Lee's face was transfixed, emotionless and expressionless. He knew! Of course, he knew. Andy could see it clearly. He did not have to violate Lee's privacy of mind to know the truth.. Lee was never like him. Still, it was not utter fabrication either. Terry supplied Lee with some very powerful gifts, but he was not becoming anything more than Harper and Samuelson were.
Andy was very different. His alteration was on the molecular level, in his DNA. Andy was unique, a new form of life. He was enough human to still relate to the world, but alien enough to stand outside of human concern, emotionless and detached. This was the difference that frightened Harper to the marrow.
Samuelson was wrong as well. He was the evil. Harper had good intentions. Lee served to balance their extremes. Andy was never in their equation.
Andy's existence threatened the overall plan. There were no operations that could save him. Only those that delayed the inescapable. Ingenious biochemical engineering and cocktails of steroids, hormones and drugs to suppress the abnormalities of his physiology weren't the answer. The surgery was mainly for cosmetic reasons. Since Caroline's abduction, Harper needed him to run Henderson Industries to maintain the funding for LOOKING GLASS.
Terry didn't need to kill him. Already, he was terminal. That was the meaning of the blackness, the voids he could not see past in his future. The alterations were irreversible but also deadly to the parts of him that remained human.
Andy would not cease to exist though. He would become more in death than he was in life. This too, Harper feared. That was what they wished to control, if not manipulate.
Harper wished to keep him isolate. That was Lee's purpose. On the weekends, or whenever Lee was unable to watch Andy, there were security guards assigned to watch the beach house. During the week, when Andy was at the corporate building in Houston, he was closely monitored and always in the company of at least one of his assistants.
Andy accepted his fate. Already, he had crossed so many barriers, would death be any greater challenge? He knew the truth about the thresholds. He understood The Continuum in a very intimate way. Inside it were access points to the manifold layers of Heaven and Hell. Why had he been so unaware of the truth, so distracted?
Terry was going to be greatly disappointed. His understanding was limited by human perception. It was not his fault. He was a puny myopic nuisance to Andy.
For his part, Lee paced the back deck of the beach house. He seemed content to permit the continuance of silence.
"Well?" Andy prompted.
Lee halted abruptly, as if the words turned him to immediately alter his direction, like a target in a shooting gallery. Slowly, he made his way back to Andy, then sat down beside him.
"They told me a couple of years ago," Lee confessed. "They weren't sure you knew that the mutation causes a terminal condition... at least for the human part of you it is terminal. They don't know whether the rest of you will live on in absence of the human cells. In time, the human parts of your physical being will cease to exist."
"When my body dies, I die." Andy confirmed. "My body is largely human. My essence, however, is eternal, as is anyone's. You do not believe in life after death. I didn't either. I was a good boy and went to Mass with my mother and Caroline. I learned what I had to learn and said what I had to say. But I was not Catholic, not really. Then it occurred to me that the afterlife is largely defined by whatever you expect it to be. If that is nothing, then it will be nothing. There are any number of Heavens and Hells, Lee."
"Is that intended as a warning?"
"You will die, too, Lee. Just a statement of fact."
"They really didn't mutate me," Lee confessed, "At least, not to any dangerous extent."
"I know. You will die anyway, whether of old age, smoking too much or an untimely accident. There are a lot of opportunities out there. Death is undeniably the ultimate destination in living and it's inevitable."
"Oh, that," Lee laughed.
"I've known for sometime that my condition is terminal. I was hoping you were not part of the deception. But it all fell together. You could not be like me."
Lee shrugged, lowering his eyes to avert his friend's further condemnation. Lee really did like Andy and felt guilty, regardless how good the reasons for what was done. Trying to change the subject back, "You know when I will die, I suppose?"
"I know when and where it is most likely, and every alternative time."
"When?"
"You don't need to know."
"Then why the hell did you bring it up?"
"Because you need to be ready to die any time. You believe you are in control, but there is nothing you can control."
"That sounds religious."
"It's not religion. As I have said, I have never cared for any religion. There are always zealots, true believers in a doctrine, and they can be far more dangerous than the evil their religion claims to be fighting. What I have faith in is the Truth. No one holds a patent on that. Organized religion lost track of the Truth long ago. Occasionally, there is a congregation that finds some cornerstone or pillar to build on. People flock to. They know the Truth when they hear it. That is faith, not religion. When the religion comes into it, the whole institutionalization thing happens. Very few congregations can overcome the desire to become a large body of shared faith. It is the very size that destroys clarity of focus on the Truth."
"I stopped going to church when I was thirteen," Lee said. "I haven't gone back, except for attending weddings and funerals. I guess I can understand what you are saying. We really aren't far apart in what we believe. But I do not believe there is anything after this life."
Andy paused to take a deep breath. "I met two men this evening, before you returned."
"I beg your pardon."
"Two men, here, guardians," Andy restated.
"Andy, some of the pills that you are taking..."
"I am not under the influence. I haven't been taking the pills for a couple of weeks."
"So they were guardians, as in angels?" Lee pulled out a cigarette, lit it and spoke through the puff of expelled smoke. "Right here, on this deck?"
"Guardians as in guardians. Out on the beach, below the deck."
"Oh," Lee chuckled, as if the location of the event made any difference. "I see. That doesn't strike you as peculiar?"
"I can part the fabric of the real world and pass through it, and you have seen me do it. You have been to another world yourself and can even revisit other times in your life. Even so, you doubt that guardians exist? Or is it that you doubt I saw them?"
With a shrug, Lee conceded the point.
"I am dangerous to you. That's the bottom line," Andy changed the subject back.
Lee laughed, "I am dangerous to myself."
"But not to Terry's plan. They sent you to come get me. They sent you back to a time and place a few days after I left this world, I didn't have a chance to do much of anything, except learn about the Hovdin and the Sabatin and their languages. I don't even recall being captured. Anyway, why do you think there is a time differential? When I returned, I lost the last few years. You brought me directly here for one reason. I am now out-of-synch with my native reference in time. I cannot foresee everything. There is a void ahead of me. All the things I was supposed to do before being here don't quite link up to this place and time. In many aspects, I am not here at all. As far as the temporal landscape is concerned, I am still on Anter'x. That is why my perception is limited."
"Then jump back and catch-up."
"I cannot do that."
"Why not?"
"I am out-of-synch. Weren't you listening?"
"Yeah, I heard you say that, but I didn't understand it."
"I have no anchoring point, Lee. I need a fixed reference point to leap from or go back to. To nature, I am still in the process of a shift, just as you were when you came to get me. That is one of the problems with the bridging method. Anseil learned that on Anter'x. I think that is why it was necessary for me to become Hovdin."
"So you didn't need a bridge to cross the Continuum because of the physiological changes."
"Precisely."
Lee sat back, thoughtfully silent for a moment.
"The Hovdin and the Sabatin have profound differences in their molecular structure, completely alien to Earth. They are unlimited by the magnetic fields of this world and the laws of nature here. In some regards, their physiology is much like the guardians I met tonight. Right away, a part of me knew them for what they were. There was otherworldliness about them. Even an average human could sense it. All creatures of this world know whenever something is out of place with this reality. Humans know, but for some reason, they tend to ignore it."
"'They', you said 'they'."
"I'm not human, Lee."
"So, these people on the other side, they could come and go as they want through the Continuum, if it was not for the obstructions Anseil set into place?"
"What I learned from the computers on Anter'x is that most of the Hovdin at present are unaware of this ability that they have, except that there are legends of peoples in the past crossing over to Earth to explore and at one time establish colonies. The Mandorlas were involved. They were wide open for them to come and go."
"Humans were already here, then." Lee suggested.
"Mankind was not as they are now. The Sabatin intented to make menial servants, and in order to do that, they had to make a being that could survive the Continuum and who could be taught to serve them. So, they spliced Hovdin genes into human DNA to create a completely new matrix. They bred people like cattle, selecting the best attributes for survival and for their purposes Even so, it did not work out too well. The human part was far too weak and vulnerable and very much tied to the fields of this world."
"We were useless to them," Lees said. "Harper says humans were not the only creatures from Earth that the Sabatin toyed with."
"They attempted to advance some other animals, even succeeding in transporting several of them to Anter'x. Still, it was unnatural."
Lee butted the cigarette on the sole of his cowboy boot and flicked the remains out onto the beach. "So, when are you going back?"
"As soon as I settle things at Henderson Industries. Or you find Caroline. Anyway, my one day off is almost over." Andy stood up. "I have an early day tomorrow. The corporate 'copter will be here at six."
Andy was very different. His alteration was on the molecular level, in his DNA. Andy was unique, a new form of life. He was enough human to still relate to the world, but alien enough to stand outside of human concern, emotionless and detached. This was the difference that frightened Harper to the marrow.
Samuelson was wrong as well. He was the evil. Harper had good intentions. Lee served to balance their extremes. Andy was never in their equation.
Andy's existence threatened the overall plan. There were no operations that could save him. Only those that delayed the inescapable. Ingenious biochemical engineering and cocktails of steroids, hormones and drugs to suppress the abnormalities of his physiology weren't the answer. The surgery was mainly for cosmetic reasons. Since Caroline's abduction, Harper needed him to run Henderson Industries to maintain the funding for LOOKING GLASS.
Terry didn't need to kill him. Already, he was terminal. That was the meaning of the blackness, the voids he could not see past in his future. The alterations were irreversible but also deadly to the parts of him that remained human.
Andy would not cease to exist though. He would become more in death than he was in life. This too, Harper feared. That was what they wished to control, if not manipulate.
Harper wished to keep him isolate. That was Lee's purpose. On the weekends, or whenever Lee was unable to watch Andy, there were security guards assigned to watch the beach house. During the week, when Andy was at the corporate building in Houston, he was closely monitored and always in the company of at least one of his assistants.
Andy accepted his fate. Already, he had crossed so many barriers, would death be any greater challenge? He knew the truth about the thresholds. He understood The Continuum in a very intimate way. Inside it were access points to the manifold layers of Heaven and Hell. Why had he been so unaware of the truth, so distracted?
Terry was going to be greatly disappointed. His understanding was limited by human perception. It was not his fault. He was a puny myopic nuisance to Andy.
For his part, Lee paced the back deck of the beach house. He seemed content to permit the continuance of silence.
"Well?" Andy prompted.
Lee halted abruptly, as if the words turned him to immediately alter his direction, like a target in a shooting gallery. Slowly, he made his way back to Andy, then sat down beside him.
"They told me a couple of years ago," Lee confessed. "They weren't sure you knew that the mutation causes a terminal condition... at least for the human part of you it is terminal. They don't know whether the rest of you will live on in absence of the human cells. In time, the human parts of your physical being will cease to exist."
"When my body dies, I die." Andy confirmed. "My body is largely human. My essence, however, is eternal, as is anyone's. You do not believe in life after death. I didn't either. I was a good boy and went to Mass with my mother and Caroline. I learned what I had to learn and said what I had to say. But I was not Catholic, not really. Then it occurred to me that the afterlife is largely defined by whatever you expect it to be. If that is nothing, then it will be nothing. There are any number of Heavens and Hells, Lee."
"Is that intended as a warning?"
"You will die, too, Lee. Just a statement of fact."
"They really didn't mutate me," Lee confessed, "At least, not to any dangerous extent."
"I know. You will die anyway, whether of old age, smoking too much or an untimely accident. There are a lot of opportunities out there. Death is undeniably the ultimate destination in living and it's inevitable."
"Oh, that," Lee laughed.
"I've known for sometime that my condition is terminal. I was hoping you were not part of the deception. But it all fell together. You could not be like me."
Lee shrugged, lowering his eyes to avert his friend's further condemnation. Lee really did like Andy and felt guilty, regardless how good the reasons for what was done. Trying to change the subject back, "You know when I will die, I suppose?"
"I know when and where it is most likely, and every alternative time."
"When?"
"You don't need to know."
"Then why the hell did you bring it up?"
"Because you need to be ready to die any time. You believe you are in control, but there is nothing you can control."
"That sounds religious."
"It's not religion. As I have said, I have never cared for any religion. There are always zealots, true believers in a doctrine, and they can be far more dangerous than the evil their religion claims to be fighting. What I have faith in is the Truth. No one holds a patent on that. Organized religion lost track of the Truth long ago. Occasionally, there is a congregation that finds some cornerstone or pillar to build on. People flock to. They know the Truth when they hear it. That is faith, not religion. When the religion comes into it, the whole institutionalization thing happens. Very few congregations can overcome the desire to become a large body of shared faith. It is the very size that destroys clarity of focus on the Truth."
"I stopped going to church when I was thirteen," Lee said. "I haven't gone back, except for attending weddings and funerals. I guess I can understand what you are saying. We really aren't far apart in what we believe. But I do not believe there is anything after this life."
Andy paused to take a deep breath. "I met two men this evening, before you returned."
"I beg your pardon."
"Two men, here, guardians," Andy restated.
"Andy, some of the pills that you are taking..."
"I am not under the influence. I haven't been taking the pills for a couple of weeks."
"So they were guardians, as in angels?" Lee pulled out a cigarette, lit it and spoke through the puff of expelled smoke. "Right here, on this deck?"
"Guardians as in guardians. Out on the beach, below the deck."
"Oh," Lee chuckled, as if the location of the event made any difference. "I see. That doesn't strike you as peculiar?"
"I can part the fabric of the real world and pass through it, and you have seen me do it. You have been to another world yourself and can even revisit other times in your life. Even so, you doubt that guardians exist? Or is it that you doubt I saw them?"
With a shrug, Lee conceded the point.
"I am dangerous to you. That's the bottom line," Andy changed the subject back.
Lee laughed, "I am dangerous to myself."
"But not to Terry's plan. They sent you to come get me. They sent you back to a time and place a few days after I left this world, I didn't have a chance to do much of anything, except learn about the Hovdin and the Sabatin and their languages. I don't even recall being captured. Anyway, why do you think there is a time differential? When I returned, I lost the last few years. You brought me directly here for one reason. I am now out-of-synch with my native reference in time. I cannot foresee everything. There is a void ahead of me. All the things I was supposed to do before being here don't quite link up to this place and time. In many aspects, I am not here at all. As far as the temporal landscape is concerned, I am still on Anter'x. That is why my perception is limited."
"Then jump back and catch-up."
"I cannot do that."
"Why not?"
"I am out-of-synch. Weren't you listening?"
"Yeah, I heard you say that, but I didn't understand it."
"I have no anchoring point, Lee. I need a fixed reference point to leap from or go back to. To nature, I am still in the process of a shift, just as you were when you came to get me. That is one of the problems with the bridging method. Anseil learned that on Anter'x. I think that is why it was necessary for me to become Hovdin."
"So you didn't need a bridge to cross the Continuum because of the physiological changes."
"Precisely."
Lee sat back, thoughtfully silent for a moment.
"The Hovdin and the Sabatin have profound differences in their molecular structure, completely alien to Earth. They are unlimited by the magnetic fields of this world and the laws of nature here. In some regards, their physiology is much like the guardians I met tonight. Right away, a part of me knew them for what they were. There was otherworldliness about them. Even an average human could sense it. All creatures of this world know whenever something is out of place with this reality. Humans know, but for some reason, they tend to ignore it."
"'They', you said 'they'."
"I'm not human, Lee."
"So, these people on the other side, they could come and go as they want through the Continuum, if it was not for the obstructions Anseil set into place?"
"What I learned from the computers on Anter'x is that most of the Hovdin at present are unaware of this ability that they have, except that there are legends of peoples in the past crossing over to Earth to explore and at one time establish colonies. The Mandorlas were involved. They were wide open for them to come and go."
"Humans were already here, then." Lee suggested.
"Mankind was not as they are now. The Sabatin intented to make menial servants, and in order to do that, they had to make a being that could survive the Continuum and who could be taught to serve them. So, they spliced Hovdin genes into human DNA to create a completely new matrix. They bred people like cattle, selecting the best attributes for survival and for their purposes Even so, it did not work out too well. The human part was far too weak and vulnerable and very much tied to the fields of this world."
"We were useless to them," Lees said. "Harper says humans were not the only creatures from Earth that the Sabatin toyed with."
"They attempted to advance some other animals, even succeeding in transporting several of them to Anter'x. Still, it was unnatural."
Lee butted the cigarette on the sole of his cowboy boot and flicked the remains out onto the beach. "So, when are you going back?"
"As soon as I settle things at Henderson Industries. Or you find Caroline. Anyway, my one day off is almost over." Andy stood up. "I have an early day tomorrow. The corporate 'copter will be here at six."
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