It was a late spring night. A clear bright-star Saturday night. The day traffic had not been heavy – the majority of the inhabitants left their permanent flats in the already stuffy and dusty city for their country houses and huts, where the agricultural spring routine urged them to be even more laborious on their days-off then they usually were on the week-days. The unpolluted air was fresh and so transparent, that one could even forget about its mere existence, looking into the deep velvet sky – a rare thing in a big city. It was not the usual flat roof above the Earth with the lit bulbs of stars, large or small. No, this time the trivial shelter was removed, the barrier to the Eternity disappeared, and you were face to face with the depths of the Universe. On nights like that, when you stare into the dimensional blackness, you could be absolutely certain which star was closer, and which farther from you. You were gradually loosing your sense of gravity. One moment more, it seems, and you will naturally and effortlessly walk up a wall of a neighboring building finishing on the roof, one more step – and you will enter this animated darkness that attracts you so irresistibly, and it will sink you inside itself and...
Instinctively I lowered my eyes to come to reality. Here I was, walking my dog in companionship of another after-midnight dog-walker. The two pre-night dog-walking waves subsided, leaving two last drops of us, now strolling along the streets, sleepy and silent. Igor is a very interesting and deep person, he will understand.
– Shall I tell you a story, Igor?
He slowly came up from his meditation and smiled politely:
– You are welcome.
– It is not exactly a story – a night dream. But so vivid as if it happened in reality.
Spaceship takes me from the Earth that is doomed to perish, to some catastrophe – I don’t know what, but soon it will be impossible to live on it, and the human population is being evacuated. I feel so lucky to get in – nobody knows when exactly it will happen, several years may elapse, or it may possibly take place within an hour. Now that I am aboard, a new problem arises: where we were going. There were several appropriate planets where the former Earth inhabitants could live, but they were not at all equal. Rumors spread that some were terrifying and it was really torture to live there. But – people whispered – there was a planet, where life was a permanent pleasure, those who lived there did nothing and enjoyed their life.
When our spaceship landed, and I stepped down onto the ground, I instantly realized that actually I was not so lucky as I had thought when I entered the shuttle. I found myself in one of those hard-to-live places. Physically I could breath easily, but there was something heavy and threatening in the air. And the colors! Due to the peculiarities of the atmosphere, shades and half-tones were absent – there was either complete greenish-black darkness, or lighted spots and objects, so bright in the pitiless greenish-yellow sharp light, that eyes got sore after a while. Somehow I understood that it was a very young planet, and, as any young being, void of compromises, a «yes-or-no» planet, with nothing like «yes, but..». Life must be rude and cruel here, life in its bestial essence.
Suddenly the crowd of people – the newcomers and the old residents – rushed away in panic. Swapped by this feeling of a crowd I ran with them escaping from something deathly dangerous. «Toother»! -- I heard from everywhere. The flight stopped as suddenly as it began. Glancing back I noticed a huge dinosaur clumsily marching to the forest with a human figure jerking in its jaws, so small in comparison with this ugly fat reptile. This insufficient portion will not satisfy it for long, and that meant...
“How often does the toother come?” I asked one of those who seemed more competent.
“Toothers. They do not come out often from the woods. There are a lot of other creatures that they feed on. But once or twice a week we lose one of ours. Sometimes a toother throws his victim, nobody knows why, but it happens very seldom”, he replied calmly and already indifferently. The danger was over, and the incident out.
I shivered. With my slow reaction and absence of specific skills I shall be one of the most probable victims. I looked back at the horrifying forest more attentively.
What I saw convinced me in my supposition. The planet was really young and primitive – what I took for trees turned out to be immensely big ferns and horse-tails. The grass was as big as the bamboo. All maliciously, aggressively neon-green on the background of the abrupt blackness of the wood darkness.
No! This is not for me. I don’t want to live here. Some people will probably adapt themselves to this world. But not me. I am not so strong. I shall never be able to denigrate to the state of a pure animal survival with all its ruthlessness and cruelty. Why should I? I am an intellectual with refined feelings, developed esthetically. No! I deserve more than this.
Somehow I got aboard the spaceship again. There happened to be several other people there, whose place of destination was some other planet. In my agitation when the ship had landed and I had hurriedly left it to look at my new home, I did not notice that some people quietly stayed where they were. I feel antipathy towards them, which in some aspect was close to the trivial envy. Why? Are they better than I am? The privileged ones... Whatever I may think though, they were nevertheless acknowledged to have the right to live in a better place, and I was a pretender. But these people did not treat me with the same hostility; on the contrary, they were kind and tolerant with me – as if I were sick.
Finally we arrived to the other planet. (As I understood, this was a unique planet, unlike the previous one, which was only one of the several similar).
The doors opened, and the passengers were warmly welcomed by the natives. All of them were wrapped in gently-white attires that seemed to be made of a very soft fabric, which flew down in picturesque folds, and moved with dignity although void of any hint to arrogance. Their gestures were well-balanced and rhythmical, smooth and rather slow. I did not hear their voices, they communicated without words, but if they spoke up, I am sure the sounds would be most harmonious.
Harmony!
This was the most proper word to describe the aura of this fine wonderful planet. At first I was astonished by the clarity of the atmosphere and the brightness of the light, the whitest possible, not sharp and slashing, but surprisingly soft and pleasant. It caringly embraced everything, every smallest object, every insignificant trifle, protecting them as a loving parent would do, touching them gently and presenting the dearest babies to the public as if saying: «Look how nice and beautiful they are!» And a tiny sand fracture or a newly-born blade of grass smiled cordially in reply. You could see them all and equally lucidly – the whole landscape and, at the same time, every minute fragment of it. Immediately I felt relaxed, the tight ball of uncertainty and inappropriateness in the solar plexus melted, and I enjoyed quietness and serenity of the place. It was comfortingly warm – just enough not to become hot, and soft waves of fresh wind caressed the body.
I looked at the others. The residents kissed the newly-arrived and did not seem to notice me at all. But I understood that they watched every my slight movement, even if they were with their backs to me, every my reaction, as they would possibly watch a funny and amusing puppy or kitten. I waited that someone would come up to me – at least to say that I am here by mistake and that I will have to leave on the first occasion (the ball inside was about to start its formation again). But nothing like that happened. The residents showed to the new-comers plants and flowers (there was abundance and great variaty of flowers there), gently-lined hills, curling with bushes in blossom, and creeks with extraordinary clean water, which allowed you to see all the details down to the very bottom with the stones on it half transparent like earthly gems, etc., etc. They were slowly and smoothly moving away. I was left alone and calmed down.
I looked around me. One could only dream of such a place, I mean, day-dream. Bright, but soft light, rich pure colors, comforting warmth, fine scents, quietness, unhurried flow of life – there seemed to be nothing to wish as everything was there. And had been, and will be for ever. I felt that nothing was changing there as there was no reason for changes – it was literary a perfect place, ideal in its completeness. Time lost its sense there. It did not stop as life was around, but it did not spiral up like on my home planet because the top had been already reached, but as if circulated in one and the same plane.
I walked enjoying the sights, admiring the smells. Flowers were immensely beautiful, but a bit different from the Earthly ones. For example, there were lilies that blossomed on bushes, like wild roses or jasmine...
– But there were no thorns on those bushes unlike the wild roses’. And the form of leaves was different. – Igor remarked in a low voice as if for himself.
I stared at him in astonishment. He looked at me, gently smiling:
– And they were of raspberry color. The bushes grew on a slope of a long low hill. And a brook coiled at its foot. The stones on its bottom were of various colors and all were as if lit from inside like sards. Don’t be surprised, I also was there. Or, strictly speaking, also saw it in my dream several years ago. But this dream was so unusual and vivid that I still remember it in detail. I was also impressed by the light and the clarity of colors most of all.
Our further talk was a sprint competition – each of us tried to say more about the details we remembered. We hurried in agitation, complementing the words of each other, trying to be the first to say about this or that memory.
– Did you also get there in a spaceship?
– Not exactly. I got on a train, and it took me there, though my place of destination was quite different. It stopped in the middle of a field, the doors soundlessly opened, I stepped off and found myself in the place that you described.
– Did you see those people?
– No, I did not. I was there alone.
– And what about time?
– Yes, I also felt it eternally unchanged. But it was o’key with me.
– It oppressed me. Just slightly at the beginning, but the longer I stayed there, the stronger the feeling was. I felt bored. I could not live in the world with no future time. I needed something to happen, to change, I longed for new impressions and emotions. I was not ready for that perfection.
– And you left it?
– I do not remember. Obviously so. And you?
– Me too.
We continued our walk in silence, each remembering our planet.
A month or so later I was present at an opening ceremony of an exhibition, in which a friend of mine showed her works together with a few other painters. The majority of the paintings were done in a modernistic manner that leaves me indifferent, and I was slowly walking from one canvas to another thinking of the coming table a’la fourchette more than of the pictures I was blankly looking at. Suddenly I stopped short. I saw familiar ferns and horse-tails of a toxic neon-salad color that stepped out from the greenish blackness of the primeval forest. Picture after picture I recognized the places which I had already seen.
– Who is the author of these... – I asked my friend, unable to find a proper word.
She introduced me to a strangely-looking bearded man, who looked at me and not at me at one and the same time, having his head turned aside as if his neck had been injured.
– Your pictures are so extraordinary. How did the idea come to you? -- I asked cautiously.
– Who can say how an idea comes to a creator? I don’t remember. – He glanced at me (and through me) with an unfriendly eye and turned to the table.
But I did need to learn! I came up to him from another side.
– You know, it is interesting to learn if it were just pure fantasy or if you saw it in your dream? Dreams are sometimes so vivid and realistic.
He looked at me with suspicion and jerked his head, but kept silent.
– You see, in one of my dreams I saw a planet where the woods were just like you painted. But there were also dinosaurs there. Do you have pictures with dinosaurs?
He threw his fork and looked hatingly straight into my face – this time the look was «normal», but I shivered.
– Yes, I do. Anything else? -- And he hobbled to the other end of the table where immediately started conversation with somebody.
Dear me, he had come though really a hard accident!
I did not try to learn more from him and left soon.