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The Submerged Dial
(part two)
It looked a little intimidating, taking control
of the sky and marking its place with a sureness that extended outward. It
had numerous branches, extending in complimentary directions, angled that
seemed to shift from one another, creating a unified barrier against the
night sky. We couldn’t get any closer to it from our position, the waters
quickened and deepened rapidly; there was no way to swim. We stood there for
a moment and I watched her, wondering what had brought us there. She didn’t
seem afraid of the large tree, and actually seemed a little excited, though
I didn’t know exactly what for. It stood there in silent repose, resembling
a natural fortress, standing in the center of the ocean. It was far enough
away, and seemed to stand firmly, an unmovable, impenetrable object on a
hill that no one could reach. She stood there for a few moments and examined
it carefully. She gazed up and down and I could almost see her eyes tracing
the paths of its branches. I waited behind her and was somewhat surprised
when she knelt down, placed her bag on the ground. She searched inside it
for a few minutes, until she pulled out her light machine. Taking it out of
its protective case, she placed it on the ground and waited for a few
moments, apparently deciding how to approach the object. She knelt down and
carefully began adjusting its switches and dials until it began to hum and
glow. It took a few minutes for her to find the correct sequence, exploring
different frequencies of light until it focused and dilated into a single,
strong beam of sharp light, thin and vibrant.
I was surprised by how strong the energy was. The waves of light built in
intensity and color nearly instantaneously. Illuminating the skies above, it
filled the atmosphere. Everything seemed to submerge under strange shades of
blue and purple. It continued to expand, until everything became one bright
blur. It was completely overwhelming and I nearly lost track of where we
stood. She pointed it towards the object and began tracing inside and out,
following the shapes and corners of its branches, working slowly on the
right side, then the left. She moved it up to the next section, focusing its
energy on the branches. It wasn’t obvious to me whether it was transferring
energy or absorbing its power. It didn’t seem to have any effect, the tree
didn’t respond, while the waters beneath it seemed unmoved, their churning
and rolling uninterrupted. None of this bothered her as she focused the
machine on its most important function. The device worked consistently, and
the steady energy it gave off allowed it to methodically communicate with
the tree’s branches. It began forming light while scaling between the
branches and trunk. She knelt down and turned the dials purposefully. This
caused the machine to rumble and it brightened, its light split into several
paths of different color. It began adding different layers to the scaling
light until she seemed to have created a kind of model. Gradually, the
machine produced what looked like a reflection of the tree, recreating it as
a kind of floating, lighted object. It wasn’t the same, merely a flat shadow
of its surface, smaller in scale, far less detailed.
She examined her
recreation of the structure, looking it over carefully. She seemed to notice
the same flaws and shortcoming that I did, and didn’t seem happy with the
results. She nodded her head and looked back towards the structure. The
results weren’t what she was expecting. It definitely wasn’t the same as
seeing it in person. Undermining itself, the resulting object was, in the
end, a hollow beveled form that didn’t look much better than a blurry,
unfocused photograph. Instead of collecting the facsimile tree, she
apparently decided that it hadn’t been worth the effort to try and reproduce
it. This was possibly a function of being in front of it, and the
comparisons that were immediate. There was no way it would have been able to
capture the luminous irradiations, or complex, seemingly supernatural
energy. In that respect, her machine wasn’t up to the task. She turned the
dials all the way to the right and the projected image slowly faded until it
vanished. Attempting to carve a small portrait of it out of light that could
be constrained in some machine seemed a feat beyond any reason. I stood and
looked at the tree and was struck by how still it remained, the extending
branches, not swayed by the intrusive lights and beams.
The object remained still and calm, not moving an inch, despite the
ferocious seas its energy field created. Its branches didn’t sway, the
ground beneath resolutely firm, despite the wind swirling above and the
piercing light beams shining through its interwoven branches. An
intimidating dark beacon, it rose stoically, working against anything that
would try and separate it from the cascading skies. Unmoved, it defied our
attempts at understanding its function and purpose. We stood facing towards
it, allowing ourselves a few more moments in quiet equilibrium. It was a
relief not to have to catalog or save or recreate the object. The evidence
of its existence would only surface in our shared memory. By not allowing
itself to be copied, it had preserved its mystery. She took my hand and
gazed towards the object. We remained quiet and let the wind and water wash
over us. The trees branches seemed to wave slightly towards us, but there
was nothing we could do to prove it existed. Somehow, we both realized that
not sharing this was the right course of action. It might have seemed
counterintuitive, but it made sense.
There was no way we could reach it, and the tree
remained out of reach. There were no boats of piers to cross. Swimming
across the churning waters would be far too dangerous. The swirling currents
were far too strong for anyone to take on, no matter their skill or
experience. The narrow base beneath the tree didn’t seem to offer much
protection and the tree itself looked like it would impossible to climb or
explore. The more I looked at it, the more it seemed to be an impossible
object, not created naturally. Its vertical trunk was too narrow while its
triangular angles were far too sharp. Looking closer, I saw that its
branches seemed unnatural, with leaves that led into more branches. As I
stood there, I noticed things about it that didn’t make sense. Its branches
seemed to be perfectly measured and exquisitely collated in a somewhat
deliberate, overly taut configuration that seemed unlikely to occur in
nature. I looked closer and the unnatural energy field began to strengthen,
there was an eerie green glow to the clouds surrounding it, the waves began
distorting the clouds above and the waves beneath increased in their
velocity.
I was a bit frightened and turned to run away, but she remained calm,
unafraid by the sudden increase in the intensity of the light. She watched
calmly as it coalesced into a series of solid waves. The reaction was
instantaneous. Its effects were impressive and seemed to consume the sky.
Waves of colors worked effortlessly turning the night almost day until the
entire atmosphere surrounding the tree turned bright yellow and then clear,
bright white. She took a step back towards me and grabbed my hand, pushing
me back further. The ocean in front of us rose quickly, large torrential
waves clashed, nearly cresting at our feet. I began to worry that we’d be
submerged without warning, but she seemed to stand in place. While the water
pulsated, I looked above towards the skies, and the clouds began to fall
apart. The seemed to dissolve, ripping into seams, the colors shredding and
darkening as they split into sections, allowing the night sky to move back
in. The atmosphere darkened, its colors dissipated slowly, leaving behind
small remnants that vanished quickly until they weren’t visible. I looked
below and the waters had calmed substantially, deflating the waves and
roiling currents, the light began to subside. Everything gradually began to
settle. The supernatural storm quickly collapsed into itself, the sudden
burst of energy retreating back into the darkness. After a few minutes, I
was able to see the giant tree-like object in the distance clearly. With all
that had occurred, something about it must have changed, but there didn’t
seem to be any visible difference. It remained still and mysterious, nothing
about it had changed. I examined it closely, looking for some sign. Its
branches were in the same position, standing resolute against the
unrelenting nocturnal wind.
I looked at her and she seemed more relieved than disappointed, nothing had
been damaged by her experiment. The seas began to settle and she walked back
towards the water. I followed and felt the atmosphere. It seemed to be
exhaling, releasing the pressure quickly, to recover from her
incomprehensible test, quickly regaining its composure. She took her machine
off the ground, held it in her hands. She turned and twisted its dials until
they quickly folded back, receding beneath the machine's surface. They were
no longer visible, but she knew exactly where they were. She crossed the
machine with her fingers until it regained balance. She took it on its side
until it calmed down. It took a few minutes to stop buzzing but she took
control. Her hands held it firmly until it finally surrendered to her
command, reclaiming a neutral position she managed to find. She slid its
cover over it and it folded back into its incongruous form. It seemed to
fall into a strange hibernation, gliding backwards into itself. She slipped
it back in its case where it would hide. Any secrets it had discovered about
during its process wouldn’t escape. I looked over the seas and walked a
little closer, trying to gain a different perspective. Unreachable by any
standard means, it kept itself at a safe distance. I tried to find some
pattern to its arrangement and configuration, but there was nothing I could
explain. I walked back towards her and asked her what was happening. She
nodded her head. She knew more than I did, she wasn’t telling. I would have
to figure it out myself. She motioned that it was getting time for us to
leave. I took another step back and tried to memorize its patterns but they
weren’t easy to catalog from that distance. All I could do was outline its
larger branches and try and keep the larger picture in my mind. Despite my
best efforts, its mysterious origins remained elusive, despite standing
directly in my sight. It was impervious to my inquiries, standing aloft on
that distant shore
I
decided that it would be best not to try too hard, there were some things
that probably didn’t need to be explained or explored. I decided to keep the
image in my mind and process it later. There was still plenty of time to
figure things out. I had to regain my energy and took a moment to catch my
breath. I turned away from it and saw that she was already walking ahead of
me. She was walking quickly down the pathways we had walked. It took me
awhile to catch up. I was still behind her but she didn’t seem to notice me
and moved ahead quickly. She began retracing our steps as we had arrived,
reversing course, she effortless and headed towards the shoreline. She raced
ahead but I found myself carefully maneuvering the rocky surfaces and began
falling behind her, disappearing almost completely in her shadow. I felt
disappointed by my progress and decided to take more chances. I began to
skip over the rocks and finally caught up to her just before she returned to
where we embarked. At this point, the object had slipped behind us and was
no longer visible when I turned back. For a fleeting moment, I felt its
energy reaching all the way back to my position. There was no way of proving
it but I knew it was there, though I couldn’t quite understand its source or
if it had some hidden motivation I wasn’t aware of.
I looked towards her and she finally returned to the where our shoreline
adventure had begun. The mountainside stairs extended up towards the peak
and didn’t seem nearly as welcoming from the bottom, I wasn’t welcoming
another steep climb but there didn’t seem to be much choice for me. She
looked around and finally caught a glimpse of me. She looked simultaneously
relieved and frustrated by our situation. I needed to help her and realized
that my trepidation was holding us back. I stood there for a moment and
looked around and back, still a bit perplexed by the experiment she seemed
to be conducting. She seemed less upset than I expected and motioned that me
to stand beside her. We stood at the bottom of the steps, and looked above
towards the twisting paths leading back up the mountain. I wondered why she
was retracing the steps we’d taken. It felt like we were retreating and
going backwards.
This didn’t seem to bother her in the least and she began to confidently
walk up the stairs. I paused for a moment behind her. I looked below and
tried to locate the tree, but it had vanished. I traced the uneven
shoreline. I couldn’t find the path we’d taken seemed to have disappeared. I
couldn’t see our footsteps in the sand, the wind had covered them. The waves
effortlessly erased our paths. The tides gradually rose and its waves worked
quickly to wash away the path. We walked further away and vanished into the
night, leaving no evidence of our excursion. I knew that we’d be the only
ones that would know what happened. I looked at her and she seemed strangely
pleased by this outcome. This was perplexing at first, but I slowly figured
it out. She had led me there for a reason, though it wasn’t immediately
obvious to me.
She used the machine to align our steps with the
tides and predicted what would happen and how long we had. Our clandestine
mission ended at the precise time, as she intended. She measured the tides
and moon, finding the exact moment for us to make our escape. This allowed
tides to come in naturally, the waves quickly erasing our footsteps in the
sand. Once this happened, no one would know we had been there, nobody could
follow us. Its purpose was initially beyond me, and it felt like the whole
adventure had been a failure as we walked away. However, as she stood there,
I began to see the connections between the events, emerging gradually. It
took me awhile to catch up to her motivation, but was able to slowly put
some of the clues together. Some of the strange events began to coalesce
into some form, though I was still unsure of all of the reasons and her
actual motivations. There was a reason this was happening, and she
gradually, carefully revealed it so I would understand the purpose, at least
to some degree. It took a few minutes for her to set up the machine again. I
decided to look down at the churning water below and ponder what had
happened. It was rising quickly and I was glad we had escaped the rising
tides, It had been a long walk, and I was distracted at first by other
things. It took me until her experiment was almost over to figure out what
was happening.
I looked at her and watched as she moved deliberately. Adjusting its dials,
she wound them around a few circles and pointed it downward, back towards
the ground. Nothing seemed to happen at first and she began turning its
dials and switches. It shuddered and shook for a moment before resuming its
tasks. It began measuring the space in front of us, building the outlines of
another doorway. She felt around for its submerged dial, and began focusing
the beams into solid forms once more. Walking down, she looked at the
diagram carefully before deciding on its final configuration. She began
adjusting the machine’s height, and it seemed to track her as she walked
along the walkway. It didn’t seem to be working correctly until she moved it
further down the path on a more level surface. She began lining up the
machine, trying to synchronize its alignment and scan rate. My eyes drifted
below us and I felt myself lost somewhere between the sand and tides.
I wondered what she was trying to discover down there. I wanted to ask her
what the purpose of everything was. She was busy with the machine and kept
adjusting and tweaking the machine’s controls. I looked below and watched
the churning waters over-run the inlet and beach, washing everything in its
path away. I heard the dials clicking and clattering in the distance, until
at long last, there was a solid loud beep. After several attempts, she
finally seemed to have found the right balance and hit a large switch. This
seemed to lock it in place and it also made me realize our time on the
island was coming to a close. I turned back towards her and saw another
bright beam of light emitted. The doorway rebuilt itself quickly. The
machine created a series of solid sections, scanning and turning the ground
beneath it. After the door’s outer frame was complete, the machine seemed to
grow weary. It signals diminished rapidly and it looked like it was running
out of fuel.
She placed it on its side and extended its antenna until it faced the moon,
connecting quickly under its glow. The machine quickly soaked the nocturnal
light inside, gradually regaining its strength and power. We patiently
waited for it to absorb the energy it needed. This took a few minutes until
it released another large burst, and a satisfactory beep. Thus signaling its
thirst had been quenched, it awaited our next step. The machine finished
building the door as expected. She retrieved the machine, picking it off the
ground and grasped it tightly. She extended her hand towards mine as it
powered up. In that moment, I realized what she was doing. She looked at me
and began tracing another doorway. She told me to think, and take out one
last look down towards the water below. I watched the tides crest as they
reached their apex. The churning waves washed away our last remaining
footprints from the sand at the bottom of the stairs. We moved closer
towards the door, I felt the ground give way and it felt like there was
nothing underneath us as we walked. I looked around as the bright light
consumed us. We had vanished as suddenly as we’d arrived. Everything had
turned out exactly as she’d planned.
- Michael Palisano
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