Chapter 5
Some Light Wrangling
Seymore asked Sarah to describe how she had left and returned to her hospital room and her body. After her description he asked, “So after you left your body you could guide yourself with your thoughts? ”She said she could and then realized that she hadn’t really said a word since her arrival at ES360 but was still using her thinking to communicate.
She decided to talk in the normal way and asked, “When can I return to my body and my baby?” It worked; she could talk and be heard. She knew for sure when Seymore looked at her in mild disbelief and gently smiled. He was coming to the conclusion that there were aspects of individuals from The Rim of Creations that he failed to recognize now. He had forgotten more than he knew.
He asked Sarah if she was weary from her recent experiences and, after a moment’s thought, she said she wasn’t, but that a small rest and a chance to collect her thought was a good idea. Seymore showed her to the study and said she could use the day bed. Fred immediately got the idea and jumped up on one of the big soft pillows. Sarah leaned back on the other pillows and Seymore gently spread the Damask throw over her. Seymore was glad to care for her in this way and she was grateful for the kind attention and his gentle manner. Fred purred with satisfaction.
Seymore returned to the office and sat down at the magic desk. Mesa turned a portion of herself into the sincere schoolmarm and sat across from him. Mesa knew that Seymore was uncertain and hesitant about his responsibilities and she decided to offer some helpful information.
She began by telling him that he was actually doing much better than he was giving himself credit for and was, in some surprising ways, ahead of expectations for the project. She then said something that really surprised Seymore. Mesa explained, “The Units of Energy in the area are more and more bending to your direction. They will not only continue to respond to our every need but also would support the ES360 environment into a permanent state as soon as you’re ready.” Seymore only looked at her without response and was apparently not sure exactly what she meant. She elaborated, “The Units were deeply committed to expanding the capacities of the dome and to making the most of the energized particles that composed the great light. ”Seymore gave Mesa a questioning gaze suggesting that he didn’t necessarily need all that much help even though he did. She quickly added. “The stability of the environment here is just as vital as it was at Middle Mind, something you relied on with ease and appreciation, I believe.”
Seymore remained passive so Mesa tried again to make her point. “It might be wise to keep in mind that the lights were created from the atmosphere at The Rim and are purpose driven by the desires and intentions of their creators.” Seymore quickly stopped Mesa and interjected, “That is part of the dilemma. Sarah’s light was created by a baby and was used once by the baby and twice – yes, twice – by Sarah to exceed the boundaries of The Rim. ”He paused and frowned and then went on “The light had found the dome by methods I didn’t understand and I don’t have any idea how to redirect the light now that it appears firmly attached to the dome.”
Mesa was faced with her own uncertainty: did she need to tell him that the Units of Energy were closely related to the force and units that make up of the white light tunnels? In fact, they were pretty much the same stuff. But before she could act on her impulse to make such a big revelation, Seymore continued with his litany of questions and observations.
He almost whined, “I have no information or method for creating a way for Sarah to forget everything she’s experienced in the light and it’s probably a good idea that she not recall anything after the crash. And she, of course, has to be kept from remembering ES360! And on top of that now I need to return her to The Rim and her original purposes in a way that was not frightening or dangerous!” There was a part of him that suspected all that was not possible. His intuitions had always been good and they didn’t fail him in this case because Sarah would eventually remember everything.
Mesa stood up and interrupted Seymore saying that he needed to take things one step at a time, just like he had done up to this point. She then provided some prompting, “Aren’t the abilities and intelligence of the white tunnel what guided it to find its way to the dome? If the light tunnel was created by strong mental intention attracting Units of Creation are they similar to the ones that you used to form this station. Isn’t it possible that it is Sarah’s bidding that will return the light and take her back safely to The Rim?”
Seymore looked at his new assistant and sometimes table with both respect and uncertainty. She was exceptional and had provided just the framework he needed to address the situation. With this new point of view and a more dispassionate review of the current circumstances Seymore began to form a probable scenario. As he stared out the window at the pleasant view he began to speak his assessment. “I think it is safe to assume that the light had responded to the baby changing its mind and then to Sarah’s distraught self in the neighborhood of the baby’s return; but the light only picked up Sarah’s immediate experience and emotional impressions because it had been abandoned by the baby. At that juncture, there was no sense immediately available about why Sarah was upset only that she was and since the purpose and function of the lights is to transport despondent creators, that’s what it did. Without a clear set of directions by Sarah or knowledge of her past or origins, the light had only partial information and no instructions when is bolted out of The Rim. It ended up aimless in undifferentiated territory because it was small and badly directed.
“The light’s lack of direction was naturally picked up by the nearest available Units of Energy and the most accessible ones are here, specifically the dome. The purpose of the dome perfectly matched the needs of the light and its precious cargo.” He turned and looked steadily at Mesa, mind still analyzing the circumstances, and then slowly sat back down at the desk. He knew he now had a good assessment of the situation but he had a hard time keeping it straight in his mind. Besides all the questions and potential several other issues came to mind for Seymore among them the changes in his own self.
Mesa watched as a moment which she knew was coming arrived, but earlier than expected, and she wasn’t totally prepared to explain. She knew it was important, however, and she did the best she could.
As the young woman with wings she adjusted herself to sit very straight and proper and grasped her hands together with her elbows on the desk. She looked square into Seymore’s eyes and said. “You are, of necessity, blending the reality of yourself as you were at Middle Mind with a projected new self of ES360.In order to operate effectively in this arena you will need to use more of the skills and tools that are common to The Rim in order to be able to more quickly and easily help and understand the light riders and the circumstances that they bring to us for resolution. One of those skills is sound, of every sort, and another is a full range of feeling, which is very nearby but not yet fully available. It will help you, and me and the riders if you keep in mind that the Units will create or instigate anything and everything you need or that they can anticipate you may need for this project. It’s that important.” All of this was conveyed with real sound and strong emphasis on Mesa’s part. Seymore was deeply impressed with both the message and Mesa’s skills at comprehension of the now and coming circumstances. Not to mention the clear and unequivocal delivery.
Despite his admiration for Mesa, he was also somewhat chagrinned and stuck stubbornly to insisting on answers to his many questions. The most pressing, to him anyway, seem to be how he was going to send Sarah back, safely, without her remembering where she’d been? This was not just important to him; it was the first thing that Sarah asked about. He shook his head and said to Mesa, “We can talk more later. I’m going to do some investigating. ”It was hard to tell if Mesa’s carefully parsed information had made any impression.
Suddenly Seymore rose and walked to the study, quietly crossed the room so as not
to disturb Sarah, and headed out the covered walkway to the dome entrance. He reminded himself again to keep the door closed. He was going into the dome to see what would happen if he tried to enter and hoped it would provide some insight or maybe even inspiration.
He paused at the entry and put his hand inside the dome as he had done earlier to fetch the cat. The light was not disturbed or changed by his intrusion. He decided to try putting one foot just past the threshold on what he hoped was some kind of floor. Safe so far.
He leaned into the entry to see if there might be enough support that he could actually enter the dome and examine the white light. There wasn’t and he could tell that if he tried he would likely fall through the bottom of the dome or worse. He quickly stepped back onto the walk way, turned and went back to the entry off the study. He paused and stared back at the dome entry with consternation. How could Fred and Sarah have been in the dome and why couldn’t he safely enter? He then returned through the study and library to the office and sat down again with Mesa. He detailed exactly what had happened and asked her why he could not enter the dome. .She said she had no idea.
They alternated looking at each other and the beautiful dome and finally just sat and pondered what looked more and more like an impasse.
In the meantime Geralty had changed his image to an imp and was sitting cross-legged in mid air. Seymore started to give him a stop-that-right-how look when suddenly it occurred to him that if one couldn’t walk in the dome, maybe one could fly. Ever since the white light entered the dome Geralty had been lobbying in small ways to go inside the light. Both he and Mesa had dismissed his suggestions, but now he saw that Geralty might have, if not the answer, at least the means to explore the interior of the dome and its brilliant new resident.
He asked Geralty, “Could you enter the dome and keep this impish form firm enough to do some exploring?” Geralty was ecstatic at such a prospect and began to whiz around the room with wild abandon. Mesa interrupted his enthusiastic flight by grabbing him as he nearly missed the big mirror and just as he swiped a picture off the wall. She gave him a gentle shake and a soft giggle. She found him charming she enjoyed his antics. Seymore wasn’t so understanding. Geralty calmed down some and returned to his usual image of the doctor’s young son.
Seymore asked, “Can you project an image that can levitate or fly.” Geralty simply looked blank and hesitantly replied, “I don’t know how to do that without some impetus, some feeling that I can display. ”Seymore realized that emotions were integrated into Geralty’s abilities and much closer and more important than he suspected or that Mesa had let on. To inspire his very young helper he offered a challenge. “It is our mission to enter and investigate the dome, and you are vital to the undertaking. Can you do that without walking or standing on anything?” As Geralty engaged in Seymore’s scenario he again transformed, but this time to a super hero with a big red cape, steely eyes, and a serious point of view.
Seymore just looked on at this new image with frustration and remained silent despite all the urges that ran through him to reprimand Geralty. With practiced gentleness and teeth gnashing control, he asked Geralty “Do you think that this is the best possible image for your heroic venture into the dome.”
Geralty dejectedly deflated his character creation to something less dramatic, a harlequin elf with wings, and asked. “Is that better?” Seymore smiled, shook his head and said, “It is a big improvement.” He stood and offered his hand to the parti-colored elf and the two of them set off through the library, tiptoed through the study and out onto the covered walkway toward the dome’s entrance.
Geralty was literally pulsing with glee and it had a definite influence on his image as the lines and colors twinkled with enthusiasm. Seymore stopped half way down the walkway and let Geralty know in no uncertain terms that what he was about to do was not a game but rather a very important undertaking. Geralty sobered, untwinkled his eyes, and saluted. He could be infuriating, Seymore thought. Seymore knew it wasn’t intentional, but still!
Seymore asked Geralty to show him how he could fly and once he was sure of his ability to remain airborne they moved to the dome’s entry and he gently guided Geralty through and into the white light. Geralty was in for a big surprise.
The moment that Geralty’s form entered, the white light began to move more and more rapidly inside the dome to form a funnel. Despite being able to fly, it was obvious that Geralty he was no match for the force of the powerful white light. He quickly moved out of the center of the funnel into the light’s edge and tried to grab the door facing of the entrance as he sped by. Seymore realized that Geralty was trying to get out and put out his arm into the entrance in hopes that Geralty could grab it on his next high speed pass around the inside of the dome. He did, just barely, and Seymore pulled him into the walkway. He was really shaken, disheveled, had one broken wing and both of his small white pointed toe shoes were missing. His eyes were filled with great alarm and tears. He was scared silly.
Seymore picked Geralty up and carefully made his way back into the study across the library and into the office. Mesa was genuinely alarmed when she saw Geralty and gave Seymore a this-is-all-your-doing look. Mesa sat with Geralty and was able to gradually coax him back to his regular image as the doctor’s young son. He was still wary and jumpy, but he seemed to be aware that he was safe. Nevertheless, it was distressing to see Geralty in such a state.
Seymore was also shaken by recent events. He was very aware that Geralty had nearly been lost and that it was, indeed, all his doing. Geralty was eager and willing to investigate the dome and its contents, but Seymore knew he had taken advantage of the youngster’s enthusiasm and put him in a very dangerous position.
Seymore walked over to the big window that looked out to the dome and pondered what could have happened that sent Geralty on such a wild ride. Until this outcome the light had seemed benign. He thought back to what Mesa had said about the Units of Energy and the white light tunnels being made up of similar stuff. He had no idea how creators at The Rim could utilize their energy to create the tunnels. He wondered if something else influenced the light.
Sarah’s tale lead him to the concept that the white light needed to have some kind of relationships with its passenger to function properly, and that the particular tunnel now at rest in his dome had already had two such riders. Then it dawned on him why that light had been so agitated when Geralty entered the dome. The white tunnel had no knowledge of him or his intentions. The force and particles of the light tunnel had no guidance and became confused while searching for a way to pick up an impression of the intruder. Moments after entering the dome Geralty’s only desire became how to get out of the dome fast. Was it possible that the more he wanted out and away from the light the harder it was for the light to get an impression it could use? Or had the light picked up his desire to escape perfectly and tried to throw him out? The list of unanswered questions was growing.
But why was Fred able to enter the dome twice without creating havoc for the light? Then he realized that Fred was always with Sarah when he was in the dome and the light had an understanding of Sarah and Fred as well because he had been a part of Sarah’s experience. At least that made sense. But was it true?
He decided to have a talk with Sarah and see if she could help him to investigate the dome. A plan was forming and, this time; it was a much better one.
Sarah was glad to lay down on the soft and inviting day bed and tried to rest. She was weary of being over alert and tense besides sad and worried. She closed her eyes hoping that she could at least doze off for a short while. Fred wriggled under the throw and into Sarah’s warm arms as she drifted off into a light and restless slumber.
She vaguely sensed someone move quietly through the room twice but was not otherwise interrupted until she suddenly woke to see Seymore carrying a limp and disheveled elf boy hurrying in from the covered walkway. It was very disturbing and she could not
imagine what had happened. Seymore looked distraught and deeply concerned as he carried the boy through the study.
She had been so sure that this was a safe place, but maybe it wasn’t. She tightened her arms around the cat and he tried to twist himself free. She instantly relaxed and instinctively apologized for squeezing Fred too hard and released him. She sat up, gathered her wits, picked up Fred for moral support and walked to the library and on into the office. She arrived just in time to see Geralty slowly reform himself from elf to boy and she couldn’t believe her eyes. Seymore was looking out the big window at the dome and a woman in an old fashioned long brown dress was busy reassuring Geralty as he shifted back to his usual image. Sarah quickly and quietly retraced her steps to the daybed, laid down, pulled the throw up to her nose and stared wide-eyed into space as she tried to make sense of what she had just seen. Who was the woman helping Geralty? Why had Geralty been an elf? And how could he completely change who he was?
It was just too much. Quietly Sarah began to cry. She yearned to return to her beat up body and her baby. She hungered for earth! Fred watched her and knew she was dismayed and dreadfully unhappy besides being frightened. He wished he could talk.
Seymore quietly went into the study and immediately saw that something was wrong with Sarah. He pulled the leather ottoman up to the edge of the daybed, sat down and urgently asked her what had happened. Her eyes were wide, tear filled and her fear and uncertainty palpable. Fred was sitting near her glaring at Seymore through eyes that were beady slits and quickly tapping the tip of his tail.
Sarah had the throw pulled up nearly to her eyes and mumbled into the Damask, “What did you do to that poor elf? ”Seymore could barely understand her, but “elf” was enough to let him know that his trip through the study carrying Geralty had been observed. It appeared that Fred had also been a witness.
He told her, “I mistakenly asked Geralty to enter and investigate the dome and it turned out badly but he’s doing fine now. ”Seymore hoped that was enough. It wasn’t.
Sarah quickly sat up and yelled at Seymore, “Why was Geralty an elf and how did he do that? What kind of people – things! – are you?” She was now very upset, and coupled with her uncertainty, she was fuming. Seymore was getting an impression that Sarah had seen more than he originally assumed.
Seymore listened and tried again to reassure Sarah. “I can see where you’d think that something bad was going on and yes, a miscalculation had been made, and it was my doing. But you have nothing to worry about and you are perfectly safe and so was Geralty.” He knew he was not going to be able to explain away Geralty’s talent for images so he just confessed. “Everyone posted here can shift their forms and Geralty’s talent is exceptional.” He’d explain later about Mesa being a table. He then confirmed, “Technically you are the only human here. But everyone else is of good intent and you have nothing to fear.”
Sarah continued to glare at him and, squinting accusatorily, asked, “Who was the woman helping Geralty?” Seymore instantly realized she must have observed quite a lot and had seen Mesa as her schoolmarm self while she comforted Geralty. Until now Mesa had always been the beautiful table when Sarah was present in the office. Seymore decided to just trust that Sarah could appreciate the truth and told her, “She was one of the aspects of an intelligent and gentle being who is my assistant. She has truly wonderful powers and is usually the beautiful table that is in the office.”
Sarah’s look of shock was a clear signal that Seymore had most probably made another error in judgment. Sarah was not absorbing the Mesa-concept well and actually threw herself back on the day bed, pulled the throw over her head and sobbed. It was obvious that Sarah was in no mood to entertain any request for help with investigating the dome and its contents. Even Fred had turned his back and was slapping his tail in a display of his displeasure.