Thirteen Steps
By Ellie Dauber
Copyright 2001

A couple of archeology graduate students test their skills and knowledge in deciphering a lost language. What could possibly go wrong?

Thirteen Steps
By Ellie Dauber
Copyright 2001

This is yet another of my older stories, a short-short story came from a line in Pamela’s story, "Charlotte's Niece", about letting the dream of a female self become real, while the male self faded away. Thanks again for the inspiration, Pamela.

As you see, it was also an experiment in storytelling.

* * * * *
"You really think this will do anything, Rick?" Andy Traygor sat at his desk looking up from a pile of books. "I doubt it. I don't believe in magic any more than you do." Rick Brant put down his pen. "But nobody's ever found a full description of a Cymmirdian prayer ritual, much less translated it."

"Yeah, but Swinsonn's work last year pretty much gave us a enough of a grammar and vocabulary to try. We were just lucky to find the tablets over at the museum."

"Now, if we got the translation right."

"We do, and we're not even going to have to finish our course work. They'll have to give us our Ph.D.s."

"Archeology grad students crack lost language. Film at 11."

"Let's see if we got it right first. Let me read it aloud." Rick picked up a long sheet of paper from his desk. It was covered with scribbles and notes, but there were clear lines of hand-written text at the bottom.

"Okay. What's this thing supposed to do, again?"

"If we've translated it right, it's supposed to grant the worshipper - me, I guess, his deepest wish." He looked down at the paper and began reading the text, starting with a long exhortation to a set of ancient godlike beings who had not been prayed to in over four millennia.

In some far of the nether realm an ancient something awoke. It heard Rick's voice. Before it returned to the Deathsleep, it chose, on sheerest whim, to grant the unbeliever his true wish.

Step 1:
Andy Tragor sat confidently in his chair listening to his roommate read the text they had worked so long to translate.
The girl was just an imaginary being, no more than a passing dream.

Step 2:
Andy felt a vague chill run through his body.
The air over the chair next to him began to shimmer.

Step 3:
Andy looked pale. He felt weak, as if he had just done a full day of hard, physical labor. He felt a little dizzy.
A pink column of air formed above the second chair then extended down to the floor on one side.

Step 4:
Andy seemed drawn, thinner. His mind began to fog. He could barely manage a coherent thought.
What looked like a line drawing of a girl formed on the pink column of air.

Step 5:
Andy seemed to lose color. His body, his clothing all faded, becoming grayer.
The image of the girl began to gain depth as it spread through and contained the air column.

Step 6:
Andy grew narrower, thinner, as if he were becoming two-dimensional.
The girl's form moved and began to grow more solid. It gained colors, brunette hair and a green sheath that might be a dress.

Step 7:
Andy Traygor looked at the girl in disbelief. She was a more solid form and looked almost like his younger sister.
Angie Traygor looked at the boy in disbelief. He seemed to be losing substance.

Step 8:
The boy was less solid looking now. The colors of his clothes and hair were becoming the same grayish pink as his body.
Angie Traygor was fully formed now. She felt blood circulating in her veins and arteries, air filling her lungs.

Step 9:
The boy's body was losing fine details, fingers grew together, then arms and legs merged into a single mass.
Angie Traygor shifted in the chair, moving her arm as well.

Step 10:
All color seemed to sink into the boy's form. He seemed like a line drawing on a container of pink fog.
Consciousness flowed into Angie Traygor's mind.

Step 11:
The details of the boy faded from the pink fog on the chair.
Angie gasped as the colored areas of her body became clothing and hair, distinct things from her body.

Step 12:
Color faded from the air column until it was just a shimmering above an empty chair.
Angie's mind was filled with the memories of an entire life.

Step 13:
The boy was just an imaginary being, no more than a passing dream.
Angie Traygor sat confidently in her chair listening to her lover read the text they had worked so long to translate.

"That's it," Rick said. He put the paper down on the desk beside him. "Did it sound okay while I was reading it, like a real translation I mean?"

"Yes, yes it did," Angie said. "We aced the translation, but I don't think the magic worked. At least, I don't see any change in anything. Do you?"

"No; I said there was no such thing as magic."

"You sound disappointed."

"It would have been nice." He paused in thought for a moment. "Hey, wait a minute. That spell was supposed to create the reader's most secret wish. Maybe my wish was to become a famous archeologist for translating the tablets."

Angie unbuttoned the top two buttons of her dress. She sat down slowly on the bed and leaned back sensuously until her head was on the pillows. "Isn't there anything else you might have wished for?" Her voice was heavy with meaning and invitation.

Rick tossed the paper towards his desk and began walking towards the bed. "Well, there was one thing."

The End.