The Diamond Age: A Creative Story
My Sight
Her name was Celeste and she had been working on one of her latest inventions. Reporters would flock to her because she was so well known since her discovery of the Flier; a new transportation device such like an automobile which uses sucrose for energy. Many were excited to hear of a new invention that was taking place. “The the multiple coincidence technique offers the possibility of a tool that could be used to probe the structure of the target, be it atom, molecule, thin film or any other surface,” Celeste stated in the announcement of her new idea.A distinguished gentleman raised his hand, “Could you please say this again in easier to understand terms?”
Smiling, she contently said, “Basically, it’s a device that allows for the distances of waves to be measured using a new unit.” The gentleman nodded acknowledging her answer.
“What do you hope to accomplish with this device?”
Celeste looked over the crowd of reporters and cameras to the back to a young man who asked the question, no doubt new to the tiring career of a reporter, “I want to be able to have this wave link the same that of the human brain interprets to the world around us. With the WIT, as I call the device, I’m hoping to see new things that we otherwise wouldn’t be able to see, specifically with time.” Seeing many hands rising to the air almost immediately she continued, “WIT stands for Wavelinks Interpreting Time.” Many hands dropped. “Yes?” A serious older woman kept her hand raised.
“Time is what humans have created to have control, is it not?”
“Yes, that’s correct. While it still remains as a system of measurement, the WIT measures periods of dates, and the times of a sunset and sunrise all over the world,” Celeste was sure from the expressions in the reporters faces that they still did not grasp the idea she was desperately trying to make. “Even in the beginning, time was still measured, but by the moon’s phases. This device will essentially be as a guide into our past as well as the present anywhere on earth,” she paused for a moment recollecting her thoughts, “and our future.” The room growled with excitement from her audience.
Celeste awoke the next morning but did not dream. Her room was softly lighted with the sunrise cascading through her open windows, and brought with it the ocean scent she loved. She slipped on her purple, fuzzy slippers and sleepily walked to a window looking at another beautiful high tide. Lately, every morning has been just as beautiful as it was this morning. She breathed in the sea air deeply and thought of her career, finally taking off. Everything was going the way she always wanted.The young career woman dressed in her favorite blue overalls, it would be another day of testing the device. This time, the tests would involve human contact so Celeste was quite nervous to see if her theory would be correct. Deciding to skip breakfast that morning because she didn’t feel hungry, she hailed down a yellow flier to take her to her lab.
Her lab crew consisted of three men besides herself. She considered herself very bright and lucky to be the head of the experiments. They were Thomas, Kevin, and Drew. Thomas was an older gentleman whom was very quiet and sometimes misunderstood, but always sincere and likeable. He was also a military veteran, as anyone would be able tell from just listening to him. Kevin was one of the best mathematicians Celeste had the pleasure of knowing. Although, his first impressions always made Kevin out to be a clown and practical joker because of his high spirit and great sense of humor. Whenever he wasn’t the center of attention, he would tell stories about the great pranks he used to pull. Then there was Drew, whom was just a boy trying to grow up in a man’s world. His family threw pressure on him to grow up too fast, and because of it, he used to turn to drugs, but he can’t recall much of that anymore. Drew joined the team as an intern that was interested in the new technology the company was working on and somehow managed to have friends in high places, which was how he became part of the lab crew. Everyone got along with each other famously, and no one was any less important than the other. Celeste was very content with her job more now than ever because of the wonderful people who surrounded her and her work.
After a few last minutes of double checking the mechanics and calculations, they were ready to try out the WIT device. Celeste had nominated herself to try it out first, especially since she knew no one else would object. The crew strapped her body down on a metal table and connected the device to her forehead using MTs, which stood for “metal tape,” which connected to her brainwaves and then sent waves to the device itself, which was where the calculations had been specified. “You gonna be all right, Cel?” Drew asked Celeste as he finished connecting the MTs to her forehead.
“Yes, I can’t wait,” she smiled, “Then you’ll have to try it out next,.” she said happily. The others smiled and began putting in her data into the WIT.
When all the technical parts of the device were finally configured, Thomas paused and looked down at Celeste on the table, “We’ve finished the rest of the calibrations and calculations. Are you sure you want to do this?” Celeste only smiled happily as she looked at him. “Okay..” Thomas sighed softly and started the device.
It began in a whirr..
Celeste went around the globe into another country. A sight was set on a little dark haired girl that had just been dropped into a musty old well that no longer had a purpose but death of the infant. She blinked, and suddenly, she was in another place. The weather was freezing and it was dark but she did not feel cold. Muffled voices came from behind her as she turned to see a party inside a house close by. She moved toward the light from a window and saw the party was for a young man. Celeste turned away. And now, she was in yet another location. These images of various areas around the world kept focusing for her, images that were going on at that exact minute in her time.Moments went by and the images kept coming. “Enough,” she said out loud to herself, hoping Thomas would hear her voice and turn off the device. Instead, a different set of images floated to her. Celeste could feel the difference as she saw her first image. Her eyes now focused through some other body, as though it were hers.
The first image she saw was in Egypt, at a nearby pyramid. She was a dark skinned woman walking in the sand with what seemed to be her family in front of her as she followed. Her hair was black and straight and she wore light colored clothing that fit her slender body perfectly around her chest and waist to her thighs. Although she felt and had her sight as she was this person, she could not control the body.
Again, a few moments past and Celeste was cast to another body. This time, she was in the New World. Her eyes focused and became aware that she was now a young native American man. The eyes were the same as the Egyptian, recognizable.
She blinked.
Now, she saw a small basement room that was newly plastered. Celeste was with a wealthy family and being followed into the room with soldiers. They were then locked inside and stood waiting for a while until the soldiers return. She looked to be the oldest of the children, having long dark red-brown hair falling past her shoulders and wore dirty expensive clothing. The look in her eyes was the same as the other bodies she possessed, only now they were filled with terror. A few words were spoken quietly but in the old language of Russian. The mother looked kindly to her and called her Olga. Suddenly, the soldiers came back in quickly, raised their rifles and began shooting at the family. Instantly, Celeste felt a sharp pain as she fell with her father and mother. Celeste assumed that the other siblings fell to the same fate, but could not be sure. As soon as she felt the sting of a bullet, the image past.
Her eyes opened, hoping she saw the ceiling of the lab. Instead she saw a different ceiling, one that was dark but soft. The lights in the room were off. Lifting her arm to her face, she realized it wasn’t a ceiling she was seeing but a blanket over her. She removed the blanket and moved off of the table she was laying upon. It was quiet. Celeste turned around facing the table she was once on. Her eyes widened as she saw herself still laying there unconscious. The body on the table was pale.
Celeste’s body jolted suddenly when Thomas finally decided to turn off the device to bring her back to their wave link. Celeste didn’t awake right away. “Her mind had seemed to slip just before we stopped the experiment,” Thomas explained to Drew and Kevin, “but she’s all right now. She said she’ll give her report to us when she’s rested.”The young woman sat alone in a room adjacent to the lab trying to configure what happened and how to tell her crew. She took a plain piece of paper and her favorite pen from a desk and began to write...
It has come to my attention that when using the WIT, it works only to the person using it at that time and no other. My hypothesis was correct in most aspects. Nevertheless, I made an error. The device’s calculations made it possible to see ourselves at a new level, which could be dangerous. However, I’m still not confident that it was the calculations, but rather I was moving at the speed of thought. There were three things that happened in the experiment in which I used the WIT myself.
First, the wave link to see a moment in the present time in various places around the globe worked. This made it possible for us to see everything. However, our brain waves make it impossible for the user to choose voluntarily what point or where it will be seen.
Second, it seemed the word “enough” changed my route of what was seen. Perhaps it was more of thought in my mind that changed this route to the next level. Other tests would need to be done to prove this theory. If this is correct, then there is some control with how the device may be used, however it would take extensive training of the mind. In any case, my sight seemed to be placed in various persons throughout history, no doubt these persons were forms of myself in other times. There is no other way to explain how I felt I was this person unless it was a dream.
Lastly, we are dead. And this is heaven. They just don’t know it yet.
