The Light of Other Days - Short Story

By the middle of the 21st century, the world was facing a terrible energy crisis. But my grandfather once a famous scientist in the latter days much decayed seemed to think he had the solution. He was a bit of an embarrassment with his theories and I was sent to calm him. “Oh there you are, why have you been trying to avoid me?” said he. I muttered something and he continued. “I was wondering what happened to the United States, it’s not united anymore and it’s worse than the middle ages there, you know they have all become savages, and things in Europe aren’t much better either, and according to my calculations soon things are going to be much worse here, so I have a plan to solve the energy problem of this world, and I have already started it.

“Be sensible grandfather, it's way beyond you” said I “You know what the other scientists say about you, they call you an old goat.” “They are not scientists, they are politicians, but enough of that Alvin let’s go to the beach,” said he.

We did not have to walk far for grandfather had always lived near the sea. The waves were breaking on the shore and the noonday sun was as bright as ever as we walked towards a boat. We got into the boat and I was shocked by what I saw for the boat had a large fishlike tail extending from behind it, and as this long black tail flapped the boat propelled at an incredible speed through the water. “What in hell is that?” said I almost jumping overboard. “That’s just the wave-powered propulsion system” he replied “I transferred the vertical up and down motion of the waves to the horizontal flapping motion of the tail, there are pods floating just below the surface all around the boat, and every time a pod is moved up and down there is a clever mechanism which transfers this to the flapping movement of the tail, even the smallest ripple is transferred to the tail, that’s why it moves so fast.” Are you sure that there isn’t a motor attached to the tail?” said I, still skeptical…… to which he replied, “Oh I’ve got bigger things in my mind, like for example solving the energy problem” ……. “But how?” said I …… There was no answer for he was sitting on the boat with his hand touching the water and he started reciting an old poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow……

Ah! what pleasant visions haunt me
  As I gaze upon the sea!
All the old romantic legends,
  All my dreams, come back to me. 

Sails of silk and ropes of sandal,
  Such as gleam in ancient lore;
And the singing of the sailors,
  And the answer from the shore! 

Most of all, the Spanish ballad
  Haunts me oft, and tarries long,
Of the noble Count Arnaldos
  And the sailor's mystic song. 

Like the long waves on a sea-beach,
  Where the sand as silver shines,
With a soft, monotonous cadence,
  Flow its unrhymed lyric lines;-- 

Telling how the Count Arnaldos,
  With his hawk upon his hand,
Saw a fair and stately galley,
  Steering onward to the land;-- 

How he heard the ancient helmsman
  Chant a song so wild and clear,
That the sailing sea-bird slowly
  Poised upon the mast to hear, 

Till his soul was full of longing,
  And he cried, with impulse strong,--
"Helmsman! for the love of heaven,
  Teach me, too, that wondrous song!" 

"Wouldst thou,"--so the helmsman answered,
  "Learn the secret of the sea?
Only those who brave its dangers
  Comprehend its mystery!" 

In each sail that skims the horizon,
  In each landward-blowing breeze,
I behold that stately galley,
  Hear those mournful melodies; 

Till my soul is full of longing
  For the secret of the sea,
And the heart of the great ocean
  Sends a thrilling pulse through me.

The fact that he had recited this strange poem worried me, perhaps his brain was deteriorating. Then I saw a large Ferris wheel on the beach, ten times larger than the largest that had ever been built. I was shocked, and he went on “That is the solution to the energy problem, you see there are large metal structures floating in different parts of the sea, but these are attached to the sea bed and every time they are moved up and down by a wave, it generates an enormous amount of energy, which is transferred by a hydraulic system to turn the Ferris wheel for this is the central point to which all the energy is channeled. This wheel is enough to power all the energy needs of this country.

I never understood how it worked, but it solved the problem, and soon other countries were adapting it. And because wave power does not pollute the environment, the 21st century saw the beginning of finding solutions to the great environmental problems like global warming, water pollution, the pollution of the atmosphere, and ozone layer depletion. I dare say that the 21st century was better than the previous century due to a clever idea an old goat once had.

Written by: RJX