THE STRANGE WORLD
By
Sasa Sijak
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PUBLISHED BY:
The Strange World
Copyright © 2013 by Sasa Sijak
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This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.
This book is a collection of four science fiction short stories. I am looking forward to your positive feedback. Thank you very much.
THE STRANGE WORLD
*****
The Strange World
Tim was always a brave man. You can give him an impossible task but he would never give up. He would always try to find the way to overcome difficulties, do the things no man has done before. It is the year 2250. Mankind has reached the planets outside our solar system. The human race is looking forward to a new era, new challenges. But why do all of these places look deserted？ It looks like only the Earth can sustain life, as we know it. Tim is one of those scientists who can prove there is life out there in the universe. He accepted the mission. He is the only member of this mission crew. He is going to live on a strange planet far away from the civilization. He has all the things he needs, the supplies arrive regularly, he can contact with his family. Tim is a hard worker; he spends days in analysing the samples and atmosphere. This all can give him much headache; it is not easy to live on this strange world. Everything is different, the gravity, the air, the sky above him.
“Just look at the sky”, Tim says. “ It is all purple colour”.
“Look at the land, it is grey, dark grey, no sign of any life, no green colour to rest my eyes, nothing. I feel strange, what kind of place is this?” Tim speaks to himself.
But although he is alone, he doesn’t feel depressed. He wants to continue his studies; he wants to focus on his work.
Another day is beginning. Tim starts the usual procedure. Checks the oxygen levels in his room, the temperature, humidity, and life-supporting system. He wears his protection suit and goes for a walk outside. He is on his way to take samples. This time he is going further, he steps onto his vehicle and takes a ride. But what is it like to drive on this deserted planet. His vehicle has anti-gravity pads; it is the only way to overcome obstacles on the way. The terrain is so rough and the gravity is stronger than on the Earth. It makes Tim difficult to move, difficult to take everyday tasks. Every day the same places, this world looks all the same, the colour is all grey, no water no vegetation, nothing. Tim decides to go to a nearest cave. His radar detected this cave, and Tim has noticed that some strange signals come out of. What can this be? Maybe it is just the radiation, nothing worth his attention, but he wants to investigate the same. After couple hours of driving he has arrived near the place. He has crossed the mountains, seen the dawn, he looked again at a strange purple sky, and whispered: “ It better be something down here, I am getting tired.”
The cave looked simple, just a hole in the ground, no signs of anything, any movement, just piece and tranquillity everywhere.
“Well, this is it”, Tim said，“Let’s go inside!”
The crewmembers on a nearest spaceship have been noticed of his activity, and they can arrive to help Tim if necessary. Tim was always working alone; he doesn’t like other people helping him. He has gone the places nobody else wanted to, he could survive all kinds of harsh environment, take all kinds of challenges and do the things right. This is true, but it is also true that Tim is too stubborn; he doesn’t like to hear other people’s advices, sometimes it could have cost him his life. According to Tim this can just be a small mission, not a big problem, why should he worry at all.
Tim picked his equipment and stepped inside the cave. Nothing special about this place, the terrain is rough, it is dark, but no sound at all. It looks as if the place was deserted for thousands of years now. There is no way anything can influence the piece and tranquillity of this place. As Tim goes further and further into the cave, he studies the shapes and paths. Is it possible that the water shapes this place? No way, there is no water here, it has never been here, it is just the wrong thinking, this is just a hole made by some volcanic activity or something like that. But as the cave goes deeper and deeper, Tim looks further and he looks surprised. This cave has a strange shape. As he goes further it becomes different, getting the rectangular shape.
“No this cannot be” Tim says;” It is impossible that anyone has arrived on this place before. This is just an illusion.”
Tim begins to feel strange. Why is it like that, he has had some headaches before, but this feels different. It feels like he is lured into the cave, like some strange voice is telling him to go deeper and deeper. Tim is a brave man, a strong man, not easy to be influenced. This is different. What can it be, some strange brainwaves, hypnosis, no it is not possible. There has been no man ever walking on this planet beside Tim. How can anyone control his mind? As Tim struggles, he finds that there is no way to resist this signal, it is to strong, he cannot take it any more, he is just going further like a puppet, like he is linked to some invisible rope, pulling him harder and harder. There is no way for him to contact the rescue ship. He cannot move his hand, push buttons on his receiver. He feels fear, he has never been so helpless in his life, never had a situation like this. But he makes a struggle, clear his mind of all the fears, find the way to free him from this strange influence. This should stop sometime, whatever it is the force that is pulling me inside it must stop eventually. Tim enters a strange state of mind, there is no fear any more, and some strange vibrations give him the feeling of comfort, peace of mind. It is too deep, the cave is too deep, and there is nothing inside, just peace and tranquillity.
The spaceship has lost any signal of Tim. They fear that his life is in danger. For one week there is no sign of Tim. The spaceship captain is planning a rescue mission. They have arrived at the base where Tim used to be working, but there is nobody there. They have passed through the records; there is a mention of a Tim’s trip to a strange cave. They have decided to investigate.
The rescue crew arrived at the place, but there is no sign of any cave in vicinity. Just the same flat area, with nothing interesting, no cave, nothing. They have continued to search the area, to find a place Tim was talking about, but they have found nothing.
Years have passed, everybody thinks Tim is dead, there is no way that he can survive alone on that strange world for so long. It is now the year 2280. The new crew has arrived on a strange planet where Tim used to work. They have done some research, after some years of useless efforts they have found nothing useful on this planet, nothing worth mentioning. But one day on a routine sample collection mission they have found something strange. Is there a person on laying the ground? Who is he, who can it be, there is no way there are people here. They have found a person in a strange state, like sleeping, like mesmerized, like living in another dimension. They have taken him to the base and started investigation. Yes it is Tim, the same person who arrived on this planet 30 years ago. Why does it look as if he didn’t grow old at all? He just looks the same as the day he disappeared. He is still not responding to anything, just sleeping peacefully.
What happened to Tim, did he step into some strange wormhole? Is it some strange radiation, something we can never explain? He went in
to another dimension, where there is no time concept at all. Maybe the planet influenced his mind with some strange brainwaves. Maybe he is caught into an invisible net, doomed to dream forever. As the time passes, the things remain the same, Tim doesn’t wake up, and scientists can never grasp this phenomenon. It looks like uncovering the secrets of the universe. Maybe the universe is not the same as we are thinking, not so simple, with so many mysteries everywhere.