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Salient. Victoria University of Wellington Students' Newspaper. Volume 31, Number 13 June 18, 1968

The Return Of The Triboldies — Part 13

page 6

The Return Of The Triboldies

Part 13

Photo: Mike Silver

Photo: Mike Silver

I present Ocarina's passage attempt to show why I do not perhaps not representative, but motive obliterating concentration "18653. Eight long years we have been away! We performed a ceremony at dawn today, the solemnity of which was marred a little by the magicians'* uncertainty as to their chronology. I remember* well that on this 1st day of each year the sun was clouded shortly after dawn, then the cloud passed. This did not happen today. It* is whispered that the magicians* have lost the count of time and what purports to be the date heading this page is in fact a mere fabrication on the part of Nostradamus, our chronologist"

with a commentary, in an favour his method. This is confirms my suspicions of a on fact.

Pompous

He distrusts magicians. young ones in particular.

This has not happened for some time

Why then does he so boldly preface this passage with the date?

Safely discredited now

Perhaps I am being a little unfair towards Ocarina; he promises to make a good leader; a little pomposity may be forgiven in one of his age; my suspicions may be unfounded.

All those who read this account in years to come will perhaps feel angered at my little regard for Ocarina; but I freely admit that I have good reason to bear a grudge against him. Perhaps he appointed me Chronicler in a feeling of shame for his sins, hoping that I should be magnanimous towards him. In case that was his intention, I shall try to make little of the pain caused me, and of the underhandedness of his actions, difficult as that may seem.

Upper Shajat valley. We have come here to chase a ferocious goose, I think, in pursuit of a tail that docs not exist, to find only the lone "dragonfly", who, it seems, must be Erythromelagia. Strange! He never seemed to be one who would go off by himself, to tour the world alone for years. I wonder, if I were he would I look for the 880 or for the 220 or for the homeland? I have just made an odd discovery: there have always been a thousand and one of our people. But 880 + 220 + 1 makes 100 more than exist.

Either all our people have added wrongly for centuries, or else counted wrongly in the first instance, as well as in the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth, the seventh, the eighth. the ninth, the tenth, eleventh, and so on. I have asked Ocarina; he did not seem in the slightest part worried, putting down this discrepancy to a computational error; he does not seem to consider the possibility that there may be 100 intruders among our true 780. He said "Numbers are unimportant; if all [unclear: ople] exists, that is all that matters."

I disagree vehemently [unclear: ing] that only the last number is important (assuming of our people were assigned numbers), then all the [unclear: rs] that precede it must be equally important, since [unclear: n] the structure composed of the first number, as well second, the third, the fourth, the sixth, the fifth, the [unclear: t]the eighth, the ninth, the tenth, the eleventh, and [unclear: m] which supports the topmost number of the structure [unclear: m] bewildered. I may perhaps add that I suspect a [unclear: m] the count of 1001. But we may yet be surprised.

At a meeting today, outlined what he though to be our tasks, in the [unclear: o] their importance. Firstly, to regain our homeland; [unclear: th] 880 (or 780, if 100 prove not to be) have not [unclear: ar] look for them, and for the "dragonfly". This bold [unclear: ent,] though it differs from Sparadrap ([unclear: t] policy, which was to seek first of all the 880. the [unclear: nd] the homeland, but which recently has been to both courses at one, was surprisingly well met we shall quit this [unclear: ridic] [unclear: ong] our reverse our blue arrows.and continue down the [unclear: alley] avoiding however that sad village where our late [unclear: lost] life.

The sun has [unclear: eclipse] three times in five minutes; we may be doomed. A has fallen from the sun and below the horizon. The [unclear: uld] be angered; perhaps he is about to mo

page 7

[The remainder of this page has been rendered illegible through the action of water.]

It has been a week since I entered the previous entry. We tied ourselves down in terror, which is slowly passing away. I have untied one hand and am now shakily writing. What we most fear has not happened: that our position on the man may be inverted, and ourselves thrown far into the sky, perhaps never again to touch land. Ocarina has given the signal, and all around me people are untying themselves, and each other, and the animals, and the wagons, as well as odd bits and pieces tied down in a hurry last week. Some of the less hardy among us have caught cold, after having lain for a week on the earth, subjected to sunshine, moonshine. and rainfall. Antimacassar is very sick, and others are carrying him to his wagon.

For my own part, I enjoyed the succession of the elements, which, in addition to those I have mentioned, comprised thunder and lightning, hoarfrost, drought, dew, waterspout, 3 eclipses (though perhaps I have already mentioned these . . . for the time being I have mislaid my green book, and am writing this on the back of a smooth camelopard asleep beside me); Mazinta has now found the green book, and drying it by sitting on it, and I am loth to remove her for so unimportant a matter; however, in case I have not written it, there were (I think) three eclipses of the sun, and the top right-hand segment fell off, leaving a small gap which has since healed itself, due, no doubt, to the curative properties of bright sunlight), snowdrifts, torrential rain, monsoons, as well as a totally dark period or hiatus in the passage of time.

Nostradamus has been loudly voicing his theories on the passages of time, that it crosses over itself, and that what we have just experienced throughout the length or a true period of lime, crossing over on its own path; and to present us with a choice of three directions in which to travel, or. in practice, two, since to reverse one's path through time is so far unknown, and very likely impossible. Which of the two paths we take is, he states, determined by chance or perhaps by the weather acting as chance's agent; in short, since such crossings of time upon itself must be confined to a small locality, there is half a chance that we have jumped ahead of our compatriots but probably not of our return (otherwise why should we still be travelling? To look for the 880?); therefore, he says, we must make some allowance in the calendar, perhaps even to abandon it and begin a new one.

Though Nostradamus has been discredited and removed from his post through sheer carelessness (due, some say, to the shrewish Onomatopeia), his wisdom is beyond and he-is by far our most distiguished theorist on the subject of time; Ottoman, in comparison, is a mere calendar-ticker-offer or plank-sawyer. Ocarina, surprisingly, in view of his usual attitude toward Nostradamus, heartily agrees with the latter in the theory that we may have jumped ahead of ourselves; Ocarina thinks that we should have arrived at the homeland, found no 880 (maybe 780), and that we are now searching for them. I think the man may have turned in his sleep.

* [• In these places there may be omissions.]