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| Sunday, 26 December 2004 |
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Telling Tales: Fourth dimension by Sachintha Arunodani Lokuarachchi It was a bleak, dull night. A Thick fog hung in the air. Thunder rolled and lightning flashed overhead. It looked as if a pouring rain would start any moment. The wind was wailing loudly and the yellow flames of the torches fluttered dimly through the mist, giving out a feeble glow.
Suddenly, lightening flashed, followed by a deafening clap of thunder. The torches flickered once, and went out, drowning everything in darkness. Genius Some place elsewhere, in a cheerful, sunlit room, a 20-year-old Engineering student, Marlon was working on some kind of a weird instrument. He was one of those people who lived for science, and was considered a true genius, by most people who knew him. But some others said that he was just a guy who didn't know how to have fun. Ah! But he was having fun. He enjoyed his work, and that's where his happiness was. Being an orphan, the only family he had, was his work. He shared his room with a friend who was in the Arts Faculty. Once the friend had asked him what he was working on with such enthusiasm. Everything his friend had seen were, wires, LED bulbs, and lots of funny looking gadgets he didn't even recognise. "I think I've found the fourth Dimension", was the answer he got. He had dedicated the last five years of his life for this. And he was willing to sacrifice even more, if needed. It was his brilliance, and the love for science, that had won him a scholarship to the Peradeniya University, when he was just 16. "The fourth Dimension", as he called it. "Time" as we call it. Five years ago, he had begun to make his breakthrough. He saw a side no one else could see. A way to defy one of the most powerful laws of nature. The possibilities were endless. That was just the beginning. And now, after five years of hard work, he was at the end. He picked up the instrument he had been working on. He pushed a white square shaped button, on the flat, oval shaped, small object he held in his hands. A green digital light flashed on. Complete He had finished his Time Machine. Of course, it was nothing like the one H. G. Wells had described in his novel, but still, it was a time machine. A more advanced one I think. He had achieved the impossible! The self-satisfaction of completing the ultimate task was exhilarating. He could feel icicles running up and down his spine. He was still admiring his masterpiece, when he heard his room mate return from the library. He quickly tucked it into his pocket. "Any luck yet?" the friend asked. For a moment, Marlon wanted to tell him about his invention, but changed his mind. He thought some things were better unknown. "Nope. Not yet" he replied, not meeting his friend's eyes. The friend, obviously not noticing anything out of the ordinary, flopped on to his bed, and fell asleep instantly, leaving the other to dream about his work. It was around 3.00 a.m., when he finally finished inspecting his beloved masterpiece. Everything was quiet. The only sound he heard was the sound of his own rapidly beating heart. It was beating with excitement, anticipation, and maybe fear as well. In a few seconds, he would be taking the biggest step the human race had ever taken. He programmed his machine, and checked and rechecked carefully, determined not to make any mistakes. Everything was perfect. He clutched it with his shaking hands, and slowly pressed the red button, squeezing his eyes shut. A whooshing sound was heard, and a chilly wind circled inside the room. Feeling the chills the roommate awoke, lifted his head up and called out to his friend drowsily. But of course, there was no one else in the room! Thinking that his friend must have gone to the bathroom or something, he pulled the covers over his head, and drifted back to sleep. Ah, but where was the young inventor? Meanwhile, he found himself on a stone paved road. The whole place was covered with fog, and the flames of the torches hanging by the roadside, fluttered lazily. The wind was howling, lightning flashed, and thunder rolled. It would be a lie to say that he wasn't scared. He was petrified. At first he thought he must have arrived at a wrong place, at a wrong time. "But at least the machine works" he thought to himself, as he finally emerged from the fog. As a deafening clap of thunder rolled, the torches went out. The darkness was thick enough to be cut into pieces. Not knowing what else to do, he hugged his long overcoat around him more tightly, and walked on, not knowing where or "when" he was! The next time he opened his eyes, he found himself greeted by the morning sun. It was the dawn of the next day. It took him a while to figure out where he was, but when he did, he quickly got up from the place he had been sleeping, and started to look around. He was at the right place, and at the right time. The machine had worked beautifully. Amazement It was even better than he had ever imagined. He watched frozen to the spot with sheer amazement. He was at the top of Sigiriya and was standing on the stone pavement, which went around the castle. The castle itself, was towering majestically on the rock. The rock, which was covered with earth, huge trees, green grass, and so much beauty, didn't really look like the rock we see today. There were staircases leading down to the bottom, and down below he could see the beautiful gardens of the king. It looked like a scene from a movie. He was admiring the paintings, when he suddenly heard someone behind him. He turned around and almost collided head on with the king! With the crown resting on his head, and by the regal bearing, it wasn't hard to guess who it was. He quickly shuffled aside and knelt before the king. Not only because of respect, but because he faintly remembered his roommate telling him about people being beheaded for being disrespectful to the ruler. Onwards But the king took no notice, and just walked past him, stopping now and then near some paintings. Two guards stood by the entrance of the room, blocking the way to anyone who would try to enter. He listened to the guards talking to each other, and from what he gathered from them, he understood that the kingdom was on the verge of a war. Not wanting to get caught in the middle of a war, and not wanting to be suspected of spying, he decided to talk to the king, before they made any fatal assumptions about him. But before he even took a step, the king and the guards were leaving. He was amazed that no one took any notice of him. Especially considering the way he was dressed, and showing up in places he was not supposed to, he thought that his arrival would have caused a commotion. But they seemed to completely ignore him! That made him think that, maybe others had arrived here from the future before, and because of that people here were quite used to such things. That was the only logical explanation he could think of, as to why they were behaving like this. Finally, finding the courage, he talked to an old man sitting nearby. But he, like everyone else, completely ignored him. Thinking that the man must be deaf, he tapped on his shoulder. His hand went straight through the man, but the man didn't even notice! At first he thought that the man must be a ghost, and jumped back in fear. But after he thought about everything that had happened to him here, he understood the truth. He didn't exist in this time, or in this place. He was merely a ghost from the future. He was solid only to himself. Even though he could see and hear everything around him, no one could see or hear him. To them, he was no more different than the wind. The realisation hit him like ice-cold water. Seeing his hand penetrate that man's body made him panic. He felt dizzy, and wanted to escape back into his own time, where he really existed. He fumbled his hand into his pocket, and took out the time machine, and programmed it back to his own time. As he pressed the white button, the weather began to change as it did when he first arrived here. He was about to press the red button and return, when a sudden clap of thunder made him jump and drop the machine. His only means of escape now lay in pieces on the ground. As he realised that he was going to be trapped in the past as a ghost, he knelt down and wept. Then he understood that no matter what anyone did to defy the laws of nature, nature was always a step ahead of them. Even though he managed to make a machine that brought him to the past, nature had made it impossible for him to interfere and change the things that had already taken place. He was merely a powerless audience. Only he knew that he had made a machine that could travel back and forth in time, and he carried that secret with him to the end. Missing Meanwhile, back in his own time, Marlon's roommate had reported him missing after three days. The police had sent out a search party for him, and had looked for him for about a week. But there was no trace of him. After talking with the people who saw him regularly, they finally assumed that he must have run away because he was too stressed over his work, and had no peace in his life. To them, he was just another ordinary guy, who had done nothing out of the ordinary, and a desperate runaway. Though his roommate had his doubts about this theory, he kept them to himself. After all, he couldn't think of anything logical that could have happened to his friend. When he told the police about what his friend had told him about the fourth dimensions and everything, they just dismissed it as pure nonsense, which he must have used as a way to cover up his depression. After about a month, everyone forgot about the mysterious disappearance of Marlon. Everyone went on with their own lives. NO one ever knew what became of him. And no one will ever know. That was the end of brilliant young life. |
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Suddenly, a faint silhouette of a man in a long coat emerged from the
fog. The sound of footsteps on the paved stone road could be heard very
clearly. He walked on oblivious to everything around him.
