Chapter 14 – Contact
…Space, total blackness all around him. Danny could see The White Mountain in the distance, the summit sparkling with a bright pinpoint of light. Dimmer pinpoints sparkled with blues, reds, purples, greens, yellows, all the while orbiting the greater Light in weaving paths.
He would begin with the spirits closest to the Light, and work his way outward.
Hours? Days? Only seconds, only heartbeats. He arrived at The Mountain. He thought of Sam, and reached out to the glimmering, multicolored globe nearest him.
A Primitive! Her thoughts spoke to him as she realized his invasive connection.
Living! You must tell me what happened to my child!
I am sorry, I don't know. Danny began streaking towards the light. The brightness grew brighter.
I was killed by the great cat before I could save my child. Does my child live?
Sorry, I am so sorry, but I don't know. But it was a long time ago, so even if your child survived, he or she would be dead from old age by now. It has been many moons.
Sadness radiated to him through the connection. Danny struggled to think of Sam. He remembered her eyes, her smile. But the Primitives sadness was strong, a broken heart…almost there!
So my child is dead…
Danny entered the brightness At last! The Primitives life began flashing by. He watched scenes of gathering food, of brutal fight for dominance within the tribe. The birth of the Primitive's child. The Pain, the suffering…
It was done. And this was only the first.
--------------------------------------------------
Another sphere, glimmering, sparkling with light, just as Danny himself was glowing.
The two globes began to circle each other as they orbited the greater Light.
Danny thought of holding Sam while she slept, and reached out. Their thoughts connected.
A…Bride?
Is that you my love?
No. I am sorry.
I have waited for you for so long.
I am sorry. I am not the one you are waiting for. Danny had almost forgotten his mission as the Bride made her romantic overture to him. She was beautiful. But remembering, he launched their combined perspective towards the Light.
From where have you come? I miss my love, where is he?
I don't know. Almost there!
Then LEAVE ME!
Danny knew that she would begin haunting him, as she shouted, her connection 'voice' became a low pitched and loud, growling snarl.
Gone was the Bride, her glow enlarged from the globe to a giant ghost, an enormous amoeba of fear and hatred, surrounding him, with an irregular and wavy form, thickening, obscuring The Light.
He fought to think of Sam, of holding her, kissing her, recalling her say 'I love you Danny'. He was almost there.
The Bride was conscious of Danny's thoughts too; saw Sam, and their love. The ghost twisted Sam's image in his mind, she began to age, to wrinkle, bags under her eyes, hair graying, stooping over. Her eyes sunk in death, the teeth falling out, the skull beginning to show through the decaying, blackening skin.
He entered the Brightness. Almost didn't make it!
The spirits life began flashing past him, but he did not have the strength to watch, he knew he had won, her life would flash without the need for him to watch it. He dropped the connection, and withdrew from the light. Scenes from the Bride's life continued to flicker to an empty theatre…
That was only the second journey. How many thousands were here? Millions? How many times must he say I'm sorry?
Dropping his phase control, he went back...
