The Universe Builders: Bernie and the Putty

by Steve LeBel

  “Thank you, Lord Alcandor. On behalf of our people, I urge you to make great haste.”

  How Can This Be?

  It was late, and Bernie needed rest. Just one more look around the planet, and then he would get some sleep. Everything looked fine as he scanned the planet. Then he noticed something that should not have been there. The main continent was on the dark side of the planet, but there, near the center, he saw a flicker of light. Bernie groaned at the thought of more damage from Billy. What was it to be this time?

  Bernie zoomed down for a closer look. High on the ridge of the central mountain range, the thick jungle had been cleared away. In the center of the clearing stood a large stone pyramid, rising two hundred feet above the ground. The pyramid did not extend to a point, but rather had a flattened top, fifty feet wide. A large bonfire burned in the center.

  A ring of mirrors surrounded the bonfire, each at least ten feet tall. They had been tilted backward to reflect the firelight upward, in effect sending a beacon of light straight up into the sky. This was what Bernie had seen from so far away.

  A man stood next to the fire, watching as flames leaped high in the sky. A long line of men and women trudged up and down the steps of the temple, carrying firewood. When they reached the top, they threw their burden onto the flames and turned back for another load.

  Bernie was flabbergasted. Impossible. There was no life here. Plants, of course, but no animals and certainly no higher life forms. Bernie knew he had to be dreaming. I’m exhausted. This has to be a nightmare, nothing more.

  The man standing at the top of the great pyramid looked more concerned with searching the sky than the progress of the flames. He kept calling out as he scanned the sky above him. Bernie opened his mind and listened. Then, through power only a god could wield, the man’s sounds melted into words.

  “I call out to the Great Protector. Please listen to me. We desperately need your help. Great Protector, are you there? Please speak with me,” the man called out.

  Bernie hovered near the man. He wondered how a dream could be so vivid and contain such detail. Without warning, the man turned from the sky and looked directly at Bernie. His words gushed forth, “Great Protector, you have come at last! Please hear me. We are in great danger, and we desperately need your help!”

  This was too much for Bernie. He popped back into his room and spent the night under his covers. Nothing good ever started with seeing things that weren’t there. And when they started talking to you, the last thing you wanted to do was have a conversation with them.

  First Contact Protocol

  The first thing Bernie did when he arrived at work was go straight to his world, back to the place he had been the night before. In the center of the cleared jungle, he found the stone pyramid with the ashes of the great fire still smoldering. He saw no sign of the man. Near the base of the pyramid, Bernie saw people gathering another large pile of wood. They planned to repeat last night’s event.

  As Bernie looked around, he discovered more buildings and more people. Most were dressed in togas and sandals. Some wore jewelry, which seemed to consist of necklaces, bracelets, and anklets. Except for the slight greenish color of their skin, they looked just like the gods at home.

  Streets, lined with buildings made of wood and stone, led to other parts of the city. One road led away from the city, and when Bernie followed it, he was shocked to discover it led to other cities.

  How had he not noticed this?

  And, more importantly, how did they get here? Bernie hadn’t created them. His Pod People were still on the drawing board. There shouldn’t be any animals of any kind on the planet.

  Plants? Could they be the result of a wild plant that jumped one evolutionary path in favor of another it liked better? It couldn’t be. Billy had destroyed his plants two million years ago. He’d had to start over. There was no way higher life forms could evolve in just two million years.

  Could it be another trick of Billy’s? If so, it was unlike anything he’d tried before. Plus, Bernie saw no evidence the people were causing any harm. But still…

  At no time did he hear any suspicious laughter coming from Billy’s cubicle.

  * * *

  “You’re kidding,” said Lenny. “How could you not know you had people on your planet?”

  “Lenny, I didn’t make any people,” Bernie said defensively. “There wasn’t any reason to think they were there. Do you go around looking for things you know aren’t there?”

  “But there had to be signs. What about air pollution? That’s a good clue something’s going on,” Lenny persisted.

  “They aren’t that advanced—nothing more than bronze era. They aren’t doing much to impact the planet.”

  “How could they get there if you didn’t do it?” Suzie wondered aloud.

  “It had to have been Billy,” said Lenny. “He’s the only one who’s been messing with you.”

  “I thought so, too, at first. But I can’t see they’re doing any harm. The only thing they seem to want is to talk with me.”

  “I thought you were supposed to avoid contact with your creations,” Suzie said.

  “That’s just when you’re in school,” said Lenny. “Everything’s different now. We can talk to them all we want.”

  “Well, maybe I should see what they want. They’ve gone to a lot of trouble to talk to me.”

  “Can’t hurt as long as you follow the protocol,” Lenny said.

  “Protocol? What protocol?” Bernie asked.

  “The First Contact Protocol, of course. You can’t just go down to see them wearing torn jeans and a dirty T-shirt, Bernie. You have to dress for success if you want to impress them.”

  “I don’t want to impress them. I just want to find out what they want.”

  “Trust me, Bernie. It’s easier if you impress them first. I’ll bring in my notes on how to do it.”

  “Okay. Meanwhile, I’ll take a closer look at their world and see if I can figure out what’s going on.”

  A Cultural Assessment

  Journal Entry

  I’ve been studying the planet for two days now. The people there look just like us. I have no idea how they got there. I definitely didn’t make them. They have a greenish hue to their skin, which made me think they might have come from the plant life, but that doesn’t make sense. All my plants are accounted for. There are no missing links anywhere.

  At first I thought they were something Billy did, but I don’t think so anymore. The race is peaceful. There’s no sign of weapons or soldiers.

  One thing I noticed is they don’t seem to die. The population gradually increases over time, but it’s very slow. I calculated how long they’ve been around by looking at their population growth. When I extrapolate backwards, it suggests they have been here for close to two million years.

  The race is definitely intelligent. They have a written language and a system of mathematics, which seems well known throughout the population. They don’t have much technology. I would put them squarely in the bronze era. They use mechanical devices like looms for manufacturing. They work collaboratively on their buildings, which they make out of carved stone they mine from the mountains and transport to their building sites. They don’t have animals, so they do the hauling themselves on long carts made for that purpose. Their favorite buildings appear to be meeting places, temples, market places, and large living areas. Many buildings are made without roofs or doors.

  They use a simple bartering system that involves the exchange of personal time for goods or services. I observed one example where the state owns a large textile plant that manufactures clothes. The people acquire their clothes in exchange for promising a certain number of hours of work. This promise is recorded and then cashed in at some later time. The work promises can be bought or sold to others.

  I found what appears to be their capital city in the central northern coast, about fifty miles inland. The population is greater than in the other cities, and the building
s are larger too. I spent most of my time there. They have a central government, with representatives from other cities. The capital city has the largest government offices and the largest temples.

  Their religion is basically sun worship. It looks universal, and everyone participates in prayer services at dawn and at sunset. There is another service at high noon, which appears to be mostly performed by the priesthood.

  Most of the population lives in smaller cities scattered around the main continent. They have a good system of roads between the cities. I still can’t believe I missed seeing them. But they don’t really have a very big footprint. I just never thought to look for advanced life.

  I’ve been watching the guy who first caught my attention. His name is Alcandor. He lives in the capital city. He has a large stone building with over twenty rooms. It looks like a cross between a laboratory and a library, filled with equipment and books. They’re doing a lot of work with glass. One room is probably where they made the bonfire mirrors. In another room they’re building glass lenses. I suspect they’re trying to intensify the light of the bonfire. They’re very serious about getting my attention.

  I’ve decided to meet with this Alcandor. I looked over Lenny’s first contact protocol notes, and it looks okay. Lenny says it’s no problem to change my appearance on the planet. I can look like whatever I want as long as I keep concentrating on it. The protocol suggests I dress in a flowing white robe, with a long gray beard and hair. Apparently, most life forms associate gray with age and wisdom. And I’m supposed to make myself three times bigger than they are. Oh, and my shimmer should be golden, but I need to turn it down by at least 50% or it can sometimes hurt other life forms.

  Well, I guess I’m set. We’ll see how things go tomorrow.

  Meet Your God

  Bernie waited until he got home to make first contact. He didn’t want any interruptions. Sitting in his room, he realized he was procrastinating. Frankly, he was nervous.

  He had never talked to one of his creations before. In school, they had strict rules against any kind of communication with them. And Bernie obeyed rules. Even though the rule hadn’t made sense, he wasn’t about to lose his chance to become a builder by disobeying. Now he would taste that forbidden fruit.

  As Bernie slipped into his universe, he moved his time lever ahead by two days. He felt silly doing it, but if he made a bad impression and messed everything up, he wanted the option to roll back time and try it over again.

  He went to the capital city, where he had last seen Alcandor. He dimmed his shimmer as much as he could. Lenny said some life forms could see shimmers even if the god hadn’t taken corporeal form, which probably explained why Alcandor had seen him at the bonfire. This time he would not be seen until he was ready.

  Bernie found Alcandor in his building, in a room filled with hundreds of books. He was seated behind a carved wooden desk, writing rapidly with a brass-tipped pen that he periodically dipped into a nearby inkwell.

  Bernie looked at the height of the ceiling. If he made himself three times Alcandor’s height, he would not be able to stand up inside the building. He could sit on the floor in front of Alcandor’s desk, but how dignified was that?

  Bernie compromised and sat cross-legged while hovering three feet off the floor. Then he allowed himself a corporeal presence. He remembered the long hair and beard at the last second and quickly put them in place. Then, he allowed his shimmer to come up to a soft golden color. Perfect. He was ready.

  Alcandor was so preoccupied with his writing, he didn’t lift his head. Minutes passed. It was Bernie who blinked first.

  “Ahem…” Bernie said.

  Alcandor looked up. His whole body jerked, and his eyes grew wide with shock. His mouth moved, but no words came out. He closed his eyes and composed himself. When he opened them again he had the confident look of the man Bernie had seen on the Temple top as the bonfire burned away.

  “Great Protector, you have come at last. I… I thank you,” Alcandor said.

  “Tell me, Alcandor, why have you called out to me?” Bernie said in a deep bass voice that filled the library. Bernie was proud of the reverberating echo accompanying his voice. It was his idea to add that little touch. It made him sound like an elder god.

  “Our world is in trouble, Great Protector. Terrible things have been happening. We cannot withstand much more. We beg to know of anything we may have done to deserve this. And we beg for your continued assistance.”

  Only the smallest tremor in Alcandor’s voice betrayed the emotional turmoil inside the man as he addressed the god who hovered before him. Bernie tried to imagine what he must be feeling as he faced a being more powerful than anything he could possibly imagine. Somehow, he had deduced Bernie’s existence and called out to him. How had he known?

  “Tell me, Alcandor. How is it you know of me?”

  “I didn’t know for sure. But when I looked at the things happening to us, I realized they could have been much worse. Something kept saving us. For some things, it might have been luck, but over time, it became clear our world was being protected by a great power. That is why I knew you had to exist.”

  Bernie thought back over the last few days, which could have been weeks or even months here, on the planet. He cringed internally when he thought of what they must have gone through. Billy had caused tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, forest fires, and more. Bernie realized even some things he had done might be on Alcandor’s list of disasters.

  “Please, Great Protector, can you tell us why these things are happening to us?”

  Bernie thought for a moment. Well, he certainly couldn’t tell him these problems are because a god named Billy had a grudge against him from back in school. That would definitely be too much information.

  “An evil force has discovered your world, Alcandor. And this evil force seeks to do great harm.”

  “What have we done to bring this evil force down upon us?”

  “This evil is not here because of anything you or your people have done. It has reasons of its own you would not understand.”

  “Great Protector, I have so many questions. There are many things we need to know. Are you here to help us? Is there anything we can do? Why is—”

  “Your questions will have to wait, Alcandor. For now, I will tell you this. I do not want the evil force to harm your world in any way. And I will do what I can to undo any evil I discover. Let this promise be enough for now. We will talk again,” Bernie said, as his image began to fade.

  “Thank you, Great Protector. Thank you.” Alcandor sank to his knees, just as he did at the beginning and the end of every day when it came time to thank the Sun for His gifts of light and warmth.

  A World to Save a World

  Bernie told Suzie and Lenny about his first contact with Alcandor. Lenny was impressed, and Suzie was proud.

  “That’s really great, Bernie. A textbook encounter. You impress them, answer a few questions, and then leave them wanting more. Perfect in every way,” Lenny said.

  “And I liked what you did hovering above the floor,” Suzie added.

  “But it makes everything more complicated,” said Bernie, who’d had time to think about it.

  “How so?” Lenny asked.

  “Well, for one, how am I supposed to keep working on my universe when I have to work around an existing life form? They have a complete civilization there. What am I going to do with them? I mean, they don’t look like they would hurt my Pod People, but it cuts into my creative options.”

  Lenny rolled his eyes. “Bernie, just get rid of them! You’ve got to keep your priorities straight. You need to build a universe so you can keep your job. If these guys interfere with that, then they have to go!”

  Bernie didn’t have to say anything to make it clear that was not an option for him. His shimmer flickered with disapproving colors. Lenny just snorted.

  Suzie said, “Maybe you can move them someplace else. Why don’t you make another planet for them or move
them to a different universe?

  “I suppose I could try that,” said Bernie, as he felt yet another load fall on his shoulders.

  “It doesn’t work that way,” said Lenny. “You can’t just move a world into a different universe. It’s way too big. Although, you might be able to find a portal to let you move between two universes. I heard about them at an OWT meeting once. Portals aren’t very big, but if you can get everyone to walk single-file through the portal to the second world, it might work.”

  “That’s a great idea, Lenny,” said Bernie. “I’ll make another universe for them. I have all my notes, so I can make it really close to what they have now. And Billy won’t ever know about it.”

  “Okay. Then I’ll see if I can find us a trans-universe portal somewhere,” Lenny said.

  * * *

  In the quiet of his cubicle, Bernie placed an empty frame on his desk. Capturing a void didn’t always happen quickly, but this time, Bernie got lucky. He found his slippery fish and attached the void to the frame. He had never been able to do it this quickly before. He told himself it was because he was getting better all the time, and even imagined he used less putty than usual to hold the window in place.

  As the putty dried, he examined the new universe. It was pure emptiness in every direction. Hovering in the very center, he began to visualize a sun. He would use no prefabs this time. He worked faster and with more confidence than ever before. When he finished, he saw a beautiful yellow sun equal to any prefab he could have requisitioned from the Supply Department. Next, he created his life planet and gave it the same yellow moon Suzie liked so much. Next, he added two more planets, to keep Lenny’s astrological forces content.

  Only now did he pause, amazed at how much he’d accomplished. He couldn’t help but think of Beatrice, who’d told him so many times to Plan First, Then Create. Having a plan probably was the reason Wanda made things look so easy. He promised himself again for the umpteenth time he would spend more time on the planning side of things.