The Sovereign, the Scribe, the Scientist, and the Snake

July 2017 - the start of an uncompleted book. Sci-fi.

Lirens stepped from her sandstone hut and looked at the eastern horizon. The distant specks that were mountains were becoming more and more colored as the sunrise began. A few other tribe members were stepping from their huts and waking up in the morning air. It was still cool from the freezing night. Living in the Western Desert may be hard, but it was the only life they knew.

Lirens was already dressed in her day clothes and no longer wearing her night clothes. The freezing night required thick coats from furry animals, which were hard to get but had been got. The day clothes were much smaller to provide the opposite effect of the night clothes. Sandy yellow strips of cloth woven together almost matched her brown skin. She began her walk towards the main village hut where the tribe leader lived. He was an old man, but a healthy one. He had been the tribe leader for a long time. As long as Lirens could remember. Of course, she had only seen 18 years of life. But even her mother didn’t remember a time when leader Refek hadn’t been leader.

She arrived at the main hut shortly after the sun’s soft rays had begun to warm her cold body. Soon she knew the soft rays would turn to powerful rays that scorched unless one wore sun protection. Some clay and plant essence rubbed on the body prevented sun burning. Today she would not need it because she would be inside. Leader Refek was having a law council today to see if any new laws needed to be made or any old ones changes, and also to give punishments to the rule breakers. It was Lirens’ job as the village scribe to chisel all the important information into stone tablets. It was others’ jobs to make the history, but it was her job to record it.

She walked into the large hut, and took her place beside the leader’s chair. Her chisel was there on her seat, and many stone tablets were behind her. Fresh, clean tablets just waiting to be carved into, waiting to become part of history. Was Lirens part of history? She wondered, folding her hands and thinking. Yes, of course. She was the recorder of history, she would go down on the list of village scribes. But was that really a part? A name among other names. No different than any other. Passed over without a thought. If she could DO something-

Leader Refek entered the hut with his precession. Lirens immediately stood up and bowed until he took his seat. Then she quickly sat down, chisel in one hand, stone tablet in the other. The other council members took their seats. Leader Refek stood and said in his confident voice, “We have gathered today, as you know, to study and inforce the laws.” Lirens listened patiently, writing down the summary of what each person said. She loved her work, and did it diligently. It didn’t matter if she was part of history. It mattered that the history survived. She was one part of many in the village, and everyone was important. But was everyone equally important?

Professor Wilkins sat down in his comfortable arm chair and stroked his white hair. He adjusted his spectacles, and then continued writing. He wrote:

“If my theory is correct, and if Debra really fixed my calculator instead of just putting more batteries in it, then today I shall make a bold leap into the unknown! Man has taken timid steps into space, but I intend to go farther. My machine will allow mankind to steer not only through his own universe, but into universes beyond. Today I test a small model I made to see, and then to go, beyond imagination!”

He put down his pen, and looked up at the large machine. Wires, lights, gears, microchips – everything sciency was in place. But was it safe? Would it even work? He looked down at the small model on his desk. Although miniature, it was a working model.

In his backyard, he set the small model down on a concrete block. Inside were a hamster and a celery slice. The hamster was not meant to eat the slice, although it took a little nibble anyway. Plant and animal matter were both being tested. The miniature machine was set to travel, wait 10 seconds, then return. Professor Wilkins stepped behind a sheet of bullet proof glass, and then pressed the button on his remote control. There was a whirr from the miniature machine, and then it began vibrating. Suddenly, it vanished.

The professor waited.

And waited.

“Professor?” asked a voice from inside the house.

“Backyard!” he shot back, eyes glued to the concrete block.

A young man in his twenties stepped through the back door and walked towards the professor.

“You left your front door unlocked! What if I had been a burglar?” the man said teasingly.

The professor’s voice was annoyed as he said, “Stop fooling around Fredrick! You and I both know you have a key. I’m conducting an important experiment”, and then with a sigh said, “But I’m afraid it has failed.”

“Oh, the dimension thing?” Fredrick said.

“No, parallel universes. They are different. A dimension is a specific plane of movement, such as up and down, left and right – also through time, but Mr Wells has already dabbled in that – while a universe is an area containing its own matter, its own time stream, and its own set of physical rules.” He finally stopped staring at the place where the miniature machine had been, and looked at Fredrick.

“Oh, I see”, Fredrick said. Whenever Fredrick said that, you could instantly tell he had not understood. The professor looked down at his remote control, and then smiled and rolled his eyes.

“What?” asked Fredrick, peering over the professor’s shoulder.

“I set my timer for 100 seconds instead of ten. Order of magnitude my boy; just an extra zero adds a lot. There’s still a chance it might work!” He looked quickly towards the concrete block as a spark of electricity appeared. Then the air above the concrete block began quivering, and the machine appeared back where it originally was. It was covered in sand.

“It worked!” the professor cried out, jumping into the air. “Eureka!”

Fredrick stroked his chin and asked, “How can you tell? Maybe it just disappeared… no, because it is covered in sand. It definitely went somewhere. The beach?”

Professor Wilkins walked over to the miniature machine and checked out the hamster and celery. Both were gone.