Mitchell Simons                                                                                                          Simons 1

Short Story

English 215

November 18, 2012

One World, One Heart

                        Five years… No sun, frozen water, minimal plant life, food supply is almost gone, life is almost nonexistent.  Five years have passed since the horrible event Trurl calls “n”.  Each and every day that has past, Trurl has been hard at work trying to fix the machine that he has created.  Without all of the elements that were destroyed by the machine; Trurl doesn’t know how to fix the Machine.  He has tried almost everything and anything that is possibly left on the planet.  He is running out of options… Without fixing the machine and using the machine to fix the planet… the planet may cease to exist; without the sun and water there is no way to grow crops, without crops you can’t feed the livestock and without either of those sources of food, without the sources of food you can’t live and therefore cause a problem.  This basic concept constantly runs through Trurl’s mind.

Everyday Trurl asks The Machine “What is the key to fix this planet?”

The Machine Replies “The answer lies in the one beat that all species share.”

More and more confused by this Trurl was at a breaking point, and was beginning to become mad ask the same questions rapidity; why, how, what do I do?  He was lost he tried everything to his knowledge. 

After days of madness Trurl finally realized he hadn’t slept in almost a week, realizing he was becoming mad because he was stumped he decided maybe some good sleep would get him back on the right track.

Three and a half hours later, there’s a huge pounding on his door “knock, knock, knock, knock, knock.”  Trurl springs out of bed and runs to the panic, thinking something is wrong, he opens the door and standing there is Klapaucius. Trurl was speechless and had no clue what to say or think.  When suddenly Klapaucius says “I’m here to help”

            Trurl replies “After 5 years you have the nerve to show up and say you’re here to help my fix this! Where were you the past 5 years to help? And this is your entire fault!”

            With a look of sadness in his eyes Klapaucius says, “My friend I’m sorry for my actions and I am sorry for trying to disprove your Machine but I was just jealous and didn’t want you to think you were better than me, I know that I have cause all of this, that’s why I finally came back to help find a way to fix all of this,… I’m sorry my friend”

            Trurl quickly jolts back saying “I’ve already tried everything and I don’t know what else to do.  Your help isn’t needed or wanted!”

            Klapaucius replies “Please, let me kelp. I’ll put all my heart in it! I wi…..”

            Trurl Suddenly interrupted by saying “That’s IT!!”

With a confused look on his face Klapaucius says “what is?”

            Trurl replies “The heart is, it is the key to fixing the Machine and the planet!! I have to in some way make the Machine need what we need, and feel what we feel! That way the Machine will create everything it destroyed!”

            Klapaucius instantly replies “Let’s get to work!”

Trurl then said “here is the plan.  We are going to find all the animals possible and use their hearts to put in the Machine, to make it living.  So that the Machine will have to bring everything back that it destroyed.”

             Immediately the two of them start finding all of the wildlife in town that’s left. Animal after animal, none of their hearts worked to power the machine.

            Trurl then asked the Machine “we know all you need is a heart, why won’t take any we give you?”

            The Machine then replied “The answer lies within your kind”

Trurl then knew then the only way to fix everything was to sacrifice a human and take their heart and put it in the machine.  That’s when klapaucius immediately without hesitating injected himself with air, killing himself. 

Klapaucius last words to his friend Trurl were “I’m sorry, I Know I cause all of this, and this is my way of making it right.  Please take my heart after I’m dead and please finish the job.  Remember me for who I am but not for what I did….”   

After Klapaucius sacrificed himself, Trurl then used his heart and place into the Machine.  The Machine instantaneously was able to feel in every way a human could.  Needing the sun, running water, and sources of food, the Machine was ready to create anything that Trurl commanded it to.  The only problem was that the Machine could only create things that started with an n but not with any other letter, unlike all of the things that the Machine destroyed. 

Remembering this Trurl quickly started to tweak all of the mechanical settings on the Machine... finally after a couple of hours Trurl was able to tweak the Machine enough to where it could create anything instead of just things that start with an n.

At that moment Trurl commanded the Machine to remake everything that it destroyed, as the machine created what was once destroyed everything started to turn slowly back to normal, after a couple weeks of constant creating the Machine was finally finished.  Trurl was very happy as were the people that the survived the 5 years of devastation.  Everything was back to normal and the world was saved. This time for good!