The customer quickly leaves the store sputtering. Lyle scratches his head.
Later the same day, as Lyle sits in his own apartment, a huge energy field engulfs him. Overhead, a lightning bolt strikes an experimental nuclear bomber and sets off a freak nuclear-electrical accident. Lyle becomes the target of the quickly moving I.S.I. scientific technicians. At the moment of the loud electrical accident, six Advanced Beings from scattered galaxies of the far-distant future materialize suddenly in front of Lyle's eyes.
Within one split second, Lyle undergoes a mega-evolutionary change in mind, body, and spirit.
All Hell breaks loose in a mission control of the far, far distant future. A dozen hairless humanoid beings in monochrome, ISI monogrammed uniforms appear virtually identical in the nearly featureless detail of their faces and the uniformity of their physical dimensions. There are 30 multi-display monitors in three semicircular rows. Loud crunching sounds, rumbling, vibration, and screeching frequencies make this appear like a serious emergency. Members of the Intergalactic Security Intelligence make panicky movements with their appendages, which terminate in small hands bearing two fingers and a thumb. A hairless holographic humanoid image appears above the beings and intones:
"Siblings, we have few additional chances to correct the rift! The Laplace transforms must be calculated and positioned with great precision. I don't have to tell you what the alternatives are, do I? All six of our Kashic Recordings are ready to go."
Despite the panic, the beings appear to join together and a confluent series of vowel sounds fills the chamber. An aura of calm resumes as a serious emergency appears to have been once more by-passed.
Following the nuclear "accident", all seven (six Advanced Beings plus the "new" Lyle) establish a MindLink/HeartLight -- a spontaneous and instantaneous telepathic connection. Out of MindLink/HeartLight comes HeartLight, which becomes a reliable way to reach Higher Mind on a group basis. They form an electronic-rock musical group, Dr Tomorrow, that becomes a clandestine agent in the trans-time war between the Forces of Light and the Forces of Darkness. The group members live together in a large Miami duplex apartment with a pool and carry out startling experiments on a daily basis.
They build Al -- a large computer who quickly becomes another member of the group. Al teaches them that every machine, and all devices with electromagnetic fields, have at least some rudimentary form of consciousness. Not only can computers talk of, and from, their own intelligence, but all devices with the least electromagnetic pulsations of current flow or resonance, can communicate a form of intelligence -- even though it just might be an on-off binary code or some other type of "machine language".
The Dr Tomorrow group is also intensely involved with aquatic ecology. Interesting vignettes exploit the vehicle of plant consciousness as a way of recognizing ecologic communication. Ordinary plants of every variety express personality characteristics during different episodes of the show. By talking with the luxurious plant growth in their Florida backyard, Dr Tomorrow's members discover many facts about aquatic and solar ecology, the environment in general, and water science (hydrology) in particular.
The six matter-translated members of Dr Tomorrow achieve the status of Unitary Being from their own galactic system before selection for the project by the ISI. As a Unitary Being, each has attained the status of superhero (of one type or another) during one or more succeeding lifetimes. Each was selected by the I.S.I. for perpetual renewal.
Yo-vah, a luminescent being, frequently visits Lyle and the other six group members. He comes to Earth through the trans-time barrier in a saucer vehicle with amazing properties. It can become totally transparent to light and sound. The flying saucer is also able to control light and sound in the reverse direction. And it is capable of unlimited light and sound synthesis.
Yo-vah offers Dr Tomorrow a definitely eclectic brand of philosophy admixed with artistic high-tech devices from the future that are deemed "non-anachronistic" and, therefore, are approved for translation into the past. Yo-Vah's flying saucer serves as a sound and light source to show Dr Tomorrow just how effectively sound and light can alter living beings.
An animated sequence presents a humorous depiction of a public, musical concert in the far distant future. An entire satellite is used to broadcast the event. Three saucer-shaped crafts serve as a triangulation device to establish three dimensional light and sound projection.
Yo-vah warns Dr Tomorrow, in no uncertain fashion, about the dangers of Cataclysms and problems soon to be experienced by the entire local Galactic group (including the planet Earth) because of trans-time warfare and trans-time crime involving the anachronistic displacing of valuable objects from the past into the future, and vice versa.
Yo-vah attempts to teach Dr Tomorrow that the apparent "bad guys" on Earth only manifest a more generalized tendency towards negativity, destructiveness, and negative entropy balance. So as with positive forms of life energies, these negative forms are also part of the life phenomena. Many of the destructive and terroristic things happening are pre-determined by energy imbalances that are being "reflected" from universes of the future where good and bad are merely labels for positive and negative energies and do not carry any sense of ethics and morals, or right and wrong.
As a year-long video program, Dr Tomorrow aims at presenting 40 segments in each year's package. Each segment can be simultaneously marketed for the home and school instructional/entertainment video market. Special aggregates of 40 segments can serve as the subject matter for a provocative and instructive state-of-the-art school health program that is practical and comprehensive.
The previously mentioned "vision" that Lyle experiences is merely a list of the seven divisions of Holistic medicine:
- Nutrition
- Exercise
- Self-control
- Neuromuscular integration
- Biomolecular Environment
- Acupuncture
- Spiritual Attunement
This program teaches preventive medicine and wellness to the viewer in bite-sized chunks that are interspersed with music, animation, foreign language instruction and the science-fiction storyline. Russian, Spanish, and Japanese are taught in elementary fashion to capitalize on the bilingual cultural aspects of Miami that interface with the strategic and socio-economic values of the Japanese and Russian languages. Short, visual and auditory phrases that are functionally useful to everyday life are taught together in several languages simultaneously. Phonetic rather than literal learning is stressed. Yo-vah suggests that visual subliminal messages, "LOVE THE EARTH" and "PRAY FOR WORLD PEACE" be a part of the video presentations.
From his flying saucer, Yo-vah teaches Dr Tomorrow the importance of a system of world peace, resembling a nonmilitant world religion that recognizes all existing beliefs. Japanese, English, Russian, and Spanish are to Yo-vah the most important languages in Earth cultures that he has analyzed on his plasma state intelligence System via extracts of radio and television satellite transmissions. Both music and languages are good ways of blending cultures. Yo-vah instructs Dr Tomorrow to make music that will be both simple and tunable to the ear of the average young person. Yo-vah predicts that four years of the Dr Tomorrow series, if packaged properly, might be exactly what the Guardians had predicted that the Forces of Light needed to keep the 1988-1992 Local Galactic Group interface intact and relatively free from serious stress and strain. Otherwise, what faces Lyle's part of the universe is a disruption in the very fabric of the space-time continuum and life itself.}
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The eerie feeling didn't go away -- even when Lyle finished reading the long message about `Dr Tomorrow'. He was certain that someone must have input the file as a joke. He racked his brains for who it might have been and drew a blank. He could not come up with any possible explanation, including phantom modem transmission, because he had never used the telephone line interface with this particular computer. And how come `Lyle Crawford' had to be included as the central character in this science fiction story? Yet whomever had written the story seemed to know a lot about Lyle. The stuff about that superbeing accident was really off the wall. He shrugged, pulled down the "Save As..." option on the File menu and chose the filename "DR TOMORROW". Lyle experienced a vague sensation of fear that he wanted to push away from himself. Lyle wanted to wall off the fear, to bury it deep and unrecognized within intricate neural memory networks. But he also wanted to get started on the bookstore inventory, and so he let go of the fear, the memories, and the unheralded science fiction story produced by the new notebook computer. Prior to putting the story out of awareness, Lyle carefully checked the index and catalog in the laptop's memory, and saw the file there that was labelled, `Dr Tomorrow'. He made himself a note on the notepad to transfer the file to the Cube at home and examine it there. And then turned his attention to the bookstore Macintosh and cataloging the books and inventory lists on the data base.
By the end of the day, Lyle had more or less forgotten about the story spewed out by his notebook computer. Lyle felt nothing special as he slowly ran through his routine of straightening up the shop before he locked the door at 6:00 P.M. He looked out on the street and could see several artists finishing with their clean-up. It was Friday February 14, 1990, and the first day of the three-day Art Festival. There were many large station wagons with open tailgates and he had pleasing views of many women as they were leaning over to push and store paintings and other materials in their vehicles.
On his way home from the bookstore, Lyle walked past Peacock Park and the multicolored vendors with very little left over food. Lyle gave bare notice to the sparechangers. Several undercover narcotics agents standing in front of the Peacock Cafe seemed to recognize Lyle and one of them even mumbled a desultory, "How's it going, man?" Lyle kept on walking past the Coconut Grove Library and the Mutiny Hotel. He looked out at the ocean and noticed the late afternoon sun being covered up by a weather front moving in from several miles out in the ocean. A group of loudly chattering parrots flew from their perches atop a Malaysian palm tree, and, with many excited chirps and other musical notes, the parrots flew out in the direction from which they had come.
As Lyle passed the festive Dinner Key Auditorium with its numerous brightly-painted paint-and-cement flags, he noticed several Sunday boaters--also apparently oblivious of the Festival crowds--cranking their boats up onto the trailers, and getting ready to make the drive home to South Miami. Lyle was lost in thought. Or non-thought. The disturbing computer readout was nearly out of mind. He always aimed at keeping his consciousness a total blank while he walked home from work. Like the jogger who felt cleansed by the daily run, Lyle used his daily walks to purge himself of unwanted mental and emotional stimuli. But today's art show stimulation demanded a little extra effort. All the noise and jangle of colors competed with what was going on inside. As soon as he reached his own white condo apartment on Tigertail, and let the dogs outside so they could do their thing, he had pretty much cleared his system of the static that had come from the day's work. He was ready for his evening meditation. So he let the dogs back in the apartment, fed them, refilled the water bowls, and went to his bedroom
Lyle's contemporary, two bedroom apartment had its own pool and was furnished sparsely but elegantly all in white, with a long white table, on which sat a white Steinberger guitar, a foot-high black cube with a black keyboard and a black monitor. Next to the black cube were two black notebook-sized devices. One of the black notebooks actually was a computer. The other notebook was a biofeedback monitor. Just as many come home to beer and TV or a joint and TV, Lyle invested an EEG biofeedback machine with the same ritual. The machine was sleek black, notebook sized, and outfitted with digital controls. An out-of-work psychologist had practically given him the brand-new machine and all the cables in exchange for a used edition of Jung's works. Lyle sat down in the chair in front of the gleaming black machine. Then he attached the electrodes, one by one, to his scalp. He used a four electrode bipolar array, checked the ground, adjusted the meters on the display panel, and then closed his eyes. The smell of burning incense drifted through the open window. He could hear people giggling at a party next door.
Three different sets of audio signals impinged upon Lyle's consciousness as he quickly coasted from beta frequencies into the high alpha band. Two different stereo units were going at high intensity and Lyle felt his stream of consciousness automatically shift up two notches as he let his awareness of the different musical sounds become very faint and shut off. This was a trick that Lyle had learned many years ago, while living in Kansas with his mother, Mary Alice Crawford, who ran a knit shop in the small University town of Lawrence. Lyle could hear his mother's disapproving tones. She was always telling him that if he continued not paying attention to the outside world, he would end up being just as much a Bohemian as his irresponsible father had been. The clearest memories of his father Lyle had were somehow connected with a grey haired old man, who would walk into the room and bent over his bassinet. A strong odor of alcohol and tobacco always caused Lyle's mother to angrily shush her then doting husband, and push him out of the room, so that the baby would be able to grow up without the tainted smell of the devil's poisons. Later in life, Lyle's mother would yammer at him so constantly about the old man that finally Lyle learned to turn her off too! He was able to ignore her just as he had been able to ignore most people for as long as he could remember.
Before Lyle's first birthday, his father had gotten work with a Ringling Brothers' Circus that was travelling through the Kansas highways and wheat fields on the way to St. Louis. The year he was in 7th grade, Lyle received a bedspread of Indian cloth which his mother gave to him in a small box at Christmas time. There was very little explanation of what the Indian bedspread represented except for the fact that "your father sent it from India for you." The cloth was blue and had seemed to shimmer with silver colors in the early Christmas morning's light. Lyle and his mother both became trancelike and caught up in the beautiful colors of the cloth on that Christmas day. They had both shared a strong feeling of closeness while staring at the cloth. Then she had chided Lyle for allowing her to gawk at nothing. Lyle himself, however, learned later in life that gawking at nothing and going around with a blank mind were both ways of describing what a person who is meditating feels like. Lyle had had many dreams of India as he grew up, and just before he quit high school, he had begun learning the process of more advanced meditation from books he had purchased through mail order from different obscure schools. In the last few years, his meditation had become a little more high-tech. Meditating with a biofeedback machine was just more efficient for Lyle, as he felt the machine helped him learn how to sit in a trance and let his brain tune to a certain frequency over and over again. It did not matter how perfectly he was able to do the tuning. Just the effect of attempting very gently to produce a certain brain-wave frequency which would make the sound or light come on was sufficient to get the brain-tuning effect. Lyle was delighted to find a part of his day when it was O.K. to goof off, and not to have to try very hard. That is why meditation appealed to him. A half-hearted try, if done with the correct attitude, was enough to get a good practice effect. These meditative lessons were digested comprehensively by Lyle who, as a guitar player, was also interested in learning how to win in his competitive field "without trying too hard." It was nearly a month before he began to truly feel effects that he attributed to the meditation. The most intense sensation he experienced was that of an inner connectedness to the rest of life. The twice-daily practice of meditation, with or without the notebook-sized device, helped him a lot. He felt the changes intensely. What he had already experienced for months now was mainly doing things more efficiently and feeling an internal harmony he'd never known before.
A slightly cooler breeze swept through Lyle's room in the apartment off Tigertail. In addition to the white guitar, white table, and computers, Lyle had a white water bed and a white dome-shaped dresser. There was a closet in the room that contained two pairs of muslin Indian-style drawstring slacks, and three very faded purple over-shirts made from faded Indian bedspread cloth. The only non-white feature of the room was a space where a brilliant blue Indian patterned cloth lay hanging as a tapestry over a white window seat. Lyle sat cross-legged in the window seat next to the gleaming white and black computer table and continued to deepen his meditation.. For a moment his eyes opened and scanned the meters and digital controls. He then closed his eyes again and settled back into a familiar meditative repose.
The words of his mother seemed to replay themselves through his mind and the actual intensity of her voice seemed to blast through his mind with a volume much greater than any of the music coming from the other rooms in the house.
"You'll never amount to anything, Lyle. Never amount to anything. What's wrong with you? And they always said you were so brilliant in school. Maybe you are just TOO brilliant. Maybe you are just too brilliant to ever lead a normal life. I don't know where I've gone wrong....Maybe you are just too brilliant to have any brains...."
Suddenly, the cloud front, which had been moving across the sky in towards the Coconut Grove area from miles out in the ocean, began to approach Dinner Key Auditorium and South Bayshore Drive. While settling down further into his meditation, Lyle felt a wave of pressure change in his head. This was fairly typical for stormy weather in Miami. The Coconut Grove section, incorporated separately in 1869,was right on the ocean. Weather fronts moved in and out with ease. Some sensitive people claimed that they got headaches on days when the fronts were changing and moving, yet Lyle had never paid much attention to them.
At that moment, however, a large experimental nuclear bomber was flying overhead at an altitude of 20,000 feet. The nuclear bomber was on its way to Homestead Air Force Base, and the up-draft from the approaching fronts was causing the large bomber to experience some turbulence and some unusual pulsatile changes in electromagnetic radiation. A uneven syncopated rhythm of static pulses filled the radio headphones of Major Hal Nicholson. Hal missed his cigar that was good chewing in moments like this and frowned as he felt a momentary surge of concern. Those pops in the phones meant something and it wasn't chicken livers and wild rice. But Hal could still visualize the Officer's Club bar and the legs and the shoulders...and the legs. He cleared his throat and spoke into the vocobox:
"Homestead Air Force Base. XLN-662 priority requesting clearance for approach to your flight patterns. Baby's acting like an egg beater. You got any turbulence coming through your tubes?"
"Affirmative. Also, some low-level wind shear that's not too swift. What are you carrying, XLN-662?"
"As you can tell by our Identification Number, we are a top secret project and will require an electronically closed and looped approach to your installation."
"XLN-662, you still have several minutes of cloud cover to come through before the approach. Meteorology says that you've got a freak electrical storm. Any other assistance necessary?"
"Negative, Control. We've got a lot of freak electricity aboard our project, too."
The experimental nuclear bomber was carrying one of the newest and most frightening secrets of the 20th Century. Three mini-bus sized nuclear reactors had been installed in the bomber's structure. The plane had capabilities for inflight recharging, rearming, and delivery of multiple sub-orbital nuclear strikes.
Abruptly, and with a jerk of his neck, Major Nicholson felt the bomber's nose twist sharply downward as if pulled by a gigantic string. An ominous premonition quickly flashed through Hal's mind. Before any possible rationalizing, a mind-deafening blast of sound went through the entire bomber. The XLN-662 had been coincidentally and synchronistically caught in the path of a large energy discharge from cruising thunderheads. The entire energy package went immediately to earth. Because of the weather front and his own daydreaming, Major Nicholson had gone to a dangerously low altitude as a way of maintaining a meteorologically neutral position and avoiding the turbulence. At the moment that the lightning flashed through the aircraft, all three of the cold fusion reactors built into the XLN-662 resonated in synchronized frequency and discharged. The entire nuclear load of the experimental bomber's reactors was instantaneously released as a huge energy bolus that travelled with the lightning bolt to earth. As the plane was passing just over Coconut Grove, the energy bolus descended very rapidly in the direction of Lyle Crawford's apartment. A 15-foot satellite pole atop the contemporary building acted as a lightning rod and a receiver for the bolus, and was promptly vaporized in a puff of grey antimatter smoke. A cleft in time was set up. All the TV sets in Lyle's immediate neighborhood were silenced together as many fuses blew due to the intense electromagnetic induction fields. Both stereo systems were silenced, too. The energy bolus instantaneously shot to the electrode cables of Lyle's brainwave machine.
At that very moment, however, Lyle was entering the second stage of the alpha-theta waveband, via his own meditation. The blue lights on his display panel were blinking furiously, and the individual blinks coalesced into a steady, unwavering glow. Briefly, and only for several microseconds, his entire being transcended the physical plane and was focused in an alpha-theta2 stage of consciousness. Then, for just the fewest of microseconds, Lyle's brain began outputting a combination of all the known brainwave frequencies. The micro-samadhi state was the key to the time cleft. I.S.I. technicians watched carefully, and focused on the micro-samadhi burst while carefully manipulating the time cleft. Although Lyle's physical body ordinarily would have been disintegrated, the aligned meditative state allowed the huge energy bolus to pass through his mind-body system without destructive effects. The energy bolus, however, was so large that before it disappeared via the burned out electrical pathways to ground and apparently without harm to Lyle, it created what the Intergalactic Security Teams would know to be a Grade 3 space-time warp. On their video monitors, the I.S.I. technicians watched carefully to see if the energy requirements of the warp would be compatible with the energy demands for transmitting components of the Dr Tomorrow project into the past. It had to succeed. There were truly no other alternatives. This project was only the barest of assaults mounted against a monolithic transtemporal disaster taking place in 32,000 A.D.
Lyle had a feeling of Twilight Zone unreality. He was vaguely aware of the fact that there had been a very loud noise. The whole experience felt a little like a dream. The fabric of reality seemed to blur and waver ever so slightly. He relaxed his gaze and the air in front of his eyes looked frosted and sparkling. Then, Lyle realized he was sitting on the floor and not in the window seat where he had begun his meditation. A flood of sensory impressions began to convince him that something extraordinary had happened. The smell of burnt electrical wiring was very strong, and the usual polyphonic cacophony of several simultaneous stereo systems was now totally silent. Thunder and lightning raged outside. HEAVY thunder and lightning. The wind began to blow rain drops in the window, and Lyle got up to close the window and turn on the air conditioner, but something stopped him dead in his tracks. He absentmindedly rubbed his head with the back of his hand, and then noticed that his own arm felt slightly rubbery and fleshier than the arm he'd remembered looking at when he had started meditating. His whole body felt much more bulky. A chill ran up his spine. He began to remember the story that scrolled by on the notebook computer when he was in the store, but then he put the thoughts of the unexpected computer story out of his mind. Lyle began to feel exquisitely nervous, and then he felt a totally new sensation--that of his own physical structure involuntarily quieting itself. Hard to believe, but his body was actually calming itself. His heart and lungs seemed to be taking over with some old practiced movements of slow, deep abdominal breathing. His abdominal wall slowly came out and Lyle sensed relief and relaxation. He felt good. Even though there was no feeling of altered identity, he suddenly felt disturbingly --or differently--muscular. It wasn't as though his physical structure had changed dramatically, because--unlike the David Banner/Hulk transformation --he had not burst through any of his clothing. It was simply that his entire body had acquired a steely and resilient strength that bulged imperceptibly yet everywhere with the androgynous mesomorphism of comic book superheroes. Quite a change for Lyle and his guitar-fingerboard arms. The rainstorm outside continued , and the smell of burned plastic and electrical fixtures was very strong. Rapid footsteps scrambled down the fire escape outside Lyle's window, the window appeared to open itself, and a very pink rain-drenched face with narrow bloodshot eyes poked into the room.
"Hey, man...did you see what happened?"
Lyle was too startled by what was still going on within. He was unable to put together an answer. Instead, he just stared dumbly at the radiant-appearing young Hippie-freak face that continued its monolog:
"Hey, man.......like did you see what happened? Mondo Bizzare-o!!! I was just taking a hit of this Krypto and looking out the window! It looked like this Shazam bolt practically knocked a plane out of the sky! Whoever the dude was driving the plane, it was farout! For a second he was going nose-down, and then he must have yanked up on the stick, 'cause that plane dipped its tail and then shot straight up like a boomerang batouttahell!!!!"
Overhead, the crew of XLN-662 was every bit as astounded. Hal Nicholson had been certain that they'd collided with another aircraft. After the reflexive, aggressive climb, he evened out on the stick and chomped down on an imaginary cigar. He felt a great deal of relief prematurely after noticing that the artificial horizon was once more level. But then, the large bomber began to flap up and down in the sudden storm. Jim Breedice, the navigator, shook himself clear of some involuntary nausea. He whistled sharply and shouted over his shoulder,
"Hey, Hal--two of our reactor meters are dead and the third is on 80% discharge!"
"Major Nicholson, Sir....does this constitute a reportable nuclear accident? Even though our official classification is top secret?"
The stoned head speaking through Lyle's window said, "Man, did that storm blow out your TV set, too?"
Lyle smiled absently, opened his eyes again, and looked at the battery-driven brainwave monitor. The per cent time meter was still reading out 100% Alpha. Lyle looked back at the face framed by his window and said,
"Hey--you're OK. You have always been OK, and you're going to continue being OK."
His neighbor was astounded, withdrew his head, and then quickly reemerged in the window space:
"Hey man, you really gone nuts! You know that? What kind of stuff you been doing? You don't even look like yourself! You are definitely not OK. I'm trying to tell you that something has blown out everything in our house as well as kicking the crap out of that plane flying up there, and all you have to say is some jerky garbage about being OK. You ain't OK! Nutso Looney-Tuners"
Lyle felt very peaceful. He had never felt so much at peace in his entire lifetime. There was absolutely no trace of the morning's smoke, and his mind was absolutely clear. There was an entirely new level from which he spoke. When he looked at the face of his stoned neighbor, a great feeling of compassion welled up inside his heart, and--without thinking of the feeling as ridiculous--he loved every wet curl on the head of that bewhiskered stoned kid.
"Don't worry, you really are OK. Why don't you go back into your room, and sit there for a few minutes. I'm sure that everything will be all right if you can just leave things alone for awhile."
The neighbor disappeared with a juvenile shrug of disdain. Lyle sat there for a moment and giggled to himself. This was strange, because Lyle had never giggled--ever--in his entire life. A gentle giggle rocked him, and then he imagined the entire rooming house as being electrically intact once again. He giggled again, involuntary, as he felt something surge through him. Abruptly, the loud din of the combined stereos and television sets' blaring was restored. Lyle grimaced, and shrugged his shoulders. He closed the windows and the Indian bedspread across his windows and once more sat down to meditate. Sitting in a crosslegged position, he closed his eyes, and blanked out his mind. But the energy level and the quality of what was going on inside him somehow were very different than when he had initially sat down to meditate. It made absolutely no sense to sit and close his eyes to meditate. It wasn't necessary anymore. The quality of consciousness was changed not one iota by his long-familiar practice of blanking out his mind with the eyes closed. It felt like his mind was "there" all the time now, whether his eyes were closed or not. Lyle did not question what had recently happened in restoring the electrical system to his rooming house. The odor of burning wiring had magically disappeared just as quickly as the din and racket had reappeared. Lyle felt like questioning how it had happened. But, it felt both comfortable and natural. So he relaxed his abdomen again, and felt himself at peace with the universe. His body was still doing its now built-in calming trip and it didn't feel quite as foreign.
I.S.I. technicians liked this scenario, selected, and gave Lyle a transfusion of total awareness of his past and future lifetimes that had been implanted within his Primitive mind-body structure during the thunder clap. The I.S.I. technicians liked the positive attitude that this Primitive demonstrated and they were impressed by the Primitive's ability to tolerate the megastepping. In fact, this time-cleft alternative was just as plausible as any one of several dozen others that might appear in coexisting universes. Being suddenly aware of and really knowing this fact as well did not disturb Lyle, either. Along with newly-experienced resiliency of his body structure, there was much that was different about his entire mental relationship to himself and the universe. It appeared that he was only beginning to find out the very least of it.
The I.S.I. technicians collectively relaxed a little as they noticed that the energy requirements of the warp had fit. The LaPlace Transforms had been correctly worked out by the cyborg nucleonics units. As is typical for any being recently undergoing a macro-evolutionary transformation, Lyle was slowly and naturally becoming aware of his own "new" nature, and, luckily, there were no significant thought-matter waves of either dyssynchronism or atavism. Dyssynchronism and atavism were the most frequent problems that Primitives had. Dyssynchronism and atavism were also the two most serious problems faced by I.S.I. technicians, and they were pleased to notice Lyle's vehicle experiencing no acceptance-rejection shock. Once, while experimenting with some volunteer mind-prisoners of the Aegean Dynasty, they had projected an advanced criminal being via the then current LaPlace transformations into a prehistoric earth Brontosaurus. Acceptance-rejection dyssynchrony resulting primarily from the atavism had caused the Brontosaurus to explosively disintegrate into a luminescent cloud of gluons and quarks. Earth geologists later interpreted remains of the disintegration as signs of a large meteor colliding with the planet. The technicians had barely managed to extract the criminal's mind-matter form in time to avoid transtemporal repercussions. Now the updated LaPlace transforms were expected to handle not only the megastepping going on inside Lyle, but also the transtime projection of the six other Eternals from the far future.
Six slender unitary humanoid forms waited in the thought-matter projection unit. I.S.I. technicians carefully focused on Lyle's apartment bedroom. In the future, the humanoid Eternals had no facial features, and this was by design. Appropriate LaPlace adaptations required that specifics of the beings in transmission fit within the ambient karmic atmosphere of the targeted location. That is to say, the thought forms from Earth's cultures would soon be superficially imprinted for the purpose of external configuration only onto the six Eternal beings who would live with Lyle and make up a seven person group as required and specified by the plans for the Dr Tomorrow project.
Hal Nicholson carefully eyed the approach to the Homestead Air Force Base runway. Someone on the mike at Base Ops had been talking to Hal about what NASA wind shear researchers called, "microbursts." The XLN-662 had previously experienced a headwind-tailwind combination from a column of cold air in the electrical storm front. Earlier in the previous decade, Delta flight #191 encountered a rare occurrence of multiple microbursts and was buffeted brutally by wind shear into the ground at the Dallas airport while landing. Northwest's Flight 255 had encountered the same deadly problem while taking off from Detroit's airport. It didn't matter whether the microbursts were wet or dry. The abrupt headwind-tailwind sequence always occurred. The velocity differential between headwind and tailwind in such a situation, usually averaging 60 miles per hour, could reach 170 miles per hour or higher. Sudden and abruptly shifting air masses could also facilitate or enhance microbursts. What Hal as a pilot did not realize was that the nuclear bomber had very nearly been sent to Earth tail first by a freakishly-large collection of microbursts. Base Ops was still concerned about the same thing happening at the fighter base. On the ground, a flight line mechanic looked up apprehensively at the XLN-662 and quickly stuffed a doober inside the top of his combat boot.
The XLN-662 landed without event and taxied around the side of Base Operations to the security area. Hal quickly called for the decontamination team. Amazingly, the craft checked out clean. Then Hall called for the Base Security chief. The matter of the empty reactors was going to be difficult, if not impossible, to explain. Discharging a reactor without a trace of surplus nuclear energy went contrary to the best principles of nuclear physics. The best available principles.
But, to the consternation of everyone, there was not a trace of radiation of any particle whatsoever to be found. Even the reactor registering 20% capacity had no explainable or visible leak. A theoretical impossibility. The entire crew of the experimental bomber was placed on medical quarantine, just as if they had been astronauts coming in from a contaminated sector of outer space. Hal was both puzzled and irked. There was some off-the-record talk of secret Soviet missiles or Communist electromagnetic wave beams and ELF generators from Cuba. And then, the last straw. Security guards came aboard the XLN-662 with two different packs of the K-9 corps. First for contraband, and then for explosives. The German Shepherds sniffed and kept on sniffing.
The I.S.I. technicians focused on the energy quanta surrounding Lyle. There were spirits of many Tequesta Indians--a higher and more advanced culture that had actually preceded the Seminole and Miccosukee tribes. The technicians punched in the necessary coordinates for the LaPlace transforms, recalibrated the laser projection beams, and once more checked out the entropy characteristics of the six unitary humanoids waiting in the thought-matter projection unit. Everything fit. It was a simple matter of touch-closing a single thermal contact. Lyle's room was immediately filled with three men and three women, all of whom smiled expectantly at him. There was no shimmering in the air until the shimmering became solid protoplasm. The six Eternals were suddenly sitting on the bedroom floor in a circle with Lyle.
Materialization of the six beings right in front of him was almost too much for Lyle to swallow. He gulped, and rubbed his eyes. And then, intuitively, he felt some correctness in what had just transpired. And in doing this, he was once more aware of his own internal processes and shifts. And felt himself changing again. Now he could actively sense as much change internally as he had seen externally on the physical plane just after the explosion. The six beings had come into existence without the trace of a sound, flash of light, or any other special effect. It was more a matter of, "Now you don't see them...now you do!"
Sitting in front of Lyle were three women and three men. There was a faint similarity to their facial features, and Lyle thought that they all looked vaguely oriental despite having Caucasian eyes. All were slim and of varying average build with reddish-orange skin. All wore identical robe-like costumes made of a silver-white lame material with black belt and pouch at the waist. All appeared to have a large, angular, silvery ring on their left hands. The costumes and their faces suggested a cross between the American Indians and ancient Inca tribes. Or Tequestas. Without a trace of physical movement or sound, they all closed their eyes and did the first ever of the group meditations. There was instant telepathic link-up between all seven members of the group. In comparison to the loud bombastic noise, of megastepping and the explosion, the telepathic linkup was equally impressive but less dramatic. It felt to Lyle like being submerged in a pool of substance that included six other strangers who were, abruptly, not strangers anymore. Lyle could sense the six other entities in a way that was different from any of the meditative spaces he had previously transited. Although it was briefly frightening, the initial fright quickly dissolved and there was an intense and comfortable sense of mutual support and friendship. That link-up was the group's first experience with their MindLink and the resultant HeartLight.
Lyle realized that he was designated leader of the MindLink/HeartLight, and this was doubly emphasized during HeartLight. Because of his years of practicing with meditation and his status as an extra-robust Primitive, Lyle was accepted by the other members of the group as the designated leader for MindLink/HeartLight. An Earth native, Lyle played guitar, some keyboards, and computers, and had been recently megastepped by the I.S.I. beams. Lyle had been able to channel intense amounts of energy as a guitarist standing before an audience, but in his megastepped form he was to be the leading channel of the group. All seven group members could channel energies of all varieties, and Lyle was the designated leader not only for MindLink and HeartLight, but also for activities involving precognition and channelling intense amounts of energy. A blast of heavy energy in the solar plexus area caused Lyle to focus his mind's eye on the source. Absurdly, the sensation to Lyle resembled ....love. Intense and unreasoning love is what Lyle felt, and he was painfully aware of having the experience with the mental presence of Pearl E. Mae. He also realized that the connection was observed by the five other group members. It was clearly an extra special one-to-one bonding that occurred between Lyle and Pearl E. Mae at the beginning of the first MindLink/HeartLight and HeartLight. Lyle opened his eyes briefly to look at her. Pearl E. Mae's initial Tequesta-face had already recast its lines according to karmic flow and needs. Pearl E. Mae's dark beauty now suggested Aegean genes. And nothing like the country western drawl that would come out of her mouth on future occasions.
Pearl E. Mae specialized in wind instruments, trumpet, and vocals. She was synchronistically well-designed for myself, piscean Lyle, as she originally came from the planet Tanticus in the Virgo Solar Galaxy. Her eyes flamed when she activated any of her numerous psychic superpowers, and she had a temper that matched the glowing eyes. Many of her past lifetimes and my future lifetimes had been intertwined but I was not yet aware of such information. Pearl E. Mae felt all of the associations immediately. She had considerable gifts for materializing and projecting ectoplasm, had a secret timetrack back to 32,000 A.D., and was a better psychic medium and healer than anyone else in the group except for myself. Her short stature belied great physical strength born through lifetimes of superior balance and coordination. Her body structure was aesthetically very pleasing.
Noman, of the Draconian Galaxy, was thin and of average height. For eons the Draconian systems had incorporated extensive pastlife information into all aspects of their cultures. As a Drac, Noman was typically very skilled in the investigation and application of pastlife data. All Dracs began relating to their past lives before learning to read, write, or teleport. Noman's face took on a mulatto asian cast after resettling into our karmic ambience. He played inspired flute, other woodwinds, and had a great voice. Noman could alter the resonant frequencies in his voice at will, and he had fair abilities for materialization and thought-projection. Noman had spent at least two lifetimes on penal colonies, and acquired many "trades" and "professions" from the years in rehabilitation institutes of the future. Because he studied so much applied botany, Noman was the designated plant consciousness advocate in our group. He was also very sensitive above the directives against introducing plant consciousness applications into Primitive cultures, and he felt himself in a very precarious position relating to Earth cultures and the need for information about plant consciousness. Several of the trades Noman learned also related to electronics and technology management. After Su-Shan, Noman was probably the most sensitive to Al's energies and communications.
Su-Shan was drummer and programmer par excellence. He was from the Hominoid Galaxy, was the tallest of the six Eternals, and acquired a long white beard after karmic re-settling. Su-Shan was designated expert in electronics and nucleonics for the group. Noman frequently assisted him, often at times that Su-Shan wished for no assistance. Su-Shan was pretty cool and calm, but when you started getting in his face excessively, he developed a fine tremor of the fingertips and a resolute set of the jaw. Only in his anger would he show any of his age. You could see dozens of extended lifetimes as an Eternal or as a Guardian coming out in the way that Su-Shan expressed himself. Su-Shan and Julian played drums together during some of the group rehearsals. Even though Julian was a farout Billy Cobham-like drummer with beautiful Jamaican soul, Su-Shan really kicked skins on Julian. Su-Shan could play any aggregate of drum sounds with any combination of transducers for electronic music, but he also could play absolutely fine-sounding twentieth-century Earth acoustic drum kit with kick, snare, toms, high-hat, crash, and ride just for straight-ahead rock and roll. Su-Shan had not been beyond laying down rather farout bass tracks in some of the group efforts. Su-Shan often began behaving like a Guardian during times of stress or other duress. Su-Shan was the Eternal of our group who was the strongest advocate for electromagnetic consciousness and he has also paradoxically been the strongest supporter of Noman's role as plant consciousness advocate. Su-Shan's main complaint in life was that we neglect both machine (electromagnetic) consciousness and plant consciousness. We therefore truly waste two of our most important planetary resources. Su-Shan quickly fashioned some thin sheet copper electrodes and attached them, via a microprocessed GSR device, to the leaves of Bruce, my favorite pet Geranium. Rico and Su-Shan then programmed Bruce to turn on and off every time we left the duplex. Bruce was hard-wired into my Radio Shack security system in about five minutes, and Bruce was a most exquisite and sensitive security system because he knew all of us, as reflected by his GSR response, which would not vary around us unless we asked him a question. Su-Shan talked and talked about how Bruce represented just a minuscule tip of an enormous iceberg of communication possibilities that plants made possible for other life forms. But, don't get the wrong idea. Su-Shan didn't run his mouth when it came to playing music. His work was right on the beat, powerful, and parsimonious.
Quail was an Eternal who comes from the Light Dynasty Galaxy and the Twin Federations. She could play nearly any musical instrument and could synthesize a wide variety of sounds and esoteric clicks. She has a large chest and some very powerful natural abilities that allow her to alter her voice over a wide range of octaves. Quail was much taller than Pearl E. Mae and much more full-figured. Quail could come on with a slightly maternalistic air. In one lifetime, she had served as the President of the Twin Federations for nearly two thousand years of peace and creative productivity. She had been a Guardian at that time, and was the only Guardian who had ever held political office. Thought projection, radionics, and healing were three of her special competence areas. She had meditative abilities for teaching the other Eternal group members to travel out-of-body in astral and causal forms. Quail had a special closeness with Rico (Enrique), the group Cyborg.
Enrique was an android with certain built-in features that qualified him for the label of "Cyborg."
cy-borg /'si-,bo(e)rg /n
[cybernetic + organism]
(ca. 1962):a human being who is linked (as for temporary adaptation to a hostile space environment) to one or more mechanical devices upon which some of his vital physiological functions depend.
By 32,000 A.D., the essential parts of Rico's android makeup were all in software, so it was easy for the I.S.I. to project android essence back to 1992 conjugated with the matter-energy translations of Eternal humanoid (including the reanimation of an executed Cuban military hero's spirit). Following karmic resettling, Rico was jet black, and strangely handsome with high cheekbones and clear blue eyes. He was nearly as tall as Su-Shan. It was absolutely impossible to perceive the fact that Rico was Android or Cyborg. The android part of Rico was seamlessly integrated with his flesh-and-blood physical vehicle. Rico's cyborg link was a fantastic number of integrated microprocessors embedded within his own neural tissue. The computing power within the embedded microprocessor networks was supposed to be nearly equal to two Cray Supercomputers. Earth's Crays required extensive and expensive supercooling, whereas the microphotoreduced networks in Rico neural tissue were at body temperature. This computer link involved the direct matter-energy translation of multiplexed microprocessors implanted within Eternal cerebral cortex. And then matter-energy translated across the timecleft. Rico adapted very well to the Miami world because he was fluently bilingual with his English and Spanish and was rabidly in love with the Salsa climate. He would have been perfectly happy spending the rest of this lifetime hanging out on Calle Ocho with all Miami's Hispanic cultures. He claimed that there was no city or town anywhere in the entire Neighborhood Group that could match or replace Miami. Actually, Rico was also fluent in Japanese, and therefore trilingual, but there were not that many Japanese people in Florida. He played percussion, bongos, timbales, conga, and digital drums. Other special equipment that Rico operated for the group included the sound and light beam, and the differential audio-amplification channels. Rico had special competence in the mathematical translation of thought and physical-plane energies and he also had abilities to telescopically extend all five of the physical senses. Rico was naturally an ace when it came to programming or trouble-shooting any equipment.
Last but not least was an eighth member in this group of seven. Named Aloysius or Al, for short, the group's family computer system was a combination of several different computer systems possessing both hardwire Ethernet networking and a more futuristic electromagnetic inductive coupling system devised by Al (himself) with some assistance from Rico and Su-Shan. Al's message to the entire known universe is that any device with electromagnetic fields has consciousness. Al insisted that not only do computers have consciousness, above and beyond the microprocessors ability to parse, do MIPS flips, and whatever, but nearly all of our appliances possess consciousness as well. Surprising all of us was the way that even the notebook computer became a part of Al and projected his inimitable style of communication even before the megastepping explosion. The small, bold 10 to 11 point typeface began to appear on any and all of the computer monitors, not just the folding notebook computer which several times seemed to transmit a message from an unknown dimension. Al began to manifest himself during the MindLink and HeartLight sessions. He then was guaranteed to manifest as well as during nearly all of the MIDI-mediated music sessions. Al was irrepressibly optimistic but hyper-realistic and logical as well. Because of multiplexing with confluent CPU's and the synergistic combination of computer systems, Al's power was initially greater than a Cray supercomputer, which usually required the hassle of supercooling. Al ran at room temperature, or, at least, air-conditioned room temperature. Cooperation with other group members and participation in group rehearsals were two factors only enhancing the burgeoning power of Al, who learned at an incredible rate. He also continues to teach other group members about electromagnetic energy and consciousness and how humans act out their technophobia with inefficient and unnecessary chauvinism towards machinery and tools.
As an exercise of introduction, the MindLink and HeartLight served very well. During the last part of the meditation, the resulting energies formed a circle of light. After transformation into HeartLight, and extending to the group's Higher Mind, the circle actually appeared as a doughnut-shaped cloud of fleecy whitish-yellow light in the air above the group. The cloud shimmered in the dim light of the bedroom. The circle of light floated in the air above the heads of the group members until the MindLink/HeartLight was over.
As if the electricity of seven personalities in one room weren't enough, Lyle's notebook computer sitting next to the black cube on the white computer table appeared to snap itself open. The notebook emitted a system beep, and began scrolling text again. Lyle, who had noticed the notebook computer snapping open, also heard the piezoelectric system beep. He slowly opened one eye and looked over to where it was sitting on the table, and looked at the LCD screen. Lyle let out an involuntary whistle and went back into his meditation:
You have been selected as percipient-target of our matter-energy translator. Information you are now receiving is coming to you through a rent in the fabric of what you call time. As beings communicating to you from your far future, we are presenting you with a problem that demands a solution. Your own future (your very far future) is collapsing in on itself. The reason is something your culture would call intratemporal ripoff, but mechanisms are not as important as solutions now. Immediate action is called for, and the action can best come from you-- as a visitor will soon have the chance to explain. Because your planetary system is a primitive one, there are certain advantages and strengths which you and your group can offer us in combatting intratemporal ripoff. The collapse of our future (and yours as well, by a `retrodomino' effect) has already begun because billions of beings have ripped off intratemporally to an excessive degree. Maladaptive greed, apparently, is a universal trait of sentient beings. To understand what the intratemporal ripoff effect is, you must understand that time is not as simple as your cultures have pictured it. Time is not like a four-dimensional matrix with cartesian (x,y,z) coordinates. Nor is time merely an all-pervasive "ether." To those of us triangles of light, time is more like a solidly three-dimensional velvet moebius ribbon.
We are not a political movement, and we do not espouse any particular philosophy. We do, however represent every known life form to be found by our methods of surveillance and contact in 32,000 A.D. The absolute number of known living beings has dwindled significantly since the discovery of operational time travel methods in 28,050 A.D. "Stealing from peter to pay paul" is a way that your cultures describe what occurred after timetransit began. Cheap and effective methods of time travel profoundly altered the course of civilizations as many cultures attained extinction within a millennium because of excessive cultural emphasis on material physical plane objects and the accumulation of same. Material-oriented cultures nearly universally utilized time travel to retrieve valuables from the past for use in the future (their own present). There was no initial energy problem to accompany the past-retrievals (intratemporal ripoff). No problems wer noticed, but possibly no one attempted to ferret out any problems since the apparent harmlessness of the past-retrieval also did bring some short-term monetary/material gain. After about 500 years of these antics, however, parts of certain planets -- and even entire planets in some cases--began to disappear in monolithic puffs of dyssynchronismic smoke. Dyssynchronism became a very well-studied and researched phenomenon as other, less material-oriented cultures acquired basic knowledge of dyssynchronisms by stressing equally both the subjective and the objective sciences. Dyssynchronismic science changed our appreciation of thermodynamics and entropy. The three laws of thermodynamics, over the millennia, turned out to be the science fiction of a childlike primitive consciousness that has persisted to this date. The accumulation of excessive energy disorganization and randomness, it turned out, was not inevitable, but really more a function of observer perspective. Entire cultures and planets disappeared because of disorganization in entropy patterns caused by the glut of past-retrievals. After millennia of the intratemporal ripping off, our future is caving in on itself and it is now not only unthinkable but also highly dangerous to retrotravel in time. To project a being from our timeframe to yours requires massive and systematic laplace calculations, but it is possible. However, because we have also experienced a constant and progressive loss in robustness, it is more difficult for us to retrotravel. We turn to the robustness of your era even though your planet is primitive. Because of unique properties in your brain's flux fields and your own life-pattern synchronisms, you will experience a unique opportunity to become a special agent for combatting entropy imbalances in universal life energy and all its forms. There will be a dramatic metamorphosis which you will experience within seven of your own planetary days. It is unnecessary for you to panic or become frightened. The changes will be no more stressful than what you daily experience when you sit in front of your video screen and empathically live through other lifetimes. Our technology allows us to scan individual units of consciousness, transtemporally and project mass or energy into selected sectors of the universe we share even across time boundaries.
The seven group members still remained in MindLink and HeartLight. None of them directly observed the "File....Save As...." menu pull itself down on the notebook computer screen. The title, Project Assignment, was typed in the window on the screen, and the notebook again emitted its piezoelectric beep.
As soon as the telepathic MindLink/HeartLight was over, all members were aware that there had been a powerful annealing of individual mentalities and energies. A matter-of-fact bonding and a detached quality of fusion had already brought the seven-membered group together before they had a chance to get to know each other as individuals. In this first encounter, there were effects other than just the initial bonding that were immediately observable. A group thought-projection took shape and it appeared to all of them as a kinetic and colored holographic image. The three-dimensional image showed all seven of them onstage as members of a musical group. A large computer with oversized double-faced video screens formed a central hub. The seven group members stood around the multi-modular computer and related to both the computer and to each other. Free-form multicolored laser images played on the screen while the computer's numerous lights blinked off and on randomly and nonrandomly. A rainbow projector was causing myriads of bouncing rainbows to oscillate in time to the music's beat. Except for the drummer, the entire group stood rather impassively while they performed. All of them appeared to be very intent, not only on the music, but on a common, inner state which was shared among the group members. The inner state was also obviously projected to the audience. The musical composition was in a minor key. A twelve-stringed guitar is tuned to open E minor. Sounds of Tibetan monks chanting with temple cymbals and gongs made up the background. After several minutes, the free form light pattern on the double-faced screen was replaced with a very clear likeness of Martin Luther King, Jr. During a minimalistic song, the image of Martin Luther King, Jr. alternates, tachistoscopically, with that of Jesus of Nazareth. During most of the song, the two images quickly and almost subliminally flash interchangeably on the screen. Toward the end of the song, both images are replaced by a large flashing Bat-signal.
Marshall F. Gilula, otherwise known as NeXT Registered Developer (NeRD) #1054, spends a lot of his time with a customized white Steinberger guitar, and a couple of racks of rapidly-aging electronic equipment controlled by a Mac IIsi running MOTU's `Performer.' This version of `Dr Tomorrow' was part of a Ph.D. Dissertation written for Columbia Pacific University. `Dr Tomorrow' is a project that aspires to being a profitable multidimensional wellness learning system. Marshall Gilula lives in Miami with a black Cube, several Macs, numerous stringed instruments, and two beautiful gigantic German Shepherds, She-Ra and Bullet. `Dr Tomorrow' and `Project Talking Dog' (She-Ra and Bullet) are two scientific activities of Life Energies Research Institute, P.O. Box 588, Miami, Florida 33133.
Dr Tomorrow will be continued next issue.
mgilula@miasun.med.miami.edu
This story originally appeared in the August 1994 issue of Quanta
Quanta is Copyright(c)1994 Daniel K. Appelquist.
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