Day 1 – Safety First
“There’s nothing here.” says a male voice. “I was wrong. Very very wrong!” he cries realizing the emptiness of interstellar space around him. As he looks around there is nothing to see. The place is completely dark except for the light coming out of himself.
From his appearance, he is a normal humanoid being except his body is constantly emitting some sort of energy. I hesitate to call it fire because his body appears to be burning in the middle of emptiness where there is no matter to sustain any flame. On top of that he doesn’t seem to feel any pain. He is crying but for a totally different reason. When he cries tears originate from his eyes, roll down his cheek and disappear by the time they reached his chin.
This guy in sorrow is a being of Trimi species. His name is Sam Ace. Sam’s species is heading towards total extinction unless he finds them a new suitable home. That’s exactly what he was intended to find when he opened a wormhole to this part of space.
“After all the years of research and technological development… I’ve failed the council, I’ve failed my people… I’ve failed myself.”
He is crying uncontrollably. Perhaps it is the pain and sorrow that has built over a very long time but no room for release. Now that he is finally alone, he doesn’t hold back the waterworks.
Sam simply floats in space while sobbing until all his tears are dried up.
“Sam… sam… can you hea-?”
There is a lot of noise and disturbance but something like this is playing in Sam’s ear. Someone is trying to contact him. The person on the other side sounds like a woman. Ignoring all that, this guy simply crosses his legs and sit in the meditation pose.
All of a sudden his flames become dim and there is just a soft yellow glow around him. He starts thinking. This is apparent from a constantly fluctuating light around his head but at the pace of his heart beat.
“What should I do now?” he asks himself calmly, “The people on other side are expecting a positive response but I have nothing to raise their spirit. Everything here is dead, gone… erased from existence. The light of the stars I saw coming from here was just an after image.”
His thoughts continue along with meditation. There is nothing or no one to disturb him so his quiet session continues for a very long time. Externally he might appear calm, but internally his mind is in chaos. A thousand ideas are flowing in and out of his head that might give him a way out of this problem.
His mind is working like a perfect computer simulator where he tries to foresee all the possibilities. Sadly none work out. His mind was in trance all this time but then he wakes up hearing a voice in his ear.
“Sam, Sam… I hope you are there. I am coming.” says the female voice.
The voice gets louder and by the time he opens his eyes, another humanoid being in flames appears nearby. It is her, a young looking woman who has been calling him all this time. Coming out of the wormhole she searches for Sam. He is not far from her and yet she keeps on asking, “Where are you? Where are you?”
Apparently she is unable to see him. Sam calls her to look in his direction, she turns but is unable to see him.
“Where did you go, Sam?” she asks.
“I’m here standing in front of you.” he replies while being just ten feet away.
It shouldn’t be hard for two glowing bodies to see each other when there is complete darkness everywhere else. When Sam flies towards her he suddenly finds an invisible wall between them. The wall feels pretty solid and yet he is unable to break it.
You will realize how big this issue is once you know how powerful these Trimi beings are. These people are practically gods who possesses the nearly absolute knowledge of the universe. On top of that Sam is one of the most intelligent and all knowing of the lot. That is why he is tasked with this important job. Still, this invisible wall thing is something new for him.
“Aka, come to me. There seems to be an invisible bubble around me that I am unable to break or walk through.” She doesn’t respond. It’s as if only one sided conversation is possible. He can hear and see her but she can’t.
While she keeps on looking luckily she moves closer to Sam. He smiles and cheers as she approaches but then suddenly at one point she disappears and appears behind him. This happens a couple of times. It’s as if for the person outside, i.e. for Aka, the invisible bubble and everything inside does not exist.
She stays there for a while, waits, looks around and then decides to return through the wormhole. Fortunately, she keeps the gateway open.
Meanwhile Sam is getting frustrated as he is unable to understand this. He dives deeper in his vast library of knowledge. He asks for an answer and his mind spits out two words, Pocket Universe.
Yes, this is what he just did. Didn’t I say these beings are practically gods? They have the potential to create their own universe. It was his instinct to hide his failure and especially his tears which threw him inside a pocket reality.
“Did I just do this…? The walls of this place doesn’t allow anyone in.” hearing his own word ‘wall’ threw him in a past memory. The last time when he addressed the Council (the organisation that takes major decisions for the entire community) he told them a story of The Old Man and a Wall. Using it he introduced the principle of ‘Ignorance is bliss’.
Basically what he was suggesting is this, “We are god like beings, we know too much about the universe. Learning about its absolute knowledge has made us fear its finite existence. We are unable to enjoy our life because we known that it will come to an end sooner or later. That’s why I suggest we destroy all our knowledge and reform our community to lead a simpler life with lesser understanding of the universe.”
Hearing his speech almost all of them sitting on the council burst into laughter. “You are telling us to abandon knowledge?”
“Only an idiot would throw away many generations worth long work.”
“It seems we now know who is the idiot in the room.”
“Am I right Mr. Toidi.” said one council member looking down at Sam.
Nobody on the Council was taking his words seriously except one. But even she was skeptical. When the wave of laughter died down, she spoke,
“I understand your concerns Sam. But there’s a flaw in your idea. Our faction Aveakosh is peaceful and understanding. We might convince a few others to join this initiative. But that won’t be enough. As you know there are other factions who won’t agree to join us by abandoning their advanced technology and knowledge. Further they won’t hesitate to destroy us for the resources we posses. Do you have any solution for that?”
At that time Sam had no answer to give but now he does. The answer is just two words, “Pocket Universe.” he repeats.
Returning back to present Sam starts to meditate focusing on the wall this time. Even though he is unable to see it, instinctively he is able to sense it. Focusing on the wall he starts increasing its size. It takes a long time but finally it is ready. Sensing its size he smiles saying,
“Perfect. Inside this I will build a Solar System.”
TO BE CONTINUED
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Rexal World Stories