The Orb

What an unusual sight I've come to witness; what a grand opportunity. I will document what I see in this journal as I learn more. The ground is pure white like snow. The soil is parched and rather firm, rendering it unable to be scooped up by my hands; it's almost fibrous. Looking out toward the horizon - in every direction - I see nothing but this same plane of white extending out forever.

At the moment when I thought this situation couldn't get any stranger, a great steel orb came crashing to the ground from the heavens. It began rolling along the surface of the ground, leaving an impression in the wake of its path. As it rotated it sloshed about a thick oily substance. Because of the low-water content of this land, the thirsty ground quickly soaked it up, leaving a permanent stain in the soil.

Without warning, the orb suddenly lept into the air, only to crash down again nearby to resume its haphazard antics. It rolled in straight lines at times, and curves at others. Sometimes it would roll in a line, and then jump back to the middle of the line and diverge off in another direction. It seemed to enjoy hopping to a single untainted spot - causing a great splash of the goo to erupt in its location - only to bound back to creating lines again.

I looked up and noticed that the orb was held captive by another object even larger than itself. It appeared to be the slave of a giant metallic cone with the tip cut off. The orb protruded out from the area that the tip used to be. After looking closer, I realized there was more to the picture than I thought. The cone paled in size when it was compared to the true master of the operation - a magnificent rod which towered high into the air. The cone was attached to it at the base, and the rod had a massive cylinder inside, which served as the source for the fluid.

I brought my focus lower once more, to examine the progress that the orb had made, knowing now that it was only a puppet - a slave to the cone, which in turn was ruled by the rod. The lines and curves seemed to be in clusters creating symbols, which were in groups close together, which in turn seemed to be arranged in lines; there were several lines of these already.

My curiosity was growing in proportion to my delight at how profound and perplexing all this was; I enjoyed it immensely, but I wanted to know more. I began walking along the marred paths left by the metal tower in an attempt to see if my suspicions were correct. It seemed they were: the symbols were letters in a language - fortunately English. I've begun to trace these symbols into my journal as I walk so I can read what they might say. So far I've gathered "What an".

After walking some distance further, I've determined that the first line of text left by this self-writing instrument begins with: "What an unusual sight I've come to witness". Needless to say, I don't think I'm closing the pages to my journal anytime soon. I believe I'll go home with it left open.