He was surprised that he had not had this feeling before now.
After all, he was standing in the very center of the radiation. But his location was similar to being in the eye of a hurricane. All around him was a gigantic surge of the force that had been, as it were, born and slain many times before it could get anywhere near full fruition. Now it was the mightiest force in the many universes.
Compared to the combined energies of a trillion trillion stars, the imago was a sun beside a candle.
He, however, was in a null area. Comparatively null, that is.
Once he went to where he would be in the full force of the empathy, he would be as filled with it as the Gaol now were.
The rays from Tappy's breast and from the Imaget were fading now. Their work had been done, though they still lived and would again become as bright as angels if they were needed.
Jack hoped that they would never have to be invoked again, that their force would endure. Surely, they would not have to be used in Tappy's lifetime.
But he could see on Tappy's face a golden aura, faint but still evident. Evident to him, anyway. It was probably his imagination.
No one else could see it, though he would ask others if they detected it. It was an afterimage of the holy light. Yes, the holy light. Though Jack was an agnostic and would have felt uncomfortable calling anything "holy," he now would think of the aura as, if not holy, the echo of holiness.
Tappy would be something to be worshipped by him.
Would that interfere with the union of their flesh? Would he always be inhibited somewhat when they made love or-a mundane thought but valid and realistic-when they argued about the budget or when they disagreed about disciplining their children?
Would he always give in, even when he knew he was right?
He hoped not, but he would have to wait to find out.
They would have to get back to Earth first. Neither he nor Tappy wanted to stay here, no matter how pleasant it might be.
Despite all the madnesses and hideousnesses that stalked Earth, it was their home. And, now that the Imago was flooding the souls of its people, Earth would become far better. Perhaps the Earth that all sane people wanted it to be.
How to get back? That should be no problem. The honkers would know of a gate to it. If they did not, the Gaol would.
He laughed. Whoever would have thought that he could ask the Gaol to help him? Or that they would do so willingly, even gladly?
There was still one question unanswered. What had Tappy meant in her sleep-talk when she had said, "Reality is a dream"?
Later, much later, when they were living on an Earth the societies of which were greatly changing for the better, he asked her about the phrase.
She had to probe her mind for some time before she remembered where she had heard it. So much was buried there, and so much was still difficult to find.
"My father," she said.. "He told me that several times. I was so young, I did not ask him what it meant. Or, if I did, I've forgotten his explanation. Anyway, I did puzzle over it, then I forgot about it. So many bad things were happening then. But my unconscious evidently did not forget it. I really don't know what he meant by it."
"He must have meant that dreams shape reality," Jack said.
"The Makers had a dream of the means whereby they could conquer the Gaol even after they, the Makers, were gone. Hence, the Imago. The honkers and the humans allied with them continued to dream the Makers' dream. They made the Imaget, and they dreamed of how they could use it to let the Imago come to full bloom.
"Dreams shape reality. Thus, dreams are reality."
"That must have been what he meant."
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THE CATERPILLARS QUESTION Page 31
