Author: The Muse Be Willing

Meta-Mental Journal Record, Year of Ananta 3343
Entry by Alice,
My intention was to go back to Earth, to be present just in case my son needed my help.
I had a sense that he might be abducted by the Critens. I had long ago connected my will to the will of the incorporeal Cosmic Overlord, and that omnipresent power would empower me to satisfy my need if it coincided with the cosmic plan. I released my will unto it’s will, confident that a strategy would emerge that would satisfy my needs and the needs of all concerned.
I awoke from that surrendering trance, to find myself looking out a window, into a bright sunlit grassy yard, where a young man and a young teenage boy were practicing throws and catches with a baseball.
I suddenly realized my hands were wet and warm, and looked down to see I had them in dishwater, and appeared to be in the midst of washing dishes. I was momentarily surprised by this circumstance. I heard a young child trying to get my attention by tugging on a bright flowery apron that my body was wearing, “Mommy, Mommy, Tommy pinched me.” I realized I was a silent observer in a young mother’s body and mind. I had been in this kind of situation before, and so I knew that I could, if necessary, exercise my will and exert control over this host.
The personality of the host mind, responded sympathetically to her daughter’s entreaty, “Are you okay? Sweetheart, you’re not crying. Did Tommy hurt you?”, the mother asked.
“I’m okay,” said the little girl, “pinching can hurt.”
The mother looked around behind her and spotted a little boy, twin of the girl, trying to hide behind a chair.
“Tommy, are you trying to hurt your sister?” the mother asked.
“No, mommy. I love my sister, but she wouldn’t listen to me, so I squeezed her with my fingers,” replied Tommy.
“See darling, Tommy doesn’t want to hurt you,” the mother said as she looked down at her daughter, “Tommy just wants your attention, maybe he wants to play with you.”
The little girl walked over to her brother, “do you want to play with Molly?” the little girl asked, holding out her doll toward the boy.
Tommy quickly scampered out from behind the chair and crawled over to a boy truck, almost as big as he was. “Put molly in the truck. I’ll take her for a ride.”
Sally put Molly in the back of the dump truck. “Be careful Molly,” Sally said.
Confident that the children were working out their differences, the mother turned back to the dishes. I was bemused by this situation, but also a little frustrated because I wanted to be getting along with my own agenda of watching over and possibly protecting my son, Bhoj, and how could I do that in this woman’s body without disrupting her life.
The woman finished up her dishes, untied her apron, hung it on a hook inside a small closet, and walked briskly out of the kitchen, into the bedroom, where she checked her hair and, teeth.
As I and the mother looked back at her image in a mirror, I recognized that face. With a strange sense of relief and purpose, I realized I was in Nellie’s body, Bhoj’s co-worker in his Earth job. I was hoping she was single. Blake seem to have a fondness for her.
Well, while she’s at work I can keep an eye on Blake, but what if he needs me now, I couldn’t see how my being in Nellie’s body will satisfy my goal. This is not the first time I didn’t understand or agree with the situations I was placed in to satisfy the cosmic plan. Obviously, this assignment fits perfectly into a larger story that I could not yet appreciate. I realized anew, that I must have faith that everything will work for all concerned.
To be continued….

As Alice traveled incredibly fast, relative to everything else, she quickly thought through what she could do when she got there. What if it was a trap, and someone or something was waiting to nab her? Instantly powering up her sixth sense, she realized that it was a trap, and there would be several easily dispatched assailants, and yet another whose powers were of her ilk, a kati of a lesser class, perhaps challenging, but not impossible to defeat. She also sensed the presence of Nellie, which gave her some relief. Knowing that Nellie was still alive, made her happy as mother might feel, at finding her child was safe. As the temporary energy container began to dissolve and the landing environment began to appear as through a dissipating fog, Alice decided to go invisible.
She knew that the other kati, could detect her, but the alien Kati’s minions wouldn’t be able to see her and she could dispatch them without risk. Before she was fully materialized, she was aware that the minions, surrounding her, had apparently also been made invisible by the other kati, although, being a kati, of a higher grade, Alice could easily see through their invisibility cloaks. Once she felt the ground underneath her feet, she quickly stepped between them and cast a tickling spell upon them. In an instant they were laughing hysterically, falling all over themselves, and onto the ground.
Alice imediately noticed Nellie, being held by two burly minions. Still invisible, at least to them, Alice quickly zipped around behind them, and disabled them with a sleep inducing touch to their medullas.
Sensing the other kati, on the verge of going after her, Alice cast a powerful immobilization spell in her direction. Then Alice quickly grabbed Nellie and was about to initiate another leap through time and space, when the other kati, having quickly nullified the immobilization magic, was about to cast a net over Alice and Nellie, but Alice was too fast for her, and sent the resourceful kati flying backward, with her net following. Alice immediately cast Nellie and herself into the transport tunnel, leaving the minions and the other kati behind.
Her troubles weren’t over yet, she knew they would soon be followed, so she intended to use evasive hopping from one planet to another, and possibly resort to multi-dimensional cloning to cast ghost trails, designed to confuse, and mislead the pursuers. She knew her pursuers wouldn’t go back to Earth and wait for them, because she could sense that they couldn’t pass through the protective shell that she had cast over the Earth ages ago, shortly after Blake lost his identity. That made her wonder, if the robot could be stolen, then could her son be kidnapped? She projected her powerful intuitive vision to see whether Blake was in danger. Relieved that he was apparently still safe and on Earth, she decided she had better powerfully obfuscate her pursuers, and then return to Earth surreptitiously to avoid capture, and to protect Blake unbeknowst to anyone, even him.

….to be continued.

As Alice and Blake hurried towards the break room, they tried to be calm and cool, so as not to attract attention and questions from employees or customers.
“Do you think that one of the Critens has shape shifted to resemble Fred?” asked Alice in a low voice.
“It looks that way, or else Fred has been playing tricks with our minds,” Blake responded in a subdued tone.
The break room was not far from the office, and there was only one entrance/exit.
Upon arriving, they could see that neither Nellie nor Fred were there. Blake’s first impulse was to turn around and look else where, but as he was about to leave the break room, one of the other supervisors, Cathy, asked, “Blake, are you looking for someone?”
“Yes Cathy we are. Have you seen Fred and Nellie?
“When I was coming in here for my break, I noticed them walking by, I think I overheard something about the hardware department,” Cathy said.
“Great, Cathy, thanks,” Blake said. After they left the break room and were walking toward the Hardware department, Blake said softly. “Hmm, I wonder what they plan to do there.”
“I hope it’s not what I think it is,” Alice said with alarm.
The hardware robot was taken and returned precisely because below the ground in that area were the requisite natural and ancient metal deposits that would enable the galactic transport beam to function. Blake, realizing the worst, said, “Of course, Let’s hurry.” and so they did, almost running, with care not to bump into and knock down any unwary customer or employee.
As Alice and Blake arrived at the end of the hardware department aisle, they both felt a slight momentary rush of air flow past them towards the middle of the aisle, an indication to them that air was rushing in to fill a vacuum, probably caused by the sudden disappearance of something in that space.
“I would say they did use the transport beam, “ said Blake.
“I might be able to follow them, the energy trail will be fresh for a few minutes,” said Alice.
“What if they go back to the Critten home planet. They may not able to be able to see you, but they will become aware of your presence and may try to capture you. And if the Crittens are working for another species, the species may be able to see you the moment you arrive,” said Blake.
“I realize that. I will only stay long enough to determine that Nellie is okay, and find out what they plan to do with her,” said Alice.
“I’ll wait here for you, then,” said Blake.
“Whether or not they take her to the Criten world, I may stay longer if necessary. But I’ll play it safe,” said Alice.
“If detect your presence on arrival, you may not have much time to find out anything. There’s also the possibility that they will be expecting us to follow them. In fact, maybe that’s the whole idea, they want us and not her,” said Blake.
“Hmm, I’ll be able to see the surroundings before I’m fully materialize, and if I see any danger, I can pass through that locale, and on to another,“ Alice said, knowing that she could not safely reverse the direction of her jaunt, and would be required to hop to another planet.
“How will I know what your circumstances are, if you don’t come back right away?” asked Blake.
“Telepathically, of course,” said Alice, she realized why Blake had to ask. Although they had used that instant communication method many times in the past, since he was under the illusion that he was Blake, and not Bhoj, he had forgotten the immediacy of that ability.
“Oh yes,” Blake said in a dreamy sort of way.
“Yes, just be aware, sweetheart. I’ll be in touch,” said Alice, “I’d better depart, before the trail completely dissipates.” She gave him a quick embrace, stepped away and as Blake said, “Be careful,” she vanished.

…to be continued

“Total annihilation?!” Nellie echoed almost hysterically.
“Now, now, calm down. I’m sure it won’t be that bad. After all, we have the resources to mitigate the adverse effects of any kind of invasion,” Alice replied, attempting to put her at ease.
“Invasion!” Nellie squawked, not at all put at ease. “ What can we do against an invasion?”
“You’d be surprised. Your people have talents, skills, and powers that they aren’t aware of,” Alice said in a consoling tone.
“Well, I hope so,” Nellie replied, a little calmer, mirroring Alice’s unruffled confidence. “This is more than I bargained for.”
“It’s probably just what you need. A little other worldly excitement gives one the perfect circumstances to build character,” Alice informed her off handedly.
They were standing outside Blake’s office. Alice had second thoughts about continuing the conversation.
“Someone’s coming,” Alice said.
Nellie looked around, and then said “I don’t see anyone.”
“His name is ….Red, Ched, or Ed,” Alice replied.
“Oh you must mean Fred. He’s due in this morning,” Nellie said, and then as she looked at her watch, “My goodness, he’s an hour late.”
“He had trouble with his conveyance,” Alice replied.
“How do you know that? Sixth sense?” Nellie asked.
“We must keep him from disturbing Blake,” Alice said in an urgent tone, “Blake’s solitude is a matter of cosmic importance.”
Nellie replied, “I’ll see what I can do,” and she walked away from Alice and met Fred as he came around a corner.
“Oh, good morning Fred, before you go into the office, I wanted you to see the hardware robot. It’s back,” said Nellie.
“I know it’s back,” Fred replied in a flustered tone.
“You don’t have to bite my head off, Fred. We just wanted your opinion. I realize now that you should have known. You and Blake keep in touch.” Nellie countered.
“I apologize. My car broke down on the way here. I had to have it towed, and rent a car. What a nightmare. I hate cars. If it isn’t one thing, it’s another. I’ll be happy when the AI driven vehicles on demand program is firmly in place, then it won’t be a big deal if a car breaks down, they’ll send out another one, and I’ll be on my merry way,” Fred lamented.
“Well, nothing is perfect or ever will be, no matter what it is,” Nellie replied.
“That’s kind of cynical, isn’t it?” said Fred.
“That’s one way to look at it, anyway, I’m glad you got here in one piece,” Nellie replied.
“Yeah. I’d better check in with Blake. He’s probably wondering what happened to me,” Fred said, while trying to walk around Nellie. But she expected that, and stepped in front of him with her hands up, palms facing him.
“He’s on an important phone call and he asked me to keep everyone at bay until it’s over,” Nellie quickly stretched the truth.
“Really, and I wasn’t included. That’s strange. Is it a store related call,” responded Fred.
“Yes, it is totally weird. Corporate has its head in another world. That’s what they wanted, senior top manager only conference call,” Nellie said, continuing to extemporize, while trying to determine how this fabricated story was going to play out. “They could be saving so much time, just by including you and the other AMs in the call. Now he’ll just have to fill us in later. Maybe they’re brainstorming. You know what they say, too many cooks spoil the broth, or something like that.” Alice could feel beads of sweat forming on her forehead. She didn’t make a habit of warping reality, or bending the truth. Blake was in communion with his superiors, an invisible higher power or authority to be sure, and he will tell us later what he realized, therefore she really wasn’t stretching the truth too much, she rationalized.
Fred noticed her perspiring. “You look hot. Are you feeling faint.. light headed. Are you okay?” he asked as he lightly touched her arm. “Do you want to go to the break room for some water?”
“I guess I do feel a little dizzy,” she said, as she reached out and grabbed his arm, pretending to steady herself. She realized how stressful it was to lie, the pressure of the possibility of being found out later, was she realized, going to compromise her honest reputation.
“Yeah, yeah, water. Water would be good. Sounds like a great idea. I guess this robot situation and…. life in general has left me a little overwhelmed,” Alice said.

…to be continued.

Fred responded. “Okay, let’s go. I’ll walk with you. We don’t want you to faint,” Fred said, sounding concerned.
As they walked off toward the break room, Alice, who was standing about 15 feet away, had been observing the conversation between Fred and Nellie. She was thinking how nice of Fred to be willing to escort Nellie to the break room.
She heard the office door slide open behind her, and turned to see Blake beckoning her inside.
“Thanks for encouraging Nellie to divert Fred. Although I can’t manage the store without him, he would have drained my energy and I wasn’t ready to break the strategizing trance.” Blake said and then asked: “Where did they go… by the way?”
“The break room…..Hmm that’s strange,” Alice said thoughtfully.
“What’s so strange about them going to the break room,” asked Blake.
“It’s not that,” she replied, “I just realized that he didn’t seem to notice me watching them. I wasn’t that far away and he was facing my direction.”
Blake turned to walk back to his desk, and then stopped mid step, “Uh oh, I hope it’s not what I think it is,” Blake said.
“What’s that,” asked Alice.
“There’s only one race that can’t see you,” replied Blake.
“Oh no, not the Critens. What would they be doing here?” Alice asked.
“Only one reason: to infiltrate this world. Fred may have been sent as a scout to determine the vulnerabilities and strengths of its inhabitants. The evil entities may have been the second step in their plan,” replied Blake. “Let’s find them quick. Nellie might be in danger” Blake said as he headed towards the exit door.

“What? Did you mean to say the robot was possessed by….. malignant entities?” Nellie almost shouted.
“Eh…” Blake managed to reply. He realized he had put his cosmic foot in his mouth, and wished he could extricate it, and that it never happened.
Even though Blake had a very revelatory and restful sleep, his inability to fully adjust to his dual identity was posing problems for him.
Nellie had walked into his office and casually asked about the exchanged parts in the robot that his mother had detected. And without thinking, he had declared that those parts were possessed by malign entities, and they had been neutralized by benign entities that were already there before the robot was taken and returned.
“Are you sure you want to know,” he asked.
She sat down, in an overwhelmed kind of way. “Ah, well, I guess. I’ve been whoosed to another planet and back, found out that you and Alice are aliens. I don’t think I’ve lost my mind yet. I can’t imagine what could be worse. On other hand, I couldn’t have imagined what has already happened. It’s almost like an adventure. ….Yes, let me have it.”
“Okay, you agreed,” Blake replied. “The easiest way to explain entities is to compare them to ants. You know they have a sort of a communal consciousness or mutual relationship. Or maybe bees would be a better analogy. Bees have a queen that produces more bees, and they protect and feed her. Well, entities don’t exactly have a queen, but they do have an allegiance to a sophisticated consciousness or mind. But it’s more than that, they are directed or controlled psychically by the MM or master mind. The new entities were directed by a malign MM to occupy the robot. Fortunately the benign entities, that have been in the robot since it was built, because they were stronger and more numerous were able to convert the malign entities to more positive and constructive purposes.”
“Where did the benign entities come from?” Nellie asked innocently.
Blake hesitated to answer that question, because he didn’t want to overwhelm her. But she has survived so far. And she would probably be better off if she were better informed, rather than ignorant of the unseen circumstances.
“Entities are everywhere. They have always been and always will be in everything. Ancient cultures often referred to them as spirits. For example, the tree spirit, the spirit of the deer, the bear spirit, the spirit of the rocks, etc. The primitives were more attuned to the innate goodness of entities and so with proper reverence, their beneficial influence was noticed and appreciated. It was a mutually nurturing arrangement.
“But since the industrial age and development of civilization, the so called superstitious beliefs were slowly abandoned, and contact with the entities was lost to the average person. There are still a few rare individuals, usually hermits, those living beyond the fringes of societal norms in the few natural habitats, who are still aware and consciously work with the invisible forces in the world.
Some ancient religions believed that a supremely good Being was working through the benign spirits and an evil Being was working through the malignant spirits. Of course, the entities will change their allegiance if a stronger influence overpowers their existing orientation.
“And that just happened, right?… to the malign robot entities?” Nellie.
“That’s right,” replied Blake.
“Will they switch back if the influences are different?” asked Nellie.
“Absolutely, they are of a primitive intelligence, without any sense of loyalty,” answered Blake.
“I think I understand, there’s enough good here to keep the evil at bay,” Nellie hopefully concluded.
“I wish it were so,” said Alice behind her, startling Nellie, enough to cause her to jump, exclaim and bring her hand up to her heart. “Sorry, my dear, I forgot that even if I hear a ‘whoosh’ no one else does.”
Nellie turned around to face her. “Alice, my goodness. Please don’t ever pop in like that again. There’s too many weird things happening and I’m been feeling very edgy, if you know what I mean….”.
She recovering quickly, due to the revivifying excitement of learning about new other worldly stuff, Nellie asked, “Did I understand correctly? You only hear a whoosh when you’re using the…or inside the… Oh you know,” Nellie said struggling to find a name for the quantum leaping. containment.
“Let’s just call it ‘whoosing’, shall we?” offered Alice.
“What do you mean ‘you wish it were so’,” said Blake, finally succumbing to his initial curiosity about Alice’s opening statement.
“ Well, the protective barrier surrounding this region in space is not as secure as it used to be, ……..and I think it has something to do with you.”
“Wasn’t this region under extremely tight integrity protection?” Blake asked.
“Under what?,” Nellie couldn’t help but ask.
“It’s complicated, the force fields are slowly disintegrating due to an influence applied to them in an diabolically complex way rendering their hitherto impermeability… permeable,” Alice tried to explain.
“Doesn’t sound good,” Nellie said, trying to keep up.
“Hmmm…..what do you mean ‘it has something to do with me’?
“It very difficult to understand. You’re better at explaining and understanding the astro-dynamics of subatomic forces and how imbalances in power matrices can be triggered by abnormal vibratory influences,” Alice explained.
“Alice, I’d say you can talk way beyond me as well as anyone else,” Nellie injected.
“But I haven’t really done anything here, since I’m been or not been myself.” Blake said thoughtfully to himself out loud. “Unless….There must be invisible strands of my confused auric blueprint that have somehow provided pathways for malign entities to enter this protected region of space.”
“I think that’s it in an atomic shell,” Alice responded.
“Wow, that almost means something to me.” Nellie said.
“Is there anything you can do about it?” asked Alice.
“Since an answer is not coming to me easily, I’ll have to meld with the moment, and see what’s best,” said Blake.
“Meld with the moment…is that like meditating, merging with the infinite, tuning in with the eternal?,” asked Nellie.
“That’s close enough for us innocent bystanders,” Alice.
“I understand why you’ve been coming to this region of space, mainly to check on me, but I think you’ve been inadvertently creating tracks in the ether, that may have corrupted the shield as well,” Blake said.
“I plead innocent on the grounds that I’m your mother, and that my path has been of willful surrender to the GP. I couldn’t come here unless it were part of the GP. Make of that what you will,” Alice threw in that critical bit of truth.
“What is the GP?” asked Nellie for elaboration.
“Grand Plan,” Alice casually replied.
“Am I part of the GP?” Nellie queried.
“Yes, absolutely, everything is. Most beings don’t realize it,” Alice replied, matter of factly.
“Where does that leave me?” Nellie inexplicably asked.
“Don’t worry my dear. Unless you’re aggravating the atoms, you’ll be cared for, even if I have to take on the responsibility myself. And it will be my pleasure.” Alice said and gave Nellie an affectionate rub between her shoulder blades.
“Leave me for a time. I need to go within, and determine what our role is,” Blake said in a withdrawn way.
“Come Nellie, let’s take a walk. You can tell me all about yourself. We’ll exchange perspectives and grow by leaps and bounds,” Alice said, as she extended one arm to Nellie and the other toward the door.
“Okay, see you Blake…..eh..enjoy.” Said Nellie.
“Shhh, quietly,” Alice said. Blake had his eyes closed and was sitting very still.
“Hopefully, he’ll find a way for us to avoid total annihilation,” Alice remarked.

To be continued…

At the end of the day Blake was very exhausted. He had examined the possessed robot for weaponry, but found nothing that looked ominous. He had no trouble falling asleep. A few moments after he closed his eyes, he found himself in a dream, and experienced a shaft of light reminiscent of the transport beam.
“Blake, my dear,” his mother’s voice rang clearly in his mind.
She then appeared before his astonished inner vision.
“Mother, what a surprise. You’ve never come to me in my dreams before. Oh no, does this mean you’ve passed on?” Blake asked in alarm.
“No, Blake, it’s not that bad. However, I do have news. Do you want the good news or the bad news first.” She asked.
“Well that depends.” Blake replied, not in a hurry to hear either. “Will the good news be ruined by hearing the bad news first. Or will I feel better about the bad news by hearing the good news first?”
“You know. It matters not, the relativity of the judgement of good and bad, is more about this world of limitation and differentiation. Just be aware that whatever judgement you make regarding it, will have relative value and will change over time,” Alice declared dryly.
“Yes, mother. Thank you for that erudite, brief elucidation on the nature of reality,” Blake. “I’ll take the good news first, being as how it’s all relative anyway.”
“Well, being as how the good news hinges on the bad news, I’ll give you the bad news first. The bad news is that malignant entities were present in all the new robot parts, and their mission was to take over the robot, and use it for a purpose that is still unclear. The good news is that the robot’s original parts were already possessed by benign entities and they have overpowered the malignant entities and brought them over to the benign side of the equation,” she triumphantly announced.
“Wow. what a relief, you had me going there for a moment,” Blake replied. “but now it occurs to me that whoever placed the malignant entities in the first place may have something else up their sleeve. What do you think.”
“ Blake, you might have a point there. I can not determine the manifestation of any new malignant plans at this moment, but I will look into it immediately,” she replied. “Have a good rest, and I will be in touch.”
At that instant Alice vanished from the dream and he sunk deeper into a restful slumber.

To be continued…

With a mighty, “Hi, Ho”, and another whoosh, Alice transported them back to the store into the hardware department. Hours had passed since departure. The restocking robots had finished their nightly ritual of replenishing the shelves, and were just reentering their storage closets. As the hardware robot storage closet door was closing, Alice waved her hand and it stopped moving, and opened instead. She waved her hand again and parts of the robot began to glow with an orange light.
“Parts have been exchanged for the originals,” Alice said. Coming up closer to the large machine, she pressed her palms together, then pulled them apart, a large panel covering the robot’s internal parts, became transparent, revealing more glowing parts.
“Blake, we must have one of your robot technicians examine this machine, and identify these replaced parts.
“Hmmm, well that could take weeks. Can’t you make a determination. You seem to have some interesting skills,” said Nellie.
“I could. I’ll have to give it much, more effort, and a few hours, but just to get it over with, I’ll do what I can, ” Alice replied.
“I may be able to help. I do have access to repair manuals. Let me pull those up on the computer, “ Blake said, as he marched off to his office on the other side of the building.
The morning crew had just started to come in, and they were surprised to see Blake so early. Several of them stopped him, to ask a question or requested help in solving a problem that they had held over since the day before. Nellie was following for a while, until she had to peel off and help solve other problems.
Once back in his office, Blake, after spending over an hour perusing the robot tech manuals, downloaded them to his handheld device, and headed back to the department. Of course, without his mother there, how could he tell which parts were new. Then he realized he had instant photographic recall. Then why did he have go back to hardware if he could remember the parts? He could just as well do the research at his office. But there was some other reason to go back to hardware. He didn’t know what it was, but he would find out when he got there, maybe.
As he turned the corner into the main hardware aisle, he could sense something different. There was a strange ambiance or vibe that he hadn’t noticed before. He almost had the sense that the robot was alive or conscious. The big door was now closed. One of the other employees may have closed it or maybe his mother closed it before she disappeared again. He knew she wouldn’t be here. She was often transferred from one place to another at the spur of the moment. He remembered that much about their relationship, it survived frequent and prolonged separations.
He continued to walk toward the robot’s closet, feeling an even stronger sense of some presence hiding there. Was there an invisible entity hovering over the machine, left to keep an eye on it to make sure that it performed the way they wanted it to. He experienced an increased intuitive sensitivity that was more characteristic of his mental make up as Broj than of his acquired identity as Blake.
His mind was working very fast now, to understand the situation and stay ahead of the game. The presence was inside the closet, inside the robot. Whoever borrowed the machine needed to install possessed parts, to take over its functioning. He surmised that the perpetrator was probably aware of him now and could activate the robot at will, and use it to crush him and leave the building, if that’s what its game was. But, Blake reasoned, the robot was restricted to this building, and its re-stocking function, therefore it couldn’t be of much value in any other context. Unless, he realized, its stabilizer and shelving arms could be detached. Even then it still wouldn’t be able to get out of the building, it was too tall. Of course, he recalled, that wheels had been added to its two upper arms. Theoretically it could be made to hinge in the middle, enabling the top half to fall forward onto the wheels, then it could roll out of the store, through the double doors. So apparently it could and probably would be used outside of the building. I’ll have to examine it more closely for signs of weaponry, Blake thought.

To be continued…

The whoosh produced only a slight sense of acceleration, not even one G, and only for an instant. Then they were surrounded by an ethereal light, the surface under foot, the surroundings and the ceiling, filled with a soothing illumination.
“Are we traveling fast? I have the feeling we’re going somewhere really fast.” Nellie said.
“Yes, my dear, we have moved out of your planetary configuration, although not in the way you understand time and space. This trip is happening through a natural paradoxical energy corridor that I created to take us somewhere special,” Alice responded.
Before Nellie or Blake could ask where, they sensed a change in their bodies, like a slowing down, then a settling.
The translucent quality of the surrounding light, slowly became opaque, and like a fog dissipating, gradually revealed a stunning landscape. A beautiful blue sky asserted itself above, while a rocky ledge appeared near by, and beyond that a vast vista, graced by rainbow arches, sparkling lakes and snow capped mountains. A pleasant meadow, lush with beautifully colored flowers of magnificent hues spread out towards a distant forest of enormous trees in the opposite direction.
“This is a beautiful place,” Blake said, “And it seems very familiar.”
“This was one of your favorite spots for integration and rejuvenation. There is a healing hot spring and a Toning Chamber nearby,” Alice said.
“I’m a little confused,” Nellie exclaimed. “Has Blake been here before? How is that possible?”
“I apologize Nellie. You have been unceremoniously pulled out of your customary life, and dropped into a world you may have difficulty understanding. Blake has lost his memory, and adopted an alternate identity. I’m hoping he could speak for himself,” Alice said as she looked squarely at Blake. “What about it, my dear? Are you remembering? Do you know who I am?”
Blake’s face revealed his inner struggle to secure a stable sense of self, amidst the whirling and conflicting experiences. The sudden leap to this far distant locale, had severely shaken his assumed identity as Blake.
He shook his head as if to remove any residue of bafflement. He looked back and forth from Alice to Nellie, trying to orient and find a way to express himself in a way that made sense. “Wow, I’ll be gob-smacked. I feel so mixed up, to put it crudely,” he blurted.
As he looked at Alice, Blake reflected out loud, “I think I remember now. Years ago, I put myself into a trance to do some research, and made the mistake of relinquishing my will completely to the process.” He looked at Nellie, trying to help himself help her find a way to understand. “While surrendering to the trance, my mind was vulnerable to, what you might describe as, an environmental brain washing.”
“That’s weird. Who are you two? and where exactly are we? Can I get back to work, to the store?” asked an exasperated Nellie, as she looked at the vast unfamiliar landscape, “And back to Earth? …We’re not on Earth are we?” She asked incredulously.
As the reality of the situation began to dawn on her, anxiousness was quickly displacing her customary cool reasoning.
Alice put her hand on Nellie’s shoulder, “I’m so sorry my dear, that you got caught up in this. I couldn’t leave you back there. You might have gotten hurt by the incoming transport beam. Fortunately, I was able to get us out of there us in time. Don’t be concerned, everything will be fine. I’ll take you back soon. And, if you want, we can erase any memory of this experience from your mind.” Alice said. “In fact, that would probably be best for you. If you started telling others about this escapade, they’ll likely to think you’re eccentric, if not crazy.
“Since Blake is still a little confused, I’ll have to introduce myself. I am his mother, chief custodian of sanity in this quadrant of the galaxy,” said Alice.
“Wow, no offense intended but that sounds a little crazy. But, it doesn’t matter who you are, just get me back to where I was, or take me out of this trance, if that’s what’s going on. I’d really appreciate getting back to my normal life,” pleaded Nellie.
“If I recall, life had already reached an abnormal state of affairs, when the robot disappeared,” said Blake, then turning toward Alice. “Yes, mother, I remember you now. It’s wonderful seeing you again.” As they hugged, Alice said, “Thank goodness, I was afraid your memory loss was permanent.”
“Blake is right, Nellie. Something abnormal has happened at your store. I think I know who borrowed the robot. They returned it probably after they have altered it to suit their purposes. We can look into that later. Did they expect us not to notice? Strange behavior, I must say. Something sinister is going on, and we must discover what it is soon. Blake, if you are back in the game, let’s return to Earth, examine the robot, and try to mitigate whatever mischief it’s supposed to reap.”
“That sounds like a plan,” Blake said, full of excited and interested anticipation.
“Oh my,” said the still distraught Nellie. “Will my life ever be normal again?”

To be continued….

My thicket of difficulties dissolves in the effort to express the inexpressible, as the sky greets me with rolling ripples of riddles.
The ridiculous loveliness bubbling out of the wells of relationships really more often than not breaks up the boring monotony of mortal strife.

As Blake (or Bhoj) was following Nellie to the hardware department, his awareness was metamorphosing incomprehensibly. In a matter of seconds he realized how constrained, bored and stifled he felt by the environment and the role he was playing. He experienced an almost uncontrollable urge to do something else… “like jump into outer space,” the thought occurred to him. “Now that’s an out of the box idea,” Blake almost said out loud. “What an interesting thing to do, but what would I do out there?” Then into his mind, strange, unfamiliar images of distant places, people, things, and creatures appeared that did not resemble anything he had ever remembered seeing or imagining before in his earthly life. That’s when he stopped walking altogether. His sense of self was also shifting uncontrollably, affecting his balance.

“Wow, I don’t think I belong here. I feel as though I’m not who I thought I was. I think I must be somebody else. Was I hypnotized into thinking I’m not what I used to be – what? I’m utterly confused,” he thought. He didn’t know whether he was coming or going, incidentally he noticed Nellie had proceeded onward to the hardware department, apparently oblivious of his odd dilemma.

Blake continued to mentally grapple with his sense of disorientation. “Now wait a minute, I know who I was ….or who I am, at least I did a minute ago. Now I either have an alternate life, or a great imagination, …..or I’m going crazy……. or I’ve already gone crazy,” As Blake’s mind tried to explain his experience in terms it understood, or thought it did and sort out the life he had been living with the one he was suddenly viewing in his memories, he heard a voice in his head, “Quick honey, snap out of it, hurry up, we don’t have very much time.”

Then he did snap out of it, and came back to his immediate goal of accompanying Nellie to see Alice, or whoever she was, and his body sprang into a sprint, seemingly with a will of its own.

As he reached the aisle where Alice and Nellie stood, the floor began to tremble, and the building to vibrate. “Good thing, it’s past closing time. This could really freak out the customers,” the thought flashed through his mind.

“Blake, Nellie, quick join hands, they are bringing the toy back, we must get out of the way, ” shouted Alice. Blake quickly joined hands with Alice and Nellie, as something resembling a dowsing rod lifted up out of Alice’s shawl. The rod’s tip instantly lit up, then a bright beam of light shot up through the floor from beneath their feet, through the tip of the rod, and quickly spread out under them, then instantly swelled into a shaft of light that took them, with a whoosh, up into outer space to safety.

to be continued….