by John Nelson
“Well, Klaus readily admitted that while they wouldn’t want the general public operating at my level, they did want some higher functionality, but they wouldn’t know how to program that.”
“Yes, but hopefully more than they expected without them being able to detect it,” Hal added.
Maria seemed satisfied with this answer for now, but given her intuitive reach, I suspected that she had tapped into my handlers and knew them for what they were, and this didn’t give her an optimistic prospect for my survival.
Ling added. “We could rescue Emma, who might seem like part of our group to them, and grab Alan at the same time.”
Maria nodded her head, but wasn’t fooled by this offer. The meeting broke up, and Su Ling and Hal gathered up his equipment and headed back to their operational center somewhere in the Midwest. As I got up, Maria motioned for me to stay. After everybody left, she invited me to dinner there at her residence.
It was a great meal. I was surprised that June didn’t join us, but I suspected that Maria wanted to talk with me alone. Afterward we stepped out onto a patio and sat in lawn chairs and watched the sunset with its marvelous turquoise colors, while sipping herbal ice tea.
Finally she said, “Alan, I’m concerned about your welfare, and am not particularly happy with how we’ve left this today.”
“I know, but as Klaus put it, they need to make accommodations, and who better to act as a go-between. So why kill the goose who laid the golden egg.”
Maria laughed. “Have to remember that at Easter. I’m sure the kids would prefer hunting for golden eggs.”
I laughed, but didn’t have a comeback. The sun had set and the twilight hush had fallen over the desert below.
Maria just stared into the gathering night. “I think I’ve mentioned this before, but our etheric body is separate from the mind—be it the neocortex and these neural processors—and is as some call it, the body’s natural intelligence. I believe that provided you with your higher understanding, which gave them such remarkable test results when they removed the old processor.”
“You mean that’s what seems to direct the body’s amazing ability to adapt and maintain itself?” I asked.
“Yes, the secular way of looking at it.”
I thought about this for a moment. “The night before Emma and I left for Phoenix, we made love and the energy just rode up my spine and exploded in my head; my old neural processor seemed to feed on it and kind of expanded it parameters. All very natural.”
“Yes, like I suggested earlier, since the Kundalini energy is the spark that animates organisms and their components, the cells of the body, including those of these processors, would feed on the energy and treat it as … family, not foe—or not something to change or adapt.”
“I wonder if this is another way of approaching this … challenge.”
Maria just nodded her head. I could see where this line of questioning was leading and it surprised and delighted me.
“Well, I’m willing if you are,” I said.
Maria smiled. “You understand that I don’t have romantic attachments, nor have I had a … sexual partner in some time. Most men can’t handle my energy, but I feel that if we were to … make love, the Kundalini energy that would erupt in you from this conjoining, given its more natural base, might greatly affect this experimental processor, in ways that would be harder to detect or account for, or even for us to control.”
“Yes,” I said, having an epiphany. “Both our sides are trying to ‘fix’ it according to their limited perspective, so why not let the body do it according to its broader designs.”
“Exactly,” Maria replied.
I stood up. “Well, shall we?”
“Give me a few minutes to fill the bathtub and turn on the jets, and get … situated.”
“Is there a separate shower?” I asked.
“Yes, of course. In the guest room. Here, let me show you.”
Maria walked down the hallway to her bedroom—the guest room was halfway down the hall. I went inside and took a shower. There was a terry-cloth robe in the closet that I put on, and then I walked back to Maria’s room. “I’m in here, Alan.” I walked into the bathroom, which was dominated by a large floor-level Jacuzzi, where Maria sat amidst the foaming bubbles of the air jets. I removed my robe and slipped into the tub. While her body was largely exposed, I don’t think I ever took my eyes off hers, which seemed to glow in the candlelight. We just sat there in the water and soaked while we stared at each other; there was no erotic washing of body parts, kissing or cuddling, but more like a melding of spirits. Her energy was so powerful that I struggled just to stay conscious. At some point I suggested that we better retire to the bedroom before I nodded off. We slipped out of the tub, toweled ourselves off, and walked into the bedroom.
There were candles everywhere. Maria suggested that we just sit across from each other for a moment, gazing into each other’s eyes as we had in the tub. It was becoming increasingly difficult for me to remain conscious. At some point I found myself sitting up with Maria’s legs wrapped around me, straddling me and gently controlling the flow of our lovemaking. I closed my eyes and could feel the Kundalini energy surging up my spine and exploding in my cranium. A charge much more powerful than any delivered by her hands-on healing or my previous Kundalini rising experiences. However, the processor didn’t trigger heart palpitations or any other traumatic reaction, and it seemed not only “comfortable” with the energy, but fed on it like we had suggested and one could only hope—adapted it as well.
At another point, I saw Maria naked and gorgeous, or that was my perception of her despite her aging body. But, mostly I just closed my eyes and melded into the magnificent energy. At some point I must’ve fallen asleep, because the breeze from the open window woke me and I found myself alone in her bed, the comforter pulled over me. I assumed she had retired to the guest room, and that our conjoining was not about sleeping together, but exchanging energy and exploring the outer reaches of my capacity to activate the body’s own natural intelligence. I fell off to sleep again. In the morning I showered and got dressed and walked out to the living room. Maria was sitting at the patio table, sipping tea and eating toast. I sat down next to her as she poured me a cup and we just sat there and stared out into the glorious morning. There was little else to say.
49.
The next day we started to work together without being self-conscious or feeling any need to repeat our previous conjoining. As with anybody you’ve become “intimate” with, there was another level of affection and concern, but it was all rather transpersonal, as my psychologist would have probably called it. What we discovered from my feeling/integration process and comparing it to the Kundalini awakening, was that the body seemed to have a dual mechanism to accommodate various kinds of energy. Repeated healings, as well as my own feeling/integration process, showed some progress in terms of evolving the processor, but Maria could sense when my Kundalini energy naturally arose—apparently I had jump-started a process that became ongoing without further “stimulation”—and it did much more. Since Hal was out of reach—we didn’t dare try any form of electronic communication—we were pretty much left on our own to explore this phenomenon and draw our own conclusions.
June was kept updated on our progress. A few weeks later, we had lunch together at Maria’s residence and talked about what was happening and what came next.
“Well, as you know,” June started out, drawing on her classical education, “science has determined that random mutation happens much too slowly to be the driving engine of evolution and that organisms have some kind of feedback loop with their environment. One twentieth-century scientist equated it with how mathematical algorithms operate and called it ‘ecorithms.’ We call it the etheric body, but we think you’ve tapped into this ‘mechanism’ and started a process that may have surprising results … eventually.”
I nodded my head and understood what she was saying, but Maria had a little trou
ble with this explanation. I tried to clarify it, “The Kundalini energy has affected the cells of my neural processor, and since any upgrades would start with these precursor cells, that spark of life would be transferred to them and be self-sustaining long after these neural processors have been installed in other people.”
“And your handlers and their scientists won’t detect this underlying process?” Maria asked.
I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t think even Hal could say for sure, but it’s our best shot at having them replicate a neural processor that may … ‘have a mind of its own,’ if you’ll excuse the extended metaphor.”
Maria nodded her head. “So we’re finished?”
“Yes, I think we’ve done what we can do, and now we just need to set up my excuse to have them do the exchange. But, I might add, given your concern for me, that it’s not only evolved this processor but my neocortex as well, and I’m operating at a whole another level with it.”
Maria nodded her head and then looked to June.
June added, “Well, even though you haven’t participated in our healer’s apprenticeship, you’re probably more advanced than any of them, and we could have you ‘treat’ a few volunteer patients. The influx of healing energy may trigger your heart palpitations and give you an excuse to get back to them and have the processor taken out.”
Maria and I nodded our heads. June added, “Okay, I’ll set up appointments for the day after tomorrow.”
This sudden end to our work together seemed to affect Maria. June detected it and made her excuses to leave us alone. We remained seated across from each other in her living room and just looked at each other, and let the energy between us circulate. It began to build and I could feel the Kundalini energy start to move up my spine. I closed my eyes as it exploded in my cranium, or what Maria would call my crown chakra. I just rode with the waves of energy but was able this time to stay conscious until it dissipated. I opened my eyes to Maria smiling and I said, “You see. It is self-sustaining.”
Maria stared at me for a long moment. “Alan, our time together is rapidly coming to an end, and I’m already feeling the loss and grieving your absence, which is new to me and a little disturbing. We think we’ve gone beyond such attachments, but I guess what we’re seeing here with this experiment of ours, is that these connections really define our humanity, since it’s this coupling that initiates the evolutionary energy. It’s what most people have instinctively figured out, if not at this level, but we seem to come at it from the top down, instead of the bottom up.”
I had to laugh at this analogy. “Well, my bottom-up relationships haven’t been as fulfilling.”
Maria nodded then took a deep breath and let it out. “Let’s gather up June and Brad and go to dinner at the Iguana Café. It’s been a while and I guess we have something to celebrate.”
It was a marvelous dinner and a great celebration and I don’t think I’ve ever felt more connected with others and with myself than at this stage of our journey together—I guess you could say it that way. It was short-lived, however. My second healing session, a few days later, brought on heart palpitations. I called Musgrave and told him what was happening during my healing sessions at the Institute and that I needed to come in for a checkup. It was set for Friday; I still needed a few days to recover before I could drive back, and a little more time to say my goodbyes. I settled up my bill before I left Friday morning, figuring I wouldn’t be coming back or not anytime soon.
Chapter Seventeen
50.
The next morning I drove back to Phoenix and pulled into the Air Force Base late morning. Since this wasn’t an emergency NP extraction like Jean’s, there was no medical team waiting for me, just another military grunt who walked back to the same conference room. Klaus was patiently awaiting my arrival. I sat down across from him.
“Is Musgrave going to join us?” I asked.
Dr. Klaus gave me a smirky little smile. “Agent Musgrave has returned to Washington, his part of this operation completed.”
This was interesting. “So I’m not going back to Jerome, and we’re not going to do a double agent insertion?”
“Alan. Please give me more credit than that.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“You must be aware by now that this agent protocol was merely a ploy on our part, to get you exposed to Fria’s energy, stimulate your development, and gauge both effects on your two neural processors.”
I wondered if he could be conceding this scenario or flushing me out. “I figured that there was more to it than Musgrave’s infiltration plan.”
Klaus nodded his head then glanced down at his computer screen. “So, you enlisted in their healer’s apprenticeship, but once you started giving hands-on healing, the energy caused heart palpitations?”
“Well, all apprentices get introductory healings from Fria, and that’s when I had my first reaction and got palpitations.”
“This didn’t occur with your first ‘healing’ from her back when?”
“No, that was rather benign but … this isn’t the same neural processor, is it?” I asked.
Klaus again nodded his head. “When did you first detect any … difference?”
I thought through my answer. “On the drive back to Jerome. I was getting strange feedback and contrary thoughts from the beginning.”
“Contrary?”
“Well, I’d have a feeling and it would integrate pretty well, but sometimes I’d get contrary mental feedback.”
“Can you give me an example?” he asked.
“I felt that I was getting too much sun exposure and raised the tinting on my car windows, and then I got to thinking that the sun’s rays are actually good for me.”
“Excellent.”
“Maybe for you, but not for me, if I don’t want to get skin cancer,” I said angrily without feigning the emotion. “You could have warned me that this was some sort of ‘modified’ processor.”
“But then that would have defeated the whole purpose of not only its insertion, but this whole mission.”
“Which was what?”
“Well, Alan, I’ve said enough until we’ve taken a close look at your neural processor and how it’s functioning now.”
“You expect something that different?” I asked.
Klaus stood up. “I expected you to be you, and it to be it, and the dance you did together is what really interests me.”
So we were right, I thought to myself. I remained seated, not sure what came next.
“Alan, the MP will take you to the mess for lunch before our flight.”
“Flight?”
“We’re flying back to New York for your NP extraction, since there’s another level of follow-up that needs to take place afterward.”
The military grunt stepped into the room. I stood up. “And what about Emma, what’s happening with her?” I asked.
“The FBI has her in custody in New York, so it’ll be one happy family reunion.”
“I doubt that.”
After a quick bite to eat in the base cafeteria, I was introduced to Agent Barclay, a big muscle-bound guy who would be my chaperon and guard. I assumed he was FBI and not DIA, or any other military outfit, since this was looking more and more like a political/civilian operation. We walked out and met Dr. Klaus on the tarmac and boarded a sleek civilian jet, which would probably only take a few hours to cross the country. Klaus sat in the front at a workstation, and I was escorted to the back where Barclay sat down next to me. At least they didn’t cuff me to the arm of the seat. The agent picked up a magazine and started to read it. I wasn’t interested in any conversation either, but they’d taken away my portable and the entertainment options on the seat video weren’t to my liking. So I just closed my eyes and processed the negative feelings that Klaus and his deception routine had recently triggered in me.
“Are you having a fit or something,” Barclay asked at some point, after my body did a couple of muscle-spasm shifts, which the i
ntegration process caused.
I opened my eyes. “No. It’s part of my internal processing.”
He shook his head. “If you say so, buddy. But I’ll just move over to the next seat and give you some room.”
“Don’t worry, it’s not contagious.” I smirked, but he just shook his head. It was all Greek to him.
Just before we landed, Klaus came back and took Barclay’s seat. “Alan, I was watching you on the remote camera earlier and heard your exchange with Agent Barclay.”
“And?”
“Your internal process?” he asked.
I wasn’t feeling in a particularly generous mood. “Something I might share with you, when I get something I want.”
“Oh, so we’re at the bargaining stage already.”
“Since I’m your prisoner and not your collaborator, don’t expect my ready cooperation.”
“Alan, you’re a K Industries agent, who’s undertaken a particularly tricky assignment for the federal government. Why would you think you’re a prisoner or that our relationship has changed?”
“One is usually honest and aboveboard with collaborators, but you’ve deceived me from the beginning of this operation, replaced my processor of choice with an experimental device without my knowledge, and I’m being guarded by a federal thug. You tell me.”
“By necessity we couldn’t read you into the whole program—above your security clearance,” he added.
“Yeah, well I don’t buy it.”
Klaus stared at me for a long moment. “Well, you’re certainly no prisoner, but just for curiosity sake, what is it that you want from us?”
I turned in my seat. “I want Emma Knowles release from your custody, her record expunged, full back pay, and her time on this mission properly compensated.”
Klaus gave this some thought. “I’ll take this up with my superiors.” He stood up. “Buckle up. We should be landing shortly.”
It was night by now and I could see the jet bypass lit up New York City, with its many airports, and fly along the Long Island coast, and then land at a private airport. A limousine was waiting for us. Klaus sat in the front and Barclay and me in the back. It was a short drive to the Bradbury Institute. I should’ve known. This was all about their little cash cow, NP fiefdom, and I was the alpha tester for their new neural processor and soon to be their beta tester, no doubt. Well, we’d see about that, I thought.