Annapurna Caves, above the Valley of Life, near Mustang, Tibet.
The Party left the Ankh via the "back door", servants of the Hes sadly lining their way. Meritaten was dressed more for the banks of the Nile than the snowy Tibetan mountains, but - Ramsey felt sure - felt the cold far less than anyone else.
Po: "How should we address you?"
Meritaten: "If I understand your Anglish modes, 'Hes' is sufficient."
The route up Annapurna grew progressively snowier and icier. [Most in the Party had recoveries high enough to fend off the damage from cold, though the lack of the good Anglish winter gear was felt by all.] By evening, the mechanical man was working very poorly. The cold was intense enough that the Party set up a minimal number of tents, knowing that more bodies sharing a space would make it warmer. The Hes chose to seat herself in the largest tent where she conjured a smokeless fire in her hand; it produced warmth enough for even Mr. Steele. The Hes seemingly spent the night in that meditative position. In the morning, Ramsey noted that she was just a little tired, not as bad as when she struggled with the Powers. However, two of the Tibetan-bred pack ponies had died from exposure outside.
The second day of climbing found even the most acclimated Party members suffering from the cold. From such a height, the assembling armies could be seen coming closer to the Ankh. At one point, a distant avalanche created a stunning visual and auditory display, a potent reminder not to trigger such a disaster close to hand. If anything, the second night was colder than the first.
On the third day, Our Adventures were down to only one pony who eyed the druidess resentfully as packs were stripped down to bare essentials that the single beast could handle. Anything else deemed important had to be carried by the individual Party member. As the pony was loaded, Penrington noted that the mechanical man had already consumed more fuel than the pony carried. Mr. Steele, at the very least, would not be coming back down this way.
On the 4th day of climbing, an unadorned building in familiar Tibetan oranges and tans was spotted on a bare shoulder of rock. Its wooden door faced the direction of the Party.
Penrington (gasping): "A surprising place for it, but we'd hoped for something of the sort. I'm still hoping this will offer us some options."
Po knocked at the door and there was a sound of a bar sliding. A familiar old man with a single tooth - now uncharacteristically dressed in saffron robes -- opened the door. In Mandarin he said, "Welcome back, come in." Po stood aside as the other people filed in. The Old Man greeted each in his or her native language. To Steele he said, "You're the first one of your kind that I've met." To Po, "In what language should I speak to him." Po smiled slightly, "Anglish." The Old Man then greeted the steel man in Anglish. To the pony, he gave a familiar nod. Then, as Po stepped into the shelter, the Old Man reached for a small mallet and sounded a gong.
Po: "Indeed we do feel welcome.'
The hallway was lit by manifold yak-butter candles, warm and bright and odiferous. Blankets hanging in the doorways concealed two egresses from the hall.
Sister Sunshine made introductions. The Old Man answered, "I am Balchen Geko."
Po nodded, knowing that to be the name of the Tibetan deity in charge of time and the three worlds of existence. "Are we near the Valley of Time?"
Old Man: "Yes"
Po: "Will you tell me what we're supposed to do with the Kalachakra?"
Old Man: "Do you know yourself better?"
Po: "Some. I don't know how many shattered there are or how to rejoin them."
Old Man: "There are and always have been a myriad of the shattered."
Po recognized that myriad usually meant 1000. "Do all the shattered need to rejoin to be One?"
Old Man: "No, just one needs to solve How To Be One. Do you know why you are shattered?"
Po: "No. But it is probably a proper step to Understanding. Please tell me why."
Old Man: "Siddhartha Gautama was a prince raised without want or care. When he first saw Need outside his palace he determined to do away with need and so resigned his place, sought Enlightenment, and returned as the Buddha to teach all the Way.
What many forget is that Siddhartha was married and had a family. His children followed the path of their father, found Enlightenment, and came back to teach. His daughter was many times Queen of Lhasa. She was queen when the Invader came and, in her knowledge and Enlightenment, prevented her people from fighting and dying. So the Invader - Temujin - 'took' her as was his wont with captive queens. By him she had a son who found it impossible to reconcile his two natures, although one was a Buddha nature. So he came here, shattered himself and time, and left until he could return and reconcile his natures. It was 8 months from the time Temujin 'knew' the Queen to the birth of her son. It has been 999 times 8 months since you," he looked at Po, "left here."
There was the clanking of gears from the mechanical man. Steele muttered, "That's 666 years."
The Old Man nodded. "The Dark Cycle uses 666, Buddhism finds meaning in 8, therefore now is a peculiar conjunction of Dark and Light. Both are ascendant." To Po, "Your mother and your father are now both powerful."
Po: "What can I do about shattered time?"
Old Man: "If the one shattered can find his way through time and the worlds and everything and become One, it will heal. Else another shattered will have to try at another time."
Po: "Of my mother, my father, and Enlightenment - which will cause the least destruction? Which is the best choice?"
Old Man: "If one can come back from the Land of Time through Bardo, and find one knows oneself well enough to become Enlightened, then one may choose: Become One, Restore Father, Join Mother. Enlightenment and Nirvana are greatly desired by all beings."
Po: "But Buddha came back. He did not choose Nirvana."
Old Man: "The goal of Siddhartha was to teach all the Middle Path, the Eight-fold Way, for each to reach Nirvana."
The Hes turned to Ramsey. "My Love, my sister is approaching. I will see you have the time you need." With only a look at him, she opened the door and stepped back outside. Ramsey emitted an anguished grunt, torn between his two interests.
Po continued, "Do you know where is the prayer wheel piece with the symbol of the Rat?"
Old Man: "It is the one you left here. Is this not the year of the Rat?"
Po nodded. "Where is it?"
Old Man: "In the central chamber."
Po, offered the last blanket from the bandolier, and queried, "May I?"
The Old Man took the blanket and, pushing aside one of the door hangings, placed the coverlet amongst a pile of other folded blankets. Steele and Penrington both noted that the room was not full, not quite. He then ushered the Party into the central chamber. The group immediately noticed that the wall opposite had a small rectangular peg around which there was room for a single prayer wheel. Penrington realized that his metal plug would not work, but, after the Kalachakra was assembled, Po's coin (given him at parting by his father Lok) fit perfectly in the center. The square hole in the coin fit perfectly upon the peg. Po recognized the appropriateness of the construction: the coin had the appearance of being old but 'felt' new to the gypsy; the prayer wheel pieces had looked and smelt like new wood but had 'felt' ancient to the gypsy. The Chinese boy prepared to spin the wheel.
From outside the house came the sound of an avalanche.
Po turned and looked for a moment at his companions. "Thank you for traveling with me and being my friends. I wish you luck."
Steele cranked out: "And to you, luck, contentment and wisdom."
Ramsey managed: "Thanks for the lessons you gave me."
Po turned the wheel in the correct direction. For a moment, the wheel seemingly spun backwards. From outside there came in rapid succession a woman's scream, a rifle shot, and another woman's scream. The room, the air, and Po all seemed to shred and tear. Po felt himself continually battered [10 Body, 10 stun every segment]; four heartbeats later he was unconscious.
Po
Po came to in a featureless area, lying on a grey floor. As he rose, he could see ghostly people, mostly oriental but all races represented, moving about. He and his staff seemed colorless grey and ghostly too. Before him on the floor lay a freshly minted coin, the rectangular hole crisp and the identifying design sharply defined: three camels - the 13th animal of Time. Looking through the hole, he saw his surroundings take on colour and definition: the floor was tan; people had colour; chasms - red, black, white - could be seen in the distance; there was a shaft of light nearby.
A vaguely familiar oriental man of 19 or 20 stood, looking confused, between Po and the shaft of light.
Po: "I suspect you are Lok."
Lok: "What is this place? What happened? I remember an earthquake. The wall next to me was about to fall and crush me."
Po: "You did not study the Way, did you?" Instead of alleviating the man's confusion, the boy showed him how to look through the hole in the coin.
Lok: "That is much better. But what is this place and who are you?"
Po: "I am your son who you have not yet had and may never have. But I thank you for being such a good father to me. Do you see the shaft of light there?" Po pointed in the direction he remembered and the man looked through the coin and nodded. Po determined that they could not both look through the coin at once to see the light. Po said, "Keep the coin and step into the light."
Lok, peering through the coin and stepping forward, asked, "Why do I...?" He vanished.
Po found himself confronted by a massive brute with poor dentition. It swung its paw at the boy who tried to dodge but was hit in the lower leg [10 STUN, 2 BOD]; Po felt pain as some of the blow got through his defenses. 'I have avoided conflict as much as possible,' the boy thought as he prepared to dodge, 'but it seems inevitable that I must fight here.' He crit the ogre in the arm; it fell moaning in pain and Po felt that he had gained in experience through the encounter. Two more ogres ran up. 'I know the Way of the Warrior," Po thought as again he lay low his opponents and felt his experience grow. 'I can do this.' More and more ogres accosted the boy. As he defeated them, he became faster and started to increase in height and bulk. Then he noticed that a Jenghis Khan-style mustache had sprouted on his upper lip. The father warrior's voice sounded in his head, "Fight! Every win makes us stronger. Together we will leave and rule the world!" 'I have become too much like my original father,' Po thought, shocked at himself. He glanced around. To retreat from the ogres would be to run towards the abysses, away from where the light had been. He began to run, chased by a horde of howling ogres.
Penrington
Penrington shook his head. He'd just watched Po torn to pieces with the Wheel, the tears spreading out and cutting each person off from the other like a picture being torn; and yet, now, he himself was in the snow somewhat down the mountain from the Old Man's building. A steep sheet of snow and ice stood on his left. He could hear sounds from the other side. Quietly the hunter sneaked around the snow face; coming up from below, on foot, was a Mongol Horde. Options quickly ran through his head as he aimed his rifle up at the snow sheet. The gun blasted out and the hunter sprinted up the path for the Tibetan building he knew should be there. The Mongols paused in surprise at the retort and the mountain rumbled its own echo. Penrington had started an avalanche!
The hunter glanced up as his handiwork tumbled towards his foes and realized that, no matter how fast he ran, he too would be swept away by the mountain of snow. Suddenly he saw Po running towards him.
Po
Running from the ogres, Po saw Penrington also running towards the abyss. His acute senses told him that the ogres would catch the hunter, so he slowed for a moment and caught Penrington up, using his newfound strength to carry the small man as though he were a child.
Po: "You're not supposed to be here!"
Penrington: "And the avalanche will get us if we're not careful and lucky!"
Po: "Avalanche? Tell me what you see." Together they moved rapidly, Penrington seeing them move through the snow as it swept around him, Po seeing only the bare floor of Bardo and the Ogres behind being tumbled away by some unseen force. He could hear the avalanche, loud and terrifying from inside.
Penrington pointed: "I see sunlight."
Po smiled as he ran in the direction to which the hunter pointed: "Have some sunlight."
Penrington
Penrington clutched his rifle and his hat. He was standing just outside the Tibetan building looking out at two great supernatural pillars: a Pillar of Fire and a Pillar of Darkness. Within both were female figures, but that in the Darkness was cloaked and seemed to have multiple arms. Other cloaked figures stood near the pillars. The Pillars howled with the sounds of fire and hurricane.
A dark arm lashed and there was a scream as the Pillar of Fire broke apart. The Hes dropped clutching one knee. For a moment her attention snapped to one of cloaked and hooded figures. "What are you doing here?" she gasped. The dark arms reached for the Hes.
Making a split second decision Penrington loaded, aimed and shot the Dark Pillar, hitting the figure within in the shoulder. She spun around and screamed. The hooded figure that had been facing the Hes turned around to see the source of the rifle fire. Penrington saw, shadowed by the hood, Desiree Davis! A black snake was heading towards her.
Then Penrington noticed another cloaked figure morphing from male to appearing just like the Hes. 'The 8th Arm of Kali,' the hunter told himself grimly. Then the world ripped apart again, the picture of the cloaked figures tearing apart; this time, Penrington was outside the range of the effect. Below, far down the mountain, he barely caught a glimpse of the Ankh collapsing amidst a horde of Mongols.
He moved back towards the building. As he passed the bare rock where the Fire had stood, in his mind the Hes' voice spoke: "Tell My Love to look for me."
Penrington: "How will he get to you?"
Hes: "He will have to find me."
Po
Po saw a narrow line that was the far edge of the abyss. Whether it was a wall or land, he could not tell, but it was further than he'd ever jumped. He gathered his new, grown body for the effort, then leapt for the far side - and fell into the abyss.
Steele
Steele luxuriated in the blessed feeling of warmth and thick air. His surroundings were lush and green. Before him stood an Anglish army officer, a look of intense surprise on his face. With a sudden ka-thun-ka, Steele felt two blows to his back [4,12; 2,6] and felt a little of the stun through his armor plating.
Officer: "What the bloody hell are you?"
Steele could hear angry shouting behind him. "Ben Steele, engineer. What's the situation?"
The man was still so astonished by the machine's appearance that Steele took the moment to look around. They were standing next to a ravine. Away and to the left, he could make out a timbered bridge still under construction. Between him and the bridge, a group of clearly hostile natives wailed like banshees and shot arrows at him. One of the natives charged Steele with a sword. Steele lifted his gun hand -- and missed the shot.
The native, eyes wild, swung widely as well, so Steele punched him in the chest. By this time the officer had recovered and started shooting too. "Damn glad you're here. Major Jason Naysmith, 34th Combat Engineers. Our assignment was to build that bridge, but these wogs have overrun our position and pushed us away from the bridge. What are you?"
Steele swung into defense mode. "I'm a mechanical explorer."
Naysmith: "Good Lord! Did Brunel build you?"
Steele, smiled to himself: "No, but someone just as skilled did." [Historical Note: Isambard Kingdom Brunel, (1806-1859) was the premier engineer of his generation. The modern airship is mainly due to him.]
The natives had started picking up rifles from the fallen Anglish. Their aim was poor, Steele calculated, but the sheer weight of numbers would soon be overwhelming. "We can get to the other side of the bridge if you're willing to hang onto me in front." As the natives had already used his back for target practise, Steele did not think his future inventor would be safe a-piggy-back. Steele aimed his grapple and it embedded itself into the wood of the bridge. "Get a good grip," the steel man advised. The Major answered, "Wish us luck!" Together they swung down into the ravine. At that moment, Steele saw Po falling through the air. With his free hand, he reached out and grabbed at the Chinese boy. Po managed to clutch and scramble onto Steele's head, cutting off the mechanical man's vision. More arrows thunked into Steele's back and legs.
The grapple line swung the three under the bridge.
Steele: "What are you doing here?"
Po: "I suspect that we are not in the same 'here'. It is good to see you nonetheless."
There were Anglish shouts from above as the arc of the pendulum neared the ravine edge. Steele managed to wrap his legs around a bushy outcrop as Naysmith jumped clear. Po scrambled off the mechanical man as an explosion destroyed the bridge supports. Realizing his danger, Steele tried to disengage his grapple from the bridge - unsuccessfully.
Steele, suppressing panic: "My arm's caught and the bridge is falling!"
Po
Po, unable to see how Steele was clinging to mid-air, nonetheless tried to reach out and add his strength to the retrieval process, leaning over the edge of the abyss. He couldn't reach the grapple cable. He gasped, "Can you see a bright light anywhere?"
Steele, puzzled: "There's sunlight over there."
Po: "Try to get into it."
Steele felt the pull of the bridge on his arm and jumped for the light, "Good luck!"
Po climbed up onto the knife's edge between the red and black chasms. Somehow he no longer felt as strong or as fast as he had been. There would be no running jump from this edge to give impetus to his leap. For a moment he considered simply waiting, striving for patience. He summoned a clairvoyance spell to check the far side of the chasm, but the spell showed nothing. So the boy leaped - and started falling.
Voronika
Voronika first noticed that she was outside, rather than inside the shrine where the Kalachakra was placed. The air was a lot thicker; it was no longer hard to breathe; and blessedly warm. The terrain was hilly. She glanced around, seeing that she - and Mr. MacGregor -- were near the top of one hill and it was early morning. Ahead was an encampment made by a ring of wagons, with people getting packed up to move.
"What happened? Miss Costorari? Are you all right?" MacGregor was blinking away the effects of the transition, his rifle in his hands in a ready ("port arms") position.
Since some of the men with the wagons had now spotted them, Voronika decided nothing would be lost by approaching the camp. The wagon people were mostly Indian, though there were a couple of Africans and some light skinned people. The women wore colorful outfits, similar in style to the sari's the gypsy had seen, but probably of more common material than silk.
Voronika was able to make herself understood in Romany, though the others' dialect was decidedly different [3 points of communication]. The gypsy and the Scotsman were greeted as fellow refugees, fleeing the armies of the Mahmud and Rajpur, both of whom sounded to be bad. These refugees were all Tzigane (of the Rom/ the People), most were from the Sinti tribe, a few of other tribes.
They hitched up the oxen to the carts and began their slow trek up further into the hills. Ahead was a wall of mountains, white peaked, like the ones Voronika had been in so recently.
Midmorning a troop of horsemen came riding up from behind. There was not enough time to form the wagons into a circle, but the Tzigane were able to pull them crosswise to give some cover. The women prepared to fight alongside their men. With Voronika's and McGregor's additional marksmanship, the attack was beaten off, though it took about a third of the Adventurers' ammunition. Voronika's paramedic skills managed to keep alive all but two of the wounded. Medical skills among the People were sorely lacking - which surprised the gypsy, knowing as she did the herbal lore of her own tribe.
The horsemen had been a mixed group of Arabs and Africans. They used recurved bows and light spears. MacGregor observed, " There was an oddity: they rode their horses without stirrups, which greatly lessens the amount of power they can put into a lance charge. One would think they'd know better." He also pointed out that the wagon wheels of the People had far more spokes than Anglish wheels.
The celebration that night involved lots of dancing, singing, and drinking. While all the songs were unfamiliar to the Anglish gypsy, the cadence was familiar enough to be comforting. Voronika teased MacGregor into dancing and found that he had two left feet but a willing spirit. The drink was surprisingly strong. Voronika had the impression that MacGregor had helped her safely to a cot in the women's section and, in gallant Anglish fashion, left her in peace.
A few days later another group of Indians attacked the caravan; these were dressed in red heavy cloth armor. Once the People had beaten off this force, their men went through the fallen enemy to make sure they were dead, brutally slashing their faces and necks.
The caravan slowed down as it approached the taller mountains; the oxen were suffering from the thinner air. Voronika found some farms that had both oxen and yaks and managed to trade Tzigane oxen for yaks, which she knew could survive in the Tibetan plateau ahead. About the only 'trade good' she could think of also getting was wood, as there were no manufactured goods. MacGregor's engineering skills proved of use in the repair of the wagons and the hitches for the yaks, as there were some differences from oxen.
After a week of travel, Voronika found MacGregor fiddling with the small tube with the "C" she had seen in his stuff. He grinned sheepishly, "We're a long time ago, aren't we? This isn't going to work for a good long time." He went on, "It is a signaling device made by Professor Challenger." MacGregor smiled, "That odd Chinese boy, Po, was closer than he thought in asking about special balloons." The Scotsman's eyes softened and he held the gadget out, "Would you like it? As -- as a memento of the time from which we came?"
Over the next few weeks, the caravan passed by higher and higher mountains, through a narrow valley. MacGregor used his surveying instruments from the people of the Ankh to make observations en route, plotting out a course and positions of landmarks. As time passed the air got thinner and thinner, just as they remembered.
Across distant hills Voronika could see occasional groups of horsemen, and thought it fortunate that none pointed at the caravan. The wagons came to a sharp gorge cut by a fast stream and spanned by a rope and plank bridge, as they came to the river that led to the town of the Ankh. After watching one of the local yaks make it across the narrow bridge, the caravan started to break down the wagons into pieces that could be carried across.
During the crossing, however, another band of Arab/African horsemen attacked. Voronika and MacGregor volunteered with some others to hold the bridge. It was arrow versus rifle for a while, as the rearguard fell one by one. MacGregor took an arrow in the shoulder, and Voronika was down to her last rounds as the two Anglish hid behind now-abandoned wagon pieces. They were the last on the bridge.
The last of the People who were going to made it to the far side of river gorge. Voronika dropped the two now useless rifles over the side rather than have them fall in the hands of the enemy. She began to hack at the rope anchors of the bridge. Then she grabbed MacGregor who, with his good arm, got a grip on the rope as well. Together they dropped to the end of the rope, arrows flying around them. Voronika could feel at least one thud into MacGregor behind her.
Suddenly, in midair ahead of her, was Po, also falling from somewhere above. They slammed into Po, and carried him with them. The gorge was wider than it was deep; the trio plunged into the icy river below rather than crashing into the opposite wall. The shock of running water forced Voronika away from MacGregor, who was swept away in the river. She tried to grab him and would have lost her grip on the rope save for Po's grip on her.
Somehow the gypsy found herself among the rocks at the edge of the river, dragged there by the stream and the rope. Po was looking at her oddly. "What are you standing on?" After a moment of confusion Voronika learned that he could not see the rocks and stream; instead he saw a great cliff at the edge of the chasm and a rope leading to the top. He could not see or sense MacGregor.
Po: "Do you see light anywhere?"
Voronika: "On a rock next to the water. But MacGregor..."
Po: "Maybe you'll find him if you go into the light." As she moved towards the light the boy could see the rope vanishing upwards. He hurriedly climbed up it as it vanished.
Po
At the top of his climb, Po faced a growing wall of fire extending in either direction and higher than he could jump. Taking a deep breath along with his courage, Po headed into the flames. They were deeper than he had imagined and his skin began to burn, painfully. The boy forced himself through, dropping on the other side, charred to a crisp.
Ramsey
Ramsey found himself in the midst of a crowd. His conversations with the Hes and his knowledge of ancient Egypt gave him instantly to recognize the 3000-years-ago scenario in the Temple of Life. He reacted immediately to the man facing him with a knife; his rifle butt blocked the blade and the man's momentum carried the assassin on over the edge of the ankh. For a moment, Ramsey hesitated. In the original story, he had kicked the assassin over. But he knew what would come next. He spotted the knife in the instant it was thrown and fired at the second assassin as the knife caught him in his shoulder. Then Ramsey fell unconscious from the poison in his shoulder.
He woke to find the pain in his shoulder being professionally tended by a familiar-appearing Egyptian princess. But she met his eyes with none of that sense of recognition and fate that had been part of their every moment since he first entered the Ankh in his own time. He was ensconced in a comfortable bed. The dark-skinned beauty spoke and Ramsey realized that, for the first time, he could not understand her. Using universal gestures, he pointed to himself, "Ramsey." She nodded and said "<unintelligible phrase> Meritaten." Ramsey tried not to let his face show the relief he felt knowing that she was not Meketaten.
He went on to try Arabic and found that Meritaten knew a much earlier and not-easily-understood form. 'This will take some time,' he thought to himself.
Over the course of several weeks, the linguist mastered enough ancient Egyptian to carry on limited conversations with his nurse. She expressed her gratitude for his heroism, but it seemed detached and professional, carrying none of the 3000 years of longing of his first acquaintance with her. As soon as he was able, he told her, "I need to talk to your father about your sister who serves death." She expressed astonishment at his omniscience, but eventually was convinced.
Weeks turned into months as winter raged outside the ankh. Emboldened by his knowledge of the future, Ramsey did not hesitate to flirt with his benefactress, turning on all the charm within his nature. Gratitude and respect turned to love. In due course Ramsey and Meritaten were married with the blessing of her father.
Later she consulted with her new husband. "As a priestess of the Temple of Life, I am considering taking the Test of Fire." Ramsey assured her that she would be successful. Thus the test was arranged. Shortly before she started the climb up the Ankh, Ramsey embraced his wife and, mindful of the prophecy, carefully repeated, "No matter what, we will be together again though it takes three thousand years." He, her father, and a ream of priests accompanied her through the ceremonies, up flight after flight in the tower of the Ankh.
The last landing was very large with two sets of stairs entering from opposite sides of the room, and a steep flight of stairs leading to a trap door in the roof. A large golden disk flanked by great golden wings spread across one wall. A priest moved to the four corners of the room, which were rounded into the room, like a quarter column. He chanted at each of the corners, tracing lines out on the stone, and Ramsey could feel warmth from the corners. The priest completed his circuit of the room and bowed to the princess. She looked at Ramsey and then climbed the ladder-like final stairs. The priest pulled on a velvety rope and the hatch above her opened up. She climbed through and the hatch closed.
To Ramsey's surprise, the priest went around to each of the pillars again, chanting. They glowed exceedingly hot. Suddenly, above, Meritaten screamed. The sound of burning fire continued for some time after the scream. Finally the chanting priest again traced the circuit of pillars; the glow faded to its normal level. One by one the priests climbed the ladder and Ramsey could hear the sounds of their bowing obeisance. He was last to climb, after Ahkenaten. To his shock, the priests were bowing around a small pile of ash. The chief priest looked up, "She is the first to survive the Fire. Her remains must be taken back to her home. She will live for as long as she rests there." For a moment, Ramsey was unable to comprehend the nature of this "survival." Ahkenaten brought forth a casket and opened it to reveal the ossuary inside. The analytical part of his mind wrote out the reference card: an Egyptian ossuary, 18th dynasty, 10th kingdom, Falco Peregrinis made of gold, some 23 cm. tall, 3 cm. hole in base into interior of the statue. A golden bird. Solemnly the king indicated that Ramsey should place the ashes into the vessel. Ramsey did so, then poured water from his ceremonial ewer over the ashes and sealed the ossuary. Then, with a multitude of emotions swirling in his breast, he put the golden bird into the casket. Ahkenaten took it and started his descent. Trying to regain his composure, Ramsey watched the priests descend one by one until only he remained at the top of the Ankh.
Just as he moved to leave, there came a moan from without. Moving to the edge, Ramsey saw that the top of the Ankh now extended further out above the empty space to the side of the structure. Too far to reach without stepping onto the new surface was a charred body that he, nonetheless, recognized as Po. Carefully, the Egyptologist moved from the safety of the landing to where he could pour the contents of the ewer he still carried over the blackened body. "It's the Water of Life," he murmured to himself. "What can it harm?" Miraculously Po was restored.
Po: "I wasn't sure I'd be seeing you."
Ramsey: "I wasn't sure I'd be seeing any of you again. Will you be leaving me here?"
Po: "You'll disappear first. Do you see a bright light?"
Ramsey: "There's sun reflecting off the puddle I splashed reviving you."
Po: "Where is it?"
Ramsey: "To my left. Meritaten just attempted the Fire. Her remains go to her homeland now."
Po: "Ah. Do you want to go home now?"
Ramsey: "Yes."
Po: "Then step into the light."
Ramsey hastened to do so, noting that it (and the stone floor he stood on) had been shrinking as the sun sank.
Po
A stinging wind pushed the boy towards the next chasm, but he found it hard to see as the back winds whipped ash and sand up, damaging his eyes. [9,3].
Forester
When the world finished shredding, Forester realized that he was standing in a pleasantly warm and earthy-scented pine forest, with breathable air. A strange knee-high creature chirruped at him. It balanced on two heavily-muscled hind legs, its tail stuck out for balance behind and a jaw full of serrated teeth stuck out in front. Its forelegs were minimal, held against its chest like a dog begging for treats. Shaking himself out of his surprise, Forester joggled his camera into position to take a picture of the animal. "Kirrup?" it chittered at him again. Then it joined 5 or 6 of its kind as they hopped and scampered through the underbrush. Forester followed uphill.
Spotting a magnificent iridescent blue beetle some 10" across, the pedagogue stopped to capture the creature and place it in his specimen bag. He continued his climb, stopping to take pictures of the giant ferns that made up much of the undergrowth. At the crest of the hill he found himself looking over forest far and wide, seeing no signs of any humans and, perhaps more disturbing, no mountains. "This makes my head hurt," he muttered to himself.
Having no clue as to the direction from which he might obtain assistance, Forester called up his survival skills and scientific expertise to try to locate water and nourishment. The odd dog-size toothy bipeds were numerous, but he felt reluctant to turn hunter although he managed to take a couple more pictures of them. There were no birds, which seemed odd to him. None of the tuberous plants he dug up amongst the ferns were recognizable as food so he tested them judiciously.
By nightfall, he had found a man-sized hollow and built a bed of fern fronds at a place where he could watch the stars. The moon was large and bright, and the familiar constellations indicated (as he already knew from the climate) that he was not as far north as Anglia and yet not as far south as the Equator. "That leaves the greater part of Europe," he told himself wryly.
The next morning as he scrubbed the sleep out of his eyes at a small stream, he saw what had to be the world's largest dragonfly. In the few moments it took to gather his meager belongings, the insect had disappeared into the underbrush. But the thought of it kept his acquisitive senses alert.
That night, clouds overhung the forest. At some distance, a red glow was reflected against the clouds. Forester speculated momentarily on the possibility of volcanic or meteorological activity and was assured of the former as whistling and crashing sounds burst through the forest. Sudden localized fires sprang up and the pedagogue threw aside his self-homilies on the safe distance he held from the apparent volcano. Forest creatures had taken to their heels and he, too, joined the exodus.
Once again, even in mid-flight, the radiologist found a distraction: a glowing rock like the most intense radium source he had ever imagined. Scarcely breaking stride, Forester scooped up the rock and ran on. Behind him the fires combined their blazes, whipping up a fierce wind. Ahead, the man could see the forest opening onto a rock outcrop. He made for that clearing. The wind seemed to blow him up the hill.
Gasping in the heated air, Forester saw a wall of flame raging towards him. Quickly adapting his apparatus to the new-found radium in his hand, he threw up a Force Wall. The Wall soared up, brighter and larger than any he had ever before cast. In its light he could see small moles and voles scuttling for shelter amidst the rocks around him. One of the toothy bipeds sped out of the forest and bumped into the Wall, turned and hopped back into the flaming forest. He felt a pang, knowing it would die. Suddenly the entire world seemed to be on fire.
Then, to Forester's amazement, Po ran out of the Wall.
Forester: "What are you doing here?"
Po: "I'm not really where you are. But I can see your Force Wall. Can you make it into a corridor?"
Forester: "I can't keep two Walls up."
Po: "Have you tried?"
Forester cast the spell, which worked; Po directed him in its placement. Then as they started to move along the protected area, Po said, "Look for a bright white light."
Forester: "You don't mean the fire storm? Its light is red all around us!"
Po: "No. Keep your eyes open. I won't be able to spot it."
The corridor led the two into a Valley deep enough that the firestorm might, possibly, o'er leap it.
Suddenly there was a break in the night clouds and a glimpse of moon shown through.
Forester: "What are we supposed to do with the bright light?"
Po: "Go into it."
Po
As Forester faded away, the boy realized that he had seen reflected in his tutor's goggles the "bright red wind of evolution." The wind stopped. Po found himself at the edge of the last chasm. He jumped into its white depths and started to fall.
Sunshine
The druidess faced sand as far as she could see, yellow and flat. The air seemed heavy but she found herself breathing quickly as though still in the thin atmosphere of the Tibetan mountains. It tasted oddly salty and smelled...like something she had never smelled before. Maddy had described the Sahara Desert, but nothing so flat and infinitely featureless. Sunshine became aware of a rhythmic sound behind her. She turned to see that the expanse of sand ended in the lapping waves of a great river. It seemed disturbed by what must have been a very large steam craft: the wake broke repeatedly against the sandy verge. She scanned the water surface but there was no vessel in sight. In fact, she could see no sign of the opposite shore. The water stretched on to the horizon much as the sand behind her did.
Down near the water's edge Sunshine saw a large group of children, playing with and building up little piles of wet sand. Looking for some guidance, she made her way to them. They were all very young; all little girls. The eldest seemed to be only 5 and intent on building her little mountain of sand. Hoping to learn of the adult supervisors she expected somewhere nearby, Sunshine asked the youngster about her activities, her home, and her parents but received no replies that gave her a direction. Hoping that, perhaps, a nursemaid or two would show up soon, the druidess sat down and played with the little girls, dabbling in the green muck of the river, building a castle out of sand.
One of the little ones wandered over to observe. "What's that?"
Sunshine: "It's a sand castle."
Child: "What's a castle?"
Sunshine: "A great building where a king or princess might live."
Child, scornfully: "No one could live in that!'
Sunshine: "Perhaps they could if it were full-sized, if it were big enough."
Child: "Are you a princess?"
Sunshine, smiling: "No, I am a druid. Are you a princess?" She was about to engage in a game of make-believe when the 5-year-old asked, "What's your name?"
Sunshine: "I'm called Sunshine. What is your name?"
Child: "I'm Chomo. Chomolungma." Astonishment spread over the druidess' face as she realized that she was in the presence of the Old Ones of the Tibetan mountain range ... save that they were not yet Old Ones. The world itself must be in its infancy.
Recollecting herself, Sunshine reached into her capacious sleeve: "I have a gift for you. It was given me to give to you by Small Happy Cloud of Pleasure who lives in Burma.
Chomo: "Oooo, pretty!" In turn, she rummaged in her pile of sand. "This is one of my favourite treasures. If you listen, it makes the sound of the water. You can have it." Sunshine found herself holding a shell - a shell that had not been fossilized but gleamed with delicate pink and faint mother-of-pearl. She held it to her ear, but could hear nothing over the sound of the wake that still rolled in over the river. It was impossible that anything could have created a wake that lasted so long. What kind of river could it possibly be? She shook her head in wonderment.
Chomo: "Anna, Anna, come see my pretty stone."
Sunshine looked at the 2nd little girl: "Annapurna?"
Anna: "Oooo, what is it?"
Sunshine: "It's called an emerald."
Anna: "I have a pretty too." She held out a small figure that looked a little like a horse, manufactured out of some of the plant that grew in the river. "You can come help me put it on my mountain." Sunshine followed the child to her play area, noticing that other little girls were having to relocate a bit higher up on the strand as the waves had come high enough to destroy their sand constructions near the water.
The druidess knelt respectfully as the child placed her little pony. Then Annapurna cried out and Sunshine saw a dark snake uncurl itself from between the sand pile and the little girl and slide down towards the ocean. Working quickly, the healer examined the bite and began sucking the venom out of Annapurna's arm. Trying to remove the poison while keeping the child calm, she didn't notice as the snake turned back and sank its fangs into the back of her own calf.
Spitting the venom out one last time, Sunshine was reasonably certain that the child would be fine. Her own case, however, was problematical. She tried to paramedic herself and flex into a position where she could work on her own leg. But the poison was potent and she collapsed. Somehow little Anna managed to cradle the woman's head in her lap, rocking back and forth, "Please, don't die. Please?" the small voice pleaded. For a hazy moment, Sunshine realized she knew the snake's name: Francis.
Sunshine knew she was fading in and out of consciousness though she clung to the sound of Anna's voice still pleading with her. A huge bright moon rose. Then she was aware that dawn coloured the skies, while Anna still rocked and worried over her. The sun rose again. And yet again. At some point she was conscious of additional childish voices.
"She was so nice. She played with us."
"She said she was a druid."
"We'll be nice to druids, 'cause she was nice to us."
Anna: "Please don't die. I'll always keep a place for Life if you don't die. Please?"
The sun seemed to travel faster and faster, eventually blurring into a continual band of light against the sky. The bright band itself began to move, undulating across the sky, wiggling faster until it became a softly fuzzy band of golden light. Anna's voice continued to plead, changing, deepening, growing. Sand and rock seemed to grow as well, shutting out the sun streak. Suddenly she was well, sitting comfortably on the back of a great winged white horse.
Po
Falling through the white chasm, Po saw a glowing white Pegasus flying towards him. On its back sat Sister Sunshine. Gently she guided the winged steed under the boy's fall and pulled him into her lap.
Po: "Thank you, Sister Sunshine."
Sunshine: "You are more than welcome, Po."
Po: "Do you see a bright light."
Sunshine, laughing lightly: "You mean other than Lungta here?" She pointed, "There's a field of stars there."
Po looked in the indicated direction and realized he too could see the field of stars as the Pegasus flew low over them. He released his grasp on the creature's mane and slipped off the horse, "Good-bye." Sunshine vanished as the horse's glow became blindingly bright.
Balchen Geko was standing next to several floating mirrors. As Po looked around he realized that there were rank after rank of floating mirrors of various sizes - perhaps a thousand. The old man looked at the boy, "What you must do now is find yourself." He disappeared.
Po looked into the nearest mirror and saw a boy who resembled himself, only still with a queue even longer than his had been before Lhasa. Then he turned to another mirror and recognized the treacherous boy Prince of Yemen. He turned away. Wandering along he saw reflected back many faces: most were similar in most ways to his own, but some had fair skin like the Anglish, and some were as dark and had the features of Africans. Some he studied for several minutes; many were very close, but in the end he resolved that the reflection was not his. He continued to search, noting the ones that he had to most study.
After hundreds of mirrors, Po assumed the lotus position and centered himself. His mind scan reached out...and found that the mirrors were hard -edged bits of mental space that resisted contact. As he probed, he became aware that he was alone in the universe, back in time -- beyond the birth of the old ones, beyond the birth of the stars -- in the time of the undifferentiated being, the time of dzogchen -- the meditative state of great perfection -- in the Bardo Thokol.
With clairvoyant sight, Po saw that the mirror closest to him reflected a Buddha, seated in the cross legged lotus position, floating also above the ground. He gleamed with a yellowish light ... not quite as red as the golden light around Po. Another mirror, very similar, gave back an image with slightly longer earlobes. Other mirrors showed the reclining Buddha, easily discounted as different. Faces, positions, robes, shades of light differing very slightly, there were a thousand Buddha images around Po.
Outside the Tibetan shrine, Annapurna, Tibet.
Steele fell with a clatter out of nowhere near Penrington. He reeled in his grapple and detached a chunk of wood, stowing it in his intake bin. "I'm back, I guess. Where were you?"
Penrington: "Here where the Mongols fought. Should we go in?"
Just then Voronika stumbled up, asking anxiously: "Have either of you seen MacGregor?"
Penrington: "If you see the Hes, it may not be the Hes. Be warned."
Ramsey stepped around the building looking sour. He was dressed in the Egyptian manner and still held a golden ewer.
Forester slid down the hill gasping.
Sister Sunshine rode up the path on her pony.
They looked at each other for a moment. Then the druidess slid off the pony and knocked on the wooden door. When the Old Man opened it she asked softly, "May we come in?" He held the door wide. As Voronika entered, Forester could see via his goggles that she, too, held a source of radium. The gypsy blinked as her eyes adjusted from the brightness of outdoors, only to be swept into a hug. "You survived, Lass. I had been so afraid..." MacGregor's voice murmured. "Me too, about you," Voronika whispered.
Safe once again from the weather, the Party exchanged stories. Penrington in particular hastened to describe the fight and the presence of the 8th arm of Kali. Then he told the group the Hes' message to Ramsey.
Steele: "Who did she think Desiree was?" The hunter shrugged.
Sister Sunshine turned to the Old Man. "What has become of Po?"
Old Man: "He has entered into Bardo and is trying to find himself. Thanks to his friends, he has escaped the perils of Bardo. Thanks to him, you've returned to this world."
Penrington: "Can we help him further?"
Old Man: "It is his Test of Enlightenment alone."
Penrington: "When he has finished the test, will Po come back here?"
Old Man: "It will be his choice."
Penrington: "Should we wait for him here?"
Old Man: "When the Buddha returned, he chose his place of return."
Penrington: "But we still don't have a way to leave here without being captured by the Mongols."
Old Man: "I believe she," he gestured towards Voronika, "knows a way." Voronika lifted her hand to display the tube MacGregor had given her which, heretofore she had only described as being in the surveyor's belongings and having the Challenger monogram. The Old Man continued, "You may wish to leave out the back."
Ramsey: "Before I go, I want to know what has become of my wife - of Meritaten?"
Old Man: "Her form here has vanished in the fire. She is a Power of Fire and is where Fire is great. To be in her homeland is to be reborn in Fire."
Penrington: "But I saw her die to her sister here!"
Ramsey: "She should not have died if her remains were in Egypt."
Penrington: "Is it possible for you to go to Egypt and find her remains?"
Sunshine: "Us. We should go with him and help him."
Forester: "It would seem that her remains are anywhere but Egypt."
Ramsey: "Her remains are with whomever has the Golden Bird, the ossuary. The Fat Man's Gypsy must have been somewhere where he touched the casket into which I placed the ossuary. That had to have been the most emotional moment in all that artifact's existence." The Egyptologist kept his voice firm.
Penrington, realizing: "The Golden Bird. Oh - My - God. You did have the Golden Bird in your hands! You'll need somebody along to help you find it!"
Steele turned back to the Old Man: "What became of Desiree?"
Old Man: "She went back to the spring of this year. Then she went to the Ankh and was accepted by it. She was delivered of child there on April 20th."
It took several explanations before Penrington understood that everyone around as well as within the Tibetan shrine had been sent back in time when Po spun the Wheel. Some - Sunshine and Forester glanced at each other - had gone very far back in time. Ramsey had gone back 3000 years; Voronika and MacGregor, back to a migration of the Rom from India; Steele had gone back 20 years; Penrington himself, only a few moments. Who knew to when Meritaten and her sister had been flung - but, clearly, Desiree had gone back half a year - and the 8th arm of Kali only enough to lead the Mongol armies to destroy the Ankh. Whether that destruction had reached into the Valley of Life, no one of the Party could say. The druidess thought to herself that Annapurna would have found some way to keep the Valley safe; she had promised.
Ramsey: "If we were to do something about Desiree's baby, it's too late and has been too late for a long time."
Penrington: "What properties pertain to a child born in the Valley of Life?"
Voronika, considering the date of the birth, answered, "The horoscope would be auspicious for either delighting people - or dominating people."
Forester gave an anguished howl. His new potent piece of radium had fogged all of his photographic plates. He no longer had a photo-record of the Ankh or the Party's other discoveries. Through gritted teeth he said, looking at Steele, "I think the only place this radium cannot do further harm is safe within you. Do you have an appropriate cavity?"
The mechanical eyebrows lifted, but a storage place was found. [Don't ask.]
Inventory:
| Miss Costorari | Had MacGregor's bag with surveyor's notes on the pass from India to Nepal to Tibet. Challenger recall device |
| Mr. Forester | His geologist's notes on the pass from China to Tibet. 10" beetle Fossil samples Chunk of radium |
| Mr. Ramsey | Gold ewer |
| Sister Sunshine | Sea shell |
| Mr. Penrington | His hat |
Aloft. Annapurna, Tibet.
Shown the back way by the Old Man, the Party stepped out into the wind and snowy cold. Voronika held up her tube and then said, "It's on! It's already working. MacGregor turned it on back in time and it did nothing then. You must not have turned it off," she smiled at the Scotsman. A light in the tube was blinking.
Out in the fog and snow, two figures loomed and a muffled voice called out, "Anglish people? Here?"
Although Penrington was initially wary, one of the newcomers (wrapped in bulky Anglish protective gear) asked, "Is there a MacGregor with you?"
Voronika shouted excitedly, "He's here. We have him!"
The newcomer stepped forward and peered at Our Adventurers. "Good God!" he exclaimed. "Is that a Naysmith engine?"
Steele queried, "Is there more than one?"
Newcomer: "How can it be operating here?"
Steele: "Not very well."
Newcomer: "Let's get it on the ship before it breaks down completely." They led the party to an almost flat area where a balloon basket was perched. Above they could see a balloon, some gas rather than hot air, disappear into the low hanging clouds.
With dispatch, Steele was ferried up into the clouds with one of the newcomers. The other stayed to see the rest of the Party who were to be, a few at a time, air lifted to join the mechanical man.
Penrington: "What's up there?"
Newcomer: "Uh... It's a bit ... uh, the Challenger Explorer."
Forester: "But ... there can't be an airship at this altitude."
The Newcomer seemed to smile.
Aloft, Steele could see that the balloon was guided by a rope attached to a spar that extended from an airship of radically different design. There were no propellers and no sails. It was lined with blue glowing portholes, and the lower nacelles had black openings at the rear with no propeller blades visible. And it was clearly floating above the Tibetan mountains. He entered the craft through a pair of double doors. There was a hiss as air was pumped into the small room, and the inner doors opened. [Airlock.] "See if we've got any good anthracite," Steele's rescuer told an attendant crewmember. "This engine could use some fresh fuel." The mechanical man felt the urge to drool.
As Sister Sunshine and her pony came aboard the Challenger Explorer, Prof. Challenger himself was there to meet the party.
Challenger: "Do you know where this is?"
The Party stared for a moment, then the druidess spoke up, "Above Annapurna, ah, Peak 17."
The veteran explorer immediately became more expansive, shaking hadns around the group as introductions were made. He grinned. "The Explorer can't land in many places. We need locations and this isn't on any of our maps. MacGregor," he gestured towards the Scotsman, "was supposed to be getting the locations for us. Now that we know where we are, we know where we can go"
Forester immediately pulled out his maps and offered them to the Professor.
As Challenger charged off, an officer (about 20 years old) working over the mechanical man said, "Hey! What's this doing here? It looks like a lump of radium."
Forester grinned, "It is."
Steele: "Just being stored."
Officer: "Mind if I take it to the lab?"
Forester, excited: "Lab!? You have a lab? May I come?"
Officer: "Sure. Ernest Rutherford out of Trinity."
Forester: "Andrew Forester." The two radiologists bustled away. [Historical note: Rutherford became the prime radiologist for the 1rst half of the 20th century.]
It soon became clear that the ship was new and still very much on its secret maiden voyage. Now that Challenger had picked up passengers that were not (and couldn't be expected to be) sworn to secrecy, the Challenger Explorer was returning to Anglia directly. Challenger wished to publish his latest theory and verification as soon as possible. Challenger's discovery of the geomagnetic isoquants below London (see Professor Challenger versus the Troglodytes, available at better booksellers) had led him to hypothesize similar layers above the earth's surface, which in turn led to the development of the Challenger Explorer. He called the highest one, still hypothetical, the A-level; the one on which the Explorer sailed, the B-level; and the level on which normal airships sailed, C-level.
As they explored the ship, Our Adventurers met others of the crew. The ship's captain was a gentlemanly naval officer, John Carter. The chief engineer was a Scotsman with a burr so thick it could only be translated by his Chinese servant who, as it happened, spoke Mandarin and so was happy to converse with Po's former students: Forester, Ramsey, Voronika and Sunshine. The base to which the ship would return was Ben Nevis, Scotland, the highest peak in Anglia - which any Scotsman could have said was "the old man with his head in the clouds."
Next Run: Society points in Anglia.
(a) Cumulative (b) Cumulative since Volume II (c) Cumulative since Volume III
"Bardo" copyright 2004 P.Shea & S. Knowles. The contents of this site are copyright 2004 Sheryl A. Knowles unless otherwise specified. All rights reserved.