by Jacob Wenzel
“That's sad, I hope the new one is nice. Would you like to swim with me? Peter is here somewhere. He will be happy to see you.
Sally swam with Penelope, but could not keep up, she could not swim as fast or hold her breath nearly as long as the Platterfish.
When they surfaced, Sally asked, “Where do you live?”
“There's a coral reef near here, where the water is not as deep, our homes are carved into the reef, with air pumps, so we can breathe without coming to the surface, we can stay there at night, or during bad weather, but I like it out here better.”
Peter joined them and they had a pleasant swim, staying near the Winnebago all the time, until Sally grew tired.
Nobody from the station had any interest in swimming, while they had had swimming pools on the station, and on the lunar and Martian colonies, they all found the ocean too intimidating, some who had spent their entire life on the station could not even bring themselves to go outside. William pointed out to one of them that the ocean was a lot smaller than space, but it was pointed out to him that there had been thick windows keeping space out, Here, you just had to trust the ocean to stay where it belonged.
When they made the jump back to the mall world, they were directed to a different location, away from the parking lot where they had been before. The planet was not much different than it had been the last time, although over two hundred years had passed. Most of the structures had been replaced with similar new ones. There were a few more dwellings in the surrounding area, apparently, they had managed to control their population.
The crew of the station (or Stationaries, as Sally had begun calling them) were all dazed when they stepped out onto Earth for the first time, they kept bumping into each other while looking around. The only person who seemed to have her wits about her was Captain Lemur, “I apologize for my crew not expressing their gratitude more effectively. These have been very trying times for times for them. We had accepted the inevitability of our demise, and now we're here on Earth, which for us had been long abandoned. It's a bit different than ours was, but still feels like we've come home... and.. those people in the orange uniforms seem very odd looking.”
Sally was embarrassed, “We forgot to tell you, the people here are descended from rabbit-like rodents, they're very nice, just not real bright, which is why they could really use some scientists and engineers. Bob told us that you all will be very welcome here.”
“I want to find some way to thank you, but anything I can think of seems totally inadequate. How can we ever repay you?”
“Just take care of each other, and be nice to the bunnies. I should also warn you, if you see me again, I may not know you, there are many different versions of me from different parallel universes that pass through this world, there are even more versions of William, and his various wives. If you see someone you think is me, she may not know you. Please don't let it bother you.”
“You saved our lives, over three hundred of us, and all you want is for us to be nice to some rabbit-people?”
“That's pretty much it.” said Sally.
“I don't fully understand, but we'll do what we can.”
The mall was much less crowded than before, many of the stores had been converted to selling to the Bunnies, who now comprised the majority of the customers. Sally did not see any other Sallys or any Lucis, only she kept thinking she would see someone she knew, maybe Drek or Boonie, but had to keep reminding herself that they had lived over two hundred years ago. They did not live as long as humans, and would be long gone by now. As she thought about them, she burst into tears over the thought that they were dead, and sat down on out-of-the-way bench. In the back of her mind, she heard Luci saying, “If I don't see you in the future, I will always have seen you in the past.”
She tried to compose herself, it wasn't logical to feel this way, in another two hundred years, the people here now would be gone, and replaced by their descendants. Drek, and the others probably led full lives. It didn't make sense to mourn someone who had passed so long ago, she might as well mourn the loss of her great-great grandfather. The logic didn't help, and as the tears came back, she remembered that she would return at least once to their time. They weren't really dead; she was just away from their world. Time and 'cross-time' as she had begun to think of alternate worlds, was just another aspect of space, she mourned her mother and father, because their disappearance or death was in her experience. She had been in worlds where her brother had been dead for thousands of years, yet she did not mourn him, because he had not died in her experience. She missed him, but she did not mourn him. She wondered if she went back to her world when she was a small child, before her brother was born, and her mother had died, before her father disappeared, could she stop mourning them? Could she miss her brother if he had not yet been born? She had never discussed the psychological ramifications of time travel with William, perhaps, as he had said, she needed to become a passerby, but she began to think of herself as just a traveler. She did not need to mourn Drek and Boonie, they were not dead, she was just away from them, the same thing applied to her parents, she was just away, she could miss them, but she would no longer mourn.
Sally had lost interest in shopping, and returned to the Winnebago without buying anything. She stayed in the Winnie for the rest of the stay, which was only another week. She spent some of the time with William in the lab, and some of the time in the library, studying philosophy and religion.
36.
Master Ko Wan Chen felt a deep inner peace. The Qi was in perfect balance, and he could feel the happy energy flowing up from the Earth. He consulted his Luo Pan and floated over to a Kinu tree which he had planted as a youth forty-two years before in order to maintain the balance and prevent an earthquake three years ago, its precise positioning, and timely planting kept the Earth happy.
In the back of his mind, he worried about what would happen when he was gone, if he could not find a suitable apprentice. He quickly banished the worry, and accepted that an apprentice would appear when the time was right. There was a natural flow to life, and if one accepted one's given path, and did not try to change the natural order, the order would be maintained.
He sensed that it was time to pick some Iku berries and take them South to lure the Nah-ni birds, so that they would spread the seeds to the East, where, in the spring, the color of the Berries would help to prevent a blizzard the following winter. He turned away from the tree, and began to float toward the berries. Chen, who, like all of his fellow Feng Shui masters normally moved effortlessly and quietly, jerked around when he heard a popping sound. It was not like the cracking of a tree branch, which he would have sensed hours, or even days before it happened, but a strange sound, far different than anything else he had ever heard. When he turned, his beloved Kinu tree was gone, and in its place was a large ugly box.
“Shit,” he said to himself, “The Shui is really going to Fenged-up now.”
37.
When Sally and William stepped out of the Winnie, they found themselves on the top of a small hill, in the middle of a well-tended garden that stretched out as far as the eye could see. In front of them sat a small man in a flowing yellow robe. His head was cleanly shaved, and he wore a small pair of spectacles with round lenses and black frames. William, at first, thought that he was Asian, perhaps Chinese, but then saw his piercing blue eyes, and noticed that he was racially indistinct. Sally, who hadn't thought much about race, and had never tried to racially classify anyone, just noticed that, while the man was sitting, he didn't seem to be sitting on anything, at least anything upon which a person could normally sit. As far as Sally could recall, air was not on the list of things on which a person might sit. She tried to read his expression, which seemed to be a mixture of (in no specific order) astonishment, peacefulness, disappointment, and being generally PO'd.
He said to them, “You have compressed my Yin, and over-torqued my Yang, now the monsoons will be heavy next season.”
; While they understood the words, Neither William nor Sally was quite able to make sense of that statement.
William said, “I'm sorry, I really have no idea what you are talking about.”
The man's irritation grew, and then subsided, “You have disrupted the Qi, the flow of energy in the Earth, the balance must be restored or the weather will be increasingly violent.”
“Perhaps we should leave,” offered Sally.
“No, that will not work, the disruption would increase if you left now, you must stay for...” he looked around, and sniffed the air, “..eleven days...and two hours. Then I will move the Seven Stones of Han-Nin, plant a new Kinu tree, and the Qi will be smooth once again.”
Sally turned to William, “Isn't that how long we were planning to stay anyway?”
“It's exactly how long. In your studies, have you studied ancient Chinese philosophy?”
“Just a little.”
“Too bad, I think you would be able to figure out what's going on here better than I could.”
“William, we could ask him, instead of talking to each other as if he were not here.”
“I would appreciate that,” the man said.
“I'm William, and this is Sally, my companion, we are travelers from afar, and are just here for a brief time.”
“As are we all,” the man said, “I am Chen, I shape the Qi for this province, and the Qi shapes me.”
“You're going to change the weather by moving stones, and planting a tree?” William asked.
“Do you have a better way?”
Sally said, “If I understand correctly, the Qi is an energy flow that, in this case affects the weather, and you make subtle changes that result in major changes months or years later.”
“If it comforts you to think of Qi that way, go ahead, the Qi is the breath of the Earth, and we Masters keep it flowing smoothly, so the Earth is happy. Would you be happy if you could not breathe?”
William said, “I see, by the way, what are you sitting on?”
Chen stood up, “Nothing, why? I suppose you think you must always have something on which to sit. If you have nothing to sit on, then you must sit on nothing.”
Sally and William were both startled by a voice from behind them that was not Bob's, “What's going on? Are we here?”
They turned around to see a young couple step out of the Winnie.
Chen looked around, and said, “Now, where am I going to get a tiger?”
William ignored Chen, and said to the young couple, “You're from the station, you were supposed to get off when we landed on the last world over a week ago.”
“We were ..uh.. busy.”
“Bob didn't tell you to leave?”
Bob said, “No, I didn't, it would have disrupted the Qi.”
“Bob, are you telling me that the ancient Chinese beliefs are true?”
“They are true in this world, the masters control the weather and geological events with Feng Shui. Leroy and Frannie's presence here is necessary to balance the Qi.”
“I don't have the slightest idea how to respond to that.” said William.
“What's Feng Shui?” asked Leroy.
Bob said, “Think of Feng Shui, at least Fen Shui as it exists in this world, as an intuitive method of solving hypercomplex non-linear equations.”
“You mean like solving problems in chaos theory?” asked William.
“Mostly,” said Bob, “But Leroy is an amphibologist.”
“Amphibologist?” asked Sally.
“What's amphibology?” asked William.
Leroy said, “It's the study of ambiguity and dualism in dynamic systems.”
Bob said, “It incorporates that which you call chaos theory, and expands on it.”
“And that relates to Feng Shui, how?” and William.
“The butterfly effect.” responded Bob.
“I'm still not following you.” said William.
Sally interrupted, “I think I get it, let's see, the butterfly effect theory says that small changes propagate, and cause large changes, so that a butterfly flapping its wings can cause a hurricane in halfway around the Earth a year later. Here, the Feng Shui Master moderates those changes by putting counter effects into play in order to achieve the desired weather. The butterfly might now cause a pleasant spring shower.”
William protested, “But you can't predict the outcome of such events, that's the nature of chaos.”
Sally said, “You can't predict the outcome with mathematics, but it can be done intuitively, there is something deep in our brains, perhaps in our souls, that understands it. William, you are from a technological world, too removed from nature to understand. I'm from a natural world, and I understand it, I can't do it, but I understand.”
Chen didn't seem to be paying attention to the conversation, just looking around, listening, sniffing, and occasionally tasting, the air. But then, he spoke, “Then Sally, are you to be my apprentice?”
“No, Chen, I cannot stay, I believe that Leroy is destined for that honor.” She said.
“Too bad, you are much easier on the eyes, but I sense that you are right, it is the flow of the Qi.”
Sally said, “Now, why do you need a tiger?”
“I can completely repair the damage to the flow of the Qi if a tiger will lie facing Northwest near those jo-be bushes for an hour tomorrow afternoon.”
“I'll see what I can do, Fluffy!”
Fluffy trotted out, and over to Chen, who patted him on the head, and smiled.
In the morning, Leroy eagerly began his apprenticeship, while he had never set foot on any Earth before, he had played in the domed gardens on Mars, and immediately fell in love with Chen's garden. Frannie was, at first, apprehensive about staying, but had fallen in love with Leroy, and soon felt at home. As an engineering apprentice, there was no obvious place for her, she would change, and adapt, and find a new role. She reminded herself that not long before she had been expecting to die with the rest of the crew in the fiery re-entry of the station.
Chen had a place for them to stay, the apprentice's cottage had been empty since Chen's master had died, and Chen had become the master.
Sally and William had a brief but pleasant stay, Chen allowed them and Fluffy to roam the garden, but occasionally would ask that they stand in a certain place or walk a certain direction, or sit in a specific position. It was usually the place, direction or position they would have stood in, walked or sat in anyway. Chen said that was because they were naturally balanced, William told Sally he thought that it was because it's always easier to get someone to do something that they would have done without being told than it is to get them to do something different.
When Sally and William were preparing to leave, Chen expressed hope that his Kinu tree would re-appear, William told him that he did not know what would take their place, but it almost certainly not be the same tree. When the Winnebago disappeared with the annoying popping sound that, this time, Chen was anticipating, a small grove of saplings that looked like jin-do conifers, surrounded by ferns appeared in its place. It was a pleasing arrangement, and Chen felt the flow of happy energy bubbling up from the Earth. Leroy, whose name Chen had changed to Li-Ro, said that he did sense something, but then realized it was just gas.
38.
Claire Wells had almost had it with the director. She had been his assistant for years, back when he went by Richard, before he had won the award at Cannes for 'Sisters of the Lily', and started pronouncing his name Ree-shard, back when he was pleasant to work with, back when he was making bad science fiction movies like 'It Came from Another Place' and 'The Beast from Somewhere Else', before success went to his head, and he became the arrogant s.o.b. that he was now famous for being.
Now, he'd pissed off the standins, the freakin' standins! Two hours late, and Claire didn't know if they were going to show up or not. At half an hour late, she had called a local agency to send replacements. Richard was already ranting that they would never work in t
his town again, of course, he meant Hollywood, not this backwater in the Northwest where they were filming. Then again, being fired by Richard was something that most actors were proud to have on their resume, but the standins not showing up was a first.
Then she saw an RV that had pulled in without her noticing, a couple was getting out, they must be the replacements, she thought.
39.
“What's happening here?” Sally asked.
William looked around, “It looks like we've stumbled upon a movie set, old style, two-thousand-five, maybe two-thousand -ten, early digital equipment, I wonder what they're filming. They'll probably kick us out. Most directors don't like having too many people around. Let's go look, it will be a new experience for you.”
“Have you been on sets before?”
“Once, when I was a teenager, we went to the taping of a television show, but this looks more like a movie, As they stepped out, a pretty, but intense looking woman with a clipboard approached them, “You're my new standins?”
“What?” William asked.
“You're the new standins for Sally and William, right?”
Sally said, “I'm Sally, he's William.”
“Well, I didn't think it was the other way around, I'm Claire, the director's assistant,” she looked them over, “good, you're close enough to be the doubles, too. Follow me, we're late, and Richard is pissed, he's an asshole, but if you can put up with him, I'll make sure you get a good bonus.”
She walked away, and they followed.
“What are you filming?”, Asked William.
“Did you read 'To the Edge'?”
“No, what's it about?”
“A cavewoman, and a time traveler going to the edge of the universe, or something like that, I don't usually read sci-fi, but I read it for this project, I didn't understand a lot of it, but I liked it, anyway we're making it into a miniseries.”
