Dragonfly: A Tale of the Counter-Earth at the Cosmic Antipodes (31 page)

Read Dragonfly: A Tale of the Counter-Earth at the Cosmic Antipodes Online

Authors: Raphael Ordoñez

Translator’s Note

Broadly speaking, the Antellurian idiom presents the translator with few difficulties. The fixity of their language, so contrary to what we know on Tellus, means that syntax has remained unchanged since prehistoric times, hence is quite consistent. No new words are invented; instead, compound words are used. This explains why the rudest autochthon could readily converse with the most refined phylite. In this translation, a single English noun might stand for as many as ten joined Antellurian words.

The Enochite numeration system is a positional system, based for the most part on powers of six. Each place is worth six times the place to the right, with the exception of the third place, which is worth ten times the place to the right. Thus, the first place is worth 1, the second is worth 6, the third is worth 10 × 6 = 60, the fourth is worth 6 × 10 × 6 = 360, and so on.

Using Arabian digits instead of Enochite, each place can thus be filled with the digits 0 through 5, with the exception of the second place, which can be filled with the digits 0 through 9. For instance, a numeral of the form 2375
E
represents

2 × 360 + 3 × 60 + 7 × 6 + 5 = 947

Measurements of time and of distance go hand in hand with this system. As to the annual calendar, each year is broken up into six two-month cycles, and each cycle into ten six-day weeks, with a five- or six-day intercalary period at the end of the year. The basic unit for the reckoning of years is a period of 360 (or 1000
E
) years, here translated as the
chiliad
. Six chiliads make up one
myriad
, and six myriads make up one
great ad
. Thus, one myriad is 2,160 (or 10000
E
) years, and one great ad is 12,960 (or 100000
E
) years.

The basic unit of length measurement is the
chthon
, or estimated circumference of the earth (Antellus). The chthon is broken up into 360 units, and each of these is broken up into 360 smaller units. This smaller unit is translated as the
stade
. Six stades make up one
mile
, which corresponds to about one and one-fifth English miles.

Mythology aside, the final division of the cosmic leaves can be dated to some time during the Permian Period, possibly contemporaneous with the mass extinction event that wiped out ninety-six percent of the earth’s species. The biota of Antellus are seemingly culled from the last three periods of the Paleozoic Era, namely, the Devonian, the Carboniferous, and the Permian. The paucity of the fossil record from this remote epoch makes it pointless to attempt to identify every species. Some educated guesses can be made, however.

The
maugreth
, for instance, would seem to be a type of therocephalian, while the
schyroth
, the fearsome reptilian mount of Antellus, is apparently a biarmosuchian. The
behemoth
is a giant therapsid, sharing traits with the moschops, the styracocephalus, and like species.
Chebothim
, the cattle of Antellus, are presumably pareiasaurs.
Deinothim
are clearly dimetrodons, and
adrothim
, edaphosaurs.

The difficulty in identifying terrestrial animals is compounded by the fact that the same roots are used for both reptiles and amphibians in the Antellurian idiom; the
ehmoth
is assuredly a close relative of the eryops, however. The oceans are dominated by fish from the Devonian Period. The
urianth
or demon-fish is some type of placoderm, most likely a dunkleosteus. Antellurian plant life mirrors the coal swamps and lycopod forests of the Carboniferous, with the
pernath
corresponding to lepidodendra, and the
ynath
to sigillaria.

Beyond these, the names of certain places, species, and agencies have been replaced by Tellurian words in the hope that the connotations will render the account more comprehensible. It should be borne in mind throughout that these are only approximations, however; academic exactitude is cheerfully left to those who enjoy it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Raphael Ordoñez is a mildly autistic artist, author, and circuit-riding professor residing in the Texas hinterlands, eighty miles from the nearest bookstore. His fiction has appeared in
Beneath Ceaseless Skies
and been named in the
Locus Online
yearly recommended reading list. He lives in a rickety old house with his wife and three children, and is the main source of livelihood for a number of feral chickens. He muses sporadically on fantasy, style, symmetry, art, and life at:

raphordo.blogspot.com