by B. C. Harris
Although we’re currently studying geometry, his question is completely unrelated to the sheet of questions he deposited on our desks at the beginning of the class.
Martha’s hand shoots up. At the same moment, Michael diverts attention away from her as he begins to grunt and groan, contorting his body into a weird shape.
Mr. Bosworth and Ms. Cathbert look disturbed by Michael’s antics.
As Michael unfolds before us into a strange new shape, his jerky movements and sound effects suggest he’s a robot or some mechanical device. His arms and legs appear to have a mind of their own.
“A transformer!” Someone exclaims in a loud whisper.
We laugh.
Michael is attempting to mimic a transformer changing into another shape.
“Michael, what are you doing?” Mr. Bosworth says, obviously not understanding that Michael is giving a live demonstration to answer his question about triangles.
Ms. Cathbert also looks confused.
“Mr. Bosworth,” Michael says, “in one of my comic books, a robot is created that can change into a human.”
Mr. Bosworth looks puzzled as if to say “so what?”
“Don’t you see?” Michael continues. “It’s all about the angles and triangles. The shape that a transformer converts into must already be present in the geometry of the original shape. The triangles and angles are simply expanding or contracting, but the ratio of their dimensions are always constant.”
Mr. Bosworth looks totally dumbfounded by Michael’s explanation. This is not the first time that Michael has left a teacher speechless in spite of his often comical approach to making his point. While most teachers have a good grasp of what’s in a textbook, Michael often understands how concepts can be applied to the reality outside of books. He is the perfect example of someone who can think outside the box.
Ms. Cathbert, also missing the significance of what Michael has done, whispers something to Mr. Bosworth. He nods, and the two of them disappear into the hallway, completely ignoring Michael’s brilliant answer to Mr. Bosworth’s question.
Michael would be a great addition to my team. Not only could he provide some much needed humor if we find ourselves in a difficult situation; he also has the ability to view a problem in a way that’s totally different than most other people. Involving him would be easy. He has a crush on Jasmin in the same way that she’s obsessed with Drew.
I smile. My team is complete.
There will be five of us: Jamie, Drew, Jasmin, Michael and me, providing the others all say yes.
- 20 -
A WARM WELCOME
As we stand in a compartment staring through a wall at the fabulous underwater city, it’s hard for me to believe that seconds ago, the five of us were sitting on the floor of my basement. After telling my classmates about the emerald and my journey to Tamor, they readily agreed to join the mission, although it was fairly obvious to me that none of them really believed my story. From the look on their faces at the time, they thought I was playing a joke on them.
In my basement it was easy for my classmates to say they would help me. When I began to hold the emerald in my hands and asked them to join hands together, they followed my instructions. They didn’t even look surprised when I put on a large backpack carrying bottled water, snacks, and a first aid kit. Before any of them could question what I was doing, we had arrived in Lattisan.
Now as I look at each of them, I see the wonder in their eyes. Here we are in a transparent chamber at the bottom of a huge lake, gazing at a modern city in a sphere before us.
A cute dog-faced creature approaches. It’s Capurni.
As a door opens, my classmates follow me into the fabulous underwater world of Lattisan.
I introduce each of them to Capurni. Although they smile at him, they’re in a trance at the reality of what is happening.
“Welcome,” Capurni says after the introductions. “We are thrilled that you have accepted our request to help us.”
“How can you talk?” Jasmin asks with obvious confusion. “How can animals talk?”
Before Capurni or I respond to Jasmin’s question, Michael says, “It’s like we’re in a strange fantasy world inside one of my comic books.”
“Or a civilization like Atlantis,” Jamie says excitedly.
Jasmin is clinging to Drew who is maintaining his usual aloof attitude.
There is a line of various colored zelans waiting for us.
“Follow me,” I say, leading my classmates into the incredible world that awaits us.
They quickly follow as I walk towards the zelans.
“In front of us, you can see a line of what appear to be cars or maybe airplanes. They’re called zelans. Each of you should get into one of them.” As I catch a look of apprehension on Jasmin’s face, I add “Believe me, this is going to be a lot of fun.”
“They look like race cars,” Michael says enthusiastically as he walks towards the zelans.
“This is more like ‘Twenty-thousand Leagues Under The Sea’ written in the future,” Jamie adds, the excitement evident in his voice.
I count five zelans awaiting us. One of them is empty which I guess must be for Capurni and me. The other four have drivers who are the same basic physical shape as Capurni although they each have slightly different facial features.
Two of the drivers have faces like dogs while the other two resemble a mixture between the face of a frog with the eyes, ears and whiskers of a cat.
“How weird,” Jasmin says as we reach the zelans, although I’m not sure if she’s describing the drivers or the vehicles.
Glancing at my classmates, I realize that Jasmin looks the most nervous. I’m beginning to wonder if I made an error in choosing her.
Michael is the first to reach a zelan. I’m glad I decided to ask him to be on my team. He brings a positive energy that might help to lower the anxiety of the rest of us.
He’s so excited that he trips when he’s entering the zelan, and falls face first into the passenger seat with his feet sticking upwards. We erupt in laughter.
Once Michael recovers, he says, “This is incredible. In one of my comic books, I once read about cars like these.”
His zelan shoots straight up, does a few somersaults, twists as it zooms downwards, and then levels off into a holding position as it waits for the rest of us.
There is a huge smile on Michael’s face.
Jamie is the next to enter a zelan.
“I’m in an underwater world and now I’m going to ride in some futuristic car,” Jamie says, his voice filled with anticipation. “This is the most incredible experience I’ve ever had.”
For the first time, I notice some fervor in Drew’s eyes. Anything to do with cars is his thing. He jumps into a zelan as though he can’t wait to get going.
Jasmin is the last of my classmates to enter her zelan. She’s taking her time, looking unsure how to react to the amazing world that surrounds us.
“How can we possibly breathe in this sphere that is under the water?” Jasmin asks, fear evident in her voice.
“The walls around us are constructed from microscopic creatures called celleria,” I say. “They are able to manufacture a constant supply of fresh oxygen so that we can breathe as though we are on land.”
Jasmin smiles at me in a manner that suggests she doesn’t understand what I said, but she accepts my explanation.
Jasmin cautiously sits down in the last car.
By the time that Capurni and I finally enter our zelan, the other zelans are racing in a tight formation like a jet squadron. One second they are flying upwards along the face of a towering building; the next, they are dropping straight down.
Soon we’re zigzagging around each other. It’s as though we’re on a crazy carnival ride.
After fifteen to twenty minutes of enjoying the ride of our lives, the zelans come together in a circle. It’s almost as though we’ve pulled our desks together in a classroom, except that we’re now sitting i
n zelans instead of desks, and this certainly isn’t our classroom.
“If you look closely at the buildings around you,” I say, “you will see that they are pulsating.”
My classmates look at the buildings in astonishment, nodding their heads in agreement at what I told them.
“That’s because they’re made of celleria. The celleria not only give structure to the buildings but they provide a constant source of fresh oxygen in the same way as the celleria in the walls of the sphere.”
“As well,” Capurni adds, “the celleria in the buildings provide a constant flow of energy to light our world, control the temperature, and even assist in providing the energy necessary to equalize the pressure in the sphere so we can live as though we are on land.”
“Does this mean you have no problems with pollution?” Jamie asks.
“That’s correct. There is no pollution in our world. We have a flawless system that constantly replenishes our needs without any form of harmful waste.”
“A perfect world,” Jamie says with admiration. “You have created the perfect eco-system.”
“What about the engines in the zelans?” Drew asks. “What kind of fuel do they run on?”
“They don’t require any sort of fuel in the way that I think you mean,” Capurni replies. “The zelans, like anything else in our underwater world gain their power from an energy exchange within the celleria. This energy is perpetual and pollution free.”
“When you say perpetual,” Jamie interjects, “does this mean that the celleria live forever?”
Capurni pauses as he considers this question.
“In some ways the celleria live forever because they automatically regenerate themselves in a constant flow of energy. For the celleria, there is no such thing as birth or death. Their existence is more like a circle than a straight line with a beginning and end.”
There is no response from anyone to what Capurni said. I know that there are some things he is likely to say that will be difficult for us to understand.
“Exactly,” Capurni replies. “In Lattisan, all of nature interacts in harmony. Any by-product of an energy transfer simply results in more pure energy.”
“What keeps the celleria alive?” Jamie asks. “Where do they get their energy from?”
“They eat each other,” Michael interjects with a dramatic flair as though he’s a monster gobbling everything in sight.
We laugh at Michael’s antics.
Capurni says, “In some ways that is the correct answer Michael, although they don’t actually eat each other. Energy is created through a process known as symbiotransergy.”
“Symbio…?” I say.
“Sym-bio-trans-ergy,” Capurni slowly repeats. “This process enables the celleria to continually replicate themselves with a by-product of creating energy. As each cellerian creates a replica of itself, at the same time it is creating energy that fuels our world.”
“How big is one cellerian?” Jamie asks.
“Jamie,” Capurni replies, “each cellerian is about the size of a tiny dot.”
“Is everything made of celleria?” Jamie continues, his tone of voice reflecting his interest in this incredible world.
“Everything, except for the actual inhabitants of Lattisan,” Capurni answers. “Why don’t we take a tour along one of our streets?”
The zelans break the circle we have been in and start to move slowly above a wide street in between some high buildings. Below us, the streets appear to be vibrating.
“Even the streets are alive,” Jamie exclaims.
“Look!” shouts Michael. “There are all kinds of creatures walking in the streets below us.”
“That one looks like a giraffe,” Jamie says.
“Over there,” Michael points. “That creature looks like a big yellow bear, except that it has ears like an elephant.”
“What kind of animals are they?” Jasmin asks. “And how did someone ever train the animals that are driving our zelans?”
Capurni and I laugh at the same time in response to Jasmin’s remarks.
“Actually,” I begin, “all the creatures that you see are actually people. They may look different than us, and even different than each other, but just the same they are all people.”
“How is that possible?” Jasmin asks. “Don’t people all have to look like us? Don’t people all have to be humans?”
“Obviously not here,” I say.
“Everyone looks happy,” Jamie says.
“Our inhabitants are generally happy, but today they are even happier because of your arrival,” Capurni says.
I look at Capurni. He winks at me. I suspect that very soon we will be given the details of our mission. When he does this, my friends will better understand why there’s such a strong feeling of gratitude towards us in the streets below.
“Do these people work?” Jamie asks.
“Yes. Each person makes his or her contribution to the welfare and happiness of our world. For example, some of our people are celleriaculturalists.”
“What’s a celleriaculturalist?” I ask.
Capurni continues, “Celleriaculturalists develop different kinds of celleria that can be used for a multitude of different purposes throughout Lattisan. Some celleria are used to construct buildings, for example, while others are used to create zelans or even the walls of the sphere that encloses our world.”
“Do you have stores?” Jasmin asks.
“Yes, Capurni replies. “Our stores provide food and other necessities for our people.”
“Is there any crime here?” Jamie asks.
“Unfortunately Jamie, crime is likely a part of every world. Regardless of how harmonious a civilization might be, there will always be some people who have difficulty following the laws or the expectations, although in my world crime is rare.”
“You said before that the creatures, or should I say the people living here, are not made of celleria. What are they made of?” Michael asks.
“Our people are made of cells like you and your friends. Although each of us is unique, we believe that there is a consciousness that links us all together.”
“A consciousness?” I say.
“The God particle,” Jamie replies.
“The God particle?” Capurni says.
Jamie continues, “In our world, some scientists believe that there is an energy field that exists everywhere in the universe, even in empty space. This field gives mass to particles that interact with it. The field is names Higgs after one of the scientists who first identified it. Some people have taken the original theory proposed by Higgs a little further and speculated that there are very small particles that thread their way through every object in the universe. It has also been suggested that each of these particles contain some form of consciousness. Some people have named these the God particle, although some scientists would say that this is an exaggeration of the theory that Higgs developed.”
There is an awkward silence at the completion of Jamie’s explanation as we try to understand what he said.”
“I’m completely confused,” Jasmin says. “How can God be a particle? I thought He was a supreme power.”
“For us,” Capurni says, “we believe that this supreme power is found in every cell. We have named this power presergy.”
“Presergy? Is that something like DNA?” I ask.
“Not exactly,” Capurni replies. “DNA is a basic blueprint for the development of cells. Presergy provides a consciousness to every living cell. Presergy can manipulate the DNA of a species, or even create something new where nothing existed before.”
Michael is the first to respond. “In one of my comic books, I remember reading about a faraway planet where the inhabitants could create new worlds by dreaming about them. Can you do this through presergy?”
“Some of our people believe this is possible Michael, but at this time there is no factual proof that anyone has actually accomplished this,” Capurni replies, “although we do
believe that presergy as a supreme power can create new worlds.”
“I’m so confused,” Jasmin says. “Can’t we skip the science lesson? I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”
Capurni nods to Jasmin, but Jamie keeps the current conversation going. “Do you believe that there are other worlds in the universe?”
“Jamie,” Capurni responds, “the word universe is an ancient term that suggests that there is only one universe. We now know that there are many universes. Each universe is part of a larger system. This system, known as an eternaverse, is multi-dimensional.”
“Like 3-D?” Michael asks.
“More like infinite-D,” Capurni responds. “And within the eternaverse there are likely millions of worlds where people of various forms live.”
Silence follows Capurni’s comment.
Although I understand most of what has been said, it’s still astonishing to think about.
I’m the first one to break the solitude. “Perhaps, this would be a good time for us to learn about how we can help you.”
“Yes,” Capurni says. “Follow me, and I will provide the details of your mission.”
- 21 -
MISSION INSTRUCTIONS
After leading our zelans into a room in a towering building, we step out of them and sit on one of the chairs or couches scattered around the room.
The moment Jasmin sits on a couch she quickly jumps off it, shouting, “The couch is alive.”
Capurni and I laugh.
Jamie and Michael inspect their chairs.
“Are these made out of celleria?” Jamie asks.
“Yes,” says Capurni. “Celleria are used for many different functions.”
“Ah, this feels good,” Michael says as he sinks into his chair. “It’s like millions of tiny vibrators massaging me.”
Soon Michael and Jamie are enjoying the massaging action of the celleria. Drew and Jasmin are sitting on a couch with Jasmin inching her way towards him.