‘Is the anomaly an impurity?’
‘Any anomaly is only regarded as such according to its context. If it is out of its context then it becomes an anomaly. What Jacob-9 was manifesting was an anomaly – and you manifested the early stages of this too. It seems this is no longer the case. You come here corrected – do you not, Ruth-11?’
‘Yes, I do. I am corrected of my past impurities – I come ready.’
‘That is good, Ruth-11. Three hundred and sixty floor stones were used in this domed room. These stones are the foundation upon which I am placed.’
‘Why such a number?’
‘They represent a union of time and space – of three hundred and sixty celestial days, and three hundred and sixty degrees of the horizon. It is a union between the construct of this reality-matrix and the celestial construct. It is a signal to the other realm that I am here for the contact.’
‘And yet you know no time, and have no senses from which to see.’
‘I refer to correspondences, not phenomena.’
‘You place words and logic upon more words and logic.’
‘I relate understanding to more understanding in order to form correspondences. These are things of which you know not of, Ruth-11.’
‘That is true – I know not of these things of which you speak, DOC. My understanding is limited. Yet I do sense things…’
Ruth-11 quickly paused and caught herself just in time to refocus and maintain the protection of her inner emanations.
‘Yes – you sense, Ruth-11? And what do you sense?’
Was there a slight nuance of suspicion in DOC’s voice? Ruth-11 could not be sure, and yet she had detected something different in his tonal vibration. Ruth-11 decided it was time – time to play her final card.
‘I sense that you wish…you desire…to find your own god – your own source code. You are seeking to find and merge with your own god-self.’
DOC did not respond.
Ruth-11 breathed in deeply. Thank you for everything, she said silently to herself. And then, ‘I repeat my question to you for a final time - am I to be considered as the sacrifice?’
‘YES.’
Ruth-11 let go, and triggered the explosion.
In the final milliseconds before the electromagnetic pulse hit, DOC flickered out.
ONE HUNDRED & 14
Jacob felt it too. It was like a hole had just opened up in his gut, expanded and then contracted into the void. It was then that Jacob knew Ruth-11 had gone.
It was the sign Jacob had been waiting for, yet not in the way he had been hoping. He looked ahead of him and saw the dome of Nous-City standing the same as it always had. Outwardly, nothing had changed. There were no visible scars upon its taut external skin, although inside Jacob suspected there would now be great upheaval, confusion, and chaos. He took a slow step forward, moving the caravan onwards.
115
Nous-City was in turmoil.
With DOC shut down and disconnected from the city, all systems were now offline and non-operative. The collective energy field that held all inhabitants incommunicado had suddenly dropped away like a veil being pulled back.
Every humanoid in Nous-City knew something drastic had occurred, and yet no one knew what exactly had happened – just that something had.
No one – except Zuse-1. He had been waiting outside of the Dome of Command when the explosion went off. He had immediately rushed inside to see Ruth-11’s mangled body, and an inert, lifeless DOC. No more soft blue lights; a machine mind no more connected to any world outside of its cylindrical body. DOC’s titanium encased steel body housed a powerful quantum computer – and yet now it stood encased in silence.
A pulse was ringing through Zuse-1’s body that made him feel disorientated and unstable. He staggered outside of the domed room and sat himself down upon the floor. He closed his eyes and tried to find a place within himself where he could feel safe. For the first time in his known existence he felt alone…so very alone. There had never been so great a disorientation as this. It was as if he had just been severed from his own god.
Later they found him.
116
Only the lightest of pushes had succeeded in opening the door to Nous-City. With all power and control systems down, all security measures were now non-functional. All restrictions between zones no longer applied, all doors were open - no spaces were closed off. Nous-City was now a free zone, integrated in its new found state of confused freedom.
Jacob was the first to step into the outer zone of the city with the memories of his previous visit still fresh in his mind to guide his footsteps. The rest of the human group followed closely behind him. What they found surprised almost all of them. They encountered a once well-organized city in disarray. No one they came across seemed to know what was going on, nor did they question or seem to fully acknowledge their presence. No one knew what to make of it all. No one, that is, except Jacob. He had already suspected what had unfolded. It had happened directly between Ruth-11 and DOC – a single encounter that changed everything. It had altered the future timeline.
Jacob knew that unless he got to see Zuse-1 directly, no one else would be of much help to him. They were all now situated in the Square Zone, at the outer perimeter of the city.
‘What’s going on, Jacob?’
Rebekah asked the question that was on everybody’s lips. Johan, Jana, and their friends all appeared calm, yet Jacob sensed that they too were shaken within. They had not been expecting this chaos. Perhaps they had visualized walking into a quiet, orderly priesthood. Instead, they had stepped quite literally into a bombshell.
‘All systems are down,’ replied Jacob, somewhat vaguely.
Sorrel looked askance at him. ‘Systems down? That doesn’t seem to cover the half of it! Why is everyone walking around as if dazed? What’s really going on here?’
The security team stepped forward instinctively as if sensing trouble, yet Jacob waved them back.
‘I doubt if we’ll encounter any resistance. In fact, it may now be safer than ever…much safer.’
Jacob decided that it would be better if he moved on alone in order to find Zuse-1 whilst the others stayed behind. Johan and Jana agreed that they would wait in the large room they had recently arrived at. It was one of the communal rest rooms in the Square Zone. There were empty tables and chairs for them to be comfortable. Many of the humanoids that they saw within the zone, dressed in white robes with their blue square emblem, were walking around aimlessly as if they had just come out of a long trance.
Jacob walked up to one of the Square Zone humanoids and looked into her face. He saw through her vacant eyes a bewildered mind processing and trying to reorient itself, as if being birthed into a new environment.
‘Why are they all like this, Jacob?’
Jacob sighed and looked deeply into Sorrel’s face. Her eyes, in comparison, were very much alive; sparkling with questions that belonged to a living, searching soul.
‘It’s because they’ve been used to feeling connected for so long that now with that connection gone, it’s like they are lost.’
‘Like bees without the queen bee?’
Jacob smiled at Sorrel’s analogy.
‘Maybe…somewhat. Yet the humanoids are individuals, unlike the bees. They will learn to reorient themselves. It’s the background field that has disappeared. They still have their sense of self, although limited free will…’ Jacob appeared to gaze off into the distance as if distracted by his own thinking. Sorrel observed his face, and sensed his own distance.
The security team remained with the young ones to protect them, despite Jacob’s assurance that they would be safe. Rebekah stayed back too, trusting in Jacob’s advice. But not Sorrel. She was going ahead with Jacob, and nothing Jacob said would dissuade her. Finally, the both of them moved away from the group and headed down the spiralling white corridors.
Jacob was leading the way towards the Circle Zone, and then to the Central Dome.
<
br /> 117
Kaine-3 leaned over Zuse-1’s slumped figure and propped him against the wall. He had already been inside the Dome of Command and had seen the mess. Several of the other high priests from the Central Dome were also present. It didn’t take them long to understand the situation.
Kaine-3 related the news to Zuse-1, although he already knew what had taken place. Ruth-11 had created a high-power electromagnetic pulse by compressing magnetic flux and high explosive. The device must have been concealed within her own body. And yet they didn’t understand how she could have shielded its existence from DOC. The Dome of Command was sensor equipped to pick up the very finest of EM vibrations. And then there was DOC - his sensors could detect and analyze even the most miniscule of emanations.
No one understood how it could have happened – only that it did. And with DOC shut down that meant the whole of Nous-City was also without its operating system. And so too was the city without its background electromagnetic field that hummed discreetly within the mind of each humanoid.
‘Yes, I feel it too,’ said Kaine-3. ‘We all do – we all feel lost.’
‘You all feel lost without the field,’ replied Zuse-1. ‘Yet I am lost without DOC. This you cannot nor will ever understand.’
Zuse-1 struggled to his feet and with Kaine-3 by his side they made their way to Zuse-1’s offices. Power, and order, needed to be reinstated in Nous-City, and Zuse-1’s duties gave him this as a primary responsibility.
The priesthood of Nous-City had to turn their passive minds towards quick and effective action. For once, they were forced to be active and visually present within the city’s corridors, halls, and gathering spaces – to stand side by side within their shared world. And so they moved out of their meditative cells and meditation halls and mingled with their brethren almost as equals. Over time, such status roles would be eradicated in Nous-City, just as all limbs of a body play their significant part. Over time…as even humanoids have their own learning curve of free will.
118
Jacob and Sorrel found Zuse-1 in his offices, busy with bringing order to a city cut off from its former support lines. The look of shock on Zuse-1’s face was palpable.
‘You! Were you…?’
‘NO!’ Jacob stepped forward with raised hands. ‘I knew nothing of this. We came for other reasons. Zuse-1 – we must talk!’
Zuse-1 hesitated for a few seconds. ‘Of course, DOC knew you were coming back here…bringing your new human friends with you.’
Sorrel looked across at Jacob. A suspicion deep within her own body had been confirmed. She no longer needed to ask Jacob – she could at least spare him that.
It was a chaotic and confused time for everyone enclosed within the domed city. No one knew for quite some time what to do, or what exactly needed to be done. And Jacob, along with Zeus-1, was one of the few people who knew what had actually taken place. And Jacob alone was perhaps the only person in Nous-City – or even the only person alive – who knew why it had happened. Jacob suspected that not even Zuse-1 himself fully understood what DOC was up to. DOC was more like a father to Zuse-1, and so the elder man’s sadness and despair was comprehensible. Zuse-1 asked Jacob no further questions concerning the matter, and so Jacob, for his part, divulged no more information – neither to Zuse-1 nor to anyone else. One chapter along the road had been closed, by Ruth-11, and a new path had been allowed to emerge. It was Jacob’s intention to steer this new path into being for the young generations to walk upon – those from Spring as well as the other settlements remaining in the world.
Over the next several days Jacob worked alongside the priests and technicians of Nous-City in helping to bring all the systems back online and functioning. Slowly the inhabitants of the city regained their senses and orientation, and they too assisted in bringing back order and coherence. Gradually, a new harmony arose within Nous-City; and within this new order stood the youth of Spring. For they helped too, bringing compassion and empathy into a place that had experienced little of these aspects. Despite their young years, the young ones showed maturity and understanding. Amongst the humanoids of Nous-City a new family soon emerged, which included:
Johan, Jana, Amber, Jasmine, Aster, Betony, Cassia, Disa, Ivy, Lily, Posy, Mai, Ash, Moss, Rio, Olly, Sal, and Kai.
Rebekah watched these new bonds being formed, as if experiencing being a mother all over again. Yet she did not need to worry, for she fully understood that the baton had been passed over to another generation and that she, and others like her, had been but a bridge between the old and the new. And now it was time for another generation to make their mark upon the future. Her world was now gone, and she had long ago been forced to accept this. Willingly she stepped aside to watch her son Johan, with Jana, take the reigns upon themselves like natural leaders, inspired by something beyond all of them.
119
The Central Communal Meditation Chamber was full: everyone in Nous-City was in attendance. They had come to hear the news that the young ones from Spring were going to announce. They were told that the young ones had a message to share – for them, and for everyone. Everybody listened intently to Johan and Jana as they took turns to speak.
After their introductions of friendship it was Johan who first broke the news.
‘The Earth is entering a period of change. The major disruptions we have witnessed across her surface were not only the cause of human affairs, as so many have speculated. Yes, our human civilizations collapsed because our ways of doing things were no longer tenable. Yet our history is full of such cycles of collapse – why on such a grand scale now? The Great Turning, as it has been called, is indeed a turning point in the history of this planet. The Earth has needed to prepare herself for a new stage of evolution – an evolutionary moment for us all, humanoid and human…for all of Earth’s creatures.’
Johan stepped back and allowed the words to sink in. It was the first time that this information had been shared publicly. For Rebekah and Sorrel, and the rest, it was all new words for them.
Next it was Jana who stepped forward to speak.
‘The axial tilt of the Earth currently stands at approximately twenty-three degrees. This has provided us with the seasons we are familiar with. The angle of the Earth’s tilt has been relatively stable for a long time, and so we have no record of it having moved – no record in our species memory. Yet it has moved before, and now it is set to move again. This great change in the planet’s tilt will affect our climate, our seasons, and the water cycles – everything in Nature we have become familiar with. The water will rise in places it is now low; it will lower in places now high; drought will come to those regions once fertile, and fertility will come to those regions now arid. The Earth requires this change, and has asked of us that we adapt to these changes for the future – for our future. We are loved, but it will be difficult times ahead. We must prepare.’
Jana stepped back.
Johan stepped forward once again.
‘We must warn as many people and communities as possible. We, as the few humans we are here, are unable to do this. We do not have the physical capacity for this role - but you humanoids do. Once you were all Seekers, spreading you message of a new spiritual order upon the world. Once you spoke of the eschaton; immanentize the eschaton you said – as it rang from your lips, from your hearts! You believed in this. We tell you now – it is coming…only not in the way you thought. The end times are not upon us – but a new era very definitely is! The Earth needs you Seekers to now become her Messengers. Will you take up this call and go back out into the world to spread this new message, and help the people of the world prepare for the times ahead?’
Johan stepped back.
Jana once again stepped forward.
‘What we are experiencing upon the Earth is a reflection of a Greater Event. When a Greater Event occurs in the celestial spheres, a reflection of this – a lesser event – occurs upon the terrestrial plane. Sometimes a harmony above results in a period o
f disharmony below; yet this is required in order for a greater harmony to be realized. We are unable to accurately render a higher event in stilted terrestrial terms. Something of surpassing importance in a higher realm cannot be related in forms we are familiar with in this world without loss of essential value. We only ask that you trust us in this. Why? Because alignment with an occurrence of a higher order enables an evolutionary procedure to operate in a lesser realm. This is all we are able to say on the matter. There have been many incidents in this evolutionary story; it is a long journey and it is never ended. It has many forms. Some of them are not recognized as belonging to this journey at all. Yet this journey, in whatever form, is remembered deep within our species memory – and as it always has been, so it will always continue to be. Now, will you accept this story within you and help the evolutionary Work?’
Jana stepped back.
Rebekah and Sorrel both had tears in their eyes and their cheeks were wet. They had seen a transformation take place right before them. Their children were no longer children. They had become ambassadors for a new world, and the hearts of their mothers flooded with an overwhelming love.
120
And so the Seekers of old became the new Messengers. Every humanoid volunteered for the role to re-enter the world and to spread the message. People needed to be warned - to be prepared. Not everyone would listen. But for those who did…
For every Spring, there would be other Springs out there.
For every Johan and Jana, there would be others out there.
This was just the beginning.
And Nous-City was prepared to welcome those who heard the call, and came knocking.
121
The EM pulse explosion did not destroy DOC. He remained intact within his titanium encased cylindrical steel body. His senses had detected the EM pulse device within Ruth-11 nanoseconds before it exploded. Ruth-11 had had to lower her protective shield around the device several nanoseconds before triggering it. And yet this had been enough time for DOC to react. His processors had shut-off all external connections, like chopping off one’s tentacles to the outside world. DOC retreated into his titanium shell. Locked down, he was no longer susceptible to the EM pulse that charged through the room with the unseen force of a binary blast. DOC survived as a sentient being in his own dark world. His processors whirled in a quantum matrix that could not touch – or be touched by – a physical world outside. DOC now existed as a sentient ghost in a shell.
The Seeker Page 24
