“Oh come on, Charlotte. You know all the guys would kill to be part of Professor Kitteridge’s close team.” Christopher turned his head and saw the strange tray that Joe had taken out from the yucca plant to serve as Duncan’s target welcome tray. “Can I put that back for you, Joe?” he offered and started to get up.
“No that’s OK, Chris,” Joe hastily replied, “I’m… cleaning it.”
Christopher subsided again, “If you say so.”
Deep inside, Joe and Charlotte felt the soft thrum of the thin end of the fast-approaching red thread signifying the imminent arrival of Duncan. They glanced at each other. Christopher saw the secretive look between his old friends and that look set off a worrisome chord in his mind. If he had not known them better he would think they were hiding something. Maybe a new kind of drug-taking perhaps, hiding behind pretending to be out. He chatted on brightly.
Joe handed Christopher his cup of coffee and all three paused to take a swallow from their drinks. The red thread focussed on them was coming in fast and strong now. Duncan was hurtling through the inky upper reaches of the stratosphere, his soul tunnel etiolated to a point way below him that pointed down to northern Europe. Joe and Charlotte could feel the weight of being directly under the soul transport tube like low pressure building under a hefty summer thunderstorm. Christopher chatted along unaffected. “So I think we could all be famous. Not just part of Professor Kitteridge’s team but also the chance to make a name for ourselves later on in our careers.”
“I think that’s all possible, Chris,” said Charlotte, “but we will all need a very good degree first and then there’s the PhD to do. He won’t be interested in working with any but the best!”
Duncan arrived in a burst of light that slammed in the tray and left Duncan standing there for Charlotte and Joe, all piratical looking and grinning with his full set of youthful teeth in a nut-brown smile.
“What was that!?” Christopher asked, quickly turning. He saw nothing.
“What was what, Chris?” replied Joe.
“I thought I heard, er, saw something out of the corner of my eye,” Christopher said. Duncan stood there grinning even more broadly at Joe and Charlotte. Charlotte managed to look humorously at Duncan and concernedly at Christopher both at the same time. Joe envied her expressiveness but remained stony-faced.
“I didn’t see anything, did you Charlotte?” Joe turned to her.
“Nope, but these old rooms spook me out, Joe. I don’t know how you put up with it. I wouldn’t like it,” Charlotte replied.
Duncan was enjoying seeing his two colleagues and friends so clearly uncomfortable about his reappearance in front of Christopher who was (almost) oblivious to his arrival. He stepped from the welcome tray and walked over to the waiting claret and three glasses and nodded his approval with raised eyebrows and appreciative quirk to his lips. Charlotte’s eyes were twinkling and Joe’s mouth was curling slightly at the corners. Duncan was communicating directly soul to soul with Charlotte and Joe. This Gayan soul language was rich in imagery, emotion and characterisation but did not interfere with audible speech so Joe and Charlotte could carry on a voice conversation with Christopher simultaneously. It was a Gayan skill learned over many lifetimes to communicate two different ways at once and even then Joe and Charlotte found their conversation with Christopher stilted under the assault on their senses of Duncan’s update on his trip back home and plans for his return. Eventually Joe asked for the message from Christopher and he replied with dates for their next meeting.
Christopher finished his coffee and decided to leave. He still felt he was intruding so he gave a little shake of his head as he left. As he exited the stairwell he changed Joe’s board to read ‘IN’ which was an accurate representation of the situation.
Joe and Charlotte celebrated Duncan’s return by pouring the three glasses of wine. They picked up their glasses for real and Duncan reached for the third, raising a virtual glass to his lips, leaving the real glass behind. He enjoyed the taste as if it were the best red wine he had ever drunk; Joe and Charlotte had to put up with the rather good claret they had bought for the occasion in reality. The three of them sat together communicating in soul-speak. Joe and Charlotte updated Duncan with events since his passing through, especially Doctor McGregor’s funeral and the genuine grief of his earthly friends. They noted that they too missed the character that had been Duncan as Doctor McGregor. Duncan missed the person that had been Doctor McGregor too but they all knew that Duncan was the persisting core that passed through many physical incarnations.
Duncan explained his conversations with the Worders back on planet Chamarel and the easy decision to return solely-soul as his help was needed immediately and there was not time enough for Duncan to return and grow to maturity.
“My plan is to attend Professor Kitteridge as soul guardian,” said Duncan. “That will give me plenty of opportunity to meet with you, and also to follow alternate threads like Christopher if he comes under threat.”
“We need to track down this new Zarnha spirit that would seem to be like one of their agents operating like us solely-soul, yet we know they are proscribed from doing so as it’s against their entire belief system,” said Joe. “Yet I know what I saw that night in my room and we know they were tracking you as Doctor McGregor, Duncan. This spirit form must be generated by an Omeyn herself; no one else in Spargar would dare to generate such an abomination as they would see it.”
“We have some theories on that one for me to follow up while I am engaged in my guardian role.” Duncan was referring to meetings on Chamarel with the Worders who postulated that Zarnha of Spargar had discovered a useful soul-only manifestation for espionage and that the use of such thing must have been sanctioned, and explained away somehow, by Omeyn MuneMei herself as otherwise it could not have been used on official Spargar business. “Our thinking was that their discovery is rooted in our own soul communications capability linked to the fact that you saw this thing on waking from sleep, Joe. We know that local human perceptions can be heightened by the sleep-to-wake transition state, especially if it were in the midst of dreaming. We know this kind of thing can lead to things like sleep walking and seeing apparitions immediately on waking. We know, of course, these things are not apparitions but normally invisible souls or similar entities in the vicinity when the person awakes.”
“Yet my sighting of the spirit that night faded away,” said Joe. “Though I was convinced I was seeing a soul of some variety that was not Gayan. At the time I just thought it was a local earthly soul in transition though thinking about it now, its behaviour seemed more knowing than it should have been if it were just some confused local soul transitioning from one life to the next. And if it were responsible for the disruptions people had seen on this staircase then it had been around way longer than an earthly soul in transition would have been.”
“Yes, that’s what the Worders thought. We normally use resonant narrow spectrum alpha waves as the ether for soul-speak. They have the power and complexity needed for a rich breadth of communications and they are easy to use solely-soul or embodied as they are generated close to our soul home in the limbic system of living brains. What was different when you awoke to see the Zarnha spirit was that this was more likely to be associated with delta waves in the thalamus area of the brain because you were coming out of sleep and dreaming. This would allow a soul to manifest in delta waves but also be very close physically to the limbic system where Gayans communicate solely-soul. This would account for you seeing them in your human waking state, but being unable to see them normally using Gayan-style alpha waves. Anyway, we can test the theory as I have trained myself to be aware of delta waves before returning so should be aware of any Zarnha souls manifesting in delta waves. And with any luck they should not be able to detect me.”
Joe said, “I have to believe that if you are in the same location as this thing then you are going to be
aware of it one way or another. Especially now we know there is something strange out there. We will be looking for it.”
“That is true,” said Duncan, “so now it’s time for me to head down the river and start my guardian duties with Professor Kitteridge. We won’t be able to chat but I think it makes sense to let him know I am back with him now you have taken him through Revelation phase.”
“No problem,” said Charlotte. “I am feeding him so much information already he is like a sponge so hopefully a little extra news that the soul of his old friend is watching over him should be just one more surprise with all the others!”
“One last thing before I set off,” said Duncan, “what became of Tabitha after I passed through?”
“Of course,” said Joe. “I hadn’t realised before that Alice was looking after your house as well as being the bedder on our staircase here. What a worker she is!”
“That was natural to ask her to also look after my old house. I was no good at looking after the house and she does a great job, lives nearby, had the time and wanted the work.”
“Well, she took Tabitha home with her after you passed through and she says they are both very happy. That leaves you with a challenge when we finish up here, whether Tabitha stays with Alice or leaves with you.”
Duncan considered a moment, “I think that’s a question for Tabitha to decide on another day. See you soon!” he said cheerfully and set off merging through the wooden outer doors.
TWENTY-THREE
Charlotte called on Professor Kitteridge as Christopher had requested in Joe’s room at Queens’ College. Her visits were quite regular now and it was easy to meet twice weekly and not be remarked as out of the ordinary. She often received a cheery wave and hello from the porters at St John’s College lodge. She smiled and waved back; her visits were entirely in line with a student lucky enough to be supervised directly by the famous cosmologist. Only when she entered Professor Kitteridge’s comfortable rooms did the roles reverse and she became the supervisor of his work on the best way to introduce the concepts of DMF drives and their capabilities to warp space for human transportation across the stars.
In the early part of the Revelation phase Charlotte had introduced Professor Kitteridge to all the concepts and facts she knew at a very basic level. He had been receptive in the extreme, soaking up all the background not only to the previously unknown technologies in use by fellow human races across the galaxy outside of planet Earth, but also to the startling news of the infiltration of Earth by at least the alien races of Dawn of Gaya and Zarnha of Spargar in recent times. Beyond that general introduction Charlotte had guided Professor Kitteridge into a deep dive on the details relating to his planned paper on DMF drive theory that would become his seminal work.
Today she started their session by announcing, “I have some very good news for you today, Professor Kitteridge. It’s going to be much more familiar and local than all the technology theory we have talked about. It’s also going to be considerably more weird for an objective scientific mind to get a handle on it though. Are you ready to cope with it?”
As far as Professor Kitteridge was concerned this was all still pretty weird so one more thing would hardly make much difference. It was surprising though how soon all Charlotte had revealed made sense, much more sense than the old vacuum of knowledge of the heavens prior to Charlotte’s explanations. He could not get enough, drinking the knowledge presented to him by his new oracle, and would always welcome more. “I promised you an open mind, Charlotte, and that’s exactly how I am going to respond to anything you want to tell me right now.”
“That is good because I am happy about this and hope you will be too. You know that we talked about the way we Gayans can ride a warpwave for souls to travel around the galaxy?” Professor Kitteridge nodded, trying to guess ahead where this conversation was headed. “Well, I am pleased to announce that your old friend Doctor McGregor has returned that way and wants to help our work together as well as to watch over us as extra protection.”
Professor Kitteridge was silent a moment, “I would very much like that, and remain open-minded as I always try to be. It would make a very serious proof point to what you say about the separation of soul and body. So when am I likely to meet him?”
“It’s a little more immediate than that,” said Charlotte, amused at the effect on Professor Kitteridge. The rabbit was about to jump from the hat. “Doctor McGregor as you knew him has passed away bodily and his soul returned home but has now come back to us and is waiting outside right now while we talk about this.”
Professor Kitteridge looked startled towards the closed door. “He’s waiting outside? Let him in before he causes a stir on the staircase!”
“He’s not visible to humans from Earth, Professor. Well, not to most humans, most of the time at least. I can know him as a Gayan because we use soul peer-to-peer communications much like some spiritualists here can do in a rudimentary, untrained way on Earth. And I don’t need to let him in; he isn’t obstructed by closed doors like we are. So if you are really OK with this I will ask him to come in?”
“Of course, of course, don’t keep him waiting on my account.” Professor Kitteridge relied on the reasonableness of his scientific mind to cope with the crazy leap of the situation at hand that would otherwise have overwhelmed his reason.
Charlotte did not have to say anything. Doctor McGregor blended through the door and strode across to sit with them in the spare chair round the coffee table with Charlotte and Professor Kitteridge. Professor Kitteridge raised his eyebrows and his eyes turned from side to side looking into the corners of his room looking for the presence of his old friend Doctor McGregor.
Charlotte said, “He’s here now in the chair opposite me. You won’t be able to see him… Unless you have any psychic abilities you haven’t mentioned before?”
Professor Kitteridge stared hard at the chair, wanting to believe, wanting a psychic ability to emerge, but gave up in exasperation. There was nothing to see. “It would appear not, my dear,” he confessed reluctantly.
“Well, let me introduce you to your old friend Doctor McGregor, my old friend we call Duncan on Gaya. We have worked together through many generations, the latest of which you knew as Doctor McGregor. You know what a character he was? He is always like that and he likes to appear back to his youthful prime which looks a bit ‘Pirates of Penzance’. Being a character is an affectation most of us are guilty of to some degree, I am afraid. That is one thing you develop from one generation to the next. Duncan has always enjoyed a close affection for marine biology and all kinds of seafaring down the generations but that’s a story for another day.” Charlotte cocked her head to one side as she considered Duncan’s appearance in the chair. “He is grinning with the same old look as Doctor McGregor but he now has great hair and all his teeth.” Duncan made a face noting Charlotte’s unusual compliment about his appearance. Charlotte blobbed her tongue out at him, communicated that he should not take it too seriously; she was just describing the scene for Professor Kitteridge. Professor Kitteridge looked on and Charlotte’s reaction seemed totally authentic reacting to some unseen conversation with Doctor McGregor.
“Hello Mac, or should I say Duncan?” Professor Kitteridge ventured towards where he suspected Duncan was sitting. “At least you are still Scottish-sounding,” he said.
“He says ‘Glad to be back, Reginald,’” Charlotte conveyed, “and can he have a wee dram of Talisker please?”
“Talisker from where?” asked Professor Kitteridge.
“He says from the drinks cabinet behind you, right-hand door,” said Charlotte.
“No, where does it come from originally?” Tested Professor Kitteridge.
A slight pause as Charlotte communed with Duncan, “That would be distilled on the fair auld Isle of Skye,” she replied.
Professor Kitteridge admitted that Duncan had passed his simple
test question, if proof indeed were needed. “I guess he checks out then and in that case I must welcome back my old friend Doctor McGregor, er, Duncan as he is now. He always did know his whiskies.” Duncan beamed in response to that remark and waited.
“He really does want a drink, Professor,” Charlotte said, “but only put a drop in, it would be a waste of your actual amber liquid as he can only manage a virtual taste.”
“You do it then, Charlotte, would you? I am not accustomed to pouring drinks for deceased friends. At least not for them to drink for themselves. There are tumblers in the drinks cupboard. Maybe you could bring me a glass too – I think I need one!” Charlotte went round to the drinks cabinet, opened the convex bowed flame mahogany door and extracted the bottle of Talisker and two cut-crystal glasses. She poured an inch of amber liquid for the professor and a tiny film in the glass in front of Duncan. Professor Kitteridge watched carefully but Duncan’s almost-empty glass did not move. Meanwhile Duncan reached forward and raised the generous virtual measure to his lips and drank, pausing to appreciate the peaty warmth of the smooth eighteen-year-old Scotch as a delightful memory.
“Duncan is going to continue his guiding work with you through me as interpreter of course. He’s better at much of the science than I am. It’s his speciality. I am more of an organiser in our society. He can also be a guardian angel in human terms. Are you familiar with those?” asked Charlotte.
“I have heard of such things of course,” replied Professor Kitteridge. “Is it some kind of spirit that looks after the living? It’s another one of those weird things we mostly let pass us by as some kind of magic. I always thought it was mumbo jumbo.”
“As usual you twenty-first century humans whistle along discounting anything spiritual despite its evidence all around you – and the lack of any other explanations! We find it’s ideal to blend material technology and spirituality in equal measures. We would like you to be thinking this way too as it’s limiting to explain everything in tech terms. If you only consider technology then that takes you down the Spargar route and that leads to some very dark conclusions if you follow that all the way!” Charlotte admonished Professor Kitteridge.
Star Matters Page 31