WRITTEN IN THE STARS
I read my stars today. I don’t make a habit of it. I don’t see my life as being written in the stars. Astrology has never really interested me even though I’m fascinated by stories about outer space. I accept science fiction for what it is – make-believe. That’s why I’m sceptical about astrologists because they try to persuade you that they can predict what’s going to happen in the world we live in. For me that’s just a fantasy too far. I only accept fiction when it knows that it’s not real. Let’s just say that I don’t think that the future is written in the stars.
For me the stars are on the contrary shrouded in mystery. Even if there was some preordained arrangement within the infinity of space, and I don’t think that there is, it would be so far beyond our comprehension to be meaningless. I suppose that it’s possible that some form of super intelligence can predict the twists and turns of our lives by looking at the stars. But even if that is the case, they’re sure as hell not going to let us in on the deal are they? The stars aren’t signposts to the future. They just light up our own ignorance.
I hadn’t been feeling myself all morning. I’d spilt coffee on the newspaper I was reading. That’s how I stumbled across my stars. The coffee stained the page with the horoscope on it. I’m a Gemini. The entry was typically ambiguous but sounded to me like a veiled warning: `Colleagues at work will surprise you this week. An unexpected event could lead to a significant reappraisal of relationships in your life.’
I decided to play the game and began racking my brains about what this event might be. I hadn’t been getting on very well with Olaf recently. We’d had an argument about something trivial and I’d won. Olaf always bears a grudge, so I knew that he’d dwell on it and try to get even. Perhaps in some convoluted way this was what my stars were alluding to.
I sensed that something was wrong as soon as Olaf arrived. He hadn’t said that he was coming. But then again, he never does. He likes giving us surprises. He had a tight-lipped, pugnacious look on his face that meant that he was looking for a fight. It was two o’clock in the morning. Clancy had just gone off to check the Infinity corridors. I was on my own at the front reception reading the newspaper. The TV screens were pumping out images of the latest Killer Ball tournament. Olaf could see that I wasn’t the least bit interested in Killer Ball. He always took exception to that.
Olaf’s a big fan you see. He can’t get enough of the brutality of course, but above all he appreciates the way that Killer Ball ensures that the rule of law is enforced without question. Olaf believes in order. He likes everything to be in its place and has little truck with the deviant tendencies he sees in myself and Clancy. He approves of everything that ensures that the status quo isn’t disturbed. There’s very little that Clancy and I have in common with him.
He took one look at me and proceeded to pick a fight just for the sake of it. I tried to be evasive but that didn’t work. He started lecturing me about what he referred to as `criminal tendencies’ at play in Globopolis. He suspected that I didn’t believe in Anticlock law and order even though I never admitted as much. I knew that there was nothing I could do to calm him down. He shouted and I stayed sullenly silent. He was about to have an apoplectic fit, castigating me for my slovenly attitude to authority when he caught sight of the coffee-stained horoscope on the desk in front of me. 
He stopped bellowing, picked up the newspaper and started reading.
Life is full of surprises. Olaf, I discovered, is a Gemini just like me. Instantly his anger subsided. `We’re “star sign twins” Zeb,’ he exclaimed. `I didn’t know,’ he muttered almost apologetically. `Geminis must stick together.’
I breathed a sigh of relief as he walked away. I never cease to be amazed at the speed at which Olaf’s incandescent fury can dissipate.
Maybe there’s more to this astrology malarkey than I’d imagined. There might be something written in the stars after all.
Click Z Sol to view Solitanu’s World
Anticlockwise Journal – a compilation of Solitanu’s Blog posts – is on sale at Amazon
If you’re interested in discovering more about Solitanu’s favourite sci-fi books, films and TV series go to LOOKING OUTSIDE IN and DYSTOPIA
What does Solitanu read on Planet fibs? Fictitious Books
Follow Solitanu on X