The Steel Orb

By Hayward, C.J.S.

Subjects: Fiction, short stories (single author)

Description: The Steel Orb is a look at our world from creative and often unexpected angles, meant to give a fresh take on the beauty of this life we live. You might call it, "Eastern Orthodox spirituality meets speculative fiction in a wild and intricate dance." To pick one of many topics drawn into that imaginative dance, the explorations touch the idea of time, which humans have explored in physics, science fiction, and philosophy. There is no discussion of time travel as such, but because the book treats something much more interesting than time travel: something about time that is more human and more real. A quote: The woman looked at me briefly. "My name is Pool. What languages do you know?" If anything, I sank further back into my chair. I wished the question would go away. When she continued to listen, I waited for sluggish thoughts to congeal. "I... Fish, Shroud, Inscription, and Shadow are all languages that are spoken around my island, and I speak all of them well. I speak Starlight badly, despite the fact that they trade with our village frequently. I do not speak Stream well at all, even though it is known to many races of voyagers. I once translated a book from Boulder to Pedestal, although that is hardly to be reckoned: it was obscure and technical, and it has nothing of the invisible subtlety of 'common' conversation. You know how--" The man said, "Yes; something highly technical in a matter you understand is always easier to translate than children's talk. Go on." "And--I created a special purpose language," I said, "to try to help a child who couldn't speak. I did my best, but it didn't work. I still don't understand why not. And I--" I tried to think, to remember if there were any languages I had omitted. Nothing returned to my mind. I looked down and closed my eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm not very good with languages."