Impossible Dreamers

Chapter 9 (sag): Sag types of Impossible

Herago took the second of the pieces of paper in Liana's hand, and let it flutter to the floor. He continued his explanation.

'Of course, you can combine ir and deg to make something travel invisibly from one place to another...' Herago stretched his right hand out to the side, then bent his elbow as he moved his hand slowly towards his chest. His left hand pointed at his right elbow, where the paper ball that had disappeared earlier was now sitting. 'That would be mek.'

Liana let the third piece of paper fall.

'One day,' Herago said, 'I'd like to do that with something bigger. Make something enormous disappear, and then appear somewhere else.'

'Like a mountain?' Liana said.

'That would be a bit too big. Maybe a person.'

The image of Ralkino disappearing suddenly came to Liana. Maybe his disappearing was not ir, but mek. Maybe he had just appeared somewhere else. Could that be? She pulled herself away from this line of thought, and back to Herago.

'So would you need deg people to do that?' Liana asked, 'Deg people who looked exactly the same?'

'Are you trying to turn an Impossible into a possible?' said Herago, and he shook his head.

Liana smiled. 'All right,' she said, 'what's Impossible number que?'

'Ah yes. That's where something changes size.' Herago pulled a small piece of cord from his pocket, and held it loosely between his hands. He started to move his hands up and down very quickly, so that the middle of the cord was spinning in a big circle in front of him. As he did so, the circle got bigger and bigger. Then he stopped, and Liana could see that the cord was now many times the size it had been at the start.

Herago tossed the cord in the air, and Liana caught it in her right hand, dropping the last piece of paper she was holding there. Liana looked hard at the cord and laughed. It was just an ordinary piece of cord. What would happen next, she wondered.

'Fay?'

'Fay is the sort of Impossible we've been working on, where something is destroyed, but then becomes whole again. I don't need to show you that.' Herago said. Liana was disappointed, but she dropped the fifth piece of paper from her left hand.

'Nay?' Liana asked.

'Ah yes. I'm still working on nay. But I'm nearly there. Look.'

Herago took back the piece of cord that Liana was still holding in her left hand, and tied a knot in it. There was something a bit strange about how he tied the knot, Liana thought. Herago held one end of the knotted cord, so that it hung down in front of him. He stared hard at the knot. Liana also stared, wondering what was going to happen. She looked at Herago's eyes, trained upon the knot.

Nothing happened.

'Oh well. Needs more work, I suppose,' Herago said. Liana was a little disappointed.

But then Liana noticed something strange was happening. The bottom of the cord had started to move, as though it had come to life. Slowly it climbed up to where the knot was, slipped through the gap, and made its way down again. The knot had undone itself.

'Ah yes, that's nay. Something that isn't alive moves as if it is,' Herago said. Liana dropped the sixth piece of paper from her left hand. She was just holding two now. Herago wrapped the cord twice around his arm. He handed the ends to Liana.

'What am I supposed to do with these?' she asked.

'Just hold tight,' Herago answered. Then he jerked his arm up. Suddenly, it seemed that the cord had passed right through him, and his arm was now free.

'Ept,' he said, 'is where one thing passes through another.' Liana dropped another piece of paper, so she was now holding just one sheet in her right hand. Herago took it and screwed it into a ball. He placed it on his open left palm. Was he going to make it disappear, Liana wondered. Herago beckoned her to come closer, so that she was looking directly down on the paper ball.

Suddenly the ball twitched. It twitched again. Was this another example of nay, Liana wondered. The ball moving as though it were alive?

But then the ball moved again, and this time it didn't twitch. It slowly rose up from Herago's hand. Liana stepped back, and the paper ball continued to rise. Soon it was level with Herago's chin. Herago clicked the fingers of his right hand, and the ball slowly moved to the right. Quickly Herago snatched it and handed it to Liana. She looked at it. It was just a piece of paper. How did Herago get it to float in the air?

'And that,' said Herago, is tag. Making something fly, or float in the air.

'Without wrist-flyers,' said Liana.

'Without wrist-flyers,' Herago agreed. 'So there you are. Tag types of Impossible.'

Liana was silent for a moment.

'Maybe not tag,' Liana said. 'Maybe sag.'

Herago laughed. 'Have you thought of another type of Impossible?'

'I think I have. But I don't know how we would do it.'

'What is it? Maybe I can work out a way.'

'All these Impossibles are about making something happen to a thing. What about another type with a person?'

'I told you, I was thinking about how to make a person appear or disappear,' Herago said. 'Or fly without wrist-flyers.'

'No, that's just treating a person like a thing. What about the thoughts in someone's mind?'

Herago looked confused. 'What do you mean?'

'Could we make an Impossible where you look into somebody's mind? Work out what they are thinking?'

Herago frowned. 'How would you show that you knew what they were thinking?'

'I don't know. Maybe it was a silly idea.'

'No, it's not silly.' Suddenly Herago grew excited. His eyes widened, and he smiled. 'Maybe...maybe there is a way. If we just...' He stopped and looked again at Liana. 'I'll think about it.' Just then the sun broke through the clouds.

But they were not the only ones who had imagined the sag type of Impossible.

Dear reader, thanks very much for reading this far.

It would be very useful and helpful to me if you could give me a little feedback on what you've read. What are you enjoying? Is anything irritating or difficult? Are you reading this to a child, and if so, how are they responding? Or maybe you're quite young yourself. What is the character you identify with? How do you think the story will develop?

Really looking forward to hearing from you, dear reader! But if you'd rather just read, and maybe make your comments at the end, that's fine.