A Bet
To be something is to do, to act. It is not enough to exist in thoughts. That gets you nowhere. He had always valued action over thought, and now he was putting that to the test. He and his twin brother had a bet. The first one to reach the center of the galaxy would win the debate over mind versus action. His brother believed in telekinesis. He had found ancient books about the subject and was now rigorously trying to think his way through the idea. He, on the other hand, believed in wrenches and wormhole engines.
That was exactly what he was doing. He was building a ship and winning the argument. They had exactly eighty standard days to be there.
The wormhole engine turned out to be the tricky bit. He had a rudimentary understanding of physics and engineering. He was better at flying the things. His brother had allowed him one assistant since his lack of follow-through, as he put it, would be a disadvantage. A moron. Instead, his brother sat in the middle of his study and ruminated, thinking it would get him somewhere. He had pointed that out. His brother had stated that okay, he could have two helpers. So he had Rumy and Rigo aiding him. Rumy was the best mechanic among his friends. She handled the design and organized the whole building thing. He acted as her maintenance worker. Rigo handled the wormhole part of the equation and navigation. He barely understood what Rigo said half of the time, but he wholeheartedly agreed with him.
“It should be done by tomorrow,” Rumy declared.
He looked up from his spot. He had sunk his head into his hands after Rigo had declared that the parts they got wouldn’t work, and they would need to order extra parts, and that would take fifteen days. They only had five days left of the eighty days.
“You sure?” he asked.
Rumy narrowed her eyes. “You doubt me?”
“Never.” He lifted his hands.
“Good.” She laughed.
“I will nip out. See you tomorrow.” He stood up, waiting for Rumy and Rigo’s approval. Both let him go.
He wandered out of the hangar at his family estate and into the halls of his family home. He followed the stairs to his brother’s study. The last time he had seen his twin was yesterday afternoon. He had attended the family luncheon. He had been very quiet. So-so, it made him worry about his twin brother. While he could be brilliant in so many ways, he was bad at losing and even worse when his theory turned out to be wrong. That merited a whole lot of sulking. It took all his effort to cheer his twin.
He carefully knocked at the study door. There was no answer. He knocked again. Nothing.
He pushed the door open, and the huge library was void of his brother. The red ornamental rug he had occupied for the past seventy-some days was bare. Only a sheet of paper lay on it.
He glanced behind the door, half hoping his brother would jump out and mess with him, but he wasn’t there.
He advanced to the sheet like it was a booby trap. He towered over the paper and kicked it over with his boot. The paper turned, and a single line appeared. ‘See you there.’
“Fuck,” he shouted and rushed out of the study. The bastard had done it.
He flew down the stairs and ran as fast as he could to the hangar. It was empty. His spaceship was gone. So were Rumy and Rigo. Only a wooden box remained in its place.
He opened it, and a card was inside. ‘Use this.’
He flipped the card over, and it had clear instructions for gaining telekinesis.
The last line was: ‘Put a spacesuit on before you try.’
—
I’m so happy that I could write this one today. I’m short on time because I have an early-morning therapy patient to see. So I’m keeping this short, so I can take a poke at my book. What I got today was a voice-driven sci-fi story about a voyage and return, written in the first person. The story felt like it needed the third person. I switched that, and I took the voyage part literally. Okay, both twins will be altered by the bet they made, so there is a spiritual aspect there, but both of them get to the center of the galaxy.
Thank you for reading! Have an exciting day, and see you tomorrow ❤
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