_______________Day/
44 / 2 / 27 There was much to do but I sat by quietly and
watched as their backs bent to the strain. Chants pulsed sweat from
harnessed muscled vessels, husks of humanity. Expendable for the cause,
the men, tethered to line's taught cordage, threaded to dead weight,
pressed to move the bulk gleened for The Project. Bugs floated about
the payload in thick air, the tonnage moved imperceptibly; progress
was slow. My office prevented my participation in the struggle; obscure
minor officials were exempt from such things like using the lash. My
superior was obsessed with his charge relieving me from direct interest
and the anger of slim salaried condemned men. Their progress was loathsome.
Their movements seemed calculated to disturb the anxious for production.
My lassitude countered by the gnarled men was a joke, a symbol for who
we are, human's being. A simple approach to being human's civilized.
My humor would have been lost on the grimy business at hand; The struggling
wad of humanity suffered to provide survival to those dependant on strong
backs with no means of providing for themselves their families
were as condemned as they. This effort was but a part of a much grander
scheme to solidify the workers need to believe in something. This slab
of stone was but a shard of the temple's volume, insignificant but ritualistically
strategic, tactically measured to stress the will yet move, if ever
so imperceptively. Over the years the structure had changed, alteration
after alteration kept the bureaus occupied in a fever pitch from the
top down; modification after modification occurred as the priesthood
developed into an order of strength and then divine reckoning. Now in
the seventh year of creation, The Project was originally to be much
less ambitious.
_______________Day/ 01 / 3 / 27 The earth trembled again
today little damage but the derrick on tier - 347 broke free
and carried itself to the Priest's Plaza; several of the riggers rode
the crane's head- rig clear to the ground. the wreckage was quickly
dispatched with few observers. The raised palisade surrounding the religious
cloister was the perfect spot for such an accident if such a things
were fated to happen.
______________Day/ 47 / 3 / 27 Today massive confusion,
many injured one of the lime stone blocks fell from the sky and buried
itself in the bizarre crushing a undetermined number. There were others,
like me, convinced the work would never see its end. We were never to
speak of this but there was that shared feeling among some of the other
minor administrators unspoken glances and tones of voice when
in conference over the unending details of the project. The temple's
rise from the raw scape to dominate still left the reason for such effort
unanswered. Bugs and mildew incipient rot and interminable heat were,
for me, all good reasons to abandon the effort. The highlands fifty
leagues to the north already had splendrous snow capped monoliths, why
must man attempt what nature has, by grace of time, provided. Perhaps
its our misguided need for geometry. Its true the alpine peaks aren't
symmetrical but the grandeur was more than equivalent to The Project.
Our whole society was now driven by the obsession of the erection. from
the most lowly of the weaver to the tax collector, all were employed
to drain of resources for The Project.
My brain has been long since scrambled by condition and occurrences
which, despite my self discipline and control, have rendered me a participant
in this edifice; by now I am convinced the project is the project of
our demise. As chronicler to the priesthood I must render the story
of the construction. I must glorify the progress and confirm the sacrifice
to the commoner; the patriotic element of the project separates us from
the peoples who live beyond the mountains to the north. We are the chosen
ones, proof of God's blessings is confirmed by our monolith now rising
to the clouds with plans that extend far beyond. God has made our people
industrious, prosperous, efficient and most of all powerful; that
belief bonds us and separates our calling from the bands of inferior,
dark skinned, peoples we use for the simplest of the labors. The priests
have enjoyed a surge of respect and their garments, quarters and privilege
bespeak their genius for organization. Their rituals have evolved just
in my brief life to a power and grandeur that even, at times, sweeps
my mind of questioning and doubt. Yes, there are those times even I
am convinced of the rightness of our path. Even in those times when
I have to warp history and remake the past to support the effort of
the project with symbology which bares no reference to fact, I, at times,
when in ceremony, the grandeur and rightness of all those things I have
done for the cause of the project seem proper and justified.
_______________Day/ 49 / 3 / 27 New arrivals for The ProJect:
Four hundred young strong savages from the North. The measures taken,
at times, to secure The Project have seemed extreme and distasteful
but when I look at how far we have come and how much we have managed
even I can believe that we have chosen our efforts well. When I was
a child, the raw boreal forest and savanna was but clusters of huts,
mud and wattle, with paths leading from one frontier settlement to the
other, and now with the forests clear one can see the sophistication
of infrastructure, the eloquence of civilized complexity; highways and
hectare after hectare of city sprawl away in all directions from The
Project, magnificent, organized and orderly suck material through the
arteries of transport to be cast down and heaped.
______________Day/ 4 / 5 / 27 The last of the blocks are
in place on tier #351 and now the derricks will be raised; this takes
some time and always costs some life but with the celebration of the
start of Tier #352 it's a small price to pay.
Just last year our engineers and architects broke through the cloud
ceiling and the project is for certain a heavenly effort. As chronicler
I was among the few to ascend to the height above the clouds on the
mountain of our own making, With my testimony news was dispatched through
the empire the priesthood has attained God-like status. My position
is now elevated even higher. The benefit is one personally felt. My
status and privilege have burgeoned, my family is proud and my children
are among those destined to rule in the future. My wives are pleased,
wearing the finery signifying middle management; they have access to
places and respect accorded those at the bottom tier of the ruling class,
even though I am only a lowly chronicler. I must be blessed with the
special gift of interpretation of events that pleases not just the priesthood
but powers much higher.
________________Day/ 12 / 6 / 28 The effort is bogged down
with the supply of cut stone being delayed by the rainy season. Workmen
are not being used to the fullest. and have gone to half ration. I have
created stories of magic and impossibility for the effort; to help the
common citizen believe and then to understand that the forces employed
are held only through special right by those who have conjured this
effort.
Our leader, the queen is old, and has been in poor health for years.
Her younger sister is fit, strong and a bit simple with interests in
pageantry and splendor and attire; she is easily manipulated by the
court and priests. This lineage is, for the sake of The Project, a perfect
alchemy and, I am certain, will secure the prosperity and growth of
our expanding empire for decades. There are those of us in the bureau
that still have a nagging feeling that the ends may not be connected
the means, but this attitude is kept to momentary glances while in conference
or tone of voice when discussions of logistics and manpower are discussed.
Yes, I see glances drop to the plans when the impossible is discussed.
_________________ Day/ 43 / 6 / 28 Fires from the making
of charcoal have filled our empire with a dense haze for the past week,
I have been ill, I believe it's from the burning. the regular biannual
occurrence takes much from me but our needs have grown since I was a
child in the village; the fodder must be carted from the out-regions
with a cost to The Project there is again delay while fuel is
gathered and the ovens prepared for burning.
The plane is developed from mountain to mountain and the importation
of food, fiber and building material has become a major part of the
planning process. The Oceans to the East and West have provided much
in the way of trade and resources but their abundance have diminished
in the past decade despite the prayers and rituals needed to maintain
their continued cooperation. More power is needed for the blessing of
our project. There is now strategic need to cross the Alti Plano through
the mountains to uncivilized territory to gather the requisite material
and manpower. The construction of roads and administration of the far
off provinces is demanding more effort and attention than had been originally
thought; The gentiles, primitives of these frontiers, are not always
cooperative and must be managed in, sometimes, severe and demonstrative
fashion. I, being at the core of the record of the means used to deliver
the end, am unsettled by some of the transcripts passing through my
bureau to the archives. Some accounts appear to have signs of provincial
overlords exacting more than could ever be reasonably expected. I am
unsettled by this but from my vantage the distance and detachment is
some comfort.
________________žDay/ 6 / 33 / 28 The ceremony was spectacular
with honors for many of the new centurions. My son was one of those
selected for special recognition. My eldest son will soon take up his
first command in one of these far off posts and I am looking forward
to his personal account of the state and condition of our new acquisitions.
I have heard rumors of total insurrection and subsequent suppressions
that do not appear anywhere in the records I handle
________________ .Day/ 6 / 47 / 29 Our office expansion is complete
and I have assumed a spacious new office with a north view to the peaks.
On clear days the view will be splendrous. For me, working under the
cooling shadow of the end, The Project is of great comfort when thinking
of the grit and grime of making it all come to pass. I chronicle and
that is what I do. I do it well, at least I am told I do it well by
the Chief Chronicler. Next to the priests the Chief Chronicler is most
important, more important than the tax bureaus and the Army. The Queen
is but a vessel, a slave to the sum total of the whole of our scheme
to create our nation. I am in my own way a contributor, a player, in
the struggle for the ongoing effort. The Project is the commitment to
a higher calling, a signifier that separates us from the other beasts
and men. As chronicler I know we will prevail.
__________________Day/ 6 / 56 / 29 Last day before the
mid-summer rights. The sacrifices will have to be extensive as there
have been problems with our peoples. The out-reaching provinces are
displeased, there has been hunger and disease, both attributed to the
savages brought from the north.
__________________Day/ 1 / 33 / 30 The new year rights were
even more spectacular than the last. the priests out did themselves;
there were many sacrifices from heaven. Now The Project reaches through
the vapors and beyond. The sacrificed cast from the top appeared like
angels through the clouds, their wings clipped they fell into the pit
at The Project's base in heaps. Three and five at a time were given
for the temple and our people the roar of their rushing
garments held the crowds in silenced awe.
__________________Day/1 /34 / 30 With the new year there
has been much to do. Year thirty is a lucky year in our calendar and
I am blessed. My son has taken his new post on the twisting river to
the north of the mountains in the steppe country. I have heard from
him just once. A short note:
Father, The land is wild and the people here live in
small clusters, huts made of mud and sticks, their
forested plane is fertile but they lead simple uninspired lives,
using only what they need. they seem to have no reason
to exist they have no leaders and seem to spend much of
their day in the company of each other gaming and telling
stories. They do not work but only gather the required food
and material for subsistence. I have instituted a number of
new policies which, I think, will motivate these savages to
productivity. My bond to you, Your Son Issmak
W/seal to the solidarity to The Project.
My
son sounds busy and I know he is ambitious & efficient, he is committed
to The Project and our people; I am sure he will do what he must to
insure our successes.
Minghir Atlak: Chronicler