Chapter 4
“They say you’re supposed to see forever. Given the right questions, I can see precisely ten light years in any direction. My Sphere of Influence has a radius of ten light years. I could see things, I could push things, I could bring things, and I could travel,” Shen said.
This required explanation. Psychic spying, otherwise known as remote viewing. With the right handler, a person could theoretically see all of eternity, all of space/time from cradle to grave. One could see microscopically or macroscopically. One was only limited by imagination and perspective. He could move things telekinetically. He could push objects, sending them from one place to another. Bringing an object to him was easier. They’re referred to apports. Is magic was usually small things, like if he was hungry manifesting an apple out of an empty bag. Traveling, the ability to visit other realities by creating a doppelganger in a remote location. He had some limited experience teleporting, mostly utilizing portals. His present lack of abilities bothered him. He might have thought it all a dream, or perhaps another life, except for the fact, his present body was his body, as he was at this age.
“My name is not Shen. My name is Jon Harister, and I am the Captain of the Galactic Confederation Space Ship, the USS Enterprise.”
This meant nothing to them. There was no way for him to explain it. They thought he was insane. He heard his own words and thought “I’m insane.” There was one star in their entire Universe, their sun. There was no other lights in the sky. There was no moon. His ability to see was presently limited to the village, and he didn’t know why. He could see everything within the village, if he focused hard enough. Most the time he was experiencing too much many emotions to focus. He was not able to push stuff, retrieve stuff, or in any other apparent way affect anything or any person, with two exception. Before this moment, he had been reasonably sure he was affecting Lanore’s emotions. He was definitely sure he was affecting Tama, but clearly not in the same way he affected their mother. He was also not sure how he was affecting her.
“You remember a past life?” Lanore asked.
“No, not a past life. I wasn’t reborn,” Shen said.
“I was there. I saw you born,” Tell said.
“No. Yes,” Shen said. He couldn’t argue that, as he remembered being born. He remembered being in the womb, though he had found no way to measure time. If he counted heartbeats, he fell into a trance. Or fell asleep. “You saw me born, but this isn’t a new body. This is my body. This is what I looked like when I was four. This is the exact same body, minus broken limbs and scars.”
“You had scars as a baby?” Lanore and Tell asked.
“Well, not at birth, but…” Shen’s hands shook. He remembered his whole other life with a clarity he had never previously held. His eyes watered. He forced himself to breathe. Lanore also began to cry.
“What is this?” Lanore asked.
“I don’t understand,” Shen said. “I have all the memories but no emotional control…”
“You are only four,” Tell said.
Shen nodded. That made sense. He had yet built up enough brain mass to control the emotional fall out of his memories. Could that be the explanation for it all? He simply lacked the brain mass and circuitry to perform as he had before? It didn’t bother him that he had his memories without the brain, as this still fell into his metaphysical paradigm where memories not limited to or even localized in the brain. It didn’t stop him from considering if perhaps his perceived access to his past memories was an expression of remote viewing. “Yes. I should have realized that. Candace and G’Ma are right. I am stupid…”
“You are four,” Tell said again.
“I am going to be different,” Shen said. “I am going to lose everything I had and knew. I don’t want to forget.”
“Why would you forget?” Lanore asked.
“If it’s as you speculate, the more I develop, the more I lay down new neurons and open to neural circuitry. A different brain map will lead to different outcomes,” Shen said.
They didn’t understand him. He went to the desk and took up a pencil and tried to illustrate anatomy. He was instantly frustrate with an inability to draw a simple brain. He threw the pencil and wadded up the paper.
“Fuck!” Shen said.
“Men can’t draw,” Lanore said. “They can’t write.”
“If that were even remotely true, you wouldn’t block me from learning your alphabet,” Shen said.
“That sounds valid,” Tell said.
“Whose side are you on?” Lanore asked.
“There’s not a side. It’s not men against women. We’re all in this life together,” Shen said.
“Men and women are different…”
“Yes,” Shen agreed. “There physiological differences. There can be psychological differences. There are definitely social differences…”
Lanore blocked him with a hand. “How far away do I have to send you before you can’t affect my emotions?”
“I don’t know. There may not be a distance. You carried me for a moment,” Shen said. “I will try and work on bringing my emotional state into balance, if you will help me. I want access to paper, pen, and reading material. I would like to write my own book.”
Both Lanore and Tell laughed. Shen’s face blushed red.
“I am doing you a favor by keeping you away from books,” Lanore said. “At five you join the men. You will no longer be allowed in my home. If they saw you with a book, they would likely beat you.”
“I want an exemption,” Shen said. “I don’t want to go stay with the men.”
“You must learn men stuff from the men. They will teach you to fight. You learn to hunt for meat or stone, collect water from the river.”
“I will not hunt,” Shen said.
“You will hunt, or you will fight, or you will die,” Lanore said.
“Then I will die,” Shen accepted.
“Shen, this is an unreasonable position,” Tell said.
“Don’t try and reason with a four year old,” Lanore said.
“You should not dismiss four year olds, male or female,” Shen said. “Cause here’s the thing. I don’t know or understand how I am linked to you. You are affected. Hell, Tama is affected. You may be old enough to get over my absence. Just another gone ghost. Tama might not get over that.”
“Are you threatening us?” Lanore asked.
“No, L’Ma,” Shen said. “You’re a Seer. I am asking you view me and the complexity of this situation from another perspective. Use Tell’s balloon, if you can’t do it with Heart.”
“Balloon?” Tell asked.
Shen described it.
“How do you know about that?” Lanore asked.
“I remember everything,” Shen said. He told them how Tell led Lanore and party out to see the balloon. It was a very crude basket, from Shen’s perspective. It was amazing it was flight worthy at all, but with Tell’s heat magic, he supposed if you pumped enough hot air into anything, you could fly it. The envelope was even crude, more of an upside down beaker shaper. Ad if he needed to add more detail, he recounted how a boy of about six picked up a stick to wack at bushes as they walked was severely beaten for having picked up a stick. Men were severely punished for using sticks in any manner that resembled a female using a staff. They were allowed to carry pole bundles with water pots attached to go fetch water from the river. They were allowed to carry pole bundles that had bags of fruits or potatoes or rocks. Lanore got up from her pillow and walked to the door. She removed her staff and opened it.
“From today forwards, you will not sleep in my house,” Lanore said. “You will not enter my home, or my study. You will sleep with the men.”
“I will not,” Shen said.
“You tell me what you won’t do again, and I will beat you,” Lanore said. “This is my village. You are mine, not just by blood, but because I am responsible for your wellbeing.”
“Then beat me. Kill me if you like, I will not sleep in barracks,” Shen said.
Lanore grip on her staff tightened severely. It glowed. Tell stood up. Lanore raised her staff slightly, and then tapped it on the ground twice, grounding it, allowing the energy to return to Earth. Tears fells.
“G’Ma is right, I have failed you. I favored you too much, tolerating your refusal to eat meat, protecting you from the other children,” Lanore said. “Don’t sleep in the barracks. Go chase glow beetles for all I care. If you leave the protection of my Light, don’t come back.”
Shen bowed. He left Lanore’s home.
Neva refusing the barracks brought Lanore and Tell back out.
“What’s wrong with the barracks?” Lanore asked.
“Besides the fact it smells like men? Nothing,” Neva said. “It doesn’t fit us.”
“You need more space?” Lanore asked.
“No, not a bigger house,” Neva said. She brought her hands together, prayerful. “I am not refusing your hospitality. You have been extremely generous entertaining my request, allowing us to stay. I wish to tarry under your Light, but not in rock, and not within the walls. With your permission, we will sleep on the beach. I will police our campsite, and keep it small. If you agree that I may stay and learn from you, I will ask permission to establish a home on the water.”
“A boat?”
“No, a home, above the water, on sticks and beams,” Neva said. “If you are even remotely considering letting me try to teach breath holding, we’re going to have to live on the water. You can’t learn this skill on the land.”
Lanore frowned. Tell was there. She gave the slightest hint that this seemed reasonable. Lanore felt a tinge of anger. She turned to see Shen was in earshot.
“Do boys learn this skill?” Lanore asked.
“If you live on the water, everyone learns to swim, or you drown, that’s it,” Neva said.
“Consider the beach your domain,” Neva said. “Build your water home. If you’re still within my Light a year from now, you will have my answer.”
Neva bowed. She turned to say something to Foam but Lanore interrupted her.
“Teach the ghost to swim, or drown him trying,” Lanore said. She called Shen and directed him to go with Neva. He hesitated, considering his sun exposure would likely result in sunburns. “Barracks or beach?”
Shen frowned. He approached the water gypsies and stood in their mist.
“Come on, then,” Neva said. “Foam, go fetch our kayak and supplies.”
As Neva, Cari and Shen headed for the beach, a group of children followed. A seven year old taking the lead. The girls traveled in threes, but the boys were scattered.
“So, can you swim?” Neva asked Shen.
“No,” the Seven said. “He can’t swim, he can’t kill a rabbit, and he’s a coward.”
“A coward?” Neva repeated.
“He won’t fight. He will fall to the ground and allow himself to be pummeled,” Tora said. “And when we go to the beach, he will go sit in the shade. He’s very lazy. Even L’Ma’s own mother hates him.”
“L’Ma hates him?” Neva asked.
“Obviously, or she wouldn’t tolerate his behavior,” Tora said. “He can’t even speak to save his life. Probably because has no life. He has no soul.”
Neva didn’t understand. “How so?”
“If he had soul, he’d have color, and voice,” Tora said. “Everyone knows this.”
Neva decided not to correct the child. Cari made a face, suggesting concerned, tempered with amusement. Before swimming, Neva wanted to create a fire pit. She asked Shen to gather wood and kindling.”
“Boys aren’t allowed to touch sticks,” Tora said. “Don’t you know anything?”
“Can they can gather rocks?” Shen asked.
“Sure,” Tora said. “If the stone is precious, they get rewarded.”
“Rewarded?” Neva asked.
“There is only one reward boys like,” Tora said.
“Food?” Neva asked, clearly disturbed and wanting to redirect the conversation from where she thought it was going. Cari looked angry.
“Well, that, too. But you got to be careful not to let them indulge too much. A fat man is a lazy burden,” Tora said.
“Thank you for educating me,” Neva said. “Girls, if you will go gather kindling. Boys, you know the kind of rocks I want?”
Shen brought a decent size stone, exactly what Neva intended. The other boys his age, learned vicariously. The older boys held far enough back not to be drafted into work, but close enough they could observe. When the camp fire was ready to go but the fire, Neva and Cari undressed. Shen immediately turned away.
Tora laughed. “Also, he is incredibly shy and embarrases easily.”
Neva was confused. Though the land people wore more clothes than they did, clearly the boys ran around half naked. If they wore anything, they wore an oversized Barong, a shirt the men wore in general.
“Shen, undress, let’s go get wet,” Neva said.
“Wow, what a blush,” Cari said. “Never seen anyone that red before.”
“Clearly, he has color, so he must have a soul,” Neva said. “Can you change your skin texture like the octopus?”
She gave her angry look, pulled off his shirt, and marched to the water.
“He clearly understands,” Cari said.
“Come on,” Neva said, not wanting to be the last to the water.
Shen didn’t go the narrow to the beach, but went straight to the edge and dived. Neva cursed and ran to the edge, pausing only to examine the terrain, and then jumped. Cari held the top, blocking the kids from following.
“That’s weird,” Tora said.
“That’s courage,” Cari said.
“That’s stupid,” Tora said. “If he doesn’t break his head open, he’ll drown himself.”
Neva arrived underwater. Shen opened her eyes, orientating and went down to the sand where Shen was sitting. He had clearly emptied his lungs completely, or he would have been rising. His arms were crossed. He was staring out into the dark as if deliberating. She got in his line of sight, angling down. She locked eyes with his and extended a hand. She didn’t touch him. She waited. She emphasized her hand. He slowly unwound his arms, gave enough of a flap to rise, kicked the sand and shot up. Neva followed. They broke the surface together, and laid back, and floated on his back, just enough of a submerged kick to push him away from the rocks, out towards open water. The bay was almost pool water still today, so still even their breaking the water barely registered.
“Hold up,” Neva said.
Shen let his feet sink and he righted himself.
“You can swim,” Neva said. “Can you talk?”
“Before today, no one has heard me speak,” Shen said.
“Are you a slave?” Neva asked.
Shen’s face softened. “No.”
“Are you being abused?” Neva asked.
“Contextually?” Shen asked, ready to unload. He corrected himself. “I treated like everyone else.”
“I doubt that,” Neva said. “Who taught you how to swim?”
The others were in the water now, coming out. Shen shrugged and disappeared beneath the surface. Neva followed for a moment, then headed for shore. She remained under until she could walk. She came to the campsite, dried with her dress and put it on. She then joined Lanore and Tell at the cliff’s edge.
“You taught him that?” Lanore asked.
“No,” Neva said. “He has better skills than these kids and a confidence equal to any baby from my tribe.”
“How?” Lanore said.
“You tell me,” Neva asked.
“No, you tell me. He’s the gift of your water men,” Lanore said.
Neva laughed. Lanore gave her a cross look. Neva pointed to a girl about four.
“That child, she might be a gift of a water man, mixed with land walker, but he is not us.
We don’t make white babies.”
“Have you met white people before?” Tell asked.
“I have met your kind,” Neva said. “My ship has traded well with your kind. The white folks, well, I only have legends.”
Lanore prompted her to go on.
“They fly on the wings of hallowed out dragons, sometimes beating the water, heralded by drums, they come, they steal women, and they have sunk our cities,” Neva said.
“I thought your cities were unsinkable,” Tell said.
“The water owns everything,” Neva said. “If it wishes to own you, it will take you. That’s it.”
“Come with me,” Lanore said.
Neva followed Lanore, Tell walking beside her. She sought information from Tell, but Tell didn’t speak, merely shrugged. They came to her home. Lanore motioned for a man to bring water and he knelt and washed the sand from Neva’s feet, one at a time, then drying them.
“Thank you,” Neva said.
“Don’t do that,” Lanore said. “That’s his function.”
“Are your men slaves?” Neva asked.
“No,” Lanore said. “Why?”
“You have only allowed for us to trade for gifts, never take a male,” Neva said.
“You don’t just steal them?” Tell asked.
“No. That would be cruel,” Neva said. “Most land walkers can’t adapt to the sea. At best, someone who willingly joins our clan settles for a place in between, in stick homes along the shore, as I intend to build here.”
Lanore brought her inside and led her to a study. She went for a particular book, and flipped through to a picture of a dragon figurehead carved directly onto the stemhead of a ship. Neva pronounced it ‘knörr.’
“My book?” Neva asked.
Lanore nodded to her table. Neva acquired her book and flipped through to a page with the same kind of boat, a different angle. For all their eyes could discern, it could have been the exact same boat, fighting the same damn storm. Lanore went and sat down on a floor cushion near the hearth. It was not lit, but she stared into it anyway, as if there might be something in the ashes. There was a gas lamp burning by the door, on both sides. Neva wanted to understand this, but she had so many questions, she could hardly contain herself, so she waited. Lanore signaled and they came and set by her.
“I am sorry,” Lanore said. “You are both Masters, and I shouldn’t beckon you with hand.”
“You are my senior,” Neva said. “I am not offended.”
“Nor I,” Tell said. “This is your home. I am but your guest.”
“You ceased being a guest when I made you my sister,” Lanore said. She motioned them to sit. She was trying to speak but emotions were in her way. She turned her book to find something and turned to the first drawing of her village.
“Oh, hell, you’re not going to run these women off with your visions, are you?” They turned to find G’Ma in the door. She had with her a tray with drinks, which might have been a nice gesture if Lanore didn’t suspect pretense. “You ran your other sisters off when you refused to negotiate.”
“Thank you for the drinks, mother,” Lanore said. “You may leave that, but please, take your opinions and advice when you leave.”
G’Ma feigned a smile, sat the tray down near them, and left.
“There is a reason you can’t keep friends,” G’Ma said at the door. “Even your apprentices go away.”
Lanore sat very still, waiting for the emotions to fade and her mother to leave. The first vision of her city looked fairly close to how it did now- and there was truth, she had been unwilling to compromise on its look. The first dome was the largest. Each consecutive dome, connected to the first, each smaller than the last, with the only break in building, the gate, facing seaward. The other Masters had like the placement of the Light. They had liked placement of first dome, but neither wanted this close alignment. She felt it was better in terms of defense, but she could never name them an enemy. They accused her of paranoia. The Goddess herself couldn’t have made a more perfect place for a settlement. She asked, ‘if this was so perfect, why is there no one else already here, and established?’ They argued ‘Persephone’ was likely here, sleeping. That would certainly explain the absence of any land animals, as neither rat nor snake had been found on this side of the Great Ridge, but neither had any walking ghosts been found hunting for flesh. And if there were any walking ghosts, no wall human made wall would stop her from calling a person out and escorting them to Irkalla.
Lanore became aware her mother was gone and her friends were looking at her. She turned the page, towards a second vision of the village. A new ring of domes had been made, encircling the first, with its opening out of alignment with the first, but the largest dome behind the first dome. People inhabited the space between domes, and the inner circle. The next page revealed huts on sticks in the bay.
“Do you ever feel like we have done this all before?” Neva asked.
“Yes,” Lanore said. She wiped tears. “Damn it. I am so tired of all these emotions.”
Tell touched her hand. “You are not alone.”
“Neva, I would never ask you or compel you to stay beyond learning what I can teach,” Lanore said. “You are an adult. You’re a master. You should always be free to travel. I invite you into my Heart, as a Sister, a fellow traveler. It takes one Master to hold a Light. I takes three to raise a temple. I want to establish a library here, a center for learning to rival that of Sinter. It makes so much more sense to me that this place should be a union of other clans. The Heart Path, the Water Path, and the Sky Path should merge permanently here.”
“You’re a sky walker?” Neva asked Tell.
“Cliff Climber,” Tell said. “My people have built homes and monuments out of living rock.”
“Don’t let her fool you,” Lanore said. “She can fly.”
“You levitate?” Neva asked.
“No, don’t be silly,” Tell said. “No one defies gravity.”
“We once flew. People fall,” Lanore said.
“People get back up,” Tell said.
“Keep on swimming,” Neva said.
That night around the campfire there was an exchange of food and stories. Even the children participated, telling a song or story to prove they were improving in their studies. Neva spied Shen, in ear shot, but distant. He was facing away from the fire, staring into the dark. She went over to him, bringing him coconut water. She sat next to him, handing him the nut.
“What do you see when you look into the dark?” Neva asked.
“Nothing,” Shen said.
She looked at him, trying to see his eyes. She smiled. “I don’t believe you.”
“I should be able to see better, something. Anything. I fear my imagination and memories are interfering with true sight,” Shen said.
“Isn’t that the way with everyone?”
“Neva,” Foam said. “It is your turn to share.”
“I would like to hear from Shen, first,” Neva said. She stood up and offered her hand. “Come on, come talk to us.”
“He doesn’t talk,” Tora said. There was laughter.
“Speak, tell a story, and I will champion you,” Neva said.
He frowned. “I guess today is as good a day as any to die,” he whispered. He took her hand and walked back with her. “This is the story of Watership Down, by Richard Adams, contextually acclimated to this world by Jon Harister.” He spoke and people were dumbfounded by his voice. They were stunned by the elegance of his speech, how perfectly crafted, the rhythm, and by the story. They were so spell bound, no one spoke. Boys and girls cried appropriately. Shen cried and Lanore wiped her eyes. He spoke until morning broke over the horizon and he completed the story about rabbits just trying to find a new home.
“Now that’s a gift,” Tell said.
No child under ten ate rabbits for a month.