“Ley of the Land” is author Eve11’s latest tour de force. The overarching theme, hinted at on several different levels, echoes the Cassandra story from classical mythology. Cassandra is the Trojan seeress who uttered true prophecies but was cursed to be forever disbelieved. Sound like any FBI agents you know?
The story opens with the adventures of Ryan Harkness, a British teenager whose keen intelligence goes unnoticed by those unable to see past his Stephen Hawking-like exterior -- the majority, in other words. Ryan has his own theories about what happened to him when he was catapulted out of his wheelchair in Great Britain, across the Atlantic and into a New Mexico cave in the space of just a few minutes. But no one can understand, much less believe, his explanation. Similarly, a bad guy’s comeuppance takes the form of gaining the same knowledge but losing the ability to communicate it, bringing the story full circle.
The biggest Cassandra of the whole piece, however, seems to be the Earth itself. What secrets of energy, of power, lie concealed beneath the planet’s thin mantle? And what of the Earth’s secrets did our ancestors learn before they were covered over by the mantle of modern civilization? Eve11 delivers, through the mouth of Lone Gunman Byers, a fascinating lesson on ley lines and their association with the Earth’s natural energy pathways. Ley lines and the ancients who employed them, whether for terrestrial travel or something beyond it, have something to tell us. The few who listen come this close to figuring out what they have to say.
Grand themes aside, this is a peach of a story: a little fuzzy around the edges, but plenty juicy in the middle. The plot moves briskly, propelled by our tireless heroes. Mulder and Scully function as full partners for once (other authors, take note!), trading ditching for teamwork and interpreting Ryan’s cryptic clues as seers did prophesies from the oracle. And just when you think the bad guys have won, a deus ex machina straight out of classical drama saves the day -- literally! Watch for it. Clear images, realistic dialogue and spot-on characterizations produce storyshowing, not telling, at its finest.
The only weakness surfaces at the end of the episode, where the inconclusive conclusion to Scully’s report is too clearly the author’s lament about how tough it is to wrap up a tale. But we sympathize with the character and with the writer, for they, like Cassandra, speak for us all.