The World's Game

by Jacobo Izquierdo

  “Tell so to the mechanic,” he answered defiantly.

  “I’ve already told him, but he said he hadn’t seen anything unsual.”

  “And what do you want me to do?”

  “I need both of us to go and test it so that you can verify whether it’s working properly or not. It’s our best craft.”

  “All right. I’ll go with you,” he added grudging.

  In the Golden Pyramid, Palac struggled against the midarian force to reach the cylinder that led him to the truth. He leant his right hand and appeared inside his grandfather’s niolar. He looked carefully at each of them. He knew he did not have much time and selecting a wrong memory could be very dangerous since the probabilities of being discovered there by Cabolun would increase significantly. That circular space full of experiences floating in the air was huge. Kilometers of stories and experiences of his grandfather were now profaned by the youngest inhabitant of the planet. Observing carefully each of them, one of them called his attentions. All the spheres were separated from each other by only ten centimeters. All, except from two of them. Several meters separated each other. Palac walked quickly towards them and observed millimeter by millimeter each of the images shown in them. The one on the left showed a colorful scenery full of vegetation. On the right, it appeared Grias sitting in front of one of the monitors of the control room. «The first and the last memory!» Although the temptation to see the first vision stored by his grandfather was too strong, he preferred to choose the last one.

  The memory got started by showing Grias sitting in front of one of the monitors of the control room. On the screen, hundreds of racots appeared hitting each other.

  “It’s the third region of the planet on which there is a battle being fought,” Grias said with his peculiar high-pitched voice.

  “What’s going on with them?” Yewut asked horrified. “We’ve given them everything. Why are they self-destroying?”

  “We can control most of the circumstances that take place on the planet, but as I’ve already told you when we began this project, we can’t change these beings’ behavior,” Grias answered. “This is the main problem. They are no other thing than animals.”

  “I’m starting to regret about the creation of this experiment. I feel responsible of each death. Maybe the excess of technology was one of the factors that made them change their conduct. The first racots used to take care of each other. They loved and helped each other as what they are: brothers. Nowadays racots hate each other. They are envious of each other and kill one another for no reason.”

  Yewut remained in silence observing the monitor. As the responsible one, he knew that if he decided not to intervene, the new civilization created by him would become extinct.

  “I have an idea.”

  “What is it about?” The silotacan asked.

  “Use the zac’s data base and find a female racot who is healthy and, above all, who has impeccable behavior.”

  Without asking, Grias started to search in the zac a woman who fulfilled the demanded requirements. Using the search filters that omitted sick women or with immoral behavior, the vast list was reduced to forty.

  “Which of them?” The scientist asked pointing to the screen.

  “The youngest,” Yewut answered with no hesitation.

  “What are you planning to do now, sir?”

  “I think it’s my duty to restore peace on that planet. The only way I can think of to achieve it is living with them. I have to acquire their appearance and customs. I’ll travel to Racot and I’ll use the occupation power to introduce myself inside that woman’s womb. I’m aware of the dangers such mission implies; I’ll lose some of my powers and my body will turn as weak as theirs, but I think it’s the only way.”

  “What?” Grias shouted. “Have you gone mad? We already have there several insiders. It’s not necessary that you do it yourself.”

  “My helpers haven’t been able to stop evilness on the planet. As a matter of fact, over all these years, the only thing we got was more envy and evilness. The powers they have used to help its inhabitants only brought more violence and deaths.”

  “And what makes you think that you won’t succumb to the same fate?” Grias asked. “I think the warriors we have sent haven’t done it so badly. Besides, all of them have been murdered before being fifty years old.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ve thought about everything. I’ll be some years living in Racot and I’ll go around the planet teaching its inhabitants how to have a good behavior. My objective is to stop the wars and to make peace and tranquility reign. Once my objective had been achieved, I’ll come back to Mida with the body of a racot and I’ll modify it using our technology.”

  Grias looked at him without believing his ears. That idea had caught him by surprise and he was struggling with all his might to make him change his mind.

  “No matter how much you modify your body, you’ll never have the power you have nowadays again. What will you do if they try to kill you?”

  “I no longer need to be strong,” he answered trying to calm his upset scientist down. “Mida is a quiet planet. I’ll talk to Beiler so that he stays in his craft all the time and, only if he sees I’m in danger, he would intervene. I’m not going to run unnecessary risks. My hour hasn’t come yet.”

  Yewut left the room leaving Grias thinking about all this. Without hesitating, he leant on one of the corridor walls and disappeared revealing a new cabin. In the center of it, there was a stone casket. He picked it and get out of it through the same place by which he had gone inside. We walked along the corridor and enter the control room again. The silotacan had not moved at all. He was trying to find the way to convince his leader, but he had already taken a decision.

  “Here you are,” he said giving out the casket to the scientist.

  “What’s this, sir?”

  “They are eight stone boards. On each of them, I’ve written the modifications or tasks I want you to carry out in the game during my absence.”

  «Eight boards?» Palac thought remembering the ten his father had shown him. When taking the first one out of the ark, he felt betrayed. Grias started to read them, and for the young midarian’s surprise, they were missing precisely boards number three and ten, the only ones that made reference to the torture and death of the racots. Cabolun had decided to modify the truth adding two new scripts with the purpose to muddy the former ruler’s image.

  “Sir,” Grias said. “I’ll try to rectify the requested mistakes as soon as possible. With respect to you, I can assure you that I’ll make sure of ensuring your security myself.”

  “Thank you. It’s time to leave.”

  “See you soon.”

  Yewut’s body started to move along the long Sinz’s long corridors until it finally went outside. He walked some meters until he reached the transportation cabin in which Cabolun was waiting for him.

  “I’ve asked you to come here to tell you that I’ll be away from Mida for some time. If everything goes fine, this will be the last time I go back to Racot.”

  “That’s fantastic,” Cabolun said. “That way we’ll be able of spending more time together.”

  “I want you to know that I’m proud of you. That’s why I’ve decided that it will be you who rule Mida until my return.”

  Next, he went close to him and put his hand on his head as a demonstration of respect. Then, he walked to the transportation cabin and traveled to Racot. He appeared in a very dark room. Only the light from the cabin helped him get out from there. He went up some narrow stairs that led him outside. He looked up and observed the slight wear and tear that colossal stone pyramid that kept his mean of transport had had. Despite the night opaqueness, Palac recognized the scenery at once. Although it had suffered some modifications, the environment continued being that arid and battered landscape he had seen in the previous visions.

  “Grias,” he whispered looking at the stars. “Can you hear me?”

  “Yes,” the scientist ans
wered. “I can hear you perfectly.”

  “I’m in the agreed spot.”

  “I know you’re there. I have been watching the zac since you left.”

  “Where is the target?”

  “At approximately five hundreds kilometers from your spot. I’ll now indicate you the fastest way to reach there. Before I forget, I’ve taken the liberty of thinking about a way for your message to reach father and, at the same time, of protecting you.”

  “What is it about?” He asked without taking his eyes off the sky.

  “I’ve searched in the zac some pure and well-intentioned aborigines to go with you. In the area where the chosen woman lives, I’ve found twelve racots who you can trust in. From time to time, I’ll search more to make your small army bigger. But all that will be later. You still have to enter the female’s womb and develop in her tiny body.”

  “Perfect. I’ll use the occupation power right now, so I can move faster.”

  Yewut walked some meters and then he stopped.

  “In case I die, block the zac before Cabolun realizes. Introduce complex passwords that only you know so that no one else has access to the parameters that rule this planet. Every time you leave the control room, block it. In my son’s hands, this place would be ruined and the results would be irreversible.”

  “I’ll do so.”

  “Goodbye, good friend,” he said raising his arms.

  “See you soon, sir.”

  Yewut’s eyes closed and Palac lost his connection. His body had become a small ball of yellow light and was travelling at maximum speed in the search of the chosen woman’s womb. At using the occupation power, the niolar had stopped storing memories, and due to that the novice had lost the opportunity of knowing the reasons of his death. «I have to convince Beiler to tell me the truth.»

  Cabolun and the captain were still flying over the surroundings of Mida. The long-lived warrior had achieved his aim: catching his leader’s attention so as to give Palac clear path to enter the Golden Pyramid.

  “The propulsion is correct,” Cabolun said sitting in front of the Spores315’s control panel. “I haven’t noticed any variation in the propulsion levels since we took off.”

  “It’s true,” Beiler said sitting next to him. “I haven’t noticed anything either, but I still think we should continue testing it.”

  “No! We’re getting back to Mida. I can’t waste any more time.”

  Chapter 24

  In the city of Albuquerque, the clock had just stricken seven o’clock in the morning. Josef was still sleeping on the bed. He had the clothes of the previous day on and he hadn’t even opened the sheets. The telephone started ringing and the young librarian opened his eyes startled. «I’ve overslept!» He thought with anguish.

  “Have I woken you up?” Margaret asked gladly.

  Josef cleared his voice.

  “No, I was getting dressed,” he babbled.

  “Your voice tells me so. I’ve called you to wish you a good trip, but I thought you’d be on your way to the airport.”

  “Luckily you woke me up,” he said with relief. “The flight leaves in two hours. Why are you up so early?”

  “I couldn’t sleep and I started reading.”

  “What book? I don’t remember you’ve taken any.”

  “The other day I was watching a program about Egyptology with my parents and I told them that I’d like to learn the Egyptian alphabet. Last night, when I got home, my mother gave me a book that teaches the hieroglyphics and I couldn’t wait to start reading it. Maybe I couldn’t get to sleep because of that.”

  “Interesting. Let’s see if on Monday when we see each other you are able to draw my name with hieroglyphics.”

  “It’s done.”

  “Well, I’ll call you in the afternoon when I arrive. I’ll have a shower and I’ll leave.”

  “Have a good trip.”

  “Thank you,” he concluded.

  Still with his hair wet after the shower, Josef was sitting in a taxi with no driver on his way to the airport. The new vehicles had made millions of taxi drivers around the globe retire. In order to start circulating, the full service had to be paid in advance. Then, the destination had to be specified on the tactile screen.

  In case of trying to force the money storage system, the vehicle closed and it stopped immediately, preventing the passenger from getting out of it. Next, the police was alerted and it was in charge of punishing the thief. «A perfect mean of transport.» He had not used very many taxis with drivers in his life, but he knew perfectly well that they did not appeal to him. He did not like people who tried to strike up conversation by all means. «When there’s nothing important to say, it’s better not to say anything,» his grandfather once told him. Holding a cup of coffee, which he had previously paid to the taxi vending machine, he raised his eyes and beheld the spectacular façade of the airport. It was a work of structural engineering raised only five years ago with the aim of replacing the aged and worn out image of the airport. The structure, which had a half-moon shape, seemed to be floating in the air. It was an optical illusion created by the architect, who had used glass and steel to create that awesome effect. «It’s beautiful!»

  After having carried out the tasks previous to boarding according to the established protocol, the librarian got on the plane. The seat he had been assigned was in the back part. He sat down and, without any complications at all, the plane took off towards Carlsbad airport in San Diego.

  Margaret, as every morning, went to university. That day, she was uneasier and more nervous than ever. She was eager to receive her friend’s call telling her that he had arrived in San Diego. The hours passed and she still didn’t have news about him. After having spent several hours studying the Egyptology book at the library, she went home in mid-afternoon. «He told me he would arrive at lunchtime.»

  Sitting in front of the television, shocked, Margaret’s parents watched horrified the images of a plane on fire at San Diego’s airport. Her mother took her eyes off the screen when the image of several lifeless bodies scattered across the runway appeared on it.

  “What’s happened?” Margaret asked barging in the room.

  “A plane has crashed just when it was about to land,” her father answered with a solemn tone.

  “Where was it?” Her hands were shaking.

  “At Carlsbad airport in San Diego.”

  The golden-haired girl felt a sharp sting in her heart. A harrowing feeling of dizziness made her sat on a chair. Immediately after, she burst into tears.

  “What’s the matter, darling?” Her father asked surprised.

  Margaret did not answer. She went to her room and put some clothes inside a sports backpack. She picked three hundred dollars she had saved and left hastily.

  “Where are you going?” Her mother asked her intercepting her.

  “To San Diego,” she answered with a trembling voice. Her faced had paled and tears rolled down her cheeks nonstop.

  “Who was travelling on that plane?” Her mother asked.

  “Josef,” she jabbered.

  Her father grimaced and hugged her. Despite not having met him in the flesh, their daughter has spoken wonders of him. It was in that moment when they understood their daughter’s reaction. «Josef is my best friend. He’s not my boyfriend,» she had told her mother the previous night when she came back from the hypnosis session.

  “You can’t do anything, sweetheart,” her mother said.

  The girl leant back and looked at her father with bloodshot eyes.

  “Less is what I can do here. Josef doesn’t have a family. I have to go there to see if he’s alive or dead.”

  “Sweetheart…” he paused trying to pick the words that hurt her the least possibly, “… surely he’s now with God. There are little or no probabilities of finding someone alive,” her mother said shaking her head.

  “I have to go.”

  The girl picked the car keys and opened the door that led to the street.<
br />
  “Wait!” Her father shouted. “I’ll go with you.”

  Margaret indicated the address and the vehicle started towards San Diego. Little more than two hundred kilometers separated both cities. A silence that showed worry floated in the air. None of them dare pronounce a word. Her father watched the television trying to get some more information. Margaret recited some passages of the Bible in a low voice. «He has to be alive. God can’t be that unfair with him.» She tried to convince herself. Her father’s thoughts were much more pessimistic. «How can I do to comfort my daughter?»

  Chapter 25

  Spores315 entered Mida’s aerial space producing a loud roar. Already in the city of Nalactia, Palac got really surprised at seeing it. «Where has Beiler gone? He was supposed to distract my father.» The novice stopped and waited until the craft finished landing. To his relief, Cabolun got out from it and walked towards his fortress.

  “Where are you?” Beiler asked telepathically.

  “Reaching your craft,” Palac answered.

  The inexperienced and daring midarian walked several hundreds of steps and entered it.

  Inside, the craft was almost as colossal as outside. A long corridor of two kilometers long got lost in front of his eyes. Hundreds of now unoccupied rooms that had served to accommodate a hundred thousand soldiers in the past appeared at both of its sides. The scarce light along with the wall’s greyish color created a creepy environment. Just midway in the corridor, it appeared a huge room known as the meeting spot. It was a great space marked in the center with the Midarian coat of arms —the circumpunct—. From that place, the control room could be seen. It was a small room built on the top of the craft and with the shape of an isosceles triangle. Before going to the battle, the captain of the midarian army used to look out of one of the room windows and to give the instructions to follow during combat. The soldiers gathered there to listen to his words.

  “Come inside!” Beiler ordered.

  Palac raised his eyes and then he went to one of the adjacent rooms. Inside it, there was a transport cabin. Differently from the others, the ones inside the craft were only programed to enable transportation inside it and, at the same time, none of the ones outside it could penetrate inside it. That was how it had been decided based on safety. This way, the getaway in case of suffering an enemy invasion in Mida would be easier.