"Nessun dorma…" (None shall sleep)
Summary: The Creator has turned his back on the orphans and the experiment is terminated.
Disclaimer: No copywright infringement intended.
Prologue…
Music playing… The "Nessun Dorma" aria from "Turandot", sung by Pavarotti…
"In the beginning, God created the Heaven, and the Earth. And the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." Solemn, quiet voice…
Movement of a solitary tall figure in the dark, lit only by the faintest glows from instrument panels, past a long line of steel tanks…Faint rumbling of circulating fluid…He paused at one to peer through the glass of the tank door at the form afloat…Touching finger to the glass.
A tiny hand reached out toward his…Closed eyes opening without recognition in the darkness…Suddenly wide as light poured on in the vast room…White, dazzling…
"And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light, Day, and the darknesse he called Night: and the evening and the morning were the first day."
The figure intoned to the face afloat in the tank… "And God…Named you…Elisabeth…" he beamed at the face. "Good morning, Elisabeth…Welcome to a brave new world." Grin at the wrinkling face, eyes closing tight against the light.
"Nessun dorma, Elisabeth…None shall sleep…" Turning… "None shall sleep, ladies!" he called aloud to the tanks, shining and bright in the white light… "Wake up, my girls…And listen…Listen…" he beamed as the programmed music amplified rapidly…
"The end of darkness, the end of night…Today, we step into the light…None shall sleep, my children, my girls…My princesses! And my name no one shall know…My secret is hidden within me…" grin…On the exhalant face of a thirties-ish Aldous Leekie, triumphant, exposed in the white, harsh light…
"Until the light shines…"
"Nessun dorma! Nessun dorma!
Tu pure, o, Principessa,
nella tua fredda stanza,
guardi le stelle
che tremano d'amore
e di speranza.
Ma il mio mistero è chiuso in me,
il nome mio nessun saprà!
No, no, sulla tua bocca lo dirò
quando la luce splenderà!
Ed il mio bacio scioglierà il silenzio
che ti fa mia!
(Il nome suo nessun saprà!...
e noi dovrem, ahime, morir!)
Dilegua, o notte!
Tramontate, stelle!"
"None shall sleep! None shall sleep!
Even you, o Princess, in your cold room, watch the stars, that tremble with love and with hope. But my secret is hidden within me, my name no one shall know...
No!...No!...
On your mouth I will tell it when the light shines. And my kiss will dissolve the silence that makes you mine!... (None will know his name and we must, alas, die.) Vanish, o night! Set, stars! Set, stars! At dawn, I will win! I will win! I will win!"
"None will know my name…And you must, alas…Live, to die…" he eyed the tanks. Unfathomable look…Perhaps in the mix of triumph and joy, ambition and hubris, the slightest touch of sorrow…
"Let there be light…" he opened and spread out his hands…