A/N: the story's been heading a bit off track. Next chapter should get things actually moving forward again… but until then, enjoy:
Legacy: chapter 9
Tammy Miller's office at the University of Washington was surprisingly roomy as most faculty offices go. There was a large window at one end of the room with a wonderful view of the courtyard. The wall running directly behind Tammy's desk was covered floor to ceiling with bookcases. Lisa had managed to make out the names on most of the books while half listening to Tammy rattle off all the reasons why her story was impossible.
"Do you see my point?" Tammy asked, apparently out of ways to debunk.
"I see your point just fine, you just don't see mine."
"Lisa," Tammy sighed, "this is exactly the reason that a therapist and patient should not be friends…"
"Because 'the therapist can no longer be objective and unbiased when dealing with a more personal issue's such as those involving friends and family members', I know. I'm not here as a patient though. I'm here as a friend, wanting to talk to a friend."
"That's why this frustrates me." Tammy said, "you're brilliant Lisa, if we could just get past the issues with the little green men."
"Gray, little gray men… they're not really men at all."
Tammy shook her head; "it doesn't matter because they don't exist! Don't you see Lisa? UFOs and abduction stories are a product of some deep urge to be a part of a trend, to be in the 'in crowd'."
Lisa laughed; she had learned to let comments like those roll right off her. Besides, she knew that any moment Allie would be there to prove her correct. "'In crowd'? Do I really look like the type who follows fads?"
"No," Tammy thought for a minute, "that's even more perplexing."
"Don't worry," Lisa laughed a bit, "it will all be perfectly clear soon."
"This structure is poorly planned," Ka'len said as the two girls wondered through the halls of the fine arts building. So far only a few people had noticed them in the building, those who did assumed they were students. It had been easier to get in then Allie had thought. Finding her mother was another problem. Her signal was not as strong as Ka'len's so homing was a hit and miss affair. She could only identify a general area, the dirty work of pinning down the exact location had do be done the old fashion way.
They turned left down another long hall. A bulletin board on the wall caught Allies eye, she stopped to read a flyer up close. 'Developmental psychology…' she skipped down to the point that had caught her eye. 'Dr. Tammy Miller. Enquirer at ext. 1594 or in office # D2070'
"Well, here's the office number," Allie said, "now we just have to find it…"
Several of the doors up and down the hall opened almost in unison and students began pilling out. Allie grabbed Ka'len, directed her to the wall beside her.
"Stick together, don't act lost or ask any questions. Try to blend in." Allie said as the two started inching back down the hall in the direction they had just come from.
"Its upstairs." Allie said with certainty, "that narrows our search a lot."
"How can you be sure?" Ka'len asked.
"The room numbers,"
Ka'len glanced at one of the little plaques by the doors, "they do not seem helpful."
"All the numbers on this level started with D1, same in the other buildings only with a different letter with the number."
"D is this building then." Ka'len concluded, Allie nodded.
"And all the numbers so far have started with one, so two must be upstairs."
Ka'len found logic in Allies conclusion, fell silent and walked along beside her.
Allie glanced over at a group of passing students, she nudged Ka'len into step behind them.
It was a quick walk to the end of the corridor following the flow of the rest of the people. There they found a wide staircase leading to the second floor. Allie started up the left side with Ka'len right behind her. Avoiding eye contact with the masses making their way down the stairs was a difficult task. But Allie was still amazed by how well she and Ka'len fit in among men and women who were much older then them. Those that did look at them just turned back to what they were doing, not giving them a second glance.
Stepping onto the tiles of the second floor of the fine arts building, Allie felt an alternate sensation of relief and discouragement. There seemed to be far fewer students crowding the hall, but that hall seemed to stretch on, far into the distance. With doors covering both walls. She looked to the right, down a short connecting corridor and knew that the same scene played out on the other side of the building.
She sighed, "we better get started." Allie moved of toward the marker beside the first door, Ka'len didn't move.
"Would it not be faster if I looked on this side?" she asked, Allie turned.
"It would be faster but I don't think we should split up…" Allie thought for a moment. What was the point? "Go ahead, I'll meet you at the end."
"And Allie..." Tammy, Lisa could tell, was charging back up for another round. "You told me she was abducted five years ago, when you first started coming to me. Now she's back all the sudden?"
"She wasn't abducted, she went by choice. And yes, she's back all the sudden." Lisa fired back, drawing a drained, frustrated sigh from Tammy.
"Ok, granted she's back for some reason. That doesn't explain why you're just now telling me. You say she came back several weeks ago…"
"Two and a half weeks ago," Lisa interjected, "and I wanted to tell you, I wanted to tell everyone, but she thought it might draw unneeded attention from the government."
"The government is not watching you Lisa. Is that what you think?"
"No!" Lisa almost shouted, but managed to control her excitement. "No… for one, I know they are watching us…"
"'Us' is?" Tammy asked.
"Me, Charlie and Allie… and the alien who's living with us… but mostly Allie."
"Alien living with you?" Tammy asked, her voice now full of concern. "You're regressing…"
"Listen," Lisa cut her off, "I know this all sounds crazy—that I sound crazy—but I promise you, it's the truth. Allie will be here soon, then you will see."
"You keep saying that," Tammy glanced at her watch, "but it's almost been an hour…" she was cut off by a gentle tapping at the door. Tammy looked at Lisa.
"Soon is soon." Lisa said with a grin as Tammy stood from behind her desk.
Ka'len stood outside the closed door of office D2070. The inscription read 'Dr. Tammy Miller'. Several seconds passed after she knocked, nothing yet. She raised her fist to knock again just as the door opened. An uneasy, almost spooked face greeted her.
"Hello." Ka'len said before the woman could speak.
"May—may I help you?" Tammy asked.
Lisa leaned forward, peering through the door with a confused look on her face, "Ka'len?"
"Ka…len?" Tammy glanced back at Lisa
"Where's Allie?" Lisa asked.
Ka'len looked down the hall, "she is still searching for this office."
Tammy, not knowing what else to do, stepped back from the door, allowing the girl to enter. "Who is this, Lisa?" she asked.
"Oh, well I don't know if you'll believe me if I told you," Lisa said dismissively as Ka'len tentatively stepped in, surveying the contents of the room.
Tammy closed the door and crossed back toward her desk, looking the girl over, "try me."
"This is," Lisa grinned, "the 'alien who's living with us'."
Ka'len came to a stop beside Lisa's chair, turned toward Tammy.
Tammy's lips curled into a smile matching Lisa's "seriously, who is this?"
"I am Ka'len," she spoke for herself, "Lisa speaks the truth."
"But your not… an 'alien'" Tammy said as if she were telling Ka'len how it was.
"Indeed I am what you would call an 'alien'." Ka'len countered, "although your race appears 'alien' to me."
"It equals out!" Lisa laughed.
"No… no, there's no way. There has never been any proof of the existence of life off of earth… not to mention the distances involved in space travel, there's no way…"
Ka'len looked to Lisa for permission, Lisa nodded. A gold plated pen lying on Tammy's desk immediately rotated upright, standing on end for a second before raising several feet off the desk. Tammy's jaw dropped as the pen zipped through the air and was deposited into Ka'len's waiting hand. She held the pen up in the light.
"These writing implements were 'alien' to me… this one is very beautiful." Ka'len said as she released the pen, sent it back toward Tammy and the desk.
"That's…" Tammy swallowed, looking quickly between Lisa, the pen, and the girl. "What was that?" she finally asked.
"What did it look like?" Lisa said
"Like a flying pen… but that's not…"
"Possible, I know," Lisa motioned to Ka'len. "Tell that to her."
Tammy reached out, flicked the pen with her index finger causing it to spin. "How…" another knock at the door stopped her. She looked up to Lisa, who shrugged.
As Tammy started to get up, Ka'len looked toward the door, it swung open silently, revealing Allie standing on the other side. Tammy collapsed back into her chair, stunned silent.
Allie watched the door open, looked up to Ka'len, "I see you've started without me," she said, entered the room, "excellent, if we act quickly we can keep anything bad from happening."
"Wait," Lisa's smile faded, "bad? I thought you said this was no big deal?"
Allie paused, she had said too much too soon, "it's not… don't worry. The sooner you learn to control the energy, the better you will adapt, that's all." But Allie knew the real reason. Untrained use of her abilities could drain her mother to the brink of death without warning. Much like what had happened to her, even though Allie had been born with a certain level of natural control. Overuse still led to energy depletion. And Lisa could over use her powers without even knowing it.
"So… what do I do?" Lisa asked. Tammy had given up trying to understand what she had just seen. She now silently scanned between the new faces in the room and Lisa, listening intently to every word. The one that had just entered, she decided, had to be Allie. The girl's soft voice carried such certainty, such serenity. Yet Tammy could feel a definite 'energy' in the air. Almost like touching the Van de graff generator in the physic lab. She looked at a mirror on the wall opposite her desk fully expecting her hair to be standing on end. Allie was talking to the other one… "kahlen"? Tammy still wasn't quite clear on the pronunciation.
"You have been through the training," Allie said to Ka'len, "you know the early stages better then I do."
Ka'len nodded.
"Training?" Lisa glanced back at Ka'len, confused, "but I thought these powers were part of you."
"They are," Ka'len said, "however, unlike Allie, normal Xe are not born with the ability to control them at will."
"They go through a training process," Allie took over, "designed to first connect the conscious part of the mind, the part that thinks, feels, speaks…" Lisa motioned with her hand to get to the point.
"Sorry honey," Lisa said, "but I'm a psyc major, I know a bit about how the mind works… thought it might save you some time."
Allie smiled, "of course, I forgot." She remembered the other person in the room, who she had been so rude as to not even say hello to. Turning toward Tammy, Allie was met by a searching look on the woman's face. "Hi…" Allie said, "my name is Allie…"
"I--I know," Tammy stammered shortly, regained composure, "Lisa has told me a lot about you…"
"As she has spoken well of you," Allie nodded in acknowledgment. She also acknowledged her own language. 'As she had spoken well of you?' Where did I pull that from? Allie began to feel again that the influence her time with the Xe had imparted upon her was far deeper then she could imagine. Or was it them at all? She had so much locked inside her mind that had always been there. Maybe her perceived changing was an effect of the mission she had practically been created to perform.
"You may like this," Allie said, speaking to Tammy, "what we are about to do should be right up your…alley." She chuckled silently to her self; her name had a very interesting synonym.
"What are you about to do?" Tammy asked, her initial uneasiness now replaced by her scientific curiosity.
"I would like to know that too, since it's me were talking about." Lisa said, Allie turned and smiled at her mother.
"The first stages of this training process are much like hypnosis," Allie looked back to Tammy, "I assume you are familiar with several forms?"
Tammy nodded, Allie continued.
"Good, I thought you might be of help—" Allie turned back to Lisa without breaking cadence, "—because the training process is designed for Xean minds, the human brain functions quite differently."
"So what can I do?" Tammy asked.
"Simple, hypnotize me and my mother at the same time."
Meanwhile, at the makeshift NSA headquarters several blocks away, All the agents had been called back as Mary and Keith studied the satellite map, formulating a new plan.
"I think its safe to assume she's long gone now." Keith said, "We would be best to set up back at the house and wait for them to return."
Mary looked at him, "you just love to give up don't you? How did you ever get to the head of a division?"
"There are a lot of things you don't know about me Miss Crawford." Keith had a sly grin on his face, "and I would prefer to keep it that way,"
Miss Crawford? Mary thought, "Agent Sheppard," she addressed him in a very formal manner, causing him to pause and listen, "am I not an official agent of the NSA now?" she asked.
"Yeah," Keith nodded, "I guess."
"Then will you please address me as Agent Crawford from now on." Mary said. Keith recognized the cold, bureaucratic tone. It confused him monetarily; Mary had never said anything like that before.
He laughed a little, "yes ma'am." Mary glared at him, forcing the smile from his lips, "Geez, what crawled up your as…"
"Don't even!" Mary snapped, whirled away from the computer. Two agents stood in her way; she shot an icy stare through them both, causing them to slink out of her way.
"Mary… Agent Crawford," Keith turned, "seriously. What has gotten in to you!" his voice was intense but barely above a normal conversational volume.
"What's gotten in to me?!" Mary spun on her heels again, "how about watching you blow chance after chance to end this thing?"
"What do you mean?"
"Are you incredibly stupid or just blind!" Mary demanded, "the girl! We have had many opportunities to catch her and yet, something happens each time that stops us short! It's always surveillance, surveillance, surveillance… when are we going to act?"
Keith realized his mouth was hanging open. This was defiantly out of Mary's normal character, "well, we need information before…" Keith stopped as Mary threw her hands up in frustration, walked to the window and crossed her arms over her chest, staring out into the dirty, rat infested alley below.
The room remained silent for several long minutes as Keith and the other agents looked to each other for some clue of what was going on, what had set her off like this. They had all been around her for two, going on three weeks now, and never in that time had any one of them seen such an emotional outburst from Mary. Her time of the month, perhaps?
Mary turned back into the room, the window casting her in an eerie silhouette, "we need a new card to play," she said, her voice unsettlingly calm and calculating, "something new to throw into the mix…"
She looked dead at Keith, appearing to have just had a revelation, "the Special Forces team!"
"Yeah, what about them?" Keith asked.
"Make the call… bring them in." Mary said as she strode back across the dusty floor toward the computer.
"What? I thought you said…"
"I know what I said!" Mary once again glared at him, Keith now realized that he was actually feeling fear because of this woman. No one could intimidate him! At least he thought.
Mary watched Keith dig for his cell phone. He pulled it out and turned his back to her. Exeunt, Mary thought. Her first act was over. She just hoped she didn't overdo it.
In Tammy's office, Allie's idea was already underway.
"Relax," Tammy held that same gold plated pen motionless before her, Lisa and Allie stared at it intently. Ka'len was amusing herself rummaging through the myriad of books on the doctors shelves.
"Focus in the pen," Tammy continued, her voice as smooth as velvet, "let all you thoughts fade away, don't force them, just let them fall away." She could tell that Lisa was already going under. After several sessions, a person can almost hypnotize themselves so it wasn't surprising. Allie, on the other hand seemed completely alert, she even grinned at Tammy's repetitive statements. Yeah, Tammy thought, I feel just as ridiculous as you I bet.
Lisa looked completely gone, Tammy sat the pen down, "Lisa?" she called softly.
"Yes?" Lisa responded, Tammy knew she was gone from the tone of her voice.
"Would you please hold out your hand." Tammy said, Lisa complied. "Now imagine a heavy weight placed in your palm."
Lisa's arm dropped, her face contorted slightly as if she were straining to hold something heavy.
"The weight is removed," Tammy said, Lisa returned her arm to its previous position. Test passed, Tammy thought. But there was still Allie.
Tammy looked toward the girl.
Allie smiled, "I don't think it worked."
"Guess not." Tammy reached for the pen, "try again?"
"No, I can improvise something." Allie said. Tammy felt that static charge in the air returning as Allie reached for Lisa's hand, "I just didn't know how to get her in the trance, I can take it from here."
"Oh… okay," Tammy was unclear about what Allie meant. 'I can take it from here?' several seconds later, she found out.
Allie closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, almost simultaneously, the static charge in the air around Tammy increased ten-fold. Now, she was sure her hair had to be standing on end. An invisible shock wave hit her next, knocking the breath out of her lungs. Lisa and Allie, however, appeared peacefully asleep.
Ka'len sensed the fear in the woman, "it is complicated to explain, but safe," she said. Tammy turned urgently.
"What? What just happened?"
Ka'len searched her dictionary like knowledge of human languages for a human term to represent it, only one phrase came to mind, "power surge."
Lisa's eyes remained shut tightly. She listened to her breathing, concentrated on it. Letting herself sink deeper and deeper into the trance. Lisa knew this game well; all her regressions had conditioned her perfectly for an extremely high degree of hypnotic suggestion, a hypnotist's dream.
There was a momentary sensation of weightlessness. Something new, she commented to herself. Then she started to hear things, Very faintly at first. But growing ever louder and more tangible by the second. A rustling sound. Fabric. No, grass!
Grass?
She tried to block it out, but a new sensation started building. Warmth, on her face and arms. The Sun. it was unmistakable, but still Lisa tried to block it out.
Next, a scent hit her nostrils. She had smelled it once before; the wildflowers at her grandmother's house in Texas. It, too, was unmistakable. A one-of-a-kind smell. It had to be… but she refused to open her eyes. It was just a mind trick, memories trickling in from the corners of her consciousness. None of it was really there; she was on the second floor of the University, in Seattle, miles away from Lubbock.
The rustling wings and the joyful song of a pair of mockingbirds jarred her again, this time she peeked an eye open… then bolted upright as the scene laid out before her sunk in.
Lisa found herself sitting in the middle of a field. Tall, uncut grass and weeds swayed in the breeze around her. She was on her feet in another instant, mouth hung wide in disbelief. It took several more seconds for her to notice the two story farm house to her left.
What the hell? She rubbed her eyes, it was all still there. This is really new! She thought as she spun around once more, taking in the unbelievable scene.
I'm under hypnosis… she told herself, but it didn't help. It all seemed so real!
After one last spin, Lisa stopped facing the house. She was almost 100 yards away but she could see that the front door was hanging open, flapping gently in the wind.
"Why not?" she shrugged and started heading toward the house.
"Hello?" she called out as she stepped up the last step onto the porch, "is anyone here?" of course no ones here, idiot.
She entered. The house was nothing like she last remembered it; the night Allie had gone. It was clean, not a speck of dust in sight. Her father had told her about how compulsive her grandmother had been about dusting. He had also wanted to tell her other things, things that to this day Lisa wished she had never found out. He never had a chance. His abilities drained him, and eventually killed him.
Lisa paused as she entered the living room. Someone was here! Allie. At least it looked like her.
"Ah… Allie?" Lisa said timidly, almost afraid of the possibilities that the girl wasn't Allie. No answer.
"Honey?" Lisa moved toward the girl.
"Grandpa Jacob was a handsome man." Allie said, she leaned back to reveal a photo album on the coffee table before her. Lisa didn't know what to say first.
"Yes, yes he was." She moved toward Allie, knelt on the floor beside her. The floor felt real enough.
"I wish I could have met him." Allie flipped another page, settling on a large photo of Sally Clark.
"Grandma…" Lisa said, as she caught a glimpse of the photo.
Allie stared at it for a while, then turned to Lisa smiling, "you know, John named a ship after her."
"Really?" Lisa was surprised by the sudden change of subject. Even though she knew all too well that Aliens existed, and intergalactic space travel was possible, happening right this moment. She still felt like a character in Star Trek every time the subject came up.
"Yeah, it's probably the command vessel by now, John was favored to become supreme fleet commander when I returned…" Allie said.
The far off look in Allies eyes brought a sudden revelation upon Lisa: Allie must miss her new "family" with them as much as she had missed her real family while she was gone. It was detesting to even consider it, but Lisa knew how profoundly Allie had changed. It was a result of only one thing: friends.
"Anyway!" Allie spoke loudly, startling Lisa. The photo album closed of its own volition and promptly vanished in a small, but brilliant flash. "We should get started." Allie stood and headed toward the front entryway. Lisa followed.
"Why are we here?"
Allie stopped, "I don't know, I wanted something new." She turned back toward the door and exited onto the porch while Lisa contemplated her statement. Lisa ran after her.
"Something new?" Lisa caught up and followed Allie down the steps, into the grass once again. "What do you mean?"
"I was getting tired of the blank white screen. Decided to remember this instead."
Lisa stopped, puzzled look on her face. Allie continued out onto a path.
"Wait, you mean this is one of those fake things? We're not really here?"
Allie turned, "of course, this kind of travel could only be accomplished using ship based transporter arrays."
"Oh…" Lisa moved to catch up once again. Along the way she reached out and pinched the head off a tall grass seedpod, brought it to her mouth and bit down. The bitter taste screamed 'real!' She spit it out.
Allie laughed, "this is all as real as you and me."
"But how?" Lisa asked.
"What is reality?"
Lisa thought about the question, it seemed pointless. "I don't know, everything?"
"Reality is what we see, what we hear… all that stuff." Allie swung her hand out, tracing the flight of the pair of mocking birds as they flew by. "And all these things, or our perception of these things, are controlled by our…" she let the word hang, for Lisa to answer.
"Brain?"
"Yes, the mind is the key to reality. What does a blind person see?"
Again, Lisa was stumped by a seemingly simple question, "nothing?"
"No, he sees his reality, everything that is real to him."
"But?" Lisa protested. "The only thing a blind person can see is blackness…"
The scene around them dissolved into a pure black. Lisa could not even see her hand in front of her face.
"The blackness is not real?"
Lisa was speechless; she understood where Allie was going now. Reality is in the eye of the beholder. "I get it!"
The blackness fell away, revealing the same scene in the front yard of the farmhouse. "Good," Allie said, then turned and continued down the path. Lisa jogged to return to her side.
"Things are only as real as you want them to be, you will learn this concept well by the time we're done." Allie's voice barely wavered from a flat monotone. Lisa was starting to become unnerved by her daughter's behavior. She didn't like seeing her like this.
"But. What about a bullet from a gun?" Lisa countered, "that seems pretty real if someone fires it at you."
Allie grinned, "yes, it does. Unless you know how to make it unreal."
Again Lisa was stunned. Unreal? Now she was sure she was a character in a movie.
"You don't understand?" Allie glanced up at her. Then, several hundred yards down the path, a huge semi-truck appeared, barreling toward them. Lisa tried to grab Allie and pull her off the road but she would not budge, and instead, grabbed Lisa's arm and held her in place. Lisa clamped her eyes shut, preparing to be smashed into a grease spot on the gravel, but no impact came. She looked up, the truck was gone. But it could still be heard speeding down the road behind them. Lisa didn't dare turn to watch it.
"See," Allie, said, "only as real as you want it to be."
"But… it wasn't real at all, none of this is."
Allie frowned; her mother still refused to understand. "No. This, all around us. This is real."
"No, its not," Lisa countered, "we're both sitting in a room in the University…" she trailed as Allie walked off the path toward one wildflower that seemed to stand out from the rest, Lisa followed.
"Pick this flower." Allie said flatly, pointing at the one Lisa had spotted. As Lisa pulled on the stem, a single bee buzzed out, circled her body once then angrily plunged its stinger into her forearm.
"Shit!" Lisa jumped back, her arm now throbbing, a red bump forming around the pulsating stinger still imbedded in her arm. Allie just smiled, it seemed to Lisa that she might burst into laughter at any moment.
"You see yet? This is very real."
"It feels real…"
"No!" Allie cut her off, frustrated, "what I'm trying to tell you is that reality is controlled by your mind. Even though our real bodies are not in this actual location, we are still very much here."
"Okay," Lisa concentrated for a moment, "but what does this have to do with me stopping a mug in mid air?"
"Everything!" Allie's said, "you must lay a foundation before you can build a house."
It clicked at that moment for Lisa. What this was about. The 'first lesson'. Allie was trying to give her a sort of fundamental education, an introduction to the concepts which these powers function under.
"I… understand," Lisa said. Allie knew she was telling the truth.
"I knew you would, its not that complicated."
"What next?" Lisa asked, and immediately wished she hadn't. In the grass several yards away, a new sound started. Lisa had never heard it in person before but it set off a whole set of primal warnings in her mind. The rattling grew louder, more agitated, and was joined by an angry hissing. The animal making the sound could only be one thing.
"Rattlesnake!" Lisa jumped back, searching franticly through the grass until she saw it. A huge animal, coiled up and ready to strike. And not even three feet away from it stood Allie. Lisa's heart stopped.
"A test," Allie said, unfazed by the creature's presence.
Lisa couldn't speak, what the hell kind of test!
"Believe that the snake is not real, and it will disappear." Allie told her
"What!" Lisa screamed, causing the snake to inch closer to Allie.
"This is just baby steps here mom, anyone can do it. Concentrate."
"But I don't know how…"
"Yes you do!" Allie's said forcefully. Something in her words filled Lisa with confidence. She shut her eyes tightly, picturing the animal in her mind.
Its not real, its not real… she repeated the simple phrase over and over in her mind. She could feel the calming effects of the mantra almost immediately, but she could also still hear the beating of the creature's rattle. And Lisa knew how perilously close the animal was to her daughter. If the bee sting had been real, Lisa could only assume that a snakebite would be just as real.
There is no snake here, Lisa changed the pace a bit, it's a cute little puppy, or a kitten. There is no snake here.
The rattling stopped, but still Lisa's eyes remained clamped tightly shut, the mantra still rolling through her head. Until she felt something licking at her toes.
"Very good!" Allie said. Lisa opened her eyes and looked down to find a puppy, busily slobbering away on her feet.
"You did a transformation on your first try!" Allie walked over and picked up the puppy. "This won't take long at all." The dog vanished into thin air.
Lisa was stunned; she really had just done it! And it was easier then she could have imagined. Allie started talking again.
"That is the first lesson. But one last thing I must tell you is that: there is a difference between this reality and the true reality we live in. although to you at this point, this world is just as real as the "real" world. As you learn more, you will start to see the differences."
"Why couldn't you just tell me these things, without all this?" Lisa asked.
"Because manipulation of molecular structure in order to change reality in the real world if infinitely harder then what you just did with the snake."
Manipulation of molecular structure? "You didn't tell me anything about manipulating structures."
"I know." Allie smiled, "that comes with time, for now you just need the concept, and the knowledge that it's possible."
"But is that how you… do things, change stuff on a molecular scale?"
"Yes, in simplest terms." Allie said, "there is a 'thread' that connects every speck of matter in the universe, some might call this force "god", but it is not supernatural in the least. It is a binding force, much like gravity. They way I, the Xe, and soon, you, change things is by using this thread."
Lisa's mouth hung limp, Allie continued.
"There really isn't any simpler way I can explain it…"
"I think I get it…"
Allie grinned, "I know what you're thinking."
"Yeah, I never thought anything could surprise me anymore… but that information is stranger then a whole sky full of UFOs!"
Allie laughed, "Just wait till you learn to see the thread!"