AN: I've done my research in Spanish, and I've tried to translate
everything as accurately as I could, but some names might be wrong. Also I
couldn't find much about the musical scale. so I'll go really fast through
this one.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------
Chapter 4: Harmony.
Jen felt the water splash her face and her chest and laughed happily. Next to her, Alex was enjoying the fresh water on his skin just as much. "I could get used to this," Jen said. "I could so get used to this," she repeated. Alex took some water in the small pot he was holding and threw it in her direction, splashing her back. "THANK YOU!" she yelled happily.
"I have to admit the last thing I expected to find here was fresh water to take a bath!" he commented, pouring water over his head and hair.
Jen's entire body shook, which made her look like a dog shaking off the water. Alex wrapped his cold arms around her body and they kissed, their cold skins pressing against each other. "I love you," she said brightly.
"I love you too," he answered, rubbing his nose against hers romantically. They separated and looked for their clothes and began putting them on, looking around their environment.
The circular area they had reached the night before was really large. It had surprised them to find food, drinks and fresh water to bath when they woke up. They had taken a bath first, their skins damaged by the use of a diving suit for three straight days. Now they were preparing to eat, for they were also starved. The necessities had kept them from paying attention to the rest of the things that lay in the 'room', a series of iron hammers of different sizes and an anvil.
The Drakes sat on the floor and checked the food more closely. It was composed mainly of fruits- solid and in juice- but also included bread and fish. "I wonder why they are feeding us," Alex commented between bites of fish. "You would think they want us to lose."
"Perhaps they think it's not fair that we lose because we're starved," Jen said. "Perhaps they think it's unfair to judge if we are capable of raising our children when we can't think straight."
"Or perhaps for some weird reason they want us to win," he concluded.
"Or perhaps they are poisoning us," Jen said in a careless tone. They both chuckled nervously at the comment, but kept eating. They thought that even if the food was poisoned they were going to die happy after having taken a bath and eaten. Jen took a pomegranate and took a deep bite from it. While she chewed, she asked, "You know what this reminds me of?"
"No," Alex answered, his mouth full of bread.
"Persephone," Jen said. "Demeter's daughter? She ate a pomegranate while she was kidnapped in the Underworld, and therefore she had to stay there a third of the year with Hades, and that's how winter began."
"Let's just hope it doesn't happen to you," he said, taking her hand.
"Is it me or did you actually become more romantic lately?" she asked with a grin.
"I did," he said. "Because I've been really close to losing you forever way too many times, and I just want to make myself sure you know how much you mean to me, everyday."
"Aw! That is so sweet!" she moaned, delighted, reaching across to kiss his cheek.
He blushed slightly and smiled timidly. "Yeah, well."
She chuckled and held his hand. "You mean a lot to me too, baby. You're the most important thing in my life, and I don't want to lose you, ever, because I've been there twice, and I didn't like it," she said seriously. He looked into her eyes and smiled brightly. She returned the smile and moved closer to him.
He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it, then pressing it against his cheek while he said: "You and me."
"Forever," she completed, kissing his jaw line.
They finished their meal in a much more romantic way. They kept feeding each other bites of food and kissed between bites. "It's been a while since we've done something this romantic," she commented.
He caressed her hair. "That's true, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to break the spell," he answered. "We're going to need to think about this task." He got up and walked toward the hammers.
She followed him. "What do you think you're doing?" she asked, alarmed, when he grabbed one of the hammers and hit the anvil with it, producing a din that made them both cover their ears.
"Well, I'll admit that wasn't very useful," he said when the last echoes started to fade away. "So, if we don't have to hit the hammers against the anvil, what are we supposed to do?"
"I suggest we open our computers and start doing some research. It may take us a little longer, but it will be safer," she said, summoning her computer. He summoned his and they got to work.
Jen and Alex were surprised to find Tao and Buda in their dimensional pockets, but the mice were ready to help. Together they began scanning all the information they had brought with them for something that included hammers and anvils. Not long after, Tao stood on his rear paws and called: "Got something!"
"What?" Alex and Jen asked, in perfect unison.
"Something about Pythagoras," the mouse began. "And his theory of the harmony of the spheres."
"The harmony of the spheres?" Jen asked.
"As you know, the Greek had the idea that the Earth was the center of the universe, and the planets, the sun, and the moon moved around it. Well, Pythagoras said that the universe produces music. He thought the musical scale was perfect mathematically, and said that was due to the harmony of the spheres, or the music of the universe. He said humans could not hear the music because they were used to it, having heard it since their birth. According to him, each celestial body produced a different note, and they all got together forming the most perfect and beautiful melody, the symphony of the Universe," Tao explained.
"Wonderful, but where do the hammers and the anvil enter in?" Alex asked impatiently.
"The legend says Pythagoras had just come up with the idea of the harmony of the spheres, when he was passing by a blacksmith's workshop. He heard the different notes that reached his ears. When he entered, he saw the different notes came from different hammers. He went home, created a very complicated mathematical calculation in order to determine the exact weight and size each hammer had to have to produce each note of the scale, the current musical scale, and asked the blacksmith to create these hammers for him. And he was right; each hammer produced the exact note."
"What was the calculation, and can you perform it?" Alex asked immediately.
"With time the calculation was lost," Tao announced.
"Any ideas?" Jen asked.
"My musical ear is good, but not that good!" Alex admitted.
"Tao? Buda?" Jen asked desperately.
"Well," Buda said. "We do have software that can recognize the musical notes."
"Run it, Jen, cover your ears the best you can. This is going to be loud," he warned her. She nodded.
Alex approached the hammers and organized them by size as approximately as he could. The difference of weight between some hammers was ridiculously small, and therefore their sizes were barely different. Jen helped him, while the robots ran the program needed.
"I think we're set," Alex said. Jen nodded, taking a deep breath.
It took them hours and a terrible headache to put the hammers in the right order. Sometimes waves from the previous hammer affected the computer readings of the current one and they had to go back. They organized the hammers in a long spiral and calculated which were the right ones. Every seven hammers, there was a note.
"Now what?" Alex asked, with all seven hammers in front of him.
"Well, we've walked through the universe," Jen said. "Let's listen to its song."
They slammed all seven hammers in order against the anvil and... Nothing happened.
"I think we messed up," Jen said sadly.
"No, we didn't," Alex said. "Is it me, or did it suddenly get darker in here?"
"You're right, it did," Jen agreed.
Shadows seemed to be falling over the walls and the floor rapidly. "Tao, Buda, back to the pocket," Alex ordered, pressing the teleportation button.
Jen moved closer to her husband. "What's going on?" she asked.
Alex looked up. "A roof." He pointed up. "They're closing a roof over us," he said as the roof closed completely.
In that moment, the floor shook and began sinking. "Now what?!" Jen asked, scared.
"I don't know, baby," he told her, hugging her. "But I think this is where the party really starts!"
To be continued.
Chapter 4: Harmony.
Jen felt the water splash her face and her chest and laughed happily. Next to her, Alex was enjoying the fresh water on his skin just as much. "I could get used to this," Jen said. "I could so get used to this," she repeated. Alex took some water in the small pot he was holding and threw it in her direction, splashing her back. "THANK YOU!" she yelled happily.
"I have to admit the last thing I expected to find here was fresh water to take a bath!" he commented, pouring water over his head and hair.
Jen's entire body shook, which made her look like a dog shaking off the water. Alex wrapped his cold arms around her body and they kissed, their cold skins pressing against each other. "I love you," she said brightly.
"I love you too," he answered, rubbing his nose against hers romantically. They separated and looked for their clothes and began putting them on, looking around their environment.
The circular area they had reached the night before was really large. It had surprised them to find food, drinks and fresh water to bath when they woke up. They had taken a bath first, their skins damaged by the use of a diving suit for three straight days. Now they were preparing to eat, for they were also starved. The necessities had kept them from paying attention to the rest of the things that lay in the 'room', a series of iron hammers of different sizes and an anvil.
The Drakes sat on the floor and checked the food more closely. It was composed mainly of fruits- solid and in juice- but also included bread and fish. "I wonder why they are feeding us," Alex commented between bites of fish. "You would think they want us to lose."
"Perhaps they think it's not fair that we lose because we're starved," Jen said. "Perhaps they think it's unfair to judge if we are capable of raising our children when we can't think straight."
"Or perhaps for some weird reason they want us to win," he concluded.
"Or perhaps they are poisoning us," Jen said in a careless tone. They both chuckled nervously at the comment, but kept eating. They thought that even if the food was poisoned they were going to die happy after having taken a bath and eaten. Jen took a pomegranate and took a deep bite from it. While she chewed, she asked, "You know what this reminds me of?"
"No," Alex answered, his mouth full of bread.
"Persephone," Jen said. "Demeter's daughter? She ate a pomegranate while she was kidnapped in the Underworld, and therefore she had to stay there a third of the year with Hades, and that's how winter began."
"Let's just hope it doesn't happen to you," he said, taking her hand.
"Is it me or did you actually become more romantic lately?" she asked with a grin.
"I did," he said. "Because I've been really close to losing you forever way too many times, and I just want to make myself sure you know how much you mean to me, everyday."
"Aw! That is so sweet!" she moaned, delighted, reaching across to kiss his cheek.
He blushed slightly and smiled timidly. "Yeah, well."
She chuckled and held his hand. "You mean a lot to me too, baby. You're the most important thing in my life, and I don't want to lose you, ever, because I've been there twice, and I didn't like it," she said seriously. He looked into her eyes and smiled brightly. She returned the smile and moved closer to him.
He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it, then pressing it against his cheek while he said: "You and me."
"Forever," she completed, kissing his jaw line.
They finished their meal in a much more romantic way. They kept feeding each other bites of food and kissed between bites. "It's been a while since we've done something this romantic," she commented.
He caressed her hair. "That's true, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to break the spell," he answered. "We're going to need to think about this task." He got up and walked toward the hammers.
She followed him. "What do you think you're doing?" she asked, alarmed, when he grabbed one of the hammers and hit the anvil with it, producing a din that made them both cover their ears.
"Well, I'll admit that wasn't very useful," he said when the last echoes started to fade away. "So, if we don't have to hit the hammers against the anvil, what are we supposed to do?"
"I suggest we open our computers and start doing some research. It may take us a little longer, but it will be safer," she said, summoning her computer. He summoned his and they got to work.
Jen and Alex were surprised to find Tao and Buda in their dimensional pockets, but the mice were ready to help. Together they began scanning all the information they had brought with them for something that included hammers and anvils. Not long after, Tao stood on his rear paws and called: "Got something!"
"What?" Alex and Jen asked, in perfect unison.
"Something about Pythagoras," the mouse began. "And his theory of the harmony of the spheres."
"The harmony of the spheres?" Jen asked.
"As you know, the Greek had the idea that the Earth was the center of the universe, and the planets, the sun, and the moon moved around it. Well, Pythagoras said that the universe produces music. He thought the musical scale was perfect mathematically, and said that was due to the harmony of the spheres, or the music of the universe. He said humans could not hear the music because they were used to it, having heard it since their birth. According to him, each celestial body produced a different note, and they all got together forming the most perfect and beautiful melody, the symphony of the Universe," Tao explained.
"Wonderful, but where do the hammers and the anvil enter in?" Alex asked impatiently.
"The legend says Pythagoras had just come up with the idea of the harmony of the spheres, when he was passing by a blacksmith's workshop. He heard the different notes that reached his ears. When he entered, he saw the different notes came from different hammers. He went home, created a very complicated mathematical calculation in order to determine the exact weight and size each hammer had to have to produce each note of the scale, the current musical scale, and asked the blacksmith to create these hammers for him. And he was right; each hammer produced the exact note."
"What was the calculation, and can you perform it?" Alex asked immediately.
"With time the calculation was lost," Tao announced.
"Any ideas?" Jen asked.
"My musical ear is good, but not that good!" Alex admitted.
"Tao? Buda?" Jen asked desperately.
"Well," Buda said. "We do have software that can recognize the musical notes."
"Run it, Jen, cover your ears the best you can. This is going to be loud," he warned her. She nodded.
Alex approached the hammers and organized them by size as approximately as he could. The difference of weight between some hammers was ridiculously small, and therefore their sizes were barely different. Jen helped him, while the robots ran the program needed.
"I think we're set," Alex said. Jen nodded, taking a deep breath.
It took them hours and a terrible headache to put the hammers in the right order. Sometimes waves from the previous hammer affected the computer readings of the current one and they had to go back. They organized the hammers in a long spiral and calculated which were the right ones. Every seven hammers, there was a note.
"Now what?" Alex asked, with all seven hammers in front of him.
"Well, we've walked through the universe," Jen said. "Let's listen to its song."
They slammed all seven hammers in order against the anvil and... Nothing happened.
"I think we messed up," Jen said sadly.
"No, we didn't," Alex said. "Is it me, or did it suddenly get darker in here?"
"You're right, it did," Jen agreed.
Shadows seemed to be falling over the walls and the floor rapidly. "Tao, Buda, back to the pocket," Alex ordered, pressing the teleportation button.
Jen moved closer to her husband. "What's going on?" she asked.
Alex looked up. "A roof." He pointed up. "They're closing a roof over us," he said as the roof closed completely.
In that moment, the floor shook and began sinking. "Now what?!" Jen asked, scared.
"I don't know, baby," he told her, hugging her. "But I think this is where the party really starts!"
To be continued.