Chapter 5
Loxy was released from the confinement, where she was given a moment to manifest clothes. She had been vague in her initial assignment of clothes, wishing for practical over substance, knowing she was likely to be working. Somewhere in the reaches of her mind, she wanted a uniform. Whatever it was that chose, it went practical, sort of uniform-ish, and definitely mystical. Without a mirror, she had to use ‘remote viewing’ to examine herself from an outside perspective, and she laughed and spun, flaring the robes that folded in front of her thighs. She was dressed like a Jedi, with sixties, go go’s influence! The main fabric was soft, wooly cotton, with a thick texture you could almost feel with eyes. This part was white, and it folded left to right over her bosom, but the fold fell more left than right, as if layered. A thick leather, tan belt went around her waist, divided in front by thinner straps; three straps with offset gold buckles, so you could see the white of the robe underneath. The lower portion of the robe flared like a bell, with a hint of an upside down v direction between her legs, that made it unclear if the was more to her outfit, and because the fold over lapped, it gave a wave front across her body connecting the v between her legs to the v of the neck line. The left side of the robe had a large, open pocket which seemed more ornate than practical, but given her magician status, she could easily slip her hand there and likely pull out the most amazing sized rabbits if she needed to. The sleeve of the robe barely went mid-way to her shoulder, but she was wearing tan leather gloves that went from fingers to shoulder. There was hood to the robe, which was down, similar to Summer’s, and it felt warm and heavy on the back of her neck. She was wearing white hose and boots.
Loxy’s eye shadow was layered blue, indigo, and violet. Her bob was fluffy and wild.
Her eyebrows were darker than her hair, a dirty, reddish blond that was unreal, and her lips were really red. She smiled inwardly, and it mirrored on her face, and she was back inside, looking at Summer, who was patiently waiting for her to be satisfied.
“What?” Loxy asked. “Too much?”
“You just had that in there, ready to go?” Summer asked.
“This outfit? Oh. I have a whole team dedicated to my fashion,” Loxy said. “And they seem to know more about what I am getting into than I, so I tend to just go with it.”
“Very well. You got it from here,” Summer said. “Just like that. No mission statements?” Loxy asked.
“Your advisers are pushing an undergrad master’s combo, which isn’t unheard of, but given they want this, I am going to be less directive. Surprise me,” Summer said.
“How will I know when I am finished?” Loxy asked.
“Oh, don’t make me questions your advisers,” Summer said. Summer faded.
Nothing left to do, other than get to work. She descended the tower stair case and discovered that the castle was not a castle. On the Astral realm, it had been a castle, or perhaps she had interpreted it as such. If she closed her eyes, she could still see the castle, overlapping the physical structure. The castle was an anomaly, but since it was still present, at least to her, she decided she would start by exploring. She continued down the tower stairs, watching the terrain changing at each level, and emerged into the main floor. When she opened her eyes, she found herself in the open, center part of an abandoned shopping mall. She was on the lowest level, of what might normally be a skating rink, but a dance floor was closed over the ice. There was at least three levels to the mall. In some ways, it reminded her of the Galeria in Dallas. She closed her eyes and took in the fact that the mall was the only physical structure on the planet. It was if the mall had been cutout from its original place on Earth and inserted into a world that had no architectural evidence of civilization. She felt a song stirring, and wanted to dance and go explore the mall. Her space was so open and free that she felt very expansive, and spun, thinking this place would be great for a ballroom setting, should there be a future dance or recital.
And, then she realized, the mall was occupied, by neo-Amazonian women.
Loxy heard the words ‘intruder,’ and found herself being rushed by women with staffs.
Six were upon her so quickly and aggressively that the swinging of staffs was in play before ascertaining threat level. Loxy switched gears automatically, side stepping backwards, deferring to the closest energy, and rolling so perfectly, that her back was up against one of the attacker, as if they had been dancing; she assumed control of the staff, still flowing with the girl, and when the business end came up it was struck by a second staff. By that time, Loxy was in control of the staff. The girl was horrified by the fact her attack was now being used against her colleague, as well as confused how the enemy had moved up against her so easily. Loxy pushed an elbow into the stomach of the girl she was mirroring, and left the mirror pose, leaving the attacker behind like a discarded shadow. She touched the back of the neck and the girl went down, as if asleep. It was all one fluid motion, as she spun the stolen staff in her left hand bringing it up behind her to block a third attacker, simultaneously ducking another, flowing away from second, closest attacker. A gentle brush of the hand, immobilized the second attacker, and she collapsed to the floor without any sign of pain or protest. Two people down only escalated the aggressiveness of the other combatants, but also caused them to increased space between them, allowing only for staff engagement. The two bodies on the floor were obstacles to navigate, as neither party wanted to cause more injury. The resident aggressors weren’t entirely sure they weren’t dead, because they certainly looked dead, but even if they were dead, their respect for their friends’ bodies was evident.
Loxy recognized one of the attackers. She even had a name for her. “Midori?”
Saying her name inflamed them woman and she rushed Loxy. Their staffs crossed. Their eyes locked. Interestingly, everyone else went to their knees, putting their staffs on the ground, leaving only Loxy and Midori standing, locked, unable or unwilling to retreat.
A four year old girl approached. “Perhaps you didn’t hear me, Midori. I asked you to stand down.”
“This demon has intruded into our space,” Midori said.
“This human being has an invitation to be here,” the girl said. “From your invisible friend?!” Midori said.
“If you wish to persist in that label, I would like you to consider that there are more invisible people visiting this Hall than you could ever imagine, and so if you could see what I see, you would not be able to function at your present level of understanding,” the girl said. “My invisible friend has a name. Her name is Summer. I asked for help. This is the help. Stand down.”
Midori locked eyes with Loxy and grudgingly retreated. She angled herself so she could see the child while keeping her guard up against the intruder.
“I was chosen to be a Guardian. I can’t do my job if we have strangers straying through at random,” Midori said. “Unlike you, I can’t distinguish between good and bad by reading auras.”
“You could have asked her,” the girl said. “Dark entities lie,” Midori said.
The four year old blinked. “Fair enough. Forgive me. I keep forgetting you do not share my insight, and it was my fault for not alerting you to the potential of having a guest,” she said.
“She killed two of us,” Midori said.
“They’re not dead. They’re experiencing a thing called sleep paralysis,” the girl said. “Actually kind of nice, because their minds are awake and they are witnessing this, but unable to move because their bodies think they are asleep. That’s not something I have seen before.”
“Had I rendered them completely unconscious, they would not have learned that I meant them no harm,” Loxy said.
The four year old nodded. “True enough, except Rika there thought she was dead because she is seeing from outside her body. This is her first experience with out of body phenomena, and the first time to experience sleep paralysis while mind awake. Fret not, I have comforted her.”
“You’re telepathic,” Loxy observed. “As are you,” Midori said.
“Not so much,” Loxy said.
“Then explain how you know my name,” Midori said. “I know you from elsewhere,” Loxy said.
“You don’t know me,” Midori assured you.
“If I may,” the four year old girl said, trying to hide her amusement. “You don’t know you. Neither of you know as much as you think you do.”
“Who are you?” Loxy asked.
“Sara Lee,” the child answered. She closed her eyes and sorted questions. “Start, by allowing Rika and Truest to wake.”
Loxy closed her eyes and found the somatic switch that allowed for body brain separation during sleep, which was a protective switch that generally kept people from acting out their dreams. She turned the bodies back on and the girls rose and immediately joined rank with their sisters in arm, kneeling. Sara seemed satisfied.
“Loxy, if you’ll follow me, I will catch you up to speed,” Sara said. “I will not tolerate you being alone with her,” Midori said.
“You and Rika may follow and listen,” Sara invited. “However, if she were a threat, the two of you alone would not be able to contain her.”
Midori was not happy to hear that, on multiple levels, not just personal. How could she protect folks if the nature of the people that came and went were practically gods and goddesses?
Loxy handed the staff back to Rika and bowed. Rika bowed in return. Midori refused to extend welcome. It was clear this Midori was on a completely different emotional level than the one she was familiar with, the one she knew as the Brain. Sara was dressed in typical, 4 year old clothes, American, upper middle class. Jeans and a nice, oversized pull over that was not quite a dress, but neither was it a t-shirt. She walked and encouraged Loxy to catch up walk beside her. Loxy identified the voice in her head as Sara’s and memorized its flavor, so their world be no doubt who was communicating with her in the future.
“So, you’re wanting to know why my Midori doesn’t know you, and the answer is because she hasn’t experienced you,” Sara said, leading them out of the ‘Great Hall’ into a corridor, past stores still full with merchandise. The writing on signs suggested it was a Japanese mall, and yet the basic layout reminded her again of a the Mall Jon had visited. Having never been to a mall, personally, she decided her confusion was due to sorting Jon’s memories for reference. A water fountain that operated through the use of printer jets, created a sheet of water image, which almost mesmerized her into watching, but the desire to keep up with Sara and learn more won out. She spied a corridor of the mall where an array of Pod Hotels lined the wall like Honey Combs, and more guardians spied her, and more were gathering. Some of the pods on the adjacent wall to the honeycomb had more rectangular openings, and when the door closed it was illuminated from within like a lantern, complete with human silhouettes. It was not lost on Loxy that the Guardians were all female.
“This Midori is the oldest version of Midori available from Origin’s time line. Your Midori has an alternate memory system and the body was a clone of the original, taken by Grays who wanted to push humanity beyond the Sol system. The original Midori was born into an island population that served a volcano god. She was selected to serve the god, probably because she was the most beautiful child in the village. The elders were predicting she would be problematic, because beauty translates into power. That seems to be true throughout human history, and the real secret behind the advancement of patriarchy was men being afraid and overcompensating for their vulnerability to the point they became domineering. Oh, sorry, side track; you will have to forgive me. I may have an old soul, but I am in four year old body.
Anyway, beyond Midori’s own power, her people knew she would cause territorial rift in the village as many men would fight to possess that power. Just owning a powerful woman makes a man powerful. Aren’t humans interesting?! There would be jealousy, hurt feelings, and war.
What can I say? Men! She was groomed so well for her task of serving their god that she actually looked forward to jumping into the volcano to appease the volcano god to save her village. Most people don’t realize that archaic myth rituals are generally socially functional. She ultimately balked at jumping and ended up being thrown in against her will, and she did die, and her soul went where souls from her culture go to, but when Origin was unpacked and redistributed throughout the physical realm, this version arrived here, updated with sufficient information to make her serviceable to this world and this population.”
“She believes she is serving a god?” Loxy asked.
Sarah laughed and pushed through an exit door and out away from the mall. The immediate area around the mall was landscaped. There was no parking lot. No cars. No roads. There was a well-worn path down towards a lake. An orchard with a variety of fruit trees was visible, as well as gardens, hens with chicks, and a cute, pink rabbit stood up to sniff the air, an Easter egg behind it. It was much brighter outside in the sunlight. The sky was a crisp blue with puffy white clouds.
“Well, though she has been educated since arriving here that that’s not true in the absolute sense, she frequently defaults to her original programing’s understanding,” Sara said. “It was necessary to leave as much of her original psyche intact for her mission. And, it’s a process. On this planet, all the guardians are females that were sacrificed for the greater good of their community in some form or another. Their presence here was approved during the Great Consensus.”
“Define the Great Consensus,” Loxy asked.
“Every human being who was ever conceived, even many who hadn’t been conceived, every thought-forms brought into existence by the collective human agreement, has been made manifest and allowed to pursue their function within the confines of the Earth Cluster,” Sara said. “There are people experiencing multiplicity, and some who are simply existing in multiple places at once but ignorant of the fact they exist simultaneously elsewhere. You, for example, exist in multiple dimensions, on several planets, and even a Starship. That’s the world-line where you have encountered Midori. You are aware of some of your lives, but not all of them. Midori here, she was not privy to the other lives, but now has a hint of one that includes you.”
“You got all of that from my mind?” Loxy asked.
Sara shook her head, chuckling at what she perceived as ignorance about telepathy. “Not all of it. As a telepath, more, as an individual, I see what is presently available, and where my focus is aimed. I can go broader and wider, but it can sometimes be fairly difficult to sort, as some things come in pictures, some as metaphors. There is so much to sort that I have a psychic team in place to assist in regulating the information. I don’t need to be privy to everything but it comes at me like light from the stars so my team acts like filters. It’s all there, all the time, but I am able to attend where I am needed most of the time. Random things still break through, like a passing squirrel, or a blue jay, which is just a thought and pleasant. Some are not so pleasant. My primary mode of understanding is auditory. I have a telepathic range, a sphere of influence if you prefer, that encompasses the entire Local Group. I had ability before the onset of the First Ability, but due to my effective range after the Light, it was necessary for me to embrace my Indigo nature and bypass childhood in order to help the human race survive transition.”
“Wow,” Loxy said. “How do you feel about that?”
“I have a counselor, thank you,” Sara said, opting out of that conversation.
Loxy was impressed by her polite bypass. She was educated enough not to pursue a block that had nothing to do with her. Parent geese approached, waddling closer, followed by four babies, picking at the grass as they proceeded like gentle dinosaurs roaming the land.
“This Earth belongs to Panama and was provided conditional to him accepting the 40 million humans who will ultimately reside on the planet. He was allowed his caveats to their presence. With the exception of the Guardians, the 40 million are currently housed on orbiting platforms. They will gain access to the planet only after completing mandatory training, which includes life reviews and acceptance to Panama’s preference to how this planet’s society will ultimately look.”
“So, Panama is one of the dictators from Origin’s final play?” Loxy asked. “He is not a dictator,” Sara said,
“And yet, he has his caveats for their existence,” Loxy pointed out.
“They will be a part of a new world. Many will have reasons not to be happy. In truth, humans excel at finding reasons not to be happy. But here this world’s truth; the 40 million, whether they want it or not, whether they remember it or not, are chosen by humanity for a purpose and they have agreed to participate in that purpose. Every human who earns the privilege for being on the surface will be sovereign. Can you imagine a world of 40 million sovereign people? No kings, no rulers, no presidents. Everyone simply coexisting.”
“There is usually a hierarchy of some sort,” Loxy agreed. “I assume Panama will be in charge?”
“Out of the entire human race, Panama is the most powerful human, psychically and spiritually speaking,” Sara said. “He does not wish to rule. He only wants solitude. It was due to his sphere of influence, coupled with the ability to see and teleport that the final resolution was allowed to happen through him. Together, he and I established Consensus through the Collective Unconsciousness. Humans agreed to the Solution. Not too surprisingly, when given a choice, humans will choose life, even a cooperative life, even accept severe restrictions, when the penalty is not being able to play again. Interestingly, not all the minds participating in the Consensus were human. Dolphins, Whales, Summer’s species, various order of primates, cats, dogs, Sequoia trees… Actually more species than you might imagine participated in the Consensus. Humans were not an accidental happening, but was a pathway of nature to increase life and diversity. Humans were intended to be a pathway for love and nurture, hence no claws, no armored skin, no specialized predator teeth. We failed the first test, probably becoming more aggressive due to our perceived lack. Once the resolution was made, if was ratified by those that predate us, as we were supposed to be their pathway back into play. We were given permission to exercise our option by races much older than ours that recognize our potential. There is some discontent among those who predate us, but the Primary Five, the Gatekeepers due to seniority, have agreed to our experiment.”
“I have learned a little about this in my adventures on the Starship, but I still lack the clarity I would prefer,” Loxy said. Outside was like being at park, minus the slide and swings. There was a nature beyond the landscaped that seemed shaped for human habitation, but even that terrain seemed ‘groomed’ for human participation. There was an island in the pond, and an overflow creek, with stone bridges going over, and some bridges that were also dams, only exposed due to the present water level. There were several fountains spraying up, creating watery domes inside the pond. The island held ducks, and the trees were adorned with white birds. A white bird walked the shoreline on stilted legs, tilting its head. Turtle heads rose and fell.
Squirrels ran, chasing each other playfully. But the most prominent and obvious creatures were lemurs; they were everywhere in the background! There was a nutria that took to the water as they approached closer to the pond. At first she assumed it was a beaver, but it lack of the flat tail. “I am not sure I like the idea of these fives deciding our fates.”
“You misunderstand. Humans killed themselves off. With the exception of 57, the astronauts on the International Space Station, plus Panama and the nurses and the babies he rescued from a hospital in Brazil; everyone else was dead by the time the Earth was unpacked and redistributed. The Aliens, referred to as the Council of Five, were considering picking a few choice individuals out humanity’s history and going only with that, but a small pool of humans so limited the species that they were concerned we wouldn’t make it through the next transition. Humanity has proven itself to be the most aggressive species ever seen in the Universe, to date. Even some of the species humanity consider dark are nowhere near as aggressive as we, and the proof in that is humanity continued to exist despite of their knowledge of us. Still, as aggressive as we are, we have an equal and opposite affinity towards love and nurture. We learn quickly.
We are light years behind the others, but our quick progress has drawn the attention of the Local group’s community. We grew intellectually faster than we did emotionally. And we are liked. If we can prove ourselves sufficiently capable of adapting to the reality of this new order, and I use new order correctly, not as a way of defining some secret agencies resolve for further controlling populations, we will be permitted to exist in human form.”
“But what does that mean, exactly,” Loxy asked. “How do we prove ourselves.”
“Every world ever imagined by humans exist. Every form of humanity imagined exists.
Every non-human species that humans imagined exist. We exist in one spot in the Universe where we will interact with each other. All competing thought forms exist, and we will mix and become one thing, or we will fail,” Sara said.
“What does failure mean?” Loxy asked.
“We may be allowed to participate as souls or through incarnations from within the available life streams alien species, if we so choose, but there will be no more humans,” Sara explained. “Or derivative species of humans.”
“Choose?” Loxy asked.
“Humans are so young they can’t see ‘others’ and so, even on etheric and astral realms, they tend to see only other humans,” Sara said. “We are like mere cats, hiding in the sand.”
“You say this is not a new order, but how is Panama different?” Loxy asked. “He has surrounded himself with young girls who will be his guardians. The humans above are mandated to training in order to exist outside of their station’s prison cells.”
Sara nodded. She actually smiled, because there was a flavor attached to the idea of the guardians that she found amusing. “Panama didn’t choose the Guardians. They were chosen for him, by humanity’s unconscious disposition towards antiquated beliefs about genetic lines.
Which is also ironic, because apparently throwing women to the gods turned out to have some validity in the present arrangement, and functional for the past peoples who wanted to save their genetic lines. You will find that some traditions die hard. Every race, every culture, is represented within the guardians, and Panama is expected to extend his line genetic line through them, due to his level of ability. It is part of the agreement that he comply.”
“I am sure it’s hardship for him,” Loxy said.
“I believe he is resistant,” Sara said. “That best explains his continued coma.”
“He’s in a coma?” Loxy asked.
“Here is what you need to know about Panama. He was a sickly child and died in a hospital setting. He was clinically dead for 8 minutes before being resuscitated. After that event, he never suffered from illness again, but he changed. He was socially awkward. He tended to isolate. He knew things that bothered his family, things he should not have known, but they simply chose to ignore it, and suspected brain damage during his death episode. He was secretly and remotely trained by a local Shaman, who recognized what was going on, but was blocked from physical access due to his family’s belief system. When he was fourteen, his family negotiated him working at the local hospital as a janitor, partly to repay their debt to the doctors who saved him. His peers and boss loved him because he was very good at cleaning, never complained, and was never late. He was ostracized by the regular staff because of his insight, which he quickly learned not to give freely. He never helped a patient, even when he knew the solution. Interestingly, one of the doctors, frustrated with a particular case asked a question out loud in ear shot, and Panama whispered the answer while mopping. The Doctor asked him to speak up. The answer worked. It gave the Doctor insight and not only did the treatment modality work, but the client was cured; something that shouldn’t have happened. It was chalked off as a placebo effect. Panama continued to be treated badly by the hospital regime, because they wanted to break from outdated modes in favor of treating in deference to the Western Medical model. Still, other Doctors would sometimes bring him in the room for a consult, and during those session he was treated very well, like someone might treat an autistic child who could do math that no one else could do, but when it was done he went right back to being a Janitor. He was working the hospital when the first Ability, telepathy, kicked in. His insight and level of unconscious telepathic interactions resulted in spontaneous healing around him, and several deaths. It was the nurses around him that acquired the first healing talents because of his transference of information to the collective whole. His second ability was sight. He could see anywhere in his sphere influence, which like mine, includes the entire Local Group. His third ability was the ability to teleport.
“It was necessary for him to leave Earth to save his life. He went to the space station first. He heard the pleas of the nurses protecting babies. He took them. And doing so realized, he still wasn’t safe. He left, taking the space station and everyone on board with him. His first stop was Jupiter. It was still not far enough away to suit him. He went further. He encountered aliens. He and I were suddenly able to converse, and he felt comfortable with me because I lacked agenda, other than wanting to know if my parents were okay. He also saw the place that I escaped, too, an inner world that everyone has access to, but few go that far in, and he wanted to know more. I taught what I could, and we sorted a plan to reconnect with humanity. Not only could he see everywhere, but he could see every-when! The two of us, together, could reach everyone on earth, throughout all time, all at once. And we did. The solution presented itself. And now, we are here. Most human have no abilities. That wasn’t us blocking. That was the human agreement. They chose no abilities in favor of a select few learning ability based on maturity or understanding or societal need,” Sara said.
Sara pulled bread out of her pocket to feed the ducks. Loxy recognized her magic trick! It was the one thing all magicians could effectively do, bring food about for personal maintenance or for others. She was a magician! The geese tried to chase away the ducks, but Sara corrected them and told them there was enough for all and they could share and wait their turn.
Interestingly, the parent geese listened, and it was also interesting to note that they waited for their children to have their fill before taking their turn.
“Yes,” Sara said, answering Loxy’s observation. “I was at Safe Haven long before you, and long before I decided to incarnate as Sara.”
“And you asked for me specifically, or a simply a student of Safe Haven?” Loxy asked.
“I simply expressed my needs, and the Universe responded,” Sara said. “You seem surprised, but serendipity is part of life.”
Loxy sorted what she heard, and while sorting she noticed another species of lemur in the nearby tree. She recognized a Silky Sifaka family.
“There sure are a lot of lemurs here,” Loxy said.
“Panama especially liked Lemurs,” Sara said. “So do I. This Earth is devoted to all things Lemurs and will predominantly be home to Lemurs. This Earth is one giant Madagascar. Species of Lemur that have gone extinct, and new species that have not even been seen, will roam the earth.”
“That’s so cool,” Loxy said. “Do you need me to establish a veterinarian practice?”
“I want you to wake Panama,” Sara said.
“Oh. From his coma,” Loxy said. “Is that a problem?” Sara asked.
“Depends on the nature of the coma,” Loxy said. “I assume, given the tech available here, you have exhausted all known medical remedies, or you wouldn’t be calling for a Safe Haven Shaman.”
“That is correct,” Sara said.
“It might help if I knew his real name,” Loxy asked. “Jesús García,” Sara said.
“Oh, wow,” Loxy said.
“Yes. I find the irony amusing, too,” Sara said.