by Yossi Soika
Carefully and fearfully I approached one of them that had fallen and twitched for short time and then stopped. I held it in my hands to examine it and I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was a glass bird with a tiny human head, a big, strong beak with dozens of jagged glass teeth. I threw the appalling creature away in disgust and hurried to get away from there. I was amazed at the fantastic phenomenon of a flying glass bird. What is happening here? The world of physics had long since lost its ability to explain it. What kind of city is it? Why it is covered with a shiny, opaque dome? Many questions passed through my head. I must find the entrance to the sealed city. I thought about them as I circled the city. For long moments I walked around its walls feeling them with my fingers in vain. I was almost ready to give up but then I heard a whistling noise next to me that solved the mystery of the entrance to the city. An entrance opened wide about twenty steps from where I stood. Simultaneously, I stopped in my tracks and walked to the opening. I stood there for a long time and couldn’t believe my eyes. The sights filled me with excitement: unworldly glass structures that were connected by wonderful bridges, that all gave the impression of an endless tapestry of cobwebs of lights. Many planters hung from the immense glass dome, brimming with delicate and beautiful flowers and ornamental plants, which cascaded down in a thick stream of vegetation. But the most eye-catching was the fantastic palace that stood shining and glittering like a diamond, its golden turrets sprinkling sprays of tiny dew-drops of light that orbited down like a stream of meteors crossing through space. This is it – the City of Dreams! I said to myself with great excitement.
A Citizen of the City
“Ape-man, what do you want? Why do you want to enter the City of Dreams?” I heard a voice coming from the glass wall.
Ape-man? Is he talking to me? I wondered, startled.
“Yes, I’m the Ape-man,” I answered in a high-pitched shriek, but I was actually surprised to hear this epithet. “I… I want to see my girlfriend, Melanie. I was informed that my girlfriend Melanie lives in this city.”
“Ha-ha-ha, your girlfriend Melanie, or are you looking for the Queen of the City? You must be joking, what does an Ape-man have to do with the Queen of the City of Dreams? Your friend, you say? Ape-man, go back to the trees, go devour some bananas, drink from the pristine water fountain. I’m afraid that your brain has been damaged by sordid water; you may return after you have recovered, but please don’t come back with such senseless nonsense.”
“I beg your pardon, but Melanie will be pleased to see me, even for a short glimpse. Of course she will thank you for your help.”
“Ape-man, listen well: the Queen of the City is a celestial being; she is the Good Spirit. There can be no connection between an Ape-man and the Good Spirit. If you don’t want to be punished for your foolishness go back, right now, to your species that swarms the many forests around the city. You probably don’t know, but no living being in our city has actually seen the Queen of our city.
“What do you mean?” My curiosity piqued.
“Ape-man, have you ever seen a spirit in your whole life?”
“Seen a ghost?” I burst out in a howl of laughter, “Are you crazy – a ghost?! Melanie is flesh and blood, just like me!”
A short, loud laugh was heard from the unseen speaker, and all of a sudden a strong gust of wind was thrust from the entrance pushing me downhill. Bruised and enraged I got up on my feet again and returned to the entrance.
“Brainless idiot!” I yelled angrily, “I’m a human being, not an Ape-man, and Melanie is my good friend and not a spirit. Now hurry up and tell Melanie that it’s me, Dan, and that I’m at the city gates and I demand to see her without delay!”
“Ape-man, don’t tempt your fate! Take your twisted hairy legs back to your own species waiting for you in the trees.”
“I’m not moving from here!” I answered furiously. “I have to meet with the Queen of the City.”
Before had I uttered my last word dozens of transparent creatures that I knew well started to buzz and hover above me, and soon I was bound in a mesh of strong, thin cobwebs. They lifted me in the air effortlessly and carried me into the inner part of the city; with tremendous speed I was lifted above the city homes until I was brought to a gleaming black structure.
After a moment, I found myself lying down, stretched out in a large glass tank. What are they going to do to me? Does Melanie know that I am here? Long hours passed irritatingly slowly, but I could do nothing. From time to time I had a barrage of fruits with an sweet intoxicating smell thrown at me – of course, throw fruit at the monkey – I reflected self-disparagingly.
“I’m sick of sitting in this glass platter!” I yelled angrily, but no one paid attention to my screaming. However, soon three strange-looking figures appeared and walked straight toward me.
They took me out of the tank, and one of them announced, “Ape-man, fortunately we understand the language of monkeys. And now get ready; we, the city police, have an authorized order to put you into the transfiguretor.”
“Transfiguretor?” I asked with dread, “What does it do?”
“Don’t worry, my new friend. This wonderful device will work miracles on you. You are eligible to transform into whatever you might wish, a right endowed only to new citizens,” I was told in an authoritative voice.
“Anything I wish?” I asked incredulously.
“To whatever you might wish,” they answered in chorus. “And you are allowed to be either a service coordinator, or a gardener, a builder, a policemen or even a flying soldier, and you have many more fascinating options.”
“And how exactly does it work? Does it entail complex surgeries and subsequent tremendous pain?”
“You have nothing to fear, almost all of the citizens of the city were transformed in our device.”
“But, I don’t want to change or to become a citizen of your city.”
“We are sorry, my friend, but this is the law. Each and every creature that enters the city must be sent to the transfiguretor before receiving citizenship of the city.”
“All I want is to meet the Queen of the City, only for a short while.”
“We are sorry, but it’s impossible. There is no way back and you must go through the device.”
“If that is so, I’m ready to be a citizen of the city,” I replied submissively. I must see Melanie and there is no other way, I acknowledged. After a short walk on a polished white glass floor we entered a gigantic emerald glass structure, with big and small glass tanks standing in long rows. Hesitantly I approached one of these containers that was filled with a reddish liquid, and I was baffled to see a Bird Man inside flapping against its walls forcefully.
“What’s going on in here?” I said, my voice contorted.
“Don’t worry, Ape-man. The Bird Man will calm down soon, and its body will begin to decompose and transform into a significant and blessed change.”
“No way,” I exclaimed in anger. “I don’t want to go through such a horrible change.”
I do not recall what happened next, but in a moment I found myself standing inside a large glass tank. I turned back but could see none of my attendees. They had vanished without a trace.
“Ape-man, what do you want to be?” I heard a voice emanating from within the tank.
“I don’t care about what is going to happen, but I’m scared to death of this terrifying process.”
“You have nothing to fear. We too went through this process, and so did all of the citizens of the city and now they are incredibly happy. The process is really simple. We dip your body in the Cosmozom liquid which is a powerful substance that we were given as a gift from the Son of the Planets when he visited here. He imparted to us a new happy life and more such wonderful gifts, which we utilized to build the City of Dreams. The moment your body absorbs the Cosmozom liquid, we will start to bomb the glass tank with Ultra Bonim wa
ves, and after 24 hours the deconstruction and transformation process will end. Your new body will resist any disease, but the thing that will gladden you the most is that you won’t live on organic materials anymore.”
“Oh my Lord! Are you crazy – I’m going to live without food?”
“You brainless Ape-man. You are not going to be a tree or a bush; you are going to be a citizen of the City of Dreams, and your body will be nourished by the food of the future.”
“And what does that mean?”
“You’ll get your answer soon. And now, please tell us, Ape-man, what you would like to be. Here’s a list of the positions; choose as you like.”
“Am I allowed to be an advisor to the queen?”
“The queen’s advisor? Ape-man! You don’t have enough brains to serve in such a high position. All the creatures of the world know that Ape-men don’t have the brains God gave a squirrel; all the more so when it comes to such a prestigious role, one that is reserved only for the Dolphin Men.”
“I don’t believe it,” this made me really angry. “I’m not an Ape-man! I’m a human that went through a transformation in the Dolphin People’s laboratories.
“That may be true, but unfortunately, we, and all the members of the Third World are victims of the experiments of the Ten Tribes’ scientists. And now, my dignified Ape-man, please pick a profession. We are out of time and others are waiting to be transformed too.”
“Okay, I’m willing to be a service coordinator,” I replied faintly.
“Ape-man, you are about to be endowed with a unique body, such that is unequaled in all worlds. Your body is going to be the dream of every mortal on Earth.”
“What do you mean a new body?” I asked suspiciously.
“It’s very simple – your body will not be made of flesh and blood; it will be as tough as a diamond, and as flexible as rubber.”
“That sounds awful. I don’t want to transform my body. I’ve seen the shining-glass flying wasps. It wasn’t a good sight.”
“Ape-man, every single citizen of the City of Dreams would like to have such a body. This is the substance of the future! You’ll only come to realize that at the end of the process.”
“And what will happen to my flesh and blood body?”
“We don’t need your body. We only need your brain; however it won’t be the same brain. Your brain is about to undergo unperceivable revolutionary transformations. All your memories stored in it will be erased, and at the end of the blessed process you’ll have a new body and a blank brain, cleansed entirely of your past. Everything will be erased. In a little while you will no longer be a living creature; you’ll be a Cosmozom – an eternal man. You may only serve the queen in this new form.”
“It’s true that I want to serve the queen, but I don’t want to be a glass mannequin with no past or memory.” I uttered with great disappointment.
“Don’t worry, Ape-man, in a day you’re going to enjoy your new body, and this is the really good news. You’ve been selected to get wings. And now Ape-man, close your eyes: the blessed change is about to begin.”
I closed my eyes with great fear. I’m done for. Soon I felt a slight vibration passing through my body. What’s going to happen now? Will I feel pain? Will I faint?”
“Incredible – it isn’t working,” I heard voices coming from around the tank.
“Increase the dynamo-cosmos! His cells must be deconstructed; his brain must be removed. We cannot have a service coordinator with an independent brain!”
I’m d-o-n-e… I realized, they are deconstructing my body; removing my brain. I can’t believe how I walked into the center of hell… I’m going to be a Cosmozom… glass… material that’s used for decorative beads… earrings, a brainless vessel for decoration.
However, beyond my surging despair I was able to hear a voice.
“Manager, sir, it’s not working. I don’t understand what’s going on here? It’s crazy –the waves are passing through his body, but are not deconstructing the cells of his body.”
“Blast him with elastic waves; we must succeed! We cannot fail!”
“It’s not working! Quickly, call the Cosmen!”
The voices were heard for a long time, but what really stopped my breath was one conversation.
“Cosman, sir, we have a problem here. The machine is not working properly. We’ve taken all the emergency measures, but the Ape-man’s body won’t deconstruct.”
“Please leave the hall; I’m going to blast him with the most powerful packets of cosmos, the powerful cosmic bombs. Very soon his body will deconstruct into the tiniest particles; and then we shall remove his primitive brain, erase all the nonsense that has ever passed through his mind.”
This is it. I’ve ended my journey as a human and now nothing will be able to help me. A loud explosion made me jump, and a flash of many lights left my eyes dazed.
“What’s going on here?” I demanded, yelling at them.
“It’s impossible! The Ape-man has beaten the Cosman… he wasn’t deconstructed… he became human!” I heard lively talk around me.
“Dammit!” bellowed the Cosman. “The Ape-man wasn’t deconstructed! He went back to being a human. Such a being must not leave the city. He might be a spy. We must penalize him.”
The voices became louder.
“Put him into the shortryon,” the voice of the Cosman was heard.
Three guards quickly took me out of the glass tank and packed me into a small red glass ball.
“Quickly, leave the room!” commanded the Cosman. “I’m blasting the ball.”
Long waves and flashing lights shook the glass ball. A strange feeling passed through me, as if a huge steamroller was pressing my body.
For long moments I just lay there, confused, until suddenly I heard the Cosman say again, “I don’t know what to do. We’re receiving such a strange result. The transformation is insignificant but soon I’m going to introduce him to the queen, and she will decide his fate.”
I didn’t know what he meant by the current “transformation” since I didn’t feel any change except for the tremendous pressure on my body. I reached out to feel my limbs and joyfully I discovered that I had returned to being a human.
“I’m a human being!” I shouted overjoyed. But what did the Cosman mean when he said “strange result”? Before I even finished my question, my body was pulled out of the glass bin and I stood next to it, waiting for the Cosman.
“Come on, my shrunken friend,” I heard a voice calling to me.
When I raised my head I noticed a tall glass soldier looking at me. He beckoned me to join him.
Strange, I marveled, did the tank become bigger or has my body shrunk? What was that extreme pressure and what has it done to my body?
The answer arrived without delay. With great difficulty I kept up with the soldier’s hasty pace until I reached the stairs of the palace, which was enchanting: its columns were made of white glass decorated with colorful, gleaming and flickering flowers that welcomed me; its walls were black mixed with a dark-blue and monumental statues added to the grace and venerability of the impressive palace. Breathtaking fountains added to the appeal of the palace. A long line of Cosmozom-made transparent, glittering palace guards stood at attention, their swords unsheathed in their hands. After a short but very strenuous walk I arrived at the sumptuous wide entrance of the palace.
The soldier accompanying me stopped and said, “My Little sir, you wait here. The Queen’s Guard of Honor will escort you to the seat of our sacred queen and will brief you on how to behave.”
When he had finished he turned around and disappeared into the closest corridor. Shortly, six guards appeared and stood before me.
“You will soon appear before the queen. You must kneel and wait for a sign from the queen that you are allowed to stand. Do not dare to violate the orders
of the palace; otherwise you will pay for it with your head.
The six guards moved with measured steps on a wide and long red carpet, and I ran between the two rows. In this way we marched about fifty steps until we arrived at the Queen’s Court.
At a distance of about twenty steps, in the middle of the Court, I saw Melanie sitting on a magnificent throne made of gold and inlaid with shiny, glittering diamonds that sparkled in a rainbow of colors. But all the beauty faded entirely the moment I saw Melanie sitting on her majestic throne, with a big smile on her face.
“Good Lord!” I exclaimed loudly, “I really am diminutive.”
I stepped forward to the end of the carpet where I stood staring uncertainly in front of my magnificent-sized girlfriend.
“Who is it that you have brought to my palace?” I heard her voice thundering in the Palace Court. “And why does he not kneel?” she asked peevishly. But, then to my great amazement I saw Melanie put her hand over her mouth, her face wore an amused expression. She hadn’t yet finished uttering this, and had I been knocked onto the floor by a tremendous blow from the guards’ hands.
“Don’t harm the man who is going to be the Court Jester!” Melanie demanded of the guards. “And now I command everybody here to immediately leave the Court.” In the blink of an eye the Court was empty, all the guards and dignitaries had left; only Melanie remained in her place. Then incredibly slowly she rose from her throne, stepped toward where I lay, helped me up very carefully and kissed me gently.
“I’m really sorry to see you in such an awful condition,” she remarked. “Please tell me what happened to you and how you came to be in this terrible state.”
For a long time I told her the details of my life, from the moment we separated to the present moment. “Here, take your hood; I found it in the Bird People’s nest.”
“I’m really grateful for the hood, and please accept my apology for the awful welcome you received in my city. From now on I’m going to change the ceremony for receiving new citizens. I will also order the city scientists to do their best to get you back to your former human condition. We will speak again, but I have a small request from you, please tell no one about our relationship. It must be kept top secret, only between us, until the time comes to leave this place. And now, go out and take a look around this special city, and come back shortly.”
