The Tree

Ondrej Krug 

English translation from Slovak by Katarina Karasekova

 

I had a feeling that Michael was thinking the same thing. We began to talk about the problem in more detail and reached a consensus on the same evening. We believed that there had to be a method which would allow us to access the hidden secrets of trees. The goal was set. What followed were countless seemingly boring evenings full of unsuccessful experiments.

After six months our work started bringing first results. Our research benefited greatly from Michael’s laser, which was able to burn large surfaces of wood in a blink of an eye. This short gleam allowed us to measure more than twenty parameters which helped us to determine the conditions of growth. We had to do an infinite number of experiments before we finally learnt to recognise the secrets hidden in a thin layer of wood.

[…]

In a natural reserve located more than two hundred kilometres from our institute grew three rare trees. Their age was ideal for us since our aim was to get to the past. Old trees promised us to unveil hundreds of years of history.

[…]

The experiment had begun. In a monotonous and maybe even a boring way. A gleam of the laser followed by clattering of the printer, which spewed the processed results. The amount of paper grew while the trunk of the tree was disappearing unstoppably. An image of a lush forest was growing before our own eyes. We eventually started to feel like home in it. Once we even saw an image of a large animal in our results. It probably decided to die close to our tree.

[…]

I managed to convert all data outputs into a graphical form and display them on a digital screen. We were no longer interested in temperature, we didn’t care about the levels of air pollution, we didn’t want to know the moisture of the atmosphere anymore. We only wanted one thing: to see its face. The face of the creature that had planted an unknown number of observation stations in the form of long-lived trees on our planet.

[…]

Our excitement grew as the tree was becoming thinner. We were finally nearing the finish line. We took a break only a few millimetres before the point in which the image of the forest was supposed to disappear. The long-awaited moment was near. 

[…]

The image of the greenhouse was unusually clear. Bright white tubes of the support construction were glimmering in the sunlight. Shadows were constantly appearing and disappearing around the tree as if they didn’t want to hear out our prayers. We tried hard to spot them, but we weren’t able to make out even the slightest detail. My eyes were sore from fatigue and I was about to take a break.

Suddenly, Michael exclaimed:

“Something was there! Rewind the recording by half a metre and play it again slowly!”

I rewound the recording but I didn’t have the courage to press play. I was scared. I looked at Michael and I felt that he understood. Slowly but decidedly, I played the slowed recording. When the shadow on the screen began to take shape, Michael shouted: “Stop!”

I stopped the recording and raised my sight from the keyboard. A creature, which I would never have expected to be there, appeared on the screen. Its face and figure were displayed very clearly. It must have been standing in front of the tree for at least fifteen minutes. Otherwise we wouldn’t have such a clear image of its hand, frozen in a simple gesture of salute. There was no doubt that the greeting was meant to be for us. 

There was only one answer to what me and Michael saw.

We both stood up and silently repeated the greeting.

We stood there for a long while, pulsating and electrifying sensations flowing through our bodies. I couldn’t get rid of them. It took me a long time to get from a state of unusual excitement to a state, which I could describe with one word: certainty. 

I felt with all my soul that I would encounter the stranger again. And not just that: I believed that we would understand each other.

 

Ondrej Krug, et al., 2015:Touches of the Future - An Anthology of Slovak Sci-Fi, Artis Omnis, 2015.

 

 

Strom

Ondrej Krug 
Original text in Slovak

 

Cítil som, že Michal myslí na to isté. Začali sme problém podrobnejšie rozoberať. Ešte v ten večer sme sa dohodli. Verili sme, že musí existovať metóda, pomocou ktorej by sme prenikli k dobre ukrytým tajomstvám stromov. Cieľ bol určený. Potom nasledovalo mnoho zdanlivo nudných večerov, plných neúspešných pokusov.

   O pol roka začala spoločná práca prinášať prvé výsledky. Veľkým prínosom pre náš výskum bol Michalov laser, schopný spáliť v krátkej chvíli a na veľkej ploche kus drevnej hmoty stromu. Tento krátky záblesk nám umožnil merať vyše dvadsať parametrov, pomocou ktorých sme vedeli určiť podmienky rastu. Museli sme urobiť nekonečné množstvo pokusov, kým sme sa naučili rozoznávať tajomstvá ukryté v tenkej vrstve dreva.

[…]

V chránenej oblasti, vzdialenej od nášho ústavu vyše dvesto kilometrov, rástli tri vzácne stromy. Ich vek bol pre nás ideálny, veď našou metódou sme sa chceli dostať ďalej do minulosti. Staré stromy nám sľubovali poodhaliť históriu vzdialenú stovky rokov.

[…]

Pokus sa začal. Monotónne a možno aj trochu nudne. Záblesk lasera – a po ňom klepot tlačiarne, ktorá chrlila spracované výsledky. Množstvo papiera rástlo a z kmeňa stromu nezadržateľne ubúdalo. Pred našimi očami vyrastal obraz bujne rastúceho pralesa. Už sme sa v ňom cítili ako doma. Raz sa nám dokonca vo výsledkoch zjavil obraz veľkého zvieraťa. Rozhodlo sa asi umrieť v blízkosti nášho stromu.

[…]

Celý výstup výsledkov z počítača sa mi podarilo premietnuť do grafickej podoby a zobrazovať na grafickú obrazovku. Už nás prestala zaujímať teplota, bolo nám ľahostajné množstvo nečistôt vo vzduchu, nechceli sme už poznať vlhkosť atmosféry. Chceli sme jediné: vidieť jeho tvár. Tvár tvora, ktorý na našej planéte nasadil neznáme množstvo pozorovacích staníc v podobe dlhožijúcich stromov.

[…]

Naše vzrušenie sa stupňovalo so zmenšujúcou sa hrúbkou stromu. Konečne sme boli pri cieli. Snímanie sme prerušili niekoľko milimetrov pred miestom, v ktorom sa mal stratiť obraz lesa. Dlho očakávaná chvíľa sa priblížila.

[…]

Obraz skleníka bol nezvyčajne jasný. Prenikavo biele rúrky nosníkov sa na obrazovke ligotali v slnečnom jase. Okolo stromu sa ustavične mihali tiene, akoby nechceli vypočuť naše úpenlivé prosby. Namáhali sme si zrak, ale neboli sme schopní rozoznať najmenšiu podrobnosť. Oči ma už boleli od únavy a bol som rozhodnutý prerušiť snímanie.

 

   Vtedy Michal vykríkol:

   „Niečo tam bolo! Vráť záznam o pol metra späť a pusť to pomaly ešte raz!“

Pretočil som záznam, ale na spustenie som už nemal odvahu. Dostal som strach. Zadíval som sa na Michala a vycítil som, že ma chápe. Pomaly, ale rozhodne som spustil spomalený záznam. Keď tieň na obrazovke začal nadobúdať konkrétne tvary, Michal zakričal: „Stop!“

   Zastavil som obraz a zdvihol oči od tlačidiel. Na obrazovke sa zjavil tvor, ktorého som tam ani vo sne neočakával. Jeho tvár a postava boli zobrazené veľmi zreteľne. Musel stáť pred stromom nehybne aspoň štvrť hodiny. Inak by sme nemohli vidieť tak jasne jeho ruku, zmeravenú v jednoduchom pozdrave. Nedalo sa pochybovať, pozdrav patril určite nám.

Na to, čo sme s Michalom videli, existovala jediná odpoveď.

Obidvaja sme sa postavili a ticho zopakovali pozdrav.

Stáli sme tak dlho a po celý ten čas mi telom pulzovalo niečo elektrizujúce. Nevedel som sa toho zbaviť. Až po dlhšom čase prešiel pocit nezvyčajného vzrušenia do stavu, ktorý sa dal nazvať jediným slovom: istota.

Celou svojou dušou som pocítil, že sa s neznámym ešte uvidím. A nielen to: začal som veriť, že mu budeme rozumieť.

 

Ondrej Krug, et al., 2015: Dotyky budúcnosti - antológia slovenskej sci-fi, Artis Omnis, 2015.