by Steve LeBel
Leader Gondal listened as the Speaker for the Sun gave the Senate his news.
“It is a divine event! Nothing like it has ever happened before,” the high priest shouted to the sound of people stamping their feet and shouting, “Hear! Hear!”
“But what does it mean?” the Leader asked.
“It means the Sun has answered our prayers,” the high priest said in a knowing way.
“Please explain.”
“Certainly, Leader. Everyone knows we have prayed for the Sun not to leave us at night. For reasons we do not understand, He could not stay. But because of our prayers and our devotion, He created a small Sun to light our night. We call it the ‘night sun’. In this way He shows us His love.” The stamping of feet and shouts of approval echoed through the amphitheater.
“But what of the two tiny lights in the sky?” one of the senators asked.
“Our priests are studying those lights. We think they may be smaller Night Suns held in reserve in case they are needed,” the high priest said.
“But what of the night sun itself? Every night a larger part of the night sun is consumed by the darkness,” the senator persisted.
“There is no cause for concern, Senator. We believe, even if the night sun should disappear completely, the Sun will create a new night sun from the two that remain. There is no evidence the smaller suns are being consumed in any way,” said the high priest with confidence.
“What about the flooding?” asked Minister Landor, who was responsible for the port facilities. “The cities on our coast have reported ocean waters rising and falling every day. Our docks and nearby buildings are flooding and the moorings for our ships have become unusable. Is the night sun the cause of this?”
“Minister, would you not agree that a little flooding is a small price to pay for the night sun?” asked Zardok. “Just move a few buildings and build your docks a little higher.”
Minister Landor didn’t think it was an even trade, but he knew few would agree with him. Even the coastal cities had rejoiced upon the arrival of the night sun.
“Well, I’m still concerned,” said Landor, as he turned to the Leader. “Has anyone asked Lord Alcandor for his opinion?”
“That is completely unnecessary, Leader,” bristled the Speaker. “Our interpretation is obviously correct. There is no need for any second opinion.”
“At this time, I think religion provides the answers we need, Minister,” said leader Gondal. “If we find their explanations wanting, then we shall turn to Lord Alcandor’s science.”
Billy Is Sick Again
This time it was much more serious. Billy had been barely able to crawl back to his cubicle before passing out. The cleaning staff found him and arranged to get him home. His mother called Rachel, the healer, who came straight to the house.
Billy lay very still, barely breathing. Rachel walked around his bed, observing him from every angle. Finally, she turned to Billy’s mom and dad and asked, “Can you think of anything that might have caused this?”
“No, nothing at all,” Billy’s dad said.
His mother said, “We asked him when it happened the first time, but he wouldn’t talk about it. We thought he’d just been careless and was too embarrassed to admit it.”
“Is he going to be okay?” Billy’s father asked.
“Oh, he’ll recover. I don’t see any permanent damage,” said Rachel. “But these episodes take a lot out of him. If they keep happening, and he isn’t able to fully recover his strength, there could be serious problems.”
As Billy’s parents watched, Rachel drew arcane symbols at the head and foot of their son’s bed. She took stones from a pouch by her side, selected three, and placed them around Billy’s head. Finally, she assembled a large pyramid frame over his bed.
“These will help him recover his strength. He will sleep for a day at least. Let him. That’s the best medicine right now. When he wakes up, call me. I’ll stop back and see him then.”
* * *
“How are you feeling, Billy?” Rachel asked.
“Better, thanks. Will I live?”
“Yes, but you may not survive many more of these. Are you ready to tell me what happened?”
“All I know is it has something to do with the time lever. But it doesn’t seem to happen all the time.”
That was only partially true. Billy had been thinking about it since he regained consciousness. The last thing he remembered was being in Bernie’s universe.
* * *
His plan had been simple, really. Melt the polar ice cap. It was thick from two million years of accumulation. A fast melt would send a massive tsunami rushing to the equator, where it would overwhelm Bernie’s sausage-shaped continent.
Billy had planned it for several days. He wanted to create a large vertical wave, called a bore, which would come rushing in with water churning at its front. He wanted it large enough to drag a wave train of lesser waves behind it. The elevation on Bernie’s continent was not high, except for the mountain range in the middle of the continent, and he was curious to see how far inland he could send the tsunami.
After he saw what the northern ice cap could do, he would make adjustments, melt the southern cap, and see if he could do better. Everything had gone perfectly on the northern cap. He melted everything and sent mountains of water surging toward the equator.
Because it would take time for the tsunami to reach the continent, Billy wanted to enjoy watching the tsunami’s damage as it made landfall. It was when he had moved his time lever ahead, something had gone wrong.
Billy thought back to when he had overheated the core of Bernie’s planet. He had no problems until he tried to move forward in time to observe the destruction as the oceans boiled away. That was when he’d been struck down. Yet he’d used his lever many times that very day on his own projects without any problems.
Then a thought occurred to him. Bernie was geeky enough to have figured out how to lay a trap in his universe. It had to be something like that. Bernie has figured out how to stop me from advancing time in his universe. Hmm… I have to give Ber-Nerd some credit, he thought. He’s a bit slow on the uptake, but he hits back hard.
* * *
“Why are you smiling?” Rachel asked.
“I just figured out a problem from work,” said Billy. “Speaking of which, when can I go back?”
“You’d better stay in bed for a couple more days. Get your strength back. You can go back on Monday.”
“That’ll be just fine.”
Ring of Emptiness
Bernie got home, went to his room, and entered his universe through the new backdoor. He did the same thing every night. During Billy’s absence, there had been no new problems, and Bernie had enjoyed the respite. Their conversation today had made it clear Billy was angry. It was a good thing he’d checked his world when he did, because he was barely in time.
At first, the universe looked okay. The sun, the planets, and the yellow moon were just as he’d left them. But something was wrong on the planet. As he studied it more closely, it finally registered: the northern polar icecap was missing. The southern icecap remained, but in the north, there was nothing.
The ocean at the top of the planet was hot. Very hot. The water temperature at the South Pole was cold, as it should be. What had Billy done? The thick mantle of ice covering the North Pole had been melted, yet it seemed unlikely polar ice mixing with ocean water would be particularly harmful. He must have missed something. He flashed to his main continent to see if his plants were okay. That’s when he saw the problem.
All around the planet, in an ever-widening ring, was a wave of surging water. A huge tsunami raced toward his continent. He might not have noticed but for the volcanic islands scattered across the ocean. The tsunami had devastated island after island as it moved to the big continent.
Bernie’s mind raced as he tried to think of a way to stop this giant wave from washing over his land. The wave moved closer. He could see it beg
inning to rise up as it approached the shallow waters near the northern shore.
A quick solution was not easy. Creation is not a fast process, and Bernie had no putty at home to help him. That left only one option. He must use his power to destroy. Yet if he wasn’t careful, he could destroy more than he intended. He had to act quickly.
Bernie visualized a latitude line that circled the planet twenty miles north of the long northern shore of his continent. He pictured in his mind a strip of water five miles wide and two miles deep that continued around the world. This ring was where he would make his stand.
Bernie held his visualization as the giant wave entered his ring, rearing up higher and higher as it neared the land. Then, before the wave could escape the ring, he blinked. He blinked all the water in his five by two mile ring into nothingness. All around the planet was an empty trench where the water used to be.
An oncoming wall of water from the north rushed to fill the empty channel. Water from the landside was also drained to help fill the trench. As the trench filled, the tsunami prepared to resume its assault on the land. Bernie blinked again. And the water disappeared.
He repeated this until the tsunami faded at last. Only then did he let the ocean fill his ring.
“Oh, Chaos,” he said. “That was a close one.”
Tragedy at Sea
Reports had been coming in for several days. Gondal, Leader of the Senate, had called a meeting of his ministers to review what they knew. It was Landor, the minister responsible for ships and port facilities, who spoke first.
“There are two vessels past due. The Sun Seeker has a crew of forty-two and sails the northern coast between Calidona and the Capital. The Sea Breeze has a crew of fifty-three and also sails the northern coast between the Capital and Surinex. They’re both engaged in textile shipping.”
“What effort has been made to find them?” Gondal asked.
“We launched four ships to look for them, but so far we’ve heard nothing.”
“Tell me about the anomaly that was reported,” Gondal said.
“People claim the water along the coast just disappeared. An hour later it was back to normal.”
“Disappeared? That doesn’t make sense,” said Minister Nottag demonstrating his famous scowl.
“They claim the water just drained away,” said Landor. “They could see the ocean bottom for miles in every direction. Ships in the harbor lay at anchor on their sides.”
“Where did this happen?”
“Everywhere—at least along the northern coast. There are no reports like it from the southern coast,” Landor said.
“Were there any ships at sea that observed this phenomenon?” Gondal asked.
“We only know of the Dawn Joy. The captain says when the water went out, his ship was beached on some rocks. Otherwise, he says his ship would have been drawn out to sea with the rest of the water. They saw a dark line out in the ocean. He claims it was miles wide, and it kept appearing and disappearing. After a while, the water came back and lifted his vessel again. He sailed immediately to the nearest port. We located him in a bar near the waterfront. He and his crew had drunk themselves into a stupor.”
“I don’t like this at all,” said Gondal. “What precautions have you taken?”
“I’ve called all the ships back to port for the next five days. The only ships I have at sea are searching for survivors.”
Gondal nodded his approval and turned to the rest of his ministers. “Can anyone here offer an explanation?”
“I asked Speaker Zardok about it,” said Minister Tonst, the official liaison between the Senate and the Temple.
“And?”
“He said he will consult with his senior priests and advise us if they uncover any explanations.”
“I talked with Lord Alcandor,” said Branton, the science minister. “He couldn’t explain it either, but he said something interesting about the ocean.”
Gondal nodded for Branton to continue. “He said there’s a relationship between the depth of the sea and the position of the Sun. He said twice a day, the ocean reaches its highest point. The first is when the Sun is directly overhead and the second is when the Sun is halfway between setting and rising—”
Minister Nottag interrupted Branton. “He’s known that for a long time. Alcandor called them ‘tides’ or some such. This isn’t new information.”
“If I might be allowed to finish, Minister? Alcandor has also been studying the effect of the night sun on the ocean. The night sun also makes tides twice a day. He says instead of making the ocean rise by inches, as the Sun does, the night sun makes the ocean rise by several feet.”
“That’s impossible,” said Tonst immediately. “Nothing is more powerful than the Sun.”
Although there were murmurs of agreement from the ministers, Gondal asked, “What proof does Alcandor have for this claim?”
“He’s been using measuring sticks in several ports along the coast,” said Branton.
“With all the other strange things happening lately, why is he studying the water?” Nottag asked.
“I can answer that,” said Gondal. “We asked Alcandor to study it. You remember the reports of flooding when the night sun arrived? We wanted to know if it was temporary or if we should abandon the areas that keep flooding.”
Branton continued. “I think when Alcandor makes his report, he’ll tell us the night sun flooding will continue. He said it’s so regular he can predict exactly when it will happen each day.”
Landor groaned. The Senate’s building fund would have to be tapped again. Gondal steered the conversation back. “Does Alcandor see a connection between the flooding and what happened here?”
“He’s looking into it. He said it may be another manifestation of the flooding phenomenon. Some sort of inverse correlation, whatever that means,” said Branton.
“What’s his best guess?” Gondal asked.
“You know how Alcandor gets.” Branton shrugged. “He has lots of theories, but when I pressed him for answers, he told me he just doesn’t know yet.”
“Until we know more, I think keeping your ships in port is a good decision, Landor. Let’s continue that for now. If there are more unusual events, let me know right away, and we’ll reconvene,” Gondal said.
If he’d been able to see the future, Gondal would have shuddered. Nothing in his life had prepared him for the unusual events yet to come.
A Favorite Bookstore
Tonight felt different. For the first time since Bernie installed his backdoor, he didn’t feel the need to rush home and protect his universe. Billy had been absent for two days.
After work, he meandered around the Central Plaza until, after crossing one of the bridges, he found himself in front of his favorite bookstore. When he worked for Good Shimmer Imports, his job was keeping their bookshelves stocked. Isaiah, the owner, was a gregarious god who always had a kind word for young Bernie. Life was much simpler when all he had to do was keep books on shelves.
Isaiah carried a full range of books. The new titles, prominently displayed at the front of the store, included Building for Fun and Profit, Building in the Zone, and The Top 100 Destination Universes. Bernie, like most builders, was drawn to the award winners section with its parade of new titles. Among the current best sellers, he found: This Year’s Award Winners: Why They Won, The Top 50 Awards of All Time, and What Does It Take to Win?
As Bernie read the new titles, he drifted into the biographies section. The shelves were full of stories about current and past award winners and what they had done to make their universes special. It was a popular section, since everyone wanted insight into any tricks or gimmicks the winners had used to put them over the top.
Bang! Thump!
“Stop it. Just stop it,” Bernie muttered under his breath. His cloud ignored him as a third book fell to the floor. Once again, he calmed himself before reaching down to pick up the fallen books. He wasn’t surprised to see the books were about his dad. He
was usually more careful in this part of the store. The first book was titled Simeon Claims Number Three, a perennial best seller. The second book was an autobiography he had once borrowed from Isaiah called Simeon Tells All. At first, Bernie had been excited to read about his dad, but his excitement turned to disappointment when he found no mention of his mom or himself. Simeon talked plenty about his childhood and the rest of his life. But, neither his wife nor his son had merited any comment.
“Hey, Bernie. I guessed it had to be you throwing your dad’s books around again.” Isaiah grinned as he waved to Bernie from his tall stool near the register.
Bernie shook his head. Fortunately, none of the books had been damaged. The last thing he wanted was to have to pay for one.
He wandered instinctively to the Self-Help Section, where he had purchased more than a few books. One title that caught his attention was How to get Along at Work. When he saw several chapters about difficult bosses and unsupportive coworkers, he decided it was a good investment.
On his way to the checkout, he passed through the Occult Section. The best sellers included: Good Luck or Bad Luck: It’s Your Choice, Bending Probability to Your Advantage, What’s Happening in the Parallel Dimensions? and Does Magic Work in Our World? Bernie thought again of his friend. Lenny’s a bright guy, and he loves this stuff. I understand OWT, but this is over the top for me.
At the checkout, Isaiah asked, “How have you been, Bernie? We haven’t seen you for a while.”