Vibrations: Harmonic Magic Book 1 (8 page)

They…not…harm
, Sam sent.
Excited…see…you. Can…communicate or…hear…thoughts…any…these?
Sam asked his friend.

No.

Looking into his friend’s large green eyes, he sent:
No…worry.
Friends. Relax.
Skitter didn’t move, but the feeling of tension eased a little bit. That would have to do.

“Ummmmm, hapaki?” asked Sam. “You mean Skitter there? He’s my friend.”

The doctor, still not taking his eyes off Skitter, continued: “Your friend? Ah, oh, ok. We’ll talk about that in a moment. Yes, indeed, hapaki. The word is from Old Kasmali. That’s an ancient language, you know. It’s different than the contemporary Kasmali, which I suppose is why it is called ‘Old Kasmali,’ but different, too, from Ancient Kasmali. If it was the same as the Kasmali used nowadays, I suppose it would just be called Kasmali, eh? Of course, when Old Kasmali and Ancient Kasmali were being spoken, perhaps they were just called Kasmali then. Hmmm, now there’s an interesting thought.

“Anyway, anyway,” he said, waving the words away, “the name hapaki means something like ‘shove’ or ‘kick over.’ Apparently, in the rare sightings of these creatures, they have been observed moving rocks for various uses, pushing them with their heads or even shoving them with their front paws. Fascinating, just fascinating! I have never seen one. In fact, most people have never seen one in the last several hundred years. Why is it just standing there?”

“He’s afraid that you want to eat him,” Sam told him. “Apparently that’s how they deal with fear.”

“‘He?’” Dr. Walt asked. “Don’t you mean ‘it?’”

“No, he’s my friend. He’s not an ‘it.’”

The doctor’s wrinkled face flushed. “Pardon me, my boy, but I meant no offense. You see, hapaki have no gender. They are asexual, starting the reproduction cycle at will. They can do it alone, though the entire community apparently helps in the upbringing of young ones. As I said, absolutely fascinating. I suppose you could refer to…ahem…him as a him, or as a her for that matter, but scientifically speaking, he is neither male nor female.”

It was Sam’s turn to be embarrassed. He reddened slightly, looking over at his friend. “Oh, I see. He just seemed like a ‘him’ to me. Hold on a moment, let me check.”

Sam directed his thoughts to Skitter:
Mind…if I…call…you… “him
?” knowing that Skitter could read Sam’s thoughts to decipher what “him” was.

Fine. Male…is…boss…your…home? Fine
. Skitter sent back.

“Ok,” Sam said, turning to the doctor, “he’s fine with me calling him ‘him.’ He said something about how where I’m from, the ‘him’ is boss, so he’s cool with it.” Sam laughed at the idea.

If at all possible, Dr. Walt’s jaw dropped even lower and his eyes grew even wider. “What? Are you trying to tell me that you can communicate with him, and that he is intelligent?”

Sam was puzzled. “Of course. I thought you were the expert on hapaki here. Doesn’t your research indicate that they communicate mind-to-mind?”

“Mind to…uh…wha…I…ummm…” The doctor took a breath and stared at Sam, and then at the hapaki, and then at Sam again. He fished a small crude book from one of his pockets, what looked like a homemade pencil from another, and wrote a note. “No. My research indicates nothing of the kind. Like I said, they are very rare. We will have to discuss this later. For now, let me tell you a bit about where we are and what you, and perhaps I, can do about it.”

As Sam settled in to listen to Dr. Walt, Skitter sent to him:
Hapaki? Push…shove?
Push…better…than pull. Less…effort.
If he didn’t know better, Sam would swear that the hapaki was laughing. With him, or at him.

Sam chuckled out loud. Dr. Walt looked at him questioningly. “Oh,” Sam said, flushing again, “I was just laughing at what Skitter said.”

The look did not leave Dr. Walt’s face.

“He was laughing about the name ‘hapaki,’ and its meaning. He said that pushing is better than pulling, more efficient, so he doesn’t have a problem with that name. I’m finding that he has a fine sense of humor.” Casting a sidelong glance at the hapaki, he continued, “Maybe too fine a sense of humor. Sometimes I get the sense he’s laughing at me.”

Dr Walt’s face lit up, crinkling into a huge smile. “Oh, I can’t wait to hear more about your furry friend there. But for now, let us speak of other things.

“The place you find yourself is called Gythe, from an Old Kasmali term meaning ‘the physical world.’ Here, the place you and I come from is called Telani, meaning ‘shadow.’ Obviously, there is a bias here because the ancient scholars decided that our world, Telani, or Earth if you prefer, was just a shadow of theirs. Who is to say? They may be right.

“In any case, the two worlds actually occupy the same physical space. Now, I think I need to figure out how to explain this adequately to you.”

Sam raised a hand to get the doctor’s attention and then interrupted. “Actually, I read your book and as much other information I could find on the internet about your work. There were even a few video clips I was able to locate. I think I have a pretty good understanding of vibrational energies and different vibrational planes.”

“Wonderful, wonderful,” Dr. Walt responded. “Well, then, that makes it easier. So, you understand that all matter is constantly vibrating, that the vibrations are part of the building blocks of everything, atoms and such. You also have read, no doubt, that ancient civilizations harnessed types of vibrational energies for healing, moving large objects, and other things, mundane and fantastic. Too, you are obviously familiar with how vibrations can be changed to phase things from our world to others, such as this one. Your very presence here is a testament to that.”

He noted Sam’s nod and took it as confirmation. “ok. Let’s say, for example, that our world, Telani, vibrates at a rate based on the number 1. So, for every one time unit, a vibration occurs. Good. Now, let’s say that this world, Gythe, vibrates at a rate based on the number 7. So, for every seven time units, a vibration occurs. In that case, the two worlds would only vibrate together every seven time units, correct? Though Telani vibrates every one unit, including the seventh, and Gythe only vibrates on the seventh, that would be the only time they vibrate together. At least until the 14
th
time unit, and then the 21
st
, and so on. Do you understand and agree with that?”

Sam’s nod was enough for Dr. Walt to continue.

“So then, with rates at one and seven, it is an easy thing to picture. Now suppose that these worlds, vibrating at different rates, could share the same physical space, but vibrating at different speeds, they would be in different dimensions. The only time they would overlap and form a conduit from world to world would be on each seventh time unit.”

Sam nodded thoughtfully. “I see. They are both here all the time, but vibrating differently, they aren’t seen or felt by those in the other world. Unless their vibrations coincide every seventh time cycle. But they would be overlapping often. Why don’t they?”

“Exactly right,” said Dr. Walt. “But we just used one and seven as an example. What if, taking another pair of random rates, the worlds vibrate at time units 29 and 195. In that case, they would only match up after 5655 time units have passed. What happens if the rates are orders of magnitude greater? Conceivably the worlds may only match their vibrations once in every few hundred or few thousand years. Can you see the complexity?”

“Wow, that could be a problem for me” Sam said sadly. “I don’t think I have a few thousand years to wait.” He was being ironic, but Dr. Walt apparently missed it and continued on.

“Indeed. There are many other factors, such as ley lines, the lines of power that criss-cross both worlds, and vortices, the places where these lines meet other lines, and other effects, but you have the gist of it now. I have been trying for 35 years to get back to Telani. To Earth. I have not been able to do so yet.”

Sam was puzzled. “Whoa! Wait a minute. You’ve only been gone thirteen years. I’m only twenty-seven years old and I saw you give the lecture when I was twelve. You disappeared a couple of years after that.”

Dr. Walt’s expression changed from confusion, to enlightenment, and then to sadness. “I hadn’t thought of that. Perhaps time flows differently on the two worlds. That means that if I am ever able to get back to Earth, I will be an old man, though I shouldn’t be. Or will the effects of aging reverse. Hmmmm, that’s an interesting thought.” He took out his little notebook again and scribbled something there with his pencil.

Tapping the pencil on his top lip, Dr. Walt hmmmmed to himself and muttered incomprehensibly. After a moment, he looked over and jumped as if startled. “Oh!” he said, as if he had forgotten Sam was there. “So, my boy, now let’s talk about you. What type of device did you use to travel here? Was it based on my machine? I didn’t publish the plans, so I’m not sure how you could have learned about it, but it will be quite all right if you used my ideas.”

Confused, Sam gulped. “I didn’t use a device. The first time I came here…”

“The first time? What do you mean? You’ve been here more than once?”

“Uh, yeah. This is my second time. It was tougher this time, though.” He proceeded to tell the doctor the specifics of both of his trips.

“Fascinating. We’ll have to talk to Rindu. Perhaps you have an affinity for vibrational energy. He is a master in that field.”

He looked up at the sky. “But we’ll have to do that later. For now, we better get to our temporary camp before the afternoon rain showers soak us. When we get there, I will introduce everyone properly and we’ll all be good friends. Come along now, and bring your hapaki friend. I think maybe we have some food he would be interested in.”

8

It was a quick trip to the other side of the ruins, which were considerably larger than Sam had first thought. The temporary camp was set up on the outskirts of the ruins. It consisted of three tents, all made of some sort of rough spun fiber that Sam couldn’t identify. They were the commonly-shaped peaked tents, supported with what appeared to be saplings or branches that were very straight and well-used. Colored a mixture of greens and browns, the tents seemed to fade in and out of Sam’s vision as he looked at them.

Between the tents, rocks were laid in a circle with three small stools that looked like they could be broken down and packed for travel arranged around the fire pit. There was a pile of ashes in the ring of rocks. The camp, while simple, projected an organized and comfortable feeling.

Dr. Walt sat on one of the stools and offered one to Sam. Rindu quickly unfurled some type of oiled cloth over two ropes, making a canopy over the stools and fire ring. Just before he pulled the tarp tight, Sam felt the first drop of water hit his hand. Soon, the rain was coming down hard, but under the cover, everyone stayed dry. Skitter curled into a ball at the very edge of the covered area, apparently still too fearful to join the people.

“We are here doing some exploratory digging, trying to find some of the old technology that is sometimes buried in these types of ruins. This one was a shopping center, apparently, though I was hoping for a storage unit complex. We haven’t found anything useful yet.”

At Sam’s look of confusion and astonishment, Dr. Walt understood what was wrong. “Oh, I’m sorry. I’ve been here so long, I sometimes forget how little is actually known about this world and its history. Let me explain.”

Dr. Walt explained what his research had yielded. He believed that though both worlds shared the same physical space, with the same geography, there were some differences. Each world had its own timeline, with people acting according to their own free will. This caused some major differences.

One of these differences was that possibly because of just one person, or a few, science had advanced much faster on Gythe than on Telani. High technology had been developed and, as with Telani, unscrupulous people took advantage of the technology to kill others and to gain power.

When all was said and done, there was a catastrophe of epic proportions, an apocalypse. It was unclear whether it was nuclear or of some other type. What was clear was that mankind almost completely destroyed itself. From the few hundred that survived the cataclysm were descended all the people living on Gythe now. It had been about five hundred years. With primitive conditions, in addition to the violent nature of life here, the population of Gythe was not very large.

There were always a few people who retained some literacy, so books and other records were available, when they could be found, and Dr. Walt had dedicated himself to finding them and to helping his new world in any way he could so that the past would not be repeated.

“Another difference you may have noticed is that even though the geography is basically the same, the climate and vegetation are not. Because of climate conditions, either due to the previous technological era or from lack of technology in the current one, where there is a desert in Telani, there may be a rain forest or wetlands here in Gythe, and vice versa.”

That explains the heavy forest around the area of my house
. This was going to take some getting used to.

“But enough of that. Let me tell you a bit about our friends here and our current situation. Suffice it to say, I spend my time researching the past, always with an eye to something that could help me, and now you, get home. We have a compound of sorts within a couple of days’ hike from here. We’re just exploring these ruins, as I mentioned, so we have our temporary camp here. After a good night’s rest, we’ll start off for the compound. First, though, you should probably know who Rindu and Nalia are and why their past is important, amongst other things.”