With These Eyes
Title Page
Part 1 - Age of Angels
Part 2 - Quest for the Truth
Part 3 - Light and Shadow
Part 4 - Dawn of an Epoch
With These Eyes
A Modern Mythology by
Horst Steiner
To my mother
and the spirit of my father,
in gratitude.
Based on an Idea by
Horst Steiner
& Ben Jacob
Good Energy Press
A Story of
Friendship and Love
That Transcends All.
With These Eyes
Horst Steiner
Copyright 2010 by Horst Steiner
Smashwords Edition
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 9781301337033
02 03 04 05 06
“It is our fate to live during one of the most perilous and, at the same time, one of the most hopeful chapters in human history... Will we see our species safely through this difficult passage so that our children and grandchildren will continue the great journey of discovery still deeper into the mysteries of the Cosmos?
That same…technology that sends our ships past the farthest known planet can also be used to destroy our global civilization.
Exactly the same technology can be used
for good and for evil.”
Carl Edward Sagan, Astrophysicist
“The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion…
Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism.”
Albert Einstein, Physicist
“At the heart of the Lotus Sutra lies one intrinsic principle, namely, that all living beings are endowed with the Ten Worlds [including Buddhahood]. A human being, for example, is made up of the four elements [earth, water, fire, and wind]. Lacking any one of these, no person can exist.
This principle of the Ten Worlds applies not only to living beings. All things that make up the objective and the subjective worlds, as well as insentient beings such as plants and trees and so on down to the tiniest speck of dust, are every one of them endowed with the Ten Worlds.”
Nichiren Daishonin, Buddhist Philosopher
Part 1 - Age of Angels
1 SCORCHED JUNGLE
Our story begins with a look 20 years into the past...
The mighty Amazon river wound its way across the south American continent. Like an artery, it carried and distributed life force to the farthest reaches. The river was low. It had been an unusually hot summer across the hemisphere and the monsoons were overdue. The storm that was brewing blew a breath of relief into the tired jungle.
A short distance from the river’s banks, nestled somewhere in the thick, green jungle laid a serene little village. The weekly mail barge was tied off by the water's edge. Engaged with the mailman, Horacio, was Gemma de Fleur. Gemma was the only woman with European skin tones in the entire village. A very active woman in her 70s, Gemma's deeply tan complexion bore witness to years in the tropical sun. Her hair showed more grey than brown, but youth remained ever strong in her eyes and smile. She handed Horacio a carefully packaged parcel, marked urgent. A colorful collection of stamps depicting plants and animals of the wild decorated the top portion of the plain-brown package. A small monkey curiously watched the exchange from a nearby palm tree.
"Please take good care of this for me, Horacio."
The young man’s face barely showed that Gemma had asked him this before. He had made the mail-run every week since his father had left him the boat and retired. Horacio knew the route well. After all, he practically grew up on the boat and often told Gemma of his outings. Because she asked him every week to be careful and he had never lost a package, Horacio knew how important this was to Gemma.
"Of course I will", he replied. "I'll keep an eye on it until I load it onto the plane. It's in good hands." His warm smile underlined the sincerity glimmering in his eyes.
A sense of ease came to Gemma. She replied, "Thanks Horacio, I know it is. You should get going; it looks like the rains are finally here."
Horacio looked at the sky. Black storm clouds were quickly covering every bit of blue. Gemma untied Horacio's boat and threw him the line. It was apparent that she was no stranger to travel on water.
"Thanks for the cookies!"
Gemma folded her hands before her chest and mouthed, "you're welcome" as Horacio started the boat's motor. The noise of the engine overpowered that of the storm until he puttered off down-river. Gemma smiled as she watched the boat disappear around the bend. She headed back on the dirt-road that lead to her house. The storm was picking up. Branches and wilted frowns were detaching from their mother plants and turning into projectiles under the force of the wind. Gemma was busy dodging the hailstorm of tree parts and debris from the village. A large branch broke off just ahead of Gemma. It thundered to the ground, missing a little puma cub by inches. Scared, the young cat ran behind an adjacent tree.
Gemma looked around, no puma would leave her cub to the elements like this. Then again, it would have been very unusual for a family of big cats to come this close to the village. There wasn't a single puma in sight besides the little one. Gemma realized that its parents were likely on their way to becoming the main course in a bizarre wildlife buffet at a corporate function far away.
"Did the poachers get your parents?"
The little cub looked lost. The wind shot a branch into the ground next to the puma like a spear. Gemma knew the cat wouldn't live more than a day or two before hunters or natural predators would put an end to its short-lived existence. Without considering much else, she chased after the cub. Gemma had only taken a few steps away from the path when the vegetation became significantly thicker. It became difficult to walk, the thick jungle kept out much of the storm and provided shelter for them both. The wind was saturated with the strong smell of cloves. The scent originated from the many choji trees that the Apophis Corporation had planted when the hospital was built. Gemma caught sight of the cub as it ran to hide in a hollow tree that laid on the ground ahead. She went over to the stump and looked inside. The interior was pitch-black. Only the cat's eyes were visible as they reflected the minute amount of light that fell inside the hollow wood.
"C'mon out. I have some food for you in my hut."
The little puma's eyes seemed to grow to the size of saucers in anticipation, but fear kept it from leaving the safety of the tree.
"I see I'm going to have to convince you that you really can't live in there."
Gemma climbed into the wooden tunnel. It was damp and slippery from moss that covered its walls. The cub made no attempt to move. Gemma knew she'd be there for a while. Shielded by the thick jungle and the solid barrier of damp wood around her, Gemma noticed little of the storm's severity now raging over the village. Amidst the heavy hail of tree parts, villagers were rushing to bring their animals and possessions to safety. A couple was struggling with a few chickens that the wind would not allow to get inside. The clouds were thick and the fleet of airliners that had striped the sky with cloud-seeding chemicals had long returned to their hangars. The storm clouds were much thicker than regular monsoon clouds. It seemed like the sun was setting in the middle of the day. The villagers knew this was going to be a tough storm. People, animals and debris were everywhere.
Suddenly, the wind stopped. Everyone froze in their tracks - the whole village came to a halt. It was an uncomfortable quiet, as if the big bad wolf was holding his breath right bef
ore he would blow the house down. At once, every pet and farm-animal alike raced towards the safety of the jungle. Moments later, a catastrophic downpour was dousing the area. Within seconds, the energy from the falling water droplets had supercharged the cloud cover and a barrage of lightning bolts struck every tree throughout the settlement.
A storm of fire and electricity consumed every building, plant and person within the village boundaries. Like an array of lightning bolts, the choji trees drew in lightning from the clouds. With every drop of rain, the clouds' charge increased and for a solid minute, for every lightning strike two new ones would emerge until there was nothing left but scorched earth and smoke.
Not even a hint of any of the brilliant lives that were just extinguished, not a trace of a building or any sign of civilization remained.
2 ISABELLE AND HER CAT
The rest of our story picks up in modern-day Los Angeles.
The sun had just risen over Southern California. An early spring was in the air. It was the beginning of what promised to become a beautiful day for the angels who were so abundant, the city had been named in their honor.
Gemma's daughter, 28 year-old investigative reporter Isabelle de Fleur, was working out behind her house. The young woman ran along the extensive fitness trail that lead through her abundant, jungle-like garden. Her light skin glistened with sweat in the orange morning sun. Isabelle’s dark hair was flowing in the wind as she jumped over one of many obstacles along the course.
Running shortly behind Isabelle was her puma Tonati. He was a stunningly beautiful cat. His tan fur glistened majestically. A few leaps and Tonati had passed Isabelle on her course. The puma disappeared into the bushes behind the next turn of the trail. Just as Isabelle came around the corner, Tonati jumped at her from behind a bush. The force of the leaping cat knocked Isabelle to the ground. The puma let out a triumphant roar.
"My turn!" said Isabelle laughingly.
Tonati made off, running down the trail. The young woman jumped up and ran after her furry companion.
"You're not going to hide from me again," she puffed, keeping her eyes on Tonati.
Isabelle knew, she wouldn't catch up with the puma's swift speed. Tonati followed the trail as it serpentined down the wall of the canyon at the edge of her yard. The large branches of a banana tree by the side of the trail cast their first shadows of the day over the ravine. She used her momentum to get into the tree. It took her only a few leaps and Isabelle had reached the end of a branch. She grabbed two very large leaves which bent downward under her weight. All the tugging and shaking broke loose a good portion of the plant's green fruit. In a hailstorm of unripened bananas, Isabelle landed on the trail below. Her feet hit the ground only yards in front of a charging Tonati. In a single bound, the large cat came to a dead stop with his nose just inches from Isabelle. He roared and Isabelle gave him a loving hug.
"Nice workout."
Just a little later, Isabelle stood behind the counter of her truly amazing kitchen. Her center of food preparation was the perfect marriage of nature and technology. It was only partially indoors. The rest of it made a smooth transition to the garden. Several tightly-spaced trees acted as one of the walls where the structure of the house ended. A large granite island stretched across the center of the kitchen and extended to the outside. A sliding glass partition for the island and two large glass doors allowed Isabelle to close the kitchen off from the elements outside.
Isabelle stood at the island. On the counter was her breakfast consisting of several rare fruits from her garden, as well as a pile of bananas. Tonati laid on the ground beside her. She carefully cut the fruit and set the seeds aside so she could plant them later. A couple of ripe bananas were sizzling in the frying pan. On the counter laid a file folder brimming with print-outs and photocopies. Its cover bore a label.
New Energy Sources
Isabelle went over to her refrigerator. A note on the door reminded her of a dentist appointment the next morning.
In a drawer that had Tonati's face on it was nothing but red meat, the only carnivorous food anywhere in sight. The puma's eyes grew big when Isabelle reached into the drawer and took out a pack of beef.
With an encouraging voice she said, "You should be happy, you almost beat me."
Tonati snarled and with breakfast in Isabelle's hands, they headed outside the kitchen where a dining area was built into the rock. Isabelle placed the tray with food on her very rustic breakfast table. She lovingly set Tonati's dish on the ground. He let out a sound that almost made him appear like a house cat before he began to devour the food in his bowl. He paused for a moment and looked Isabelle in the eyes, as if asking her a question.
"I left them inside. Nothing gets by you, does it?" Isabelle said to him.
She stood up and walked back inside only to return with a little satchel. Isabelle briefly swabbed her shoulder with an alcohol pad. She removed one of a row of preloaded syringes from the little satchel. The liquid inside the glass cylinder looked a bit like celery juice with a very unusual shimmer to it. It was clearly nothing like what one would get out of a stalk of celery. Isabelle injected the contents of the hypodermic into her shoulder.
Together, Isabelle and Tonati were enjoying their breakfast. Colorful butterflies filled the air and a swarm of green parrots landed on the trees around them. It was as if for a moment they had left the smoggy landscape of the megalopolis and gone to a faraway tropical jungle.
Her neighbors were saying the parrots were the descendants of a swarm that had escaped from a pet store, but Isabelle thought otherwise. She had noticed that with the changes California’s climate had experienced, other non-native creatures had made the city their home. There was little doubt in her mind that the birds had migrated here in an effort to adapt to the variance in temperature. Either way, she welcomed their presence.
After breakfast, Isabelle perused the contents of the file about new sources of energy. She leafed through an abundance of documents, a few of which were discussing concepts of new inventions that claimed to produce energy without the use of fuel. The author of a very extensive dissertation claimed to have turned an ordinary electro-motor into a perpetual motion device by adding magnets. The paper stated that the device was able to provide a continuous flow of current while propelling itself.
Isabelle smiled. She turned to her puma and commented, "Tonati, I wonder what kids actually learn in school." She drew a pink slash across the page and pulled out the next document, which sported the picture of a luminous orb. The title read:
Scientists have proven the existence of an alternate universe.
Isabelle was fascinated by this idea. She carefully read the paper from beginning to end. The paper claimed that an adjacent universe was entirely comprised of anti-matter. Isabelle remembered from college that anti-matter was in principle no different than the material that filled our realm, except for one fact: The charges of subatomic particles were reversed. This meant the nucleus of such an atom would have a negative charge with a positively-charged particle, a positron, in its orbit, where in our world a negative electron would be found. Isabelle realized how profound this knowledge was. "If particles from the two universes touched, they'd become pure energy," she thought to herself. A chill ran through her body, making the hair on her arms stand on end. The only real scientific proof would be to open a portal to a place where no one could ever go. It would be solely a place of pure, unlimited energy.
Isabelle realized this knowledge had the potential to change the direction of mankind's journey.
3 THE PONYTAIL AND THE CHICKEN
At the same time across town, the city's newest chicken restaurant was celebrating its grand opening. Like most commercial enterprises, the Chicken Palace was a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Apophis Corporation. This event, however, was more than just the opening of another fast food place that served genetically engineered meat. For its first few hours of operation the newly-opened facility was to serve as the backdrop fo
r America's most popular television show, Pin the Ponytail.
This came on the morning after the great merger of the last two corporations remaining. Following hostile takeovers of virtually every small business in the nation and around the world, the two had nothing left to go after but each other. Neither corporation was about to give up its seat of power, so the head of Apophis, industrial magnate Gene Soskyh, devised a plan that would further strengthen his company's power and be too attractive to resist for his opponent, the Tefis Corporation. He offered Tefis all of Apophis' energy-related facilities, from mining and generating to distribution, giving them the global monopoly on the production and distribution of energy. In exchange, Apophis had acquired all of Tefis' facilities of raw materials, production and sale of goods and services. This had made Apophis the sole provider of tangible goods. There were only a few independent businesses left, but Gene, now the most powerful man in the world, had plans for them, as well.
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