“Where do I fit in?”
“You are balance. You are yin, and yang; you are wisdom, and you are the Middle Way.
“Misti is the representation and paradigm of the physical world, with all the beauty of nature, and sensory fulfillment that this reality promises. She is Earth.
“Noki is the opposite; she is the representation, and paradigm of the other reality, the Universe of the Infinite. She embodies spirit, the soul and all that is intangible; her realm is the mind, not the brain. She is Sky, Heaven.”
One governs in poetry, the realm of the ethereal, the possible and the spiritual. The other governs in prose, the realm of the physical, the practical and what is.
Adam paused. Alana listened as if hearing something for the second time, but only now understanding its meaning.
Adam continued. “You are the soul whose realm lays between heaven and earth; you are Balance, and hope. You are what might be, what the human race aspires to, and the dreams of a future happy life on this small blue realm. You are the embodiment of all that is sensuous, deriving as it may from all that is spiritual. For those who will choose to acknowledge, and follow the Way, a choice will be made between Heaven, Earth and Balance. That choice will not be easy, but you are the embodiment of a world that will be at peace, choosing to accept what God has granted, never again out of balance. Your progeny will become the great leaders of the future, understanding on a deep level the demands, and sacrifices that Balance mandates.
“Both those of the Earth, and those of the Sky, will accept the judgment of the Balance and the Way. It will not be religion; it will be an approach to life itself, understood, and accepted by all peoples, all cultures, and all religions. It will contradict nothing and comprehend everything.
“This is your destiny and it is your destiny to forever be connected to me, to Misti, and to Noki. The connections to me will not be the same for each of you; you will all travel different, difficult, and perilous paths. Your connection to me will be your path to the Way. And, without care, it will also be the means of your own destruction.”
Alana took this all in, unsurprised by what Adam had to say. Somehow, she now understood that the conversation she wished to have with Adam today was the one they were just now having. One she already “knew” but, until now, had suppressed or not felt ready to hear.
“Are you saying that my intense desire to connect with you physically, sexually, and to explore the mind journey we began in Hawaii, was already known to you?”
“It was.”
“I guess I don’t really need to ask much more.”
“Unless you want to share recipes. I foresee a great collaboration in the kitchen.”
“You see that too?”
“Oh, hell no, Alana! I was just hoping that would be the case. I think you’ll be amazing at everything you’ll do. I just hope you enjoy cooking with me.”
Alana smiled and said quietly, “Misti and Noki are moving out for a while. They think we need to be alone to get this new arrangement started.”
“I agree.”
“You horny?”
“Hard as a rock. Not sure I can even walk in a straight line right now.”
“No need. Stay right where you are. Let me see if I can fix that temporarily.”
Chapter 36
It wasn’t as if Adam had abandoned Noki or refused to see his wife, but he certainly felt that way at times. The situation was, to say the least, unusual and although his new, and growing relationship with Alana was immensely important to him, he knew he had other obligations to fulfill, and a great many things on the menu in need of attention. Work was a matter he could arrange or rearrange; Adam’s capacity to work even while sleeping was a neat trick that made more time in the real world available to him for his family, and those he loved the most. Besides, they needed him, and he needed them. His personal relationships were no burden to him; they were his greatest joy.
Time compression and conscious recollection weren’t always possible. When it was, he productivity reflected that of a life time; his work on this to one day allow the fusion of the conscious, and unconscious mind.
Time away from Noki was the most difficult. She was acceptingly supportive of the arrangement, though she missed his warmth, and his comforting words she had become accustomed to every night, and throughout every day. He attended to all her needs from odd food cravings to cuddling, and her mental excursions with him each night were sorely missed. If Noki had learned anything new in her time away from Adam, it was how much she truly missed his intimate presence in every aspect of her daily life.
Around Adam she felt a safety, and security that was more than physical, and emotional; it went far deeper into the very core of her existence. It was inexplicable, but very real. Noki realized she loved Adam and that this special time with him during her pregnancy was drawing to a close. She didn’t want to contemplate a future that might not include him. She had been assured that nothing would fundamentally change; perhaps he would need to share more of his nights with Misti and Alana, but Noki would claim on a lot of his time. He was, after all, the father of their soon-to-be-born son and his first-born child.
***
Growing up she had been an ‘only child’ and, while her parents doted on her, she was the ethnically Chinese, and an outsider in a small Latino Texas border town. She had friends, but none were close. Her community was Catholic and devout. The Lee family was Buddhist. Noki’s religion was first Buddhist, then later, fairly devout Catholic. She never saw one as in opposition to the other.
College was more of the same, coming as she did from a culture that prized education, and disciplined studiousness. While her friends were going to parties, and planning badass Spring Break vacations, Noki hit the books. She wasn’t unfriendly, but at a time in her life when she should’ve been developing personal relationships, and making hideous personal mistakes she could laugh at later, she wasn’t. She should’ve been having a little fun; instead she took to college like a sixty hour a week job. When the weekends rolled around she was either sleeping in on Saturday mornings or prepping for the week ahead on Sunday.
Noki was intensely competitive and driven. Her parents were proud, not just of her grades, and accomplishments, but of the young woman she had become. And they wanted her to meet a nice Chinese boy, settle down, and produce grandkids that they could spoil rotten.
Then there was ROTC, and that took up what little time was left over. When she graduated at age twenty-two from Berkeley, she had achieved academically at a very high level, and was ready to join the Army Officer Corp. Her fluency in Mandarin, and her degree with highest Honors, landed her in Army Intelligence and multiple assignments overseas. When she eventually left the Army six years later, she was recruited by the CIA. She declined the opportunity, and instead decided on a life in the private sector with free time, and the promise of romance. The CIA understood, and said if she ever changed her mind, the door would always be open. But if they were to lose out, they would be good sports, and recommend her to a gentleman they knew who was recruiting for a job in Cambodia. It required high level security clearances, which she had, and the pay would be exceptional. The archeologist and his two sons were old friends of the Agency and often cross-referred exceptional talent.
Noki started out as little more than an archeology intern and ended up as second in command to the very odd fellow from Barrows Bay, British Columbia. She joined the dig after Edward, and the boys had already left from their summer adventure, but he would pop up in Cambodia from time to time to check on progress. After that, she worked on a number of his projects, but field work wasn’t her thing. Travel around the world was, and that was something she didn’t mind at all. Edward kept her busy in his forensics practice, and her reputation grew.
When this opportunity surfaced, promising work for years to come, she jumped at the chance.
***
Noki’s life had now changed in ways she could
n’t have imagined. Even if her pregnancy could be ignored, her life with the Clan St. James. and all the weirdness that that entailed, was the stuff of fiction. She lived with two other women, each of whom, along with her, were having sexual relations with the same man. And the mind journeys weren’t exactly in her job description either.
But the real bonus was family. Her parents were now dead, and she was pretty much on her own and alone in the world. She had family back in Hong Kong somewhere, but what did she know of them or the world they inhabited? She was American through and through, and whatever cultural conflicts she felt probably had more to do with deciding whether her hometown team ought to be the Astros or the Rangers. Noki had felt like an outsider all her life until London, Barrows Bay and now the Manor.
Now she was part of something, and not just a lucrative role in the project. The work was a pleasant distraction. But her life with Adam, her deep abiding friendship, and kinship with Rod and Cindy, her acceptance into the sisterhood with Misti and Alana, and her family connection to Edward and Bethy, Edmund, and Pops was a comfort and a joy. She felt loved, needed and appreciated in all aspects of her being.
She adored Rod and Cindy’s girls, and spent hours with them. They looked after her, as little girls do, and accepted her immediately as family. For her part, Noki followed the example of Misti and paid attention to them, spoiling them in small ways, and conspiring to engage in all manner of little girl mischief.
She was welcome everywhere in Barrows Bay, and the Manor, even with Maria, and had found her home and purpose in life.
***
For Alana, the world had changed too. She thought she knew how different her life would be, but she really had no idea. The changes came at rapid fire, from her new sexuality with a man, to the deep psychic, and emotional connections she was forming with Adam and Misti, to the journeys and horizons that were opening up for her in a world she had never conceived could exist.
Alana’s experience in Hawaii was nothing compared to what she now able to do. At first Alana felt trepidation that her connection to Adam would turn out to be a ‘bad trip’, as it had been in Hawaii. But it wasn’t. This time Adam was in complete control, and guided Alana in baby steps to places, and experiences that she could enjoy with him by her side or, later, by herself. After a week, she was an adventurer, unafraid of the journey, and craving more, and more experience. After two weeks, the training wheels were completely off, and her voyages of discovery became unique to her, her work and her deepest desires. Like Adam, she found time compression to be immensely gratifying, and eminently practical. She spent some of her time on work, as did Adam, some of her time luxuriating in a new sensuality she shared with him, and much of her time exploring her new world, her expanded family, and the wonders of a Universe now open wide for her to sample.
There was just so much to do. So much.
Unlike Noki, she preferred returning to the real world to have luscious physical sex while connected to Adam’s mind, and reveled in the sheer sensuality, and depth of her new mind/body experience. Her erotic adventures with Misti had been deeply exciting, and pleasurable, but in the world of erotic fulfillment, her pleasures with Adam, fused as they were with both mind and body, were without equal. There was something both pleasurable and ethereal about the experience that neither the mind nor the body alone could produce. It was tangible, real, yet completed by every thought, every nuance of the inner joy she felt. For Alana, everything that was real in her new experience of the Universe was connected through Adam. If this was to be her life, she was overjoyed.
There was much to explore, and explore she would with Adam and, when the time came, with Misti too. Alana wouldn’t give up her life with the woman she loved; she would be greedy and make room for the two souls who had shown her a life that was beyond fantasy. It was unbounded by reality and knew no limit on the depths of fulfillment that could be achieved.
In their final week of exclusivity together, Adam said that it was time for her to go to work at her other job. He would take her to the doorsteps of the universal library she was to visit, and there she would construct a new path for the future. She would have a workshop only she could enter.
And there she would be free to pursue her work, or not.
In her workshop, she would define the parameters of the Balance, and imagine the elements that would become the Way. She could share parts if she desired; but the elements of, and keys to the Way were with her. When she left the realm of the physical, and passed into the light, she would turn over the keys of the workshop to another. An acolyte chosen by her.
This work would take up the whole of her life, and the fruits of her labor celebrated over the many long millennia to come.
She began in the last week of her “vacation” with Adam. And she began alone.
Chapter 37
The phone rang in Paulo’s office in at precisely 10:00 am. Demitri Asinamayov was in the office with him, and his brother Enzo, shackled tightly, and looking worse for the wear. Enzo had spent the few last months since their move to North Carolina in a small 4’ by 6’ cell, with little contact with his fellow Gens, and treated badly as the traitor he was thought to be. Adam, known to Paulo only as Alan, had requested the presence of Enzo for the call today. The conversation today would demonstrate again just how poorly Paulo had assessed the situation, especially when it came to his brother. Little had been done to restore confidence in leadership as almost all the Gens Collective communications, and propaganda machine was still in the hands of Saldana Ri, and the Black Shirts.
Virtually all the Gens Collective techies in America, the location of the Gens global communication infrastructure, had been seduced, in one way or another, by Saldana Ri, and her minions. The tech folks in the US had made sure that the only administrative access to the Gens secret sites was by authorized personnel, and only Black Shirt collaborators were authorized. Security measures had been radically altered just before the Incident took place.
Paulo answered the phone. “Alan, nice to hear from you. What’s on your mind today? And what do you want with my brother?”
“I asked to have him in the room, so you can all hear what we have to say. And I understand that your principal goon, Asinamayov, is also present?”
“I’m pretty sure you know he is, so why not get to the point while we’re still young?”
“Fair enough. We have intercepted and analyzed virtually all your communications for the past year and a half. We have all your research, strategic plans, and everything you ever had on any of your servers. We know what is in your Great Libraries, and where they are. In sum, we know everything there is to know about you. The Book, written by your faux uncle, Tomas di Gensarii, is an enlightening read for those interested in understanding who you are, your origins, your social, and political structure, and your plans for humanity.
“We have accessed your banking, and financial records, and we know where your money is, how much and who has authorization to access it. We have every username, and password for every site you own, and for every site you have access to. In short, we can make you destitute at a moment’s notice.
“In addition, we know everything there is to know about your rogue elements, the Black Shirts, and have similarly gained access their records, data and financial resources. We know where they’re and what they’re doing. That’s significantly more information than you have. In fact, Paulo, I think you have almost nothing.”
“Thank-you Alan, but I seriously doubt any of your story could be true. We’d know if it was.”
“Suit yourself. But why don’t you check the account balances at a few of your banks. We’ll hold.”
Paulo logged on his computer and checked three different banks with which BioGen had financial relationships. Each bank had been drained of all funds on deposit. In the notes section of the BioGen account was a message with a smiley face signed by Alan.
“OK. I see you aren’t bluffing. Now what exactly i
s it that you want?”
“We have a mutual interest in stopping the Black Shirt Movement dead in its tracks. We have a mutual interest in catching, and ridding the world of Saldana Ri, and her chief lieutenants. You can either help with this task, or not. If not, then the fate of the Black Shirts will also be your fate, and the fate of the Gens Collective worldwide.”
“Mighty bold statement, if you ask me. If we can’t find them and stop them, then what makes you think you can?”
“As I said, we already know where they are, and what they are up to. We have identified their leadership, their political structures, their managers, their banks and their cash reserves. For the moment, they have nothing, but sorrow to withdraw from a bank. We have drained their cash and made sure they no longer have access to anymore.”
“How?”
“We accessed their accounts digitally, then we took all their money. Incidentally, they had been embezzling significant from you for over a decade. Sloppy, sloppy security Paulo. You trusted Hanley, now deceased, and his brother, also now deceased, and they were siphoning off cash and fucking you over for Saldana Ri.”
“Impossible!”
“Possible, and, even more sadly, a fact. The brothers moved money into dummy ‘research’ facilities that don’t exist. Thirty million dollars to the Lab in Merida, Mexico. Only trouble is there is no Lab in Merida, Mexico, or Nice, France, or Taos, New Mexico. All bogus as was the fantasy research those facilities undertook by the non-existent employees you paid. Further, the data from your own research Labs is similarly bogus. The real data, and real research, was conducted in four Black Shirt Labs, or in your own Labs surreptitiously, and right under your noses, by scientists loyal to Saldana Ri, and the Black Shirt Movement.”
“Sound pretty far-fetched.”
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