Death From the Sky

A thrilling short story of magic and science

There was once a kingdom of Little People in the northwest corner of a garden, where they lived in their little caves. They were a happy, hard-working people and prospered under their queen.

However, there was something terrible that happened to the Little People on a regular basis. In the course of their foraging, the workers would travel to the southeast, and encounter the Great Stone Road which leads to the Red Mountain. Usually, they would cross the stone road without incident. However, all too frequently, there would be a great shaking of the ground, and a huge black shadow would fly out from the sky and strike all of the workers on the road dead, while their friends in the thicket cowered in fear and tried to dig little caves to hide. This disaster happened at least once a year. Thus, there were hundreds of casualties among the finest youth and weeping and mourning for days, but there was nothing anybody could do about it.

Sometimes, the braver souls would venture out along the Great Stone Road up until the Red Mountain itself. For them, the risk was much greater, and the Death from the sky would come much more frequently. Then there were those who were foolhardy enough to attempt to enter the Red Mountain itself, through some of the numerous holes that dotted its surface. Those adventurers were usually never heard from again, despite the tantalizing legends of treasures buried in the Red Mountain. Because of all this, the sages of the Little People came up with a curious theory, that there is a great being, the Guardian of the Red Mountain, who owns the entire domain around it, including the Great Stone Road, and who gets very angry when the Little People intrude on his property, and sends the shadow of death to strike them down whenever they dare to trespass.

This theory was popular for a while because there was nothing better, but slowly, the intellectuals started becoming less and less satisfied with it. Who is this Guardian? Why can’t we see him? How is he so powerful that he can just rain death from the sky? Where is the evidence for the Guardian in the first place? These doubts arose concurrently with a scientific revolution that was happening among the Little People. Eventually, after some events that will be described, most of them ceased believing in it altogether. The first thing that contributed to the downfall of the Guardian theory is referred to in the Little People scientific literature as “The Finding of the Rubber”.

One day, the workers were making their usual trip across the Great Stone Road, when, as happened from time to time, there was a great trembling of the earth. The workers scattered in all directions, desperately but hopelessly trying to exit the road and into the safety of the grass, but it was too late, as the shadow darkened the light of the sun and swooped down suddenly, killing 50 of them on the spot. There were only 15 workers left, trembling in their hiding spots and whispering their last prayers. After waiting for about an hour, awash with relief that they were spared, they emerged and were about to head back when one of them noticed something on the road surface. “What’s that?”, he asked. There was a black object in the midst of the corpses that had not been there before. Despite their fear, curiosity overtook the survivors, and they also knew that once the Death had wreaked its vengeance, it was unlikely to return that day, so they investigated the object. It was about the same size as a little person and rubbery to the touch, and they returned to the settlement and presented it to the recently established Scientific Committee.

After days of analysis, the scientists declared the results- that this strange object was indeed a piece of rubber. Moreover, they came to a startling conclusion. This piece of rubber, being the same color as the Death, must come from the Death, must be a piece of the Death, and must demonstrate that the Death from the sky is not a shadow from some mythical Guardian, but a simple, yet deadly, piece of rubber. This was an extremely shocking revelation that rocked the world of the Little People, and most were reluctant to accept it. But soon enough, they had split into two camps, those who held of the new Rubber Theory and those who clung to the outdated Guardian belief, claiming that the Guardian can bring death using rubber if he so chooses.

The scientists among them investigated further, wanting to properly measure and analyze the Rubber and its behavior, including understanding what makes it move. In each expedition across the Great Stone Road, the Scientific Committee sent one or two of its investigators to stand behind in a safe location in a cave and observe the action as it unfolds. Initially they couldn’t see anything but felt the trembling of the ground as they shrank into their bunkers, and cleaned up afterwards. However, one of the scientists was very brave and made a name for himself with his next discovery. Instead of hiding in a cave, he would climb onto the surface of a rock so that he could observe from above, risking his life in the process. His bravery eventually paid off, and he was able to see that the Rubber was actually attached to another great brown flying object. Thus, it was conclusively proven that there was no Guardian, but a black piece of rubber attached to a gigantic brown flying object.

There was still a vocal minority who clung to the Guardian theory, claiming that the Guardian can bring death using the rubber and the brown flying object if he so wishes. They argued that even if the death is caused by rubber which is attached to a brown flying object, this doesn’t explain what makes the brown flying object fly in the first place, which must still be attributed to the Guardian. However, these arguments were no longer taken seriously. Since science had been continually successful in discovering the what causes the Death, first the rubber, and then the brown flying object that moves it, surely it would likewise be successful in determining what makes the brown object fly. The Guardian theory was thus derisively termed “Guardian of the Gaps”, in that it only attempted to explain the tiny gaps that science had not yet been able to, and the Guardian theory was relegated to the realm of faith.

🎉🎉🎉🎉THE END🎉🎉🎉🎉