Seymore's Interlude

by Franci Neale

  Chapter 23

  More Blank Filling

  Nolan was leading the way at a fast pace and after retracing their steps and returning to the main entrance, they left the processing area and instead of turning toward the famous campus they went in the other direction toward a group of tall wide nondescript boxlike buildings. There was a main door along a wide paved passageway. They went in, showed their passes and went to the elevators which took them up one floor. They stepped out on to a mezzanine and looked out over the railing. Below, the refreshed and renewed transitioners were becoming familiar with their improved understanding of their purpose revisions and refinements. As they experimented with expressing their next endeavor they created, changed and adopted images searching for the one they deemed suitable. Then they moved to an area to commit to their new choices and image selection. It wasn’t a hard process and everyone seemed to find it both engaging and pleasant. All were preparing to embark on a new adventure with new found enthusiasm, purpose and identities. The air was charged with the energy of embarking on an adventure.

  Geralty turned to Nolan and asked, “Is that it, they review the transition process, make sure they understand their results, choose what they want going forward, choose a new image and proceed to their next step. ”Nolan looked at Geralty and chuckled, “Well, you are definitely a quick study! That’s it exactly! ”Geralty smiled and said, “OK, then what’s next?”

  “I’ll let you in on a little secret,” Nolan enjoined, “the rest of the stuff is very short on excitement, nothing like terraforming. ”He gave Geralty a winning smile, hoping, no doubt, that Geralty would see it his way and they’d return to Seymore’s old stomping grounds. Instead, Geralty said, “I want to see both Orientation and Reorientation, as that will just about make for a complete tour, won’t it?”

  He turned to Lyric and said, “Please tell me again the difference between being oriented and reoriented. ”She retold her versions of the two different undertakings as she led them out of the big box building and back down the pathway to the transition entrance. This time she turned toward the campus and about half-way back to the office building she turned toward two large identical brick edifices with a sidewalk separating in a Y leading to two matching entrances. One was for those who chose to return to The Rim and needed to be reoriented to either a completely new life or were continuing with a previous purpose and would reincarnate at The Rim. The other was for those who chose to be a Parallel and assist those in the transition process. They would be staying at Middle Mind and were taught the flexibility of imaging to suit the thoughts of another. Geralty could understand that, but didn’t say so.

  Instead he asked, “Where’s the best place to start?” Celic, who had been silent for a long time said he really liked Orientation because it was so closely related to the core work of Middle Mind and actually had been helpful in their work with the holograms. He suggested that it might be helpful to Geralty as well since as a Mercury fragment he already knew and understood the concepts of Orientation. He smiled sincerely at Geralty who promptly thanked him and said he was right about his familiarity with imaging in tune with others positions and ideas.

  They all proceeded to the Orientation entrance and went through the double glass doors. Passes were again presented and inspected and they went to the end of a corridor to a large auditorium where a welcoming class was being held for those who chose this path after transitioning.

  The crowd was enthusiastic and responded quickly and easily to the instructor. The class mostly covered an overview of the various courses that were available pertaining to the phases of transition that were conducted at Middle Mind. It was also explained that assignment after completing Orientation was long-term and that a high level of commitment was required in addition to mastery of the course work. When the instructor was finished, the entire audience of about 200 individuals stood, applauded and shouted their approval. With enthusiasm they filed out of the auditorium to find their various class sites. The four tourists were left to their own thoughts about what they had just seen and heard.

  Geralty said, “Well, that was a very enthusiastic group and the instructor clearly knows his business. I’m impressed. ”Everyone smiled and Lyric said, “Let’s visit Reorientation and see if anyone showed up for the current openings.” Geralty was puzzled by her pessimism, though she had said earlier that not many transitioners were showing up for Reorientation.

  They left the building and walked across the court yard to its twin, again presented their passes and went the length of the hallway and into an auditorium. There were five people in the front rows. They all had unusual images that were obviously temporary because if they were going back to The Rim they would arrive as brand new babies and they could create original images there. Despite the small group gathered in the big auditorium, the instructor spoke with enthusiasm and covered all the high point of the courses that were required before return to The Rim was possible. When he was finished there were a number of questions from the transitioners and he patiently answered all of them in detail. To Geralty it was very interesting and he wondered if it would ever be possible for him to qualify for a tour at The Rim.

  The small group left the auditorium to begin their instruction and the quartet left the building and walked back to the path that led to the Administrative Office Building. No one spoke until they neared the entry. Then Geralty asked, “Why do so few choose to return to The Rim?”

  After a pause while the assistants seriously considered the question, Celic replied, “It’s hard to know. Sometimes nearly all of the transitioners want to return to The Rim, but right now there’s only a few, as you saw. We think it’s because there are disruptions at The Rim. It is always complex as creativity there is irrevocably linked to free will and it is active all the time. It’s another one of those things we haven’t yet figured out. ”Geralty had a fleeting thought and wondered if the small crowd desiring return to The Rim was somehow connected to The Past.

  They were just at the door to Valentino’s office and Geralty paused and said, “Thank you all for a wonderful tour. It was much more than I expected and I really learned a lot. I couldn’t have had better company.” They all beamed and grinned and said they were pleased and honored to have been a part of his introduction to Middle Mind. Then Nolan opened the door and held it for all to enter.

  Valentino rose to meet them and asked, “How was the tour? ”Geralty and Nolan both said it was a first class tour and that they were now prepared to get some work done for ES360.Valentino looked pleased and asked, “I’d like to set up a trial run of the transfer of the holograms while Geralty and I take care of a few small business matters. ”He motioned Geralty to join him at his new desk. Valentino sat on the occasional chair close by and faced the wall. Geralty was sure it was so the assistants couldn’t tell what he was saying.

  “Geralty, I have the hologram marker ready for you to take back to ES360 and have also taken the code and set it in your desk in the top drawer. When we are all set up, your desk here in my office will be the sending station for the holograms and will be where they land when you return them. While you’re here I’m going to show you how to use the hologram transfer system so you can teach Mesa and Jesmond. You can also explain it to my beloved brother, but he will be slow to actually participate in the process. He’s never been keen on technology of any kind. I also have a personal message for you to take back to Seymore. He’ll be glad to have it.” Geralty noticed that he said exactly what Seymore had about the message he brought for Valentino. He wondered what it was.

  Geralty asked, “Where is the receiving station going to be for the Mercury Band? We have it set up at ES360 and Mesa gave me a test message to suspend here so that when she activates it using her private codes it will hook in automatically, but it has to be very close to the receiver.”

  Valentino nodded that he understood and responded, “The assistants have everything in place in
one of the glass cabinets. Do you have any preference for who the official operator will be on this side?”

  Geralty thought for a moment and said that Lyric would be his preference. Valentino agreed and said, “A perfect choice in my opinion. Let’s go set it up right now.” They walked to the back of the office to the assistants’ area. Valentino announced, “Geralty has everything prepared at ES360 for the Mercury band and has brought the suspension message. We can make the connections, send the trial signal and when Geralty is back at ES360 he will send the activation signal to capture the suspended hook up and we’ll be in business.”

  He paused and looked out at his assistants over his half-glasses. “And remember this band is the private property of a Mercury fragment and not for personal use. The only thing you can use it for is to occasionally dial in for the communication stream from Mercury Place.” He stopped and turned to Geralty and asked is he was ready to suspend the message. He said he was.

  Celic opened the glass shelf where the connection was all set up and Geralty entered Mesa’s code. He then suspended the message in the space above the connection where it would be fast and easy for the ES360 transmission to grab it. Geralty closed the cabinet and turned to his assistants and said, “Best to not open this again until you see the signal that I have made the connection from Seymore Place. Then you, Lyric, can answer and it will grab the suspended message to make the band stable long term.”

  Geralty looked over at Lyric and smiled. What he had just said told her that she was being offered a long-term position in Valentino’s office. The look on her face said she was very pleased. Her fellow assistants were both happy for her but knew that when Geralty left they would most likely return to the Transition Zone.

  Geralty turned to Celic and asked, “Is the trial run of the hologram transfer ready? ”Celic said it was and he could execute it right now. Geralty responded, “Let’s use my new desk at the front of the office since it’s already set up to both send and received the holograms. ”Celic and Geralty moved to the desk and Celic quickly extracted and cast the hologram. It was easily done using a small screen that was designed to integrate with the log of images. Using a few key strokes the image was sent through a lens to the top of the desk and automatically folded into a small card. That was slipped into the transport device that Valentino had installed in the desk drawer.

  When he was finished placing the hologram in the device Celic said. “When I activate the transport it will hook only to your receiving station as ES360.The transporter we are sending back with you will always link to this handsome desk wherever it is at Middle Mind. That gives us some flexibility and assures uninterrupted service.”

  Geralty asked if anything like this had ever been used before. Celic said he didn’t think so, and there was not going to be any proof that it worked until Geralty had the specially coded transporter in place at ES360.Geralty whispered, “Genius!” and Celic grinned. It was Celic who had created the design for the special transporter as well as the coding for the image extractor.

  Geralty asked Celic, “What will I need to return the holograms to the small card in order to send them back to you? ”He hoped that his phrasing would give Celic an indication that he would most likely be continuing in his position. Celic looked like he might have noticed the hint but he went on, “When a hologram arrives it will be in card form. You can slide that into the set up we are sending with you and it will imprint the coding so that you have a record to use for the return trip. You can then enhance the card to a full size hologram. When you do that the card will disappear. When you are ready to make the return of a hologram, you use the copy of the original image to return it to us. Even if you change the image the original coding will not be altered and that’s all we want back. On the return trip you are not sending a hologram only the coding. We still have the original image and only want to reattach the coding to it after its return. Without the coding we can’t re-access the image. The hologram and whatever changes you made to it will eventually fall away and return to your atmosphere or you can use any form of imaging to facilitate that if you want it to happen faster.”

  Geralty looked puzzled and Celic added, “When you return and we have established a working connection, I think we should send a few images as holograms and then return them until we are very sure of what we are doing and that we have created the results we want.” Now it was clear that Celic knew that he would likely be in charge of the hologram transfers. Geralty was glad.

  And he said, “Great, if you’ll get everything together so I can take it with me we can go over it again before I leave. In the meantime, I have a few things I would like to ask Valentino.” He turned and walked to Valentino’s desk and stood nearby waiting to be noticed. Valentino didn’t look up from his work but said, “What’s on your mind, Geralty? Sit down and tell me.”

  Geralty sat in the chair at one side of Valentino’s desk. He began, “I have really enjoyed meeting and getting to know the assistants you assigned for my visit here. I think that Lyric is a natural to manage the Mercury band and Celic’s genius is obvious in the system he has created for the hologram transfers. I’d like for both of them to stay here to handle those jobs. Is that possible?”

  Valentino answered, “It certainly is. Seymore was so right, you are very special. You picked up on the nature of their talents right away. But tell me, what about Nolan?”

  Geralty looked steadily at Valentino and mulled over the question. He said, “I’d like to spend a little more time with Nolan before I answer. I want to go back to Preservation with him and have a longer look around. ”Valentino said that was fine and he’d see him when he got back. Geralty rose and went to the assistants’ area.

  He said to Nolan, “Would you take a little time to go with me to Preservation, I’d like to have another look around and I’m not quite sure exactly how to get there. We can fly, if you like? ”Nolan was quick to say he’d be glad to go with Geralty and flying would make the short trip even better. They left through the door near Geralty’s desk and went out on to the campus, leaped into the air and Nolan led them straight cross the campus flying just above the trees until they could see the round building in the distance. They slowed and carefully landed among the statuary in the center courtyard. It was as beautiful and intriguing as Geralty remembered.

  He asked Nolan to walk with him around the full circle of the courtyard and look at the contents of every window. While Nolan was glad to do that, he was more interested in why Geralty wanted to return to Preservation at all and why with him. The relics of the past were interesting and there was certainly a lot of collected data, more than could be absorbed in a short visit or even a long one. It didn’t seem to hold any promise by Nolan’s standards.

  As they slowly made their circular tour, Geralty carefully noted the invention and creativity that were evident in each display. It was easy to admire the huge collection without understanding any of it. He was fascinated to see artifacts that related to many famous Rim lives and wondered why they were left here. The Past was strange but oddly familiar to Geralty. He noticed a small chalk board in one window that related to engineering and mathematics that said “All Is Relative” above a short formula. He had no idea what that meant, but it was thought provoking

  He turned to Nolan and it was clear that he had no interest in anything he saw as he wandered along behind Geralty. When they had finished the tour Geralty motioned to Nolan to sit down with him on one of the stone benches. Just sitting in the company of the magnificent statues was somehow inspiring for Geralty. He turned to Nolan and said, “I know you want more than anything to be assigned to the team that is now doing Seymore’s work at the terraformation site. But I have a personal request. I would like for you to stay near Valentino and act as assistant to The Meddlers.”

  Nolan looked puzzled and asked, “Who are The Meddlers. ”Geralty realized that Nolan didn’t know they were the three gentlemen in
Seymore’s office and that they carried the telltale nickname. He said, “That’s not their real names. They are the three gentlemen that are currently using Seymore’s office and putting the image log in order.” He waited for a reaction and when none came, he went on, “They are important to the smooth functioning of the hologram transfers. And since you have a strong understanding of that process, you might find it interesting to make sure that part of the process remains functional. And, it’s likely when they are finished that they will be moving to another part of Middle Mind or elsewhere.” He didn’t want to say anything else and decided to just let Nolan think about it.

  Geralty stood and said, “I’m going to make one more turn around the exhibits. I won’t be long.” He moved to the inner edge and began another slow walk around the circle of displays dedicated to The Past. It was such an odd and intriguing place. He pulled himself away from the big window display and went back to meet Nolan. He was ready to leave and they launched and flew back to the office building entrance.

  Nolan didn’t say a word, but Geralty sensed that he was feeling uncertain about his future. Geralty was about to fix that. When they were back in the office, Nolan went to his desk and Geralty went over to talk with Valentino who motioned for him to sit and then gave him his undivided attention.

  “Valentino, I have some thoughts I want your opinion about. When we were on the tour Lyric carefully explained that some of the transitioners bypass R&R and go instead to Preservation because of the quality of their achievements at The Rim. Is it possible that some of those personalities do not go on to choose or rechoose their next purpose?” Geralty waited for a reply, and Valentino said that was certainly possible, free choice is the hallmark of transitioning.

  Geralty continued, “When The Meddlers came to the station I didn’t spend much time with them at all, but Seymore did and I think he is responsible for their being here with you, is that right? ”Valentino smiled and said it was. Geralty said, “I think these three went to Preservation without going to R&R and never returned to the normal process and did not choose a new purpose.”

  Geralty could see that Valentino was now as intrigued as he was and he quickly continued. “At Preservation there is a small chalk board with “All Is Relative” and a formula beneath it. There were some exceptional paintings; one of big bright yellow flowers in a field is especially beautiful. There are music scores and instruments that must be capable to express amazing compositions. There was a jar of salt with a sign that said “March to the Sea” and there was another small sign that simply said EGO with no explanation. Across the top edge of one of the windows someone etched ‘The price of greatness is responsibility. For some reason I can’t explain I think that some of those things were left by The Meddlers. I have no information, just a powerful intuition. Seymore said that The Meddlers arrived at their last transition as Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein and Gandhi. If they are the ones who left those items at Preservation, and then failed to complete their personal process through transition, it might explain their endless interfering.”

  Valentino was completely focused on everything Geralty was saying and when he stopped, he nodded just like Seymore does when he doesn’t know what’s next. Valentino didn’t make any meaningful response at all. Geralty decided he had meddled himself and changed the subject. He ventured, “Nolan told me that more than anything he wants to be a terraformer and I believe him. He lights up when the subject is raised. I think that when The Meddlers are finished auditing the image logs they should be encouraged to go back and finish the transition process by committing to a new choice. And I think that Nolan should take over the care and maintenance of what they have accomplished.

  “Then when Seymore comes back Nolan can move to be his assistant. Seymore will need someone who is here at the offices during his absence and is up to date so he can easily resume his place as the incredible terraformer he is. In the meantime Nolan might be given some opportunities to learn more about terraforming so that he will be more valuable when Seymore returns.” He looked at Valentino to make sure he hadn’t gone too far. Valentino remained still and contemplative.

  The he looked up and said, “You know, Geralty, I think you may be right; and your plan is excellent. I would really like for Nolan to be here and this would provide for that, give him a chance to move forward and make Seymore’s return much easier. Well thought out. Do you want to go over the plan with him, or do you want me to?” Geralty thought for a moment and said, “I think you should. He so admires you and Seymore.” Geralty stood and smiled at Valentino and went over to his own desk where Celic was busy carefully setting out everything that he would be taking back toES360.

  Valentino went over and asked Nolan to come with him for a short visit to the Transition Zone. He wanted to go with him to the terraformation area and gage his enthusiasm for that art and see how it measured up against Geralty’s opinion. If he really had good potential he would assign him to The Meddlers until they left and then become Seymore’s liaison and assistant. He liked this idea very much. The only part he didn’t quite understand is what Geralty saw at Preservation and how it related to The Meddlers. He might plan a little excursion there with the three gentlemen just to see their reaction.