Stargirl of the Edge

Ch 8 - The Secrets of Science

“But then,” she said slowly and without emotion, “there was a giant wave of electro-magnetic energy. It turned our junk upside down.”

A gigantic, overwhelming mass of darkness approached  them, and seemed about to engulf everything. The junk was just a tiny speck and was suddenly lifted upwards, tipping it over.

“My father fell overboard.”

Olivia almost screamed as she saw the look of terror on the face of Esther’s father. He fell down towards the black surface of the water, moving his arms and legs, tumbling head over heels. It was clear whether he had come down in the water.

“We were blown half way across the world.”

Olivia watched as the junk was carried by a magnetic stream through turbulent skies, sometimes disappearing, then reappearing. At times, the stars were visible above the mass of energy, which rolled out across the Earth.

Olivia watched as the junk, now badly damaged, fell down from the sky and onto the eastern slope of Alderley Edge, disappearing into the hillside. Esther’s eyes now started to fill with tears and she cast her gaze downwards.

“We crash landed here, and now we are stranded, under the ground.”

Now Olivia had forgotten her own problems, she was so moved by what had happened to Esther.

“And your father, is he... okay?”

Jessie could sense the emotion in Olivia’s voice and looked up at her, then at Esther, who shook her head.

“I don't know.”

She paused and continued:

“But we need to repair our junk, and find our way back to China.”

Olivia nodded.

“Maybe you can help us?”

“Yes, I'd like to help you. I don't know if I can.”

“Olivia. Would you like to learn...” she leaned forward and spoke almost in a whisper, “Kēxué de mìmì?”

“Kēxué de mìmì?” Olivia replied.

“Olivia, would you like to learn the secrets of science?”

“Oh, the secrets of science? Yes, but how?"

“Here, look into the bubble.”

The bubble glistened and sparkled as if it were alive, from within its depths a bizarre scientific image appeared, and a split second later, another and then another and another flashing and scrolling like a slide show that had been speeded up: first there was a scientific formula, then the screen of an oscilloscope, and a test tube filled with green liquid, followed by the night sky with a constellation of stars, each one lasting only a split second.

“But it’s too fast!” Olivia shouted holding her temples again.

“Don’t worry. Relax your mind. Just look at the thoughts.”

Now she became calm, and rather than try to understand everything about each thought, she allowed them to pass before her gaze. She noticed that each one made its mark in her mind in a unique way she didn’t fully understand.

Olivia became entranced by the flickering images in the bubble, and as she gazed, she heard a strange kind of music, just one single note with sounds above it: gongs, snippets of melodies, both Oriental and Western, sounds that were difficult to describe but reminded her of things you could see in the night sky, like falling stars. Jessie too watched transfixed, the flashing images reflected in her dark eyes.

“Are these your thoughts?” Olivia asked, still gazing, the flickering images illuminating her pale complexion.

“No, they are the thoughts of my colleague, Zhu Gwang Míng.”

Just as she pronounced the name Zhu Gwang Míng, there was a freeze frame effect, and Olivia saw a drawing on ancient parchment of a wise man in flowing robes, with an expression that was inscrutable, an expression that was serious and difficult to decipher. His name was written in spidery Chinese characters in the lower right.

“He is a very wise man, a teacher, a scientist and a poet,” Esther continued, leaning forward towards Olivia. 

“If you allow the thoughts of Zhu Gwang Ming to enter your mind, you will learn the secrets of science very, very fast!"

The stream of rapid thoughts restarted, and Olivia continued to gaze at formulae, diagrams, illustrations, charts, graphs, maps, constellations, molecules, galaxies, and countless other scientific images, as if hypnotised. Esther remained silent, like a teacher watching her pupil in quiet study. Jessie sat beside her, equally entranced. After a while, Esther spoke again:

“Livvy, Can you do me a favour? Please can you bring me this flower, méiguī…”

Within the bubble there appeared an image of a rose. It seemed the reddest and most vivid shade of red Olivia had ever seen. Its fragrance caressed her senses. She thought she had seen this rose recently but couldn’t remember where.

“Méiguī? A rose? Yes I can bring you a rose! We have them in our garden.”

Esther smiled.

"Xiè xie, thank you. I must go now."

Olivia looked up, with a sad expression. Jessie gave a little bark and started to whine.

“When can we meet again?”

Jing Jing leaned forward and whispered to Olivia with glistening eyes.

“When the moon is dark.”

All three looked up at the same moment, and through a gap in the trees, they saw the thin crescent of a new moon that was just starting to appear.

Olivia looked back into the bubble. She wanted to see as many of those precious thoughts as possible. In the corner of her eye she could see Esther and in the next instant, she was no longer there.

The bubble was starting to grow faint but Olivia continued to watch until, with a high-pitched ‘ping’ sound, it burst, sending droplets of liquid falling into the ground. The strange music quickly faded out, to be replaced by birdsong.

Jessie got up and seemed to become impatient, now whining and walking from side to side.

Olivia looked at her phone and realised that although the encounter seemed to have lasted no longer than five minutes or so, the time as displayed on her iPhone was 16.45. Over 45 minutes had passed and it was almost dark.  The sound of birds was very loud, as if it had been delayed and was now being played all at once. The misty golden lights of the city were twinkling in the distance beyond the trees.

“Okay, Jessie, let’s go.”

Quickly Olivia got up, brushed off her clothes, swept a casual hand through her hair and started to walk, following Jessie. She felt unsteady on her feet, and a little bit sick. It was cold and she was shivering. Soon they emerged from the woods back at the place where the footpath split in two.

Olivia stepped down onto the left hand footpath and there, coming from the right, was her mother.

Many thanks for reading. Please, please, please can you vote by clicking the 'Star' symbol. Chapter 9, entitled "No Improvement" will be uploaded on Wednesday 8th October at around 22.00 BST.