Chapter 8 To Teeter-totter

"It is a game played by four people; all four have to be standing on the huge disc at the same time. The disc pivoted in the middle so that, as one side goes up, the opposite side goes down. If one person accidentally falls down, the rest will follow down automatically, unless you are at the same page again. While you are dancing on the disc, please spot the difference. Each of your guides is different but which part? It is your job to find the odd one out. If you have the wrong answer, you will be severely punished. Please note that their position will change from time to time. A fair Warning: you cannot practice your power when you are playing."

Sunshine finished reading through it, and then Benson pulled himself slowly to his feet while a huge stone plate was coming out of nowhere above the grassland in the middle of the cave. It was slowly rising up and stopped until it reached about one meter high. The disc was about two meters in diameter with a frame’s columns, however, was free to rock up and down within stone shoes secured at the base. Baby and the others were displaying as a 3D version image projected by a projector above the plate.

"What do you think the punishment will be if we have it wrong?" Benson was curious and asked.

"I don’t want to know. And I hope we don’t need to know."Joy said seriously.

"Why would the game-designer build a game like this?" Benson was pressing the edge of the disc, the other side went up. "Luckily, it is not very high."

"But it still hurts if we fell off the plate." Joy retorted.

"Let’s try our best not to fell then." Benson continued.

Benson and Joy were bickering with each other, like an old friend who had known each other for a long time. But Dylan was examining all possible contingencies as soon as the image shut down.

"I have seen it in the TV; it is applied physics of lever principle." The words came out of Sunshine.

Joy felt shocked and totally disorientated since hearing the announcement, Benson was also overwhelmed by the information available and his face going red.

"You never played a seesaw in the playground? What do you do in your childhood? "Joy opened her arms wide to embrace Sunshine.

"It seems that we have to work together." Dylan’s abrupt change of subject brought them back to earth. "Benson, shall we?"

The twins were standing face to face and jumping into the plate after they used telepathic communication looking into each other’s eyes, but soon they fell out of the plate with a roar and crash.

"It would not be easy, but you want to hear the good news? It does not hurt at all." Benson spoke with self-deprecating humor.

"Even we might have envisaged of all the scenarios."Dylan paused. "Practice is the sole criterion of truth."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let’s do it."

Joy stretched out her right hand as speaking, and the other three put their hands together to make a circle, they shook their arms and cheer up. The ideal scenario was that they succeeded the first time by good fortune, but it just the story of people who have already succeeded frequently told others. No one had experienced a failure on no success. You cannot assume that you would win all the time. At this time they were spaced around the disc regularly in every direction.

"Ready, Go."

They were getting ready to climb at a moment’s notice, they would like to go together since pressure must be uniformly distributed over the whole surface, and as soon as Joy yelled they started to go up the disc. The quiet disc developed a wobble, as the disc continued to dip and sway, Joy and Sunshine lost their balance and fell off. In this case the first attempt ultimately ended in failure.

They tried two more failed climbing, but they were also applying lessons they had learned from their failures. It was said that the key to acquiring proficiency in any task is repetition. On the fourth attempt, the twins were facing each other at opposite ends of the plate, supporting the plate to keep the balance while the ladies were climbing up on the disc, after the ladies were half-sitting in a stable condition, they started crawling synchronously. The disc’s pitching and rolling ruled out any attempt at standing, but they all stayed on the disc smoothly.

"A good beginning is half the battle." Benson was groveling on the plate.

"Not in the mood, Benson." Dylan yelled."Never underestimate a test require you to multitask."

When the disc stopped moving, they were working well together to stand up. The implicit cooperation among them constitutes the decisive factor for their successes. Finally they rose, Joy noticed that Baby was hanging in a place where it hardly to be seen clearly by her, so it was with the others as well.

"We need to make a move; the objective of the game is that us walking while keeping balance, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to spot the difference on them." Said Sunshine.

"You are right, let’s start moving clockwise around the circle."Joy agreed.

Then they walked liked a sportsman stepping on the cable-which was one of the worldwide games, except their performance was pointless without an audience.

"Come on, take it easy."

"The animals are moving around randomly at random intervals."

"Please take a careful look at them; otherwise you may need to wait for a long time until you can see them clearly again. We don’t want to stay on the disc forever."

"Keep the same pace, please."

Many more opinions were uttered, but Joy was focus on proportioning her pace with others.

"Thank God, I got it. One of Happy’s front legs is a little longer."

"Baby’s long whiskers are missing."

"Moon was speckled with dark sports."

"Star’s skin color is different, it generally presents as brown, but it is dark blue."

Finally all of them found out the difference, all of the sudden the plate no longer shake sharply, but quietened steadily. Baby and Happy were playing on the ground with Moon and Star as usual, as if nothing had happened. Joy was quite exhausted and seated herself on the ground, and Sunshine was completely run-down and need a thorough rest as well.

"At least we all stumble upon the right answer."

"Good for you, Congratulations!"

"Congratulations! I knew we could do it."

There was a basket of Maize lowered slowly down the plate, which was exhaling heat and light. Then along followed by the incredible spiritual power, all was trilling and tranquil.

"It is an honor to work with you, but we need to go now, we are already fallen behind."

The twin brother were all packed up and ready to start.

"Until we meet again at the Habitat, it’s not goodbye."

"Good luck, see you later at the Habitat."Joy waved her left hand as saying goodbye.

"Bye-bye." Sunshine said weakly.

Not knowing how much the time went by, Joy felt refreshed and relaxed. Sunshine had already stood up and was thinking about something in front of the totem.

"What is it?"

"It is nothing, we should go now."

"Sure, hang on tight. We’re off."

In the habitat, there was a console of flickering lights which had exclusive access to the forest; Wu Xi was the only one who could manoeuvre it with her power.

"Mr. Black, you need to go there yourself." Wu Xi turned and looked at him. "Please separate them."

"What is it for?" Mr. Black spoke in deadly earnest.

"We have to be certain; there could be no room for doubt. If we choose the wrong girl, the consequences are unbearable to contemplate." Wu Xi stalled a longish pause.

"What is a catastrophe for one group, however, may create opportunities for another group."

Mr. Black did not have the faintest idea what she meant, but he was used to listen to her command, he spread his wings and flew into the forest as her waving.