THE

GREEN

CRYSTAL
By John Baxter
2018
Left blank for Prologue
 Chapter One
The clearing was situated high up on a plateau at the top of the steep terraced
hillside, the edge of which overlooked the small village in the valley far below. A tree
lined path wended its way slowly up the slopes, zigzagging up the slope, away from
the village, the path ending at a large elevated plateau on which stood the focal point
of the beliefs of not just this village, but the many others scattered around this part
of the known lands.
This site had for centuries been revered, worshipped, but at the same time feared
by the people of the surrounding villages.
Stories, and the myths created from these half-truths, were of the many forces of
both good and evil which had spent an eternity fighting it out between them as to
who held the lands around, and the souls of the people who lived there.
Many of the droughts that had occurred within the past hundreds of years or so,
had been put down to evil winning a little more ground in the fight, and the big
bumper harvests that came between were a sign that good was now winning and in
control.
These people were not what we would deem to be religious by having a God. Their
beliefs were not beliefs and not as we would understand it. They had transcended
the beliefs and religious theology to a more real and practical understanding of the
powers of nature, and the cycles in which it all moved. Cycles that varied, like the
climate seasons, small annual cycles within massive thousand-year cycles, all
changing to the beat of their own drum, their own patterns over millennia, and these
patterns would change regardless of anything mankind did or have done, by praying
or otherwise. To attempt to alter these cycles, though it was impossible to do so, was
deemed to be almost blasphemous, antisocial and criminal in action, as even the
smallest change might affect the whole cycle beyond repair. This seemed a paradox
of accepting and rejecting change at the same time.
Today was a great moment for these people of these lands, hopefully the end of
something that had caused them great grief for many years.
A terrible span of time had just ended that had resulted in turning man against
man, making good families divide, breaking them apart beyond repair or
reconciliation, with the hope that things were to get better completely dashed.
Dashed by want and greed.
It was for this reason the villagers from below, and some visiting occupants from
other villages in the outlying areas, had come together to parade in solemn
procession to the centre of what they believed to be their universal spirit home, the
centre of the annual, century, and millennium cycles.
The plateau they were slowly proceeding to was a large natural plain, grassy, but
with no visible undulation, or signs of unevenness, almost like a lawn. They were
marching in two columns, solemnly swaying, to the sound of slow drumbeats as they
made their way along the path, the reverberating sound of the large drums filled the
still night air with an almost hypnotic rhythm, which was difficult not to move to the
steady, slow beats.
A deep minor key chant was being sung by the wise ones who were leading the
throng, guiding them slowly and ceremonially all the way to the central feature on
the plateau.
Standing there before them at the centre was a concentric group of stone circles,
built in a time long before the village at the bottom of the hill existed, and long
before living memory.
But, unlike the many stone circles found across the land, built by the ancients,
long, long ago, this one had major differences from all of them.
 It still lined up the summer and winter solstices, and both equinox, as most of the
stone circles found to be in existence at that time did, but other than that, all
similarity changed.
Most known stone circles throughout the many lands were all built on level
ground, pillars of large rectangular stones reaching upward, and then more stones
being placed laterally across the gaps to bridge over the top of the uprights. There
were even some of these circles that were made up of concentric circles, one inside
the other, linking up like links of a chain using up to three or four rings in total
These were all made of large upright monoliths and their caps, each carefully placed
for maximum effect as a sun calendar and almanac, but not only concentric, but
circled through each other too as loops
These circles above this village were however, nothing like the normal simple
circle used by Druids and other ancient civilisations.
This one had the stones not just at different positions laterally, but also at
different height levels, making a sort of 3D effect. It had optical illusions where the
stones seemed to line up but were not in any way connected with each other, visible
only when the viewer changed position in relation to those stones. The thinner
stones would be in the foreground, and the thicker ones at the back, but would
appear to be all the same from one spot, impossible from the reverse, and some
would give the illusion of continuation even though they were many meters apart.
The earth beneath some of the standing stones had been raised to get those stones
into exactly the correct raised position for whatever they were supposed to signify.
In some of the other mountings, the earth had been dug away, therefore lowering
the position of the standing stones in relation to the others. They seemed at first like
it was all random placements till you were inside, and then the effect was deemed to
be magical.
Not only was this monument concentric but three-dimensional too, which created
many different patterns of observation depending on where you viewed it from.
It was the epitome of stone circles, and it was given the respect and reverence it
deserved. It was their leading defence against things that could not be answered and
were not good in this world as it was their defence against chaos, and the protection
of order in the society, which in the world they lived in, was important. Cycles.
Today was a celebration, one of the better ceremonies to be held here, one of the
ceremonies that were used to protect people from the darker and unwelcome
elements that existed in this time.
It was just after nightfall as the long, swaying procession of villagers made their
way up the hill, flaming torches lit and carried by bearers at each side of the
columns to guide the way as some of the edges of the path had a steep drop, and an
unwary step could plunge you down to injury or even death.
The procession moved on to the plateau and made its way along the path to the
centre, with its mismatched and unusual designed circles. The slow steady beat of a
drum kept the procession moving as one, slowly swaying to the beat as they made
their way along the path to the plateau.
This parade was not made up of just the local villagers, but a large number from
the surrounding ones too. This parade meant something. It was special.
 As they all arrived at the plateau, they spread themselves out around the lower
side of the standing stones, and waited. The drum stopped. Silence fell.
The Head of the Village Council walked to the centre of the circles, to a large
horizontal stone, an altar that had never seen blood or sacrifice, oath or
condemnation. That is not what it is for.
This was not a religious place designed to pray to or appease gods or deities.
He stood there in full costume, delivering many words to the masses that
surrounded him, words that must have comforted them, as they all reacted with
smiles of hope.
On the given word, his assistants approached him at the altar from the shadows
with what looked in the dim light a small metallic box.
They placed it in the centre of the altar, and withdrew forming a small circle
themselves around the altar and stood silently.
This box was different too.
It seemed to talk in a low hum, amplified by the solid surface it now stood on. It
seemed to be giving off strange vibrations from within, and the air around it felt
very heavy. It did not want to be there.
The people did not want it to be there either.
Within seconds, the officiates around the altar, started to chant some long
forgotten words, quietly at first, and getting louder verse by verse, gradually leading
the masses to chant the same words, the same incantation.
The head of the council opened a small hinged door made in the top of the altar
and placed the box inside, closing and sealing the lid solidly and firmly. It clicked as
if locked.
The crowd made their way slowly back down to the village to celebrate the
“earthing” of a bad spirit. They would be able to sleep tonight.
The elders, and some of the wise men were not so sure.
Many attempts were made by very bad people to retrieve the contents of that box,
and would stop at nothing to obtain it and its alleged power.
Luckily, all the attempts so far were unsuccessful, but as the attempts were
growing in number, the box was becoming a dangerous thing to have, so a decision
had to be taken to hide it where it could not be found.
On a quiet night, without any witnesses, the stone circle was collapsed inwardly,
the soil holding the many pillars loosened and the stones pushed and pulled till they
were covering the centre altar with hundreds of tons of stone, the enormous weight
pushing it down hard into the soft earth below. In time the land would slip downhill,
filling up the holes left as the stones were toppled, and the topography of the
landscape would change. It would no longer be flat.
In time the grass would grow over it all, and hopefully it would be lost from the
sight of man forever.
 Chapter Two
The heavy machinery moved backwards and forwards, over the light brown subsoil,
slowly trying to level this small section of land to take the foundations of the new
building going into construction opposite the corner of the brand-new shopping
complex.
There had been problems in the initial survey and at first; this small area over in
the corner of the site was going to be made into a Green Belt Park as there was a
mass of bedrock under the topsoil preventing the leveller from doing its work.
The developers on the other hand, had other ideas. This prime land, with views of
the valley below would be built on to increase the profitability of the whole
development, and new plans were drawn up for this corner section as the
construction of the main complex was started.
This corner plot, which was located over the other side of a newly laid access road
feeding to the car parks of the new shopping complex, was always known to be
going to be a problem after the findings of the original GPR scan had been studied,
and, because of the complex nature of the bedrock below, the builders had made
alterations to the planning of the layout of the whole site so that a building could be
included in the overall site plan and built at the same time as the complex so as to
include this part of the site, though because of the bedrock, it could only have
shallow foundations, it could only be single storey.
As this corner of the site was slightly higher than the surrounding area, forming a
sort of earthed up island, the planners decided to put in some ramping and steps,
making it into a landscaped garden to walk through up to the premises, built
centrally on this small island in the centre.
What to turn it into, or make it into remained in limbo till almost the whole of the
complex neared completion. This could only ever be a small single storey office
building, or possibly some kind of shop, depending on how the laying of the
foundations went.
The first Ground Penetrating Radar scan had revealed a great deal of subsurface
rock in a relatively small area, so a couple of test pits were dug to see if any of this
rock could be removed, or shattered with explosives. Neither seemed feasible, so a
decision was taken to try to remove enough of the topsoil to allow them to level the
land and put a foundation base of concrete over the top of the existing stone
bedrock, the foundations would then be a concrete float, and from there, laying the
proper floors, and building the walls on top of that, still trying to make it so it wasn’t
too high above the surrounding land and blend with any planned future buildings.
This is how the garden paths idea originated, almost spiralling around the
building to the front door, with steps taking a more direct route.
 Holes were drilled down into the rocks they could expose, and explosive charges
placed inside.
It took a few rounds of high explosive to shatter enough of the prominent huge
slabs to a size that could be removed from the site or become part of the concrete
float foundation, and then the huge mechanical machinery moved in, with truck
loads of hardcore, to make the base on which the float foundation would stand. As
this was going to be a single storey at maximum, then the foundations would not
need to be too deep.
The leveller worked its way, backwards and forwards across the yellow sandstone
hardcore, until it was about as level as it was going to be.
A road roller was brought in to crush the hardcore together and make a solid base
for building on.
This troublesome corner was now a trouble no more.
The rest of the building work went on as it normally would, bricks started to be
laid around the marked out cellar areas, then the joists fitted, and the walls climbing
upwards, getting higher daily.
The drains took a little extra work to service the building as the main drain from
the shopping complex across the road passed by a good thirty yards away from this
corner plot, and were laid quite deep too, well below the assumed depth of the stone
bedrock on which this new building stood.
The water company had decided rather than chip out a trench from above to lay
the drainage pipe into, they would use their mole device, which would cut out the
whole circle needed to fit the drainage pipes into, and lay the pipes in the tubular
hole as it went. The machines were brought in and the plan drawn up.
Most of this method of pipe lying went well, except for one minor holdup when
part of the stone being bored through seemed to fall away, and a new course of
direction had to be used to find solid ground to support this new drain. As the whole
of the length of the drain was now fully supported, there was no need to use any
other method, and the connection to the main drain over on the shopping complex
side was completed.
The building was finally finished, and it became a very stylish diner style café,
serving the many offices and shops found in this new development, becoming
popular with the many workers and shoppers for their refreshments and breaks.
George had bought the premises to develop as a diner from new and spent a lot of
time fully fitting and furnished it when he and his wife were still in their early
twenties, more or less just after their honeymoon, and he had dreams of making
enough money to keep him and his family, and to stay healthy for as long as he could
so he could raise his family from there, and, who knows, maybe someday his future
son may take over the business from him when he retired.
What lay a long way below, out of sight and hearing, was a very feint pulsating
glow, very dim, but still could be seen as green.
When the drains were being laid above, the boring of the drain hole had disturbed
one of the sections of pillar which had then fallen from a great height into the centre
stone of what had been the altar, breaking the cover, and hitting the box inside with
great force.
 The box was damaged, and whatever had been sealed in there, was sealed no
more.

Chapter Three

The diner turned out to be a great success, more because of its position rather
than in spite of, and George, with the aid of his wife Anne made sure that the food
was fresh and wholesome, as well as the coffee being described as the best in the
area by his loyal customers. In the busy periods they had to utilise some of the
outside space in the landscaped garden areas to set up moveable tables and make it
look as though they were picnic spots.
George always made sure that the landscaping of the garden area around his
business was never left to the last minute, the plants selected from the nursery well
in advance of their planting up by the growers to make the place look as calming and
inviting as possible, and it worked.
A steady stream of the workers from the shops and offices in the complex called
for takeaway coffee throughout the day, quite a few of them staying a little longer
and having lunch in the gardens around the main building. On more than one
occasion the whole of the seating for both the inside and outside had been fully
occupied all at the same time.
As the business was doing so well, George decided he needed to add a little
extension onto the rear of his premises, so he could move his kitchen facilities from
the side wall of the diner outwards towards the back, and by moving the service
counter from the whole length of one side to just in front of the newly extended rear
kitchen at the back, and would allow for more seating in the area where the counter
currently stood, the area where the small grill kitchen had stood.
The extra space was built onto the building at a relatively low cost, since there
was already a foundation float in place to build on, and the services were already
laid into the main building, the electricity transformers from the grid, which fed the
diner were using nowhere near their maximum capacity, so no new upgraded cables
needed to be laid, and no new pipework either. To George and Anne, it made perfect
sense.
As the building extension was nearing completion, it appeared that another kind
of expansion was taking place, a new addition to their family.
Anne was pregnant.
Throughout the mess of the alterations, and the cleaning up afterward to maintain
the place to the acceptable food hygiene standards, both George and Anne seemed
tireless, working all the hours they could to get everything ready for the grand
official opening after the completion of the modernisations.
The diner was only fully closed for the final two weeks of the alterations, as that
was when the more intrusive alterations and modernisations were done then, and
the dust created would have been a nightmare had they remained open. This
included new lighting, new sound systems, and modern décor brightening up the
bland magnolia walls that were there before, and new floors
Despite being pregnant, Anne worked through it without the slightest of
problems, no backaches, no nausea around fried food, in fact she kept cooking it, and
was quite happy to take a mop to the floor at any time.
George was equally enthusiastic throughout, in fact his customers always
commented on his ever-present bright manner, beaming smile, and almost perfect
swift delivery of the food ordered.
The two of them made a great team, and their staff members were always happy
to be around them, to the point where they would never take a sick day, and were
reluctant to take holidays.
The place was not heaven by any means, things went wrong, stock wasn’t
delivered on time, or the wrong order was delivered, these things happened.
Equipment went on the blink and had to be replaced, but this was to be expected as
the normal running of this kind of business. It was more the way these things were
handled which set this team apart from any other.
The staff seemed to have everything under control, and nothing seemed to faze
them. They got on with what they did and they did it well.
Even the weird customers who were starting to come in now were welcomed.
They would order one coffee and sit for hours playing with their phones. George
being George didn’t challenge them about the time they spent in there. There were
still plenty of seats available.
Anne had to stop working about a week before she was due to give birth, on the
insistence of the doctor, to allow her body to adjust to the coming birth. She felt she
could have gone on, but, for the sake of peace, she rested.
George doted on her, looked after her, made her comfortable even though she was
not uncomfortable, and she allowed him to fuss over her just to keep him busy, but
most of all, quiet.
Almost a week to the day later, Anne went into labour, George flapping around
like a headless chicken till the ambulance arrived and took her to the hospital.
The labour was short, and no complications, so within a few short hours, George
became a father.
He was the proud father of a beautiful little girl.
He didn’t have a son as his first-born; he had a beautiful daughter, and the sight of
her wrapped in the white shawl in the arms of his wife reducing him to tears.
He didn’t care whether it was a boy or a girl, as long at it was fine, and she was.
As he held her in his arms for the first time, he cried, real tears, of joy.
There was not a person anywhere on Earth who could that night have been more
proud than George.

Chapter Four
 In the following years, George, Anne, and their little girl, Samantha, or Sam as she
was always known as, lived in the rear of the diner, the adults working day and
night to make a living, but could always make time for their daughter, as she would
wander among the customers casting her little girl spell over all of them with her
charm. She could get them to order another slice of pie with just a smile, or have
another coffee so they could hear her happy piping voice.
George and Anne were happy to work these long hours to save for Sams college
fund, the two of them enjoying good health and mental wellbeing which helped
them with their savings scheme, and they were able because of the success of the
business, to put away a little money each week for this without having to do without
themselves.
Sam started school, a really big day in the family calendar, and then, before you
knew it, she was in her senior year, and now 16.
Sam was a very quick learner, and always had been. She also had a good sense of
humour as well as a good memory, so was able to do very well at school, and equally
importantly, she was popular with her classmates, proving many times that she had
a wise head on her young shoulders.
George and Anne carried on running the diner, which in all these years had never
lost any popularity, most days buzzing with customers from dawn till after dark.
Some of the shops over the way had changed hands, but the diner was still here.
George still boasted a full head of hair, and Anne still looked like she was around
25 years old. Time had been very good to them. It shows what good clean living can
do for you.
Sam had her senior prom, and that’s when the college fund came out of hiding.
What subject to study, that was something she had to think about, and because
she had done so well at a number of different subjects, the choice was going to be
difficult. It seemed like a couple of days and she was choosing the university she
wanted to attend, most of the college fund still available.
She was offered a choice of places at the different University faculties, but she had
her heart on taking a Law degree. To do this she would have to study and live away
from home for three to four years. George and Anne didn’t want their little girl to go
out there into the cruel world, alone, and be forced to grow up even more quickly
than it felt like she already had. They wanted their pigtailed little ball of cuteness to
stay forever.
Sam eventually won.
George and Anne knew that this was what she wanted, and they had to let her fly.
They had brought her up to be independent and now it was the time to see if they
had done their job well.
Over the next two years or so, Sam studied hard, and visited home with equal
enthusiasm. She loved coming back to see her parents, and spend time with them,
knowing that she would be given a little cash from them to help smooth over the
bumpy ride with the finances while she studied.
She could still charm the regulars to buy more pie or coffee, and she put up with
the weird one coffee people as part of the job.
 It was on her last visit, just before the summer recess, to see them that her dad
mentioned that he had received an offer from some corporation or another, to buy
the diner from him, for a very good price. He and Anne had discussed it at length,
and as neither of them felt they were not ready to retire just yet, so they turned the
offer down. Sam agreed with this and even told them that while they remained fit
and active enough to do the job they love, keep doing it.
Sam went back to university to study in her final degree year, and things at the
diner went back to normal. It was still always very busy, and the social atmosphere
kept going as it had for many many years.
George received another offer from this agency acting on behalf of a client, almost
doubling the last offer for the diner, and he had to admit that this was tempting.
When he turned this down, a representative came to the diner to try to negotiate a
deal, almost aggressively though he could not do more than try to intimidate as the
diner was always full of people.
Everything carried on as normal until, while Sam was in one of her classes at the
university, the Principle came to see her and called her from the class, taking her to
the privacy of his office.
He sat her down, and looked at her.
“I’m afraid I have bad news for you.” he paused,
“I have just received word from the local police in your home town that your
father and mother have both been killed in a car accident.”
“Up to now I have no further details, but I thought it best to inform you so you can
go home to get these details for yourself, try to make sense of what has happened
for your peace of mind, and to mourn your loss”
“I am so sorry”
Sam left the university in her car that day in a daze, not even sure if she had
packed enough of her stuff she would need. She started to drive home wondering
how her father, a really good and safe driver, would be killed in an accident. They
must be wrong, a case of mistaken identity, and by the time she gets to the diner, in
about four hours, it will all be straightened out.
As she arrived at the diner, the presence of a couple of police cars outside told her
it wasn’t a mistake.
She pulled up in the car park, and walked towards the front of the diner, expecting
to see her parents serving lots of regular customers as they always did, but the diner
was almost empty, except for staff and regulars who were helping the police with
their questions.
The chief investigator kept asking the same question, over and over. Did George
and Anne had any enemies that she knew of. Was there any reason she knew of why
anyone might want to do them any harm?
This line of questioning made Sam a little suspicious, as the line of questions they
kept asking everyone made her think that the police had a suspicion that the
accident wasn’t really an accident. Nothing solid, but the current line of questioning
seemed to be going that way. She needed time to think.
 Chapter Five

The day of the double funeral arrived, and Sam was joined by only a handful of
living relatives and friends, as both George and Anne had outlived most of their
family, and quite a few of their friends too.
Some of Sam’s friends travelled down from the University to offer their support in
this time of grief.
The church service was brief, then that in the crematorium even shorter, with a
reception for the guests after these services being held in the diner itself, closed that
day for normal business, but open to funeral guests. It was still full to capacity.
The police seemed still seemed to be pestering the people who used the diner
with different lines of enquiry, looking for details that Sam would know nothing
about as she was away at University. How would she know?
The detectives had the respect to stay out of the way during the funeral, though
they were still around, watching.
The reading of the will was not complicated, as Sam was an undergraduate lawyer
and used to these legal things, and as expected, everything was left to her, as the
only child, so therefore sole heir.
She wanted her parents though, not the inheritance.
Over the next few months, she worked the diner with the staff, and studied the
rest of her final year, albeit remotely, and there seemed to be a renewed vigour as
she buried herself in the work and the study.
The staff remained very loyal both to her, and the business, but there is only so
much you can ask of them to do, but they didn’t seem to be bothered about extra
time at the diner.
Sam sometimes felt like she wanted to sit in a corner and cry, but the staff was
supportive, and kept her in the real world.
She could have started to enter the dark place of depression and despair, given
her circumstances, but something somewhere, kept pushing her to keep going.
Around this early time in her running of the diner, she received a letter from the
agency representing a large multinational company asking if she would consider
selling the diner, and offered a really good price. A price a long way above current
market value.
She decided to turn it down.
To her this was not just a business, but her family home, all her happy childhood
memories and the whole of her life were all contained here in this building. Trading
for profit was only a small part of it. The diner had made her what she was, and had
become.
She kept in touch with most of her friends still at the university, which helped her
to feel she was still linked to reality, and those friends were good friends.
It was true to say that Sam never really had any serious personal relationships, or
a steady boyfriend while she was studying at the University, though she did have
lots of friends who was male, and she did party with the crowd.
 They used to end many a group night out by going back to their student houses,
discussing the many and varied aspects of the law, and how their studies considered
the making sense of the many different anomalies and facets of law. They had
shared many bottles of wine and pizza on these occasions, but little else.
Jason, one of these classmates, was a young ambitious man who wanted to take on
the world, head on. He wanted to be the top lawyer in his field, the best of the whole
bunch, but he still had his feet firmly on the ground. Not easy for a lawyer.
When Sam moved away to return to the diner and carry on her studies remotely,
Jason found his days at the University were starting to get a little more boring, less
interesting, as the post night out legal debates had all but stopped, and those
powerful arguments that used to entertain him were no longer happening.
He decided to phone her one night as it would be nice to hear her chirpy voice
once more, and ask if perhaps he could pop down for a visit, just to make sure she’s
OK and share the university gossip, making sure, for his own peace of mind that
she’s not getting depressed at her loss, and overworking to compensate. He had
always had a small crush on her, but she had always seemed so independently
distant, emotionally, and the last thing he wanted to appear to be doing now was to
be trying to take advantage of a vulnerable woman.
Sam was not vulnerable by any means. She had held it all together very well, and
his worried phone call had amused her. but the thought of a friend, with lots of
gossip to tell sounded good, and there was a spare third room in the building that
had never been used to park him in.
She told him to come down to see her any time he could get away from the
university, and he could see for himself that all was well, and tell the other friends at
the university that she was fine, and that he would be made most welcome to stay at
the diner.
Things happen for a reason, a reason which is not fully understood at the time, but
Jason decided he needed to drive up to see Sam as soon as he could. He just felt he
should.

Chapter Six

Sam carried on working as she had since she took over the business, and the
customers stayed loyal. The business was making money, but nothing big, all the
bills were paid, as was the staff.
Then, one night, after they had closed, Sam had retired to the loft bedrooms,
situated at the rear of the building, over the new extension, and had made ready for
bed. Some late-night television might help her unwind before sleep.
 A shadow of a figure, keeping low to the ground crept up the steps at the front of
the diner, and headed for the shop front. A small glimmer of light followed by a
crashing of glass, and then flames spreading into the diner.
The fire alarm and sprinkler activated immediately, and the damage was limited
to the area immediately in front of the window, but it was evident that this act of
vandalism was not to cause a lot of damage but to be a type of warning. Things were
starting to turn serious.
When Jason heard of this, he decided to pack some stuff and set out for the diner,
his imagination running wild as to the possibilities that could have happened. If it
was malicious, then with him there, it would be more unlikely to happen again.
On his arrival at the diner, he was greeted like an old friend should be, and while
Sam carried on with what she was doing, he took a seat over in the corner with one
of their famous coffees, doing a little people watching, which as a lawyer, was one of
his favourite pastimes.
What he didn’t see was the approach of an elderly man to his table, the man sitting
opposite him, without a comment or request to join him. The man spoke,
“Are you the partner, or lover of the lady who owns this establishment?”
Jason would have loved to have answered yes to this question, but his years of law
training made him a little suspicious of the reason for the question.
“I saw her hugging you as you came in so I thought you must be close.”
“We were both students together at the same university, studying the same
subject, but we are not….”
He would have loved to change that reply too, but, in an effort not to give away too
much information, he played it safe.
The old man looked a little sad at this information. He spoke again,
“But you are still good friends and I believe you would help her and protect this
young lady?”
Jason saw red,
“Was it you who tried to set fire to the diner, attempting to possibly kill everyone
in it?”
“Oh my God, no!” The old man looked pained at this accusation, “But I may have
information not of who it was, but why it was done.”
“The reasons go back many centuries, good and evil continually fighting each
other, over and over, each gaining a little, but always being countered and balanced
by the other.”
Jason must have had a look of disbelief on his face, as the old man raised his hand,
palm forward and spoke again,
“Yes, I know it sounds stupid, and when I first was given the task of finding what I
was tasked to seek, I too was a disbeliever in this sort of stuff, I too thought it was a
load of crap.”
“However, as I carried on my search, I came across the darker, hidden side of
humanity, the evil side, searching for the same thing as I am, and I have witnessed,
first hand, the cruel tactics they used to get the information out of the victims they
wanted, and it wasn’t nice.”
“It was the unusual arson attack which happened here recently that drew my
attention to this place, and the unusual activities of the people who I had been
watching, and it made me think, why their interest here? They are seeking what I
seek but for a totally different reason, and they will do whatever they have to do to
obtain the prize.”
“So, what is this prize?”, Jason asked.
“To explain this would take a long time, and I need the young lady to hear it too as
it will directly impact on her. I know that these people are watching the diner, and
have been for some time, so I cannot explain this here and now.”
“It was easy to approach here as you would appear to them to be a stranger, as
would I, so they will ignore both of us for the time being.”
“I will return tonight, after the diner has closed, to explain it all to you both, but
please, say nothing of this conversation to the young lady, or to anybody else till we
have spoken later. I can let myself into the building, so don’t panic when I appear
inside the sitting room. It isn’t magic, it’s knowing architecture.”
He stood up, and left without a backwards glance.

Chapter Seven
As Jason and Sam sat in the sitting room in the upstairs living quarters of the
diner, Jason was having difficulty explaining that a stranger was going to come to
see them, but without giving anything about the reasons away.
She continually pestered him as to what it was about, but all he could reply was
that he didn’t know any of the details. All he could confirm was that a total stranger
would appear in the building at some time this evening, and had something to say
that was relevant to them.
They didn’t have to wait long, as the old man appeared at the sitting room door
noiselessly, Jason a little less shocked than Sam, but both surprised at how he did it
without them detecting any sound.
He sat down without uttering a word on the settee opposite the pair, and smiled at
both. He raised a hand as a request to silence the questions he knew were coming,
judging by the look on Sam’s face.
He looked at Jason,
“Have you told her of our earlier conversation?”
Jason shook his head.
“Good, as I need to start the explanation at the very beginning, and this beginning
occurred a very long time ago.”
” To understand the reasons for the attack on these premises, and I suspect the
murder of your parents, these things are connected by something that has been
going on for centuries.”
Sam was getting angry and upset because of the reference to her parents, and her
face betrayed her emotion. She wanted to know where this was all leading, and she
wanted to know now!
She spoke,
“You believe that my parents were murdered?”
 “I do, and as I said to your young man earlier, I do not yet know by whom, but I
think I know why.”
The old man began to reveal the information, slowly and clearly, as one would
deliver a narrative.
“Many centuries ago, mankind had beliefs which were very different from those of
today. Life was much simpler then and the people, in their innocence, were easier to
manipulate than the people of today. They would believe in things that did not exist,
or things that could never really be done.”
“This did not mean they were weak-minded or ignorant, on the contrary, they
were very inventive in their ideas, just that they would sometimes bend answers to
fit questions just to say they had an answer, whether these were correct or not.”
“This was moderately successful most of the time, and their personal beliefs did
not upset or harm anyone else, so it was easier to live with this more natural
method of life.”
“Sometimes though, nature would throw up something that defied any of the
homespun knowledge, and this is what happened.”
He paused to make sure the two were following the narrative. No questions, carry
on,
“No-one knows where the beautifully cut green crystal came from, whether it was
terrestrial or otherwise, to them this did not matter, the point was that it arrived,
and the people who first found it held it and protected it as if it were a real
treasure.”
“At this point, the find was not deemed by any of the other nearby tribes to be
anything other than a shiny cut gemstone, its effect remaining unknown till the
passing of almost a full generation.”
“Life expectancies in those days were considerably shorter than today, the
average male living for thirty years give or take, a female not much longer.”
“Diseases were all less treatable then, so became more fatal, and the higher birth
rate balanced out the losses due to infant deaths. In other words, life was very hard
by nowadays standards, but the human race still survived.”
“As time went on, the tribes around the area lived and died as they always had.
The tribe with the crystal however suffered less infections, birth defects or
deformities, and started to live a lot longer than those in the surrounding villages.”
“Over time the changes in life expectancy and general health of this tribe started
to be noticed by the surrounding tribes, and the crystal was thought to be the reason
for this.”
“What was once thought to be a worthless shiny green gemstone, had now gained
a very high value, and human nature being what it is, everyone desired it, and of
course those who already had it wanted to keep it, and so it began, the wars of
possession.”
“For the safety of the tribe holding the crystal, it had to be hidden”
“There were whole tribes attacked and massacred in their sleep, whole villages
wiped out if the aggressors thought the crystal was held there, and it only took a
slight event like an easy birth or something like make the would-be aggressors
assume the crystal was there.”
 “The people who possessed the crystal made sure the location was shifted
elsewhere, and they feigned sickness or disability on a regular basis, knowing they
would outlive the memory of the aggressors anyway.”
“These times were dangerous to live in, it became man against man, and it wasn’t
long before attention was drawn to these hostilities by people of power, the peers,
the lords, the kings, who heard the rumours about this magical life preserving rock,
and they wanted it for themselves, and would stop at nothing to get it.”
“Luckily for humanity, around the lands at this period of the era, there existed a
body of people who you would possibly identify as priests, though these were not in
any way connected to any religion as you would know it, but were more like druids,
sort of Earth spirits.”
“These people believed they had been charged by their supreme deity with duties
of removing anything that was deemed harmful to humans, and though it would be
deemed desirable to extend your life, it’s the total chaos brought on by possessive
jealousy it causes in its wake.”
“It’s not a natural occurrence, so therefore should not be here.”
“The priesthood was able by some very clever detection and infiltration to locate
the whereabouts of the crystal, ahead of the dark powers, and their apothecary were
able to design a small metal strongbox, lined with gold and lead which once the lid
was snapped shut, it could not be opened again, and the gold and lead lining would
stop whatever radiated of the crystal.”
“It needed to be ‘grounded’ or as we say, buried, in a place where the peers or
kings would never look, as they would not be able to detect the vibrations or rays
from the crystal if placed in the multi-layered levels of rock within a concentric
stone circle. The background ‘noise’ from the naturally radioactive granite would
mask any residue signal”
“It has remained there, in its hiding place, safely undetected by mankind and was
till now.”
It was Jason who asked the question,
“But, what has this to do with Sam and the diner?”
The old man turned to Sam and asked,
“Were your parents in good health all of their lives, up to the accident?”
Sam thought for a while. Neither of them seemed to have suffered from any
ailment, and had been free from the aging degeneration illnesses like arthritis or
loss of sight, neither wore glasses. On thinking about it, yes, they were in excellent
health, and, but for the accident, would have lived a lot longer.
“Yes,” she replied, “They were in excellent health.”
“And did you ever wonder why, or why you too were also illness free?”
“No, I never gave it a second thought.”
She was giving it lots of thought now. In hindsight, all of them had been pictures of
health, not even needing a dentist, but she thought it was just natural genetics.
“Do you think our good health is in some way connected to this crystal of old?”
The old man looked at her, smiled, and continued,
“I’m sure of it. The old temple rings were collapsed down to bury the box, and
block out any residual rays that may at some time in the future become detectable,
and it would have remained out of sight forever, but, the earth above was moved
about, some of the granite shattered by explosives, pillars were falling into the
cavernous space below, finally hitting the altar which was the containment vessel,
and damaging the box inside, allowing the radiation to leak out.”
“It happened when someone decided to build a diner over it.”
A glimmer of understanding appeared in Sams eyes.

Chapter Eight

Sam looked at the old man, and while shaking her head, asked him,
“So, you are telling me that this strange crystal is directly below us, and its
radiating whatever it radiates, and this means we will live longer, and stay
healthier?”
The old man nodded,
“Yes, the crystal is here, as we have detected it, but so have the criminal element
who also wish to possess it.”
Jason spoke,
“So, do you think the letters sent to Sam’s parents, and then to Sam herself,
possibly the arson attack are these people wanting possession of this crystal, and
need Sam to sell, or vacate the place.”
“I did at first, but because of Sam’s exposure to the crystal throughout her
childhood, she will live a long time, so would be an unwanted witness. Even the staff
here, also exposed to the effect of the crystal, though to a lesser degree, would also
be a liability to them.”
Sam’s face showed the horror of this revelation.
“But, why the staff? What have they done?”
“They have also been exposed over long periods, so will also live a very long time,
and would also become witnesses.”
“Why do you refer to us as witnesses, when we haven’t witnessed anything?”
“By your very being, and your very long life. Somewhere down the line questions
will be asked, and you will all be live witnesses to the effect of the crystals existence,
and these people want to hide the crystal from humanity, and use it purely for self-
interest in the quest for power.”
Sam thought for a second, and realised that these people would do this, as the
whole staff of the diner would become a liability by not dying.
Jason had a question,
“You say these people want the crystal for their own. What do you and your
people want it for?”
The old man smiled at this,
“That question has been a long time coming. We need to ‘ground’ it again, in
another secret location, out of harm’s way, forever.”
Sam asked this time,
 “And how do you intend to do this?”
“By taking the crystal away from here. This building would then be of no interest
to the criminal element, but you would then start to age very slowly, up to about 200
years which is as it should be. Unfortunately, young man, your lifespan will be
normal, and you will die while the young lady lives on.”
Sam looked at the old man,
“So, it would be hard to have a long-term relationship, watching the lovers die, one
by one?”
“Unfortunately, this is correct.”
“When would you like to begin whatever you need to do to remove this crystal
from below us, and how long would it take you to extricate it from deep down.”
The old man smiled again, then stood up. He placed his hand in his pocket and
took out a small lead and gold lined metal box and opened it.
Inside the box was a small green crystal, shining like a beacon, and vibrating very
slightly, just in audible range. He closed the lid, and the light went out, and the sound
stopped. He placed it back in his tunic pocket
“Don’t worry, I’ll see myself out.”
He seemed to sweep out of the door, almost as if he was floating, and vanished
before they could ask any further questions.
The diner still flourished, though some of the new customers seemed to fade out,
maybe they were ordered out to find the new crystal location.
Jason returned to continue his studies at the university, and they remained good
friends, but nothing else, no romance.
Sam never did have a long-term relationship with anyone from then on, protecting
herself from heartbreak in the future. She knew love, but more short term.
The old man?
He was never seen or heard of again.

John Baxter
2018