Sleeper Seven

by Mark Howard

  "Oh, no, no, no," Terry replied with a chuckle, "we have our fun, but they got to live their own lives too, so we just leave 'em well enough alone. He's probably already late for where he's supposed to be."

  "What do these researchers do, do they hunt them?"

  "Well the only shooting is through the lens of a night-vision camera, if that's what you mean. They're hard enough to find at night, and it's pretty rare to force 'em out into daylight like this."

  "But, why don't scientists know about them, I mean people think this is a big joke!"

  "Well, you of anybody should know by now truth is stranger than fiction, right? I don't know, I guess it's easier just to laugh at it and all that."

  The rest of the walk back to the house was silent, and Jess began to doubt herself. Had she been a sucker? Was this all an elaborate practical joke? She never saw the thing actually move — it could have been just a prop, or a statue, and they could have remotely pulled a string to make the thing fall over. Was it possible? It would have been a lot of work getting all the details right, though, and all just for her benefit? To what end? Testing her gullibility? Making her a believer in whatever they might say later? She didn't know what to think; by the time they reached the house her head was spinning a web of paranoia and conspiracy theories. The simplicity of accepting what she had just seen as fact was too hard to swallow, and her brain grasped blindly for any alternatives, plausible or not.

  ~ 20 ~

  Breakfast was Belgian waffles — just what she needed — and strong coffee, which ironically helped calm her stomach. Nobody mentioned the morning's excitement, and she didn't bring it up either. It seemed like it was a special event for her alone to witness, if indeed it was real at all, she thought skeptically.

  A morning excursion to a local Goat milk farm was on the schedule, to which Jess politely declined, preferring no further adventures for the day. Lounging in her room, she browsed a few of the old hardcover books arrayed on her dresser. One, titled Annals of the SPR, seemed to be from the late 1800's, the subject matter relating to early paranormal research. Another, dated 1923, was written by a woman who was apparently a famous medium at the time. The third was a first-edition, signed copy of the Adams book that brought her here.

  Thinking she needed a break from all the not-normal, Jess decided to sun herself in the wicker chair on her private balcony for a bit. She soon found herself nodding off, until the crunching of gravel below broke through her slumbering consciousness.

  "...and she got out. She's got it Len, definitely a traveller in this one."

  It was Terry; she could tell without opening her eyes. She sank lower in her chair so she couldn't be seen from the drive.

  "Seven," Helen grumbled.

  "Yeah," Terry agreed, and as the crunching receded, Jess slipped back to sleep.

  She awoke sometime later, to the sun shining in her eyes. Checking her phone, she noted it was almost one, and checking her stomach, she further noted she was hungry. Downstairs, she found Julian in the kitchen.

  "Afternoon, ma'am, like some lunch?" He held out a sandwich plate and coffee that was obviously kept for her.

  "Thanks, just what I needed," she replied, taking the offering into the dining room as Julian followed her with his own cup of tea. There was no one else around, and only the ticking of a large grandfather clock interrupted the peaceful silence. Jess felt comfortable broaching the subject as they both sat sipping and munching at the table.

  "That was pretty cool this morning, huh?"

  "Yeah, real amazing, and rare too. You're lucky to have seen it."

  "So...how did you find it?"

  "Ya mean him?" he answered with a smile. "Well I keep my radio on all night, cause it sorta interests me what JoJo's team does over there, so I heard one was headed our way, and went over and just waited in the dark, ya know, making some wood knocks and calls." Retelling the story seemed to energize him all over again.

  "Sure enough 'bout twenty minutes later here he comes crashin' through the woods and right smack into the clearing — I could see him pretty good cause of the full moon. I was downwind, so he had no idea. When he heard my radio he made like a tree. I had him for 'bout ninety minutes, or more even. We don't usually bring others, so, uh, keep that under yer belt, huh? Terry must think of you somethin' special. Hey, by the way, he asked me to work a session with ya, so just let me know when you're ready."

  "Sure, sounds good."

  As he headed back to the kitchen to clean up, she continued her meal in silence. She was still trying to decide which angle to believe, but didn't have much success. When she finished, they left together and headed towards the chamber.

  "Today let's see how far you can go. In distance work, you don't use your subtle body to travel, ya know, like through walkin' or floatin' around: you need to transport yourself Star Trek style, right? And the way you do that, is you meditate on the place you want to go and envision yourself being there. Simple as that. Now for most people, they can't recall much when they get back — cause once they try to think about why they are there and to remember the details, they get pulled right back. Even if they keep their thinking corralled, and focus on the feeling of the experience, they do better, but they still can't really get a lot done or focus on anything in particular. They just get impressions, some of which may be useful, mostly not. My theory with you is, since Terry said you seem to be a hundred percent aware locally, that maybe this won't happen to you. So when you get there, try to focus on things around you and think about the experience in the abstract — like be self-aware about it, OK?"

  "Well I've definitely had that same experience of 'losing it' when I played around with lucid dreaming years ago, but this seems different — I can think while in the middle of it, definitely, but I get caught up in the details. I'll let you know how it works. Where should I go?"

  "Somewhere meaningful to you would be best, to start."

  After choosing the Sec-U with Albert Einstein again, she lay down on the bed and tried wearing the headphones this time. The phase-shifted white noise still didn't seem to have any effect either way, and she popped out just as easily as she had before.

  After exiting, she hung around in the chamber until realizing she hadn't chosen a place to go yet. She imagined Gavin's office back home, trying to recreate the details of the place in her mind: the old wood smell, the design of the parquet floor, the dark green spines of the classics on his bookshelf — and set an intention to be there. Eyes closed, she felt a pull, a feeling of movement, and then exponential acceleration. There was no sense of drag, and no violence to it, just the feeling of her whole entirety being propelled at enormous speed.

  Opening her eyes, she found herself travelling within a glowing tunnel as streaks and flashes of colors streamed past. A dark spot appeared at the end, and grew to encompass her entire field of vision before she came to a sudden halt. The glow of the tunnel faded behind her as the darkness ahead resolved into the wooden bookcases and furnishings of Gavin's office.

  She could see each individual book in exquisite detail, the gold embossed letters on the bindings appearing particularly vibrant. Breathing in the scent of the leather bindings, she found she could both taste and feel them as well.

  Once again, she found herself entranced by these normally inconsequential details, but this time she could tell that her consciousness was different from her experience outside the dome. What she felt now was the pure living energy radiating from each individual physical particle of the objects in this space. There was no thinking at a level of abstract concepts, much less a focus on things. There was simply power and beauty overwhelming.

  Soon, as before, a disturbance wiggled its way into this peaceful state of awareness. It was a feeling of persistence, of determination, of pressure — which was totally at odds with the knowledge that nothing is needed, and there is nothing to be done. Instead of subsiding, however, it only increased, developing into a waveform, rising and a resolving, over and ov
er. A tiny thing, the pattern seemed familiar, somehow, and curiosity attracted her consciousness to it, away from bliss. Like pieces of a puzzle falling into place, the waveform suddenly made sense. It was a single word: "Jess".

  As the concept of the word coalesced within her consciousness, she identified with it, and the pulling sensation overwhelmed her as she was suddenly sucked backwards into the tunnel. Her name kept repeating over and over, growing louder and dropping by octaves as her density increased. Snapping back into her body in the Sec-U, she felt heavy again — just like the first time.

  "Jess!"

  "Ahhhh!" she screamed, her eyes flying open. "Stop! Please!"

  Julian was leaning over her, fear in his eyes.

  "Oh, thank God! I thought you weren't coming back," he exhaled, slumping onto the end of the bed and cradling his head in his hands. As he caught his breath, she watched a drop of sweat fall from his brow.

  A dull ache and a wave of fatigue suddenly enveloped her. "Oh man. I've got a splitting headache," she moaned, pushing herself up and cradling her own head. "Why were you screaming at me?"

  "Jess, you were gone for two hours. I was afraid I was going to have to call in backup. Terry'd be pretty pissed too, I didn't follow protocol, I thought you'd be alright. I'm so sorry."

  "Oh, shit. Wow. It was literally, like, seconds," she replied, reclining back on the bed with her hands still pressed against the sides of her head. "Well, I guess I'm done for today, obviously."

  "I'll give you some time alone. Sorry again," Julian said apologetically, as he slowly backed out of the room. She lay there for several minutes before getting up and returning to her room in the main house, where she took a long nap.

  By dinner, she was feeling better, though still quite drained.

  "Rough riding today, eh?" Terry asked, winking at her as he entered the dining room with a bowl of mashed potatoes. Apparently he did tell Terry, she thought. Terry seemed to sense enough to give her some space and didn't press her for details. He gathered, correctly, that she needed a rest and recharge, and the dinner proceeded apace. Like the previous night, Jess enjoyed the meal much more than the conversation, today especially so.

  That night's diversion was an evening nature walk, which Jess didn't even have to decline — everyone seemed to expect her to be antisocial, as they could plainly see she wasn't on the 'standard' program. She was Special. Whispered rumors about her had been swirling since she arrived, so at dinner she was left well enough alone, and was glad for it. Taking an early bedtime, she fell asleep to the droning of the cicadas outside.

  ~ 21 ~

  She found Terry downstairs the next morning, once again filling in for Julian in the kitchen.

  "Hey, glad you're up," he greeted as she peeked her head into the kitchen. "Let's do an early session today, since the group has the chamber this afternoon. So right after breakfast meet me back in here and we'll head down."

  "No more distance work today I hope?"

  "No, no, no — after talking to Julian, it's clear we need to do some energy manipulation work first. Distance comes later."

  Intrigued about 'energy manipulation', she agreed, and after a pancake breakfast, they walked together down to the dome.

  "So, tell me everything that happened yesterday," he asked excitedly. He had obviously been waiting to ask since the previous night.

  "Well, I went back to my house in Chicago to visit my friend Gavin, but he wasn't there. Then I just sort of spaced out again, and couldn't remember why I was there or anything. A few seconds later I heard my name being called, then I was pulled back, and Julian said I had been gone for two hours. It was pretty intense."

  "Yeah, well, he overheard me talking about your abilities and clearly thought you were ready for that, which I knew you weren't. I do apologize."

  "Not a problem...but, can someone get stuck like that? Like, spaced out and separated, forever?" she asked nervously.

  "No, not really. If the energy in the physical body is running low, the subtle will automatically return, but if it's fully rested, and fed, and recently emptied," he added with a smile, "you can travel for much more than just a few hours."

  Arriving at the chamber, he held the door for her. "Today we'll do the same as the first day, so please, stay nearby. But this time, what I'd like for you to do is two things. First, when you're out, come on over to me, I'll be waiting in the Sec-U next door with Felix on it. Then, if you can hear me, just follow my instructions from there, alright?"

  "What exactly will I be doing?"

  "That's a secret...well, no, not really. I just want to test your comprehension and focus in that state, you'll see. No worries."

  By this time, they were at the door of the Einstein Sec-U, and after entering she began to prepare. Jess soon heard the click of the door closing on the little house next door, and a few minutes later she was out. Going directly to him, as instructed, she entered the little house to find him lounging on the bed. Seeming to sense her presence, he sat up.

  "Jess, I'm going to assume that's you," he announced to the empty room, a little louder than necessary. "I sensed a shift in energy, and just now, looking over near the door, I can see a waviness, kind of like heat coming off a highway."

  Reaching over to his side table, he switched on a device a little larger than a cell phone, which emitted a high pitched whine that descended lower and wavered.

  "I am getting a pretty high EMF reading," he said, examining the device, "so someone is here, gonna assume that's you Jess. Let's continue." Silencing the device, he set it back on the side table.

  "What I'd like you to try, for starters, is see if you can materialize yourself a bit, by focusing on your body — what it looks like, how it feels. Grasp the feeling of being in your body: feel your arms, your torso, your legs...feel the pressure of gravity pushing up on your feet planted on the floor."

  She did as he asked, and once again, it reminded her of being in a meditative self-hypnotic state.

  "I'm seeing the heat shimmer start to swirl and darken — it looks more like smoke now. You're doing fantastic, keep it up. Focus more specifically on one part of your body now. Imagine it clearly, each line and wrinkle and scar, turning it over in your mind as if it were real."

  She focused on her left hand, and began to feel a tingling sensation in that area.

  "Good work, I am seeing something take form just in front of the door knob. It is getting noticeably colder in the room too; what you are doing is harvesting the latent heat in the air, which is just perfect. Oh wow, I think I can see fingers now — this is incredible work here Jess — it is definitely your hand. Can you wave to me?"

  Keeping her eyes closed, she raised her hand and waved it back and forth. She was concerned that opening her eyes would break the 'spell', but in sneaking a quick peek, she saw her hand as nothing out of the ordinary.

  "Excellent job, I can see motion now. Try to focus on your arm, let's see how far we can extend the manifestation."

  Feeling bolder, she opened her eyes and gazed down at her forearm, imagining it solidifying, and the tingling traveled upwards from her hand.

  "Great, great, great. I can see up to the elbow now, and I can see you are projecting the yellow shirt you have on as well. Oh, but now I see that some of the hand is fading. Can you bring the hand back? Try focusing on the arm and hand as one unit."

  She did so, and the tingling spread back downward. The feeling reminded her of an odd trick she would occasionally perform as she was about to go to sleep. As far back as she could remember, she had been able — through some odd mental and muscle mechanism near the area behind her ears — to shoot an electrical sensation throughout her body. It wasn't painful — and though not necessarily comfortable either — it was novel, and strange. She wondered what would happen if she tried activating it now, and so she did. The reaction from Terry was immediate.

  "Oh, Jess, what the heck! What did you do? You were full body for just a second, that was quite a feat! How di
d you manage that from just an arm? Remember to tell me later. Can you do it again?" he asked excitedly.

  She waited a moment and tried again.

  "Oooh, really, really cool. It's like a light switch is flipped on, then flickers out after a second. Never seen that before. I could clearly make out your features except for your face. But that's always the hardest to project."

  She tried once more, but the source of whatever energy she tapped into seemed to have been depleted.

  "Yeah, not so much this time, I think that battery needs a little charge. That was great though! OK, enough of that, let's go in the other direction, it's always easier. Now try to imagine yourself as a single point of awareness, no body whatsoever: no hands, no arms, no legs, no torso, no head, just the ever-present awareness that is you. Now, after doing that for a minute, I want you to move around the room some. But don't try to move, just imagine going to another spot, then another, then another. I'm going to turn off the lights to help me out here, so hold on just a second."

  She began these mental machinations as he stood and flicked off the overhead light.

  "Just to let you know Jess, it is pitch black in here for me, but you probably are able to see a little bit."

  He was correct, she could still see the room fairly clearly, and began to move around it.

  "I think I'm seeing something...there's a dull glow, wait, no...I think you've got it, I clearly see a little shine there. There's a little point of light. Oh, there you go! I just saw you shoot over to the dresser and fade out. Can you center your energy again and come back towards the door?"

  Jess was having fun with this; even her astral body felt like a burden now, the way she was flying around the room.

  "There you go, I saw you zip to the door and do a little swizzle-type jig over to the far corner. Pretty neat! OK, I think you've got that figured out. Now if you're not too out of it — if you've still got your energy up — let's try one more thing. How about you try to talk to me. But not normal talking, that won't work. It's too high for me to hear. And I'm not saying yell and scream either, it's not a question of that. Like your manifestation earlier, you've got to imagine your speech organs in exquisite detail, while at the same time thinking the words to say. Now I left this for last, as it's the hardest, so don't fret if we can't do a thing here just yet. So start with your lungs, then your larynx and vocal chords, forming the muscles around them, and encase all that in a throat, leading up to a tongue, mouth, and lips. Try to keep all that in mind, then see if you can force a word out from this motley apparatus."