Men in Paradise - 16. Chapter 16 - The Metal

The diamond method used for ornamental bead drilling dates back to the 2nd millennium BC. Archaeologists working in Yemen have excavated beads from the site of Hajar ar Rayhani with evidence of diamond drilling from 1200 BC to the 1st century AD, though double diamond drilling from 1000-600 BC. Prior to 600 BC, the double diamond drilling method was present in Western India. In supernova nucleosynthesis, and from the collision of neutron stars, gold is thought to have been produced and to have been present in the dust from which the Solar System developed. That when it was formed, the Earth was molten, almost all of the gold present in the early Earth possibly sunk into the center of the planet. Therefore, much of the gold in the crust and mantle of the Planet is expected to have been delivered to Earth later in one model, by asteroid impacts during the Late Heavy Bombardment, around 4 billion years ago. Gold is found on Earth in ores in rock produced from the time of the Precambrian onwards. Nine small beads dated to 3200 BC, which were found in burials at Gerzeh, Lower Egypt, are the earliest-known iron artifacts. They have been defined by careful hammering as meteoric iron shaped. In the Proto-Hittite layers at Kaman-Kalehöyük and dated to 2200-2000 BC, the earliest preliminary evidence is found for iron-making. Stone age and Bronze age was followed by Iron age. and The Iron Age is the last epoch of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity's three-age division.

Justin's PoV

Winter was finally over. It had been two months since crop seeds produced lives and we were ready to re-cultivate them. It was an ancient method to remove the crops and replace them again to grow faster and better yield. I tested it already with a plant on the island and it worked.

One good thing about that island was that the soil was so good, anything will grow on it, and I knew why. Whenever I looked at the green mountain on our island and the ice mountains adjacent to it, I wondered about its geological features, particularly the large mountain on our island. The top layer of the mountains had dark bluish tints. Initially, I thought it was the reflection of the blue sea. But later when I was wandering near the rocks, I found ash sediments formed into solid small rocks. The mountains once had volcanoes, but were completely dead in recent times and helped form lives with its rich minerals on its soil.

Those sediments can be found everywhere. Even in our farm field, which provided that valuable natural resource for soil to grow plants. Magma from the volcano was thrown out of the mountains and formed mineral sediments everywhere. I knew the volcanoes must be completely dead because of their ice formations on top of the mountains. Small rocks with iron and mineral sediments were scattered around everywhere on that island. I could find many in the water stream and big rocks. Our crops were able to overcome cold weather and grew faster than expected because of those sediments. The same way plants and trees survived inside the forest for many many years.

Probably humans existed on that island ten thousand to fifteen thousand years before and died due to volcano eruptions. But I couldn't find any human bones or remains, but I had my doubts. I was certain that the island was habituated by more wild lives than what we saw until then. I found large animal bones and their extracts scattered in the forest, some were nonexistent when we visited the island. I have seen penguin fossils everywhere on the seashore and rocks. And I have guessed penguins were once a large population on that island which went completely nonexistent after the volcano eruption. Also, I found evidence of seagulls, they were gone too.

I found bauxite, komatiites, dike rocks, basaltic scoria, magnetite, and sandstones, those were sedimentary rocks formed by magma after it cooled down. Each rock had a unique composition and minerals. I collected samples of the stones in my backpack and later showed them to the guys. They were astonished by its various colors.

"Are there diamonds and golds too? We can become rich, right?" Afridi asked me innocently.

"What's the point if you are forever stuck on this island?" Jai mocked him, but his statement made sense.

"No, Scoria and Dike rocks were very few. Even if we find any, we need the expertise to process it into gold and diamonds, but" I didn't finish my sentence when I saw Afridi lost his interest in the conversation already.

"But?" Jai asked.

"But we can extract iron, aluminum, and steel out of the other abundant rocks. We could get sulfates. We are already using sulfur phosphates as fertilizers ``I told them.

"Instead, why don't you find the magic to communicate with the real world or a radar for ships, so that we can go back home?" That was Afridi's statement, I knew he was irritated a bit and least interested in science.

"If I could, I would have done it by now. Some things are beyond science" I told him.

I wasn't sure if it convinced him then. But he didn't utter a word after that.

"Only God can save us out of this misery, but he seems nowhere on sight," Sakthi said.

I saw Jai holding Sakthi's hand out of compassion. The support we had for each other was magic by itself despite our race, ethnic, cultural, religious, and linguistic differences.

Well, 'Gods' must be crazy. But they created this wonderful planet with abundant resources for humans to survive anywhere except Antarctica of course.

The next few days I spent more time collecting the sedimentary rocks. Initially, Afridi was less interested, but later he joined me too.

Sakthi and Jai took care of the cooking and poultry. Goats and Howls were multiplying, providing us a continuous supply of milk, eggs, meat, and fiber. Afridi had his pet goat and howl, he gave them crazy names. All of a sudden, our place was filled with Selena, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Ronaldo, Leonardo, Osama, Obama, etc, he even named female ones with male names. He spoke to them like a crazy person.

He caught a rabbit from somewhere and built a cage for it. He named the rabbit 'TikTok', soon after TikTok followed him everywhere. It ate my underwear, Jai's coconuts, and Sakthi's notepad. It started shitting all over the house. I gave Sakthi a secret plan for a TikTok meal, but he refused to execute it. He didn't want Afridi to go crazy completely.

Sometimes TikTok sneaked into the bed between Afridi and me, it prevented me from touching him. Afridi thought it was funny but I wanted to crush its neck. Afridi's soft skin and the way he reacted whenever I touched him, he was desirable in every sense. I couldn't keep my hands off him. I wanted nothing to come in between us except Sakthi of course. I never knew I could be attracted to another guy and fond of him, but things changed. I wondered if I was always bisexual, attracted to both sexes and I might not have realized it until I met Afridi. He looked like an angel, even a damn straight could be a little tempted around him for various reasons. I doubted that even Jai was infatuated with him at times, especially when we were on the stream.

Spring arrived. Trees and plants blossomed. Red, Yellow, and Pink flowers on its top made the island look like a true paradise. Like typical teenagers, Jai and Afridi were jumping and dancing around all the time. TikTok was ecstatic. Even Selena and Osama joined their dance.

By then we knew the seasons of the island. It was late Autumn when we arrived on the shore and then winter and spring came along. Winter was shorter but disastrous. We were looking forward to the Summer. We learned how to work around according to the seasons for farming, fishing, gathering, and livestock.

Garden filled with vegetables and spices plants. Tomatoes and Mustards were the first to blossom. Unfortunately, not all the seeds came to life as I feared. But at least we had sufficient requirements for food. Red Chillies, Coriander, Capsicum. Elephant onions and Chives. We also had Radish, Cucumber, Sprouts, Chickpeas, Bok Choy, Eggplants, Sweet potatoes, and Cassava plants. Pumpkin and melon didn't grow for unknown reasons. As pulses, we got Red Lentils and Lupins, but Cashew, Cinnamon, Cardamon, and a few others didn't grow. As grains, we got brown rice. We couldn't grow Corn or Wheat or barley since we didn't have their seeds. We decided to go to the forest again to get a better pumpkin plant or seeds to try again.

Protecting them was the most toxic work. Island had plenty of moose, bugs, rats, wild cats, squirrels, birds, and snakes. Bugs were the most dangerous when we arrived on that island. It was a constant battle with them, but during winter they disappeared. We didn't have the technology nor any chemicals to keep most of the creatures off. Thus, we went into primitive ways. We built a fortress around our place with wood and clay. Almost every evening we had to burn wastages around the fence to smoke them out. We also grew Marigolds, Aloes, Lemongrass, and Milts to keep the pests off.

Due to our crops, plants, eggs, and goats, we had regular visitors from the forest. They could somehow smell them even from a distance, Nonvenomous snakes are often found at the farm, Wild cats and moose were sneaking into the garden. We were astonished to find so many modern creatures on that island, but not even a single human. We joked about it often.

"In the city, we keep all these creatures in the zoo, but here they are torturing us," Afridi said.

"Yep, we had to build a fortress around us to keep us safe" Jai followed him with that statement.

"Our ancestors lived this way for thousands of years. Then we overpopulated and started hunting them" I told them.

"I could very well overpopulate this island in a second if there are any girls here" Afridi commented.

"You need at least ten months for that," Jai corrected him.

"Why do you want to populate a paradise place like this, it will destroy everything," I asked Afridi.

'We might never go back to the real world, which means possibly we may not have a normal life thereafter'. I was curious to know if that thought ever occurred to the others and how they felt about it.

"I may never be able to find a girl and fuck her or have a baby if I am stuck here forever," Afridi said,

I could hardly comprehend his feelings in his tone. It was monotonic. It was a serious topic that we avoided discussing for some time then. There were times I missed everything that was offered in the real world. I missed my friends, my parents, my siblings, and Marissa. But then I was ready to leave them to find life in the US. At that time, the only thing that occupied my mind was my passion for biology, I wanted to learn more during my research and dedicate my life like Darwin. But then God had other plans for me, he put me on that island to study them in a real way like a destiny.

"So, you didn't like living here because there are no girls," Jai asked Afridi.

"No offense guys, I like you all and I like Justin a lot. And I like this place too, it was like living in paradise. But I am too young to determine if I could live this way longer" Afridi answered and I thought that was very practical. How long I could survive there with three boys in an isolated place, I had no answer then.

"How about you Jai? Can you live here longer without a girl?" Afridi asked him in return.

"Yes, and I never intended to marry a girl even at home" Jai replied sternly.

I was a little taken back by that response. And I thought he was too young to decide, but I didn't interrupt him. I kept silent for a while and noticed Afridi was watching me closely. I knew I had to say something.

"Studying biology was my life, that was why I left my parents in Dubai. Of course, I would love to go back if I get a chance. But I might not be too devastated if I had to live here for the rest of my life" that was the closest truth that I could ever tell them and accept it.

"Without us, you can live here forever?" Afridi asked me. It sounded like a challenge.

"Nope, not without you" I replied to him, that was indeed true. I saw him grinning at me.

"Yep, not without you guys" Jai joined the chorus with me.

"This place is wonderful. In the beginning, I hated it, but not anymore. So if this place is where Almighty destined me to live then," Afridi didn't finish his sentence. We knew what he was going to say.

"You may not be able to fuck a girl and have a baby. Is that OK too?" Jai interrupted him mockingly.

"I will start fucking you then. I might even like it, who knows" Afridi replied casually with a chuckle.

"Only in your dreams, bro" Jai snapped back at him.

Throughout our conversation, Sakthi stayed out of it. He looked like he was not comfortable on that topic.

The last few days, a grey and brownish wolf was circling our place quite often. Sakthi was the first to see it when he was bringing back fish from the shore. It ran away when it saw him. Afridi joked that wolves hate muscles.

"Did you notice a foul smell lately from the sea?" Sakthi asked me.

Yes, the foul smell started spreading ever since the spring and I knew why.

"It is time for fish to lay eggs. The smell is emanating from those eggs" I told him based on what I learned.

"Ho, is that why I am finding it easy to get fish?" Sakthi asked me.

"Yes, but fishermen generally avoid fishing during early Spring, so that their nets don't catch the eggs," I told him.

"Why don't you try it in the water stream? there are fish in it too." I told him.

"Good idea, I will try that," Sakthi said.

Nature had given us so much, we didn't want to destroy it all the way just because we had to survive.

I took him to the water stream and showed him areas where he could find fish. But not as big as sea fishes, but they suffice too. We then decided to plunge into the water stream and take a bath.

Spring was wonderful, even the water tasted better and we could see the rocks and clay surface below the clear water. Sakthi removed his trouser and got into the water with me. His muscles were flexing and the water body kept his black skin glow. I could see his cock dangling above the water. He was a magnificent creature, an artist could have painted him now. I wonder how he controlled his sexual urges, I was aware that nothing was happening between Sakthi and Jai even though they formed a special bonding for each other just like Afridi and me. Maybe I could ask Sakthi to sleep next to us and bring him into our mutual jerk off session with Afridi. A threesome could be interesting too. I wasn't sure about Jai, he seems to be off and so spiritual, I didn't want to gross him out with my sexual advances. He was like a typical rural boy filled with conservative ideas and not so sexually open-minded like Afridi regardless of his adolescence.

After the bath, Sakthi caught a few tiny fishes. We didn't know what to do with it. I told him he could build a fish tank and grow fish in it. Last snowfall taught us a lesson not to go to the stream, extreme cold during the winter froze all the water resources on that island. It was hard to find the water beneath the snow-covered stream, and too dangerous if we walk over it. Sakthi slipped inside once and it took enormous strength for the rest of the three to pull him out since he was heavy.

We returned to the hut with our tiny fishes and bananas.

Jai and Afridi were waiting for us with the news.

"We saw the wolf again" Afridi shouted.

"This is the third visit to our place. I am worried about our birds and goats" Jai said with deep concern.

"It can jump the fence just like that" Afridi joined the chorus.

Sakthi and I went looking for the wolf. We found it under a coconut tree next to the food wastages we threw. It was staring at us, refusing to move.

"I think it's hungry," Sakthi said

"Yep" I agreed.

Sakthi threw the tiny fishes on its direction. the wild dog caught them and ate it. To our surprise, it even waved its tail and came closer to Sakthi.

"Be careful, it might bite" I warned him.

Sakthi didn't move though, he was glaring at the wolf for a response. Wolf came closer and sat next to him. It didn't bark or bite.

"I don't think it's dangerous, it might be just hungry," Sakthi tried to convince me.

It was getting late and we knew it will get dark sooner, so we turned back and started walking towards our hut. Wolf followed Sakthi until we reached the fence gate.

Sakthi went inside the house and brought a biscuit packet.

"Where did you get it?" I asked him.

"It was there in a suitcase among the luggage. I saved it in case if there any emergency" he told me.

He gave the biscuits to the wild dog and it ate all of them. It waved its tail in response once again. Then it disappeared into the forest.

"This is weird, it is behaving like a pet dog," Afridi said in disbelief.

"Wolves are wild dogs too, they belong to the same family. Just that, they live in the forest with the freedom, they cannot be easily trained, they are mostly scared of humans and bit ferocious, but this one is odd" I told him.

"How did it come here to this island?" Sakthi asked me.

That was something I was pondering for a while then. There were at least two or three settlements that lived on that island at different periods, I was sure about that. There were primitive style stone weapons, artifacts, stone constructions, and drawings found in and around the rocks. They were either died or ran away due to a volcano eruption. Later, at least a thousand years ago, a much-civilized settlement with the modern way of living such as planting vegetables, cattle, etc came to that island. Deep into the forest, we found some traces of huts as wooden structures that provided enough shreds of evidence. That civilized society, probably a few migrated from nearby land and lived here for centuries. But for some mysterious reason, they left the island leaving the animals, birds, and plants. That was how we were left with a few animals on that island. I told my findings and assumptions to Sakthi.

He was convinced of my theory. I was sure that one day I would discover the reason behind the disappearance of the modern settlers in a hurry.