page SEVEN
Smokey squirmed. 'Into the mountain, Doctor. We have a scale
model universe inside, an old teaching tool for the kids.' He looked around,
'Really, it's more impressive than I make it sound, and perfectly safe. One
could explore for millions of years and not see it all.'
Jack spoke to the three pilgrims, 'Sorry to say it, fellas, but our boys get the better deal. You pay Luuna's agents on Sto a fortune to wander around Earth for one to three days, then you go back to your nine to five, or whatever you call it. And you can't tell anyone because it's against the law? Too bad. Our boys pay a reasonable boarding fee, get a God's-eye view of the universe, and can blab all they want.'
'And you, Mister Kraft?' asked the black pilgrim, 'Have you seen this universe?'
'A good salesman never samples the product, my friend.'
'A commendable dictum. Tell me then, as our contact on Sto could not, how did this enterprise begin? I understand it commenced with a ground-transport accident?'
Jack whispered to Gladys and they conferred softly. He gave her an encouraging nod and she spoke to us.
'I hardly know what to say. Tell me, you three young men, you are really spacemen from another world? That's marvellous! And my doctor is a spaceman, too! You see, before I met dear Jack, I was in love with the idea that there were many worlds out there, full of wonderful people. I read all the magazine stories, you see, and all the books, everything. Not the sort of thing a young lady should devote all her time to, but I was enthralled. Then Mr. Arnold had his sighting, not far from here, and suddenly life from space wasn't scientifict any more! I'm afraid I drove poor Jack to distraction!'
'I married you anyway, Gladys.'
'It seems like yesterday. We'd been together, oh, five years or so, when the dreams began. At first they were mere glimpses that I struggled to remember. But I began to welcome then, those flights through the universe! Oh, they seemed more real than our life together. I'm sorry, Jack.'
'I told you last night, it's alright. It wasn't your fault. Tell them about the accident.'
'Oh! Well, suddenly one night I found myself driving toward Shasta! I was so startled, and the light was so bright, I immediately pulled off the road. But that young lady was standing there,' she pointed at Peace, 'so I turned the wheel and drove off the other side of the road. I got out of the car, and the bright light came down and, well...I was in a little room with a vacuum cleaner and a man in a robe. It seemed very important to clean, so I did, and the man rushed away and then I saw that girl, you there, and I helped her hide, and your daddy hugged me. Oh, it's so confusing. The next thing I remember was the doctor and nurse bandaging my head and leg. It's 1978. I've been asleep for twenty years, and I'm so old,' she whispered, 'and I think I may have done terrible things.'
'Oh, Gladys!' said the Professor. 'You are the only innocent person at this table. Your only crime is possessing a heart that is open to the wonders of the universe. And that, young lady, is no crime. Jack, I think Gladys may need to rest.'
***
Jack made Gladys comfortable on a reclining chair dragged from the living room. Sally returned with a tray laden with pies.
'I'm up next.' She cut portions of pie and passed them as she spoke.
'My past isn't important. Don't ask. I was on the road, going from nowhere to nowhere, when I saw three bright lights in a triangle, coming up fast. I saw it clearly. The bottom lights were Gladys' headlights, of course. The other, the one above, was flying. It was small, no bigger than your hand, but bright as the noon. Gladys told you about the accident, but she doesn't know what happened next. She got out of the car, walked into the trees and sat. The light dimmed and followed. I watched as it landed, silly as it sounds, on top of her head. Then the light went out.
'I ran to the truck-stop a few miles up the road and told them there had been an accident, and the lady wasn't moving. They called for help, and I made myself scarce. I didn't want to explain to the police what an eighteen year-old with no identification was doing out there. It took a while, but they found her.
'I went to the hospital the next day. They let me sit with Gladys. That's when I met Jack, there. He was helpless without Gladys, and I had no home, and we liked each other very much. At first, he thought he owed me one, but by the time Gladys awoke, he and I had long since adopted each other.'
Now, this was interesting and all, but taking too long. I was about to speak when a tremulous voice floated from the recliner.
'Excuse me, but what about this Luuna? What happened after I woke up?'
Jack said, 'You asked for a pencil, Gladys, and some paper.'
Sally said, 'When I got back with the doctor you'd already written half the introduction to volume one.'
'And, you refused to be examined until you'd finished. I told Sally, right away, that something was different. That's when she told the truth about the accident.'
'That must have blown your mind, Uncle Jack,' Peace said.
'It still does, kiddo,' said Jack, 'but that was just the beginning. She was in bed for three months, you understand? But she walked out of the hospital that night. Walked! The doctors said it was impossible, but she said damn their eyes and did it.'
'Then what happened?' I asked.
'Well, me and Sally drove her home. You couldn't tell her no.'
'Ain't that the truth,' said Sally.
'It was a while before the mask really came off. I watched her close, after what Sally said. At first, she tried to be sly. She'd answer to 'Gladys', pretend to know her old folks and friends, stuff like that. But some things... she wouldn't compromise. She kicked me out of our room on the first night. Made it very clear it was permanent and suggested, honest to bejeezus, I take up with Sally.'
Peace said dryly, 'People in town...'
'...have over-active imaginations, dear,' said Sally, 'I meant it when I said we adopted each other.'
'Yeah, kid. That just ain't how I saw your momma. I ain't no family man, never wanted to be, but I got nothing but pride when I look at her. You, too. You're so much like her when we met, it about breaks my heart.'
Oh, God. This was turning into a Very Special Edition of Coronation Street. I was glad to see the Professor looked impatient, too.
'What about Luuna?' I asked. 'Yes,' he added, 'when did you find out the truth?'
Jack seemed unable to speak, so Sally told us.
'For about a month after she woke up, she'd had been typing non-stop, only taking breaks to pretend to be Gladys, eat, sleep a couple hours, or demand more paper or, once, a new typewriter. One night, the typing just stopped. It was startling. We ran upstairs to see if she was alright. She was surrounded by stacks of paper, looking very pleased with herself. It was volumes one to thirty-two. Over two and a half million words. I picked one up at random and saw the author credit. I showed Jack. And she sat there, oozing satisfaction. From that day on, she would only answer to Luuna.'
'That's the same night we took her to Shasta,' said Jack, 'and life was never the same. We
drove to that old ranger station at Bunny Flat, and there was a man there,
waiting for us in the dark. It was weird, because the lot was empty, and I
wondered how he'd got there. He walked right up to Luuna and said, "This
is madness, Luuna, we dare not risk exposure", or something like that.
Luuna turns to us and says, "This man will aid our enterprise. He has no
choice. Our other ally will be along shortly." That's how we met Smokey,
there.
'Right on cue, there's a whoosh of light and there's an alien standing there. Looked just like you or me, you understand, and I'd be a liar if I didn't recognise a fellow slick operator right away, but still...alien. You just knew. That was Ren Orion, our man in Havana. Or Sto, if you wanna get technical.'
Why was the professor surreptitiously studying the pilgrims?
'Well, you know about the deal. We all had our jobs and we got to it. Luuna wrote, lectured, acted batty and lovable, did the figurehead thing. Smokey built the machines and did his mind swap stunt, though Luuna always wanted to be there for in comings. Before you know it, we had a publishing empire and the pilgrims and the tourists came in droves. We made sure it was cheap to be an illuminated disciple. The books made a tidy profit and there's a discreet Swiss bank that converts Sto medallions to American dollars, you know, so we all got very, very rich after some creative accounting. That was my job, that and greasing palms in town so nobody hassled the pilgrims. Sally was a wonder. She had good ideas about everything and even Luuna learned to listen to her. She held it together, saw everything coming, you couldn't faze her. But she was also high priestess, so she ran the temple and prepped the pilgrims.'
Sally snorted.
'Prep the pilgrims? You make it sound easy! I hope you all realise you can't just plop a mind into another person's head. It takes a lot of effort to make the host reach the right level of preparation. Any old Joe off the street won't do, no sirree. There has to be a certain...stillness in the host in order for the transfer to work. Otherwise there's too much clutter left over after the consciousness has been removed. Jack, remember that one fella back in '63? Studied here for six months, classic textbook case, then found out his sister had died right before the transfer. Went on with it, thought illumination would help him cope. Poor Stoling jumped right into his psychic pain residue.'
Jack cut in. 'Yeah, that guy! Killed ten people before Luuna nailed 'im. Boy, that was a mess. But after Smokey sent him home, both of 'em were right as rain. Didn't remember a thing. And before you ask, we took good care of the families with a little charity fund.'
***
Now might be a good time for Dr. McShane (N.M.C.) to point out that Sally was not totally straight with us. The Lemurian method – meditation, yoga, counselling and, I'm guessing, something in the incense – was an effective way of preparing a human brain for alien possession, but not the only one.
Successful transfers, those in which the visitor is able to
fully inhabit the body, can also be affected when the host and usurper coexist
for extended periods of time; the invader, in this instance, has an empathic
understanding of the emotional residue of the host. No matter how neurotic the
host, the usurper is prepared and may assume full control.
Certain types of brain damage or degeneration in the host, such as senility or coma, also allow possession, though their physical symptoms will still be present.
There are two types of Lemurian possession where the host mind can co-exist with the trespasser, though the desired bodily control may be limited or absent.
In the first, a mind can be inserted into a host without the removal of the original psyche. In this case, the alien is effectively powerless; in the host, minor loss of coordination, concentration and ego may occur.
Also, a copy of a consciousness will invariably occur in the undeveloped mind of an unborn child when the mother is subjected to the procedure, though the full flowering of the parasite mind may not manifest until young adulthood, at which time it is strong enough to assume control when the host sleeps, is rendered unconscious, or removed. When close contact between the original and copy occurs an intense empathic link is formed in the hosts.
No matter the circumstances, two requirements must be met. A disembodied Lemurian consciousness must preside over the proceedings, and a mechanical focusing device developed by their science – looking, perhaps, like bedside apparatus or a tiny model flying saucer – must also be at hand.
***
Jack lapsed into silence. I whispered to the Professor, 'But what about last night? What about Luuna? Is she gone?'
He looked at me gravely. ' I'm afraid we're going to find that out very soon, Ace. Watch Peace.'
Sally served coffee. Peace took a sip and set her cup down.
'You just gave up on Gladys and helped Luuna?' she asked in a measured tone.
Sally served herself and sat. 'You think we had a choice? How often did you sneak upstairs at the temple?'
Peace glared at Smokey, who tugged his collar and looked away.
'Okay. Fair enough. But what about the empire? What about the Space Brothers? Is everything I've been taught a big fraud? Are all the teachings lies? Did Luuna just made all those stories up?'
Smokey spoke, 'Please, child. The stories are true. Once, an empire of a thousand planets spread across the galaxy. There was a golden age of plenitude. But...'
'But what?'
Smokey sighed. 'But...it was over a billion years ago. There is no more empire.'
'What happened to them?'
'They fell prey to melodrama on a galactic scale. The great empire of the Space Brotherhood, established and administered on noble principles of equality for all, fell under the sway of a charismatic leader with a secret ambition.'
'What ambition? To take over the empire?'
'Oh, no. To destroy it.'
'How?'
'By inciting them to invoke the Rite of Final Unction on the one world in all the heavens that actually had the power to resist illumination.'
'Idiots.' said the Professor, and I heard his tone and knew.
'They attacked the Time Lords!' I said.
'Yes, Ace, but we were forewarned. We sent their 'unction' right back to their invincible fleet. It burned in space with no survivors. Pity. Without the fleet, there was no glue to hold the empire together. We watched it fade, prey upon itself, crumble from within; in a paltry million years it was gone and the galaxy slept again. I'm sorry, Peace.'
Peace stared at her empty plate.
'Professor,' I asked, 'Who was this maniac who tried to take on the Time Lords?'
'Ah. Why don't we ask someone who was there? Smokey?'
The Lemurian said, 'Must I, Doctor? It has been a very long time.'
'They need to know who they're dealing with, Smokey.'