It Be Okay

Prologue: The Entity Prowling along a narrow stretch of the shore of the John River just below Alaska’s Anaktuvuk Pass, the wolf pack sensed a change in the atmosphere and lifted their heads, perked their ears, and growled as a soft wind blew down the pass, the sky took on a multi-colored glow, and the ground shook under their paws. But as quickly as it happened, the scene returned to its tranquility; and the pack then returned to their hunt as they trotted around a bend of the river where the lush vegetation and dense forest crept down to a lonely sandbar. A few moments later, a spherical zephyr floated slowly down the pass, hung above the sandbar for a moment, and slowly began to evolve into an amorphous, shimmering globule that then started to drift along the river. One of many such strange entities that had visited the Earth over the centuries, it was new to the experience. Like the others, it had a mission; but unlike the others who’d been directed to explore the entire planet, its only assignment was to report on the changes in Alaska, the Yukon, and the northern regions. To accomplish this, it, like the others, had certain abilities, among which was the ability to mutate. For some time, the globule floated above the river as it flowed closer and closer to a mountain range, stopping occasionally before various animals about which it had been informed: beavers amidst the wooded areas, foxes much like the wolves it had seen earlier, brown and black bears, sheep and moose, and many smaller mammals, When it saw its first caribou, a huge male, it settled down to the earth a few feet from it, hesitated, and then mutated into its twin, which frightened the creature into scampering away. Shaking its newly gained form, it then trotted after it through the forest toward the Arctic National Park until it found its herd. Cautiously, it blended in by imitating their scraping of the tundra to find food. However, it quickly became aware that though they were content to remain at their feeding, it had to begin its mission. For days it traveled through rolling valleys of wild tundra, all the time looking up at the arête-peaked mountains. Eventually it turned west toward the Arctic Sea and inevitably came into contact with humans, some of whom blazed away at it with fire sticks, the objects of which bounced off its hide. Months passed as it mentally recorded the environment, especially the calving of the glaciers and the occasional tremors of the land. One day as it was in a lush valley feeding on grasses, it saw a solitary, tall, brown-skinned human a hundred or so yards away creeping toward it with a pointed stick raised in his arm. Curious, it watched as it came closer. Suddenly, a pack of wolves appeared out of the shrubbery and surrounded the human who looked around, searching for safety. However, the human had left himself exposed, and the beasts began circling him menacingly. The alien knew that if the wolf pack noticed him as a caribou, they would next attack him, so he trotted slowly into the forest and watched as the beasts suddenly charged the human and began tearing him apart. Then, when the wolf pack had satisfied their hunger, they trotted away, and he came out of the forest. Curious about the condition of the human, it looked down at the mangled body, hesitated, and then knowing from the Mentor that such creatures were the masters of this planet, it slowly mutated into what it had seen as its original form. Once the transformation was complete, it raised the arms of its new body, stretched, and then stumbled, unaccustomed to being on two legs. Soon, however, he adjusted and awkwardly walked away. Now as a human, he began striding along a trail leading southwest, often stopping to record the scenes around him. After many days of exploring, he suddenly came upon a group of humans similar to the one he’d become and was surprised when they greeted him as their chief. Sensing that they were not a threat, and using his ability to understand their words, he returned their greetings and quickly assimilated into their tribe, which suited him, for he realized that their keen knowledge of the area could help him accomplish his mission. They called him Kasmali, meaning “The Leader.” Over the next few months, he traveled with the tribe into the Arctic Circle and as far south as Mt. McKinley, and he soon began to understand the reason for his visit: the increasing calving of the icebergs, the unusual migration of the wildlife, the melting of the permafrost, and the gradual decrease in sea and bird life, all of which the tribe blamed on what they called the White Man’s lust for gold and oil. As the months passed, and the caribou, the tribe’s primary source of food, clothing, and trade, began to diminish, he and the tribe joined with other tribes into what was called The Naqsragmuit Tribal Council. Reluctant because of his eagerness to continue his mission, he nonetheless attended their first meeting with the White Men and quickly became the tribes’ spokesperson. However, during a subsequent meeting, he became disgusted by the arrogance of the Whites as they summarily dismissed his and the other chiefs’ calmly stated arguments regarding their fears. Somewhat later, he led the reluctant tribe to the coast of the Arctic. There they saw the massive drilling for oil and minerals that the tribe claimed would inevitably cause the land to justifiably rebel.