Chapter 12
Making Room
There were two things on Seymore’s current agenda, one that he was sure could handle easily and the other was going to require some thinking, research, creativity and probably some personnel. He opted for doing the easy part first, or at least that’s what he thought was easiest, and went into the library to collect the plans that Geralty had so expertly made for the remodel of the cottage at Seymore Place.
He rolled up the plans and went out the double doors and down to the top of the lane where he could get a good view of the cottage at it was currently configured. Mesa was right behind him, nicely imaged as her knows-everything schoolmarm. She stopped by his side, spotted the plans and said, “Do you want me to project a table or do you want to?” Seymore smiled and bowed and extended his arm in a gesture that said the floor is yours.
Mesa rather liked Seymore’s mood and wondered what had brought it about as she deftly produced as sturdy wooden picnic table with two long benches and a large market umbrella. She smiled at Seymore and said, “When we, or rather you, are finished with the remake of the cottage we can incorporate these into the landscaping of the Weedy Field” Seymore agreed and spread the plans over the table top and picked up a few stones to anchor the corners.
He began at the back with the arched walkway that led to the dome and connected to the back of his study. He widened the walkway and expanded it into about half of the study; he made the entrance three times wider and twice as long and added double glass French doors with brass kick plates and hardware. The new entry for the dome became an atrium that he hoped would be used as a staging area to assist the arriving white light travelers. He took the rest of the study and made a hall that lead from the library entrance which he moved to the center of the specimen wall. Now he could create his study and Geralty’s working area on the far side and they would both have access to the long hall in between. From his he would be able to observe the interior of the atrium. That done, he sat down to consider his next moves.
Suddenly Fred bounded out of the cottage through the double doors with Geralty right behind him. Seymore had forgotten that the unhappy cat had been sitting near the entrance to the walkway in the study and he must have been shocked to see his environment shift around him. Geralty had been in the library when Seymore moved the door right to where his makeshift desk was and the sudden change had sent all of his work and the journals crashing to the floor not to mention creating chaos on the specimen shelves and sending books flying.
Both the cat and the young protégé stopped squarely in front of Seymore and Geralty gave him a look of consternation. Fred jumped up on the plans and into Seymore’s arms. Now the poor cat was not only sad but scared. Geralty said, “Seymore, you’re making a mess of the inside of the cottage. All the specimens and books are falling off shelves and all the stuff in your study is out in the grass on the far side near the alder woods. Something isn’t working right!”
Seymore was stunned. He had transformed countless constructs in his work at Middle Mind, in fact, he was famous for it. He had never disturbed anything or anybody when he did it. He had so easily created the cottage and its environment he just assumed that the remodel would be the same experience. Obviously, he was wrong. He looked askance at Mesa and she seemed as mystified as he was.
“Geralty, you hang on to Fred and I’ll go have a look at the damage. There may be a simple solution. I’ll be back as soon as I have some options and then we can figure out where we go from here.” He hastened up the path toward the double doors and entered. It was quite a sight; and exactly as Geralty had described it. Nothing seemed broken or seriously damaged, but things were certainly a mess and not much was proceeding in the manner he intended or was accustomed to. He didn’t know why.
He sat at the round oak table and pondered what kind of options he might have. Maybe he needed to create the new rooms and move what he wanted into them before he rearranged the present configuration. Maybe something had happened to interfere with the usual flexibility of the Units of Energy that composed the station. Maybe he was wrong to assume that the Units were totally flexible until stabilized. Maybe some kind of stabilization was occurring that was unknown and unrecognized. Maybe he had changed and shifted internally and could no longer exercise his formation skills with the ease he had previously. Maybe he’d better talk this over with Mesa.
He returned to the shady picnic table and his companions where he sat, leaned on his forearms and crossed his hands on the plans. He recited the list of options that might offer some way to proceed without wrecking more havoc on the cottage. He turned to Mesa and asked, “Which do you think is most likely the case here, Mesa?”
She was unsure, but as she listened to Seymore’s description of the mess in and around the cottage she suddenly had the same feelings she had when she escaped from the dome and found her crow self rumpled and shaken as she flew for the edge of Seymore Place. She paused and then said, “I think it is possible that the arrival of the great white light that brought Sarah has something to do with the cottage losing flexibility. I think the dome has been stabilized by the Units of Creation that were used at The Rim to form the light.
In order to execute on their purpose they would have to be stabilized otherwise the light would blend back into the environment. To the units that originated at The Rim the units that compose your creations are probably quite similar so the stabilization spread out into the light’s new environment. It is probably a natural process that’s not reversible. I would venture that it has never happened before and this may be the first time that the two versions of the Units have met. The light has probably totally integrated and stabilized the dome and we probably won’t be able to change it so it’s really good that you did such a fine job in the original creation.
“As for the rest of the construct, it seems that your skills are strong enough to make the changes, but to prevent making a further mess of it you’ll need to work in small chunks rather than whole areas, I think. If you like, I’ll transpose the furniture, all the small movable stuff and my magic desk out of the way and you can then move walls and make doors and windows in an order that makes for the least amount of shifting at any one time. How does that sound?”
Seymore was grateful for Mesa’s educated guess about what had happened under their noses and again impressed by her knowledge of the ways and abilities of the Units of Energy. He understood why Psyche knew for sure that she would be a great asset to him. He needed to find a time to ask Mesa how it was that she is so versed in the Units of Energy. But not right now.
Seymore gratefully said, “I am always glad for your help, Mesa. And, Geralty, you keep track of Fred while we do this and watch from a ways away because we’re not sure exactly what’s going to happen. Keep a good eye though and we’ll answer your questions as best we can when the cottage is finished. ”He stopped and Geralty looked frightened, so he more cheerfully added. “There’s going to be a private space for you and you might want to give some consideration to the things you’d like to have added to it.
“I’m going to put the room on the back of the library and it will have windows that look out to both the meadow and the alder woods. There’ll be an entrance onto the hall and my study will be right across from your space.” Geralty smiled and carefully suppressed his excitement at the idea of having space of his own as he walked a ways down the lane holding Fred close so he’d be safe.
Mesa and Seymore went up the path and entered through the double doors. Mesa laughed out loud when she saw all the stuff that had fallen off the shelves in the library and then let out a gale of laughter when she saw that the study furnishings were either scrunched into a very narrow space or pushed out onto the grass on the outside of the cottage. When she returned to the library, still grinning and enjoying the wreckage that Seymore had created, she sat down and presented her best suggestion.
“Seymore, I’m going to move everything, in
cluding my magic table, out of the cottage and down onto the top part of the meadow. That will be far enough from the dome that the stabilizing influences it is seems to be putting off will be at least limited and probably beyond its current reach; though I suspect that its influence is growing all the time. When everything is out, I’ll get Geralty and we’ll be sure that is in order and in good shape to be put back after you’re through. I think I’ll give Geralty a few opportunities to have what he wants in his space. It’s time he began to learn the full extent of his natural abilities. ”Seymore appreciated her vision for Geralty and watched as she began to move items quickly and easily out of the cottage and into the meadow.
Geralty was delighted to see all the household items spring up like exotic plants in the field and took Fred further down the lane to get a better look. There was a huge array of items and Mesa, now dress as a farmer, said, “Looks like we have our work cut out for us. You and I are going to bring order to this collection of stuff and sort it so that refurnishing the cottage will be easy. And, since you need all kinds of things for your own new space, I thought I would help you learn something about forming and reforming.” Geralty was so excited he jumped up and down and nearly lost his hold on Fred who wrenched himself loose and ran back to the picnic table. Geralty turned to survey the cottage contents and grinned his anticipation.
Mesa asked, “Geralty, tell me how you know to change your image, or do you just automatically respond to things around you? It’s OK if that’s what you do. I just need to know so that I’m sure where to begin helping you to do more. My guess is that in the future you are going to be called on to help Seymore with projecting. And it’s a good set of talents that will always be useful. So, start by telling me about how you reversed the image of the damaged elf to your usual image.”
After a thoughtful pause, Geralty turned to Mesa and said, “I’m not sure. I didn’t know that I could shift or even that I had any kind of imaging abilities at all before I got here. I knew that I was very good at patterns, but that’s easy for every information scrap. It wasn’t until we got here and you told me what you needed that I was able to image the young boy. It wasn’t hard and it didn’t hurt and my information pattern self was not changed in any way and it still hasn’t. I don’t know where the image came from. I figured it was just a spare that you didn’t want wandering around unattached.”
Mesa smiled as Geralty’s version of the earlier events when he first arrived at ES360. His simple and innocent account brought her back to her own basic intelligence and she knew that for Geralty, herself and Seymore – even Fred – the plain no nonsense approach would be the best, fastest and most certain means of generating the best result.
She was so glad that she had selected Geralty for the job he now had made his own.
“Before you arrived,” she said. “Seymore, who also arrived here without an image, had assumed the appearance of the man you know but when uncertain or distressed he used the image of the man’s young son. At that time everything here was expanding, changing and wobbly and he kept moving between man and boy. Before creating Seymore Place he didn’t change his image and, while he is a champion at forming environments, he had kept the same personal image at Middle Mind from his last tour at The Rim. When he started this station he had nearly forgotten how to shift his image. At the time it seemed best to find a home for the young boy image, but only Seymore and I were here, so I went and got you. I am so pleased with my choice to bring you here as it is working out perfectly, don’t you think?” She looked at her young find and smiled with the warmth that comes from shared success and genuine affection.
“So, if I said that what I wanted was to expand and refine the talent that made your imaging so good, would you agree?” Geralty said that he would and recalled for Mesa the day that he had returned from the misadventure in the dome and how her urging and care had been what inspired him to regroup as the young boy. He went on, “Seymore’s wishes are a means for me to reform as well. It was his intentions that enabled the super hero that became the flying elf that was treated so badly by the brilliant light. So, I think I make my images based on what is urgently or sincerely needed at the time. I guess it just makes sense that as an information pattern I respond best and most effectively to worthwhile instructions. ”He looked at Mesa to see if she understood what he said. She fell silent for a few moments.
Mesa was quite surprised as the depth of Geralty’s understanding of the impetus for his abilities. And she saw immediately that his empathy was exceedingly well suited to serve in meeting the needs of the incoming light travelers. She made a mental note to be sure to tell Seymore about the potential in Geralty to meet some of his needs in assisting the great lights. Then she turned to the business of making sense of the cottage contents.
She motioned for Geralty to come with her to the edge of the collected cottage stuff. She thought out loud, “I think we can separate out everything that goes into the library, especially the specimens, and then the office furnishings. Seymore’s study is all over the place and some of it may be damaged, so let leave that for last. Fortunately, we have the whole meadow to work with. So let’s get going.”
She turned to Geralty and began his instructions, “To move an item from place to place you need to see the object clearly, know exactly where you want it to go and then visualize it being there. With your talent, this will probably happen the first time, so I think you should start with something small. A butterfly specimen will do. Are you ready?”
Geralty wasn’t sure. Mesa saw his uncertainty immediately and added to her instructions, “Geralty, the main ingredient in initiating your ability to move anything is confidence and the second is commitment. You will need to know for sure that you can do it and then know, without a doubt, what it is your want to do.” She waited for that to sink in and continued, “That’s actually a universal process that is used everywhere all the time and you do it too and always have. But this time you’re going to expand and use it with thoughtful intent. I have every confidence you can do it. ”She took him by the shoulder and marched him over to the butterfly specimens, selected a small yellow one, and looked over his shoulder as he began.
In a flash the small winged specimen was flung down the meadow toward the sea. Mesa began to laugh and said, “Is that what you were committed to, Geralty? If it was, you were very successful, if not, I’ll get the butterfly for you and you can try again.” Geralty was holding his face in his hands and shaking with laughter. He eventually was able to say, “No, I just wanted to specimen to move and forgot about the where part. Let me try to get it back. ”He looked down the meadow and visualized the butterfly placed a few feet in front of him, and that’s exactly what happened. His self-satisfied grin was wide and full of pride.
“Well done! Now, I’m going to go sort out all the books and put them in order and I want you to gather all the butterfly specimens in this nice box.” Upon saying so the box appeared at Geralty’s feet and he picked it up and began moving the delicate butterflies into it. It was easy and soon became fun.
Soon the pair of movers had most of the sorting finished and the only remaining items were from Seymore’s study. Mesa didn’t know what kinds of changes Seymore might want in his personal effects so she opted to continue teaching Geralty by showing him how to cast objects.
He had done a good job of sorting all the specimens and they were carefully protected in the boxes that Mesa had produced as he needed them. She now asked him to come with her up to the picnic table. Fred had kept his distance from the action on the meadow but jumped down from his perch under the umbrella to meet them as they came up the lane. They all found a place at the table and Mesa began the object lesson for Geralty.
“Creating an object is not a lot different from personal imaging. The key is to create the separation before you begin. Separation is created by knowing for sure what is you and what is not you. Separation is also a universal pr
ocess and is essential to constructs of every sort regardless of size, location or materials. When you make an image for yourself you are attracting something toward yourself. When you create an object you are separating an image away from yourself. The only tricky part is integrating separation with the confidence/commitment function. At its simplest, the steps are: desire, confidence, separation and commitment.
“You’ll need to practice for a while before you take on something as big as a chair or any large item for your space. You are going to want some papers and pens and other small tools to help you in your work, so I suggest you start there. Let’s see if you can project a sheet of paper about the size of my hand. ”Geralty didn’t move and presently a small piece of paper appeared on top of the plans. Geralty was nearly beside himself with a powerful sense of accomplishment; and Mesa was delighted with his ability to listen and learn.
Mesa stood up from the long picnic bench, stroked the cat and told Geralty, “Great! I’m going to go check on Seymore. I can see from here that he’s made progress on his redo. You keep practicing and I’ll be back.”
At the cottage entry the double doors stood open and the window boxes were detached and set away from the windows. She went into the library through the open doors and looked around. There was a new wall for the specimens and an extra wide pocket door in the middle. She slid the door open and found a hallway next to the glassed in atrium that appeared complete and on her right there was another double wide pocket door that led into Seymore’s new study. She went into the new room and marveled at how welcoming it was. Seymore had obviously spent a good deal of his effort on its creation. There was a new desk and leather office chair, some very attractive art featuring portraits of people she didn’t recognize and the walls had wainscoting of a polished dark wood. The plastered walls and ceiling were a pale blue grey and the room was banded by picture molding. There was a large window that looked out toward the alder woods and another that looked out on a small pond.
The pond was new and was about the same size as the cottage with a large weeping willow tree, several park benches, a stand of reeds and some water lilies. There was a small rowboat tied up to a short wooden dock and on the far side there was an old boat house. Seymore was sitting on one of the benches looking back at the cottage apparently assessing his progress. She returned to her usual winged girl image, flew out the open window and landed on the bench next to the contractor.
He turned to Mesa, smiled and said, “I am taking it slow as you suggested and it is complicated because every time I do something the results are stabilized, presumably by the white light units. It is a powerful force and it takes some doing to overcome its impact so I’ve been trying to get everything right the first time. It’s easier now that I am finished with the interiors of my study, and I think that Geralty’s space will be simple enough. Fortunately, there’s not much to be changed in the library, except I think I’m going to put a large bay windows in both the library and on the front of the old office. How does that sound?”
Mesa said she agreed that the study looked complete and very handsome and that she liked his bay window idea. She added, “Geralty is doing well with moving and creating objects and we have everything but the old furnishing from your study ready to return to the cottage when you’re ready. Some of your study furniture is lightly damaged, which we can repair, but I’d rather you chose what you want to keep before we do any maintenance. And may I suggest that what you don’t want to keep you give to Geralty for his space. He admires you so and I’m sure would love to have some small token as a gift. What do you think?”
Seymore stood and said, “Mesa, why don’t you come with me to the other side of the study and we’ll look over the area for Geralty’s space. It’s what I was thinking about when you arrived. You’ll know better what should be created for him. There’ll be something left over for him, but he may want is own creations.”
In the area in front of Seymore’s new study on the side nearest the alder woods, Seymore materialized another park bench and asked Mesa to join him to sit and think about Geralty’s needs. Mesa said, “I think he will need more space than we might have earlier thought and he’ll put it to good use. ”She paused and watched Seymore as he considered what to do for Geralty’s new space. She took the moment to add, “He has shown me that he is very sensitive to the needs and desires of others and will, I am almost certain, be perfect support for the greeters for the white light travelers.” Mesa couldn’t tell if Seymore heard her or not.
Seymore stood and instantly created the foundation, floor, walls, windows, ceiling and thatched the roof of Geralty’s space. It blended perfectly with the rest of the cottage. He turned to Mesa and said, “I’m pleased to know that Geralty can be helpful with the travelers. But I think his next step is to finish his space just the way he wants it.” They moved inside of Geralty’s space through the door that faced the woods and Seymore made another double sliding door that opened onto the wide hall between the new space and the study. They went into the hall which led down to the atrium and then went into the library. Seymore looked at Mesa and said, “This is going to be the hardest part. While I put in the windows and extend the old office will you send the daybed and the leather chair up to the new study?
“As soon as I have the last of the expansion finished, I want to check everything quickly as the stabilization starts to take hold very fast. I have an intuition that we need to complete the remake of the cottage quickly. ”With that Mesa sped away, found Geralty and told him that she was going to start moving things back to the cottage starting with the study. “When we’re through moving things into the cottage you can use the new door on the alder woods side to see your new space. You can take anything you’ve created, especially any notes or designs he had for furnishings. When you’ve had a chance to make some final choices, come and get me and we’ll do the projecting together so we get it right the first time. ”Geralty seemed to instantly grasp that things needed to be handled promptly.
Mesa first sent the oval hand-knotted carpet then the daybed and everything on it to the study followed by the big chair and its ottoman. She also sent along the beautiful plate and the wood carvings; and sent the small table to the atrium. She dematerialized the remainder of the study’s bits and pieces by casting them back to the atmosphere. Then she and Geralty finished sending all the books and specimens to the library so they could be ordered on the shelves. After that she released Geralty to tend to his own desires for his new space. Things were moving along nicely. She spent a few moments cleaning up the meadow and sending scraps back to the atmosphere.
She could see Geralty in his window that faced the meadow. She look around the immediate area to make sure that she knew what was left and where it was, flew up to the entry and went in. The library was completely transformed with the new Bay Window, new wider shelves and sparkling glass doors on all the specimen cupboards. She immediately set about doing her best to put everything in order in the new specimen display shelves. Moving the books to their rightful shelf was quick and easy and when she was finished she set the beautiful oak table and chairs in the center of the room; the lovely statue and art folios were put on top. She placed the game table and the gimbaled globe to sit in front of the new windows. She had no plans for information about the new bay window treatments or any other additions so she went to look for Seymore.
He was in his study moving all her transfers into positions that suited his purposes and turned to look at Mesa for approval. She nodded agreeably and said, “Are you finished Seymore?” He sat down on the daybed and nodded saying, “Yes, I’ve finished and I hope I got everything right because things are tightening up very fast. I added a turret on to the front of the old office for your magic table and I moved the big window so we can see both the interior of the atrium and into the dome. ”He stood and rearranged the pillows on the day bed and made a new bookcase to sit next to the window that looked out over the pond
. He checked his work and asked, “Is Geralty ready to finish his space? It’s still easy to work on that side, but I think we should give him some help so he doesn’t have to do anything over.”
They both turned to go through to Geralty’s area of the cottage and found him in a room packed with furniture, pictures, a bed and far too much of everything. Seymore smiled and gently chided him, “I see you have become proficient at object making. ”Mesa just rolled her eyes and went across the room, stood next to Geralty and said, “I want you to tell me exactly what you want to keep from this collection of nice tries and I’m sorry I didn’t show you how to send stuff back.” Geralty pointed to the child’s desk and its chair, the low table with uneven legs, a casual chair with only three legs and a bookcase that had no shelves. His early tries at furnishings were quickly removed with Mesa’s expertise. She helped Geralty arrange what was left and when they were finished they like the results. It was a clean, neat room with places for work and rest and had a pleasant view on two sides. Mesa impulsively added two canvas valances over the windows and some pull down shades.
Seymore had watched from the doorway and was also pleased with the new room for his young assistant. He said to them both, “I have something I want to talk to you about. Let’s go to the old office and have our meeting at Mesa’s magic table.”
They went to the office down the hall past the atrium and Seymore noticed the table from his refurbished study was inside. He turned to Geralty and said, “That table in the atrium doesn’t work in my new study, would you like to have it?” Geralty said he would and Mesa immediately transported it to Geralty’s new space. He thanked Seymore for his generosity and Mesa for transporting it. His feet hardly touched the ground as he continued through the library.
They continued on and in the newly rearranged office Mesa recreated her beautiful magic table with three magic chairs in the new turret room. They all sat down to hear what Seymore had on his mind.
Seymore asked, “Is there anything else that needs to be added or taken away from the cottage? If there is, let’s take care of it now so that we can move ahead with the next part of our project. I think we should each walk through the cottage and around the outside to make sure that we didn’t miss anything. I know we still have the landscaping to do around the outside of the dome, but I think we can do that later as it is all new creation and doesn’t require removing anything except the weeds.” They each went in separate directions and reviewed the whole area. Seymore found that the flower boxes were not reinstalled so he did that and made flower boxes for the new windows as well. He checked the thatching and reinforced it in several spots. He added a pathway of stone pavers from the back door of his study that led to the pond. Then he added a small porch to the back door nearest to Geralty’s space and a longer and wider porch for the door that lead out of his study and faced the pond. Geralty and Mesa made a few adjustments in the library and in the new space that belonged to Geralty and after walking around the outside of the cottage and inspecting the new pond they returned to the office to wait for Seymore who arrived shortly with Fred in his arms.
Seymore said, “I didn’t find any problems that couldn’t be fixed right away, did you?” Everyone agreed that all was in order as far as they could tell.
Then Seymore began, “The next part of the project is to create a process for greeting and supporting the light travelers with kindness and helping them to choose to return home. I have a few ideas on how to do this, but I need to visit Middle Mind and see if there is a way that we can have access to the residue that results from the transitions.
“Most everything that transitioners relinquish returns to the general atmosphere and can be accessed by anyone. I’m hoping that the images that are left can be accessed in some way. It could prove to be a gold mine for creating scenarios that will facilitate the travelers. Valentino will be able to tell me everything I need to know, he is genius with complex situations. So I would like for you, Mesa, to either stabilize the station completely yourself or watch and test as the units of the light in the dome complete what they have already started. And Geralty, I want you to continue to study and experiment with Mesa so that your skills can be utilized when we know how to assist white light travelers when they arrive. I’m hoping that it will be a while before lights start arriving because we are still not ready.” Seymore looked at his two companions and continued, “I’ll not be long at Middle Mind, but if anything happens, Mesa, send a Mercury Messenger to let me know and I’ll come back right away.”
He handed Fred to Geralty, waved as he left the turret room, went to the library to access his transport disc and was gone.