Day breaks as dawns light crests over the low rolling mountains of New Appalachia. Sunlight spills into the sleepy hollows, and narrow valleys below, chasing away the shadows stretching between the trees and large boulders of the small old mountains. A rooster crows as the animals begin to stir in the little agricultural community of Greenfield, nestled in the hills above a seaside river valley.
Sol’s excited rays pour down welcome warmth and light onto the countryside sparkling off the dew drops covering the millions of plants surrounding the scattered buildings of the quaint quiet village. Most of the houses are build in the large trees growing on the steep foothills well above the flood plains and lower wetlands. Small streams perforate the hillsides between and below the houses carving crevasses, gullies, and creating many waterfalls. Further west the foothills are terraced and the streams channelized for farming and irrigation. Larger community buildings are built amongst and into the large rocks at the tops of the foothills. Tall knobby peaks surround the tiny valley community except for a narrow break to the east. A small river winds through the mile wide strip of wetlands below until it empties into a swampy cove at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean.
A particularly playful sunbeam skips and twirls through the canopy of leaves above the timber tree-homes, bouncing off crystal windows and splashing into small pools of dew. At exactly 8:30 am Sol’s impish ray is captured by a multifaceted crystal and sprinkled out as an iridescent display onto a boy wrapped in a world of fantastic dreams.
Tyc Silvanus’s eyes flutter as dancing rainbows frolic over his eyelids. The young man’s eyes fly open and he is thrust from the dream world into the dawning reality of a new day. Looking around he breathes in the fresh spring air coming in through the open windows as he thinks the last day of school!
Tyc jumps out of bed and stumbles over a pile of books onto his hands and knees. The large pile of books next to his bed is a monument to his late night study session. The youth springs back up, barely phased by the fall. He grabs a shirt and sandals from some hooks on the wall and slips them on as he heads out the door.
Once on the small circular porch surrounding his small circular tree-room he is able to enjoy a warm breeze of the new day. He does not stop long to enjoy the beautiful view from his high perspective as he turns around and begins to climb down the ladder hanging from porch. Descending the small wooden ladder to the large porch of the main house below Tyc’s mind wanders to the day ahead.
He suddenly slips as his absent mind snaps back into the present and he grabs for the ladder. Fortunately he slips only two rungs from the bottom. He grabs hold of the ladder just as his feet hit the porch, jarring him a bit. Laughing he realizes the mishap took his mind off his big day and broke the stress beginning to build in him.
Quickly crossing the porch to the house Tyc opens the sliding crystal door and enters. Once inside he cooks himself some eggs and toast on the preheated solar griddle and oven. The meal takes five minutes to cook, and three to eat. Washing the meal down with fresh milk Tyc gets up, grabs his backpack and is out the door and down the long winding stairway to the ground within twelve minutes of getting up.
The sky is filled with large puffy clouds as Tyc walks up the steep rocky slope to the bike shed, located near the dirt road on top of the hill above the treehouses. He opens up the large wooden doors and enters the spacious building which shelters the spare parts and bicycles of the families living in all the nearby houses.
Donning his helmet he jumps onto his bike and heads over the rocky ridge toward town. Excited, the soon to not be student leans his slender body toward the bikes frame, peddling rapidly over the rough trail carved between the large boulders and trees atop the foothills. The teen turns off the ridge lane and snakes his way along a stone road following an irrigation creek winding through the large terraced fields of wheat, corn, vegetables and other crops which are just beginning to really grow larger everyday.
The brisk morning air brings tears to the boys eyes as he rapidly rides through the hilly village of Greenfield where the streets have no name. Tyc’s thoughts drift to his years as a child; the village seemed so big and fascinating back then. But now he is nineteen, about to graduate from school, and he views the scene around him with much more knowledge, and a much wiser eye. The community of Greenfield seems much smaller to him, but the world outside his village has grown beyond his wildest childhood dreams.
Treehouses and fields give way to parks and large community buildings sitting on top of the hills as Tyc nears his destination.
"After today I will be free!" The boy shouts at the vivid colorful sky, as he nears his school. "I will be free to be the best me that a me like me can be!" The enthusiastic teen challenges himself.
Tyc takes in every detail as he rides across campus located in the center of "downtown" Greenfield. He has a great view of the whole pleasant valley as he scans the acres of hill’s, tree’s, and grassy meadows, scattered with natural buildings which blend into their surroundings. The campus’s pristine central location is due to the philosophy of the citizens who view knowledge as man’s greatest achievement. And because of this Tyc knows he will return to this place often in his life, as do all the citizens of Greenfield, many of whom work here.
Tyc turns onto a branch of the stone trail and rides over to a large white and clear crystal dome nestled between a large maple and oak tree in the center of campus. The stone and crystal igloo is on the crest of the tallest hill in town, over two thousand feet above sea level.
Tyc leans his bike against one of the large natural boulders incorporated into the buildings base. Walking up to the buildings unlocked entrance he hesitates. I can’t believe this is the last time I’ll enter this place as a student. He thinks grabbing for the handle to the door that has been his primary portal to knowledge for the past seven years. And with that he opens the large old wooden doors to The Crystal Dome and enters.
Sunbeams stream through the white marbleized irregularly shaped crystal blocks on the eastern side of the enormous igloo. In the center of the domed room is an immense translucent crystal dais taking up a quarter of the brown and black marbled crystal tile floor. The entire room is designed to optimize a chy performance on the stage for all the audience members in the room. This is where Tyc will give his final school performance.
Moving closer to the stage an uneasiness begins to flutter in his stomach. The teen tries to suppress his nervous excitement, but the moment is too powerful, the adrenaline overtakes him as hot and cold waves simultaneously wash over his body. The overanxious boy quickly sits down in one of the comfortable seats in the first row.
He stares at the stage and wonders. Should I go over the song one more time before everyone gets here. He pulls out his handheld crystal computer from his backpack. Tyc settles back in the comfortable tan leather chair and reads through the last part of his dissertation, his final performance, carefully.
Studying has always calmed Tyc down, as his mind wrestles with a new concept or problem, and grasps it or solves it, he feels he is in more control. The prodigal student has always excelled because of his inquisitive nature. And now the graduating young man feels he is ready to turn that knowledge into something productive. When Tyc was younger he wanted to be a scientist. But it was when he started his general studies of chy that he found what he really wanted to do with his life. As Tyc sits back in his leather chair he scans the chy phrases for the thousandth time.
Chy is the basis of communication between humans and Tyc has a lot to say. For the past seven years Tyc has studied chy harder than he studied science in his first ten years of primary schooling. In fact the only reason he’s studied anything else since was so he could better describe it and the world using chy.
"Have you been here all night Silvanus?" Tyc nearly drops his durable computer as he looks up to see Professor Arronger enter the theater.
"Well have you?" The old teacher asks his favorite student, as he meanders over to Tyc’s desk. "Only in spirit." Tyc replies looking up at his mentor with a glazed over, bleary-eyed intensity that passionate men get when they have stayed up many nights perfecting their work, their spirits possessed by their art.
"Professor, I’m a little nervous." the teen confides in his old mentor.
The wise old man laughs and pats the teen on the back, "I never told you this because you are a student and I don’t like to show favorites. But now that you are graduating and ready to leave my tutelage, I have to tell you."
"Tyc you are by far the best chy composer I have ever seen." Professor Arronger says to the boy in a voice which lets Tyc know he is not kidding.
The teen is stunned, mainly because he thinks of Professor Arronger as the best chy composer who has ever lived. "But professor..." The boy starts.
"Listen Tyc," Arronger interrupts grabbing the manuscript from the boy, "I said you are the best composer. And its true, but the true heart of a chy song is in its delivery." He says throwing the boys dissertation on the table with contempt. "You are a good performer, but you have a long way to go."
Tyc, now understanding listens as the wise old professor bestows a final nugget of knowledge to his student. "As long as you have confidence in yourself, while at the same time being humble about your abilities, you’ll do well. Just remember Tyc, you can always learn more, and what you learn in the real world will give your performance the soul, and humanity it lacks." With that the professor gets up and leaves his student with his thoughts.
Aware his performances are lacking the boy has watched many recordings of himself and analyzed them to death. The teen tries to make up for his lack of showmanship by making his songs better. He spends hours at a time running his chy songs through his crystal computer trying new fractal equations in different parts, attempting to get the most uniquely eloquent way of expressing himself . But what the professor is telling him is that he lacks something beyond the composition.
Maybe I do lack just plain old life experience. I just wish there was a way to get life experience without putting in all the years of triumphs and failures. The boy thinks wishfully.
Other students begin to trickle into the lab, and look over at the small nervous boy as they take their seats. Most of the students look up to Tyc because he is so intelligent and always helps them out when they need it. But Tyc only has two real friends, partially because of the demands his studies have on his time, but also because he feels isolated, mainly due to his art.
The boys level of excitement increases as more and more students pour into the hemispherical crystal room. The senior chy performances are open to anyone who wants to come and from the looks of it everyone has shown up, at least everyone not stuck at important jobs. Tyc looks around and realizes he has never seen this many people in this room during the day. In fact the only time he has seen this many people in here is on weekend evenings when there are concerts. The realization makes the teen’s stomach do somersaults as he resists the urge to run and relieve it.
His performance is the only thing scheduled for the day, the other students were eager to get their final performances out of the way. This is just how Tyc had planned it, he put his name on the last day before anyone else signed up for a day. Even the procrastinators who would normally have signed up the last day signed up earlier. No one wants to go on the same day as Tyc! To them he is The Chy Guru. Because of this most of them are standoffish towards him, intimidated by his intellect.
While Tyc is talking to his friend Josh Leepshin, a petite young woman sneaks up behind him. Josh suppresses a grin as Autumn approaches her unsuspecting friend.
Clenched in Autumns small, shivering hand is a frigid blue crystal which she slips into the back of Tyc’s shirt.
"Haaaa!" The startled teen jumps into the air as the surprised yell escapes his lips and the extremely cold crystal slides down his back and into the crotch of his pants, where it stops. Tyc jumps high into the air bouncing around the classroom like a man possessed as he tries to dislodge the offending frozen crystal. All the students in the room roar with laughter as they watch the star of the upcoming event thrash about wildly.
The cold blue crystal falls from his pant leg onto the white crystal floor with a sharp glassy crash. Tyc looks around at all the smiling faces, his nervousness shattered by the cold jolt. He spots the little blonde prankster and lunges for her. The small teen boy being only an inch or two taller than his female friend barely manages to make her stumble, he wraps his arms around her and starts to tickle her. The pretty young girl losses control laughing and wiggling under Tyc’s attack,
"I’m sorry, I’m sorry" screams the writhing teen. "Stop or I'm gonna pee my pants!"
Tyc stops tickling her but doesn’t let go right away. Tyc’s blood rushes and the adrenaline comes back, but this time for an entirely different reason. He feels hot and flushed as he pushes Autumn away from him suddenly realizing where he is. They share an uncomfortable smile and Tyc feels a warm feeling deep down within himself. He reaches his foot around and kicks her lightly in the butt.
"So what you doin’ after class?" Autumn asks the shy boy.
"I got a bunch a chores all afternoon." Tyc replies. "What are you doing this afternoon?"
"Me and Ivy are goin’ over to the Summers house to help her mom with some canning." The cute girl replies.
"Whose Summer?" The distracted boy asks as he looks around at the ground gathering to hear his performance.
"You know Summer."
The boy shakes his head no and gives the girl the old I have no idea what you're talking about gesture and expression, shoulders shrugged, palms up, and everything.
"Come on she's been my friend for like two months." The girl says impatiently but Tyc just shrugs again.
"I swear you're the only person in all of New Appalachia who doesn't know everyone else in New Appalachia. I doubt you even know the names of twenty percent of the people."
The girl's very true observation kinda stings the boy unexpectedly. He's always been well aware of the fact that he is different. After he understood that he's shy and introverted he's tried to compensate by being more sociable and outgoing. But it is hard, small talk is an excruciating endeavor for the brilliant boy , and it is the primary pastime of everyone else. It's almost like everyone is speaking a secret language that comes very fluently to all them and has always been complete gibberish to him. But the short socially awkward young man has his own secret language, Chy. Mathematics, science, creatively reasoning out solutions to complex problems using data and facts have always come fluently to Tyc. Of course this has meant he has spent much of his time studying while others have been fraternizing with each other and just plain having fun. The teenager may be a prodigy and may even be a genius, but it does not mean he isn't human and doesn't want and need the companionship, friendship, and love of others. Tyc knows full well that his solitary alienation from others is the cause of the problem the Professor was talking about. He just doesn't know how he can change it.
The room suddenly turns very dark, the only light is a violet glow emanating from a large multicolored crystal guitar in the hands of professor Arronger. The professor quickly commands the attention of the roomful of people as he stands on the translucent dais, slowly weaving a deep red and orange chy song all around the darkened domed room. The professor only lets the slower deeper red and orange sunbeams come through the white crystal igloo. The special beat slows down the student’s heart rates as the song calms everyone down. It’s fluid rhythms and mellow melodies flow through the crowd’s senses and into their minds, gently penetrating their thoughts.
Jessic Arronger had written the song thirty-five years ago to sooth his young children when they got too wound up. Since then he has adapted the song to use on his classes to settle them down and get their minds ready and relaxed for the learning experience ahead. Professor Arronger plays the chy song as he watches the experience wash over the audience, marveling at how far chy technology has come in his lifetime. Since chy was rediscovered over two hundred years ago, chy and the crystal technology developed to utilize its great powers have found their way into every aspect of human life on Earth. What he is doing to his class now was not possible when he was a student, and now due to new crystal battery technology and efficient chy instruments available that allow the chy performer to leave the confines of the crystal performance hall. Amazing! The old professor thinks to himself as he wraps up his song, and slowly allows the natural sunlight to filter back into the room.
"Ladies and gentlemen of my class, we all know that today is the last day but we still have one performer left to listen to. Now I hope you will give young mister Silvanus your undivided attention, and grade him according to the guidelines that are on your peer reviews." The peer reviews suddenly appear on the crystal displays attached to the arms of their chairs. "Now without further ado I give you Tyc Silvanus."
The students clap and whistle and yell out as Tyc climbs the dais steps. Stomach knotting nervousness washes through him as he walks up to the stage, each step seeming an eternity. Professor Arronger pats the boy on the back and smiles.
"Have fun Tyc, you’ll do great." The professor says as he makes his way down to the teen’s empty seat.
Tyc takes his crystal theremin and its stand from his backpack. He sets up the retractable wooden stand, putting the white and translucent crystal box atop the stand. Also from his backpack Tyc takes out a iridescent black crystal looped antenna which he attaches to the left side of the crystal theremin. Next he pulls a long straight multicolored crystal pitch antenna which he attaches to the right side of the theremin. The teen then withdraws a green, and yellow crystal battery which he attaches to the top of the theremin. Tyc switches the power on and positions his hands near the antennas.
The frightened teen looks out over the crowd of mostly youthful faces. Tyc looks at his two friends, Josh and Autumn, and he feels slightly better as they smile encouragingly at him. The boy feels so nervous he thinks he may have to leave and run to the bathroom any minute. The almost petrified student closes his eyes and tries to clear his mind. He thinks of the colors, notes, phrases, and pictures of the song in his head. Tyc opens his eyes, takes in a deep breath and begins to move his hands over the two crystal antennas, without ever touching them.
The bright sunlight in the room slowly fades, with all the nuances of a sped up sunset, as a low rumbling bubbles up from beneath the floor. Gradually, almost imperceptibly, natural forest noises fill the room. A pretty little melody slowly enters the audiences ears, interweaving with the natural noises to produce a calming, tranquil song. Wisps of colorful light began to bleed into the darkened room, the smoky colors floating around the peoples heads as one by one they give themselves completely over to the enchantment of the chy song.
New voices slowly intermingle with the original melody and nature sounds forming a harmoniously complex chorus. Colorful lights dance around the domed hall colliding and twisting into each other, creating simple geometric patterns which split and fracture into more and more complex designs which perfectly match the music and the emotions building in the audience. Waves of excited chy energy delicately lap up against the captivated audience arousing their intellects. Streaming in through their eyes and ears, chy quickly courses deeper and deeper into their psyches where it ignites their inner beings.
Tyc takes his audience up and down on an exciting roller coaster ride meandering through their thoughts as they each float on the very fabric of their own consciousness. Higher and higher into the ethereal ether the teen takes his audience before he brings them back down to Earth. Up through their dreams and aspirations the boy lifts the students until finally they break through the confines of their physical prisons and began to soar above themselves.
Tyc has now completely gained control of his audiences emotions, and imaginations; from this point on they will see, hear, and feel only what he creates. Stress slips away as Tyc gets into his chy performance. His dexterous fingers flow fluidly around the theremin’s antennas as his mind concentrates on what he is playing as well as what he needs to play next. He enters into an equipoise existence where his body and mind move as one, both relaxed and excited at the same time. What Tyc’s grandfather calls a mentaphysical groove.
High into the clear blue sky the chy song flies, looking down over their community and the surrounding forests that perforate the small village. They soar through the fluffy clouds heading towards the forested mountains. The song travelers swoop down close to the lush green giver of life, where they glide over the canopy like birds searching for food. Dipping down into the canopy the teens are suddenly surrounded by the wonderful sights and sounds of the wilderness.
A chorus of birds and insects fills the forest with beautiful comforting sounds as the students are immersed in the Earth’s complex biosphere. Tyc’s song shows his companions the web of life which makes up the forest. Focusing in on plants and animals, the students watch as they go about their important little lives. Through the sun, soil, air, and water Tyc shows how all the plants and animals are connected to each other in an evolutionary harmony as they produce food and air for each other.
Surrounded by the inner workings of the entangled ecosystem Jessic is bought to tears by the young man’s poetry. He still remembers a time when most of the forest was new and much of the land in New Appalachia was devastated by human overuse and pollution. There have been great changes in his life, and to see one as young as Tyc understand and appreciate what humans have strived to save and recreate for almost two millennia shows him that humankind may just have a chance after all.
