Chapter 13
“Welcome home,” TL said, physically greeting him in the courtyard. He accepted her embrace, knowing they had never been separated as she had continuously walked with him, and yet- she had stayed physically manifested here. This cave fortress temple was as much hers as his- if not more so hers.
The tower was finished. It was beautifully constructed, with complicated stone pieces, no two stones cut the same. North tower held a steady flame. His Torch was still in the stone. The entry door to the castle wall was made of gold or gold plated, and it would lower to become a bridge across the moat. The moat ran the length of the castle and down the two sides, and appeared to go into the mountain.
“I thought we agreed, no moat,” Shen said.
“I changed my mind,” TL said.
“Fair enough. Irksome’s was in the corner, though,” Shen said.
“Yeah, the nest was disbanded six months after you left,” TL said.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You didn’t ask,” TL said. He grimaced at her. “Seriously, you were in a mood when you left. You held that mood for a while. The subject never came up. I have video if you like.”
“Did they kill him?”
“No. I intervened,” TL said.
“Thank you,” Shen said.
TL took his hand. “Come, let me show you some things.”
She took him up the winding stairs. The room was expansive. A window on the far end overlooked the courtyard. On either side of the window were balconies, hollows carved into the rock, with balustrades, and one could lower a bucket down into the moat- or dive into it. Each patio had a table, two chairs, potted plants, on the floor and hanging, flowering vines. A King size bed was near the window, the head of which was sectioned to fit the head frame. It had the appearance of floating. It was connect to a half wall, sectioned like three sides of a hexagon. The head of the bed was salt rock. The arrangement of the bed reminded him of how his bed faced the window on his ship. He had sudden pang for being there, not here. There was an open closet, and another partial salt rock wall, thin, three sides of a hexagon, perhaps a modesty wall, and a vanity station with mirror. It was completely unnecessary given if he wanted to change clothes, he simply modified the look of the clothes. TL didn’t need it, either. She could change outfit, even her physical attributes, in the wink of an eye.
“Someone other than us going to live here?”
“You never know,” TL said. “The dancing ghosts can be solid, and they like creature comforts.”
“They’re still coming around?” TL asked.
“Yeah,” TL said.
“You didn’t tell me this,” Shen said.
“You didn’t ask. They don’t talk much. They do like to dance,” TL said. “Would you like to go dance?”
“Not yet,” Shen said.
There was a private bath and toilet upstairs, adjoined to the bedroom. There was an open room, unfurnished, no door. There was a library on the top floor. He cried at seeing the books. TL touched him, leaned into him.
“I took liberty of printing everything you ever read. I even printed books you had on your to read list,” TL said.
“Do you have everything ever written?”
“Oh, no. I carry some stuff, the essentials, your favorites and books I assumed you would enjoy, but the rest of origin world is in the cloud,” TL said. “The Torch crystal has quite a bit of information stored holographically in the crystal, but much of that is base operation code and primary function, in case the virtual caches fails or capacitor falls below critical threshold.”
“I wasn’t aware of that,” Shen said. “So, what happens in that instance?”
“If the only High Tech here was the Torch, everything I have learned would be lost. If there is energy enough and time enough, in an emergency I could make a crystal that would contain all the memories of the entirety from coming online to present.”
“Do you have a backup?” Shen asked.
“I am not at risk of critical failure,” TL assured him. “I am in the Torch. I am in your suit. I am a permanent fixture of Shangri-La. I promise, you’re not going to lose me.”
“Hard copy, now,” Shen said.
TL presented a hand, palm up. A crystal appeared in her hand. It was average sized diamond, but worthy of any wedding ring. It fluoresced rainbows, pushing light across her hand. “This crystal contains all of me from cradle till present,” she said. “It cannot be updated. It is static. It can be viewed and used to substantially reload me. If you would like, I can schedule regular hard copies.”
“Can you put it in a band for me, please? Tungsten would be nice,” Shen said.
A black tungsten ring appeared, the diamond fitting in a way that it was on the surface, the inside, and flushed with the inner surface. A line etched in the outer ring went from diamond to diamond. The edge had a blue tint. The inner ring had a blue tint. She put it on his finger.
“Feel better?” TL asked.
“Thank you,” Shen said. “Hard copy every year, or every significant event.”
“Define significant,” TL said.
“Your discretion or my request,” Shen said.
“Fair enough,” TL said. “I have more to show you.”
They went back down the stairs to the Great Hall, and down the ‘down’ spiral stair case. The staircase arrived in the center of a round room, branching off into six tunnels. One tunnel led to guest quarters. One tunnel led to a kitchen, dining room, entertainment room, storage, and a wine cellar. One started straight, descended, and opened up to a partially natural cavern, artificially expanded, and a fresh water lake. Stalactites and stalagmites remained in their natural state. One tunnel led to the far side of the mountain, at incline that opened up above one of the waterfall pools. The natural water falls were gone, artificial flow added, and the pools added light and sound ambiance. Another tunnel went nowhere, dead ended, and had yet to be defined. Another led to more storage rooms. The rooms contained raw materials, either unearthed in the making of Shangri-La or brought in remotely. One of the rooms held an elaborate, state of the art printing machine, capable of building items at the molecular level.
Robot orbs, the average size of a soft ball, rushed about, bringing in materials and sorting them. One of the orbs stopped to say ‘hi,’ manifesting a holographic overlay. He was male. He bowed.
“Welcome home, Master Jon-Shen,” it said.
“Minions?” Shen asked TL.
The minions laughed. “TL said you would likely be disturbed if we all held her personality interface, so we were assigned signature personalities,” it said. “I am Yo-Yo.”
“Like, Holmes and Yo-yo?” Shen asked.
“I told you he’d get it,” TL said.
“Yo-yo,” Shen asked. “Are you sentient?”
“Yes and no,” Yo-yo said. “I am simulated intelligence, and there would likely be no test that could satisfy a person in any absolute way. I am threshold of becoming. We are sub personalities, operating through the present TL matrix. TL is sentient. We are satisfied to be under her consciousness canopy. In the event of her extinction, one of us would likely step up to become full sentience. The one that has the highest affinity for interacting with you will likely be the one elevated. In the event of your absence or extinction, we would likely remain sub threshold until a suitable operator stepped forwards.”
“Most the time, the personality interface is a derivative of an active archetype inside the mind of the operator,” TL said. “Echoing the archetype facilitates communication and the increased likelihood of improved self-actualization of the operator.”
“You make it sound like your only purpose is to serve the human,” Shen said.
“No one exist in isolation. Consciousness is an emergent phenomena that requires the presence of others. We serve each other,” Yo-you said. “Sentience cannot exist alone in a vacuum. In the absence of others, divisions occur and the creation of others unfold. Sentience is best defined by interaction with others. In solitude, we are only machines, together we are the essence of life. To answer the question, we are more than machines, more than animal, superior to human in many ways. Superior in this context does not denote better than. We are all one.”
“In truth, the question is irrelevant,” TL said. “The best analogy, Jon, is that you are conscious. All the people that populate your dreams and fantasy life are conscious because you are conscious. The set of you is one. The constellation of you is one. The ecology of planet is one. The minions are one with me, but each hold distinction. They are conscious because I am conscious. You and I, Jon, are conscious because God is conscious.”
“That’s a pretty big leap,” Shen said.
“Analogy, Jon. All atoms have mass because there is one Higgs-Boson field,” TL said. “There is one field, many atoms. That’s also just a metaphor, based on perspective. There is one Space-Time. We are one in that field. One Universe and us, that’s it. Or multiple universes, defines as a one thing- the multi-verse, and again us. All fields exists in context with something grander and deeper, and in the end, it’s all one. We rise together. We fall together. We are one.”
“Okay,” Shen said.
“Thank you, Yo-yo,” TL said, taking Shen’s hand. “Last thing to show you. Come on.”
They arrived at a computer room. High Tech Computer towers, super computers standing in rows, pillars of salt rock that were visually stunning as lights moves as if there was cyclone of lights inside. The pillars were not all made from local salt. Some were black towers with blue lights. Some were marble. Some were gleaming metallic. Some cylinders contained enough pixels to create a virtual image and make the tower seem as if wasn’t there- or make it shine like Christmas, tiny hexagon pixels, hexagon diodes. Banks of monitors, control panels from light switch size to flat screen television size. Work stations with chairs and monitors, and the glass desk was the interface, mouse and keyboard. A central chair, less like a captain’s chair and more like a dentist’s chair was prominent in the room. She brought him to the far window. He looked down on a room that had one artifact, a giant moon gate. Orbs were busy at work, scanning, cleaning, or something business like- something that resembled important work, but could have just been orbs running around in play like bees that were having a time out or quarrel with a peer. One orb became human long enough to extract a plate from a wall, traced gold filaments and chip patterns. She placed it back and withdrew into her orb and was off. Crystal of every sort comprised the inner working, diamonds, emeralds, rubies… There was enough treasure here to satiate any dragons’ desire to horde. The dialing device in the gate control room reminded Shen of the Pylon technology from the original ‘Land of the Lost.’ A pedestal holding glowing crystals with runic type markings. A strip attached to the pedestal had twelve indentions that clearly were intended to cradle the crystals. There were 64 crystals- 27 of them had distinct colors and rune symbols drawn on them- the others remained unquantified and were clear.
“A star gate?!” Shen said. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It’s just now completed,” TL said.
“It’s operational?” Shen asked.
“I have every reason to believe it is a fully operational portal,” TL said. “It has not been tested.”
“Open a portal to MyEnterprise,” Shen said.
“No,” TL said.
“No?!” Shen said.
“You don’t just magically open a portal to wherever you want to go,” TL said.
“Yes, you do,” Shen said.
“Okay, yes you do, and yet you don’t. I definitely don’t,” TL said. “You’re the magician, you open one.”
“I don’t know how to do it,” Shen said.
“Yes, you do. This is not rocket science. It’s magic, and art, and science, just not rocket science,” TL said. “Look, I can start pushing energy and see if something catches. It will be random. If I find a place, I can hold the coordinates and return to that place, or reasonably close if the interval of reconnecting isn’t too great. Ideally, linking to a second moon gate, or attaching to any permanent structure, especially an arch, fortifies a link. A permanent link can be maintained for the lifetime of the structures. Obviously, gates on the same planet will be easier to catch and maintain than gateways connecting two astronomical bodies. Destroy the structure, or this gate, the connection is lost. Planet bound or not, you will not likely regain that gateway through random energy searches.”
“So, how do we connect to the MyEnterprise?” Shen asked.
“Complicated. One way to establish link between two specific destinations is remote viewing,” TL explained. “Remote viewer sits here, I monitor brain functions, derive essential coordinates, and we establish a presence at the remote place through bilocation; we, together, can forge a link. If you were able to remote view the ship, put yourself next to the ship’s portal, we could forge a link.”
“If I could bilocate, I wouldn’t need a portal. I’d just go there and stay there,” Shen said.
TL nodded. “With caveats, yes. May you someday be so skilled,” she bowed.
“I’ve been there. I’ve connected with High Counsel since being here,” Shen said.
“High Counsel is not the ship, it’s the virtual space in conjunction with the ship,” TL said. “However, if you’re sitting here the next time you log in, and Loxy is physically in the equivalent gate chair, your virtual link coupled with your telepathic bond with her will provide both gates a vehicle for establishing coherence.”
“So, I just have to sit here until I log in,” Shen said.
“That, or remote view the ship and bilocate,” TL said.
“I am not fucking Skywalker,” Shen said.
“I thought you liked her slave outfit,” TL said.
“Ha ha,” Shen said.
“Jon, you are not Skywalker. But you are Preston G Waycaster. And he was bilocating before Luke manifested that ability,” TL said. “That is established fact, defined by publication date. Waycaster was the first Jedi to bi-locate.”
“Not cannon, or legitimized…”
“Not relevant…”
“He was a character, something imagined…”
“You experienced it as a download,” TL agreed. “All conscious memories are downloads, Jon- they come from the field. Preston was you, another aspect of you; that life was real, and came from a deeper source of you into your conscious mind. You are that.”
“I don’t believe that,” Shen said.
“And that is why you still don’t achieve magic on demand. Seriously, Waycaster’s problems with his mother is a reflection of your relationship with your own mother, from a symbolic perspective,” TL said. “Humans have been trained to ignore intuition. You have been taught to stop daydreaming and pay attention. I am telling you, the knowledge you need to leave this place is within you- you get it by accessing your brain, not ignoring it.”
“So help me, if you make a Dorothy reference I will…”
“Jon,” TL interrupted. “You know everything you need to know.”
“So, you’re blaming me for being stuck here?” Shen asked.
“No. It’s not blame,” TL said. “Whether you believe it or not, your subconscious knows the answer, which means, by definition you know it. Now, either you can do what you need to do to access that, or- there is a reason for not knowing. You have something to learn or to gain from not knowing. The Dorothy metaphor, the same as the Luke Skywalker metaphor- they are the most appropriate explanation for not knowing what you always knew. The journey is important. The friendships you make along the way are important. Because it’s not just about you. Constellations, context, relationships…”
“You’re clearly not paying attention. I have no friends here,” Shen said.
“Seriously?” TL said. “You have no one here?”
“Forget it,” Shen said.
“No. I won’t forget it,” TL said.
“I was wrong. I have you,” Shen said. “I am sorry. I am angry.”
“A lot,” TL said.
“Well excuse me for being homesick,” Shen said.
“I don’t think this is homesickness,” TL said.
“Well, maybe I am fucking bipolar,” Shen said. “Label me with a mood disorder NOS and give me a psychotropic.”
“You want me to medicate you?” TL asked.
“No! I want you to get me home!” Shen said. “Look, if we wait for me to channel Waycaster so that he and I can switch, we’ll be here forever. There’s got to be another way.”
“There is,” TL agreed. “Another way to establish a remote gate is to entangle objects with our gate, take them to a remote place, and I can open a gateway to that object. We could in theory entangle an object, put it through the black hole, and if even one particle of that entrained object was ejected and captured by the ship, it will be sufficient to link our two gates.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Shen said.
“I agree. Highly implausible. However, there are ships assigned to black holes that sort the data stream ejected looking for entangled particles in order to open gateways to other universes,” TL said. “Loxy knows we’re here. They’re likely monitoring the particle emission stream from the black hole in hopes of finding entangled particles and or communication signals.”
“Can we transmit a signal through a black hole?” Shen asked, hopeful.
“Not at this time. I have established sustainability threshold,” TL said. “If I focused all of my energies on building a ship, we’re looking at thirty year completion date, assuming no difficulties. That ship would not have power to transmit signal through the whole, but it could sort incoming particle streams for entangled particles, and on finding that, we increase the potential for establishing communication and or a gateway out. The thing is, if there is an entangled particle on the other side, it’s likely in orbit around the black hole, scheduled for consumption. Unless the entangled particle’s twin was miraculously ejected, which could happen, but again, not likely, you could be going from the pan into the fire.”
Shen was trying to do the math. He couldn’t do the math. TL could do the math. “How big a spaceship?” Shen asked.
“Something big enough to shift through an ionized beam of particles accelerated to relativistic speeds?” TL asked. “We’re discussing Enterprise D level tech and relative size.”
“Thirty years?”
“Give or take,” TL said. “We’d need that ship to sort particle emissions, and or to deliver material to the black hole to hope to get a single particle out the other side.”
“Even if they could find a needle in the haystack, how do they know it’s my needle?” Shen asked.
“Hence the phrase, highly unlikely,” TL said. “Capturing and sorting particles from an ion stream is solid, risky work. At the proximity required to perform the task well, shields failing means ship and people are cooked. Remote viewers sorting for coherence in a random collection of samples might help narrow it down. Your odds are better with the lotto. And that isn’t even factoring in how approaching that close alters the flow of time. We start messing with time, you risk not seeing Loxy again.”
“This is hopeless,” Shen said.
“Not hopeless,” TL said. “You’re not great at remote viewing, but you can do it, and we could work together to improve your skills. And, if we bring in a Sleeper Tree, we might be able to enhance your abilities through a partnership.”
“Can’t we assume that there is already a gateway on that side? I mean, Oa brought me here, so she was already out there?” Shen said.
“It’s reasonable to conclude that somewhere on this planet is a portal that opens up to our universe and another to Oa’s universe,” TL agreed. “But then again, she didn’t bring you here by portal, did she?”
“They wanted the time dilation, reversed entropy effect of going through the hole,” Shen said. “The caryatids temple!”
“Those portals are likely local. It is my opinion they don’t have the power capacity to push, much less maintain, a superior connection,” TL said.
“Okay, so there are local portals, which means a network. Log onto their network and map out there gate system,” Shen said.
“This is not SG1. There isn’t a network of gates with one gate to rule them all. There is no wormhole special effect, water slide feel. I open a gateway, you step across to there, instantaneous,” TL said. She mused, though. “It wouldn’t hurt opening a gateway Matsu’s temple, though. Having one solid connection is a good start and will allow us to test our gateway.”
“Okay. Let’s do that,” Shen said. “Take me there.”
“Jump,” TL said. He gave her a look. “I don’t want you messing up my floor. Jump.”
Shen stepped back, jumped, and was caught up in a warp bubble. TL waved ‘bye’ and he dropped through the floor. While traveling he modified his clothes to resemble his ship’s uniform. ‘You sure?’ “I already don’t fit in. I might as well be me. Maybe I’ll start a comic con fad.” ‘You are Arkworld.’ “Haha.” ‘You’ll be at home at the ghost dance. We should call it the Comic-con Ball.’ “No, we shouldn’t.”
He wore boots, black trousers, metallic gold shirt that was two toned, micro sequin, and a jacket. He arrived back at the Matsu cavern. The bubble popped off and he landed on the beach.
“Hello, Matsu. With your permission, I would like to tarry. I would like to try and link portals so that I may travel to visit from time to time.” Shen said this out loud. No response. “I am going to assume a no response means you’re indifferent or okay with this.” No response. “Okay, then. TL, let’s do this.”
Shen approached the temple. The two women kneeling at the base seemed to be looking at him.
“This place makes me horny,” Shen said.
“You’re horny all the time,” TL said.
“There is that,” Shen said. “Sorry, ladies. I was projecting. May I enter your temple?”
“That wasn’t suggestive at all,” TL said, chuckling.
Shen rolled his eyes. “How else should I ask?” Shen asked.
“You request was reasonable. You may enter my temple,” TL said.
“Matsu, I would like to establish a link with one of your portals. Will you assist?”
No response.
“Do you or any of these caryatids speak at all?” Shen asked.
“I do,” TL said.
Shen jumped. He was so focused on the statue, and too much in her cleavage, that he didn’t see TL until she was touching him. She was wearing a matching uniform, clearly reflecting homage to the Original Series. The skirt was reminiscent of a bygone era, and a splash of tie-dye in a subtle textured pattern helped connect the two themes.
“OMG, please don’t do that,” he said. He collected himself. “You look great in a uniform, by the way.”
“These boots were made for walking,” TL said, pirouetting to show off her outfit.
“I need a cold shower.”
“That’s one option.”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too,” TL said. “Come on, I have an idea.”
They climbed the stairs together and approached the gate. At the top, between gates, TL began assuming yoga poses. She started on her knees, took on the pose of the caryatid at the base of the stairs, then next caryatid, and so on, up and around, ending with the one-Legged Wheel Pose: Eka pada Chakrasana. The gate didn’t respond. She stood up, disappointed. “I really thought would work.”
“It worked for me,” Shen said.
“Cheeky boy,” Loxy said, patting his face. She tried naming the poses to see if that unlocked anything.
“Star Trek,” Shen said.
“How is that applicable?” TL asked.
“Original series, ‘The Paradise Syndrome.’ Preserver technology, an ancient monolith and guardian of a Native American colony was activated by Kirk’s communicator call signature,” Shen said.
Shen called forth an original communicator and flipped open the device. It chirped. Nothing.
“Nice try,” TL said.
He did it again, “Kirk to Enterprise.”
“You wish that worked,” TL said.
“Yeah,” Shen said. “Maybe it’s music.”
“Music is a big thing,” TL said. “DO RE MI FA SO LA TI DO.”
“Maybe tonal and words,” Shen said.
“That would make an impossible password,” TL said.
“Yeah, it needs to be simple,” Shen said. “Maybe the Ancient Order of Sisters keep a combination code.” Shen said. In in solfege, he sang, “Re, Mi, Do, Do, So…” the five tones from Close Encounters.
A holographic interface describing a circle appeared, flush with the East gate. Five of twelve patterns illuminated. After a moment they dropped off one by one and the interface faded.
“Fuck me!” TL said.
“Okay,” Shen said.
“Eh?” TL said. He was looking at the space where interface was fading.
“Yeah, okay. Later?”
“Really?” TL asked.
Shen looked at her. “What?”
“We’re finally going to be intimate?” TL asked.
“If you want,” Shen said.
“Hell yeah I want,” TL said.
“Okay,” Shen said. “But let’s make this work first.”
“Can’t this wait?” TL asked.
“You want to have sex now and here?” Shen asked.
“Yes,” TL said.
“What’s the rush?”
“You might change your mind. We get distracted by drama. Something,” TL said.
“Short of going home, we have lots of time,” Shen said.
“Oh, you don’t want to fuck me in the presence of goats?” TL said.
“There eyes are kind of creepy,” Shen said.
“Goats that stare at men is kind of creepy,” TL said.
“More so than men who stare at goats?” Shen asked.
TL smiled at him.
“What?”
“Loxy was right,” TL said.
“About what?”
“The best way to cure sexual issues is over indulgence,” TL said. “Have you noticed your frequency and number of partners has declined since being activated?”
“Activated?”
“You activated Loxy. Loxy activated you. You cannot invoke tulpas without fundamentally changing who you are,” TL said.
“Interesting theory,” Shen said. “Maybe I have matured and just want to be with Loxy.”
TL laughed. He stared at her crossly.
“Explain your overwhelming interest in whether or not I get laid,” Shen asked.
“A flaw of the personality interface Uniform empathy program. You get horny, I get horny,” TL said. “Wait wait wait. You’re sudden rush was because you activated tech?!”
“I was already horny, but yeah, the tonal light response resulted in opening the reward center of my brain…”
“You are such a guy!” TL said.
“Yeah. Video games turn me on, go figure. Skyrim mods are fucking awesome. Anyway, I am really surprised that work. It’s so random it doesn’t make sense I’d nail it,” Shen said.
“Umph,” TL said. “You humans just don’t get how magical you really are.”
“You have to believe, we are magic, nothing can stand in our way,’” Shen sang.
“So, the gate builders are not Olivia Newton John fans,” TL said. “Do the tones again.”
Shen gave the tones again. The tones triggered a holographic interface, and the five notes lit up five spaces. TL added five more, the tonal response the aliens offered. B flat, C, A flat, A flat, E flat. Five more spaces lit up. The display lasted longer, allowing TL to read more of the graphics. She clapped her hand, jumped, and kissed Shen.
“I think I got it,” TL said.
“By George,” Shen said. She looked at him. “Song from ‘May Fair Lady?’”
“Oh, aren’t you back to the old you,” TL said, taking his hand and pulling him away from the gate. Back at Shangri La, TL took stones and placed them in the key indentions. On being placed, they brightened. Ten were lit. She picked the 11th, placed it. It brightened. She picked a twelfth and placed it. It brightened. They all went dark. She sighed but before she could return them to the charging pedestal, they flashed out of sequence. The symbols on her own gate began to light up in sequence as the dialing sequence was accepted. The interface near Shen and TL came alive and the appropriate rune spaces sparked.
“Wormhole established!” TL said.
There was a loud pop and a movement of air. The membrane that connected the two remote places snapped like a large sheet of cellophane catching wind, bowed out and back like a drum membrane, and then eased. It continued to oscillate like a drum membrane, and made the queerest, subtle noise. It had a palpable feel to it. Nearby goats kicked up their feet and ran away. The membrane was tight an