Seymore's Interlude

by Franci Neale

  Chapter 25

  Connections

  Geralty landed in Seymore’s study when he returned from Middle Mind and he immediately headed for the library. It was empty so he set the package on the round oak table and called “Seymore? Mesa? Where are you?”

  Jesmond came running in from the old office and threw her arms around him, “Oh boy! You’re home! We really missed you!”

  In his whole existence he had never thought of any place he had been as home. But as he hugged sweet Jesmond he realized that he had been missing everyone very much and that he had been homesick though he didn’t realize that until Jesmond’s warm greeting.

  He asked her were Seymore and Mesa were and she told him they were in the turret room. She took his hand and pulled him along behind her through the new office door and over past the magic table. Seymore and Mesa were already up and coming toward them wearing big smiles and they showered him with welcome homes and we missed yous. He hugged them both and went to sit next to Jesmond on the window seat. Mesa moved one of the magic chairs near them and Seymore pulled the wing backed chair closer. When he was seated he asked, “How was Middle Mind?”

  Geralty told him it was amazing and that he had lots and lots to report, but first, “Valentino gave me this personal message for you and I promised I would give it to you first thing. He said you would be glad to have it.” Seymore took the envelop Geralty offered and said, “I am very happy to have it.” He didn’t give the slightest hint about why the message might make him happy.

  He than asked again, “So, how was Middle Mind? Tell us all about everything you did and who you met. Did you get a good tour?”

  Geralty began and told them everything from start to finish. He did leave out the parts about Preservation and The Former Meddlers, but everything else was told and all questions answered. He told Seymore “Now you aren’t the only one with a transporter to Middle Mind. Valentino and the staff gave me one that goes to my own desk in Valentino’s office. ”Seymore chuckled and said only Valentino could think of such a good gift.

  Geralty told Mesa that her band was secure at the office and that Lyric would be its operator there. He added lots of details about the hologram system and added he had a little experimenting that needed to be completed before it was ready. He made a special point of telling Seymore how much he like Valentino and how kind he had been. He described each of the assistants in details and why he likes them all. And lastly he announced that the first chance he had he was going to go back for a visit.

  When everything was told, he added, “I really liked Middle Mind and I am so glad to have friends there, but I am very happy to be home. I missed Seymore Place and all of you. I think we are meant to be here together.” Jesmond put her biggest smile on by way of agreement and both Seymore and Mesa said that was definitely true.

  Mesa stood and put the magic chair back near the table and said, “But even a good homecoming has to step aside for the tasks at hand. Geralty let’s go make the final hook up to the receiver at Middle Mind and transmit the first message. What do you want to say?”

  He thought a moment and then said, “I want to say:

  ‘Arrived home safely. Envelope delivered; package arrived in good shape. Let us know that the connection is complete. Thanks for everything. Geralty’

  Is that enough?”

  Mesa said it was perfect. They went into the library, opened the cupboard and Mesa inserted her personal codes into the equipment and showed Geralty how to enter the message. When he was finished she gave him a three number key to enter and the message was gone. They’d need to receive a message back to make sure the band had completed the transmission and had grabbed the suspended message to make the permanent connection. Geralty turned to Mesa, “There is something magical about seeing something actually happen after planning and working for it, isn’t there.” Mesa said there was, and added, “Once we know that the connection is complete we can dial in a link to the Mercury Stream that you can redirect to your own space. Do you have a receiver for it?”

  Geralty said he didn’t, but he’d take care of that right now. In his room, the cat was waiting for him and when he sat down at his desk Fred put his nose up against Geralty’s and sat very close. He really did seem to be Geralty’s cat now.

  Mesa returned to the turret room and sat down on the window seat across from Seymore. Jesmond had left for her own space and pursuits. Mesa said, “Geralty seems to have had a very successful trip and made some friends besides.” Seymore agreed and she finally asked, “Are you going to tell me what’s in the message from Valentino that makes you happy?” Her eyes were twinkling with both laughter and curiosity and Seymore almost told her, but instead he said, “I will most certainly tell you but now right now. I guarantee it will make you happy too.”

  Mesa changed the subject and said, “I’m going to go down and finish the last embellishments on the Beach House. We’ll want to set the holograms transport system there so I’m going to have Geralty show it to me before I go. When I’m finished, which won’t be long, Geralty can finish the connection and do his tests.

  “Once that’s finished the only remaining unresolved issues I see is the method for managing the light and understanding greeters.” Seymore smiled and said, “It’s obvious that so far I have no solid plan for either. But I am still hopeful and expect a powerful flash of inspiration.” Mesa laughed. “So while you’re down at the Beach House, I’m going to go over a few things with Geralty. One step at a time seems to work as well as fretting over the total unknowns.” He and Mesa stood and left in separate directions.

  He found Geralty in his room with Fred reclining on the desk in front of him enjoying a major rub. He asked, “Geralty could you and Fred pause for a few minutes to go over a few things with me? ”Geralty smiled at Seymore, set Fred up on his feet on the corner of the desk and motioned to Seymore to take a seat in the occasional chair.

  Seymore began, “I’m very glad that your trip to Middle Mind was a success. And what you accomplished will go a long way toward completing what remains undone at ES360. I’m sure my brother was impressed as well. You didn’t say how Valentino was, but I assume he was doing well.”

  “Yes,” Geralty answered, “he is doing well and he is as kind and generous as you said. In fact, I might have taken advantage of his kind nature. When the assistants took me on the tour of Middle Mind, we visited Preservation. It was mysterious and amazing and I saw several things there that reminded me in odd ways of The Meddlers and what you said about them. I told Valentino and I think he’s going to take the three gentlemen to visit Preservation and help them move on to other projects. They seemed to like working for your brother and did a lot of good in reordering the images so we can make use of them. And The Meddlers don’t want to be called that any longer, they are redefining themselves it seems. ”Seymore looked at Geralty and really admired his increasing confidence and aplomb. He had noticed earlier that Geralty seemed far more self assured and stood taller and he seemed thicker and more substantial.

  Seymore responded, “It sounds like Valentino may be able to give a whole new direction to the gentlemen thanks to your observation. But I’m not sure how a trip to Preservation would have meaning to them. We’ll find out though, I imagine. ”He smiled and changed the subject. “Valentino will be coming for a visit when the station is complete. I told him we’d have a little celebration.” Seymore found that thought very pleasing and paused to savor it.

  “Mesa has gone down to the new Beach House to add some final touches. Did she get to see the new hologram set up so she can make a good place for it? ”Geralty said she did and that he was going to run a few experiments with Celic at Middle Mind to make sure it was functional and then it would be ready to transport whatever Seymore requested. He explained, “After the system had been proved the new logged images will all be transferred as they are needed. It should be easy to find good matches using the dominant
characteristics required to meet the needs of the incoming light travelers. But I do wish we had a way to make a trial run or two in actually creating the greeters. I just don’t understand at all how that is going to work.”

  Seymore chuckled and said, “Me either! ”They both laughed and Seymore continued, “I’ll bet I have created and discarded half a dozen possibilities and I still don’t have even a place to start on the greeter problem. It is my first priority now, but I am reduced to taking very small steps in what I hope is the right direction. In fact, I don’t know what’s next after we have the hologram system in place. As I told Mesa, I am hopeful and expect a flash of inspiration to strike at any moment.” Seymore stopped as Fred jumped into his lap and leaned against him. At least the cat hadn’t completely abandoned him, he thought.

  Seymore stood to leave and noticed the large cupboard was open and had the beginnings of a project inside. He asked, “What new project are you into now?”

  Geralty said that Mesa had arranged a link to the Mercury band so he would listen to the stream of information and he was building a receiver. “I’ll bet she would make a link for you too that you could have in your study. You could also have a receiver that would allow you to talk with Valentino using the new system in the library. I think you’d enjoy that. ”Seymore said that was an interesting idea and he would think about it. He left and went across the hall to his study to sit and hopefully bring all of his thinking into some kind of order and then decide the next step. He also entertained the fanciful thought that inspiration might more easily strike in his study.

  In his study he sat at the desk and drew the message from Valentino out of his pocket and slid it into the top draw of his desk. He was looking forward to presenting the hologram to Mesa and Geralty and was anxious to see it himself. But it needed to wait for just the right moment.

  Geralty put his head in the door of the study and told Seymore that he was taking the hologram transporter down to the Beach House to see how Mesa was coming along and that he was welcome to come and supervise if he wanted. He added that he was going to take Jesmond with him. Seymore declined and heard Geralty and Jesmond leave through the double doors in the library.

  Seymore was alone at the cottage, something he didn’t think had ever happened before. It seemed both strange and comfortable. He moved to the big leather chair and let it wrap around him. It felt a perfect place for thought collecting and he hoped that inspiration liked it too.

  It was easy to review everything that had happened and was happening to bring him to this point of uncertainty. However, another review wouldn’t bring him any closer to an answer. So he opted to think about the hard parts, the ones where he had no answers, no starting point, and no clues. How would anyone know the best greeters to provide for the light travelers? Wasn’t the traveler the only one who knew? He was very happy with the hologram system and was confident that it was the resource for the creation of the greeters. But how was he going to know the correct image for the greeters like how tall they should be, hair color, and other details that only the travelers knew? Then he actually had a meaningful insight.

  The travelers knew and, like Sarah, had impressed their desires on the light so the light would know about the kinds of greeters that were sought as well. That made a kind of sense and was possibly a starting point. Considering that the travelers might be frightened and agitated by both their unfortunate recent experiences and the amazing ride on the light he deduced that the light might know more about the greeters for their passenger than the travelers who inspired them.

  He knew that the light was intelligent because The Watcher clearly was and was searching for Sarah. Or was it? It could be that it was searching for anything that would return it to The Rim. The light had entered Mesa’s projected desk and tried to use it to communicate which was both clever and smart. Then he remembered the dream message from Psyche that the light knows what its doing. It was also what Geralty had said. Since the light knows what’s going on, the best way to find out would be to ask the light. He would more than gladly do that if he knew how. He didn’t. Not yet.

  He felt like he was creeping forward when what he yearned for was a quantum leap. He decided to assume that finding a way to communicate with the stranded light in some meaningful way was worth pursuing. He stood and walked purposefully out of the study and down the hall past the atrium, through the library and out the double doors. He looked down the meadow but couldn’t see anything but the Beach House so he moved on through the Weedy Field and approached the outside edge of the dome where Sarah’s ring was sitting on the foundation ledge. As he came near, the fuzzy eye slowly opened right where it had been when he placed the ring. It was still friendly in demeanor and gave off an impression that it was now familiar with Seymore. The Watcher recognized him. He decided to trust that and picked up the ring. The watcher watched him steadily with a tinge of anxiety. One more step back and the eye started to move quickly from side to side.

  He had no intention of distressing The Watcher so he quickly moved back close to the dome and returned the ring to the ledge. He put his hand on the glass next to the eye as a gesture of good will and again backed away from the dome. The eye followed him but didn’t show any anxiety, only mild curiosity. When he was a fair distance from the dome the eye returned its gaze to the spot where the ring was sitting. Seymore had more to think about. He knew he could communicate on a rudimentary level with the stranded light in the dome using the ring, but nothing else was obvious. And the information was just expressions of emotion. But he was sure there was more here than meets the eye.

  He turned to leave and saw Fred crouched in a clump of weeds watching him. He went over and picked up his old friend, turned for one more look at The Watcher and was about to return to the cottage. The he realized that he didn’t know if Fred had been watching him or the big soft eye. He turned and walked back with Fred to the outside of the dome some distance from the ring. The watcher moved to where he and Fred were. He set Fred on the ledge and the eye focused on the cat. Then he moved a good distance away and The Watcher continued to focus on the cat. As if on cue, Fred began to walk around the dome on the foundation ledge. The watcher moved smoothly along with his pace. Then Fred jumped down. The Watcher seemed suddenly anxious and moved side to side quickly along the inside edge looking for Fred. Not finding him, it went back to the ring’s spot on the ledge.

  Seymore picked up Fred and walked with him down to the picnic table. He put the market umbrella up, set Fred down on the table and sat in front of him on a bench. He looked at Fred and again so wished he had a talking cat. Despite is verbal inadequacies he loved Fred. The minute he had seen Fred he knew he was a great cat. He thought maybe an examination of Fred’s history might add to his growing collection of information about the stranded light. But that didn’t seem likely either.

  He did now have a powerful hunch that the Watcher wasn’t necessarily looking for Sarah. It was looking for something familiar. Fred had been in the dome with Sarah and was familiar. Was the Watcher just looking for reassurance? It was then he fully understood that the light was truly a living being from The Rim and made from Rim stuff and that it was quite possibly just lonely.