Judith found me in the dark before our house on North Roberta. Her warm hands found my shoulders. “This Ren ... ” I ran my hand through my hair, grabbing it by the roots. “Something ... something terrible is going to happen. It’s there, but not there. The specifics, I mean. I have to stop it, but I don’t know what to stop. God Almighty, why am I blind?” Someone close. Someone close, part of my Being in a way. The grief welled. I felt my breath shake and I shuddered.
Judith faced me. I could see her fine chiseled features in the moonlight. “I understand, but this is a fear energy which can cloud and destroy any chance of understanding even parts of what might happen. You, of all people, can’t afford this. You have to keep your energies clear so you can keep all your options open and prevent this disaster. You can’t wallow in probability.” She took a deep breath. “Let’s go in and have some tea and cookies. Get out of the probability business, and let your mind go into neutral. There you have the opportunity to let information in. Ask your helpers and guides to send you things. Right now you’re blocking anything useful.”
We did, but nothing came. During the night I dreamed repeatedly of a leaky hot water heater and trying to call someone to fix it, but the calls never got completed, always something happened to prevent the calls from going through. I woke in the morning. Judith said the dream reflected the frustration of how I felt. We went to breakfast at the Dining Hall, and met Victoria who was headed to the animal barn with a girl friend. She gave us a hug. Ren nodded leaving as we went in. Elaine sat at a table with Helen and Laith and the baby. Elaine gazed at the wee baby. “Astonishing that something like this could grow in your body.” The baby looked up at Elaine and coughed, mother’s milk on his lips
“Burp the lad,” Evan said. “Put him on your shoulder and ... ”
Dick Clayton ripped open the Dining Hall door. “That new guy broke into the Arms Shack, and has one of the high-powered rifles. Threatening to shoot if we don’t bring him Elaine, the baby, and some supplies.”
I felt a strange calm take control of me, and raced after Dick. When I got there Ren was waving the rifle, shouting. Then he saw me and stopped, pointing the rifle at me. “Yeah, you’re the one. Get me my daughter and some supplies. We’re getting outta here.”
“She can’t easily travel with the baby, Ren,” I said.
“You need some persuasion.” He turned quickly and fired. A shocked scream pierced the air. Victoria.
I looked to Ren and then to Victoria and felt myself aware of focusing on both of them at the same time. I made the Sound Language split, making two separate streams of tonal complexes. Ren shook, eyes rolling back in his head, and collapsed. The rifle sagged, metal and wood twisting, falling to the ground. Victoria lay, in deep shock, the rifle bullet had collapsed her left lung and nicked her heart. My tonal complexes built a stable calming wall in her energy body while I used other tonal complexes to repair the damage. I could see inside her body. Everything lay plain, I knew what to do.
Victoria stood off to one side out of her body. I smiled reassuringly to her and sent sounds to stabilize her shocked spirit. Then a larger entity surrounded her, wrapping Victoria in a calming energy. I turned back to focus on my daughter’s body. The tonal complexes literally altered her physical tissue, rearranging them to return to normal. Victoria’s color went from pale white to normal pink. Slowly she eased back into her body and opened her eyes, and smiled at me. “Beloved soul,” I said. “Blessed be.” I thanked the Entity for its help.
My physical body had not moved but my consciousness and energy had, and others could feel it. There was no question who had done these things. People looked stunned. Some in fear. Others in awe. Knowledge of The Sound Language - its history and what it was capable of doing would bring a host of conflicting feelings.
“He’s dead. Ren is dead.” Florence pointed at the crumpled form. I could see Ren standing bewildered beside his still body confused that he was still alive. I pointed at Ren’s physical body sending a tonal complex. The body took a great breath, and Ren found himself slipping back into his body. He opened his eyes.
Wobbling to his feet, he pointed at me shouting, “Devil! He’s a devil. A God cursed devil. I was supposed to be dead, yet I was alive out of my body. That’s not what I was told by preacher Joe.”
Florence arched an eyebrow. “And what did preacher Joe tell you?”
“I’d be moldering in the grave until the Second Coming. Then all the believers will be resurrected for the Final Judgment. I wasn’t supposed to be alive. What’s going on here?”
I snorted. “Idiot.”
“Who?” Ren asked.
“That arsed preacher Joe. Maybe well-meaning, but had no clue. You, Ren will go on forever, conscious and aware. And if you don’t like yourself, you will have to change. For until you open yourself to change you can experience nothing more than what you are now. There is a land on the Other Side where after you shed the physical body you will find other people like yourself. There you can practice whatever beliefs you wish to your heart’s content. But one day you will get bored and begin to ask questions. Change can only come with a desire and a yearning. Desire and yearning are the true portals of learning.”
“Then who are you or what are you that you can raise the dead, melt a rifle, and mend a child?” asked Ren. “Are you a fallen angel, some type of unknown god, or a lost soul having sold yourself to the Devil and been given powers over other men?”
“Sorry. None of the above,” I said.
“I know.” Ren brightened, and pointed to the alien spacecraft. “You’re one of them.”
I laughed. If he only knew. There are things you can’t tell some people, they wouldn’t be able to handle the information. “Just a man, Ren. A generic man.”
“Nothing generic about you, Bub.” He gave that odd smile that disconcerted me.
“So you think I have some special knowledge?” I said.
“You must know something if you’re able to do this.” He gestured to the ruined rifle, and the group of people surrounding my daughter. “So, here is one for you. A man prays to God to save his son-in-law who is shaking with cold and fever, starving around a small fire under an Interstate Bridge to stay out of the rain.” Ren swallowed. “No one answers.”
“Where is Preacher Joe’s God?” I said gently.
“Yeah.” He looked away.
“There is a Creative Force whose energy makes up everything. It has no interest in controlling or interfering with those Beings that make up its Body. No, there is no Preacher Joe’s God.”
“Then who do you pray to get answers? I know I’ve gotten answers to some things. I’ve seen things happen that couldn’t have any other way. I just knew.”
“You, like everyone else, are part of larger wholes, Beings - Souls or Entities, that created you out of their energies. They are the ones that hear and sometimes respond to your prayers,” I said.
“Sometimes?” Ren sat on a bench.
“These Beings have values that are entirely different than yours. They often don’t feel a need to respond to your supplications. They are at different levels of maturity. Some are more interested in their personality creations. Indeed, they often create diseases, injuries and so-called accidents, terrible and wondrous events in your life to see how you react. They experience your world, your reality, vicariously through you. That is one way they learn. And that is what they are most interested in doing - learning. They know they and you, their creations, are immortal. But you have two things they can never take away from you, something every Being has - personal identity and free-will. It is a natural law of the Creative Force. These Beings - Souls or Entities, know when they created you out of themselves, they gave you irrevocable freedom. It isn’t done lightly. They want you to return to them, rejoining their larger whole. You can accept or reject anything they offer you and go your own way. However, you do have to play the cards, the hand you’re dealt, and can create your reality from there.”
He stared at me, horrified. “That’s absolutely monstrous. We’re puppets on a string.”
“Well, yes and no. When you have knowledge of your origins, you can tell your Entity or Soul, you aren’t going to join up with them if they treat you badly. A wee tricky here. Part of that problem is you may be treating yourself badly with your beliefs. For you get what you believe and concentrate on. Like attracts like. Law of the Creative Force.”
“It’s still monstrous.” Ren was aghast. “Who of us know this? Why aren’t we told these things.?”
“Why would they? If personalities knew of their origins, they’d probably join a union.” I laughed.
Ren spat. “This is no laughing matter. It explains a great deal. Look at human history. The squalor, the poverty, the short wretched lives.”
“But there is also great beauty, caring, and love,” I pointed out.
“All for learning?” He shook his head. “For all the disasters in my life, I think my Entity can stick it in his or her left ear, to put it gently. So what happens to me now, considering what I’ve done? Keeping in mind that Carson would never believe what happened here.”
That last part was true. General Carson probably would never believe it. But maybe considering ... naagh, not a chance. “Dragging your daughter and grandson around the countryside is a recipe for death and disaster. They wouldn’t survive it. There is a troop train returning back East within a week. You three can be on it. Your daughter and grandson will have a chance to make a life for themselves. You ... you will do what you will do.” I looked at his strange smile. Dangerous guy. One day he would get himself killed. “What do you say, Ren?”
“Best for Elaine and the baby.” He nodded. “Thank you.” Then that crooked grin. “What would the C.I.A. or Defense Department do to have you?”
“As you observed, who would believe such abilities were possible? Comic book heroes. You have no idea what you are dealing with. If I had not controlled what I did to you, you would be like the rifle. Can you imagine what would happen if this ability were coupled with hate, fear, and envy? It has happened. A whole planet was made uninhabitable. Millions of people died. Something similar, but not on that scale, happened on Earth. A cadre of scientist-priests came to Earth from a federation of planets they were expelled from for misuse of these abilities. There is a thin glass residue in the Earth geologic event which has caused great speculation. This came from a brief war between two factions that had my abilities.”
Ren pointed to the alien spacecraft. “They have come back.”
“Yes and no. There was a faction that left before the war. These are the ones returning.”
Ren leaned forward. “And you’re part of the reception committee.” Again the strange smile. “I do wonder how this came to be. How wonderfully convenient that you and they happen to be in the same place at the same time. A curious phenomena the authorities should be made aware of.”
“You’re an arse, Ren. Why don’t you march yourself into General Carson’s office and see how far you get? You have zero credibility. If he knew about your history, he’d probably be inclined to hang you. I’m sure there’s a hanging offence somewhere in your history, like killing the old man over his horse.” Ren blanched. “Poor horse died two days later.”
“That’s what I mean,” Ren said. “You’re unnatural. No one should have access to information like this with the abilities of a god. People like you should be put to death for the safety of the general population.” A deep dislike carved his face. “You can’t prove what you’re saying.”
“Nope. Sure can’t. But I will protect my own. If you try anything violent again, I will make your physical body uninhabitable.”
“Kill me? Murder me?”
“Child,” I said. “You will survive physical death. Murder is the malicious taking of physical life for gain, pleasure, or revenge. You have no ethics or code to keep you on the straight and narrow. That’s most of your problem. No boundaries. You’ve been able to justify everything. I knew a man once who was similar to you except he had my abilities. There was nothing he had not done or tried to do. Frightening.”
“What happened to him?”
“He went as far as he could go off the deep end, and had to find his way back. Because, one thing is for sure, you can never escape what you’ve done. It’s part of you forever, but you can change and that is the redeeming thing in creation - change from learning. He found himself at the bottom of a vast pit of his creation and had to find his way out.”
“Where is he now?”
“He’s climbed out of his pit. Made a sort of peace with his past.” I smiled at Ren. “He’s where he’s supposed to be.”
Ren waved his hands at Cheshire. “This is some kind of alien outpost, isn’t it.”
I laughed. “Not exactly. You are getting warmer, but like I said Carson will hang you rather than listen to you. Now, calm yourself. One of us will be with you until you are handed off to the soldiers at the fort. Why don’t you go see your daughter and grandson?”
“I know ... ” Ren began and saw my face. “What?”
Know. Ren. I knew Ren. From around that oval table of so long ago. That smirking face and wandering eyes. Locus. Akenton’s closest associate. God-Almighty, why has he showed up here? Now. “Go see your daughter and grandson. Florence, could you escort our friend? I’ll ask Mike Roseman to meet you. Ren, you have seen that I can be in more than one place at the same time. Don’t do anything stupid.” I went home.
Charles looked at me from my kitchen table, an extra steaming mug of tea waiting. “Locus?”
“Crap,” I said. “Why?”
Bareton shook his head. “I lost track of him after the war. This is the first he’s showed himself. I recognized him from a distance, and kept it that way.”
“Still as devious as ever. Just like he never changed. Thank God he doesn’t have the Sound Language,” I said. “I have it back in full force, Charles.”
“I don’t,” he said. “And have refused it ever since. You also have the ability to be in several places at the same time. Something we never had as Akenton and Kodus. I’ve heard of this before with people who have had the most profound of near-death-experiences. It is a Soul thing. Something from the core of your Being. Father Pio, the Italian healer and mystic, was said to do this.” He smiled. “I saw what you did with Ren and Victoria. Good work.”
“Thank you for being there for Victoria.” The comforting presence.
“You’re welcome. A beautiful child. The world needs our Victoria.”
“And Ren/Locus?”
He sat back and took a deep breath. “I wish I could tell you. Hand him off at the fort as you said, and wish him well away from here. I pray that the Powers-That-Be favor us, and this will be the end of it.”
I bowed my head. “Indeed.” But inside I knew this was not the end.
8
Nursing my mug of sweetened tea, I watched Victoria playing a spirited game of checkers with Laith. “How’s my girl?”
She raised her hands. “Fine, Dad. Just like normal. Not even a scar.”
Judith put her hands on my arm. “Hard to believe, Love. You’ve gone another step up.”
I shook my head. “This is entirely different, Judith. Way beyond what I’ve been doing. And that’s incredible in itself. But this ... Come outside a moment.” She and I walked outside. “Is there a rock you can live without in its natural condition?”
She looked around in the evening twilight. It was still plenty light enough to see well. She handed me a fist-sized rock. I held it a moment and handed it back. “It doesn’t want to be changed. Could you choose another?” It took five minutes until I settled on a rock that agreed to be changed. “Now, watch.” With tonal complexes, I molded the solid object from its irregular shape into an exquisite miniature chair with a seat, arms, back and four legs. Then I handed it to her. The rock had requested its essential nature not be changed, only its form.
“This is granit
e, Jamie.” Her eyes were wide on my face.
“Right. You also saw the rifle and our daughter. This is a whole different sort of thing. I’m working with the elemental forms of energy. Manipulating them at very core levels with sound the way the scientist-priests did. This is what the aliens can do.”
“Probably only the elite are allowed, like before,” she said. “The average person having the ability would not work.”
“If they are our people, great care would be used before allowing anyone ... We will hope.”
She studied me. “And being in two places at once?”
“So far. There doesn’t seem to be a limit ... I don’t know how far this can go. I was only confronted with two simultaneous events that needed my attention in the present.”
Judith turned her wedding ring on her finger. “Does it mean you can be in the past and the present at the same time?”
“I don’t know. I’ve spoken to those on the Other Side that say the past, present, and future are all part of a larger Present. I don’t understand how it works. We’re locked into a linear time line for a reason. But time seems to be a plastic thing. I’ve been able to bend it when I made the jay hawker’s revolver go off seconds later than it normally would.”
I felt her gaze on my face. “What use would there be operating in the past and present simultaneously?”
“You can change the past by what you do in the present. The past is not a static finished state. By being in both places at once, you might be able to make the present more plastic and less prone to a certain future.”
Dr. Evan McPherson trotted up, out of breath, round face serious. “Judith. Jamie. It’s Roger Henderson. He’s dying. Decided it isn’t worth it anymore. Hardly blame the guy with a body crippled up like that. He asked to see you. Seems to think you have some magic he could use.”
Children of the Source Page 12
