\documentstyle[11pt]{article}
\title{The Dinad}
\author{Andrew Marc Greene}
\date{13 December 1987}
\begin{document}
\maketitle
\section{}
It was 13 December 1987.  Pam's eighteenth birthday.  And I was in
Cambridge, at MIT; she had just gotten home from Rice, in Houston.

I thought back to when we first met, at the 1986 Research Science
Institute, a summer program for high school seniors.  We had been quite a
team back then, working together on a talent show act and
everything.  I had never really been in love before, and I was
more than overwhelmed by it.

She lived in Houston, you see, and I was from Queens, New York.  So ours
wasn't exactly a convenient friendship.  But there was the mail,
and the phone, and once we were at college there was computer mail.  I
still missed her very much, but we survived.

And then came her damn birthday.  And I got really depressed because I
couldn't be there to share it with her.  We spoke on the phone, and I
got even more depressed.  I cried myself to sleep that night.

\section{}
The next morning, I woke up feeling remarkably well--rested.  I looked
around, and discovered that I was lying on a grassy hill.  I shot up
in alarm, and noticed that I was wearing some sort of jumpsuit.  I
tried to remember how I had gotten there, but all I could recall was
going to sleep the night before.  I decided it would be a good idea to
take a short walk and see what I could see.

So I started walking.  I headed up the hillside, expecting to get a
good view from the top.  After a few minutes, the hill started to get
too steep, so I started to walk around it.  As I rounded the side, I
saw another figure down at the bottom of the hill.  I started to run
down, towards it.

The figure turned to face me, and Pam's face was looking at me.  I
stopped short and we sort of gaped at each other for a while.  Then we
both started laughing at the same time.

{\tt I have such wonderful images and I can't get them into WORDS!!!

\it
I see us wandering about for a few days, unable to find anything
except grassy plain after grassy plain, with our hill the only feature
of the landscape.  I see a sky with no sun, but with day (light blue)
and night (black); no shadows but sufficient (diffused) light.  I see
clouds and rain after a few days of wandering, and I see us hudling
together for protection.  I see an accidental discovery that the
wristwatch that I'm wearing (not my own) triggers the Integrid, and I
see us discovering how it works.  I see us asking the computer how we
got here, and I see it responding with riddles.  I see us figuring out
that we have to pass three tests to escape.  I see us discovering that
there is nobody else here, wherever here is.  I see us finding the
portal to the underworld (first test); I see us almost dying as we
attempt to traverse a deep crevice; I see us locating the magic
diamond; I see us trying to get at it and failing many times, each
time having to return to the overworld to find another thing that we
need.  I see us finally succeeding (second test), and losing Integrid.
I see us fighting our way back to the surface, and not knowing what we
are supposed to do with the diamond.  I see us giving up hope, and
deciding that we're probably going to spend the rest of our lives
here, but at least we have each other.  I see us getting closer,
awkwardly maneuvering towards intimacy, when the diamond grows dark
and shatters.  I see us regaining our ``forgotten moral senses'' and I
see the shards of the diamond turn clear, the diamond start to reform.
I see us taking the diamond back to the hill (long trek), placing it
at the top, and each of us returning to where we woke up.  I see us
going to sleep, and waking up still there.  I see us reclaiming the
diamond, puzzled.  I see us deciding to go back to where the diamond
was.  I see us fighting all the dangers we did before, but without
Integrid.  I see us returning to where the diamond was, only to find
another one in its stead already there.  I see us confounded, tired,
falling asleep in each other's arms; I see us waking up to find our
diamond gone.  I see us also realizing that the stone that we used as
a pillow is really a dirt-encrusted diamond of tremendous proportions,
and that {\rm it} is the true Dinad.  I see us pondering, yet again,
how we are to pass the third test if Integrid can't tell us what it
is.  I see our puzzlement being interrupted by the voice of Integrid,
telling us that we have passed the third test.  And I see our queries,
``What third test?''  And I see Integrid enumerate the tests --- not
giving up hope, not giving in to temptation, and learning that the
obvious beauty is not always the most precious.  And I see ourselves
confessing that we did give up hope, and almost give in to temptation,
if it weren't for the false diamond.  And Integrid claims to have had
no knowledge of the false diamond, and so we ask, ``Then what is that
over there?'' referring to the smaller diamond.  Integrid explains
that it is a trap, that it will hold forever anyone who tries to touch
it.  I see us (*poof!*) disappear; and I wake up on 14 December in my
bed at MIT.  I'm very confused, of course, and I call up Pam.  ``If I
asked you if you had a dream last night, would that mean anything to
you?'' I ask.  ``If I told you I don't think it was a dream, would
that answer your question?'' she replies.

And I see an afterlogue --- in the alternate world, Integrid is being
congratulated on a job well done by his master.  Integrid asks the
master about the false diamond that the humans reported, and the
master claims to know nothing.  Integrid leaves as the master
transmutes into a small, translucent piece of crystal and quietly
laughs{$\ldots$}

}
\obeylines

We walked about, for days on end,
Wandering around the world.
Exploring places none had ever seen.
The world was flat, save for our hill,
And miles of grass made it a sea of green.
And as we walked through grassy plains,
Wandering and wondering,
We watched, and listned for the slightest sound.
Examined sky and grass and ground.
To no avail we sought a sign
To guide us through this world of mine
(For such is how it seemed to me ---
A world that naught but I could see,
And Pam, illusion to extremes
Could not be as real as she seems).
No sun lit up the pale blue sky
That stood above us, Pam and I.
The sky grew light and dark, and yet
'Twas done with no sunrise, sunset.
Our bodies never shadows cast.
We wandered far and wide and fast,
And found naught, and we witnessed still
The wind caressing that first hill,
So we trekked to the little dome
That I had started to call ``home.''
And as we reached it's pointed crown
Sheets of rain came pouring down.
Thunder, lightening, blasts of wind
Pelted us and kept us pinned.
No shelter offered us respite
As the storm's full fury hit.
We huddled for protection, and
The storm came up and rent the land.
The rain and wind swept us about
Like little toys who'd been left out
Before a massive hurricane ---
And suddenly, 'twas light again
And we were safe, soaked to the bone
But safe, together, and alone
To face our foe, our enemy,
That held us in captivity ---
This cursed world that held us two,
And gave us nothing what to do.
So we set out to find a plan
To break this prison, if we can.

A month would pass, ere I would find
A find to boggle any mind.
For in that month, I deigned to miss
A thing that seems so obvious
In retrospect.  For on my wrist,
A thing so commonplace I missed
A small detail --- the watch I wore
Had, I found, one buttton more
Than what it should.  And on the band
It said ``You hold here in your hand
A weapon and a shield on par
With any other, near or far.''
And so I pressed the button red
And soon a very loud voice said,
``I am thy guide, thy wishes bid
Me do; my name is Integrid.''
I looked at Pam, and she at me,
And we were frightned by what had happened.
I went to take off the watch,
And sparks of blue leapt from it,
and a light blue sheen came over my hand,
and started to creep up my arm.
And it reached my torso, and enveloped my
head, and my other arm, and then,
in one swift flow,
it swept down my torso and my legs and
had totally engulfed me.
I, of course, nearly had a heart attack as
I watched in terror this thing creep across my body.
And Pam took a few steps back and looked like she wanted to
run far, far away but wanted just ever so much more to stay.
And as soon as the aurora had closed around my body,
it started to fade.  And Pam stepped closer, and touched
me on the shoulder, and a bright blue flare reached out and grabbed
her hand.  And the same process happened with her, as the
swirling eddies of blue light consumed her body.  And as soon
as she was completely covered, the very intense flares died down,
and soon we were both covered with a pale blue shimmer.

Since we were both now affected by this, whatever it was,
we figured it would be safe to touch.  I tentatively reached out
for Pam's hand, and gathered more confidence as we got closer.
Finally, I grabbed her hand in mine.  And it felt like there was
nothing between us.  The energy field (or whatever it was) dissolved
where we touched, and when we separated it sprang back into existance.

We sat down on the grass and discussed what had just happened.
``Read the watch band again,'' Pam urged.  I complied:

``A weapon and a shield on par
With any other, near or far.''

We quickly realized what we had:
Energy at our beck and call,
At our command,
To do with as we would.
And if we could
Only figure out HOW to use it....

And the voice returned, and it said to us,

``I know you wish to leave this world, and so
I'll tell you what you need to do to go.
Three trials you must pass, three hurdles cross,
Three victories must win, and ne'er a loss.
Your journeys here will take you underground,
And when you're done, you'll know that you have found
The Dinad, largest diamond of them all,
From deepest pit to tree and mountain tall.''

We took heart at this, a promise of escape,
A chance to leave this world of shady shape.
We lifted up our heads, picked up our feet,
And started walking in a marching beat.
And one and two and three and four we walked,
And while we searched for {\em anything}, we talked
Of what was yet to come before the day
We'd turn our backs on this, and walk away
To other lands, the world from which we came.
And suddenly, I heard Pam call my name ---
She'd found a hole!  A small one, but a hole!
We peered inside it, wond'ring if our goal
Was through a hole like this; and if our quest
Was one-third over?  Was this the first test?
It had to be, to find the passage through,
And certainly we glowed a brighter blue
At this.  So through the hole we squeezed,
Though with the smell neither of us was pleased.
We huddled close as darkness closed around.
(Well, what did you expect?  We're underground!)
And slowly, creeping forward through the maze
Of tunnels that defy all written phrase ---
All twisted, crooked, winding, rough, unworn,
Laughing at us with unspoken scorn.
Misbegotten images appeared,
Every footstep evil spirits sneered:
``Mortals hoping to escape our trap!
Bah!  They think escaping is a snap ---
But wait, just wait, my pretties, and you'll see
That no one leaves this world, not even we!''
But no --- nobody really hovered there
No spirits floated in the heavy air.
``I saw them, too,'' Pam whispered in my ear.
I said to her, ``They couldn't have been here.''
But how did both of us see them?'' she cried.
``I wish I knew,'' I quietly replied.
We slowly, ever slowly onward pressed,
And every night, we'd stop and take a rest.
But always one would guard and stay awake,
While the other slept (or tried to fake).















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