- Story Excerpt -
Perception
Light. Cannons of Dark. An imagistic, translucent sphere of glowing, green viscous
fluid, fell rapidly towards the gravity saturated mass. The Mirea, as it is known to
the local habitants of this end, of this infant sized galaxy, was nestled secure in
its orbit, suspended unknowingly, like the coin for the sharpshooter's bullet.
Its speed increasing as the gap between them closed, the tumbling orb appeared to
fall into the element rich planetoid. None there, were to witness the spectacle,
as Time barely moved in its own misconstrued dimension. The rippling, churning skin
of the sphere gave it the illusion of unreality. But this sphere was little less
than pure, dense reality. Only in reflection do the two masses move together
slowly enough to be observed. From an immense distance, the event appeared to be
just this, something absorbing something: this however, was definitely not the
situation.
Thee Colony, protected by their thick life-coloured inhibitor shell, was traveling
at the speed of thought, their Thought--75 times the speed of light in a no gravity
situation. The Mirea never had a chance. In the twinkling of an eye, what was,
was no longer. On impact the small planetoid's molecular strength was equaled and
surpassed, allowing the faults and weaknesses it contained therein to loose, and
disperse into precisely, three million, two hundred thousand and fifty two pieces.
No more and no less, for there was no more time than this available. The glowing
green orb continued on its inevitable path, remaining no longer oblivious as it
had been. But, the truly wonderfully amazing thing about this incident, concerned
not the green orb, hurtling through space, punching a hole in the sheer fabric
of the local galaxy; bending, warping slightly the Time-Space continuum; instantly
out of sensing range...for mortals. But rather, it is one of the fifty two pieces,
or more exactly the forty ninth piece, of which this tale is concerned.
Now, it should be understood that there was no one available who could stop this
tragedy. It could only be corrected to the extent that it shouldn't be allowed to
happen again. What was left of the Mirea was scattered to the cosmic winds and
currents. Its salvation was understandable of no consideration, but the cause of
its destruction was. It was in the Thought, there was a Cancer within. A Cancer
that was not perceived until it was understood that there was a problem, and by
then, it was too late. Certainly no one would ever have done such a cataclysmic
thing on purposeful thought direction. It was immediately disciplined, therefore
corrected, and thereby not in the scope of this account. The Cancer was not of a
malignant type, it was more of a benign, reversible, separation of the Thought's
Layers of Consciousness. This lead to a new reality, and the obvious mistake of
not noticing, a ball of life directly in the track of the Thought Colony's journey.
If not for the accident, the Cancer should not have been noticed at all. If not for
the Cancer, there would have never been an accident of this sort, and the small part
of the inhibitor shell would have never been able to break away from the main
body, to eventually settle on the forty ninth piece of Mirea's fragmented, spinning,
melted body. Within the instant of contact, most of the piece was enveloped by
the fluid. No longer held in state by the Thought Controller's imagery, it was
able to envelope at will. The Colony considered what had happened. The agreement
was unanimous that there is no Thought which encompasses all Thought: thus
shifting the responsibility ever so slightly. But, this was important to them.
They knew that understanding the problem, changes the problem. Had there been a
leakage of thought, causing imagination to penetrate reality? Their attention permeated
the forty ninth piece, and they soon understood. They loved it for an exquisitely
indivisible instant, and they let it go on its way to its final destination.
For a short time, there remained some power in the inhibitor fluid, the object of
such powerful concentration does not evaporate quickly, but it was still continuing
to dissipating. The piece hurtled, traveling at approximately forty nine times the speed
of light, in a no gravity situation. It traveled for two thousand, four hundred
and one years: this span being relevant only to the reader of this catalytic
delineation. The piece traveled for near or exactly 690,093,268,700,000,000 miles;
this minuscule gauging also being relevant only to the reader of this knowledge.
This weary "poputchik" was beginning to decelerate, the heavy galactic masses
stroking its trajectory until it was wont for a place to settle into. It passed
through one small white sun, protected somewhat by the inhibitor fluid. But changes
were at hand. This was not the same piece as the Mirea's original forty ninth piece.
Its appearance and its composition had changed radically. It now appeared to be more
of an even shaped, churning mass. Spinning and tumbling, end over end, not the
once ragged body, sticky with inhibitor, newly adhered to its surface. At the end
of its journey was to come its quasi-permanent sojourn, the place it ached for. Its
pace slowed even further. After having hit and passed through one sun completely,
it almost repeated its indifferent exercise, passing excruciatingly close to a
little larger sun, this one quite yellow. The traveler would miss the corona, but
could not escape the gravity-well, rich in subverting energies. The gravitational
pull was strong enough to prevent the mass' direction into a one time shave of the
sun's circumference, and fling it back from whence it came; soon settling into an
orbit around the friendly lifeforce...heatsource...balanceforce. This was a pleasant
little community with room to spare for a disheveled loner from a Thought far, far
away. The intense heat of the sun was waning slightly, as the now apparent planet
slowed its course, more and more.
Time, such as most cannot understand it, allowed
in this instance for the new planet to join the other planets native to this area,
to churn to slow, to mature and grow. To become truly alive. The new planet curved
and eddied, and slipped into a shaky orbit which almost immediately began to
decrease in its perturbations. The other planets, evidently happy to welcome this
newborn to their ranks, moved nearer to, or farther from, the sun as was required
of them, in a perfectly symmetrical fashion, enjoining the newcomer as it had been
there always, counterbalancing the centrifugal forces of orbital theory explicitly,
perfectly and naturally.
The planet soon cooled, shedded some of its trappings, and
gave life to many new, and many old beings; some happy, some sad; some short lived...
and some long-lived. The planet exploded into life. Energy bathed its surface with
a heartfelt prompting for it to evolve into its own destiny. The planet cradled
the sprawling lifeforms through their infancy. It forced them out into the open.
They soon discovered their senses, feelings and finally, one by one, thought.
Beyond itself, the planet had much to be proud of: for there were its children,
and they were its joy, its ne plus ultra. Happily, the planet had nought to
be sad for, until one day...
There came the day, some short Time (remember Time?) after Life had started to
hustle and bustle around the planet, looking here and where, that one of the lifeforms
had a thought. It was a small thought, an intoxicating thought, an insight nearly
divorced from the reality of its immediate environment, and its planets beginnings:
"Why...perhaps" it thought, "perhaps, this World which I see," and he glanced
around himself, at the Others, at the jungle gardens. "Nay, perhaps the very spot
on which I stand...comtemplating; or, even my very own heart, beating excitedly
within my breast. If not, most reasonably, the Mind which attends me, which views
so securely my Soul:
"Perhaps this," the Creature so deliciously, painfully thought its tiny thought,
a tear welling up within his eye, "perhaps this is...the Center of the Universe."
Pleased and satiated, he turned his eyes upon the Sun, up into the Heavens...
- End of Story -
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