"Thank you, Elgon Ten," I said, declining his invitation, "but I plan to remain in the Macro society."
He laughed a big booming laugh and said, 'You still think that someone who grew up in the micro society of the 20th century can live happily in the Macro society. Believe me, Jon Ten, if I who spent my first 50 years in the Macro society couldn't stand it, you won't be able to, either!"
"It was your pride and desire for personal power that made you dislike the Macro society," Carol said to Elgon. "Jon doesn't want personal power, so your offer of high position in your government doesn't interest him."
Elgon's face tightened its granite hardness, and I became aware of a heightened redness in his aura. However, he replied calmly that Carol was too young to understand the delights of micro existence.
Our transair landed in the beautiful courtyard of the presidential palace, where Elgon insisted on giving us a personally guided tour of his glittering domain.
As we walked through his gardens my enjoyment of their beauty was marred by my memory of the faces of the dozens of poorly fed children we had seen during the day. Finally I interrupted Elgon to ask how the people managed to produce such huge families. He explained that people could buy fertility pills that would insure multiple births. Large families were not only a source of great pride and a religious and state duty, but also an economic advantage, since children of twelve or over could earn money by becoming gladiators or prostitutes.
An hour later I had seen enough of the lavishly appointed rooms, hallways, and courtyards filled with rare and precious possessions that Elgon and Sela doted on. Elgon recognized my growing restlessness and escorted us to a sumptuous suite of rooms which he said I could occupy as long as I wished. Then he and Sela left us alone with a reminder that they would see us at dinner:
Once we were alone I threw myself onto the giant canopied bed and said, "I'm tired of Micro Island already, and I'm especially tired of Elgon Ten and Sela Nine. Let's take a quick nap so I can get through the evening."
Carol didn't reply immediately and I saw that she was standing pensively chewing on her lower lip. For the first time I saw the sparkling pink in her aura give way to the red of anxiety. I reached out to establish mind contact and discovered her mental struggle with some sort of doubt that she kept trying to hide from me.
"Please, Carol," I pleaded, "tell me what's bothering you. I've never known you to try to hide your thoughts from me."
She shook her head slowly and finally, with a sigh of resignation, said, "It's going to start sooner than Rana thought." Then she looked away from me.
"Ok, Carol, don't keep me in suspense," I implored. "What's going to happen sooner than Rana thought?"
"I'm not sure," she answered, taking my hand. "Rana thought they would wait two or three days before putting heavy pressure on you. But I have a strong premonition that something. unpleasant is going to happen very soon."
I knew that Carol's precognitive power was much more sensitive than mine, so I said, "Are you sure you don't have any idea what this unpleasantness is going to be?"
Carol looked at me for a long moment, then with a soft cry she buried her face in my shoulder. A moment later we were devouring each other with kisses. Soon our desire for greater oneness was more than we could resist and slipping out of our tunics we began the joyous love play that only two closely attuned souls can ever know. Suddenly with clairaudient awareness I could hear the beat of our soul notes mounting in intensity as our bodies and minds sought ever closer oneness till we attained the ecstasy of Macro immersion.
Later as we swam lazily about in the mammoth sunken pool of our bathroom I remembered that Carol had never answered my last question about her premonition. I decided that if she didn't want to tell me I wouldn't press her. Immediately upon making this decision I received her telepathic note of thanks.
Back in our bedroom we discovered that our aura reflecting tunics had been replaced by a beautiful golden tunic covered with flashing jewels for Carol and a gleaming white fabric one for me.
Carol seemed to have recovered her usual sunny disposition and, having quickly donned her new tunic, was complaining about its extraordinary weight when five male servants, representing each of the five races of the micro states, came to escort us to dinner.
The dining room in Elgon's palace was large enough to easily accommodate two standard-sized football fields placed side by side, and it was almost completely filled with men and women in stunningly handsome uniforms and beautifully lavish gowns.
We were escorted to a raised platform at one end of this room where Elgon and Sela were sitting at a small table facing the other much longer tables in this vast dining room. It had been filled with the sounds of many voices when we entered, but was now becoming quiet.
By the time Elgon and Sela had seated Carol and me between them the great room was gripped in funeral-like silence and somehow my mind felt like it was in a giant vise that was slowly, inexorably being squeezed tighter and tighter. I became aware of Elgon making a speech of welcome in my honor, but my head felt like bands of steel were crushing it. I realized dimly that Carol, too, was suffering this mind pressure. The rest of the evening was a blur of interminable dishes of strange foods being served along with different beverages; most of which I rarely sampled. I was aware of Elgon and Sela talking to me and that I obviously gave appropriate responses, for they seemed very pleased, but I have no memory of what anyone said. The last thing I remember of that evening was following our five servant escorts back to our room, where Carol and I immediately lay down on the bed without even removing our clothes.
I found myself back in 1976 groping for the night light, which revealed that it was three o'clock in the morning. I was not able to banish the dark fear in my mind. Why was I so frightened, I wondered. Nothing had happened to either Carol or me which could account for my strange feeling of anxiety and dread.
I shook my head in an attempt to clear it and remembered the feeling of great pressure on my head during the dinner with Elgon. I wondered what had caused that excruciating sensation that had effectively blotted out most of my awareness during the dinner. As I pondered this question I felt the answer beginning to rise to consciousness from some great depth in my mind. I waited until a picture of the dining room began to form in my mind. This picture was filled with hundreds of faces which were empty except for a single eye brightly staring at me from many foreheads. It was the symbol of the telepathic mind net which Elgon had focused on me again.
But why did I still feel a crushing sense of anxiety and fear? Then I felt almost overwhelmed by a driving need to return to 2150 and discover if Carol was all right. Of course, the harder I tried to put myself asleep the more wide awake I became, until I realized that I must calm myself by balancing my mind with acceptance of what is as perfect. Failing that, I attempted Macro contact recall. A few minutes later, having succeeded in this attempt, I slipped gently into sleep and awakened back in 2150 to find myself lying alone, still dressed, in the great canopied bed.
I was on my feet instantly, running through the five huge rooms of our suite calling Carol's name, but there was no answer. I decided to find Elgon and demand an explanation. As I plunged into the hallway I came face to face with at least 30 ex-members of the Macro society who were easily recognizable by their great size. I asked them to tell me where I could find Elgon Ten but they made no reply-only stared intently into my eyes. Then again I felt the great vise exert almost blinding pressure on my skull. I quickly staggered back into my room, desperately closing the door between me and those penetrating eyes.
The pressure on my mind was still increasing, and I found it difficult to maintain consciousness. I staggered back to the bed, falling full length upon it. Suddenly I realized that my mind had become disconnected from my body and realized what it must be like to suffer total paralysis. I became aware of others in the room and that I was being undressed. Then I felt myself being carried into the bathroom and hurled into the de
ep end of the huge sunken pool. I sank quickly below the surface and began to see how long I could hold my breath while at the same time struggling to overcome my strange paralysis. I'm not sure how long I continued this futile struggle, but eventually I began to realize that I would have to use my PK powers to float my body to the surface with my face above the water. Once I began concentrating on this effort I discovered that my paralysis was quickly leaving me. My head broke the surface of the water.
Whether Elgon's telepathic mind net had released me I did not know, but now my paralysis was completely gone. I swam easily about, taking deep breaths of precious air into my lungs.
When I returned to the bedroom I found Sela lying naked on top of the bed. She was obviously amused at my startled expression, for she laughed, then said, "Don't look so surprised, Jon Ten. Elgon Ten and I have decided that if you are going to learn to appreciate the unique virtues of Micro Island you should be permitted to sample its greatest pleasure-me."
As she said this last word she arched her lush naked body so that her huge firm breasts were thrust invitingly straight at me. She rolled the tip of her pink tongue over her full red lips leaving them glistening in quivering wetness. Then she began to slowly undulate her pelvis and breathe in short panting breaths.
Suddenly my mind was again gripped in the crushing vice of the thousand-mind telepathic net which Elgon directed. I quickly lost control of my body and watched horrified as it took on a life of its own and walked over to the bed, climbed into Sela's arms and began caressing her body. At that moment my body returned to my control and I became fully aware of the awesome sensuous power of the velvety voluptuous body which now clung to me in a fervid passionate embrace.
For a long moment I burned with lust that seemed to consume all other desires. I felt myself sinking into a bottomless sea of dark red waves.
If I had never experienced Macro immersion and if I had not now remembered the infinite perfection of the embrace of my twin soul, Lea, I am sure that Sela would have won. From then on, I would have followed her about as a dog follows a bitch in heat. But as I teetered on the brink of that sea of lust my mind filled to overflowing with the picture of my beloved Lea.
I thrust a maniacally screaming Sela away from me and left the bed, walked across the room, and seated myself in one of the high-backed ornate chairs.
Lea and I had won the first battle.
For a few moments Sela flung herself about on the bed and gave vent to screaming, howling rage. Then suddenly the storm passed and she was sitting up smiling at me saying, "Next time, Jon Ten, it will be my turn to win, and you can be sure there will be a next time."
I shook my head. "No, Sela," I said. "Elgon's telepathic mind net with its thousand minds may take over my body and force it to touch you, but know, Sela, that my mind will never choose to wallow in temporal micro pleasures, which are all you have to offer."
For a moment her eyes burned with dark lights, then she looked away and said, "I am Sela Nine. You seem to have forgotten your manners. Have you also forgotten your Alpha mate Carol Three?"
"No, I haven't," I said. "But are you willing to tell me what you and Elgon 'Ten' have done with her?"
Telepathically, I had picked up from Sela's mind only that Carol had been drugged and was being held somewhere in the palace. I was not about to admit that I knew even this. Before Sela answered me, the door opened and Elgon entered the room accompanied by three female servants who went immediately to Sela and began helping her into a jewel-encrusted tunic. I was still naked and asked that my own tunic be returned to me. Elgon merely smiled and said, "Only micro man feels uncomfortable when he is naked. Had you already forgotten?"
I ignored this and asked when I could see Carol.
"That," Elgon replied, "depends on how soon you will allow us to help you complete your time translation."
"Why is it so important to you to complete my translation?" I asked.
Elgon laughed and said, "I'm sure you must know that as the first person to transcend time and occupy a mentally created human physical body you are very famous.
"We know that the Macro society has denied you permanent time translation unless you attain third-level awareness, which is impossible in the time available. The people of Micro Island will be pleased to save a fellow micro being."
"And you will be happy to thwart the Macro society," I replied.
"Of course," he answered. "But now we will leave you to think over how soon you want us to help you become a permanent resident of Micro Island."
"That will be never," I answered.
Again he laughed and said, "I wouldn't be too sure of that, Jon Ten. I have a precognitive hunch that you'll change your mind before the next two weeks are over."
He turned and walked to the door accompanied by Sela and her three servants. As he walked out of the room he called back to me over his shoulder saying, "You might watch the video screen in your room, Jon Ten. It will help you pass the time."
With these words the door closed behind him and, I noticed that the six-foot-square video screen -on the wall opposite the bed had been activated. On it I saw a picture of Carol lying on the floor of a barren room.
I was across the room with a bound examining the video picture more closely. Carol was dressed as she had been at the dinner the previous evening. She was obviously unconscious, but with her hands folded across her chest and with the absence of color in the black-and-white picture she gave the appearance of being dead. At first there had been no sound associated with this picture, but now the audio came on with Elgon's voice saying, "Your friend, Carol Three, is in a drug-induced catatonic trance. She will remain in this state until you choose to cooperate with us or until she dies."
The audio portion ended with this message, but the picture remained as a constant reminder of Elgon's threat.
For the rest of the day I wandered about in my suite of five rooms trying to think of some way to rescue Carol and get back to the Macro society.
I tried to make mind contact with Carol's subconscious mind, but Elgon's telepathic mind net always stopped me as they did when I twice attempted to go into the outside hallway. I didn't feel desperate, however, because I was convinced that if I asked for help from the Macro society their superior Macro powers would free us both from Elgon's control.
By late evening I was beginning to feel depressed by the sight of Carol's unconscious body on the video screen. I had taken two food tablets during the day so I wasn't hungry, but nevertheless, I had a hollow sinking feeling inside of me that seemed like a premonition of death. But whose death-Carol's or mine, or both?
Finally, I decided to go to sleep so I could return to 1976 and talk my situation over with Karl-my guardian -and Neda. I went to sleep but I didn't awaken in 1976. I had a dream.
In this dream I was lying in the barren room beside Carol's body. I seemed to be paralyzed because no matter how hard I tried I couldn't move any part of my body. At last, exhausted from my efforts, I lay back and stared at the face of Lea, which had appeared floating above me. I telepathically asked for her help, but she shook her head saying, "Think carefully, Jon, before you ask for help. I must remind you that if we help you, it will be impossible for you to attain third-level awareness soon enough for us to complete your time translation."
"All right," I said, "but then help Carol. Take her back to the mainland."
Again Lea shook her head. "I can't do that unless she requests it, and so far she has asked to remain with you even if it means her death."
Then I found myself suddenly awake back in 1976 shouting, "Don't let her die, Leal Don't let her die!"
CHAPTER 16: Karma
I had dressed, eaten breakfast, and done a lot of floor pacing and it was still only 6:45, but I decided to call Karl anyway. He usually woke up at about 7 a.m., but today he answered on the first ring. He had been awake for almost an hour struggling with a feeling that he ought to call me.
Five minutes later I was sitting with K
arl and Neda at their kitchen table sharing Karl's carrot juice.
I told them about Eli's revelation.
"I've always told you to pay more attention to what I say!" Karl laughed. Then, looking thoughtful, he added, "Do you suppose there could be something to that, Jon?"
"My dearest and truest friend, there was never any doubt!" I said as I threw my arm across his shoulders. A lump arose in my throat and my eyes burned briefly with the poignancy of restrained love that aches to be expressed.
I told them about my difficulties in 2150. When I finished with Lea's telepathic dream communication, Karl got up from the table and said, "That Macro society of yours will be guiltier than Elgon if they let Carol die when they could easily save her."
"But Karl, they don't look at death the way you do," Neda said. "Besides, from the Macro view there is no problem, since it's a perfectly just universe and no one can experience anything that he hasn't chosen."
"What about the population explosion that Elgon is planning? My God, with 30 to 50 kids in every family it won't be long before they take over the world by sheer numbers!"
"Yes," I replied, "I've thought of that, too, but I know that the Macro society won't interfere with the free will of anyone."
"But they force people to stay on Micro Island," Karl objected.
"That's not true, Karl," Neda responded.
"How the hell do you know'!' Karl exploded.
"Because Jon told me," Neda answered as she got up and gave Karl a smile and a hug which melted his irritation.
2150 A.D. Page 27