by J.R. Bowles
CHAPTER 16
Jackie awoke with a start from a bad dream of being chased. It took her a few seconds to realize where she was. She looked over at Bernie who was still sleeping in one of the recliners. His jaw drooped, his face was relaxed, almost childlike. She thought he looked charmingly vulnerable, all bunched up like that.
She sniffed; the aroma of coffee and bacon permeated the air. Her stomach protested loudly about having been neglected yesterday. Bacon? Bernie must not be kosher, she thought, as she wiped the sleep from her eyes.
Zolar must have made himself at home and was busy fixing them breakfast. How nice he is, she thought―but then maybe a little bit strange, too. Breakfast-it was more like brunch, Jackie realized, glancing at her watch; it was almost eleven. Thank goodness she didn't have duty today. They had sat up until almost four talking. It all still seemed like a dream to her. In the bathroom she washed her face and frowned as she stared at her hair, lying flat and lifeless. She picked up a brush from the back of the commode and wrestled several minutes trying to give it life. Finally she gave up the battle; it had a mind of its own. She laid the brush back down, then picked it up, plucked out the hair and flushed it. Bernie was meticulous and wouldn't appreciate her hair tangled up in his brush. She shook her head. The man was so clean he must be at least borderline anal retentive.
“Good morning,” Zolar said quietly to her as she came out. “I thought I heard someone up.”
He had set the table with eggs, bacon, orange juice, and toast, and was sipping on a cup of coffee.
“Good morning,” she returned, eying his coffee.
“Caffeine's my biggest vice,” he smiled, watching her eye the cup. “Want a cup?”
“Oh please, you better believe it. I'm a low scale speed freak. Most Coasties are.”
“Coast…?”
“I'm in the Coast Guard.”
“Cream and sugar.”
“I can get it,” she said, but Zolar was already pouring. “Black thanks. I guess we should wake him up.” Jackie glanced over at Bernie.
“Yeah, I guess we should. Do you want the honors or you want me to do it? He looks like he's pretty zapped.”
“I will,” she said softly, with a smile.
Jackie walked over to about five feet from Bernie and called his name. She didn't want to get too close. In her years in the Coast Guard she had heard stories of people who woke up swinging their fists before they were completely conscious.
“Bernie.” She repeated his name, melodiously.
He opened one eye and smiled. “What a lovely sight to wake up to. I could get used to this.” He eyed her dreamily.
Jackie felt herself blush but avoided his comment. “Zolar has made some breakfast.”
He stretched and headed for the bathroom. “You guys start. I'll join you in a few.”
Jackie and Zolar sat down and Bernie joined them several minutes later.
He poured himself some coffee and took a sip. “Ah! Just right. Thanks, who cooked?”
“Zolar did; I burn water,” Jackie teased.
“Doesn't take much skill to cook bacon and eggs,” Zolar said.
“Well, Zolar, what's going to happen to us today?” Bernie asked.
“Come on guys, can't we have a few minutes without getting back into all that stuff?” Jackie protested.
“Jackie, he's right. Time is what we have too little of. We have to decide what we're going to do.”
“I'm sorry. You're right. It's just all to weird. If I hadn't experienced that chakra, or whatever you called it, I wouldn't believe it. You said each of us is a key which opens a center and when the final key is opened he, whoever he is, will have great power. Is it power to control people?” She paused. “Zolar, I just don't know about any of this.”
“With each opening he will gain more power. This morning's opening actually begins his ability to influence people, not simply control, though. You see, the Solar Plexus is analogous with the birth experience, or at least the break from the security of the womb. Like an explosion of the universe. When you are in bliss and then you're thrust into the void expanse of space.”
Zolar paused to let it settle in while he buttered a piece of toast.
“This morning he was born, “he continued, using the butter knife for punctuation. “People who see him will be more aware of him than they are of everyone else, although they won't know why. Unconsciously, they will recognize him as being truly alive. It's like the difference between seeing someone on TV and then meeting them in person. He will appear to be greater than other life energies around him. Everyone else will seem like mere shadows of life while he is substance.”
“But you said the three of us are keys that will help to open these centers.” Bernie interrupted. “Let me see if I've got it right. There are seven centers. We just experienced the opening of the Solar Plexus. The next one is the Sex Center.” Bernie turned and raised his eyebrows at Jackie.
“Actually the center is at the base of the spine and works through the regeneration of life,” Zolar clarified.
“Okay, okay. Let's call it the sex center, anyway. That's the key that will open it, right? Sex?”
Zolar nodded. “Right. Then, next, you have the Spleen Center, which is the center that creates destructive forces. It both destroys and creates. It's sort of like an alternator on a car, or an amplifier on a stereo: It takes existing energy and transmutes it; since neither matter nor energy can be created or destroyed it only changes. This opening will help him regulate these energies. It is the seat of emotions also, particularly passion.” Zolar paused, not wanting to go into too much detail which would confuse them; besides they would learn soon enough.
“Then the heart?” Bernie asked. “That's the love center.” He grinned at Jackie.
“I don't think that's where your love center is,” she cut back.
“Aren't you quick!” Bernie said, surprised.
“You probably are too.” She smiled at the look on his face.
“Come on, guys,” Zolar interrupted. “Let's try to be a little serious.”
Bernie nodded in agreement, as did Jackie, while she wondered at how easy it was to talk with these two men she hardly knew.
“Okay, thanks, guys,” Zolar continued. “The Heart Center is the maintainer of life. It's the one that joins the emotions to the intellect. It is the center of the centers, so to speak. It joins all of the centers together to create the entire body of the Avatar.
“Next is the Throat Center, or thyroid area. This communicates the will of the other centers, and sets them into action. It takes the transmuted energy supplied by the Spleen Center and shapes it. The thyroid works in conjunction with thymus; both lie in the anterior of the chest, near the voice box. The thymus controls the total amount of energy just as it does in the body itself. It also helps the immune system. Who knows, this may be the key to defeating cancer, AIDS or any number of infectious diseases. This center makes the sound, or sets the vibration pattern which shapes and builds the energy.”
“The next centers involve the pineal gland and the pituitary gland which are in the head. The pineal gland is the eye, or the “third eye” as it is usually recognized. It's the Intuition and Intellectual Center.”
“Finally, the pituitary center in the top of the head. It is considered the soul center, or as I call it, the Spiritual Center.”
Zolar paused for a moment. “I know this is pretty complicated, but it's not as confusing as you might think.”
“What about us?” Jackie quizzed. “Which centers are we supposed to be the key to? Can't we just avoid all of this―hideout or something?”
“There's no way to avoid it.” Zolar shrugged. “We probably won't even know who the Avatar is, until our key is used to open his center. I've been trained by the Tibetans, and even I can't recognize the others only the ones who are in conjunction with my center. The Tibetans provided me with records, and e
ven so, I still felt lucky to have found you two. You see, I'm attuned to your particular note. Jackie, don't look at me like I'm crazy. Everyone has a different note, or to be more precise, a vibration which is unique to only that person, like fingerprints or DNA. Well, our unique notes of the seven centers―are the notes used to open centers within the Avatar. We are the notes, and in total, we are the centers too. One of those unity things, like the trinity.
“There have been a lot of groups that have been teaching of his coming. Many of these have kept records that correlate energy explosions in the universe, such as a supernova, a dying star―or even the star of Bethlehem. The Avatar was predicted, by the Bible, the Koran, the Talmud, scores of them. They all say similar things about it.”
Zolar paused and cleared his throat with a sip of coffee. He knew how confused they must be feeling; he had once felt the same way.
“The Bible, refers to his number as 666. I haven't figured this one out yet, but I was taught that the Avatar was the 666th descendant of Cain. Cain's genealogy has supposedly been traced by many of these religions, and they have calculated he was born thirty years ago, on the first of July.”
“What?” Jackie interjected. “But so was I, and last night you said so were you and Bernie. Are you saying it's one of us? One of us is the Anti-Christ?”
“No, Jackie, and yet the answer is also yes. We also are part of him. By ourselves we are nothing, but as a group we are him.”
“No offense, Zolar,” Jackie said. “But it sounds crazy. Revelations talks about how those with knowledge can decipher the number of the beast.” She paused, thinking about what he had just said. “But, but everyone has pointed fingers for hundreds of years, saying he's the Anti-Christ or that one's the Anti-Christ. They used all kinds of logic trying to determine what 666 means. They came up with some winners too.” She shook her head, set her coffee cup down harder than she expected, and splashed the table. “I guess your explanation is as good as anyone.... But why would you refer to Revelations and the Anti-Christ, Zolar? I thought the Avatar was supposed to be bringing good to the world, to be a messiah? How can he be both messiah and anti-Christ at the same time?”
“That's a little complicated; bear with me while I stay on track, and I'll get to that in just a minute. There's more about ancestry; you, I and Bernie are supposedly descendants of Abel….”
“Wait a minute―if you use that logic, then so is everyone.” Jackie argued, and turned to Bernie help. Bernie just sat there quietly, trying to digest everything.
“What you are saying is essentially true but, and I use the word supposedly, the rest of the population's genealogy has intermingled, or came from Adam and Eve's other children. The Bible even speaks of another brother, called Seth. The groups claim they have maintained records of every generation. Now, Jackie, I'll try to answer your question about good and evil. Here's the hardest part to swallow.
“Adam and Eve, like Cain and Abel, are symbolic of good and evil, or the marriage of the spirit with the flesh. The soul comes into the material world―the flesh―and lives. There's an ancient saying, 'as above, so below'. What is manifest on the spiritual plane is the same as that in the physical plane. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The symbolism of Cain and Abel is one of Christ and the Devil, good and evil, Yin and Yang, or positive and negative. They are both a creation of the Supreme Being; in the example of Cain and Abel, evil murders good. Satan killed Christ, or at least he had the people kill Christ. God kicked Lucifer out of heaven. Satan entered Eve's mind and caused them to be kicked out of Paradise. It goes on and on. It's a constant war, a constant tension, yet, perhaps, a balance, between good and evil.”
Jackie threw her hands into the air in exasperation. “All right, that's it! This is just too much for me. Too much at one time. What are we going to do now?”
“Calm down, Jackie,” Bernie soothed. “Let's just take it one step at a time.”
“I'm sorry, Jackie,” Zolar said. “I know it's too much at once. Bernie's right. Let's take it as it goes.”
“What we have to do is get you some clothes,” Bernie said, changing the subject as he watched Jackie. She had been through enough to make anybody go a little off―although she seemed made of pretty strong stuff.
“I'm sorry, guys. I'm okay.” Jackie responded to them. “You're right, I do need some clothes.”
“Don't worry about clothes. I'll buy you some.” Bernie said. “The main thing is for us to stay close together through all of this.”
“Jackie, I agree with Bernie. We need to stick together for a while. It will help give us the support we need. Can you get off from work for a few days?”
“I'm pretty sure I can. All I have to do is call the ship.”
“Let's get Jackie clothed, then go into the city and see if any of us can feel any of the other centers,” Zolar said.
“Sounds good to me,” Bernie said. “After all, the next center should be a woman, since the Sex Center is next—unless this Avatar is gay.”
“Hey wait a minute, maybe the Avatar is a she. Did you ever think about that?” Jackie protested.
Bernie and Zolar laughed.
Zolar managed to say, after he quit laughing, “Bernie, she might be right.”
Bernie quieted down and looked at Zolar. “How do we know it's not one of us? We were together―but couldn't one of us have triggered the opening?”
“No.” Zolar shook his head. “We would know. Beside the key was someone named Billy.”
“Oh, yeah. I forgot.”
“I don't know about you guys, but I'm a little scared,” Jackie stated flatly, looking from one to the other.
“Yeah, me too.” Bernie agreed.
“I have another bombshell for you,” Zolar said, since the conversation had eased back down. “July 1, almost thirty years ago, eight babies were born in a hospital in Roanoke, Virginia; Shenandoah Hospital, as a matter of fact. The hospital no longer exists, it burned down and most of the records were destroyed.”
“I was born in that hospital,” Bernie exclaimed with shock. “My parents were vacationing in the Smoky Mountains, when I decided to come early.”
“So was I.” Jackie said. “I grew up in Christiansburg, that's a small town west of Roanoke, but my parents were shopping there when my mother went into labor.”
“Guess what, guys?” Zolar said. “So was I. I grew up in Salem, where my father was a professor at Roanoke College.”
“Strange coincidence,” Jackie said, “All of us, being born in the same hospital in the Star City of the South.”
“Star City?” Bernie asked.
“Yeah, they call Roanoke the Star City because they built a giant star on Mill Mountain. It even lights up at night. It overlooks the Roanoke Valley.”
Zolar nodded his head. “Yeah Bernie. It's a big star that's lit up white at night, and if there's a major death, someone important dies, it's lit up red.”
“My mother said the night I was born the star was red,” Jackie said solemnly. “This is sort of a gruesome thought, but it popped into my head — like a bloody star of Bethlehem.”
“Well, let's get going.” Zolar said, trying to ease the contagious melancholy.
“Yeah,” Bernie agreed, “Let's do it. Whatever that means.”
“Whatever he is, could we call him something besides Avatar or Anti-Christ or 'him?'” Jackie whispered, not quite knowing why. “It's just so odd. I need something not as scary.”
“Well, if he's the Anti-Christ, the devil's name was originally Lucifer. Which actually meant Lord of light or the Morning Star, and he's supposed to be loved by people. The name John comes to mind; it means 'beloved.' I guess he is supposed to become the beloved lord of light. Let's call him John Lucifer,” Zolar suggested.
“I like the idea of John,” Bernie added, “but Lucifer―it's so blatant. Let's disguise it; you know, like a nickname, so it doesn
't sound obvious if we're discussing him. How about John Star, like the Morning Star or your Star City of the South, or plain John, or Mister John.”
“John Star sounds okay,” Jackie agreed, and watched as both men nodded their agreement. She rose and started clearing the table.
Zolar did the same.
Bernie said, “Zolar, you rest, you fixed the breakfast. Let Jackie and I do it. You're the one in the know here. You just make some plans as to what we're going to do. But first, Jackie, don't forget you have to call your ship.”
“Moo!” Jackie exclaimed.
“What's this? Am I a cow now, or what?” Bernie frowned at Jackie.
“Country joke. People often name their cows Bossy.” Jackie grinned at Bernie and winked at Zolar.
They all laughed. It felt much better than crying.
