last 3 centuries and have forgotten the things the ancients (as we call the founders) knew.

We had a flood about the time Noriko died, and lost our supply of papyrus. Since we didn't have any real scientist left, no one was able to make more. We have kept some notes, but have had to resort to using the soft white rock or some berry ink to write on tree bark.

The bark seems to crumble after a short time, so every few years someone would have to copy down what was on the older bark onto new bark. This was such a tedious chore that in time the habit developed of writing down only items that were of special or historical importance.

After I reached my 60th year and was considered too old to farm,
I decided to do something about this. I have discovered that if I take some powdered clam shells and mix them with ground bark and press the whole thing with fish oil, that I can make a useable if crude form of the papyrus the ancients used.

The piece I'm writing on is about 10years old. It seems to be holding up, so I'll use it to post an update to the journal. Only time will tell if this stuff is stable enough to use long term.

Well, I could say that so much has happened in three centuries, but the truth is very little has really happened. Oh some of our traditions have changed. For instance we now appoint the oldest living person as either Tribal Mother or Tribal Father and they lead until their time comes to pass on.

Farming and parenting have become the two skills we mostly require, so that is what most of us do. We do try to keep a village doctor, and a village builder to keep both us and our huts in good shape. They choose their own apprentices, but at any one time it is rare to have more than a master and an apprentice in either field.

Research, what little of it gets done, is performed mostly by the elderly. Rarely a child will come along who is too weak to farm or build, and if they aren't selected to become doctors, they will usually take up research. One steadfast rule of tribal life is "If you don't contribute, you don't eat!"

A few years ago, a strange thing happened. We awoke one morning to find that all the children had disappeared! We searched for months, but no one has ever been able to find who took them, or where.

When this happened, the tribe numbered about 80 with twenty of them being children. Disastrous as this was, it was far worse to discover that there was only one woman under the age of 50! Worse, though she tried and tried all she ever had was sons!

Our little tribe may have ceased to exist, but when all hope was gone and the few remaining villagers were well into their 60's, a miracle occurred. One of the fishermen found a barrel floating in the ocean. He dragged it to shore and inside were 3 little girls. One man was only in his early 40's at the time. He and a few others survived long enough for the girls to grow up and have babies of their own. I am the daughter of one of those girls whom the tribe had named Kini in honor of the woman who originally saved this tribe.

Well, at 75 I tend to tire quickly and as it is nearly time for me to ring the Gong, I shall end this update to the journal. If I survive long enough, I shall try from time to time to make further entries. If not, perhaps those who lead after me will do so.

//Archaeologists notes: We came across the ruins of this civilization some 10 years ago. We are very excited that Dr. Jim found and was able to preserve these rare writings. As the only linguist on this survey team, I have worked day and night to try and interpret the ancient manuscripts.
It was an enormous find, when one of the crew found a piece of slate that had apparently been used to teach children their alphabet and counting. I was able to use this as my own version of a Rosetta stone to decipher much of the writings. I only hope I have interpreted it correctly.

I admit to taking some liberty in interpreting the title on the main journal. The similarity to my own name was so intriguing, I went with what I can only describe as a flash of intuition. You see, I believe this may be the same island from which my ancestors migrated some 800 years ago.

Since our third night on this island, I've been having strange dreams. I've also found myself inexplicably
drawn to certain places, and each time a new discovery was made at or very near that spot. Examples are the remnants of what we believe was an ancient fire pit, and what we are sure are the remains of an ancient cast iron pot.

The team member who found the primer I described above, is my cousin Aaron. He too confides in having these sudden flashes of intuition, and a keen yearning to go here or dig there etc. Well, it's very late, and I am going to turn in. I've notice a great tangle of vines just to the North of where our camp is. I think in the morning, I'll take Aaron and see if we can hack our way through it. Something tells me there is a very significant find hidden in there.

Dr. Roch Moore//