Seymore's Interlude

by Franci Neale

  Chapter 26

  Hooking Up

  Seymore thought back about when he found Fred. His now beloved cat had shown up at Middle Mind probably because of a strong attachment to an individual at The Rim who was returning to transition. He was a scrap of unknown origin and was alone when Seymore found him loitering around near the entrance to the Transition Zone. The gate keepers told him that he had been haunting the entrance area and seemed to be looking for someone, but he had no direct communication skills so nobody knew who that might be.

  Seymore had gone over and squatted down to see if he could entice the cat closer so he could pick him up. Fred had walked right up to him and rubbed himself full length against Seymore’s knee. He picked him up and took him along as he moved up to the terraformation area to do his regular check on his part of Middle Mind. Fred had been perfectly content to make the tour with him and when they were walking back through the campus, Seymore put him down and he followed him back to his office. He opened the door and held it for the cat. Fred went in and jumped up on the wide wood window sill which became his favorite perch.

  Seymore was totally taken with him and introduced him to Valentino who liked him well enough to name him Fred. He had been, and still was, a fine companion, despite having largely abandoned him in favor of first Sarah and now Geralty. Fred had never been through any part of transition as far as he knew and probably still has cell memory of The Rim and maybe other residual from his time there. Seymore didn’t know where he had been at The Rim or who he had belonged to, but he was glad to give him a home and to bring Fred to Seymore Place.

  It was likely that Fred had some strong Rim elements and particles that the stranded light could hone in on and it may have been a part of why the cat had twice safely entered and returned from the great light that brought Sarah. Fred may be a clue about communicating with the lights and their travelers even though he still couldn’t talk.

  Then another thought crossed his mind. The Former Meddlers also probably never finished with their transition; most likely they left the prescribed process before R&R and possibly gone to Preservation never returning to complete the process. It is very likely that they also carry traces of The Rim and is why they found their way to Seymore Place. The great light seemed to easily identify its own and may have subjectively called to the Former Meddlers or the three tourists may be more sensitive than anyone guessed. They seemed very curious about the great light and the dome and he may have been hasty in sending them away. But he also had no desire to ask them back.

  One thing was sure now: Rim stuff is attracted to Rim stuff no matter what form or where. That’s possibly what Sarah, her ring, Fred and the Former Meddlers have in common. He decided to send a message off to Valentino to ask him to delay any plans he might have for moving the Former Meddlers on to other projects. He wanted to be sure that he wasn’t going to need their Rimness before it was transitioned away.

  Then he had a curious thought. It was something he didn’t know, but thought he should. He had even brought David in from wandering and never asked. When the transitioners slough off their Rim image and it goes to the image log, what happens to The Rim stuff that is also shed? If it stayed with the image then the holograms might be far more valuable than he originally suspected. He needed to find Mesa to set up a messenger he could impress.

  He looked down the meadow, and fortune was smiling on him, as he saw Mesa, Geralty and Jesmond laughing and talking as they rambled up the lane. Seymore went to the top of the lane and yelled, “Hurry up, I need your help!”

  All three took off at a run and shortly surrounded him at the picnic table. Geralty and Jesmond were bickering about who won the race. Seymore interjected, “You both won. Right now I need to send a message to Valentino. ”He spoke louder and with more urgency than he intended and Mesa looked startled. She said, “I see. I’ll conjure a messenger or you can use the Mercury band. The messenger is more private, of course. What’s wrong?”

  He sat down and recovered his composure. “I have some thoughts about the Former Meddlers that Valentino should know before the log reordering is finished and he sends them off to new arenas. They may have some attributes that are very valuable. I’m not sure yet, but I want to be sure that nothing gets changed or improved before I know for sure. Does that make sense?”

  Mesa said, “Not completely, but let’s go up to the cottage and leave the racers here to entertain Fred. I’ll prepare the messenger while you prepare the message.” They stood and walked toward the cottage.

  Jesmond and Geralty watched them leave and fell silent. Jesmond was looking up at the Weedy Field and asked, “That field needs some attention, don’t you think?” Geralty said it did and added, “Seymore said he was going to do some landscaping for the area. ”She said, “We could make some improvements. We don’t have anything better to do right now, do we? We could take out the weeds and put in some nice grass like around the pond with maybe a row of flowers around the base of the dome. We could make a place for this table and umbrella and maybe we could add a swing. What do you think?”

  Geralty said he wasn’t sure. Jesmond persisted and said that if Seymore didn’t like it he could change it. Geralty reluctantly agreed and then went up to the Weedy Field and started by sending all the weeds into the woods and over by the two old out buildings. They added a group of hydrangeas and put a big square of pavers in front of them. They planted a lovely lawn that ran from the base of the dome to the top of the lane and over to the front of the cottage. They stopped to look at what they had done.

  Geralty said, “Well, that looks better. In fact it looks nice, but I think we should stop now and let Seymore in on the changes before we go too far. ”Jesmond, feeling somewhat less brave, agreed and walked up across the new green grass to the base of the dome. She suddenly stopped and turned around and yelled for Geralty to come quick. Geralty rushed to her side.

  She turned and pointed at the glass and there was the big soft eye looking back at them. It was benign and mildly curious but not moving. Jesmond was very excited and said, “Is that The Watcher? ”Geralty said it was. She said, “It’s beautiful. I am so lucky!”

  Geralty looked surprised as the eye had always seemed distant and mysterious to him. He wasn’t sure he could enjoy a close personal relationship with a big vague orb. But it was good that Jesmond was charmed by the eye since it was the reason she was at Seymore Place. It did occur to him that Seymore and Mesa might have had a different idea for Jesmond’s first introduction to The Watcher.

  He looked closely at the eye and then turned to Jesmond and said, “I think we have done all we can out here, we need to go in and tell Seymore and Mesa to come and have a look and make any changes they want. It’s probably not a good idea to disturb The Watcher until we know more. Let’s go!. ”Jesmond didn’t move and Geralty reached out and took her arm and steered here back toward the picnic table and on to the cottage entrance. She was giggling and pretending distress and finally Geralty broke out laughing too. They were in hysterics when they came through the double doors into the library.

  Mesa came out of her turret room to see what was going on and Geralty and Jesmond straightened up. Jesmond asked, “Will you and Seymore come out and check over what we’ve done to the Weedy Field.” Mesa quickly replied, “Not right now. When Seymore’s finished impressing the message for Valentino we’ll meet you at the picnic table. ”She was almost cross. The landscapers turned and left through the double doors.

  Mesa returned to the turret room where Seymore was just finishing impressing the message for Valentino.

  Dearest brother,

  I have a special request that only your can fulfill. I would like for you to keep the three gentlemen who are ordering the image logs in your service. I may have made an error in sending them to Middle Mind so quickly. It is too complicated to say why, but it is important to the completion of ES360.

  Geralty told me that
he had suggested to you that the gentlemen may have made contributions to the records and artifacts at Preservation. It got me to thinking about their possibly not having completed transition. It is very important that they continue in that incomplete state until I am certain of how their abilities might be helpful here. I don’t mean to sound mysterious. I simply want to safeguard my options as I search for answers regarding the best services for the great light travelers.

  Also, are there any images retained of pet animals that reach transition with or even without their Rim companions? I am wondering if there is an image of Fred in the image records. I am quite sure there isn’t, but would you check for me?

  And, there is something I feel foolish in even asking since I should know the answer. When a transitioner reaches the point of discarding their image are all traces of The Rim sent with the image to the log? If they are, will those remnants remain a part of the holograms that you send to ES360?I would like very much for Rim material to be included in the transmission as I believe it will provide very helpful support to our purpose here.

  Lastly, do you have a recent report on David’s progress through transition? Could I get an update at your convenience?

  On a lighter note, Geralty arrived safe and sound, had a wonderful visit, and obviously a lot was accomplished. He treasures the marker you set up for him and I think you will find him a visitor quite soon as he made friends with the assistants and very much admires you. Thank you for taking good care of him.

  There is a return provided with this messenger so you can just impress it and send it back.

  Love to you always, your devoted brother, Seymore

  He turned to Mesa and said he was ready for her to send the messenger. As it flashed away on its mission Mesa said, “Jesmond and Geralty have made some alterations to the Weedy Field and want your opinion of the changes. They’re out at the picnic table waiting for us. I’m sure Geralty had less to do with the landscaping than Jesmond. She is small and sweet with nerves of steel.” They both laughed and set off for the picnic table.

  As they approached the table Mesa and Seymore could already see some of the changes and signaled for the landscapers to follow them to review the improvements. Seymore walked across the grass to the paved area and inspected the hydrangea grove. He came back to the group and said all in all it was pretty good.

  He added, “What do you think about moving the picnic table up to the paved area, or should we create something smaller with several bright umbrellas. Maybe a nice metal bench and a chaise lounge. ”He paused expecting comments and Jesmond piped up.

  “I like the bright umbrella idea but I’d rather have several benches than lounges. And I was thinking that a swing or maybe a hammock might be interesting.” She paused exactly the way Seymore did when expecting comments.

  Geralty said, “I really like the picnic table with its great big umbrella. I hope we’re going to find a place for it. It’s really a good meeting place. And the visitors’ initials are carved into it and we want to keep that tradition going, don’t we? ”He turned to Jesmond hoping she would add her support to save the picnic table. She didn’t.

  But Mesa did, “Geralty’s right, we need to keep the picnic table and I like it where it is. And I have an idea, let have a big pergola on the paved area with vines on one end and a swing on the other. There can be a nice rectangle table in the middle with several chairs. And I think we should put ivy around the base of the dome, something small that won’t climb too high. Two big pots of geraniums somewhere would be nice.” She stopped and laughed. “You were expecting opinions, weren’t you?”

  Seymore said he was glad to have opinions and looking at Jesmond he said, “Do you like the pergola idea? It includes your swing. ”She nodded enthusiastically that she did and Seymore motioned to Mesa and they moved up to the paved area. They stood together as he formed a beautiful pergola as Mesa described it in detail. It brought the whole area to life. He added two big pots of geraniums and set them next to the supports at the end with the swing. He put two bright umbrellas in front of the pergola and a chaise under each one. The wisteria vines on the other end covered half way over the structure and shaded the table and chairs.

  He said, “Now we have an area where future curiosity seekers can see the dome and do no harm and that we can use and enjoy. I like it very much. ”He turned and headed for the picnic table and everyone followed. When he was reached the top of the lane he stopped and everyone else followed suit. He cast a very large circle of cobble stones that were buried so only their faces showed with little creeping plants in between. He moved the picnic table, benches and market umbrella over to the cobbled terrace. Then he turned and bowed to his small but enthusiastic audience. He waved them to join him at the relocated picnic table and they all sat and appreciated the much needed make over of the Weedy Field. Despite all the improvements it never got a better name and everyone would forever call it the Weedy Field.

  Jesmond, leaning on her elbow with her fist under her chin said, “We are a great landscaping team. I think it’s beautiful. Do you think The Watcher can see it? ”Seymore said he didn’t think so.

  Geralty was grateful that subject of The Watcher seemed to have ended. He said, “Where did Fred go?” Seymore said he didn’t know. So Geralty got up and went up to the cottage to find him.

  Presently, Seymore turned to Jesmond and asked, “Did you see The Watcher when you and Geralty were rearranging the Weedy Field?” Jesmond said she did and that she liked it very much. Then she said, “Can we go see it again. I would really like for The Watcher to be in my desk in the glass room. Seeing it every day would be wonderful.” Seymore looked at her and then at Mesa. “Really? I think that can be arranged very soon, but there is still some information we need to sort out before we make the switch to your beautiful table in the atrium.” He smiled at the young Mercury scrap, and added, “In the meantime let’s go see The Watcher.”

  He stood and held out his hand for Jesmond. She took it and they walked over the new lawn to the edge of the dome. The eye slowly reached their position and Jesmond put her hand on the glass and softly said “Hello, Watcher. You get to come and live with me and I’m so glad.”