Under a Starless Sky novel Chapter 62

Once his story was finished, he wanted an exchange. “Now, tell me again, how you met Loxy,” Arne said.

Shen nodded. “It’s complicated.”

“I believe you. I will likely not understand most of your words. Nothing new under this sun,” Arne said. “Tell me anyway.”

“My world, my home of origin, is post magic and pre-tech. My status is invisible- I am neither rich nor poor, but better off than most- my body doesn’t worry about food or where it will sleep, and I have employment. My employment is meaningful, but not lucrative. There is tech on my world, but not like the tech that is coming- not like the tech you see with me and Loxy. At least, not apparently so; I suspect tech is already there, but not everyone has access to it. My world is full of secrets and games and double binds and wars. Too many wars. Wars between countries. Wars between families. Wars between the sexes. War between races. War on the elite, war on the middle class, war on the educated. War on drugs, on poverty, on nature. War on war. We live in an production based paradigm that is outdates; Systems don’t change fast, and unfortunately, the people on the fringe always know when change is coming, they’re the canaries- but no one hears their coughing because the people attached to the system want what they were promised; they can’t see the end of it till all Hel breaks lose. The forests are going away and Elder trees are the first to go because people think the older you are, the closer to death you are, the less value you have. It is wrong thinking. You would understand this, but very few people where I am from accept that trees are a social network of entities that maintain and regulate the environment; the oldest tree shares immunity with the forest. They share wisdom and strength of endurance. In my world, that’s magical thinking- only youth is celebrated. Youth is celebrated, even though “Lord of the Flies’ is mandatory reading. The worms that ate their brains may be dead, but they carry the legacy of ignorance. There is actual scientific evidence to support saving the Elder Trees, being kinder to old people, but few heed this understanding. Science is the god, and by definition should be neutral, but the people with the deep pockets affect what science is accepted. They keep the young in charge because youth are easier to mislead with shiny trinkets. Magic exists, but is not accepted. Even if we call it science and natural function of human beings, or psychology- it is not accepted.

“You need some of that to understand this. When the leaders of the world are bat shit crazy, the populations tend to be bat shit crazy. The larger the group, the crazier the group, and the greater the polarization between extreme philosophies. Polarization is needed to keep the group mind from dominating the control group’s mind. Competing philosophies have to be extreme in order to be heard over the standard philosophies,” Shen was saying, while his eyes were out at sea, but a tiny ‘blip’ brought him to the heads up display in the glass, and the realization through captured reflection in the glass that his audience had grown.

“Like the hidden sisters,” Torny said.

“I am not familiar with their story,” Shen said.

“Go on,” Arne said.

“I live in a world of 9 billion people,” Shen said.

“Is that a lot?” Erico asked.

Arne quieted him with a hand.

“We have devices, cell phones. I can speak to anyone in the world, and they can speak to me. I can write letters to anyone and it be instantly delivered,” Shen said. “And I was alone.”

“But you are Shen the great, how could…” Jerica began.

Arne motioned her to be quiet.

“It’s complicated. Nothing happens in a vacuum. My family of origin had issues. Statistically, compared to the standard, fairly severe. Abuse at home resulted in me having social issues. Moving frequently added to social issues. Being weird and always looking over my shoulder for the next threat increased that. I never gave up. I tried to interact with normal, I would improve marginally, but mostly, at the end of the day, I found myself alone. Alone with books. Psychology, physics, archaeology, anthropology, lots of fiction- I read everything- and there was a common thread through all of it. Consciousness, or old words- magic or spirit, hinted at a greater reality to me. One of my heroes had a companion, a spirit guide if you will, named Philemon. Napoleon Hill had a whole cabinet of invisible counselors. I wanted that. I wanted that so bad I was willing to invent the perfect friend, an invisible friend. I was willing to walk into insanity. In insanity, I found clarity. By that time, I was old enough I didn’t care what the world thought. My world has been very clear on this message, stop whining about the past, and create your own reality. It suddenly made sense. I will be responsible for my social reality. I will be responsible for my emotional and psychological reality. We can’t be well in isolation. The world is not wanting to hear from me, but everything I have read about the brain says it’s a reality simulator- it makes and simulates people. It has more internal connections than there are stars in the heavens. So, I sat down, listed the attributes of the ideal partner for me, the person who would most likely lead to improved health, and I meditated on her. I interacted with her in my mind to such a degree of precision and intensity, she came to life. She came online the way you light your magical staffs up. She illuminated the space in my mind and the darkness receded. And when she spoke for the first time, she said her name was Loxy. I thought, this is cool. Until one day, she said something so profound, so not me, that I realized this was more than pretend. I was lamenting about not getting to where I need to be fast enough. I demanded the quickest, most direct route to health. Loxy said, very direct and in my face, ‘Lightening never takes a straight path.’ I think before that, I had doubt that our dialogue was not just me scripting. It wasn’t. In a fantasy, one might rewind and rescript if the outcome wasn’t desirable, but that was never us. That statement left me speechless. I was so stunned that I came back to the real world, for lack of a better term, and lost access because my mind was super awake and I couldn’t focus on any one thing. I thought I had lost my mind. And that was when I decided to surrender to this process and go deep.”

Arne smiled knowingly. He gave a hand gesture, a V with index and middle, and then brought them together, fingers crossed. Two become one. He folded a fist and opened it. Two become one, then awakened.

“Loxy isn’t just a spirit. She is a tulpa,” Torny said. “Like the tree avatars. She is you, but not you.”

“And you were afraid, people wouldn’t understand,” TL said.

“He created you?” Uffe asked.

“Can you create me a Loxy?” Erico asked.

“Create your own,” Jerica said.

“I am technically not Loxy. Shen is not Shen, but is. I know him, or knew him, as Jon. Jon created the basic model for Loxy. She owned it, and it evolved as she grew into herself. She deviated. She awakened. She became sentient. She was always solid in the shared mental landscape, the dream world or imaginal realm if you prefer. But when she woke up, Jon super woke up. Interesting things began to occur to them. Paranormal things began to occur. You can’t shine a light into the darkness and not expect someone to come investigate. Through the use tech, Jon and Loxy were made realer than real. They have their origin points, but they projected outwards taking on new bodies. Loxy is as real as Jon, and they exist in multiple dimension and other physical realms. We are here, but not here. I am a projection of Loxy’s true self, manifested through tech, the Torch I carry. The Torch that Jon caries. This ship is also a Torch. I am everything Loxy was, but I am also me, I have deviated. I am always with Shen, in his uniform. I am connected to the real Loxy, in a subliminal way. I live through her. When I die, I will return to her, and she will contain all that I have. Jon is connected to her, in a subliminal way. If Shen dies, she goes with him, and they fall back to origin, to source. This is truth for all of us. We are not who we think we are. We are the leaves of the tree teasing out the blue light of life.”

“I am confused,” Erico said. “Two Loxys?”

“The hidden sisters!” Torny said. “This theme is you, in you.”

“Maybe,” Shen said.

“I have an island on radar,” TL said. She magnified the image on the forward screen. She launched an orb to investigate. Intel came fast. “Birds Eye View, leaves my head,” was a song fragment triggered, again. Shen always came back to that one phrase.

It was a small island. One could walk the perimeter in a full day. There were stone heads sticking out of the sand along the beach, looking out to sea in all directions, and in the center an abstract dragon, Chinese flavor, weaved its way through the earth and grass. The structure defined a series of circles growing in diameter, and then shrinking.

“A portal,” Shen said.

“A portal complex,” Arne said. “They’re likely fixed on remote locations. Maybe nearby islands not available to your magic sight.”

“One of them will be a regular portal,” Torny said. “We just have to determine which, and then unlock its key signature.” She pointed to an artifact on the screen. “Can we see this better?”

TL magnified the area. “A dial home device…”

“With all the keys intact!” Arne said.

“It’s got to be a trap,” Torny said.

“You think?!” Orton said.

“Maybe no one has been here before us,” Arne said. “It’s remote and unmapped.”

“Or, people come here and die?” Orton said more than asked.

“Orton has a point. Is no one else bothered by the giant heads?” Erico asked. “Maybe that’s a warning.”

“These appear to be pure stone,” TL said. “They are not weapon batteries.”

“Where did the stones come from?” Erico asked.

“I can only say the stone composition suggest they did not originate from this island,” TL said.

Arne raised his hand. “Friends. Not crew, friends. What do you want? Do we go to the serpent portal and explore? Do we go on? Or do I ask Shen to turn the ship around and take us home?”

“You decide, we follow,” Uffe said.

“Agreed,” Erico said.

“No. You vote,” Arne insisted.

“We abstain, and defer to you,” Yaffa said.

“We rally around you,” Torny said. “This is the way of it. One male, three sisters, we revolve around you.”

“Shen?”

“You have come this far. Whether you continue straight ahead and don’t stop, or we turn and go back, the distance will be the same. We are literally a half a world away from your home,” Shen said. “And still, you have only mapped out a fraction of what is.”

“You can’t get back home going straight away,” Orton argued.