4 The First Colonis (1/2)
The glowing cubes appeared all over the world. It was later estimated there were over a million of them. Most appeared in or near populated areas, often causing panic.
But some people were more curious than afraid.
On the outskirts of Mumbai, a young married couple read the message on the cube, looked at each other, then plunged their hands inside.
In London, England, a bunch of half-drunk, half-hungover teenagers began pulling out timon implant kits and hiber beds without bothering to read any of the documentation.
In a field near Aburi in Ghana, West Africa, a farmer put aside his hoe and reached out hesitatingly to the glowing cube.
In Lima, Peru, vendors and shoppers picked and splashed their way through the water-soaked debris of the collapsed stalls of an outdoor market, and formed a circle around the glowing cube. A fat, middle-aged woman was the first to touch the cube, shaming the two policemen who had been too scared to even come close.
In Sydney, Australia, an old man stared at the ruined, half-cooked meat surrounding the barbecue grill lying on the ground. Then he looked at the glowing cube that had materialized in the back yard of his house, looked at the gaggle of his dear old friends huddled around him, wiped the rainwater off his face. He put his hand into the cube, saying loudly and clearly:
”Four steaks, a dozen jumbo shrimps, and four lamb chops please. And make it snappy.”
Inside the United Nations building in New York, delegates in the general assembly chamber were all busy reading the documentation from the cube. The great room wasn't completely dark any more; it was illuminated by the cube and the hundreds of glowing scrolls in the hands of the delegates.
Some read slower, and some read faster. Olaf Troll read very fast, and he had also started reading before anyone else. He got to the end of the text on the scroll first even though he was Norwegian, and English was his second language.
He walked up to the cube and plunged his hand in and withdrew a narrow silver cone. It was the size of an average cigar. In the center of the cone's round base, a tiny bead glowed with an icy blue light.
Before anyone could stop him, Olaf Troll raised his arm and put the sharp end of the cone just behind his right ear. It looked as if he was stabbing himself in the head with the cone.
Then he pressed the glowing blue bead with his thumb.
His mouth fell open and his eyes glazed over. He dropped the cone, and no one noticed that it didn't make any noise at all when it hit the ground. This was because there were many voices shouting:
”Don't do that!”
”Someone stop him!”
”Security! Guards! Hold him!”
”He's dying!”
Two security guards - a man and a woman - stumbled onto the stage. But Nelson Odongo stopped them with a look and an upraised palm.
He was right next to Olaf Troll, and he could see that Troll was very much alive.
”Olaf! My dear fellow!” Nelson Odongo said, putting on his Cambridge mask.
”Shut up,” said Olaf Troll. He started to shake very slightly and grabbed himself, crossing his arms over his chest.
”My God!” he said, although he did not believe in God. He was staring at something far, far away with unseeing eyes. He started speaking, very fast:
”I am communicating with my second self in the New World. It's so cold! I am, he is completely naked. He is telling me there patches of snow under the trees. He is in a forest. He can hear water. He is running towards the water. Everything is happening very fast.”
”Olaf! Where are you?”
”Shut up! I'm here of course. He is here, too. The same exact spot, but in the New World. Read the documentation! You are replicated in the New World wherever you are in on Earth. That water he can hear must be the East River.”
”But you said he's in a forest!” cried Sonia Patel.
”It is a forest. There's no New York. It hasn't been built yet. Yes! He can see the river. He is running to the river. He has stopped!”
Olaf Troll fell silent and immediately many voices started asking questions. Within a couple of seconds almost everyone was shouting.