from one point. According to this principle, the universe emerged from a tiny point and grew to infinity, and it continues to grow.»
«So you mean it’s possible to stop time or control it!?» the boy asked, feeling both surprised and curious at the same time.
«I don’t know, time inexorably moves forward. I think the principle mentioned in the legend is not without foundation…,» the father fell silent and looked through the walls, then suddenly came to his senses and said:
«I need to think, and you should go to bed.»
«Will you come in?»
«To tell you a story,» the father said ironically.
«Yes,» confirmed the son.
«Okay.»
Alcmen went to his room and went to bed. He closed his eyes, but his thoughts didn’t want to calm down. «The clocks of time. I wonder what they looked like? I wonder if we can find them. It would be great to find the clocks themselves. And with their help, go back in time and see what really happened there.»
Then his father entered the room.
«Are you already asleep?» he asked.
«No, I’m waiting for you. I forgot to ask, when are we leaving?»
«Very soon. I will go to the university tomorrow and find out everything for sure. Most likely this week.»
«Great! It’s the most beautiful fairy tale. I will visit the City of the Gods. Tell me something else?» the boy asked, staring at his father with curiosity. He couldn’t fall asleep.
«In the City of the Gods, there was a temple that had clocks of time where you could control time. That’s actually what I want to find. It’s more likely. And if I find it, it will be a great success.»
«What small goals,» the boy said in surprise. He imagined himself looking for the clocks of time and the spear of strength, while his father talked about hoping to find only the ruins of the temple. He didn’t agree with settling for something less.
«I always set small goals for myself so that I won’t be disappointed later, and if something bigger happens, I will be more pleased.»
«Interesting perspective.» The boy looked at his father in a whole new light. They, for the first time in their lives, spoke so openly and as equals. Alcmen understood that behind the word «dad» was a very ordinary person with his fears and quirks.
«You see, we’re just going on an excavation, and we don’t know what awaits us there. I’ve often dealt with simpler things in my life than with truly amazing artifacts. So let’s put your fantasies aside and think about what you’ll take with you. I think you should take some textbooks so you can continue your studies.»
«Dad, I’ll only take a math textbook with me, that’s all,» Alcmen declared.
His father looked at him intently.
«I will probably agree with you, but you will be doing math from start to finish,» he said.
«Agreed!» exclaimed the son.
«What were we talking about?»
«The temple where the clocks of time were kept,» said the boy.
«Yes. It wasn’t quite a temple as we know it. I don’t know why it’s called that in legend because in reality, this temple was like our university. They studied sciences and kept track of time. I assume that they also had their own library, no worse than the Library of Alexandria. It’s strange that we don’t know what tools the inhabitants of the City of the Gods used to store information. I doubt they used clay tablets or papyrus given their level of development.»
His father thought again, only now noticing this interesting fact. «The absence of written sources… it probably proves that their level of development was not as great as the legend says.»
«Digital technologies,» Alcmen declared.
His father startled, as if he had been woken up.
«Why do you say that?» he asked.
«It’s very simple! Digital technologies leave no traces. Information is stored in the cloud,» explained Alcmen, surprised that his father hadn’t thought of the most obvious thing.
«Either I’m out of touch or you’ve grown up a lot.» The father couldn’t get used to the fact that his son was already grown up, in his mind he was still small. Sadly, this happens in life when parents rarely see their children. «That’s what an unclouded view does,» the father thought.
«Don’t worry, I’ll help you,» the boy encouraged him.
«That’s it, go to bed. We’ve clearly stayed up too long,» said the father as he looked at the ordinary wall clock. The clock’s hands showed one in the morning. They had never stayed up so late.
«What about the temple? I want to know everything about it,» Alcmen pleaded.
«We’ll go and find out,» the father said, ruffling his son’s hair and covering him with a blanket. The boy lay down on the pillow and closed his eyes. In his imagination, a majestic temple appeared, very similar to the university building in their small town. People walked in and exchanged information. They wore togas and sandals, like the ancient Greeks. He knew that the temple held time clocks, but as often happens in dreams, something kept getting in the way of reaching them. Sometimes a wall appeared in front of him, or he suddenly found himself not in the temple, but in the square, or someone started talking to him, explaining the principle of a spear. The boy tossed and turned, and the dream took a different turn. He calmed down and slept until morning.
Chapter 4: The Riddle of Time
The next day, when Alcmen woke up, his father was already gone. He had gone to the university.
Time stretched out very slowly, as it often does when you are eagerly waiting for something. It was his first trip, he had never been anywhere before. So the anticipation was both exciting and agonizing. He tried to imagine the journey the whole time, but he couldn’t, even though he had a very good imagination. «If only I had a time clock, with which I could control time, I would move time forward now and we would already be on our way,» the boy thought.
Alcmen got up and walked around the room, then sat down and sat for a while, then walked up to the window and looked out. Outside the window, everything was the same, he could see the edge of the library and the neighboring house, with bushes growing between them, where he sometimes hid when they played in the yard. «Nothing has changed, is there a place somewhere where everything is completely different?» he thought and looked at the sky. The sky was always different, whimsical clouds changed shapes and made you think. The color of the sky also changed all the time, and it allowed you to look at it longer without getting tired. «You can look at the sky endlessly, it never stays the same,» he thought, took a deep breath, as if something had already happened and it was impossible to change it.
The key creaked in the lock, and that meant only one thing – his father had come. Alcmen went out to meet him, but he had a rather tragic look on his face.
