Marco Marek author: Hyperearth Excerpt

Hello writers and readers,

I would like to post another excerpt of Hyperearth, and have good reading!

Martina unrolled a yellowed map, elaborately detailed with mountains, grassland, lakes, and rivers, but she noticed the northern coast of Antarctica was without a trace of ice or snow. “I’ve read about this,” she commented. “But the language on this map is incomprehensible.”

Danni hesitated, not knowing what to say. “All I know is that this language is not from anywhere close to where we live. The map must have been inherited. There are many objects that Loken can’t even tell the origin of, nor who made them. Some of them are many centuries old.”

“I see what you mean,” Martina replied. “But I do know that the admiral Piri Reis drew maps of Antarctica in 1513, before it had been discovered.”

“Interesting,” Danni remarked.

“What if I told you the last time that Antarctica was without ice was in 4000 BC?” Martina further explained. “It’s incredible. A real mystery.”

Suddenly, Mary barged in between the two girls, holding a wooden box in the shape of a cube. “Look!” she exclaimed, rotating the box to show that each side was different but contained a concentric star-shaped design made of metal. “I passed my finger across it in a clockwise circle, trying to clean off the dust, and a side opened!”

“Let’s try it again,” Danni suggested. “I don’t remember this cube.” She moved her hand around the top of the cube, and it suddenly opened, revealing a golden powder. The cube quickly closed again, and the girls looked at each other, puzzled. “Aha,” Danni remarked. “Now I remember. It’s the cube of desires.”

“A magic box?” Mary asked.

“No,” Danni replied. “It’s more complicated than that. First of all, it can only accept desires that come from the heart. Second of all, it won’t accept greedy wishes, like wealth or anything like that.”

“Sounds great!” Martina exclaimed, smiling.

“It also won’t accept desires to hurt people,” Danni continued.

“I could ask for a boyfriend!” Martina said, beaming.

“But it’s not as simple as you might think. There are many factors and rules that have to be followed, and it takes time,” Danni explained.

“Well, we have time,” Mary said. “We’ll be on this island until tomorrow, won’t we?”

“Then you could try later, if your intentions are good,” Danni replied.

“Mine?” Martina asked. “I think so, but I’ll leave it up to others to judge that.”

Meanwhile, they curiously explored the many objects around them. Mary discovered a mirror with a beautiful gilt frame, but when she tried to behold herself in the glass, she didn’t see her reflection. She set it down and at first said nothing, apprehensively trying to figure out an explanation.

“Well, I’ve become invisible.” She finally exclaimed. “Come look at this, Martina!” Martina approached her friend and took a look into the mirror, but also couldn’t see herself. They called over Danni.

“You can’t see yourselves because you come from Earth,” Danni explained. “Look, I can see myself in the mirror.” She demonstrated, smiling, leaving Martina and Mary shocked by this fact. But it was only the beginning of many more surprises to come in this mysterious land.