"Nothing--nothing at all, damn it!" Hanson told him. "You wanted a
computer--and you've got it. You can feed in data as to the hour, day,
month and year, turn the cranks, and the planets there will turn to
their proper position exactly as the real planets should run. You don't
need to read the results off graph paper. What more could any analogue
computer do? But it doesn't influence the sky."
"It was never meant to," the old man said, surprise in his voice. "Such
power--"
Then he stopped, staring at Hanson while something almost like awe
spread over his face. "Yet ... the prophecy and the monument were right!
You have unlocked the impossible! Yet you seem to know nothing of the
laws of similarity or of magic, Dave Hanson. Is that crystal similar to
the sky, by association, by contagion, or by true symbolism? A part may
be a symbol for the whole--or so may any designated symbol, which may
influence the thing it is. If I have a hair from your head, I can model
you with power over you. But not with the hair of a pig! That is no true
symbol!"
"Suppose we substituted bits of the real thing for these
representations?" Hanson asked.
Bork nodded. "It might work. I've heard you found the sky material could
be melted, and we've got enough of that where it struck the camp. Any
one of us who has studied elementary alchemy could blow a globe of it to
the right size for the sky dome. And there are a few stars from which we
can chip pieces enough. We can polish them and put them into the sphere
where they belong. And it will be risky, but we may even be able to
shape a bit of the sun stuff to represent the great orb in the sky."
"What about the planets?" Hanson was beginning to feel the depression
lift. "You might get a little of Mars, since it fell near here, but that
still leaves the other six."
"That long associated with a thing achieves the nature of the thing,"
Sather Karf intoned, as if giving a lesson to a kindergarten student.
"With the right colors, metals and bits of jewels--as well as more
secret symbols--we can simulate the planets. Yet they cannot be
suspended above the dome, as in this orrery--they must be within the
sky, as in nature."
"How about putting some iron in each and using a magnet on the control
tracks to move the planets?" Hanson suggested. "Or does cold iron ruin
your conjuring here?"
Sather Karf snorted in obvious disgust, but Bork only grinned. "Why
should it? You must have heard peasant superstitions. Still, you'd have
a problem if two tracks met, as they do. The magnets would then affect
both planets alike. Better make two identical planets for each--and two
suns--and put one on your track controls. Then one must follow the
other, though the one remain within the sky."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account