Islands in the Sky

by Michel Savage

  I though long and hard about her statement and recognized that our modern world was rife with corruption from head to toe. Our governments and their regimes across the globe were infatuated with manipulating politics and power struggles; which usually turned the citizens they were meant to protect into pawns who were exploited in every way imaginable. Modern day slavery was disguised by forced acquisitions of land and property or taxes that were applied to everything under the sun. Hardly anyone opened their eyes wide enough to see it because they had been groomed to believe that was just how things were supposed to be.

  In this ancient culture it appeared that energy was derived from a naturally occurring source and was used freely for the good of the inhabitants. But like most legends and tales of utopia, it was too good to last. I couldn't even imagine what kind of chaos this advanced technology would create in our modern societies if an actual source of free energy was introduced into our civilization as a whole. Unsustainable global economies based on fossil fuels would crash, and those who once controlled these taut strings of corporate power to feed the world's energy needs would suddenly find themselves swallowed by the vacuum of its absence.

  In reality, it would spring war and bloody rivalries rather than sweep our civilization into a new age of discovery and invention. There was no room for charity in our era, where greed and power was king of the hill. We had been bred into believing that wealth was a badge of authority and to judge success with a dollar sign. Stepping back from that twisted perspective I could see how distorted the morals and ethics in our modern culture had become. There was a taint in our self-awareness which cast a shadow over our entire society.

  It made me wonder what type of place our world would be today if this ancient civilization had survived the polar shift. Logan and Mica were optimistic that our research in science, astrology, of genetics and written language would have surpassed our wildest dreams if we hadn't been anchored by such pettiness and abuses by those in Authority. Human kind had evolved into a selfish animal, unable to see past their own two feet. Witnessing such wonders as I had seen during this tour taught me that my own sense of morals were exceptionally narrow minded, and that I was in a desperate need of a fresh perspective of my own.

  Logan picked up the small sculpture off the shelf and placed it on the silver counter next to us. When it touched the metal of the table the tips of the roots and the limbs of the tree began to glow and stretched out finger of light around its circumference until they intertwined with one another. The professor stood there gawking in astonishment as his eyes lit up when he realized what he was viewing.

  "Do you see it?" Logan breathed aloud.

  "Yes, we do..." I answered in confusion as to the baldness of his statement, but not quite understanding his point.

  "Look Mica," the professor pointed to the shower of lights from the small model of the tree which was now encapsulated by its own illumination. She observed that the lights seemed to be spinning in a vortex inward from the top and out from the roots as the strings of light continued in their dance around the tiny icon.

  "Is that a...?" She wondered aloud, not quite sure as to what she was seeing.

  "Yes, yes! It's a torus," Logan exclaimed, "I never saw it before now, but the symbol of the tree of life is a representation of a torus."

  The convex rotation of the lights was an illustration of the earth's magnetic energy waves. The depiction of the world tree itself was a striking image in two dimensions, but in this active 3-dimensional model its true representation became clear. The balance displayed within its fanned branches as they connected to the spreading roots at its base was no sheer accident of artistry, but as a portrayal of the earth's energy fields in motion. This revelation opened a door to a fresh interpretation if this ancient image which has persevered throughout mans recorded history.

  "This might mean that that the iron tree we found was an ancient megalith which was the real antenna or perhaps a receiver for these energy waves we have seen discharging across the globe," Logan suggested.

  "But I thought that these giant orbs were the source," I blundered with a reply.

  "Yes, they do in fact harness the natural earth's field," Mica answered, "think of them like a solar collector, but instead of sunlight they tap into geomagnetic radiation fields. The real problem now is that they are out of alignment with the placement of where they need to be."

  "You mean like a solar panel that's facing the wrong way?" I offered my analogy.

  "Exactly," Mica smiled, as she saw that I was using my imagination to work out the theoretical problem, "The continent of Antarctica is now several thousand kilometers from where it once rested along the geographic latitudes during the last polar shift, which creates several issues we may need to recalculate if we are going to succeed in dampening the current crisis."

  "But the trick of it is, how we can calculate something of that magnitude using an ancient technology which is likely entirely incompatible with our modern idea of mathematics?" Logan added his thoughts.

  "Like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole ...it just won't work." I reflected, trying to sound savvy.

  "It's far beyond that point my boy," the professor responded with a stout face, "it would be like trying to fit a square box to fold into a much smaller globe; the quantum mathematics required to find a solution would be near impossible to decipher in our current situation."

  The reality was that we just didn't have the equipment or manpower nor hardware to get what we needed done. Logan refused all outside help in his efforts to hide this endeavor from the prying eyes of government and military entities; which pretty much left us castrated from having any chance of success. When she saw that look in my eye, Mica again reminded me that Logan would not budge from his stance regarding any outside interference. That only left us to scavenge what information we could find here within this glass fortress to make the adjustments to the Alpha Orb, in order to stem the approach of what was promising to be a catastrophic event.

  Logan wasn't sure that they could fully stop a polar shift entirely, but might merely cripple or delay the onset of the impending crisis. We set about exploring the rest of the fortress, though with a due measure of caution so we wouldn't be caught alone in case we ran into any more of those Shiver beasts. Logan clarified that we were searching for anything that remotely resembled a console when I asked him what it was we were looking for.

  Roaming the chambers we found them disturbingly bare of any type of furniture or settings one might find in an abandoned structure. Mica suggested that such amenities might have long since decomposed, but that proposal was thwarted by the appearance that this crystal castle was sealed tight like a sarcophagus.

  "Maybe it was raided sometime in the ancient past," I suggested offhand, "I've heard it often happened in Egyptian tombs and other such ruins around the world. Thieves and grave robbers run off with the goods in the middle of the night."

  "It's a possibility," Logan granted as we looked around, "hopefully they didn't scamper off with anything important."

  Making our way farther into the building, we tripped across a strange arrangement of leveled rises set in the middle of a chamber. There sat what appeared to be a set of outer and interior rings in the floor almost a full meter in height, but low enough where we could step up upon the rise. Within its center I noticed an image I had remembered seeing before but could not exactly place; so I assumed I was recollecting some glyph or rune I had seen somewhere in previous days. When the professor climbed up to take a look at the center icon I had seen, his expression changed into something unreadable.

  "What is it Doc, you look like you've seen a ghost," I asked Logan, who had gone suddenly silent.

  "It's, it's nothing of concern Allen," the professor replied as he looked around; inspecting the raised dais in thought, "Mica, could you hand me that ring key please," he asked his assistant, who removed it from her wrist and brought it to him.

  Logan searched the central sym
bol and found an almost imperceptible indentation; and set down the large ring within its setting. The moment he did so the ring began to spin and quickly accelerated to incredible speeds. After witnessing this strange behavior all three of us jumped back as the metal ring began to circle the out edge of the dais border. Once it completed is circumference, the ring slipped to the next outer ring and continued its rotation of its diameter while the center platform rose out of the floor to a position far above our heads.

  We backed away as the ring spun around and completed its orbit of the 2nd platform, where it too rose above the outermost ring. After the key ring completed its third rotation of the exterior ring, it slowly stopped spinning and came to rest. Only then did Logan dare to pick it up again. Handing it back to Mica, the professor's attention was directed towards the centermost pillar which had risen beneath the emblem, where another glowing interface containing the image of a woman now appeared.

  We all glanced at one another in astonishment, realizing that this was just like the console with the reddish sphere we had found in the stone forest below the castle. Climbing our way up to it, the illuminated figure began to speak in a strange tongue, but we found no device for us to make physical contact with to allow it to connect with our thoughts. The glowing maiden stopped speaking for a moment, then resumed her speech in our language, so that we could understand. Looking around him at his feet, Logan assumed the large round platform itself was the channel for their connection.

  "Welcome visitors to our sanctum; may the light of the sacred tree fall upon you," she spoke in a whisper that penetrated our heads.

  "Greetings..." Logan coughed, not really knowing if social etiquette was needed when communicating with the device, "there is a great deal we wish to ask you," he offered with a motion toward both myself and his associate.

  "The Kish hear, and wish to share our knowledge," the woman offered in return; awaiting his request.

  "The Kish you say?" Logan began, "I thought this was the domain of Asgard?"

  "Yes, the Kish are all men who dwell within our family, whether they are of large stature or small, being of fragile or hearty or of any color or shade," she offered with grace, "and it is true that this is the citadel of the Asga lands."

  "What happened to your civilization and its people?" Logan breathed with a tone of nostalgia seeping into his words as he addressed the glowing figure. However, there was a long wait of awkward silence as the device failed to respond and began to waver as it was caught in a glitch. Eventually it regained its function and responded to the Professors inquiry.

  "A great many cycles have passed, and it is unknown where our people now reside," it answered curtly.

  "Let me rephrase that question again," Logan offered to correct its misinterpretation, "a very long time ago there was a polar shift, a changing of the natural fields of the world which resulted in this entire continent shifting to a new geographic location. What I meant to ask is if any of your people, the Kish, survive that cataclysm?"

  "Your question cannot be answered," she returned, "for we have no way of tracing those who chose to leave this place."

  Logan realized that his chosen phase of questioning was just running them both in circles. It was obvious to him now that this fortress was a fixed point that that it could not provide further information on its citizens who had abandoned these frozen lands. Mica however, stepped forward and put forth a question of her own.

  "Tell us what happened here before the people left this place," Mica asked.

  "From our great war with the Trinity, there bloomed great strife," she began, "an artifact that was once a weapon of our enemies was transformed into a creation to benefit all those of the Kish. But there came a day when the stars did spin and a forever winter descended upon our green lands. This great weapon was parted into many; to help each of the six domains of the Kish to survive this change, but this resolution only brought sorrow as each of these realms fell upon one another in their struggle to endure the bitter cold. The changes in our world and society had been too great, and instead of combining forces in the efforts of peace, the territories of the Kish withered from the civil storm brewing within our own walls; which destroyed our people more effectively than any tempest could have wrought."

  "So the polar shift must have happened before they split up the energy orbs, which they did to help each domain with their power needs to keep their cities warm," Mica whispered to herself. This in turn made her wonder if the spheres could actually be used to thwart the approaching magnetic shift.

  "Are these six orbs, these artifacts as you called them; can they be controlled to stall and restore the natural fields of the world?" Mica inquired to the glowing maiden.

  "The wise elders of the Kish attempted such a feat, to spin the stars back where they once belonged; but in their effort in doing so they had to link the split sections of the artifact we tapped back into the weapon it once was," the woman answered.

  Its words now clarified what the mural we had seen back in the catacombs of the Dwarven realm, which were actually depicting the reactivation of the orbs to their original purpose by connecting them to one another. Obviously their efforts were unsuccessful, but that didn't cause Logan to lose hope.

  "So they tried and it didn't work, maybe it was because they had parted out the sphere and it needs to be recombined into the configuration it once was," the professor surmised.

  "You mean like taking the pieces of a bomb and putting it back together? Come on Doc, that's just nuts!" I blurted, "I thought you said that it would be a huge mistake to let any single government get a hold of this ancient technology; and now you're thinking about putting it back together in one bow-wrapped package for them?"

  "You agreed it was worth the risk Allen," Logan rebutted, "...I will need to consult my associates as to the gravity of the situation." Turning back towards the image of the maiden he asked it another question, "How can we get the six source orbs to act as one?"

  "By the service of our Elders, the six sources are already joined and are awaiting the awakening of the prime," the figure answered.

  "But the alpha sphere is already activated," Mica stated, as she was confused as to what it had meant by the prime source.

  "Actually, you guys named it that because it was the biggest piece," I offered my opinion with a shrug, "did you ever think that the outer shell wasn't what you thought it was; and maybe it was the innermost core that was the controlling source?"

  A stupefied look washed over Logan's face in a blank stare as he absorbed the simple logic of my words. Of course the weapon the Kish spoke of would be designed like a planet, and the central core was the concentrated source which controlled all its outer layers. They had gotten everything backwards. But if that was so, that might very well mean they were in the wrong place. Mica, being attentive of the conversation, asked the woman the only viable question left she could muster.

  "How do we awaken this ...this prime source, the core of the sphere weapon?" Mica asked.

  "The knowledge of the Trinity who created the weapon was lost to us; and the only way the Elders knew of to awaken the heart of the device was to await a new cycle of change," the glowing images replied.

  I turned to face Logan who was torn between what he should do next. The Kish had connected each of the six orbs together once again to make it functional, but apparently it would take an active polar shift to kick start it into action. That meant we had to step into the eye of a storm before we could attempt to make it dissipate. We had to get back in touch with our ship to let Walter know how this situation had spiraled out of control.

  A World at War

  Professor Logan managed to sway the curious ghostly interface of the Kish to direct him to another crystal console within the complex where we could once again contact our ship. We made our way to an adjacent chamber which looked like a duplicate to the one below near the destroyed greenhouse, where we attempted to raise Walter on the communications channel. Within we found
the disassembled sections of flywheel there, so I took a moment to fit the pieces together as I had done before. After it activated and began spinning the crystal lined console lit up and we were able to reconnect communications with the ship over the radio.

  Luckily we had been wise enough to collect enough fruits and edibles from the garden and packed them in our bags; leaving us with the relief of at least a few more days rations between us. After several hours of trying to reach Walter over the air, we gave up and finally got some much needed rest. The three of us awoke just before the break of dawn the next day. It all honestly, it was a beautiful sight to see the sunlight piercing through the clouds; lighting up the crystal fortress with spectrum of colors washing upon the walls. Mica spoke to me as I stretched and yawned as I roused from my uncomfortable bed on the hard floor.

  "Carrot?" she offered as she pulled a large root out of her bag of rations we had gathered.

  "Are you sure that's a carrot?" I uttered with doubt, looking at the tubular white root. Mica just shrugged and offered it again.

  "I would hope so, at least it tastes like a carrot ...almost," she giggled as she turned away to view the morning sunlight gleaming in through the chamber as a rainbow of colors danced upon the walls, "It must have been beautiful when the sun was higher overhead."

  "What do you mean by that?" I responded, not catching her meaning.

  "When the Antarctica was closer to the equator, the sun would have been positioned almost straight overhead," she pointed up towards the high cathedral roof, "and I imagine the sunlight pouring in from above would have displayed this castle in all its true majesty," she smiled again a the dream of it floating in her mind, "but now the sun barely makes it over the horizon here during this time of the year."

  "I guess you're right," I answered while chewing on the carrot-like vegetable, "it must have been a different world then, covered in green forests and alive with life. It's hard to imagine now looking out across this bleak frozen wasteland."