Strings: something big is about to happen... Read Free Page A

shape
constantly, registering slight changes in density.   They covered an enormous area of space and were travelling at
unprecedented speeds, seeming to disappear in one location and reappear in
another.   Physicists were excited.   They were talking about wormholes.   Science fiction aficionados were dressing up
and organising conventions to discuss the possibility of alien visitors coming
to Earth.   The astronomer was asked
whether the objects could be travelling at ‘warp speed’, and he laughed with
the presenter, saying that would be really something!
    Maddy stared.  
    “What is it?” asked Hugh.
    “It’s happening.”
    “What’s happening?”
    “Ratch nor dwl!   Ratch!”
     
    ***
     
    “Approaching system, one thousand
dwil.   Ready nets.   All play!”
    Li got off first, barging into
Rim, who used his booster to swing round and face Lon, somersaulting into him
and flinging him away.   Ti dived,
streamlining, taking shape, increasing in mass, towards the hot, only to be
shoved off course by Lon.  
    Sim awarded points and penalties
on the scoreboard.   Whoever captured
this hot would secure a victory for the team and a coveted distinction for
himself.
    “Watch out, lightweight!”   Li took on mass and engaged full booster for
twenty dwil.
    “No you don’t!” Rim sent out one
of his remaining shockwaves and Li curled into a ball, cursing.
    All four were still in the running.
    “One hundred dwil remaining,”
announced Sim, calmly.
    Shape changing at will, increasing
mass to the max, and using the last allocated energy to boost, Lin veered off
target and lost speed. Li came in and shock-waved Ti, who cursed and
slowed.   Two of them left, heat shields
on, salm treated nets at the ready. At the last ten dwil, the countdown
began. There would be nothing in it.   Lin touched his booster, a dangerous strategy at such close proximity,
and cut in front, drawing back his net and coming around.
    “Ratch nor dwl!   Ratch!” he cried.
     
    *****
     
    People in the northern hemisphere
screamed, as the sun disappeared.   One
moment it was there and the next, the sky was in darkness.
    Maddy put her arms around Hugh and
held the thought that blazed in her mind of a coiled string lit by apertures,
into which she flew, emerging into a universe on a scale more enormous than any
she’d ever imagined.   And before her,
visions of boys and girls, of sorts, gathered round a table, examining what
looked like coloured marbles in a vast space, brightly lit by lamps that looked
like suns.
     
    *****
     
    “Be sure to examine the blue
particle brought back by Ti Drar, gathered in the proto-nets we’ve been trying
out.   Well done to Ti.   It was taken under the discretionary rule
and may be of particular interest.”
    “Where is it, sir?”   asked a female student.
    “In the microscopic particle
accelerator.”
    There was a murmur of excitement.
    “Gather round and select maximum
enhanced magnification.   We will review
the collisions on the screen later.   For
now, observe.”
     
    “It looks pretty,” said Lin.   “It’s a pity it’s covered in microbes.”
    A thought wave of rippling
laughter flooded the room and echoed into space.

Other titles by B.
A. Spicer :
    My Grandfather’s Eyes
(dark, psychological drama)
    A Good Day for
Jumping (mystery and suspense on the island of Crete)
    The Undertaker’s Son
(mystery and suspense in France)
     
    Short stories :  
    Angels
    Strings
      Peaches in the Attic
     
    Humorous titles by
Bev Spicer :
    One Summer in France
(two girls in a tent - Bev and Carol, Book 1)
    Bunny on a Bike
(Playboy croupiers in 80s London - Bev and Carol, Book 2)
    Stranded in the
Seychelles (teachers in paradise - Bev and Carol, Book 3)