In her Verse, as a little girl Catalina would often sneak outside at night so she could stare at the sky. Catalina liked looking at the stars. She wondered what secrets lay hidden in them. She would stare at the night sky and get lost. Her eyes were always dazzled by the stars. She told herself that one day she would map them. She would map all the stars in the heavens so she could keep that information inside a book. She loved the idea of having the night sky held in pages. It would be a universe hidden in the universe of a book.
The one called Joshua changed all that. One night as she was outside staring at the stars she saw a figure running towards her in the darkness. Catalina was only ten at the time. She was taken aback by this figure that moved so quickly. She screamed. However, she had snuck out of the house and there was no one to hear her screams.
Catalina turned to run into the safety of her house but it was too late. The one known as Joshua had a sickening quickness. As the cry was still leaving her lips Joshua’s arm encircled her waist. A moment later she was being whisked away. She could still see her house. She could see the door she had been running towards. Now it was growing further away.
As Joshua ran a strange grey smoke appeared in the air like a fog. Catalina cried out for her father. A moment later Joshua wrapped a scarf around her eyes. When the blindfold came off Catalina was in the room that would come to be her cell for the next several years.
That was five years ago now. Catalina missed her father greatly. She was sad that she had snuck out of the house and never got to tell him goodbye. She could only imagine him discovering that she was missing and having no idea what had happened to her. The thought sometimes broke her heart. So, she tried to push it from her mind and focus on her studies. What she did now she did for him.
She hoped one day she could see him again. It was strange to wonder if she did see her father, in what context would she see him? Would she ever be able to find the Verse where she had been taken from? They were told they could step into various lives they lived. What would she think of her father in these strange universes of different circumstances?
Catalina often wondered this as she stared into the glass sea. She loved to stare at the various skies in its waves. If she looked closely she could see the stars in a million universes. Catalina still loved the stars. She was not sure why she had such an affinity for them.
In this strange land Catalina began to do what she always dreamed. She drew maps of the stars she saw as the Sea of Glass flowed along its current through the Multiverse. She made constellations of them. In the beginning, she did this on paper. Then she did this with her tablet.
However, now as she stared at the flowing Multiverse she no longer needed these things. She could map the stars in her mind. She catalogued the movement of a million stars from a million different universes. As she sat on the beach Catalina’s heart was with the stars. They reminded her of home. That reminded her of her father.
Over time in her classes Catalina learned a concept in this place that stayed with her. It was a concept of symmetry. Catalina had known of symmetry before but she always thought of it in relation to art and the balance of images. However, in this place she had learned a new understanding of symmetry. It was not just about balance in images. Symmetry was about relationships. Items could seem vastly different but if you could find their symmetry you could build the most fascinating relationships. You could then link and catalogue them.
On the surface things which had nothing in common could be linked. In this way, you could organize and map them in the mind. It was all about finding their commonality.
She liked to play this game of symmetry in her mind as much as she could.
She played this game now. Catalina thought of Isiah. She also thought of a trip she had taken to the coast as a child. In this list of items was a gown her father had once given her. She began her game of how to connect them.
In this particular instance, they were linked by blue. Isiah had beautiful blue eyes. They were as beautiful as the ocean that Catalina had once visited and been so in awe of. They were as blue as the color of the dress her father had given her. These unrelated items suddenly all connected in her mind. She could move back and forth between them based on that one commonality.
It was a simple trick but she was learning to find commonality in a multitude of things. In this manner, she was able to organize and store a vast amount of information in her mind. She did this as she stared at the stars from a million different universes. She did this as she looked at the beauty of the Sea of Glass.
The patterns of symmetry were everywhere, but Catalina knew there was a deeper meaning to this. Catalina was putting together an idea that was not yet fully formed. She was starting to see that through these connections of symmetry the children might be able to do something truly amazing. They might be able to not just jump from the Sea of Glass to one Verse. When the time was right they might be able to jump from one Verse to another.
At some point, Catalina knew this would need to be done. Hoping for a direct line of site to the Threshold was a daunting task. However, leaping through the Verses would greatly improve their chances.
Catalina did not know if she would be the one to find the Threshold but she understood that principles of symmetry throughout the Multiverse would help them to get there. The path to the Threshold existed by traveling through the Verses. A chain of symmetry would allow one to find the specific pattern through the multiverse that had been sought for generations.
She smiled to herself.
It was a beautiful idea, Catalina thought as she gazed into the glass sea.
As she stared into infinity somewhere in one of those infinite Verses a writer of children’s stories dreamt of Catalina. He too could see through the various Verses but he was unaware of how gifted he was. However, he saw Catalina. He saw her amazing mind as she moved through this glass world. So, the writer wrote stories of her. They were in some ways reflections of his own life, when as a child, he was trapped in a mirror.
As an adult he wrote stories of worlds of glass. He did this to rid himself of the ghosts of his own past. In doing so he reached out and he connected with a world that he never knew was real. It was a world his mind was able to glimpse for a moment as he gazed across the Multiverse through a mirror.
***
Isiah did not trust this land. He did not trust Belili. He did not trust the strange one known as Joshua.
He had first seen Joshua as he was taking a short cut through the woods on a trip from town. As he was walking he heard the sound of a twig snapping. Isiah stopped to inspect his surroundings. He noticed a man standing behind the trees. Isiah’s heart begun pounding in his chest. He took a step away from the man. The man took a step forward. Isiah saw the man more clearly. Isiah had never seen the man before but he understood this situation could become bad very fast. Bad things could happen to black kids caught alone in the forests of the deep south.
Isiah began to run. He was fast. The man was faster. He grabbed Isiah. He did not even lose stride. He merely scooped Isiah up and continued running. Isiah saw mist appear. Then just as quickly as he had been scooped up Isiah was being whisked down a hallway and was thrown in a room.
The sequence of events happened very fast. Isiah had years to play and replay it all in his mind. How had he been in the woods one moment, then in a hallway a few moments later? he often wondered as he sat in his cell. Isiah knew he must have missed something. Perhaps he had blacked out, he told himself.
Now it made sense. However, none of what he had been told made Isiah feel comfortable with it all. He knew Belili told many truths, but with many truths sometimes came many lies.
The new freedoms of this place were strange. The children were told that they were free to go where they pleased but what was the difference between being a prisoner in a small cell and a large one?
Isiah focused on paying attention and studying. He needed to understand this strange prison he had been brought to. Lik
e any smart prisoner, Isiah did this to determine a way to escape. He went to the beaches along the glass sea often. Where others saw marvel, Isiah saw more walls. They were different then the walls of the cell he had been in so long, but in the end, they were the same. They kept him from home. Isiah looked at these mysterious walls of infinity and he studied them. He wondered where their weakness would be.
The Count of Monti Cristo had taken a very long time to escape his prison. Time and study was what was needed most. As he stared at the glass walls to this place Isiah looked for flaws. No prison was perfect. It was only a matter of observation. He would find the weakness in this prison. Then when the time was right he would take Sarah with him and he would take all the other children to freedom. He would take them to true freedom.
Isiah was studying archery. He knew a bow was a simple weapon to make if necessary. He knew that the Forest of Uncertainty might be a good place to hide at some point. A bow would be useful in defending himself in the woods if that’s what it came to.
Isiah was mentally preparing himself should his fears about this place be realized.
He visited the Chamber of the Prism frequently. He knew the answer to truly escaping from Verse Zero lay with understanding the strange Prism where cosmic energies were brought together. The relationship of the Prism to the Sea of Glass was important to understand if they wanted to be free of this place.
So, Isiah studied the Prism in as much detail as he could. He memorized its structure. The children were given freedom so no one ever stopped him or questioned what he was doing in the Chamber. Isiah poured over all that had been recorded in relation to the Prism over the centuries. He studied the equations and the schematics of it. He would stare at it for hours. He memorized every line of it. As he lay in his bed at night he would retrace the lines of the Prism. He knew the key to escape lay there.
Over time Isiah also realized something else. He realized he was smarter then Belili anticipated. He was smarter than many of the Librarians and Scholars in this strange place. Isiah could see something in the Prism that they could not. It was such an elevated level of understanding that even Isiah could not yet clearly understand what it was.
Isiah knew a discovery was waiting for him to stumble upon it. He studied the Prism with determination. Over time that determination turned into a true passion. This passion was strange. It was a passion to understand. However, as the years passed Isiah began to see that studying the Prism was passion for beauty. Beauty is at the heart of all passions. The Prism was a beautiful structure. It sang to Isiah.
There were times as Isiah gazed into the great Prism that he was no longer sure if he studied the beauty of the Prism so he could escape or if he studied the Prism so he could get lost in it.
***
Isiah was leaving the Citadel. He had again been studying the Prism. He was making his way back to his room. The children no longer called the rooms cells. They referred to their rooms as dorms. As he walked by the fields he saw Sarah sitting near the pond.
Isiah was very close with Sarah. If he could call anyone a best friend in this strange place it was her. He approached her as she sat overlooking the water.
Sarah saw him and smiled. She had much on her mind. She had not divulged information about the creature she found in the woods. She was afraid of the fear this might cause in others.
Isiah sat next to Sarah. He could see that there was something on Sarah’s mind.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
Sarah looked to her friend. She cared for Isiah a great deal. In that moment she was tempted to share what she had discovered. It was a heavy burden for her. It was a heavy knowledge to have on her own. However, at this point she did not want to burden her friend with the knowledge of what she had discovered in the woods. Not until she knew more. Not until she had more answers.
“I’ve just had trouble sleeping lately,” she replied. “I’ve been having strange dreams.”
This was not entirely untrue. She had been having more and more strange dreams of late.
“Me too,” Isiah said. He was silent for a time. Then he went on.
“You know they did something to us, don’t you?” Isiah asked. “I don’t know what. They did something…I think to our brains. I think they…I think they took pieces of the minds…of our other selves and added them to our minds somehow.”
Isiah paused for a moment as he reflected on what he was saying.
“When I dream sometimes,” he continued. “I wonder…I wonder if I’m seeing my dreams…or the dreams of another me…another me somewhere in another time and place. I wonder if that person dreams those dreams anymore. Or…if those dreams were taken from him.”
Sarah shivered at this thought.
“I know…that now I have dreams composed of the dreams of others,” Isiah said finally. “Somehow the totality of it all makes me. But I wonder am I now the sum of those parts? Or…am I still me?”
Sarah turned his words over in her mind. The children all understood on some level that something had been done to alter their minds. It was something they did not reflect on too often, but Sarah had suspected for some time that the minds of her alternate selves had somehow been combined with her brain. Her thoughts, memories, and dreams reflected this. Sarah knew many of the other children intuitively knew this as well. It was an unspoken knowledge that lingered underneath all they were learning. This is what Belili meant when she said they had given the children that which was missing and helped to restructure their minds to become better.
Sarah would dream sometimes of different pasts and futures she could have lived. Sometimes in her dreams she felt that she could choose which reality she wanted. She could choose to live in this world with its swirling sky or she could choose to live in her dreams.
She always woke from these dreams wondering how much of the dream was imagined. Was she slipping into these different places that Belili spoke of?
There was silence for a few moments as they stared at the water. Then Isiah spoke again.
“I think we should all be ready,” he said. “Ready to escape.”
Sarah did not immediately respond. She thought of the creature in the woods. She understood the wisdom in Isiah’s words.
“Were all geniuses,” Isiah said. “But only a fool would believe that genius is only ever used for good. What happens…when a truly brilliant mind thinks...of only doing evil? What happens when a genius becomes obsessed with not life…but death? With causing suffering instead of healing it?”
Sarah had no answer to his questions. She felt a chill run through her body. The chill was not from fear. The chill was from understanding the truth in the things Isiah was saying.
***
Thomas was considered a master in his field. He was one of the world’s foremost experts on computer software development. He currently worked for a technology company that was looking to design a software that created more advanced algorithms for data encryption.
Thomas liked his work. It was challenging and fascinating. However, being a master in any advanced field came with a high degree of stress. Deadlines always had to be met. Unexpected problems had to be solved with great urgency.
At the end of the day Thomas liked to come home, have a beer, and watch some sports. In the Fall, it was football. In the winter, it was college basketball. In the summers, it was baseball. Thomas’ mind could not help but catalogue things. He mentally recorded shooting percentages and RPI ranking of college basketball teams. Cataloguing these things and mentally reviewing them was much more relaxing then looking at endless lines of computer code for hours.
Today had been a particularly stressful day. Some software his team was working on had some unforeseen flaws. They were logic flaws in the programming which were always the hardest to resolve. He knew the rest of the week would be dedicated to trying to iron out the kinks with a new software patch.
That was something to worry about tomorrow, however. Thomas had learned to leave his
work at work whenever possible. Otherwise the constant stress would be overwhelming. Now he was ready to watch some college basketball. Tonight, on TV was a Big 12 showdown between Texas and Kansas. Kansas was favored to win but Thomas would always be loyal to his home state of Texas.
At 6:45 p.m. Thomas was pulling into his driveway. He parked his car and then grabbed his briefcase from the back seat. It was a nice day and the sun was still up.
Thomas lived in a good area. It was a quiet place and he liked that aspect of it. As he stared down his street he saw a little girl using chalk to draw on the sidewalk. She had dark hair and wore a yellow dress with little red flowers on it. She looked up when Thomas closed his car door. She smiled at him and waved. Thomas smiled back at the little girl and returned her wave. She was a very cute child, he thought. Thomas sometimes regretted that he had not settled down yet and had some children. However, work kept him very busy and finding the right person was hard. Thomas sighed. That was a thought for another day he told himself as he was unlocking his front door.
He entered his living room and set his suitcase down. He then went straight to his fridge. The first thing on his agenda was to grab a cold beer. He grabbed one from the fridge and popped the cap. The first sip of it tasted like heaven. Thomas then grabbed a pizza out of the freezer and threw it into the microwave. When the pizza was ready he made his way to the living room.
He turned on the TV. The local news was on. There was a story of a surgeon that was found murdered this morning. Thomas noted that the murder had occurred in Wellington Hills which was one of the nicer subdivisions in Dallas. The surgeon must have been pretty good at his work Thomas cynically noted. The police would put all their resources into finding his killer. Places where the wealthy live do not like terror. However, Thomas realized that the killer was most likely a family member. That’s how these things almost always turned out.
Prisons of Stolen Dreams Page 12