“It’s locked.” Josef struggled with the chest, trying to open it with all his strength, but it was impossible. “It’s stuck,” he added breathless, exhausted by the effort.
“It’s normal that you can’t open it,” his grandpa explained calmly.
“Why?” Josef asked without stopping struggling.
“On the right side of the chest there’s a hidden lid.”
The complex digital locking system was hidden inside the wood. In order to discover it, you had to press a specific area on the side and a small gear activated the mechanism that made the lock appear.
“There’s nothing!” The boy, who was starting to get exasperated, said.
“Open your eyes wide, Josef.”
The boy started to investigate until he found a tiny square that he could hardly distinguish.
“Is it this?”
His grandpa nodded.
“And now, how do I open it?” The boy asked examining every inch of that puzzle.
“Ring the bell,” he answered with a wide smile.
“What do you mean «ring the bell»?”
Without giving him any answer at all, Mike waited patiently for his grandson to solve the situation. «Ring the bell,» the youth thought over and over again, but he still didn’t understand how to open that chest.
“I’ve got it!” He exclaimed.
So he approached his index finger to that square surface and pressed it with all his strength. A weak click was heard and next a guide carrying a screen with a numerical keyboard quickly popped up from inside the square.
“Congratulations!” The old man cheered up.
“Is it a password?” Josef asked with satisfaction.
“That’s it, a security password to hide its content.”
“But if the chest is made of wood. It can be opened with any saw.”
“Are you sure it’s made of wood?” He asked with a smile. “Try to lift one of its corners.”
The boy took one of its sides and tried very hard to lift it, but all his efforts were in vain.
“It’s too heavy!”
“Its coating is made of wood, but inside it is made by a one-centimeter thick titanium layer. Titanium is one of the most resistant and heavier materials in the world. Would you like us to open it?”
“Yes!” He answered enthusiastically. “Tell me the password and I’ll open it!”
“Before doing it, memorize the password!” Mike said resting his hand on the central table. “It’s important that you never forget the numbers I’m going to tell you.” After a brief pause, he started telling him one by one the ten numbers that formed the combination that protected the mysterious chest. “Two-nine-five-eight-four-four-three-one-eight-three.”
As his grandpa had dictated to him, Josef started to memorize the sequence in a loud voice. In order to keep in in his memory faster, he decided to group the numbers in pairs, so that he would only have to remember five instead of ten. Meanwhile, his grandpa took a photograph which was on the table. It was a photo of him and his wife walking on the zebra crossing of the mythical Londoner street Abbey Road. The Beatles had used that zebra crossing to have a picture taken which would later be one of their albums cover. Although the picture must be more than forty years, Mike remembered every detail of that mythical street. London brought him very good memories of his youth, there…
“I think I’ve already memorized it,” Josef said interrupting his grandpa’s brief dreaminess.
“If you think so, go ahead, you can open it,” Mike said with glazed eyes. “One more thing: every time you finish reading the pages inside the chest, keep everything inside and close it very well.”
“All right, grandpa. May I?”
The old man nodded. Without further ado, the boy started typing the digits that formed the combination one by one. Just after the last keystroke, the chest opened. A strong wetness stink came out from inside it, maybe because it hadn’t been opened for a long time. With only half a centimeter open, it was enough for the uneasy child to realize and open it in haste.
“I could open it!” He shouted excitedly.
“Of course you could,” Mike sad leaving the photograph on the table and walking to the chest.
“It’s full of papers!” Josef exclaimed saddened.
“I understand your disappointment. These papers contain a lot of interesting information. Maybe you don’t understand it now, but in the future I’m sure you’ll see how meaningful it is.”
“Show me the investigation you’ve talked me about before.”
“It’s too late and you have to go to school tomorrow. We’d better go to bed. I promise you that as soon as you get home from school, we’ll start to see the content of the chest and I’ll explain it everything to you little by little,” his grandpa said closing the chest.
“Can’t we have a look at it before going to bed?” Josef asked with his best face of spoiled kid.
“No,” Mike answered with authority. “In so doing, tomorrow I’ll check if you still remember the password.”
“All right, tonight I’ll repeat it until I fall asleep. Listen to me: together we’ll make it. I love you.”
“Of course we’ll make it. Good night, little boy. Sweet dreams. I love you.” The grandpa kissed the boy’s forehead and next they went to their respective bedrooms.
The following morning, Josef heard the restless ringing of the alarm clock and startled switched on the bedroom light. Despite having it programmed, never before had he seen it working. His grandpa switched it off fifteen minutes before it rang. «Wake up, sleepy head, » he used to tell him as delicately as he could. According to him, he did it so that he could revise his lesson before going to school, but the truth was that Josef spent that time watching TV. After several minutes waiting in bed, he decided to dress and go for him. When he got into the bedroom, his grandpa’s body lay immobile on the bed sheets. The boy’s efforts for seeking help were in vain; Mike Rogers had been lifeless for several hours.
Chapter 3
Nalactia city is in the east of the planet. It’s built by ten thousand adjoining pyramids that form a perfect circle visible from the air. Each of them is as tall as a fifty-storey building and occupies the surface of a baseball field. They were built with two million of limestone blocks, except from the top’s, which are blocks of solid gold. These blocks form an invisible shield that prevents intruder crafts from entering the city. All the pyramids are interconnected by the underground chamber. Nowadays, some of them are in disuse. Other are used to store military hardware, but the majority of them have vital functions for life on the planet.
The historical pyramid stores a lot of the objects that have made midarian history: animal sculptures made of gold, the first weapons with which ancient warriors used to defend themselves, primitive tool for plowing the fields, stone board with ancient scriptures and a plethora of gadgets. In the clothing pyramid the midarian suits are made, as well as the helmets that protect their heads, the gloves and the boots. The health pyramid is where injured bodies are repaired and rebuilt. They are some of the most important buildings of the planet…
The only entrance to the city is in the west. Two huge sculptures guarded each of its sides. The sculpture on the left side shows a midarian with his body exposed and holding a primitive spear. The one on the right side shows the same soldier holding a sophisticated weapon, emblazoned with a stout armor and a helmet. The two of them were built from an undivided piece of gold and are a hundred meters high. They symbolize the progress and the evolution of society.
Inside the city, a great esplanade goes as far as the eye can see as if it were a huge hangar. The majority of the inhabitants of the planet spend hours, days and maybe years without leaving that huge square. They simply spend their lives chatting and waiting for some day something to completely change their monotonous lives happen. Although none of them was in the battle that changed everything, in several of them it persists the fear that something like that happen
s again. For that reason, they prefer not leaving the city.
Further, just in the middle of the esplanade, it is the Sinz Palace, a huge circular building whose surface is thirty times bigger than the Roman Coliseum and which is as tall as the Empire State of New York. Outside it is decorated with coarse gold sculptures that show animals which lived on the planet in ancient times. Inside it, hundreds of rooms formed a labyrinthine and endless building.
In the main room it was Cabolun, the owner of a gigantic stronghold. He’s the leader of planet Mida. He’s seventy million years old. He’s three meters and a half tall and weighs two hundred and ten kilos. Sitting in front of a colossal monitor, he waits patiently for the news to arrive. On the screen, each of the corners of the planet is shown. In that precise moment, he’s observing how Beiler and his son, Palac, are approaching his spot. Finally, they burst into the room.
“What a surprise!” Cabolun exclaimed with sarcasm.
“Sir, I’m sorry to disturb you,” Beiler said in a trembling voice.
“Take a seat. What is the reason of such an unexpected visit?”
“I’ve come to see you,” Palac answered cheerfully, ignoring the seriousness of the situation.
“I’ve just been told that one of the control crafts was shot down as it was flying over Racot,” Beiler answered hastily.
“Another one?” He made a pause. “Have you been destroyed another craft?” Cabolun reproached, angry, drastically raising the tone of his voice.
“Sir... it hasn’t been my fault,” Beiler excused himself.
For some seconds, silenced invaded the room. Finally, Cabolun retook the conversation.
“You’re the responsible one for the midarian army. Therefore, each loss is your responsibility.”
“Sir, you should consider the option of…”
“The option of what?” Cabolun asked, interrupting the courageous captain and leaning his head to remain at a few centimeters of his in order to intimidate him.
Beiler’s hands started to shake violently. No matter how many battles he had fought and how much used to tension he was, he couldn’t control the nervousness his leader made him feel.
“Stopping patrolling Racot,” he finally said after thinking about the answer.
“NO!” He yielded. “Never!” Cabolun gave a murderous look to him. “It’s essential to control that they don’t get out of the perimeter.”
“In spite of having to sacrifice crafts and soldiers for that?” Beiler asked as he stood up and showed his back to his leader.
“Yes! The game will soon come to an end. Until that moment, the life of those miserable men will be a torment.” Cabolun stood up and went to find the captain’s look again.
“What game?” Palac asked trying to ease the conversation.
Cabolun turned around to look at his son and after hesitating for some seconds, he decided to tell the origin of such a heated argument.
“Have you ever heard about the planet Racot?” He asked with a calmer tone of voice.
“Yes. I once heard that that planet had been created for us. However, to be honest, I never believed that.”
Palac’s one thousand and five hundred years of age made him an inexperienced young lad and, for the midarian community, he was only a child. To be considered an adult, one should be a million years old.
“Sir,” Beiler said staring at his leader and interrupting the conversation. Without realizing, Palac had managed to divert his father’s attention, making him forget about the incident. “May I leave?”
Cabolun’s eyes looked harshly at the captain. Despite being the most long-lived inhabitant of Mida, he received no benevolence at all. Quite the opposite: some conflicts occurred in the past, although they weren’t dealt with nowadays, were still present in both men’s minds.
“All right,” he answered showing him the way out. “But his conversation hasn’t finished.”
Without saying anything, Beiler left the room and got out of the Sinz Palace towards his craft. That was one of the very few places on the planet which wasn’t controlled by the monitor. He felt a deep frustration at hearing the tone of voice Cabolun used to address him. «If only Yewut hadn’t died.» He thought over and over again. When the two men were alone, the leader asked his son to come closer to him.
“I’m going to tell how life in Racot was originated,” Cabolun said as he sat down again.
Palac nodded.
“All started two hundred and five million years ago. Due to planetary inactivity and the scarce of emotions, your grandfather was bored. More than ever. Nothing was fun for him. He ended up hating what he used to like. The excess of monotony caused a drastic change of attitude in him. Desperate, he went to the laboratory of Grias, the most intelligent and powerful scientist Mida had ever had, begging him to invent an amusement to quench his agony. For years, Grias showed him hundreds of gadgets and proposals, but none of them quenched his thirst.”
Such was his anguish that he locked himself inside the reflection pyramid. After a hundred years and, according to his own orders, without receiving any visit at all, he got out from inside it with an idea on his mind: creating a civilization from nothing. First of all, he asked Grias if his idea could be developed. After confirming that our technology allowed that possibility, they started to search an inhabited planet whose conditions could bear the development and growth of primitive particles. The quest continued for certain time, until they finally spotted it.
“Why was it called Racot?” Palac asked as he fastened his helmet.
The midarian leader shook his head cursing the successor’s ignorance.
“Racot was one of the best midarian warriors we’ve ever had. The sculpture on the left, at the entrance of the city, is based on him.” He answered with proud.
On the screen on the monitor it appeared Beiler walking hastily towards his craft, impassive to the points some of his equals made as he was walking past them. They looked as if they were recriminating something to him, but undeterred he reached his fortress and got on it hastily.
“Do you mean a warrior like Beiler?” Palac asked.
“Beiler would have been an ordinary midarian compared to him. I suggest that you visit the historical pyramid and that you get informed a bit. You’re an ignorant!” He exclaimed.
Palac got upset at hearing the contempt his father felt for the captain. Despite the difference of age between both men was abysmal, he felt great estimation and admiration for him. He had read and heard about hundreds of battles in which the midarian army had been victorious thanks to its enormous capacity of war strategy.
“What kind of amusement did he expect to find?”
“His aim was to create intelligent and self-sufficient beings. Grias called this process experiment Racot1, but your grandfather preferred to call it the game.”
“Game. Game. Game?” He said thrice. “Why?”
“Because he was the new world’s creator and could control everything from the zac. The zac is a powerful computer that makes it possible to see everything that happens in Racot. From it you can change the climate, consult information about the beings that live on the planet or introduce inexistent resources in a particular area. In one of the rooms of the Sinz palace it is the control room. The zac is divided in a hundred huge monitors controlled uninterruptedly. As he could do whatever he wanted from there, he decided to call it like this.”
“And what happened?” Palac asked with interest.
“After spotting the planet, Grias started to create the particles. Your grandfather demanded them to be very primitive, because part of his amusement consisted of watching the planet evolution. When the scientist finished, it was my father who decided to go and place them.”
“That’s how Racot’s inhabitants were created!” Palac exclaimed in a mocking tone of voice.
“If you let me finish, you’ll know it. But if you interrupt me again, I’ll make sure you’ll never know it,” Cabolun shouted, angry.
�
��I won’t interrupt you anymore.”
Cabolun sat down again and after looking daggers at him, he retook the thread of the conversation.
“Once the particles had been placed in the water, he had to wait for several millenniums until the first signs of life appeared. Primitive and little developed organisms started to inhabit the seas and the oceans. Millions of years later, some of these specimens progressed and came out of the water.”
“Others moved in the air as our crafts…” he made a pause to see his son’s reaction. He was looking at his father incredulously since he had never seen a living creature moving in the air, “…but the majority moved on the land, as we do. A part of these terrestrial animals became huge. They reached a height of twenty meters and a weight of dozens of tons.”
“How tremendous!” Palac exclaimed. “Did you manage to see one of them?”
“No, but according to what my father told me, they were quite similar to the ones that inhabit planet Silotac, although I doubt you know what I’m talking about.”
The premature midarian shook his head.
“Silotac is a planet which, in ancient times, was inhabited by a civilization exclusively dedicated to investigation. They had excellent diplomatic relationships with everybody and didn’t feel they were under threat. Therefore, they thought that forming an army would have been unnecessary and so all their inhabitants were dedicated to study. Their intelligence couldn’t predict the catastrophe that was approaching them. They took hundreds of these huge animals and started to genetically manipulate them with the purpose of using them as defense. They changed their genetic codes, provoking a drastic increase of strength and intelligence. The idea was perfect: a bunch of huge intelligent animals that would protect them in case of being attacked. However, after some time, the experiment turned against them: those huge animals that had been manipulated to protect them ended up killing every single Silotac inhabitant. I’m lying,” he muttered.
The World's Game Page 2