CHAPTER 18: LAW OF INFORMATION PACKING

"The more information contained in a symbol, the more vague it becomes." (Whitcomb 16)

Past—Carl's POV

"Carl..."

After an eternity he heard someone call out his name.

But he wasn't ready he to leave the peace he felt or the silence he drifted in.

"Carl..."

Ignorance was bliss. He didn't want to know who called his name. He was tired. He didn't want to think anymore. He just wanted to be.

"Carl..."

Carl wanted to cry out for the voice to stop. To leave him alone. To let his soul rest.

"If that's what you wish, Carl..."

Yes that's what he wanted! Why would he go back to hardship and pain and...

"But what about..."

Tom! The thought catches him off guard and is enough to jolt him back to consciousness.

He opens his eyes...

And for a moment thinks he's blind.

But instead of darkness, all he sees is Light.

Until he turns around...

There's a shadow approaching him, blurry at first but becoming sharper with each step.

As it gets closer the features became visible and familiar...

"Jacob?"

Jacob-sandy haired and brown eyed, dressed in surfer shorts and a tee-finally comes into focus.

"Congratulations Carl, once again you have eluded Death." Jacob shakes his head. "Though you did have me worried—for a moment there, I thought you had given up."

"I almost did," Carl realizes. "But..."

"But Tom needs you," Jacob finishes for him.

There's a time where neither of them say anything. Then Jacob continues, "This Universe has always underestimated you two. Let's see if you can do it again... or rather, for the last time."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Carl demands, shaken by his recent Ordeal.

"It's time you learned that..."

"Wait," Carl breaks in, staring at Jacob in disbelief. "That's all? I just died and left behind a family who are probably grieving over me this very second! Am I supposed to forget? Pretend that didn't happen?"

Jacob's expression is neutral. "The only way to cheat Death, Carl, is to die." Then he sighs. "You made a choice. You had your chance to stay in that world but you refused. Are you having second thoughts? I hope not. I thought you understood, there's no turning back."

Carl forces himself to calm down.

"What do I have to do?" he asks finally, after his own personal struggle is over.

"Regain your memories," Jacob replies simply. "Over ten thousand years of history..."

"Ten thousand years!" Carl exclaims. "That'll take forever!"

Jacob gives him a look. "What do you think we have?"

"But... but..."

"Relax Carl," Jacob breaks through. "Time is different here. This won't be easy but it is doable. And after that..."

Jacob shakes his head. "First, you need to remember why saving Tom is so important to you."

Carl falls silent.

There has to be a reason, he thinks.

Is it... love? Or rather Love?

Is this what Love is?

Or is there more to it than that?

What else is there, besides Love? What else matters?

"Come, let's find out..." And the expression on Jacob's face is kinder than any Carl had seen so far.

Carl reaches for Jacob and is surprised—and more than a little disoriented—when he falls through him instead.

His confusion must have shown on his face because Jacob just shakes his head again.

"Consider us ghosts, Carl. You have left behind your mortal shell. And with it you have broken every tie to that realm as well. It's time to move on."

"But how can we revisit the past between Tom and me?" Carl asks, a bit uneasy.

"Who says we're limiting our search to the past?" Jacob says lightly.

Carl is more lost than ever. "What?! But... the future... how?"

"I already told you that Time here is different. In fact, as far as we're concerned, it's nonexistent."

"So what do we have to do?" Carl blinks, it sounds different from the first time he said it...

"Yes, there is a 'we.' I won't make you do this alone. That's what I'm here for. That's my reason for existence."

"But how did you..."

"...come to be?" Jacob finishes for him.

He looks thoughtful for a moment. Then... "Both you and Tom have been here at one time or another...more than that actually. Much more. And it shouldn't be possible that you are here at all, Carl."

Jacob sighs after that, not looking at Carl for a moment. But when he finally glances up, he meets Carl's eyes with an expression Carl can't place. "Humans are not allowed here, cannot survive here—that's an understatement actually—even you, Carl, will fade away forever if you let go. That's why I was created—a being that could survive here. You made me for this purpose."

"But...how?" Carl asks incredulously.

Jacob seems thoughtful, as if he himself doesn't know the answer. "I'm not sure who started it," he begins slowly. "If it was Tom or you or both—just like I cannot pinpoint the beginning of time—all I remember is this: I was needed. And that Will took on a Life of Its own..."

Jacob clears his throat. "With me at your side you have access to any timeline or dimension. Any event—past, present, or future—is within reach."

He shakes his head. "But that's enough for now. Now we have work to do..."

"I thought you said we had all of Time," Carl points out.

Jacob smiles indulgently, "All the same, let's get started. Shall we?"

Carl nods once slowly, then again with more enthusiasm. "All right, how do we save Tom?"

"We need to find out where in Time his essence currently resides." Jacob states simply.

Carl blinks. "Excuse me?"

"Well, that's not quite accurate. We need to find where most of his essence is... You see," Jacob continues, "We all exist at the same 'Time,' all of the Time, because that's all there is. The One is everything and everything is the One. And we are most certainly part of the One. Do you understand?"

Carl shakes his head, "no."

Jacob seems to consider this for a moment, then, "Ok... how about we focus in on Time itself. First, let's think of Time as a rope. A rope is made up of many different and smaller strands, am I correct?"

Carl nods, "So far..."

"Okay, well, if each person is a string, then think of a twist or a knot that holds the rope together as an interaction between two or more people. Now, the bigger the knots are, the more people involved and the stronger the rope is bound together. So is life. It could be a sad or happy event, but ultimately it always brings the strands— the people—closer to unity."

Carl blinks, "But what does this have to do with me and Tom?"

"You two seem to intertwine together more often than many." Jacob shrugs, "I'm not sure if this is by divine design or if you're both just stubborn."

Carl smiles a bit at that.

"Anyway," Jacob resumes, "Continuing with the rope analogy, this cosmic rope of humanity has no start and no finish. It only has knots. So how can we look into the future? Simply climb up the rope. And for the past, climb back down. Look for the knots between you and Tom. Where the knot is the biggest, that's where Tom will be."

"To tell you the truth," Carl confesses slowly, "I was never very good at climbing ropes."

Jacob nods indulgently. "Then it's a good thing we're not climbing, we're creating. Here," And in his hands appears a strand of rope, which only has one knot that he Carl can tell... and that's in the middle.

"Take this." Jacob holds out the coil of rope to Carl.

Carl hesitates at first, but one look from Jacob and he hastily complies.

The moment the rope touches his hand, however, it unravels. Not only that, there's... sensation.

He can feel it.

"Jacob what's happening?" Carl nearly drops it in shock.

But Jacob's hands appear at the last moment and, even though he is unable to touch him, the gesture of the motion itself is enough to steady Carl.

"Ever heard of the 'red string of fate' before?" Jacob asks Carl lightly, taking a step back.

Carl, still holding the remaining threads carefully, shakes his head, "No."

"It's a concept similar to 'soul mates.' You two are divinely connected by this thread. It may twist or pull but will never snap or break... unless you will it to."

Jacob's voice drops and his entire demeanor changes as he holds onto that last line.

Taking a deep breath, he begins anew. "This is your second chance to end this here and now. Should you desire to be free of Tom, we have the means of cutting your tie."

He waves his hand and a pair of scissors materialize.

No!" Carl cries and takes a step back, bodily protecting those precious strings, though he still doesn't understand just why Tom is so important to him.

Carl doesn't understand how Tom Loves him. Or if he Loves Tom in return. Or if he even can Love Tom in that way.

Distantly he hears Jacob sigh in relief and when Carl looks up, the scissors are gone.

"Thank goodness," Jacob says. He eyes Carl critically. "You'll have three chances to renounce yours and Tom's fate. You've already conquered two but be wary, the third is a temptation much harder to resist."

Carl nods from where he's still huddled around the cords.

"So what do we have to do?" he asks again.

"Hold the knot." Jacob instructs. "And release the rest of it."

Carl does as he's told.

"Now," Jacob rubs his hands together and begins. "You are going to twist the two strands of the string together on either side of the existing knot, then tie a knot with them. Whenever you make a knot it will transport your essence into a time when you and Tom coexisted."

"But how will I find him? How will I know it's him?" Carl asks hastily, flummoxed. He does as he's told though and after he finishes the first knot, he feels reality shift and chane around him.

"You'll know, I have faith..." Jacob starts to walk away from Carl. But then he stops and looks back at him, face mysteriously blank. "Oh, and one last thing. You'll need help. So I encourage you to make a stop along the way."

"Wha—" Carl tries, but those were Jacob's parting words. He's already gone.

Then the Light's extinguished and Carl's plunged back into the darkness.