by Franci Neale
Chapter 7
Negotiating Corners
He pulled the double doors closed as he entered the cottage and went into the office to find his three companions seated neatly at the magic table on magic chairs apparently waiting for him. They all looked remarkably happy and glad to see him. Even Fred seemed genuinely cheerful. He surmised that something had happened to bring about this turn of events and he aimed to find out what it was. He would, however, wait for the best opportunity to ask.
With a flourish, Mesa, still arrayed as a lovely winged young woman, produced a place for Seymore at the table and he sat down. For the first time there was a sense of togetherness and he appreciated the ability of his companions to set misgivings aside and move ahead.
He said, “I had a nice walk and have some new thoughts about how we can go about returning Sarah to The Rim and her baby. When I walked around the dome, something, sort like an eye in fog, followed me on the inside of the glass and I can only guess that the light was as curious about me as I was about it. I’m still not sure why the light is safe for Sarah and Fred but not for me or Geralty whose experience we never want to duplicate.
“Since Sarah and Fred are the only ones who can safely enter the light they are our first resource for finding out how to use it for the return trip. Since Fred can’t talk it is going to be up to Sarah.” Nobody moved or said a word. Seymore looked around the table during the pause and guessed that there was no disagreement with what he said, so he continued.
“I believe that the Units of Energy used in forming the dome are also tuned to its purpose of attracting the lights. I don’t know by whom or when, but we have proof enough of that being true because Sarah and her brilliant light are here. It seems likely that the units are so sensitive that they both comprehend and become intention simultaneously, or perhaps they had received instructions before appearing to become this place. But that could just be magical thinking.”
He smiled tentatively and went on, “Are we safe is assuming that formation in the dome contains the instructions or at least the concept to both attract and return the lights? Are the Units also dialed in to the rest of the intended purpose of returning the light with its passenger to The Rim at the spot that they came from?” He realized he was repeating himself. He paused to form his next thought and see if everyone was still with him. It seemed they were and he went on.
“At this point I am going to rely on to two things that I know are true. First, I don’t need to know everything in order to move forward and, second, a creator is not is his creation. Relying on that, I am much more confident in assuming that the Units are aware of their full purpose and, even without understanding how, we can safely rely on the light being perfectly directed to return to The Rim and carry Sarah safely back to her baby and her original purposes. ”He hoped he had said his piece in enough ways that it would not be misunderstood. He then looked at Sarah, reached out and took her hand, and said, “I don’t take lightly that I am asking for you to turn a big corner and trust me and the power of the light. I know that you are bright and brave and that the light has taken care of you and, I believe, it can be trusted to always do that.
“I would like for you to come with me to the outside of the dome and make the walk around it that I did and see if the observer inside has a reaction. The first time we will walk together and then you can try it by yourself if you like. If Fred wants to come too I think that would be alright. As you saw when I walked around the dome’s outside edge, it is perfectly safe and we may learn more about the light in this second experiment. What do you say? ”He sat back and watched as Sarah mulled over his proposal.
Sarah stood up, spread her arms and said, “Let’s go!”
Seymore’s eyes brightened, he smiled a wide grin, grabbed her hand and they were off to see what would happen on their tour around the dome.
As soon as they neared the outside of the dome the blurry watcher gathered up light tendrils to form the vague eye that Seymore had seen before. Again, it seemed to exude a mild curiosity. Sarah and Seymore both stood next to the dome’s edge and walking single file slowly began to circumnavigate the dome moving away from the cottage toward the dome’s far side. After about a dozen steps Seymore noticed that the watcher remained a bit closer to Sarah who was just behind him.
“Sarah,” he said, “will you walk slower and I’ll go ahead a little? I think the light is much more attracted to you.” Sarah began to move forward very slowly and Seymore took several long strides to quickly separate from her. Sure enough, the observer in the dome stayed in sync with Sarah. They walked along separated by the several long steps and gradually the observer near Sarah became larger and a new, very small collection of light formed to track Seymore. He stopped and held his hand up signaling Sarah to do the same. The two fuzzy orbs stopped too. Sarah looked at Seymore and shrugged her shoulders and they gave off questioning looks with smiles. It was becoming a game.
Fred had, as Seymore suspected, followed them out to the field where the dome was built and had crouched in some weeds within ear shot. Now he ventured to the edge of the dome near Sarah and jumped up on the ledge that was formed by the foundation where it supported the dome structure. Both of the wooly watchers noticeably jumped, startled it seemed by the quick motion, and Fred immediately pawed the glass near the eye in front of Sarah. The eye moved quickly to either follow Fred’s pawing at the glass or to see around the cat and focus on Sarah; it was hard to tell which. Fred seemed to think it was for his entertainment.
Seymore motioned to Sarah to quietly step back from the dome leaving Fred on the ledge batting at the glass. When they were four or five paces back the clotted light near where Seymore had been disappeared but the larger light focus stopped entertaining Fred and began to move rapidly through the area near where Sarah had been. The light was looking for her and began to flash and frantically move against the glass. Fred didn’t like the new game, jumped down and ran back to the top of the lane. Seymore signaled for Sarah to again approach the big eye and as she did it returned to its benign watchfulness.
Seymore was not sure exactly what had been discovered in this experiment. He didn’t want the light to run out of control if Sarah left. But Sarah had a solution. She removed the narrow silver ring that she wore on her little finger and placed it on the edge where Fred had been and then slowly stepped back. The light focused on the ring and she was able to leave with Seymore who was impressed with her inventive solution. They turned together and went over to collect Fred and return to the cottage.
When they reached the library, Seymore turned to Sarah and told her that he was going to take a break and meditate on what had just happened. She nodded and went into the office. Seymore went to the study and sank into the big leather chair, propped his feet up on the ottoman, closed his eyes and reran the events at the dome’s outer edge.
Mesa took Geralty’s arm and led him back to her table, sat down and earnestly said, “We need to help with finding a way that is certain to work that will let Sarah go home, don’t you think.” Geralty said that Seymore was obviously working on it and asked, “What can we do?”
She agreed and then said, “I need to take a small trip and I’ll do my best to be back by the time Seymore and Sarah return; but you may need to stall and cover for me. I won’t be long, I promise.” Geralty was devoted to Mesa but gave her a look that said this was not what he wanted to do; she gave him no time to decline. In a flash she was gone. Fortunately she left the table and the chairs so he knew she only projected a portion of herself and would certainly be back. He hoped she returned in as quick a flash as she had left.
Mesa had lots of faith in Seymore; after all he was now quite successful in pioneering a whole new platform and was technically way ahead of schedule. But neither of them was an expert in the finer points of Units of Energy. In order to best serve Seymore, which was her job, she decided that she needed to seek some answers of her own about whether it wa
s safe to assume, as Seymore had, that the light in the dome was a safe vehicle for returning Sarah.
Mesa was not without her own personal powers and two of them were speed and keen powers of observation. She didn’t go far from ES360, just far enough that she could see the whole enterprise and sped around its outside edges and then steadied herself so she had a good view of the underside of the dome. It was a surprising sight. There was lots more light on the underside than could be suspected from the office window. And it too was moving in a spiral that was going away from the dome and then hesitating and returning. Each time it seemed to go a little further and each time it seemed to grow in strength and size. She could only conclude that it was alive. That idea had never occurred to her and she was pretty sure that it hadn’t crossed Seymore’s mind either. She was only half right.
She left in a flash and landed in the woods so that she could remake her image and not risk making a disturbance. She walked to the big double doors and let herself in. When she went into the office Geralty, who gave her a relieved look, and Sarah were teasing Fred with a piece of string and he was leaping and pouncing all over her precious table. She asked where Seymore was and Sarah said he was in the study contemplating things. Mesa apparently had not been missed at all. She really wanted to shoo that cat off her table, but keeping Sarah and Geralty busy was the better choice so she just glared at Fred. He didn’t care.
She left the office, crossed the library and went in to sit on the day bed across from Seymore who was still deep in thought, eyes closed or possibly dozing. She reached down and wiggled one of his feet that were crossed on the ottoman. He jumped and quickly sat up. He realized it was Mesa and rolled his eyes but looked relieved.
She asked, “Seymore, have you considered that the white light might be alive?” To her amazement he said he had and wanted to know why she asked. She dodges his question and countered, “Why do you think so? ”He paused and then told her about the misty eyes that he and Sarah had encountered on their walk around the dome. Part of her was glad that he had come to the same conclusion she had. But he still didn’t know what she knew.
Her view of the dome’s underside had convinced her that Seymore’s faith in the white light was well placed after all and that it could easily take Sarah home. It seemed to be straining to take off! She decided that from here on she would be a cheerleader for his plans and find some way to slip in the discovery she made about the intensity and determination of the light that was obvious on its underside.
Now that Seymore’s meditating had been interrupted he stood up, motioned for Mesa to follow him and they went to the office. Geralty, Sarah and Fred abandoned their game and Mesa quickly took the opportunity to move Fred off her table. She turned Sarah’s chair to a bench so he could sit next to her. Seymore took his seat but Mesa remained standing and went to look out at the dome to see if anything was different. It wasn’t, as near as she could tell. But she knew that there was plenty going on that didn’t meet the eye.
Seymore said that he had some conclusions based on the experiment and what he now knew about the Units of Energy. He began, “The light is evidently a life form. It has intent, focus and responds in different way to different situations. This changes things in many ways. It means that is may be possible to communicate with the light and that might be very helpful.”
He hesitated and cleared his throat and then went on, “It also adores Sarah and I think pines for her to return to the light inside the dome. The foggy eye was never threatening but looked on Sarah with kindness and seemed to love having her nearby. I think that is very reassuring and is an indication that the light will go to great lengths to protect Sarah. I think it also suggests that even if the light was originally created by another it has expanded and the larger part of it now belongs only to Sarah and is devoted to her service. My conclusions lead me to believe that she can communicate with the light.”
Seymore was not sure exactly how to frame the next part of his analysis. He didn’t want to give away more information about his circumstances and events before he started this project. But he might have to. If he did, he rationalized; it would probably be OK since he was going to find a way that Sarah would not remember her visit to ES360. But still he was reluctant to talk about Middle Mind and Psyche’s initial visit.
One of the things that Psyche had mention in their initial interview was that those who traveled in the light tunnels, regardless of where they ended up away from The Rim, were always met by familiar forms and personalities that would reassure them of their safety and persuade them to return to their lives at The Rim. In Sarah’s case there was no one here to aid her in returning except for Fred. Somehow he knew what to do and met her both times. Then it dawned on him that by reaching his arm into the dome and motioning for Fred he may have interrupted a natural process. When Sarah had grabbed his waving hand she had further interfered with the light’s ability to complete its job. That’s why the light remained in the dome; it knew that Sarah was nearby and wouldn’t leave without her.
His thought-filled silence was met with respect by his small audience. He looked at them, smiled softly and realized that he needed a little more time to contemplate. He said as much and his three companions just looked at him and still made no comments. He left the office and went into the library. This time he sat down at the inlaid game table and leaned on his elbows and stared blankly at the chess pieces as he thought about Fred going to meet Sarah.
Seymore had a hunch that he was close to a breakthrough in understanding the nature of the mysterious lights. He still didn’t have any clues to how they were constructed by the creators at The Rim, but he was gradually pasting together a good hypothesis of how they operated once they were in use. It would be a big step forward.