The midarians walked a hundred meter and got on a small craft their companions had left them to go back to Mida.
“What happened tonight is unacceptable,” said the leader in a solemn tone of voice. “I thought everyone had the aim of this mission very clear.”
“Without downplaying my soldier’s disobedience, you’ll have to admit that thanks to his ray they could see the origin of the fire.”
“Beiler…” he stopped for some seconds, “… this experiment is beginning to be fruitful. We have to be careful with how to use our powers. For the time being, they think we’re a kind of gods that seek for their wellbeing, but their position may change if they see us as a threat.”
The captain nodded.
“Sir… do you think it would be a good idea to show them how to make fire?”
“Yes. I think that would improve their lives considerably.”
The conversation lasted several hours within a debate about which improvements to include or not in that mission. The following morning they got out of the craft and went to the cavern. Everybody was sleeping; everybody, except from the little girl who had recovered her father the previous night.
She took Yewut’s arm and pulled it downwards strongly without managing to move his heavy body a single millimeter.
“Could you bend a little?” She asked sweetly.
He bent down until he almost reached her height. The girl, tiptoeing, managed to lean on his helmet and started to beat it.
“What are you doing, young lady?”
“I’m calling the light”
“The light?” He asked surprised.
“I think she’s talking about the ray,” Beiler added joining the conversation.
The little girl nodded, nervous.
“I’d like to see the magical light again.”
“I’ll show you how to do it,” Yewut answered.
He bent down and picked two stones. He gathered several dry leaves that were around him and put them on one of them. Then he hit them.
Only four tries were enough to generate the spark and make the miracle possible. The tapping made the lethargic racots wake up. Without giving time for it to fade out, he suffocated the fire with the boot.
“Your turn,” Yewut said inviting the girl.
Following the procedure she had witnessed, the girl took two small stones and started to hit each other. After trying it for several minutes, she ended up desperate and threw one of them with frustration.
“I can’t!” She exclaimed.
His father, who was watching the scene with admiration, got closer to make an attempt. Imitating the movement done by his god, almost all the members of the settlement joined. The tapping produced by the minerals was steady and deafening.
Finally, and after several hours of insistence, one of them —maybe the oldest one— made it. With the innocence of a boy opening a Christmas present, they started to place some pieces of wood and bushes on that bonfire so as to preserve the fire.
«I want to get out of here and go back to my body. But how can I do that?»
Chapter 14
Josef spend that weekend totally at home. He had been busy finishing organizing some cupboards and having a look at some photographs that were inside his granpa’s old chest. «What would have happened to Margaret?» He wondered once and again. He did not have any news from her during the first three days of the week. He was starting to worry, because after asking the boss of the cafeteria, he had told him he knew nothing about her whereabouts. It was on Thursday evening that, just after dinner, when he had settled in one of the chaise longue, his grandfather’s bell rang.
His intuition made him know that maybe it was she. He was not mistaken.
“What a surprise!” He exclaimed calmly.
Margaret looked shabby. She was wearing ordinary sweatpants and a pair of tennis. That had nothing to do with her usual outfits. Her face was blurred behind a pair of striking dark circles under her eyes that showed a disproportionate tiredness.
“I’m sorry to bother you, but I need to talk with someone,” she said in a muffled voice. “Is this a bad moment?”
“No… no,” Josef answered a bit surprised by her looks. “Come in and let’s talk. Would you like something to drink?”
Margaret shook her head and got into the hall. Josef closed the door and invited her to go to the living-room.
It was a large simple space carefully ordered. On the right, there was a rectangular crystal and steel table with twelve white chairs. In the middle, there were two white leather chaise longue joined forming a U. In front of them, a big one hundred-inch television hung on the wall. On the left, there was an enormous window that let in a warm and relaxing natural light during the day, while at night it was a perfect cosmic viewpoint. The walls were embellished with old film posters that highlighted his film devotion.
«So much sofa to live alone?»
“I like being comfortable,” Josef said smiling, as if he had read her mind.
The young Psychology student sat down and started to let off steam.
“The other day, when we were about to start having lunch, I received a call from my mother. She said that my father had felt a strong abdominal pain and I scared a lot. We went to the doctor and he was diagnosed peritonitis. He had an emergency operation that same day and all was well in the end. But that was not going to last: some hours later his temperature sore. According to what he learnt later, it was due to a pulmonary infection.”
“I didn’t know anything. Is he better now?”
“Yes, he was discharged that afternoon. Now he’s at home recovering,” Margaret answered with a slight smile of relief.
“I asked about you at the cafeteria and I was told they didn’t know anything. Didn’t you notify them?”
“My phone ran out of battery and I wasn’t able to talk to my boss. I got in touch with him a short while ago and he told me that I had lost my job.”
“I’m sorry,” Josef said caressing her shoulder.
“To tell the truth, I won’t miss that job. Oh!” She exclaimed. “Before I forget,” the young girl took from inside her bag the book she had borrowed from the library and gave it to him. “I loved it.”
“Were you able to read at the hospital?”
“Of course. You’ve never been at the hospital to accompany anyone, haven’t you?”
“No.”
“I supposed. If you had, you’d know that the hours are very long there. You only have to see how terrible I look,” she said pulling gently her frizzy hair.
“I’ve seen you better to tell the truth,” he kidded. “Which of the stories of the book did you like the most?”
Margaret laughed out loud.
“The one your grandmother lived.”
“It’s obvious that no matter how hard I try, my opinion can’t be completely impartial, but honestly her story shocked me.”
“I think it’s incredible how she tells with detailed information what her previous life was like. I read on the Internet that when the book was published, a lot of detractors who wanted to undermine veracity to her story appeared. They claimed that it was a mere marketing ploy invented by the editor. The truth is that it was a best seller.”
Josef’s face changed at hearing this last remark.
“Her sole intention was letting the world know her reincarnation and other people’s. She didn’t care if it was a best seller or not. Do you believe her?”
“Of course,” she answered without hesitation. Her story aroused great controversy due to the explanation she gave to one of the mysteries that have worried humanity along its whole existence: the construction of the pyramids. According to her story, sometimes thousands of tons of stones suddenly appeared in a great esplanade. The pharaohs said that those sudden apparitions were made by the gods. In order to carve the blocks, they used a tool that projected a blue square light on the stone.
Mery’s reincarnation told the experiences of ten people who remembered
several moments of their past life in detail. In the case of Mary, —Josef’s grandmother—, it told what her life had been like in Egypt in 2500 BC. Her story aroused great controversy due to the explanation it gave to one of the mysteries that have intrigued humanity over time: the construction of the pyramids. According to her story, sometimes thousands of tons of stone appeared spontaneously in a great esplanade. The pharaohs used to say that such sudden apparitions were work of the gods. In order to carve the blocks they used a tool that projected on the stone a blue light with the shape of a square. After some seconds of exposition, the block became detached from the rest. After having been carved, they were picked among several people and placed on rectangular platforms that moved in the air at high speed to transport each block with precision to the area previously assigned.
“Her explanation shows that the architects of the pyramids were beings technologically superior to us,” Josef said totally convinced.
“I think it was the work of gods they worshipped.”
“Gods?” Josef asked sharply rejecting Margaret’s words. “God doesn’t exist!” He exclaimed. “The only thing that exists is science and evolution; the material and the visible. Nothing else.” He added shaking his head ‘no’.
“As far as I can see, you don’t believe in him,” Margaret said with resignation.
“No,” he answered sharply.
“Why are you so convinced that he doesn’t exist? I do believe in God.”
“Believing that God would allow that a child to be born in vegetative state? Believing that God would allow that a catastrophe to kill thousands of people? Believing that God would allow a planet full of violence and envy to exist?” Josef’s face expressed anger and frustration.
Margaret remained looking at him without knowing what to say. Despite being a devoted believer, more than once she had questioned all what his friend was now saying.
“On some occasions, fateful situations which are really unfair happen, but I’m sure that somewhere there’s a being that protects us. I refuse to think that we’re a mere product of the evolution. “
“You’re free to believe in him. I choose the science.”
Both of them remained in silence. Margaret raised her eyes and started to examine one by one the movie posters on the wall. On the left of the television there was a poster of the Oscar-winning The English Patient. At only twenty centimeters, one of her favorite movies: Forrest Gump. By its side, the man who dared confront the Roman emperor: Gladiator…
“Do you like cinema?”
“Yes…” she hesitated, “…well, to be honest I don’t see movies very often.”
“Have you seen one of these?” He asked pointing to the posters.
Margaret shook her head ‘no’.
“To tell the truth, I had never seen most of these titles in my life.”
“Some of them are more than a hundred years old. I love old cinema. The directors of the past were authentic genius. With nowadays technology it’s much easier doing cinema.”
The young girl shrugged. She was not aware of the plenty of existent resources to create any possible imaginable scenario in a small set.
“The world’s game,” she read aloud. “What is it?” She asked pointing to the book written by Josef’s grandfather, which was on a small table placed in front of the chaise longue.
“Nothing,” he answered nervously. “A manuscript my grandfather wrote.”
“Was he also a writer?”
“No, that one wasn’t published. It’s a collection of documents and notes he took along his life. It’s a kind of… personal diary.”
“And what is it about?”
“Well…” he didn’t know what to answer, “…I haven’t finished it yet. In his work, he saw certain things that made him wonder about several issues.”
The young Psychology student looked at him with suspicion.
“He was an astronaut. My grandfather was Mike Rogers!” He exclaimed with proud.
“Are you saying that I’m at the first man to walk on Uranus’ grandson’s house?” She asked with wide-open eyes.
“Yes.”
“And what did he witness during his career?”
“Hundreds of classified shootings of sightings of UFOs. As it happens, on his trip to Uranus, his craft was chased by a row of forty unknown UFOs during the whole journey. When they arrived, they disappeared unexplainably.”
“Why the media doesn’t echo this news?”
“I think you know that the first moon landing video was a fake resulting from an editing made on a television studio.”
The young girl shrugged again.
“Well, we did step on the moon, but the recording was too risky to be shown to the world. For such reason, they decided to create a video which was more…” he thought for some seconds trying to find the best way to define it, “…commercial,” he smiled.
“How are you so sure?” Margaret asked with skepticism.
“My grandfather worked there. The space lie was an open secret.”
“And did he tell you what the original recording contained?”
Josef nodded. In that moment he remembered one of his childhood favorite games. They were in his studio. Grandpa and grandson looked through their telescopes.
“Shall we play hide and seek?” Mike asked
“Yes!” He answered excitedly. It’s my turn. You can’t look.
Josef started to move the telescope in search of a star on which to hide. It was a game they used to play every evening. They chose one and began to make questions to guess which one it was. Without noticing, the young astronaut apprentice had learnt which the main stars of the galaxy were.
“Ready!” He exclaimed.
“Are you in the Scorpio constellation?”
“No.”
“In Leo’s?”
“No.”
“In the Great Bear’s?”
“No.”
“Give me a hint,” begged his grandpa.
“I go out hunting every night.”
“Orion’s.”
“That’s it! On which star am I hidden?”
“On Rigel?”
“No.” Josef answered quickly.
“Betelgeuse!”
“Yes!” He shouted.
“Now it’s my turn…”
“Will you tell me what the original recording has?” Margaret asked for the second time.
Josef got back from his dreaminess with wet eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I hadn’t talked about these things with anyone for a long time… The shooting filmed from his craft showed a huge military base and beside it a hangar with dozens of crafts. As soon as they landed, everything turned hostile. The parked crafts moved to his spot. Some gigantic beings came out them. They were three or four meters tall, according to my grandfather. Their heads were covered with a kind of aqualung. They had only two eyes on their faces. They lacked noses or mouths. Their bodies were covered with a silver suit. One of those beings went ahead and started talking in a perfect American English. He ordered them to go back to Earth and never to come back. They threatened to destroy the planet if we dared disobey their demands. The astronauts wrote a report informing that the being that communicated with them completely paralyzed their bodies only with his gaze. They weren’t able to move again until it stopped talking.”
“A perfect American English?” She asked mocking. “That makes your story less credible.”
“That’s how my grandfather described it.”
“And how’s it possible that you haven’t read his book yet?” She asked leaning forward to pick it.
Josef became tense. «Who gave you permission??»
“Be careful, please. The leaves are much deteriorated.”
“Don’t worry. I’m used to reading books with old pages. The Bible I’ve got belonged to my great grandmother.” She added smiling.
“To tell the truth, I haven’t read it because it wasn’
t until a few days ago that I had it with me.”
“How’s that?”
“Because it was in my grandfather’s house,” he added without getting into detail.
“I’d like you to let me have a look at it.”
“Now?”
Margaret nodded.
“It’s too late.”
“At least only a few pages,” she said staring at Josef with her light eyes.
“All right.”
«Women’s persuasion power.»
Chapter 15
The young midarian started to send orders to his body in order to be able to separate from the cylinder so as to get back to the Golden Pyramid. Without knowing how, his insistence was rewarded and he could regain the control of the situation.
«Finally, I’ve come back home,» he thought with relief. He got up from the floor and hesitated whether to go back to Nalactia or to contact his grandfather’s niolar. Had he known the serious consequences his decision was about to unchain, surely he would have decided to leave. This time was his right hand the one that deliberately made contact with the structure. His body shook again and the niolar detached from it. Contrary to the previous time, when he had the vision of one of his grandfather’s aleatory memories, now he was in a place in which they appeared all the experiences he lived from the moment in which he was born. Millions of files floated in the air as bubble water. Palac focused on one of them and it immediately appeared before his eyes.
In Sinz, Cabolun cursed his son’s disobedience. Sitting in front of one of the control monitors, he had just witnessed Palac’s entrance to the Golden Pyramid. He stood up furious and went to look for Beiler to accompany him. Until that moment, he was the only one who had been capable of beating the midarian force of the Pyramid. Despite the leader’s attempts to get into it, he had never managed to cross the threshold.
«Where am I?» Palac wondered. The place to which he had travelled through his grandfather’s memories was desert and extremely illuminated. It had nothing to do with the vegetation he had seen in his previous regression. The weather was harsh and severe. The wind carried tons of sand from one place to the other in seconds. The commanded panoramic turned around and gave an image of the scenery where he was.
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