for Brandon and his hamster...
and really anyone else who feels like reading my science-fictionized fairy tale
(sorry, i lost your email address)
When scientists discovered the Novopocetak system, they were elated. Humans had spread and colonized three different star systems, but still their numbers grew and the need for more “elbow room” soon became apparent. It was apparent for nearly three centuries, during which they failed to find even a hint of a potentially colonizeable planet. Until the day Dr. Rupic gazed into his telescope (on a whim, no less!) and saw the tell-tale traces of human-friendly gases circling the system. The discovery was three centuries late, but at least it was not too late. You can imagine their elation - the scientists’, that is.
In less than three decades, they finished their preliminary studies of the atmosphere and pressure of each of the five planets within the system and determined that only one, Lijepa, was fit for human habitation. A research team was dispatched and, upon landing, “just knew” it was exactly the sort of place humanity needed. The vegetation was, generally, non-toxic and no doubt could be integrated into the colonists’ diet within the first generation, essentially eradicating, by the third, the need for shipments of prepared Earthen vegetables and fruits.
The native animals (even if some were a bit strange) were generally disinterested and harmless, even displaying some signs of potential domestication. The most common of these were the quadruped vertebrates that resembled, at least in basic shape, the old Terran dogs. The only difference, really, was the size of their eyes, whose circumferences ranged from the size of a krad, to the size of a redwood’s trunk. But they supposed this was a direct adaptation for the uncommonly long nights that fell on Lijepa, sometimes leaving only one hour of daylight, and never offering more than five.
As dismal as the prospect of a nearly constant night may seem, to the scientific team, it was just one more reason this planet was a godsend. Combined with the strange, but no less breathable gases in the atmosphere, the extended night (they hypothesized) would reduce the need for Pans, Dr. Dupan’s mysterious pills that controlled and dimmed human feeling and emotion. They had been integrated into society at the universal government’s request many years ago, to keep the people from becoming hostile and rebellious as a result of their tight living quarters during the three centuries that scientists searched and failed to find habitable planets to which people could extend. Only government officials, scholars, scientists, and some artists were exempt from having to take Pans, since some research had suggested they muddled, not only human feeling, but also logic and reasoning. After Novopocetak was discovered, however, the people had built up a dependence to the drugs and the government, now enjoying very much their naively docile subjects, shook off the medics’ warnings of an increased dependence for the drug and the dangers this could cause, and Pans continues to be rationed out to the people. On Lijepa, however, it seemed there was some sort of natural intensity reducer for human emotions and with the effect of the extended nights on all humans’ psyches, the need for Pans would soon disappear.
After running many tests, they determined this to be the case and sent back word opening the planet for colonization. People came from all over the settled galaxy to forge new lives on Lijepa, and, upon landing, “just knew” they had found their Beautiful New Beginning - just as was promised.
Our story begins some generations following the initial colonization of Lijepa. The planet was prospering nicely, as were its inhabitants. The need for processed fruits and vegetables from Earth had indeed been eradicated. The dog-like creatures (now called yex) with the oddly large eyes had proved to be domesticable; however, due to an incidence at the initial landing involving a supposed witch and three of these creatures, they had since earned the reputation of being witches’ familiars, and were not as common of pets as the initial exploration team had supposed. The colonists’ need for Pans had been erased much sooner after colonization than expected. However, the Lijepans were oddly devoid of any feelings or emotions (more devoid than simply as a result of Pans or the atmosphere). While this lack of emotion certainly hid fine aspects of life from them (such as pure joy or innocent love), doctors and governments alike reasoned that it also kept them from any dangerous thoughts or feelings, so did not worry about the situation.
There was one Lijepan, however, who seemed to be somewhat immune to this lack of feeling. While she certainly could not be considered dangerous or hostile, or even excessively jubilant or bubbly, Pandora did possess a certain curiosity in regards to the world around her. While curiosity would not necessarily be considered a strong emotion, it threw Pandora into sharp contrast with the generally disinterested population around her. However, because of their disinterest, the Lijepans failed to notice anything odd about Pandora, or if they did, they didn’t think twice about it, so never reported her and she managed to escape the ever-watchful eyes of the universal government (which was probably a good thing because, had they found her, she certainly would have been placed on a strict regimen of Pans and that would have been the end of that.) But as it was, Pandora continued to pass a happily peaceful and curious existence on Lijepa.
One day, Pandora was wandering through the woods and came across a very odd tree. Many Lijepan children had probably happened upon this tree; however, none had ever thought anything about it. Pandora, however, driven by her curiosity went up to the tree to inspect its strangeness. She walked around it several times and could not figure out why it seemed so strange. It was certainly not of any remarkable size or shape, and it was the usual blue-green color of all Lijepan trees. It did not seem to have any unusual fruit within its leaves, nor was there anything of consequence living in its branches. Yet, there was undeniably something strange about this tree. Something that piqued her curiosity as nothing had before. She sat down in its roots to think, and the answer fell into her lap - or rather, she fell into its.
As she sat down and leaned against the trunk, it suddenly gave way and she found herself falling and eventually sprawled somewhere underground, presumably under the tree. It may have occurred to her to worry a bit about her surroundings, particularly since the air underground did not contain quite the potent desensitizing gases as the air above, but, she did not recognize that niggling twinge in her gut as “worry,” so she dismissed it. And besides, she was curious to discover where she was and why she was here - actually, where was “here?
She stood up and, groping around her, realized she was at the end of some sort of passageway. She decided to continue walking and see where it led.
She walked along for a short time until she came to what felt like a door. She felt along the wall for the palm sensor she assumed would be there to open the door, but there was none. Perplexed, she placed her hands on the edge of the door; perhaps, the sensor was hidden somewhere in the frame - she had heard of doors like that. Still no response. She ran her hands over the door’s smooth surface and hit a bump. It was some sort of circular protruding object. She put her hand on it and was amazed to find that her entire hand fit over it. She pushed, pulled, prodded, and eventually turned the knob. The door swung open and she stepped through.
She stood in a dimly lit chamber. She looked around, wondering where the light came from and saw that it was emanating from the eyes of an animal. It was a yex. Its two bright eyes looked to be the size of her mother’s antique tea saucers, which for a yex, was really not that large.
Using the light from the yex’s glowing eyes, she looked around the room. She noticed a chest on the other side of the yex. She went to it, half expecting the yex to move, or bark, or something. It did not and she opened the chest. Inside was a heap of shiny cowry shells - the Lijepan monetary standard. Pandora couldn’t believe her eyes. She was rich! Why, with half these cowries she would be the wealthiest person in the world! Having seen no sign of humans up until now, she decided they probably did not belong to anyone and she filled her pockets with the shells.
Her pockets full, she looked up and saw a second door, opposite the one she had originally come through. Wondering where this one led, she stood up and, seeing a knob like on the other one, opened the door and stepped through.
She was in a second chamber, but this one was larger and more brightly lit than the first. Also like the first, there was a yex sitting by a chest. This one’s eyes, however, looked to be the size of the wheels of her father’s cart. That would account for the greater light in this room, and she wondered if the chest was also bigger and what was in it. She walked over to the chest and found that, sure enough, it was bigger than the first. She opened it and found it to be full of little wooden circlets. She recognized these to be krads, the universal currency. With these she could travel! She could go to other worlds and her krads could be used, unlike these old useless cowries, which were only good on Lijepa. She emptied her pockets and refilled them with krads.
She stood up and, to her astonishment, saw another door opposite the one she had used to enter the room. This one also had a knob like the other two and, turning it, she opened the door and stepped through.
She found herself standing in an even larger chamber, lit as brightly as though she were outside. She saw a third yex sitting by a third chest. This yex, she noticed, had eyes as big around as the trunk of the tree through which she had fallen. While she had heard that yex eyes could be this big, she certainly had never seen one, and perhaps the pounding of her heart, seemingly in her throat, was in response to her fear. But, no matter, what was “fear” to Pandora, anyway? She was, however, mightily curious to see what was in this chest. She went over to the chest and, somewhat put off that it was smaller than the other two, opened it.
Inside was a little box. She pulled it out and saw there were markings on it. On the top it said “Tinderbox” in Common, but along the sides was something written in a language she did not understand. She puzzled over it a bit and then dismissed it. After all, there were no other languages anymore, everyone spoke Common. So the markings were probably just that - markings. Not knowing what a tinderbox was, she slid the top off and felt herself welling up with what one might call “excitement.” She may not have known what a tinderbox was, but she did know what was inside - fire! Or, at least, the tools to make fire. She was astonished. Everyone had heard of fire, of course, but no one had actually seen it for years! At least as far back as the Colonization, she thought, maybe even further! But here she was, holding what she knew were the tools to make fire.
Without hesitating, she emptied her pockets of the krads and put the little tinderbox in their place. She ran back through the various rooms and passageway and up to the forest. (If she had not been so excited, she would have noticed that she got back up to the world by curious rungs that had been worked into the passage wall. As it was, however, she did not notice.)
Once back above ground, she found a little clearing and sat down, eager to begin experimenting with making fire. She examined the tinderbox and its contents, deciding that perhaps the best way to start would be to strike the contents against each other and the box - it did appear to be designed to be used this way, after all.
She struck the contents once and was delighted to see a little spark. She was also quite confused when she heard a voice behind her saying, “You summoned me, master?”
She turned towards the voice and saw the yex with eyes the size of tea saucers from the cowry room staring at her.
“Summoned you?” she asked.
“Certainly. You struck the tinderbox once, that is my Summoning. Now that you have summoned me, I will do whatever it is you ask.”
“Well, this is quite unexpected,” she replied. “I don’t know that I need anything just yet.” She paused. “Except, doesn’t the spark need to attach to something to become fire? Yes, I believe that is correct. Could you bring me something for that? Something the spark can attach to?”
“Right away.” The yex disappeared and immediately reappeared carrying dozens of dry twigs.
“Thank you very much,” Pandora exclaimed at his return. The yex left the sticks with her and returned to his room.
Pandora arranged the twigs in what she hoped was a suitable arrangement for the spark to attach to them. She picked up her tinderbox and, holding it near the twigs, sparked it twice, willing the twigs to catch the spark. They did not catch, but the sparks were bigger and brighter than the first one, and she took heart from that observation. She was mildly surprised to hear a voice behind her.
“You summoned me, master?”
“Oh, I didn’t mean to call you aga-“ she began, but turning around, saw, not the first yex she was expecting, but the yex with the eyes the size of her father’s cart’s wheels. “Let me guess, two sparks is your Summoning, right?”
“Precisely. Now that I have been summoned, I will do whatever it is you need me to do.”
“Well,” she replied, “these twigs don’t really seem to be catching the spark and making fire. Perhaps you could bring me something that would work a bit better?”
“Right away.” The yex disappeared and returned with a string wrapped in colored wax. Pandora stared at it, wondering what it could be.
“Candle,” said the yex. “It is a candle, they catch sparks very well, or rather, the string not covered by the wax does.”
“Thank you very much,” exclaimed Pandora. She reached for the candle and the yex disappeared, presumably back to his room.
Pandora held the wax part of the candle and placed the tinderbox close to the string. She sparked it three times and, sure enough, the little string of the candle caught fire. It glowed with a purple-blue flame that danced about the string. Pandora was positively exuberant. She had made fire! In her exuberance, she did not notice the third, largest yex behind her until he spoke.
“You summoned me, master?”
She jumped at the sound, and dropped the little tinderbox. When it hit the ground, it sprang open, although not as it had opened before. The top did not slide off, as it had for Pandora. Instead, the entire top portion popped off and the box now lay in two pieces. A female voice issued from the box.
“Greetings to the one who has found my little tinderbox. I think by now you probably realize that it is not a usual tinderbox, either by the way it summons my yex, or else, if you have managed to create a flame, by the discoloration of the flame itself. No, this is not ordinary tinderbox. But before I tell you of the secret of the box, I will give you a bit of my own history, perhaps it will make this whole ordeal a bit easier to understand.
“My name is Cassandra. Cassandra Depan, to be exact, and yes, my grandfather was the infamous Dr. Depan, the man who created the potent desensitizing drug you know as Pans. I grew up around his lab, for I was just as interested in the value and essence of human emotions and feelings, but for a different reason. My grandfather wanted to dim them. He believed that too often humans run their lives by emotion rather than relying on logic, therefore this emotion must be dimmed so the logic and intellect of the human mind can shine through. I disagreed.
“By the time I was old enough to really begin learning about his work, I had seen the way Pans turned people into desensitized, unfeeling wretches, and I vowed to do all I could to change them. I warned my grandfather that I would undo his work, but he did not believe me. He did, however, ban me from visiting his lab, but by this time it was too late. I knew all his secrets of how to capture the essence of emotion. All I needed was a way to transfer it, unnoticed to all the people who had become Pan-dependent zombies. This is where my tinderbox came in.
“By manipulating the chemical and atomic composition of emotion, I managed to turn it to a gaseous state. The gas was perfect - it was invisible, and nearly untraceable. Furthermore, it is a gas that is let off by a flame, but does not become potent and “active” until breathed upon. Thus my tinderbox - it creates the flame that emanates my feeling-gas.
“Now all I needed was a place to release my flame. It would be no good on one of the planets full of people now too dependent on Pans to even know what feeling was, but then they discovered Lijepa - the planet with the mysterious atmospheric makeup whose colonists would not need Pans. I was one of the first to sign up for the initial Colonization. Although my grandfather had banished me from his lab, he still kept a soft spot for me, his only scientifically gifted descendant, and he left me a significant portion of his wealth when he died. I took this money with me to Lijepa so that I could have a comfortable living, but focus only on my experiment.
“Upon landing, I immediately began to put my plan to re-sensitize humans into action. Naturally a bit of a loner, I settled in the woods, where I found three yex and, after giving them a bit of feeling, and essentially humanizing them, I worked at training them to carry out my plan for me, in the event of my death before I was finished. All that this training accomplished was that they picked up on human speech patterns and learned to speak.
“They are very bright animals, and, knowing their speech is only because of the bit of humanization they were given, they always respond to the sparking of my tinderbox.
“I am getting on in years now, and realize I will not be able to bring my plan to fruition - people here are still taking Pans and I cannot waste my precious gas. So I am making this recording in the vain hopes that someone will happen across my tinderbox, although most will doubtlessly be sidetracked by the remains of my wealth that I leave in various rooms of my house, but perhaps someone will find this box. If you do, I beg you, please conclude my experimentation and re-humanize yourselves. All you must do is create a flame from the tinderbox and have the largest yex blow it out into the wind, for he has stronger lungs than a human and the gas will permeate the planet more quickly and efficiently. The gas will be carried through the atmosphere and the damage of the Pans should be undone. Thank you, Cassandra.”
Pandora listened to the recording through once more, trying to puzzle out exactly what this Cassandra woman meant. She must be the infamous Colonization Witch, which would mean this box had been underground for quite some time. She looked at the yex as if it might be able to offer some advice. It did not speak and she sighed. She certainly didn’t feel desensitized, like an unfeeling wretch, as this woman thought, but perhaps that was just because she didn’t know any better. She couldn’t really see any harm in doing what Cassandra had asked, and, after all, it was a dying woman’s last wish, and she should probably honor it, if only for that reason. And she had to admit she was a bit curious to discover what these “emotions” and “feelings” really were.
Her mind made up, she turned to the yex and said, “There is one thing you can do for me. Could you please go over to my little candle and blow the flame out into the wind.” She couldn’t mask the disappointment of losing her fire, but the contents of the tinderbox were still here, and perhaps they could create another flame for her - a normal flame.
“Right away,” the yex replied and walked over to the candle. He bent his head down and blew it out and into the wind.
All over Lijepa, people stopped in their tracks, wondering what this new sensation was. A woman in the main town suddenly realized that she was desperately worried about her elderly mother, and rushed home to be with her. A man a block down the street was overcome by anger at his disobedient children and rushed out of the house, for fear his anger would overcome his mind and he would hurt one of them. In the next neighborhood over, an angsty teen felt himself fall into a depression as frustration and bitterness at the struggle of life hit him, full-force.
As tragic as these sudden emotions were (for Cassandra’s flame released the entire spectrum of human emotions into the atmosphere of Lijepa), they were buffeted by the presence of the often-overlooked, but no less potent, pleasant emotions. A toddler found herself overcome by a fit of giggles and rolled around in the purest glee. A young couple suddenly realized they were more than just mates, but lovers. And everywhere, people began experiencing the emotion that is at once a gift and a curse: the feeling that reminds us all, even in the midst of anger and despair, what it is to be human. All across Lijepa, people found themselves learning what it was to hope. And hope they did, which led them to live happily ever after.
http://hca.gilead.org.il/tinderbx.html - the original fairy tale...
(sorry, i lost your email address)
When scientists discovered the Novopocetak system, they were elated. Humans had spread and colonized three different star systems, but still their numbers grew and the need for more “elbow room” soon became apparent. It was apparent for nearly three centuries, during which they failed to find even a hint of a potentially colonizeable planet. Until the day Dr. Rupic gazed into his telescope (on a whim, no less!) and saw the tell-tale traces of human-friendly gases circling the system. The discovery was three centuries late, but at least it was not too late. You can imagine their elation - the scientists’, that is.
In less than three decades, they finished their preliminary studies of the atmosphere and pressure of each of the five planets within the system and determined that only one, Lijepa, was fit for human habitation. A research team was dispatched and, upon landing, “just knew” it was exactly the sort of place humanity needed. The vegetation was, generally, non-toxic and no doubt could be integrated into the colonists’ diet within the first generation, essentially eradicating, by the third, the need for shipments of prepared Earthen vegetables and fruits.
The native animals (even if some were a bit strange) were generally disinterested and harmless, even displaying some signs of potential domestication. The most common of these were the quadruped vertebrates that resembled, at least in basic shape, the old Terran dogs. The only difference, really, was the size of their eyes, whose circumferences ranged from the size of a krad, to the size of a redwood’s trunk. But they supposed this was a direct adaptation for the uncommonly long nights that fell on Lijepa, sometimes leaving only one hour of daylight, and never offering more than five.
As dismal as the prospect of a nearly constant night may seem, to the scientific team, it was just one more reason this planet was a godsend. Combined with the strange, but no less breathable gases in the atmosphere, the extended night (they hypothesized) would reduce the need for Pans, Dr. Dupan’s mysterious pills that controlled and dimmed human feeling and emotion. They had been integrated into society at the universal government’s request many years ago, to keep the people from becoming hostile and rebellious as a result of their tight living quarters during the three centuries that scientists searched and failed to find habitable planets to which people could extend. Only government officials, scholars, scientists, and some artists were exempt from having to take Pans, since some research had suggested they muddled, not only human feeling, but also logic and reasoning. After Novopocetak was discovered, however, the people had built up a dependence to the drugs and the government, now enjoying very much their naively docile subjects, shook off the medics’ warnings of an increased dependence for the drug and the dangers this could cause, and Pans continues to be rationed out to the people. On Lijepa, however, it seemed there was some sort of natural intensity reducer for human emotions and with the effect of the extended nights on all humans’ psyches, the need for Pans would soon disappear.
After running many tests, they determined this to be the case and sent back word opening the planet for colonization. People came from all over the settled galaxy to forge new lives on Lijepa, and, upon landing, “just knew” they had found their Beautiful New Beginning - just as was promised.
Our story begins some generations following the initial colonization of Lijepa. The planet was prospering nicely, as were its inhabitants. The need for processed fruits and vegetables from Earth had indeed been eradicated. The dog-like creatures (now called yex) with the oddly large eyes had proved to be domesticable; however, due to an incidence at the initial landing involving a supposed witch and three of these creatures, they had since earned the reputation of being witches’ familiars, and were not as common of pets as the initial exploration team had supposed. The colonists’ need for Pans had been erased much sooner after colonization than expected. However, the Lijepans were oddly devoid of any feelings or emotions (more devoid than simply as a result of Pans or the atmosphere). While this lack of emotion certainly hid fine aspects of life from them (such as pure joy or innocent love), doctors and governments alike reasoned that it also kept them from any dangerous thoughts or feelings, so did not worry about the situation.
There was one Lijepan, however, who seemed to be somewhat immune to this lack of feeling. While she certainly could not be considered dangerous or hostile, or even excessively jubilant or bubbly, Pandora did possess a certain curiosity in regards to the world around her. While curiosity would not necessarily be considered a strong emotion, it threw Pandora into sharp contrast with the generally disinterested population around her. However, because of their disinterest, the Lijepans failed to notice anything odd about Pandora, or if they did, they didn’t think twice about it, so never reported her and she managed to escape the ever-watchful eyes of the universal government (which was probably a good thing because, had they found her, she certainly would have been placed on a strict regimen of Pans and that would have been the end of that.) But as it was, Pandora continued to pass a happily peaceful and curious existence on Lijepa.
One day, Pandora was wandering through the woods and came across a very odd tree. Many Lijepan children had probably happened upon this tree; however, none had ever thought anything about it. Pandora, however, driven by her curiosity went up to the tree to inspect its strangeness. She walked around it several times and could not figure out why it seemed so strange. It was certainly not of any remarkable size or shape, and it was the usual blue-green color of all Lijepan trees. It did not seem to have any unusual fruit within its leaves, nor was there anything of consequence living in its branches. Yet, there was undeniably something strange about this tree. Something that piqued her curiosity as nothing had before. She sat down in its roots to think, and the answer fell into her lap - or rather, she fell into its.
As she sat down and leaned against the trunk, it suddenly gave way and she found herself falling and eventually sprawled somewhere underground, presumably under the tree. It may have occurred to her to worry a bit about her surroundings, particularly since the air underground did not contain quite the potent desensitizing gases as the air above, but, she did not recognize that niggling twinge in her gut as “worry,” so she dismissed it. And besides, she was curious to discover where she was and why she was here - actually, where was “here?
She stood up and, groping around her, realized she was at the end of some sort of passageway. She decided to continue walking and see where it led.
She walked along for a short time until she came to what felt like a door. She felt along the wall for the palm sensor she assumed would be there to open the door, but there was none. Perplexed, she placed her hands on the edge of the door; perhaps, the sensor was hidden somewhere in the frame - she had heard of doors like that. Still no response. She ran her hands over the door’s smooth surface and hit a bump. It was some sort of circular protruding object. She put her hand on it and was amazed to find that her entire hand fit over it. She pushed, pulled, prodded, and eventually turned the knob. The door swung open and she stepped through.
She stood in a dimly lit chamber. She looked around, wondering where the light came from and saw that it was emanating from the eyes of an animal. It was a yex. Its two bright eyes looked to be the size of her mother’s antique tea saucers, which for a yex, was really not that large.
Using the light from the yex’s glowing eyes, she looked around the room. She noticed a chest on the other side of the yex. She went to it, half expecting the yex to move, or bark, or something. It did not and she opened the chest. Inside was a heap of shiny cowry shells - the Lijepan monetary standard. Pandora couldn’t believe her eyes. She was rich! Why, with half these cowries she would be the wealthiest person in the world! Having seen no sign of humans up until now, she decided they probably did not belong to anyone and she filled her pockets with the shells.
Her pockets full, she looked up and saw a second door, opposite the one she had originally come through. Wondering where this one led, she stood up and, seeing a knob like on the other one, opened the door and stepped through.
She was in a second chamber, but this one was larger and more brightly lit than the first. Also like the first, there was a yex sitting by a chest. This one’s eyes, however, looked to be the size of the wheels of her father’s cart. That would account for the greater light in this room, and she wondered if the chest was also bigger and what was in it. She walked over to the chest and found that, sure enough, it was bigger than the first. She opened it and found it to be full of little wooden circlets. She recognized these to be krads, the universal currency. With these she could travel! She could go to other worlds and her krads could be used, unlike these old useless cowries, which were only good on Lijepa. She emptied her pockets and refilled them with krads.
She stood up and, to her astonishment, saw another door opposite the one she had used to enter the room. This one also had a knob like the other two and, turning it, she opened the door and stepped through.
She found herself standing in an even larger chamber, lit as brightly as though she were outside. She saw a third yex sitting by a third chest. This yex, she noticed, had eyes as big around as the trunk of the tree through which she had fallen. While she had heard that yex eyes could be this big, she certainly had never seen one, and perhaps the pounding of her heart, seemingly in her throat, was in response to her fear. But, no matter, what was “fear” to Pandora, anyway? She was, however, mightily curious to see what was in this chest. She went over to the chest and, somewhat put off that it was smaller than the other two, opened it.
Inside was a little box. She pulled it out and saw there were markings on it. On the top it said “Tinderbox” in Common, but along the sides was something written in a language she did not understand. She puzzled over it a bit and then dismissed it. After all, there were no other languages anymore, everyone spoke Common. So the markings were probably just that - markings. Not knowing what a tinderbox was, she slid the top off and felt herself welling up with what one might call “excitement.” She may not have known what a tinderbox was, but she did know what was inside - fire! Or, at least, the tools to make fire. She was astonished. Everyone had heard of fire, of course, but no one had actually seen it for years! At least as far back as the Colonization, she thought, maybe even further! But here she was, holding what she knew were the tools to make fire.
Without hesitating, she emptied her pockets of the krads and put the little tinderbox in their place. She ran back through the various rooms and passageway and up to the forest. (If she had not been so excited, she would have noticed that she got back up to the world by curious rungs that had been worked into the passage wall. As it was, however, she did not notice.)
Once back above ground, she found a little clearing and sat down, eager to begin experimenting with making fire. She examined the tinderbox and its contents, deciding that perhaps the best way to start would be to strike the contents against each other and the box - it did appear to be designed to be used this way, after all.
She struck the contents once and was delighted to see a little spark. She was also quite confused when she heard a voice behind her saying, “You summoned me, master?”
She turned towards the voice and saw the yex with eyes the size of tea saucers from the cowry room staring at her.
“Summoned you?” she asked.
“Certainly. You struck the tinderbox once, that is my Summoning. Now that you have summoned me, I will do whatever it is you ask.”
“Well, this is quite unexpected,” she replied. “I don’t know that I need anything just yet.” She paused. “Except, doesn’t the spark need to attach to something to become fire? Yes, I believe that is correct. Could you bring me something for that? Something the spark can attach to?”
“Right away.” The yex disappeared and immediately reappeared carrying dozens of dry twigs.
“Thank you very much,” Pandora exclaimed at his return. The yex left the sticks with her and returned to his room.
Pandora arranged the twigs in what she hoped was a suitable arrangement for the spark to attach to them. She picked up her tinderbox and, holding it near the twigs, sparked it twice, willing the twigs to catch the spark. They did not catch, but the sparks were bigger and brighter than the first one, and she took heart from that observation. She was mildly surprised to hear a voice behind her.
“You summoned me, master?”
“Oh, I didn’t mean to call you aga-“ she began, but turning around, saw, not the first yex she was expecting, but the yex with the eyes the size of her father’s cart’s wheels. “Let me guess, two sparks is your Summoning, right?”
“Precisely. Now that I have been summoned, I will do whatever it is you need me to do.”
“Well,” she replied, “these twigs don’t really seem to be catching the spark and making fire. Perhaps you could bring me something that would work a bit better?”
“Right away.” The yex disappeared and returned with a string wrapped in colored wax. Pandora stared at it, wondering what it could be.
“Candle,” said the yex. “It is a candle, they catch sparks very well, or rather, the string not covered by the wax does.”
“Thank you very much,” exclaimed Pandora. She reached for the candle and the yex disappeared, presumably back to his room.
Pandora held the wax part of the candle and placed the tinderbox close to the string. She sparked it three times and, sure enough, the little string of the candle caught fire. It glowed with a purple-blue flame that danced about the string. Pandora was positively exuberant. She had made fire! In her exuberance, she did not notice the third, largest yex behind her until he spoke.
“You summoned me, master?”
She jumped at the sound, and dropped the little tinderbox. When it hit the ground, it sprang open, although not as it had opened before. The top did not slide off, as it had for Pandora. Instead, the entire top portion popped off and the box now lay in two pieces. A female voice issued from the box.
“Greetings to the one who has found my little tinderbox. I think by now you probably realize that it is not a usual tinderbox, either by the way it summons my yex, or else, if you have managed to create a flame, by the discoloration of the flame itself. No, this is not ordinary tinderbox. But before I tell you of the secret of the box, I will give you a bit of my own history, perhaps it will make this whole ordeal a bit easier to understand.
“My name is Cassandra. Cassandra Depan, to be exact, and yes, my grandfather was the infamous Dr. Depan, the man who created the potent desensitizing drug you know as Pans. I grew up around his lab, for I was just as interested in the value and essence of human emotions and feelings, but for a different reason. My grandfather wanted to dim them. He believed that too often humans run their lives by emotion rather than relying on logic, therefore this emotion must be dimmed so the logic and intellect of the human mind can shine through. I disagreed.
“By the time I was old enough to really begin learning about his work, I had seen the way Pans turned people into desensitized, unfeeling wretches, and I vowed to do all I could to change them. I warned my grandfather that I would undo his work, but he did not believe me. He did, however, ban me from visiting his lab, but by this time it was too late. I knew all his secrets of how to capture the essence of emotion. All I needed was a way to transfer it, unnoticed to all the people who had become Pan-dependent zombies. This is where my tinderbox came in.
“By manipulating the chemical and atomic composition of emotion, I managed to turn it to a gaseous state. The gas was perfect - it was invisible, and nearly untraceable. Furthermore, it is a gas that is let off by a flame, but does not become potent and “active” until breathed upon. Thus my tinderbox - it creates the flame that emanates my feeling-gas.
“Now all I needed was a place to release my flame. It would be no good on one of the planets full of people now too dependent on Pans to even know what feeling was, but then they discovered Lijepa - the planet with the mysterious atmospheric makeup whose colonists would not need Pans. I was one of the first to sign up for the initial Colonization. Although my grandfather had banished me from his lab, he still kept a soft spot for me, his only scientifically gifted descendant, and he left me a significant portion of his wealth when he died. I took this money with me to Lijepa so that I could have a comfortable living, but focus only on my experiment.
“Upon landing, I immediately began to put my plan to re-sensitize humans into action. Naturally a bit of a loner, I settled in the woods, where I found three yex and, after giving them a bit of feeling, and essentially humanizing them, I worked at training them to carry out my plan for me, in the event of my death before I was finished. All that this training accomplished was that they picked up on human speech patterns and learned to speak.
“They are very bright animals, and, knowing their speech is only because of the bit of humanization they were given, they always respond to the sparking of my tinderbox.
“I am getting on in years now, and realize I will not be able to bring my plan to fruition - people here are still taking Pans and I cannot waste my precious gas. So I am making this recording in the vain hopes that someone will happen across my tinderbox, although most will doubtlessly be sidetracked by the remains of my wealth that I leave in various rooms of my house, but perhaps someone will find this box. If you do, I beg you, please conclude my experimentation and re-humanize yourselves. All you must do is create a flame from the tinderbox and have the largest yex blow it out into the wind, for he has stronger lungs than a human and the gas will permeate the planet more quickly and efficiently. The gas will be carried through the atmosphere and the damage of the Pans should be undone. Thank you, Cassandra.”
Pandora listened to the recording through once more, trying to puzzle out exactly what this Cassandra woman meant. She must be the infamous Colonization Witch, which would mean this box had been underground for quite some time. She looked at the yex as if it might be able to offer some advice. It did not speak and she sighed. She certainly didn’t feel desensitized, like an unfeeling wretch, as this woman thought, but perhaps that was just because she didn’t know any better. She couldn’t really see any harm in doing what Cassandra had asked, and, after all, it was a dying woman’s last wish, and she should probably honor it, if only for that reason. And she had to admit she was a bit curious to discover what these “emotions” and “feelings” really were.
Her mind made up, she turned to the yex and said, “There is one thing you can do for me. Could you please go over to my little candle and blow the flame out into the wind.” She couldn’t mask the disappointment of losing her fire, but the contents of the tinderbox were still here, and perhaps they could create another flame for her - a normal flame.
“Right away,” the yex replied and walked over to the candle. He bent his head down and blew it out and into the wind.
All over Lijepa, people stopped in their tracks, wondering what this new sensation was. A woman in the main town suddenly realized that she was desperately worried about her elderly mother, and rushed home to be with her. A man a block down the street was overcome by anger at his disobedient children and rushed out of the house, for fear his anger would overcome his mind and he would hurt one of them. In the next neighborhood over, an angsty teen felt himself fall into a depression as frustration and bitterness at the struggle of life hit him, full-force.
As tragic as these sudden emotions were (for Cassandra’s flame released the entire spectrum of human emotions into the atmosphere of Lijepa), they were buffeted by the presence of the often-overlooked, but no less potent, pleasant emotions. A toddler found herself overcome by a fit of giggles and rolled around in the purest glee. A young couple suddenly realized they were more than just mates, but lovers. And everywhere, people began experiencing the emotion that is at once a gift and a curse: the feeling that reminds us all, even in the midst of anger and despair, what it is to be human. All across Lijepa, people found themselves learning what it was to hope. And hope they did, which led them to live happily ever after.
http://hca.gilead.org.il/tinderbx.html - the original fairy tale...