Impossible Dreamers

Chapter 60 (faytwi): Tyro's invention

Those Grabblers, Liana and Herago, had set the day's programme back, and the climax to the events had been overshadowed by this act of disruption. Worse, the disruption was actually enjoyed by the people watching in the hall. Sleech ordered the Guardians to chain up the Seren-ilians and Pritch. They were carried by two flying Guardians to the high cage where the "Guests of Honour'' were already imprisoned. Once there, Liana saw that Piacho and Selentaya also had their hands chained together. Even so all of them were happy to be together outside of a dream. Quietly, Selentaya said 'We failed, but we tried. That is the important thing. One day somebody will succeed.' A Guardian outside the cage pointed her weapon at the group. Selentaya had said enough.

Down below, Tyro and Sleech were anxious to forget this unfortunate escapade, and get to the real high point of the procedure. This was the announcement of the incredibly stunning invention that Tyro had developed, though of course it wasn't Tyro who had developed it. Two of the originators of Tyro's invention were at that moment imprisoned in the cage. It was a collaboration between Pring, Pritch and Piacho, though the idea had never been put into practice, and Pring and Pritch were very uncertain about whether it could work.

The machine Tyro was supposed to have invented had been explained to him many times, but far from being able to talk about how it worked, he was still uncertain about what it was supposed to do. So he had been given a script to read from. Sleech introduced this section.

'Bartyronians! Having defeated the Grabbler wreckers who tried to sabotage this festival, we now come to the highest of high points in our happiness. You have already seen some of the inventions that have sprung from the mind of our amazing ruler. Many of those were stolen by dishonest people who tried to claim them as their own, others were suggested to the "inventors" by Tyro himself. Now, you will be extraordinarily happy to hear your Great, Powerful, Ingenious and Dextrous Ruler explain in his own words the most incredible invention of all time, surpassing even the legends of the ancient world. Please all stand for the Ruler of Rulers!'

Everybody in the room stood. But looking out at the crowd, Tyro seemed nervous.

'Tell them to sit down again,' Tyro said to Sleech.

'Very well, Master.' He addressed the hall again, 'Sit down, happy crowd,' Sleech said. The crowd did so.

Tyro began to read. As he spoke, pictures appeared at the back of the stage, illustrating his words.

'Bartyronian citizens! I will now present something unknown to the world until this day. An invention which no human being has even imagined, until it appeared, fully formed, in the brain of Tyro Tyrannosus the Third.' A picture appeared of Tyro's head, with his brain glowing through his three-pointed hat. Tyro looked up from the screen he was reading from, saying, in a surprised tone, 'That's me, isn't it?' to Sleech. Sleech nodded and Tyro continued.

'Yes, well, it's a very clever thing, I tell you! Erm ...' Tyro seemed to have lost his place. But then he found it.

'Oh yes. "This machine will make it possible for anyone to travel wherever they wish to go, in less time than it takes to blink an eye ..."' Tyro looked at Sleech, surprised. 'Will it really?' he asked.

'Oh yes, your Speediness. You really have invented something extraordinary. And you are so modest about it.'

'Right,' said Tyro. He started to blink. 'Yes, that would be very quick,' he said. 'Blink, the moon. Blink, the sun. Blink, the farthest corner of the universe. I amaze myself. Let me see.' A picture of a box or cupboard appeared on the wall behind Tyro. Then, in a new picture, Tyro himself stood alongside the box, gesturing towards it. Tyro looked at the picture and seemed puzzled. 'When was that?' he said to Sleech.

'It has not actually happened yet,' said Sleech. 'It just gives an impression of how it will be.'

'Oh,' said Tyro. 'Well, that's very clever. I thought I didn't remember... anyway. Hmm.' He continued to read. 'Then it says ... "This machine might look just like a box, but it uses the powers which I discovered in certain herbs" – that's right, isn't it, Sleech?'

'Yes, Oh Great One.'

'Good, good. Where was I? ... "certain herbs to unlock power in the human body, enabling a person to travel through space and time as though such things did not exist." Really? We'd have to be careful about that, wouldn't we? I mean, we wouldn't want just anyone to use it. They might get far enough away that we wouldn't be able to catch them.'

'Of course,' said Sleech, wearily. 'That would not be possible, as we have not yet produced any of these machines. And when we do, it will only be authorised people who can use them.'

'Yes, that's right,' said Tyro. 'That's why you can only see a drawing of the machine. Not an actual machine. Of course, I did the drawing, which is very lifelike. But it's a bit small, isn't it, Sleech?'

'You mean the drawing is small?' Sleech asked.

'No, I mean the box is a bit small. I'd have to take my hat off to get inside.'

'Great Tyro, of course, you are using this opportunity to explain that although the box appears small on the outside, it would actually be much bigger on the inside, so several people would be able to travel in it.'

'Oh, am I? Oh, yes, yes. "The force and power in the human body can be unleashed to act upon the fun-da-men-tal party ... particulars ... particles of matter, which enables the ... erm sub ... subato ..."' A diagram of an atom appeared behind Tyro, and he looked at it bemused. 'What's that? Well, never mind. There's a lot of other technical stuff here which ordinary people wouldn't be able to understand. But it's the best invention there has ever been. So it's about time everybody cheered ...'

The picture behind Tyro changed to that of an enormous smile, exactly like the stick-on smiles that people were wearing. Everybody opened their mouths to cheer, but instead of sound coming out, the thousands of mouths just stayed hanging open.

In the middle of the stage, just where Herago had been doing his Impossibles, something was happening. It was a surprise to everyone.