somewhere behind the Sun is the Second Earth!

In the office
I watched through the window as the sky poured out its sorrow in heavy, torrential rain. The artificial lighting in the office drew a thick, yellow line down the middle of the window. I looked up from the line to the dark sky above and thought about the secrets it held. Then down, below the line, were the people, the trees, the rivers, and the terrifyingly fast-paced world, the world of robots.
There was a clack, clack, clack… clack… Computer keys were “ringing”, and the fluorescent lighting was flickering, holding us captive. You couldn’t help but obey everyday life, otherwise, it would blow you away, make you an orphan, and then where to…? Where to? right above the yellow line, right in the sky.
Out of the office
And where to now – through the puddles and past passing cars?… Red buses, so crowded and tilted, and passengers in them – with their eyes fixed on their mobile phones. Should I choose the rain puddles or the suffocating air on the bus? I stepped out underneath the rain and walked, following the road mechanically. The windows of the huge stores that line the road are deceptively bright. Their doors open before you touch them, and you find yourself in a warm and welcoming hall filled with perfumes, shiny accessories, and beautiful style assistants. Here the noise is different, somehow seductive, and it asks you to gently smile and talk to people, to real people, not to robots, machines…
In the cafe on the top floor
A comfortable soft armchair, a low table, and the smell of cardamon. Rose delight – a tickle for the throat. Here I will gladly tell you about the door to fairy tales: from reality to fiction. Some of you have already travelled with me from Moscow to Siberia, walked in the forests of Tuscany, from the Rhodopes to the Lion Mountains in Africa, in Egypt along the Nile to the nature-formed pyramids from tall trees. And do you remember the Shuttle “Terra”? Do you recollect the sunken city in the glass tesseract? We are going to move away from all that to get far, far away to Unknown Land. Let us find it.
The Blue Desert
He walked along the crest of an oasis covered in a blue-gold, sand-like dust. The boy stared at an ice dome perched atop a tall stone structure. The nearer he came to it, the more his astonishment grew. He imagined that the building was spinning, and its facade was made up of changing windows, doors, icicles, and crystals. “What a strange desert”, the boy thought to himself, as if the building were a mirage and he could barely drag his feet. Fatigue then got the better of him and the little traveller panted, his legs tangled, and his face coming to touch the blue-gold dust. His nostrils inhaled an ethereal, intoxicating smell reminiscent of the scent of violets in the sweet waters of a river.
The curly-haired boy swung his hands onto the fine sand as if he were about to swim but could not move. It was light and despite the fatigue, he did not close his eyes. There was no night, it was day, day, and day again.
A noise, at first like a whistling, turned into a buzz and an object with great force collapsed before the little face of the strange boy. A bright light prevented him from seeing the whole machine, which was in the shape of a dragon. All he could see was the door clad with gold, which opened smoothly. A slender figure approached him. The stranger knelt close to his face looked at him with curiosity and offered her help.
Nikola circled the machine, and his eyes were on the buttons and mechanisms in the drone’s cabin. He had been on a drone, but this one was different. He touched the body of the dragon drone, and his hand caressed the fine skin of an animal.
“I am Riya,” the young pilot girl said, “Who are you? What are you doing here?”
“Nikola, my name is Nikola,” replied the boy with joy as his eyes lit up.
“Come on, I will give you a ride.” Riya invited her new acquaintance.
Nikola jumped easily into the cabin and sat next to her. The doors closed hermetically.
Riya put her helmet on and handed a second one to Nikola. They flew, they flew lightly, without noise. Nikola turned and looked at the fine trace of the sun on the golden-blue sand that outlined the drone from a distance.
They landed in front of the stone temple building with the glass dome. That building that the little adventurer had contemplated as he walked through the Blue Desert.
They got off the drone just as the doors of the temple opened. The walls inside were full of signs with strange carvings on them.
Nikola approached and stared at beautifully “embroidered” bars, dots, and serif lettering.
“Riya, what is this inscription, what language is this?” With thirsty eyes and impatience, Nikola waited for an answer from the girl pilot.
“This is not a familiar system of signs for us. I have been here for years to copy them.” Riya replied.
Riya carried a small leather bag over her shoulder. She took out a notebook and a metal pen with a light on it. She brought the pen to the wall and shone the beam of light on the writing. Then the whole room lit up in blue and gold. The temple glowed the colour of the Blue Desert.
“What beauty! What is this building, what magic, as if the Blue Desert is here!” exclaimed Nikola who began to walk briskly, looking at the inscriptions on the stone walls.
“These walls are made of a natural material that reacts to light,” began Riya. “Here, in this notebook, in which I copy these signs, mom and dad read them, albeit slowly, and we write down the translation”.
“And what do these signs tell?” asked Nikola.
“This is the story of the people before us who left the Blue Desert. They also called it the Belt of the Earth. They discovered a new land and bequeathed part of their knowledge. There are many secrets written here on these walls, but it takes us years to unravel them”.
“And how do we get to the Glass Dome?” asked Nikola hastily.
Riya shrugged.
“No one has ever reached the Glass Dome. It says here that whoever reaches it will be able to see the New Earth. Even with the drone, I cannot touch the Glass Dome – there is something strange around it that keeps us from reaching it.”
Nikola walked nervously, looking around, intent on finding the way to the Glass Dome, but he was at a dead end.
“Riya, this is a huge building-temple. How many years have they written on these walls? When will you be able to read everything written here?” he asked nervously.
Nikola approached Riya, who was staring into her notebook.
“Here it reads like this,” said Riya. “You who will master flying, will be able to transmit information over huge distances – through mountains, seas, you will reach space, you will touch Mars, but you will lose the skills that are your inherent in its pursuit of the unattainable. And the more you reach highs, the more you will lose lows”.
Nikola sat down on the cold floor, Riya’s voice echoing. Following and looking at Riya’s face, focused on the notebook, Nikola noticed something strange. Riya’s image reflected in the Glass Dome. Nicola imagined that she was reading from up there, her eyes following the writing on the walls that surrounded them.
For a moment, Nikola felt a sense of uneasiness mixed with a sense of mystery, but he was able to recognize the natural hologram he had heard about from his beloved teacher. He got up slowly, stood in front of Riya, took her chin and lifted it with his small hand so that Riya looked up at the Glass Dome.
Riya saw her image, her eyes frozen to a point but able to see the whole picture.
“We might be able to solve the secret of how to look from the Glass Dome. There is a force here that creates a hologram.” Nikola spoke calmly and distinctly. “The more you reach heights, the more you lose lows…” Nikola repeated Riya’s translation.
“Nikola, let’s come here again tomorrow.” suggested Riya.
Just as they exited the temple, the heavy door behind them closed with a huge crash. Nikola turned to open it, but it was impossible.
“The door closed forever!” Riya almost shouted. “That was one of their warnings!”
The dragon drone rose slightly. They flew for a long time over the desert until they reached a pond. Riya lowered the jellyfish-shaped side chariots. Nikola was looking through the mirrors located on the outside of the flying device.
“Well, we are on a water surface… “ Nikola said in amazement.
“This is the only desert in which there is a river. Centuries ago, the river was under the desert, but our ancestors managed to bring it to the surface.” Riya explained.
They reached the shore, Riya jumped out of the machine first and helped Nikola down, amused by his clumsiness and his look of surprise. They walked among artificial palms and trees and stepped again on the blue-gold pollen. It was quiet and for the first time, the Sun was hiding. The night gave Nikola a sweet sleep, as well as Riya, which they so desperately needed. Here in the Blue Desert, there were six days and only one night in the week! The rhythm of life was different, as was the calendar. Time had different dimensions.
________
All this remained in the past, but Nikola’s future could not do without the past. “Somewhere behind the Sun is the second Earth!” Riya’s voice echoed in the young scientist’s head.
Clack, clack, clack… the keys on a computer. Nikola was adding more numbers to the already invented formulas. He was calculating, drawing, when a yellow line in the window caught his attention. His eyes darted to the vast sky as the computer beeped and typed out:
“The Riya ship has landed on Second Earth”. Nikola’s eyes shone with that sparkle that forever remained there-the blue-gold radiance! – “We discovered the Second Earth!” – echoed in the laboratory. – “We found her!” – Nikola heard Riya’s voice in his head.