The Shadow Dragons - James A. Owen [131]
“But things will change anyway,” said Charles. “Jamie’s wardrobe, for example. Burton only got it because we supposedly weren’t here to claim it. How do we deal with that?”
“You must remove yourselves from any and all dealings with the Archipelago, and anything associated with it,” said Bert. “To take care of the future, you have to become invisible in the present. Throw yourselves into your work. And try not to think about altering events—else we risk changing the result we wanted all along.”
“That’s a terrible answer,” said Jack.
“There’s something else, Bert,” said Charles. “We’ve spent a lot of time in the company of seemingly dead men—some who have eluded death via the portraits in Tamerlane House, which I understand. But there are others, like Burton, who never had a portrait painted but are still walking about. Are they traveling in time, like yourself, or have they managed to avoid death by some other means?”
Bert tipped his head back and laughed. “By my bones, Charles, you’ve quite a mind! And you’re more right than you know.
“There are indeed several ways of defying death, but very few that are moral, and fewer still that are honorable.”
“How do you mean honorable?” asked Jack.
“Death has little to do with sorrow,” said Bert, “although that’s what we feel when someone dies. The veil between this life and what comes after is surprisingly thin. Life persists. Consciousness persists. Spirit persists. It’s only those of us on this side, who don’t see it firsthand, who feel sorrow.
“Life is about the fulfillment of one’s duty, and for most, their duty extends past what we know as ‘death.’ But for some, such as the Caretakers, there is a need to have them here, in this life, after their allotted time has passed. And so Basil paints the portraits in the gallery. But only the one time, and only under the limitations of Tamerlane House.
“There are other ways that allow more freedom—but the reasons to choose one of those methods must be carefully examined, as must one’s motives for wanting to do it at all.”
“That’s why the option of a portrait or one of the other methods hasn’t been used to bring back Artus or Nemo, isn’t it?” asked Jack. “Neither of them would have chosen to do it.”
“That’s why. There are certain costs, and other drawbacks to having made such a choice. But it is a choice. And in their cases, they had done the work they had been here in this life to do—and it was their time to go forward and continue their work in the next life.”
“And what about Professor Sigurdsson?” asked John. “Why couldn’t he choose another option, and live on?”
Bert and Ransom exchanged pensive glances, as if they’d expected this question to come, sooner or later.
“As I said, there are several ways for a person to survive past death,” Bert began. “The one preferred by the Caretakers Emeritis is the method you have already seen: the creation of the portraits by use of the Pygmalion resins. But there was also another means available to the Caretakers, which was discovered long ago by our first renegade.”
“Dr. Dee,” said John.
“Yes,” Bert said, sighing. “Dee discovered a method for creating a new body, a virtually immortal body, into which one can ‘move’ upon death. It’s basically willing a new self into existence. The Tibetans call this creation a tulpa, and the strength of the creation depends only on the will of the creator. And Caretakers are very strong-willed.
“Roger Bacon scorned the process and disavowed it as a tool of darkness. But some, like William Blake, embraced it and taught the method to others, such as Burton, who has made spirited use of it. He went back in time to recruit his allies in the Imperial Cartological Society before their own deaths occurred, and before portraits could be painted. Most