THE KATRINA MYTH
brought to this planet from Earth ten thousand year-spans earlier by an Earth woman by the name of
Katrina. As the book begins Pelle is visiting Earth from Deucalion but misplaces his time travel device and
is unable to get home. Since he does not age one of the problems he faces on Earth is the necessity of
changing his place of residence from time to time in order not to arouse suspicion.
- The colors of the expensive furnishings faded until they became gray tones, and a small parchment-
shaded lamp came on as if beckoned by its pale surroundings. Following this new light source
shadows made their way into the room. Staring at the leaves outside the windows that had been
golden moments earlier, Pelle saw that they had now turned a medium shade of sepia. Pouring
himself another sherry, he walks over to the door to stroll out onto the red stone terrace where he
peers out into the deepest corners of the back garden. “I’ll move away. I do need to move,” he says
aloud, and feels a tiny wrench in his solar plexus at the thought . . .
time-and-space travel without using technical devices. Chichén’s initial use of the paccar is an attempt to
visit Earth where he hopes to discover why his son Pelle and his companion Kersee have not returned to
Deucalion, but finds that using paccar as a mode-of-travel is not without its difficulties.
- Faces. Disembodied faces. Discarnate faces in motion. Chichén was frightened. The faces covered
him like a shroud and he had difficulty breathing. He wanted to bring his hands up and force all of
them away but was unable to move his arms. Some of the faces were laughing, others were
caricatures, and still others wore masks of terror. Memory came slowly, but it did come and when it
did he called for the wind. The wind did not answer. Chichén closed his eyes but the faces pressed in
behind his eyelids and their raucous laughter brought new terror to his heart. There was a loud scream
that seemed to go on for several minutes until Chichén came to the realization that it was he who was
shrieking. He closed his mouth and mentally backed away from Earth until he realized that he was
entering the radiation belts of Jupiter.
Chichén’s greatest desire has been to know if the Katrina myth is true, and hopes during his shamanic
journeys that eventually the answer to this question will be revealed to him, but before he is able to
satisfactorily solve the puzzle he is given a task to perform. He must persuade his fellow Deucalioneans not
to build a church to the Goddess Katrina.
- After a long pause, Chichén said, “We do not need a church to honor Goddess Katrina. We do not
need to carve her features into one of our mountains, nor do we need to carve more statues of her.
She does not want them. Katrina does not want your worship, but if you must worship her, then
worship her in your heart. Do not think you must persuade others to kneel to the goddess whom you
create in your own image! Honor her, but make no attempt at showing others the truth! If you build
this church the physical building will give birth to religion here on Deucalion. This is one of the
knowings of which I spoke earlier. A religion for the Goddess Katrina will form around your
structure, and in another few hundred spans this religion will become a requirement for any true
Deucalionean—a measure whereby one’s loyalty is proven.”
Time travel is necessary to the plot of Pelle but the book is not technical science fiction. The action
woven around the characters uses time and space travel as a vehicle, but the virtues and weaknesses of the
players are the real focus, whether expressed on Earth or on a planet in the distant constellation of Aquarius.
