THE SLIDE

Chapter 30 | First Churn (continued)

Part 3 : Mystery, Supernatural, Time Travel, Karma

“Tomorrow we go again. This next time is more perilous. It is just as important to maintain objectivity and remain as a witness.”

Farha knew it was not right to ask him how it would be “more perilous”. She just knew.

“Other than some tea, we fast until we have finished the task tomorrow,” Hrez stated as Sophia, completely materialized from dreamtime, appeared with two cups and a pot of tea in a cast-iron pot.

The three of them sipped the tea in silence in the soft light within the cocoon of the dreamtime on the flat bedrocks.

The next morning, minutes before first light, Hrez and Farha awakened and transferred consciousness, Hrez into Pao and Farha into Hezacta as the two slept. This was done to make the transfer seamless and invisible to the hosts. A light first appeared, both awakened in separate chambers. Sunrise followed quickly.

An array of servers and acolytes attended to the Mai Hezacta, Mai being an official title. Mai (pronounced My) — not an easily translatable word, a cross being a commoner, a holy man, a holy woman, a person of the mind, and a high priest. His morning meal was a simple one of hot tea and bread with three small slices of papaya.

His morning meetings were filled with considering, rejecting, and/or approving procedural matters. In the afternoon, he met with a counsel of five that were seeking a new succession to power whose trends were sweeping areas to the west, south, and north.

The chief amongst them began each meeting with words of incantation of a sort, followed by the challenge:

“Are you ready, Mai, for us to eat your brain matter so that we may possess your knowledge and wisdom?”

When Farha heard this, her breath was caught, and the Mai suppressed a desire to cough. Farha exerted her entire will to suppress her body’s reaction, and she was successful. She was able to slow her heart rate using the meditation that Hrez had taught her and re-blend with Hezacta bodily rhythms.

“I have given this much thought,” Hezacta began. “I have reviewed the Haab’ and the Tzolk’in in this matter, along with number theory and its practice, and our heritage of place and origin from the stars of seven. I have given my word that rains will come. They have come when I have predicted 49, 36, 33, 29, 22, 19, 15, and 10 years ago. I do proclaim that the drought will end on this date and time as I have scribed on this tablet. Please to do not speak of this with your lips. And wait to see if this be true. If it is true, then we will discuss again.”

The chief countered the Mai and the Mai Hezacta countered this or that argument over five hours. The council met and relented to the Mai’s will.

Mai Hezacta and Pao met and discussed monolith placements for the weeks to come.

“My record speaks for itself. The rains will come when I say they will come and their brain-eating ceremony will not manifest.” The Mai told Pao with certainty.

Each retired to their sleeping chambers, and Farha and Hrez exited.

Fort Normandy, Under the Dungeon

Farha and Hrez materialized in that dreary dark place in the space in the castle shielded from the SS.

“This is unexpected,” Hrez said.

“If you’re going to ask — I had nothing to do with this. I expected we would have gone to the cocoon with Sophia.”

“Yes, you did well, even with the surprise hiccup,” he said. “This is puzzling. I will need to meditate. I suggest you do the same. We must not leave this place until we’ve determined what has happened.”

Zed’s Secret Office

Q waited in Zed’s office, crammed with sensing and scanning devices all turned on and ramped up.

A entered after having passed through a maze of scans and tests.

Zed confided with his two comrades that he did not trust any of the new SS operatives from Central in Paris.

“There is a mole, or soon to be a mole, amongst the throng. But you two seem to be okay. X trusts you. We need to be on the lookout for this traitor.”

Under the Dungeon

After a week of meditating and fasting, neither of the two saw anything. They both came up with a plan to re-enter the fort without arousing suspicion and then carried out the plan.

New Data from the Satellite

The satellite team was picking up new data a week before scans of the Slide were to appear. Anticipation was high. Tem was excited. He invited Farha to join him in viewing the area east of Ire-Land and the Scot Highland, but she seemed distant, preoccupied. He was caught-up in the new discoveries and the hopes for a new fertile land.

The disappointment was severe. Where mythology hinted at a vast ocean called the Atlantic was a barren desert devoid of plant life. Towards the center of the desert was a thin green strip, with trees and a river that was measured to be very deep.

After the images were collated, the satellite scanned the Slide. Tem missed Farha at his side. He saw her distant, absent, and he admitted to himself — depressed; almost despondent. She received word via dreamtime to meet Hrez at mid-base.

A Hut — Reserved

“What became of Sophia?” he asked her.

“I had forgotten about her until last night when she came looking for me in dreamtime, but we couldn’t communicate — everything she said was gibberish. Besides, I thought she was with you.”

“Something is very wrong.”

“Is it possible that you look at something in my dreamtime visions? I feel foreboding about it. You may need protection. And I only fully realized a few seconds ago that it is around you.”

The previous chapter and start of Part 3:

And the next: Chapter 31 — Time Out of Joint

Thanks for reading. Comments and questions welcome. Of course, will not be revealing any conclusions or endings via the clues…