Seymore's Interlude

by Franci Neale

  Chapter 18

  Making Time

  Mesa looked at Geralty and said. “Let’s you and I think of the best possible place for Sarah. Keep in mind that we are just going to receive an image and it won’t have any substance or energy. We’re pretty sure that she will arrive as a hologram, but we can change her form if we need to. She won’t move or talk or do anything unless we project those abilities for her. So, keeping that in mind, let’s make the most of having Sarah’s image as part of our lives. It’s a wonderful thing and we are very lucky. I don’t think anything like this has ever happened before, not ever.” She turned to Seymore, “And we have you to thank, Seymore. Having some part of Sarah here is a perfect gift.”

  Seymore nodded and thought of the small silver ring in his pocket. Geralty smiled as he wiped his face on his sleeve. His mind was already running through the possibilities for Sarah’s hologram.

  Mesa looking very serious said, “There are a few changes that I think we all need to realize. I have noticed, and maybe you have too, that there are elements of The Rim that continue to grow and some new ones that have recently become evident here at Seymore Place. I am guessing now, but I think that the stabilization of the station and especially our cottage has released characteristics of The Rim that arrived with Sarah’s light and they have blended with the Units of Energy that were originally utilized.

  “In a way the remaining light seems quite at home here now and appears to have attached itself firmly. I sense some of the elements of time creeping into how we talk and even into how we plan things in a certain order to accommodate the motion of space. I don’t think there is any problem with that at all. But I think we need to be aware that we are adapting to the energy changes as they become more established here. We seem to be blending with the new environment that includes strong Rim elements in its make up.

  “It’s just an observation,” Mesa continued, “not something to worry about. It may be that the changes are needed to help the travelers return to their lives and purposes. I also imagine that a closer understanding of the elements at The Rim will also make empowering the greeters easier.

  “I wonder how we are going to know the characteristics necessary for the greeters. Do you have any ideas, Seymore? ”She seldom talked that long in one go, but she had been thinking about the processes at ES360 for some time and was very unsure when it came to the greeters.

  Geralty had half listened to Mesa’s observations; mostly he was enjoying his imaginings about the Sarah image. But the last question did grab his attention and he said, “The light will tell us.”

  Seymore looked at Geralty for a few moments and then asked, “How will they do that, Geralty?” Geralty said, “The light will show us.” He spoke with such confidence that Seymore wondered if his young protégé knew something he didn’t.

  Mesa was looking at the top of her magic desk as Geralty spoke and discovered something she had never noticed before. When they sat down earlier she had added some colors and extra motion to the table top. They had been sitting at the table for a long time, longer than usual. While Geralty talked, the table responded in small ways to his words and his emotional emphasis. When Seymore chuckled the colors had moved in small eddies. The table seemed to have developed responses of its own. She decided that in a private moment she would return to the magic table and see what was developing. It was very interesting and suggested that the clever piece of furniture was not fully in her control anymore.

  At that moment the little Seymore messenger returned in a streak of light and landed on the window ledge. Mesa went and got the message and released its information. The now empty image instantly melted into the atmosphere. The message was for Seymore, of course, but she let it free in the air for everyone to hear. Valentino’s voice was clear and strong.

  Greeting, brother dear,

  The three gentlemen you sent have arrived and have settled into your office. I have set them about the task of bringing perfect order to the image logs so they can be used for your purposes at Seymore Place, though I didn’t tell them that. While that sort of administrative work is not particularly to their liking, your office is so they are cooperating for the time being.

  I think your plan for transferring your image selections will work, but I think we can bypass the use of markers or imprints and simply send holograms. You will need a receiving station at your end and probably a secure area for accommodating the images during the time that are helping with your light travelers. Since we will be sending only inert images, creating holograms is fast and easy and they are nearly indestructible. I have several assistants who are excellent at the process. I don’t think the meddlers can do holograms and I’m not sure teaching them is in our best interest in this instance. Let me know what you think.

  I like the messenger service, especially the little Seymore, but I suggest we establish something that is more accessible and is two-way. We could request a small band of information space from Mercury Place. Your Mesa will know what to do.

  I’m sending along my marker as you requested. I absolutely want to be at the party to celebrate completion of Seymore Place. A little notice would help as I would like to be sure that my new ‘helpers’ are fully occupied when I’m not here.

  Love always from your brother, Valentino

  Geralty nodded enthusiastically as Valentino suggested using a Mercury band as that was even better than the small receiver that he and Mesa had discussed. As soon as the message ended, Geralty nearly shouted, “Can I do the Mercury Band for us?”

  Seymore was agreeable to that and said, “Yes, you can, but only if you clear everything you do with Mesa before you do it. She, I’m sure, will be glad to have the help as there’s plenty to do, but we want to be sure that things get done right the first time if we can. The stabilization is very fast now and making changes is going to be increasingly complicated. So just be sure you get Mesa’s OK as you go along. ”Geralty assured Seymore that he would gladly work with Mesa; it was one of his favorite things to do.

  Mesa was paying no attention to Geralty and Seymore, she was thinking about the properties of her magic table. Somehow its abilities were expanding, but how and why she didn’t know. Seymore had to call her name several times before she looked up. He said, “Geralty wants to set up the Mercury Band that Valentino suggested and I’ve asked him to clear his progress with you.”

  Without hesitation Mesa said, “That’s easy, I have my own band, every Mercury fragment does. I’ve never used it so it’s clean and all I have to do is tune it in.” Geralty didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He so wanted to make a success of the project that Seymore had just given him, but he was dazzled that Mesa had her very own Mercury Band. She never said a word when they talked about a receiver for his room!

  Mesa looked at Geralty when she realized his dismay and said, “But we’ll have to make some connections and I’ll need to go the Mercury Place to redirect the band to function here. Geralty, I’ll depend on you to make everything ready so the frequency is right. And we’ll have to make the same connections at Middle Mind, plus we’ll need a place for the signals to and from Middle Mind. You’re just the one to make all that happen.” Geralty relaxed in his chair and said he most certainly was and that he’d get started right away. He thought to himself that some things just work out in unexpected ways and he was glad they did. He might get a trip to Middle Mind out of this project. That would really be an adventure.

  Geralty asked to be excused saying he was going to work in his own space. He had plans for having a receiver in his room, or at least a way to listen to the information streams from Mercury Place from his private space by using the Mercury band.

  As Geralty left, Seymore noticed that Mesa was staring at the top of her desk and had been the whole time that she was giving Geralty her instructions about the Mercury Band. He watched her for a short while and then said, “Mesa, what are you seeing?”

  She
looked up and said, “I’m not quite sure. I could use your help to find out though.” Seymore replied, “Whatever you need it’s yours.” Mesa gave him a warm smile and continued, “I am going to melt back into the table and I want you to do a few simple things. Shout at least four words one right after the other, whisper another four, laugh and then remain perfectly silent and don’t move for a count of ten. And do them in that order so we both know what’s happening. When you’re finished I’ll return to this image (she was the schoolmarm again) and I’ll know enough I hope to tell you what’s going on.” She immediately vanished into the table and Seymore did as she had asked.

  As he executed the four simple instructions he was looking at the desk top. It moved and changed color in different ways for each part of the exercise. He was wondering what Mesa was doing to make the desk behave in that way. Then she reappeared and resumed her place at the magic table. As Seymore was about to learn it was more magical than any of them, including Mesa, had imagined.

  Mesa clasped her hands tight together and brought them up under her chin with elbows on the table edge. She stared straight into Seymore’s eyes as if searching for something. She was searching for words, a way to express what she had just discovered. Seymore grew anxious waiting and said, “Well, Mesa what were you doing inside the table. The lights moved and changed as I did as you said. How did you do that?”

  Mesa whispered, “I didn’t do that, something else did, but I don’t know what or how. I heard everything you said and did and the only thing I noticed that was different was that there seemed to be more table than I was. Does that make sense?” Seymore said it didn’t and asked how the table could be more than she was since she was the table.

  They both smiled at how silly that sounded.

  Mesa was still searching for information about the change in the table but none was available. Then a thought that might be a clue occurred to her. She shared her thought out loud, “Is it possible that in stabilizing the light has infiltrated the table and changed it in some way?

  “Let’s try a few other things. While we are sitting across from each other let’s talk nonsense back and forth and watch the table.” They both indulged in alternating gibberish across the table and the table did nothing. They stopped and Mesa said, “Let’s talk about Sarah instead. ”And the second she said it they both noticed that the table responded. They carefully exchanged a few short memories about Sarah and the table moved and made patterns as it interpreted the conversation. They stopped talking and the table returned to its smooth swirls that moved gently and regularly across the surface in its normal way.

  Mesa hand signaled for Seymore to come with her. They both left the table and went into the library to sit in the bay window at the game table. Mesa said, “It is now clear that the table is not only responding it actually understands what we are saying. It didn’t respond at all to the random sounds but did to our exchange about Sarah. I’m not sure what to do now. Do you have any ideas?”

  Seymore said he didn’t. They both simply sat and looked out over the meadow both hoping that some inspiration would overtake them and lead to an explanation of what was happening to the table and actually to Mesa who was the table. Mesa, hesitatingly, said, “I think we need to go back to the beginning and restate the obvious about what’s happened around the table. It may take a while, but there may be a clue that will pop up as we talk.”

  Seymore agreed and Mesa began, “I created the table by transforming into it. I didn’t use anything other than my regular methods and the office was empty at the time. I have extracted portions of my table to present as different images but the table has never been without a portion of me. All my images and the table are normal transformations for any Mercury fragment; all are expressions of ways that I normally communicate. I have pulled other objects from the resources that compose the table including several different chairs and benches and two tin whistles. None of those have ever left the cottage and only the whistles were removed from the office to be used in the library when Sarah left. The only people who have ever used the desk are you, me, Geralty and Sarah; oh, and Fred.”

  “Mesa, The Meddlers were in the office and admired the table but they didn’t touch it or even go near it. Oddly, they seemed to be respectfully distant and didn’t even approach it. I noticed because they had no qualms about inspecting everything else. Does that mean something?” Mesa said she didn’t know but added it to her collection of data.

  She then went on, “We know that the units brought from The Rim are blending with local units, but none of them can interfere with the Mercury construction that I am. But if there is more table than what I created, what is it? And how does it respond to what we talk about? What else does it know?”

  They both looked out over the beautiful meadow again to gain focus and thought hard about the situation. Then Seymore said, “Can you remove all of yourself from the desk so we can see what’s left?” Mesa said she didn’t know because she was not a specific size and wasn’t sure she could tell in this case when she ended and something else began. Then she added, “I could start by taking a large part of the table away and see if something is partly revealed. The portion I don’t remove will naturally expand to complete the table construct but if there is very little of my materials available it will be quite transparent. Let’s do that. But first, I’m going to have Geralty leave the cottage with Fred so that we are sure they are safe. I don’t think there’s any real danger, but better safe than sorry.”

  She picked up Fred who was lounging on top of the round oak table and took him through to Geralty’s room. He was busy at his desk alternating between making plans for the Mercury band and long reveries about how great it was going to be when it was ready.

  Mesa said she was sorry to interrupt but she needed him to take Fred out of the cottage and stay with him because he could be unpredictable and she and Seymore were going to make a small test on the magic table and wanted him to be safe. Geralty quickly took the cat and said he would be out by the pond where Fred loved to watch the fish and if he got bored he’d play with him. Mesa thanked him, watched as he left by the back door near his room and then looked through Seymore’s study until they arrived at the little boat dock. Satisfied, she went back to the library and motioned for Seymore to come with her.

  At the door to the office she stopped and said, “I’m going to return to the table and I want you to stay here and not make a sound. I want you to watch. I am going to return when I’m finished as the winged girl because I want to take the flying elements out of the table and I am going to compact the rest of me into the original shape I made when I first appeared with Psyche at Middle Mind. It may take longer than usual. Are you ready?” Seymore said he was and Mesa instantly reentered the magic desk and vanished. It seemed like a long time before she reappeared as the young winged woman, but she looked safe and was actually smiling.

  She took Seymore’s hand and silently led him back to the library where they resumed their places at the game table in front of the bay window. She hadn’t stopped smiling and now she sat up tall in her chair, leaned on her crossed arms and looking intently at Seymore she said, “You’ll not believe what is in the table. It is the eye, the one from the dome that followed Sarah when you both walked around the outside of the dome.”

  Seymore squinted his eyes and cocked his head slightly to look at Mesa and quietly said, “What? How can that be?” Mesa said she had no idea but that it definitely was a large foggy friendly eye. She had left more of herself in the desk than she had originally because the eye has no substance of its own and needed the table for support.

  Seymore thought long and hard about what this could mean. Had other parts of the light seeped into the cottage? Probably not or they would have noticed; like Mesa saw the change in the desk. Suddenly, he stood up and went to the double doors. He said, “I’m going out to the outside edge of the dome and see if the eye, the little one
that formed when I was there right after Sarah left, is still there.”

  He hurried, almost ran, through the Weedy Field and up to the edge of the dome. Nothing happened right away, but gradually the soft misty eye began to form. This time it was bigger and much more like the one that had followed Sarah. It looked back at him with what can only be called affection. The anxiety he saw the last time was gone and the eye seemed glad to see him. He smiled at the big fluffy eye and turned to go back to the library. Inside he sat down quickly across from Mesa.

  “The eye is there and now it’s just like the one that followed Sarah. What do you think? Is there some way you can go inside the desk when I’m at the dome edge so we can see how many eyes there are? Is that a good idea? You’re the expert.”

  Mesa quickly replied, “I’ll go back into the desk and you go to the dome edge and I am very sure I can tell if the eye leaves to meet you.” They separated. Mesa went to the desk and vanished into it and Seymore returned to the dome edge. In short order The Watcher again appeared right in front of him. He stared into the large soft eye and hoped that Mesa was going to tell him that the eye had left the desk. He didn’t know why he felt that was a good thing. Then he had a sudden insight. He had Sarah’s ring in his pocket. Was that what the eye was attracted to? He put his hand on the glass dome near the watcher as a gesture of good will, turned and went back to the library. Mesa was already at the game table. She was arrayed as the winged woman and was looking very pleased. She said, “The eye left when you were at the dome edge. I saw it go.

  “Which is great news, because it means there is only one Watcher.”

  Seymore was glad that there was only one as well, but he was now faced with having to tell Mesa that Sarah’s ring was in his pocket. He said, “I have an idea why The Watcher is watching me. I found Sarah’s little silver ring out by the dome. And before he could continue, Mesa interrupted, “Oh, that’s wonderful. Geralty will be thrilled to see it. Where is it?”

  Seymore quietly said, “It’s in my pocket and has been there since I found it right after Sarah left. I’ve been trying to find a way to return it and even asked Valentino but he didn’t have any ideas either. ”Seymore quickly move on to avoid explaining why he kept the precious jewelry, “I think The Watcher may focus on the ring not me or you. So I want to go back to the dome edge and put the ring back where I found it, which should hold The Watcher inside the desk. .But we better double check to make sure. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you and Geralty about the ring, but I thought I might find a way to return it before now. ”Seymore paused for some kind of response and when there was none, he went on “Shall we see what happens.”

  Mesa said, “Yes, put the ring back on the ledge and I’ll wait for you.” He left through the double doors, cross the Weedy Field and waited for the watcher to appear. When it did he carefully set the ring on the foundation edge where it had been before and returned to the library. He and Mesa went to the office doorway and Mesa said, “Let’s sit like we were before to experiment to see if The Watcher has left the desk. If it has, we should be able to talk and there will be no response on the desk top. Let’s begin. We can talk about Sarah.” Seymore agreed and they sat down across from each other like before and talked of Sarah. Nothing happened. The desk remained colorful but the swirls were even and slow moving which was normal for the magic table. Both Seymore and Mesa were glad that they now knew for sure that it was The Watcher that had moved into the desk and had been drawn there by Sarah’s ring.

  “I’m going to go get Geralty,” Mesa said as she rose from her magic chair, “and tell him he can come back now and bring Fred with him.” She left Seymore to ponder the news about The Watcher and went out the back door by Geralty’s room and walked to the pond. The young Mercury pattern and Fred were teasing the gold fish and seemed happy and so she said, “It’s OK now to return. Fred will be safe, but we have a little more work to do so stay here if you like. I just wanted to let you know and make sure you and Fred were alright. I see you are so I’ll see you later. ”She quickly noticed another new time reference.

  Back in the office she returned to her place at the table and looked at Seymore who was deep in thought. He didn’t move for quite a while and Mesa just waited until he was ready to share his thoughts.

  When he started to talk, it was clear that he had figured out something important. He laced is fingers and put his arms out on the magic desk and leaned forwarded to talk to Mesa with incredible intensity. “Mesa, I think we have a very big piece of information that will help us with the greeters. Geralty gave me a clue when he said the light will tell us about the greeters. I think it has.

  “Sarah was greeted twice by Fred; he seemed to know exactly what to do when the light arrived. I wasn’t much help as I coaxed him out of the dome twice, the last time with Sarah. What we have forgotten is that the light that Sarah rode in on was actually two lights. One belonged to someone else. The mysterious light in the dome is most likely the portion of the light that didn’t belong to Sarah but still bears her imprint and without its originator the light that’s left behind only remembers Sarah and yearns for her so it also can return. It cannot leave with its rightful passenger. Am I making any sense?”

  He didn’t wait for a reply, “The light’s love for Sarah is focused on the ring because it is the only thing of Sarah’s that remains here.” He stopped and kept looking intently at Mesa. Then he had a flash of insight. “The light wants to communicate its needs and that’s why it gravitated to your magic desk. This desk is made of your Mercury stuff. As a Mercury fragment you are a natural communicator whether you are a desk or a woman. The desk has always been in the same place so it was much more available and the watcher is trying to communicate with us. Geralty is so smart! ”With that revelation he leaned back in his magic chair and looked quite satisfied with his new understanding of The Watcher. Mesa simply enjoyed the moment though not at all sure what it meant.