The Universe Builders: Bernie and the Putty (23 page)

* * *

When Billy regained consciousness, he found himself slumped in Bernie’s chair, drenched in sweat. Intense pain hammered the inside of his head, slamming him again and again with every heartbeat, threatening him with a return to the blackness. He couldn’t move. He felt some clarity return as the drying perspiration chilled his face. He had to move. No one could find him there.

Billy staggered back to his own cubicle, where he rested for several minutes. Finally, he pulled himself upright and lurched toward the door, ricocheting off walls and cubicles alike. He hoped he could make it all the way home.

It would be close.

Billy’s Healer

Billy should have stayed home for a few more days. That’s what the healer told him. And she was the best, at least according to his mom.

Rachel had an office full of new age stuff like pyramids and crystals, with flute music playing in the background. She had long dark hair and wore one of those flowing dresses like you see on water planets. Oh, and beads. They were everywhere. And lots of incense and other smelly stuff, too.

Billy hadn’t told Rachel, of course, what he was doing when it happened. He just said he was at work at the time. Even that was a mistake, because his mom wanted him to file an injury claim with The Business. But there was no way he could tell anyone he’d been messing with Bernie’s universe when it happened. Fortunately, Rachel didn’t seem interested in those things.

She made him stand while she walked around and around him, examining his shimmer and whatever else she had the skills to see.

“Billy, this is just awful.”

“It feels awful. Especially my head.”

“Yes, I can see that’s where it started. But the pain was so strong it made other parts of your body hurt too. I can see it in your shimmer. Do you see how it looks almost normal down by your feet? Around your head, I can barely see anything.”

“How bad is it?”

“I’ve seen something like this before when people crash really hard into the Past Barrier. Your pain is centered in the upper left section of your skull, near your time lever. But I’ve never seen a case this severe. Were you using your time lever when it happened?”

“Yes, but I was heading forward in time, not back.”

“Are you sure? I don’t know how this could happen if you were moving forward.”

Billy paused to think. Had he become confused and jerked the lever backward instead of forward? He didn’t think so. But he couldn’t remember exactly what happened, except the blinding white pain.

“How can you tell this from looking at me? I don’t know much about shimmers.”

“Well, that doesn’t surprise me. Boys don’t seem to care about such things. When I was your age, there were never any boys in my shimmer classes.”

“I don’t think that’s changed. I don’t know any guys who took those classes either. We don’t care as much about how we look as girls do.”

“Well, it’s not just about how you look. Shimmers are a lot more than just what color your aura is. They tell us lots of things. I use them to see how you are feeling and to diagnose problems.”

“Well, I don’t care about that stuff.”

“There’s more to shimmers than just medicine, you know. Lots of people have to learn to control them. An actor, for example, needs to make his words and his shimmer line up. No one will believe what he’s saying if his shimmer is telling a different story. Models have to manage their shimmers so they don’t detract from the clothes they’re wearing. Even a sales person has to manage it if he wants to be good at selling.”

“What does it have to do with sales?”

“If someone is trying to sell you something, but they’re thinking about the bad day they had yesterday or an errand they have to do after work, then that’s what their shimmer will show. Most people, when they see distracted, unfocused shimmers, don’t want to buy anything. They can’t see the sales person’s sincerity.

“Your shimmer, for example,” continued Rachel, “is very tight and controlled—not necessarily in a good way. You carry it around like a shield, carefully keeping your real feelings hidden.”

“So I already know how to control my shimmer. I don’t need any classes.” Billy made a crooked grin.

“That’s only part of what they teach you. Yes, there are times when you want to control it, but it’s usually more important to let it flow. For example, if you are happy, you want to show it in your shimmer. If you are curious, it is okay to shimmer your curiosity. It’s a way of emphasizing what you’re thinking or feeling. Your shimmer is like an extra facial expression. You can use it to smile, frown, show your happiness, or even show your anger. It helps you communicate with people because you’re telling them how you feel and what you want.”

“I think I would rather keep my secrets,” Billy said, as his shimmer tightened a little more.

Astrology Says…

Bernie spent the morning planning life forms. Although he had most of the details worked out for his Fish2Birds, the secondary animals continued to trouble him.

He wanted companion animals for his Fish2Birds, but, so far, the secondary animals he designed had numerous potential conflicts with his people. For example, if he created an airborne creature as a companion for his people-birds, what was to stop it from deciding his fish-babies were more appetizing than the plants? His secondary animals required more thought.

As Bernie considered the problem, he thought back to his dad’s universes. Simeon hadn’t created companion creatures. He said in his book he didn’t want any distractions for his primary life forms. That didn’t feel right to Bernie.
Shouldn’t there be a higher purpose than just looking good? Isn’t it important for creations to enjoy living? Shouldn’t they have meaning in their lives? Some sort of purpose? What else was living for?
He knew most gods would laugh at him for wasting time on such questions. But still, the questions troubled him. He wanted his world to make sense. He wanted his people to understand their place and to live happy lives, content knowing they are fulfilling some higher purpose.

He spent the morning thinking about higher purposes and companion animals. By lunch, he had no answers, but he was confident he was asking the right questions. As long as he did that, the answers would come.

* * *

“Hi, Bernie. I see you’re in a better mood today,” Suzie said.

“Yeah, my world was fine again this morning,” he said. “I’ve had a chance to do some planning.”

Lenny arrived a few moments later. “Hi, guys.” He lowered his lunch tray, scowled at the tapioca pudding, and asked, “Is there a way to tell if this stuff is alive?”

“Well, you could plant it on a sterile world and return later to see if it had babies,” Bernie suggested.

After they settled in, Bernie said, “I’m trying to work out some issues with my animals. Can I bounce some ideas off you both?”

“Sure. Animals are one of my specialties,” said Lenny, his tapioca suddenly forgotten. “For my universe project, I made giant armor-plated reptiles with horns, sharp teeth and a bellow that could knock you over. When they fought, they sounded like thunder and earthquakes together. And when—”

“That’s not what I’m looking for, Lenny. I don’t want anything that will hurt my higher life forms.”

“For goodness’ sake, Bernie. Why do you care about that?” Lenny asked with unconcealed confusion.

“I just don’t like it when they hurt each other.”

“So what? You can always make more of them.” Lenny was still confused.

As Bernie struggled to find an explanation, Suzie responded, “Bernie is a gentle soul, Lenny. You know that. He doesn’t have to make animals that hurt each other if he doesn’t want to.”

“I know,” said Lenny. “I just can’t figure out why anyone would want to. It’s so boring.”

“Have your named your higher life form yet?” Suzie asked, guiding the conversation toward easier ground.

Bernie looked gratefully at Suzie.
Still defending me after all these years
, he thought.
Someday I will make it up to you, Suzie. I promise.

“I think I’m going to call them Fish2Birds. Either that or Pod People.”

“Pod People?” said Suzie. “I don’t understand.”

“Well, you know how the fish-kids go from eggs to a cocoon?” asked Bernie. “When they hatch, they become land-people. Then when the land-people get old, they jump off the mountain, shed their skins, and become bird-people. I’m having trouble designing a fast enough metamorphosis for the bird-people.”

“It’s hard to mix morphological processes in the same species,” said Lenny. “If you’re going to multi-morph them, it’s easier if you keep the morphing process as similar as possible. If you’re going to use cocoons for the first transition, then keep it the same for the second one, too. Have your land-people climb the mountain and spin a second cocoon up there. Then after they hatch, they can grow wings and fly away in bird form.”

Bernie nodded. “That makes a lot of sense. Thanks, Lenny.”

As Bernie considered the materials his people would need for their second cocoon, Suzie asked, “I’ve been thinking about your universe, Bernie. Have you added any moons or planets yet?”

“No. I was thinking about not adding any. It just gives Billy more things to mess up.”

Lenny shook his head. “That’s not a good idea. You need planets and moons.”

“Why?” Suzie asked.

“Because if you don’t have any other planets or moons when you add your animals, it’s really hard on your higher life forms. They end up listless, without any sense of purpose,” Lenny said.

“That’s just an old god’s tale. It’s not true,” said Bernie. Turning to Suzie, he said, “Some people think planets and moons exert control over your life forms like puppets on strings. The distant planets make them happy or sad or bring them luck or take it away. It’s dumb.”

“No, it’s not! Didn’t you take Creation Astrology?” asked Lenny. “Ester said it’s really important. She says never use fewer than three planets. You should put your life planet in the middle of the group, and at least one planet has to be a gas giant. And if you want more diversity in your animals, then you need more planets.”

“Well, I don’t want much diversity. I want my higher life to swim in schools and eventually to fly in beautiful formations. I don’t want a bunch of individual thinkers in the group.”

“Well, regardless, you’d better have at least three planets,” Lenny insisted.

“What about moons?” Suzie asked.

“You’d better have at least one,” Lenny said, more to Bernie than to Suzie. “Honestly, Bernie, you need to read this stuff before you go any further.”

“Does the color of the moon matter?” asked Suzie. “I was always partial to yellow moons.”

“Okay, you win, Lenny. Two more planets and one yellow moon,” Bernie said.

More Planets

Bernie borrowed Lenny’s old textbooks on creative astrology. He hadn’t taken the class because it was an elective for him. His creation sociology teacher talked about the astrological aspects of culture management, but she hadn’t suggested any further reading.

Bernie had doubts about this astrology stuff. He’d never heard of any physical laws explaining how a planet could affect one creature on a different planet without affecting others on the same planet in the same way. But he knew one thing for sure: he couldn’t afford more problems in his universe.

He worried about going back to Supply and asking for more prefabs. He didn’t want Shemal thinking he was wasting supplies. But surely no one would begrudge him a couple more planets and a moon. Lots of people made complicated universes with more than he had used so far. Suzie said Wanda’s universe had two twin star systems with over a dozen planets in each one.
What a show-off.

The Supply Division was helpful. If they knew Shemal thought Bernie was wasting supplies, they didn’t show it. They got out the glossy catalog with detailed technical descriptions of each planet. They seemed genuinely disappointed when he only selected two planets and a moon.

Bernie chose a gas giant for the outer orbit and a metal planet for the inner orbit, the minimum configuration suggested in Lenny’s astrology book. A major portion of the book was devoted to planetary orbits. Interestingly, the book was more concerned with how the orbits appeared when viewed from the life planet. This makes things complicated, thought Bernie. It’s hard enough to manage celestial bodies when all you have to do is make them revolve around a sun. But to design everything from the viewing perspective of one of the planets? Now that was a challenge.

The book suggested he delay most major building tasks until the planets lined up just right. To do so would require burning up hundreds of thousands of years at a time just waiting for the right alignment. That wasn’t going to happen. He would add the planets and the moon, but he wasn’t going to waste time on the rest of it.

He glanced in the direction of Billy’s cubicle. He hadn’t seen Billy for a few days, which was undoubtedly why there hadn’t been any recent sabotage. Billy must be taking a few days off. Bernie shook his head. So far, Billy’s damage had been repairable, but that could easily change. If Billy wanted to destroy his world, all he had to do was blink it out. There would be nothing he could do. Well, tonight at least, he didn’t have to worry about that.

Bernie entered the void of his universe. He placed the giant gas planet into an outer orbit. He put the smaller planet in an orbit close to the sun. He watched them for a while as they looped around the sun. The idea of planets having an effect on his life planet bothered him. The book said distance didn’t matter, as long as the planets were visible from the life planet. So he changed the orbits again. He pushed the gas giant farther away from his planet. He pushed the small heavy planet closer to the sun. If distance didn’t matter, then he would keep them as far away from the main planet as possible. That way, if Billy exploded one of his planets, he would have more time to clean up the debris before it hit his world.