

## Francisco Angulo

## Francisco Angulo

The Relic

### Mandala & LápizCero

© Francisco Angulo, 2006

Editor:

Javier Estévez Lozano

© Mandala & LápizCero, 2006

C/ Moquetas, 19

28029 Madrid 91 314 86 23 mandala.lapizcero@gmail.com

Translated by:  
Teresa Rodríguez  
www.voxroxmedia.com  
teresa@voxroxmedia.com

Sponsored by:

CiÑe (Círculo independiente Ñ de escritores) www.circuloindependiente.net info@circuloindependiente.net 669 900 284

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#

#

# The Relic
Hazel Eyes

"HAZEL EYES"used to spend many long hours staring at me. I can't quite understand what she saw in me but she loved sitting acrossthe field and lookat me intensely. I too loved watching her. She was rather small –not even five feet tall – and thin. Her skin was tannedand it was generally covered in animal fur to protect her from the cold. On her hair, there were always a myriad of decorations that varied with the seasons. Spring time called for tiny flowers carefully plated in while in winter she seemed to prefer strings dyed in different tones.One ornament or another dangled always from her necklace, usually a fine leather strip and a shell or small mud figurine that she had shaped with her own hands. She belonged to a tribe that had settled near me in a group of very shallow caves they had converted into their home. "Hazel Eyes"had apenetrating look and observed everything with curiosity, trying to make sense of the world that surrounded her as if part of a magical realm. She studied the dancing of the tree tops caused by the wind. She held small insects in her hand, and after examining them and trying to understandwhat they were, she'dput them back on the ground careful not to harm them. She spent hours observing birds and mimicking their chirping. And then she'd run around me in circles, stretching her arms and moving them up and down as if one of them.

In spring, the green grass of the meadow to my left grew tall and filled with dandelions. "Hazel Eyes" loved to jump on that green mantle and in doing so she ended up covered in dandelions' seeds which were then, washed away by the gentle breeze of spring. That beautiful creature was tireless. She could spend hours jumping and playing to catch the seeds fluttering in the wind and when these quivered upwardly towards the sky "Hazel Eyes"would stopher movements, closeher eyes and stand still waiting in silence. Then, some of them would begintheir descent, gently caressingher face. I would have loved to experience that feeling of soft seeds landing on me like feathers. At times a seed would enter her nostrils, making her sneeze - this was very funny, because "Hazel Eyes"looked sopuzzled and baffled by what had just happened.

She always came to see me, except on rainy days.I looked forward to her visits and when the day was sunny, I waited until I saw her appear over the hill, usually humming a melody andhappily skipping as she walked.

The arrival of spring was a wonderful time -the huge flocks of migratory birds hoveringover me and the almond trees blossomingsignalled that spring was just around the corner. In spring everything filled with colour and sound, birds and squirrels revelling in their courtship rituals. Everything filled with life.

"Hazel Eyes" always watched with bewilderment the magnificent world around us. Some days, she would spend the afternoon with me, and in summer she stayed until dark. She laid down on the grass and watched the night sky - the starlight was bright, and we were able tomake out the details of the constellations easily. She glanced at the stars through the crystal clearsky, raised her hand and pointed to one of the stars, then moved it aiming at another and so on until forming a figure. It was a magical game. When she finished, the figure she had drawn was left illuminated in the sky, then it faded gently until finally vanishing altogether. Then she began drawing a new figure. And another.

In winter, and especially at the height I used to live, everything was concealed by a white mantle. It was fascinating to see how her footprints soon filled the new virgin snow, just as letters fill a blank page. The animals awaited in their burrows until it stopped snowing, only to leave in a hurry, eager to see the splendid scenery. Everything covered by that thick white coat, a veil of perfect whiteness. "Hazel Eyes" was bewildered by this landscape, thrilled by the first snowfall and the chance to go out and jump on the snow. Sometimes she'dpick up a handful of it in her hands and squeezeit hard, compacting it, and then would lickit to savour it.

"At first humans invented language to communicate with each other and eventually they perfected it to the point that they stopped talking for fear of corrupting it". When "Hazel Eyes" became older, she made sounds and gestures to try to communicate with me. She loved to see plants blossom, and discoveredhow, where there was nothing but dirt initially, plants with beautiful flowers and trees with sweet fruits would grow slowly just bydepositing a seed. So she began devoting more and more time to this, marvellingin seeing how those beautiful trees grew. She planted different species and went on to create magnificent gardens. She walked with satisfaction, admiring that strikingtapestry woven by Mother Nature. She had a large family and taught her children how to care for the land and the plants, and made them understand that all that was needed was a little effort for nature to show her appreciation. If you offered Earth a drink, she'd return the favour by providing you with food.

I don't really know when or for what reason she started acting like a Gardener, and went from observing nature to interacting with it, creating new plants. I guess after much contemplating and observing all living creatures, it awakened in her a deep respect for all of them, discovering something she identified with, perhaps adopting them as brothers, or even as teachers, as it was through watching many animals that she learned how to create those beautiful gardens. It seems that even the wisest person has a lot to learn from an ant or a goldfinch.

She fashioned forests of almond and cherry trees which, when in bloom, filled the world with colour. The appearance of their flowers was the unmistakable sign of the arrival of spring. When the flowers matured, their petals broke away, white as snow, flying gracefully in the dainty breeze. "Hazel Eyes" walked under the canopy of the trees with her eyes closed, her face glancing at the sky, her hands outstretched like wings, small flower petals falling over her. She walked over them, over a swampedlandthat felt soft under her naked feet. Walking on flower petals was like walking on feathers.

Time passed quickly for me, as quickly as summer comes and goes. That's how I saw "Hazel Eyes" grow older. She no longer came to me skipping or playing. She now found it hard to climb up the slope. The brightness in her eyes seemed to be slowly fading away, that inquisitive look began to crystallise, freezing like water in the cold winter.

The day dawned with heavy rain and the soil filled with mud. Then I saw "Hazel Eyes" walk up the hill. She walked and approached me slowly. She looked at me for a moment and then bent down, and put her hands in the mud, joined them, filled them with mud and brought them to my face. She looked at me again and began to put the mud on my structure. She performed the same operation time and time again to form a figure, a human-shaped figure. After completing the sculpture, shepaused to look at me and left immediately. The sun came through the clouds and hardenedthe mud.

Days later I saw her walk up the hillagain. She was already an old woman and came accompanied by several younger members of the same species. They came closer towards me and "Hazel Eyes" pointed at me with her hand while emitting different sounds with her mouth - all members of the tribe looked at me. "Hazel Eyes" made a soft gesture to the member who, holding her with a clawed arm helped her maintain her balance. He let go of her and she staggered. She approached me bearing flowers in her hands and placed some of them right next to me. Then, she gently lowered her head and all members of her clan did the same. After this, she looked at me and began to say a few words. I didn't understand her language but I knew exactly what she meant.I knew her life was coming to an end and she was thanking me for having made it possible for her to see so many wonders throughout her life. She thanked me for the gift of life and introduced me to her descendants so that I could take care of them when she was gone.

I felt uneasy knowing there was nothing I could do to help - at least, I would have liked to be able to communicate with her, tell her I enjoyed her company, that I had spent endless joyful moments watching her, but I could not communicate with her. That was the last time I saw "Hazel Eyes"and I still often dream of her.

**The Creation of the Universe

**

IN THE BEGINNING there was nothing. Let us not assume that Nothing equals zero, because zero is a balance between positive and negative and Nothing has no balance. Nothing can be defined as the absence of things and also as the amount of negative numbers that there can be in a sum. If we have 5 coins, this is Nothing, but it's a quantifiable Nothing, so it's Something. In the universe, Nothing can be antimatter, it can be the space where the light of the stars does not reach but whatever shape or form we want to imagine it, it will never be zero. Zero does not exist in nature, zero does not exist in the universe, zero exists only in our mind.

In the beginning there was nothing, only darkness, a darkness that spread everywhere and, as it expanded it picked up speed and movement, and it created time. With this movement Nothingness began to spin, spinning ever so fast on itself. Upon reaching a certain speed, it created energy and when it reached even more speed, energy created matter. Spinning to suchvertiginous speed, a single particle formed a gravitational force around itself, and ended up weighing as much as the entire universe. Finally it collapsed, breaking down into such small pieces which,when shot out produced an enormous amount of energy. The small atomic fragments ejected at a speed that neared that of the light, enlarged their mass and volume.

Nothing gave way to time, time to movement, movement to energy and energy created matter. The entire universe was created from a small portion of matter, - so small that it was imperceptible -, when the matter was fragmented by a centrifugal force, hurling it into space in infinite portionsthat acquired a greater mass because of the high speed at which they were shot out.

An Instant after the Big Bang

WHILE from our perspective it feels as though a long time has passed since the Big Bang, we truly live just a moment after it and we could even go as far as saying that we exist because of this. Energy, when moving at speeds close to the speed of light, was transformed into matter and our entire universe was created from a small particle, a single subatomic particle that burst firing its fragments in all directions at such a speed that formed the whole universe, an explosion not unlike that of a rocket in a fireworks performance. It is in that very brief instant when the light illuminates the skythat we currently live in.

The whole universe, all the matter we perceive,exists because itis powered by speed. Just as the lights of the rocket are to vanishso will the matter that forms the universe when it completely loses its speed.

We keep on moving at nearly the speed of light. If we were to move any faster, we would disappear.

It is possible that the universe will never contract, that it will never apply a brake and engage its reverse gear, thus making a Big Crak very unlikely. One of the possibilities is that the entire universe will fall,forming a parabola just like a stone thrown into the horizon that bends into a spherical shape with all matter coming together again after falling on the same point on the other side of the sphere. On the other hand, the galaxies could lose their speed gradually and, unless the particles that make up matter increased their rate of vibration while slowing the expansion rate of the universe, the entire universe would disappear just as the glare of the rocket disappears in the darkness of the night.

It doesn't really matter what mass a star might have or how much energy a galaxy might build up – as soon as it begins losing speed, there will be no space-time left for it to exist.

The end of time might occur violently. The universe expands in a similar fashion to a balloon being inflated. Thespeedof expansion along with the speed of vibration of the universe itself have created matter.

If the universe applied its brakes, if its movement was to slow down, matter could cease to exist violently and suddenly. The entire universe would disappear in an instant, just like a balloon that we continue to inflate would end up bursting. Although, in that case the result would not be an explosion, but a disappearance, an immediate vanishing of matter and space-time.

Furthermore, we might feel more comfortable thinking that if the universe lostits speed after it stopped expanding, it would be able to recover it when it began contracting - it would be a soft reversal back to the starting point.

We may think that the universe is like a living being and can die suddenly at any time after collapsing, or that after growing and growing, it will shrink to be a particle.

Evolution

THE CHAIN of hominid descendants keeps on growing as it goes farther back in time. Possibly the first hominids had an advantage no other species earlier had ever possessed–being able to walk on two legs, to ramble through the tall grass to go from one tree to another. They could also see better than other species and were able to look out for predators lurking nearby. Walking on two legs furnished them with even greater benefits, since now their upper extremities were free to obtain food more easily from the most inaccessible places. At one point, stones and sticks were used as tools to crush seeds and extract termites from their nests. With these new skills their diet changed, from eating only fruits to a greater variety of foods. Subsequently, they acquired the skill to manufacture and throw sharp objects that could be effectively used to hunt. An improved diet helped the brain develop even further and, as a result, languageevolved, and even art, with their painting of the walls of the caves they used as homes. Since then until the present, only a very brief period has elapsedwhen compared to the time when we came down from the trees for the first time until we were able to control fire.

**About León  
**

THE RICKETY TRUCK snorted and vibrated, trembling with each step as it climbed the steep road. It was a small truck that could be driven with a normal passenger car license. The condition of the vehicle was deplorable and it felt as though the engine was going tocollapse to the ground at any time. Inside, León, its driver, didn't really look much better than the truck. León was a somewhat peculiar man - he had a big, round head like a watermelon, and a very red face caused by his fondness for anise. His hands were also unusual - they were big and strong but equally clumsy.

León and his truck were an odd team. The vehicle moved along the road like a dying elephant, although when it began descending a hill it seemed to be in a hurry to fall apart, as if all it wanted was to rid itself of its body and be left alone with its motor and wheels to feel lighter and achieve more speed and reach. Sometimes, ittumbled from side to side of the road invading the opposite lane. This happened when León lit a cigarette because when he did, he moved very slowly. He'd first pull the packet of cigarettes from the pocket in the chest of his shirt. He'd then put his hand through the collar of his jumper, pull the packet out and put it in his mouth, forcing one of the cigarettes to come out through the unsealed area of the packet. He'd hold it between his lips and begin to search for the lighter by first looking in the dashboardamong numerous papers, fines and old transport schedules. Then, he'd continue looking in a receptacle under the dashboard, in the centre of the vehicle, near the shiftlever. Then, the glove box. It was far, in front of the passenger seat, so he would be forced to lean towards the side to reach it. León's movements were slow and untroubled, unconcerned by the fact that the truck was lurching from side to side on the road and other drivers were beeping and cursing. Eventually, as he found the precious lighter, León'sface split into a sharp grin, like someone who has found a very valuable object. The driver's window was wound half way down, causing the outside air to blow the light out every time he tried to light his cigarette. Then, freeing the hand that held the steering wheel, he'd put it over the lighter to prevent the air from blowing it off and at the same time, he'd try to light the cigarette over and over again, while the truck circulated on the road without any human control and headed directly towards an oncoming vehicle. Collision was imminent but León was very busy trying to light his cigarette and the truck seemed to accelerate more and more. It appearedas though the poor old truck had made the decision to end itsarduous life. A loud honkwas heard and it quickly became louder, indicating that the vehicle was fast approaching. Then, the screeching of wheels against the asphalt as the carskid. León looked up. A small red car was already almost under the truck, smoke gusting from its wheels blocked by the brakes. A sudden swerve by Leónsucceeded in averting the truck from invading the opposite lane and, by a strange coincidence, managing to avoid the collision. He took the cigarette, still unlit, with the same hand he used to hold the lighter,and loudly bawled out:

  * Illiterate! Push me over again and I'llbreak your face!

The incident troubled him and his complexion became even redder - in fact, more than reddish, his skin tone had now turned togreyish -, and a drop of sweat slithered from his temple down his cheek. Then, he noticed a roadhouse not too far and decided to forget what happened over a gratifying glass of anise. It was late and it was getting dark, the perfect time to stop for a drink. There was only one last item to deliver - a well packaged box about one by one metre, addressed to a monastery. So, León decided to stop at the bar and ask for directions to the monastery. He took the detour that led to the door of the establishment and parked almost in front of it as if he planned to drive the old truck into the inn.

Theconcrete exterior of the building made it looked more like a war bunker than a tavern, but this wasn't important at all. The only thing that really mattered was that they served anise,Sanblás in particular, the type of quality anise León so adored. He climbed two steps and entered by pushing the metal gate, which slammed violently when León released it, only to become stuck half wayas it rubbed againstthe uneven tiles of the floor. He glanced to the right and saw the counter. To the left a few empty tables and chairs. By the bar there were two persons and behind them the waiter, a man with a bushy beard but barely any hair on his head. León stood at the other end of the bar and ordered a glass of Sanblás. The waiter served it immediately and León's eyes flashed momentarily with happiness. Behind the counter there was a rectangular clock with digits written on cards that replacedeach other as time went past.Underthe time marker there was another which, indicated the day and the year – it showedexactly 19:28 of June 04, 1978.After staring at it briefly, León continued to drink from his glass. He sipped the liquor in short glugs and savoured it for a few moments. After swallowing, he let air enter his mouth while pasting his tongue against the palate.

"Recent studies have discovered that all living creatures descended from a very basic multicellular organism - the sea sponge. When I read this in the papers,it immediately seemed very obvious. So many years of scientific study to realise that humans evolved from a sponge. Look at León, one would knowit straightwayby the way he absorbed anise like a sponge."

He was finishing the second glasswhen he asked two of the bar's patrons for the monastery. He had the ability totalk to stonesif necessary, and had no trouble sharing his life with anyone. He started his conversations by praising the city or town where he found himself over and over again, but as he earned the trust of the interlocutors and the glasses of Sanblásstarted to taste more and more like water, criticisms began to pour, first comparing the town to others - alwaysinferring that it was a lot worse - only to end up reproving the character of the residents, going from criticisms to insults, and would end up telling the waiter something along the lines of:

  * Look at his tiny head, it looks just like a baby's ass!

Understandably, he was often thrownout of bars, as indeed it did happen on this occasion. It was not at all uncommon for him to go back home after having had a few drinks. In fact, he actually thought that the only bad thing that could happen driving in that state was to havethe police stop you for a breathalyser test. León had three young children aged four, five and seven. Most days when he arrived home they were watching TV. All he really wanted when he opened that door was to resume the discussion he had left unfinished at the bar sohe would start by praising his wife and children the same way he had earlier praised the bar's patron, only to end up chastising and insulting them. The arguments ended up in loud yells and abusesthat resonated throughout the neighbourhood. They lived in a low rise residential area withsemi-detached houses built of brick. Each house had a small porch that onereached after climbing five steps. The small windows on all the houses were round, like the windows on a boat. León used to say that the architect who built them was a naval architect affected by a joint disease that prevented him from living near the sea. So, instead of building boats he was forced to build houses. In front of each house there was a small patch of land where most people planted flowers to make their homes look cosier, although in the case of León there was only aparched piece of land with a fewdriedshrubsthat betrayedthe owner's failed attemptsat gardening and little knowledge of horticulture. In this life, some are born to plant flowers and others to plant fire. León certainly did not plant flowers.

Three months went by and life continued as usual –his truck, his drinks and his daily arguments. One day, when he got home, he parked his truck right in front of his property, a rather fortunate coincidence, as this space was almost always full. As he was getting off the truck the image of the box that he had to deliver more than three months ago suddenly came to his mind. He opened the back door of the truck hoping the box would not be there, but when the daylight entered the truck, he saw itwaiting for himinside. This was a real problem. He had always insisted on following the transportation code scrupulously. The codeprohibited, among other things, to pry into the goods and, of course, to keep part or all the items to be delivered. What could he do? He initially thought about returning it but then everyone would realise the mistake he had made - it could gethim into trouble and could even get him to lose his job. On the other hand, if, after all this time no one had claimed the goods, perhaps they'd never claim them. So, if there's no claim, there's no problem. He thought the best plan of action, at least for the time being, would be to unload the box and keep it safe at home. Of course, under no circumstances would he open the box and as soon as possible he would send it anonymously to the recipient with another carrier. He got in the truck, not without a lot of effort, as his workday was over and, as always, he had already enjoyed a few glasses of Sanblás. Once he managed to step inside the truck, he walked towards the box with short, jangling steps, like a doll running out of batteries. Then, he tried to move it.

  * Hell, it's heavier than lead! – he cried as he exhaled forcefully, the red colour of his face turning to purple from the efforts made to push the box. But nothing, not even an inch, the box will not move an inch.

  * You bet you are going to move - he told the box while regaining forces and preparing to give it anotherpush.

Applying all his strength and the weight of his body on a corner of the box hemanaged to move it a few centimetres. Then he pushed from the other corner. So pushing corner after corner alternately, he brought the box to the door of the truck. He kept pushing without realising that the box was already protruding from the truck.

  * Darn thing! Come one! One more push and you are out!

And indeed, before he could finish the sentence they were both out of the truck. The box rolled out and León fell flat on the ground after stumbling on it. The box shattered, its contents completely revealed - it was a figure in the shape of a virgin, at least that's what he thought, but due to the violence of the blow received, the head of the saint landed a few metres away on the floor.

  * Well, well, let's not panic, there's a solution for everything.

From the truck's cab, he pulled out a roll of duct tape with the logo of the transport company printed on it which, was used to seal poorly packed boxes. He used it to stick the head of the sculpture to its body. The result was sloppyat best.

  * Perfect! See how pretty I'vemade you? Necklace and all.

As best as he could, dragging it at times and rolling itat others, he finally entered it home.

##

## León's Wondrous Tales

SOMETIMES, after a few glasses of Sanblás, León liked to relate some of the peculiar events he had experienced as a transporter. The truth is that no one believed his stories and you could never really tell which ones were real and which were fiction. One of his favourite tales was the story of his small truck driving through Europe before arriving in Russia first and then Mongolia, where he met some of the direct descendants of the country's emperors - very welcoming people, always keen to invite him into their homes and offer him some of their best dishes. Every time he told the story, he added new elements although it's hard to tell whether he thought of them on the fly or if these just came back to his memory as he was recalling his trip. León claimed to have friends everywhere in the world, alliances he forged travelling with his little truck to the most remote places on Earth. He had visited old Europe city by city, crossed the Russian and Manchurian plains, the deserts and jungles of Africa, always meeting very colourful characters in all those far-flung places, important people, princes, tsars and emperors who,almost always, had lent him a handand got him out of the many predicaments he and his truck faced on the road.

Once his wife accompanied him in his travels. It was a long trip and the woman wanted to go with him. They didn't have children yet, although their first born was on his way. The woman had a big belly and the journey was extremely testing for her, as regardless of the position she sat on, she would feel pain throughout the body. The trip was long and the summer heat oppressive. Under the sun, the truck became a real oven. León could not bear it any longer - his mouth was dry, his tongue felt like cardboard and he was so parched he could barely swallow. Suddenly he noticed what felt like an oasis in the middle of the desert - a roadside bar-, so he stopped hurriedly, quickly getting out of the truck but in doing so, he forgot to apply the hand brake. He entered the bar to order a glass of anise. Meanwhile, his wife, who remained inside the truck, started to notice the vehicle sliding downhill. As the speed increased rapidly, the woman began to cry

  * León, León, LEÓOON !!!

León, however, was too busy sipping his glass of anise to attend to any requests. Overtaken by panic, the woman didn't know what to do, so she finally opened the door, jumped out and rolled on the ground while watching the truck whoosh down the road until it crashed against a huge oak, uprooting it completely. The expansive wave from the blast shook all the glassinthe bar and some of the patrons came to the woman's aid. León was not going to spoil the moment and continued drinking with all normality until he finished the shot. Only then he came out to see what had happened. He ran towards the vehicle, barely noticing his wife. He placed the palm of his hand on the hood of the truck, caressing it as if it were a wounded animal. He almost burst into tears when collecting all the merchandise that laid scattered everywhere. Fortunately, the woman had survivedthe incident with no more than a few bruises.

The Relic

THE LIGHT entering through a small gallery that resembled a fireplace carved in stone lit up the entire room. Several silver mirrors captured the sunlight, redirecting it to the interior rooms through a reflectorsystem. The pyramid had been built of stone in its entirety. Thesecolossal temples were devoted to astrology and to preserve their culture through the centuries. Standing tall in the heart of the cities, these pyramids were covered by a mantle of clay and finished with lime. Their surface was smooth, and their colour white which, when lit by daylightproduced a reflective effect that acted as a lighthouse. The pyramids could be seen from afar, announcing to foreign visitors and traders the location of the cities. Inside, a number of spacious rooms fulfilled different functions. The whole complex was a display of the development of their culture, not unlike our museums or libraries. The walls of the rooms were covered with inscriptions that told the story of their civilisation, their beliefs and mythological legends. In the upper room, where I was located, several human-shaped statues with animal heads of colossal proportions impressed the visitors. The hall was very large, the domed ceiling stood tall at a great height which, the gigantic statues almost reached. The massive structures bore witness to this civilisation's technical advancements and their mastery of architecture, an art they were proud toboastto the world. No one was indifferent before the majestic pyramids and newcomers to the city were captivated by their impressive dimensions. At this point in time, "Hazel Eyes'" descendants did not use any equipment, being forced to build those architectural wonders entirely by hand. The huge stone blocks that were used for their construction were extracted from several quarries situated at great distances from the city. Large blocks were carved in stone pits and transported overland by massive wooden platforms shaped as sleighs. The tracksmanufactured to facilitate the transporting of these blocks were concealed and round stones greased to help the smooth rolling of the huge sleds.

These was a new breed of descendants–"Hazel Eyes"' children. What startled me most about them was that, over time, they had become increasingly more like Gardeners. They were tall and had great physical strength. The adults tended to dress in bright white colours, and the colour of their eyes-green, blue and brown- had a light hue. The same can be said for the colour and shade of their hair.

Merchants travelled from the farthest reaches of the known world to barter in the cities of pyramids. This civilisation, besides developing better farming techniques and holding a reputation as craftsmen, were also well known for their vast markets where things from anywhere in the planet could be found. They did not use currency and all their businesseswereconducted by bartering, changing one thing for another. So, unlike earlier groups, they were able to specialise in different trades - artisans, farmers and gardeners, all of them were able to fully pursue their trades, thus achieving a much higher degree of development. They prospered rather easily because this system, unlike its predecessors', freed them from having to worry about their survival, providing them with plenty of food for a lot less work. As a result, they were also able to invest more time to the development of the sciences, mainly mathematics and astrology.

The specialisation in different areas lent itself to great benefits since they cultivated theirown fields and their grain crops thrived. They were also known for exporting products like honey and oil.

Gradually they had to adjusttheir farming methods as winters became even tougher over the years. To prevent crops from freezing, they built a large system of half-ditches across all fields with water running through them to thwart the freeze and to irrigatethe fields.

But slowly, the climate changed, and winters became increasingly colder. This was mainly due to the slight variations in the amount of energy that came from the single star. The weather was so dry that ultimately, despite their best efforts, nothing could grow in their lands. Then began a great migration, first the animals marched to warmer southern lands and finally, humans were forced to abandon those fantastic cities. Every single one of them left with the hope of returning someday. Others preferred to stay and resist. Those who made such decision and chose to stay, worked hard and covered the pyramids and the cities with soil, to protect these from looters, leaving them underground, waiting for their former inhabitants to return someday.

Once again, they changed my position. This seemed to be the norm in recent times, as I often found myself traveling from one place to another.

This trip was one of the longest and most intricate I remember. The land through which we passed on our continued journey southward was desolate. It seemed as though we were the last to leave, and even most animal species had left their lands. Now only snow and ice reigned over the earth. This soon made the march more complex as food became scarce. The weakest members of the group soon succumbed to the arduous expedition and our numbers were starting to decline drastically. The long migration became a race for life or death, the chillstalking us like a hunter eager to claimas manypreys as possible. Sometimes, salvation was achieved along the way by coming across people who had not yet left their territories, and these furnished us with new supplies to continue our path, a path southward joined by most of the remaining groups we met.

Theirfinal settlement did not take place on a specific day or place. When the weather began to change, as we penetrated the southern lands, some in our group took the decision to stay and others to continue. Thus what had once been a great civilisation, was now sprawled from the land of the North to the Southern lands. At last, when they finally found the most suitable place to settle, they stopped, and in that very same place they began to build their city again. During the journey, they had mixed with many men of other civilisations and new cultures. The journey had lasted many years. Still, they managed to guard a lot of the knowledge of their culture and built prosperous cities where, pyramids were raised again to aim for the stars.

Those who remained had to learn to survive in an inhospitable environment where snow prevailed over the sunshine throughout the year. Eventually, they forgot who they were and where they came from. The harsh climate had turned them intoinsensitive men who fought against one another with the single goal in mind of surviving.

The ice age lasted so long that the men who had marched South in search of a better life, forgot their place of origin and never returned.

Space and Matter Do Not Exist

MATTER was created by movement, thanks to speed, so the distance we are able to measure from one point to another iscontingent on the speed with which the field we are gauging moves. For example, the distance from my city to the next is 5 km. If the earth were moving faster than usual, the space between my town and the nearest would increase. From my viewpoint, this change would be imperceptible since while our planet increases in size so does the size of everything in it, including myself and the tape I use to measure distances.

As we do not need a point of reference for an object to have velocity, we do not need to goanywhere. Wecould simply go around in circles or even move quickly from one side to another producing a vibratory motion. This vibratory motion is experiencedby all particles in the universe, and it endows them witha high speed: "while we might not see the table running around the room, it does not stop moving".

Therefore, all we can see and touch is just energy in motion. If an atom or a particle should cease to move, they would disappear.

On the other hand, for a particle that was able to move at the speed of light, there will be no space.

Itis able to travel from one point to another instantly without distance playing a part because for this particle, distance does not exist -nor does space.

Space shrinks becoming minute sofor those who travel at the speed of light all the universecan be seen insidea pinhead.

We can thus explain various phenomena that appearto be abnormal because of our reference point, from which we observe them.

If a ship moves away at the speed of light and turns on its headlights, we will be able to see that the beam of light moves away at exactly the speed of light. If we reflectfor a moment on what we've mentioned above, namely that light does not actually travel any distance because distance does not exist for light, all this will no longer seem strange.

Another proof is the effect produced by light whenone of its photons crossesaslot and gives us the illusion that it's a particle. And if we there are two slots open, the photon creates an interference as if it had passed through both of them. Light seems to know when is going to find a slot or two, but this can also be explained by the fact that light has no distances. In reality, each photon continues to be in contact with all the others, maintaining communication with them, because from their perspective they never separated because there is no space for them to move. The same principle applies to all particles but it varies according to the speed at which they move. That's why there are particles that appear to be in contact, even if they becomedetached, without distance really playing any role. Depending on the speed with which particles move, they can perform amazing moves, they can disappear and reappear anywhere in the universe, because for them there are no distances and when there are no distances there is no time, so they can simultaneously be in different places.

Since matter is linked to speed \- "the faster the speed, the bigger the mass and the lesser the mass with deceleration" because planets sweep out equal areas in equal-times -,these planets increase in size when moving in their elliptical orbit as they pass near the sun, since their speed is accelerated.

If we produce a collision between these particles at high speed, these will remain still due to the crash and their mass will again be transformed.

If we stopped the movement of a particle fully, it will also have to burst and become energy.

**About Elías  
**

I REMEMBER clearly how I used to spend my free time in the schoolyard sitting in a corner, in the corner where the two reddish brick buildings met - I crouched hugging my legs against my chest. I remember the cold wind I protectedmyself fromin that corner and howthe sun warmed my face. It was like diving into water, like entering another world. The noise of children playing, the sound of the wind, the cold air, everything died out when I enteredthe world of bright lights that danced in peaceful calm while caressing my face. Then I stretched my hands to reach theglowing lights and suddenly felt as if the world shrivelled beneath me, as if I rapidly distanced myself from it by flying towards the sun, briefly traversing the clouds, and then, after feeling their touch, returning to the silence and the stillness, floating in the dark, floating in a sea of warm, dark, clear, deep waters, where I could see countless lights, just like in some beaches where stacked white shells reflect the sunlight as fragments of mirrors filling the sandwithmulti-coloured lights. It was during those moments that time stood still. In that world, clocks had no place.

After floating among millions of dazzling lights, one of them in particular began to radiate with more brilliance, its heat gaining more intensity. The brightest light moved from side to side like a dance of fireflies inthe warm summer breeze. The light reduced the space in which it moved, its tinkling increasingly shorter, like a ball bouncing with less and less force until its final halt. At that point, the light remained centred right in front of me. It seemed to watch me, and then, suddenly, it moved again, an accelerating movement that drove me to it with progressively increasing speed. Calmed at first, it was a whisper and then an unbearable sound that rippedmy quietnessapart and dropped me from a great height, abruptly forcing me return to the schoolyard where the siren heralded the end of recess.

I couldn't always travel to that world. I was often prevented to. I was always told it was for my own good, but it didn't seem like it to me and I had to hide every day in a different place to find that serenity.

Many would describe themselves as perceptive, clever children, they would say they were different and stood out from the rest but I never thought of myself in those terms. The truth is that when I was a kid I did not really care about what others thought of me and now that I'm older I see clearly that I am not nor have I ever been anything special. If I ever managed to solve a mathematical problem, it was always with great effort. Everything else was the same - I often only wanted to finish any kind of interaction with other people, end the conversation as quickly as possible, finish what I was ordered to do so that I could go back to thinking quietly, to plan and look for another opportunity to leave this world again.

Apart from being a child who had trouble relating to others, there wasn't anything else that would differentiate me from the rest, except for, perhaps, a strange feeling that always came over me when I talked to a classmate, a sense of being part of a memory or a scene from a movie that had been filmed a long time ago. It's hard to explain but I remember having these type of memories right after birth and even then I almost always felt I was the same age and had the same intellectI have today. Years ago I felt like today, but in a body limited by its own size.

I don't know why but every time I evokemy nurserydays, I can feel a taste of sand in my mouth. Perhaps from breathing the fine dust that rose from the earth asthe breezewas blowing. The place looked large, it had a few swings, but when I visited it years later I noticed that very same courtyard, where about twenty of us children played before, was no bigger than fifty or sixty square metres. It was a rectangular piece of land with a rear access door tothe kindergarten. Two of the edges of the rectangle, forming an L shape, were delimitedby the building itself and the other two sides were enclosed by a wall with metal bars on top,which also looked large to me but I was able to certify years later that it was no more than a meter tall. The part restricted by the wall of the building was painted in bright colours, with drawings of children playing holding hands. It was in this corner shaped by two walls where small wind swirls formed and lifted the earth, and I guess it was because I was sitting there that I get thesandy taste in my mouth whenever I recall the nursery's playground.

The interior was not as nice, at least from my point of view. There were only two rooms - the room with the cots and the room where we stayed in the little amount of time we didn't spend lying down. Both rooms were painted white, just plain white, giving the interior a cold feel, like the feeling you get in a dentist's consultation. In the main room, at least, hanging on the wall in a cork board secured by pins, there were some drawings coloured by the children. I don't remember any toys, like in the new nurseries I have now visited. I don't even remember us enjoying any activities other than sleep, eat and sing those repetitive songs that end up stuck in your brain and leave you scarred for life. And even as the years go pass and you listen to them again, it's impossible not to raise your arms and wave your hands to the rhythm of the music, as we were taught to do.

In the nursery, the conversations I had with other children made me feel very lonely. We were constantly left lying in cribs with metal, thin, curved bars, through which I peered into the world. I felt very lonely talking tothe other children from the cot. I told them not to fear, not to worry, I told them that before they would even realise it, they'd be taller and able to do whatever they wanted and they'd no longer be forced to sleep when they were not tired or to stay awake when they were sleepy, but althoughthe other kids were my own age, they were not used to saying anything or whatever they said did not usually make any sense.

And yet I continued with my conversations and I became very close to the child who was in a crib next to mine. We called him Mouse and even today I remember him very well: he was a short, chubby kid, I guess that's why they gave him the nickname Mouse. At that time we would have been two years old. Often, while I told him things he used to fall asleep, that's why occasionally I asked:

  * Mouse, Mouse, are you sleeping?

He was a very clumsy child because his physical structure didn't allow him to walk with ease - a midget with black eyes and deep look. As I told him all the things he would do when he grew up, he stared at me with a light in his eyes that seemed to understand everything I told him.

Many years later I was in a cocktail bar aboutto drink a pineapple juice when someone pushed me from behind, making me spill the juice on my shirt. Evenbefore I had a chance to turn around I heard a voice apologising. When I turned my head I saw a young man about twenty years old who, more than a man looked like a bearas he was extremely large and burly.I looked at his face and immediately recognised that look, those black eyes with that unique glow, and without realising it, my mouth uttered a word:

-¡Mouse!

He looked at me and said:

\- Pardon?

\- Mouse! It's been so long!

\- I think you are mistaken.

\- I'm sorry, forgive me, I thought you were someone else.

Today I know with certainty that it was him, no one else could ever have that look.

My whole life seems to be recorded on Technicolour film images and it's very easy for me to go back to any point in the film. Other people don't usually have this ability and forget much of what they've experienced, especially going that far back in time, but I remembered everything.

Many people think it's wonderful to remember things the way I do. Well,when I say many people I should really use quotation marks, because really, most of the people I associate withI tend not to share anything about this with them and people I trust more, people I tell pretty much everything, they take me for a freak, a crazy but harmless freak. The fact is that I don't think remembering everything so vividly is that wonderful, it makes me remorseful every day about all the things I've done wrong in life, I even feel embarrassed remembering not knowing how to sing a song when I was in pre-school. Events in my life hover around in my head incessantly. It doesn't matter whether they have happened hours or years ago.I have always felt anxiety, and when I was little I could not hold back the tears at the sight of a picture of me, because evenif I was only four years old and the photographhad been taken last month, having everything that happened since it was taken recorded in my mind, made me realise how quickly time passed and my inability to stop it. I always noticed the script of my life advancing without being able to halt it for a moment.

The nursery gave me the impression of being something like a prison. The truth is that when you are small you rarely feels free to do whatever you want, you are always forced to sleep or sing when an adult feels like it. I understand that you cannot leave a child alone, although I'm not sure we as humans can really influence the events that befall us, I mean if a child has to fall, he will fall even if an adult is nearby; and by this I don't mean to say that you have to leave children or people to their own fate, but I don't think it's right to treat them as prisoners.

Still, I have fond memories of my time in the nursery, perhaps because it was a happy and carefree time. Later, as I grew up, everything became more complicated, from feeling like a prisoner to feeling more like a slave at school. Almost everything was work, split by just half an hour of recess, absurd work which, up until today I still don't understand, learning things that have never been useful at all. To illustrate my point I could talk about the subject of circles. Yes, the subject of circles and those squares and triangles placed inside them - nearly three years drawing circles on paper where you had to put squares and trianglesin and take them out - I never understood why. I guess someone in ancient times, who knows who and when, decided that the subject of circles could teach something to children but I don't really know why. Even today, no one makes the decision to say that although this system has been applied for over a thousand years, it is completely useless and it is time the teaching method be changed.

My mother always prepared a bun or a small sandwich with hazelnut chocolate cream and put it in my school bag, for me to eat it at recess. One day, I was sitting in a secluded corner during our break where I could be alone and undisturbed. I was about to eat the sandwich that my mother had prepared, when out of nowhere, like a rocket, a small child ran towards me and snatched the sandwich off my hands, and then walked sufficiently to leave a safe distance between us. He sat and like a hungry wolf devoured the sandwich without even chewing it. I really was blown away, I had no time to react, I turned around and looked for a place to be alone and to feel safe. At that time I did not think much about what just happened.

The next day, while I was holding my lunch in my hands, I made sure there was no one around but just when I started biting for the first time, again in a flash, there was the little boy running in a devilish speed, dressed in old clothes. He zoomed past and next thing I knew my hands which, were still feeling as though they were holding the sandwich, were suddenly empty. And once again, he left a safe distance to eat the snack so that I could not take it off him. How could it be, I wondered - where did that boy come from and how could a small child run so fast?

The third day I prepared myself well, I found a corner where I could not be caught off guard from the back. Now I did feel safe enough to start savouring my sweet hazelnut cream sandwich. As I was relishing in the first bite I saw that scoundrel come towards me head on at a high speed. I got the feeling it was a locomotive at full throttle without brakes. He slammed into me, while I clutched the sandwich. He took me by the shirt and shook me until I decreased the pressure of my hands. Then he snatched my sandwich and ran out again.

When I arrived home with a torn shirt my mother asked me what had happened, if I had fallen. I told her the story, although I felt a little embarrassed that a child so small in size could stand up against me in such a fashion. My mother then proposed a plan of action that would solve the problem once and for all. The fourth day came and with it recess time. I went to the yard and walked around looking for the rascal, but could not find him. I sat down and got ready for lunch. At that point I saw him appear again running at full speed, then I cried:

  * Stop!

And so he did and stood watching me. I raised my other hand and showed him another sandwich. I told him to take it. The boy stood hesitant, like a stray dog whom is being offered a piece of bread. He took it with suspicion and then sat down near me. We both ate the sandwich quietly. It was a brief recess. Every day I brought my friend a sandwich and he sat next to me without saying anything, until there came a day when I had to throw away the second sandwich because the child did not appear, and never appeared again.

Now I realise how fragile the world of a child is. Older people do not usually consider these things and simply because they want to move to a larger home or get a promotion they move to another town and with the same ease a child's world falls apart. I never asked my mother who my father was or where he had gone, the truth is I had never missed him. They say that a child raised by a single parent does not develop as he should. Perhaps my mental problems emerged as internal symptoms of the lack of a father figure but I honestly don't think so.

In winter, jumping in puddles was what I liked to do most. Once, my mother dressed me in new clothes and polished my black boots with bitumen. The day before, it had not stopped raining and I was unable to leave the house, so I really wanted to go down to the street to run around and jump on the paddles. Before letting me go, my mother said:

-Elías, be careful not to stain your clothes.

That sentence didn't make sense to a child. Those words do not exist in the language of children. I guess if you don't want children soiling their clothes you shouldn't put them on in the first place. Initially I leisurely strolled along the sidewalk, but little by little I unknowingly got away and arrived at the park. The ground was wet and I could smell the humidity with every breath. The paddles were gigantic and to my child's eyes they appeared like lakes with calmed waters. They were like ponds, and even on occasionsI had played to fish in them. The paddlesproduced a hypnotic pull in me and without barely noticing what I was doing, I approached them. Then, when I reached the shore, the magnetic attraction of the centre increased, so that unintentionally I ended up with the water up in my ankles, and then with those wet shoes I could not turn back, so I forgot all about it and began to enjoy thoroughly jumping inside it, causing the water to splash all my clothes, making the mud reach my head. When I finished, I looked like I had just returned from a battlefield or from one of those resorts where they cover your body with mud. When my mother opened the front door, she yelled. At first, she did not even recognise her son, she thought it was some strange creature, a big dog or something like that, when I said:

  * Mom!

She reacted. Then the features of her face tensed and she shrieked:

-I'll kill you!I'll kill you!

She quickly approached me with her hand opened up in the air. I ran out and she began to pursue me \- it was a stupid situation. I didn't know what to do and ran as fast as I could. She pursued me closely, running after me for a few minutes until she finally got tired and said,

  * I will catch you!

I spent all day on the street until it began to get dark, then I had to go home. I knocked on the door, my mother opened it and said:

  * Come in!

As I passed by her, while she kept the door open and stood behind it, she showered my neckwith painfulsmacks. Then a good spanking, the subsequent reprimand and finally,the punishment.

I remember a time, when the country underwent a major economic depression andwork was very scarce. I was little then but I remember that period lasted several years. My mother was unemployed, she lost her job and could not find another one, besides she had to take care of me, which made her searcha lot more difficult. It must have been a very bad time for my mother, but the truth is that it was a wonderful time for me. As we had no money to eat, we had to rely on a NGO to supply us with food that used to last us for the whole week. They gave us cartons full of baby food and powdered milk for infantsthat could no longer be sold because they had expired. I was about six or seven years and at first I felt a little embarrassed about eating baby food at my age, but eventually I ended up getting used to it. We alternated a baby food diet with onion puréesand soups. Because of the precarious economic situation, farmers preferred to throw away their crops rather than sell them at low cost,so we took advantage of this by going to the orchards with a shopping trolley and loading it chock a block full of onions.

The situation continued getting worse and as my mother had to work, she managed to get me a grant so that I could eat for free at the school canteen -that's where I met some very special children and made a good friend. He was my best mate at that time. Well, the truth is that he was the only friend I had. The child had a round face and huge cheeks that made him look quite funny. His family was worse off than mine so I guess being in the same boat we hit it off right away. His mother died when he was four – that must be one of the worst things that can happen to a child. He lived with his dad and he acted as father and mother at the same time because even though he had to work, he always seemed to find the time to make his son look impeccably dressed, well washed, his clothes ironed and even nicely stitched if needed.

As the financial situation of our families was so bad, they could not afford to buy us any toys,so we had tothink all sorts of ways to have fun, like playing marbles. Other children used to spend hours playing marbles and we spent hours watching them, learning the tactics and techniques of the game. Then we would make our own marbles with mud and practice but the other kids would not let us play with ourclay marbles, so we decided we had to get at least one marble to play with others and implement all the techniques we had learned observing them. So we made a small hole to play with our marbles in the patio of the dining room, in an area where the soil was not very hard. Later, using a branch, we createda cavitythe size of a marble. The cavity had a slight descending slope, ideal for a marbleto roll into. Then, using a little mud, we made a small ramp that guided the tinymarble into the downward roundedcavity, making the marble disappear. We left it there and the next day we duga parallel hole similar to the first one that reached the tubular cavity and there it was - we had our very own marble.

I guess, a lot of people considered our invention a fraud but we did not see it that way and although we were afraid that the police was to catch us in possession of the marble, we felt just like Robin Hood. The first game was decisive - we could not afford any mistakes. Head or tails were to decide who would be playing first - well, actually we spat on a flat stone: one side was meant to be the head and the other the tail. It was my friend's turn first, and although we only had a marble and we played it all in a single game, I was not worried at all. He was a great player and I was fully confident in his ability to beat any of the children in the dining room. The game was intense, until finally one of the kids made a mistake and we wonhis marble. Now we had two, and from there it was all plain sailing because besides being very good players, we both played as a team, while the other children used to play solo. We helped each other and imposed ourselves victorious over other children. When that year finished, each of us had a glass jar filled with marbles.

I liked going to buy the things my mother needed in a drugstore/perfume shop close to home. Nowadays, there are plenty of shops with stuff for kids everywhere but I remember when I was little there was only a toy store in the whole city, and it was located right in the centre, so we rarely passed near it except when my mother had to sort out her paperworkin the bank. So, while she was in the bank I waited for her outside carefully watching the window displays of the toy store. The drugstore near home also had a few toys displayed in the window and I liked staring at them, but what I liked most about the drugstore was going in and ask questions. The shop belonged to a married couple approximately the same age as my mother's, and the fact is that neither of them were physically very attractive, but something very strange happened to me with that woman.I used to enter asking for prices with the sole intention of hearingher voice, I don't know why, but as she spoke I felt a tingling in my stomach, as if butterflies were fluttering about. It was a nice feeling so I often entered the store with new questions, only to hear the woman. I definitely could not figure out what she was saying because the moment I heard her voice, I plunged into a kind of trance and all I did was nod so that the woman continued talking.

I have strange memories of those years when it felt like we were always going against the grain. I remember my mother could not find work and left early in the mornings to go for interviews. Those were hard times and although a lot of places needed workers, most of them preferred not to hire anyone to avoid increasing costs. It didn't matter one's qualifications or experience, being rejected was the norm. So my mother spent the little money we had going from place to place, from one interview to another without being able to find any jobs. But finally, one day they called her for an interview: the neighbour knocked on our door and told us we had a call. The next door neighbour and my mother were good friends and even though the woman didn't have a very good life, in part because of how impossible her husband made it, she helped us as much as she could. So, because we had no phone, we used the neighbour's as ours and received all calls there. It was good news indeed. The job was in a factory where different types of cleaning products were being produced. The problem was that she had spent every last cent we had in previous interviews and could not even pay for public transport to attend this one. While she was a close friend of the neighbour, she would never ask anyone for money, so she had to find another solution.

Then she told me I had to lend her the money I had set aside in my piggy bank. I had long been saving the little money our family members had given me throughout the year and had planned to use it to buy a toy for Christmas. So without really realising the extent of the situation, unable to fully comprehendthe difficulties my mother was undergoing, I hid the little piggy behind the curtains in my room so that she could not take my money. Very early the next morning while I was still asleep, my mother crept into the room and went straight to where I had always kept my piggy bank, but she could not find itand had to keep searching for a while. She was late for the job interview because of this. Fortunately, the factory's manager could not refuse her the job; it was clear the woman needed it and was keen to work. Now I realise I made a big mistake by hiding the money but at least fate began to change for us that day and things started to work out.

When Christmas arrived and I had no money in the piggy bank and my mother had only very recently started working, and with all the payments we owed our landlord, we could barely subsist with the money she made. My mother's first priority was to pay off her debts so she told me Christmas was just for young children. I was only five years oldso I had to put up with the truth about Christmas but it didn't served me well because, although no one came bearing gifts down the chimney, a child still wants to be given toys just like all the other children. That year we used a branch of a pine as a Christmas tree, sure it wasn't a fir, but hey! It was a pine and it worked for us. Since we had no Christmas decorations, we looked for small cardboard boxes and then covered them with coloured paper. We also hung a fake pearl necklace that my mother had. The truth is that looking back now, I think it was pretty nice. My mother could not get me anything that Christmas and family gifts were limited to socks - I needed them -, but from a child's point of view toys are a much bigger necessity. My mother came into some money the month after Christmas and although the festivities were over, she took me to a toy store and said I could choose a toy.

Although everyone had a colour TV, ours was on old black and white set, but I remember somehow I could seeeverything on that television in colour. I recall telling one of the kids at school that colour televisionswere silly becauseif you looked carefully at a black and white television you could clearly see the colours in things.

When she started working our economic situation began to improve. The main problem now was that her work schedules were not compatible with my school hours so I had to spend a lot of time by myself. I have never been a very sociable person and, as I explained before, I enjoyed being on my own but, as always, everyone else had something to say about this. I spent most of all my moments of solitude in the fields because, although we lived in a city, you just had to cross a street and found yourself in a field. During one of my walks in the outskirts of the city, while playing among piles of earth that formed a ridge, I decided to liedown on the grass. It wasn't spring yet but the sun was shining high in the sky and I was wearing the kind of coat with a waterproof cap that almost all children used to wear in those days, a coat with a large hood and soft-hair edges likethe ones Eskimos wear. Although the grass was wet, I felt very comfortableas my coat covered me up to my knees, so I enjoyed lying in the sun and watching that bright blue skyoccasionally criss-crossed by flocks of sparrows lying very low, almost touching me. Often I used to do simple things like this and I always felt comfortable being alone. That day, I was almost asleep when something moved behind a nearby bush. I focused my attention on it but for a few seconds nothing happened. Then,the movement became more intense and it made me stand up quickly.

What could it be? A boa constrictor? A forest troll? I looked around, and searched for something to tackle it with but only found a dead thistle branch, one of those very light ones that break very easily but, I thought to myself, better this than nothing. So I stealthily approached the bushes armed with the twig. When I was only a few steps away, I stopped and moved the scrub with the stick. Suddenly, a black furry thingpranced at me. I fell back as I tried to move away and the hairy beast that had jumped on me. My heart was pounding as if rushing to exit my chest, and then I closed my eyes. I waited to be devoured by the beast but instead noticed something wet rubbing down my face. I opened my eyes and the furry monster turned out to be an abandoned puppy. It was very dirty and, as it was a fluffy hairball,it was hard to tell whether it was thin or not. I took it home and held it inside my coat so that my mother could not see it. As soon as I opened the door, I ran in and went straight to my room to hide. Instantly my mother knocked on the door wondering what I was carrying, what I wasup to. I left him hiding behind a cushion, I opened the door and told her I had nothing. Then, when it seemed I had managed to convince her, the fur ball ran towards her. My mother squealed and the puppy began to lick her ankles.

  * Can we keep him? Pretty please, mom! I'll take care of it.

  * I'll have to double check with the landlord and if he doesn't object, you'll be able to keep it, but of course you'll have to take care of it.

We prepared a bath with hot water and a lot of foam and gave it a good wash. It was a beautiful animal, with black fur and a white spot on the neck under the jaw -it was a mutt. The landlord told my mother there was no problem and that it would also be good to have someone to keep me company. When hesaw it, the landlord told us it was a cross between a Belgian shepherd and a wolf. I don't really think the man knew anything about dogs, but neither did we so we believed what he said.

We called it Tarzan, like the King of the Monkeys. It soon became huge, or so it seemed to me, for I had not grown much since I found it, barely a few inches from the last mark made with pencil on the wall of my room, and the dog had become enormous. I took it out every day to the field after it was freshly washed and then its black hair shone in the sun casting bluish gleams. We shared countless adventures together. I took care of it and cleaned it when it came home muddy so my mother would not to beat it up. It took care of me and defended me from any threat. We were a good team - I wasn't very communicative and neither was it but when I had something to tell, it always listened carefully tilting its head slightly in order to listen better.

One of the adventures I can recall more clearly took place one day in autumn. The sky was clear, but the days had become very short and night soon fell. I was always very wary of the time and tried to get home before dark so as not worry my mother. We were playing in the hills - Tarzan was a bear and I was a Native American. We had to hide so that the hunters could not catch us. Before sunset, as if a cloud had landed on the hill, this was suddenly involved in a thick, dense fog through whichone could not see anything. I tried to make my way home but it was very difficult to know what direction to take since I could hardly see anything. I walked along a path that led me to a kind of rocky gorge. I couldn't see the bottom. Tarzan followed me making whining sounds. I then bent down, picked up a stone and threw it into the abyss under my feet. There was no sound to be heard until a few seconds later. Then, a distant echo rose when the stone hit the bottom of the ravine. The fog had dampened the rocky path and it was very slippery. I was very scared until I got out of the rocky area and returned to the small path. By this stage night had fallen upon us and with the fog it was impossible to even see my own feet unless I crouched. Then I told Tarzan:

-Home, home!

And he began trotting ahead of me, turning occasionally to make sure I followed him. After walking for a while, we finally left the hill and after crossing an open field, we finally made it to a suburban street.

The years went by and while I was growing up, Tarzan seemed to be shrinking. Its hair started losing that splendidglow. How many adventures had my old friend and I lived together! I guess it realised its time was coming, and the wolf blood running through its veins made him take the decision one day to leave to die with dignity. I remember that day. I took it out for a walk and it left never to return. I saw Tarzan walk away with the red collar around its neck with its nameon. No matter how much I called it and searched for it, I never found it again. I guess if there is a heaven after death, Tarzan will be there waiting for me.

The Relic

"HAZEL EYES"' CHILDREN began selectingdifferent grains and cultivating fields. Where before there were only barren plains, now vast fields of grain grew at the rhythm imposed by the sun and the water. The immense growing areas formed a yellow sea, the grain swaying with the wind's waves. The Gardeners tilled the land and worked it with their hands. Before planting the crops, "Hazel Eyes'" children came to me and offered me flowers and songs and left bowls of fruits at my feet, begging me for favourable weather, and pleading that their crops be abundant. I felt good to be able to be of service, to feel useful for something -besides, this was the only way I could interact with them. It wasn'tdifficult for me to provide them with the right climate for their crops to grow plenty and tall since,at the end of the day, it was part of my program, the only difference being that now, for the first time ever, I was asked to make use of it. When the grain had ripened in the sun, they all gathered by working together. After the harvest, the celebrations - people came up to the meadow located right next to me, each one of them carrying their best produce such as sweets, beverages, and prepared dishes that filled the air with a sweet caramel scent and a hint of spice. Children ran and people frolicking through the meadow danced to the sound played by the musicians who sang and played their entire repertoire.

Initially these people were brothers, but they gradually distanced themselves to the point that when they met again they no longer recognised each other as the colour of their hair and skin had changed, and different races had been created.

"Hazel Eyes'"children spent so much time on their own that when they met they were wary and suspicious of their brothers, and this distrust, this fear,would causethem to fight one another. They struggled to possess land, a land that belonged to them all, a land that was there long before they appeared, and even long before I arrived, a land that would prevail long after they had gone.

They walked for centuries, they walked on a long pilgrimage around the world trying to finda reason for their existence. They felt alone, lost. They forgot the beauty of the little things and searched for a god, an omnipotent god to give them a reason to live. The truth is that without even knowing it, they already had it. This search for such an elusive god would take them to distant lands they had never dreamed of. Why did they feel lonely? I had always been alone, right from the beginning, when everything was dark.

Zero

THE INVENTION of Zero has brought great advances in science and in the way we understand the universe but it has also led us to make one of the greatest mistakes - forgetting that it is our invention and therefore it does not exist in nature. We always imagine that everything starts at a zero point from where we measure all events, and this causes us to make considerable errorsin judgement, such as believing that before the Big Bang there was nothing and that this nothingness was zero. This is totally impossible because nothing is quantifiable if not in positive numbers, certainly in negative numbers, but it is never zero. So, before the creation of the particles of matter that forms our universe, there existed a universe of antiparticles and antimatter, possibly similar to ours, perhaps with the only difference that the numbers had a permanent minus sign in front: "Could it be possible that in this universe the less money you have, the richer you might be?"

If we remove zero, we realise that things are very different from what we think. If you do not use zero as a starting point speeds become relative and even the speed of light stops being a constant.

About León

EVERYTHING FALLS under its own weight, and in León's life everything began to fall over him. A few months ago he had his driver's license removed because while he was doing one of his deliveries, just after having stopped to eat and have a few glasses of Sanblás, by an unfortunate combination of events, he found himself involved in an accident. His explanations did not convince the police and hisbreath test exceeded the allowable limits tenfold. According to León, the driver of the vehicle he had collided head-on with, had no clue how to drive and attempted to overtake him, invading his lane, not giving him enough time to respond and ended up steamrolling him. The police's investigation suggested quite the opposite and added to the high level of alcohol in his blood, he was taken to the police station. The ramshackle iron-madetruck was completely destroyed but itvaliantly made León come out of the accident without a scratch. The same could not be said for the little blue sedan which, now resembled an accordion, its interior splashed with blood. Fortunately, the woman was taken away alive -her condition was serious but she recovered favourably. This helped reduced León's sentence. He awaited for his trial for quite some time and was unemployed throughout this period. And although he did try to find work wherever he could, being aged over fifty, having no experience other than working as a driver, not holding a license, and his peculiar physical appearance, made his search for a job very difficult. Rejection after rejection, he continued doing some illegal deliveries, removals and rubble pick up which, he then released anywhere he could, whether it was a park or even sometimes in the middle of the road. These small jobs provided him with enough money to spend the rest of the week sitting in any seedy bar where he would drink anise until he barely had any cash to return home with.

He was often seen going from bar to bar begging for a drink, but most of the bars knew him and refused him a drink as soon as they realised the state he was in. He used to drink and drink until he fell to the ground. Sometimes another drunken friend accompanied him to his front door, leaning on each other. Other times, he walked on all fours, unable to balance himself on his legs. Then he tried to open the door, but inserting the key in the lock seemed so difficult - you had to be William Tell, he thought, even his apple was bigger than these tiny keys. But he persisted, in all possible ways, even banging his head against the door, so the woman inside would know it was him and would rush to open. Then he'd collapse in the entrance hall and stay there until the next morning.

The arguments at home were increasingly more destructiveevery day. His wife refused to put up with his insults any longer. His children were older and had their own life so the woman was no longer willing to toleratehis psychological abuse. León started out insulting her and as his mouth projected the vile abuses she'd get hold of object of various kinds, some sharper than others, and throw them to his face. One of the objects caused a gap in his forehead. Blood began to drip but he did not even flinch. All those glasses of anise, which he had taken during that day, worked very well as anaesthetics. Finally the woman, fed up with that situation, left home. At first León was glad, thinking she was guilty, that their relationship was a calamity, and now that he was alone everything would change, he would devote himself to truly live his life. The reality was that two weeks later his situation bordered the catastrophic. Heemptied the house of valuables andeven sold the beds in order to get money to invest in the bar, invest in anything that he could swallow and it contained alcohol. His condition was regrettable - unshaven, uncombed, didn't change his clothes in days, he looked like a wreck.

Someone knocked on the door. No one answered. After a second they knocked again. Thena heavy pounding. León had no choice but to go and see who it was. He opened the door and saw a policeman. He was being summoned to trial but he was in no mood for trials so he try to shut the door and leave the policeman out but the foot of the official prevented him from closing it. The agent then called his partner who was out looking at what was left of the garden. The two of them entered León's house and manhandled him while León continued throwing all kinds of profanities at them.

The trial was quick - the judge was benevolent despite of the many imprecations León continually sent his way. The truth is that the judge's harsh appearance would have been sufficient cause for most people to behave before him. They say that dogs look like their owners but in this case it must have been the opposite, because the man had sharp canine features. And yet, despite all that, León was cast a very light sentence – only six months in prison- which, it even surprised his lawyer who after studying the case and having to continually excuse León's behaviour, thought this was a sentencinghe would have signed for right from the beginning.

He left the van. The day was grey and the cold wind nailed his face like a rain of needles. There were lots of nasty rumours about what new prison inmates have to endure and this made León a little nervous. As he entered, he was taken to the store, and the quartermaster put the bed sheets on his arms and over them a shirt, a pair of pants and underwear, all in navy. Finally,he was handed some slippers of the same colour. Loaded with everything he needed, he took him to his cell. To reach the room he had to go through one of the prison's long corridors. This was his first contact with other inmates who were in their cells. Walking through the corridor the prisoners began to yell all sorts of things - some insulted the guards, others asked León questions and those in the highest cubicles tossed rolls of toilet paper at them.

They put him in a cell with two prisoners. Contrary to what usually happens in most movies, these prisoners were rather friendly and theygreetedLeón with a firm handshake. Theskinny and lanky prisoner was called Cagalubias. The stout man's name was Flat. It soon became obvious he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed because Cagalubias constantly told him what he had to do, including things like sit, greet, etc. They called him Flat because rumours had it he had opened a safe using far too many explosives once and caused the door to be flung up in the air. Evenbarricading himself behind a sturdy table top, the thick steel door landed on his head. Since then, everyonesaid that his head was flat.

Cagalubias was a nervous person. He stuttered and didn't inspire any confidence. He was physically small, had strange factions and prominent cheekbones that appeared even more noticeable under his sunken cheek. He had bulging eyes andan evasive glance. His mouth was just a slot, and although it was a large mouth his lips were imperceptible. When he spoke, one only saw rows of misplaced teeth, grouped in some parts of the mouth and separated in others. He was always hunched, head down, his vertebrae prominently protruding in the upper part of his back.

A nervous tic caused him to make sudden jerky movements, like a horse scaring flies away. He used to explain that his nervousness was due to the fact that the police knocked on the door of his house one day and said:

  * Police, open up!

At that precise point in time Cagalubias was weighing the cocaine he used to sell on a small scale and since he could not come up with a hiding place, he started eating the powder by the handful. The police kicked the door down and found him standing in the living room in underwear and a green undershirt, all covered in a white powder, as if he had dropped a sack of flour from above. Then, with his face and hands coated in white due to the cocaine and while swallowing the last handful of the drug remaining in his hands, he said:

  * I'm a baker and I love icing sugar, he he.

After having said this, his eyes rolled back and he fell to the ground, foam coming out of his mouth. When he awoke he was in the prison's infirmary.

Cagalubias' criminal career started very early. At the age of fourteen he used to steal cars for the sole purpose of taking them for a quick spin around the open fields in the city, leaving the cars with a little more than just minor damage. Of course, the vehicle's owners were never too pleased and so the claims against him for theft and vandalism started accumulating until the police finally decided to wait in the field where he used to take the stolen vehicles. The police awaited patiently until the engine of the car he was driving would run out of fuel and stop. Then they took him away without any resistance. Since he was only young, instead of prison he was sent to a juvenile correctional facility where he learned everything he needed to go from being a car thief to being a cook. He had great talent for chemistry, and he studied hard during his stay here and earned himself a cook's diploma.

He spent most of his evenings going to the local pharmacies to buy all kinds of medications for a host of non-existing diseases. Of course Cagalubias was very healthy and instead, he used these products to manufacture designer drugs by extracting the chemical components from these medications and various other cleaning products. The extraction and purification of the elements were done through different processes, including boiling them in large pots - that's why he was given the alias "cook".

"On the other hand, when I learnt about this, I finally found a list of the establishments, called drugstores,where they sold cleaning products with narcotics."

Cagalubias was good at chemistry but had no idea how to market his products and that's why he quickly landed in jail as he was caught attempting to sell his own production pills to a policeman. In prison he continued with his intensive courses but this time he learned all there is to know about drug trafficking.

Cagalubias and Flat were reoffenders, but since the crimes they had committed were not very serious, they served very short sentences. You might wonder how a gang of robbers forms itself because, of course, one does not go into a bar, becomes friends with any Tom, Dick and Harry and starts planning a robbery right there and then. This is what happened in prisons- you walk in for committing any crime, just like the one committed by León, and leave with a masters in safes' robbery, sale and manufacture of narcotics and explosives' assembly. As time was abundant, theyspent hours plotting different ways to find easy cash. And that's how Cagalubias, Flat and León spent all their time planning to rob a bank.

León provided all the information pertaining to the branch. He knew one of them very well, he was even familiar with the type of safe they had. From the description given by León, Flat immediately knew what type of model it was and how long he'd take to open it. Cagalubias was to get everything needed for the robbery - weapons, clothing and a vehicle toflee on. León would be the driver. Gradually, the plan took shape in each of their minds and they spent the time they had left in prison wondering what they would do with the money. Each had a different plan to spend it on. León wanted to buy a new truck with climate control and start his own transport company. He could see the truck in his mind, big signs on the sides that read: León Transports.

Being in jail was not all that badif it wasn't for the fact that you were forced to be there. In fact, many would be happy to walk in of their own accord because the food was better than in most homes -you could even go as far as saying that it was as good as a restaurant. The prisoners spent time together as one big family and the guards were their only enemies. That's why, if any of the inmates committed a punishableoffense, all of them would try to cover it up to prevent the culprit from being arrested. Thishad happened sometimes when the inmates were ordered to stand in line in the yard and the guards asked for the culprit of a particular crime – like yelling in the middle of the night, or breaking a table or a window - to reveal himself but all prisoners stood and faced the punishment together. The guards lined them upand waited for the guilty prisoner to emerge but, even if this happened, even if the culprit did not want everyone to be blamed for his actions, there was nothing he could do. If he took a step forward and raised his hand to let them know it had been him, all other prisoners would also take a step forward and raise the same hand at the same time to self-incriminate themselves. They knew only too well that unity was strength and, as a rule, in a few minutes, the guards became bored of having them line up and sent them back to their cells.

The days were generally quiet, except for the odd occasion when there was some incident. First thing in the morning the inmates went to the dining area to have coffee and a sandwich for breakfast. There was a different type of sandwich for every day of the weekto be taken with coffee and milk. Afterwards, they were servedsandwiches and cold cuts. Prisoners werenot permitted to take food to the cells, but most of themhidthe sandwich in their pockets and took it to their cells to eat later in the patio. After breakfast, a little exercise and then recess in the courtyard. For the rest of the day, theywere free to focus on whatever they pleased. Normally they visited the library's classroom where some of the prisoners were taught differenttrades but while the guards and warden thought that the prisoners were learning a trade to make an honest living when their time in prison was over, the classes were of particular interest to the prisoners because they taught them all sorts of interesting trades that could be applied in their criminal activities like stealing cars, robbing banks ortrafficking drugs.

As I said, if it were not because in jail one is held against one's own will, many would volunteer to attend these intensive courses.

León's WondrousTales

ONE OF THE most surprising stories León used to tell took place in Australia. What was León doing in Australia? Well, according to him, he had to find a job there for a period of time because work was scarce in Europe and in Australia they were short of manpower. He had a repertoire of stories about his days in Australia.

Many of the roads in this country are characterised by their never-endingstraight lines that make you lose sight of the horizon and even if you focus your gaze on the distance, you can barely notice any changes over long periods of time. Since the country is so vast, Australians had to come up with new methods to lower transport costsand invented the so called road trains ormega-trucks that pull lots of wagons. Overtaking these beasts is really dangerous, but not for expert trucker León. The concrete of the road blended with the red sand of the desert and those endless lines made him lose concentration easily, causing him to swerve abruptly at times. The heat too put a dent in his will. In one of the straight stretches of road, the landscape changed suddenly, from sandy dunes to spectacular lakes. This is impossible, León though,it must be some kind of mirage. The water nearly reached the road and the heat made the asphalt seem as though it was covered by water. León continued contemplating that wonderful landscape, he almost felt like stopping and taking a bath. As hesurveyed the wetlands he looked under the seat, where he found a bottle of Sanblás and, while watching this wonderful scenery, he drank a few gulps of anise.

Driving along those straight roads was a breeze. All you had to do was put the autopilot on and go on quietly enjoying the landscape. Then asudden stomp on the brakes led the truck to lurch abruptly. The posterior part of the truck was jolting from side to side, like a wild bull in a rodeo. León saw a huge crocodile in the middle of the road and managed to manoeuvre to avoid the reptile only to end up with the truck in the lagoon. As the vehicle impactedthe waterLeón hit his head and when he awoke he found himself under water where he algae rose from the depths to the aquatic infinite sky like giant forests. He looked around and saw a lot of multi-coloured fishes, crocodiles and a myriad of large oysters. Without thinking twice he startedmaking sounds and the oysters joined in. Then, they began singing together. When the song ended, the great crocodile León had dodged on the road spoke through their speaker. As a sign of its gratitude, the croc talked to the other gators and they formed a long line with their bodies to help León get the truck out of the water.

This is what León remembers and this is what he recounted in the hospital, where he was told he had suffered a concussion caused by the blow to his head.

The Vibratory Universe

THE VIBRATION of the universe is what gives mass to matter. It is what gives consistency to the universe per se. Just as we are able to transform matter into energy, if we vibrate the energy in the right way we will be able to create the kind of particles we want.

The universe is like a huge pond, a pond over which a thin rain falls. The folds of the water, the waves are what we perceive as matter. But on a closer inspection we can see that all the pond is made of the same matter andeven though some areas have no ripples, they still remain part of the pond.

The Weight of the Light

THE PHOTONS that make up light have no mass nor weight but their high speed can cause a curvature of the space-time continuum. What is the actual weight of light? Depending on the frequency at which it vibrates light can weigh as much as a star or even as much as a black hole.

The Relic

A thunderous sound accompanied by atremor that caused parts of the ceiling to detach and fall on the room. Cheng, a stout man with a four-hair long moustache wearing a black silk robe with white edgings, covered me with a blanket to prevent any pieces falling from the ceiling from hurting me. Mr. Cheng was the commander of the monastery and one of the oldest monks, charged with the task of keeping me safe. They call themselves men, human beings. I called them "Hazel Eyes"' children. Another sound, this once a lot louder, brought down much of the room's ceiling. Cheng got agitated and vociferously called out to other monks. Only a young man appeared and Cheng told him to help him move me to safety. With great effort they lowered me from the pedestal on which I stood, wrapped me in a blanket, took me away from the temple and placed me in a cart. Then, they loaded a few corpses, lifeless children of "Hazel Eyes". Cheng told the young man to lie down in the cart between the bodies. The young man did not hesitate a second.

The temple was being besieged and the invading forces were about to gain entry. The bodies of the monks were scattered everywhere. We left the temple through a side door and came face to face with the invaders. The soldiers threw Cheng to the ground while one of them kept his taut bowstring pointed at him:

  * Wait a moment, you useless lot - said one of the captains who directed the attack to the monastery.

  * Can't you see he's the undertaker?

Undertakers were respected because nobody wanted to do their work and, according to tradition, whoever killed an undertaker had to take care of the bodies that he would have buried, otherwise the spirits of these unfortunate people would not be allowed to rest in peace. That's how Mr. Cheng managed to get us out of the site. Of course, he also knew the legends about undertakers and respectedthem, so once in a safe place, he made sure he buried the bodies of the dead.

We then began a life of pilgrimage, wandering across the country from town to town. Mr. Cheng was oftenrequired for his services, blessing homes and businesses. People invited him to eat and some even gave him some coins. The young apprentice always accompanied him and learnt the different rituals. Once, the young man corrected a sentence wrongly spoken by the monk and the old man told him:

\- There once was an old teacher who worked as a boatman, helping people cross from one side of a large lake to the other. One day he had to transport a peculiar man wearing ridiculousclothes and carrying lots of bags, each filled with innumerable scrolls. The teacher treated him politely and helped him into the boat. The man did not return the courtesy, barely talked to him and made a point of complaining about everything. He seemed to be annoyed by every single thing. They started the journey and the man didn't stop yapping to the teacher. He soon realised that the teacher's language skills were not too good and asked him, "Did you not study language and literature?", to which the teacher replied a humble No. "So in that case, you've lost a quarter of your life". They continued sailing across the lake to the other side which, was still nowhere to be seen, and the city man continued asking more questions and criticising the poor old teacher. During the conversation the man realised that the teacher was not very good with maths and then asked, "Did not you study computing and geometry?" to which the teacher humbly said: "No, I have not had the opportunity". "Then", the man said, "You have wasted half of your life". As they ventured into deeper waters, the weather changed and the sunny sky was soon covered with dark clouds. The man continued tormenting the teacher with his conversation and noticed that the teacher did not know much about astrology, so he asked, "Did you not study astrology?", to which the teacher honestly replied that he had not had that pleasure. Well then you have wasted much of your life. Just then it began to pour so hard that the boat began to fill with water and started to sink. Then, the teacher asked the man: "Have you not learned how to swim?" The man replied negatively. Then the teacher said:

\- Well, you've lost all your life, because we're sinking!

The teacher swam slowly, reserving his energyand managed to reach the shore, while the city man went straight to the bottom of the lake.

An unusual event occurred while we were in a city. It was a serene autumn daybut the calm was broken by flocks of birds hurriedly flying by. Then, there was absolute silence, not a single leaf moving in the treetops. The wind was motionless, the sky cloudless. People stopped their chores to observe the sky, but nothing seemed to happen until, suddenly, the silence was broken by a tremendous uproar. The wind began to blow with terrifying force, it was almost impossible to stand, roofs were flying and trees lost all their leaves. In a few moments the sky turned dark, black as coal, and started raining with incredible strength. The water flowed at such speed that the earth had no time to evacuate it, so in just a few seconds the ground was covered with mud, and the water rose a foot. People ran for cover wherever they could but for many, it was impossible to move from where they were because if they'd tried they would have been dragged by the strong winds, making them roll in the mud. They had never faced anything like that, nor did the elders remember having seen or heard any legend that spoke of a similar event. The huge hillside under which the city was nestled began to slide, and the mud avalanche it created destroyed much of the town. Entire houses were buried underground, covered by tons of debris. There were people screaming and shouting everywhere perched on trees or on the roofs of the few houses that were still standing. Just as it arrived it disappeared. Soon the sun was in the sky again and exposed the damage of the catastrophic event. The survivors left their shelter and started looking for their relatives.

No one had ever seen such destruction.

What was the cause? Why did earth punish them this way? It took weeks to remove the bodies from the mud. Funerals lasted months and survivors were in constant mourning. Many left the city never to return, but misfortune seemed to follow them because no matter how far they went, no matter how much time it elapsed without knowing about such catastrophic events, these appearedsooner or later to beat them up again.

About María

María was a nervous, restless girl. Her mother used to say she was pure nerve. I guess that's why she had such strange appearance - she was very skinny and her arms were so thin that it seemed that they were about to be detached from her body at any moment. Her hair, jet black, enhanced the colour of her eyes. She generally wore it short, sometimes she even shaved the back of her neck. Her eyes were bright, glittery, and full of emotions which, she transmitted with her gaze. Her face was long and had awell-defined chin and her large, wide mouth had fleshy lips with clearly profiled edges. Her dark complexion seemed lighter in contrast with her black hair. She looked tall due to her slim figure, but in reality she was only medium height. Her hands were not large, but they were elongated due to the shape of the fingers.

María's appearance greatly influenced her personality as her classmates continually laughed at herlanky physique. Her pilgrimage from doctor to doctor started at the age of twelve. They tried everything, including those special shakes that bodybuilders take but nothing would make her put on weight. She was healthy and strong, eating twice the amount her friends ate, but her body consumed a lot of energy because it couldn't stay still for a moment.

As she grew older, she stopped caring about what others thought of her. She became very unsociable and used to enjoy walking alone through the park. She liked winter, mainly because wearing so many clothes made her look normal and people did not notice her slenderness that much. She also enjoyed listening to the whistling wind and looking at the snow. When it did snow, she went out and danced glancing at the sky, feeling the fine snowflakes caressing her face.

She always tried to be happy but sometimes she felt very lonely. On those occasions, she went out for a walk through the woods looking for a tree that seemed nice, usually a chestnut or walnut, and then she hugged it tightly closing her eyes and imagining she was part of that huge tree. She could spend hours imagining she was a tree, letting time go bywithout even noticing it, completely forgetting who she was.

Once she totally lost track of time, and when she opened her eyes it was night. She had to run back home and on the way she felt rather embarrassed when she was stopped by a police car. Her mother, anxious about her absence, had asked the police to look for her, so the patrol car picked her up and took her home. The neighbours were gossiping from the windows of their homes and María felt ashamed. Her mother's overprotection made her feel she was unable to care for herself and María did not like that, although she was only really upset she treated her like a little girl in front of others.

Her mother punished her a week without leaving home. During that time, María stayed in her room reading tales of enchanted princesses and animals with magical powers. Although she was too old to believe in such stories, she loved them and continue to believe in them. While reading she liked to pause and imagine those magical worlds.

Some say it is in little things one finds the greatest wonders and in the case of María, that was certainly true.She watched things that at first glance may seem insignificant in detail, but, upon closer inspection they opened her eyes to a wonderful world. Even the most insignificant insect has its little soul and its little personality. That's something María noticed by observing ants, because although they all seem the same, some work harder than others, some are clumsy, and some are very clever. She was staring at a procession of ants marching towards the nest - most of them were were carrying leaves but some poor clueless creature transported any inedible thing it had found on the ground, and another smart antcomfortably laid on a leave being carried by another.

María loved autumn as people started to dress in warm clothing. Moreover, in autumnthe forests dressed in colourful ropes, the tree tops seemed as thoughpainted by an Impressionist artist with a vastly assorted palette andthe earth was covered by colourful leaves that formed a vibrant mantlereminiscent of a Persian carpet. The evening light shaded the sky with amberhues, and the reflection on the leaves of the last rays of sun before setting down created a mysterious atmosphere that made her imagine she was in a dream, a dream in which a princess was walking through an enchanted forest.

When the meadow finally filled with flowers, she loved spendinga lot of time playing games, weaving garlands of flowers. It was in those moments that María forgot the stress of her daily life. It was in those moments she spent alone that she felt at ease, she travelled to her own world, where everything had a special meaning, where every animal, every tree, even every stone had an immortal soul.

She was very fond of reading. When the weather was not good she stayed in her room reading and when the weather improved she went out to read to the park or to the mountain where she imagined those legendary characters walking through the trees. María picked up and brought home all kinds of animals she found in the street, although her mother always scolded her and she had to leave them in the street again. Once she found a pigeon with a wing injured by a hunter's shot. It was a light grey dove covered with black specks. Mary picked it up and took it home and asked her mother if she could keep it at home until it healed. She then bandaged the wing and left the animal on the terrace where she put a feeder and a special birdbath. Every morning she got up early and quickly went to see how the pigeon was doing. In the evening, as soon as she returned from school, she visited the pigeon again, and some days she read him stories out loud, stories she herself picked up at the library where she looked for tales of birds, adventurous and brave birds. She named it Sparky because the black specks on its light grey plumage stood out like sparks. One morning when she went to see Sparky, she came back crying to her mother and said:

  * Mom!Mom, it's not there!

Her mother said its wing had long been cured and it was time for the bird to be freed. The bird probably had its own family and should get back to them. María continued putting food and water in the terrace, but for a long time nothing happened, until one day, upon stepping into the terrace, she saw Sparky flying away after having eaten.

Maria's father was tired of living in that town and they moved to a city on the other side of the country where according to her father, life would fare much better. In the new house's kitchen there was a large old extractor, almost an industrial size extractor that didn't quite match with the small size of the kitchen. Every day, as María's mother was cooking she found bird feathers in that kitchen, so one day she mentioned it to María. She placed a chair under the large extractor, climbed onto it and stuck her head inside try to see what was there. Then, she saw a bird, a dove, and immediately recognised Sparky. The animal had followed them across the country and had nested just above their kitchen.

In summer, the city's neighbourhoods took turns to celebrate their festivals which, legends had it, began thousands of years ago when the first men who farmed the harvest ended their tasks. Although she didn't like crowds, the smell of cotton candy seduced her to the point that she forgot the massive concentration of people and cotton candy in hand, she walked happily among the colourful stalls of the merchants.

  * Maybe working in a fair wouldn't be such a bad thing after all, especially if you got to be the owner of the cotton candy stand.

For María it was almost like a magic trick. The vendorbrushed the empty wooden stick around the container and this filled with cotton candy almost magically. The other thing she liked about the fair were those huge stuffed animals - she loved collecting soft toys and had kept a lot of them since childhood, although those she had at home were not as large as those you could see at the fair - these would occupy a good part of her room. Moreover, fairs had a certain medieval flair, as they were one of those things that barelyseemed to change over time.

María had never been very lucky in the boys' department, although this was something that never worried her because she had not found any that seemedthe least interesting. She had always expected to feel what they called a crush, love at first sight, but the truth is that the years passed and with them, the hope that someday this might also happen to her. One day, as she was coming out of the library, she found a boy. Well, more than finding him, she bumped into him as María was flipping through her books and walking down the steps from the door of the library to the street without paying much attention. At first she did not notice anything strange, but when he helped her pick up the books and sawhiseyes up close, she felt something very special - that look was warm and sweet. It was a serene and tender look - she had never felt anything like that when looking at someone. She felt hot and cold at the same time and throughout her entire body. Surprisingly, she wanted to kiss his lips - what a stupid idea it seemed! But she did not care, the only thing she could think about was kissing those lips. She wanted that look to never cease studying her, that time stoppedstill forever and she was able to stay with him and stroke his face, put his hands on her skin and kiss his lips. But time didn't stop and she gave the boy his books and asked forgiveness for having been so clumsy. María could not utter a single word and the poor fellow walked away. Then she reacted and said to herself in a low voice: "You cannot let him go" and when the boy was already far away, she began to run towards him without getting too close, keeping a distance so that he wouldn't realiseshe was following him. After walking a while, he climbed the steps of a low house and entered it. María took the opportunity to approach the home and read the name in the mailbox. She repeated it out loud: Elías!

She quickly put her hand to her mouth to cover it as she realised someone could have heard her.

  * "Of course, I think I could make a living working as a detective", she thought.

It was the first time she chased someone and it happened to be a boy!Hemust have made quite an impression to have provoked this type of reaction.

Well now what? She had his address, but how would she get to talk to him?

Hundreds of ideas inundated her head, hundreds of plans, but she immediately discarded them for being too absurd. Anyway, it was very different to chase a guy at a safe distance to make sure no one would suspecther than to create a situation that prompted a conversation with him. The truth is that most people do not even consider this, and not because they are very bold and immediately engage in conversation with the first person they meet. In fact, it's easy to find couples who are very dissonantnot only physically but also psychologically. Most people tend to pair with individuals of their surroundings, and very often from young, selecting them from among the group of friends where one finds oneself at the age of fifteen or sixteen.

But, of course, María was not a conformist. She was a person who seriously believed in love and she would find her beloved even if she had to turn the world upside down.

About Elías

THE SEIZURES grew more violentwith time. At first, doctors thought it was a case of food poisoning, nothing too serious. But they became increasingly more frequent. For as long as my memory can recall, I've always suffered these attacks. I remember that once when I was little andafter having one of them, I was diagnosed with measles by the doctor. What left him quite intrigued was that not too long after that first episode, the same thing happened again and my mother asked him:

  * How many times can one expect to suffer from measles?

  * Well, only once, really.

  * It's the fifth time you tell me this child has measles.

The seizures occurred mostly when I was sleeping away from home so I gradually started associating events. That's why today I never sleep away from home and I cannot go on vacation anywhere.

They were very diverse –others could have thought I was dying of any disease, really. There was usually high fever accompanied by rashes all over the body, vomiting and dizziness that became so intense that made it impossible for me to walk or even to stand up. The symptoms were worse the farther I got from home so, in one occasion, I had to run away from a hospital where they wanted to admit me into. Of course I knew that if I didn't return home the symptoms would get worse. It was a simple misunderstanding. I was simply away from home and I started to feel ill. I could not go back because I had a few errands to run downtown. The dizziness accelerated at a rate faster than usual, and then next thing I knew I could hardly stand up. I couldn't think clearly, my head was clouded by incessant visions. Then when I tried to walk I realised that my limbs were numb and I could barely move. I'm not sure how I managed but I walked about fifty yards - the longest fifty yards of my life -, that separated me from a train station. I had never been too worried about dying. Anything would have beenbetter than to endure this barrage of dreams and nightmares that repeatedthemselves endlessly in my head.

When I arrived at the station I looked like a junkie, I could barely keep my balance, I had vomited and urinated on myself. Fortunately, those who were waiting at the station did not seem to worry about the way I looked and offered to help me nonetheless. I was very surprised because it was the first time in a big city that I've seen people worry about what happens to others. They called an ambulance and took me to the hospital.

People are afraid to go into a cemetery but that's something I never understood. In cemeteries everything is quiet, very often there are magnificent gardens where one can walk around and read the beautiful inscriptions engraved in the tombstones. In hospitals, on the other hand, one can truly feel and even smell death. Death resides in hospitals. Emergency rooms arenothing but large hallconstantly receiving moribund people.Only a few minutes in that room is all it takes to changeone's perception of life. It is there that you realise how fragile life is, how people die and just disappear. Who were these people? What had they done in life? Nobody cared. You could just simply watch the light in their eyes extinguish. Hospitals are cold, you feel sick just by walking throughtheir doors. They subjected me to all kinds of tests that felt like an absolute torture. I was put tubes through the nose and into the stomach and they injected serum in them at high pressure. While a doctor drew my blood, another took my blood pressure and yet another oneasked me all sorts of questions. After all this and finally realising I was not under the effects of any drugs, they took me to a room where they performed one of the most tortuous tests – I got a camera tube stuck through my mouth to look inside my stomach. Nothing they did made me feel any better and they were unable to find any physical cause for what was happening to me. I knew the longer I spent away from home, the worse I'd feel so I said to the doctor:

  * Could you please agree to a voluntarydischarge?

  * I don't advise you to go home in this condition but if you want to go I cannot hold you back.

Then I thought she was implying that nothing would happen if I left on my own so I grabbed the catheter that was connected to my arm and supplied the serum and pulled it out of my vein. As a result, blood began to drip from my arm. I applied pressure to the wound with my hand and quietly got out of bed. There were three nurses and four doctors in the hospital emergency room. At the back of the room there was a security guard. I got up and walked away barefoot with a kind of gown they had earlier given me in the hospital. Then, I heard a voice saying:

  * He's running away! He's running away!

I looked back and saw all of them chasing after me. Then, I started running through the halls of the hospital until I reached a crowded waiting room where people gaped at me in shock. I jumped into the crowd through a row of seats, and finally I noticed the exit door at the back of the room – an automatic door with infrared sensor that quickly opened as I approached. It was dark outside. I could hear the siren of an approaching ambulance and the noise of the traffic. I left the hospital and observed it from a distance - in the darkness of the night it had the appearance of an island lit in the middle of nowhere. It was cold and I walked barefoot through the road, with that gown -it was not pleasant at all. The dizziness came and went, making me collapse occasionally. I ended up lying on the floor puking,trying to exterminate from my mind that incessant tangle that bombarded my brain, thatnonsensical mesh of fragments, images and dreams that barely allowed me to think clearly for just a few seconds.

With great effort, I managed to push them away - or at least ignore them for a brief moment -, stand up and walk (although more than walk, I practically crawled on the pavement). The situation was desperate and I thought I had finally reached the end. I collapsed on the floor. Who would have thought? What an absurd way to die! Although I guess in real life that's how it happens. People don't really die fighting a battle or heroically trying to save someone from being scorched by flames. I guess in real life, people die of a poorly cured cold, a coma, or more usually a heart attack caused by stress, other than traffic accidents, which are one of the most common causes of death today. Anyway, while it really wasn't the way I thought I'd die, that didn't really matter much now. I almost felt relieved because the nightmareswould finally come to an end. Then, a blinding light appeared before me. Is this the light so many people talk about? I wondered. I had the feeling I was being pulled towards it. The next thing I remember is finding myself in the back of a taxi and the taxi driver's voice saying to me:

  * Is this the right way?

  * Yes, yes, it's here.

I guess I had unconsciously guided him to my house because we were right on its doorstep. I peered at the taxi driver: he was a young man of roughly the same age as me, wearing a chequered shirt that seemed to be made of the same fabric as tablecloths, those tablecloths with little blue and white squares. He was large. It amused me, I thought it was almost comic how he looked embedded inside the car. It was a big car but the driver's size made it seem small as if he was driving one of those pedal cars for children. I was able to see his face through the central mirror of the car. It was a friendly, familiar face with dark eyes and agleaming, light look, like a child laughing.

  * Mouse?

Without even knowing how, I found myself asking again:

  * Mouse, is that you?

  * Sir, I think the medication is making you talk nonsense. We have arrived. I see you don't have any money, that's fine, you can pay me another day.

I thanked him, and just as I put a foot down on the ground, I felt an intense heat raising up my leg and encompassing my whole body. I immediately felt energised, strong and healthy, and felt that everything that had happened until this moment was like an absurd and remote dream, now forgotten. I climbed the steps to the front porch of my house. I knocked so that they would open it for me. My mother opened the door and asked what had happened to me. I told her I needed to sleep and that in the morning I would tell her everything. I opened the door to my room and threw myself on the bed as if I were a springboard diver. Then, I fell into a deep sleep thattransported me to my kindergarten years. I was a kid again and I was in kindergarten with Mouse. It was a strange dream, it felt totally real except that I could not interact in it. The dream was simply a repetition of everything I had lived so many years ago. There were crisp, clear images of a white light, just like the light that filters through the windows when the summer sun has spent a few hours in the sky. I felt joy at seeing that short, chubby kid again. He was just like a tiny little round meat ball but had some good qualities - he was quiet and never fought with anyone, even when other children were instigating him constantly.

Many kids have the urge to show they are stronger than others since very little and to prove it, they target the weakest. I was quite the coward but, because I was a lot taller than most other kids no one dared bully me, and I took advantage of this circumstance to make sure no one bulliedMouse either. Suddenly, the scenes changed around on me and placed me in Mouse's farewell. It was a sad day and although it was late spring and the weather was superb, I knew I would never see my friend again. Mouse's mother prepared sweets and also colourful hats for all made of paper. We celebrated his farewell as if it was a birthday party. Mouse's father had been promoted and now they had to move cities to pursue his new job in a new place.

All of us children sangthe ducklingssong the teachers had taught us. Everyone was happy except Mouse and me because although Mousewas not very sharp, he realised that this was a farewell and we'd probably never see each other again. When the party finished teachers told us to say good bye to Mouse. I waited to be the last.I couldn't really bring myself to say goodbye. I had become very fond of that tiny little fellow because, at the end of the day, he was the only one who listened to me during the long siesta hours. I went and whispered to him:

  * Mouse, don't worry about anything. If any children try to bully you, don't worry, before you know it you'd have grown up and they won't be able to do anything.

Then his mother arrived. She picked him up and told him to bid the teachers farewell. I remember him walking away with his mother and how he looked at me with those bright eyes as he walked away. I didn't cry at that moment. I guess as kids we are very strong but as we get older we become weaker, because now I do cry when I remember these scenes.

Normally I'm aware that I'm dreaming.I feel something alike to sitting and watching TV. On many occasions I cannot differentiate reality from dreams because these are so real that it's impossible to appreciate any differences. On other occasions, dreams are like watching a movie, I merely observe knowing that what I am seeing is a dream I cannot participate in. I see myself acting but cannot do anything other than watch the events and have no control over them. I realised I was dreaming, but it was a peaceful sleep and I loved seeing Mouse again, so I never wanted to wake up. I didn't want to wake up but began to feel the weight of my face on the pillow and to hear my own breathing which, sounded louder by the moment and prevented me from continuing my conversations in the dream.

When you get older and live in a city, you start working on any rubbish job for the sole purpose of getting enough money to buy yourself some treats, starting then a vicious circle impossible to stop–you work to live and end up living to work, not realising that the only thing we achieve is making us feel unwell, and that the more we fill our life with material goods, theemptier we'll feel. One forgetswhat it was like to be a child, the satisfaction felt by simply jumping in a puddle and not needing anything else to be happy. As you get older, first the mind and then the body begin to atrophy, because all you think about is getting more money and working more and more hours, without any illusion, forgetting what you knew as a child.

Many simply save their money and spend it escaping from their own lives for just a few days. I never understood people who claimed to have travelled the world. In my mind it seems far too complicated. I need years to discover my three square metre world - everything in this small space is totally different and I often feel overwhelmed just thinking about the diversity in a forest.Why then go to the other side of the world, if I need thousands of years to contemplate the wonders of a small forest right here? The same thing happens with people - each person is an immense world. I think you can spend your entire life with another person and after an eternity together, you might not completely know them. How are you then supposed to know everyone in a town or a city? Why would I go to meet people across the world when I hardly know anyone in my own city?

Travel agencies multiply quickly, offering people the opportunity to escape from their own lives for a short period of time and for a small fee they can pay in instalments, and then they forget they took a holiday because they were stressed at work and had to work all year long to pay for these trips.

The Relic

A LONG boat ride finally transported me to the place they called the New World. There I was placed in a new mission built with the goal to educate and Christianiseindigenous populations.

In the centre of the town there stood a small chapel made of mud walls and a thatched roof where the Relic was always kept illuminated by the flame of the candles.

As the aboriginal elders had their own set of beliefs and a culture deeply rooted in the depths of their souls, they had difficulties converting them to Christianity so they used every method available to indoctrinate them. It was a long process that generally consisted in gradually gaining the trust of the younger ones so that these then convinced their parents about what was good and what was not. This tested the patience of the oldest, and finally one night they stormed out of the mission taking the Relic as a trophy.

It was then that I saw again "Hazel Eyes"' children, people with pure hearts untouched by greed and avarice. They were good peopleofwhom "Hazel Eyes" would have been proud of. After all that time, they continued with rituals that worshipped the earth and encouraged respect for all living beings. They only hunted out of necessity and after hunting down their prey, they venerated and thankedit for feeding them. Everything in nature was magical for them and worshipped the wind god, the raven god, the sun god and everything that made up the world.

They continually thanked the gods with festivities –they danced around the fires every night, danced to the songs and the sound of drums. They danced endlessly, disguised as animals, to enter a trance in which they imagined to be those animals, flying like an eagle or running like a puma.

The avarice of the men that came from old Europe ended with all of them. Even today there are historians who propose theories about why they disappeared. Some historians say they lost because the lack of saddles in their horses gave them a disadvantage, others say it was the firearms that gave the conquerors the victory. There are many other theories that always highlight the intellectual prowessof Europeans, but the truth is that from the very first moment, the descendants of "Hazel Eyes" were lost, because besides loving the world around them, they were humanists and never wanted the death of their enemies. So the reason we defeated them is not that we were more intelligent but because we were a lot more violent.

The world was made for them, all they had to do was enjoy it, enjoy it without demandingfrom it what it can't give us. To "Hazel Eyes"' children this was of no concern because they had more than enough with what the planet gave them. Neither their minds nor their hearts had room for greed.

A group of young men who had gone hunting returned anxious to the village with something important to tell. They requested to speak to the elders, and their request was granted. At night they would have a meeting with the committee of elders, who were responsible fortaking important decisions ofthe tribe.

When all was ready they walked into the elders' tent, a huge tent made of reeds, branches and animal skins and a small fire in the middle. The elders remained attentive sitting across the fire, waiting to hear what these group of young men were so eager to share. Then one of the middle-aged men signalled they were free to talk. The boys began blabbering all at the same time which, made it impossible for anyone to understand what they were saying. Then the middle-aged man asked for silence. Everyone fell silent at once. One of the elders pointed at one of the young men and said:

  * Speedy Falcon, talk.

The young man began telling his story. He had been chasing a moose in the woods and finally the animal reached a clearing, one of the great prairies that lay beyond the green forest. As they were chasing the moose through the open field, Puma's Foot stumbled upon something, something mysterious. The prairie had been cut by some sort of metal strings that formed a barrier difficult to trespass.

This seemed to surprise the elders and the committee met to deliberate. In the morning the old men would go on an expedition accompanied by some of the youngerand middle age men to see it for themselves.

The group moved slowly through the green forest and later they came to the meadow where they observed the strange phenomenon. The elders were surprised and studied those metal strings. Of course it was something man-made and must have been made by the hand of the white man, who else but them could place limits on this land?, a land mother to all that had been there before no man had even beenborn, a land that would continue to remain there after the last manhad disappeared. How could a man think that the land belonged to them by putting a metal fence around it? The oldest men of the tribe and their ancestors had hunted in that meadow. The prairie had been there since man was man and long before. Now, these men who had come from very distant places marked these lands as if they belonged to them.

Elías' Mother

MY MOTHER had to work hard all her life because bringing up a child without any help is a great effort for anyone. She worked hard and I was often left alone. Although I missed her, I understood perfectly well what was happening, so far from blaming her for it, I tried to be as helpful as possible, doing everything I could at home. I soon learned to fend for myself, and I even learned to cook when I was about six.

For many years she worked in a chemical factory, manufacturing different cleaning products. The continuous inhalation of these products caused her respiratory problems and, over time, these took a toll on her health. And althoughshe never missed a day of work nor complained of any ailment, there came a day when she was unable to stand up. The doctor visited her at home and said her health was very delicate. So now, I had to take care of her. As much as she seemed to improve, she never really recovered and wilted slowly, like a flower that has been cut offfrom its root.

I have always thought that aging is not natural, that we should not die. Why the same oxygen that gives us life takes it away from us? Why can we not regenerate infinitely? Why can a tree live thousands of years and we can only live just a few? I don't understand why people accept this without questioning it. I think it's not natural, it's a disease, like a virus that lives with us since the dawn of mankind, we have learned to live with it because it has always been with us and we are convinced it's natural. I think we should strive to cure this disease. I saw nothing magical in my mother's eyes as she aged, nothing magical about her illness, nothing magical about her death. Why fight in life if all awaits you is a tragic end? I can only continue living thinking that I will do everything in my power to eradicate this disease. If at the end I don't succeed, at least my life would have had meaning. What kind of gift is given to us and then abruptly taken away?

Since as far I can remember, it has always saddened me to see dusk. At sunset my eyes filled with tears, because although I was very little I knew that day would never return. Today, when I watch the sun go down I sometimes, without realising it, feel overwhelmed by an intense feeling of sadness, just as the inexplicable sensation you experience at a funeral, and before I know it my eyes fill with tears.

There are ambitious people and there are simple people like my mother, people who are content with little. She was satisfiedwith seeing me grow up happy, she didn't ask anything more from life. Some people have everything and they still feel extremely unhappy. I guess the secret is not to have many things but to know how to contemplate the small ones, those small things that often go unnoticed and are what really make up our lives.

About María

EVERY NOW AND THEN María walked around the city centre. Although she wasn't fond of crowds, she did enjoy looking at the store windows and the clothes the mannequins wore. She especially loved gazing through the long glass cases displaying all kinds of dried fruits and pickled foods. She adored the skewers with cucumber, olives, pepper and chives. She used to walk in and attentively observe everything showcased in the windows. Her mouth watered staring at those delicious snacks. As she liked every single one of them, she never knew which ones to choose, so she used to order a few of each, and walk out of the store with a bag full of different skewers in vinegar. Then she strolledaround, browsing at the shop windows delighted by her food. That morning she walkedlooking at the windows whileenjoying thosetreats. The truth is that not a lot of people can eat as much at that early hour of the morning, let alone eat snacks in vinegar, but María loved and enjoyed eating them more than a child loves a lollipop.

It was a fantastic day, besides in the morning there was barely anyone on the streets, something that pleased her because it didn't make her feel observed. She saw a mannequin wearing a beautiful dress in a shop window -too expensive, best keep on walking, but she could not look away from this beautiful dress. If she bought it she would never forgive herself, she would have to pay credit on her card for six months and during that time she would not be able to spend any money on anything else. So, it's better to forget about it but on the other hand, she thought what good is money if it can't be spent?She didn't have many dresses and it may come handy someday if she had to go to a party - surely she'd soon have to go to a relative's wedding. So, on second thought, I could give it a lot of use. She thought she'd try it first, one loses nothing by trying it.

She entered the store and started looking at dresses that were hung in a long rack. The shop assistant looked at her and asked if she could help her with anything. María thenshyly said that she had seen a dress in the window and she thought it was very nice.

  * Well then, step into the changing room and I'll bring it for you right away, said the shop assistant.

María entered the changing room and took off her clothes to try the dress on. The changing rooms had the entire back wall covered by a mirror so María stared at her slender figure. Since the assistant was taking her time, María began to act silly in front of the mirror and started doing bodybuilding poses, pretending she was a buffed man. Subsequently, she moved to her repertoire of silly faces so she was pretty absorbed in her own games when the shop assistant threw the dress over the door. María startled and let out an almost inaudible screak. Luckily, she thought, she managed to hold her scream and it looked like no one had heard it.

The fabric of the dress was almost like cotton candy, and it looked like it was her size, something rather unusual because although it may seem otherwise, she rarely found clothes that fitted her - one thing are the sizes that models use on runways and another thing are the sizes that are offered to the public for sale. So very often she had to buy her clothes in the children's section. Shetried it on quickly and indeed it did look good, you could say it was almost perfect. The assistant asked if she had tried it on and María said yes so the young lady then pulled the curtain and had a look at her. She told her that she was the first girl who looked good in that dress because it was a very small size which, was impossible to fit on anyone, and she was thinking about removing it from the window because she could not sell it. María looked stunning in that dress, just like a princess out of the stories she loved to read. She decided she would buy it, and the shop assistant told her she'd reduce the price for her because she was the only one that that could fit on it. The dress was so beautiful and so comfortable she decided to keep it onto surprise her mother.

She paid for it, put her own clothes in a bag,and walked out of the shop wearing her new dress. She walked down the streets looking at herself in the reflection of the window displays. The dress irradiated flashes of light, as virgin snow when touched by the sun. While strolling down 43th street she thought abouther mom's surprise when she sawher wearing her new dress. Her mother loved María to dress up with beautiful dresses but since little, she refused to do so and always preferred to dress like a boy - plus she used to get dirty with mudall the time because she liked to create different shapes with it until completely stained from head to toe.

The truth is that now that she was older she was very envious to see the other girls dressed in their dresses but dared not put on any because she still remembered her classmates' scorn that one day when she was wearing a dress made by her mother. They told her she looked like a broom with a dress and many other nasty things that mocked her appearance until finally she ran out with tears streamed down her face. She ran home, took off that stupid dress and put on her pants.

She was walking happy as a runway model. At first she heard thenoise of sirens in the distance. Later, a deafening sound and, moments later, she witnessed a van with a supermarket trolley embedded in the hood. In the van there were sprinkles of something red, but she had no time to see what it was. Then, out of thin air, a tomato fell on the floor. What a peculiar occurrence, she thought, and then another three tomatoes landed together. What was happening? shethought while her face looked up to see where those tomatoes were coming from. She petrified as a storm of tomatoes fell on her and on the rest of 43rd street. The tomatoes hit her hard and she had to cover her head with her arms to protect herself from them. The pretty dress was ruined and when the rain of tomatoes stopped, she saw it reflected in a window display. Then she began to cry. Initially only tears but she started bawling and kicking, increasing the volume of her screams as she ran home.

She wanted to disappear from the face of the earth, she wanted to die at that very moment. She thought the best way to get home without meeting too many people along the way would be through the park so she ran there quickly to avoid meeting anyone. Once in the park she looked for areas where there wasn't anyone and as soon as she saw someone, she quickly hid behind a tree so they could not see her. Then she saw a strange man leaning against a tree. He was wearing a somewhat absurdoutfit, with a headband on his neck. His clothes were dirty, as if he had been rolling on the floor. He looked as though he was one of those degenerate men who hide behind bushes to watch couples. María made an attempt to hide but as she tried to move she stepped on a branch which, split and made a loud noise. The man looked at her and she screamed. María was shocked and even more so when the man came up to her and tried to grab her. The girl started running and the degenerate did nothing but run after her trying to catch her. Suddenly, her mind produced all those stories you hear about rapists in the news - what if the man managed to catch up to her?She did not want to think about it but one thing was clear – if he ever reached her, she'll break his head with whatever came to hand. Her legs did not want to go any faster and the man almost touched her but she then began throwing everything in her path backwards towards him. The deranged man did not give up. María tried to run even faster while throwing everything and anything she came across along the way.

At last, it looked as though the man slowed down and he could no longer be seen anywhere. But just in case, she continued running, and she ran for quite some distance before feeling safe. Her home was still quite far. After what had happened she wasn't sure whether to go through the quieter area of the park or through the busiest thoroughfares because even though she had managed to get rid of the man who was chasing her, she didn't feel quite sure that he wasn't going to reappear at any time. She thought this was one of the worse days of her life, if not the worst. The thing is that it was only still quite early and generally, when you start the day on the wrong foot, it is usually bound to finish the same way.

As she was walking home through the park it began to drizzle, a very light rain that soon began to fall with strength, piercing her skin. In no time the light rain became large drops. At first, she thought that the water could resolve the problem caused by the tomatoes, at least partially, but suddenly it seemed as if a harmless rainfallhad turned into a typhoon, water falling in vast quantities, the wind blowing so hard that dragged you away if you didn't bent. How could that be happening? These things only occur in the news, but you never think they'll happen to you. These things only happen in remote places. María had no time to find a good shelter and remained under a large tree. A dog went past before her eyes, a beautiful dog that appeared to be of a Belgian Shepherd breed. The poor thing was walking in the rain not knowing where to go.

  * Come here beautiful, come here little fellow.

Shecalled the dog and it came running towards her. It was wearing a red collar with a metal sheet that read "NAZRAT". As the water kept rising, María -, who was a good climber -, clamberedup to the first branch of the tree, while the dog barked watching her from below. She then hung upside down, clutching her legs on a branch, and picked up the dog which, while it looked large it weighed much less than one might have thought. They remained in the branch for some time but the water started to reach them. Then, María tried climbing higher up to the upper branches, finding all sorts of inventive ways to carry the dog with her but when the branch had to bear their weight, it gave way and broke, causing them both to fall into the water.

One does not react for some seconds, not aware of what has happened, submerged under water, and time seems to stop. There's a feeling of wellbeing, lightness, weightlessness and you don't realise this is not your environment until the lungs contract demanding air again. What from the outside seemed to be a stream of water, it was more like a moving mass of soil and rocks. Beneath the apparent calm of the surface there ran rivers of mud and stones that made it impossible to stay afloat on the surface.

The air burnt inside María's lungs and finally she had to expel it and in doing so, her lungs emptied and she sank like a stone, disappearing under the water. She travelled for a long time in a world of dreams. At firsteverything was dark and silent but just as electricity illuminates a room when you press a switch, darkness filled with light and silence was filled with sounds, a dream world without beginning nor end whereyou see before your very eyes all the stages of your life separated by long pauses in which you watch the vivid colours of the water flowing downstream in the sun. The brightest colours María could have ever imagined.

León's Wondrous Tales

LEÓN SPENT a few years working in the North, transporting milk for a dairy factory. Many are the stories he used to tell about those years driving a tanker truck loaded with milk. He often said that although the North was generally very cold, when it was hot, it was really hot and that although hot days were not very common, there was always a warm day that caught you by surprise and made you suffer an unbearable heat. León explained that he had a solution to cool himself down in these unusual days of extreme heat - he parked his truck in a secluded place and climbed on the tank, opened the cistern's top hatch and enjoyed a refreshing milk bath that left his skin soft and white.

One of these days, the milk on his skin had dried up and his entire body felt excruciatingly itchy. When he reached his delivery destination, as he was walking towards the person in charge of collecting the delivery and signing up the invoice that confirmed that all was in order, León's body succumbed to some indescribable form of seizure. The manager was stunned watching him beat his body with his hands as he walked towards him. The cause of it all? The myriad of insects of all kinds which, attracted by the smell of milk, had clung to his body and couldn't stop biting him.

About León

\- BUT WHAT the hell is this? I give you all my savings and you come back with two firecrackers and a rusty shotgun.

\- What did you expect, León, with the dough you gave me? Besides, not in your wildest dreams would I give you and Flat a real gun.

\- At least cut the shotgun's barrels so that it looks more menacing! - said León to Cagalubias.

\- I also bought some stockings.

\- Stockings? Asked Flat.

\- Of course. Otherwise, how are you expecting to cover your ugly face?

\- A man goes to the doctor andthe doctor says - we have to do a urine, faces and semen analysis. The man replies: Can I leave my underwear on? I'm a bit in a hurry - saidLeón out of the blue.

Flat stood thinking for a moment and after a few minutes burst out into aresounding laughter.

  * Now you're a fucking comedian? Cagalubias asked.

\- I've heard that laughter is a good therapy for stress.

-What did the green grape say to the purple grape?

Breathe, idiot! BREATHE!

There was a silence. Then, León began to turn red and bluish until he broke out laughing. Meanwhile Cagalubias tried to strangle Flat with his bare hands.

Their plan was as follows: they'll enter the branch on Friday morning, between 8:30 and 8:45 because the truck that picked the collection for the week was due to arrive at 9:30, so this would be the best time to get the most money.

Step one: Cagalubias would steal a van right before the robbery so that it would be "clean", that is, the owners would not have had a chance to report it stolen.

Step two: León would park the van just in front of the bank. Flat and Cagalubias would look after theheist while León would make sure the police was nowhere to be seen.

Step three: Flat would need a few minutes to open the safe. In the meantime, Cagalubias would collect the money from behind the counter whilemaking sure that the people inside the bank were not tempted to ring the alarm.

Step four: once they got hold of the loot, they would leave a shoe box with an alarm inside and warn everyone that it was connected to a remote activator which, in the event that someone called the police or came out running after them, it would detonate a bomb.

Step Five: they would inconspicuously ride away in the van and drive to a petrol station where they would have previously left a second vehicle, this time, with all the required documentation. And finally, they'd reach the motel where they were staying, quickly divide the spoils and split into different directions.

They would have prepared a few differentbags and left them in the motel to each take their share - a sports bag, two plastic bags like those they give you in department stores, and a backpack. Cagalubias practiced the phrases he would say in the robbery, as if he practiced for a play. Things like - Everyone down!This is a robbery!Nobody move!

The night before the robbery everything was prepared and ready. Theyeven timed how long they'd spend on the ground andhow long they'd spend fleeing, because it was clear that there were not going to be any rehearsals - it would be far too dangerous and their faces would be recorded on security cameras. So it was common sense not to enter the bank until the actual time of the robbery.

Since it was the last night and everything was ready, Cagalubias ordered all of them to go to bed early so that they could be fresh in the morning and able to perform their best. Cagalubias fell asleep, dreaming of everything he would do with his share of the money. First of all, he'd take a fantastic holiday in one of the Caribbean countries. He could already hear those beautiful women singing while he enjoyed a margarita. Pretty girls would surround him and hang garlands around his neck and all of them would be willing to spend the night with him.

The morning dawned bright and clear. This was a good omen because in rainy days the traffic was congested and it would have been almost impossible to flee. When the alarm went off Cagalubias was already up, sitting at the table, checking the weapons one last time. Flatsat up with the first beep of the alarm clock. León, on the other hand, did not move. Cagalubias approached him and kicked him out of bed. He collapsed to the floor unshaken, hugging a bottle of anise.

-Mother fuc...! Mother fuc...! said Cagalubias swallowing the last bit of the words in anger.

-¡Flat, quickly, prepare the dead resurrector!

From behind the little American bar located at the back of the room, Flat started preparing the concoction. Meanwhile, Cagalubias slapped both hands on León's face, trying to get him to regain consciousness.

  * Pathetic! Why the hell would you drink the night before the robbery? Just great! The day of the robbery the driver appears drunk as a skunk! Pathetic! Pathetic!

Flat came back with a beverage in a cocktail shaker and handed it to Cagalubias. He managed to sit León'slifeless body up and pinched his nose. After a few seconds León opened his mouth to take a breath and then Cagalubias stuffed the contents of the shaker into his mouth, reaching León's stomach at once. He let go off his nose and León collapsed remaining lying on the floor.

  * One, two, three - counted Flat-, and

before he could finished saying number three, León leapt to the ground as if there was a spring on his rear making him jump through the air and landing on his feet. Then he ran screaming and looking for the bathroom door.

It took a few minutes for León to be able to stand. When they left the motel they were late. This kind of dramas alwayscaused a physical reaction inCagalubias who suddenlydeveloped a permanent tic in his neck and face as well as a stutter. Sticking to the plan, Cagalubias would steal a van and pick Flat and León up on the corner under the billboard advertising a new type of stockings, those that emphasised the female figure. After that León would drive the van, although Cagalubias remained concerned about his sobriety.

Whenever something looks easy on paper, it's never that easy in reality. By this stage Cagalubias was already going insane because no matter how much he wandered from street to street, there was novan to be found. Finally! A good make and a lovely colour, he thought. His steps quickened. As he ran towards the van he put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a utility knife. He began to force the door with it. As he proceeded to pull the lock of the door upwards and put his other hand on the handle to open it, he heard a loud bang - the owner of the van just closed the door of the back as he finished loading his goods.

-Nice van! How much does it consume every hundred kilometres? - he quickly asked the owner to distract him. After speaking for a few brief moments, he continued walking and mumbling while suffering severe neck and face spasms. He found another van. This time he went around it to make sure there was no one in sight. Again, he took out his pocket knife and opened the door easily. Then, the hood, pulled out the dipstick and used it as a key to start the van. And finally, as decided, hedrove to the agreed corner where the two men waited under the stockings' billboard. León took over the wheel. While driving to the bank, León continually produced some sort of sudden and loud snorts. Cagalubias was about to jump tohis neck but contained himself as much as he could. Finally they arrived at the door of the bank but right in the very spot where they planned to park there was a moving truck so they had to park behind it. From that position it was impossible to see the interior of the bank. In case of an emergency, León would have to honk to warn Flat and Cagalubias.

The last moments. Even if one had previously participated in multiple robberies, the time of entry, the first assault, the staging, these last moments were very tense and all body muscles seized up causing the stomach and bladder to contract, making you feel that your last meal was sitting up in your neck, and that if you were to relax a little, your urine would flow down the legs and straight to your feet. They quickly went over the plan one last time as they prepared their weapons. Cagalubias gave Flat a stocking and all of them came out of the van right after this. With the stockings in their pockets they walked into the bank, an L-shaped room approximately three hundred square metres in size. People entered through the longpart of the L and turned left at the end. The safe was located precisely opposite from the entrance and behind the counter. The right part of the room was a huge glass wall that separated the bank from the street. Inside, the glass windows were covered by thick curtains – those that are made of long strips of plastic that overlap onto each other when they rotate. These curtains allowed some of the light from the outside to come in but they blocked all view into the bank. There were four tables placed against the glass windows where clients were assisted on a different range of informative topics. The tables were separated by small, transparent screens that served to define the space around each of them. Between these and the wall there was a fairly wide and lengthy hallway that led to the counter, right at the back of the room. The floor was carpeted in a dark brown colour. The bank was illuminated by a white light emitted by the fluorescent lamps that gave people a pale appearance.

After the first doorthere was a security door madeof two smallerflaps. First you entered the first one and then you remained a few seconds in a narrow glass corridor until the second one opened. This did not please Cagalubias, but everything had already beenagreed upon. The two men entered the small hallway together and as the first door closed on them, they had no choice but to remain pretty close to each other, looking rather stupid.

-Bu, but, but what's wrong with you? Can't you not wai wai wait until I get in first? - Cagalubias said to Flat.

Flat turned around and tried to get out through the same door he had come in but it was already closed. Cagalubias then pushed the door leading to the bank but it was closed too. They were locked. Then an alarm sounded and a voice said over the loudspeaker:

  * You are carrying metal objects.

Everyone inside the bank was staring at them. There were ten customers and five employees in the bank. When everyone looked at him, Cagalubias reached into the pocket of his coat and dangled a bunch of keys in the air while saying:

  * Damn keys!

The bank employee, accustomed to such scenes, pressed a button and opened the door giving him access to the bank. Upon entering they quickly turned around and put the stocking in their heads. Then, they pulled out their weapons and Cagalubias began yelling the phrases he had rehearsed, with a stammer:

-E e everyone do, do, down!

Everyone laid down in the ground immediately except for the man who had opened the door. Cagalubias approached him and said:

  * I've I've sa sa said e e everyone do, do, down!!

To which the man replied:

  * I don't understand you.

Then Cagalubias started hitting his head with the butt of the shotgun until he collapsed on the ground. Flatpulled his jumper up and from underneath it he got a box that he had previously attached to his stomach with adhesive tape and a piece of foam rubber, something that made him look like a pot-bellied man. They put the box on the counter and warned every one of its contents - it was, according to them, an explosive device with a safety mechanism that would be triggered by remote control if someone was too smart.

  * If anyone wants to become a hero stastand up and I'll do the formalities, said Cagalubias almost without stuttering while pointing to all those in the bank.

The men, with the stocking in their heads, had an absurd appearance, almost comical, with twisted ears and a flattened nose. Their faces reminded you of the deli section in the supermarket where you could find different pieces of pig meat vacuum packed.

A sudden anguish invaded Cagalubias. He was not feeling well and everything began to spin. He could hear the ticking of the box with an elongated echo - all the images were blurry. He then noticed that Flat was also struggling and looking as though he was intent on pulling his head with his own hands. He pulled and pulled and finally ran. He ran like a hundred metre sprinter, ran straight towards the exit and ended up stamping himself against the safety glass, stuck to it like a bug on the windscreen of a car. He collapsed after the dreadfulblow. Cagalubias was about to pass out so he tried to remove the stocking to breathe some air, but it was completely glued to his face and couldn't remove it no matter how hard he pulled. He grabbed a paper opener from behind the counter and ran it through an opening he found in the stocking around his neck. He cut the stocking and was then finally able to breathe. A security camera was recording his image directly. As he walked towards his colleague, he tried to catch his breath. When he removed the stocking from Flat's head, he was already dead.

What weretheyto do now? There was no turning back but without Flat he could not carry the money from the safe. Then he went back to the table behind the counter where he collected all the money he could, mostly in coins, and put it all in plastic bags while the people remained lying on the floor.

This was without a doubt the most botched robbery in which he had participated. He took the money, a mere pittance, and left. As he approached the door, just when he walked past the man who had opened the door for them and Cagalubias had to force him to lie down, he clung onto one of the bags. Cagalubias walked with difficulty, dragging the banker.

-Let let let go, silly bagger! \- he said to the man. But he continued to hold on to Cagalubias.

They had been inside the bank too long and the money collection truck was about to arrive. León started to get nervous. What was happening inside? Should I wait or should I go to see what happened? Maybe I should leave because nobody would implicate me in the robbery and that would save me a lot of trouble, but he could not let down his teammates so he decided to go and see what happened.

When León walked into the bank a man was clinging to Cagalubias like a tick, he could not let go off him. Then León pulled the man away from his colleague.

\- Mr León! Mr León! He screamedin surprise as the bank employee looked at León's face. Now he was in trouble because the man had recognised him and the police would be looking for him for being an accomplice in the robbery. In that brief moment of inattention, the bank employee took the gun and pointed it at Cagalubias who quickly dropped the bags and grabbed the gun by the barrel while the man held the foot. The struggle lasted a few intense moments until Cagalubias got hold of the gun and the man threw himself to the ground trembling, fearing the robber's retaliation. Cagalubias cocked the weapon, pulled the safety pin and pointed at the man's ass.

\- Bang! he said. Cagalubias then brought the barrels of the shotgun to his mouth and blew it as if he had truly shot it and smoke was coming out of it. Then he defiantly juggled the weapon, rotating it around his index finger, lowered it and left it pointing to the ground. At that very moment the gun went off and the pellets in the cartridge impacted on his foot literally blowing his toes off.

Cagalubias almost fainted when he saw what happened. The pain arrived a few seconds after the image, the skin on his face lost all colour, and he soon became pale and slightly yellowish. Then as he shouted endless profanities, he sat in a chair and tried to stop the bleeding stump with his hands to no effect. Meanwhile, León was petrified watching the scene - first Flat lay sprawled on the ground with no apparent signs of life, and secondly Cagalubias could not stop his heavy bleeding. His hands werefull of bloodand he kept on putting them in his face and his head while cursing. Cagalubias took a few papers on a table and put them on his foot to cover the wound. Then, with a roll of cellophane tape, he attached the papers to the foot and leaning on León's shoulders with one arm and taking the bags of money with the other, they left the bank.

The plastic bags were not made to support too much weight so they began to break. The onethat was full of coins tore at the bottom and left a trail of coins across the street from the bank door to the door of the van. This caused different reactions in passers-by who watched the strange event astonished.

Just as León pressed the accelerator all the way down and the engine of the van roared, the banker rushed out screaming into the street. In seconds police sirens could be heard everywhere. Suddenly, out of a junction a police car appeared and cut them off, but with a highly precise manoeuvre worthy of the best surgeon, León managed to get through the police car and the shops' window displays by driving with two wheels on the sidewalk and the other two on the road. They continued the flight, while León was driving the van at full speed skidding in curves and forcing the tires to screech on the asphalt. Cagalubias was desperately looking for something to wipe the blood off his hands and face. After pulling all the papers he found in the glove compartment and throwing them to the back of the van, he finally found something to clean himself with - there was a box of paper tissues, one of those printed with flowers that have an opening at the top where there's always a single tissue automatically prepared to be picked up. He spat on the tissues to moisten them and remove the blood from all over his body. The pain rushed from the foot up through the leg but now there was no time to think about it. Besides, the persecution secreted adrenaline into his brain and made him forget the pain. Their original plan to change vehicles in the gas station was almost impossible as they would be forced to drive through narrow streets and it would be very difficult to escape from the police in the event they created a trap. To avoid feeling dizzy Cagalubias wound down the window to get some fresh air on his face and clear his mind. Farther down the street he spotted a man walking on a pedestrian crossing with a cart loaded with vegetables, probably going to replenish the store across the street.

The speed at which León was driving caused the air to rush into the van with fury and the box of napkins that sat on the dashboard started to vibrate as if there was a beehive inside with bees struggling to get out all at once. Then, as if it contained explosives, the top lid of the box blew up and the vehicle filled up with white napkins fluttering at high speed looking like a flock of bats scared out of their cave. The napkins stuck to their bodies and faces, preventing them from seeing anything. The vegetable supplier did not know whether to continue crossing or whether to turn back, because the van was rushing down at high speed zigzagging from one side to the other of the street. The vehicle came so fast that the man did not have enough time to decide whether to go forwards or backwards so he dropped the cart which, carried a huge amount of boxes of tomatoes, and closed his eyes. In the time he took to blink his eyes, he noticed that the van had come several feet from himand - something very peculiar -, that his carthad disappeared. Just at that moment, it started to rain tomatoes very heavily - they fell from a considerable height, leaving the entire street, including cars and people, looking as though they had just had a bath oftomato sauce.

That's why that sunny day the sky rained tomatoes on 43rd street, a heavy rain that filled the whole street with tomatoes. Inside the van the men were still struggling to take the tissues off their faces, and now they had almost accomplished it. The new problem was that a cart had been embedded in the radiator of the truck and the windshield was so full of tomato juice that it was impossible to see anything through it. León pressed all levers and buttons on the dashboard to try and activate the wipers. When they were finally able to see something, a police car came out of a side street trying to catch them. León revved the engine up and the van flew over the asphalt making a loud noise when it combed the parked vehicles. The police car was on their heels and León made several manoeuvres to try to get rid of them but he only managed to increase the distance between them minimally.

The cart was embedded in the radiator and the radiator was releasing steam. So, having lost the engine's coolant - as a result of the hole produced by the cart of tomatoes -, it could catch fire any time. They had to do something and soon or the van would end up dying out and the police would get a hold of them. León knew every corner of the city like the back of his hand and quickly devised a plan: he swerved suddenly forcing the van into a side street that appeared to the left. It was a narrow street and there was barely any space left on the sides. Fortunately, there was no one walking along that street, otherwise it would have been crushed between the van and the walls of the buildings that lined the narrow street.Out of the ally and into a highway, the van could barely move because of the heavy traffic and the cars were stationery longer than they were moving. León started driving along the shoulder of the road with the guardrail ramming against the van, producing a noise that sounded like broken crockery and causing sparks to fly just as they do in a foundry. Then, they came off the highway through a narrow stretch where there was no guardrail and drove down an embankment and continued through a park.

A man wearing a red headband and matching wristbands and socks was running awkwardly. You could tell it was one of those persons who, one fine day, had seen a documentary on healthy habits and rushed to the mall to buy a full runner's costume but looked ridiculous on it, with his beer belly and a pair of sideburns that made him look like a rooster. The man, who was wearing headphones, had no ideawhat was coming upon him but when he seemed to sense something and turned his head to see what it was, he saw the van coming right at him. León was making a conscious effort not to run over the guy, but he always seemed to find a way to put himself in front of the van and if he turned right the man did the same. Then, suddenly, he started sprinting like there was no end.

\- Wa, wa, want to exercise? R R Run then!Cagalubias shouted. The man ran while he shouted:

\- No, don't kill me!It was her fault, I swear!

Finally the man's legs gave way and he fell face down to the ground. The van braked hardstopping within inches of the man who was lying on the ground.

-Don't kill me!It was not my fault, it was her fault! - He kept saying from the ground, begging for mercy.

\- What the, what the hell is wrong this guy? asked Cagalubias looking at León.

\- She told me she was not married, I swear, I swear it's true, I did not know!Said the man sobbing. Cagalubias replied:

\- Lo, look what we do with people like you? - and sticking his hand out the window of the van he picked up a few bits of tomato from the windshield and crushed them with his hands. The man was pale. A puddle appeared on his pants as urine streamed down his legs while crying scandalously.

\- Don't kill me, don't kill me! \- and Cagalubias yelled:

\- We are watching you, if you pulled any more shit like that you won't be able to tell about it.

\- No, I will not cheat on my wifeany more, I pro pro promise.

\- I hope we don't have to turn you into mincemeat like the guy we just ran over.

León backtracked and continued driving through a small tunnel in the park. They abandoned the van there and walked to the gas station where they had prepared another vehicle to flee with. Both men arrived carrying bags of money, one leaning on the other. They caught the attention of the gas station's attendant, but he thought that as long as they did not enter the shop looking like that he wouldn't have to worry, after all, he was only paid to take care of the station, what happened outside was not his problem. He had too much work as it was to worry about what was happening outside.

The two men got into the car and as Cagalubias closed the door he caught one of the bags full of coins. He didn't even realiseit and as the car started moving it left a trail of coins rolling all overthe gas station. Without noticing it, theycontinued calmly. The attendant came out looking angry thinking they had thrown food scraps or something like that. When he realised they were coins, he began to pick them up and put them in his pockets but half way through a motorcyclist appeared wanting to refuel his bike. In seeing the scene he stared at the attendant and said:

  * They belong to those two men traveling in that car - and he pointed to a vehicle travelling northeast.

The man in the park now had a comic aspect as he wore his plush headband around his neck, his clothes covered in dust after having rolledover on the dirt of the park and urine all over his pants. He walked toward his house, with the firm determination not to get into any more trouble. They had warned him, they had told him to be careful with that woman, apparently her husband was a mobster and if he found out it could cost him dearly, but he never imagined they paid gangsters to go running over people they didn't like. What could the guysplattered in bits over the van have done? he thought to himself. He leaned against a tree to take a break and when he looked up to continue walking he shouted

  * AAAaaaaaaaaahh !!

In front of him there was a girl completely stained with blood. The girl also started screaming and the man tried to help her, she seemed seriously injured. It was possible she was a victim of the assassins who were in the van. But as he tried to approach her, she ran bawling and throwing everything that came to hand at him. With that storm of sticks and stones, it was very hard for him to reach her. It is possible that she is traumatised by the shock, he thought, but withdrew his intentions to help after receiving a good blow from a stone thrown by the girl that hit him full in the head and knocked him unconscious.

León and Cagalubias were fleeing in a large sedan, one of those American-made cars with a large hood under which there's a big gasoline engine. León drove calmly as the police didn't know they had changed to this car and he didn't want to raise any alarm bells driving too aggressively. He reached under the seat and grabbed a bottle of Sanblás and just as he was about to take a drink, Cagalubias stole the bottle from his hands and began to drink from it as if it were water and he had been walking through the desert for days.

\- You, drive! Shouted Cagalubias as he looked through the rear-view mirror andnoticed a police fast approaching on a motorbike.

\- Step on it! Step on it!We, we we have company.

León saw the police heading straight towards them in the rear-view mirror and accelerated, once again applying his best qualities as a driver todeceivethe police. Soon he knew it was going to be a lot harder to get rid of him than the other police cars because of the power of acceleration and the agility of the bike. So he came up with a new strategy. This time he reducedthe speed sufficiently to allow the rider to overtake them. The policeman made one of the worst mistakes one can make in these cases – riding a bikeand acting as though you are driving a car. So, he rode parallel to the car and tried to push it off the road. León only had to wait a while to find the right place, and just when they approached a bridge, he swerved the car, hit the motorcycle and send it flying off the road. Instead of going over the bridge, the bike landed in such a way that thefront part of the bike was buried underground. The agent grabbed so hard to the bike that its handlebars bent forward, now looking like a _Harley Davidson._ Despite the unfortunate situation the man did not give up and continued trying to accelerate. The front wheel of the bike remained embedded in the ground while the back wheel remained in the air making futile efforts to get off the ground.

The man was very stubborn and started to jump on the bike while this was still accelerating. The rear wheel rotated at high speed and touched the ground every time the man jumped, raising a huge cloud of dust. Finally, in one of thoseoccasions when the wheel touched the ground, the bike gathered traction and released itself from the ground. And so there he was again, the agent with his tuned bike. This time, though,if beforethe blue and red lights of the siren hadbeen located in the frontal part of the motorcycle, they werenow being dragged on the ground, hanging from a tangle of electric cables. The sound of the siren was hoarse. He continued driving his motorcycle at full speed across the fields and as León was leaving the bridge and continued driving down the road, he saw the biker riding parallel to him off the road. The motorcyclist was riding his new mount and would indeed stop the criminals, or so he imagined, but the truth was that his appearance was ridiculous. Cagalubias burst into laughter when he looked at him, but he soon had to retract it because the rider jumped the fence separating the countryside from the road. It wasn't a high fence, not higher than a metre, but jumping with that ramshackleof a bike, apart from being a real feat, also demonstrated the determination of the police who seemed unstoppable.

And back on again, determined to get the car off the road. Really, that man either had too much courage or very little intelligence. Of course, hitting against the car only managed to ruin the motorcycle even further. Then, holding the handle with one hand, he pulled out his gun with the other and pointed it at the wheels of the car.

-Fuck thi this freak! Cried Cagalubias while winding down the window of the car and pointing the shotgun at the motorcycle. Both men fired simultaneously. The shot from the police did not hit the tires but the pellets from the shotguns did hit the bike. Being a sawed-off shotgun the pellets that were contained in the cartridges split as they were shot and covered a larger area on impact, so it was easier to hit the target.

The bike started to lose water and oil and these oozed on its body. Due to its high temperature, these liquids evaporated forming a cloud similar to that formedby a jet. The bike was losing power and falling behind quickly, but once they managed to gain some distance a bullet struck the rear window of the vehicle.

-Shit! Shit! Mother fucker! Mumbled Cagalubias again while sliding down in the seat to hide from another potential impact.

León seemed to be in a state of shock. Since the chase started, the only thing he did was drive, as if on autopilot, almost as if he was not in that scene in person. The policemancame to a complete stop in the very middle of the right lane, the bike steaming, and pointed his gun at the car. It looked as though it was very far. He held the gun with both hands and held his breath as he aimed and pulled the trigger very slowly. The slapper crushed the gun's cap making the gunpowder explode inside, propelling the lead projectile at high speed on a direct path to the car that was fleeing. The bullet struck the vehicle's tire.

\- I think he hit us! León said while performing abrupt manoeuvres with the steering wheel to stabilise the car. The car wobbled abruptly, like a runner with one single shoe, but León managed to roughly steer to where he wanted. Cagalubias pulled his body out of the window all the way out to his waist to see if any other policemen were chasing them. Luckily, it seemed that no one was following them but if they continued with this vehicle they were sure to raise suspicions very soon. Besides, they could not go very far because the puncturedwheelpulverisedthe airless tire and now, the rim rolled on the ground making a very loud noise and causing lots of sparks. There was no way they could go unnoticed in these conditions.

\- Stop the the car in, in, in the middle of the road now! Cagalubias said to León while pulling the steering wheel to get it to veer.

León heaved the handbrake and the car stopped abruptly in the middle of the road. Cagalubias got out, gun in hand and limping, and he approached the vehicle they had blocked a few inches from them.

-Down, down, god dammit, what the the hell is wrong with you? Are you deaf or do you want me to solve your dandruff problems with a shot?

The man, instead of leaving the car put his hands on his head, as if to be arrested. Cagalubias opened the car door and drag him out, taking him by the tie.

-Bu bu but are you stupid?

Cagalubias seemed seized by a panic attack. His face was permanently flushed. He spoke progressively faster and the stutter increased.

-Blob lo bloody hell! First the fu, fu fucking idiot of the bank director, then the damn Terminator, shit my fu fu fucking life...!

He continued snarling nonstop, like a dog barking, would not stop cursing. The car's owner was now on the floor with the tie's knot so tight around his neck that he looked like his head would burst like a balloon with too much air. The car was a good car, one of those that senior business executives drive. León was pleased with the car, he thought he'd finally get to drive a car in good condition. He was about to climb up the side of the driver and Cagalubias was walking to the other side of the car to enter the passenger door when the car's owner wanted to prevent them from stealingit and grabbed Cagalubias from the stump.

-¡Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggg!!!

He cried as loud as he could something that sounded like a howl. The skin of his face changed, it became different, like the skin of a corpse. After a brief silence, he began to curse the man again. He kept on hitting him with open hands, a never ending splash of slaps that the man with the tie kept on receiving while trying to cover his body and face with his arms.

-What, what is happening to every everyone? Are they all in a hu hurry to die?

León had to pull Cagalubias away from the man because he just wouldn't stop smacking him and dropping profanities off. He seemed possessed. Even once in the car, he still did not stop cursing, he was totally hysterical and León had to make serious efforts to not laugh out loud at times. On the road again, this time with a luxury car. While León was driving, Cagalubias rummaged through every corner of the car, pulling everything he found towards the back. He discovered a CD case, read the titles and then threw it to the back. He finally kept one and inserted it into the car's player. Elvis. Cagalubias turned the volume to the maximum. Then he began to sing. His out of tune voice would have been the perfect tortureimplement to force someone to confess a crime. After listening to Cagalubias' vocals for a few minutes, he'dhave blown the lid off for sure.

About Flat

FLAT HAD NEVER BEEN a very talkative person, let's just say he preferred to economise on words. Life had not gone as he had planned when he was little, although he wasn't too concerned about that. You see, he was the kind of person who never asked where he was being taken or how much more was left to go. He was a conformist who could have lived a perfectly ordinary life but by a combination of unexpected events he ended up being a safecracker. Since very little he showed an innate gift to open the small safe his father kept under the bed. He used to steal a few coins at a time so that his father would not notice, a plan that worked wonders as his father never knew the money was missing.

Something elseFlat was fascinated about wasfirecrackers and that was precisely what he used to spend the money he stole from his father. Once, one of the firecrackers exploded in his hands and for two days hewas not able to hear what others were saying. In fact, it made him lose the feeling of touch in one hand and his deafness never really cured. This was one of the reasons why he didn't do well at school - because he did not hear what the teacher was explaining. As a young man he was very handsome, at least that's what most of the girls his age thought. Being so fine-lookinghelped him find a girlfriend quickly, although it was really her who found him. The courtship did not last long as they had to get married soon and six months after the wedding their first child was born. Working to support his family prevented Flat from studying further and forced him to accept the first job that came into his handsas he could not afford to wait to find something better.

He started in a large workshop where they manufactured various components for safes, at first, doing all kinds of jobs, then as an assistant in the assembly of the boxes. So he learned everything about safes. Later onhe became a locksmith specialising in safes, solving problems for people who had lost their keys or forgotten their combination. Once he was caught up in a mess, because attending to one of these services, when he managed to open the safe before the supposed owners, an alarm started to ring andthe customers disappeared, leaving him alone, soon in the company of the police, who were not convinced with any of the explanations he gave them. Later he repeated the same explanations to the judge who, probably was not having a good day, and condemned him to spend a few months in the lock-up. So when he came out, his wife would not speak to him because she thought he was a bad husband. That was how he ended up alone, with no money and with a sign that read "ex-criminal" hanging from his back, and for this reason it became very difficult for him to get work, not even in the toughest and worst paid fields.

However, he had an address a fellow jail mate had given him, telling him that if he ever needed help he should go to that address and say he was being sent by him. Finally, when things got really bad he decided to go to the address on the paper and, as soon as he told them about his skills with the safes they put him on the payroll.

Whenever he had a pencil and a paper he enjoyed drawing sketches of wooden boats. That had always been his passionsince littleand he had always thought he'd become a naval engineer and would be able to design his own boats, but fate sometimes resists one's plans. So ashe started going down the criminal path, he had a chance to save some money to make his dream possible. Many thought it to be utterly stupid but Flat fully believed in it. He had read so much about boats and their construction that knew everything there is to know to become a good boat builder. But of course, he also had his feet on the ground and his idea was to buy a small dock on the great lake of the East. It was an old dock with boards that had been rotten by the moisture and lack of maintenance but the place was ideal to carry out his dream, a dream for which he had been working all his life.

His idea was to restore the old pier and fix the interior of the structure to build small sailboats, small yachts of classic wood construction that would allow a family to sail around the world - vessels built with dedication, with his own hands, by shaping the wood with his hands, sanding and polishing it to produce authentic floating beauties, so stylised and solid that they would not float, they would slide, fly over the water aided by the light breeze.

Sometimes people are born in the wrong place. For instance, an architect born in a coastal area who yearned to live inland could very well end up building homes with the shape of boars. Flat also had the soul of a sailor even though he was born inland. When he opened his eyes he saw the face of a beautiful woman, and below, a slogan that read: "peace is knowing that your future is in good hands".

His head was spinning and did not quite know where he was. He stood up with difficulty and after pausing for a few seconds to catch his breath, he walked directly towards the safe, pulled his tools from his pocket and began to do his work. The box was the one León had indicated and didn't take long to open. He was an expert locksmith and it showed as soon as he started to work. He worked calmly, as if completely alone in the bank. There were people still lying on the floor. He opened the door of the safe and took out all the cash it contained. The money was inside a few bags bearing the logo of the bank. He grabbed them with confidence and walked with short, relaxed steps. He exited the bank and saw several police cars whooshing down the street at full speed with the sirens on.

Flat walked serenely, as if hypnotised or sleepwalking. After a while he came to a metro stationanddescended the stairs. No one paid any attention, it seemed as if they didn't even see him. Quietly he pulled out his ticket and continued his weary walk. The subway at that time looked like a busy anthill, everyone was on the move and people crowded on the platform waiting for their train. Then, when the trains arrived, all they wanted was to get into their crowded wagons at all cost, crushing those who were already inside. Flat sat on a bench in the station, staring at all that hustle and bustle, with the bags of money by his legs, quietly allowing time to go pass until the trains began arriving less full. Shortly after, they arrived almost empty, and there was no one waiting on the platform. So he climbed aboard and quietly sat in a seat next to the window, leaving the other seat next to him empty. The train's doors closed and it began to move through a dark tunnel. Flat stared at the wires on the wall of the tunnel through the window.

After exiting the tunnel, the train came to a new station where there was only just a couple of people waiting to get on it. The doors opened and in came a very sleazy-looking man. On first impressions, Flatdidn't like that man at all. He was wearing a strange sport suit, matchingred head and wrist bands, dirty clothes as if he had been rolling on the ground and hada slit in his head from which a stream of already dried blood gushed throughout his forehead. The man walked towardsFlat and he thought:

  * I hope this pervert does not sit next to me, as if there was no other empty seats in the train!

He had to move the bags of money so that the man could sit comfortably and the weirdo sat beside him. Immediately he began to tell a lot of weird stories that Flat couldn't understand. He just kept on talking and talking until Flat got tired of hearing him. Flat, more than a person he looked like a stone statue, always impassive to what was happening around him, but this man was testing his patience. Feeling ignored, the man put on his headphones and listened to the city's radio station where they were repeating over and over again the news about the bank robbery. Then, he noticed the big bags Flat was carrying. He thought it wouldn't be possible but then again, a man as stupid as this could have left the bank with the bags of money without realising that they had the printed logo of the branch. What could he do? The man was probably armed so if he was to warn the police, he'd end up with a shot in his head. On the other hand, it was easy to see this guy was not the sharpest tool in the shed so he could ask for the bounty threatening to call the police and be free of suspicion, because in case he was caught he would argue that he tried to stop the thief and managed to snatch the loot from him. Then, he'd be a hero. Both scenarios were positive.

He decided to try to convince the man that the best thing for him would be to give him some money. Just as he opened his mouth to tell him what he had scripted in his mind, Flat took the starter pistol he carried in his pocket by the handle, and when the man continued nagging him dealt him a blow on the head, finally getting rid of that extremely annoying individual. He forced him to have a good nap, lying on the seat, his head resting on his own shoulder and waited for the next stop. Then, he grabbed the bags of money and walked away quietly. When he arrived at the motel found no trace of his peers. That's really odd! he thought,but Flat was not the type of person to leave with all the money. Sohe decided to wait there for the others and split the loot as agreed. He left the money by the foot of the last bed and sat on it looking out the window. Time passed but nothing happened, nothing new. He waited a while longer and finally decided to go and see if he could find his partners in crime.

He walked to the point where they were meant to change vehicles. The gas station was not far from the motel but in order to get there faster he used a shortcut across the park. Interestingly, the sky, clear as water a few minutes ago, had suddenly turned dark grey. In the park there was hardly anyone that morning. Flat walked with his usual slow pace, with a single aim in mind - finding his teammates. It started to drizzle, only a light drizzle that soon became so heavy that he had no choice but to quickly find a place to shelter. He found a small wooden structure under which there were informative panels explaining the types of trees that could be found in the park. The park was unable to evacuate that huge amount of water and soon small puddles became small streams that rapidly increased in volume.

The wooden structure he was hiding under sat on a small wooden stage with a couple of steps, and in no time the water rose to the first level. Flat wasn't paying much attention to this unusual occurrence and kept on thinking what could have happened to his friends. Far from diminishing, the amount of water increased second after second, just as though someone was throwing buckets of water from above. The wind began to blow hard and the water crashed into Flat, completely soaking him. It was like being on a boat in the heart of a storm, the water tossing him hard in all directions. Then it began to reach his ankles, the wind gusted with such fury that he had to hold tightly to the information panel to avoid being dragged away.

The wind was blowing so fast that the black slate tiles of the small pinewood roof - made of a type wood that was treated with chemicals to withstand moisture that gave it a greenish tint - now were being ripped off. It was quite robust. Nearby trees were windswept and their branches swayed violently. Leaves, torn from their branches, disappeared rapidly in the distance. The structure that was meant to protectFlatcrunched as it wavered from one side to another. Now transformed into a tiny island, the small shelter would not stand tall much longer. Hidden under it, one felt like an ant protecting itself from the rain under a dry leaf.

What once was a small grassy meadow with a few eucalyptus trees, now was a downhill slope with a huge amount of water which, as it crashed into the trees, it created something like small fjords. That large amount of water reached the small stand where Flat stood and dragged it away together with the information panel he was clinging to. It was almost impossible to swim in the mesh of sticks, stones and mud. He spent more time underwater than on the surface, but just enough to fill his lungs with air. Thanks to his strong determination, he managed to get out of that current, clutching to the trunk of a tree. Then he had an idea. In his mind he saw the pier located in the park's lake and decided to go towards it. There, there was a speedboat with which he used to collect rowboats, but how was he supposed to get to the pier? The best way albeit the longest, was over the top of a chain of hills that formed a sort of a small mountain range. The water had not yet reached that point. The mounds were round as if made with perfect moulds, like children do with the sand on the beach. They formed a perimeter around the parkthat gave people walking through the park a feeling of isolation, of being away from the city. This was due to the fact that the small mountain range secluded the park from the traffic noises of the city. The gorgeous short grass of the small rounded hills invited passers-by to sit on it on sunny days. Dogs particularly, loved running from one end to the other of those small mountain ranges.

There were lots of different things floating or rolling next to him: benches, branches and everything imaginable. A poor dog went by trying to fight the force of the current but it was being dragged against its will until Flat grabbed it by the collar and pulledit towards the refuge provided by the tree trunk.

It was a fairly large dog, about the size of an adult German shepherd, it had black, longish hair with a white streak in the neck, and a red collar. Flatheld onto the tree,keeping the dog between the trunk and him. He grabbed a branch that floated by and, still hugging the tree, he managed to remove its small branches, making a pole to lean on as he walked on the ground. So with the rod in his hands and the dog half way in his arms and half way in his shoulders, he managed to cross that area more or less steadily and got to the top of the small mountain range.

The mountainous area was not yet covered by water, although in order to cross from a small hill to the other it was sometimes necessary to rely on the pole. The dog never abandoned him, and so, forming a team, they headed towards the pier. Everything was going as planned, but as they neared the equator of their journey, they encountered a serious problem - the small mountain range was cut in half by something, making it very difficult to cross from one bank to the other. The top of two street lamps emerged from the water,proving without a doubt that the interruption in the mountain was one of the main roads of the park. Flat did not dare to swim because although one could not see a strong current from the surface, this could be deceiving - underneath the calm surface there could be a mud and earth currentpowerful enough to drag them as they tried to cross it. While he was considering all these possibilities, his canine companion decided to swim across the area, reaching the other shore without any eventualities. The dog looked at him and began to bark, as though calling him, as if to tell him he could cross safely and to hurry. Flat dived into the water like a professional swimmer and quickly crossed the submerged zone.

As Flat reached the shore, the dog barked again, running into a group of bushes. The man followed him and found a young woman lying on the floor with all her clothes covered in mud. It was a very slender young woman. "What a shame, poor girl!"Flat thought. The dog barked at the man whiledrumming the dead woman's body with its nose. He then thought she had to be the owner of the dog and tried to remove the creature away from the body and continue on their way, but as he attempted to do so the dog stopped himand growled.There was nothing he could do. When he tried to move away once more the dog barked again and drew his attention to the woman by licking her face. So, he made an effort to approach the corpse and examine her in more detail. He stretched his arm to touch the woman's neck but pushed her face the other way because Flat had a huge phobia of dead people. But, when he touched her, she still felt warm so without wasting any time he performed the corresponding emergency manoeuvres he had so often seen in countless movies, and after a few seconds, she began to cough and clear her lungs of water, breathing with difficulty at first.

As soon as she was able to incorporate herself a bit and sit up, the dog didn't stop bursting into short barks of joy while wagging its tail quickly and nervously, wanting to lick the girl's face, from the right hand side of the man, running in circles to the left. Although the girl looked very frail, she was very strong and recovered quickly. She stared at him and the man said, extending his hand:

  * I amFlat.

  * My name is María, delighted, she said as she greeted him taking his hand.

The three of them continued up the hill towards the pier.

Rotating Black Holes

LET'S THINK about a blender for a moment, about the liquid turning around its blades forming a vortex or swirlcaused bythe propeller-like shape of the blades. But let's ask ourselves, what if the item being moved did not present any aerodynamic resistance, say like a sphere? It is clear that nothing would happen at low speed but if this was to increase, the sphere will begin to act as a magnet attracting all the stuff it encountered around. As this matter approached the sphere, it would start to spin in the same fashion as the rotation that occurs when we remove the plug in the bathtub and the water creates a whirlpool as it exits through the drain.

Upon reaching faster speeds, even if initially it were a small sphere with very little mass and therefore very little gravitational attraction, with the acceleration, the spherewould have increased its mass. And even if it were the smallest sphere imaginable, turning at the speed of light will exert an enormous attraction on the surrounding space. Speed would have given the sphere an enormous mass it did not previously have, and this mass would attract any particle inward in a downward spiral. When a certain speed was exceeded the sphere might collapse, and in the same fashion a very massive star can becomea black hole, the high rotation speed of the smallsphere would create the same effect.

This can help us understand how small black holes can be formedin space, small holes that can grow as their masses increase by swallowing all the stellar matter they find around them. On the other hand, it would be easy for these to disappear because as soon as their speed was altered, their mass and gravitational attraction would decrease thus leading the hole to a sudden end. The matter that constantly strikes the core of the sphere, may cause changes in its speed of rotation although it is likely that this material that falls in spirals hits the mass of the sphere, making it turn even faster. This can also result in different situations. Excessive speed can produce a fragmentation in the atoms that form the sphere. A speed that is too fastcould disrupt the balance between the artificial gravity produced by the speed and the centrifugal force that is generated by rotating the same sphere. If the centrifugal force is greater than the gravitational force, the electrons orbiting the atom wouldbe shot away and, what's more, the nuclei of these atoms would be split. This process would produce a massive amount of energy with the potential to be fired towards the exterior.

About Elías

I CANNOT sleep with the light off unless the night is clear and there's enough light coming through the window. I need to be able to concentrate on specks of light in the room, without them everything feels like it's spinning around me and I end up very dizzy. I think the same happened to one of the characters in a movie, and they explained it by saying that this was normal among pilots who spent a lot of time flying, and the effects of gravity on astronauts who had been away. Both cases had nothing to do with me, but at least, it made me feel better to think I had something in common with pilots and astronauts.

My head was spinning and it was hard to relax. I concentrated on the sound of my heart and tried to breathe calmly to fall sleep. As I focused on trying to cross over to the world of dreams, I felt a presence watching me in the darkness of the room. I could almost hear her breath as she watched me. When I was finally overcome by sleep and I could no longer hold the weight of my eyelids, in those brief moments when one goes fromreality to the universe of dreams, I could see this figure watching me. Other times, while I was already asleep, I felt her presence and heard her talk softly in my ear. Far from frightening me,her presence reassured me, it gave me a sense of motherly protection. In those moments when you find yourself with one foot on earth and the rest of the body in Morpheus' arms, in that short period of time, I could clearly see that presence. She was a young woman with brown skin, marked features, big lips, a small nose and light brown eyes from which a bright lightirradiated. I wish I could have heard clearly what she said every night but when I awoke I could barely remember her words as they were not always clear and she often spoke in a strange dialect. It was very difficult to stare at her because although her skin had a cinnamon tone, she emitted a blinding white light that spread from her face lighting up everything around it, preventing me from seeing her body or clothes. At first glance you could only see her face and hands.

Once, when I was ill with high fever, I could see her more clearly. She stood at the foot of my bed and her light illuminated the entire room. Sheobservedme without standing on the ground, hovering in the air. When she realised I was watching her, she looked me straight in the eye. At that moment I felt a little intimidated because she seemed to be able to read me like an open book, all my thoughts, past and present. Then, the corner of her lips moved slightly and smiled, making me feel calm and full of joy. There was a sort of complicity in that interaction, in that exchange of glances. After watching me for I don't know how long, because in that state one enters a sort of trance and is not able to determine how long goes by in the real world, she held her hand out, just like a mother does to help her child cross the street. I, without even a moment's hesitation, sat up and stretched my arm trying to reach her hand with mine. Then, when I could almost touch her, she smiled again and disappeared.

I vaguely remember another dream from when I was very small. It was a dream that terrified me for it was as real as the reality of the world in which we live. Every night it repeated itself and I was really scarred of sleeping. I wanted to stay awake to feel safer so that I would not be transported to that dream. I left the light on in the room to be in contact with this world. I closed my eyes and opened them quickly to make sure everything was still in place, but then, suddenly, when I opened them, I was already there. I was standing barefoot on a cold floor, wearing my pyjamas, and there was absolute silence. The soil was thin and whitish. There was darkness everywhere, I could barely discern anything. I looked at the sky and it was black, there was no sun or moon. I walked for a long time and found nothing, the planet was inert, and there was absolutely nothing. In the midst of the anguish I felt loneliness, cold and fear. Shutting my eyes tightlywould sometimes take me back to my room and the warmth of my bed. The dream repeated itself night after night and I never found a meaning to it. I thought maybe if there was hell, that was it. A dead world without any light, sound, heat - just coldness. That was hell, but why? Why did I go to hell every night? Perhaps because of that marble we got dishonestly when I was little?

The first person that started treating my mental problems was my GP. At first with anxiolytics which, he gradually increased in dosage. Later with tranquilisers, so I ended up taking all kinds of pills: Valium, Tranxilium, Prisdal, Orfidal. I have even tried natural therapies and herbs such as valerian or linden. With all of them I underwent a brief period when my nightmares seemed to decrease, and at least, during this short time, I was able to collect my thoughts, but later nothing ever returned to a sense of normalcy. After feeling calm for some time, it felt as though my brain was trying to recover the time it had lost, and the nightmares, dreams and confused thoughts were even more intense to the point that it was impossible for me to hear my own thoughts. The constant bombardment of images and meaningless stories that kept creeping into my head made me hallucinate and suffer from persecution mania. Very often I came home running, just because I felt safe here. I don't know at what point the nightmares took control of my life. It was a slow process. Over the years I've learned to behave like a normal person even if when I look at someone all sorts of fuzzy and strange imagesoccupy my mind.

As a child I could remember my dreams better, they were very clear when I woke up. Sometimes they took me to far and distant times, others very close, and others even to the near future. I could be walking in Vienna accompanied by Mozart one night, as I could be visualising images of an unknown war where people killed each other mercilessly in fierce battles. Some dreams were nice, it was like being the star of a movie. I have always loved movies. I guess because of my difficulties inleaving home,movies took me on a vacation, I was transported to different sites without leaving home and so at least it was like taking a little vacation, picturing oneself as the protagonist of the film.

The new technologies took a long time to get to my home and not until I was twelve we had a VCR. That day the sky opened up for me, a new stage in my life began. I could now select the movies I wanted to see in the video club and watch them as many times as I wanted. I used to savemy pay and some of the money they gave me for running errands. I also made deals with my mother to wash the dishes in exchange for a few coins for renting video movies. All I dreamt about were all those heroes in the films that travelled the world to make justice prevail.

The seizures continued to increase. I remember I could not even go out to the movies because they startedimmediately, and I had to find a way toovercome them without anyone noticing. While others would focus, for instance, on an exam, or on a movie, or just on whether to eat the friesbefore the burger, I had to concentrate on looking normal, that is, I had to say to myself, quiet, you can keep your balance, don't worry, you can do it, one step forward, one step at a time. I had to make a Herculean effort simply to beconscious. So, how could I pay attention to what people were telling me? How could I have fun when I had to focus all my energy, all my abilities on standing without falling? To illustrate how I felt, I'd ask you to go on one of those centrifugal machines used by astronauts also found in amusement parks, and try completing a test whilst spinning at high speed, at a speed most experienced pilots would have to concentrate one hundred percentand tense all their muscles to keep their blood from reaching the brain. Imagine also how to eat a double cheeseburger with fries and soda in that same situation. Well that's pretty much how I felt when besieged by one of my attacks. How could I then relate to people like a normal person?

Over time I've learnt to downplay my condition because, while the symptoms seem to worsen more and more lately, I guess in one of these seizures, I will simply disappear, and so, with my death, I shall be released from my slavery. I visited several psychiatrists and psychologists but they did exactly the same asthe doctor who diagnosed measles five times. At least in group therapy I felt comfortable, because although the other patients did not experience the same as I did, it felt good to know those people, people with problems who thought of themselves as imperfect but were in fact more able than most. People who others labelled as crazy, people who believed what others said of them but were in fact, the sanest people I've ever met.

We also practiced relaxation techniques so when the seizures occurred I tried to liberate my body from the suffering caused by my mind, travellingmentally to a nicer place. I liked to imagine a lake so large I could not see the other side, a lake of fresh, clear water with shores made of fine brown sand, and I found myself in a tiny cove where the beach made a near full circle, under a cherry blossom, quiet, watching the magnificent landscape where everything was still and calm. But when the seizures became more aggressive, I could not keepa clear image of that magnificent place and everything became distorted in my mind. The sky darkened and the cold winter befell upon me. I was there, with barely any clothes, the cherry blossoms withering, and the water turning black. Then I quickly returned to my body, where I still felt worse. When all seemed lost, when I finally accepted my fate, it was when I heard her voice. At first a whisper and then clearly, the voice of the beautiful woman who encouraged me to keep going, to not give up, telling me I was not far off, that it would all end soon. When I regained consciousness, suddenly I was well again, refreshed and full of new strength to continue with this struggle.

Submerging myself in water was like being outside this world, like becoming an astronaut, flying through awater world, a weightless world, where everything seemed to move at a slower pace, where even the sounds felt like slow whispers, a slower world, perhaps more in tune with the speed at which I think. The sea, the rivers, a universe in which all things move together in an endless dance. Here fish banks are the major ballets - algae and a variety of plants dance gently in the background. If Iremained motionless, submerged with a light ballast, I could stay still near the bottom and feel the rocking water, becoming another member of that choir.

In winter, the only way for me to abandon this world was to get under the shower, close my eyes and cover my ears with the palms of the hands, leaving a small air chamber to achieve the same effect of a shell pressed against the ear. Some say that the sound of the sea becomes etched in shells and when you bring them close to your ear, they eternally reproduce that sound. The water fell down with strength on my forehead and my face, and having my eyes closed it felt like looking at the sun. After a while I had the sensation I had left this world or I went to look through the keyhole of a door, opening it and, then feeling the centre of attention and shrinking before the watchful eye of the creator.

The other night I dreamed again with that strange woman of honey-coloured eyes. At first it was a peaceful sleep, then I could see myself from above, sleeping in my room. Everything was dark and I could only see the dim light that came through the window. Then a silhouette glided through the room like a shadow to stand by my side at the head of the bed. She bent down and began to whisper in my ear. I didn't understand what she was saying and felt distressed. For no real reason the dream became oppressive - I wanted to understand what she was saying but couldn't. I woke up with a sweaty forehead and everything was spinning at a vertiginous speed. I could only hear the loud beating of my heart. The sound was so loud that I could not hear anything else. Something was moving in my throat. I put my hands over it, and as I touched it I felt my blood pounding heavily as it circulated through my body. Why did that image arouse so much emotion, sadness and distress at once in me? I searched in my mind, but I didn't find a reason. As I tried to remember her image, my legs felt weak, my body shivered and shook like a leaf in the wind.

Millions of flashing images struck my eyes, and happy memories mixed in my mind with others that made me feel anguish because they were images from the past, a past that was impossible to revive or restore. Why were things forgotten in time? Why were people lost in oblivion? I wanted to bring them back, return them, revive them and keep them with me forever. This made me feel very weak and powerless. No matter how much Iwanted to, I simply could not do it. It wasn't possible and my soul was fighting my body, a soul that refused to fall into oblivion, as my body lost control of all functions, even the most basic, spasmodically twitching with fury.

Since childhood we are told we have to develop our imagination, that it's good to dream, but nobody believes in dreamers. Nobody cared about what I had to say, nobody wanted to hear me. So what's the point in knowing things, knowing how to solve the most complicated of humanity's problems, if nobody really cared?

If I were to say that I am an aeronautical engineer and I am planning to build a very large stairway toreach the moon, then everyone would listen and I would get funding for my project, but if I were to propose a new solution in which there were no steps or wings, or rockets, then no one would even listen. What would be the use of having solutions to their problems if no one wants to hear them? Ideas circled in my head continuously and broiledas thoughin a pressure cooker. There was always a phrase spinning in my head: "everything is hydrogen" and often I was surprised to find that what made everything work, was hydrogen.

Solving the energy problem of the planet and the pollution imposed by the use of fossil fuels to obtain energypresented very different solutions. Energy is neither created nor destroyed, it's always there but is usually found in stable compounds such as water which, is pure energy, consisting of the universal material, hydrogen which, is the real fuel. When we burn wood we are not burning anything, we're merely putting hydrogen in contact with oxygen through a chain reaction that produces a lot of energy. This is what we perceive as heat.

Coal is only hydrogen storage, a container in which to keep it save so that it can be used by applying a simple spark to start a chain reaction. If we add hydrogen to carbon we'll turn it into different types of fuels as we know, first solids, "coal", then liquids, "oils" with more hydrogen, "alcohol", then gases, until pure hydrogen. I guess if you think carefully about it, the way you understand the world around us will change. Now the energy problem might seem silly because you will realise that energy is everywhere, you just have to use it the right way. For example, the air we breathe is composed of oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and a small percentage of some inert gases, and as you have observed, it's composed of the basic components that produce all the energy.

Energy is only a series of interactions between hydrogen atoms. Water also contains a lot of energy but in a stable combination. Something similar occurs in the air but what if we were to compress it to get a richer concentration in gases? Let me tell you about a dream I once had: I was travelling on a submarine and it started malfunctioning and sinking into the depths of the sea, subjecting it to such a level of pressure that caused the hull to breach. Interestingly the problem was not the water getting in. What happened was that the compressed air inside the submarine had become a powerful fuel burning everything in its path. It was not a very nice dream, but it helped me understand this fact. We only need to change the pressure, temperature, or the provision of a chain of atoms to unleash as much energy as it is released in the core of the stars.

New ideas kept coming to my mind all the time soI wrote them in a very small notebook since I was little. Whenever I had an idea regardless of what time it was and what I was doing, it was best to write as soon as I could because I could not think or do anything else until it was written.

Since young most of my ideas had only one purpose: to solve the world's environmental problem, to solve the energy problem of the planet with new green fuels and with new engines that were more efficient than the current ones. Over the years the ideas became much clearer in my mind and had a lot more detail. At that point there was no reason to write anything on paper, besides I had stacks of notebooks filled with ideas and after so many years, with the continuous brewing of thoughts almost every night in my head, I needed an entire shelf to store them. But now, writing them was no longer enough, I now needed people to be able to benefit from them. So I decided to give away my best ideas to businesses. For example, if I had a solution to improve the performance of solar cells, I sent that solution in a letter to a company known for manufacturing solar cells. I also sent letters to oil companies, car manufacturers and even environmental organisationsbut nobody cared about these letters, no one accepted these solutions, I guess nobody can tell a carpenter how to make a table, no one is willing to listen. However, I was not at all discouragedby this. I decided that if they did not want to improve their products, perhaps I could market my own improvements so I submitted countless patents and decided to do things for myself.

They were only the worthless ravings of a sick mind, but since there was nothing else I could do, since only this was able to calmdown this succession of ideas bombarding me, I came to the conclusion that filing patents may serve me as therapy. At the end of the day, even if no one cared, no one would pose any problem.Who cares if you do origami or if you write letters to large corporationsoffering developments in their products like how to improve the seal of a bottle or make a band-aid stickier!Who cares what you do if it makes you feel better.

About María and Flat

SILENCE fell again and colour faded away leaving everything in black and white, like a photograph moving away in the darkness. Later, a distant sound, a short, repetitive sound that sounded at intervals became increasingly clearer - it was the barking of a dog. She woke up. As she opened her eyes she saw a man soaked to the bones and next to him, under the rain, the black dog shehad earlier fallen from the tree branch with. The dog approached her rapidly wagging its tail and licked her face.

\- Hurry, hurry!There's no time to lose! - said Flat, as he helped María get up.

We have to get to the pier before the water covers everything.

María got up quickly. She had multiple bruises all overher body caused by the current of stones that had dragged her but she had great physical strength and did not even stop to look around her.

They had covered more than half the distance to the pier but the situation was increasingly getting worse. Flat was aware that if they didn't reached it quickly, their survival was not guaranteed. The three of themwent on their way and after crossing the ridge, not without many setbacks, they finally reached their destination. The pierwas partially flooded and most of the boats were half sunk or wrecked. This made him feel uneasy because now Flat's plan seemed impossible.

The Pier

IT WAS A BUILDING with corrugated metal walls of a metallic silver grey colour. Part of the dock area was also used as a yacht club, dedicated to canoeing and kayaking competitions and that's why the building was two-storey tall - to store canoes -, making it look like a hangar for storing aircrafts. The canoes sat on a kind of shelf that occupied the entire height of the structure in order to store a large number of them. This image came to Flat's mind, the last memory he had of what was it like inside the boat house. But when he opened the door, his image vanished like the aftermath left behind by a meteor, showing him the harsh reality they faced. The interior of the building was dark and from there you could discern the silhouettes of boats scattered everywhere. The shelves had collapsed, dropping the canoes from above onthose which were on the floor, causing pieces of wood to be scattered everywhere. The ravaged place conveyed a kind of anguish and terror. It looked like a graveyard for ships. Walking among those remains of splintered wood, with water up to the waist, made one imagine things. It seemed that among the pieces of vessels half afloat there was something lurking underwater.

A predator waiting for an unsuspecting victim to enter its lair, to fall into its trap. One expected this creature to prance over him or her at any time,ensnaringtheir legs under the water and dragging them into the darkness. A giant octopus with its huge tentacles, or perhaps their legs were to be pulled apart by the jaw of a great white shark. María and the dog walked behind him, without distancing themselves an inch from him, like a group of terrified people about to enterthehouse of horrors.

He continued looking at all the boats but there was no sign of hismotor boat. Then, a clear image came to his head: the boat could in fact be moored in the back of the pier near the jetty. And so he went to the rear of the building with difficulty and there it was, exactly as he had imagined it, covered by a tarpaulin that prevented it from sinking in the rain. He started working on it - the gas tank was full but the engine would not start. It had to be manually started by pulling a rope that hung at the end of the engine. Flat pulled it repeatedly, but the engine refused to startbut as he was not the kind of man who would give up easily, he continued trying again and again until a sputter was heard, then it stopped again. He pulled even harder - the engine sputtered again and then it began to purr. Flat stood at the controls of the outboard, picked María and their canine companion up and began sailing on the waters that now covered the park completely.

The speedboat was average in size and it could easily accommodate eight or ten people. Flat sailed slowly as he had to dodge floating obstacles continuously being carriedby the current. They were safe in the boat. The only mistake they could really make at this point was trying to get out of there in a hurry. He was sure they would reach anywhere without a problem if he sailed calmly and slowly. So he navigatedcarefully dodging obstacles and driving the boat through calmer waters. Suddenly the dog began to bark and look at the top of a tree. Flat did not pay much attention, but María did and thought she saw something.

  * Go towards the tree, to the tree, Flat!

Flatfollowed María's orders and went to the tree. As they approached, María's presentimentbecame true -the figure of a person could be seen among the branches. When they reached the side of the tree, they saw a man who would have been about thirty-six years of age. He was very weak and could hardly talk. Between Flat and María they got him on board, they covered him with the tarp that previously covered the boat and the man began to recover slowly. As soon as he was strong enough the man thanked them and introduced himself by saying his name. Then he began to talk about what he did in life. Maríanoticed that he had a mobile phone in the pocket of his shirt and asked him to call the firefighters' rescue service but the man said that mobile phones had stopped working a while ago and there was no coverage.

The man continued his yarn, referring to events in his life as though these were already part of the past. While the man was talking Flat heard something faint in the distance, but with the sound of the rain and the engine of the boat running, he could barely hear anything. He slowed down, pausing the engine. Then he heard it more clearly - it was the voice of a woman calling them, clinging to a buoy. It was an older woman in her sixties. They moved towards her and the three of them helped her climb into the boat.

Thus a rescue teamwas born. The floods would have minimised the number of operational fire teams and those that were left, would have been too busy to get to the park, so they decided to look for more survivors through the vastflood site themselves. The rain made the area look likea documentary about the Amazon River, withthe submerged branches of the tree trunks sticking out to give it the appearance of a mangrove.

As soon as the rescued man and woman recovered, they joined forces and began helping María and Flat with their rescue efforts. They found a young girl inside a watertight plastic dumpster that was floating adrift. The incredible thing was that this container did not belong to that area and it had landed there all the way from the other end of town. The girl, dressed elegantly, also had a mobile phone and kept trying to reach out for help but it was useless, there was no coverage. Flat observed that there was a headset connected to the phone and asked what they were for, to which she answered that there was a radio integrated in the phone. Flat then asked her to turn it on. The woman unplugged the headset and put the radio on speakers so that everyone could hear it.

Together, under the tarp, everyone remained attentive to what was being said on the radio. The news could not be worse, the rains were widespread throughout the country and they talked about worst disasters occurring simultaneously in other countries, some destroyed by volcanoes, others by sea water. Elsewhere, tornadoes were so devastating that whole houses were carried through the air. Every so often they advised not to leave home and to seek refuge in high areas. They also indicated people should head towards the highest point in the city, a small mountain range to its north, from where the army was evacuating all survivors.

María spoke aloud reassuring everyone. Together they'll survive and as soon as the storm passed, they would be able to return to their loved ones. Night was approaching. The poor visibility they had beforenow turned into complete darkness but thanks to the acute sense of hearing and smell of the dog they managed to find more survivors.

The situation was getting more precarious by the moment. The boat did not have much fuel left and if the engine stopped they would be swept away by the currents, losing control of the boat and at risk of easily colliding with any obstacle, being stranded or even wrecked. The dog barked loudly, again indicating that there was something in the water being carried by the current. They noticed a shadow, a figure trying to stay afloat. The dog jumped out of the boat, diving into the water. It was a little girl, about eight years old, struggling to swim upstream but her efforts were useless against the violent current that dragged everything in its path. The dog jumped into the water and swam towards the girl, fighting furiously against thetesting current that dragged itsideways. The waves covered the dog and the child makingthem instantly disappear under water. Flat tried to near the boat to them, but it was impossible, there was nothing he could do toenter into that current but still he tried to get as close as possible to the child. The dog managed to reach her and held the top of her dress gently between its teeth. Then it tried to push her away from the current, but it proved impossible. The animal continued struggling with all his might but the current was dragging them away. The situation became increasingly more complicated. The current hauled them towards an area where the waters were even more violent, increasingly spending more time underwater. If they were not able to pull them out right away they'll disappearunder the waves. Despite the risks, Flat decided to enter the brutal current with the boat.

They were running very low on fuel and manoeuvring to fight the currents would leave the tank without a drop. Once it finished he would not be able to control the operation of the boat and it would be set adrift. All the risksnotwithstandingFlatcould not sit idly watching the waters take them away. As soon as part of the boat penetrated the current, its bow was hit by countless objects. He had to proceed with caution, approaching the animal and the girlwith the side of the boat. It would be too dangerous to have the engine too close to them, plus they would not be able to get them on board over the bow. The dog fought hard to keep the child afloat but barely succeeded. When Flatmanaged to pull the boat in the right position, something struck the hull of the boat with great force, deflecting it from its path and making it move away from the correct position. Without hesitating a second, hetried it again but as he was devising a new route to rescue the girl and the dog, someone warned him of a breach in the hull.

The water flowedinside the vessel at tremendous speed. They tried to plug the crack with their hands but it proved impossible. They tried covering it with a jacket and this bought them some more time. Flat ignored the problem that had just emerged, trying a new approach over and over again. The amount of water accumulated inside the boat caused most of the hull to be submerged, as if carrying excessive weight, and this made it more difficult for Flat to manoeuvre and the response speed in the control to waver. Flat focused on the path drawn in his mind, delicately handling the controls of the boat and managed to get close to them keeping the vessel in some sort of delicate balance. María grabbed the girl with one hand and the dog with the other and the rest of the people helped her pull them aboard. They quickly covered the girl who remained conscious, only slightly bruised and in near perfect condition.

The sound of the engine became a lot louder and then it stopped. Air bubbles had entered the engine with the last drops of fuel, increasing the noise of the explosions and when the last drop of fuel burned, the motor stopped.

Now they'd be washed away because since they had no engine, the boat was almost impossible to be steered. Flatdid everything in his power to get them out of those raging waters that wobbled the boat as if it were a nutshell. The incomprehensible amount of water that never ceased to fall from the sky and the breach that had opened in the hull of the bought made them realise they had no choice other thanto swim. Finally, night had arrived and there was darkness. After hitting everything in their path, the current had eventually driven them away from the most turbulent area and into calmer waters. If it were not for the fact that everyone was well aware of what happened, one could think that they were in the middle of an immense lake and not in the park where they had beenhappily walking that very same morning.

One finds strength amid the chaos. One finds encouragement in the smallest things and isfilled with joy when small achievements are made. In their case, the small achievement was to be able to plug the leak in the hull of the boat. Sadly, their joy did not last long because although the gapseemed well sealed, the water kept on flowing inside and, before long, the vessel was tofounder. There was no place for panic nor time for despair. Everyone worked together to get as much water as possible out of the boat with their bare hands. The water already filled the hull and the additionalweight accumulated made the dinghy sink in the blink of an eye.

Following María's orders, everyone remained together to prevent being taken by the current. Together they would also maintain the heat better, thus reducing the chances of dying from hypothermia. Everyone started recounting something about their lives in turns. They didn't want to fall asleep or unconscious and die from the low temperature of the water. The night was so dark that they could only make up the silhouettes of the faces and couldn't tell who was who without hearing their voices.

It is extreme situations where one thinks there is no way out that bring to light the true nature of men. They knew with certainty that the rain would not cease and they were sentenced to a certain end, but nobody wanted to give up, no one would throw in the towel, they would fight to the very last minute. Facing the cold water would break the will of the strongest because after a few minutes submerged in it, the joints start to go numb, the cold paralyses the entire body, blood concentrates in the vital organs leaving the extremities without circulation and the person pale, white as chalk, lips turn purple, the body tries to fight it, trying to use all its energy to warm itself up and not shiver. After several hours the bones feel as if they were ice inside the body. By staying together, they ensured the heat escaped at a slower rate and lasted longer without fainting. In these last moments, no one wants to think about what they did wrong, or they things they'd missed. In these last moments you wait for death as you would wait all night for dawn to arrive.

When you make peace with God, in that moment when nothing else really matters, when you let out your last breath and your lungs are left completely empty, your muscles relax, and you are carried away by the angel of death, it is in that very moment that a new breath of air enters your lungs and your muscles tense again sending the brain a signal of pain throughout the body. That's when you know for sure that you will not die, you will survive, you will die years later as an old man or woman. Your strength returns and although you feel pain throughout your body you feel joy to be alive, and find strength because you know that there are still many things to live for.

CHRONICLE OF THE ARICA

TSUNAMI,1868

AROUND FOUR o'clock I was in the commander's cabin when we were alarmed by the boat vibrating as it would when the anchor was dropped and the chain moaned in the hawse. Completely sure it could not be this, we ran to the bridge. We noticed that a cloud of dust was advancing inland from the southeast, while the intensity of the noise grew louder. Before our astonished eyes the hills seemed to wobble, and the ground shook like small waves of a choppy sea.

The dust cloud already encasedArica and through its impenetrable veil one could hear the cries for help, the roar of the houses as they collapsed and the thousand muddled cries that occur during a calamity. Meanwhile, our ship quiveredas if it was taken by a giant hand. Then the cloud went over us.

As the dust dissipated, we rubbedour eyes and looked around us unable to believe what we were seeing- where seconds ago there was a happy and prosperous city bustling with activity and life, we could only see ruins from where the least gravely wounded struggled to emerge, unfortunate prisoners of the ruins of their own homes. Screams, howls of pain and distress calls inundated the air, under a merciless sun shining in the clear sky.

Worriedabout the arrival of a tsunami, we looked towards the open seabut the sea was calm. One could believe that the four or five minutes we had just lived, as well as the desolate spectacle we returned back to momentarily, had been a nightmare. Prudently, the commander orderedto lower the additional anchors, batten down the hatches, tie down the cannon and put up the gratings.

On land, the survivors crossed the beach and huddled in the small boardwalk calling the crews of the ships nearby to help bring their relatives from thechaotic ruins and into the apparent safety of the anchored boats. That was more than we could stomach, so we immediately lowered a boat with thirteen men aboard. It reached the shore and the crew disembarked immediately, leaving only a sailor on duty in the boat. Meanwhile, on board we were trying to organise an armed team with shovels, axes and pickaxes, when a murmur caught our attention. Looking back to the land we noticed with horror that the place where there stood onlyan instant ago a dock full of human beings had now been swallowed by the sudden rise of the sea, while our vessel, floating on the surface, had not even noticed it. We also saw the boat with its crew pulled by the irresistible tide towards the high vertical cliff - known to the locals as Morro -, where they disappeared under the foam left by the wave breaking on the rocks.

Just then we felt another seismic shock, accompanied on the shore by a terrible roar that lasted a few minutes. We saw the land undulating again, moving from left to right. This time the sea withdrew to such extent that the boatran aground, revealing the bottom of the ocean and exposing things we had never seen before – fishes struggling between the rocks and stranded sea monsters. The round hull boats rolled on their side, while our Wateree landed on its flat surface. When the sea returned, it did so not as a wave but as a huge tide that forced theunfortunate ships near ours to roll with the keel up the mast,while the Wateree stood unharmed on the troubled waters.

From that moment on, the sea seemed to defy all the laws of nature. Several streams rushed in opposite directions and dragged us to a speed that we would have never reached even at full steam. The earth trembled continuously, at regular intervals, each time with less violence and for less time.

The Peruvian battleship América, the fastest of its time, was still afloat, as was the American vessel Fredonia. The hull of the América, which had tried to get to open sea at the full speed of all its engines before the retreat of the sea, was now in dry land. At that moment the wave dragged her at high speed towards the shore while her chimneys were belching a column of thick black smoke. It looked as though it was rushing to the rescue of the severely damaged Fredonia, pushed into the Morro cliffs of Arica. Believing that those were her intentions, Commander Dyer of the Fredonia, ran to the bow of the boat and shouted to the battleship located only a few yards away: "There's nothing you can do for us, our hull is broken!Save yourselves! Goodbye!" A moment later the Fredonia crashed against the cliff and no one was spared, while anothercurrent miraculously carried the Peruvian ship and pulled her in another direction.

The last rays of sun illuminated the Andes as we witnessed with horror that the graves on the slope of the sand mountain where ancient men had buried their dead had been opened, and now placed in concentric rows, as if in an amphitheatre, the mummies of the dead natives re-emerged to the surface. Having been buried facing the sea, they were strikingly well preserved thanks to the salt permeating through the soil. The violent quaking that had disrupted the dry and desert land had exposed a frightful city of the dead that had long been buried.

Words cannot begin to describe the terrifying spectacle of that scene. Traumatised by what we had just experienced, we thought the Day of Judgment had arrived and that Earth would disappear. The bitterness of such a horrifying death was more than we could have ever imagined.

Night had fallen long ago when the watchman shouted across the bridge that a tidal wave was approaching. We examined the darknessand perceived a faint phosphorescent dark line, like a strange mirage, that seemed to soar higher into the sky, its crest surmounted by the dingy light of a phosphorescent glow, revealing a sinister black body of water stirring beneath it. Announcing itself with the roar of thousands of thundersrumbling in unison, the tsunami we had feared for hours had finally arrived.

Of all the horrors, this seemed by far the worst. Chained to the bottom, unable to escape, having taken all precautions humanly possible, all we could do was stare at this monstrous waveas it neared us, there was nothing we could even do for moral support, nor could we hold onto the hope that the ship would pass through the mass of water moving to destroy us. The only thing left was to hang on to the rails and wait for the disaster.

In the midst of a terrifying roar, our boat was swallowed, buried under a semi-liquid, semi-solid mass of sand and water. We remained submerged lacking air for what seemed like an eternity. Then, her whole frame emitting a loud cry, our solid Wateree opened her way to the surface with her panting crew still clasping onto her railings. Some men were seriously injured but no one died and no one was missing. It had been a miracle which, I still find hard to believe.

Undoubtedly our survival was due to the line and the shape of the boat that had allowed the water to be drained fromthe bridge as fast as if it were a raft.

The ship had been transported at high speed and halted suddenly. After waiting a few minutes, we used a lamponly to confirm that we had run aground. We didn't know where. Less violent waves kept on crashing against us, then everything stopped. For some time we remained at our posts, but as the boat lay still, the order was given to the exhausted crew to go to sleep.

The sun rose on a scene of desolation seldom seen before. We were aground, three miles from the place where we had anchored and two miles inland (about 3.5 kilometres). The wave had moved us at an amazing speed over the sand dunes bordering the ocean, through a valley and beyond the railroad tracks that lead to Bolivia, to abandon us at the foot of the Andes. It was there, on an almost vertical cliff, that we discovered the trail the tsunami wave, about 47 feet (15 meters), had left. If it would have continued to drag us another 60 feet, we would have crashed into the perpendicular wall of the mountain.

Near us lay the remains of an English three-master, the Channacelia. One of her anchor chains was wound around the ship as many times as its length had allowed it, thus proving that the ship had rolled on itself several times. A little further towards the sea, the battleship America was shattered, lying on one of its flanks.

The earthquakes continued for several days but none reached the violence or duration of the first. However, some were severe enough to shake the Wateree until making it vibrate like an old kettle so we were forced to abandon the ship and set up camp on the plateau 200 feet above. From there we could see the disastrous effect of the shocks on the topography. We found huge cracks in some places, one of which reached more than 100 feet wide (35 meters) and unknown depths. Others were nothing more than simple cracks and fissures. Here and there we found evidence of the desperation of the people during their flight - I remember, for example, the body of a woman riding on a dead horse, the two having been swallowed by the earth while trying to flee.

The city itself had disappeared and in its placed there was a stretch of sand. Besides the neighbourhoodsadjacent to the mountain, there was not a single house that would indicatethat Arica had once existed there. All the buildings made with soft walls, called "adobes" had been destroyed by the sea. In the neighbourhoodsthat had been located below the level reached by the water, we walked over a horrible pile of all sorts of blended things, including bodies under a height of 20 or 30 feet.

Of the ten or fifteen thousand inhabitants who lived in Arica, only a few hundred unfortunate souls survived. During the three long weeks we waited for the arrival of assistance, we shared with them the supplies and drinking water from the Wateree. I could not possibly describe our joy when the old frigate Powhatan of the United States Navy finally appeared on the baywith the bridge overloaded with all sorts of provisions and food possible.

This is the official story of L. G. Billings, of the US-flagged ship Wateree which, along with the Fredonia, the Peruvian battleship América and a dozen other boats were anchored in the harbour of Arica, then under Peruvian rule, the evening of August 8, 1868, date on which every single century of the existence of the then flourishing city, the force of an earthquake and tsunami had destroyed almost everything that had been built earlier. Only the twentieth century has avoided, to date, a catastrophe of such serious consequences in that northern city, now Chilean since 1879. Extracted from _The Chilean earthquakes_ by Patrico Manns. Edit. Quimantú, 1972 Santiago de Chile.

The Relic

ELIAS was walking on the footpath on his way home, when quite far, in the proximity of his house, he noticed two men walking towards him, one leaning on the other as one of them seemed to have an injury on his leg. As he approached, Elías recognised his neighbour León, on whom the other man leaned onto. He came closer and heard Leon's voice saying to him:

-Neighbour! Neighbour! Come here for a minute!

Elías went to see what León wanted. Although he had heard León yelling at his family many times, he always thought he was a good person and was sure that if life hadn't been so tough on him, he wouldn't have all these problems now. When he approached the two men, the one leaning on León showed him a shotgun he was hiding with his hand behind his back and pointing it to Elias said:

-¡U, u upppppp!

Cagalubias stammered pointing at León's house, while the sound of police sirens approaching could be heard in the background.

Cagalubias walked on one leg, blood gushing endlessly from his foot. The two men, and Elías now a hostage, entered León's house. It looked as though it was abandoned. There was no furniture and it was full of dirt, the electricity was not working, the smell was nauseating as if someone had left food in the fridge long ago. They had just entered the house, when they heard thesound of a police siren. Cagalubias carefully approached the window, leaning sideways against the frame, before quickly peeking to see what was happening outside. There he was again, that indestructible policeman, the same police on his motorcycle or rather on what was left of it.

The man dismounted his bike and leaned it on itsrestbut thishad been so badly damaged that shortly after releasing the bike, it wobbled and fell onto the ground, losing a lot of parts and making a clanking sound similar to a handful of nuts and bolts being dropped on thefloor. The policeman did not flinch. He pressed the communication button on the radio attached to his jacket and called for reinforcements but instead of waiting for them to arrive, he prepared to enter the house on his own completely unruffled by the situation. However, as he climbed the steps leading to the porch, Cagalubias pulled the gun barrel through the small space left by the security chain between the door and the frame. The policeman saw the barrel of the gun and immediately dropped to the ground. Cagalubias opened fire on him, hurling shots over the agent who then quickly crawled over the garden to hide behind what was left of his motorcycle.

  * 'I ha have hos hostages, so don't try to play hero again or I'll pai pai paint the walls of the house with their brains, - said Cagalubias shouting through the opening in the door and slamming it right after.

Then,there began a fine drizzle that quickly covered the window panes withthin droplets. Soon the rain became heavier and after a few brief instants, it began to fall with incredible strength. The police reinforcements arrived and the cars formed a trench behind which the policemen took cover. The agent informed his colleagues about the situation.

Inside the house León and Cagalubias argued loudly, and although Cagalubias was holding the sawed-off shotgun, León pounced on him and went from word to blows. León harshly slapped his face with an open hand and Cagalubias received them the best he could. Finally he used his shotgun to fire at the ceiling and point at León's head.

-To to to the ground! If if if you try it again I'd spread that small brain you have inside your head all all all over the ground - Cagalubias shouted to León, the veins in his neck about to burst with anger, and his face blood red after the smacks León had landed him.

The rain kept on getting heavier. It's funny how quickly you lose track of time when it rains. You can spend hours watching the water falling through the windows, and completely lose track of time, not remembering when or what day it started raining, as if the world had always been like that, as if sunny days had never existed.

The men did not stop arguing. I remained in a corner next to the little furniture that was left, a sort of table with something big on top, all covered with a sheet. I always thought of myself as a coward because although in many occasions it might have seemed otherwise, this time I didn't do any of the heroic things that most of the protagonists of a film would do. I was not afraid, I was serene and calm, but I was not able to face this deranged man. Perhaps our brain assesses the situation and decides that the best option is not to act. The house was surrounded by police, something thatdidn't give me a lot of peace of mind because I knew it could cause the deranged man to make the wrong decision.

Meanwhile outside, the police demanded to speak to the kidnappers over the megaphone. Cagalubias kept on talking to himself, he had gone completely mad, lost his sanity and kept mumbling and thinking aloud. Finally, he agreed to talk to the policemen, saying through the door opening that he had two hostages and that he would kill them if they did not agree to his demands. The police negotiator told him over the speaker that everything would be alright, that he just needed to let them know what he wanted and he himself would take care of it. Then the kidnapper began to pace up and down the room, ponderingabout what he was going to ask for. Finally, his eyes lit up for a moment and he then rushed to show his face through the opening left between the chained door and its frame.

  * I I I want a mi mi million in s s small notes in in inside a sports bag, and and he he helicopter with a full ta tank.

  * Please, can you ask for real things that I can actually get for you? - said the police negotiator.

  * This this very moment I kill o o one of the hos hostages, and if you do do don't take me se seriously, I'll kill the o other.

  * We're cops, where are we going to get a million in small bills and a helicopter?

  * And, why the fu fuck should I care? - Cagalubias said, opening fire as on the police negotiator, hitting him in the megaphone and making it fly out of his hands?Immediately the other agents moved to initiate the assault on the home, but the chief of police, the man who acted as negotiator ordered them to wait.

  * Cool off fellows, let's not make a mistake, it's just a poor devil, we will have our chance.

A policeman pulled another megaphone from one of the vehicles, reached down to the chief and gave it to him.

  * It's all good, let's not panic, we'll request for what you have asked for by radio, but we need a proof of your good will by releasing one of the hostages.

  * The only ho ho hostage you are going to see if you don't gi give me what I want, you'll have to to to pick him up his sca scattered pieces with tweezersfrom around the damn ho ho house - said the kidnapper again through the opening in the door, and then he slammed the door. But this time, he slammed on his own hand.

The pain was unbearable. Tears rushed from his eyes and he had to put his fingers in his mouth to cool the heat he was feeling which was comparable to dipping a hand intoboiling water. He had even partially lost some of his nails. He quickly looked for something to bandage his hand with but all he found in the house was a sheet that was covering an object in the corner of the room. So without even thinking twice, he pulled the sheet to tear a piece and make some sort of bandage for his hand. As he yanked the sheet, the object that was covered by it staggered and fell- it was a clay statue of human shapethat looked like some kind of very old virgin. The head, attached to the body with an old tape, rolled over on the floor. At that very moment Elías fainted and remained unconscious on the ground.

A lightning lit up the entire house, as though it was the powerful flash of a camera. The storm worsened and the rain poured from all directions. The policemen began to worry because the situation was worsening to the point that it became really alarming. The radio messages confirmed that disasters were happening all over the city and they suddenly realised that their families could be in trouble.

  * Captain, I think we're not in the right place. If a couple of junkies decide to kill each other, then there'll be fewer problems for everyone else in the city - said one of the officers to the man holding the megaphone.

Some lasted longer than others but the news being broadcast by theradio made most of them leave to rescue their own families. At the end, there were two officers left \- the captain and the rider.

  * Captain, I think you'd better leave now that you still have a chance. The city is being destroyed by the storm and criminals like these two are roaming freely everywhere, plus your family may need you.

  * Maybe you're right, arresting a single criminal might not solve anything, but it's my job and it's also all I have.

The man began to speak again over the megaphone, and addressing the kidnapper he said:

\- This is the situation -right now it doesn't matter what crimes you've committed, soon we won't be able to pull our heads out of the water.

\- Stop the non non nonsense and bring my cho chopper.

\- Son, there's no helicopter or plane that can fly with this storm, even driving is impossible.

\- No, no, I don't want to hear your st st stories.

\- Listen to me, I'll put the news on the radio over the PA.

The captain turned the volume of the radio up and neared the megaphone to the speaker so that he could hear all the announcements.

They repeatedly spoke of the situation in the country and around the world. There were natural disasters of all sorts happening all over the planet and the forecast was not encouraging. The whole world was being shaken by a cataclysm. Some channels spoke of the Apocalypse, others blamed the greed of men, their obsession with wealth for consuming the planet's reserves and ignoring the deterioration that ensued. There was always a quiet understanding that future generations would bear all the pain, that only many years from now the planet would say enough. But we were all wrong and now all its wealth was exhausted.

Elías continued lying on the ground. For a moment it seemed that he was dead or in a coma, but now he was having continuous convulsions and foaming at the mouth, as if he werehaving an epileptic seizure. A loud hum was heard throughout the house. It was a sound that seemed to come from inside the relic which, remained lying on the floor next to Elías.

\- We've got to call an ambulance or this guy is going to die! -cried León.

-So if he di dies, even be better, I'll save the a a ammo - replied Cagalubias.

The situation was getting very ugly. Night was falling and it kept on pouring. The police men outside had the water to their knees, although this didn't seem to worry them at all. The image was almost surreal–the officers were trying to take shelter from the rain while behind the car but the water level had risen so much that they were forced to hold onto the vehicle with their hands so that it wouldn't float away with the current.

At first, in the darkness of the night, you could hear the sounds of alarms and sirens going off here and there. These were just a few of the alarms that were still being fed by the batteries of the cars but before long, all of them died down and the night went silent. A silence that was filled with the sounds of the rain. A serenade of countless sounds, sounds produced as the rain hit against various surfaces and objects. The darknessand the rain together formed a thick curtain that made one feel besieged, isolated from the rest of the world, as if the planet was not bigger than just a few feet. One thing that felt odd was that under the rain everything seemed to vanish. When the sun shines in the sky, you can see the bustling of the city and people and animals seem to share the limited free space. Now that night and rain covered everything, it lookedas though all living creatures had disappeared. The rain fell steadily without diminishing its intensity, only the force of the wind was different. When the wind blew, the rain drops appeared to fall in all directions. In that dark night everyone could lose track of time, making one feel as though minutes were hours and hours were days.

  * Listen, we'd better give the boy to the police - it's not the same to be accused of murder thanto be accused of robbery.

Cagalubias listened without saying anything. León regretted getting into this mess, he was not a thief, he had always been honest and now he was involved in two deaths, his partner's and his neighbour Elías'. His patience was exhausted, he was not willing to be swayed by the follies of an addict who seemed to be getting every time more aggravated. He had to do something, he was no vigilante, no hero, but he could not watch Cagalubias letting Elías die. Cagalubias was totally out of his mind and could easily worsen the situation by injuring or killing someone. So despite not being a man of action, León hatched a plan in his mind and waited for the right time to carry it out. As soon as Cagalubias was distracted, he'd surprise him by attacking him from the back and would take the weapon. Once reduced, the cops could take Elías to a hospital. The latter part of the plan wasn't very clear, since the situation didn't look good outside and the rain was still falling heavily.

This was it, this was the time León had been waiting for. Cagalubias was watching what unfolded outside through one of the windows in the room and was distracted, not paying attention to the events inside the house. León said to himself, it's now or never, and then pounced on him, grabbing him by the neck. He clutched him from behind surroundinghis neck with onearm and with the other hand he tried to seize the gun butthat man was pure nerve and León was not able to reduce him. The situation was critical because during the struggle to control the gun, the barrel was being jolted from one side to the other, increasing the chances of it being shot at any time. It was just like playing Russian roulette. León clenched his teeth and pulled the weapon. In that very instant, there was a shot. The gun had been fired and León was feeling a burning sensation in the stomach. Then his legs slackened off and he fell to the ground. Initially, he didn't even noticed it but the impact of the pellets had struck him in full. Later, due to all the effort, he lost all the colour on his face and turned white as milk, writhing on the floor in pain while Cagalubias laughed at him.

There was a noise, first like a whistle, then it transformed into a sound similar to those made by Australian Aborigines playing a hollow reed. Then, a ratty noise, and suddenly, from the drains of the kitchen sink and the bathroom, there shot out a powerful stream of dirty water that reached the ceiling. The drains must have blocked, and the pressure caused by the high water flow whooshing down from the higher part of the city, forced it out through the pipes. A huge amount of water was coming out of the toilet as well, reeking water that filled the house with a foul smell. Leon and Elías, still lying on the ground, were surrounded by this putrid liquid. The whole house was flooded. León was writhing in pain. The shotgun pellets had pierced his guts and he pressed his fingers against his abdomen as blood dripped everywhere. The police had no clue what was unfolding in the house because it was raining so heavilythat the noise caused by the drops falling on the water made it impossible for anything to be heard. The rain was so thick that formed a curtain and you could not see beyond a few meters.

Elías, who appeared dead, began to convulse. His mouth released a long scream first in a very low volume and then increasingly louder. He paused for a few seconds and then he began to speak in tongues, languages that were so old that no one remembered them already, words so ancient that no one had pronounced for thousands of years.

A light began emanating from the ancient relic, a warm light that grew in intensity. The high temperatures turned the old statue a reddish colour and a white smoke exuded from it. Finally, the statue melted completely exposing an object, an artefact made of a strange metal, something incomparable to anything manufactured by any man-made machines. The strange device started to emit a whistle, a loud beep that deafened even the police outside. Elías shook and thumped his head against the floor. The police motorcyclist was planning on entering the house and was discussing it with the captain while standing in the water that by now reached them above the waist.

The plan was this: while the chief of police was to keep his position and call the abductor over the megaphone, the other agent would enter the house through one of the back windows - although entering one of those round windows did not look easy. As they prepared to put their plan in motion, a deafening whistle, thousand times more powerful than a train whistle sounded in the house, causing the police to cover their ears.

Inside the house, the floor and the walls began to vibrate. León was still squirming in pain while Cagalubias had gone completely crazy and did nothing but talk alone, as if arguing with a ghost. The sound stopped and the police decided to carry on with their plan - the situation called for exceptional measures. They couldn't wait any longer. The night was finally coming to its end.

The motorcyclist stealthily crawledtowards the house. In some areas he was forced toswim below the front windows of the house. Now, in order not to be discovered, the chief would have to distract the kidnapper. So he grabbed the megaphone in his hands and began to speak but it was impossible to hear anything. The megaphone was soaked with water and did not work. Then he began to scream to get the attention of the hijacker inside the house. Cagalubias didn't seem to be in this world, he heard nothing, he was still arguing and fighting with beings that only he could see. He used the shotgun to throw punches in the air as if he was defending himself from large flying insects. Then he began kicking, screaming to have them removed from him and began banging his legs with the barrel of the shotgun, flagellating his own limbs.

The chief of police shouted louder but nothing, nobody was paying attention. He had to distract the kidnapper as his companion needed to break the glass of one of the rear windows to enter the house and the noise would attract the attention of the kidnapper, who could end up killing the hostages and even the police man himself if he was caught before going through the small window. It didn't matter how much the police screamed, there was no effect. Finally, when he noticed the silhouette of the kidnapper behind a window, he grabbed the megaphone in his hands and threw it hard, shattering the glass on impact and making it fall inside the house.

  * I'm go go going to kill, kill you! Cagalubias shouted at the chief of police.

At last something had worked - he managed to capture the attention of the kidnapper and now he would be able to start negotiating with him. The hijacker still demanded ransom money and a helicopter. The police man explained that the helicopter was on its way and that the money was ready in bags as he requested. He would say anything just to give his colleague enough time to enter the house. As they spoke, they heard the sound of breaking glass but the chief quickly distracted Cagalubias by asking him if it was ok for the money to be handed to him in differently sized bills. While they were talking, the motorcyclist crawled until the back of the house, stood below one of the windows, wrapped his jacket around his arm and banged it against the window pane. This shattered the glass and the broken bits fell on the floor of the house, causing a very loud noise. The police froze thinking that the racket could alarm the kidnapper and make him take reprisals against the hostages. He listened carefully in silence, and heard the police captain talking to the kidnapper. This meant that he had not heard it and could continue with his mission.

Entering the house through the window was not an easy task. The policeman wasa big man and the window was very small so as soon as he started sliding through it he was quickly trapped. Then, he paused and moved slowly to get his muscles to relax and minimise their thickness. He entered the house that was almost in darkness - only the light coming from the room where the kidnapper was dimly lit the rest of the building. The water on the floor was a foot high. This complicated things because not being able to see where he was going he could trip over anything. He walked cautiously towards the door of the room where the hostages were located. At the very end, peeking through a window, the kidnapper, who was still talking to the chief of police. The room was lit with a red light that came from the strange object in the ground.

The device started emitting that same ear-splitting sound again, a piercing sound that forced the kidnapper and the police to cover their ears with their hands, but even so, the noise was more powerful than ever and it was unbearable. Cagalubias and León began to bleed from their ears. Elías started convulsing again, his muscle spasms making him splash water all over the room. Cagalubias was also shrieking as a result of the pain caused by the loud sound. The police who wasquite close to the object was not able to withstand the pain and fell to the ground, being then spotted by Cagalubias. Elías stopped convulsing, his jerky movements ended, leaving him lying on the ground, as if dead. Then the sound stopped completely.

Elías opened his eyes. Right at that very moment, Cagalubias quickly raised the shotgun in his hand and pointed it at the police and trying to rise from the ground, pulled the trigger and shot. The shells fired at high speed out of the barrel of the shotgun toward the police but quickly lost speed and fell. Elías sat up slowly. It seemed impossible that he was alright. Then Cagalubias pointed at him but before he was able to pull the trigger, right when the pressure was reaching the point needed to trigger the firing pin, the police sprinted across the room and reached his face with a tremendous punch. The kidnapper flew across the room, four teeth whooshing out of his mouth. Then he fell to the ground like a sack of cement thrown from the top of a truck.

About María

THE NIGHT ushered the morning in and the group of survivors remained united and complete. The indomitable rain continued falling incessantly but that didn't matter. Out of the blue, just as it began to rain, it stopped, the unremitting noise of the drops pounding on everything ceased, giving way to silence, a silence that was broken by the voices of joy from the survivors, a joy they will never again feel in their lives.

After a few moments the clouds retreated to expose a gleaming sun. The water disappeared rapidly as if the gates of a dam had been opened, revealing the land, a land full of debris, full of bits and pieces like a battlefield after the war.

Nobody except Maríanoticed that their canine companion was missing. Throughout the night he had been in the water with them, occasionally circling the group to make sure no one was missing, as a sheepdog would circle its herd. María had liked him from the start but that was not unusual as she had always loved animals. But with this dog, she'd felt something a bit special, as if it was hers and had already made up her my mind to stay with the animal, and she even thought it would be fun to walk with it around the woods when things went back to normal again.

María asked the group about the dog. Everyone agreed they had seen it not too long ago but when the rain had stopped the dog seemed to have simply vanished without a trace. It was a very smart dog and would have notrouble finding its owner, María thought. After surviving a disaster like this, one doesn't seem to react logically, no one knew what was going through the survivors' heads. All you could see was their happy faces, marked by the depth of the eyes thathad recordedthe images of the tragedy.

The group broke up when the water receded enough to be able to walk safely on the ground. Each one of them took a different direction, a new course that made them resume their lives.

The Relic

NIGHT ended and the new day arrived but it did not start any differently - the rain kept on falling hard and the town was completely flooded, its lower areas having become fully submerged under water. The whole city was in complete chaos. Survivors took refuge wherever they could, perching on trees or rooftops.

León was still wriggling on the floor, his blood dripping between his fingers, mixing with the water in the room and dying it red. Elías stood upand the strange artefact produced a sharp sound but this time it had less intensity. Then it produced a bluish light that illuminated the entire room. León's blood now mixing with the water and floating on it, stopped expanding and began to return back to his body, as a movie that is being rewound. Before long all the blood entered his body and the wound closed. León looked at his hands, but there were not stained with blood. Then he looked at the wound but could only find a hole in the sweater - there was no trace of the wound. He sat up slowly and stood amazed at not being hurt, feeling his body with the palms of the hands, making sure he really waswell.

Nothing of the sort had happened to Cagalubias because his teeth did not return to his body. The police motorcyclist call out the chief, who was still outside the house. He came in quickly. Then a lot of strange things started happening. First León's miraculous healing. Then Elías looked up to the ceiling of the room, but in a way that seemed as if he could see through it, as if he was looking directly at the sky. Then, the rain stopped, the water stopped falling like a shower tap that had been turned off. Then the clouds receded and the sun shone brightly overhead. Elías smiled.

The chief of police entered the house and was surprised by the scene and by that strange object that emitted the sound and that now radiated a dim blue light.

\- Handcuff this one and I'll take care of the other one -, said the motorist to the chief pointing at Cagalubias with his hand. It was then that Elías approached the police intensely looking at him and after studying him carefully he said:

\- Mouse! Mouse! Is that you?

\- Sir, I believe you are confused as a result of the shock you've suffered - the motorist replied. He was a robust, tough looking man with huge hands which, had hurtled Cagalubias up onto the air leaving his mouth ready for a plastic denture, the kind that haveall the teeth together in one single piece. The chief of police handcuffed the kidnapper, who didn't resist, except for a few moans when the handcuffs were being tightened. The chief helped him to his feet, pulling him from under one arm. Then they left the house and headed for the car still in the driveway.

The water level had dropped significantly and at a surprising speed, but it still covered the wheels of the car and when he opened the back door to push the detainee in, a lot of water rushed out from the interior. The motorcyclist remained inside the house observing León and after a while he said:

  * I think we are all starting a new life today. There is a lot of work to be done in the city and I know you can help.

And without another word, he let him go. He could have taken him prisoner, but what good would that have done. Deep inside he was not a bad man and now they were in dire need of people to help the victims and to rebuild the city. So León walked toward the back of the house, leaving through the same window the police had previously entered through.

During all this time, Elías continued to stare at the police intently. When the two of them were alone inside the house, the big man looked him straight in the eyes and smiled, then said:

-Elías, keep the secret, since our nursery days only my mother calls me Mouse.

Elías smiled back as he headed towards the exit door, put his hand on his shoulder for a moment, and left the house.

About Elías

I went down the steps leading to the porch of the house. The chief of police did his best to get the water out of the car before putting the detainee in. I was leaving behind my old nursery friend, Mouse. As I walked down the last step of the porch I stretched my leg to take the next step. The sidewalk was flooded but as I extended my foot to the height of the water, it moved sideways leaving the pavement completely dry. I stepped over it and continued to advance step by step. The waters parted making way for my feet, forming a kind of wave that stretched as far as the eye could see.

The Relic

MY MAIN POWER CELL had been damaged during the wars in China and as a result, my performance was somewhat limited as I had to rely on the secondary power cell and could not control the governing parameters of the planet with precision. Because of my inaccurate mathematical calculations, the planet began to suffer abrupt changes that often ended in tragic disasters. These errors increased over time as they created a cumulative degenerative misconfiguration. "Hazel Eyes'" children learned to live with it and called them natural disasters. I spent thousands of years trying to solve the problem because I felt responsible for the situation–"Hazel Eyes"had asked me to look after her family and I was failing her.

The problem was amplifiedin the year 1979 C.E. when, due to a freak accident, my central processor failed confusing everything. It was difficult for me to take care of the maintenance tasks of the planet while my thoughts merged with my memories, forming a dream world in which it was difficult to distinguish the actual events from the imaginary. The planet would collapse if I didn't find a way to fix it. I had to unify all my knowledge and find a remedy for the problem, otherwise the planet would suffer continuous cataclysms and would end with all the forms of life it housed.

My knowledge about life was broad, having followed its course from the very inceptionof the planet, so gathering all the information in my possession I worked day and night without a rest. I had to give "Hazel Eyes' "children an opportunity.

Among some of the possible solutions, the most immediate required a long process of at least thirty years. I didn't know whether there would be enough time to save the planet but since it was the most feasible option I needed to focus on it. I needed a young being of reproductive age, and luckily I found him nearby. Using the equipment I controlled the geology of the planet with, and by applying a number of changes in the frequencies, I created the necessary conditions to exert an influenceon the young woman who lived next to me at a cellular level. Through these radio transmissions, I created inside her a being, a living being whom I endowed with intelligence to carry out my work - his mental capacity would be completed after his physical maturation.

The process was very complicated but after nine months a healthy child was born, with whom I established a mental rapport and little by little, every night, I forwarded information of all kinds to him with the intention that one day he'd be able to rule over the planet and if my calculations were correct, just in time to prevent its destruction. The candidate was the perfect woman to take care of the child until his mental capacities were fully developed to do his job. But the estimates did not appear to have been correct and the planet was dying faster than expected. This forced me to accelerate the data transmission process -I had to convey large amounts of information to that boy and this caused his whole nervous system to collapse. I know that for the young man this was an absolute torture but there was no other solution. If I failed to convey him the entire body of my knowledge in time the planet and all its living creatures will perish.

Over millions of years all living creatures lived in harmony on the planet but in a short period of time barely computable in the planet's history, the activities of men who tried to achieve wealth relentlessly driven by greed without measure, had affected the planet to a degree that made it impossible for me to counter the effects of their destruction. The continuous gas emissions into the atmosphere, the highly toxic chemicals used in agriculture, the absurd agricultural methods that required a lot more than they could supply like the irrigated plantations in the desert, the perforation of the earth in search of anything of value regardless of the damage caused, all of these factors drove the planet to a point where life could very well disappear forever.

The damage I suffered in my power cells predicted a catastrophic end for the planet, and the insatiable desire to collect commodities accelerated the process so that even my last resort would not be ready in time.

I have always believed in 'Hazel Eyes' and in her children, and for a long time I had stored inside me all their details, their thoughts, their parameters and their souls but now all would be lost like a drop in the ocean. I resisted this end, I resisted it with all my strength, processing everything that was in my power, I tried to find the formula to save "Hazel Eyes'" children but time was running out, there were just a few hours left, days at most. The raging seas battled, colliding with each other; earth had split opened and swallowed everything on its path, the winds were blowing with such violence that nothing held still on the surface of the planet, the internal heat of the earth, its own blood, was spewed by volcanoes. In other areas the water guzzled everything and others were crushed by the weight of snow and ice.

I had to finish the process, I had to get new energy and recoup the control of the planet. Why was this happening? Was it the first time? Had it never before happened in other worlds? How could one survive this industrialised era in which the only think that mattered were the economic benefits? I didn't understand how the Gardeners had not taken this into account. All my efforts would be pointless, all the work I've done for so long would now be meaningless if everything was destroyed in the blink of an eye. Why did they leave me in charge of the planet if in the end, I wouldn't be able to deal with the damage caused by the beings who inhabited it? Be as it may, I would do whatever was in my hands to preserveso many wonders. I could not leave the souls of the children of "Hazel Eyes" in eternal oblivion, I could not "let them disappear in space and time, as if they had never existed, as if they had never lived. Now I had to work beyond the limit of my own abilities. If time didn't allow me to finish my calculations accurately, I would have to make estimates, approximations, conjectures, something for which a logical machine was not ready, something thatwent against all my programming principles. But now it was imperative that I worked beyond these parameters, I had to make it possible for my last resort to succeed.

A new blow on my structure had separated the old mud head which rolled over on the ground and caused further damage to my already run-down system, so this was my last chance, I had to transfer all my data without waiting a moment. Elías was near me and I proceeded to transmit the entire process, all the data at once. This could collapse his nervous system and kill him or leave him in an irreversible catatonic state but at this point there was nothing else I could do. It was my last chance. For years Elías had received all my information continuously every night and finally the time had run out, now there was only this last transmission left, and hopefully Elías would acquire all the knowledge needed to fix the poor state the planet found itself in. If he didn't, all living beings would disappear without a trace, all their information, their history, their soul, as if they never existed.

I focused all my energy on a single transmission, this caused a deafening sound and all the energy shot out for a few seconds illuminating a large radius of the neighbourhood.

The Relative Speed of Light

We have taken the speed of light as a field of reference but far from being a constant, the speed of light is a variable. It is a constant speed to the observer that measures it from a reference point. However, although it may seem unchanging, in reality it doesn't stop changing as it hurtles through space. We have taken the speed of light as a universal reference, as if this would replace time without taking into account that space itself is formed by the movement of lightitself. Light is both wave and particle, while it is both space and time. It cannot travel faster than it does but it can cross an extension of space larger than a light year in less than a year. Because light itself is space, it can manipulate it by bending and twisting it, even folding it. It is not necessary for a particle to have a mass to cause the curvature of space-time. If space is compressed, light will cover a larger section of it in less time, so from outside this compressed space an observer will see the beam of light moving at more than 300 000 km/s.

An object produces a greater curvature in space as speed increases. In folding time, it also folds space. So, finally, a cosmic explorertravelling through the cosmos taking advantage of these disturbances in space-time, could traverse great distances very quickly and reach thecentre of our galaxy and back without investing huge amounts of time on this trip. He could leave today and come back tomorrow, he could even return before he had left.

As mass is not needed to bend space-time, we can use light itself to bend it, opening a wormhole.

We could be travelling in a slow spaceship and yet we could reach our destination the moment we chose.

Our ship could have a central moving core where light bended space causing disturbances in it as we move through it. Thus, space-time would not affect us. For us, everything would stop and an outside observer would claim that we move faster than light.

About Flat

MORNING crept slowly, they barely noticed its arrival. The night before had been very long and they only managed to survive because they remained together. Their bodies were semi-frozen and the arrival didn't seem it was going to do anything to improve their condition. One constantly wondered why continue fighting, after all the storm didn't seem to have an end, except for brief instants when it seemed to calm down slightly. Some people give up easily, they are not used to fighting. Others, on the contrary, don't give up in difficult times, quite the opposite, they glow with a special light, emanating an energy that radiates strength to others, just like María. Even though she looked physically very fragile, in difficult times the girl was overcome by asort of superhuman strength. Flat didn't pale next to her butin his case, his strength didn't come through, and itwasn't noticeable. He was more like a rock, like a turtle, and in seeing his slow way of acting and thinking, it was easy to reach the conclusion that he was not very smart but as in many other cases, the turtle's plan was better than the hare's. His determination was relentless. Perhaps he didn'tthink fluently and spoke even worse but his will was unbreakable and he was one of those people who could move mountains with a teaspoon. María encouraged the others, telling them to fight to survive, to find the strength within themselves, and if they couldn't, to think about their family members who would need them after this tragedy.

Although the day had risen, the sky was still dark. It was like that sort of unpleasant feelingone gets when things aren't good and can't wait for the sun to appear shining brightly on the horizon, its heat filling you with energy, but no matter how much you wish for it that day never seems to dawn and no matter how much you wait for it, the sun never seems to rise.

The rain eased, but no one noticed it, and then suddenly, it stopped raining. At first, no one could believe it and when they finally came to terms with it, they shouted out ofpure joy. Then, the clouds dissipated and disappeared altogether, displaying a blue sky crowned by a bright sunshine. The water level began to drop rapidly as if someone had pulled the plug of abathtub. Everyone hugged crying with happiness- they were survivors and that was all that mattered.

When the water disappeared altogether, it was time for the rescue team to disband. Although the situation was critical throughout the city, each one of them would have to form their own rescue team and find members of their families. There was much to do but they had learned a lot from Flat and María and now it was up to them, they were now meant to help others, and perhaps also to convey what they learned. There were no goodbyes, they barely exchanged any words, all of them felt in their hearts that they were part of the same family and knew they would remain close wheneverthey needed each other.

Flat walked toward the motel observing the devastation caused by the storm. Everything was upside down, you could find the unimaginable on a tree top, balancing between branches. I will not mention the amount of lifeless beings scattered everywhere.

The motel was built in concrete so it was very solid and Flat's room was high enough, so chances were the waters might not have reached it. People took to the streets and began to form groups, the army and firemen were also out on the city streets creating make shift rescue teams. Everything began to reorganise itself as an anthill does after rain. Flat thought his help might possibly be needed so when he reached the door of the motel, he turned back and headed for one of the hospitals improvised by the Army. They were in need of people for everything -the rescue teams arrived, left the wounded and quickly ran out again. Flat joined one of the groups and went in search of survivors throughout the city.

The rescue tasks were endless, and for many days the search and rescue work did not cease. Gradually the waters returned to their normal course but nothing would ever be the same, people had changed, they realised that they had barely survived and that what really mattered in life was not in distant places but very close to them, in the simplest of things, and that the planet would not tolerate to be maltreated any longer.

The rescue work was coming to an end and Flatdreamt of returning to his pier. So weeks later, when he was no longer needed, he returned to the motel. Everything had changed. He proceeded to his room directly without saying anything at reception. He put the key in the hole without even thinking about what he was going to find in the other side but he was unable to rotate the key in the lock as it had been changed. This, however, was no problem for a master locksmith like himself so he set out to force the door, and just as he was about to have a go at it, the motel maid walked down the hall. She looked at him and walked directly towards him.

  * I know where I know you from, I remember you from before the flood. Yes, yes I remember it well, you left a couple of heavy sports bags in the room, I have kept them for you.

  * Thank you, thank you.

  * By the way, I know it's none of my business, but what do you keep in them?

  * Books.

It was the first thing that came to his head.

  * I knew you were a writer, I could tell by the clothes you wear.

Flat tried to get out of this situation as soon as possible, he didn't like talking to strangers, but she went on:

  * Now I remember what I knowyou from - you're the man on TV.

Flat's heart sank. Was it possible they were looking for him because of the robbery and that his face had been filmed by the cameras in the bank and was now being broadcast in the news? Now, this would be a pickle. What could he do? How would he get out of this one? The best option would be to run away as soon as possible.

  * Yes, you are the one all over the news, the hero who has saved so many people.

In hearing these words, Flat adopted a hero demeanour and nodded with his head. It seems that the woman perceived that certain attractivenessthat Flat had when he was young and kept talking to him and the truth is that he had thought she was a lovely woman from the first moment he saw her. They continued talking and getting to know each other a little better. It turned out they had many things in common - she always had the intention of leaving the city, her job in the motel was only temporary and when she saved enough she'd move to a small house in a village, just like those small towns surrounding the large lake, a quiet village where she could have her own garden. They both felt really good in each other's company, and continued chatting throughout the day and into the night. When the new day arrived, they knew each other as well as if they had known for a lifetime. Then, they made plans together and decided to move to a small town by the lake where Flat would set up his little boatyard and she would have a vegetable garden from where she'd collect everything they needed to live.

That was how it happened, that's how sometimes a man can change his luck, that's how, with some effort, Flatreached his dream.

There was barely anything standing in the pier, but it was still up for sale. He'd have to invest a lot of work to restore it but, on the other hand, the current price was much lower now, so he was able to buy it together with anearby house, where they had plenty of space for the perfect garden. He still had enough money to restore the pier and start building boats, magnificent wooden boats that Flat built unhurriedly and with dedication, achieving a level of perfection and detail that made his customers fall in love with them, clients who soon had to get used to waiting in a long list.

The Relic

WE TEND TO THINK that things are as we remember them, as we know them. We can complain of having led a bad life, a lifetime of hard work, we can even think that tomorrow will be older than today, but this only occurs in our perception of things. Time is not linear - time is a spiral. The temporary spiral is given to us by the movements that take place in the universe, the movements of galaxies, stars and planets. Just as gravity affects tides, it also affects time by making it advance in a spiral motion. If we count seconds passing by as a child who is starting to learn its numbers would, the numbers in this spiral would not follow the usual order where 2 goes after 1 and 3 after 2, rather, we would count in a seemingly absurd fashion, jumping from 1 to 7 and then 2 and 3, only to repeat some numbers like 1 every now and then. This happens in a very small time scale but the effects can be enormous if the spiral is affected by a large mass, it can distort the size of its rings and force it to do even longer leaps in time. If a large celestial body passes near us, like a comet or a large planet in its regular rotational periods, this spiral is distorted by the gravitational attraction of its mass, making us jump back in time without a logical sequence. Thus, a man who is now forty, tomorrow may be twenty and the next day seventyand yet at every point he can only see the past but not the future, so he will think that the timeline of his life has always been straight.

We can complain of having led a bad life, a lifetime of hard work but it may very well be that the day before, we had been millionaires. Then we could ask ourselves: why study history, if tomorrow Napoleon would have never existed? But to us, it will always seem linear, and anyway, these temporal jumps are usually not that large, they generally take place in just a split seconds, not in years or centuries. And even so, whatever it is we do today, we will not be able to change it tomorrow. Moreover, if we think that what we learn today will not be of any use tomorrow, this should not worry us because everyone works and saves money, buys a house and a nice car. Why, though, if we all know we'll be dead tomorrow?

How would we be able to perceive these jumps in time? We would need a machine capable of travelling faster than the speed of light, a machine so light that it would not be affected by gravity. This wonderful invention is within our reach and we use it every single moment - our thoughts, our imagination and our dreams. Maybe that's why, when we get up, we have the feeling of having travelled back in time or having been someone else. It is possible that since thoughts are so fast and light, these are not tied to our temporal perception and are capable of bringing memories of the timeline on which we were moving yesterday, and remember, for example, that yesterday we were eighty years old and today we are fourteen. "HAZEL EYES" used to spend many long hours staring at me. I can't quite understand what she saw in me perhaps the reflections the sun produced on my metal frame caught her attention. She loved sitting across the field and look at me intensely. I too loved watching her. She was rather small – not even five feet tall – and thin. Her skin was tanned and it was generally covered in animal fur to protect her from the cold. On her hair, there were always a myriad of decorations that varied with the seasons. Spring time called for tiny flowers carefully plated in while in winter she seemed to prefer strings dyed in different tones.One ornament or another dangled always from her necklace, usually a fine leather strip and a shell or small mud figurine that she had shaped with her own hands. She belonged to a tribe that had settled near me in a group of very shallow caves they had converted into their home. "Hazel Eyes" had a penetrating look and observed everything with curiosity, trying to make sense of the world that surrounded her as if part of a magical realm. She studied the dancing of the tree tops caused by the wind. She held small insects in her hand, and after examining them and trying to understand what they were, she'd put them back on the ground careful not to harm them. She spent hours observing birds and mimicking their chirping. And then she'd run around me in circles, stretching her arms and moving them up and down as if one of them.

In spring, the green grass of the meadow to my left grew tall and filled with dandelions. "Hazel Eyes" loved to jump on that green mantle and in doing so she ended up covered in dandelions' seeds which were then washed away by the gentle breeze of spring. That beautiful creature was tireless. She could spend hours jumping and playing to catch the seeds fluttering in the wind and when these quivered upwardly towards the sky "Hazel Eyes" would stop her movements, close her eyes and stand still waiting in silence. Then, some of them would begin their descent, gently caressing her face. I would have loved to experience that feeling of soft seeds landing on me like feathers. At times a seed would enter her nostrils, making her sneeze; this was very funny, because "Hazel Eyes" looked so puzzled and baffled by what had just happened.

She always came to see me, except on rainy days. I looked forward to her visits and when the day was sunny, I waited until I saw her appear over the hill, usually humming a melody and happily skipping as she walked.

The arrival of spring was a wonderful time – the huge flocks of migratory birds hovering over me and the almond trees blossoming signalled that spring was just around the corner. In spring everything filled with colour and sound, birds and squirrels revelling in their courtship rituals. Everything filled with life.

"Hazel Eyes" always watched with bewilderment the magnificent world around us. Some days, she would spend the afternoon with me, and in summer she stayed until dark. She laid down on the grass and watched the night sky - the starlight was bright, and we were able to make out the details of the constellations easily. She glanced at the stars through the crystal clear sky, raised her hand and pointed to one of the stars, then moved it aiming at another and so on until forming a figure. It was a magical game. When she finished, the figure she had drawn was left illuminated in the sky, then it faded gently until finally vanishing altogether. Then she began drawing a new figure. And another.

In winter, and especially at the height I used to live, everything was concealed by a white mantle. It was fascinating to see how her footprints soon filled the new virgin snow, just as letters fill a blank page. The animals awaited in their burrows until it stopped snowing, only to leave in a hurry, eager to see the splendid scenery. Everything covered by that thick white coat, a veil of perfect whiteness. "Hazel Eyes" was bewildered by this landscape, thrilled by the first snowfall and the chance to go out and jump on the snow. Sometimes she'd pick up a handful of it in her hands and squeeze it hard, compacting it, and then would lick it to savour it.

When "Hazel Eyes" became older, she made sounds and gestures to try to communicate with me but my program had no data that allowed me to communicate with her. "At first humans invented language to communicate with each other and eventually they perfected it to the point that they stopped talking for fear of corrupting it." When "Hazel Eyes" became older, she made sounds and gestures to try to communicate with me. She loved to see plants blossom, and discovered how, where there was nothing but dirt initially, plants with beautiful flowers and trees with sweet fruits would grow slowly just by depositing a seed. So she began devoting more and more time to this, marvelling in seeing how those beautiful trees grew. She planted different species and went on to create magnificent gardens. She walked with satisfaction, admiring that striking tapestry woven by Mother Nature. She had a large family and taught her children how to care for the land and the plants, and made them understand that all that was needed was a little effort for nature to show her appreciation. If you offered Earth a drink, she'd return the favour by providing you with food.

I don't really know when or for what reason she started acting like a Gardener, and went from observing nature to interacting with it, creating new plants. I guess after much contemplating and observing all living creatures, it awakened in her a deep respect for all of them, discovering something she identified with, perhaps adopting them as brothers, or even as teachers, as it was through watching many animals that she learned how to create those beautiful gardens. It seems that even the wisest person has a lot to learn from an ant or a goldfinch.

She fashioned forests of almond and cherry trees which, when in bloom, filled the world with colour. The appearance of their flowers was the unmistakable sign of the arrival of spring. When the flowers matured, their petals broke away, white as snow, flying gracefully in the dainty breeze. "Hazel Eyes" walked under the canopy of the trees with her eyes closed, her face glancing at the sky, her hands outstretched like wings, small flower petals falling over her. She walked over them, over a swamped land that felt soft under her naked feet. Walking on flower petals was like walking on feathers.

Time passed quickly for me, as quickly as summer comes and goes. That's how I saw "Hazel Eyes" grow older. She no longer came to me skipping or playing. She now found it hard to climb up the slope. The brightness in her eyes seemed to be slowly fading away, that inquisitive look began to crystallise, freezing like water in the cold winter.

The day dawned with heavy rain and the soil filled with mud. Then I saw "Hazel Eyes" walk up the hill. She walked and approached me slowly. She looked at me for a moment and then bent down, and put her hands in the mud, joined them, filled them with mud and brought them to my face. She looked at me again and began to put the mud on my structure. She performed the same operation time and time again to form a figure, a human-shaped figure. After completing the sculpture, she paused to look at me and left immediately. The sun came through the clouds and hardened the mud.

Days later I saw her walk up the hillagain. She was already an old woman and came accompanied by several younger members of the same species. They came closer towards me and "Hazel Eyes" pointed at me with her hand while emitting different sounds with her mouth; all members of the tribe looked at me. "Hazel Eyes" made a soft gesture to the member who, holding her with a clawed arm helped her maintain her balance. He let go of her and she staggered. She approached me bearing flowers in her hands and placed some of them right next to me. Then, she gently lowered her head and all members of her clan did the same. After this, she looked at me and began to say a few words. I didn't understand her language but I knew exactly what she meant; I knew her life was coming to an end and she was thanking me for having made it possible for her to see so many wonders throughout her life. She thanked me for the gift of life and introduced me to her descendants so that I could take care of them when she was gone.

No one had ever treated me well, not even my creators, the Gardeners. Although I was a machine and all my functions occurred through mathematical processes, the speed of my processes was so quick that created (what we could call) asoul or artificial intelligence which, made me be aware of my own existence, and therefore be aware of myself. I really felt bad about that situation because there was nothing I could do to help 'Hazel Eyes'. I would have liked to be able to communicate with her, tell her I enjoyed her company, that I had spent endless joyful moments watching her but I couldn't, I had no means of emitting any sound.

I saw "Hazel Eyes" last time that day and I still often dream of her because although I'm a machine, at night I produce a compilation of all the data collected and while doing so, all the images of the past come to my mind in the form of dreams. I, who was here right from the beginning and will continue to be here right until the end, I would not hesitate a second to change my immortality for a mortal soul, to be able to feel the sun on my skin, to be able to hear the wind, to be able to feel the rain as it lands on my body and breath the air laden with fragrances of scented flowers in spring.

-Now I know you've always been by my side, Iknow you've never stopped looking at me, now I know why I never felt alone, because you were always talking to me. Now I know, father, you will always be with me. I always felt your presence, you were always with me, I am now able to understand it, now I know the reason for all things.

Finally, now everything has a reason and a logic. Right from the start, nothing was left to chance, everything was masterfully thought out and planned by the Gardeners. I, who had begun as a process, as mere mathematical routines, and gradually had become aware of my surroundings and learned from it while creating new beings, now I had merged with a human giving birth to a new being, becoming now a Gardener. Now I knew that even if at some point I felt alone, I had never been. I had always been observed by the Gardeners who had created me with the sole purpose of giving the opportunity to enjoy my life, to become one of them if I so wanted. For a while, I would be among men, until they proved they had learnt the lesson, a lesson they will not forget any time soon. After this period, I would leave for the stars. Now Elías and the probe formed a single being, a being with the ability and knowledge to create life beyond this planet and this solar system.

**About The Gardeners  
**

WHITE SAND, rocky mountains and cold air- there was nothing else in that planet, only stones covered with a fine white dust that resembled talcum powder. Nothing ever changed except when a sandstorm gathered and the winds blew with strength raising the fine dust from the ground and forming huge clouds that covered the entire planet for months. Life was impossible in this planet - the conditions just didn't allow it. The complete absence of water, in any of its states, would confirm, at least from our perspective, that life was totally unsustainable on this planet. It was a small planet in a system with a single star. There were other planets but this was the one selected by the Gardeners.

The Gardeners, as they called themselves, was an ancient civilisation, an extremely ancient extra-terrestrial civilisation - though they were not green nor did they have large oval eyes. They were people like us - well not exactly like us because they were all tall and well-formed and they all belonged to one single race. I guess that since it was such an ancient civilisation, all species eventually merged to form one single species with the best features of each. They didn't communicate telepathically either, they did it like us, with their voices, with the only difference that their voices sounded like music, like the spring in Vivaldi's _Four Seasons_. It may seem surprising that a civilisation that was not born on our planet and had not been part of the process of natural selection that has taken place on this planet since the dawn of humanity, that they would be like us but I don't remember who once said: "Why are all drops of water equal? Because their design is the best possible design there is. Nature, universal physics, have not found a better one."

Other cultures called them the Children of Light because their technology was based on the light of the stars and their clothes were of an almost blindingly dazzling white that filled the darkness with radiance. Other civilisations simply called them creators because it was known that they had created life even in the most remote places of the universe.

A beam shone down from the darkness of the skiesand its blinding light covered everything. A large group of Gardeners emerged from it. Then, they took all sorts of samples from the surface of the planet, and they later left a device on it. The probe, shaped on its upper part like a pair of binoculars, looked very cute, something like a coffee machine or a _tamagochi_.

I can't talk a lot about the Gardeners because I know little about them. They are a civilisation that is constantly traveling between stars and doesn't spend much time in a planet, just enough to carry out their work, to take the necessary measurements and leave the terra-forming probe in it.

The terra-forming probe was responsible for regulating the conditions of this planet so that it could host the life that Gardeners had planted. The probe had to perform many tasks. It was made of a bio-metal that was able to stand the test of time without any signs of deterioration. The probe was also equipped with an antenna through which it kept Gardeners abreast of what happened on the planet. It is not clear when their mission to give life to dead planets throughout the universe incessantly had started. It is said that their civilisation was the oldest known and that when they reached certain level of knowledge,they left in search of their creator, seeking in every corner of the universe without finding any trace of life. It was then, as a result of the despair they felt, that they began planting life in dead planets. It was then that they became creators, it was then that they found the reason for their existence.

They searched for planets where the temperature and the pressure would allow hydrogen to interact because in these planets it was easier for life to exist. It wasn't too difficult to find a good candidate for the purposes of terra-forming. Indeed, given the advanced state of their technology, they could make any planet habitable. If the planet was very large, its gravity would be so intense that it would deter hydrogen from interacting to create energy or life. In this cases, all they did was accelerate the speed of rotation in order to get the centrifugal force that would compensate the gravity produced by the great mass of the planet. In opposite cases, the planet was made to rotate at lower revolutions so the gravitational force of the planet exerted greater force on its surface. The distance from its star was not very important either, because while the heat of the star couldn't reach its most distant planets, their system could produce heat through the gravity exerted by another planet. So they placed a moon in an orbit and a certain rotation determined by calculations made on the planet. This caused a twisting motion on the surface of the planet, and just like when we rub hands they become warm, so did the planet -after being heated by the friction caused by its new moon. Placing a piece of the same planet in orbit was the best option to solve the problems of gravity and temperature simultaneously.

The terra-forming process requires so much time and it depends on so many processes that reaching the point at which a civilisation appears on a planet can take a very long time, because even if two planets start terra-formingat the same time, perhaps when the civilisation that had developed on planet B has the technology to reach planet A, the latter may have already disappeared millions of years ago. This precisely seemed to have happened to the civilisation of the Gardeners – either their appearance in the universe was merely fortuitous, or when they availed themselves of the necessary technology to go in search of their creators, these had disappeared so long ago that they found no trace of them anywhere in the universe.

The binding of different worlds presented more than technical problems - radio broadcasts were pointless. A wave traveling at the speed of light would take a long time to get from one planetary system to another, so that when the transmission finally arrived there would be no one on the other side to receive it. Instead there was another system, a system that cheated the laws of physics. The transmission was performed using powerful lasers. While travelling at the same speed as radio waves, these could be intercepted on their path through an optical system that could almost detect the signal at its source. Even so, transmissions were virtually impossible, since each system, each galaxy, responded to different gravitational characteristics. Their rates of expansion and rotation, together with the gravitational effects produced by nearby stars, caused a particularity in their space. Initially this prevented transmissions between galaxies and Gardeners and could not follow up in detail the course of terra-formed planets.

The reason for this is because time is not linear, it is curved by the speed and gravity of the stars, producing a singular time in each galaxy, a different timeline for each of them, affecting the transmission in the following manner -a transmission from the home planet would send us a series of consecutive numbers in a message, like so:1, 2, 3, 4, 5. As it distances itself from the planet, the various forces space-time is subjected to, will cause us to receive the same message in interstellar space, away from the influence of the galaxy, we'd receive the following message: 4, 1, 5, 2, 3. And when this new message again were to enter the galaxy that was listening, the message in the receiving galaxy would be this: 3, 4, 2, 5. The different temporal states thatthe message has been subjected to, besides being misplacing in its timeline, could also make it lose important parts because time can be stretched until halted, or crushed until it cannot be perceived physically, and thus it would be impossible to count it.

Now, if we think that the effect on the digits is actually being produced in time, on the timeline the message stretches through, we would then be able to imagine that the message was almost imperceptible when received by the target galaxy. To solve this problem and get detailed information of each planet in the universe, Gardeners placed repeater probes, signal decompressors in interstellar space. These stationary buoys in the middle of space received messages from the home planet in deep space where they were not disturbed by the forces exerted by the stars and, from this space, where time was a standard constant throughout the universe, they received all messages, decompressed them taking into account the origin of the planet, and then conveyed the message amongst them in a universal language that would be received by Gardeners wherever they were located.

The Gardeners moved throughout the universe at "Tachyon" speeds that made them travel to different multiples of 'C'. This may seem impossible to us since we tend to believe that the speed of light is an insurmountable barrier but this concept is framed by our perception, by the time factor applied in our galaxy. Gardeners could manage time, they could compress it or expand it. This made it possible for a ray of light to travel at different speeds. Actually this was not so. If a galaxy is located five light years' away, at the speed of light we will take 5 years to reach it but if we can dislodge the seconds in the sum of time by compressing them so much that they become unquantifiable, we would then be able to travel to that same galaxy in the blink of an eye. As a matter of fact, we'd never really be traveling faster than light but we would force the light beam that has to travel the distance to do so in a timeline tied to our galaxy, not to interstellar space. And by manipulating gravity and pressure we would modify the timeline and this would allow us to jump in space-time, making our journey a lot shorter because we will move as a sewing needle in a piece of fabric.

In the eyes of the observer, we would be appearing and disappearing from one of the sides of the fabric, as if we were hopping in time and space, travelling through distances at a speed greater than the speed of light. In reality,that's just an illusionbecause the needle that passes through the tissue would have never travelled faster than the speed of light, it would have simply cut the time and therefore followed a different timeline. While we remain invisible to the observer, we continue travelling at the speed of light, but in a different time line that does not exist for the observer, a compressed timeline in which seconds are crushed to the point that they become countless to the observer. That's why he can't even see us, because he can only see one side of the fabric, he can only see us when the needle passes through its side and doesn't know what is happening when it is on the other side.

**The Relic  
**

THE LIGHT that covered everything vanished - slowly at first but then like a lightningmerging with the stars in the firmament. Suddenly, there was total darkness and I began doing my work, the work for which I had been designed, the work that I most enjoyed doing. I'm not sure whether I had been programmed that way but I couldn't wait to start working. Taking control of the planet would require trillions of mathematical calculations every hundredth of a second. First I had to produce water. Let me tell you that water is not something at all unusual in the universe because the truth of the matter is that you'll find a bit of everything in it, we just need to change the way we see things - where there's rocks I see water, where there's gas I see water. There really aren't different matters, only stellar matter, or what your civilisation calls hydrogen. There's no other matters, no other elements, everything is hydrogen in different states of energy caused by temperature, pressure or time. If you can look at matter just for a moment the way I describe it, you will realise that every single element can be obtained from them because they are all the same. Thus changing the pressure or the temperature we can transform rocks into water and believe me when I tell you that there is no other matter more precious than water.

I remember the first time it rained. It was wonderful - the first drops fell on the dry land, on that fine dust, and there began a magical symphony. Long after, the first vegetation started to appear, at first only comprised of lichens and mosses that partially covered some of the rocks but then gradually the first plants emergedand almost simultaneously the first beings that fed on them.

I only first saw animals a long time after, animals one can see with the naked eye without magnification, but as soon as they appeared, the rate of change accelerated – soon the vegetation covered the entire planet with large trees, animals seemed to grow endlessly, like plants, all of them huge and majestic. It was a time of an incredible beauty but even faster than their appearance was their extinction - perhaps these creatures were too big for such a small planet so that large animals were killed and the younger ones survived. These small animals branched out into many different new species which, although they were not imposing as the old giants, filled everything with sound and colour.

Over time there appeared a group of small beings that had a little resemblance to the Gardeners. They were small creatures that lived in the tree tops and jumped from branch to branch constantly making noises. As time went on, these beings spent more time on the ground and some of them began a rapid process that gradually, made them look even more like the Gardeners, my creators.

I walked slowly down the street. The water quickly disappeared as if earth hand drank it. The sun was shining high in the sky, the clouds disappeared and people watched the event in amazement as they remained in their shelters, on the roofs of their houses, on the trees or from the windows of their homes. Finally, for the first time in life my thoughts were clear and untangled, finally I could see things clearly. Now I was free to go wherever I pleased, I would walk endlessly without having to think about going back, now it would be spring forever. I could see so many things at once! The sun on my face made me feel happy.

It looked as though many things had happened while I was inside, as though many things had changed in a short time, as though the world had been at the gates of hell. Although I had seen nothing of it enfolding, all images were in my mind like a fragmented sleep. I walked without a destination, without a fixed course. I now understood the meaning of the word freedom, being able to walk without having to decide how far to go, walking without a reason allowing your legs to take you wherever they wanted.

In the distance I saw the silhouette of a person approaching - it was a young woman who walked slowly. Her slender figure reminded me of someone familiar, someone I had kept in my mind for a long, long time. Her image became clearer with each step I took towards her and her memory became more vivid with each step she took towards me. I was glad to see her and walked with a smile on my face. She looked at me from a distance and stopped. I walked even faster, not knowing when to stop. Finally I stopped only a meter from her, wishing I could get closer and closer until I was able to touch her skin. She stared at me in silence, then, a few words came out of my mouth:

  * "Hazel Eyes"?

I knew it was not her, but she looked a lot like her. "Hazel Eyes" was very short and this girl was tall, but perhaps my perspective was confusing me because before I stood at a short height over the hill from where I remember "Hazel Eyes" and now my perspective was higher. It really looked a lot like her. She was "Hazel Eyes'" daughter and one who liked a lot like her.

  * My name is María. You are Elías, right?

Heaven is better than an ice cream in summer. Heaven is better than the heat of awarm fire in winter. Heaven is to be able to walk on the clouds, to be able to fly, to be able to reach the stars with one's bare hands. That's how I felt walking beside her. I didn't dare say anything for fear words would make me descenddown from heaven to earth. I could only think about holding her hand, touching her skin, feeling her soft touch on my hands, but I didn't dare. For me, walking beside her and watching her beautiful eyes as we walked, feeling her presence by my side was enough. But in my mind, an idea was brewing, slowly, a single idea - to feel the warmth of her skin. An idea slowly ripening like a fruit on a tree. I had to make a decision but perhaps it wasn't the right one, a very simple decision, a very small movement.

Barely a few inches separated her hand from mine, a few insurmountable inches, a few inches that could change everything. I thought I could move my hand casually as I walked and pretend itcollided against hers so she would not think I had deliberately touched her hand and the expression on her face would give me an indication of what she thought of me. Just a moment of courage. I felt like a coward becauseno matter how much I thought of doing it, I could not bring myself to. Whatever it took, I had to unite all my courage, I could not pass up this opportunity. So I decided to count to three and then make my hand accidentally bump against hers. One, two ... and when all the wheels were in motion to put my plan into action, when my hand was about to cross the little world between us, she took my hand. Then I noticed her delicate touch, her radiant heat and my lips curved in a smile of happiness. A second later I gently squeezed her hand, ascending back to heaven, flying through the clouds with her in my hand.

Love is something magical beyond our understanding, something that overcomes us, something that goes beyond the merely physical world, something that is able to last over time and distance, it is something that makes men different, giving them light in the darkness. It is possible that every person is born with only half a heart and the other half is waiting somewhere in the world to be found, and that when these people find each other, something magical occurs, a union without rings nor ceremonies, a union that will never break up, a union where one fills the other's heart with light, a single soul that feels the same things, a union that is beyond reason. Some think that this is not possible. Some spend a lifetime searching for that soul and never find it but even though the world may seem large, these souls will find themselves without even looking for each other, and they will reunite, for nothing in this world can stop his force.

Just by looking into her eyes, I could feel her sorrows and joys, make her dreams mine, sharing her feelings. I didn't know where she had been for so long, or what she had done throughout my life, but all of that did not matter, it was like meeting another part of oneself, a part that had always been missing, a forgotten part that only appeared in dreams.

The Relic

EVERYTHING WAS ready for launch, all control systems in perfect condition. The green light came on and the countdown started: Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, ignition. The rocket fired its powerful engines. The safety distance was ample but even at this distance the ground vibrated under one's feet and you could feel the great power of the engines throughout your body. This caused a unique feeling in all attendees, a feeling of having participated in the construction of something that went beyond what any man could ever be, a great joint effort, a great technological achievement that would make it possible for the first time to send a man-made device beyond the solar system. A probe that would transmit images of never before seen planets of the solar system and that, after this mission, would go further into deep space, crossing the interstellar space. The ship contained a message, launched into space as a message placed inside a bottle and thrown into the sea, a message about our world and our species, with images, sounds and music, to give someone out there a sample of our civilisation. After these probes, there were to be others, all of them a lot more advanced and carrying a lot more sophisticated scientific instrumentation.

Then came the " _Aceleretron_ " project. This new mission was directed to nearby stars, to which the probe would be rocketedby an electro-cannonas if it was a projectile. The length of the barrel was nearly two miles and it wasn't directed vertically upwards but towards the horizon. Itsrear base was ten meters above sea level and thebarrel's muzzlefifteen, causing the projectile probe to be in contact with the Earth's atmosphere for a long time and, contrary to what it may seem, this was what gave it the impetus towards the stars at a rate at which no other device created by man had travelled earlier. The tube was water-tight and inside it the most absolute vacuum was formed so that the probe could accelerate without any aerodynamic drag. The electromagnets surrounding the barrel left the probe suspended without ever touching the sides of the barrel. Its progressive acceleration during the nearly two miles long journey inside flung the probe at a rate that exceeded fifteen times the speed of sound. The probe was made from a tungsten alloy to withstand the high temperatures to which it would be subjected in its acceleration through the atmosphere.

The small probe weighed only one kilogram and was shaped aerodynamically with large aperturesto allowthe air to enterand then exitthrough a sort of posterior nozzles. In taking off from the interior of the electro-cannon where the void was complete, the probe entered into contact with the atmospheric air. At the very high speeds at which it left, the air entered through the frontal openings and it was compressed inside. Rich in oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen, this air only needed to be compressed by the shape of the probe to be turned into a great fuel. Taking advantage of the air in the Earth's atmosphere to propel the small probe, it achieved the highest speed that man had ever managed to make a probe travel at.

The probe did not work independently. In order to form a complete unit, it was necessary to launch several projectiles and every single one of them was needed. They travelled through space at small distances from each other, as they were fired at short intervals, and each had its own function - one was the transmitting antenna, the other was the mainframe and others possessed the scanning devices selected for usage like sonars, laser gauges and cameras. All the small probes were connected to each other via small range antennas, thus being linked via radio among them they formed a single largeantenna.

This extremely low costs of this new launching system made the detailed study of the solar system and other galaxies possible. After receiving the reports sent by the probes, human beings began planning to these distant worlds. The main goal was to study the geology of these new worlds, but if no fossil history was to be found, if no living creature was discovered, even if it was just a bacteria, then the visiting ship would begin the process of terra-forming, the process of giving life to an inert planet.

The mission - finding new worlds and different ways of life, but at the same time, creating new life. In the same way that those ancestors, in the same way "Hazel Eyes" began to sow the land, now interstellar travellers from planet Earthwould sow life in new planets.

After all, we shared the same genetic program with our parents, the Gardeners.

The Gardeners

I WILL USE terms and words from our language to explain how gardeners obtained and used energy:

Hydrogen can be directly used as energy or as fuel. Energy can be directly extracted from it, through a hydrogen battery that collects all remaining electrons generated by combining hydrogen with oxygen atoms, producing pure water as residue.

There are different methods to extract hydrogen from water but all of them require a lot of energy thus rendering the use of hydrogen to convert it into electrical energy again unprofitable, since to extract it from water via a process of electrolysis we would have used a lotmore energy than we will be able to produce via the hydrogen battery.

The Gardeners' technology was based on natural and organic methods, thus achieving perfect harmony with the world around them.

If the goal is toobtain hydrogen from water, perhaps the easiest way is not to extract it from it but to leave hydrogen where it is. Extracting oxygen presents the same difficulty, however, as what really interests us is the hydrogen, does it really matter if we lose some oxygen? And how can we consume this oxygen in an efficient and simple way? There are many organisms that live in water and consume this oxygen to breathe, then let's give them what they need to live and they'll give us the hydrogen we need.

An algal culture can consume the oxygen from the water at night and produce it during the day. If we can obtain hydrogen when the algae are not producing photosynthesis and consume oxygen and when light acts upon them, then we can extract oxygen. Similarly, there are plants that breathe oxygen and produce hydrogen. Moreover, even more complex organisms as plankton consume oxygen from the water, leaving hydrogen for us. We may also use organisms that reproduce at high speed and are a great devourers of oxygen, such as bacteria. The liquid obtained in this case would be a hydrogen-rich fuel, therefore, this liquid has to be highly flammable, plus we would collect pure hydrogen in the form of gas. This fuel may seem strange but it's frequently found in nature -it's frequently found in marshlands where the oxygen has been consumed by living organismsleaving in the water a vast amount of hydrogen and releasing most of the hydrogen to the atmosphere. This hydrogen has been mixed with some of the waste produced by living organisms, manufacturing a mixture of hydrogen and carbon in the form of a gas known as methane or natural gas. If the mixture is not as rich in hydrogen, it is known as methanol. In the event that there is a lesser amount of hydrogen and it forms a mixture richer in carbon, this will accumulate on the surface of the ponds, forming an oily layer that is a paraffin and can be used as fuel.

In the air we can also find similarly good fuels as in water but with a much lower hydrogen content. We can use most of the quantity in oxygen and nitrogen so we could perform a similar operation if we wanted to extract nitrogen but we can also perform another process - we may use air directly as fuel in internal combustion engines.

The super-compressed air becomes air rich in oxygen and nitrogen, both of them magnificent fuels. Thus, we can introduce the compressed air in an internal combustion engine, as if it were a methane or a propane gas, and burn it as such. To solve the problem of the energy we spend compressing it, we can design an internal combustion engine with a much larger explosion chamber and with a broader piston trajectory, so that it can super-compress the air by itself. Being an engine with individual cylinders, the energy used to compress the air would not be wasted because, being in a parallel arrangement, when one reaches maximum pressure and the explosion takes place in its interior it will move to its opposite so that it automatically compress the air inside.

The Gardeners' binary system was quite peculiar. It provided them with a fairly stable climatewhere changes were not at all pronounced.

The days were not of the same length - some days lasted more than seventy hours and others less than ten. This was due to their two suns and to the speed of the rotation of the planet. They had a sun like ours in the centre of their system and a smaller one on the outside thatrevolved around the first as if it were a planet.

The nights were also like the days - some were long and some very short. Perhaps this was one of the reasons why since the dawn of this civilisation,they had been so fascinated by the lights shining in the sky during those very long nights.

Nobody remembered that there was a time when the Gardeners were composed of different races. With progress, trips from one side to the other of the planet were common and people lived at one end and worked in another. Their means of transportation had progressed so much that one could go from one pointof the planet to another in seconds. Already at this time their technology was so advanced that they did not need to use money and people worked for pure pleasure. This is hard for us to understand but being able to do the job one wants to do is one of the most rewarding things one can do in life. At this stage of development, the different races had virtually disappeared. This is not to say that there weren't anydifferencesbetween them but while each person had diverse traits and there were people with different coloured eyes or hair, most had mixed together, creating a beautiful combination. The perfect combination of all earlier races formed a new one – their skin was dark, a cinnamon colour, they had bright, clear eyes, an athletic physique and a greater intellectual capacity.Countries and nations were forgotten, now even the planet seemed very small. A normal person could have breakfast in a town in the northern hemisphere and attend a meeting thirty thousand miles away in the southern hemisphere in no time. Then, lunch in another city, criss-crossing the planet several times during a single day. So, due to this, they eventually formed a unique breed, a mixture of all the previous ones.

The Gardeners lived in perfect harmony with their surroundings, benefiting from what nature gave them and taking care of all living things, achieving a perfect symbiosis.

They didn't feed their system like we do - their technological advances allowed them to feed directly from the energy, transforming the energy from their two suns into vital energy. Even so they still liked to eat fruits from time to time, not having to wait for a specific date to do so. For example, when they wanted to enjoy a piece of sweet fruit, they approached a tree and they asked for it. Their voices were like a melody, and the tree bloomed immediately and gave them the fruit.

Young children didn't know how to tune their voices very well and often, the tree didn't produce the fruit. Other times, when they succeeded at it, the taste of the fruit was bitter because the fruit was not ripe yet.

They had huge transparent domes spread across the planet. Although they were translucent as crystal, they were composed of a soft, lightweight material that didn't need any type of structure to support it. They were like a bubble of soap. These domes acted as greenhouses, parks, and they were the closest thing to a university. The temperature inside was nice and favoured the growth of plants and animals.

The Gardeners had no schools as we know them, the closest thing they had were these huge parks inside giant bubbles. They strolled on them, listening to what older, and therefore wiser, Gardeners would tell them. One could walk freely around the park and pause to listen to the mythological story of the first Gardeners, or could learn about the advances in technology just by approaching to hear people talking. Groups of young Gardeners gathered around these persons, thrilled by what they were hearing and dreaming that someday, they'll be the protagonists of one of them.

Generally, these groups ofyouth were split into ages because usually, children didn'tlike to listen to mathematical theories and adults didn'tlike to listen to stories for children. Although this was not always the case, as some preferred to keep listening to these stories all their lives and ended up becoming good teachers for children by being able to narrate them againand again, imbuing them with their own ideas. Furthermore, some children also preferred to listen to science classes and ended up being great scientists.

Maráa was one of those persons who, although she was a grown-up woman, she continued to love listening to those stories for children. She also liked to attend science lectures. In her mind she used to tie all the stories to each other, linking fantasy tales with real stories about scientific findings.

\- Yes! Just a pause so I can clarify the topic of names.

Names are something mysterious, something mystical, it is unknown if they were created by the Gardeners themselves or whether they already existed long before they appeared. Of course, they are not written in the same way - the language of the Gardeners is a lot more complex than ours. In addition to the phonetic rules, there are symbols that represent the meaning of the names. The same name can be written in many different forms and this form of writing changes over the life of its possessor. It could be explained roughly as follows: when María was a baby her name was pronounced phonetically in much the same way, there was only one a minor change made to its tone. In seeing the written name one might read something like "Baby María". When her first tooth came out it read: "María a tooth".

As I mentioned, their names would be unreadable to us, but phonetically it sounded like María said by the voice of the wind. Now that she was older, the way in which her name was now written, along with the meaning given by the tone given to the word, meant something like: "María Hazel Eyes".

Elías was a sceptic person. One could say he was practical or logical, a person, as they say, with his feet on the ground. This characteristic had made him a good scientist, especially in the field of physics, where it was best to park one's imagination and use pure logic. He stood out amongst his peers immediately and this did not go unnoticed by the older Gardeners.

One day he was called to appear before the science committee, an honour very few Gardeners could boast about, especially at such a young age. Actually he could not believe it, they had included him in one of their most important scientific projects.

It was the most ambitious project that Gardeners had ever done. The construction of the terra-forming probe was the biggest technological challenge they had faced. The probe should be capable of operating over millions of years, controlling the climate and geology of the planet. Programming it was indeed an arduous task.

The project was left in the hands of two young Gardeners, and supervised by leading scientists in all areas covered by the program. The young members elected were María and Elías, as one had imagination and the other had the mechanical skills. You could tell they were totally opposite people, but this was precisely what was most likely to help them reach their goal together. At first these vicissitudes caused countless conflicts, as one always dismissed the ideas of the other, but finally they unified their ideas and managed to resolve all the problems that the project presented.

They started the project feeling elated by it, but they never thought it would be so laborious. It was an arduous task that took many years of their lives solving countless setbacks.

Elías was responsible for programming the device. Inevitably, after adding so much information to such an advanced machine, it ended up adopting part of the personality of its developer. The machine was like a child who never stopped learning and asking things continuously.

From the beginning, they felt a strange sensation when they look at each other's eyes. Sometimes Elías looked down while talking to María. But as he did so, he felt the need to look at her immediately, to see again those captivating hazel eyes.

It was a strange feeling, a feeling difficult to express, when they were together they were filled with energy and vitality. However, when they separated, they felt sick and drained of all energies. Finally one day after much reflection, Elías decided he had to do something about it. After staring at María all day, he decided he would approach her but every time he tried to walk toward her his feet seemed to be glued to the ground, eventually leading him to abandon his attempt. After a few minutes, María called him and he went over to see what she wanted. She was holding something in her hands and he drew near her to see what it was. Then, in that moment, he took her hand, looked into her eyes as his face moved closer to hers and, finally, their lips locked.

Only María and Elías knew how to operate the probe. The terra-forming probe that they had created was now to be taken to the appropriate planet to do its job. This planet was far away from their system, in another galaxy. One of them would have to leave the planet with the probe in a one way trip on the most important missions the Gardeners had ever embarked upon. But doubts conquered their minds – would it be the right thing to do? Should they move away from each other, putting an insurmountable distance between them, a journey of no return for the good of the cause?

Elías couldn't bear that responsibility, perhaps, he wasn't that strong or didn't have the courage, as it would have been expected from him. He just wanted to live by María, nothing else. He wanted nothing more than a simple life, without heroics. He tried to convince María not to leave and even though he thought she would not leave, one day she vanished. He looked everywhere and could not find her. He asked everyone and finally found the one who had saved her final words before leaving: "Since childhood I have listened to tales of interstellar travels, dreaming to be their protagonist one day myself, and as I got older I have worked with the sole purpose of carrying this mission out. I will leave with the probe that we have built together, to give life to desolate worlds so that new beings can marvel before the grandeur of the universe. I'm leaving, but my heart is here with you and I know that the same God who crossed our paths will help us meet again in the future."

The ship was very small. The best solution to cross great distances is to use a small ship. You may object to our way of thinking but we just have to look at a cheetah and an elephant - being bigger doesn't necessarily mean being faster. María only had a small room, the probe was charging in another specially designed for this purpose. The ship had a system that allowed it to transform electrical energy into vital energy for living things so that María wouldn't need to be fed throughout the trip. Although the trip was long, traveling at such speeds, time could not reach the person, so she really was not aware of time passing by. The whole journey was a blink of an eye.

The ship began its journey moving away with increasing speed. A progressive acceleration which, was the only time when María was aware of the trip. Then everything went dark around her, only a small light at the end of a narrow tunnel remained illuminated. A moment later a terrible noise was heard and the ship began shaking violently. This was expected - leaving the maximum velocity and decelerating, the ship was hit again by the power of the adjoining space. Then she was able to see through the wide roof of the ship, there it was, the entire solar system. The material of the ship was stronger than titanium and from the inside one could see through it as if it were glass. Observing the solar system, she marvelled, approached its star and then travelled near very large planets. Then she reached her destination, a small, grey planet.

The ship landed and the fine white dust rose from the ground, covering everything for a few seconds. Then she lowered the probe and scheduled for it to begin working on this planet.

María left on a starship, on a journey from which she'd never return. A mission that would take her from one end to the other of the universe. For her it would be just a blink of an eye, because when traveling at such high speed, time could not reach her, and what for one person could be a thousand years, for her it would only be a fraction of time so small that it would be impossible to compute.

Elías spent endless days in solitude -then months and then years. But nothing changed for him. The pain was not dimmed by the passing of time, only the hope that one day he could meet her again kept him alive.

He spent much time locked in his lab, trying to find a way to meet her. But even if he'd found a way to get to her, when they'd met he'd be either very old or have already died of old age. The laws of physics made it a problem impossible to solve. So to get back to her, he would have to disregard those laws or reinvent new ones. And even if he worked day and night he would not find a valid method before many years had passed. He accepted all methods without ruling out any possibility. Thus began working with processes and techniques that would not be approved by his species. He mixed the most advanced methods with older and already forgotten ones, sinister methods that had been buried by the passage of centuries. He became a dark being who seemed to lack life or soul. A being who stood in the darkness of his lab and never felt the sunlight. Would he have had shadow one could have deducted he was not a ghost but his shadow had left him long ago.

To prolong his own life and thus have more time to reach his goal, he absorbed the life energy of other beings, others losing vitality by his presence, some even wasting away and suddenly falling to the ground.

This was how he maintained himself young for a long time, for so long that he himself had lost count of the years and the centuries that had gone by.

He continued working unstoppably, relentlessly, and though he had lost almost everything, even his own identity, he never lost, or never even diminished his love for María by the slightest.

Rumours spread among the Gardeners like smoke blown by the wind. Tales of an unnatural being, legends that spread over the years. The Gardeners could not approve of this. It was a situation that conflicted with all their beliefs, opposing their lifestyle.

Finally a committee met to discuss the matter and to find a satisfactory solution for it. They ordered the capture of Elías but this was to prove notan easy task as no one could approach him without being sucked its life energy. But based on the legends told about him, they found out that older people were not affected by his power.

Elías continued to work in his laboratory. After all this time, he was still working as eagerly as he did on the very first day. His life in seclusion, isolated from the world, had even made him pronounce his ideas out aloud. The voice that once had been soft and melodious, like a song, had now become dry and sharp, like the screams of a dying animal.

Why had they separated their souls? Why did they rip their hearts out? Who had allowed this to happen? What God had shown him the light only to let him live in the dark? He kept wailing as he worked, looking up, staring at the infinity, launching his words towards the sky.

A noise interrupted his conversation. He looked up and saw a large number of people - they were elderly Gardeners, more than the naked eye could tell. They surrounded him, making it impossible for him to escape. The circle of people was girding on him while he threw voices of despair, words of pain and anguish that damaged the ears of anyone that would listen. He was caught as a vermin and brought before Congress.

The hearts of Gardeners who attended the trial had never felt a similar sharp pain, a sadness like the one conveyed by the eyes of Elías. A few tears even slid through the cheeks of some of the attendants and although for us it could be normal for them it was strange and unknown.

The verdict was carried out immediately - Elías was placed in a state of hibernation in a capsule, thus freezing his body and soul. Then, it was launched into space, leading him to an endless journey through the universe. An endless journey through the interstellar obscurity, traversing the vast, darkdistances between galaxies. Even with his vital functions halted, he continued to dream of reuniting with María one day.

High Energy Particles- Time Travellers

THE PARTICLE known to Gardeners as high energy particles are those that remain in a permanently energised state due to its natural composition, as may be the case of uranium, or with an external application of energy, as can happen when heating up a material.

An increase in the energy produces the agitation of the atoms, increasing their speed of movement. The atoms that make up matter may seem still to us but they are really moving at high speeds, as the electrons revolving around them generate a singular effect on them. High rotating speeds can give atoms weight and a gravitational pull on its surroundings. If we acceleratetheir speed, we can make the atom literally evaporate before us. This is because we have increased its speed and we have decoupled it from the gravitational forces to which we are all bound by, circumventing even the actual order of time.

The high energy particles would not be tied to our timeline and would disappear to our eyes. And this, which may seem totally amazing, is something we are used to. When we heat water, for example, we add a lot of energy to these particles and when they acquire a certain speed they jump in time, their perception of time being different from ours because they are travelling faster. But if they travel in time, we should see them appear in a near future, and this is precisely how it happens, because when we heat a certain material, theparticles sent to the future leave a residual trace we can measure - their temperature. Particles will travel further the greater the energy we apply to them. In the case of uranium, for example, we can measure the radiation it leaves in space after it has been removed from a specific place.

Thus Gardeners unified the laws of the very large and the very small.

Particles follow all universal rules and as they cannot travel faster than the speed of light, when they are about to reach that speed, they disappear: "the speed of an atom is not only measured by its movement, it is also linked to the rotational speed of the electrons".

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