Planet-H: The End of the Beginning

by J. T. Winterlord

  I reached Matt’s office but it turned out he was with Sonia in her office.

  The two were having one of their usual gibberish sessions but they seemed to enjoy it. Sometimes I had the suspicion that they did those little plays for me, but I would not have been able to explain why.

  They were waiting for me and Sonia joined me with,

  "Here’s our little student!"

  So saying she gave me a kiss and scratched me under the chin as if I were a little girl. I sometimes could not take easily to their funny ways of doing things and their joking but I put my hand around Sonia’s flank and she gently rested her head on mine. We looked like two moronic children but I found it gratifying.

  "Matt, darling," said Sonia, "our friend here must be left more time to do the homework assigned by Sgrunfy.”

  She went straight to the point directly - I had not a chance to open my mouth.

  "Yes, how can I dedicate more time to this Matt?”I asked.

  "What do you say to promoting your assistant Alice? He said,“she can take your place so that you can have all the time necessary to follow the new project.”

  "Well, I would have to introduce her as a candidate to you two and you should evaluate her. I can’t promote anyone."

  "Wrong Kate, you canpromote someone! In fact, do it soon because Jack and Denise are promoting their second in commands.”

  Sonia was still holding her head on mine and tickling me under the chin which made me itch. She said,

  "You're right Matt, you can do it Kate my little one." She pushed away from me laughing and said you should change your blouse - it was stained pink and wouldn’t be very professional during a promotion ceremony.

  I asked Sonia,

  "So what happens in the promotion ceremony Sonia?"

  "There are two ways," she explained, "Temporary promotion is very informal, there are just two phrases of ritual, a touch to the forehead of the person to be promoted with the left hand while the right hand is closed into a fist and held resting over the heart. The other promotion is done after the temporary promotion is confirmed as successful and permanent, typically six months after the first. You say something like‘I, Kate as the senior officer hereby promote you to the position of temporary blah blah blah.’"

  "Oh right,”I said,“so a simple pat on the back like in most companies wouldn’t be sufficient?”After all, what I had just heard was pretty strange.

  In actual fact I had understood little but I changed into the blouse Sonia gave me and made my way to the office.

  I called to Alice,

  "Alice can you come into my office directly?”My tone was probably a little rough because of the sleepless night but she stood calmly in front of me, almost to attention.

  "Alice," I said, and I placed my right hand over my heart and lightly touched her forehead with the palm of my left hand. She actually closed her eyes with emotion and I recited,

  "As Kate your superior officer, I hereby temporarily appoint you to be my deputy from this moment. All the best to you!”

  I was expecting that at any moment everyone would crowd into the office with guffaws of laughter at the joke but instead Alice was visibly moved. She obviously hadn’t expected it and reacted by throwing her arms around my neck.

  Matt and Sonia peeked in from the office door, teasing Alice,

  "So, we’ve been promoted then? You know you’ll have to buy drinks for everyone all day?”

  Alice was almost flying with joy. She said she would gladly.

  A quick goodbye and I went down to see Sgrunff. Mr moustache was again waiting for me to see how I had got on. He inspected my face thoroughly and noted the bags under my eyes. He said,

  "You're all for this project I can see that, and this is a good thing, but you have to take care of your body, do you agree?"

  I told him that of course I agreed but for the moment I needed to ask his advice and to evaluate the work I had already done. He agreed,

  "Let me take a quick look. Yes, it seems to me that the beginning is good. Just remember the rule 'think simple'. The more complex something seems, the greater the chance that it’s false or that someone has altered it, attempting to give an explanation that often proves to be quite subjective.”

  He continued,

  "And now tell me, what did you want to ask me?"

  "You see Sgrunfio,”I said,“I began to read the Pentateuch and I got as far as the exodus. Some passages I like while others make me feel a little unhappy. What does it mean? And can I jump from one book to another, just to change a little the argument?”

  Sgrunff thought a moment and then replied,

  “For the fact that you begin to feel emotions while reading, well this means that you're up against truths and falsehoods, but I advise you to go further. Add to your table those emotions because they will be useful for the next step.

  As for the jump from one topic to another, this is definitely possible; what is important is that you not leave anything partly written. Complete what you are reading and then go to a different reading then return later to that previously abandoned. Now go home and get some rest. Anyone can see from a mile away that you're tired."

  "Thanks Sgrunfio, see you tomorrow!"

  Before leaving I went to say goodbye to Sonia and Matt who told me to take all the time necessary. Serena was already alerted to the fact that I would be very busy and if necessary she would bring me lunch and dinner on trays.

  When I got home, I went straight to work and in the following days I was so busy that I could not see almost anyone.

  Every other day I passed by to see Sgrunff who gave me even more material in addition to what I already had.

  The ability to read visually began to mature. I became more and more talented, faster and faster. I could read dozens of books in a day. I duly transcribed everything I thought would be interesting and sometimes even things that simply intrigued me.

  I had almost finished the religious books and I wasn’t sure how much time had really gone by - days, months, years? I felt suspended in a kind of timeless cloud.

  Sgrunff gave me other books. I thought I was at the end of that particular research but he told me that I needed to delve on for a little longer.

  He gave me texts on psychoanalysis techniques and spiritual liberation and added several other books by writers including Plato and Socrates.

  I jumped back into the work without objection. I was actually starting to find it easier.

  I had come to the point where in a few minutes of scrutiny I could take in a whole book, noting down accurately what I was looking for. And so the day came when I finished my reading.

  THE FIRST ANALYSIS

  I found myself in front of my teacher, smiling and proud of my work.

  "I finished Sgrunfio, here’s the book of truth!"

  He smiled. He began to scroll through the pages.

  "Well Kate, two hundred pages, you know the last person to whom I gave a similar task produced fifteen books of notes?"

  I looked at him, a little disappointed and irritated.

  "I hope you don’t expect me to start over again Sgrunfio just because you think material has been left out…?"

  He chuckled as usual under his moustache and said,

  "Of course not, Kate, three volumes is already too much; by producing one only you've proved you didn’t get distracted andthis will help you in the next phase."

  I relaxed and enjoyed the compliment, but a question arose in my mind and assumed premier position:

  "We can publish it as‘The Big Book of Truth’maybe?"

  He laughed heartily and I thought,

  "What are you laughing at you pleasant old bastard?"

  It seemed to me his laughter deepened.

  Sonia, Matt and Valdes entered.

  "Here’s a nice family reunion then," I said, joking and cheerful.

  Some days I didn’t see any of them so I was glad they were there.

  Valdes stood at my side and Matt asked
Sgrunff how the work was proceeding.

  "Very well," replied Sgrunff adding "she just asked if we could publish‘The Big Book of Truth!"

  They all smiled at this and Sonia walked over to me to pass me something that in the meantime she had pulled from her bag. It looked like something very heavy - she seemed to struggle to hold it. She dropped the object in my hand and I tensed the arm and neck muscles to receive it but….. there was nothing! "

  Matt burst out laughing.

  A lightning bolt ripped through my mind. I thought‘the five spheres!’

  The mind instinctively associates a thought to an action without actually observing it.

  Valdes gave me a kiss on the forehead. The man had the power to dissolve any small negative emotions I might have.

  They said goodbye and went out after complimenting me on a really good job.

  I was pleased and I turned to Sgrunff with a challenging and expectant air.

  He said,

  “Kate, in reality it isn’t a book of truth. Nobody could understand anything of what is written, they are just different notes taken from thousands of tomes, they don’t have any logical connection.”

  I was incredulous.

  “Well then what’s the point of all this work?"

  Sgrunff explained.

  "Point number one - hone your ability to observe without bias. Point number two - learn to read with your eyes.”

  He paused, then added,

  "This is the book of white balls, a good two hundred pages of white balls. You did a fantastic job Kate! In less than half the time that I had expected, fast as lightning. We should now move on to the second phase of this project.”

  After a short pause I interjected,

  "And that is what? What’s phase two about?

  Sgrunff drew my attention again to Matt’s trick with the five white balls. He said I should take all the data from my book and evaluate it, trying to separate the truth from falsehood.

  I wondered how I could ever do something like that, it was if anything more difficult than my previous work. He concurred - it was difficult but not impossible. On the other hand I had already managed incredibly well to synthesize thousands of pages down to two hundred.

  "The purpose of the second phase is to increase your skills in logical reasoning.

  Treat each piece of information as if it were a white sphere, weigh it up, compare it.

  Find out if it can work using the imagination.

  Search for anything that can be altered, check whether the events are in correct chronological order.”

  I said firmly: "But how can I know these things Sgrunfio?"

  He patiently walked over to the desk, he wrote something on a piece of paper and put it aside.

  Then he took a container and placed it on the desk, saying,

  "Now I will make you a very simple example of how you can alter the chronology of events."

  He dropped the container from the desk and had me read what he had written -‘The container will fall.’

  "Is that it Sgrunfio?"

  He asked me,

  "Do you think I predicted an event?"

  "Sure, you predicted it by writing it, but you also made the event happen."

  “Correct observation Kate, simple but correct analysis."

  He picked up the container and replaced it on the desk. He then erased what he had written on the paper and showed me the clean sheet.

  "Drop the container, Kate."

  I did as he asked and the container tumbled onto the floor and at that point he showed me again the paper without any writing.

  He said,

  "Turn around just a moment and divert your attention away from me." I did as asked and a moment later he asked me to turn around again.

  He went through a little pantomime.

  "Kate, I found a hidden note that predicts the future. Come, I'll show you!"

  So saying, he mademe read the blank page that now read,‘One day a woman will come and through a mysterious force she will act on the container causing it to fall to the ground with a great crash.’

  "You're cheating Sgrunfio!"

  "It 's true Kate, but tell me what you observed by comparing the two versions.”

  I thought for a moment.

  "The first version was very simple and merely described a generic event that would happen. The second version put more emphasis and mystery on the same fact and also described some details.”

  "That's right! How can you tell the precise details of an event that hasn’t happened yet?

  Could it be because you are simply describing something you've already seen happen? "

  I stood a moment thoughtfully.

  "Do you mean to tell me that some of the facts that I read may have been written after the event, but formulated in a way that made them seem to be prophetic predictions?"

  "Would that be so strange?" asked my teacher.

  "But why?"

  "Maybe to make a particular character, thesis or faith credible?”

  He added,

  "I'm not saying that this is so, but check that it is not.”

  Yes, the logic seemed to work, but I asked,

  "How do I know or distinguish something true from something false?"

  "In part you were already doing it. Remember when you talked about your emotions when you were reading? Keep this technique in mind,”Sgrunff continued,“weigh the information, evaluate carefully, open it up, dissect it and try to imagine the scene that’s being described. Try to check if what is being suggested could find some application in your life. Test it.”

  I nodded. I was able to try yes but I felt my chances of success were very distant.

  Sgrunff ended by saying,

  "Try to rely on your intuition and do not let yourself be fooled by the high-sounding titles of the texts you took notes from, nor the names of the authors. Carefully sieve the information to see if it is worth keeping or if it has to be thrown to the fishes.”

  "One last thing Kate," Sgrunff added quickly,

  "You'll find that the same things have been written in a different way, often with different words, so the first step would be to further simplify your volume of white balls."

  Valdes came in and asked me to hand him the phone.

  He got me to place my left thumb on the middle section and press lightly.

  Magic! My phone widened like the instrument I had seen him use before. I managed not to drop it.

  "That's a Pac, your Pac," said Valdes. I asked him what he meant by that name and he replied,

  "It's an invented name, but it could be‘Processor for Computerized Analysis.’"

  He stood before me and keyed in something, moving around various icons on the transparent screen to show different features, including a link to a Universal Library.

  He said,

  "This could be useful to you if you need any specific information and since you're working from home."

  I looked at the toy in my hand. I smiled and thought to myself‘I’ve had this thing since I came here and I realize only now. What a clever girl I am!’

  "Thanks," I said and let him accompany me to my office.

  Alice was busy as usual, and I saw that she had made room for a new desk.

  She really did carry out all her tasks with meticulous professionalism.

  I sat down, turned on the Mac, and placed my new Pac on the table.

  I exchanged a few words with Alice, who informed me that everything was going well, so I decided to do a little research on the web.

  Although I had been reading a lot I hadn’t retained much but it seemed that my mind had absorbed information that was not available at the time, as if it was still to be processed.

  I took a look at the N Technology website. Since I had permission to access all areas, I looked at the online news. I had been out of contact from the rest of the world for some time.

  I tried to focus on updating my knowledge but I soon realized that the news was always t
he same - news and politics were always in the same vein.

  The stock exchange was unpredictable, the public debt of several European countries continued to increase and the U.S. federal debt was not far behind.

  Meanwhile, the Pac was connected to the Mac and it seemed that there were no conflicts between the two machines. I was still curious about N Technology and I saw that from this connection I could access bank accounts. I was Intrigued - I wanted to take a look.

  It appeared the company was solvent - indeed it was super capitalized with three separate accounts.

  I took a peek. The first two contained funds to approximately 500 million euro, the third was a little thinner with 18 million.

  Now I understood why money had little importance for Sonia. The company had plenty but I felt no envy over this, I was just pleased that things were going so well.

  I used the Pac to see what the 'Universal Library' had to offer. It was a very official sounding name, so I imagined it had to be well stocked.

  I tried with the words Stock Exchange, Securities, Stocks and Bonds.

  I got some pretty abbreviated results including an explanation of where the markets were and how contracting was done, but nothing more.

  I wanted to do some research on the Mac about the video game that Sgrunfio had mentioned during our first lesson.

  I typed‘Planet H’into the search engine', but nothing came back that had anything to do with video games. Maybe the game had not met with any success.

  I took another look at the Pac and a feature activated that asked me if I wanted to try a simulation of stock market trading.

  I was curious and I ran it. The Pac asked me to turn off the primary sources and tap the flashing square to begin the simulation. I started it up and was asked to enter a number. I entered‘20,000’and‘Insufficient Funds, enter number again.’came back. I thought it strange to refuse what was after all only a simulation - I entered 100 this time. If it doesn’t accept I’ll use funds from my own pocket or borrow from Alice!