John Schettler - Touchstone

Up in the quiet of the Berkeley Hills, just above the university, the Arch was already spinning to life, watched by a few interns as they ramped up the power to a low standby mode. Jen was there, and Tom. The others were waiting for him at Nordhausen’s study in the Berkeley suburbs, Maeve, Paul and Robert.

Paul would think of something, he hoped, as he finally sped through the Tunnel and reached the off ramp he always took when he came this way. He needed more music, and reached for that CD he had made with the favorite songs of a group he had discovered some years ago, a band called Porcupine Tree. The ethereal strains of the music surrounded him now— “Never stop the car on a drive in the dark.” That sounded like good advice in a storm like this, he thought. “Never trust the sound of rain upon a river rushing through your ears…” Somehow the words jogged a distant memory, but he could not grasp it.

The hunger in his stomach had grown to become unbearable, so, in spite of the rain and lateness of the hour, he simply had to stop and pick up something to eat. There was a 7-11 near the off ramp and, as he started to accelerate again, a strange thought came to him that there was someone on the road ahead, the barest flutter in his awareness. He moved to cover the brake but saw the way was clear, so he drove on. An odd sensation of déjà vu came upon him, woven amid the guitars of the band. The lyric seemed to mock him: “Ever had the feeling you’ve been here before?”

He had a sudden flush of adrenaline, an anxious sensation that he could not account for. It made him strangely light headed, keenly aware of his surroundings, and alive in a way that was exhilarating. He had the odd feeling that he was supposed to do something, but could not think of what it was.

The Subaru rolled into the parking lot of the 7-11 and came to a halt. He was very late but, with any luck, he would get to Nordhausen’s study by 9:30 p.m. He sat for a moment, trying to collect himself and dispel the strange notion that he had just missed something, or forgotten something of the greatest importance, though he could not think of what it was. He reached into his pocket for his cell phone to call the others, but came up empty.

“Great. Now where is my cell phone?” Then he remembered the phone booth just outside the 7-11, and he opened the car door as the driving guitars of the music ended, slipping out in the interval of quiet between tracks. Just then, a car came skidding around the corner, careening wildly out of control on the rain slick pavement. He saw it coming, yet was frozen, unable to move, riveted to this place and time by some power that he could not impede in any way. The car struck him a hard blow, knocking him against a metal road sign where he hit his forehead as he fell.

He was stunned, but reached up, by reflex, and felt the trickle of blood on his forehead. A feeling of exhilaration returned again, with strange whispers in his head. What were they saying?

“…the future depends on Right and Justice… The Day must come when Discord must finally cease, and the Peace of God and his command are all in all… For truly, God’s will flows freely, like these rains fall down upon us now from a darkened sky. We have but to tune our will to His—the ever-living Righteous God… But Oh, for the joy of being found worthy to bear the torch and to say to our brethren: ‘I too was in darkness, comfortless, and behold, I have found comfort and Joy in the Grace Divine.’”

Why those words came to him just then, he could not fathom, only that he knew them, and he had heard them spoken to him somewhere, long ago.

A sudden moment of clarity came to him, and now he knew this place, this time, to a fullness. He had been here before! The first time, a man had stepped from the shadows and rain, and he remembered how he had slammed on his brakes to avoid hitting him. That moment’s delay, that bare whisper in eternity, had changed things. But now they were set back again—back on the Meridian he was born to, and this was the moment he had been spared before, a time that was to be his last.

Palma had happened, he knew. The mountain collapsed into the sea, just as the light in his head now seemed to collapse to a fine point where he lay on the hard cold pavement. For the briefest moment he wondered what would happen to the world now—the world he tried to carry on his shoulders, though he stumbled, and fell.

He cold not think about that… no time for that now… No time for any of it: that first mission to the Hejaz, Nordhausen and his antics in the Arch, Paul’s lost venture in the Well of Souls, the King of Diamonds, and Maeve, dear Maeve. There was no time left now at all. These images of future days he would now never live seemed to emerge like fireflies in his mind, and then die.

Strangely, he smiled, rolling to his side so his face turned upward into the rain. He felt the cold water on his forehead, and knew that nothing had been changed. The world was restored, without his life traded for a future that was never meant to be.

Music was playing now, a solemn piano as the next song began on his CD player in the Subaru. The sound was fading… fading… “Collapse the light into earth…. Collapse the light….” It gave him great comfort as he held the meaning of the words in his heart—here at the beginning, and the end, of all that he ever knew.

CLARITY – Clear or good understanding of a temporal locus, pattern, event, Outcome or Consequence .

CONSEQUENCE – An undesired result achieved by a temporal Transformation – Usually referring to the negative (i.e.) Sometimes certain Consequences must be accepted in order to achieve a desired Outcome .

CONVOLUTION – The relative difficulty or complexity of a given temporal event or condition.

DEEP NEXUS – Sometimes called a “Void” – A crucial, significant Nexus Point where radical alteration of the time line is possible.

DENSITY – A relative term describing factor counts in temporal events.

FACTOR – An element contributing to convolution in temporal events.

FINALITY – A catastrophic Grand Imperative (like the Cuthulu asteroid strike that led to the eradication of the dinosaurs and other life.)

FREE RADICAL – A dangerous, erratic variable in the course of temporal events – usually only existing within a Deep Nexus.

GREAT VOID – An interminable shadow or Penumbra cast by a Grand Imperative .

HAZE – Obscurity in the understanding of a temporal situation or event.

IMPERATIVE – An event in Time which must happen – Usually a natural event. A Grand Imperative is a natural event of special significance. Some Grand Imperatives can become a Finality .

INEVITABILITY – A progression of events that is inexorable and unalterable.

INITIATOR – A person directly responsible for a new Time Meridian (Like Mohammed, or Christ). A Prime Mover of great significance.

LEVER – A secondary contributor to movement in a series of events.

MERIDIAN – An established line of temporal events on the continuum.

NEXUS POINT – A point of connection, intersection or branching of one or more Meridians in the Time continuum.

NODE – A specific point on a Time Meridian.

OUTCOME – A desired result achieved by a temporal Transformation – Usually referring to the positive.