Surviving the Improbable Quest by Anderson Atlas

Author:Anderson Atlas [Atlas, Anderson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-10-22T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

The Improbable Quest

The word ‘home’ reverberates inside Allan’s head. He feels so far from home he’d almost forgotten it existed. He has a mission to save his uncle’s life though he’s fighting for his own. “I need to get back soon. Faster the better.”

Mizzi pulls a metal bar and a screwdriver off the table and starts tinkering. “Okay then. I will help you get there as fast as I can. Though you will have to do one thing for me in return, and that one thing will be hard.”

“What is it? Anything.”

Mizzi speaks while he screws metal poles together, drilling holes and connecting wires. “You are from the Waiting Place, yes?” He doesn’t let Allan answer. “It is where we go when we can’t find ourselves. To succeed at this one thing for me you must not be Waiting. This will be your Testing.”

“Testing?” Allan’s heart knocks on his chest and he sits up. “The dog and the salamander-people at the tea party and Asantia said something about being Tested. Sounds dangerous, like it could kill me.”

Mizzi shakes his head. “The Testing Games are where some go to prove themselves. Our culture tests all young ones. It is the law. But I don’t believe that there is only one way to test someone. Some young ones thrive in unbalance created by the Games. They can fix the balance. Others freeze up, and in my opinion, should be tested in other ways. Maybe they should not be proving themselves to judges but only to themselves. You must test yourself.”

Mizzi measures the distance from Allan’s ankle to his knee with a fabric ruler then goes back to the table. “Some young ones succeed rather easily. Some do not and some give up all together. Those that give up go to the Waiting Place where they try to forget. They’re waiting for others to decide for them, or for others to be punished for things beyond our control, or maybe for just another chance.” Mizzi looks at Allan with wide eyes. “That is you, waiting for another chance.”

Allan lowers his head. “I killed my parents. If they weren’t yelling at me for doing something stupid, they’d be alive. My dad wouldn’t have been so mad and wouldn’t have crashed the car.” Sadness swells inside Allan like an inflating balloon.

“So when humans argue they cannot drive cars?”

“No, well, I mean. . .”

“Then you had never been yelled at while they were driving?” Mizzi probes.

“Yeah, they have yelled at me when driving before. That’s not what I was . . . “

“So how can yelling cause the crash?”

“My dad wasn’t paying attention because of me.”

“So no one else is able to cause crashes?”

Allan sighs, realizes what Mizzi is trying to prove. “Rubic told me the other driver was on pills.”

“Did you give the pills to the other driver?”

“No.”

“Then I’m flatly confused. How is the crash your fault? You must remember that Correlation does not imply causation.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that a connection between two things does not mean that one caused the other.

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