Far away in the north, there is a vast expanse of snow and ice. The mountains and valleys covered in snow seem to hide a forgotten world. The clear, blue sky and cold, pale sun speak of a long forgotten past.
Standing on the snowy expanse, I felt the wind’s biting chill. My shivering body was clothed in heavy fur and woolen clothes. I had a pack of wooden sticks at my back and a small isolated bottle of water against my skin.
I stared ahead, knowing that there was a village somewhere. Hoping to see a wisp of smoke, I squinted up at the sky. Wearily, I trudged up the large ice-covered hill before me.
Before I reached the top, however, I stepped onto a piece of thin ice. The ice broke under my weight sending me hurtling down into the darkness. It seemed to be deep underground because of the heat that I felt. I looked up and saw the hole I had fallen through looking like a single star shining through a cloudy night. Fortunately I was unhurt and began to search for a way up.
There was no way up that I could see. I tried to think of a solution to this predicament. Suddenly I remembered my pack of sticks. I always kept wood with me in case of an emergency…like this one.
I reached behind me and found that I only had one stick left. The rest must have fallen out when I fell. Sighing, I lit the last stick using two smooth stones from the cavern floor. With its light, I picked up the rest of the sticks. I counted thirteen left, including the one that was lit. I tore my woolen clothes into strips and wrapped them around the sticks in a desperate attempt to make torches.
I packed up the torches and found a tunnel in the wall of the cavern that ran in the general direction that I was going. I hesitated for a second, then walked into the pitch-black tunnel. I followed the tunnel for a long time. I used up three torches by the time I decided to stop to rest. I needed to sleep. I figured I had fallen through the hole at about noon and had walked for about five hours. I only had ten torches left. With caution, I thought I had enough light for a day and half. I had water enough for two days, but I didn’t have any food.
I drank some water and curled up against the tunnel wall. I fell asleep watching the embers of the last torch slowly blink then go out. The moment before I fell completely asleep, I noticed it was growing cold.
I woke up and started because it made no difference whether my eyes were open or closed. I fumbled around until I had a torch in my hand. I lit it frantically trying to shed light on my black world. I was hungry, but there was nothing I could do about it. I drank a little water and then got up and went on.
I had no idea what time it was when I stopped, but I was tired. I had used up exactly six of the torches before I decided to stop. I thought that if I didn’t see light by the time the last torch ran out, I would go on until I died of thirst or hunger.
I drank only a little water because I only had a little left. I laid my head on a rock and fell asleep almost immediately.
The next day, if you could call it day, brought only miserable darkness. My mouth was parched, but I only drank enough water to wet my mouth. I decided to save the torches until they were really needed. I went on, stumbling in the dark for about an hour. At that point, I ran into a rock wall. Far above and in front of me was a light. It heartened me very much to see that light.
Thinking it was necessary, I lit one of the last torches. In its light I saw that the wall wasn’t much taller than I was. Above the wall, there was a slope leading directly to the light.
Carefully, so that it wouldn’t go out, I placed the torch on top of the ledge. Then I lifted myself up slowly. I picked up the torch and began to run up the slope. At least, I thought it was a run. It really was more like a stumble.
When I reached the top, I saw that the light was an entrance to a cave. It was covered by a thin layer of ice. Not heeding any danger, I broke through the ice with my hands and feet. I suddenly felt very cold. I remembered that some of my thicker clothes were still in the cavern where I had taken them off.
I tentatively stepped out from the blackness into the daylight. To my complete amazement, I had ended up on the hill right before the village I was trying to get to. With a short whoop I ran down the slope not heeding the cold that was creeping through my body. I ran into town, but no one seemed to recognize me.
“Poor man,” said the rescue volunteer. “He must have died because of the cold. He was so close to the town, too.”
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Ma'ory and the Basilisk
Deeply in the ground
By the lair of the basilisk
It’s roots have been bound,
Strong and quite sound,
The roots of the Obelisk.
Deep down the roots were set
The bases deep were laid
For the Obelisk’s beginning.
It’s needs were quickly met
The foundations stayed
The construction beginning.
On top of the Earth
Where people live and walk
The middle’s greatest berth
Strong around the turf,
The Obelisk’s great stalk.
Level the stones were laid
The middle strongly set
For the Obelisk’s building.
The stonework’s powerful braid
Never again in debt
The construction continuing.
Up high in the sky
By the perch of the great eagle
It’s tip does now lie
Strong and quite high
The Obelisk’s tip, regal.
Up high the crown was placed
The keystone high above
The Obelisk’s final building
Strong and quite well based
The keystone’s dove
The construction then ending.
From every single place
Where people live on Earth
Men came to see the trace,
Strong and deep mace,
Of the Obelisk’s great birth.
The caravan’s were long,
The trains of people great,
For the Obelisk’s great sighting.
Those who came were strong
Their power, then innate,
The Obelisk then slighting.
As people came together,
Around the mighty Obelisk
They came to simply gather,
Tied with a tether,
Not thinking of risk.
The cities then quickly grew,
The populations high
Surrounding the great Obelisk.
But the people there were new
Their knowledge incomplete
Of the building of the Obelisk.
Deep down the earth was stirred
At the roots of the Obelisk
A creature’s sleep disturbed
Strong and angered,
Leapt from the ground the basilisk.
The people quickly fled
The cities deserted
Around the mighty Obelisk
The people then were dead
Their homes deserted
All caused by the basilisk.
In a place that’s far away
Far from the Obelisk
Men from there came to stay
And then to say,
The story of the basilisk.
Stories were always told
To people of all ages
To anyone who’d listen.
The stories then grew old
By a few stages
And only children then would listen.
One of those children
Heard the ancient story
And attentively would listen
Son of a stone mason,
Whose name was Ma’ory.
Ma’ory would always listen
To any of the stories
And think about it every day.
So he began to strengthen
And train in weaponries
For a possible future day.
Then finally on that day,
The day Ma’ory came of age,
He decided he could not stay,
Instead he may,
Leave to become a mage.
Ma’ory traveled very far
Even to the Eastern Sea
At which he once was stopped.
He hired out the Ra’amanar
A ship to cross the sea
To an island to be dropped.
Finally across the sea,
On the island which he reached,
Ma’ory finally could see
The walls of the city
Of the mages that he seeked.
There Ma’ory found a master
And began to learn his power
Slowly learning to control it.
He learned his trade faster,
Faster by the hour,
And his muscles knit.
Finally his training ceased
A master Ma’ory became
Then a decision he reached,
Strongly he was teased,
As he left to make his fame.
He traveled back to his home
Where he was rejected
Because his power scared them all.
So he left again his home
To wander unprotected
Except for his skill and call.
As he traveled he remembered
The stories of his childhood,
Of the basilisk untethered,
Destroying undeterred,
Whatever he would.
He then quickly decided
To travel to the Obelisk
Upon the fringe of memory.
So towards the desert he headed
Intent on killing the basilisk
That lived on even in memory.
The Obelisk’s distant land
As far as the Earth was wide
Was a path that had not been manned,
Long and full of sand,
Ma’ory walked the pathside.
Over great mountain peaks,
Through darkened gorges
Ma’ory followed the ancient road.
Renown is what he seeks,
Fame is what he forges
In the basilisk’s abode.
Deep in the lonely desert,
Ma’ory found the place he sought
Surrounded by mounds of dirt,
Strong and unhurt,
Lay the basilisk of thought.
Ma’ory quickly resolved
To kill the ancient beast
To leave his exiled state.
The riddle he had solved
To not be the creature’s feast
And to not arouse it’s hate.
Ma’ory called upon his power,
The power of his mage’s flame
To slay the basilisk that hour,
Fire he would shower,
On the beast of that horrible name.
Yet the basilisk awoke
And was not damaged by the fire
That Ma’ory rained down on it.
In flame though it did soak,
No hurt came to the sire
Of dragons, though it hit.
The fury of the basilisk
Awoken rudely by the fire
Shook even the Obelisk
Even with the risk,
Ma’ory the beast did ire.
Then Ma’ory attacked anew,
Raining fire from above
Hoping the creature to destroy.
But the basilisk then knew
The weakness of that dove
That it treated like a toy.
Swiftly came the counter
The attack in retaliation
For the attack did not flounder
In the air outer,
But smote quickly the affliction.
Not able to defend himself
Ma’ory took the brunt of it
And lay there gasping as he died.
Lying alone on a single shelf
His body took that hit
And then his last breath he sighed.
From nearby a man came out,
Out from behind an ancient wall
To see what he didn’t doubt,
Ma’ory’s life was out,
And sent out a mourning call.
This man then returned to his home
To remember all that he’d seen
Of the fateful life Ma’ory’d had.
He then began to write a tome
On all that Ma’ory’d been
And why his life had been so sad.
When he’d finished writing,
The verses on the page complete,
He gave it to his child sighing,
“Child of my rearing,
Remember Ma’ory and his strange feat.”
That man had been, to be exact,
Ma’ory’s master in the past
Who’d followed his apprentice’s life.
The story of Ma’ory was fact
Even though his life was fast
It was always full of strife.
The child of the master,
Young though he had been,
Always would remember,
Sad and somber,
The truth of who Ma’ory’d been.
In his great old age,
He wrote this poem to warn
The people of the modern world.
“What can they learn from that unhappy mage?”
Some ask with scorn.
That the basilisk still lies curled
In the shadow of the Obelisk.
By the lair of the basilisk
It’s roots have been bound,
Strong and quite sound,
The roots of the Obelisk.
Deep down the roots were set
The bases deep were laid
For the Obelisk’s beginning.
It’s needs were quickly met
The foundations stayed
The construction beginning.
On top of the Earth
Where people live and walk
The middle’s greatest berth
Strong around the turf,
The Obelisk’s great stalk.
Level the stones were laid
The middle strongly set
For the Obelisk’s building.
The stonework’s powerful braid
Never again in debt
The construction continuing.
Up high in the sky
By the perch of the great eagle
It’s tip does now lie
Strong and quite high
The Obelisk’s tip, regal.
Up high the crown was placed
The keystone high above
The Obelisk’s final building
Strong and quite well based
The keystone’s dove
The construction then ending.
From every single place
Where people live on Earth
Men came to see the trace,
Strong and deep mace,
Of the Obelisk’s great birth.
The caravan’s were long,
The trains of people great,
For the Obelisk’s great sighting.
Those who came were strong
Their power, then innate,
The Obelisk then slighting.
As people came together,
Around the mighty Obelisk
They came to simply gather,
Tied with a tether,
Not thinking of risk.
The cities then quickly grew,
The populations high
Surrounding the great Obelisk.
But the people there were new
Their knowledge incomplete
Of the building of the Obelisk.
Deep down the earth was stirred
At the roots of the Obelisk
A creature’s sleep disturbed
Strong and angered,
Leapt from the ground the basilisk.
The people quickly fled
The cities deserted
Around the mighty Obelisk
The people then were dead
Their homes deserted
All caused by the basilisk.
In a place that’s far away
Far from the Obelisk
Men from there came to stay
And then to say,
The story of the basilisk.
Stories were always told
To people of all ages
To anyone who’d listen.
The stories then grew old
By a few stages
And only children then would listen.
One of those children
Heard the ancient story
And attentively would listen
Son of a stone mason,
Whose name was Ma’ory.
Ma’ory would always listen
To any of the stories
And think about it every day.
So he began to strengthen
And train in weaponries
For a possible future day.
Then finally on that day,
The day Ma’ory came of age,
He decided he could not stay,
Instead he may,
Leave to become a mage.
Ma’ory traveled very far
Even to the Eastern Sea
At which he once was stopped.
He hired out the Ra’amanar
A ship to cross the sea
To an island to be dropped.
Finally across the sea,
On the island which he reached,
Ma’ory finally could see
The walls of the city
Of the mages that he seeked.
There Ma’ory found a master
And began to learn his power
Slowly learning to control it.
He learned his trade faster,
Faster by the hour,
And his muscles knit.
Finally his training ceased
A master Ma’ory became
Then a decision he reached,
Strongly he was teased,
As he left to make his fame.
He traveled back to his home
Where he was rejected
Because his power scared them all.
So he left again his home
To wander unprotected
Except for his skill and call.
As he traveled he remembered
The stories of his childhood,
Of the basilisk untethered,
Destroying undeterred,
Whatever he would.
He then quickly decided
To travel to the Obelisk
Upon the fringe of memory.
So towards the desert he headed
Intent on killing the basilisk
That lived on even in memory.
The Obelisk’s distant land
As far as the Earth was wide
Was a path that had not been manned,
Long and full of sand,
Ma’ory walked the pathside.
Over great mountain peaks,
Through darkened gorges
Ma’ory followed the ancient road.
Renown is what he seeks,
Fame is what he forges
In the basilisk’s abode.
Deep in the lonely desert,
Ma’ory found the place he sought
Surrounded by mounds of dirt,
Strong and unhurt,
Lay the basilisk of thought.
Ma’ory quickly resolved
To kill the ancient beast
To leave his exiled state.
The riddle he had solved
To not be the creature’s feast
And to not arouse it’s hate.
Ma’ory called upon his power,
The power of his mage’s flame
To slay the basilisk that hour,
Fire he would shower,
On the beast of that horrible name.
Yet the basilisk awoke
And was not damaged by the fire
That Ma’ory rained down on it.
In flame though it did soak,
No hurt came to the sire
Of dragons, though it hit.
The fury of the basilisk
Awoken rudely by the fire
Shook even the Obelisk
Even with the risk,
Ma’ory the beast did ire.
Then Ma’ory attacked anew,
Raining fire from above
Hoping the creature to destroy.
But the basilisk then knew
The weakness of that dove
That it treated like a toy.
Swiftly came the counter
The attack in retaliation
For the attack did not flounder
In the air outer,
But smote quickly the affliction.
Not able to defend himself
Ma’ory took the brunt of it
And lay there gasping as he died.
Lying alone on a single shelf
His body took that hit
And then his last breath he sighed.
From nearby a man came out,
Out from behind an ancient wall
To see what he didn’t doubt,
Ma’ory’s life was out,
And sent out a mourning call.
This man then returned to his home
To remember all that he’d seen
Of the fateful life Ma’ory’d had.
He then began to write a tome
On all that Ma’ory’d been
And why his life had been so sad.
When he’d finished writing,
The verses on the page complete,
He gave it to his child sighing,
“Child of my rearing,
Remember Ma’ory and his strange feat.”
That man had been, to be exact,
Ma’ory’s master in the past
Who’d followed his apprentice’s life.
The story of Ma’ory was fact
Even though his life was fast
It was always full of strife.
The child of the master,
Young though he had been,
Always would remember,
Sad and somber,
The truth of who Ma’ory’d been.
In his great old age,
He wrote this poem to warn
The people of the modern world.
“What can they learn from that unhappy mage?”
Some ask with scorn.
That the basilisk still lies curled
In the shadow of the Obelisk.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
The Light
As we rolled into the station, I woke up. No one was making any noise, not even that obnoxious baby that had been squealing the whole trip. Everyone was just staring out the windows on my side of the car. I followed their gazes, but had to shut my eyes and turn my back to the window. It was so bright! In that single glimpse, I noticed that the whole town was lit up by some sort of golden light coming from its center. There weren’t any shadows, that I could see. Everything seemed lit up. It was as if the sun had come down and taken residence in that town.
Was it the light that was enthralling everyone? I wondered. I figured that had to be it. With my eyes still closed, I fumbled around my feet for my backpack. Once I found it, I pulled out my brand new aviator sunglasses. Well, they weren’t brand new. My grandpa had just retired from the Air Force and he gave them to me for my twentieth birthday.
“You never know when they’ll come in handy.” he’d said. “These things do wonders when you’re flying and have to look directly in the sun’s direction.”
I hoped he was right. That was kind of what I had to do now. I had to find that light. I mean, it’s not like it’s an important town or anything, but I couldn’t just leave people standing or sitting like that: transfixed until they died. I had to do something.
Putting on the sunglasses, I carefully moved into the aisle. No one even noticed, not even the guy I tripped over. I walked over to the open door and jumped onto the platform. My sneakers squeaked slightly in that glass and steel mausoleum, but, again, no one noticed. After getting turned around inside the deceptively large station, I finally found an exit.
At any other time, I would have marveled at the quaintness of the town and the various storefronts, but today I wasn’t even paying attention to that. Instead, I was looking at all the people and animals that were standing rigidly still staring at the center of town. I saw a young family, the parent’s couldn’t have been more than twenty-five, with their young daughter and dog stiffly staring at the light. I couldn’t bear it anymore. I took off running.
I was angry. Who or what could be doing this to these people? Whatever it was, couldn’t it leave these people alone? The image of that family kept coming back into my mind vividly clear. I sprinted through the crowd, careful not to knock anyone over.
I reached a park with a fountain at the center and stopped to catch my breath. At first, I was startled by a noise. I quickly realized it was just the fountain gurgling and spraying it’s water in the air.
“Good!” I panted to myself. “At least there’s something alive here.”
I looked around to get my bearings. I’d kept my head down during my mad sprint through the streets. Everyone in this section of town had their necks craned upwards. I followed suit. There it was! At the top of the tower!
I took off again. The tower was only a couple of blocks away. I wasn’t going to wait any longer. I would not let that cute family and their dog stay that way anymore. I even missed hearing that crying baby on the train!
I reached the base of the old stone tower. I circled it twice looking for some sort of entrance. Nothing.
“Dang it!” I exclaimed.
I looked upwards again to see if there was anything I could use to get inside the tower. Above and to my right was a closed window.
“Perfect.” I muttered sarcastically.
I pulled myself up to the ledge that the window was on. A brief inspection of the window frustrated me even more. It was locked.
“Dang it!” I said again.
I reached into my backpack and pulled out my jacket. How hard could it be to punch through the glass? Guys did it in movies all the time! Just to be safe, I wrapped the jacket around my hand and arm. Mentally counting to three, I launched my fist at the largest pane of the window. Nothing happened, at first. Then came the pain. I clenched my other fist and bit my lip so that I wouldn’t let out a yell.
“That didn’t go like I planned.” I squeaked.
I took a second to think about it. On second thought, it might’ve been better to kick it in instead. I gingerly unwrapped my arm and wrapped the jacket around my ankle. My sneaker would protect my foot. I didn’t want to cut myself. After taking a few deep breaths, I glared at the window. I wasn’t about to let that window stop me! Drawing on the mental picture of that frozen family and all the rage that came with it, I drew my leg back and swung my heel as hard as I could at the window. It shattered with a loud, satisfying crash.
I quickly unwrapped my jacket and reached through the broken window-pane to unlock it. It took me a frustratingly long time to figure out what kind of latch it was. Once I got it, I threw the window wide open and looked into the tower.
I was expecting it to be dark, but it was even brighter inside! I saw a staircase winding itself around the tower only a couple of feet below the windowsill. Carefully, so as to not cut myself on the broken glass or break a leg, I jumped onto the staircase. I followed the staircase all the way up to the top of the tower. There was nothing there except a small tube in the middle of the floor. The light seemed to be coming from that tube. It was brighter than anything else around it.
I turned and sped down the stairs. At the bottom, I found a cast iron gate. I resisted the urge to ram my shoulder against it and reached in. In seconds I’d drawn back the bolt and swung the gate open on its creaking hinges. I went down another flight of stairs before reaching a long hallway.
I could hear something coming from the other end of that brilliantly lit hallway. It was like a rhythmic humming and thumping. I’d thought I’d heard something like it before, but I couldn’t place it.
I ignored the noise and, spurred on by the anger I felt, I sprinted down the hallway right into the wooden door at the end. I yanked the knob and furiously threw the door open. In the middle of the chamber was a bright glass orb, like a light bulb, only a hundred times bigger. The “light bulb” was connected to the tube I’d seen at the top of the tower.
“Really?” I groaned. “More glass?”
This time, I remembered one of my other birthday presents: a swiss army knife. I pulled it out of my pocket and looked at it. Which one of its tools could I use to break this thing? I thought of various different things, but nothing made sense. I finally decided to use a small sharp tool between my fingers while I held the rest in my fist. I didn’t learn my lesson from the window. I thought that the sharp point would weaken the glass, allowing me to punch through it easily.
I worked it out so that I wouldn’t have to put a hole in my jacket while I punched the “light bulb.” I took a few steadying breaths as I got ready to shatter it.
Suddenly, the ground bucked slightly underneath me. I didn’t lose my footing, but it unnerved me nonetheless.
“OK!” I yelled determinedly. “It’s now or never!”
Just before I punched the thing, I felt someone tapping me on the shoulder. I closed my eyes, spun around, and threw my arm at them.
“Relax, dude!” a familiar voice said. “We’re there!”
I opened my eyes and saw the inside of the train car. The baby was squealing again and the people were chatting and bustling about with their luggage. The train was slowly pulling into the familiar station of my hometown. There was no light or intense silence.
I rubbed my sleepy eyes and tried to remember what had happened. I must have just fallen asleep on my way back home with a friend, I decided. I got up and grabbed my backpack off the floor.
“You seemed to be having an intense dream, Dave.” my friend said.
“Yeah.” I shrugged. “I can’t remember it though.”
“That’s the thing with dreams,” he said, “you never can remember.”
“Nope, I guess you can’t.” I said as I put on my brand new aviators.
Was it the light that was enthralling everyone? I wondered. I figured that had to be it. With my eyes still closed, I fumbled around my feet for my backpack. Once I found it, I pulled out my brand new aviator sunglasses. Well, they weren’t brand new. My grandpa had just retired from the Air Force and he gave them to me for my twentieth birthday.
“You never know when they’ll come in handy.” he’d said. “These things do wonders when you’re flying and have to look directly in the sun’s direction.”
I hoped he was right. That was kind of what I had to do now. I had to find that light. I mean, it’s not like it’s an important town or anything, but I couldn’t just leave people standing or sitting like that: transfixed until they died. I had to do something.
Putting on the sunglasses, I carefully moved into the aisle. No one even noticed, not even the guy I tripped over. I walked over to the open door and jumped onto the platform. My sneakers squeaked slightly in that glass and steel mausoleum, but, again, no one noticed. After getting turned around inside the deceptively large station, I finally found an exit.
At any other time, I would have marveled at the quaintness of the town and the various storefronts, but today I wasn’t even paying attention to that. Instead, I was looking at all the people and animals that were standing rigidly still staring at the center of town. I saw a young family, the parent’s couldn’t have been more than twenty-five, with their young daughter and dog stiffly staring at the light. I couldn’t bear it anymore. I took off running.
I was angry. Who or what could be doing this to these people? Whatever it was, couldn’t it leave these people alone? The image of that family kept coming back into my mind vividly clear. I sprinted through the crowd, careful not to knock anyone over.
I reached a park with a fountain at the center and stopped to catch my breath. At first, I was startled by a noise. I quickly realized it was just the fountain gurgling and spraying it’s water in the air.
“Good!” I panted to myself. “At least there’s something alive here.”
I looked around to get my bearings. I’d kept my head down during my mad sprint through the streets. Everyone in this section of town had their necks craned upwards. I followed suit. There it was! At the top of the tower!
I took off again. The tower was only a couple of blocks away. I wasn’t going to wait any longer. I would not let that cute family and their dog stay that way anymore. I even missed hearing that crying baby on the train!
I reached the base of the old stone tower. I circled it twice looking for some sort of entrance. Nothing.
“Dang it!” I exclaimed.
I looked upwards again to see if there was anything I could use to get inside the tower. Above and to my right was a closed window.
“Perfect.” I muttered sarcastically.
I pulled myself up to the ledge that the window was on. A brief inspection of the window frustrated me even more. It was locked.
“Dang it!” I said again.
I reached into my backpack and pulled out my jacket. How hard could it be to punch through the glass? Guys did it in movies all the time! Just to be safe, I wrapped the jacket around my hand and arm. Mentally counting to three, I launched my fist at the largest pane of the window. Nothing happened, at first. Then came the pain. I clenched my other fist and bit my lip so that I wouldn’t let out a yell.
“That didn’t go like I planned.” I squeaked.
I took a second to think about it. On second thought, it might’ve been better to kick it in instead. I gingerly unwrapped my arm and wrapped the jacket around my ankle. My sneaker would protect my foot. I didn’t want to cut myself. After taking a few deep breaths, I glared at the window. I wasn’t about to let that window stop me! Drawing on the mental picture of that frozen family and all the rage that came with it, I drew my leg back and swung my heel as hard as I could at the window. It shattered with a loud, satisfying crash.
I quickly unwrapped my jacket and reached through the broken window-pane to unlock it. It took me a frustratingly long time to figure out what kind of latch it was. Once I got it, I threw the window wide open and looked into the tower.
I was expecting it to be dark, but it was even brighter inside! I saw a staircase winding itself around the tower only a couple of feet below the windowsill. Carefully, so as to not cut myself on the broken glass or break a leg, I jumped onto the staircase. I followed the staircase all the way up to the top of the tower. There was nothing there except a small tube in the middle of the floor. The light seemed to be coming from that tube. It was brighter than anything else around it.
I turned and sped down the stairs. At the bottom, I found a cast iron gate. I resisted the urge to ram my shoulder against it and reached in. In seconds I’d drawn back the bolt and swung the gate open on its creaking hinges. I went down another flight of stairs before reaching a long hallway.
I could hear something coming from the other end of that brilliantly lit hallway. It was like a rhythmic humming and thumping. I’d thought I’d heard something like it before, but I couldn’t place it.
I ignored the noise and, spurred on by the anger I felt, I sprinted down the hallway right into the wooden door at the end. I yanked the knob and furiously threw the door open. In the middle of the chamber was a bright glass orb, like a light bulb, only a hundred times bigger. The “light bulb” was connected to the tube I’d seen at the top of the tower.
“Really?” I groaned. “More glass?”
This time, I remembered one of my other birthday presents: a swiss army knife. I pulled it out of my pocket and looked at it. Which one of its tools could I use to break this thing? I thought of various different things, but nothing made sense. I finally decided to use a small sharp tool between my fingers while I held the rest in my fist. I didn’t learn my lesson from the window. I thought that the sharp point would weaken the glass, allowing me to punch through it easily.
I worked it out so that I wouldn’t have to put a hole in my jacket while I punched the “light bulb.” I took a few steadying breaths as I got ready to shatter it.
Suddenly, the ground bucked slightly underneath me. I didn’t lose my footing, but it unnerved me nonetheless.
“OK!” I yelled determinedly. “It’s now or never!”
Just before I punched the thing, I felt someone tapping me on the shoulder. I closed my eyes, spun around, and threw my arm at them.
“Relax, dude!” a familiar voice said. “We’re there!”
I opened my eyes and saw the inside of the train car. The baby was squealing again and the people were chatting and bustling about with their luggage. The train was slowly pulling into the familiar station of my hometown. There was no light or intense silence.
I rubbed my sleepy eyes and tried to remember what had happened. I must have just fallen asleep on my way back home with a friend, I decided. I got up and grabbed my backpack off the floor.
“You seemed to be having an intense dream, Dave.” my friend said.
“Yeah.” I shrugged. “I can’t remember it though.”
“That’s the thing with dreams,” he said, “you never can remember.”
“Nope, I guess you can’t.” I said as I put on my brand new aviators.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
E43T3 (AKA Earth) Report
Entry number 53947
Date 40/07/29065 R.Q.
Location High orbit of unknown planet
General report on alien race
This morning, by this planet’s standards, my companion and I landed on the planet to gather information on the alien race that inhabits it. Our landing was unobserved by the aliens because of our use of a cloaking device. We landed just outside what seemed to be a heavily populated area and, after observing a few of the natives, were able to fashion disguises that would pass their inspection. They are very undeveloped creatures and have no technology that would help them identify what exactly we are. We don’t mean them any harm, but as our observations continued, we saw that they would probably harm us if they knew who we were.
After creating the disguises, we entered the populated area, and soon learned their primitive speech. they seem incapable of telepathic communication and instead use vocal sounds to express themselves. Seeing as it was very basic, consisting of approximately 1,000,000 words, we were able to catch on quickly.
Armed now with speech and disguises, we felt comfortable talking to some of the specimens directly. Most of the ones we talked to looked at us strangely and answered slowly, but they responded well to our first prodding. We quickly learned that a great news center was based very near to our location. Immediately, we headed to that place. As it is on Carzumine, these creatures have a center of news which announces what happens during the day. We walked (yes, walked. These creatures have not yet mastered the art of levitating or teleportation!) to this center of news, expecting to understand more of these creatures.
We entered the building that had over the door a sign saying “the Chicago Tribune”. We expected this to be the name of the publication, but we were not sure. We asked one of the creatures in the building that seemed to be knowledgeable and helpful to whomever entered if this was a news center. The creature responded in the affirmative after giving us a strange look. I guess it is strange for them to ask such questions. the creature then pointed us to a small stand with a large stack of wood pulp paper with ink on it. They also don’t seem to have mastered the electronic form of presenting news.
My companion and I thanked the creature and picked up one of the copies. As soon as I began to read it, I was disgusted at the creatures on that planet. They refused to report the good news of their fellows, but instead dwelt on the bad. Throughout the entire copy of news, I saw stories on war, famine, death, mutilation, and many other atrocities that our society would not allow to be printed. on one page, I saw a list of everyone who had died that day, yet there was no list of children that had been born.
My partner and I, quickly got out of the building and walked as fast as our disguises would allow, back to our landing pod. We then immediately took off, to return to our ship. Those creatures on the planet circling below us are part of a race that delights in knowing the atrocities committed by their fellows at their fellows. They seem to not have any remorse for the killings and destruction that goes on on their planet!
I will soon send out a notice to all interplanetary travelers to avoid this planet at all costs! If any of us, scientists one and all, landed there and was discovered by that race, we would be destroyed by them if not captured and analyzed. Their scientists think that the best way to understand something is to take it apart and study each part individually and in a very detailed manner. I cannot see how that would help them understand. How do they see how the entire system works together if they take it apart? Can they put it back together again? I don’t believe so!
We are now preparing to leave this orbit and never return. I must man the controls for extended space flight. Report Over.
Date 40/07/29065 R.Q.
Location High orbit of unknown planet
General report on alien race
This morning, by this planet’s standards, my companion and I landed on the planet to gather information on the alien race that inhabits it. Our landing was unobserved by the aliens because of our use of a cloaking device. We landed just outside what seemed to be a heavily populated area and, after observing a few of the natives, were able to fashion disguises that would pass their inspection. They are very undeveloped creatures and have no technology that would help them identify what exactly we are. We don’t mean them any harm, but as our observations continued, we saw that they would probably harm us if they knew who we were.
After creating the disguises, we entered the populated area, and soon learned their primitive speech. they seem incapable of telepathic communication and instead use vocal sounds to express themselves. Seeing as it was very basic, consisting of approximately 1,000,000 words, we were able to catch on quickly.
Armed now with speech and disguises, we felt comfortable talking to some of the specimens directly. Most of the ones we talked to looked at us strangely and answered slowly, but they responded well to our first prodding. We quickly learned that a great news center was based very near to our location. Immediately, we headed to that place. As it is on Carzumine, these creatures have a center of news which announces what happens during the day. We walked (yes, walked. These creatures have not yet mastered the art of levitating or teleportation!) to this center of news, expecting to understand more of these creatures.
We entered the building that had over the door a sign saying “the Chicago Tribune”. We expected this to be the name of the publication, but we were not sure. We asked one of the creatures in the building that seemed to be knowledgeable and helpful to whomever entered if this was a news center. The creature responded in the affirmative after giving us a strange look. I guess it is strange for them to ask such questions. the creature then pointed us to a small stand with a large stack of wood pulp paper with ink on it. They also don’t seem to have mastered the electronic form of presenting news.
My companion and I thanked the creature and picked up one of the copies. As soon as I began to read it, I was disgusted at the creatures on that planet. They refused to report the good news of their fellows, but instead dwelt on the bad. Throughout the entire copy of news, I saw stories on war, famine, death, mutilation, and many other atrocities that our society would not allow to be printed. on one page, I saw a list of everyone who had died that day, yet there was no list of children that had been born.
My partner and I, quickly got out of the building and walked as fast as our disguises would allow, back to our landing pod. We then immediately took off, to return to our ship. Those creatures on the planet circling below us are part of a race that delights in knowing the atrocities committed by their fellows at their fellows. They seem to not have any remorse for the killings and destruction that goes on on their planet!
I will soon send out a notice to all interplanetary travelers to avoid this planet at all costs! If any of us, scientists one and all, landed there and was discovered by that race, we would be destroyed by them if not captured and analyzed. Their scientists think that the best way to understand something is to take it apart and study each part individually and in a very detailed manner. I cannot see how that would help them understand. How do they see how the entire system works together if they take it apart? Can they put it back together again? I don’t believe so!
We are now preparing to leave this orbit and never return. I must man the controls for extended space flight. Report Over.
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