Chapter 15
Making Amends
Back at the Administration Building Seymore and Valentino settled into comfortable chairs in Valentino’s office and each ruminated with their private thoughts for a long time. Besides his curiosity about Sarah, Valentino was very happy to have his brother’s company but was preparing himself to again say goodbye when Seymore returned to his project. Seymore’s thoughts moved between wondering about Sarah and his hopes, dreams and plans for Seymore Place.
Seymore broke the long silence by returning to the subject that had brought him back to Middle Mind. “Valentino, is there an easy way to establish a channel from here to the station in order to access all the cached images that have been replaced by those whose transitions are complete? ”He continued without waiting for an answer, “In order to serve the incoming light travelers we need to generate greeters that can be contrived to relate to the light travelers to meet them in the light dome. I only want to use the constructs as a framework and I don’t need them permanently. We could form the images ourselves to fit the circumstances of individual travelers, but having most of the structural work in place would make the job much easier. The images all originated at The Rim, so they probably would adapt right away.”
Valentino, nodded, looked down at this twiddling thumbs, cracked a smile and said, “Seymore, I’ll be glad for you to access the entire log of replaced images for whatever purpose you need, as long as you tell me why you want to find Sarah; and don’t tell me that you’re just helping poor David. ”Valentino’s challenging look told Seymore that he would not relent until he had the whole story. So Seymore told him.
He told him about the ring in his pocket, how and where he found it, that Sarah would miss it and it needed to be returned. He told him that Sarah had played a vital role in helping him move toward meeting the purpose of Seymore Place. And he praised her charm, kindness and bravery through her entire stay and her astonishing means of returning to The Rim. More than anything else, though, he wanted to be very sure that she had arrived back where she started and was safe, alive and reinvested in her life.
Seymore finished up his explanation, “And, yes, I would like for David to have a chance to reach a good understanding with Sarah. She is, if she made it back to The Rim, going to have his baby, and I’ll bet he knows that. I think it would make his transition faster and more meaningful, don’t you?”
Valentino nodded his agreement and made a mental note to tell David’s transitions assistants about the child. He looked very serious and said, “Seymore, since you love this girl, I’ll do whatever I can to help. In fact, I might have a lead. Since she was in a coma, if she is now awake at The Rim, her coma self image will have been shed and returned to an image logs at Middle Mind. Temporary images or others that are replaced are never transitioned as their creators are still at The Rim. It’s not a part of what we log, but the images can be accessed from here. If you know approximately where she is at The Rim and can make a good guess about where she might have returned to her regular Rim state, we could find the image she shed when she awoke from her coma. We have her whole name and that will help. Want to have a look?”
Seymore was thrilled. If there was an image from Sarah’s coma it would mean that she was alive and re-established at The Rim. He refused to think about any other result signified by the absence of an image. He told Valentino that he definitely wanted to check for the coma image.
Valentino turned on the inventory system on his desk top and entered Sarah Wordsworth, her age, the name of the hospital, Western United States, The Rim. Then they both waited while the search was made. Sure enough, there it was. Sarah’s face and form filled the screen. Seymore felt light headed and leaned on the back of Valentino’s chair. She was safe, the relinquished coma image proved it.
Still staring at the picture of Sarah, Seymore reached down and patted Valentino on the shoulder but he was too moved to speak. This was tremendous; he knew Sarah was safe, that the methods for aiding the lights and their travelers were possible. While imperfect and incomplete, Seymore Place had absolutely served its purpose and the foundations for its service to The Rim had been laid. Seymore felt himself swell with a powerful sense of purpose.
He went back to where they were sitting and Valentino followed. Seymore looked deep into Valentino’s eyes and told him what this meant and thanked him over and over. Seymore collected his thoughts and said, “You know, the assistants could use that image of Sarah to help David, couldn’t they? It is exactly as she was when she was with David. It’s really interesting that Sarah maintained her image from before her injuries all through the coma and it is the exact image she had at ES360. She, of course, is different now.” And he silently wondered where she was and what she did or didn’t remember about Seymore Place?
Valentino said, “Yes, this would be just the ticket to help David in his transition and I’ll be sure that it’s redirected to the Zone for relay to the assistants.” Valentino also offered to redirect the David transition team to fall into his jurisdiction and if Seymore wanted to check on the progresses now and then he would bring him up to date. Seymore said he would. Valentino was glad because it meant he would hear from his brother more often.
Seymore knew he needed to return to ES360 and said so. He made some last arrangements with Valentino to set up a team that would create and means for using the image bank and to transfer what was needed to the station. Seymore said he would check back about both David and the access system, gave Valentino a bear hug and left to take one last look around his office.
While Seymore was away at Middle Mind, Mesa and Geralty enjoyed a productive routine. Mesa decided to let the light units do the stabilization and she and Geralty tweaked and fiddled until everything was embellished and personalized around the cottage. They made some small changes, tweaked a few spots. It was like a game; Geralty was young so he learned best from playing and it was Mesa’s favorite way of teaching. They had a wonderful time together laughing and talking and doing silly things with their Mercurial talents.
They also wondered about Sarah and despite all the rearranging Fred still sat at the atrium entry closest to the place where she last stood. Occasionally he would venture out to the pond and watch the gold fish, and now and then he would play in the meadow during the image making exercises.
Geralty couldn’t remember a better time and Mesa was glad for the easy pace so she could check the stabilizing with care and certainty. It was not easy to do since she had to first generate high levels of confidence with the Units of Energy so they would accept her instruction. Seymore did that automatically; but she was still getting the hang of it. As more and more Units were set into Seymore’s creation they passed information to others so the more Mesa did the easier it got. And her knowledge about the Units was growing as well. Mesa realized that she was getting help from the Units that came from The Rim with Sarah’s big light and stayed behind in the dome.
Despite what she knew about Units, she didn’t know how The Rim units were not exactly like the ones that originally composed Seymore Place. But the difference would begin to show in subtle ways.
Progress was now very noticeable as the colors were richer and curves and edges more sharply defined and steady. Feeling secure the flowers grew and bloomed. There was an occasional breeze and when it was from just the right direction the sound of waves on the shore drifted up to the cottage. Mesa knew for sure everything was set and it was all very charming and very safe. She just loved it! The finished platform may have been what attracted the visitors.
Mesa and Geralty, who had fetched Fred from his Sarah spot, were sitting at the picnic table under the market umbrella when they first noticed three figures walking toward them from the far end of the lane. Geralty, as usual, asked the obvious, “Who’s that and what do they want? ”Mesa didn’t reply. She didn’t have an answer. Geralty repeated his question. Mesa then admitted that she had no idea who they were
or what they wanted. Fred jumped down from the table top and began to walk toward the visitors. Geralty went after him and Mesa sent a small Mercury Messenger to Middle Mind to urge Seymore to return immediately.
Seymore walked across his office to the desk just as the Mercury Messenger made a sparkling landing on the back of his chair. It was a tiny version of Mesa’s winged girl so he knew immediately where it came from and since he was ready to go he grabbed it and touched his transport. He landed uneventfully at ES360 without checking the message.
He arrived at the newly expanded office, noticed a few changes in the décor, glanced at the dome and went into the library, which was in perfect order and nicely improved. He looked out the big bay window to see Geralty running down the lane after Fred toward a small group headed in his direction.
Seymore hurried out the double doors, down the path and found Mesa, whose look of relief was almost tangible. “Oh, Seymore,” she whispered in relief, “I am so glad you got my message and came right away. I didn’t know what else to do but send for you. ”Seymore smiled and put his arm around her shoulders for reassurance and they both looked down the lane to watch the arrival and the cat chase. Geralty stopped and turned around before he reached the trio but Fred bounded on. One of the men bent and extended his hand to Fred who sniffed it and continued on toward the beach at a steady clip. The three men waved toward the residents as one would to greet an old friend.
Seymore waited a few moments to allow the three men to come closer then he smiled and shook his head. He turned to Mesa and said, “It’s OK, Mesa. These visitors are old acquaintances of mine. They are here to meddle, I’m sure. And you did exactly the right thing to send for me. I appreciate it very much. ”Seymore headed down the path to meet his guests. Mesa noticeably relaxed and sat down on one of the benches. She wished she had her schoolmarm image instead of the young winged woman, but she didn’t want to change in view of the strangers.
As Geralty arrived back at the picnic table Mesa took his arm and pulled him down beside her on the bench. She quietly said to him behind her hand, “Seymore knows who’s visiting so there’s nothing to worry about, but just sit here quietly for now and don’t change your image at all.” She unfurled her wings and tucked them so that they looked like a pattern on her dress, sat up taller and motioned for Geralty to do the same. They both stared down the lane wondering what would happen next.
Seymore rambled along the lane in no hurry to meet up with his guests, but his mind raced: what were these three doing here? How did they get here? How did they even know about his new station? What were they up to? He made a secret pledge to do everything possible to make sure the visit was short and uneventful. Neither seemed likely.