Free Vibrations: Harmonic Magic Book 1 by P.E. Padilla Page A

Perhaps time flows differently on the two worlds. That means that if I am ever able to get back to Earth, I will be an old man, though I shouldn’t be. Or will the effects of aging reverse. Hmmmm, that’s an interesting thought.” He took out his little notebook again and scribbled something there with his pencil.
    Tapping the pencil on his top lip, Dr. Walt hmmmmed to himself and muttered incomprehensibly. After a moment, he looked over and jumped as if startled. “Oh!” he said, as if he had forgotten Sam was there. “So, my boy, now let’s talk about you. What type of device did you use to travel here? Was it based on my machine? I didn’t publish the plans, so I’m not sure how you could have learned about it, but it will be quite all right if you used my ideas.”
    Confused, Sam gulped. “I didn’t use a device. The first time I came here…”
    “The first time? What do you mean? You’ve been here more than once?”
    “Uh, yeah. This is my second time. It was tougher this time, though.” He proceeded to tell the doctor the specifics of both of his trips.
    “Fascinating. We’ll have to talk to Rindu. Perhaps you have an affinity for vibrational energy. He is a master in that field.”
    He looked up at the sky. “But we’ll have to do that later. For now, we better get to our temporary camp before the afternoon rain showers soak us. When we get there, I will introduce everyone properly and we’ll all be good friends. Come along now, and bring your hapaki friend. I think maybe we have some food he would be interested in.”
     

8
     
     
    It was a quick trip to the other side of the ruins, which were considerably larger than Sam had first thought. The temporary camp was set up on the outskirts of the ruins. It consisted of three tents, all made of some sort of rough spun fiber that Sam couldn’t identify. They were the commonly-shaped peaked tents, supported with what appeared to be saplings or branches that were very straight and well-used. Colored a mixture of greens and browns, the tents seemed to fade in and out of Sam’s vision as he looked at them.
    Between the tents, rocks were laid in a circle with three small stools that looked like they could be broken down and packed for travel arranged around the fire pit. There was a pile of ashes in the ring of rocks. The camp, while simple, projected an organized and comfortable feeling.
    Dr. Walt sat on one of the stools and offered one to Sam. Rindu quickly unfurled some type of oiled cloth over two ropes, making a canopy over the stools and fire ring. Just before he pulled the tarp tight, Sam felt the first drop of water hit his hand. Soon, the rain was coming down hard, but under the cover, everyone stayed dry. Skitter curled into a ball at the very edge of the covered area, apparently still too fearful to join the people.
    “We are here doing some exploratory digging, trying to find some of the old technology that is sometimes buried in these types of ruins. This one was a shopping center, apparently, though I was hoping for a storage unit complex. We haven’t found anything useful yet.”
    At Sam’s look of confusion and astonishment, Dr. Walt understood what was wrong. “Oh, I’m sorry. I’ve been here so long, I sometimes forget how little is actually known about this world and its history. Let me explain.”
    Dr. Walt explained what his research had yielded. He believed that though both worlds shared the same physical space, with the same geography, there were some differences. Each world had its own timeline, with people acting according to their own free will. This caused some major differences.
    One of these differences was that possibly because of just one person, or a few, science had advanced much faster on Gythe than on Telani. High technology had been developed and, as with Telani, unscrupulous people took advantage of the technology to kill others and to gain power.
    When all was said and done, there was a catastrophe of epic