Atle Zeiner: STORIES ABOUT SOMETHING, ANYTHING, OR NOTHING

I like magic! One early morning I was dreaming. That is I believed I was dreaming. I heard some early morning birds chirping so I am not sure. When I turned around in bed there was a small box there. A real box. It seemed to be empty. Nothing rattled inside. I opened the box and discovered some crumpled papers. Something was written on the papers, and I started reading chapter 1.

SOMETHING

- There is something, John said.

- Something? Jill answered. - I can neither see nor hear anything. I guess it is your imagination. There is nothing.

- There is something!

- I cannot see anything.

- You are not looking!

- Don’t be a fool!

- You mean I am a fool, John said, almost stuttering.

- Why not? Everybody is a fool sometimes. That is a fact. You don’t know when sometimes occur. It can be now, tomorrow or next year. You never know. Maybe today is your day?

- You are joking. I would appreciate if you could stop interrupting and let me do the talking. Where was I!

- You saw something.

- There was something. That was what I said. Don’t interrupt!

- Sorry.

- I want to lie down in the grass and wait for the something to come back. If you want to, there is room for you, too. Just close your eyes and keep your mouth shut.

Some minutes passed. A light breeze rustled in the treetops. A few bumblebees were buzzing around.

- There is something from the past. Something long forgotten and not remembered, John whispered.

- Cannot be! Now is now, and that is it!

- Could you please stop talking?

- OK.

At first there was only a shape not easily discerned from the trunks of the trees. Then a man emerged. He had long unshevelled hair and wore rustic clothes. In his left hand he held onto an axe. The axe was bloody. He looked around as if he felt there was danger lurking not far away.

- Where am I, the man asked as he saw John and Jill.

- You are here, John answered.

- Is this the Sherwood Forest? It does not look like.

- Kind of, John said, - that is, what is left of it. I guess you are safe, but I do not feel safe when you are carrying that axe.

The man let the axe fall down in the green grass.

- Where do you come from, John asked.

- That is a long, a very long story. I think there is not time enough to tell that story. By the way, which year is it?

- New year was just a few days ago. We are in January 2018. But who are you? Your clothes show that you are not really at home in our time?

- Thank you! No, this is not my time. My time is – what can I say? I am a time traveller. Sometimes here, other times there.

The man looked anxiously around.

- I have to leave now.

Then he disappeared from view behind a tree and was gone.

- That really was something, Jill said.

- I guess this is not the end of the story. Can’t be.

- At least it was more than nothing. We will see.

End of chapter 1. To be continued in chapter 2.

I like magic! Early next morning I was dreaming. That is I believed I was dreaming. As on the previous day, some early morning birds were chirping so I am not sure. When I turned around in bed, the small box was there. Nothing rattled inside. I opened the box. There were some sheets of paper. I started reading chapter 2.

ANYTHING

- A time traveller, Jill whispered. – If anything is weird, that is it.

- Not that weird. Are we not time travellers all of us?

- What about that bloody thing he was carrying? He could have killed us!

- Time travellers do not kill. If they do, they change the course of history. That is not possible, John said.

- How can you be so cocksure about that? I think anything can happen. What if we go where we were yesterday and lie down in the grass?

- If you want, I have no problem. The only thing is that the place and the grass are not the same. Everything changes, you know. OK. Off we go.

- Here we are, said Jill. – I guess this is the place from the other day. The Sherwood Forest or what is left of it. Let us lie down.

Some minutes passed. A light breeze rustled in the treetops. A few bumblebees were buzzing around.

- It seems nothing happens, John muttered.

- Sh! You just have to be quiet, you moron! Have patience and anything might happen. Close your eyes, and you will see.

- How can I see when my eyes are closed?

- Just keep quiet.

There was a slight change in the bumblebee sound, and the air was kind of crisp, fresh.

- Didn’t I meet you before, a man’s voice asked.

The man carried an axe in his belt. On his right hip a sword was sheathed in its scabbard.

- Are you looking for the Sherwood Forest, Jill asked. Her voice was shivering.

- This is the Sherwood Forest, the man said. – Don’t you see all the trees? Many a day’s walk if you are lucky enough to find the way out. However, that is the least of my worries. I carry this sword, Excalibur, and I am looking for King Arthur. He needs the sword and the scabbard. The warrior who carries the scabbard will never bleed to death.

- I have heard the story, John said, - but the story is not of our time.

- This is not your time. This is the time of King Arthur. We have to go to the island of Avalon where the king is waiting for us lest he bleeds to death. I will do anything to save his life.

- Not our time?

- No, it is not!

- Wait a second, Jill protested. – Do you know what you are doing? You cannot change history. You know that Morgan Le Fay, Arthur’s half-sister, stole the scabbard. It is in her possession now.

- I will do anything to save King Arthur, the swordsman exclaimed.

- You can’t! Arthur belongs to the mortals. He cannot be saved. But don’t worry. I have another solution. If we move back some hundred years there is another man who needs the scabbard. We have to hurry. He is soon succumbing from his wound.

- That is changing history, the man protested.

- You changed that history two thousand years ago. You were the time traveller then as you are now. If we do not leave from here, there will be no Jesus Christ and no Christians. The crucifixion of Jesus will only be one of many. He needs the scabbard now!

A blast of thunder made Jill and John rise up.

- What did I say? Anything might happen.

- And I was wrong. I thought nothing would occur.

John shook his head

End of chapter 2. To be continued in chapter 3.

I like magic! Early next morning I was dreaming. That is I believed I was dreaming. As on the previous days, some early morning birds were chirping so I am not sure. When I turned around in bed, the small box was there once again. Nothing rattled inside. I opened the box. There were some sheets of paper. I started reading chapter 3.

3. NOTHING

- I think nothing is going to happen today, Jill said.

- Why do you think so, John asked. – Let us go and lie down in that grassy field.

- Do you think the time traveller will appear?

- I have my doubts about that, but who knows?

And so they went to the meadow and lay down. The grass was lush and green. Some early morning dewdrops shone like diamonds in the warm sunshine. A cold wind gust rustled in the grass. Then something blocked off the sun. It was the time traveller. This time he wore a Russian peasant’s kosovorotka.

- I have a gift for you, the time traveller said. – It is a gift from the past. You can keep it or dispose of it. The choice is yours. However, you have to listen to my story first. It is a long story. Someone thinks it is a neverending story. It is about Stalin’s dagger. I will tell you how it came into my possession.

- Here is the story as it happened to me.

It was April in Moscow. I don’t remember what day, but the year was 1956. I was sitting on a stone bench looking out on the Moscow River. From time to time I took a swig from a bottle of vodka hidden in a brown paper bag between my legs. Freezing cold it was.

At first I didn’t notice him, the man who sat down next to me. As my Russian was very poor I only nodded when seeing him. To my surprise he greeted me in impeccable English. I handed him my bottle, and he gulped down two mouthfuls.

Then he began talking.

Before the bottle was empty he had told me his life story. When he disappeared I realized he had forgotten something. A small oblong package was lying on the cold stone bench. I wanted to call for the man, but he was gone. I never saw him again.

I untied the string. And behold! There it was. The dagger the stranger had talked about. Josef Stalin’s dagger! According to the man it had belonged to Djengis Khan in former times. There were seven red rubies on each side of the silver handle. Fourteen rubies! I wondered why?

The dagger was cursed. At least that was what the stranger had told me. No wonder he had left it behind. Now it was up to me to decide what to do. Fourteen rubies! They certainly were valuable. Should I remove the stones and throw the dagger in the Moscow River?

No, I said to myself. This dagger has a story to tell. Only a time traveller can reveal that story. I decided to keep the dagger.

End of chapter 3. To be continued in chapter 4.

4. MORE – STALIN’S DAGGER

Jill and John were listening.

- We want to hear more, John uttered. – Tell more.

- I have the dagger here, the time traveller said. - But take care. If you touch it, the dagger is yours.

- Is it that dangerous, Jill asked.

- You bet. Why do you think Stalin behaved as he did? I know because I deposited the dagger in a flowerbed in the town of Gori in Georgia. Joseb, or Soso as those close to him used to say, was very interested in flowers as a child. His parents were Besarion and Ekaterina Jughashvili. Joseb found the dagger in the garden at young age, but did not tell of its existence to anyone. In fact, nobody knew about the dagger. His mother, Keke, knew nothing.

- How did you manage to get rid of the dagger, Jill wondered.

- I took care not to touch it. I wrapped it in a silk handkerchief. That is what you have to do, and that is what Stalin did not do.

- He was not aware that the dagger was cursed?

- Joseb was only a child, you know. Anyway, how could he have an idea of it? Still someone knew. Lenin knew the first time he saw the dagger. That was the reason that he did not want Stalin to be in charge of the Sovjet Union. Everyone knows what happened later in that country.

- Did Stalin keep the dagger until he died, Jill asked.

- Yes, he did. Even at the Potsdam conference in July 1945 he brought it in a scabbard hidden under his tunic. That was when he met Harry Truman, the American president, for the first and only time. The two of them had a walk in the park when Stalin showed Truman the artefact. He even let the president touch it.

- How do you know?

- I was there, the time traveller said. – The Second World War was close to its end but for the stubborn resistance of the Japanese. A nice weapon, I remember Truman said. A short time after the Americans dropped two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

- What happened to the dagger after Stalin died in 1953, John wondered.

- That is another story.

Then the time traveller disappeared.

- I hope he will come back, said Jill. – I really want to see that dagger.

End of chapter 4. To be continued in chapter 5.

5. LINDISFARNE

- Where did it come from, Stalin’s dagger, asked Jill.

- I think the time traveller talked about Djenghis Khan, did he not?

The wind rustled in the aspen leaves. At the same time the sun disappeared behind a summer cloud.

- You will have to follow me, a voice whispered. – You will have to go with me to Lindisfarne.

The time traveller was standing right behind them in his dishevelled clothes.

- Lindisfarne? Why Lindisfarne?

The time traveller looked down on Jill with a smile in his greenish blue eyes.

- You wanted to know more about the dagger?

- Yes, Jill answered.

- Then off we go!

Suddenly the air got misty. The contours of the landscape kind of vanished. They heard a swell of waves against the shore, and then the sun broke through.

- This is Lindisfarne in the second week of June in the year of 793. Do you see the sails out there in the northeast?

- Yes, they look like Viking ships. I am quite sure. That is not possible! All the Viking ships I know about are in museums, John said.

- These are not. Remember this is 793.

Less than an hour later, the ships sailed up on the shore. It was low tide. A ragged bunch of men with battle[AZ1] -axes jumped into the shallow waters. Only a few of them stayed on board.

- Is this real, Jill worried.

- This is what it was or is like when Vikings plundered the Lindisfarne monastery. Neither of you need to be afraid. They cannot see us. Watch out now to see what they are doing.

Soon after the wooden buildings were ablaze. Some of the monks were killed. Others were brought on board the ships. The marauders carried artefacts of silver and things of value to the ships. One tall man brandished a dagger over his head.

- Do you see that dagger, the time traveller asked.

- Yes.

- See how it glitters in the sun! That is Stalin’s dagger.

- How did it come to the desolate island of Lindisfarne?

- That is another story. Believe it or not – that dagger was the start of the Viking raids in the years to come. The Vikings did not know, but I know. The curse of Stalin’s dagger hit everyone who touched it.

The sun was setting in the west, and mist was coming from the sea. Soon it was not possible to see anything.

- They were real, the Vikings, John asked.

Jill nodded.

- The time traveller went away, too. He is nowhere to be seen!

End of chapter 5. To be continued in chapter 6.

6. THE BUTTERFLY QUEEN

- What is fluttering in the air, here, and there, and everywhere, John said.

- Don’t you see? They are butterflies! I think they are wonderful. The butterflies make me forget what time is. Very different from the time traveller.

- By the way, where did he go? I want to know more about Stalin’s dagger.

A large colourful butterfly settled on Jill’s shoulder.

- Do not worry, it said.

- You can speak?

Jill winced.

- Sure I can speak. All butterflies can speak if people cared about listening. Most do not. That is how things are. You wanted to learn about Stalin’s dagger?

- Yes.

- That is an almost never-starting never-ending story. Maybe I should start in Lindisfarne?

- Lindisfarne? How do you know?

- I was there, and I saw everything. The monks had gardens full of flowers, and when monks perished, and with them flowers later, I knew this was no place to stay. That is why I hid inside a chest and went east together with the Vikings. We arrived in a land of plenty. Lots of flowers and butterflies everywhere. People were happy, too. That is, until the Vikings came back and brought the dagger with them. I do not know if it was all the gold and silver or the dagger, but everything changed. It was as if there was darkness even if the sun was shining. Where there was happiness there was greed and fighting. Everyone who saw and touched the dagger, wanted to leave and hunt for treasures.

- I have heard about the age of the Vikings, John said.

- What did they win when the day was over? They could not eat the gold and silver. Many lost their lives, others lost an arm or a leg.

- How you know, Jill asked.

- I am the butterfly queen and my destination is to live forever. I flutter around together with the time traveller.

- So you know the time traveller?

- Yes. When I am around, he normally is very close even if he is nowhere to be seen. We followed the dagger on its way to the east. The land was divided in half by sky and earth. I preferred the warm summers to the cold winters. I wondered where the dagger were to go, and where it came from. On the way east the dagger disappeared. Rumours said that a boy named Temüdjin found it. That is another story. I chose to trace it back in time and went west to the land of milk and honey. What I remember there, is the pungent smell of thyme in the fields.

End of chapter 6. To be continued in chapter 7.

Paradise Lost? If I do not remember wrong, that was a poem by John Milton, published in 1667. I was intrigued, wondering who wrote all the short stories in the box. Not possible that the author was John Milton?

No, this is John Milton: “Of man’s first disobedience, and the fruit

Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste

Brought death into the world, and all our woe,

With loss of Eden, till one greater man

Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,”

No, the author has to be someone else. That mystery would have to wait. Anyway, I continued reading.

7. PARADISE LOST

It was summer. Bumblebees were buzzing and butterflies fluttered in the light winds. Jill and Johan were relaxing under a canopy of blue sky dotted with small white clouds.

- So, said Jill. – Where is the time traveller today?

- He will come. No doubt about that.

They waited and waited, and then fell asleep. John and Jill woke up when someone touched their shoulders.

- Ssh, said the time traveller. – Watch out!

Under a big tree full of the most wonderful red apples were two people. None of them had clothes on. It looked like the woman urged the man to bring her an apple.

- Do you see the silk cloth close to the trunk of the tree, the time traveller asked. – That is where I put the dagger.

When the man did not move, a rooster crowed three time. Then the woman found the dagger, picked one of the apples, cut it in two pieces, and they started eating. A heavy rainfall followed, and there was no visibility.

- What is this, John wondered. – What will happen next?

- Just wait and see, the time traveller said in a low voice.

The rain stopped, and two small boys appeared on the scene. They were growing fast. After few minutes had passed, they were full-grown men. They were quarrelling close to a small brook. Then the oldest and strongest found a knife and killed his brother.

- Is the man lying there bleeding no one else than Abel from the Bible, John asked.

- Might be, whispered the time traveller.

- Then why did you give that dagger to Adam? Not very nice if you ask me.

- Paradise is no place for men to live, said the time traveller. - Just try to imagine for yourself.

- I would have no problem about living in the Garden of Eden together with Jill. Not very different from lying here in the grass watching the blue sky. However, why are we here? If this ever occurred, it is not our concern. Is it?

- What is your concern then? You do not want me to come back?

Before John was able to answer, thick fog covered everything.

- Do you think he will come back, Jill asked.

- We will see.

End of chapter 7. To be continued in chapter 8.

8. ALOIS SCHICKLGRUBER

- Will the time traveller arrive today, John asked, looking at Jill.

- Just close your eyes and wait. He will come as he does every day.

The leaves of the aspen trees were rustling in a weak breeze, and there he was. The time traveller.

- In Herrengasse in Vienna there is a coffeehouse named Café Central. That is where we will go today. I hope you like coffee, the time traveller said.

- What is interesting about that place, Jill wondered.

- Not very much. However, we will visit the café in the summer of 1913. You just keep quiet. Then we mingle with the guests if we find a table to sit down. Café Central was a meeting place for a plethora of people at that time. You will see.

- That man sitting smoking a cigar? Is it Sigmund Freud or not? Yes, it has to be him.

- Yes, it is Sigismund Schlomo Freud. In later life he got cancer from excessive cigar smoking.

- The young lady sitting at his table, who is she?

- That is Sabina Nikolayevna Spielrein.

- I think I have heard her name. Was she not shot dead by an SS death squad near Rostov-on-Don together with 27,000 mostly Jewish victims?

- That happened later. But have a look who is coming there!

- It is Adolf Hitler, John and Jill exclaimed. – He looks young. It seems that he knows Freud?

- Not too much, but he contacted Freud before he left home because of problems with his father. Aloïs Hitler.

- I have heard that Adolf’s father was Aloïs Schicklgruber, John asked.

- That was his mother’s surname. His father’s was Hiedler, but someone in the family changed it to Hitler.

- I think you have arranged this meeting!

John look the time traveller straight in his eyes.

- Here are other customers who I think I know. That man sitting playing chess there. He looks like Leon Bronstein. And whom is Adolf Hitler contacting? The one with the pockmarked face.

- It is Stavros Papadopoulos, a Greek national. At least that is what his passport says.

- No, it is not. Why is he carrying that dagger? Is it not Stalin’s dagger? And the small man sipping coffee alone? It has to be Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov! Take care! Do not let Hitler touch that dagger! This is about the future of Europe!

- It is too late. I am sorry. The two of them have met before.

- I want you to stop this, Jill exclaimed.

- I cannot, the time traveller almost whispered.

- What about the other guests in Café Central?

- They do not know. Adolf Hitler has no idea about his role in the years to come. As for now his hope is to be an artist. You see that man in the corner, reading a newspaper? His name is Josip Broz. Later he will be the leader of Yugoslavia under the name of Tito.

- So close to changing history, and we can do nothing.

- Yes, the time traveller said.

Jill and John heard a rustling in the aspen leaves, and Café Central faded away.

End of chapter 8. To be continued in chapter 9.

9. ADOLF HITLER

- Adolf Hitler, John said. – I feel a chill creeping down my spine when uttering that name. It is as if the sun disappears behind a black cloud and raindrops of blood start falling.

- There he is, Jill cried. – The time traveller!

The air grew misty, the landscape dissolved for a few moments. Then it reappeared, but everything had changed. Bumblebees were buzzing, and dragonflies were hovering.

- Where you brought us today, John asked.

- Do you like the place? This is the Daeli Lake or Dælivannet as they say in Norway.

- Yes, it is nice, very nice. Adolf Hitler was of the same opinion when he visited the lake together with Vidkun Quisling. Adolf had heard about the lake when he had plans of being a painter back in Vienna. Together with Quisling he visited Fleskum farm and together they walked down to the lake. It was a summer’s day just like today. Do you see the blue damselflies paddling over the water lilies? Hitler was enthralled with what he saw.

- I can very well understand why he liked the place, Jill said. - It has an air of tranquillity and peace even today. Why did he not stay?

- He had small money, and Quisling would not help because probably he had no money, too. This was where and that was why their friendship ended just here.

- Only a small amount of money could have changed history and the lives of millions of people?

Jill was surprised.

- Yes, the time traveller said. – This is how things work.

- I think I want to go for a swim.

- That is exactly what Hitler and Quisling did. The water was lukewarm and yellow and white waterlilies were clinging to their arms on the way out to the deep part of the lake.

- Then Hitler went back to Vienna, Jill asked. - He met Stalin in Café Central, and things unknown at the time to the persons present happened?

- Yes.

- I have never heard that Hitler visited Norway?

- He did not tell, and nobody cared.

- So if Quisling had some money to spare, it is possible that he had stayed in Norway. It is weird to think that these bluewinged damselflies are the offspring of the damselflies from more than a hundred years ago.

- You know, said the time traveller, - that almost everything is interconnected at some level. It is like magic.

- At some level, Jill asked.

- Most people want to find reasons for everything. They ask why, and they eventually find answers all the time. It is amazing.

- Do I really want to go swimming in the same lake where Hitler and Quisling were enjoying a swim long time ago?

- Up to you, Jill, the time traveller said.

A second later Jill went head first into the water between the water lilies.

End of chapter 9. To be continued in chapter 10.

10. YOU

Then there was no more. The paper was white. White. I flipped the page. Nothing. I put the paper back and closed the box. Then opened it one more time. I do not know why.

All of a sudden letters appeared – 10. YOU

I like magic for sure. However, this was weird. I was alone in the room. No doubt about that. Then more words popped up, one after the other.

You are the maker of these stories, I read. Stalin’s dagger is real as far as your imagination created it. I moved my eyes sideways and downwards, and it seemed the sheet of paper lived its own life. I started from the top. To my surprise what was under the first few lines disappeared. I started reading from the beginning.

10. YOU

- You are the maker of these stories. Stalin’s dagger is real as far as you imagination created it. Yours is the power of creation, but remember, keep remembering that you have to reign in this power. You can only open a few of many doors. You have to take care. Once you have opened one, the others are closed for you. The story of you lives its own life far beyond your control.

This was interesting! I had never experienced anything similar. My mind was bubbling. What was happening? I continued reading.

- You are swimming in a lukewarm sea, and reaches the shore of an isolated island. As you rest in the sand, you wonder if you are the only living human being here. You are thirsty. The sun is relentlessly hot.

What did I want to do? Yes, what did I want? I stopped reading for a brief moment. Thinking. Imagining. Sure I wanted many things. But I had to choose. Choose what? The time traveller? I had to decide and go on reading.

- You rise up. You want water. There has to be water around. You walk along the beach close to the sea, and detect a small stream. Crystal clear water is caressing round pebbles. You lie down and drink you fill. The stream comes from somewhere.

Somewhere? Where was somewhere? I wanted to know. Definitely! I had to continue reading. Was my mind playing me tricks? Somewhere. No more words to read. I had to stop thinking and start reading.

- You hear the sound of water trickling over and between pebbles. The surroundings are lush and green. Blue damsel flies are hovering in the air, wings moving in slow motion.

The time traveller. Were I to meet him some place? I was not sure. My head was boiling like a pot of steaming water. Thoughts were ricocheting inside my skull.

- You see a small waterfall ahead, across a small pond full of waterlilies. A sweet fragrance fills the air. Close to the waterfall a young woman is sitting, here legs crossed one over the other. You know, or at least you should know – this woman is destined for you and you are destined for her.

A mighty thunderclap followed. The page was empty. No more words. Only white paper.

End of chapter 10. To be continued in chapter 11.

11. CATCHING DREAMS

Between awakening and sleeping there is a thin gossamer that you are not allowed to cross and cannot touch. In this state of unreality you can do whatever you want. The laws of physics do not apply.

It is summer. Warm. A few featherlike clouds are drifting in the horizon. You know they are there, but you cannot open your eyes because the magic spell will evaporate. Still you can see without seeing. You breathe air full of fragrance from plants and flowers that is in a hurry to fulfil what they have to do before autumn closes in.

You hold the hand of a girlfriend from times long time lost. Both of you are young and a bit shy when changing to swimming suits. The small lake has been there for thousands of years, but that fact is not in your minds. Close to the water’s edge there are water lilies. White and yellow flowers floating on the thin dreamlike gossamer between water and air.

The water is not cold. Neither is it warm, but who cares? The water is made of the stuff that dreams are made of, and so are you and your girlfriend.

You know that this occurred long time ago, and that, for some reason, the two of you chose different paths. In this moment you have the power to change everything, but remember only at this level which is not and will never happen in real life.

A blue damselfly moves in the air as if it has no purpose in life. Not very different from the two swimming in water that does not feel like water. All things meet in this moment as happened to Goethe’s Faust when he expressed Augenblick, verweile doch du bist so schön.

You give your girlfriend one of the white water lilies even if you know that it will not live very long out of water, but who thinks about this? You don’t.

After this moment of pure bliss both of you leave the lake, and nothing is ever the same. Never. Still this is part of your treasure trove, you collection of things that made you very happy. As did the fragrance of honeysuckle in early summer, the taste of the first wild strawberries.

This is the moment to catch dreams, and that is exactly what you do, riding a dromedary seeing the pyramids of Egypt as a mirage far, far away. The arms around your waist are those of your girlfriend from the future. You know you had met her before. The air is hot and dry under a relentless scorching sun.

Then you wake up, or you think you wake up. You think you want to have a shower, but stops in front of the mirror. Is this you? You touch the glass and see your hand going right through to the other side. How is it possible? Without thinking you follow the move of your hand. Ahead of you is a meadow of lush, green grass.

End of chapter 11. To be continued in chapter 12.

12. IN THE GRASS

Grass as far as the treeline some hundred meters away. Lush knee-high green grass. Someone was standing in the shade under the trees.

As I closed in, I saw he held a bloody axe in his hand.

- Don’t be afraid, he said. – I am a time traveller. Not very different from you. I saw you appeared from nowhere. Suddenly you just were there.

- Yes, I have no idea what happened.

- Then there are two of us.

- Why the bloody axe, I said.

- No good for you to know, muttered the time traveller. – You just follow me, and maybe you will learn.

- What about the mirror, I asked. – A moment ago I put my hand through a mirror. On the other side was this field of grass.

- There are mirrors everywhere. You see this one?

He pulled out a small mirror from his west pocket. The mirror was inside a silver setting.

- It is just an ordinary mirror, isn’t it?

- There are no ordinary artefacts in this world. You remember Stalin’s dagger?

- Yes. I have read about it.

- That is how I use this mirror. For time travelling. I want to track down the dagger. If you look here, you will see there is a mirror on both sides. When I press my finger through the mirror on this side, I move to the past. The other side makes me go to the future.

- What about the axe? I see blood on the sharp edge.

- That is another untold story, the time traveller whispered and cleaned the edge on his shirt. – You just walk in my footsteps.

- What is going on, I wondered. - The grass is growing, and so are the trees.

- Don’t worry. This happens to me from time to time. Why do you think I suddenly appeared under the trees? I know the dagger is around some place. At least it was in the past.

- I feel I grow smaller and smaller. I want to stop this!

- Just relax. You don’t need to be afraid.

But afraid I was. The treetops were rushing towards the clouds up there. Soon grass was all I was able to see. Gigantic beetles were walking like elephants. They watched us, but did not care. The earth under our feet were full of deep caves, and there was no place to walk except down, and down we fell.

- What are those nasty things with long tails, I asked.

- They are bacteria, the time traveller answered.

- They are huge! And they are growing bigger. What can we do? I want this to stop!

Particles of different sizes were passing by.

- I am waiting for the neutrinos, the time traveller said. – They will take us around at the speed of light until we find the dagger. When taking a lift with neutrinos time will stop or have no meaning. We can go anywhere by jumping from neutrino to neutrino.

- I want to stop this!

- You think you have a free will? You do not. According to science, if you believe science, everything has a reason. Therefore science says there is no free will. That is why I want to control Stalin’s dagger. Now jump for that neutrino!

What followed I cannot say. Events speeded up, and it was impossible to tell. Eventually we found the dagger. Where I do not know. Coming from wherever or nowhere, we were standing in the shade of the trees watching the lush, green grass. The time traveller cleaned the bloody edge of the axe on his shirt as if nothing had ever happened.

End of chapter 12. To be continued in chapter 13.

13. WHAT

Chapter 13? The pages were blank. I turned the sheets upside down. There was nothing. Absolute nothing. Did it have something to do with the number of the chapter, 13?

I tried to think, really concentrate. Closing my eyes, words appeared under my eyelids. Strange. Very strange. When opening my eyes, words popped up on the page in front of me:

You are the maker of this writing. You are in the Nile Valley long time ago. Before there were any pyramids. You do not believe in magic, but you can understand why people think different from you.

Even for you the world is a magic place. As you walk, butterflies of different colours are fluttering around you. Is nobody around? What is that mirage in the far distance? It is coming closer and closer.

The time traveller. Who else?

- Then we meet again, he said.

- I know you, I said, - but who am I?

- You are Amonhotep in this time. Remember that name. We are time travellers. Do you see the sloping ridge up there?

He pointed to the west.

- Follow me.

I was reading. Line for line I was reading.

At the same time I went uphill behind the time traveller.

- Where do we go, I asked.

- Back in time, before anyone could remember or forget there was a quarry up there. I will show you. There was a special mineral that only existed here in our entire galaxy. Look!

His index finger pointed.

- It seems to me it is only glass.

The thin layer was covered by meter thick sandstone above.

- This is the most valued mineral that exists, but you have to be a time traveller to recognize its existence. I will chip off a crystal for you. Here you are.

I held a transparent piece in the form of a cylindrical lens.

- Looks like a piece of rock crystal to me?

- This is the philosopher’s stone or lapis philosophorum.

- OK?

- I will show you.

The time traveller held the lens up to collect the rays of the sun. A line of sunlight was visible on a brick of sandstone. Then he took a short sword from its scabbard and touched the line. He did not need to press the point of the sword at all. The metal made a clean cut in the stone as if the cut was polished. The sandstone seemed to be soft like butter.

- You are Amonhotep. Remember your name, and remember this place. You will construct the pyramids in Egypt. From this mineral layer you can cut and form crystals and lenses of different shapes. As for now and the centuries to come you will use them to excavate and form the rocks to build pyramids and other structures. They will also help you move the heavy stones around.

- This is magic, I said.

- It is not, the time traveller answered. – I guess you have heard about the myth of ancient Atlantis?

- Yes?

- Many myths have their origin in something that happened. At least that is what some people believe. There are many theories concerning the lost Atlantis. All of them look back in time. Some of them place Atlantis in the Atlantic Ocean to the west of Africa, Doggerland to the east of what is England, or Thera/Santorini south of Crete. The truth is that Atlantis is somewhere in the far future. As a time traveller, I have been there, and so have you.

- I cannot remember.

- Good for you. You will know later. For the time being, your task is to help the Egyptians building their sacred monuments.

Clouds were falling from the sky. A thick fog covered the land. I saw a dagger on the ground in front of me.

End of chapter 13. To be continued in chapter 14.

14. THE PYRAMIDS

- Later is now, I read. Wondering.

I got a weird sensation someone was watching me from behind. As I turned, the time traveller was standing there in a white robe. I continued reading.

- I have been waiting for you, he said.

- Why, I whispered between lips I could hardly open.

Clearly I was reading about myself.

- You remember you helped building the pyramids of Egypt?

- I still have the lens you gave me, and I have not forgotten where the crystal mineral is.

- Good. You will need all you can get of the mineral where we are going. To Atlantis, to the future.

There was a blur in the air, then a sudden chill that lasted for several minutes before the sky cleared.

- What you experienced as a spell of low temperatures was the last ice age of more than twenty thousand years.

- I always heard that there was going to be a spell of global warming?

- Not true. The global climate change did happen, but it turned out to be the beginning of the next ice age. What followed when the ice sheets crept south in the northern hemisphere, was panic, complete disaster. The major powers in the north had to move their populations. As everybody knows there was no place to go. Devastating wars were raging for centuries. Nuclear bombs decimated population to only a few ten millions. By sheer luck low radiation weapons were developed. There were sustainable wars, almost friendly to the environment as most people just disappeared and left a greener world behind. When the ice sheet retreated, there were few traces of major cities.

- That is why we time travellers are here, I exclaimed. – We can restart everything?

- Exactly what I hope for. In the past before the pyramids in Egypt were built, I tried to tell stories from the old civilization of Atlantis about what could happen if the desire to control everything was not curbed. Even in old Hellas there were myths about many things. I can mention a few – Centaurs, Basilisks, Medusa, Cyclopes, The Minotaur, Cerberus, and Mermaids. Atlantis was a hoax. All of these creatures were real in the future before the big freeze, the time of hubris. Things came out of control. As time traveller, I thought the myths I brought from the future to ancient Egypt and Hellas, would stop people from interfering with the fabric of life. It did not. For them and later generations these were only stories about stupid beliefs.

- That is what I was told all the time.

- Around 2100 things started to go wrong. Experiments came out of control as with The Minotaur. The Minotaur could be locked up. Experimental life could not. Then there was the big freeze. People started fighting for hundreds of years. Ice sheets were growing all over the northern and southern hemisphere. Now, 20,000 years later, is the time for a new beginning. You have the lens from building the pyramids of Egypt?

- Yes, I have.

- I knew it was not possible for a time traveller to change the future. Still I tried. In vain. Now we stand on the treshold between the past and what is to come. Before the big freeze the work with fusion reactors had almost succeeded. The problem of heating the plasma to almost two million degrees and control the heat was on the brink of solution. This is where the crystals can help. Creating the high temperature needed for fusion, and withstanding the immense heat of the plasma for a long time, not to say forever. There is enough deuterium and tritium, isotopes of hydrogen, to give mankind energy as long as there is a solar system.

- And years from now people will travel in space and try to find habitable planets in our galaxy?

- That is a possibility. Let us begin the work.

End of chapter 14. To be continued in chapter 15.

15. STALIN’S DAGGER AND CAFÉ CENTRAL

Inside Café Central in Herrengasse cigar smoke was drifting over the tables. Jill and John stood in the doorway. The time traveller appeared behind them.

- Sshh! the time traveller said. – We are not allowed to be here. We have been here before, so you should know about this. Just look around, but say nothing. Do you recognize some of the customers?

- Isn’t it Sigmund Freud sitting there sipping to a cup of coffee, Jill whispered.

- He is one of the regulars, together with Victor Adler. There is a story from Café Central that Adler objected to Count Berchtold, the foreign minister of Austria-Hungary that war would provoke revolution in Russia. - Who will lead this revolution, Berchtold asked. - Perhaps Mr. Bronstein sitting over there, Adler answered.

- What time is this, John said.

- We are in January 1913. Take care.

- That shabby person in the corner sitting together with the pockmarked man. I could swear it was a younger version of Adolf Hitler, Jill asked.

The cigar smoke grew thicker, and very soon, Café Central was only a shimmering mirage enveloped in the fabric of time.

A radiant sun made the colours of flowers, leaves, and nature more vivid than the three of them had ever seen.

- Where are we? What time is it, Jill wondered.

- Café Central and its guests, and the millennia after are long gone.

- What happened?

- You remember the café was full of smoke? I managed to get my hands on Stalin’s dagger and made it very blunt. Disasters followed, but not as bad as expected. In the aftermath of the Second World War, fear started to rule the minds of people, and it never stopped. Contagious viral and bacterial diseases were uses by fearmongering factions. The bubonic plague around 1350 could happen once again. As for weather anomalies, which were normal before, science explained that a devastating climate change was approaching. None of this was true. The average temperature on earth was a tad warmer, leading to more rain and snow. Due to more snow, glaciers were growing. Thousands of years later the land and sea at high latitudes were as white and cold as during past ice ages. More than hundred thousand years later, we are here. The air is clear and fragrant. In the night, thousands of stars are visible in the sky.

- What about Stalin’s dagger, Jill and John wanted to know.

- It disappeared, and has never since been found. The glaciers pushed forward and annihilated or made uninhabitable many of the urban areas in the northern and far southern hemisphere. More land was covered by ice than during the ice age preceding the last one.

- What was the fate of all the millions who had to move because of the big freeze?

- Nobody knows for sure. Physics made leaps forward at the time the glaciers started growing. Scientists said that the future for humanity was in space, but the problem was how to travel through the enormous distances. Eventually antimatter was controlled and used as propellant in space vehicles. This made it possible to travel with the speed of light. For many hundred years, there was an exodus in all directions. Where those expeditions are now, is unknown. There has been no contact. However, that was what science expected due to the enormous distances in space.

- I am sure everybody did not leave, but where are they?

John looked at the time traveller.

- No, quite a few millions stayed behind. Somehow, they cooperated and formed the nation of Middle Earth. They are still here after the glaciers melted back. First plants, insects and animals followed the ice. Then people. The main goal of Middle Earth is to learn from the errors of past times.

A cold wind from the north brought grey mist, which covered everything.

- We have been sleeping, Jill exclaimed. – Did you have the same dream as me about Middle Earth?

John nodded and splashed some water from a nearby stream in his face.

End of chapter 15. To be continued in chapter 16.

16. STALIN’S DAGGER REBORN IN CHINA 2084

China. A tingling of metal bells in the early morning. Green rice paddies. Shreds of morning mist drifting and evaporating in the rising sun. The time traveller was standing upright in water to his knees like an egret waiting for fish to come close.

- What are you doing, John had to ask.

- I am waiting.

- Waiting for what?

- Just waiting. Waiting for calamities to occur, maybe. Of all things someone in China started producing copies of Stalin’s dagger without knowing of its curse. This time the curse came in disguise of a tiny virus, which spread like wildfire. As everybody should know, wisdom is like diamonds hidden from the eye. In 2084 wisdom was scarce, and people were many. Plagues had ravished humanity before, but they were long forgotten.

- What are you talking about?

- About the forgotten viral tsunami that hit areas in China in beginning of 2020. Communist China locked up millions of Chinese to fight a surging virus, and then thought they won the war. Later the second wave hit more devastating than the first one. This time all over the world. Instead of acting sensibly, the world panicked. Instead of upscaling medical equipment to help victims of the virus, countries shut down hoping that sealing borders and people from each other would help. It did to a certain degree, but mostly only prolonged the lockdowns.

- How could the world forget something like this, Jill uttered.

- What happened in the years around 2020 was that leaders in power found out how much pressure they could use to fight the virus. In China the communist party started to monitor everything it was possible to monitor. Other countries followed China step by step. This happened especially in countries which had a history of being ruled by dictators, as Germany with Adolf Hitler, Italy with Benito Mussolini, Spain with Francisco Franco, and Russia with Josef Stalin just to mention a few.

- How did people react to this?

- In many countries dissent was crushed, but only on the surface. Disrespect of authorities started to grow like cancer, and wielding of the sword of power did not work very well. In fact abuse of power took away the foundation of what should be the building blocks of nations. In China the production of mini replicas of Stalin’s dagger, and the worldwide distribution in the years before 2084, was the beginning of the demise of authority. First and foremost this was the case in China. However, the real serious issue was the appearance of a new virus caused directly by the miniature daggers. The properties of Stalin’s dagger had changed to the worse, and the virus led to disastrous numbers of fatalities. As the last pandemic of this size was in 2020 and the following year, was almost forgotten, the world was not ready. United Nations had dwindled into an international club of talkative politicians, and had no power. Imbecile presidents in the USA from the so-called Grand Old Party had led the once powerful nation almost to oblivion helped by many lost wars around the world. The slogan “America First” had turned into “America Last”.

- The new virus upended the world, and the USA was hit harder than any nation except China.

- Is there any reason why we are standing here in a Chinese rice paddy in the early morning, John and Jill asked.

A huge red sun was in the east. Birds were chattering in the bamboo groves around. The green was as green as green can be. Metal bells were tingling set to move by a light morning breeze.

- The reason, the time traveller pondered, scratching his head. – Ask the wind. Ask the birds. Ask the farmer who is coming there.

Then he disappeared without a trace in the rays of the rising sun.

End of chapter 16. To be continued in chapter 17.

17. EVERYTHING IS WHAT IT WILL BE

The farmer had dirty rubber boots on. Ask the farmer. John heard the echo of the time traveller’s voice. Ask about what? It is a nice morning today? Or what? The year was 2084. At least that was what John and Jill believed.

- Hallo, the farmer said, looking askance and maybe a bit suspiciously on the two strangers.

- What are you two doing around here?

- What we are doing? In fact, we were going to ask you the same question. We have no idea. We just happened to be here watching the sun setting.

- Then follow me. That is if you want. It is time for something to eat. I live not too far from here.

The air was humid and warm. The day had been hot. The sound of the cicadas in the trees was deafening. A small house appeared. Palm leaves thatched the roof. There was a small fire burning. Greyish smoke drifted into the trees around.

- You wanted to ask some questions?

- Yes, Jill said.

- No need asking. Everything is what it will be.

- What do you mean?

The farmer went inside his house, came out holding an immense looking glass.

- There was an upheaval in the world about 60 years ago. I was not born at that time. When my mother died, she gave me this looking glass. I make a living from what I grow. Nobody interferes. The powers that were, are not. Whenever I want to relive moments from the past, the now, or the future, I sit down by the fire. I take the looking glass, hold it in front of my eyes and have a good time. That is what is important, having a good time. You can try for yourself.

He gave the looking glass to Jill.

- I see a river, Jill said.

- That is the river of life. Water is the origin of life. No water, no life.

- The water is clear. I see fish down there. Many. The current makes plants undulate. It is nice. It is magic!

- Magic it certainly is. A river is not only a river.

- I see a damselfly slowly leaving its pupae. It is blue, and its wings are deep blue. It is spreading its wings and flying, slowly, slowly. Now it settles down on a branch. From that branch, green leaves are sprouting. One by one, they are opening. Flowers are everywhere. Their colours are amazing. There I see someone fishing. Could have been me.

- It is you, the farmer said.

- I see the bait, a fat, brown worm. Yes, it is I! Incredible. Exciting. The fish, they are nibbling at the worm. This is more real than reality.

- Enjoy the moment! This moment will never come back.

- A dandelion is opening. What a wonderful yellow basket. Insects are waiting for a free meal of pollen and nectar.

- Nothing is free, the farmer said. – The insects help the dandelion growing seeds. Nature gives and takes.

- What happened back then, 60 years ago, John asked.

- Who knows? I heard stories from my late mother. She gave me this looking glass if I would like to learn more. However, I gave up looking. Everything I saw was a complete shamble. What I understood was that fear, pure naked fear, ruled the world. Real devastating fear. This state of fear lasted for a long time. Political systems were uprooted. It was the end of order, and the beginning of a chaos, which nobody knew when was to end. I did not wish to watch more. Now I am satisfied living as I do. In harmony with nature and myself. At least that is what I think I do. You can have the looking glass if you want?

Jill looked at John.

- Do we want? Remember Stalin’s dagger! The curse! Do we really want to see what we cannot see?

John’s face had an expression as if he could not decide how to answer.

- Do not worry, the farmer said. – Everything is what it will be.

End of chapter 17. To be continued in chapter 18.

18. TRUE OR NOT

The morning sun ripped through wisps of morning haze. Morning dew slipped from willow trees and shone like diamonds before they hit the river beneath. Tranquillity. Complete tranquillity. The soothing sound of waves hitting the nearby shore filled the air. Where the river met the sea, a small dark speck appeared. As the speck grew in size, John and Jill saw that it was the time traveller. Again. He sat down on a tree trunk, which looked like it had been lying there forever. He moved his hand wanting John and Jill to come closer. He signalled for them to sit down.

- Our time here is short, he said.

- Where are we, Jill asked.

- No need to say, even if I know. However, the year is 3084.

- In other words, it is thousand years since we left the Chinese farmer, John exclaimed.

- What happened in between, Jill wondered.

- Do you want to know?

- Definitely, she answered.

- You have the looking glass? You will find what you want there.

- Thousand years! That is a long, long time, Jill exclaimed.

- You can decide where to start – the end of the beginning, or the beginning of the end.

- I want the end of the beginning, John said. – I really wonder why the old Chinese man gave away this looking glass. What kind of fear did he talk about? As for myself, I really have no fear. Let us have a look.

- What year is this, the two of them wondered.

- I think it is 2020, the time traveller said, almost whispering. – There was some talk about a deadly virus. Others talked about the return of Stalin’s dagger. Weird rumours spread among people. The following years fear ruled the world. Economies collapsed. Uprisings spread like wildfire, and there was no remedy. Some authoritarian countries tried to use the army to control people, but in vain. Regimes were falling like apples in autumn storms. The virus was not the problem, only slightly more dangerous than the normal yearly flue. The main problem was the reaction of the world community.

- I want the looking glass, Jill said. – Who is that angry man with the special haircut?

- It is the American president at that time, John said. - I think I heard that he died from the virus just before the presidential elections, but what happened next?

- Give me the looking glass, the time traveller demanded. – It needs some cleaning. The dust of time makes it difficult to see what happened.

- We want to know. Give us the looking glass! We want the truth!

- Are you sure, the time traveller asked.

Then he kind of dissolved in the air, and a short time later he disappeared.

End of chapter 18. To be continued in chapter 19.

[AZ1]

Atle Zeiner

lørdag 4. juli 2020

STORIES ABOUT SOMETHING, ANYTHING, OR NOTHING

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