Glen (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
intricate_engineer) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
glowfic2016-01-15 12:50 pm
intricate_engineer) wrote in glowfic2016-01-15 12:50 pm
Entry tags:
between then and know
It was a trap.
Glen should have seen it coming, but she'd thought the offer might be genuine. Wasn't the possibility of immortality worth the risk?
Well, not this time.
Her pendant, her way out, was broken.
She tried to use it anyway.
Glen should have seen it coming, but she'd thought the offer might be genuine. Wasn't the possibility of immortality worth the risk?
Well, not this time.
Her pendant, her way out, was broken.
She tried to use it anyway.
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Tink... clack...
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Back to the hill it is. That was a rather futile expedition. At least she knows she won't run out of water.
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Those circular diagrams are recipes of some kind.
For example, the first one in the book: 'Rich Soil'. The diagram depicts an arrangement of interlocking squares traced in green and brown ink; the legend describes the brown ink as 'Essence of Earth' and the green as 'Essence of Life'; the partly-translated blurb advises, "Draw on an 8- or 12-[unit of distance] [noun] in an open space. Produces 16-24 [unit of volume]s of soil depending on diagram size. Draw quickly to avoid unwanted [action]."
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That's unexpected, but exciting.
Maybe this won't end in disaster after all.
Fortunately, the translator has a search function.
Glen looks for any mentions of the ink, specifically how to make it.
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That coloured-and-labelled sixteen-circles diagram, partly translated, now looks like this.
And the first sixteen entries in the chart look like this, with small appropriately coloured circles next to each row:
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There is a logic here, one she hopes she can unravel.
The large outer circles might be the basic elements that make up the Universe.
Eight elements lead directly to the center. Those eight elements are formed by different intersections of the five basic elements.
There is Light and Matter. It follows that there may also be Time, Space and perhaps Energy. Would Energy be separate from Light? One element could also be Nothing.
The smaller circles seem to represent the more complex elements.
There is Water, Earth, Air, and Fire. She remembers that some philosophers also included Soul, but, depending on the society, that might not follow.
If there is Life there is likely also Death. But that is only 6. She needs eight. The two remain are likely a pair or share some common logic.
It would help if she could place her guesses.
Could Matter and Nothing make air? Perhaps. She tells the translator to input Nothing for [essence 0] and to report whether that returns logical results.
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Glen tells the translator to test Death as [essence 9].
Energy and Time could make life.
White seems more like Time than green.
If green is Energy, Energy + Matter could = Earth.
Could Time + Matter = Water? She doesn't know.
She tells the translator to test [essence 2] as Energy and [essence 1] as Time anyway.
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[essence 2] as Energy: pretty clearly negative.
[essence 1] as Time: slightly less negative, but still probably not right.
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She tells the translator to test Darkness for [essence 0]. Is it a better match than Nothing?
She attempts Time for [essence 2] in case she just got Time and Energy switched.
While the translator works, she tries to understand the relationships between the circles.
What does it mean that Matter goes through Life to reach the center? Life is the sum of [essence 1] and [essence 2], but relies on Matter? Or perhaps it means nothing.
Essence 9,10,11 all use Light. Does that mean they are less physical than the four elements formed from Matter? Fire is less physical than Earth, Water, or Air.
What does Light and Nothing (or Darkness) become if not Death? But then Light wasn't a component of Life.
Glen sighs. She's having trouble thinking metaphorically.
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Time is a poor match for [essence 2], about as bad as it was for [essence 1].
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Instead she searches for use of [essence 0] and [essence 9] in the books.
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And:
"As the zeroth essence, [essence 0] represents the [state or condition] at the beginning of all things, even before the first essence, [essence 1]: the [state or condition] before the [noun]. [essence 2] brings the possibility of [noun] to the [adjective] [essence 1], and Light and Matter [act on] that possibility..."
"...[essence 0] is often [sensed] to [act on] other essences in combination, such as for example when it combines with Light to form its [noun], [essence 9], or with Life to form [essence 56]. But sometimes the result is more [adjective], as when [essence 2] and [essence 0] combine to form [essence 12], or more [adjective], as when Matter and [essence 0] combine to form Air..."
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She tries Space for [essence 1].
It seems the essences are number in the order of their creation which is interesting. Whatever 15 is, it's the most recent. 13 is Life, so perhaps 14 is intelligence or self-awareness? She tells the translator to try both for [essence 14].
She gets out her computer and makes a few notes while she waits for the translator to finish. She guesses at a few of the gaps. It seems like there's enough information to figure this out, she just has to put it together.
[essence 2] brings the possibility of <existence/life> to the <something> Space. Light and Matter <act on> that possibility.
<Nothing> represents the condition before <Space>, the state before <the universe>
What is essence 2? It isn't time, but it came before Light.
Heat? Growth?
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It also figures out a few more words. That second snippet now begins: "...Nothing is often [sensed] to negate other essences in combination, such as for example when it combines with Light to form its opposite, [essence 9]..."
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Glen tries Humans at [essence 14], then tells the translator to look up the passages with the fewest untranslated words that contain [essence 15].
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Humans for [essence 14]: rejected.
The passage with the fewest untranslated words concerning [essence 14]:
"[essence 14] is sometimes called the immaterial counterpart of Life. Like many of the immaterial essences, its uses can be [adjective]. Although infrequently useful in [noun]s, it is [adjective] in the construction of [noun]s."
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A local equivalent of a soul perhaps? Or maybe it refers to the magic itself.
She turns back to the previous passage mentioning [essence 9].
Is Something not the opposite of Nothing?
Oh. Oh! She's an idiot. It's saying Nothing negates the other essence. It's asking for the opposite of light.
She tries darkness.
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She knows Matter and Nothing make Air. Matter and Light create Fire.
She's missing to essences from the basic five, which combine with Matter to create Water and Earth.
Her theory of the numbers going in order of creation is disproved by nine being Darkness.
Still, the first five all seem to be things that existed in the very beginning.
There is Nothing, Light, and Matter. But what else?
Heat, Space, Time, Energy, the Unified Force, Plasma, Atoms, Hydrogen.
But that might be getting too specific, Glen would try Space and Time but she already knows they won't work.
Heat perhaps? But wouldn't that go with Fire better than Light?
Again, maybe she's getting too specific.
What was there in the beggining? There was Light and then there was Sound.
She tells the translator to try both Energy and Sound for essences 1 and 2.
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Light + [essence 1] = Energy
Movement perhaps? Speed?
She asks the translator to try both.
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