THERE ARE LEGENDS among my people of something they call the Highrise. The legends say that it surrounds our world, and without it our world could not exist. Also, the legends say that without our world, the Highrise would be unable to function.
Some believe that the world remains still, while the Highrise moves about it, but I feel that this cannot be true, even though I do not accept the existence of the Highrise.
I have not seen this Highrise. Or - if I have - I have not seen it for what it is: all I have noticed is featureless grey walls. But I am told that the people who visit our world come from the Highrise. They come through the metal doors, stay a while without acknowledging us, then leave. The people have always come, and they always will. That is the way of things.
Our world is small, and there is something beyond it, but I cannot - and will not - attempt to guess at its nature, nor at its purpose. The world is all that we have, all that we are able to use, so the Highrise - real or not - bears little meaning to me. We have our prime function: to keep the world operational. We control it, and it contains us. We measure the passage of time by movement of the great light, alternately illuminating and darkening the world.
Some say that the light is but one of many. Some even say that each of the lights in turn passes by - or we pass it by...
Some of my sisters and brothers speak of a place beyond even the Highrise. They say that the people who visit our world are part of a much larger world, containing the Highrise itself and many more like it. I have asked them is there are worlds within each of these supposed Highrises, and they assure me that there are.
It has been argued that the people come when the doors open, and the converse has been argued.
Once, someone maintained that our own world was not the only one in this Highrise.
I have no time for religion. The light passes, the doors open, the people come. This is the real world. All else is either nonsense or irrelevant.
But I am troubled...
Today, one of the people spoke to me. This is the first time such a thing has happened. The woman came through the doors, and - instead of turning her back on us as the others do - she smiled, and said Hello.
I was too shocked to respond. I had never guessed that the people could even speak. I never even thought of them as real people. To me, they were just... people. Soulless, vacant faces. But this woman spoke, and smiled.
The world moved on. She dialled a number, the doors closed, and the light passed. Then the doors opened again, and before she left she turned and smiled once more.
I had never seen anything so wonderful, and I wanted so much to see her again.
My sisters and brothers laughed and joked about my reactions. One of the Elders gazed sagely at me, and nodded. He told me that it was almost my time.
I was confused. Time doesn't belong to someone. Time simply is, and people are affected by it. I told the Elder as much. He disagreed, and explained that it was time for me to go, to leave the world and follow the people. I was to become part of the Highrise. I had advanced to the next stage.
But I was not ready. I will not go! I told them. They insisted that I must. They told me that the woman's recognition of me was proof that I could no longer stay. You have outgrown us, they said. You belong to the Highrise. Accept your fate.
I could not. I begged, I fought, I cried...
And now, as I watch, the light passes. Soon, the light will be gone, and the doors will open. My mind is in a frenzy. I watch the light, and wonder if the light measures time, or creates it. If I stop the light, will I stop time?
The light slows. My brothers push me towards the steel doors. I am weak from fighting, and I cannot stop them.
The light has passed. The world rocks briefly. The doors open.
And I step out of the world, and into the Highrise. It is real, much more than simply the flat grey walls I observed from the world. It extends in both directions, and there are people...
I turn and wave good-bye to my brothers and sisters, and watch the steel doors close from the other side.
I take a few moments to look at this larger world, and wonder how I could have so easily dismissed it. The people move with purpose. They have lives as complex as my own - some perhaps even more so. The Highrise is home to them, and my world simply a means of conveyance. And then the thought hits me: if my world is so insignificant to them, then it is quite possible that this Highrise is insignificant to others. I have suddenly become part of a larger world, and my awareness has expanded to grasp it.
Then, as I begin to move away, I notice another set of metal doors.
There is a small lighted panel beside them, and out of curiosity I touch it.
The doors open, and there is a world inside, just like the one I left.
I take a deep breath, and step into this world. But this time as a passenger, not a citizen.
There is a young woman there, looking up at me. I smile and say Hello.