Strange Attractors - Kim Falconer [130]
‘I suppose,’ Rosette answered, her voice muffled by the crackling fire.
‘I’ll check for eggs and bring fresh water up from the creek.’ Nell’s smiled widened as she walked to the barn. It was good to be home. When she opened the barn door, the chooks rushed towards her, all feathers and fuss. ‘One at a time, girls. I want to hear every word!’
They cackled their news and in between detailed information about crickets and worms, eggs and nests, they confirmed that a witch had come for her warhorse and not more than a few days ago.
‘Consensus reality?’ Nell wrinkled her brow as she watched the stream. From her vantage point on the high arched bridge she could see the carp under the rippling surface, swimming in the clouds reflected from the sky.
Yes, Nell. Consensus reality. The ‘reality’ agreed upon. Observers are not conscious of anything outside of it. Remember that.
‘But I asked about Earth, about Temple Los Loma. ASSIST was destroyed, the solar shields down, acid rain neutralised, sea devils mutating back into harmless dinoflagellates…’
It sounds like you’ve been busy.
‘I have. But still the Earth is about to blow. It’s like all our work has not been enough.’
It is enough. It is more than enough. It’s just not happening within the consensus reality.
‘Are you saying Temple Los Loma isn’t in the same reality as the rest of Earth?’
Did you think it was, Nell?
She clutched the railing. ‘Great Sphinx,’ she whispered. ‘I did.’
Most of the beings on Earth have been consuming energy and making choices based on their own needs. Most are thinking about their small life span, not ten life spans or ten million life spans ahead, or behind. The Watcher chuckled. Can you imagine it? ‘Pass me the salt, dear.’ He’s about to comply. ‘But how will that affect my great-great-granddaughter?’ The Watcher continued to laugh.
‘Good to know you think it’s funny.’
You would too, if you could see it from here.
‘That’s what I came for, a larger perspective. I’m making choices and considering how it will affect hundreds of years into the future.’
And?
‘And hundreds of years into the past.’
Well done. Now instead of hundreds, do billions.
Nell choked. ‘Without Jarrod, it’s…’
Are you certain you are without him?
She loosened her cloak, the sun beaming on her upturned face. A hawk rode the thermals above her. ‘Sphinx, I’ve got a world about to explode, a daughter about to give birth, a witch about to nab the spell, a man about to start a war, a Lupin about to break all the rules ever made and a quantum sentient nowhere to be found. I’m not certain of anything and I don’t feel like playing games.’
Worried about the entropy, are you?
‘You aren’t?’
Hardly.
Nell felt fit to scream.
Nell, if it’s entropy that’s upsetting you, seek the energy outside.
‘Outside what?’
The closed system, of course.
‘Outside the closed system?’
Where else? Energy only becomes increasingly unavailable within a closed system. If you remember that consciousness has no dividing walls, no doors and no doorkeepers, if you remember that consciousness doesn’t need them because it is an open system, you’ll see how to reverse the ‘law’ of entropy. That’s what you are wanting to do, isn’t it? Turn the entropy wheel around on old Earth?
She nodded. ‘I do.’
Nell, relax. Consensus reality is egocentric for a reason. You are in the Borderlands. The spaces on the edge.
‘The Borderlands?’
It’s a metaphor, Nell. Loosen up.
She unclenched her fists, rubbing the backs of her knuckles.
Remember the first rule.
‘The first rule?’ Nell asked.
The first rule of magic, the first rule of physics, the first rule of the universe. The only rule that really counts in such instances.
‘Everything is energy?’
That’s the one. Keep that in mind, and get outside the notion of closed systems. Consciousness is open, and ‘enlightenment’ is simply realising it. Are you ready to move on?
A carp jumped out of the water, its orange and black scales shimmering as it flipped in the air, caught a moth and dove back under the ripples.
Sphinx? She called