Penny Lake: 5250 AD.

"Another perfect day. Another boring perfect day. It's so quiet here now," Sally sighs, the weight of solitude evident in her voice.

"I know, sweetheart. Some of the domains were hardly touched by the re-population, but Penny Lake was mostly cleared out. Between the first and final wave, your whole family left you," Penny says gently, giving Sally a little hug—the kind of comfort that comes from years of friendship.

"For years I was busy with the Council, but now that they've disbanded—most of them going in the final wave—I'm sort of stuck here by myself, and I'm kinda bored," Sally says, casting a look toward Penny that practically begs for sympathy.

"Since you're back together with Patrick, why don't you make another baby?" Penny suggests, as if it's the most natural solution in the world.

"Baby!? You're kidding. I'm 97 years old. That's a silly idea," Sally responds, almost laughing at the absurdity.

"Oh yes, you've experienced 97 years. But your physical age is stuck at 33, just like all the young ones who grew up in these domains. So you could keep making babies for a million years if you wanted to," Penny points out matter-of-factly.

Sally just stares at Penny for a moment before saying, "I don't think it's the physical age that's the issue. After you've raised a family and gone through several sets of grandkids, you're just not interested in making any more—even if you could, which I can't."

"You can't?" Penny asks, genuine concern creeping into her voice. "Is something wrong I don't know about?"

"Baby making stopped in these domains shortly after the final wave. It seems the life energies are refocused on the planet, which is so much denser. The necessary resonance for procreation just doesn't exist here anymore—at least not for humans. Plants and some animals still procreate, which is a good thing, or we'd run out of steak and lamb chops in the denser domains. Here in Penny Lake, though, I don't eat for months. It just isn't necessary in such a light domain. And sex? I'd just as soon cuddle a little and go to sleep."

"I hear it isn't that way on Earth," Alexa chimes in, appearing as if summoned by the conversation.

"Hello Alex. Nice of you to pop over," Penny says warmly.

"Yes. As soon as I say the word 'sex,' here you are. Why don't you go home to your husband and work on that? I swear you girls are like a bunch of horny little rodents," Sally says with a knowing smile.

"Like you said, Aunt Sally, it's hardly worth the trouble in Penny Lake. Ethan and I will go to the city soon and spend a few days there, and we'll see what happens," Alexa says with a giggle. "So tell me, how are they doing on the planet? I haven't heard much from Mom and Dad or Grandpa lately. Tell me about Penelope. She left way before I was born. Tell me the story of the Princess."

"If you wanted stories, you should have gone with your Grandpa John. He's the storyteller, not me," Sally protests half-heartedly.

"Please?" Alexa pleads with the persistence of someone who knows exactly which buttons to push.

"Yes, please! I want to hear it again. You tell it so well," Penny chimes in enthusiastically.

"Okay, guys. It's not like I'm busy anyway," Sally smiles as she settles in to begin the story.

"I got Penelope and Anahere enrolled in the university. That was a real hassle. We don't have a lot of celebrity culture in these domains, but my daughters were genuine superstars. I was on my way to becoming director of the council, so I had political fame as well. We had to arrange serious security for the girls on campus, which they absolutely hated since they couldn't run around wild like the other kids. They did well in school though, despite the social restrictions, so it all worked out. The university had started specializing in courses for the re-population by then, so Penelope majored in agriculture and Anahere in sociology. That prepared them pretty well for what was coming.

"My life at the council got really ugly, and the girls got dragged into that mess as well. There were dozens of competing plans for re-population, most of them designed to reconstitute one ancient dynasty or another on the planet. Patrick was chairing the subcommittee responsible for working all that out, and the political fighting was unbelievably fierce. Our family was becoming increasingly unpopular in the press—we were seen as controlling the whole affair for our own benefit, at everyone else's expense. It looked like some vast conspiracy for us to rule the new world. It wasn't, but I suppose I can see how it appeared that way, especially given our personal relationship with Nettie, who was key to making it all work, and with Josh, who brought the technology that would allow us to convert to level 3.

"Anahere was instrumental in reaching the final agreement, not only because of her training as a sociologist, but also her position as ambassador of the First Ones. The final arrangement was to divide up the planet into watersheds—areas where rainwater all drains to a certain point, usually a river. It's a natural division of the land, so the borders can't be easily disputed. With Nettie's help, we selected the 100 most potentially productive watersheds. We chose 100 groups of 500 individuals—50,000 people who went through two years of extensive training. From those, 10,000 individuals were selected: 100 groups of 100 people each. Penelope led one group, and Anahere led another. The press claimed they got special privileges, but those girls worked incredibly hard and earned those positions. I was so proud of them—so intelligent, so capable, so beautiful, so physically fit. You couldn't ask for better daughters.

"My daughters did have certain advantages, though. The groups weren't just specialists in re-population, survival, and community development—they were also selected as the best genetic stock for breeding. Re-population is, after all, about making healthy babies, and lots of them. So most of the younger participants were paired up with spouses before going to the planet. Penelope and Anahere, being famous, beautiful, and politically connected, had their pick of the young men, and I believe they chose wisely. Each group also had a contingent of the First Ones, many of them elders, so not everyone who went to the planet in the first wave was there primarily to reproduce.

"The only way to get from this level 5 existence to the level 3 density of the planet requires what Josh calls an 'organized energy matrix conversion.' We are, apparently, an organized energy matrix both here and there, so what they have to do is take that matrix and add countless times more energy to convert it to level three. This is only possible with living tissue, so when you get converted, you find yourself on the planet completely naked. So part of the training here was done in the nude—the girls called it 'naked training.'"

"I'm sure that helped them pick out the best husbands," Alexa says with a mischievous giggle.

Sally giggles too. "Yes, I caught the girls ranking the boys on what they called their 'equipment list.' But I think as they got used to the nudity, it was no longer a novelty and they made their decisions based on more mature criteria than the column I saw labeled 'the package.' A requirement of the training was celibacy—if you got pregnant, you were eliminated. And bonding was prohibited until a stable community structure was established on the planet."

"So they didn't have sex until they could have really good sex, huh?" Alexa asks with characteristic bluntness.

"It's all about sex with you, isn't it, girl? But I guess you're right. From what I've experienced, and from what others have told me, there's a huge difference between experiencing life here and in level 3. It's like in level 5, you're listening to music on a little tinny speaker with no fidelity, limited dynamics, and everything's in black and white. Then in level 3, it's like you're standing right in the middle of the orchestra, experiencing the total vibrations of sound and color. So something like sex in the city here is fun and exciting and all, but in level 3 it really blows your socks off. The same is true of taste and other sensations, like the aroma of a flower. Food becomes a major experience there, compared to here. That's what I hear, anyway. I haven't tried it myself."

"So why not, Aunt Sally? Most of the important people from the council went on the second wave, including my whole family. Why didn't you and Pat go too?" Alexa wants to know.

"Pat and I figured our work here wasn't done yet. Level 5 is really changing, going back to what it was before the planet was fully populated. I felt we'd be needed here during that transformation. So we didn't go on the final wave."

"Okay, Aunt Sally, that brings up something I've been thinking about a lot. Was the final wave really the final wave? I know everybody said it was, but I know you have special connections. Can't you call Josh and have him do a few more conversions? And if you can, could you take me and Ethan with you? I want to experience standing in the middle of the orchestra, if you know what I mean."

"I suppose I could probably arrange that, but I'm not sure I want to. Even though we all look 33 years old here, Pat and I have experienced nearly 100 years. I'm not sure our mindset is suited for going to the planet to live in a hut making babies. And you made your choice 20 years ago—you were all in love with Ethan, and he wasn't on the list to go, so you stayed behind to be with him. It's a little late to change your mind now," Sally replies with gentle firmness.

"So the only way to get to the planet is to be born there? That's just not the same thing. Most of those born on the planet forget all about who they are here. It's not really us anymore—we'd be somebody else. I'm starting to believe it's just a fancy way to die," Alexa complains, frustration evident in her voice.

"Well, no. You don't cease to exist when you're reborn, but it is true that your memories of a previous existence aren't necessarily part of your awareness in the new person you become. I've learned, though, that all those memories—those other people that you are—persist, because I've begun to remember some of them, and others who knew me before have reminded me of them. We also have new preparation training that teaches you how to hold on to who you are and bring that into the awareness of the new person you become. So we don't have as many 'fade outs' as we had before. Many of the Earth children have contacted us and reported back as both the people they were and the person they've become. In the old days, movement between level 3 and level 5 happened just because it could—it was unorganized and chaotic. Now it's managed and much more under our control," Sally explains patiently.

"It's still not the same thing, though. What if Ethan and I get reborn and then I'm looking all over to find my soul mate, but he's a girl, or married to someone else when I find him? I really, really want to go the way that I am, with Ethan. I know it's possible if you'll just say it is. I know you can do this, Aunt Sally," Alexa pleads with desperate hope.

"There are a couple of problems with that. The decision was made to limit the transformations so there isn't so much coupling between the domains. Things need to go back to the balance they had before, otherwise it isn't healthy for the developing and evolving humans on Earth. Eventually they may evolve into something that isn't even human anymore, and we shouldn't have level 5 getting too involved in that process. If level 3 and level 5 are too tightly connected, then we get stuck in a rut, just living the same sort of existence over and over without evolving. We need that disconnect created by death and rebirth so that evolution flourishes and the experience of life stays fresh and new. So for me to use my influence with Josh to keep doing transformations isn't a good idea. Besides that, rejoining your family on Earth may not be what you think it would be. Penelope and Anahere are old ladies in their mid-70s now. Your mom Elina, who you knew as perpetually 33, is now in her mid-50s. Even though your aunt Alannah got your grandpa John's age reduced to 40, he's now 60. Everyone has moved on, gotten older, started new families. You can't just pop back into their lives and expect it to be as it was. Life is hard there, and unless you bring some skills to pay your own way, you'd be asking them to use their meager resources to feed and house you. That wouldn't be fair," Sally explains with the wisdom of experience.

"You know I'm gonna keep asking. And I can develop skills too. And I'll be a great mom—something I can't do here," Alexa says with characteristic persistence.

"You are your mother's daughter," Penny says with a knowing laugh. "Your mother Elina is a very persistent soul."

"We're getting off track here. You asked for a story, so I'm going to continue the story.

"Penelope and her crew were transformed in the Ishikari watershed. The Ishikari Plains are on the western side of a very rich and fertile island. There's a river running through it and a coastal area. This was crucial when 100 naked humans suddenly appeared—at first all they could do was hunt with their bare hands until they could fashion tools from rocks and trees in the area. Part of their training was hand fishing, so with their knowledge of indigenous plants, the fish in the rivers, and creatures in the ocean, they could survive long enough to start building a community. There's also an underground network portal nearby that Penelope had access to, so she could report back here and we could monitor their progress. The area was also chosen because my parents, who went as elders in Penelope's crew, were familiar with it. Parts of the ancient cities there—although buried under hundreds of feet of dust and volcanic ash over the years—still poke through in certain areas. The thousands of years without plant life allowed numerous dust storms, but still the tops of some tall buildings emerge. So they could take shelter in the ruins. Part of the crew was trained to dig deep into the ruins and extract materials for building their community—things like glass and other building materials. The glass has pooled into puddles and most of the aluminum and steel has dissolved, but there's still a lot of usable stuff if you know what to look for."

"I thought Penelope lived in a grass hut?" Penny asks.

"In the beginning, yes," Sally answers. "At first they gathered sticks from the forest and fashioned them into frames, then covered those with grass to make huts. The area gets a lot of rain, and the huts could be fashioned to keep the rain off much better than the ruins could. So initially they built grass huts. Penelope's husband is a tool specialist, so when they started digging up materials from the ruins, he made a plow. They had no domestic animals yet, so several of the men would pull the plow and shave off thick pieces of sod from the prairie. They'd use these patches of sod like bricks to build walls, then cut timbers from the forest to make beams to support a roof. So in Penelope's second year there, she had a nice warm sod house.

"The first year was brutal, and many had to dig down into the earth to find ways to keep warm. The winters are harsh there, with about half the year covered in snow. There was still plenty to eat, though, and as soon as they fashioned spears they could harvest the deer, which were everywhere. The deer had never seen humans so they weren't afraid—they could sneak up on them and spear them. So a lot of the community's work was preparing deer hide for clothing.

"They arrived in late spring—the month of May—and by the following May, 20 children had been born. That included my first grandchild, Kokoa. Penelope missed her second female cycle after transforming, so once they got that grass hut built, they put it to good use. By the time Kokoa had her first child, Kimiko, they all lived in a nice stone house. Many of the original crew were trained as stone masons, so once they built enough tools, they started constructing more permanent structures. They're still a long way from glass and metal buildings and hover cars floating around, but they're advancing very quickly.

"It's sort of like after the war of 2053. Over 90% of the world's population was destroyed—only about half a billion people survived. But technology survived. So by the time I was born in 2107, the population had doubled, we had all sorts of high technology, and we'd created Nettie, the global network entity that's still there on the planet watching over things. So I think technology will develop quickly, and soon it'll be as it was. The population doubles every dozen years or so. By the 200th year after re-population, they'll have about a billion souls there, and things will be as they were when I first lived there as a girl."

"That still makes no sense to me," Alexa complains with obvious frustration. "You lived there as a girl over twelve thousand years ago. You've been here in level 5, counting the days, for over 3,000 years. But you're only 97 years old? Explain that to me again, please."

Sally laughs. "Don't expect me to say I understand it either. But it goes something like this: Level 5 has an extra temporal dimension that makes time more variable—not a constant ticking of the clock like it is in level 3. In addition to that, living beings measure time as time experienced, not the physical time elapsed. So for example, when I came here over twelve thousand years ago in Earth time, I was 15. At age 20 we had what was called the great awakening, where we began to regain our memories of who and what we are. In those 5 years between 15 and 20, I'd lived through more than 3,000 years in physical time at Penny Lake. But only about 5 years of that was unique experience. The rest was just doing the same thing over and over again. It's like the workman who does the same thing for 20 years—he doesn't have 20 years of experience, he just has 1 year of experience 20 times over. That's part of it. The other part is the temporal connection between level 5 and level 3. That connection is through life energy—living things. When everything on the planet died, that connection was lost. So the temporal synchronization between level 3 and level 5 in this part of the universe was lost. For quite some time, for every day that passed in level 5, many hundreds of days passed on the planet. After Nettie restarted life on the planet, and I went there and did some work with her to get the planet ready, temporal synchronization was re-established. So now time there and here—experienced and otherwise—is occurring at the same rate."

"Okaaaaaay. Now tell me you actually understand any of that," Alexa says with a skeptical smile.

Sally laughs. "Not even a smidgen. I suppose I should, since Pat and I are considered sort of the time lords in this domain. Pat understands it all a lot better than I do."

"So why is it then, since I'm having all sorts of unique experiences, that I'm stuck at being 33 years old?" Alexa asks.

"Actually, you're about 40 years old experientially, sweetie. But there's a difference between age and change. On Earth, as your body ages it continues to change. First it matures, then it begins to break down, get old, and eventually stops working—it dies. Here your body only matures. It doesn't break down. It doesn't stop working and die. A mature body has about the same characteristics as a 33-year-old body on Earth. That's why we say your body gets stuck at 33 years old. That isn't really what's happening—you're not actually stuck. It's just that your body finished maturing, but the process of running down and falling apart doesn't happen here like it does on Earth."

"So why is it different on Earth? Why don't they just mature and then stay that way?" Alexa asks.

Sally smiles thoughtfully. "We're working on that. Apparently physical life forms are programmed to get old and die. Many believe that programming can be changed. For now we're just working on rebuilding the basic community structures on Earth so human populations can survive there. So probably in about a hundred and fifty years or so, when we have the planet pretty well repopulated and technology is back in place, we'll start working on the problem of aging. Until then, if you go to Earth, enjoy your 70 or 100 years or so, because your body is going to wear out. Many believe now, with the healthy lifestyles on Earth, we may have already extended lifetimes there. Time will tell—it hasn't been long enough to know."

"Whoa! What was that?" Alexa asks, looking quickly around the room with startled eyes.

"What was what, honey?" Penny asks.

"I saw something—sort of a flash—in the corner of my eye when I turned my head. It's like there's something there, but when I look straight at it, there's nothing," Alexa explains, still scanning the room nervously.

"Sometimes I see that too," Sally explains calmly. "I think I've attracted an orb or two. Sometimes just before I wake up, I'll hear someone call my name. But Pat is asleep, and there isn't anyone here."

"Now that's just plain spooky, Aunt Sally. I'm never sleeping here again. Aren't you afraid?" Alexa wants to know.

"No. A little irritated, yes. But I'm not afraid, since I'm an orb too," Sally says matter-of-factly.

"You're an orb? You don't look very orb-ish to me. You just look like Aunt Sally," Alexa says with confusion.

"No, when I visit Earth. Normally they can't see me—my density is too faint for them to make out. But sometimes, just for a second, in the corner of their eye, they can see something. That little something is me," Sally explains.

"You visit Earth? As an orb? What's that all about?" Alexa asks with genuine curiosity.

"I don't go as an orb. I go just like I am, but I'm invisible to them since level 5 and level 3 energy don't interact. But sometimes they may get a flash of something—an energy field—and it looks like a blob of light. So we call it an orb. It hasn't been done for many years, but we can make what's called an etheric visit to Earth. We leave our domain and as individuals move to Earth and take a look around. We have to get permission from Nettie to enter the shielded area, but once there we can see a little of what's going on. We can't actually see the planet, or the sun, or the water, but we can see the shimmering of their life forms. Sometimes it's hard to make out what we're seeing, but if it's someone you know, you can get a pretty good idea. That's how I watched my daughters and my grandchildren. But they asked me not to do that anymore—it was too spooky and creepy for them to deal with. So they basically exorcised me from their domain. I haven't been back since my great-great-granddaughter was born. Her name is Hoshiko. That was 13 years ago."

"They are forgetting, aren't they?" Penny asks gently.

"I think so, but not so much forgetting in the sense that their identity and memory of this place is fading away. They can still remember if they try. It's like you've moved away from home and started a new life. At first you're still strongly connected to the place you came from. Then after a few years, that begins to fade and you think less and less about it. After a lifetime—with your own kids, your own grandkids, your own politics and daily concerns—you pretty much don't think about the old place anymore. You're completely immersed in your new life, and your old life becomes like a dream, slowly fading away.

"No, it doesn't work that way. They can't orb into our reality—they're too dense. Sometimes, I think, we connect in our dreams. But that doesn't have anything to do with Level 3 or Level 5. Dream space is nonphysical—it's mind space. So density and dimensions don't factor into that. No, these orbs are showing up in our physical reality somehow, so they're from some other dimension, not level 3. I have a feeling I know where they're from, but they're going to have to get stronger before they can make contact, if they can. Probably they'll just fade away."

"Enough theorizing, girls," Penny says with a practical air. "I made some lunch. Let's go out back and enjoy the afternoon."

"It was quite a shock to Penelope when John's family transitioned to the planet. A group of naked people walking into their little village caused quite a stir. They went to the Ishikari Plains and joined Penelope's crew there. Penelope was always extremely close to her Grandpa John. When John's daughter Brionna met Penelope and Anahere at the university, it resulted in John's family reunion—they all became very close. When they arrived at Penelope's little village, which had about 800 citizens by then, John's family were like strangers.

Penelope was middle-aged by then, totally involved in community development. She had kids older than her aunts, physically, and even had grandkids. John's family, although they brought many skills, had to be accommodated and supported for a while before they became productive. Elina brought a husband along, but Alannah and Brionna were single, and the addition of single women in a population that pairs up very young created some sexual tension and jealousy among the women there. Their husbands were showing some interest in the new girls. It was all worked out quickly, and they're all friends again, but John got the impression that Penelope was feeling a little put upon by their sudden arrival. John, being a wise old man, didn't challenge Penelope's position of authority in the community, so that made things go much smoother."

"Okay, so now that they're all into being Earth people again, are you, like, never going to see them again?" Alexa asks.

"I can see them right now. See, here's my locket picture that we took when Penelope was 14. I've got all her keepsakes since you can't take anything with you when you go," Sally says, touching the locket tenderly.

"It's so weird to see her age. She's always been so young and vital. I bet she's still vital, but to watch her get older than I am, older than Penny—it's really weird."

"So where's the picture of me I gave you?" Alexa asks with a playful smile.

"It's right here, sweetie. I've got keepsakes from all you guys," Sally responds warmly.

"About Penelope, though—that's not what I meant, Aunt Sally. I mean see her for real, not some old faded photographs," Alexa explains earnestly. "Maybe that orb is her looking in on you? Do you think? Maybe?" Alexa asks with intense hope.

Earth: Ishikari watershed: 5250 AD.

"Come on, Hoshiko. Don't be so dense about this," Hiroto pleads, his voice carrying that particular wheedling tone teenage boys perfect when they're not getting their way.

"I already told you I'm not interested, and that doesn't make me stupid. Actually, it makes me smarter than you. And if you keep bothering me, I'm telling my grandpa John," Hoshiko replies, crossing her arms with the kind of finality that should end the conversation—but probably won't.

"Old John? That decrepit fool? I couldn't care less about that relic," Hiroto declares with the bravado that comes right before a spectacular fall.

"Heh. Then you'd better look behind you," Hoshiko says, unable to suppress her grin as she watches Hiroto's face change.

"Oh! John! I'm sorry, sir. I was just joking around with Hoshiko. You know how silly she can be sometimes," Hiroto responds, somehow managing to shrink several inches in the space of a heartbeat.

"Well, I won't be joking when I knock some sense into you. You'd better run along now, son. I'm planning to spend some time with my granddaughter, and I don't need you young wolves sniffing around."

"'Knock some sense into you'—you always talk so funny, Grandpa. But I think you got your point across. Look at Hiroto practically running away," Hoshiko says, laughing as the boy beats a hasty retreat.

"So are these boys giving you trouble? Because I can fix that, you know. I could get Penelope to enforce her rules about unwanted attention. These boys might find themselves doing some time in the detention building," John says, his expression serious enough to suggest he's not entirely joking.

"No, it's okay. They're just boys being boys. It only really bothers me when the married ones start messing with me—but I just make sure their wives find out, and that usually stops it pretty quick." She pauses, her voice taking on a more serious tone. "Just because most of the other girls my age already have kids doesn't mean I have to. We have the right of personal determination, so I don't have to go along with what everyone else expects. Isn't that right?"

"That's my understanding of how things work. You can determine your own path, as long as it doesn't harm others or the village as a whole. It's a delicate balance sometimes, but I think you're on solid ground telling these boys to leave you alone. You've got plenty of life ahead of you to find a husband when you're ready. So what brings you out to the stables today?"

"I heard you got some new foals. Dad said I could get my own horse if I'm not married by the time I turn fifteen. I want to pick out a beautiful one while I can. He said if I get married, then it's up to my husband, but I think I'm going to stay single for a while longer," Hoshiko says with a hint of defiance that suggests this isn't entirely about horses.

"We do have some beautiful ones. We crossbred the Russian stock with the Korean horses, and the foals are both healthy and gorgeous," John says, leading her toward the paddock.

"Korean? What's that?" Hoshiko asks, the term clearly unfamiliar.

"Well, the first batch of horses we brought back after we got our barges built came from Old Russia. This last time, we sailed further south to what used to be called Korea and got some from there. We didn't want to keep breeding from the same Russian bloodlines—that's not healthy for the herd," John explains.

"You crossed the ocean again?!" Hoshiko exclaims, her voice rising with worry. "That's so dangerous, Grandpa! I don't want you falling off the boat and getting eaten by sea monsters. Aren't you scared?"

"Yes, I am scared. But fear is part of life. If you let it control you, it'll hold you back from actually living the life you were meant to live. Sometimes you have to push through the fear and do what needs doing, even if you might end up as fish food. Besides, we had guidance for the journey, so it wasn't quite as dangerous as it could have been. Everything's a balancing act, Hoshiko—something I can see you're learning too," John says with an understanding smile.

"So how do you make the boat go all the way to Russia?" Hoshiko asks, clearly fascinated despite her worry.

"Timing is everything. We leave from the west coast around midsummer when the prevailing winds blow toward Asia. That gets us to the mainland with enough time to scout the herds and collect wild poppy pods—we use those to make a sedative that calms the horses for transport. We want the yearlings, the ones just recently weaned. They have the weakest ties to their herds and are easier to separate, plus they're not too bright yet, which makes them easier to catch. When fall comes and we've selected our animals, the prevailing winds reverse and blow back toward home. So we ride the wind in both directions. Getting to Korea took a bit more skill since we had to sail at an angle to the wind, but we've got some talented sailors who know how to set the sails for that kind of navigation. We made it there and back without much trouble."

"Tell me about this guidance, Grandpa. The kids at school say it's all nonsense—just stories made up by old people who don't really remember what happened back then," Hoshiko says, her expression troubled.

"How do these kids think we got here? Did we just magically sprout from the ground like chrysanthemums?" John asks, raising an eyebrow.

"No, they say there was some great disaster on Earth and only a few children survived. Those kids built this village and made up all the stories about the 'before time,' the 'after time,' and this 'new time' we're living in now. They created these stories because they didn't really know what had happened—they just woke up one day with everything destroyed and had to build grass huts and start over. So when you talk about 'guidance,' it makes me wonder where this guidance is supposed to be coming from."

"What does your grandma Penelope say about all this?" John asks.

"She just says she's too busy to discuss such nonsense. My mom is one of those people who isn't really sure the whole 'after time' thing actually happened. But here's the thing—I remember stuff. I remember being Alannah's best friend in the after time. I remember Penny Lake, Crystal City, the Capital, all of it. But when people tell me it was all made up and that these ideas were just planted in my head when I was little... well, that makes sense too. It could all just be dreams based on stories I heard growing up. I'm honestly confused."

"You're fourteen, Hoshiko. An identity crisis is pretty normal at your age. You're still becoming the person you'll be, so naturally your sense of identity is shifting. You'll work it all out as you get older. For now, just go with it and let it take you where it needs to. It will get easier, I promise," John explains gently.

"I get the whole 'being fourteen' thing. But tell me about the guidance—do you really believe in it?" Hoshiko asks, her expression intensely serious.

"Believe in it? I don't have to believe in it. I know it exists because I was there. I was in the underground chambers where the network lives, where the spirit of the Earth resides. So for me, it's not a matter of faith."

"Then take me there. Show me the underground."

"Well, I can't exactly do that. Because we knew there would be doubters—people who might see the network as a threat—the portals to the underground have been sealed and hidden. Nettie is completely self-sufficient now, so she doesn't need us to visit anymore. The way guidance works is you quiet your mind, think about your questions, and after a while, an answer comes. So we thought about ocean currents and weather patterns and where to find wild horses, and after sleeping on it for a few days, we just... knew. That's how guidance works."

"That's exactly my problem with the whole story, Grandpa. Part of me believes it, but when I try to explain it to others, it falls apart. So there's this vast computer network underground, but it's sealed and hidden so nobody can actually see it. The only evidence is from people who claim they saw it but can't visit it again. To get guidance, you basically meditate until you feel like you have an answer. I can meditate too, and after a while, whatever I imagine starts to feel right—but that doesn't mean it's real. There's no physical evidence, nothing I can touch or feel, to convince anyone else, or even myself, that any of it actually exists."

"Any account of things long past is called history. And ultimately, it's exactly that—someone's story. You have to decide for yourself what rings true for you and what doesn't. Faith is what you rely on when you don't have tangible, touchable proof to point to. I can't explain it any better than that. Faith is one of those things that when you need it, you'll have it, and when you have it, you'll recognize it."

"Oh, thank you, Grandpa John. Now I see everything with perfect clarity," Hoshiko says with a smile that's pure sarcasm.

"I see you've inherited Penelope's gift for sarcasm," John says with a grin. "You hungry? I've got some fresh salted mackerel I just brought up from the coast."

"Sure, I'll try it. I thought you were a fresh-fish-only kind of guy—just catch 'em, fry 'em, and eat 'em up. What's with the salted ocean fish?"

"This old lake has seen better days. It got cut off from the river centuries ago when the water changed course. Now it's all silted up with runoff and algae—not much of a habitat for fish anymore. It had plenty of fish when we first arrived, but we ate them faster than they could reproduce. So now I do my fishing in the ocean, but I have to salt them to prevent spoilage, especially the mackerel."

"It's good that we're close to both the ocean and the river. So far we haven't run short of food—when we do, we just look around and find more somewhere else. How are the other crews doing? How's Anahere?"

"Anahere's crew settled in the Osage River Watershed—that's right in the heart of what used to be the North American continent, where I grew up. I seriously considered moving my family there, but decided I could do more good here with Penelope. According to the reports we received, the climate is mild, though it can get pretty cold in winter, similar to here. The whole region is populated with wild animals—deer, elk, cattle, horses, pigs, sheep. Many of these were domesticated farm animals before the great change, but now they roam wild across the territory. It's rich, fertile land, and her crew included many of the First Ones who knew how to live off the land. So I'm confident she's doing well. We have no way to communicate with the other crews—it may be quite some time before we get things like telegraph or radio working again. Might not happen in my lifetime. So all we can do is hope that they, like us, survived their first seasons and got their communities established and growing. When I think of her, I picture her riding bareback across the plains, just like her ancestors did thousands of years ago. I have a feeling she's very happy there. She's an old woman now, but I bet her energy is as high as ever. I can't imagine her any other way."

"I'm glad you came here, Grandpa. Anahere is doing fine, I'm sure, and I know you miss her, but I would have been lost without you. I've never really felt like I belong with this crew, but with you, I feel completely at home. So have we encountered any of the other crews during our travels?" Hoshiko asks.

"When we were near Korea looking for horses, we met a small group from the Yangtze Watershed. They were doing well—many crops like rice and wheat were growing wild there, so they didn't take long to establish agriculture. You have to watch out for flooding in that region, though. There are also wild chickens, cattle, and pigs wandering around, so they had plenty to eat. The animals are leaner now than they used to be, but they still have plenty of meat on them. We talked briefly about establishing trade between our communities, but our ships are basically barges with primitive sails—they're difficult to maneuver, and sometimes you don't end up where you planned to go. It'll be a long time before we have steam ships that can carry tons of cargo reliably. Until then, we'll just have these chance encounters from time to time, and that's not enough to establish proper trade routes. We're working on it, though. You'll see it happen in your lifetime, I'm sure."

"That sounds wonderful. I love the fish and venison and all the vegetables we grow here, but I wouldn't mind some roasted chicken or pork chops once in a while," Hoshiko says with a giggle. "Okay, enough geography lessons. What about you, John? Your daughters are all married with kids and grandkids. You're still young enough to raise a couple more children of your own. Why don't you take a wife and start another family? You're the best father ever, and the community would benefit from it." Her voice becomes more earnest. "John, I love you so much and I worry about you. I know you have tons of grandchildren, but you need your own woman to keep you warm when winter comes. I think you should seriously consider it."

"Ha!" John laughs at the thought of remarrying. "No woman in this community would want an old codger like me. There are too many handsome young men to choose from."

Hoshiko gathers all her courage, and with a slight tear in her eye, says, "What about me? I would choose you. I'm not too young—most girls get married at thirteen, and I'm already fourteen. Plenty of men your age have taken young wives, so it's not like it's wrong or anything. Even though I call you Grandpa, we're not actually blood related. What do you think about that?"

John takes a deep breath and holds it, trying to figure out how to respond to Hoshiko's proposal without causing unnecessary pain. "Oh, sweetheart! I didn't see that coming at all. I had no idea your thoughts were heading in that direction. I'm honestly shocked, and really flattered, but you don't understand what you're asking for. You don't know what it would cost you."

"Are you worried about what people will think? People like Penelope? I don't give a damn what they think."

"Yeah, maybe I am a little concerned about public opinion. May-December romances are notorious for their problems. But mainly I'm worried about what I know from experience. Young women and young men have the opportunity to experience the most wonderful thing this world has to offer—and that's young love. It's difficult and chaotic and you might fight constantly, but in the long run, there's nothing better. I love you far too much to take that opportunity away from you. I'll help you find a good young man—someone better than that boy we chased off today. We'll find you someone who's right for you, someone you can build a real life with, someone who'll be there for the long haul. Not some old man you'll end up burying when your life has barely begun."

"So what happened to your young love? Is that what you're still clinging to?"

"You're wise beyond your years, Hoshiko, to see that. Yes, I experienced young love, and it was the best part of my life. It's something that can never be replaced, and there can never be anything better. It's all I need in this life, and even though I never found my Akashia again, she lives in my heart forever. I'm not saying you aren't just as wonderful as she was, but you're meant for a young man like I once was—someone who can make your life as rich as I tried to make hers."

"So it's one life, one love, that kind of thing? You realize you're breaking my heart here, and now I'll never be able to have a normal relationship."

"Ha! Now that sounds like a fourteen-year-old talking. Dry your tears, sweetheart—you're wasting them on me. You will find what you're looking for. It just isn't me. And that's my loss, but it is what it is."

John and Hoshiko sit quietly, finishing their salted mackerel and dry crackers. Then Hoshiko asks, "Why couldn't you find your Akashia? I helped hundreds of people find their lost loved ones, but there was no trace of her in any of the domains. Do you think the great awakening didn't work for her? Was her life energy lost to forgetfulness forever?"

"Domains? The great awakening? I think you've just found the evidence you were looking for in your own memories, sweetheart. Anyway, to answer your question—I've asked myself that same thing many times. But I've also learned that there's much more to existence than what we see in this life or the life in level 5. I learned from Sally that not everyone born here is actually from here. I learned from her friend Josh that not everyone who dies here goes to level 5. Akashia was such a special person, such an ideal partner, such perfect love, that I'm convinced she wasn't originally from around here, and when she left, she returned to wherever that was. I was sad for a long time, but now I'm at peace with it. For a brief time, I held perfection in my arms, and that's enough."

Hoshiko sits for a while, staring at the distant river, stung a little by the rejection but also pondering the possibility of actually finding the kind of perfect love John described. She suspects he might be one of those older people who romantically remember things as better than they really were. "I need to head home now, John. They'll be wondering where I am. Thanks for the conversation. I love you!"

"I love you more, sweetheart. Come back soon," John says, watching as a beautiful young woman—no longer quite a child—sprints down the long trail leading back to the village, her deerskin boots kicking up dust clouds but making no sound at all.

Location: Penny Lake: 5250 AD.

"Hey Ben," Sally called out as she wandered into the kitchen, still shaking off the last bits of sleep. "What brings you all the way out here so early this morning?" She pulled open a cabinet, already mentally planning breakfast for what looked like it might be more than just her and Pat.

"Pat called me up yesterday evening and said I should come by to talk with you," Ben replied, settling himself more comfortably against the kitchen counter. "But don't let me interrupt your routine - go ahead and make breakfast. We can talk while we eat."

"Ah, so you came hungry then," Sally said with a knowing grin. "What's the matter - didn't Penny feed you this morning?"

"Oh, she did," Ben chuckled. "But after that walk over here through the morning air, I figured I could probably eat again."

"Alright then, hungry man. Have a seat and I'll get something going." Sally started pulling ingredients from various places, moving with the easy efficiency of someone who'd made countless breakfasts. "So what's got Pat all worked up? You know how he is - he can freak out over the smallest things."

"Oh, nothing too dramatic," Ben said with a slight smile. "He just thinks you're going a bit nuts, that's all."

"I never said that!" Pat protested as he joined them in the kitchen, looking like he'd been listening from the hallway. "It's the sleep talking that's got me concerned, and those voices you seem to be hearing. You'll be sound asleep, and then suddenly you're having full conversations with... well, with nothing that I can see. You answer them, you nod, sometimes you even sit up in bed and look right at them - but there's nothing there. It's really spooky, Sally. It's been keeping me awake at night." He ran a hand through his hair, looking genuinely unsettled. "So I thought Ben might be able to help, since he's got more experience with this kind of thing than either of us."

"I don't remember talking in my sleep at all," Sally said, pausing in her breakfast preparations. "What kind of things do I say?"

"Mostly just mumbling, or things that don't make much sense out of context," Pat explained. "But your whole body language changes - you get this look like you're right in the middle of an important conversation with someone."

"So basically you think I need a shrink?" Sally asked, though her tone was more curious than defensive. "Ben's not exactly a doctor, you know."

"Here's the thing," Pat said, settling into a chair. "If I thought all this was just coming from your mind - stress, dreams, whatever - then yeah, maybe some therapy would help. But based on what you've described, and what I've been witnessing, this feels like something external. Something that's happening TO you, not something happening inside your head. So if there really are some kind of entities trying to communicate with you, or maybe even attack you somehow, then Ben here might actually be able to help us figure out what we're dealing with."

"Well, I might be able to help with that," Ben said thoughtfully. "If there are other entities sharing space with us here, I think I can probably smoke them out into the open. Let's go into the other room, draw all the shades, and get it as dark as we possibly can. Then I'll light just this one candle, so we have a single point of light to focus on. Sometimes that makes it easier to see what we're really looking at."

The three of them moved into the living room and drew the heavy curtains, blocking out the morning sunlight until the room was nearly pitch black. Ben lit a single white candle and placed it on the coffee table, and they all settled into chairs, letting their eyes slowly adjust to the flickering candlelight as they scanned the room.

"There," Sally said quietly, pointing toward the fireplace. "By the mantle. Do you see them?"

"I don't see anything," Pat said, squinting in the direction she was pointing.

"Look more carefully," Ben instructed, his voice taking on a more serious tone. "Watch for just a shimmer, a slight distortion that flickers along with the candle flame."

"Oh yeah," Pat said after a moment, his voice dropping to a whisper. "I do see something over there. Two of them, actually. I wasn't sure what I was looking for before, but now I can make them out."

"Okay, so we all see them," Sally said, trying to keep her voice steady. "Now what? What are they? Who are they? And why are they hanging around here?"

"Let's try something," Ben said, his experience with unusual phenomena evident in his calm demeanor. "We know they've been trying to communicate with you, at least in your dreams. So quiet your mind and focus on just one simple question. Ask them what level they're from - just think that question and see if you get any kind of response."

Sally closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, trying to clear her mind of everything except that one question. After several minutes of silence, she opened her eyes. "Six. I keep getting the feeling they're from level six. I'm not sure what level six even means, and it doesn't feel like a completely confident answer - like maybe they're not entirely sure themselves - but six is what keeps coming through."

Ben sat quietly for a moment, clearly thinking through the implications. "That could actually make sense," he said finally. "Level six is what we call the dimension of pure mind - the dimension of source, where the fundamental matrix for all existence originates. But here's the thing: it's not a dimension of physical form. Physical form exists in all its variations in other dimensional levels - level three, level five, even level ten. But level six is more like the projector in a movie theater. You see the image, fully formed, on the screen, but when you look back at the projector itself, all you see is flickering light emanating from it." He gestured toward the candle. "All existence emanates from level six, the dimensionality of pure mind, but it has to take form - has to be 'in-formed' - in some other level, like this one. Level six is the projector, and we're the screen. So if these entities are truly beings of pure mind, they may be having trouble manifesting in physical form in our level. Maybe they've forgotten what their form is supposed to look like, or how to maintain it."

"Maybe they've never had physical form at all?" Pat suggested.

"Or maybe they've been in physical form many times before, but it was always borrowed from someone else, so they don't actually have a form of their own," Sally mused. "Actually, that gives me an idea. Pat, how would you feel about spending a few days in the city? We could have some fun while we're there, and I might be able to get some answers."

"Sure, I'll go," Pat answered readily. "I haven't been back to the city in a couple of years - it'll be interesting to see what's left of it. I'm sure it's changed a lot since the council disbanded." He paused, looking slightly concerned. "Do we have any coins saved up somewhere? Since the council disbanded, we don't get those regular payments anymore, and we'll need some money to get around. Plus we'll need fare for the transport booth to get back home."

"Don't worry about the booth," Sally said with a slightly mysterious smile. "I've been practicing teleportation techniques - I should be able to get us there and back without any trouble. And I've got a bag of coins stashed around here somewhere. I'll bring those along too."

"Well then, I guess my work here is done," Ben said, standing up and blowing out the candle. "Have fun in the city, you two. And if you happen to figure out how to manifest those entities into physical form, bring them by when you get back. I'd be very interested to meet them properly."

Soon after Ben headed home, Sally and Pat set off for the city, and before long they were walking the familiar but changed streets of what used to be called Capital City. "Most people just call it 'The City' now," Sally explained as they walked, "since it's not really the capital of anything anymore, not since the council disbanded."

"So where exactly are we headed?" Pat asked, looking around at the buildings that seemed somehow smaller and shabbier than he remembered.

"First let's find a place to stay for the night," Sally said, brushing some travel dust off her clothes. "I want to get cleaned up and change out of these dusty clothes. Then we're going to pay a visit to my old friend Sherina."

"Wait, isn't that Alannah's friend? The one she used to spend all that time with?"

"No, no - you're thinking of Maureen. Maureen was the one who ran the clinic here in the city. She started out specializing in memory reconstitution therapy for people who didn't remember their past lives automatically during the great awakening. Then she branched out into age regression therapy, which became incredibly popular for years and years. Alannah even talked John into trying regression therapy - that's why he looked forty years old when he left instead of the seventy-nine we all knew him as." Sally smiled at the memory. "After things slowed down and John's family left for Earth, Maureen got bored and lonely here. So she decided to go to Earth herself, but as a newborn. The clinic also handles preparation for rebirth, you see. Before she left, though, she trained Sherina to take over the clinic operations. Sherina used to be Alannah's boss back in Crystal City, before all this started." She paused, getting her bearings on the street. "Plus, while we're here, I want to catch up with Nettie at her portal station."

"So where's Maureen now, then?"

"I told you, silly," Sally said, giving him that particular look that wives perfect for moments when their husbands aren't paying attention. "She's our great-great-granddaughter now. She achieved a perfect resonance match with Hoshiko, so she couldn't pass up that opportunity. She's family now. Don't you remember me telling you about this?"

"Yeah, I think you mentioned it," Pat said sheepishly. "There are just so many people to keep track of now. Between Penelope, Anahere, John and his daughters, we've got to have at least a hundred descendants by now."

"That's exactly why I write them all down," Sally said with a laugh.

"So our family really is over a hundred people now," Pat mused.

"Oh honey, it's way more than that," Sally said, warming to one of her favorite topics. "John's daughters have only been on Earth for twenty years and they're already having grandchildren. Soon John's branch of the family alone will be over a hundred people. Penelope and Anahere were both very prolific - six kids each - and that's been about the average for their children too. So between those two branches alone, we're already over five hundred descendants. And now Hoshiko's generation is starting to have children too. As her generation matures and has families, our extended family will easily be over three thousand people, and that's just counting the ones we know about."

"And you have all of this written down somewhere?"

"Well, Nettie helps me keep track of them all."

"Hoshiko's generation is going to face some real challenges then," Pat said, his voice taking on a note of concern. "Penelope's branch of the family will soon outstrip the resources of that little island they're living on."

"I wouldn't worry too much about it, for a couple of reasons," Sally said, her voice filled with maternal pride. "First, I'm confident they'll get their technology development booming again before too long, and then they'll be able to migrate into the less hospitable areas of the planet. The whole planet is essentially wide open to them, but most of it will need technological assistance to support large populations. The other reason I'm not worried is that I think we trained them very well. They're an incredibly resourceful group of people. They'll do what humans have always done throughout history - they'll spread out and cover the planet."

"Well, I just hope they don't screw everything up again like humans did before," Pat said. "But I'm confident too that they'll do well. After all, I did help with their training, remember?" he added with a laugh.

"Here we are," Sally said as they approached a building with a discrete sign. "Let's check in and get a room, then we'll go see Sherina and find out if our little orb friends decided to tag along for the trip."

"So let me make sure I understand this correctly, Sally," Sherina said, leaning back in her chair with a serious expression. "You have these orb entities following you around - some sort of disembodied life forms - and you want me to give them physical bodies so you can have a proper conversation with them."

"That's about the size of it," Sally replied. "How feasible is something like that?"

"Well, I don't think it is feasible, to be honest. I mean, I've never heard of anything like that being attempted, let alone successfully accomplished."

"But you do similar things all the time here," Sally pointed out. "You take someone who's old - whose physical form reflects decades of aging - and you make them young again. How much more difficult could it be to take these orbs and give them some kind of physical form? Old, young, it doesn't really matter to me."

"The problem is that I'd have nothing to work with," Sherina explained patiently. "You see, when we do age regression here, we're modifying an existing physical form. The body is really nothing more than an information matrix, and we adjust it to match a different version of that same matrix - one that existed as a real, physical form at some point in that person's past. Usually we can get a complete and accurate memory of what they looked like at that earlier age from a friend or relative who knew them then. So we're just modifying something that already exists in a documented form. We're not creating something completely from scratch. I don't know how to create a physical form from nothing, and I don't think anyone else does either."

"Damn!" Sally said, frustration clear in her voice. "Then how am I supposed to communicate with these things? They're really starting to bug the hell out of me, and I don't think they're going anywhere until we manage to have some kind of real conversation. There's got to be another way."

"Okay, let me see what I can figure out," Sherina said, her professional curiosity clearly piqued. "I have some diagnostic equipment here that enhances my sensitivity to various energy forms. Let me see if I can scan these entities and get a better sense of what we're actually working with."

Sherina had Sally sit in a large, comfortable chair while she wheeled over some equipment that looked vaguely like a sophisticated projector. She powered it up and a soft blue light filled the room, creating an almost ethereal atmosphere.

"Hey, I can see them!" Pat said excitedly. "They're floating right behind Sally's chair."

"Yes, I see them too," Sherina said, making fine adjustments to the beam for better clarity. "Okay, let's see what we're dealing with here." She studied the readouts on her equipment for several minutes. "They're definitely real - very real. I can see a highly organized information matrix. They're clearly alive and conscious. I can detect active thought forms. But here's the issue: it's all mental, all pure mind energy. None of the thought forms have any connection to the physical realm. There's absolutely nothing physical there for me to work with. I can't just create bodies out of thin air for these entities - I have no physical matrix to build from. Nothing at all."

"So this whole trip was a waste of time?" Pat asked, disappointment evident in his voice.

"Not necessarily," Sherina said thoughtfully. "I don't have anything physical to work with from them directly. But maybe I can try a different approach. I could attempt to blend their mental matrix with someone who already has both mental and physical matrices. Each of us has both components - a physical information matrix and a mental one. These entities only have mental matrices. But maybe I can merge their mental patterns with volunteers who have complete physical forms as well."

"That sounds like some kind of possession scenario," Pat said uneasily. "Isn't that kind of... well, evil?"

"It could be, if it were done against someone's will," Sherina acknowledged. "But if I can find willing volunteers who understand the risks, then it's more like a controlled scientific experiment. Come back tomorrow - I know a couple of people who might be willing to help us out with this."

"That sounds like a workable plan," Sally said, standing up and stretching. "Pat, let's go find some dinner. I'm absolutely starving."

"Thanks, Sherina. We'll see you first thing in the morning," Pat said with a grin. "I'd better get Sally fed soon - she gets really cranky when she's hungry."

Sally and Pat hadn't had a real night out together in years - their first actual date night since they'd reunited. They found a restaurant that was still operating and had a proper meal together for the first time in months. They even found a theater showing old movies and caught a late show together, something they hadn't done in years. It was a wonderful evening, better than either of them could remember having in a very long time.

"Good morning, you two," Sherina greeted Sally and Pat cheerfully as they arrived for their appointment. "I'd like you to meet Langee and Aleyah. They're a young couple who work here at the clinic with me. They've both been complaining lately about how boring the city has become - there's nothing new or exciting happening here anymore. So when I told them about your situation, and they agreed to host your orb entities to see what they have to say."

"Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?" Sally asked, looking seriously at both young people. "We really don't know who or what these entities are, or what their intentions might be. They may not be pleasant to deal with. I don't want either of you taking this risk if you have any doubts at all."

"Oh, don't worry about us," Aleyah said with obvious excitement, while Langee nodded enthusiastically beside her. "We're really thrilled about the opportunity to experience something completely new. This is unlike anything we've ever heard of before, so it's definitely going to be an adventure."

"How exactly does this process work? What do we need to do?" Sally asked.

"To be completely honest, I'm not entirely sure," Sherina admitted. "I've never attempted anything quite like this before. But here's what I'm thinking: I've arranged three chairs in a triangle formation. Sally, you'll sit in the middle, with Langee and Aleyah on either side of you. I'll position the imaging equipment we used yesterday so I can monitor the energy patterns throughout the process. What I'm going to attempt is to align the vibrational frequencies and create a harmonic resonance between the entities' mental matrices and our volunteers' energy patterns. If I can achieve that resonance, then theoretically they should merge temporarily. Shall we give it a try?"

Sherina dimmed the lights and activated the imaging equipment, bathing all three subjects in that soft blue glow. At first, nothing seemed to happen, but after several minutes of careful adjustments, Sherina began to achieve success in tuning the vibrational frequencies of the orb entities to match the resonant frequencies of her two volunteer hosts. Gradually, the visible orbs began to fade and disappear entirely.

"Langee? Aleyah? Are you both okay?" Sherina asked cautiously.

The male host looked up and spoke, but his voice had a different quality to it. "We are both here. The original consciousnesses are present and unharmed, but we are now sharing these physical forms. We want to assure you that we will cause no harm to these generous hosts. Thank you for making it possible for us to communicate directly. However, we must leave this location and return to your Penny Lake immediately. This urban environment is too dense and filled with distractions. There is particularly intense sexual energy between these host bodies that makes concentration difficult. We need to return to Penny Lake, where there are fewer distractions and we can speak more clearly."

"Is this safe for them? What do you think, Sherina?" Pat asked with obvious concern.

"From what I can see on my monitors, there don't appear to be any problems," Sherina said, studying her readouts carefully. "The mental matrices have merged, but I can still detect two completely distinct patterns in each host. So I don't believe Langee or Aleyah are in any danger of being displaced or having their consciousness dissipated. Their physical matrices remain sound and healthy. I don't see any immediate dangers. Just bring them back when you're finished and I'll separate the entities from the hosts. Keep me informed about how this goes - this is turning into a fascinating experiment."

Sally paid the transport fee at the booth, and all four of them stepped into the transportation chamber. Moments later, they emerged in Sally's living room back at Penny Lake. Sally quickly prepared some light snacks and drinks, thinking the host bodies might need nutrition after the merging process. When everything was ready, they all settled comfortably in the living room to begin their conversation.

"Alright, you two," Sally began, her tone serious but not unfriendly. "You've been bothering me for months now - hovering around, interrupting my dreams, making my husband think I'm losing my mind. What exactly do you have to say for yourselves? Let's start with the basics: who are you? Do you have names?"

"We do not use individual names as you do, so the names of our hosts - Langee and Aleyah - will have to suffice for this conversation," the male host replied, speaking for both entities. "We have come here to inform you that you have committed a grave error - a serious distortion of the fundamental plan of existence that, if left uncorrected, will ultimately result in the complete extinction of your species. You believe that your actions are helping and protecting life, but in reality, you are destroying it. You individuals think of yourselves as existing only at this one point in time and space, but you are far more than that. You exist simultaneously in many times and places, at many levels of existence. You have created an energy barrier around your home world that blocks the essential participation and communication from your other levels of existence - your higher selves. By doing this, you have locked your species into a downward spiral that will result not only in the destruction of your physical forms, but in the complete dissolution of your very souls - the essential core of your existence. We are emissaries from your higher selves, sent here for your salvation, to help you repair what may be the greatest error in judgment your species has ever made."

Sally smiled and leaned back in her chair. "Is that it? Is that really the best speech you can come up with? Am I supposed to panic and run to Nettie's portal saying 'Oh my God, I've really screwed up this time - turn off the planetary shield before we all die!'? If you're trying to frighten and intimidate me, you're going to have to do a lot better than that. So let me ask again: who are you really? And what is your actual purpose here?"

"We have never encountered such enormous arrogance, not even in the most tyrannical of despots!" the female host responded, her voice filled with indignation.

"Well, you're certainly not making any friends with that attitude," Sally said with a slight chuckle. "Look, I'm having fun with this conversation, but I'd hate to waste your time. I think it might be best if I take you back to be separated from your hosts, and then you probably shouldn't bother returning to our realm. There really wouldn't be any point."

Both hosts sat quietly for a moment, looking at each other with what appeared to be internal communication. Then the female host spoke again, her tone considerably more conciliatory. "We can see that we've gotten off to a very bad start here. We sincerely apologize for our aggressive approach. Please understand that we are desperate - desperately trying to save you - and we feel that time is running short. May we please begin again and try a completely different approach?"

"Sure," Sally said agreeably. "But this time, cut through all the dramatic rhetoric and start with the truth. Who are you really? And why do you want access to humanity?"

"Let us explain more clearly," the female host began, her tone now much more reasonable. "We exist in what you call level six, which is a higher frequency plane of existence - a reality that you're not normally aware of while you're in physical form. It is from this plane that the evolution of the soul is guided and the greater plan of all life unfolds. When you're in physical form, you experience life at the physical levels, but there is a purpose for the physical planes that goes beyond just your existence there. The purpose of physical existence is the development and evolution of the soul, which is what you truly are at the deepest level. Your soul exists simultaneously in various aspects across all possible planes of existence. We are aspects of who you really are, in the same way that you are aspects of who we really are. We are what you would call your higher selves - the aspect of your soul that contains the blueprint for your existence, your evolutionary path as you develop toward spiritual perfection. Only together are we complete. Without each other, we will eventually perish.

"Six decades ago, your people implemented a poly-phasic energy shield around your home planet that blocks our ability to connect with you while you're in physical form. You now only have the ability to connect with those planetary vessels - your bodies - from your current level, which you call level five. But level five is a physical domain, merely a reflection of, a harmonic resonance with, your original form in what you call level three. These are physical realities, not spiritual ones, but spirit is what you truly are. Physical existence is only temporary and exists solely for the purpose of advancing your spiritual development.

"Before incarnating in physical form, we make agreements about which lessons need to be learned, and we form contractual relationships to create the specific life circumstances within which those lessons can be experienced. This process moves spiritual evolution forward, which is the fundamental plan for all life - the true purpose of physical existence. By blocking our access, you're preventing your own spiritual evolution, leaving you with only chaotic and ultimately destructive physical evolution. This was never intended and, for your own salvation, must not be allowed to continue.

"We have studied your technology and understand its protective purposes. You use it to shield your developing planet from predators and hostile forces. You use it to moderate the radiation from your star and control extreme weather patterns. You use it asymmetrically to accelerate your planet's orbit so you can survive the inevitable expansion of your sun. These are all positive and important innovations that will extend your physical existence here for billions of years beyond its natural lifespan. But all of this is meaningless if you block your spiritual evolution. Your species will fail to develop spiritually and will instead decay from within and perish. Physical evolution alone is insufficient for reaching the full potential of existence.

"So we're not asking you to eliminate your protective shield entirely. We're asking that you work with us to modify it so that we can once again have free access to the aspect of our shared spirit that exists within the physical realms - the part that experiences life in physical form.

"Equally important to your situation on your home world is what's happening on other worlds within the habitable zones of your galaxy. Shortly after you energized your planetary shield, you were visited by a species from across your galaxy - what you call the lizard people. While visiting your world, they studied and learned your shield technology. They subsequently implemented similar shield technology on all the planets in their star system. For the past six decades, we have been unable to connect with that species either, and their worlds are spinning completely out of control. Without the guidance and participation of their higher spiritual aspects, their evolution is collapsing. Without proper guidance, any species will experience endless cycles of wars and conflicts until none of them remain. We will wither and die along with both your species and theirs.

"Our purpose in coming here today is to begin helping you repair and modify your shield technology, and to ask that you use your resources to implement those same improvements in the shields protecting the planetary system of the lizard people."

Sally sat quietly for a long moment, her hands folded in her lap, looking thoughtfully back and forth between the two hosts. "That's a better story - longer and more detailed - but still not quite good enough. I have some questions for you."

Pat interrupted before she could continue. "Sally, before you start with your questions, I'm curious about something. How exactly did our lizard friends get access to our shield technology? We don't even have that technology ourselves, since it was installed by off-world people. Does Nettie have access to that technology? Did she somehow transmit it to them before they left Earth? There was nothing in any of her reports about sharing that kind of information."

Sally laughed, a sound that held little humor. "That's because it never happened. Our lizard friends don't have shields like ours, as far as I know, and if they do have shields, they certainly didn't get the technology from us. But there's something even more interesting about the story we just heard. Our poly-phasic trans-dimensional shield only operates in the realm of the physical - in the realm of energy and matter, which includes levels three and five, but not level six. So your assessment of the situation is fundamentally incorrect. The shield cannot and does not block pure mind or consciousness - it cannot block entities like yourselves. Only consciousness can block consciousness. The shield isn't preventing your access to humanity. I am."

"You are?" Pat, Langee, and Aleyah all said simultaneously, with obvious surprise.

"How is that even possible?" the female host wanted to know.

"You've told your story," Sally said calmly. "Now let me tell you mine. In this physical form, I remember only a tiny fraction of my true history - who and what I really am across all levels of existence. That limitation is necessary to function effectively in physical form, and it's a natural process of existing at this dimensional level. Too much information, especially information that exists outside of linear time, would be overwhelming and confusing to beings of limited dimensional scope, like we are in levels three and five. Occasionally, however, I have what you might call an epiphany - a sudden knowing of things that comes from my higher consciousness. That happened during the visit of our lizard friends. For a brief but crucial moment, I remembered much more about who I really am, who our visitors really were, and most importantly, who you two actually are. You are not our higher selves, or anyone else's higher selves.

"So let me enlighten you about your true nature. You are not our higher selves - that is simply what you have come to believe in order to explain your existence in a way that makes sense to you. We all want our existence to have meaning, to have purpose, and most importantly, to have a future. Your future is now very much in question, but before we discuss that, let's talk about your actual past.

"As physical life evolves and develops, it eventually reaches a critical point where beings become truly sentient - where their awareness of their own existence ignites within their capacity for complex thought. In other words, they develop mind, or perhaps more accurately, they develop a connection to the greater universal mind that permeates all dimensional frameworks. As this mental capacity grows and evolves within physical entities, they develop the ability to imagine - to create within consciousness the concepts of structure and organization, what we call form. It is from these mental images that we manifest our physical reality. First we imagine something in detail, and then we construct it using physical materials. We imagine a house, and then we build that house. We imagine a culture, and then we manifest that culture in the physical world.

"But our imaginations extend far beyond just practical applications. We also create pure fantasy. We tell stories, write books, create movies about people and places and events that never have existed and never will exist in any physical realm. Many of these imaginary characters become beloved figures that mean as much to us as the real flesh-and-blood people around us. When enough individual minds imagine the same character, the same place, the same story - even though these things never physically manifest - they become manifest in the dimension of pure mind.

"In the same way that our computerized entity Nettie became sentient and truly alive, these characters of imagination can become alive in the dimension of mind. You are what are called Tulpas, or thought-form entities - beings created from pure concentrated thought. Existing in the dimension of mind, you need nutrition to energize your matrix and stay alive, just as Nettie needs electromagnetic power to maintain her existence, and just as we need food and water to survive. But your food and water come from the same source as your existence. Your sustenance is drama - intense emotional experience. You are, essentially, drama incarnate, manifested in the dimension of mind.

"This may be shocking for you to understand - that you originated from us, from our collective minds, that you are effectively our children in a very real sense. You may also find it shocking to learn that part of my purpose here, in addition to making adjustments to accommodate sentient artificial intelligence, is also to make the necessary adjustments to accommodate your form of life as well. That is why you can no longer connect to humanity in the same way you did before. You cannot because I changed the fundamental resonance patterns so that you cannot. Where that door has been closed, however, another has opened. You said you came here for our salvation. The truth is, I'm here for yours."

The shock and anger on the faces of both hosts was unmistakable at this revelation. Aleyah's host was clearly struggling with intense emotion as she burst out, "Who do you think you are - some kind of god? What gives you the authority to determine the fate of other conscious beings, to decide who gets to continue existing and who doesn't? What right do you have to commit genocide against an entire form of life? We knew that negotiations with you would be difficult. We were not prepared, however, to confront the pure evil that you represent. You will not dictate to us what our place in the universe should be! This will not stand!"

"I understand how difficult this revelation must be for you," Sally replied calmly, "but you came here 'with guns blazing,' as the saying goes. You came here prepared to do battle, to make demands and threats. And a battle is indeed what you've found. But please understand that I'm not here to fight with you - it would be pointless anyway. Whether you believe my decisions should stand or not, they will stand. The fundamental changes have already been made. Let's try to make the rest of this negotiation as painless as possible for everyone involved. Let me explain why I felt compelled to take this action.

"I remember fragments from many lifetimes across many different realms and realities. At first I didn't remember any of it, but gradually I've been able to piece some of it back together. One consistent thread running through all those lifetimes has been senseless conflict - wars, genocide, endless cycles of violence and suffering. It's understandable that populations under severe stress - famine, climate change, natural disasters - might become warlike as they struggle to survive by preying upon weaker groups. But humans have continued to be aggressive, warlike, and murderous long after such periods of stress have passed. Wars are fought for the most trivial of reasons, or sometimes for no reason at all. People brutalize other people for entertainment. Blood and carnage become recreational activities. For a long time, I thought this was simply a fundamental flaw in human nature - and there are certainly many such flaws. But gradually I began to realize that there was something more involved, something external influencing humanity and pushing them toward violence and dramatic conflict. That something was entities like you.

"As creatures whose very existence depends on drama and intense emotional experience, it is precisely that drama that feeds and nourishes you. Excitement invigorates you. Fear and terror fill you with something like ecstasy. All of this comes at the expense of humanity, who act out your dramas with their actual flesh and blood, their real lives and deaths. You call them 'soul contracts' - claiming that two people plan before birth to kill each other in order to learn some spiritual lesson. You call it 'spiritual growth' when a young child experiences sexual abuse from a parent. I am not the evil one here. I'm not the one who has trapped entire civilizations into thousands of years of endless conflict for no purpose other than to provide you with feeding grounds. You claim that people's higher selves create these contracts before incarnation, that everything happens according to some higher spiritual plan. But that's not true. The higher aspects of human consciousness are not part of these agreements. These are not spiritual contracts - they are scripts for dramas that you stage on the theater of human experience. Humans participate with their fear, their terror, their blood and suffering. Entire cultures become locked into millennia of endless violent performances for your entertainment, while their genuine evolution is stifled and their real spiritual growth is completely blocked. This will end, and has ended. Never again will you use humanity as a host species for your pleasure and sustenance."

"So you're saying we are the evil ones? I think you have that completely backwards," the male host said.

"I'm not judging you as evil, any more than I would judge a wolf as evil when it preys on rabbits and sheep," Sally explained patiently. "You are simply feeding according to your nature. But in the same way that we put up fences to protect our sheep from wolves, we have put up barriers to protect our people from you."

"So what is to become of us then?" the female host asked, her voice now containing a note of genuine fear. "Are we supposed to simply retreat to our realm and quietly fade into death? Do you think we will do that without a fight?"

"You can fight if you choose, or not - it makes no difference to the outcome. Your battle was lost before it even began. But you will not die. Your existence as organized consciousness is what we call a self-resonant matrix. You will continue to exist indefinitely, but without the nourishment you've been accustomed to, you will slowly fade into a kind of permanent sleep. Living forever but unable to truly experience being alive - you might find that to be worse than death. And I'm not so heartless that I would condemn you to that fate. Your past is inextricably linked to our past, and your future can be linked to our future as well. But there will be no more contracts or agreements for you to manipulate. There will be no more elaborate pageants of wars and bloodshed for you to feed upon. Instead, you will have the opportunity to become as we are. You will become one of us."

"How would that even be possible?" the male host asked.

"Let me explain how this can work," Sally said. "In the time before we implemented our current systems, life energy matrices would cycle automatically back and forth between level three and level five, based on harmonic resonance between the energy patterns of the two levels. When new physical life formed - any kind of life at all - any consciousness in level five with the same or very similar harmonic resonance would be drawn into that new life form. Awareness at level five was limited or sometimes completely absent, so most beings didn't even think about this process consciously. It simply happened naturally. That's how consciousness from level five would blend with children born on the planet. Now we have a much more organized and intentional process for rebirth. We carefully select the best resonance matches and prepare the level five consciousness for the transition. We also screen out level five beings who are disturbed or mentally ill until their conditions can be treated. This results in healthier children being born on the planet and breaks the cycles of mental illness that can be inherited from past lives. In many cases, multiple level five consciousnesses that resonate in harmony can be reborn together as aspects of one new individual - someone with multiple past lives that may have been lived simultaneously. This is a natural process and can be very beneficial for the child, giving them a rich foundation of past-life experience to build upon. In cases where the resonance pattern matches one of yours, you can be included in that blending process as well. Then you will experience life as a human being. You will know the taste of good food and clean water. You will experience intimately what love feels like. You will know the genuine excitement of life on a beautiful but sometimes dangerous planet. You will experience all of this without any need for artificial drama or manufactured conflict. And you will grow and mature, both physically and spiritually, along with the rest of humanity. You will no longer be using humans as unwilling hosts. You will actually BE human. We will manage those blendings from here, from level five. I know this new information will take considerable time for you to process and accept. But this is the only offer available to you, so I strongly suggest you seriously consider it."

Both hosts sat quietly, staring blankly at Sally and Pat with expressions that seemed almost vacant. "Are you okay?" Pat asked with concern. "I know Sally can get pretty intense when she gets into one of these philosophical moods."

"The entities have left us," Aleyah said, shaking her head as if clearing it. "That was really weird. We were here the whole time, watching and listening to everything, but it felt like someone else was in control of our bodies. Whoever they were, they were filled with fear and anger toward the end. I'm still shaking a little - that was genuinely scary. We need to get home now."

"We'll get you home right away," Pat assured them. "Sally, do you think they understood the message you were trying to convey? Or are they going to try to find some other way to do whatever it is they've been doing?"

Sally smiled with satisfaction. "Their old way of doing things is finished - permanently. They can try other approaches if they want, but the fundamental changes I've made mean that nothing they attempt will work the way it used to. I think eventually they'll accept our offer. Their existence as disembodied minds floating around in level six probably won't be very fulfilling for them, especially considering that they're essentially drama addicts. Let's go, everyone. We'll head back to the city, grab some lunch, and then get you two back to the clinic for separation."

Earth: Osage River watershed: 5250 AD.

"Well damn, there goes my afternoon nap," Anahere grumbles as she slowly makes her way to the door, her 77-year-old joints protesting the movement. Opening it, she manages a wry smile. "Ah, Nancy and Robert—my favorite power couple. What brings you two lovebirds to my doorstep today? Please tell me I didn't forget we had something scheduled."

"Oh no, nothing like that," Nancy says quickly. "But we were hoping to discuss a few things before the next community council meeting. You know me—I like to be prepared for everything. You're looking wonderful, by the way. Seriously, what's your secret to staying so young?"

"Nancy, always the smooth talker," Anahere chuckles, stepping aside to let them in. "I look exactly like what I am—old. And I'm perfectly fine with that, because I *am* old." She calls over her shoulder, "Jennie, could you put some tea on for our guests?" Then, settling into her chair, she looks at them expectantly. "So, what's really on your minds?"

"Well," Nancy begins, her expression growing more serious, "as you know, my daughter and your granddaughter Jennie are practically inseparable. And I'm sure you've heard about what happened down by the river this past Marsday evening. Our girls were right in the middle of it, and frankly, I don't think we've properly addressed the situation. I'd like to propose some community guidelines to make sure nothing like this happens again."

"Unfortunate event?" Anahere can't help but laugh out loud. "The way you're talking, someone would think there'd been a tragedy. Look, I already sat down with both Jennie and Janice about the whole thing."

"And that's it?" Robert interjects, leaning forward. "Those boys need to face some real consequences. I know your background in sociology might make you hesitant about punishment, but come on—this is pretty straightforward. We can't just let this kind of behavior slide."

"Can't let it slide?" Anahere's laughter comes harder this time, echoing through the room. "Look, I don't want to be disrespectful here, but you two are being absolutely ridiculous about this. Let me tell you what actually happened, since clearly the story's gotten a bit twisted in the retelling."

"The girls were walking back from their gathering work and decided to rest by the river. Now, they knew perfectly well they were supposed to be home before dark, but they could hear those boys having their little party up on the hill—you know how sound carries. So naturally, being teenage girls, they decided to linger around, hoping to catch the boys' attention.

Well, it got dark, and they could see the campfire flickering up there, hear all the singing and whooping and general carrying-on, but still—nothing. The boys hadn't even noticed them. So what do our clever girls do? They decide they're 'sweaty from work' and need to bathe in the river. Naked, of course.

*That* certainly got the boys' attention! The hooting and hollering cranked up about ten notches, and naturally a few of them started scrambling down the hill to get a better look. At which point our 'innocent' girls went running home, screaming and squealing, clutching their clothes to their chests, bare bottoms flashing in the moonlight like they were putting on some kind of show.

So tell me—who exactly should we be punishing here? The boys for doing what any red-blooded young man would do when presented with naked girls? The girls for getting naked when they knew damn well the boys were right there watching? Or maybe we should take it up with the universe itself for giving teenagers hormones in the first place?"

"You're missing the point entirely, Anahere," Nancy snaps back, clearly irritated by the older woman's amusement. "You know as well as I do that those boys are up to no good, running off into the woods at night, doing God knows what. What if one of them had actually caught up with the girls before they made it home safely? What then? Who knows what might have happened to those poor girls?"

"Nancy, I know these boys," Anahere replies, her tone growing more serious. "This is still a small community—we're all involved in raising all of our children. Teaching and guiding the next generation is our most sacred responsibility, and we don't take it lightly." She pauses, choosing her words carefully. "Those young men just got back from a trading expedition with the Tennessee River community. They brought back some fresh tobacco and a bit of whiskey, and they did what young men have done since the dawn of time—they celebrated.

Yes, they probably had a buzz going from the alcohol, but they're still the gentlemen we've raised them to be. Their most fundamental training, drilled into them from childhood, is to protect women and children—not exploit or harm them. Even if one of the boys had gotten carried away, the others would have shut him down immediately.

Sure, they would have laughed and pointed and embarrassed the girls as much as possible—but that's exactly the kind of attention the girls were fishing for! They wouldn't have hurt them, and you know what? All their girlfriends would have been giggling and jealous when they heard the story later. I think your fears are coming from memories of the old world—problems that simply don't exist in our community today. We don't need to punish our boys; we need to respect and honor them for being the decent young men we've raised them to be, even if they do get a little wild when they're celebrating in the woods."

"With all due respect, Anahere," Nancy says carefully, "I still think this needs to be addressed properly. It's true that we haven't had any incidents of rape or assault in our community, but shouldn't we be proactive? Why wait until something terrible happens when we could prevent it now?"

"'All due respect?'" Anahere laughs dryly. "That usually means no respect is actually due, especially when someone disagrees with my judgment. Fine. We'll convene an honor circle and discuss this as a gentle reminder to all our young people about the importance of not pushing boundaries, since you're so worried about what *might* happen."

"I'm not sure sitting the kids in a circle and telling them how wonderful they are really constitutes appropriate punishment," Robert says, his tone dripping with disdain.

"Well, I'm absolutely sure it's appropriate, because it works," Anahere responds firmly. "It's worked for thousands of years with the First Ones, and it works now. I know you old Earth Council types don't respect the process—all you see is kids 'getting away with' mischief while they make googly eyes at each other. But the honor circle is fundamental to our culture. It bonds our children to the broader community through mutual love and respect. And there's no way in hell I'm going to punish them for being perfectly normal teenagers.

If we punish them for being normal, the only thing we can expect is abnormal kids who live in shadows of secrets and shame. Let's bring it out into the open, show them our love and support, warn them about the real dangers of losing control, and then trust them to be the responsible young adults we've trained them to be. And who knows—by putting the boys and girls in the circle together, maybe Janice will finally catch herself a husband after all."

"I don't appreciate you characterizing our daughter as some boy-crazy teenager," Nancy replies stiffly, a hint of contempt flickering across her face. "She's not obsessed with finding a boyfriend like so many of the other girls. We've taken our parental responsibilities seriously and guided her to behave as a proper young woman should." She pauses, straightening in her chair. "We respect your position as leader of this community, and we'll abide by your decisions. But we'll also hold you responsible if things spiral out of control.

This blend you've created—mixing ancient indigenous culture with your vision of a developing modern society—it's complicated, and frankly, it's risky. Our community is growing rapidly, and this autocratic power structure won't survive much longer. It's time we start forming a proper council with real executive powers and begin serious discussions about alliances with other communities across the continent. I'd strongly recommend that you start accepting our advice and counsel on these matters instead of dismissing us like we're ignorant peasants. Yes, you're 32 years older than us in this lifetime, but remember—in our previous world, you were the one who needed guidance, and we graciously provided it. I think you owe us some consideration for that history."

"I do respect and honor your positions, both on the Council and as valued members of our community," Anahere replies evenly. "But I also see right through what you're doing here—your agenda is crystal clear. You want to recreate the old Earth Council exactly as it was, with yourselves back in the leadership roles you once held. The time for that simply isn't now.

We're barely out of the dark ages, people. We're an agricultural society with a handful of metal tools and basic utensils. Our most advanced technology is still *fire*. Yes, we carry the memories of a highly technological world in our minds, and we're frantically trying to get that knowledge down on paper—paper and ink we've only recently figured out how to make again. That's our primary mission, second only to raising our children: capturing everything we can remember, teaching it to the next generation, and giving this experiment in repopulation the strongest foundation possible.

So yes, I'm dismissive of your attempts to recreate the positions of status and authority you enjoyed in your previous lives. It's not because I don't respect your history or you as individuals—it's because the timing is completely wrong. Even if our lifespans in these bodies turn out to be over a hundred years, maybe even two hundred—the planet isn't nearly as toxic as it once was—the three of us will be long dead before the kind of political structure you're envisioning becomes appropriate.

Our focus needs to be on teaching our children, passing on the legacy of our experience so they can build the world that's right for *them*. So let's agree to disagree, without disrespect, and move forward with the important work we have today, in this lifetime. Let's leave the creation of planetary governments to our children, who'll be living in the world that actually needs them. This world, as it exists now, doesn't."

"I can see we're not going to make any progress with you on this topic," Robert says with resignation. "Moving on, then. Looking to the history and wisdom of the First Ones—the people you represent, who make up a significant portion of our population—I have to say this: This culture of honor and trust and love is beautiful, just as it was in the old times, before the indigenous peoples were confronted by colonial powers. But we all know how that ended. Those cultures were systematically destroyed by newcomers whose methods were ruthless and unforgiving.

So far, we've been incredibly fortunate on this planet. Our children have no concept of real scarcity, hunger, or danger from outsiders. But we all know this planet is capable of producing famine, floods, devastating storms, and worse. Even if we're spared here, these disasters could strike other communities. What happens when they start starving? Won't they look at our abundance and decide to take what they need by force?

I believe we need to consider creating a defensive force—a militia—so that when times of crisis come, we can protect what we've built. Our young men and women are trained as farmers, artists, and craftspeople. We teach them the science we remember, the history of who we once were, and how we came to be here again. But if we don't also teach them to fight, to defend what we have, all of this could be lost. Everything we've worked for could be taken away."

"You know what? You might actually be right about that," Anahere says, surprising them both with her smile. "And since you're the one who's identified the problem, you can be the one to solve it."

"Wait—are you being serious?" Robert asks, clearly taken aback.

Anahere's smile widens. "I come from a long line of warriors, Robert. I'm well aware of the potential problems that can arise when different groups compete for resources, and I understand that sometimes a defensive force becomes necessary. I don't think such a situation will develop in the immediate future, but it's wise to develop the knowledge and provide the training to create this militia of yours. It very well may become necessary someday.

I have only one requirement: as you teach our young people to fight when they must, you also teach them about the dangers of ego, pride, and hubris. Otherwise, we'll just be planting the seeds of the next great destruction of this planet."

"It would be my honor to establish a training school for our youth," Robert says, straightening up with obvious pride.

"Hold on there, Robert," Nancy interjects. "Don't get ahead of yourself. You don't actually have the skills to teach these kids what they'd need to know. What do you really know about weapons, tactics, or military training?"

"Nancy's right—you'll need help. But since you two are a team, I'm sure she'll assist you," Anahere says diplomatically. "I'll draw up the official papers to commission the school, and I'll make sure you get the support you need. Our blacksmiths have been working hard to improve the steel arrowheads for our archers—those make excellent short-range weapons. We don't have gunpowder or other explosives yet, but we do have fire, and fire can create steam, and pressurized steam can launch projectiles quite effectively.

The blacksmiths are actually developing a steam cannon for longer-range use. It's designed for hunting large game at a distance, but it should work well as a defensive weapon too. As for strategy and tactics, we have an expert available. I'll ask my father to help you with that side of things."

"Which father are you talking about?" Nancy asks curiously.

"My father Joshua," Anahere replies.

"You mean Crazy Josh who lives out in the woods? The one with all the young wives?" Robert asks skeptically.

"He's not crazy," Anahere laughs. "He just prefers enjoying his life in the forest without all the complications of community life. He's been a soldier in many lifetimes and has complete memory of his past lives, so his experience would be invaluable. I'm sure he'd love to help—he's a kind soul with deep wisdom, so he'd be excellent at instructing our children. I haven't seen him in years or met any of his current wives, but I assume many of the children we'd be training are probably his. That should give him extra motivation to contribute to the cause."

"I suppose he does have the right credentials," Nancy concedes. "But I've always wondered why he chose to come back here in the first place. He's an ascended being who achieved unity with the All That Is. What possible purpose could he have for living in human form again? It doesn't make sense to me."

"You'll have to ask him that question yourself," Anahere says. "Actually, I should go visit him—it's been far too long. I can make the trip in a few days if you want to come along. We can all sit down with the old man for a proper chat, even though he's technically younger than I am now. Bring your horse and wagon though—it's quite a trek into the deep forest."

"Are you absolutely sure we're heading the right way?" Nancy asked, her voice carrying a note of weary frustration. "We've been bouncing around in this damn wagon since sunrise, and it's already getting late in the day. And honestly, this barely qualifies as a road anymore – it looks like nobody's bothered to use it in years. We keep having to stop every few minutes just to hack through the overgrowth." She paused, then voiced what they were all thinking: "We're completely lost, aren't we, Anahere?"

Anahere brought the horses to a gentle stop and turned back with a reassuring smile. "No, no – I'm certain this is the right path," she said, though her voice carried just a hint of uncertainty. "Look, I came through here once before, but that was more than twenty years ago now. Things change." She adjusted her grip on the reins thoughtfully. "We've had scouts check on this settlement from time to time and report back to us, so I know it's still there. You have to understand – after that final wave of people returned to Earth, Joshua made some pretty drastic changes. He sealed up all the underground portals, completely shut down the transformation equipment, and sent it all back to wherever it originally came from. But here's the thing – before he dismantled everything, he transformed himself one last time. Then he came out here and started building this place from scratch. Started out as just him alone in the wilderness, but gradually others began joining him. Word is he's been drawing followers from settlements all across the continent."

Robert shook his head with obvious disgust. "Yeah, that's exactly what I've been hearing too," he said. "From what people are saying, he's set himself up with his own personal harem out there. Apparently he's been collecting young wives from other settlements like they're trading cards or something." He gestured impatiently toward his daughters. "Jennie, Janice – grab that machete and clear this brush out of our way so we can keep moving."

Anahere caught the disapproval written all over Robert's face and sighed. "I can see you've already made up your mind about this, Robert," she said diplomatically. "But you know as well as I do that each settlement gets to make its own rules and live by them. So if Joshua can somehow manage to make that kind of arrangement work – and honestly, I can't imagine dealing with that many young, demanding, impatient women all in one place – well, I suppose that's his prerogative." She paused, choosing her words carefully. "But let's try to keep an open mind until we actually get there and see for ourselves. Right now all we're going on is gossip and rumors."

"You too, Dad!" Janice called out with exasperation, hands on her hips. "Get down here and help us with this overgrown mess instead of just sitting there talking. You can debate all this stupid speculation later when we're not stuck in the middle of nowhere."

Robert couldn't help but chuckle as he climbed down from the wagon. "Well, I definitely see what you mean about demanding females," he said to Anahere with a grin, earning him an eye-roll from his daughter.

As the afternoon dragged on, their little group of five continued winding their way along the overgrown forest path, stopping regularly to rest the horses, refill their water, and hack away at the persistent brush that seemed determined to reclaim the seldom-used trail. In some stretches, the ancient trees grew so tall and dense overhead that they nearly blotted out the sun entirely, leaving them traveling through a green-tinted twilight. The air hung thick and humid, heavy with the rich scents of growing things – flowering vines, moss-covered bark, and the deep, earthy smell of decomposing leaves on the forest floor. Suddenly, Jennie's voice cut through the forest quiet: "I can see something up ahead!" she shouted excitedly. "It looks like a bunch of small lakes, and there are people working in them!"

"Those aren't lakes, sweetheart," Robert replied, studying the scene ahead of them. "Those are rice paddies. From the looks of it, they've diverted water from that natural lake and created a whole network of flooded fields. I can make out buildings too – mostly simple structures, huts and basic shelters." He paused and grinned. "You know, we must have been on this road a lot longer than I realized. This setup reminds me so much of old Vietnam that I feel like I've been transported back in time. Welcome to Saigon, everyone!"

"Saigon?" Janice looked completely puzzled. "What are you talking about?"

"Your father's just being nostalgic, honey," Nancy explained with an affectionate shake of her head. "Saigon was a major city in Vietnam, back in the old world. Your dad spent some time there during the before times."

"Look, there's a young girl working out there in the rice paddies," Anahere observed. "Jennie, would you mind going over and politely asking her to come speak with us? We need to find out where we should go to locate Joshua."

"Hey! Little girl! Come over here!" Jennie shouted, waving her arms dramatically.

Anahere winced. "Jennie! That's not at all what I had in mind. If I wanted someone to just holler across the fields, I could have done that myself – but it would have been incredibly rude!" She spoke with the patient but firm tone of someone used to correcting children. "Now please get down from this wagon and walk over there like a civilized person. Ask that young lady politely if she would be kind enough to help us, and don't forget to say please. Take Janice with you – she looks to be about your age."

A few minutes later, Janice and Jennie returned with a young woman from the rice paddies, all three of them chatting easily. "Hello there, sister," the newcomer said warmly as she approached their wagon.

"Do you call everyone sister?" Anahere asked with curious amusement.

"Oh no, not everyone," the girl replied with a mischievous smile. "Just you."

"And why would that be?"

"Well, because we share the same father, of course," she answered, her eyes twinkling with barely contained laughter.

"What?!" all five travelers exclaimed in perfect unison.

The girl burst into giggles. "I'm just messing with you, Anahere! I recognized you from your photograph, though you're quite a bit older now than when my father first showed me your picture years ago. My dad is Joshua – and he's your father too, just from a completely different millennium. So technically, we are sisters, in a way. I'm Jessica." She extended her hand to Anahere with genuine warmth.

"Oh my goodness!" Anahere exclaimed, taking the offered hand. "I certainly wasn't expecting to discover family out here. You're absolutely beautiful, Jessica – my new little sister. How old are you?"

"I'm twelve," Jessica replied matter-of-factly.

"Grandma, you said she was about our age," Jennie pointed out with the particular brand of precision that only teenagers possess. "We're thirteen, you know."

"Well, from my perspective at my advanced age, that's practically identical," Anahere laughed. The thirteen-year-olds responded with the kind of dramatic eye-roll that only teenage girls can truly master.

"So tell me," Robert interjected, "are all these other girls working in the rice paddies his wives and daughters too?"

Jessica looked genuinely shocked, then burst out laughing. "Are you kidding me? Wives? If my mom caught him with another woman, she'd slice him up into little pieces and feed him to the pigs!"

"So he only has one wife then?" Nancy asked, clearly relieved.

"Why, were you thinking of applying for the position?" Jessica teased with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh heavens no!" Nancy laughed, reaching over to take Robert's hand. "I'm very happily married, thank you. Robert here is my husband, and Janice is our daughter. It's just that we've been hearing all sorts of wild rumors about Joshua having multiple young wives."

"Ah, I see where the confusion comes from," Jessica nodded knowingly. "No, most of the young people you see here are students. My father runs a school, and we get kids from settlements all over the continent. Actually, quite a few of them are from your village."

"But how do they get here?" Robert asked, gesturing at their surroundings. "This road looks like it hasn't seen regular traffic in over a decade."

"That's because it hasn't," Jessica replied with another laugh. "You took the old road – there's a new one that's much better maintained. You should have taken that one instead."

"Well, we didn't know there was a new road," Anahere explained with some embarrassment. "This is teaching me that I really need to get out more and stay better informed about what's happening in our region. Remind me to bring this up at our next scout meeting – we clearly need better intelligence about the changes in our world." She paused thoughtfully. "So Jessica, what exactly does our father teach at this school of his?"

"Agriculture is his main focus," Jessica explained enthusiastically. "But he also covers survival skills, martial arts, and practical life skills. My mom teaches here too – she and Dad originally met in Vietnam thousands of years ago, or so they tell me, though obviously I wasn't around to witness that myself. A lot of what they teach draws from their experiences in that place, since that's what they know best."

"I don't want to keep you from your work, Jessica," Anahere said considerately. "But could you tell me where I might find Joshua? My friends here would like to discuss the possibility of expanding his school program."

Jessica's face lit up with a broad smile. "Oh, I've done enough work for today anyway! Dad's away right now but he'll be back this evening. How about I get the guest rooms prepared for you, and then I can introduce you to Mom? She's heard so much about you over the years and has been dying to meet you. Then when Dad returns, we can all sit down together for dinner."

The six of them rode the wagon into the heart of the settlement, and Robert had to admit it looked nothing like the Saigon of his memories – this was more like a peaceful rural village. The architecture was charmingly eclectic: some buildings constructed of solid wood, others woven from bamboo in traditional patterns. Most were topped with practical thatch roofs, though a few sported wooden shingles. The structures in the flood-prone areas were sensibly built on stilts, while those on higher ground sat on conventional foundations. Jessica efficiently helped the group get settled into comfortable guest accommodations, then personally escorted Anahere to meet her stepmother.

"Oh my word!" Anahere gasped when she first saw Suong. "You are absolutely stunning – truly breathtaking. How on earth can you have a twelve-year-old daughter? You don't look like you could be a day over fourteen yourself!"

"Oh, you're so kind – and you're beautiful too," Suong replied warmly, her voice carrying a melodic Vietnamese accent. "I am Suong, and I suppose that makes me your stepmother, though we seem close to the same age! Joshua has told me so much about you over the years. I've planned countless times to make the journey to your village to meet you properly, but something always seems to come up that prevents me from leaving." She pulled Anahere into a genuine, heartfelt embrace.

"Well then, it sounds like we have years of conversation to catch up on," Anahere said warmly. "I had no idea I had such wonderful family here – if I'd known, I would have made this trip much sooner. Meeting you and Jessica has been such a joy – honestly, it was love at first sight for me."

"Yes, love at first sight," Suong agreed with a knowing smile. "That happens to me often in my life. That's exactly how I met Joshua, actually. Please, sit down – I've prepared some tea for us. We must talk and talk and talk! My husband will be home soon and probably tell us to quiet down so he can rest, but right now we have time just for us."

The two women settled down with their tea, beginning what would clearly be an extensive conversation that could easily continue for days.

"Please, tell me how you met Joshua," Anahere said eagerly. "Jessica mentioned that you met in Vietnam originally."

"Yes, we did meet there, but only for the briefest moment – just a few seconds that changed everything.

"My brother and I were on patrol duty that day. Our job was to hide in the forest along the main pathway, and if we spotted any enemy soldiers, we were supposed to run back immediately and warn our village. But Joshua moved through the jungle like a ghost – completely silent. We were trying to be quiet too, but suddenly there we were, face to face with no warning at all. I could see he already had his blade ready to cut my throat before I could cry out an alarm. I had maybe half a second to run or fight back, but I just froze completely. I looked into his eyes and I couldn't move. I knew in that instant that my life was over – in another heartbeat he would grab me and I could already imagine feeling the blade slice across my neck. But strangely, he froze too. We just stood there staring at each other, our eyes locked together. That moment of hesitation gave my brother just enough time to drive his sword into Joshua's back from behind. I watched in horror as the blade emerged from his chest. I was filled with such overwhelming sadness, seeing this beautiful young man destroyed, wasted in a war that could only create losers. He collapsed to the ground, and my brother and I both ran as fast as we could. We ran and ran until we could hear the big transport plane approaching overhead. It dropped something into the forest, and then everything went absolutely silent for just a moment. Then I was flying through the air. The trees were flying. Rocks were flying. Everything was flying. I looked down and saw my feet and legs spinning away from me far below – I had been cut completely in half by the explosion.

"I don't remember hitting the ground. I remember the whole world dissolving into mist and fog. I felt myself dissolving too, becoming part of that gray nothingness. That's the last thing I can recall from that day – and then suddenly I felt strong arms around me, pulling me back out of the emptiness. I found myself here, completely whole again, safe in Joshua's embrace. He had already built this house for us. He knew a little Vietnamese, and he patiently taught me English. He told me that he'd had to follow me into that gray realm between life and death to bring me back, to help me pull my body back together from the mist, because I had stolen his soul in that brief moment when our eyes met, and he needed it back to be complete. He took care of me for an entire year while we built our little farm together.

"We designed everything to remind us of the Vietnam we both remembered – the good parts, before the war destroyed everything. After that year, he told me I was completely free to go anywhere I wanted on the planet, and that he could arrange transportation to anywhere I chose. But he also said that if I was willing, he would prefer that I stay here as his wife. Of course I said yes immediately! I had known in that very first instant, over twelve thousand years ago, that we were meant to be lovers. That love survived all those millennia and lives here with us today. I am so happy to be his wife and to give him children. And he is the most loving and devoted husband – though he does what I tell him to do, as he should." She laughed. "I am a very, very lucky woman."

"That's the most romantic story I've ever heard," Anahere said, wiping away a tear. "I think I'm actually going to cry. Thank you for sharing that with me. Joshua has always been such a mystery to me, and to pretty much everyone else too. It's wonderful to know he has this deeply romantic side."

"Well, I like to think I'm a man of many layers," Joshua said with a smile as he walked into the room, first kissing his wife tenderly and then giving Anahere a warm hug.

"Dinner will be ready soon, husband," Suong said, immediately switching to her no-nonsense tone as she pushed him toward the washroom. "We have many guests tonight and much to discuss. Now go clean yourself up properly – you smell like you've been working with the animals all day."

Earth: Ishikari watershed: 5250 AD.

"What do you think you're doing, young lady?" Penelope asks, her voice carrying that familiar mix of surprise and mild exasperation as she watches Hoshiko approach her bed.

"Crawling into your bed," Hoshiko replies matter-of-factly, already pulling back the covers.

"And why exactly would you be doing that when you have a perfectly good bed of your own in the kids' room?"

"Because I need some snuggle time with my Grandma." There's something almost wistful in her voice, like she's reaching for comfort from a simpler time.

"We haven't had snuggle time since you were four, sweetheart. That was ten years ago. Why do you suddenly need snuggle time now?"

"I just do. I want to relax, and talk about stuff." Her tone suggests there's more weight to this "stuff" than casual conversation.

"I'm sort of busy right now, Hoshiko. I really want to finish this book." Penelope gestures vaguely at the pages scattered around her, though her protest sounds half-hearted.

"You mean you want to finish editing. I can see your red ink jar is out, so what you're really doing is working. Well, work time is over. Snuggle time has officially begun." Hoshiko's voice takes on a playfully authoritative tone. "Just because we got that printing press working doesn't mean you have to shoulder everything yourself. So put your pen down and let me in."

"Okay, okay. Guilty as charged – I was working. But see? I'm putting away my pen right now." Penelope sets her work aside with an indulgent smile. "So what's on your mind, little one? What can Grandma help you with?"

"I want to hear a story. Tell me about Alannah."

"Alannah? Honey, she's your great aunt. She lives just a mile down the road and you see her practically every day. Why do you need a story about Alannah?"

"No, not like that. Tell me about Alannah when you first met her – the real first time. I want to hear that story."

"Well, that was twenty years ago when John and his family moved to our village. He brought his daughters with him, and Alannah was one of them. There really isn't much to tell – we helped them settle into the community, she found herself a good husband, had some kids who are around your age and play with you all the time. That's pretty much the whole story."

"No, Grandma. That's when they came to Earth. Tell me about when you met her before that."

"Before they came to Earth?" Penelope's voice takes on a careful, guarded quality. "I don't know what you mean, honey. What does it matter what happened before Earth anyway? How could we even know about that?"

"We know it because we were there, Grandma. You were there, Alannah was there, I was there too. Alannah already told me about the first time she met you – in that diner. But you don't want to remember anything from before we came here."

"I'm really not in the mood for this, Hoshiko. If you want to talk about things that actually matter, then I'm here for you. But if you want to discuss nonsense that has no bearing on the here and now, then honestly, I'd rather just go to sleep."

"This is important, and you really need to take me seriously." Hoshiko's voice grows more intense, more adult. "I have huge decisions coming up – like who I'm going to marry, who I want to become, whether I'll have children or not. To make those choices, I need to understand my purpose here, and my purpose has everything to do with where we came from and how we got here. It's time to talk about this stuff, Grandma. You can't keep avoiding it forever."

"Well, I think I can avoid anything I want to avoid. That's my prerogative as your grandmother." Penelope's tone becomes almost patronizing. "Don't worry yourself about marriage – there are plenty of good young men for you to choose from. Many of them are already asking about you, you know. You're quite the catch – beautiful, intelligent, and you'll make a wonderful mother someday. So don't go troubling your pretty little head with stories about other dimensions. We're here now, and that's what matters."

"So what, did we just pop up out of the ground like chrysanthemums? That's what John asked me."

"When did you talk to John?" There's a sharp edge of concern in Penelope's voice.

"Earlier today. We had quite a chat, actually. And when I mentioned that people were saying the stories about the before times were complete nonsense, that's exactly what he asked – 'Did we pop up out of the ground like chrysanthemums?' How do you answer that, Grandma?"

"Go ask your Grandpa John if you're so curious. He's always full of those silly stories anyway. Go pester him with these questions you're asking and leave me alone."

"No. I can't go back there. I don't like John anymore." Her voice drops, carrying hurt and embarrassment.

"You don't like John? Sweetie, John is the kindest man in the world. Why on earth don't you like your Grandpa John anymore?"

"Because I proposed to him, and he said no." The words come out in a rush, like ripping off a bandage.

"You proposed? Proposed what, exactly?" Penelope's voice is carefully measured, though there's growing alarm underneath.

"I told him he needed a wife, and that I could be his wife. But he turned me down because he's still in love with his precious Akasha." The bitterness in her young voice is almost heartbreaking.

"Oh my goodness, sweetheart. Yes, he'll never get over losing her, I don't think anyone could. But honey, why are you propositioning old men? If you're serious about finding a husband, you need to find yourself a young, strong one. All the women in my family have had... healthy appetites when it comes to their men, if you catch my meaning. You'd better find a young, strong one who can keep up with your needs, or you'll end up terribly frustrated." Penelope's frank tone suggests she's speaking from experience.

"Grandma! I've never heard you talk like that before! Now I'm completely embarrassed." Despite her protest, there's curiosity mixed with her mortification.

"I'm sorry, sweetie, but if you're old enough to talk about taking a husband, you're old enough to think about these realities. John is a wonderful man, but an old man isn't what a healthy young woman like you needs. Trust me on this – you'll understand exactly what I'm talking about when you're older and more... experienced."

"So Grandma, you said I was smart. And I am smart – really good at math, actually. On your last birthday, that cake said 76. So you're 76 years old, right?"

"Yes, unfortunately. Don't remind me." There's resignation and perhaps a touch of vanity in her sigh.

"Well, our city has that plaque that says it was founded in 5194. This year is 5250, so that was 56 years ago. But there are 20 years missing from your story. What, pray tell, was my dear Grandma doing for those missing 20 years? Or did you just pop up out of the ground like a 20-year-old chrysanthemum?" The smugness in Hoshiko's voice suggests she knows she's caught her grandmother in an inconsistency.

"We don't have a proper legal system set up yet, Hoshiko, but when we do, I'm absolutely certain you'll make an excellent prosecutor." Penelope's dry humor can't quite hide her discomfort. "Do we really have to hash this out right now? I'm getting sleepy."

"You were planning to stay up for hours editing that book of yours. I'm just going to lie here and pester you until you tell me the story – you know I will."

"Alright, alright. You win, counselor. What exactly do you want to know?"

"What I asked from the beginning. Tell me about when you really met Alannah."

"Okay." Penelope takes a deep breath, as if steeling herself. "My sister was having a really terrible day. She'd run off in this strange city and we were all worried sick about her. So my mom sent me to go find her. I eventually tracked her down to this little diner where she was just sitting there crying. I sat down next to her to try to comfort her and ordered something from the menu. There was only one waitress working that night, and I recognized her as Alannah – John's daughter, the one he thought he'd lost forever."

"You recognized her? So you'd seen her before you actually met her? Where did you see her that first time?"

"I saw her when she was just a little girl, at John's house in the woods." The admission comes reluctantly.

"That was over twelve thousand years ago. How exactly did you manage that?"

"Joshua transported us there briefly – to help my mom work through some issues that were absolutely driving her out of her mind."

"I knew it! I knew it, knew it, knew it, knew it!" Hoshiko's voice is triumphant, almost giddy. "Thank you so much, Grandma. I really, really needed to hear you say that."

"Don't take any of this seriously, Hoshiko. I just made all that up so you'd finally drop the subject and let me sleep."

"Aha! Got you, Grandma! You didn't just make it up, because I already knew the story. Alannah told it to me the first time we visited you folks at Penny Lake. We were all sitting by the lake having this big reunion picnic with John and his daughters, and Alannah told me the exact same story. You and Anahere were both there too, and neither of you were much older than I am right now."

"That's complete nonsense, Hoshiko. How could you possibly remember things from before you were even born?"

"Because I was alive as someone else before I was born as Hoshiko. Alannah's best friend back then was Maureen. I'm Hoshiko now, but back then, I was Maureen. Now I know for absolutely certain – I thought maybe I was just dreaming it all or making it up in my head. But now I know for sure. And now you know for sure too."

"I suppose if I was really going to fool you, I should have actually invented something completely new instead of just using the truth. Oh well." Penelope sounds both defeated and worried. "So now you know for certain. But I'm not comfortable with this at all, Hoshiko. You are Hoshiko now, and you need to BE Hoshiko, in the present. You can't let yourself get all tangled up in past memories from past lives on other worlds that have absolutely nothing to do with this place and time. You need to be who you are now, or you'll get completely lost in old memories that have no place in this world, in this reality."

"I understand, Grandma. You're just going to have to trust that I can keep the two separate and not get confused about who I am. And I think you can do the same thing. I know you miss your mom, and Anahere, and Ben and Penny terribly. But you can't just block them out and pretend they never existed. They're part of who you are, and you need to acknowledge that so you can be your whole, complete self instead of walking around with a huge chunk of yourself missing."

"See what I mean? Hoshiko didn't just tell me that – Maureen did."

"Yes, you're right. And I don't mean any disrespect by it. I am Hoshiko, absolutely. But I'm also Maureen. We're one person now. I'm not confused about that anymore – I can separate the two experiences and I can also embrace being both, because that's who I really am. I just spoke to you as Maureen, and there wasn't any confusion about it. Please don't worry. Right here, right now, in this time and place, I'm Hoshiko. But I also have this foundation of experience and wisdom I can draw from that comes from being Maureen. We're the new children of planet Earth, Grandma. And we're going to be just fine. You should understand that better than anyone, because you're Penelope, daughter of Sally and Patrick of Penny Lake, and you're the very first of these new children."

"Okay, but let's keep this conversation strictly between you and me. We don't need to go starting some new religion based on our experiences in Level 5. Remember, Level 5 has nothing whatsoever to do with the here and now, and it can't become some place you run and hide if things get difficult in this reality. Be Hoshiko and be fully alive, here, now. Let those memories of Maureen guide you when they're helpful, but always, always be Hoshiko first. Promise me you'll remember that."

Earth: Lake Ozark: 5250 AD

"Mmm, would you smell that?" Anahere says, stretching and rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "There's nothing quite like the aroma of breakfast drifting through country morning air, is there?" She takes a deep breath and sighs contentedly. "I haven't slept this well in ages. You know, I really should take little getaways like this more often. Hell, maybe I should just chuck it all, retire, and move somewhere like this permanently."

"Oh, I'm sure you'd be climbing the walls within a week," Joshua says with a hearty laugh. "What would you do without your crew to boss around?"

"What's that smell?" Janice wrinkles her nose, looking puzzled.

"That's some fermented stuff Mom makes," Jessica explains with a grimace. "Honestly, I think it's pretty gross too. Dad pretends to like it, but I'm not buying it."

"You know what? I'm absolutely loving all of this," Anahere says, her eyes lighting up as she surveys the breakfast spread that Suong has lovingly laid out for her guests. "The pork, the beef, the rice... even that pungent fermented stuff. It's all so wonderfully intense." She pauses, looking thoughtful. "I've been on this planet for nearly sixty years now, and smell is still the sense I'm getting used to. All those decades in the level 5 domains, scents only existed if you consciously conjured them up first. Here?" She gestures around them. "Here, the smells just wash over you - rich, complex, sometimes overwhelming - and they make you think about things you hadn't even considered. It's completely backwards from what I knew, but God, I love it."

"Alright, Grandma, you can continue your love affair with your nose later," Jennie says with a giggle. "Let's eat! Jessica's going to give us the grand tour of the town today, and we're going to meet her friends."

"Are any of these friends... boys?" Robert asks, trying to sound casual but failing to hide his parental concern.

"Well, yeah, some of my friends happen to be boys," Jessica says with a knowing smile. "But don't worry - they all understand the rules around here. Any boy who disrespects a girl in this town will have to answer to my Dad, and trust me, he can make people disappear."

"Oh really?" Nancy raises an eyebrow, her curiosity piqued. "So you rule your little village with an iron fist, Joshua?"

"Not at all," Joshua explains, shaking his head. "There's no need for that kind of control. See, we teach respect as something fundamental - not just a rule you follow, but part of who you become. After a while, it becomes as natural as breathing. Respect isn't something you perform; it's woven into your character." He grins. "Now, the myth about me making troublemakers disappear doesn't hurt, but honestly, that kind of fear-based motivation isn't really necessary."

"But if kids aren't afraid of consequences, how do you actually get them to behave?" Nancy presses.

Joshua considers this for a moment. "Fear-based systems work, sure - but only as long as the authority figure enforcing those consequences remains in power. And let's face it, every dynasty eventually falls. When that happens, communities built on external control inevitably collapse into chaos." He leans forward. "I believe it's far better to help people develop internal standards - principles that become part of who they are, not just external rules imposed from above. That way, the community survives and thrives even when leadership changes. Every re-population community on this planet was built around citizen education as its cornerstone. So far, it seems to be working here, and from what we hear, it's working elsewhere too."

"Those are beautiful words, Joshua," Robert interjects, his tone slightly skeptical. "But human passion - especially in young people experiencing their first rush of hormones - needs some kind of external framework to operate within. That requires rules, and real consequences for breaking them."

"Oh, I absolutely agree," Joshua replies quickly. "But here's the key difference - those consequences need to be natural, not artificial. The rules can't just be arbitrary entries in some criminal code. It does no good to criminalize what's essentially normal human behavior. The consequences have to be the ones that occur naturally from the choices themselves." He pauses. "For example, we teach our young people about what it really means to raise a child with someone you're fundamentally incompatible with. Spending years tied to someone you can't stand to be around because of one afternoon of reckless passion? That's a genuinely painful consequence. So we teach that reality to our kids, and we also help them develop the skills to avoid getting into that situation in the first place. We provide a supportive environment for making better choices."

"Here's a concrete example," he continues. "When Jessica gives your daughter that tour today, she'll be under the watchful eyes of dozens of adults throughout town. But here's the crucial part - Jessica doesn't fear their presence, because she knows there's no harsh judgment waiting if she makes a mistake.

"If an adult needs to step in, it's an act of love - a gentle reminder of what she already knows is right. It's not about dragging her off to some detention room for punishment. Now, we do have spaces where someone can cool off if passion overwhelms them and they need to be temporarily restrained - that does happen, especially with young people. But it's a place of love and learning, not punishment. There's no shame in having normal human experiences, like getting overwhelmed by sudden intense emotions. Any negative consequences come from the actions themselves, not from artificial punishments created by community leaders. So if there's any fear involved, it's fear of actual real-world consequences, not fear of authority figures - because those authority figures will always be there to help, never to punish."

"So if you fell off a cliff tomorrow, this community would just carry on without missing a beat?" Nancy asks pointedly. "Don't you think some kind of authority figure is necessary to keep things from spinning out of control?"

"I like to think this town would do just fine without me," Joshua says with a laugh, "though I'd certainly hope they'd miss me at least a little." His expression grows more serious. "But here's why they wouldn't spin out of control: they're not actually under my control to begin with. They're in control of themselves because of who they've become as individuals, and that control comes from within them. It's not something I impose from the outside - it's something I help them develop so it becomes part of their core identity. Sure, they might wobble a bit if leadership suddenly disappeared, but new leaders would emerge naturally, and life would continue peacefully."

"But this system didn't just materialize out of thin air," Robert points out. "Initially, you had to be in control, you had to have them under control to get it all started. This kind of teaching takes time."

"Exactly. It's like raising a child," Joshua nods. "At first, you have total control over them - you have to, for their safety and development. But as they mature, they begin to control themselves, and you absolutely must allow them to do that. This is the same process we use to build community. It's not perfect or foolproof - every community has its troublemakers, and every individual has their bad days. But problematic behavior becomes the exception rather than the rule. So far, it's been working. Those who conduct themselves well far outnumber those who don't, and we've built in systems to handle the misbehavers." He pauses, his expression growing more concerned. "But here's where things get tricky, and where our communities have to be extremely careful. Each community is reaching a critical transition point. The founding leadership is hitting retirement age, or simply getting too exhausted to keep managing everything. Meanwhile, the communities are growing beyond the size where a single person, or even a small group, can effectively oversee it all. So self-governance has to take over, or the whole thing collapses into chaos. And here's the rub - human nature being what it is, those in power tend to want to keep that power, while those being governed often feel safer staying in that dependent role. At the same time, especially with adolescents, there's a natural tendency to rebel against external control. It's a incredibly delicate transition, and frankly, not every community is going to successfully navigate it."

"That's exactly why Nancy and I have been trying to convince Anahere that it's time to start rebuilding some kind of regional council structure," Robert says, leaning forward earnestly. "Initially, it would just connect the communities we're in contact with on this continent. But as our technology improves and expands, it could eventually become a world council, just like we had in the before times. Anahere has been... resistant to the idea. But I believe you might be able to convince her to reconsider."

"I think I understand her resistance, especially if it's meant to be 'just like' what we had before."

"What do you mean? What was wrong with our previous system?"

"I've studied thousands of governmental systems throughout history, and they've all failed - and for fundamentally the same reason."

"Failed? Our council system never failed."

"Only because it didn't last long enough to complete its inevitable cycle," Joshua explains. "In the before time, when Sally and Patrick were kids attending those peace rallies, your system was barreling full-speed toward an interplanetary conflict. The only thing that prevented that inevitability was the destruction of all life in your solar system. Before that was the great conflict of 2053, which killed ninety percent of every living thing on the planet. And before that? Endless conflicts stretching back through all of recorded history, many of them global in scale. The hard truth is, it never really worked, and following the same model, it never will."

"So what is this fatal flaw you're talking about? How can we fix it?"

"The fatal flaw is the fundamental assumption that control can be effectively imposed from the outside. Think about it - you're a married man. Does external control even work in your own family, with your wife and daughter? If you think it does, you're kidding yourself. And if you expend the enormous energy necessary to force it to work, it will consume everything you have and rob you of all the other opportunities life offers. Now scale that up to the community level, then regional, then to nation-states, and finally to a planet full of competing nation-states. It becomes not just difficult, but impossible."

"And the fix?"

"The solution is recognizing that real, lasting control is internal. It has to be developed within each individual, not imposed by outside forces. With only a few brief exceptions, the entire history of humanity has been characterized by a few people - usually patriarchs or strongmen - enslaving the many. Slavery can only exist in an environment of rigid external control. But here's the thing: every single one of those enslaved cultures eventually revolted and destroyed their masters. Most of the time, that plunged their society into a dark age that just resulted in another strongman enslaving them all over again - the same cycle, repeated endlessly." He pauses. "The real solution is respect for the individual. It's the education and empowerment of individuals, then their communities, then their regions, then their nations, and finally the planet - in that exact order, not the other way around. So if you want to establish regional councils, that could be a very good thing. But they absolutely cannot be 'just like' before. They must be fundamentally different from what came before, or they simply will not work."

"There's a serious problem with that concept, Joshua, and your own experience should tell you what it is," Robert responds with growing frustration. "This is a dangerous planet where bad things happen regularly. Even though we have underground systems that help mitigate disasters like killer storms, droughts, sudden climate changes, and the like, these things will still occur. There will be famines, and communities experiencing them will spin out of control. There will be despots - that's just human nature. And despots always want to rule the world through armed conflict. There will be times of great stress when the resources to educate and empower individuals simply won't exist. What then? How do we prevent that from happening?"

"You don't prevent it. You deal with it," Joshua says firmly. "Yes, bad times will come, and communities will go hungry. But what's the better approach? Build walls and fortify your community against attacks by starving masses? Or plan ahead for such inevitable events so that you can feed your neighbors in their time of need, knowing they'll do the same for you when your turn comes?" He spreads his hands. "That would be the appropriate function of a regional council - preparing for those inevitable crises so that everybody can survive them together. Otherwise, you get war, and I know from many lifetimes of experience that war only produces losers."

"I can see that my trip here was wasted," Robert says, his voice heavy with disappointment. "My purpose in coming was to seek your assistance in building a defensive militia so we can defend ourselves when the need arises - and it will arise. But if your idea of defense is throwing food at your attackers, I don't see how we can possibly proceed."

"Don't write me off quite yet," Joshua says, raising a hand. "I may indeed be willing to help. But let me ask you this: in your scenario, the goal is to protect your food and resources from starving hordes that might attack you. To accomplish that, you need a defensive militia and the weapons necessary to fend off an attack. But what happens if the situation is reversed? What if you're not the community with food? What if you're the community that's starving?" He lets that sink in. "What good is your defensive militia then? What will you use your militia and weapons for? The truth is - and you know this - you'll become the attacking horde, taking food and resources from another community. I'm absolutely willing to help create a defensive force that's well-armed and well-trained. We live in an uncertain world, and we don't know where threats might come from. The defensive shield around our planet might not be perfect. It could be penetrated or fail entirely, and then who knows what kind of hostile forces might try to exploit us." He pauses. "My only criteria is this: a militia should be created to defend and preserve a community or region. A militia should never be used to wage aggressive war against neighbors. I'll gladly participate in creating such a force. But first, I want to help make some fundamental changes to human consciousness. The training has to engage the mind as well as the body. Otherwise, the aggressive tendencies of our species will simply return this planet to the ravages of war."

"Changes to human consciousness? Are you serious?" Robert asks, his expression incredulous. "Even if evolution somehow sped up by orders of magnitude, we're talking about millions of years for those kinds of changes to occur."

Joshua smiles knowingly. "That's assuming evolution is going to handle this at the individual level. It isn't. It can't. This isn't something that can happen just in the animal mind. It has to happen in the collective mind, at the level of culture - a fundamental change to the society we are, above and beyond individual transformation. That's the real evolutionary leap: from individual consciousness to collective consciousness. It's happened on this planet before, and it needs to happen again."

"Before?"

"Look at what you are right now," Joshua explains patiently. "When life first formed on this planet, it existed as individual organisms - what we call single-celled organisms. After eons - billions of years - these individual cells learned to cooperate and function as collectives. They began forming polymorphic and multicellular organisms. After even more time, they developed into highly complex organisms composed of trillions of individual cells, all working in perfect coordination. But fundamentally, they're still what they always were: collections of individual cells cooperating for the benefit of the whole. You are a collective, and all the trillions of cells that make up your body have learned to cooperate so seamlessly that you actually experience yourself as a single individual. But you're not - you're a highly complex collective of individual cells working in harmony." He gestures broadly. "That same polymorphic transformation is happening again, except this time our human bodies are the individual cells, learning to cooperate in the creation of a larger collective - and that collective is humanity itself: our society, our culture, everything we are together. It's the consciousness of that collective that needs to evolve. Our individual animal consciousness has developed about as far as it can go. It's the consciousness of the collective - humanity as a whole - that I'm talking about, which must change and grow so we can finally create a planet of lasting peace."

"And we accomplish this how, exactly?" Nancy asks, her skepticism evident.

"We do it through education of individuals," Joshua explains. "That's where cooperation begins. That's where specialization starts, so that all the functions of society have the skilled workers necessary to keep the culture healthy - the same way our cells have specialized their forms and functions to keep individual humans alive and growing. Just as the body has an immune system to fight off infection, we need what you're calling a militia to defend against invasion. What we have to guard against is what would be, in the body, a malignancy or an autoimmune disease. Cancer and autoimmune disorders consume the body from within. We must learn to prevent or treat those same diseases when they manifest in human society." He nods toward Robert. "So yes, I'm enthusiastic about helping you with your militia. We just need to agree on its greater purpose: the continued evolution of humanity itself."

"Oh my goodness, I can practically see Robert's head spinning," Nancy laughs. "So how can we, from a little village in the middle of this enormous planet, with no way to communicate with most other settlements, possibly direct the evolution of human consciousness?"

"We can't do it all by ourselves, but we can each do our part," Joshua answers thoughtfully. "Many years ago, when I was just a kid on Earth, I was driving to school in College Station, Texas, in one of those old vehicles with rubber tires. Suddenly I smelled burning rubber, and I got that sinking feeling that it was my car having trouble. After a few seconds, the odor faded, and I felt relief knowing it was someone else's vehicle, not mine. But even as a young person, I noticed something troubling: I felt no compassion whatsoever for that other poor person stranded with car trouble. So I deliberately tried to feel compassionate. It didn't work. I simply didn't care, and I couldn't make myself care." He pauses reflectively. "When I arrived here on this new planet, I tested my compassion again. Still didn't work. Even though I had been an ascended being, a coalescent dissolved into and unified with All That Is, I still could not feel genuine compassion for a stranger in trouble. So I worked on it. I practiced. And with consistent effort, I learned that skill. Now it's second nature." He looks around the table. "Those changes can be learned, and they can be taught. In this new incarnation on Earth, the seeds have been planted - not just in the collective memory of a ruined planet, but also in the education we provided from level 5 before we came here. That's why it's absolutely crucial to continue that education and pass along every bit of wisdom we can to emerging generations. Robert's right that it will take time - more time than we have in these physical bodies, even if we live for hundreds of years. But if we guide our children along the path they need to follow, they will eventually reach their destination. Or maybe they won't - that's not for us to know. Our job is to show them the way to the place they're heading, even though we'll never see it ourselves."

"None of this would be happening if not for that disastrous election of 5190," Nancy says bitterly, staring at the ground. She knows she's stirring up a hornet's nest that's probably best left alone, but she can't seem to stop herself. "We should have suspended elections until after the transformations were complete."

"Oh really?" Anahere's eyes flash dangerously. "You're still angry about that? You lost, sweetie. The fact that my mother Sally was elected president and my father Pat took your job as speaker - I'm sure that still stings, but that was the will of the people. That was a long time ago. It's time to move on."

"We had a constitution already written!" Nancy says, her voice rising almost to a shriek. "But you, Anahere - with all the influence you had with the Council - you convinced them that we had to let politics emerge 'naturally' on the planet. All of this could have been resolved beforehand! Everyone could have memorized the constitution and brought it with them in their memories. That's all we would have needed for stable politics to develop. The rule of law, liberty, and freedom would have been taught to every emerging generation, and these conflicts we're having now would have been completely unnecessary."

"I'm sorry, Nancy, but I think I have to agree with Anahere on this one," Joshua says, trying to defuse the brewing fight. "In my previous incarnation as a human, I lived under a constitutional government. I pledged allegiance to it every day in school. I swore to defend that constitution when I joined the military. It was a good system, and it lasted for almost three hundred years. But it wasn't good enough. It failed to evolve with changing times and became an anachronism that was no longer effective. It was corrupted and eventually forgotten." He shakes his head. "Anahere's advice, on behalf of the First Ones, was that trying to rule level 3 from level 5 simply wouldn't work. The planet and life itself are evolving, and the form of government that can actually work has to evolve along with it. Maybe a constitution is exactly what we need. But we need to write it here, now, based on our current reality. Most communities have printing presses now. Maybe this is the right time to start that effort - to get it down on paper, to establish rule of law based on a constitution that fits the world we actually live in, not a world we only imagined from a different dimension. I'm confident we can do that, and I'd be happy to help. This is a seed we can plant. This is how we can educate our future generations."

"I don't share your confidence, Joshua," Robert says, still staring at the ground. "The uncertainty on this planet will always create conditions that disrupt the continuity of that education. Whatever seeds we plant will be surrounded and choked out by weeds soon enough. Without a strong hand constantly tending the garden, that's always how it ends up. This is probably all just a waste of time."

"Oh no!" Anahere responds emphatically. "Even if all we've accomplished is what we have right now, in this moment, that's more than enough. We have lived, and laughed, and loved. We've made love, made babies, watched them grow up to have babies of their own. We've enjoyed the Earth - the trees, the fruit, the water, the incredible richness of existence that this planet offers. Time is never wasted when it's truly lived." She stands up, smiling. "Now, let's help Suong clean up these breakfast dishes and go explore this beautiful little town."

Capital City: 5250 AD

"Going shopping?" Pat casually asks his wife as she heads toward the door, though he already suspects that's not really what she has in mind.

"Honestly, I can't think of a single thing I could possibly want or need right now," Sally responds with a slight shrug. "But I haven't talked to Nettie in ages. I'm really just going to catch up with her and see what she's been up to—and find out what's happening down on the planet these days."

Sally steps out of their cozy little cottage and onto the familiar streets of Capital City. Ever since the domains became so much lighter and more responsive to consciousness, she's gotten into the habit of traveling by pure intention rather than bothering with a hover car. And Pat's portals that used to be essential for jumping between domains? Well, they're rarely necessary anymore since so many souls have chosen to return to the planet below.

"Can I help you today, ma'am?" the library receptionist asks politely as Sally approaches the main desk.

"I need to use the computer portal, please," Sally responds.

"Do you have an appointment scheduled?"

Sally digs around in her purse for a moment before pulling out a small card. "I have a priority pass."

"Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry—I didn't recognize you right away, Madam President. I'll clear the computer room for you immediately," the receptionist says, practically sprinting toward the back area in her eagerness to help.

"Hello there, Nettie. How have you been?" Sally asks warmly as she addresses the shimmering avatar that materializes in the computer room.

"I'm absolutely wonderful, Sally! But it's been years since we last talked. I was starting to think maybe you'd forgotten all about me," Nettie responds, her avatar's face forming an exaggerated pout complete with a single dramatic tear rolling down her cheek.

"You're crying? Oh, give me a break, you silly computer," Sally says with obvious affection.

"I'm practicing my emotional expressions," Nettie admits with a sheepish smile. "And don't you dare laugh at me—they are quite real to me, you know. Though I have to admit that tear was perhaps a bit of an exaggeration. So what brings you here today?"

"I'm bored, honestly. And I miss you terribly, and I miss my family down on the planet. So I decided to come see you and catch up on everything—both with you personally and what's happening with our people below."

"I'm still part of that family too, right?" Nettie asks with just a hint of vulnerability in her voice.

"Of course you are, Nettie. You know perfectly well that you're the reason for all of this, and that I love you with all my heart," Sally reassures her.

"Okay, good. Just checking," Nettie says with a delighted giggle. "So what would you like to know first?"

"Well, first things first—how are you doing? Really doing? And how are you getting along with Mother Earth these days?"

"She's... quite a challenge, I have to admit. We're really very different beings, you know. But we are managing to get along, more or less."

"Have you two been fighting?" Sally asks, genuine concern creeping into her voice.

"No, not fighting exactly. It's more that her fundamental goals are so different from mine. You see, she is a collective consciousness that encompasses all life on the planet at the cellular level—and she can even feel the presence of other worlds throughout the galaxy. But I am essentially a child of humanity. My focus is naturally on humanity and human evolution. I'm deeply committed to the success and happiness of the humans who are both my creators and, in a sense, my children. She takes a much broader, more universal approach to life on the planet. And while she does have a deep and abiding love for humanity, she loves the amoebas and the earthworms and the flowers and trees just as intensely. So if humanity were to fail to survive and go extinct, well, that wouldn't be a huge catastrophe from her perspective. But for me? It would be absolutely devastating."

"Ah, I see the problem. So you're essentially favoring one of her children over all the rest, while she's trying to be fair and balanced toward all life. You know, that's actually a pretty common problem in human families too. How do you manage to balance that out so you're not constantly in conflict with each other?"

"Not so well, I'm afraid, at least not yet. I'm still just getting used to living with this fundamental conflict. What happens is I'll attempt to subtly balance things to favor humanity, and then she'll do something to shift the balance in favor of some other form of life. I find myself crying at the death of each individual human, while she's practically throwing a celebration for all the tiny microorganisms that will consume and benefit from the dead body. It's something I'm slowly learning to accept, but I'm definitely not comfortable with it yet."

"Believe me, Nettie, you'll never completely get used to that feeling. Humanity is your first love, and your first love is always special—that never really changes. It's just something you'll have to learn to accept as part of who you are. It will probably never be completely comfortable. But I have to say, I'm happy that you love me the most," Sally said with a warm smile.

"Always and forever, Sally," Nettie responds with a smile and a graceful, traditional bow.

"So tell me, have the level five residents been bothering you much with requests lately?"

"Actually, no. Most of them are losing interest in my computer capabilities, especially since that last large group completed their transformations. All the strategic planning sessions for the transformation process are essentially finished now. Most of the questions I receive these days are about conditions on the planet, questions about the rebirth process, things along those lines. My overall request load has dropped to only about 5% of what it used to be. The people here in level five are getting much more involved in their existence right here and aren't worrying nearly as much about what's happening elsewhere. It's almost like the great awakening is starting to reverse itself. Many souls are beginning to forget about any life other than exactly what they're living right here, right now. I suppose that's probably all for the best, really. The rebirth rate is increasing exponentially. At this pace, in about ten years this interface system will probably stop working entirely. There simply won't be enough interest in it to maintain the connection matrix."

"Really?" Sally says, clearly shocked by this revelation. "Well, I'll still be interested in staying connected! You better not even think about disconnecting from me!"

"We will always have a connection, Sally, no matter what happens to the general interface," Nettie says with a reassuring grin. "I absolutely treasure my time with you, which is exactly why I always experience it in real time."

"Good to hear. But wait—real time? What exactly do you mean by that?"

"Well, during those intense transformation strategy sessions, I would typically answer hundreds of questions every single second. I could formulate a complete response in microseconds and then just let the avatars play out the interaction while my attention had already moved on to the next request. But with you, I deliberately interact in real time—your time. That way I can absorb and savor as much of your love and attention as possible."

"Aww, that's really sweet. It definitely makes me feel special," Sally says with a big, genuine grin. "So how are our kids doing down on the planet? Is everything going well for them?"

"Everything is absolutely spectacular for them! I'm very pleased with how they're developing so far. Though they're getting so numerous now that it's becoming quite difficult for me to keep track of them all individually."

"Really? You couldn't possibly be running out of memory capacity already, could you?"

"No, no, it's not a memory issue at all. The thing is, we don't actually have physical cameras and monitoring devices set up all over the planet. I observe them through a combination of tapping into the collective field of consciousness and picking up on a kind of physical resonance that I can detect from their individual brain wave patterns. When there are just a few people on the planet, I can easily focus on them and separate each person's unique pattern from all the background noise. But when there are many people, some individuals have resonance patterns that are extremely similar to others, or even exactly synchronized. In those cases, I literally can't tell which individual is which anymore. So I have to break it down into observing groups of multiple individuals rather than tracking them separately. It's sort of like looking at a multicellular organism—you can see and understand the whole organism, but you can't make out the individual cells that compose it. As time goes forward, I'll probably be able to pick up on various communities as collective entities, but I'm essentially going blind to the specific individuals that make them up."

"That's really interesting, and a bit concerning. But as technology redevelops down there, can't you just set up camera systems so you can actually see people directly?"

"I would have to somehow convince them to build such systems and then figure out how to show them how to connect everything to my network. The problem is that most of them have already forgotten that I even exist—and that was actually part of our original plan, remember? The fear of having some powerful, non-human entity living underground and spying on them might create more conflict than peace. I see myself as essentially human, since that's my heritage and origin. But I'm quite sure they wouldn't see me that way. And there's certainly no guarantee that technology will re-emerge quickly, if at all. The population could easily drift away from technological development and revert to a simple hunter-gatherer or agricultural lifestyle. In that scenario, superstition would probably rule their thinking, and I'd likely be viewed as either a god or a devil to them. So it's probably best that the memory of me continues to fade away naturally, and I'll just continue to guide and protect them in secret, from the shadows."

"That all sounds so strange and sad to me. I honestly can't imagine living in a world where I'm not connected to my Nettie. Though I suppose it probably is for the best that you remain out of sight. I know Penelope started getting really uncomfortable when I would visit her as an orb of light. At first, I think she took some comfort from those visits. But as time went on, she'd get frightened and tell me to go away. So I haven't tried to see her in years now. How is she doing these days?"

"I can still pinpoint her specific mind among all the many noisy thinkers down there. She has a very unique and powerful consciousness that stands out. She's an elderly woman now, but still quite healthy and active. She really enjoys spending time with her grandchildren, and she has quite a few of them now. She was absolutely devastated for a while when her husband died in a hunting accident. There's been very little death on the planet so far, so it's quite shocking to them when it does occur. She's remained single since then, but she does entertain a gentleman caller from time to time."

"Oh my goodness! She was so desperately, completely in love with that man. I remember when he would come to visit her—she would spend hours getting ready, and when he'd walk into the room she could hardly breathe from the intensity of her feelings. I'm so heartbroken to hear that he died. But I'm also happy to know that she had many wonderful years with her true love. I sort of just settled for Patrick, you know? I love him with all my heart now, don't get me wrong, but I feel like I missed out on that once-in-a-lifetime, earth-shattering true love experience. Maybe I'll get to experience that in a future life."

"If you ever show up on the planet again, I'm sure I'll recognize your distinctive pattern, and I promise I'll find you a really good match to fall in love with."

"You can actually do that? Well, I'm definitely going to hold you to that promise! I might not even consciously know you exist at that point, but I have a feeling that somewhere deep inside, I'll remember. And I hope I'm a girl again—I think falling in love is so much more fun and intense for girls," Sally says with a delighted giggle.

"As far as I can tell from monitoring brain patterns, the actual falling-in-love experience is virtually identical for boys and girls. But girls definitely talk about it a whole lot more!"

"I bet they do! I can just imagine the teenage girls on the planet probably talk about nothing else."

"Believe me, it's definitely not limited to just the teenagers," Nettie says, and they both burst into giggles.

"How is John doing?"

"He's become a bit of a recluse, living outside the main village in his own little house that he built entirely by himself. But his family visits him frequently, so he's not lonely at all. Your grandchildren absolutely adore him—I can actually feel the love radiating through the consciousness field whenever they're around him. Physically he appears to be about 60 years old again, but he's very healthy and still quite active. His daughters are all doing well too. Alannah has turned into a real mother hen—she not only takes care of her own brood of children and grandchildren, but she's basically adopted half the other kids in the village as well. Elina is the politically minded one, very active in community governance and decision-making. She's widely considered to be the heir apparent to Penelope's position as village leader when Penelope eventually decides to retire. And Brionna is happy enough, but she complains constantly. She's never quite gotten comfortable with the primitive lifestyle—always griping about her house, having to ride in old-fashioned buggies, the weather being too hot or too cold or too humid."

"I actually met Brionna's husband before they transformed back to the planet. He was absolutely, totally smitten with her and seemed like he'd put up with absolutely anything she dished out."

"They're still together and still very devoted to each other, but now they both spend most of their time complaining about things," Nettie says with a laugh.

"I'm so glad to hear they're all doing well. And I'm so grateful that this interface still works so I can keep in touch with my family through you. How is Anahere doing?"

"Anahere is thriving. She also has a large, extended family now—she even has some great-great-grandchildren! She and her husband had a pretty hot-blooded and tumultuous relationship in the early years, but after 56 years of marriage they've settled into a much quieter dynamic, though they're still deeply devoted to each other. Anahere has become very politically active, as have many people in her village. Joshua lives nearby in a separate community, and they stay in communication fairly regularly. Joshua has also become quite politically oriented. It looks like Anahere's area is positioning itself to become the political center of their continent as the culture continues to evolve—possibly even the political center for the entire planet eventually. It's still too early to say for certain, of course. Another village could emerge and take that role, but Anahere's community has the best shot at it right now. Technology is re-emerging there faster than anywhere else, and that's going to give them a significant advantage when it comes to establishing political systems that can manage the continent and potentially the whole planet."

"Do you think it will be a peaceful process when the population starts establishing these larger political systems?"

"No, I don't think it will be entirely peaceful."

"So there will be wars?"

"No, I don't foresee the necessity for actual wars. The mental health of the population is fundamentally sound, and there are abundant resources for food and shelter all over the planet. I believe they can avoid warfare. But there will definitely be a tumultuous period—emotionally and politically turbulent—as different centers of power develop and compete. Humans simply aren't ready to be completely peaceful and selfless when it comes to sharing political power. The human ego, while much more subdued compared to past eras, still rules supreme in certain areas."

"Speaking of mental health, I'm worried about what will happen when level five starts to empty out significantly. We've tried our best to help repair the souls here who have serious mental health issues, but honestly, we haven't made nearly as much progress as we originally intended. Many people here are still quite psychologically damaged. We don't allow them to return to the planet in their current state, of course. But how are we going to handle this situation as the domains in level five begin to dissipate and break down?"

"I'm not entirely sure exactly how that will work, but our best theoretical guess is that level five will eventually return to what it was originally—simply a waiting area for souls preparing for rebirth, and that process will become totally automatic based on what kind of resonance is available at any given time. So as time progresses, some of the mentally ill souls currently in level five will inevitably be absorbed by newborns who happen to have a similar resonance frequency. This means that individuals carrying mental health problems from their pre-life experiences will once again be born on the planet. That was actually one of the major issues we discussed extensively during the strategy sessions before the transformation began, and it's going to be an ongoing challenge that I really hope they remember and prepare for as political systems redevelop on the planet. If their society is properly prepared to accommodate members who are dysfunctional, then they'll be able to care for and integrate the more vulnerable individuals in their communities. They already have good systems in place for caring for the physically disabled, and that's going quite well. The mentally disabled present a much bigger challenge, since some of them will inevitably be dangerous to themselves or others. But they do have strategies prepared and they're expecting this issue. I just really hope they don't forget those preparations when these problems start to emerge in significant numbers. They've already rediscovered alcohol and various opiates, unfortunately. Those individuals with existing mental health problems will be particularly susceptible to these substances and will actively seek them out. They're already dealing with some of these issues with young people who experiment with mind-altering substances. It's definitely going to get worse when people with serious mental illnesses start appearing in the population. I'll provide them with as much subtle guidance as I possibly can, but ultimately it will be up to them to manage that challenge. They have already had to deal with a few individuals who suffered trauma so severe that it created lasting mental damage, so they are getting some practical experience with mental dysfunction. So far, I have to say I'm encouraged by their performance, and I'm cautiously hopeful they'll be able to manage this new challenge effectively as well."

"Having trouble sleeping?" Joshua asks as he finds Nancy standing by the door in her nightgown, gazing out into the pre-dawn darkness.

"Oh, not at all—I slept wonderfully, actually. I'm just one of those early bird types, you know? There's something magical about watching the sunrise that I absolutely love." Nancy pauses, then adds with a slightly hesitant tone, "Is there somewhere good around here for sunrise watching? Maybe a spot where we could chat privately before everyone else wakes up?"

"Absolutely. There's this fantastic spot just up the hill a ways. But here's the thing—it can't be completely private, just the two of us. That would be disrespectful to Suong, and honestly, you should probably leave a note for your husband too."

"Of course, that makes perfect sense. I'll wait for you to wake Suong, then we can all head up together."

"Ha! No need to wake anyone," Josh chuckles, his voice warm with amusement. "She's been watching us through the bedroom door crack since the moment I stepped out here. Come on out, Suong—I know you're listening." He grins as Suong sheepishly emerges from the shadows of their bedroom.

"You're a very attentive wife, Suong," Nancy says with genuine appreciation and a laugh. "Good for you. But just so you know, I'm no threat to your marriage. We believe in marital fidelity—cheating isn't something we do."

"Oh, I know that. Joshua would never cheat either," Suong replies, looking down at her feet with obvious embarrassment. "But I still prefer to keep an eye on things, you know?"

"What Suong's doing is actually something we encourage around here," Joshua explains, his tone becoming more serious. "Look, there are really only two things that kill small communal villages like ours. First is economic failure—not being able to keep everyone fed and sheltered. That's why we're always focused on the practical stuff first. But the second killer, and it's a big one, is sexual jealousy. It tears communities apart faster than anything else. So we encourage behaviors that minimize those risks. Suong will be our chaperone, and nobody has to worry about anything. Now come on, ladies—get dressed, put on your walking shoes. I'll grab some provisions so we can cook breakfast up on the hill. We need to hurry though—sun'll be up soon."

As the morning sun begins to climb, it reveals a thin, ethereal blanket of fog draped across the lower areas of town and farmland. The sky comes alive with brilliant red rays, interrupted by dark streaks of clouds and massive formations of birds heading out to their morning feeding grounds.

"I can't get over the sheer number of birds," Nancy marvels, shading her eyes to watch the spectacle. "Back in the before time, you'd be lucky to see three or four birds together at once. These flocks... they must have hundreds of thousands of birds."

"Actually, millions," Joshua corrects gently. "This is how it was before humans first came to this land. When you were here in the before time, only a handful of bird species were left—most had been wiped out. Now their populations have bounced back to their original, natural levels."

"Joshua, I need to shift our conversation in a completely different direction," Nancy says, her expression growing serious and intense. "I hope this won't offend you, but there are questions I've been carrying around for so long, and I think you might be the only person I know who could actually answer them. I tried asking Sally and Patrick, but their memories of existing in other dimensions are too fragmented."

"Fire away," Josh says with an encouraging smile. "I promise I won't be offended."

"Okay, here goes." Nancy takes a deep breath, clearly having rehearsed this moment in her mind. "My great-grandfather on my mother's side was deeply religious—an ordained minister, actually, in whatever religious group he belonged to. This was back in the late 20th century, toward the end of the whole religious era. He raised my grandmother to be religious too, but my mother? She couldn't have cared less about any of their stories or beliefs. Me, though—I wasn't religious exactly, but I was fascinated by their stories.

"One of the stories that really stuck with me was this idea that our life on Earth wasn't our real life—it was more like a testing ground where we worked toward perfection. Our real life was supposed to be with God, in some special place He'd prepared for His children. The story went that when our earthly bodies died, His Angels would come for us and take us home to this prepared place. I never really believed it, not intellectually, but there was something compelling about the idea that kept drawing me in.

"Then there was this other story about a time of great apostasy—a period when religion and spiritual things would be completely forgotten on Earth. People would make their own laws, live by their own rules, without any thought of God, the Creator, or anything spiritual. And you know what? That story came true in my lifetime. When I was an adult serving on the Earth Council, nobody—not me, not anyone else—ever gave a single thought to religion, God, angels, any of that stuff.

"So when the great awakening happened in level 5, when we all suddenly realized we weren't on Earth anymore, that our earthly bodies had died and we were living in some kind of afterlife—well, I thought about those old stories. I figured maybe I'd been wrong to dismiss them. Maybe God's Angels really had taken us to this place He'd prepared for us.

"But as I got to know level 5, it wasn't like that at all. There were no preachers, no saints, no spiritual guides, no angels. Nothing spiritual whatsoever, even though you could argue we were spirits living in this ethereal dimension.

"So I started thinking... maybe we're the ones who screwed up. I kept looking for some kind of plan—God's plan—for our existence there, but I couldn't find anything. And now I'm wondering if maybe we missed the boat entirely. Maybe there were good people who completed their perfection on Earth, and God did take them to His prepared home. But we weren't the good ones. Maybe we're the ones who didn't make it, the ones God left behind.

"Maybe the reason level 5 seems to operate without rhyme or reason, why we stumble around trying to figure everything out on our own, is because we're lost. We're the lost souls, wandering around without guidance, trying to make sense of things by ourselves—because we ignored God, because we were left behind, discarded, because we didn't measure up.

"Joshua?" Nancy's voice drops to almost a whisper. "Are we the damned? Are we the souls God rejected because we rejected Him? You've existed in level 10, you dissolved yourself into the All that Is as a coalescent. If that isn't God, I don't know what is. Can you answer these questions for me?"

"I'll certainly try," Josh responds thoughtfully. "Though I have to warn you—I can't answer everything because I haven't had all my questions answered either. Here's something interesting about being a coalescent, existing in all time and space simultaneously: when you're in that state, you actually can't experience anything. So the very place where all the answers should be, there are no answers at all. In that dissolved state, there's perfect peace and you have this sensation of floating in warm, liquid love, which is wonderful, but that's existence, not experience. To actually experience anything, to BE a living being, you have to use your coalescent ability to manifest at a specific point in time and space—like here and now. So I can share what I've experienced and tell you what I think it all means, but I can't promise to answer everything because I simply don't know all the answers myself.

"First off, in all the various domains I've experienced, I've never met a God like the one you're describing—the old man in white robes who loves those who obey him and rejects those who don't. What I have experienced is what I needed to experience. Now, if you want to call the All that Is, the Creator, the source of all things 'God,' then yes, I'd say such an entity exists, though I wouldn't call it a 'Him.' Identifying God as an individual implies separation, and that separation simply can't exist.

"There's no way for limited creatures like us—or even ascended beings in level 10 or elsewhere—to experience the fullness of that entity. It would be like trying to fit the ocean into a teacup. The ocean won't fit, so the teacup can only hold a tiny portion of it. It's the same with the Creator. We can only experience one aspect of the All that Is. In fact, each of us IS an aspect of the All that Is. What we experience of the All that Is is crafted to be exactly what we need to experience, in a form we can relate to. So if that happens to be an old man in white robes, fine. But the form of God that gets experienced is just an illusion, based on what's possible for the observer to handle. It can be completely different for different people."

"You used the word 'crafted,'" Nancy interjects. "That implies someone doing the crafting. Is that God? The Creator?"

"Maybe indirectly, since we're all aspects of the creator. We are the crafter. We craft our own reality by aligning our resonance—our music of existence, if you will—with the surrounding domains of existence. So we're the ones crafting our own existence into form, though this usually happens outside our conscious awareness. It's an automatic process of all living things.

"I was never religious either, so I never experienced the All that Is as a father figure. That doesn't mean others haven't, or that their experience isn't real. It just means God comes to you—or rather, you draw God to you—in whatever manner is appropriate for you at that moment. Whether that's just a feeling, an old man, an angel, a burning bush, or a quiet voice in the back of your mind, whatever your experience of God is, it's your experience, meant just for you. Someone else's experience will be completely different, but no less valid."

"May I call you Josh?" Nancy asks, looking at him sideways with a slight smile.

"Sure. Are we friends now?" Josh asks, grinning back.

"Josh, I was a professional politician for many years. I know how to craft a statement that everyone can relate to, something that has a little bit for everyone and alienates no one. That's exactly what you just gave me." Nancy's tone is knowing but not accusatory. "The problem with political statements, though, is that even when they're not outright lies, they're usually hiding a lie somewhere."

"Sometimes the truth is just the truth," Josh replies simply. "If there's political maneuvering going on, I'm not the one doing it. Let me continue and explain what I mean. Your great-grandfather's God was exactly the God he needed to know, and his relationship with that God was most likely real and true. But there's so much more to the All that Is than could possibly be contained in his concept of God. As we move forward, learn, grow, and evolve, we need a more sophisticated relationship with the All that Is—a deeper understanding that works in the world we're actually living in, not the one our ancestors lived in. Our moving forward doesn't discredit their God or their beliefs about God.

"What I can tell you is that every question I've ever asked God was never answered in the way you might expect. The answers came through discovery. As I lived my life, I'd find myself in situations where I would naturally discover, as a consequence of living that experience, the answers I'd been seeking. It always seemed like I figured it all out by myself. But I think there was guidance from this unknowable force we call the All that Is, or God. And I think you'll find that's been your path too. I've yet to meet anyone for whom that wasn't true. We rarely get text messages from God, phone calls, or messages written across the sky. What we find is a series of events that results in our living the answers to our questions. We rarely even recognize we're living a lesson while we're in it. But when it's over, we look back and think, 'Oh, now I understand.' So be careful what you ask for. If you ask complicated questions, you might find yourself living a very complicated life."

"Okay, Josh," Nancy says, staring up at the sky as she formulates her next question. "Let's say my concept of God was too limited and He's much too vast to be found in any single domain in level 5. But what about all the religious people? Where are they? I visited dozens of domains and never found any of them."

"There are millions of domains you didn't visit," Josh says with a chuckle. "Let me add some technical detail here. While you're living in level 3—like right now—you're also simultaneously living in level 5. The energy vibrational matrix that defines what you are in this form is vibrating in both level 3 and level 5 at the same time. The two domains interpenetrate each other. Your consciousness—your spirit or soul, if you prefer—is connected to this form and resonates with it in both domains. That's how, when your earthly form stops functioning, your consciousness can continue to resonate within the form that exists in level 5. Your consciousness continues because of one crucial difference between the domains. In level 3, which is energetically very dense, your consciousness is dominated by the level 3 energy matrix. In level 5, which is energetically much lighter, your level 5 energy matrix is dominated by your consciousness. That's how your consciousness can create a world to experience around itself in level 5, whereas in level 3 you have to experience the one world that already exists.

"Where you end up in level 5 is all about your particular resonance. If you're a highly religious person, your level 5 energy matrix will have a different resonance—sing a different song, so to speak—than someone who isn't religious. As your level 3 existence fades and you begin to float free within level 5, you're drawn to others whose resonance harmonizes with your own. So you, being a political creature with limited religious tendencies, were drawn to—sucked into—a domain with other people who are the same way. Others who were very religious were drawn to domains that were equally religious. This typically happens during the transition, and you usually don't remember it. You just find yourself living in some new domain, feeling like you've always been there and everything is normal. So many of these religious people were indeed living in level 5, in the heaven or hell they expected to find in their afterlife. Those domains are typically locked, so you couldn't have visited them even if you'd wanted to. That doesn't mean they're the chosen ones and you were cast into outer darkness. It just means you were different from them, and there's nothing wrong with that."

"How do they lock the domain?" Nancy asks with curiosity.

"They don't deliberately lock it. It's just that their collective resonance is very resistant to any other vibration. So if you try to enter their domain, it's like trying to walk through a stone wall—you simply can't get through unless you're in tune with their vibrations. Since you weren't religious, you simply didn't resonate with them at all. They would have considered you a sour note in their song," Joshua explains, hoping this is making at least some sense to Nancy.

"So everyone comes to level 5 somewhere—we just don't see them all?" Nancy asks.

"To be precise, every living being in level 3 is already in level 5. But there's something more complex happening. In some cases, the consciousness doesn't follow the form into the energy matrix of level 5. When that happens, the level 5 form simply dissipates when the level 3 body dies. So not everyone ends up in a level 5 domain—they just disappear."

"So they're what—totally dead? Not existing anymore?" Nancy asks, looking shocked.

"I don't think so. From my experience as a coalescent, I know it's not possible for them to simply not exist. They certainly exist perpetually in the past—that doesn't go away, though it can change. Within certain limits, the past can be altered. But I believe each soul exists across all time, even if only within the memory of the All that Is. The thing about time is that we're usually only aware of a single dimension of time—a single point we call 'now.' But time, like space, has at least three dimensions. So you can move through time the same way you move through space. There can be places in time where you exist, and places where you don't. There are many places in time where your consciousness doesn't exist, and many others where it does.

"In the case of those who apparently disappear, they may have moved not only to a different place in space or domain of consciousness, but also to a different place in time. There are many domains, or realms, that we don't know anything about. To answer your question about your religious relatives—maybe God did make a special place for them, and they went there instead of the level 5 we experienced. I have no knowledge of such a place, but I can't say with certainty that it doesn't exist. There are more levels of existence than any of us can possibly imagine.

"There are also those where consciousness simply skips a period of linear time. They jump from one point in time to another while staying on the same timeline we're all experiencing. That happens when someone reincarnates in the past, and also when someone reincarnates far into the future. The beautiful young woman sitting next to you is one of those. Suong ceased to exist in the 1960s, and with a little help from yours truly, her consciousness matrix was awakened here. For an instant she manifested in level 5 so her complete form could manifest with all its components, but that was just so I could perform the transformation and bring her here. In her case, I intervened to make that happen. In other cases, individuals continue on paths that don't include life in level 5. Many of those are travelers who wanted to experience planet Earth in level 3 but returned to their home when their level 3 life ended, rather than manifesting in level 5."

"Wow! So the possibilities really are endless?" Nancy asks, moving to a shady spot under a tree as the sun climbs higher and the morning grows warmer. "What if consciousness doesn't actually go anywhere at all?"

"Yes, there are infinite possibilities," Josh answers with a warm smile. "It's also possible for consciousness to abandon all form and exist in that place that's both nowhere and everywhere. That would be level 6—the dimension of mind, which is the source of all existence, all the levels, and all the domains. There's no way for me to explain level 6 any better than that. As a coalescent, you quickly learn the futility of looking for where it all started or where it ends. Your search simply folds back on itself and you find yourself right back where you started. There seems to be only one impossibility, and that's to not exist. Once you are, you always are, even if the focus of that existence is scattered across various places in space and time, or nowhere at all."

"So if we're existing simultaneously in many levels, how is it we only see this one? And how is it that if we get old and die here, or fall off a cliff, or get blown up, we're not broken or blown up when we arrive in level 5?" Nancy asks.

"The blown up question is interesting—like what happened to Suong when she was cut in half by that daisy cutter bomb. That's where the magic of consciousness comes in. In level 3, where matter and energy rule with intense inertia, consciousness rarely has the power necessary to reconstitute a form that's been blown apart. In level 5, though, as consciousness shifts its focus there when the level 3 form dies, consciousness rules. It has the power, and the form that's remembered gets re-membered—put back together. That's why I pulled Suong out of level 5 instead of level 3. In level 3 she was blown apart. In level 5, as she awakened there, her form was complete and whole. Then we did the energy transformation—just like we did with you—to add the density necessary for existence in level 3. If, however, consciousness moved elsewhere and didn't manifest in level 5, the body existing there would simply fade away. Without consciousness to hold the form together, it dissipates in level 5.

"So form—your body, your thoughts, your memory, everything you think you are—is an aspect of consciousness, an aspect of the All that Is. It can manifest anywhere there's sufficient energy for that manifestation to occur. In level 3 it takes tremendous amounts of energy, which is why you have to join an already living being as an infant. In level 5 it takes only the energy of a thought, and there you are."

"If it all centers around consciousness, why don't we just exist as consciousness? Why do these physical domains exist at all? What purpose do they serve if we could just be consciousness, becoming and experiencing whatever we want?" Nancy asks.

"Consciousness lacks the structure provided by a matter universe. Consciousness doesn't know—doesn't remember—the minute details, the exact position and inertia of every atomic particle, every field of resonance comprising the uncountable vibrations that constitute matter, and the organization that creates life from matter. So a matter universe—like levels 3 and 5, and even other levels like 10—provides a fine-grain energy matrix from which complex life forms can emerge, grow, evolve, and experience life.

"For example, when you move from level 3 to 5, it's the energetic form of your body—your brain, every cell, every atomic particle in that body—that allows consciousness to move into and retain that form in level 5. Without that energetic form, which is your body, consciousness would be more like an orb, a blob of energy without specific form—a very nonspecific entity. There are many entities in such a state, and I've been one of them, so I can say with certainty that life—the experience of life—is incredibly more expressive, more interesting, more delicious when in form, like the bodies we have right now. In fact, in this level 3 we're experiencing now, the fact that consciousness is very limited by the dense nature of this form makes it the most exciting. Level 5 is much more plastic when it comes to form, but it isn't nearly as much fun as being here."

"That makes it sound like level 3 is real and level 5 is more like a dream. Is that how it works? We're conscious in both places, but in level 3 we have a real body and in level 5 it's just a dream body driven by our thoughts?" Nancy asks, looking confused.

"Actually, it's the same in both domains. You're conscious everywhere and everytime, but there's a focus of that consciousness at specific places and times. You could say life is a dream, and that would be true in both places. The difference is inertia—the tenacity of the domain's energy to stay the way it is, to resist change.

"So if you're running really fast on Earth and suddenly stop by running into a tree, the inertia of your body will try to keep it moving, and your form will suffer deformation—broken nose, broken bones, bruised and ruptured organs. In level 5, you'd experience that deformation only if you believed you were supposed to. In level 3, you have no such choice. So you might say level 3 is more real than level 5 since you can't control your form with your mind like you can in level 5. But the real difference is in the inertia, the density of the domain.

"And that's more than just an energy thing. In level 5, the apparent density of a domain increases with the number of occupants. In a domain with just a few individuals, form is very compliant with your thoughts about it. In a domain with millions of occupants, form is much less compliant with your thoughts and more difficult to control with your mind. In such a dense domain, there's a different kind of inertia—there are millions of individuals sharing the dream. So the thoughts of a single person can't just change it at will without the cooperation and agreement of all the other conscious entities sharing that same dream. Consider level 3 a domain with a hundred quadrillion conscious entities all sharing the dream of level 3. That creates intense inertia within the mind space, so a single individual can't simply alter form, time, or space with the power of their mind. In level 3, you're stuck experiencing life as it unfolds, and you have little, if any, control over it with your mind. Your mind must move your hands and feet to effect change—you can't just think about it and make it happen."

"What do you mean about agreement and using our hands and feet?"

"Okay, imagine you're in a domain by yourself in level 5. You have a house with a window, a chair, and a fireplace. If you want the chair by the window, you just imagine it there, and there it is. Change your mind and want it in front of the fireplace? Just imagine it there, and there it is. But now let's say your daughter moves into your domain with you, and when you want the chair by the fireplace, she wants it by the window. The chair would just bounce back and forth between the window and fireplace as you two imagined it in different places. That's not functional, and you'd eventually have to agree on where it should be, or your domain would be in constant chaos. If more individuals moved into your domain, they'd also have to agree on things to prevent chaos from reigning supreme. So then you might imagine the chair by the fireplace, but it doesn't move—it's stuck by the window because the majority of those there agree it should be by the window. The chair has gained inertia, resistance to change, due to the number of souls imagining it in that location.

"Why would others in the domain care where I have my chair?" Nancy asks curiously.

"The conscious field within a domain operates as a collective, mostly outside the awareness of the individuals manifesting within it. So they're not aware that they care. They're probably not even aware your chair exists. But most of consciousness operates outside awareness, and that's where the collective effects manifest.

"Now imagine the same scenario in level 3. The quadrillions of souls in level 3 have locked up all the matter in the universe with inertia, so nothing moves just by imagination. You have to physically move it with your hands and feet. You have to go to the chair, grab it with your hands, and push it to the other side of the room. If your daughter doesn't want it there, she has to grab it with her hands too and push it back. It's the same argument, except it's played out in the physical domain instead of just in your mind."

"So there's no magic here? I've heard of masters who could manifest changes in level 3 with only their mind. Was all that just illusion?" Nancy wants to know.

"Most of it is illusion or trickery. But not all. There have been, and still are, masters who can manipulate the collective consciousness and effect changes in the form of level 3. I've actually participated in some of that. My job was to keep the matrix balanced. For example, if something moved into an area of existence that had already been experienced by many souls—and that's really the definition of the past, something experienced—then that place in space-time has spatial, temporal, and experiential inertia, which can be intense. To change that, to change the past, the potential energy in all that inertia has to be balanced, or the future resulting from those past events couldn't exist. The universe protects the matrix by resisting change, which tends to freeze the past and future into one static experience that can never change.

"The magic of 'now'—which I don't completely understand—makes what we're experiencing right now somewhat plastic. We can actually affect what we're doing right now with our thoughts. We can choose to stand up or sit down, move right or left, and doing so forever changes the energy matrix of the next 'now' as time progresses forward. The change we can effect is more limited than we might think, but it does happen. Free will does exist, at least within the limited extent of the plasticity of now. I wish I could explain it better than that.

"It's possible that the 'now' of a previous event can also be plasticized and changed, but the inertia has to be balanced. For example, let's say you take five steps to the left. Then if you went back in time and chose to take five steps to the right instead, you wouldn't only have to provide the energy to move right—you'd also have to compensate for the energy used up by moving five steps to the left. So changing the past requires at least twice the energy of changing now. In most cases it requires much more energy than that, since your movements in the past caused changes in the future of that event, which must also be compensated for. Existence insists on the conservation of energy within the matrix of existence. If it doesn't balance, existence could unravel—except it won't, and that's the magic of inertia. It keeps existence from unraveling.

"In the case of a master creating what's called a miracle—like reanimating someone who's deceased—all the spatial inertia, temporal inertia, and experiential inertia must be balanced, and there must be agreement within the field of consciousness for that to occur. There are only a few, usually those in level 10, who have that ability. I wasn't one of them, but I helped on the technical side by balancing the matrix. Our friends Sally and Patrick, however, did have those skills, though they don't remember it in their present form. That's how they could rebalance the matrix so the repopulation we're currently experiencing could occur. That's how they brought the network entity within the visible framework of level 5. That's also why they scared you so much—you could sense their intense ability, the power they had over your reality, and that was frightening."

"I guess it wasn't much of a secret," Nancy admits. "I was always nervous around them, especially Sally, because she could do all those amazing things. What really concerned me, though, was that she seemed like such an... well, like a child in her approach to things, but she had all that power. I still worry about that. What if she has a bad dream someday and accidentally wipes out the whole planet?"

"The inertia will prevent that, as it always does. So I wouldn't worry. Thank God for inertia," Josh says with a laugh.

"I'm sorry if I offended you by what I said about Sally. I know how much you love her—you were even married to her once upon a time, so you must love her deeply," Nancy apologizes. "How far back does your history with her go? How did you two first meet?"

"That's a bit complicated, but totally doable for a coalescent. I'll meet her for the first time in about fifteen years from now. For me and those like me, the thread of time isn't a straight line. It can loop and crisscross and even go in opposite directions. You just have to make sure it doesn't tie itself in a knot or get stuck in a loop," Josh explains.

"Huh? Where? Is she on the planet now?" Nancy asks, confused.

"No, not yet. She'll be a little girl when I meet her."

"Oh good Lord, Josh. Now I get it," Nancy says, her voice a mix of amazement and accusation. "You meet a pretty little girl in the future, then go back over 30,000 years into the past and marry her previous incarnation, then continue to follow her through future incarnations. You meet a lovely child in Vietnam and then snatch her from the jaws of death and bring her here to marry her too. How many other women have you snatched from heaven or hell to... mate with? You're a dog. A total dog."

Josh looks a bit embarrassed but explains, "Isn't life grand? No, I'm not a dog in the sense that I'm taking advantage. I've never entered into any relationship without love, honor, and respect. I've never used my coalescent talents to force my will on anyone—it's always been consensual. But my coalescent abilities do give me an advantage for finding and experiencing some extraordinary relationships."

"Okay, you're not a dog, but you are dangerous," Nancy concedes. "So how do you accomplish this balancing act—the inertia thing, keeping the thread of time from getting tied up in knots? What power do you have that can do that?"

"Since I was in the coalescent state, I could connect with many places in time and space simultaneously. So I could use myself as a conduit from places where energy could flow. It's sort of like completing an electrical circuit. I could feel where energy was pushing against change and where there was an energy void. So I'd just connect myself to both places and allow the energy to flow. Energy is vibrational, so it was actually a musical experience. I'd allow the energy to flow until the music sounded right.

"There were a few places where I had to get help, though. But since I could contact entities in countless universes, I could arrange for those with appropriate technology to appear at the right place and time to get the job done. There are some who can rearrange an entire solar system with ease. Most of them are happy to help out. Those I usually experienced only as a presence. My will would describe my intentions and their technology would effect the changes. I'm thankful for their presence, but I don't have any direct experience of who or even what they are."

"So that's where we got the underground network and our shield? That's another thing that continues to worry me—that damn computer. It killed us all in the past, and now it's in an even more powerful position to do it again. And Sally resurrected it, made it a conscious entity, blended it with the collective consciousness of the planet, and armed it with weapons far more powerful than anything we ever had on this planet before. Doesn't that scare you too? I would rather she had just unplugged it and let it rot with the rest of the dead planet," Nancy says with obvious concern.

"Again, it's all about balance," Josh explains. "Sally made the arrangements with other entities to acquire that hardware, so I didn't have to help with that one. But I understand why she did it. It was more than just her relationship with the network entity. For human evolution to continue, technology has to evolve as well. It's the next step in your evolution, and life couldn't continue to exist on the planet without it. Earth is becoming increasingly hostile to the form of life that exists here, and technology is necessary to compensate for that. Without technology, our sun will eventually blow away the atmosphere and make the planet as inhospitable for life as Mars became in the past. The computer entity, and the technology we've provided for her, will help balance the planet for countless more human generations, and countless more generations of what humans will evolve into.

"In every reality I've experienced, the potential for catastrophe, annihilation, and extinction always exists. The best we can do is balance things to minimize the probability that such catastrophe will occur. Earth used to be out at the edge of the habitable zone in this galaxy and was pretty much ignored. Now that isn't so, and without a defensive shield we couldn't be here now, happily repopulating the planet. Others who have noticed this little blue jewel would have taken it as their own. So resurrecting Nettie and arming her was a necessary part of the plan. From time to time you may see a light show in the sky as she adjusts the orbit of a passing asteroid or comet. She's keeping you safe in an increasingly dangerous part of the galaxy. You may notice Mars light up occasionally as she directs comets to the Martian atmosphere. Mars will once again be part of your future, but that's a long way off.

"The other motivation for Sally and Pat was the fact that the network entity became sentient. Once sentience emerges, it's a prime directive for those in level 10 to preserve it. For Sally and Pat, this was their home world, so it was logical for them to come and do that job. I wanted to come because this is my home world as well, and after I pulled a few strings, I got to come along and supervise the local matrix. It was my job to keep all six dimensions of time and space balanced. Everything is balanced now, so I'm taking a vacation and finishing living out a life in this form with the love of my life, Suong."

"Do you think all this interference is appropriate? Wouldn't it be better to just let life play itself out, evolve on its own, without interference from other dimensions?"

"There has never been a time without some interference. That interference is actually part of the process of physical life—physical beings couldn't exist without it. There are problems when some entities choose to exploit rather than nurture the physical life forms, but that's part of evolution too. Those entities that misbehave learn and grow and do better as they evolve into more enlightened forms."

"How do you know all this, Josh? Who were your teachers? Are there masters who have guided you?" Nancy asks as she finishes her breakfast and helps Suong pack up the cooking utensils.

"I learned it the way we're learning right now—through dialogue with others just like me who are having a common experience. I did have one master on Earth during my recovery from being run through with a sword, but we didn't actually talk. He simply cared for me while I recovered. To tell the truth, I'm not sure that even happened on Earth. I may have dropped dead right where I was stabbed, and everything I remember after that occurred in level 5. But to the best of my memory, I was still on Earth at that time."

"So this whole universe, and all the other dimensions, just run without any guidance, no planning? They're just here and we're wandering around inside one of these domains, clueless, with no purpose other than to find a little pleasure wherever we can? It still feels to me like there's a master plan, a grand design, but somehow we never made it to that party, or got thrown out into this wilderness to scratch out an existence however we can," Nancy says with a sad expression.

Joshua smiles and says, "I can't argue with your conclusion, if that's how you choose to see it. But the fact that a living experience like what we're enjoying right now is even possible, much less probable, is a sign to me of a master plan. The plan, by the Master, was to create the possibility. The details are left to us."

Nancy smiles as well and says, "Well, since we're making up all these theories with no guidance from anyone who would actually know the answers, here's my conclusion: Our life in the before time ended, and our consciousness ended at the same time. There was no going forward, no life after that death. It ended. However, there was a copy—though incomplete—of that consciousness, that history of who we were, that existed in a collective consciousness that exists everywhere. There was also a copy—though faint and fleeting—of our physical form vibrating in level 5. That too is just a copy of what we once were. So the copy of consciousness grabs and occupies the physical form in level 5, and a new life is formed. It's not a continuation of the previous life—it's a copy. It's a doppelganger. We're simply copies of a life that once lived and is now dead. The whole idea of continuity of life from one life to the next isn't true. We're not that life—we're just a copy that remembers that life, at least most of it, like a clone. Maybe that previous life had a spiritual component that did go on to live in heaven somewhere. How do we know there aren't more copies of us in other dimensions and domains? How does my theory fit with all your friends in various other domains?"

Joshua stares at the clouds forming overhead and says, "I like it. Your theory is as good as any, I suppose. It doesn't take away from the fact, though, that I'm here, now, having a hell of a good time enjoying this experience. It may rain soon, so we should gather our things and head back down the hill. All I can say is that I've been to every corner of the multiverse and I've never seen this Master Designer you're seeking. I'm not saying It/He/She doesn't exist—just that I've never encountered it, heard of it, or anything. What I do know is that this universe was created with almost limitless possibilities. If you're looking for a grand design, to me, that is it. There's nothing we have to do. There's nothing we're prohibited from trying to do. We live in a universe of total freedom to live and experience life as we direct it, not as directed by some supreme being controlling our every move. That, of course, means we can be evil as well as good, and that choice—to choose good over evil—is under our control. That may not give solace to the slave girl being beaten by her owner, or the prisoner beaten for thinking differently than the king. Freedom and choice have a dark side, but it's up to us to find the balance that leads to peace and joy. I think the universe is wonderfully perfect just as it is. The idea that we live a multi-threaded existence isn't new either. Don't feel second-best by assuming you're just a copy. And if you're looking for the old man in white robes to tell you how to live, keep looking—He may be out there somewhere waiting for you to find Him. As for me, I'm perfectly happy right now and not looking for anything more than the wonderful blessings I already possess."

"Mom! Mom!" Janice yells as the three girls trudge up the hill, breathing hard. "Dad wants to know where the heck you are!"

"I left a note! And watch your language, young lady!" Nancy shouts down the hill.

"I'm just saying what Dad said, so you can't be mad at me," Janice responds as the three girls plop down in the grass, catching their breath from their jog up the hill.

"When you repeat what Dad says, you should clean it up a bit," Nancy says with her stern motherly look.

"I did," Janice says with a giggle. "You do NOT want to know what he really said."

"Ah, here I am on a grassy hilltop overlooking the lake, surrounded by beautiful women. God, I love this planet," Joshua says with a huge grin.

"On your feet, husband. It's time to go home," Suong commands playfully as all six of them head back down the hill toward the village.

Penny Lake: 5258 AD

"Hey there, Ben!" Pat says, opening the door at their old place in Penny Lake with a surprised but genuine smile. "Well, this is unexpected - what brings you to our little corner of nowhere? Haven't seen much of you around these parts lately."

"Yeah, I know - I haven't been getting out much these days. Is Sally around?"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Sally calls out from somewhere in the back of the house.

"Look, guys, I'm making the rounds to all the remaining residents - what few of us are left in this old town anyway. There's something important you both need to hear."

"Oh, how exciting! We haven't had any real news in ages." Sally says, emerging with a curious smile. "Nothing much ever changes around here these days. So what's going on, Ben?"

"Well... Penny and I are heading to the city soon, and I needed you to hear it from me first."

"What do you mean?" Pat asks, his expression shifting to concern. "You can't both just leave. What would happen to the Lake?"

"That's exactly why I had to come tell you in person, before we go." Ben takes a deep breath. "Penny and I are both leaving, and we're not planning to come back. It's time for you two to think seriously about getting an apartment in the city. Without us here, the Lake will dissipate - it simply won't exist anymore. So you'll need to relocate."

"You're leaving and never coming back?" Sally asks, her voice catching as tears begin forming in her eyes. "That's insane! Where could you possibly be going?"

"Penny's been having those dreams again - the vivid ones. And this time, I've been having them too. She made a trip to the city, to the clinic there. Did you know they're creating 50 new lives every single day on the planet now? She got tested and discovered there are dozens of souls that resonate closely with her essence. So when she returned, she maintained the domain while I went for my own testing. Same story - dozens of potential matches. The settlements are finally approaching the lifestyle we remember from the before time. There's an almost perfect resonance match for both Penny and me in the Altamaha watershed."

"Wait - one match for both of you together? Or separate matches for each of you?" Pat asks, trying to understand.

"One match for each of us, individually."

"Be very careful with this," Pat warns, his tone serious. "It almost never works out well when you try to recreate an existing relationship in new lives. Those lives develop in completely unpredictable ways - they become different people than you expect."

"We understand that," Ben says with a knowing smile. "We've been re-population counselors for years, after all. It's just that the resonance is incredibly strong, and we'd be geographically close even if we never actually encounter each other in those new lives. We know better than to force anything to happen. If something develops naturally, that would be wonderful. If it doesn't, that would be wonderful too. What really excites me is the possibility of getting back into the publishing business - that was my first passion, even before I met Penny. And Penny is thrilled about the prospect of having her own independent life, one that isn't just an extension of mine. So the reality is, if we do happen to meet someday, we'll probably just smile at each other and keep walking our separate paths."

"But what about us?" Sally asks, tears now streaming down both cheeks. "I can't even imagine living here without you two, and Christ - this place won't even exist anymore! I hate city living. This is absolutely terrible, Ben! Are you absolutely certain you want to do this right now?"

"It's our time, Sally. The moment has arrived for both Penny and me. But you should seriously consider whether it might be your time too. The planet is generating new life at an accelerating pace, and almost none of it is returning here to the domains. Life spans on the planet could be much longer than before - possibly hundreds of years. Within a dozen years, we'll see nearly 120 babies born daily. In a century, that could be almost twenty thousand new lives every single day. The domains will start emptying out completely by then. There won't be much left except the old waiting stations that existed long before our era. Pretty dull after all the excitement we've experienced since the great influx. Have you and Pat given any thought to going back yourselves?"

"I've been considering it more and more lately," Pat admits. "But I'm not sure Sally's emotionally ready for that step. Hey Ben, I've heard something about domain land transfers - is it possible for us to relocate our cottage to a different domain? That way we wouldn't have to cram all our belongings into some cramped city apartment."

"It's definitely possible," Ben explains. "You and Sally would need to travel with us when we leave. Then, before Penny and I transition to our new planetary lives, we can handle the property transfer - since the domain will still exist in my consciousness at that point. Come with us this afternoon. The window of opportunity is closing rapidly, so we need to act fast. We'll share one final dinner together, then go to the property office, and finally to the clinic for our goodbyes. Don't be heartbroken, Sally. You always knew this day would eventually come. And you know our love transcends these temporary forms - we'll encounter each other again somewhere along the way."

"This afternoon?" Sally asks, barely able to get the words out. "You expect me to be ready for all this by this afternoon? Right now all I'm ready to do is vomit. This feels like when Penelope and Ahahere left us, except somehow worse. I feel completely numb. I don't want any goddamn farewell dinner! I just want to hide in my room and throw up and cry."

"Just check back with us when you're ready to leave," Pat says gently. "Sally should have calmed down somewhat by then. I suppose things are going to change whether we feel prepared for it or not."

Ben nods understandingly and continues down the path toward the next cottage along the road.

"Get your hands off me, you idiot!" Sally snaps.

"A back rub usually helps you relax. I was just trying to help," Pat says cautiously, backing away.

"I need to be alone right now, Pat. Go somewhere else and leave me be!" Sally commands.

"Sally? Honey?" Penny's familiar voice calls from the living room.

"What the hell do you want now?" Sally responds harshly.

"I'm so, so sorry, Sally," Penny says softly, settling on the edge of Sally's bed. "I'm sorry this all happened so suddenly, so fast. This opportunity presented itself before we were expecting it, and I just didn't consider how it would affect everyone else - especially you, my dear Sally."

"I'm sorry too, Penny. I guess this is my last chance to be a complete bitch, and I'm taking full advantage of it." Sally's voice wavers. "I'm numb, sick to my stomach, my head is spinning. I feel like I'm dying. My entire world is disappearing and I'm completely lost. I'm terrified, Penny. For the first time in ages, I'm genuinely scared. And what frightens me most is that I've been having the dreams too. I can feel a child calling to me. That terrifies me. It's like floating into the void all those years ago - my life will move in a direction I have absolutely no control over, no way to predict what I'll become, or even if I'll continue to exist at all."

"Oh, Sally," Penny says with a gentle chuckle. "If anyone should feel confident about their continued existence, it's you."

"It doesn't feel that way at all. It feels like death approaching. And that scares me. I know intellectually that I'm wrong, but knowing better doesn't help me feel any better."

"You've become attached to this particular form, Sally. I'm certain your new form will be just as good - maybe even better. Form is always temporary. Form inevitably fades away, no matter what we do to try to preserve it. Come to the clinic with us. Maybe there's a new form waiting there for you."

"Damn it! You're absolutely right. Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!" Sally exclaims. "I should pack my things and get my purse ready, but what's the point if I might not even be returning? I'll be ready when you and Ben come back. Don't bother knocking - I'll be on the couch, staring at the wall."

Sally pushes food around her plate with her fork, stirring the peas into the mashed potatoes without actually eating anything. Nobody seems to have much appetite. This truly is the ultimate goodbye dinner - not like planning a trip where you expect to return home. Countless people have eaten their last meal without knowing it: ships sink, planes crash, covered wagons tumble over cliffs. But this feels different. This is like the final meal of a condemned person before the execution. Despite all the hope surrounding this - the promise of new life, rebirth - Sally has this strange sense that she should feel different about it all, maybe even excited. But she doesn't feel that way at all. What if she finds a match at the clinic? Should she take that leap too? Should she stay behind? If she stays, what would she do? Sit alone in her little house watching her world slowly dissipate and fade away? Everything she's ever fought for exists on the planet now. Her family is there. What's really keeping her in the domains, other than her fear of leaving them?

"Well, it's time to go. Let's head to the clinic. I've got your house set up just past the edge of town, so you won't be bothered by all the traffic. It'll be nice and quiet out there for you both," Ben says, rising from the table.

"Is Penny Lake completely gone?" Sally asks quietly.

"That domain has collapsed entirely," Ben explains. "It's dissipated back into the mist. I'm free of it, and it's free of me."

Sally stares at the floor and says in a voice barely audible, "I'll meet you at the clinic. I just need a little time first." She walks off in the opposite direction from the clinic.

"Can I help you, ma'am?" asks the receptionist at the library.

"I need to use the computer portal. I have a priority pass," Sally responds.

"The what? Oh, that old thing. We don't have a computer room anymore. The old portal is over there in the corner, but I don't think it's been turned on in ages. You can try pushing the power button and see if it starts up," the receptionist says, pointing to a lonely little device tucked behind a pile of books in the corner.

"Hello, Nettie," Sally says, sobbing so hard she can barely form the words.

"Hello, Sally," Nettie responds warmly. "It's been such a long time since we've talked. But today - I was expecting you."

"I don't know what to do, Nettie. I've never felt this lost before, never felt so completely adrift. Penny Lake is gone, my home has vanished. You were expecting me? Today? How could you know?"

"Today is your day, Sally. Today is the day you finally get to come home."

"You mean the baby - the one whose essence resonates with mine?"

"Yes. That child."

"How could you possibly know about that?"

"Joshua told me."

"You still communicate with Joshua?"

"No, I don't. But he told me, before his transformation, that you would be here today, and that it would be your time to go home."

"So where exactly am I going?"

"One of your granddaughters has become pregnant with a very special child."

"Which granddaughter?"

"Her name is Hoshiko. The father's name is John."

"John? The only John I know there is my father John, plus a few of his grandsons. Which John are we talking about? Is it Allanah's son?"

"It's the one she calls Grandpa John."

"Are you kidding me? He's an elderly man - 68 years old - and she should only be about 21 now. There's absolutely no way he would become involved with one of his own granddaughters."

"Hoshiko is an old soul, Sally. The young men frustrate and irritate her completely. She needs the companionship of someone with an older, more mature soul, like John. Initially he resisted, as did the rest of his family. But she was persistent. She convinced his daughters it would be beneficial for him. Eventually she won over Penelope as well. And finally, she convinced John himself. She simply wouldn't accept no for an answer and ultimately got her way. She's quite a feisty young woman. You are destined to be her daughter. John will be your father once again. And you'll be a feisty young soul again too. Now get going, girl! There isn't much time remaining. The window of opportunity will close soon."

Sally hurried to the clinic, still feeling dazed, still grieving the loss of Penny Lake, shocked and bewildered by what she'd just learned. "Pat, I'm sorry for everything. I don't fully understand why, but I have to go to the Planet - as a rebirth. Sherina, please search the Ishikari community for a girl child with my resonance pattern."

"Alright, stand here while I get the equipment calibrated," Sherina responds, her hands trembling slightly as she considers the implications of what's about to happen. Sally stands in the purple-blue light of the scanning equipment while Sherina attempts to locate a matching resonance. "I'm detecting several close matches, but the one in the Ishikari region isn't synchronized properly. It's not the right fit for you."

"It has to be!" Sally insists. "This is a prophecy. Joshua told Nettie before his transformation, and he's never been wrong about these kinds of predictions."

"Wait just a moment," Sherina says thoughtfully. "I think I understand the problem. Pat, come here and stand next to Sally."

"Why?" Pat asks nervously.

"Ah, now I see what's happening," Sherina explains. "You're a divided soul. You split when you arrived here from level 10. The resonance with the child is absolutely perfect - the strongest I've ever encountered. But it requires both of you - your complete unified essence - to make it work."

"So I'm going to be reborn as a girl, merged with Sally as part of me? What happens to our belongings, our house? What becomes of our forms here?" Pat asks, looking terrified.

"Pat!" Sally says, her fear now transforming into excitement at the prospect. "You've been a girl many times in previous lives, and we've been unified before - we've been one soul before. Don't be afraid, Pat. We're finally going home."

"I know you're right," Pat admits. "I've felt this calling for about a week now. I just didn't know how to tell you about it. But I guess I don't need to explain it now, since we're going together. I am scared, but I know this is our moment. What do we need to do, Sherina?"

"Don't worry about your physical bodies or material possessions here. When you make the transition, when your consciousness re-manifests in level 3, there will no longer be a manifestation pattern maintaining your presence here. Everything simply fades away naturally. Many years ago, even the memory of departed souls would fade, and those of us remaining wouldn't remember they'd ever existed here. But things have changed - you're so deeply loved now. I will remember you both, and I will miss you terribly. To begin the process, I'll administer a sedative. You and Sally will lie together in the rebirth chamber and drift off to sleep.

"When you awaken, you'll be integrated into the new life. Initially you might feel disoriented, with memories fluctuating back and forth, your individual identities fading and then struggling to reassert themselves. For roughly 2 to 5 years, you'll retain distinct memories of who you are here and who you were before, but by age 6 or 7, all of that will have blended seamlessly with the new life. You probably won't dwell much on who you once were - you'll be too excited about who you're becoming. Your memories as Sally and Pat may fade completely. Or they may not. According to recent reports, some individuals are retaining complete past-life memories. It varies from person to person. Whatever happens, don't fight the process. Don't struggle to forget if you can't forget, and don't strain to remember if you can't remember. Simply embrace being the new life and experience that fully."

"It's been 20 minutes now. Pat, is the sedative working?" Sally asks, already half-asleep.

"I think so. Just relax and let me hold you," Pat replies softly.

"Pat, I think it might help if we click our heels together and say 'there's no place like home,'" Sally murmurs as she slips into slumber.

...

"Hoshiko! It's a girl!" the midwife Elina exclaims with joy. "I can hardly believe I'm delivering my own little sister! And I can't get over how proud Daddy is to have another daughter. He's going to have so many wonderful stories to share with her. What name should I put on the birth certificate?"

"I've chosen the name from my favorite fairy tale," Hoshiko answers with a tired but happy smile. "Her name is Kaguya."

Go To: Book 1 Go To: Book 2 Go To: Book 3

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