11
NEW
ARRIVALS
Flora and Cybelle
They
were ten in number for dinner.
Jesse headed one end of the table, Doc
Will the other.
Andrew, Peter, James and John, the four
Zooids who had been in the all-day Planning
Session, joined Sylvia and Brad, Audley and
Lanon.
In retrospect, Jesse regarded this
evening as the last “normal” evening for him as
the administrative head of the Colonies.
He basked in the triumphant atmosphere
wherein everyone had something to celebrate and
to share.
Brad and Sylvia were rather feted as
prospective new Zooids.
Audley, the new Journalist on Contract,
was made to feel welcome.
JCP member-at-large Doc Will was proud to
bursting in the sense of rightness about
everything transpiring. And Lanon’s social
artistry was so natural, the Board members had
no clue he was a man from another world.
After introductions and before the first
course was served, Jesse stood and proposed a
toast.
“I know you are excited about the new
project, but I’d like to hold off discussing
business matters until tomorrow when the other
Board members arrive and can join us.
There are many other things we can share
and enjoy, not the least of which are our own
relationships.
Thus,” he raised his glass,
“I would like to propose a toast: ‘To
friends, old and new’.”
When Jesse sat down, Doc Will stood up.
“I would also like to propose a toast.”
He lifted his glass.
“To the betrothal of Brad, who is like my
son, and Sylvia, who is like my daughter.”
Glasses were raised high in
acknowledgment of the young lovers.
Sylvia was radiantly happy and Brad had
never appeared more handsome.
This festive group, with its odd mix of
interests and personalities, conversed easily
and shared readily.
It was impossible to distinguish between
the good spirits of the wine and the good
spirits of the group.
Words and time flew.
And when everyone was physically sated
and intellectually replete, they strolled onto
the grounds to enjoy the spectacle of the sky,
intense with the deep reds and purples of the
second sunset, and the psychedelic rain that was
uniquely Gateway’s.
Then, as the moon rose, the group
dispersed, Board members going their own way and
Doc Will retiring to his room to read medical
histories. When Jesse offered to show Brad the
TASC Terminal, Lanon asked to join them. The two
women were left alone.
As darkness fell and the stars came out,
so did Angus.
“Angus!” Audley called happily.
“Come!
Join us!”
“Your soul mates have gone off and left
such beautiful women unattended?” he lamented on
their behalf as he sandwiched his visage between
them.
Audley pouted, “Yeah.
Jesse took Brad to see the Terminal and
Lanon went with them.”
“Then I will see to your companionship,”
he assured them aloud while his mind silently
asked after their more subtle needs.
At length Sylvia asked, “What did you
mean by that, Angus?”
“By what?
Soul mate?”
The women nodded.
“Ah,” he said.
As he prepared to orate, their ears
sought the timbre of his voice.
His atmosphere held them in his grip as
he said, “In the vast realm of human
relationships, there are many kinds of
relationships and for many diverse reasons.”
He paused to clarify.
“We are talking about adult love
relationships here, of course?”
Sylvia and Audley nodded eagerly.
“Of course.
So we will not talk now of family life.
We will discuss love companions.”
He needlessly paused to make certain he
had their full attention.
“Playmates!” he pronounced. “Children
playing together.
This relationship is simple and
uncomplicated.
It may be physical in nature, such as a
hug or a pat on the back, but it fulfills an
elemental human need.”
Sylvia thought of the photographic essay
of the couple on the train.
He continued, “A playmate relationship
can involve mutual social interests, where you
engage in athletics together or attend a
concert.
Beyond the moment, not much is required
from each other in a playmate
relationship, but if it were to be developed, it
might evolve into that of helpmates.
“Helpmates are friends.
A helpmate relationship is a friendship
that sweetens your hearth and makes your Urthly
existence less barren, less troublesome.
In the most common sense, it provides
convenience, but in many cases, helpmates marry
and have children, hence home life, but not
always.
Often helpmates commit themselves to each
other for a shorter period of time, or for a
specific purpose, while some stay together for a
lifetime.
It is a worthy relationship.
“And finally we come to soul mates.”
Angus’ voice, like resonant music,
waltzed the women round and round the compound.
“In soul mates we find the love
relationship between two people who have each
evolved sufficiently to include the aspect of
their souls.”
At this use of the word ‘soul,’ Audley
scowled.
“Any and all of these relationships
involve responsibility to the other partner and
they all have value in the Stream of Time, but
the two personalities who are involved in the
soul mate relationship have perhaps the greatest
responsibility.
They have not come to the relationship
out of a sense of need, but from a point of
compliment.
They must each know their Self so well
that they have become individually replete.
Their union augments the personality
gifts of each other.
Thus, in order to have a soul mate, one
must have a knowledge of and appreciation for
one’s own soul.”
Sylvia was content to hear Angus share
his concepts, but Audley’s confusion was
discomfiting.
Was it possible for her to be any
kind of mate with Lanon?
He was from Zenton; she was from Urth.
How was it possible for her to trust
any kind of feelings under these
circumstances?
“Angus,” she ventured, “is the soul the
same thing as what Lanon calls the Nucleus?”
“Oh,” he lauded.
“Such keen sense perception!
It is, indeed, the same.”
She didn’t know if the nagging insecurity
in her stomach was a message from her soul or a
touch of indigestion. “Do you have one?” she
asked.
“Oh, yes!
And so do you!” he let her know.
Sylvia asked, “And what about a soul
mate, Angus? Do you have one of those?”
His non-face lit up the night.
“Oh, indeed, I do.”
He would have elaborated, but their
attention was drawn to an unusually bright light
in the heavens.
“What is that?” Audley asked.
“Is it a star?”
“I don’t think so,” Sylvia said,
recalling Twilah Leighton’s story.
“It appears to be moving.”
“It’s not an airplane,” Angus assured
them.
“It must be a falling star, then,” Audley
concluded.
“Go ahead, Sylvia. Make a wish!”
“You make one, Aud.
Mine has already come true!”
As they stood there gazing, neither of
the women could see that Angus’ piercing eyes
acted as a beacon light for the new arrivals.
WHEN AFTER THREE TURNS around the grounds the
men had not yet returned from the Terminal,
Angus accompanied the women as they moved
Sylvia’s things into Audley’s new apartment in
the employee wing before bidding them good
night.
Sylvia unpacked her bags and hung her
clothes in the closet while Audley drew herself
a bath.
Once settled in and settled down, Sylvia
sat on the toilet seat to do her nails while a
pensive Audley soaked in the tub, thinking about
Angus’ lesson on mates.
She had rather ruled out being sexual
playmates with Lanon, and if he couldn’t have
children, there wasn’t much point in being
helpmates.
But the idea of being soul mates
intrigued her.
What did it mean to have a relationship
that addressed the aspects of the soul?
What were her soul’s aspects?
Since she wasn’t certain, did that mean
that her soul was as undeveloped as Lanon’s
emotions were undeveloped?
Their prospects of ever being soul mates
looked bleak.
Given their differences, having come from
different parts of the universe, she perceived
that Lanon might never develop an appreciation
for the full range of human emotions, and she
might never develop a full appreciation of her
soul.
What the hell is a soul, anyway?
As the nail dryer blew warm soft air onto
the fresh layer of rose-colored enamel, Sylvia
asked, “Do you think Jesse will offer Brad a
job?”
“Probably,” Audley murmured through the
bubbles.
“He’s qualified.
Angus likes him.”
Sylvia squirmed and purred, “I like him,
too.”
It suddenly irritated Audley that her
friend should be so smugly content while she
herself had major personal problems to work out.
She sat up slowly.
“But what if he does go to work for the
JCP, Sylvia?
What would you do?”
“I would become a Zooid and live happily
ever after.”
“But what would you do?
I mean, what could you offer the JCP?
You don’t know how to do
anything!”
Sylvia threatened to drop the electric
blow dryer into the bathtub.
“Audley Blackstone, what a mean thing to
say!
I’m not totally illiterate, you know.
I’m sure I could do something!
After all, I’m divorcing Roger because
I’m sick to death of sitting around feeling
useless!”
“Oh,” Audley uttered, sliding back under
the bubbles.
“I thought you were divorcing Roger so
you could marry Brad.”
“I left Roger before I got involved with
Brad, I’ll have you know!”
“Well, it sure didn’t take you long.”
Sylvia stood her ground.
“Audley, why are you being such a bitch
all of a sudden?
It didn’t take Brad and me long because
we need each other.
You never did need Brad, but I’ll
bet it didn’t take you ten minutes to be dazzled
by Lanon!”
“True,” she had to admit, smug in the
realization that the love relationship between
her best friend and her former fiancé did not
qualify for the responsible level of soul mates.
“Then why aren’t you two at least
playmates?” Sylvia persisted.
“Because he isn’t emotionally ready,”
Audley allowed.
“Oh, that’s absurd.
Men are never emotionally ready.
You have to trick them into it.”
“I don’t want to trick Lanon into
anything.”
She pulled herself up, clean, and stood
in the tub to dry off.
Sylvia handed her a thick terry-cloth
towel and said, “It seems to me that you’re
the one who isn’t ready.”
“You’re probably right, Sylvia,” she
said, rinsing out the tub, “I’m not ready.”
“Well, have you at least let him know you
think he’s special?”
Audley started a bath for Sylvia, sighed
audibly then said, “He knows I think he’s
special.”
“Then what’s the deal?
Isn’t he interested?”
Audley thought about the night in the
motel room when he stood up, the blanket
sticking out in front of him and his recent
attempts to be romantic.
She grinned.
“Yeah, he’s interested.”
Sylvia shrugged.
“Well then, go for it!”
“I don’t want just a playmate, Sylvia!
I want more than that!”
“Like what?
Here.” Suddenly Sylvia took off her ring
and handed it to Audley. “Take it!”
“Don’t be ridiculous.
It’s yours.”
In this gesture Audley recognized what
she had thrown away and what Sylvia had acquired
– a mortal victory.
Sylvia had acquired a helpmate, a ‘real
catch’.
Audley was quick to suggest, “Unless you
want a new one, of course.
I’m sure Brad would get you a new ring if
you want.”
Sylvia put her ring back on triumphantly
and slid into the tub.
“Why would I want another one?” she
mused.
“This one is beautiful and it’s hardly
ever been used.”
“I guess that’s appropriate,” Audley
said, hanging up her towel.
“You’ve hardly ever been used either!”
Abruptly they laughed, happy in their
friendship.
Audley meandered into the outer room,
something still weighing on her mind.
Too many things had happened lately that
she hadn’t had time to process.
Lighting a cigarette, she opened the door
to the compound, allowing visual images to
parade through her mind’s eye, critically
surveying each one for signs of her discomfort.
It was not because of Sylvia and Brad,
no.
She really was happy for them.
What about quitting her job with
Weinberger and taking on this new assignment?
Hardly!
A scoop series on the Jural Colony
Project coming out in the Silent Majority could
land her a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize in
Journalism!
Nothing wrong with that!
Across the compound, Lanon and Brad were
just now returning from their visit to the
Terminal. Brad was closing the door to his guest
quarters when she spotted them, but Lanon saw
her and waved.
It was late.
She waved back.
“Good night!”
His door closed.
It was something about Lanon.
It was about the relationship between
soul mates.
He was here on a mission to bring the
Zooids into open communication with the rest of
the cosmos.
What did that mean?
How could she possibly compliment that?
What was her mission?
Did she need one?
Did her soul?
Sylvia, coming out from her bath and
slipping into bed, distracted her by asking,
“When do you go out on assignment, Aud?”
“Whole Child.”
“When’s that, pray tell?”
“Three days from now.”
“I’m going to Reno in the morning to
start my divorce proceedings.
You have time.
Why don’t you come with me?”
She fluffed up her pillow and adjusted
her covers.
“To Reno?” Audley resisted.
“Whatever for?”
“Just to get away for a few days.
Take a vacation.
Wear some real clothes for a change and
maybe meet a hunk right off the divorce press.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she snarled.
“Alright, forget the hunk, but come with
me.
We’ll go shopping, get our hair done.
It would do you good to get away and get
your mind off Lanon for awhile.”
Audley closed the door and disposed of
what was left of her cigarette, then crawled
into her side of the bed.
“You’re probably right,” she acknowledged
wearily, turning out the light.
“I know I am,” Sylvia murmured.
In the dark, Audley’s mind wandered.
A “hunk” indeed.
A hunk of Lanon is just what she needed!
Where was that cosmically condoned
one-night-stand Angus had talked about?
With other men, she’d had no trouble
jumping into the sack.
What was keeping her and Lanon from doing
the same thing?
Why wasn’t she hotfooting it across the
compound right now instead of being in bed with
Sylvia?
She was yanked away from her fantasy by
Sylvia’s common ploy, to be lulled to sleep with
a bedtime story.
“What were you doing in Spain?” she asked
in the dark.
“Spain?”
Audley collected her thoughts, glad for
something specific to focus on.
“I went there to interview Professor
Alexius Vessey, the founding father of the JCP.”
Sylvia said, “Hmmm,” meaning, “Go ahead,
keep talking, I’m listening.”
“He reminded me a lot of Dad, in a way,”
Audley reminisced vaguely.
“Hmmm?”
“Oh, I don’t know” she mused.
“He was old.
Wise.”
“Mmm.”
Audley thought back to the evening with
Alexius and Dierdre when, at dinner, she felt as
if she were being drawn into some new dimension.
How could she begin to describe such a
thing?
“His wife is gorgeous, Sylvia!”
“What’s she do?”
Sylvia’s voice was sleepy.
“Do?
Dierdre?
She doesn’t ‘do’ anything!
She’s a perfect wife and mother.”
“I mean for work.
She doesn’t work?”
“She works all the time, but it doesn’t
look like work.
She manages their beautiful home.
She takes care of her husband and their
kids and the garden.
What a garden!
And those kids, Sylvia.
I don’t usually like kids, but....”
She recalled their sparkling eyes and
laughter the day they gave her the sunbonnet to
wear into the village.
Without thinking, she found herself
asking, “What about you, Sylvia?
Are you and Brad going to have a family?”
Sylvia’s answer was so long in coming,
Audley thought she might have said something
wrong, but at last Sylvia murmured, “Yes, I want
to have a baby,” in such a way that Audley was
glad.
As Sylvia’s breathing lapsed into deep
sleep, Audley wondered if her problem might have
to do with Lanon’s inability to have children,
but no, it was not about children.
Staring at the ceiling, she let herself
delve deeper.
Picking up her earlier train of thought,
she let her mind take her to where her soul
could see, and suddenly it was clear
that her quandary was not about sex or
marriage or children or even romance.
She threw off her cover and lit another
cigarette, not surprised to discover her hands
were shaking.
Standing up and throwing open the door,
she acknowledged that her problem was the one
her father had pointed out to her many times
before.
She was mortal!
No matter what Lanon was or where he was
from, she was indissolubly mortal.
Thus, she was vulnerable.
Standing in the open doorway, blowing
smoke into the night, she realized that for
years she had been passing judgment on the
entire human race for their emotional
weaknesses.
She had disdained people who couldn’t
embrace the unknown, who hid from adventure.
She had looked with pity on those who,
with their frailties, shrank from life, with its
vicissitudes.
And all the while she had been denouncing
people for their fears, she had been totally
oblivious of her own.
She was afraid of love.
Long after the light in Lanon’s room went
out, she closed the door, put away her smokes,
and lay back onto the pillow, letting hot tears
well up to roll down her temples and into her
hair.
She was afraid of love and afraid of
life, afraid that love would be taken from her,
and she would be left alone.
It would be emotional suicide for her to
fall in love with Lanon.
Everybody knows that nothing lasts
forever.
Better to not get too close in the first
place than to have to mourn its passing.
BRAD GOT AN
EARLY START, eager to apply himself to the
Terminal, first stopping into the dining room
for a quick cup of coffee.
There he ran into Sylvia and Audley.
“Hey!” he said, joining them at their
table.
“What gets you up so early?”
He pulled his chair in close to Sylvia.
“I’m on my way to Reno to get a divorce,”
Sylvia announced brightly.
“I’ve got to get that out of the way to
make this official!”
She flashed the ring at him, as if he’d
never seen it before.
He caught and kissed her fingers.
“Are you sure you like it?
Does it really fit?
We can get you another one, if you want,”
he worried.
She beamed at him, “It’s perfect,
darling.
I love everything about it.”
Pouting suddenly, she said,
“You were out late last night.”
“Yes.”
He was undaunted.
“Audley,” he insisted,
“tell Sylvia what an incredible thing
that Terminal is!”
Sylvia wrinkled her nose.
“I’m not crazy about computers.”
“It’s not a computer,” Audley said
grumpily. “The TASC is a movie theater, a
library, a telephone, a radio, a bank, all the
modern conveniences rolled into one.”
“Can it do my nails?”
They ignored her.
“So what do you make of all this, Brad?”
Audley asked, in an attempt to be sociable.
“That Angus is all right,” Brad admitted.
“He’s got a great sense of humor, huh,
Aud?”
Audley grinned.
“Yeah, he does.”
Sylvia wanted to know, “Is he going to
offer you a job?”
“I don’t know.”
Brad shook his head.
“Angus seems to want me to do it, but I’m
still not sure what the job is!
It’s some new development.
I have the feeling it’s another one of
those Top Secret things.”
“I doubt it, Brad,” Audley cautioned.
“Zooids don’t have any secrets.”
“Well, I don’t know about that.
I really don’t know much about anything,
but I will know something later today.
There’s a Board Meeting scheduled for
this afternoon, so I imagine they’ll make a
decision then.”
He looked at his watch and stood up.
“Anyway, I’ve got to go,” he said in his
‘time’s a wasting’ way.
“Angus is waiting for me in the
Terminal.”
He bent and kissed the top of Sylvia’s
head.
“How long will you be gone?”
Sylvia stood.
“I don’t know,” she said, winding her
arms around him.
“They say you can get a divorce in Reno
in no time, but I don’t know how long ‘no time’
is.”
“Well, however long it is, get right back
here! And
behave yourself.”
“Oh, I will!”
Sylvia crooned.
Ignoring the lovers, Audley sipped her
cold coffee until Brad’s elongated frame
disappeared into the elevator and Sylvia began
to badger her again.
“I don’t know why you just don’t come
with me, Aud.”
“Because I have work to do!” she said.
“I’m on the payroll now.”
Sylvia argued, “You don’t have to start
work for three days yet, and all they’re going
to be doing in the meantime is messing around
with that computer and having meetings.”
“Yeah, but the meetings might be
important!
Maybe I can learn something from them.”
“Oh, come on, Aud!” Sylvia
badgered. “I’ll tell you all about my visit with
Twilah Leighton.”
“Who’s Twilah Leighton?”
Sylvia rolled her eyeballs
conspiratorially.
“Anyway,” she bribed, “Don’t you need to
find out how the Transport Lines work?”
“Yeah,” Audley allowed.
“Then come with me,” Sylvia cajoled.
“I’ll even let you tell me about that damned
computer.”
In the end, Sylvia’s calculated verbal
efforts won out, as usual.
THE FALLING STAR that Audley made a wish upon,
set down in the desert north of Gateway.
It was a small ship, easily hidden in the
dunes.
Cybelle, a nature goddess, and Flora, a
flower goddess, took a moment to adorn their
bodies in mortal raiment then set foot on terra
firma.
This was a wondrous morning on planet
Urth.
The summer wild flowers were in full and
radiant bloom, such that Flora was immediately
pleased with the offerings and began at once to
gather a variety for her study.
Cybelle, who had never been on such a
finite world before, opted to climb to the top
of a nearby rise, the better to see the terrain.
The terrain was unremarkable, but she
watched two solar-operated vehicles appear in
the distance, approach to within a quarter of a
mile from her, then stop.
Two males, Lanon and Jesse, got out of
the first vehicle.
Three other mortals, two males and one
female, got out of the second vehicle.
They did not see her watching them, but
she could hear them discussing the proposed site
of the new structure.
“This land,” Jesse explained to Lanon,
“was purchased by the JCP at the same time we
bought the Gateway property.
It was rather too small to do anything
with, but the price was right.
We figured if we did need it, we could
easily connect to it from headquarters.”
“What are the neighbors like?” Lanon
asked, still not in total command of the nuances
of the English language.
“We’re right next to the nuclear testing
site of the Nellis Air Force Range and Nevada
Proving Grounds of the U.S. Atomic Energy
Commission.”
“So nobody would notice if there was a
mild implosion of energy here now and then,”
Lanon suggested.
“It’s a very remote spot,” Jesse
confirmed.
Lanon was very pleased with the location.
“You must have intuitively known this
would be the ideal location for the Portal,
Jesse.”
Jesse demurred, “Actually, it was just a
good deal on a piece of real estate.”
Project Engineer John Brothers hauled his
equipment out of the van and set it up in
preparation for reading the area.
Overseer of Aesthetics Rebecca Brothers,
with her binoculars, was of course surveying the
aesthetic aspects of the area when her vision
fell upon Cybelle on the distant rise.
“Jesse,” she cautioned.
“Look.”
Jesse took the glass and focused into
view the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
Cybelle, realizing she had been
discovered, stalwartly held her ground and
lifted herself up to her full dignity stature.
The red-gold of her hair appeared as a
crown glistening in the sun.
Her garments were stately yet sensual.
An emerald green leotard caressed her
perfect body like a second skin.
The skirt a bustle of pale emerald
chiffon that wafted then settled when she turned
to Flora to advise her that they had been
discovered.
Jesse was spellbound.
“What is it?” Lanon asked.
Jesse reluctantly handed over the glass
for Lanon to see first Cybelle and then Flora on
the rise.
“Who are they?” he asked, handing back
the glass.
“They?”
Jesse looked again.
Now two beautiful female forms stood
overlooking their proceedings.
If possible, the second was even more
beautiful than the first.
A cloak of golden hair poured over her
body like a shaft of sunlight.
Her regalia were the color of royalty.
Shaken, he silently returned the glass to
Rebecca.
“I don’t know who they are or what
they’re doing here,” Jesse said, confused and
intrigued.
“Shall I go find out, Jesse?” John
offered.
“I’m a woman,”
Rebecca objected.
“I should go.”
Thomas asked,
“Are they trespassing?”
“No,” Jesse said to his crew.
“I’ll go and greet them.”
Adding, “They are the most beautiful
women I’ve ever seen.”
Rebecca was dumbfounded -- not because
she felt slighted, no, but because never in all
the years of knowing Jesse, had she known him to
take the slightest interest in
any woman.
Of course, she had to accede, these were
not just any women!
She looked again.
When the goddesses saw that Jesse was
coming across the sand towards them, they began
the descent to greet him.
Flora explained to Cybelle that it was
not uncommon for a delegate of the native tribes
to greet her upon her arrival.
With the superstitious, as most mortals
are, she did not feel any danger.
As a rule they treated her according to
her rank and allowed her to leave when she was
ready.
Once or twice, she confessed, they had
tried to get her to stay to rule their kingdom,
but not often.
Jesse had never before been enthralled by
a woman.
In his years at Knossos women had sought
him, but he had been too occupied with his
studies and his relationship with Alexius to
devote any time to the opposite sex.
Since the inception of the colonies, he
had been devoted to his work and had not really
made time to think much about female
companionship.
But his eyes and his essence were drawn
to the redhead.
The nearer they came to each other, the
more beautiful he realized she was.
When at last they stopped, perhaps ten
feet away from each other, he was breathless at
the sight of her.
Flora, the more experienced, spoke.
“Greetings.”
Tearing his eyes away from Cybelle, he
found his voice.
“Good morning,” he said to Flora, then
felt compelled to say, “Welcome.”
“We are visitors to your land,” she
explained.
“I am called Flora and my companion is
called Cybelle.”
“How do you do?” he said.
“My name is Jesse Brothers.”
Flora took a step nearer to the mortal,
who was humble in her presence but not nearly as
backward as those she normally encountered.
Cybelle approached as well, fully alert
to the mortal man’s admiration of her.
She was also alert to Lanon, who was
advancing.
These two beings could not be ordinary
women, Jesse thought.
“What kind of tourist are you that would
bring you to this remote part of the desert?” he
inquired.
“I am a galactic botanist.
I study native flora, hence my
nomenclature,” Flora explained.
“I am on a gathering mission, and Our
Mother has recommended that Cybelle accompany me
on this particular assignment.”
Jesse seemed fixed to the spot.
He noticed that Flora carried a handful
of wild flowers.
Cybelle’s eyes left Jesse to smile at
Lanon as he stepped into their range.
“Greetings,” Flora repeated.
“Greetings,” Lanon replied.
At once, he recognized that these were
not mortals.
Their Nuclei were powerful.
“I am Lanon from the Constellation Zenton,”
he said by way of introduction.
Flora was pleasantly surprised.
“I have been there!” she said.
“I am from the neighboring Constellation
of Uriah.
What is your mission?”
.
“My mission is to attempt to open the
door between this isolated sphere and the
cosmos.
And yours?”
Jesse was amazed at nature of their
casual exchange.
Flora was happy to report, “I study local
flora.
I am on a gathering mission of native
flowers, which I will take back with me.
They tell us a great deal about the
survival aspects of life, particularly in such a
barren atmosphere as this.
Cybelle is my companion on this mission.
It is her first assignment.”
Lanon smiled at Cybelle.
“This is my first, also.”
“Did you come on a ship?”
Cybelle asked, and when she spoke, Jesse
felt his ears tingle.
Her voice was as music.
“No,” Lanon replied.
“I was materialized.”
“So you are here as a mortal!” Flora
remarked.
“Yes,” Lanon acknowledged. “My assignment
is to determine the status of a particular
civilization.”
“Are you faring well?”
“As far as I can tell!” Lanon
acknowledged. “But I’d love to discuss this with
you further and get your perspective.
Will you be staying here long?”
He grinned, realizing that to a human “a
long time” could be ten minutes, but to
other-terrestrials, “a long time” could be ten
millennia.
“We do not have a specified return,”
Flora responded to his smile, reflecting long
experience with the amusing peculiarities of
local languages.
Flora was intrigued that planet Urth was
more advanced than she had anticipated.
She was delightfully aware of Jesse’s
obvious infatuation with Cybelle, so she was not
at all surprised when Lanon suggested to Jesse
that the visitors might like to make Gateway
their base of operations during their sojourn
here.
“Of course!” Jesse agreed, finding his
voice.
Eyes fixed on Cybelle, he said, “Please,
stay as our guests.”
“You are very gracious,” Cybelle
responded, bringing goose bumps to his flesh.
Lanon went on to explain to the visitors
that the area was being surveyed for eventual
construction of an edifice for terrestrial
escape.
Flora exclaimed to Jesse, “A Portal!
How exciting for you, and for your
world!”
Most of this sailed over Jesse’s head; he
was just as pleased to let Lanon explain,
“We need to work here for a Part of
time,” he said, “before we return to Gateway.”
“Very well,” Flora said.
“We will accommodate your schedule.
Cybelle and I will go about our business
until you are ready to take us there.”
Cybelle smiled at Jesse and his knees
became weak.
Lanon took Jesse’s arm and turned him
around.
The new arrivals watched in silent
communion while the men descended to their
arena, before they ascended the hill to dispatch
their ship and to resume their work.
Back at the site Rebecca asked, “Who were
they, Jesse?”
His face was aglow but his only reply
was, “Tourists, ‘Becca.
Let’s get back to work.”
DOC WILL SLEPT FITFULLY and woke late with the
nagging feeling that he had entered a phase of
life wherein he couldn’t keep up if he
wanted to, and he didn’t want to.
He had given Brad and Sylvia his
blessing, but he still had his resentments.
Sylvia had gotten pregnant immodestly
fast.
This implied to him that they hadn’t even
had the decency to wait a civil amount of time
before going at each other like dogs in heat,
and he was disappointed with both of them.
He was also disturbed that Lanon had
planted seeds of death in his mind.
The initial motivation may have been for
science and the benefit of evolution, but the
reality was that he was cursed with the damned
blisters.
Now, instead of approaching death
academically, he was burdened with having to
consider it as a reality for himself and he was
afraid.
He was also irritated with that
apparition Angus.
How dare he know more about Mindal
Science than Doc himself?
How dare he know that Sylvia was
thirty-two hours pregnant?
How dare he guide Brad’s career and
secure Audley’s affections?
It wasn’t fair that he, Dr. Wilhelm
Blackstone, had devoted his entire life to
science only for this half-here, half-there
apparition to come along and know all these
things innately.
He was irrevocably mad at Audley for
bringing all this into his life and onto his
shoulders, but he was mostly angry with himself
for having limitations. He didn’t have the
strength or the time he needed to enjoy such an
exciting new phase of planetary development, but
he wouldn’t let himself consciously acknowledge
that yet.
He didn’t want to talk to old people
about dying.
He didn’t want to talk to Jesse about the
new project or the old projects.
He
didn’t feel like getting out of bed, and so he
didn’t. What he did want, he admitted, was
Sarah.
Undisturbed in his bed he thought of her
in living color, remembered when they had been
as enthralled with each other as Brad and Sylvia
were now.
It had been a long time since he had
allowed himself to remember how wonderful it was
to share his life with his woman.
Too long.
Before, it had only made him feel lonely
to think of her, and so he had quit thinking of
her.
When he thought of her now, however, it
did not make him feel lonely.
He was already lonely, and so the thought
of Sarah made him feel loved, and he felt
better.
After a while he began to wonder if
perhaps Sarah wasn’t trying to tell him
something, and when it dawned on him that he was
thinking of her in the present tense, something
happened to him.
He acknowledged the conversation he had
earlier with Lanon, about love being an active
verb, about Sarah being alive and well, and
suddenly the idea of leaving this world became
exciting to him.
He could be, would be with Sarah
again!
He became charged with the image of
himself molting from the flesh, leaving the
rheumatism and the arthritis behind, and waking
up in a new world, with Sarah, strong and
vibrant as they had been when their love was
young.
Together they could be so much, do so
much.
He could almost reach out and touch her,
and this knowledge brought tears of joy to his
eyes.
In spite of his enthusiasm, his body was
slow to respond.
He pulled himself up, bathed and shaved,
dressed in his customary brown jumpsuit, and
went out in an expectant mood.
He told himself he was ready for the
Portal and wondered how long he would have to
wait for the Portal to be ready for him.
JESSE RETURNED TO GATEWAY with the Board
members, leaving Lanon to escort the new
arrivals to the guest wing.
At the site all morning Jesse had been
preoccupied with the realization that something
was going to have to be done about all these
visiting entities.
If they were to be a regular feature of
colony life, the Zooids, or at least the Board
members, would have to be advised.
He put in a hasty call to his mentor and
launched as soon as Alexius’ ancient visage
appeared on the screen. “I think I’m losing my
grip here, Alexius.
You never told me this would
happen.”
“What is it, Jesse?
What’s happening?”
“Ever since Lanon got here, things are
different.
There are so many things to adjust to.
I just feel like I’m . . . losing
control.”
Alexius had been anticipating this call
for days already.
“Give me an example.”
“Well, like Angus for one thing.
You know Angus.
He’s like The Invisible Man or
something!”
“Yes, I know Angus.
He’s a good friend of mine.
It’s not his fault he’s non-corporeal.”
“What makes him look like that?” Jesse
complained.
“He’s 5,000 years old!
But you don’t have to worry about him.
He knows how to get in and out of places
and can take care of himself.”
“5,000 years old?”
Jesse sat down abruptly, dizzy in the
dimension he had fallen into. “A good friend of
yours?”
“And he’s your friend, too, Jesse,” the
Professor counseled.
“What else is troubling you?
“This morning we went out to the site,
out to where we’re going to build the Portal?”
“The what?”
It dawned on Jesse he hadn’t even
discussed this with his mentor.
“Oh,
God.
You see what I mean?
It’s all happening too fast!
I’m losing it!
How could I forget to discuss the Portal
with you?” he asked incredulously.
“It’s Lanon’s idea.
It’s for ‘terrestrial escape’ he says.”
“I’m not worried about that. You can
trust Lanon.
What happened at the site?”
“Two women showed up from the
Constellation Uriah, wherever the hell that is,
to study wild flowers or something.
I’m not sure, Alexius, but I think they
arrived on some kind of space ship!
Is this what I can expect from now on?”
“Well, I don’t know!
Are they interfering with your work?”
“Well, no, but .…”
“But what?”
“Alexius, ... these two women, these new
arrivals are ... superhuman!”
He admitted it. “They are like goddesses!
And the redhead?
The one who calls herself Cybelle?
Well,…”
Words failed him.
Alexius grinned into the receiver.
“It’s about time!”
“What do you mean, ‘It’s about time’?”
“It’s about time a woman caught your
eye.”
“But, she’s a --
I don’t even know what to call her!”
“Call her Cybelle.
That’s her name.
She is an other-terrestrial.”
Jesse acknowledged to himself that
“other-terrestrial” sounded better than
“extra-terrestrial.”
Maybe she was just another humanoid from
a world whose advanced technology made it
possible for her to come here in a space ship.
Maybe he could think in terms of feeling
something for her.
Maybe all of this was merely an
adjustment in perspective.
“Well, I’m going to have to at least tell
the Board members something!
If all these invisibles and
other-terrestrials are going to be coming and
going or staying here at Gateway, sooner or
later we’re going to have to tell the Zooids
something!”
He came back to himself hearing Alexius
say, “Look, son, we will, as soon as it’s time
for them to know.
This isn’t an emergency, Jesse,” Alexius
reassured him.
“Don’t worry about the Supernals.
The door is opening, that’s all.
It’s all part of the Jural Colony
Project.
This is what we’ve been working for, all
these many years!”
Jesse shivered, and
Alexius continued, “I’m so excited for
you, Jesse, to be there in person, experiencing
all of this.
How I wish I could be in your shoes to
see it all happen.”
Alexius had known of this, had been
waiting for this, all this time, Jesse realized.
“I don’t mind telling you, Alexius, I
wish you were here.
As an administrator I usually
feel at least competent, but all of this
is outside my normal jurisdiction and I have no
idea what’s going on.”
“It’s outside all our
jurisdictions, Jesse.
This is what makes it so exciting!
What’s happening is that we’re coming
into contact with other worlds, with cosmic
intelligences, higher authorities.
You’ve got to trust that this is all
happening according to plan.”
“Yeah, but whose plan?
What if something happens to the Zooids?”
Alexius recognized the source of Jesse’s
fear.
“Nothing bad is going to happen to the
Zooids and certainly not from these outside
entities.
The Supernals are here to help.
It’s like we’ve talked about so many
times, Jesse.
It’s a friendly universe.
Remember our talking about this?
‘Forward strides in science and evolution
go hand in hand, but belligerence doesn’t go far
from its origin.’
If these entities can travel so far in
space to visit us, I can guarantee you they are
beneficent.
They are our neighbors.
Make them welcome.”
“I am.
I think.
We did.
Anyway, Lanon is.”
“And he is one of the visitors, so you
see?
Already you are being assisted.
You are not alone in this, my boy!”
As Jesse nodded, Alexius said, “Listen.
Why don’t you ask the Board members to
come by this afternoon and use it as a forum to
introduce them and see what happens?”
While Jesse scowled, Alexius persisted.
“I believe you’re worrying needlessly,
Jesse. I can assure you the Supernals are part
of the solution, not part of the problem.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“The universe knows what it’s doing,” the
professor concluded.
“And as for the redhead?
Don’t argue with it, son.
You’ve been alone long enough!
What did you say her name is?”
“Cybelle.”
He liked saying it.
“Cybelle,” Alexius repeated.
“Nature goddess.
Nice name.”
Suddenly the line clicked off, leaving
Jesse standing in front of the blank screen,
staring into space, hair mussed, holding the
mike to the viso-phone.
Lanon found him thus.
“Is something the matter, Jesse?” he
asked.
Jesse turned off the viso-phone and waved
to a chair, inviting Lanon to join him.
“It’s just that everything is happening
so fast, Lanon!”
“Like what?”
Lanon sat.
“Like what?”
His laugh was a bark.
“Like you, for instance!
You show up telling me you were
materialized into the body of a full-grown man
less than a month ago.
Like Angus!
No material body at all!
What is he, for Christ’s sake, and how
can he survive in our atmosphere like that?
How can he be 5,000 years old?”
Jesse ran his fingers through his hair
again.
“And those women we met this morning,
your neighbors Cybelle and Flora.
What are they doing here?
They have to be doing more than picking
wildflowers, Lanon!
What’s going on?” he demanded.
“Who are these people?
Who are you?
And why is everything changing so
suddenly?”
Lanon answered levelly.
“Nothing has changed, Jesse. Your world
is still the same. And nothing will
change, either, unless and until you and the
Zooids approve of the changes that might
come about as a result of your own decisions.
We would never interfere with your free
will.
I’ve told you that.
If you don’t want to proceed, I will
leave and the others can go back to doing
whatever they were doing before you had
knowledge of them, and you can continue on as
you have been.
If, however, you do want to
proceed, you will obviously be coming into
contact with other forms of life.
But nothing will happen without your full
consent and cooperation.”
He continued, answering Jesse’s unasked
questions, “I’ve told you why I am here.
I’m basically a reporter, giving my
superiors an account of your level of existence.
I haven’t done this before so I don’t
know why the others are showing up in your life
at this same precise time, but maybe they’ve all
come to show you what you can expect.
We can ask them!
We can talk to them if you want to, and
if you don’t, if it’s all too much, you can make
the decision for us to all leave and maybe we’ll
return again forty or fifty years from now.”
“So,” Jesse clarified, “what you’re
saying is, if it doesn’t happen in my lifetime
it will happen someday.”
“Yeah, if your planet is still here,”
Lanon said “and if it can still maintain life.
If it hasn’t destroyed itself or been
destroyed.”
Jesse reacted passionately.
“If Urth is destroyed, it won’t be
because the Zooids haven’t tried to advance it!
We have fought hard against the
darkness.
It’s what motivated us into existence in
the first place!”
“I know that, Jesse, and I’ll testify to
that fact.
Regardless of Urth’s destiny, the destiny
of the Zooids is assured, but we are not blind
to the ignorant forces at work on your planet.
We might be able to help you!
If nothing else, we could keep you
company!
Even so, this is your decision.
Yours and your fellow Zooids.
Let us know your wishes, Jesse, whether
we should leave you alone or whether we should
proceed, and your free will will be honored.”
Jesse felt immense relief.
He was not losing control.
He still had choices.
All this was simply another part of the
emerging new paradigm.
He knew they were progressing quite well
on their own, but it did bother him to think
that the Supernals might leave because he was
reluctant to progress further.
Such an attitude was not zooidal.
Besides, he had to admit that the idea of
Cybelle keeping him company was an inducement if
not out-and-out cosmic coercion.
He smiled and nodded.
“I was thinking of introducing you all to
the Board this afternoon.”
“That’s a great idea,” Lanon said,
visibly relieved.
“I’m glad you have opted to proceed.”
“Well, I haven’t,” Jesse hedged.
“But I can’t make this kind of a decision
alone.
The Board has to be involved.”
“Of course.”
“I’ll arrange for the meeting,” Jesse
said.
When Jesse turned to leave, he asked,
“Where are Flora and Cybelle?”
“Downstairs.”
Lanon grinned.
“Having a massage.”
Jesse nodded, his eyes twinkling.
What a clever way to introduce them to
the human condition.
IN RENO, SYLVIA AND AUDLEY checked into a luxury
hotel and had lunch before Sylvia left Audley at
the pool.
She went on to investigate how to get a
divorce in no time.
After finding the right lawyer and fixing
the right price, she filed her Petition, then,
while waiting for certain paperwork to be
processed by the appropriate offices, found a
jeweler who would give her cash for her rings.
They were worth ten times the amount she
got, but she was glad to be rid of them, glad to
be done with the false security they offered.
The next item on her agenda was more
difficult.
From the hotel room, she checked the
airlines then called Hoagland and made an
appointment to see him the next day regarding
Jennifer.
SUMMONED
TO THE BOARD meeting, Angus left Brad alone in
the Terminal and Brad was happy enough to be
left alone, for the computer he had so arduously
sought had literally been laid in his lap.
With a machine like this, he could
predict the future indefinitely.
He could calculate the reason for the
blackout and offer future remedies.
He could access the government’s files on
UFOs and Remote Viewing.
He could see into submarines, the KGB,
anything!
Sitting in the cold room, amazed by his
good fortune, he thanked God that at long last,
he had his own task.
Within minutes, Brad’s steady breathing
had taken on the same rhythm as the Terminal’s
ventilation.
He had become One with Science.
IT DIDN’T SIT WELL WITH OSCAR.
He was angry at his boss, Dr. Spencer,
for leaving him -- his assigned Presidential
Aide -- to go off with a woman -- his girlfriend
and self-appointed Investigative Assistant.
The only difference Oscar could see in
their qualifications was gender, and he came
“this close” to filing a report against Dr.
Spencer for sexual discrimination.
It angered him even further that Brad was
not keeping in contact, not even keeping his
Aide informed.
Seeing no reason why he should stay
cooped up in a dreary library reading all there
was to know about potassium while Dr. Spencer
was out having fun, Oscar planned some fun of
his own. They had said they were going to
Malibu.
What for?
What was in Malibu?
Didn’t Sylvia say she had been staying at
the Grand Hotel?
A call to the Grand Hotel led him not to
Sylvia but to her husband, Roger Watergate, an
attorney who lived with his wife Sylvia in
Beverly Hills.
Making a mental note of this, in case he
decided to file a discrimination case, Oscar
went on to his next contact, Dr. Spencer’s
socialite mother, Lydia Spencer, who was
infinitely more helpful than the hotel desk
clerk.
Lydia had done her own homework and was
able to confirm for Oscar that Sylvia was not
only the wife of Roger Watergate of the Prince,
Damon & Watergate, P.A. law firm, but she was
also the daughter of Hiram Chandler, the
newspaper magnate. And, not to be overlooked,
she was also a close friend with the eminent
Mindal Scientist Dr. Wilhelm Blackstone’s
daughter, Audley, a one-time reporter for the
Silent Majority who happened to own a studio in
Malibu.
Oscar was on his way.
In Malibu, Audley’s house sitter Eugene
admitted to Oscar that Dr. Spencer and Sylvia
had been there with a fancy metal detector they
brought with them to do a reading.
He made a note of this and asked several
more questions.
Yes, they did detect high traces of
potassium.
No, Eugene didn’t know where they were
now.
Audley?
She supposedly went to Spain but should
have been back by now.
Perhaps her father, Doc Will, would know
more about the current whereabouts of his
daughter or Sylvia or Dr. Spencer.
Having previously been to Doc Will’s
Santa Barbara estate, Oscar had no trouble
getting information from Martha.
Eager for company with Doc Will gone, she
greeted Oscar as a long-lost friend and fed him
a lunch he would not soon forget.
Ever anxious to oblige, she was quick to
tell him that as far as she knew, they had all
gone to Gateway.
All?
Yes, all: Brad, Sylvia, Dr. Blackstone,
Audley and Lanon Zenton.
Oscar the whiz kid had earlier cracked
the code for Sam and copiously studied Brad’s
notes.
Of course, he had gotten into the files
and found the lab report on Sylvia’s soil
samples as well as the “For Your Eyes Only”
communiqué referencing a recent potassium
explosion in the galaxy.
He now used every telecommunications
system available to Sam and to Uncle Sam but
could find no reference anywhere to a Lanon
Zenton.
He found a file in general records on one
Lanon Zentonovitch; it was a remarkably
unenlightening document.
Before approaching Gateway to confront
Dr. Spencer, Oscar investigated and studied in
depth all recorded data about the Zooids of the
Jural Colony Project, an obscure, registered
not-for-profit undertaking that was condoned by
the government but carefully observed for
potential subversive actions.
It was not Oscar’s conclusion but it was
his strong suspicion that the August 14th
East Coast blackout was caused, somehow, by a
foreign potentate in collusion with the
communist sympathizer JCP.
Fired by his ambition to lead his boss to
discover this subversive plot against the
government, he advised Lassater, on behalf of
Brad, then set out for Gateway in Nevada.
SYLVIA HAD LUNCH ON THE PLANE to Denver.
When she arrived at the hospital,
Hoagland himself met her in the lobby, as
solicitous as ever.
He directed her to his office and
exchanged her generous financial contribution
for a tax-deductible receipt before relaying to
her that an unfortunate turn of events had
transpired.
Sylvia listened with uncommon poise as
Hoagland explained that two days ago Jennifer
had developed viral pneumonia, through no fault
of the hospital, and they had been compelled to
put her on a respirator.
He explained that they had tried to
notify Mrs. Watergate but could not locate her,
although Mr. Watergate, through his law office,
had been notified at once.
Assuring Dr. Hoagland the hospital would
suffer no negative ramifications from them,
having been for years completely content with
the hospital’s management of their situation,
she asked to see her daughter.
“Well, yes, of course.”
Jennifer was in the same room she had
been in for the past seven years.
It was a private room with a window
overlooking the parking lot. As Sylvia sat on
the side of the bed, looking out to the view of
distant mountain peaks, she realized for the
first time the irony of the window.
The view cost an extra $5,000 a year and
she was the only one who ever looked out.
As her eyes caressed the horizon, she
thought about Lanon’s comment that the Voids
should be eliminated, and she now very calmly
agreed with him.
Who was she to play God and insist that
Jennifer find this existence meaningful?
Jennifer lay there as if asleep, as
beautiful as ever - totally perfect.
Sylvia could see herself in her daughter,
how together they had suspended time and set
aside living.
If Jennifer were freed from that young
body, if her soul -- if she had one -- were
released, wasn’t it possible that Jennifer might
find happiness in a new existence much as
she had found happiness in her new life with
Brad?
It was clear to Sylvia what she must do.
After forcing open the window, she
disconnected Jennifer from the life-sustaining
apparatus, then kissed her daughter good-bye for
the last time.
She sat with her, then, until the need to
leave was greater than the need to stay.
She stopped in the office to thank
Hoagland again for his courtesies and assured
him Jennifer was resting peacefully.
In the parking lot, she turned to look up
at Jennifer’s window.
Taking a deep breath, she watched as the
curtains billowed like clouds, her heart
swelling as she sensed her daughter’s and her
own release to freedom.
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