The Map People

T H E M A P P E O P L E

I see the neatly lettered names before me on a map affixed to the wall. They are a rota of communities, formed by those who came before us. The enclaves are well ordered and spacious in their two-dimensional, mercator projection. The boundary lines are linear and perpendicular and none give a hint to the complicated array of lives that reside within these neatly proportioned hereditary fiefdoms. One can imagine them to be what they are, tiny baronies with well defended borders and armed check points, with gates manned by stern looking para-military personnel.

The Grand Duchy of Tonawanda abuts the Barony of Grand Island and the Earldom of Amherst. These principalities line our Northern border with the confederation of Niagara principalities. To the South, lies the Grand Union of the Buffaloes. The Kingdom of Cheektowaga, the Earldom of West Seneca and many smaller suzerainties lay to the South and East. Together, they make up the Grand Confederation of The Eries. It all seems a bit complicated but the system was working again and people had shelter, food and the basic necessities.

No one really knows how all of these minor fiefdoms came
about. Some say they evolved from several large families who banded together, in each area, after the great meteor strike of 2011.The fall out and resultant world wide calamity from this catastrophic event abruptly ended the modern era as we knew it in the year 2010.

Electrical power, gasoline, heating with natural gas, running water and a score or so of other "modern conveniences" ceased to function in a blinding collision of two astral bodies. It isn't known how many of the earth's people were immolated or how many others survived on the planet. An electro-magnetic pulse, similar to that created in a nuclear explosion, resulted from the collision. It destroyed most of the world's communication in one nano-second of electro-magnetic destruction.

Over the years, small groupings of contiguous survivors patched together a lineal system of communications that worked spottily on a regional basis. The mail system, beyond a few days walking or horse riding journey, did not exist. There had been attempts to construct a "pony express" type of system in past years but the roving bandits and hungry mobs had consistently intercepted the riders and caused their demise. Or, at least that is what was thought to have happened. Many of the messengers simply rode out, with a satchel of mail, and never returned.

Currency also was a problem initially. With the demise of the federal government, money became worthless. The computers were destroyed so money, as we knew it, ceased to exist. The resultant socio-economic coalescing was a cultural shock for many.

Simple means of barter prevailed in the early years. The small number of survivors could pretty much claim whatever land they wished to convert into agricultural production for immediate use. Stores of canned goods, in the wrecked stores, carried us for the first years until a reliable system of crop harvesting and marketing could be re-instituted. The farmers had regained their natural place as important citizens in the baronies and principalities. Eggs, wheat and vegetables became more precious than shiny bits of metal.

The calamity fell hardest on those who had been on the upper end of the socio-economic scale. Poorly equipped with the most basic of survival skills, and not willing to do whatever menial tasks it took to survive, many perished in the first few years after the meteor strike. (AMS as our new calendars now designate the period.

Conversely, those denizens of the streets, who had been accustomed to scavenging for a living, and going without, proved to be remarkably adaptable to the extremes of circumstances forced upon all of us. It brought to mind several classic pieces of literature from the before the meteor strike period.(BMS) One text is William Golding's classic "Lord of the Flies. The psychological breakout, engendered by the strike, happened pretty much in accordance with Golding's thesis. (due credit to Darwin)

It was survival of the fittest and a reassessment of society's values to fit the changing needs of a land and a people in tumult. The other work I was reminded of was made into a movie in the BMS period as well, "King Rat. A whole new species of people, capable of adapting to the new circumstances, rose to prominence in the AMS world.

The earth, as we had known it in the BMS world, was turned upside down. Like many periods in the earth's history, those who adapted, prospered. Those who did not, perished.

The current Duke of Tonawanda had been a small time street hustler and drug dealer in the BMS world. Now he lived in a grand mansion and controlled the trading system, in BMS luxuries, like gasoline, textiles and other commodities high in demand.

You couldn't trade or barter an item from Kenmore Ave., to The old Rte. #290 highway without his permission. Those who tried were tied hand and foot and thrown, with a flotation device around them, into the Niagara River to drift over the Falls and into oblivion. It was a chilling lesson to those who observed the hapless miscreant floating swiftly down the river hollering for assistance that would never arrive before he was carried over the Falls to a watery grave.

The Duke's personal life style befitted his new status. The remaining stocks of gasoline fueled his fleet of two armored humvees that he had acquired from the old Connecticutt armory in the Union of the Buffaloes. His retainers( Flunkies in the old days) also packed a considerable array of armaments to prevent the recent practices of kidnapping for ransom and assassination that were in vogue currently.

It was a newer way for those in the lower ranks to rapidly ascend the ladder to power. A few well placed bullets could issue in a whole new royal family to power in a given area. The remnants, of the former regime, and their families, eventually fled to neighboring kingdoms for safety or met the same fate as the deposed and recently slain monarch. Life was certainly different in the AMS world.

-30-

Joseph X. Martin

(to be continued)

(1075 words)