Beyond Borders Scotland and Dove Tales, the Association of Scottish Writers for Peace, collaborated on the Beyond Writing Competition, aiming to facilitating dialogue and cultural exchange through the creative writing and storytelling.    

The competition consists of three rounds; Inspirational Women, Creative Peace and Beyond Borders.  

This short story by Barbara Pollock was shortlisted in Round I: Inspirational Women. Jean Rafferty, the competition judge described the story as ‘ imaginative and powerful, showing the links between generations of women scientists and the power of example’. 

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Dreams are made of black holes and humming boxes

‘Maria, come on my darling. Leave your note book and come outside and play with your sisters.

‘But mama, I need to study if I am going to become a famous scientist.’

Her mother smiles, ‘Even scientists need fresh air. In the daytime you can explore nature, and at night there is a whole starry sky to explore. Think of Newton and the apple that fell on his head. If he’s stayed indoors all the time he might not have discovered gravity.’

Maria laughs. ‘Why are all the famous scientists men?’

Her mother shakes her head’ I don’t know my dear. Perhaps you can be the first famous woman scientist.’

That night Maria creeps outside and lies on her back to study the stars. She marvels at their beauty; they look like tiny atoms of dust in the clear sky. Suddenly a huge rip like a giant black hole splices the sky above her – a hand comes out and pulls her upwards into the hole. Woosh…

Maria gasps with shock. She can feel herself being propelled upwards, the air around her ripping and splintering into thousands of tiny pieces. Her body spins round and round. Eventually her feet touch solid ground. She is in a large white room where everything looks shiny and strange, but yet familiar at the same time. She thinks she must be dreaming, yet everything seems so real, it is as if all her senses are heightened. The room smells of acetone, a bit like her father’s laboratory. She can hear a gentle hum coming from some white boxes as if it is the heartbeat of hundreds of laboratory rats trapped in cages. At first she thinks she is alone, but she does not feel afraid. She looks around and sees young woman standing in front of her.

Maria asks, ‘Where am I? Who are you?’

The woman smiles. She bends her knees so her head is at Maria’s level then she speaks gently in hesitant Polish, as if she has been practicing the words for a long time.

‘Don’t be afraid, Marie. My name is Katie. Katie Bouman and I am a computer scientist. You are in the future. It is April is 2019. I’ve just achieved my dream of photographing a black hole in space.

Maria asks excitedly, ‘You are a scientist. That’s wonderful but what’s a computer?’

‘These are computers,’ Katie says pointing to the white boxes making the humming noise. ‘They are super fast adding machines enabling us to do vast amounts of sums really quickly. That’s how I made my discoveries.’

Maria is relieved it isn’t rats after all.

Katie tells her, ‘You are my hero. You have inspired me as well as thousands of other women and girls to study chemistry, physics, engineering and other sciences as well as mathematics. I couldn’t have achieved my ambitions if you hadn’t gone before me. This laboratory is all built on what you have discovered. You changed the world.’

‘What did I discover? Do tell me. Is it important?’

‘I can’t tell you that you have discovered. You have to find it out yourself. Work hard and you can achieve everything you have ever dreamed of.’

‘I will. I promise,’ Maria says looking all around her, trying to absorb everything she can see.

‘Now it is time for you to back to your own time. I’d wish you good luck, but you won’t need it,’ Katie says giving her a hug.

Whoosh…Maria can feel herself free falling out of the sky. She lands with a gentle bump. She feels her limbs, everything works so there is no damage done – but she will probably have bruises tomorrow. She is in the garden back home in Poland. She can feel the earth resonating beneath her, as if every atom is moving in tune with each other. She hears the swish of her mother’s skirts approach before she hears her voice.

‘Maria, what are you doing out of bed? Have you been sleep walking?’ she asks as she takes her daughter’s hand and leads her back into the house.

‘Don’t worry. I’m fine. I was whisked away through a big hole in the sky to over 140 years into the future. I meet a lady called Katie. She told me I am going to be a famous scientist. She called me Marie, which is how my name is spelt in French. So I think I will study in Paris one day. I might even find a husband there.’

Her mother laughs. ‘Well Miss Maria Sklodowsk, you have an amazing imagination. Perhaps you should be writer and not a scientist. You must have been dreaming, now go to sleep.’

‘No mama, it was real. But if it was a dream, then I am going to follow my dreams,’ Maria says, settling under the bedcovers and closing her eyes. She dreams of being back in the shiny room with the name ‘Marie Curie Institute’ she had glimpsed above the door.

Footnote:

Marie Sklodowska – Curie: 7 November 1867- 4 July 1934. Along with her husband Pierre Curie, she studied radioactivity and discovered two new chemical elements: Polonium and Radium. She received a Nobel Prize for physics and one for chemistry.

Katie Bouman: c 1989. Computer scientist helped develop the algorithm that created the first-ever image of a black hole.