And Eternity (28 page)

“Let me look at it.” He drifted toward her and bent to put his face close to the ball. “The scene within seems to reflect our present situation, but not quite. There are two specks, and one of them is of two children, no, two people, a man and a woman, why, that’s us! Our image is in there!”

“We’re locked in a crystal ball?” Orlene asked, dismayed.

“I think the ball represents the vision we are in, in the manner an inset represents the scale of the larger picture. This shows where we are.” He tried to touch the ball, to turn it, but his hands passed through it without effect. “The other speck, it is hard to see, seems to be a house, enclosed by a metal fence …”

Luna’s estate!
Jolie thought.
That’s where we want to return!

Yeah, I’ve got pressing business there! Vita thought.
We were just getting into it, when…
“Could it be Luna’s estate?” Orlene inquired. “Where we wish to return?”

“Yes! Yes, that is it!” he exclaimed. “Nox is showing us where we are relative to where we wish to go. Now I see a faint line, a thread, a connection between the two. But it winds all around the globe; it is a devious path, if that is what it is.”

“Nox does not yield her secrets readily,’’ Orlene agreed grimly. “I don’t know why she sought me out this time, but I am sure we had better follow her directives, or we shall be most uncomfortable.”

WHAT
directives?
Vita demanded.
There I was, just getting into it with

That would have become awkward, if she had changed you into a man
, Jolie pointed out.

She can do THAT?

She can.

That’s why Orlene had to take over and learn her will.

It would have been difficult if you had changed while I got the picture! Vita thought, appalled. “It is apparent that Incarnations are not to be taken lightly,” Roque agreed. “Even those we thought did not involve themselves in current affairs.”

Such as MY affair!
Vita thought violently. “But what does she want of us?” Orlene asked. “She wouldn’t take this trouble with us for nothing!”

Roque considered. “She has your baby, as I understand it. Is it possible that she thought you would not succeed in meeting the requirements for redeeming your son, and when you made progress, she decided to interfere?”

Now Orlene considered. “It is possible. But I doubt it. She has only to tell me no, and I will be helpless. Instead she told me how to go about it. I don’t think she wishes me ill. She may not have wanted to talk to me at first, so put the awful reverse mountain in my way, but when I won through that, she decided to help. Maybe this is her way of helping me further.”

In the middle of my turn with Roque?!
Vita thought indignantly.

Roque smiled. “I might question her timing, but perhaps it is so. Let’s assume, then, that this is a necessary and helpful thing on her part, this isolation of us here. We must make every effort to ascertain what she wishes us to learn or experience, and to return to our starting point. This globe is certainly a hint. Presumably if we move, we shall be able to follow the line and return to the mortal realm, and resume our mortal activities.”

“Nicely put,” Orlene said. “But how do we move?”

“We shall have to experiment. Perhaps we can walk.”

He moved his legs, but his body did not progress. “That’s odd; I was able to move before.”

“You didn’t walk, before; you drifted.”

“So I did. It was my will that moved me, not my legs. So I shall will myself to move along that line toward our destination.” He faced to the side, looking serious, but still he didn’t move. “I’m afraid not.”

“You moved unconsciously before,” Orlene pointed out.

“So I did. But it is difficult to see how an unconscious act could be duplicated consciously.”
Try a sneeze!
Vita thought.

That’s not unconscious, that’s involuntary
, Jolie thought.

“Maybe, maybe it isn’t what we want, but what Nox wants,” Orlene suggested. “If she wanted you to look at the crystal ball, then you could.”

“Perhaps. But what does she want me to do next?”

Orlene shook her head, baffled. “I suppose we just have to keep guessing until we come across it.”

“That notion bothers me. We should be able to work it out logically.” He stood for a moment, thinking. “If the globe is an accurate indicator of our position-that is, if we interpret it properly, we are far from home, and must trace a convoluted route there. If the journey is not physical, it may be mental. If we form the appropriate attitudes, we may make progress-”

He broke off, for they had both seen the globe flash. But that was all; the scene inside it was unchanged.

“I think that was a yes,” Orlene said after a moment.

“I agree. That certainly is progress. We must see if we can make it flash again.”

“I had a ring once,” Orlene said. “I gave it to my lover Norton, who named it Sning. Sning would answer questions by squeezing once for yes, twice for no, and three times if neither answer was appropriate. Do you think the crystal reacts similarly?”

“I don’t think so, because it didn’t flash at all before, when we were evidently not doing what the Incarnation wished. I suspect it merely remains inert unless triggered by our progress toward Nox’s goal. But this remains useful; no reaction is an indication that we are not making progress.”

“And when you said that our attitude was the key, it flashed,” she agreed. “Does that mean we shall have to change our attitudes on-”

The globe had flashed again.

“I believe we do have the key!” Roque said. “Now we shall have to determine to which attitudes it is attuned. Legal? Social? Political?” There was no flash.

“Ethical?” Orlene supplied, with no better success.

“Practical? Mathematical?”

Sexual?
Vita thought.

“Vocational?” Orlene inquired.

Religious?
Jolie thought.

The globe flashed.

They looked at each other. “That was Jolie,” Orlene said. “She suggested ‘Religious.’ That seems to be it.”

“Surely she does not expect us to change our religions!”

There was no flash. “Nox is from the old order, from the dawn of time,” Orlene said. “I don’t think religion means much to her. Maybe the subject just happens to offer the key to what she wants us to understand.’’ And the globe flashed.

You’re getting warm!
Vita thought, her interest quickening.
And that bulb can hear Jolie and me too; it’s pretty smart. Want me to think about how I don’t think much of God because of what He let me get into? I mean, that sure didn’t help my mother any, or Luna with her research, and that research was to support God!

“The crystal didn’t flash,” Orlene said. “It must be looking for something else.”

Should I think about how the world was made in six days?
Jolie thought.

The globe flashed.

“Jolie thought of the Biblical creation of the universe,” Orlene explained to Roque. “So that must be-”

That’s crap!
Vita thought.
It took millions, maybe billions of years to make the world!

The globe flashed again.

“Don’t tell me, let me guess!” Roque said, growing animated. “Vita thought of science! And what Nox seeks is a resolution of the debate between Creationism and Evolution!”

The globe flickered. “You may be warm, but I think not quite there,” Orlene said.

“Then let’s make it broader. Does Nox seek our exploration into the nature of ultimate reality?”

This time the flash was almost blinding. He had nailed it.

“But why?” Orlene asked. “Why should Nox care what we think? She has seen it all, long since!”

“Why should anyone care what anyone else thinks?” Roque asked in return. “Why should the Incarnations care which way souls go, or whether they are separated at all? Why should God care, or Satan? I think we just have to accept as given that entities of all types do care, and that Nox is normal in this respect. She now wishes us to explore the matter of reality and come to a conclusion. Perhaps she is aware of some interesting complication that this exploration will engender, and which will amuse her. So let’s start by arguing the case of Evolution. Who will support that?”

“I support it, of course,” Orlene said. “Don’t you?” He smiled. “You forget: I am a judge. I try to be impartial. I am not certain that the verdict is in, and in any event, it is not mine to make.”

How can he be uncertain about Evolution?
Vita demanded.
Everyone knows it’s so!

That’s not true at all! Jolie protested.
God created the world in six days!

“Our components disagree,” Orlene said. “Vita says Evolution, while Jolie says Creation.”

“Then we have our opposing views, “Roque said. “We shall have to make trial of them. When we make a decision on the matter, Nox will let us return home.”

The globe flashed.

“Let me be the narrator,” Roque said. “I have a fair familiarity with both theories. I suspect that since you are the one, Orlene, who wishes a favor of Nox, you must make the decisions, after hearing the arguments.” The globe flashed again. “So, in effect, I am the judge who keeps order. Vita is the apologist for Evolution, Jolie is the apologist for Creationism, and you are the jury who must come to a conclusion. The faster we complete the process,faster we shall return.”

“But I’m really not an objective jury!” Orlene protested. “I already believe in Evolution!”

“But can you honestly consider the evidence for another view? Are you able to change your mind if the preponderance of the evidence suggests that you should?”

“Well, yes, of course. But I really can’t see that Creationism could-”

“That’s enough,” Roque said. “Reserve your conclusion until you have seen the evidence from both sides.” He looked at the globe. “Now, as I make it, we are at the initial stage of the universe, the void, where all is chaos. What does Creationism have to say of the first stage?”

In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth
,thought.

What do you mean, God?
Vita retorted.
Where the Hell did God come from? Who created God?

Roque smiled. “I can see by your expression that your advocates are already mixing it up. I wonder whether we can get them to manifest separately, so that I can see and hear them, and so keep proper order?” As he spoke, the globe flashed.

We can do that?
Vita asked.
We can take separate form?

Apparently so, here, Jolie agreed.

But it’s my body! How can I exist apart from it?

Like this. Jolie withdrew her spirit from the body. She appeared as a ghost, clarifying her form. “Now you do likewise. Vita.”

I don’t know if I can!
But she tried, and succeeded. She emerged as a diaphanous form, translucent and vague.
Gee . . .

“Concentrate on your form,” Jolie said. “Remember, this isn’t a true situation; it took me decades to master ghost form, but you should be able to do it immediately, in this vision.”

The form squeezed together and assumed human outline. The mouth opened. “And can I talk too?”

“Yes, in this situation,” Jolie agreed. “It’s probably just your thought, but we can hear it.”

“But what about my real body? I mean, how can I-”

“Perhaps Orlene can assume a different form, for this,” Roque put in.

“I’ll try,” Orlene said, surprised. “It is strange, being the only soul in this host!” Her form changed, becoming similar to her living one.

Before long the three of them were settled, each looking and sounding like herself, even though Orlene was actually using Vita’s physical body. “It’s weird!” Vita exclaimed. “Knowing I’m a ghost, and that Orlene is really my body!”

“That is not the least of the weirdness,” Roque said. “But let us proceed with our business. Suppose I put questions to each advocate in turn, conducting this exploration in an orderly manner. Jolie, how does Creationism describe the beginning?”

“In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth,” Jolie replied promptly.

“And I want to know just who created God, then?” Vita said.

Roque shook his head. “That remark is out of order. You must give the Evolutionist version of the beginning.”

“Well, it, gee, I’ve got to remember stuff I forgot in school! But it’s something like how the universe formed in a big bang about fifteen or twenty billion years ago, and-”

“Who created the big bang?” Jolie asked.

Vita looked nettled. “Well, I don’t know, it just sort of, hey, isn’t that out of order?”

“Yes, unless you wish to permit direct debate. For the sake of order, I will direct the question to each in turn.

“Jolie, who created God?”

“No one. He always existed. He is the Eternal.”

“And who created the big bang?” he asked Vita. Vita had evidently used the reprieve for some quick thinking. “I don’t know how it started. But if it’s okay for God to be eternal, then it’s okay for the universe to be eternal too. So maybe it cycles, getting big and then squeezing together, and what we call the big bang is just this explosion. We can’t go back and see, but we do know it’s here, so why not accept that it’s here, no matter how it started?”

Roque glanced at Orlene. “Have you been persuaded by either advocate?”

“I really can’t choose between them,” Orlene said, surprised. “Either God began and the universe began, or both are eternal. There really doesn’t seem to be a conflict there.”

The globe flashed, and their surroundings changed. Vita was startled. “You mean that was it? The right answer was not making up her mind?”

“Or keeping her mind open, in the face of insufficient evidence,” Roque said.

Jolie peered at the crystal. “I think we are closer to home! The specks aren’t as far apart as they were.”

“But still pretty far,” Orlene said. “I see lightness and darkness, but it is still chaotic.” She was breathing rapidly,to get air.

“Because this must be the second day,” Jolie said. “When God made the sky to divide the waters from the waters.” As she spoke, the scene seemed to separate into a portion above and a portion below.