Excerpt:

Splash! Pause............... Splash! Splash!

In contradiction to what most sentient beings believed to be the laws of physics, three objects appeared from nowhere in mid-air, first one, and then two together. The first one spun briefly and then struck a meaningful pose, as though if it had been possible for it to glide to a graceful landing it would have done so. Alas, thanks to countless generations of evolution favoring larger brains and smaller wings, it was not able to glide. During its brief plunge the object speculated that, perhaps, evolution was not quite the marvelous natural process it had once believed it to be.

The two objects that appeared together seemed to be attached in some way. During their fall, however, they turned and twisted wildly with the result that they became disentangled on the way down. To be frank, there was little that was graceful in their plunge to the waiting sea of liquid below. For the most part they fell rather like lumps. Lumps with writhing limbs attached. The discerning viewer might have speculated that the larger of the two objects, for a fraction of a moment, configured itself into a kind of whole body attitude that suggested nothing so much as a rude gesture to the universe as a whole for placing it in such an untenable and ridiculous position. Still, it was a brief event and, if the universe noticed, it did not obviously acknowledge the insult, unless it was in the fact that the rude object landed in that position which is maximally uncomfortable for an object of its type, classically known as the belly flop.

The so-called "laws" of physics are, of course, a subject of much debate throughout the known universe. One rather extreme species counts them as actual laws, with an accompanying system of jurisprudence in place such that anyone caught breaking the laws of physics find themselves being punished swiftly and without mercy. It is, perhaps, unsurprising then that this particular race of beings lives on a flat planet that is at the center of the universe, where it is known that there are four primary elements that comprise all substances and that the great light that circles the flat plane of the world is eternal and unchanging. And while they are great believers in the empirical method, especially as it involves subjugating one another, no evidence contrary to the known physical laws has ever been discovered--and survived. Hence the populace are largely happy and well-adjusted, having never conceived of the very disturbing idea that reality is quantum in nature, and thus being spared the subsequent plague of cell phones and computer software.

Most species, however, take a more liberal approach to the laws of physics and the concept of reality in general. Possibly the most liberal of these views are held by the Clowinkler folk of the Parsimone Void. Most species work their way up through a series of theories expounding a deterministic and generally lawful (or at least guideline-based) view of reality, before eventually arriving at the more expansive and scarier idea of chaos as an underlying principle to the way things really are. The Clowinkler folk skipped all those intermediate steps and started with a theory of nature that was based wholly on the idea of chaos. Which is to say that they did not, in fact, have any such theory because that would suppose that something could be true in more than one instance. This was not something they believed. Indeed, if they could be said to believe anything at all it was the one law about which there was very little dispute amongst the sentient species of the universe. This is the law that states "if anything unexpected and miserable can go wrong to ruin an otherwise perfectly lovely and relaxing day at the beach, it will." Though the dwelling place of the Clowinkler was quite devoid of beaches, they found this a law to be relied upon in even the most chaotic situations.

* * *

"Stephen! Are you all right Stephen?" Rowan called urgently on the envirosuit comm system. "Stephen, come in."

She was answered with a series of loud whooshing intakes of breath and finally a broken reply. "Yes...here...OK. You?"

"Fine, Stephen, fine." she replied. "I landed more or less, ummm, bottom first. I've never done a cannonball from that height before! Scary!"

"I... I landed not quite so well. More or less...stomach first..." Stephen explained, still rather breathless "I think I'm...going to be sore...though the suit must have absorbed most of the impact. Can you see Myrll anywhere?"

The waves were of considerable size, bobbing them up and down like corks in the surrounding water, and making it difficult to get their bearings and look around. Stephen and Rowan spotted one another quickly though, as they had landed close together. After a few minutes of bobbing and looking, Rowan called out and pointed.

"There! Over that way! I mean, " she checked her suit's heads-up display, "I see Myrll at about 12 degrees polar reference, approximately 500 feet distant. Towards that piece of land that looks like it might be an island. She's not moving! I'm going to her."

"Aye Rho. Acknowledged. I see her now. I'm going to try and catch her attention." Stephen called back. A few minutes later he continued. "She's seen me Rho and waved back. She's starting to swim towards me. I think she's all right."

The envirosuits were excellent flotation devices, but were bulky and made swimming slow and awkward. The trio had covered about half the distance to one another when a series of high-pitched trills burst over the humans comm units.

"Testing am I. Testing am I. Over."

"Myrll!" Rowan cried out, "You found our frequency. Are you all right?"

"Yes Rowan friend. I am being all right, though strangely feeling still inside from the gateway passaging. You and Stephen are of wellness?"

"We're OK." Rowan replied, "Though Stephen had a rough landing."

"Not a problem." Stephen piped in, "A few bruises and a slightly deflated ego as regards my high diving prowess. I suggest we meet up and then make for that nearby island. I don't know if you've noticed yet, but it looks to me like there is a tower atop it of familiar shape. Ancient mysteries await!"

In half an hour they had reached the island. At first it appeared that making landfall would be impossible, as they were confronted by nothing but rocky, blue green cliffs, against which the waves dashed themselves in endless abandon. Circling round, however, they finally located a wide, gently sloping stretch of blue-white sand. Exhausted from their efforts, they clambered tiredly up the slope and plopped down in the sand.

After a while, Stephen commented, "I'm reading a breathable atmosphere here. Similar to the air back in the Dekkar gate facility, though slightly less rich in oxygen. The temperature looks quite pleasant as well. I'm up for a taste of fresh air. Can you each confirm my readings?"

They could. Three suit helmets were undogged, removed and carefully hung from belt loops. A fresh salt breeze blew from the sea and stirred the hair of the two humans as well as the the charred remains of Myrll's once proud crest. Overhead, the sky was a deep azure blue and cottony white clouds sailed through it. The sun shone upon their faces, gentle and warm, a pleasurable contrast to the cool ocean breeze. The waves made an ever-changing musical susurration as they washed upon the beach in a timeless soothing rhythm. In the distance, near the cliffs they had previously confronted, birds in a multitude of hues circled, soared, wheeled and dipped with the occasional piecing and lonely cry.

Stephen drew in a deep and appreciative breath, let it out slowly, and exclaimed "The commute to get here may have been difficult, but you have to admit, it certainly is a perfectly lovely and relaxing day to be at the beach!"