way to the Port Avalon Observatory, to his friend and mentor, Dr. Ramirez.
The lights in the lab are on, much to David's delight, and he is pleased to find the professor at his keyboard.
“Can I join you?” David asks as he sits down at his computer station. Ramirez is engrossed in his work and barely acknowledges him, but David is used to the professor's intense concentration on something he is passionate for.
David sets up his PC to network into Ramirez' keyboard, hoping to learn some new music. But when the sequences appear on David's screen, he is confused. Something isn't right. The harmonics are all over the place, the dissonant chords overwhelmingly prevalent. David can't hear the notes but he can tell there is something foreboding in what Ramirez is creating.
“Dr. Ramirez, what is that you're playing?” David sends an instant message, but Ramirez doesn't respond. He waves to get Ramirez's attention, but the professor shakes his head and gruffly orders, “Don't bother me now!”
Disappointed at being shut out, David sulks, while the bizarre vibrations and colors dance across his monitor. Unfamiliar numeric codes pop up on the screen and, along with them, a string of polyphonic chords and polyrhythms. The tempo changes are wild and rapid, from
allegro
to
presto
to
prestissimo
. The notations are so fast that David is overwhelmed trying to follow along.
Suddenly, David's PC tower shakes fiercely and almost topples to the floor. The room sways and shimmies.
“Dr. Ramirez! What's happening? Are you okay?”
David jumps up from his station to be by the professor's side. But Ramirez doesn't respond. He is fixated on his keyboards and the mad music he is playing.
“Stop!” David yells, and presses his hand firmly over the professor's. “What are you doing? Don't you feel the earthquake?”
With that, the shaking subsides and, as though it never happened, the professor looks up naively at David's confused and panicked expression.
“Feel what, David?”
“The earthquake! Didn't you feel the earthquake?”
“No, I didn't feel anything. Probably you felt me pounding the keyboards a bit too hard. Sorry. And actually, I'm kind of tired. I think I'll go now.”
Ramirez rises up from his station and leaves the lab without as much as a farewell.
There's something crazy going on here. The worse Doc's music gets, the more the ecosystem goes crazy.
He loads a CD into the professor's PC tower to copy the music file.
I need time to sort this all out. I'll do it at home where I won't be bothering anyone, and they won't bother me.
Seventeen
Early the next morning, David decides to find some complete privacy to investigate the music file he copied. He carries his laptop to the beach, and checks to be sure the Wind Rose compass is secure in his pants pocket. He finds a makeshift wooden bench nestled in some rock formations and sits. He removes the Wind Rose from his pocket and sets it down on the bench beside him.
Just in case,
he muses about the Moon Singer.
You never know when she'll decide to appear.
The laptop boots up and David opens Dr. Ramirez's music file that he downloaded from the CD. He studies the erratic tonal patterns, the strange rhythmic structure, trying to get a handle on the composition's theme, but it eludes and frustrates him.
I've never seen anything like this. I just can't decipher it. I'm actually glad I can't hear it.
But David strongly suspects the professor's music has something to do with the bizarre weather and earth disturbances Port Avalon has been experiencing.
With no rhyme or reason, David begins to key in some chord symbols, flats and sharps, majors and minors, and diminished chords. When he keys in intervals - thirds, fifths, and sevenths, a formula flashes on the screen, one that David has seen before: 12 is 7 is 5 is 3. But its meaning still doesn't click in his brain.
David plays with the numbers, entering them in and out of order, but there are just so many
The lights in the lab are on, much to David's delight, and he is pleased to find the professor at his keyboard.
“Can I join you?” David asks as he sits down at his computer station. Ramirez is engrossed in his work and barely acknowledges him, but David is used to the professor's intense concentration on something he is passionate for.
David sets up his PC to network into Ramirez' keyboard, hoping to learn some new music. But when the sequences appear on David's screen, he is confused. Something isn't right. The harmonics are all over the place, the dissonant chords overwhelmingly prevalent. David can't hear the notes but he can tell there is something foreboding in what Ramirez is creating.
“Dr. Ramirez, what is that you're playing?” David sends an instant message, but Ramirez doesn't respond. He waves to get Ramirez's attention, but the professor shakes his head and gruffly orders, “Don't bother me now!”
Disappointed at being shut out, David sulks, while the bizarre vibrations and colors dance across his monitor. Unfamiliar numeric codes pop up on the screen and, along with them, a string of polyphonic chords and polyrhythms. The tempo changes are wild and rapid, from
allegro
to
presto
to
prestissimo
. The notations are so fast that David is overwhelmed trying to follow along.
Suddenly, David's PC tower shakes fiercely and almost topples to the floor. The room sways and shimmies.
“Dr. Ramirez! What's happening? Are you okay?”
David jumps up from his station to be by the professor's side. But Ramirez doesn't respond. He is fixated on his keyboards and the mad music he is playing.
“Stop!” David yells, and presses his hand firmly over the professor's. “What are you doing? Don't you feel the earthquake?”
With that, the shaking subsides and, as though it never happened, the professor looks up naively at David's confused and panicked expression.
“Feel what, David?”
“The earthquake! Didn't you feel the earthquake?”
“No, I didn't feel anything. Probably you felt me pounding the keyboards a bit too hard. Sorry. And actually, I'm kind of tired. I think I'll go now.”
Ramirez rises up from his station and leaves the lab without as much as a farewell.
There's something crazy going on here. The worse Doc's music gets, the more the ecosystem goes crazy.
He loads a CD into the professor's PC tower to copy the music file.
I need time to sort this all out. I'll do it at home where I won't be bothering anyone, and they won't bother me.
Seventeen
Early the next morning, David decides to find some complete privacy to investigate the music file he copied. He carries his laptop to the beach, and checks to be sure the Wind Rose compass is secure in his pants pocket. He finds a makeshift wooden bench nestled in some rock formations and sits. He removes the Wind Rose from his pocket and sets it down on the bench beside him.
Just in case,
he muses about the Moon Singer.
You never know when she'll decide to appear.
The laptop boots up and David opens Dr. Ramirez's music file that he downloaded from the CD. He studies the erratic tonal patterns, the strange rhythmic structure, trying to get a handle on the composition's theme, but it eludes and frustrates him.
I've never seen anything like this. I just can't decipher it. I'm actually glad I can't hear it.
But David strongly suspects the professor's music has something to do with the bizarre weather and earth disturbances Port Avalon has been experiencing.
With no rhyme or reason, David begins to key in some chord symbols, flats and sharps, majors and minors, and diminished chords. When he keys in intervals - thirds, fifths, and sevenths, a formula flashes on the screen, one that David has seen before: 12 is 7 is 5 is 3. But its meaning still doesn't click in his brain.
David plays with the numbers, entering them in and out of order, but there are just so many
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