Installment 12

With a thud of relays, lights returned to the now empty control room. Air turned on with a whish and then the monitors started flickering to life. Panel lights turned on, showing mostly red indicators. Finally, the big stage started glowing whitely, the translucent screen pulsing slowly as it prepared to accept a new data stream.

The figure at the power panel slowly turned and hobbled up the ramp. A dirty, bloodied smock covered a torn tunic which had other smears on it. Bandaged, with cracked glasses, the face of the prefect peered out with a steady stare, forcing his body to limp up the ramp toward his command station. Dry coughs racked his frame from time to time, as he wiped the speckle from his bruised lips and cheek.

As he passed the last row of monitors, he grabbed the first aid kit from the aisle, clutching it with both hands as he made the last curve past his former underling's stations to his.

He sank down in the tall leather arm-chair and rested with his head back for a minute, catching his breath and gathering his thoughts.

Then he bent over the small first aid kit and started rummaging through its contents, spilling bandages and creams to the floor. "At last!" he said to no one. He took the small vial of morphine and jabbed his forearm, squeezing the contents as he did so. The other vials he stuffed into an inner pocket and then threw the container to the floor, away from his feet.

Closing his eyes again, he laid back to allow the chemical to take affect.

"Now I have them where I want them. They can't do this to me again." His voice had grown in strength as the pain left him. "I just have to finish the job."

Leaning forward, he brought his own monitors online and ran through several tests. Looking for certain files, he pulled them up and smiled as he saw the results. "Yes, there, there, and there. They're all present. I still can't map the Anomaly, but these others will tell me where he is."

Reviewing the data stream, he frowned. "He must have told them something. That shouldn't be possible. One dream can't influence another - that anomaly is spreading like some disease..."

More tests, more results. The prefect started putting those subjects up on the main stage, where he was able to view the progress of each subject except the one, which remained blank. As he muttered to himself, recalling code and placing these in action for each of the subjects, he started smiling to himself as they each started moving back to their original rooms. Through their first-person view, he could see the Anomaly getting puzzled and following them, arguing with them.

But then something happened. In each case, the Anomaly was talking to them, smiling and calm. Then that screen went blank.

Finally, the stage was completely blank again. The prefect took both bandaged hands and curled them into fists, striking the keyboard over and over in frustration.

At last, he stopped. His head was down, almost on his chest. And suddenly, he jolted upright. "Of course! There is always a Final Solution. Just take it into my own hands. I'd almost forgotten that approach. Old style. Of course." He continued muttering as he stood from his console after typing a final set of instructions. His screen started pulsing in reply, as if counting down.

The prefect made his way down to the stage by the ramp, still limping, but not feeling the pain of dragging his foot along the carpet. Somewhere, he had started to bleed again and left a slight trail as he went to a narrow door on the side of that sound stage. As he entered the chamber and closed the door behind him, only shadows were visible from the console side.

At his monitor, the pulsing became more frequent as the countdown became closer and suddenly, the console became a solid red with white letters in it's center: "Executed".

The stage became a dark shade of grey and then suddenly turned yellow with multi-colored static filling the huge space.

- - - -

Dog and Cat were sitting in the barnyard on a bale of hay. They each had separate pages of the comic section from the Sunday Newspaper.

"Oops." said Dog.

"Yeah, oops." said Cat.

"He probably shouldn't have done that."

"No, I agree. It's a really bad joke. Poor taste."

"And the colors are all wrong."

"But what do we know, we're just cartoons."

At that they both smiled at each other.

While the sun smiled down on them both on an otherwise perfect day.

- - - -

"So what is the attraction stuff?"

Haanel spoke first, "Well, it's really pretty simple, you just consider that what you want really already exists in the Now, and you just let it show up. You have to hold the thought of what you want to show up, but leave the how of it over to the universe."

Wattles then continued, "Of course, it has to be beneficial to all concerned. You have to give far more in your living to others in order to receive. The universe works on abundance and once you move over to giving value in excess of anything you could receive, then this makes things show up easier and faster."

While Silva was nodding, Lester joined in, "Key here is to drop the wants. You have to know from the get-go that your result is simply perfect in all respects. Manifesting on this plane is just a little more difficult, but the laws are the same anywhere. It's not the money you want, it's what you want to do with that money, what you want to do to earn that money. You want money for what? A house. What's the house for? Security for your family. Drop the security want. Get rid of that underlying feat that everything is being taken away. When you do that, then things will manifest like nobody's business. But you have to get really clear on what 'what' is and why. Drop the want, know what's the what. Then life is simple, it's perfect."

I digested this all carefully before speaking again. I needed another opinion.

- - - -

Back to that long beach with the birds. I had been walking for a long time, thinking things over.

And I found myself again stopping right in front of my kahuna-kapua, as if my feet were deciding for me.

He was calm, content as usual. Sitting in the shade cross-legged on a small, padded stool. A cool drink by his side. His eyes were closed.

I sat on the log opposite him and said nothing for awhile.  Instead, I simply sat there and enjoyed the moment. The ocean was murmuring on the long beach and the sun was preparing to set, deciding what colors to turn the clouds to end this day. All things changed, even though they stayed the same.

At this thought, I heard the kahuna clear his throat. I looked over to see him studying me, a twinkle in his eyes. "And so, what brings you to see me this fine day?"

"Tying up loose ends." I replied.

"Such as?"

"It's all already said, I just have to make it my 'own'."

"Own that which would otherwise own you."

I smiled at that. "And no moment is like any other moment."

"True. So what's the question?"

"There are no enemies, as we are all connected. So there is no 'else', no 'other', and I created everything around me."

"Yes. And?"

"By using techniques like ho'oponopono, I then erase the non-optimal thoughts I had earlier created and replace them with the new thoughts I want to be there now."

"Well, erase might not be the best word. Just re-create what you don't like into something you do."

"And so I am responsible for what happens now, and by accepting it and letting it go, I can love it as much as I am grateful for it."

"Wordy, but yes."

"And you could say it simpler?"

"Aloha."

"Aloha?"

"Aloha."

The sun had decided to turn the clouds magenta this evening before blending through orange, back to a dark red as it rested on its bed for the day, getting ready for another tomorrow. The clouds settled like blankets over the setting sun, quietly giving us all their peace through beauty. Aloha.

- - - -

After another tasty lunch in the village, we sat off down the winding trail which led to the canyon to meet our visitors.

How Father George knew of these people coming in this land were even cel phones didn't work, much less Internet access - it all was another mystery. And he was so calm about it. The way he described the equipment meant that someone was probably bringing in a crane or at least a winch - which meant the figure was at risk. Father George took our concerns in stride like someone was telling him who won the World Series last year.

Alphonse was cheerful, telling yet another tall tale from his collection. I particularly liked the ones where it was impossible for him to escape, but he suddenly escapes and makes off with the jewel, or money, or girl (most of his stories had girls in them who swooned at his name) and live to tell the story another day.

Doreen was getting more and more agitated as we went along.

And I was just watching the whole thing. A habit I'd developed lately, where from, I didn't know. The phrase, "Be the Witness" ran through my head on a consistent basis, much like some old song.

Only we four were making this trip. I never saw any weapons in this village. Maybe we were going to feed them into submission. The joke brought a smile to my lips.

We rounded the final bend in the canyon and found that our "visitors" were already there. It was a crane truck, placed as close to the edge as they dared. It's boom extended, a small cage on the winch had already stopped at the floor of the canyon. Various pieces of equipment had been lowered. Some khaki-covered men were walking around the figure, studying it, but careful not to step off the sandstone on either the white or black rock base.

A shout went up when we were spotted and several paratroopers rappelled down the side of the cliff, bringing their guns to bear on us as they landed and moved to surround us.

Alphonse moved in front of Father George, while I moved Doreen behind me.

"There is no need to worry about these people," Father George said as he walked around Al and right into their midst. Half the soldiers kept their arms trained on the Father, while the other half kept us in their range. "They know not what they do." The father looked up at the sky and then his watch.

Doreen moved from behind me and walked right up to the leader of the group. No guns followed her. "You have about an hour at best to get what you want. The father knows this floods on a regular basis, like I said in the report. She turned to the father. "How long, Father?"

Father George only smiled more widely. "I wish I could tell you exactly. Because all things change. With what I know and what I see here, I would be leaving right now. But you won't let me, so I stay."

The man Doreen walked up to now moved over in front of Father George. "Padre, that's no answer. How long before the flood hits?" He waved his pistol in the father's face.

Father George didn't even flinch. "It would normally be about 45 minutes from now, just enough time to walk back to safety. But with the actions you are taking, there are other actions now in motion. I'd dare say we don't even have that long."

"Maybe you don't have that long. We can wait it out. We've got ropes and winches to get us out of here. You don't have that option. So if the flood comes, you better know how to swim, padre." The supervisor turned on his heel and went back to Doreen, who was talking with his engineers and foreman. One of the sergeants barked an order and his men came to tie our hands behind our back. We were searched for weapons, but none found. Finally, we were tied together so we couldn't easily escape singly.

Doreen came back to us three. "I've been talking to them. What they are going to do is blast the rock and then haul it out in a special sling. They are going to send you around the bend so you don't get hurt by the explosion. There are ropes there. If the flood comes, climb up or tie yourself to them. Men are at the top to haul you out. We need your knowledge of the local legends. So you're safe. These other two? Well, I can't say right now. There probably aren't enough ropes for everyone." With that, she turned back to the group of "visitors."

A huge net of filament had been lowered just above the figure, attached to cables which appeared to run to winches somewhere back of the canyon edge. We could hear more than one diesel running above, and echoing off the walls.

Several men were shaping charges, placing a sticky adhesive on the explosive. These were thrown against the statue and mostly stuck in place. They each had electronic detonators connected, which were blinking. The control box was in the hands of the supervisor, who had the foreman lower the netting. It was also secured to the sides of the canyon walls on each side by cable which had been anchored there.

A signal was given and we were moved back beyond the first bend down stream. There was a mutter and a yelled curse, but no explosion. Several arguments broke out. A radio call was given and a package was lowered down to the floor of the canyon. We could only guess this by the sounds we had heard.

"They forgot electronics don't work here. Otherwise, they'd bring a chopper in to air-lift it out." Al was reasoning this out. "Now they have to get fuses in there - the old fashioned way."

More waiting. So we all sat. We could hear the sputtering fuses in the quiet, but then even these quit. More cursing. More arguments.

Finally someone came to get the father, which meant we all had to follow. The fuses had quit at the edge of the sandstone. On the black side, all the explosives had lost their grip and were now dissolving slowly into pools of various metals. On the white side of the figure, the minerals in the explosives were having a different reaction. The vines had begun to move toward the thrown masses and stuck their tendrils into the mass and sprouted flowers.

The supervisor came over and was near a state of apoplexy with his rage. "What gives, padre?!? What's the jinx you set on these stones and how to you remove it? Tell me NOW!"

Father George simply smiled, "There is no jinx on these stones. I wish I could tell you. The stone has its own reasons."

The supervisor raised his arm to strike the priest, but was prevented by the foreman. "No senor, do not do that. Your bad luck will only get worse."

And thunder pealed from the darkening skies above, as if on cue. Lightening flashed in a riot above our heads. Some struck the equipment and the diesels died with sputtering coughs. Men left the crane truck and we could hear their splashing down the trail in the near dark.  The soldiers looked nervously around them, as they were holding metal guns and the mist had turned to sprinkling rain, which was forming puddles at their feet.

The figure, meanwhile, began to glow. More than before, it began to pulse this time. Each lightening strike increased the light and the pulse coming from the figure.

And the rain started sheeting down.

One of the men was finally hit by lightning as he held a cable attached to one of the winches. He slumped to the floor, but then struggled to his feet quickly, holding the hand which was burnt by the cable. He pulled out a handkerchief to bandage it and then grabbed a rope to start climbing back up the canyon wall.

At this, the soldiers broke rank and also went back to their ropes.

The supervisor and foreman were in a heated argument, accompanied by some of the engineers. They seemed oblivious to what was happening around them.

Doreen came to use, drenched to the skin as we were. She motioned us quietly around the bend and then untied each of us. "Look, I know you don't trust me, but we all know what is happening next. How well can you climb?" She gestured to the ropes behind us, and then started up one herself.

Father George got started on a second, pulling his robe up above his knees. By his speed, it looked like he had done this before. There was a single rope left. I gave it to Alphonse. I motioned him to be quiet. I didn't need these others coming to look for me. I tied the bitter end around his waist and helped him get started up the wall. Surprisingly, he was a better climber for his bulk than would be suspected.

Then I grabbed the rope below Doreen and started up myself. She was nearly over the edge by now, anyway.

The water was waist high now. So I also tied my rope around me just in case. And then climbed like hell.

Shortly, the wave roared through the canyon, taking everything in it's path. We couldn't hear anything beyond the flood and were more concerned with simply hanging on and climbing higher. Everything else was simply a deafening roar.

I got to the top just about the same time as Alphonse. Doreen and Father George helped us up and over.

The rain had now quit, and the clouds were thinning. The evening sun was breaking through in parts of the sky. The top of the canyon was deserted, the equipment left. We moved to a spot where we could see the figure at the bottom. It was the same calm and serene face we had always seen. Only a light sheen of mud remained on the canyon floor. The cables now just dangled from the canyon side. Nothing connected to them anymore. There was no sign of the supervisor or any one else down there.

We'd never know what happened, but we could guess.

- - - -

"Wait, we don't have to run any more. It's over." I suddenly understood.

"What? We've got to keep moving, there's a precise sequence to follow to get out of this one." Joe was adamant and started moving again.

I stopped him. "No, look. Dreams are created. The only way they can have any effect on you is if you create that effect and put responsibility for it over on someone else. It's too simple."

"No, there are persona's in here which just keep moving and reacting. We have to avoid some of them and work with the others to get to where we want to end up." Sue started moving again.

I grabbed her by both shoulders to stop her. "Just look at what you just said. When you were outside doing the programming, who made the personas? You did. That's how you know what they are going to do, that's why you two were able to tell us the exact walkthrough. But it's even simpler than that. Just think it over for a split second."

Sue and Roger were thinking now, as they looked at each other, a light went on in each.

Helen looked at me, and said, "I get it. You don't have to tell me twice." She then reached up and hugged me in appreciation, then kissed me on the cheek. "You are just a darling."

Joe stepped into a nearby room to grab a briefing sheet. "Want to see something? This can get really weird, so hold onto each other. I just don't know why I never thought of this before..." His hands were busy touching various inputs on the briefing sheet, which would normally just be pressure-sensitive ads, which would then send a sample to your room. "These things are all tied to the main program. So it's just a matter of the right combination." His hands were flying over the sheet now.

The walls shook and then seemed to shimmer. I held both Sue and Helen's hands while Sue used her free hand to hold onto Roger's coat. Even the floors seems to take a different form. Finally, the whole scene settled down into yet another hospital hallway with a door at the end of it, solid. It said simply, "Maintenance" on its label.

Joe dropped the sheet and took Sue's hand. Reaching forward, he opened the door and stepped forward. Into a white space.

- - - -

It started in one corner of the control room. Something popped and crackled. A small tendril of smoke rose. One by one, each of the stations started erupting in sparks. Soon the entire room was being engulfed in smoke. The huge screen of the stage continued to pulsate as small fires broke out here and there among the equipment.

Finally, the fire sprinklers started up, dowsing the room with spray. But just after that, the massive main stage exploded outward into the room, which turned the room into one massive fireball.

- - - -

The white room was empty except for the table. I approached it at a regular pace, calm, but still curious about why I was here this time.

I selected one of the matching white chairs and sat. I didn't have long to wait.

Helen walked in, smiled at me, and took a seat nearby.

Roger and Sue came in, hand-in-hand, amused at some joke one of them had told. They nodded at me and Helen, then sat next to each other. We saw a distant figure making his way toward us, limping and nearly dragging one foot.

It was the Prefect.

His bandages were worse - more dingy and loose, and he now grimaced with the pain of each step. As he got closer, both Sue and Helen reacted to his condition. Sue clasped Roger's hand more tightly. Roger just kept a solemn face, devoid of emotion. Helen's hands were in her lap under the table, but she leaned toward me slightly and away from what was making its way toward us.

Finally the prefect got close enough to drop himself into the remaining chair. Wheezing, his breath rattled in and out. As he regained his strength, he looked up and glared at me. "YOU! You ruined everything! EVERYTHING! Now there's nothing left except this - whatever this is. But I'm still here - do you hear me? I'M STILL HERE! And I'll hunt you down until the day I die to fix what you did to me..." He only stopped talking because of his coughing and needing to get a breath to speak with.

"Well, I'm really sorry you feel that way. And you're right, it's all my fault. We could do better with this scene." I was honest with him. He was in sad shape. I was wondering how I could help, even at this stage.

"You're sorry?!? Look at the lot of you. You all think you are so smart. Well let me tell you something - it's not over yet. Not by a long while. I'm still going to get you, to make you pay for all this. All you done to me has a price - and you are going to pay it. You're going to pay big!"

Shocked more by his intensity, than what he was saying, I knew it was actually over. Looking over my friend's faces, I saw they were more sympathetic that even feeling pity. There was no longer any fear of this poor creature. Even though he was near his own death if he didn't get some treatment soon, he still didn't get that he had caused all that happened to him.

But then, I corrected that idea. Obviously, if he were in my universe, then it was just me I was looking at over there.

It was up to me to fix it as well.

So I looked at the Prefect and said, "Thank you. Now I understand. Just know that you are loved by all you know - probably more than you know. We're going to fix this. Because it's our choice as well as yours."

- - - -

Dog and Cat were walking on the hill with Roger and Sue.

All had bright smiles on their faces. Roger and Sue were holding hands and swinging their arms like they did when they were kids. Dog and Cat were behind these two.

Roger and Sue stopped to look at each other, and then to Dog and Cat.

"We wanted to thank you for everything." Roger spoke first.

"And thanks for bringing us here to find this place. We'd forgotten how happy things could be." Sue joined in.

Dog said, "Aw, come on, folks. Everybody gets happy here..."

"...and you have as much to do with coming here as anyone else." Cat finished.

"Seriously?" Sue asked.

"Sure," replied Cat, "You can come here anytime and stay as long as you like."

"Yeah, plenty of room," said Dog. "If it ever gets crowded, more gets drawn."

Smiles all around at that joke.

"The key point is to keep this in your heart all the time, where ever you go." Dog continued, "Because Love is to be happy with, and Love literally is what makes the world go round - no kidding."

Sue reached down to pet his head. "Yea, we're getting that figured out. Sometimes we seem to forget."

"And that's why you need to visit sometimes - you know - dream a little dream of all this." Cat purred.

Roger summed it up. "That's the point. Life is a dream and dreams are dreamed by dreamers. It just takes practice to get good at it. Now we know."

Smiles all around. Another perfect day on the Farm.

- - - -

The doctor paused and then put his scalpel back on the table. He pulled the mask off the face of the patient and peered at him. Replacing the mask hurriedly, he blurted, "This isn't the one we were supposed to be operating on!"

With that he pulled the sheet off the form and noticed the read blotches coming through the multiple bandages. "This man needs other emergency treatment! Nurse, get me gauze and tape..." He began barking orders to fix the physical ailments of the body in front of them. Equipment was swapped for other gear to save the person's life. It was no longer a simple elective surgery - some accident had brought them to a different patient. Portable x-ray equipment was moved in to get immediate analysis of what was going on...

- - - -

Hours later, the patient woke in recovery. His leg was in a cast and both arms were heavily bandaged for the burns he had suffered. A gauze pad was over one eye. And he was strapped down to keep him from moving. "Nurse!" he yelled. "Where am I, what is going on?!?"

The Nurse came by and adjusted a valve on one of his IV tubes. "There, there, just relax. You look like you went through hell, but they did a number on you and you'll make it just fine. But you're going to have to calm down."

She looked at the monitors again. "It looks like you're coming along fine. But your nightmares were so bad we had to strap you down to keep you  from hurting yourself again. Look, I've adjusted your drip so it will help you relax some more." She touched his hand. "Now your finger is on the call button here if you need anything. But we'll be checking in on you all the time. Just sleep and heal up, OK? Just sleep..."

The patient dozed now. The nurse patted his hand and moved on. Her ward was filled with patients in a similar state, but mostly, they just needed to sleep and rest. Lots of rest.