1.  The Director's spire was under construction.  Thirteen comfortable recliners were in a circle, head-to-head, and draped with linen to keep them clean.  All of the stained glass was up.  The interior lighting worked and most of the FX were operational.  The floor tiles and carpeting was incomplete; construction tools were laying around and finishing work was still underway.  There were special fixtures that needed to be wired.  A make shift workbench was just inside the entryway for more intricate shaping.  Sensitive equipment was still in crates underneath the work bench.  The spiritual intention of the temple was obvious and the end result would be spectacular indeed.  

2.  Stranger still was that Kiles could see the temple at various points in time.  Spirits from various Dans passed in front of him in dated apparel.  In the earliest Dans, the temple didn't even exist.  It seemed like he could focus on a specific point in time, and the interior would adjust accordingly.  None of the imagery was resolute; it was still too dreamlike to believe, and he questioned his knowledge of the culture.  Construction would only happen once, which occurred during the 4th Dan, notwithstanding that every Director makes cosmetic modifications as they see fit.  The emphasis on construction was obvious.      

3.   "Kiles?" he heard.  He recognized her voice, "Mom?"

4.    It was an unexpected surprise, but then again, nothing was truly surprising in this dreamscape.  "You can see me?" he asked, unsure, "Is any of this real?" he thought.  

5.   Ireana intently surveilled the room.  She had only seen the temple in pictures -- she had never set foot anywhere on Vejhon.  This fascinated her.

6.   Kiles imagined what some of her questions might be, but he had one of his own:  "What's with the dress?"  

7.   She was wearing a white chiffon dress with white lace, a creme corset, puffy eggshell shoulders and a white feather shawl:  It could pass for a neo-petticoat in a melodrama.  Her white Victorian boots with canary laces was a nice touch.  The dress was frayed and tattered.  She held a white rose studded with sharp crystal thorns like a rock star filming a holo or posing for promo stills.      

8.   "Is that really you?" he asked psionically.  He had see her as Kor's Queen, and now dressed like this.  "I think it looks lovely -- you should get out more often," he thought.  He only saw her in her conservative pantsuit and lab coat -- this was a nice change.       

9.   Ireana smiled, but seemed unfocused as if she was questioning which side of reality she was on.  He thought she recognized him, but then began to feel like they were both in someone else's dreamscape; subject to the dreamer's manipulation.  That architect was neither of them.      

10.   "I've never been here," she said.  She believed that she was addressing her son, but was unsure, and that uncertainty was more out-of-character than the dress.  "It can't be her," Kiles concluded.  Don't get emotionally involved.    

11.   He felt inside his breast pocket for Xi and nothing was there.  "I need my machines," he sighed.  He wanted Onimex.   

12.  "Bri!" Kiles heard a glottal voice say from behind him.  He felt a stone-like hand smack down on his shoulder and swing him around, just like in a nightmare once.  There stood a hazy translucent outline of a body, possibly reptilian.  He restrained his instinct, because 'it' would have already hurt him, if that had been its intention.  He massaged his shoulder -- the gentle tap stung like a small hammer.    

13.  "You couldn't possibly mean 'the' Bri," Kiles knew, but then again, after what he had learned from Kor only moments ago...

14.   Micha materialized with his unblemished handsome white scales.  Jolvians don't have blemishes because they can pixiliate their skin into virtually anything.   Kiles didn't know Micha from Azoth, but evidently Micha knew him.  Kiles knew the Bri and Kor epic was still in progress and Oni had provided him with an Elliptical view.       

15.  "You can see me?" Kiles asked.  Micha laughed.  Every Jolvian child learns the symbol for that expression before they learn to speak.  "That's supposed to be my line," Micha joked.   Kiles saw the humor in it.  At least this encounter was more tangible than the dreamscapes where nothing was fixed.   

16.  "You called me , 'Bri?'" Kiles asked.  Micha laughed with his eyes shifting through camelion-like phases.  "OK... so it's not you," Micha questioned, "So then, who are you?"  "Do I look that much like Bri?" Kiles wondered.  "Kiles," he answered out loud, extending his hand like Humans do on Earth.      

17.  Micha examined Kiles hand, found no blemishes and returned it to him.  The antic didn't surpirse Kiles, "I have NO idea why I'm here," Kiles confessed, "do you?"  Micha tilted his head and continued to examine Kiles, "Are you SURE you're not Bri?" he asked.  Kiles opened his arms as if to offer his soul to the Jolvian.  On Vril, his gesture would be interpreted as one of self sacrifice.  With his head tilted back, he noticed two planets in their molten lava phase, a few million years before either would be even close to terraforming.  "Now where are we?" he wondered, knowing that 'time' factored into the equation somehow.    

18.  When Kiles returned his attention to Micha, everything became a sea of glass for miles and miles all around; just him on an eternal translucent plain.  The effect was heavenly and pure.    

TETRA KILES

19.  "This is quite a stir you've caused in my Universe," Azoth said.  There was a pinprick of glowing light that descended until His glorified form appeared.  The voice, however, sounded like it was right in front of him.   It did not have the 'many rushing waters' sound as reported in various cosmic scriptures; the voice had been tailored just for him.  It might have even passed for Dayton's voice except that it was layered.       

20.  "God?" Kiles asked.  

21.  "That's the generic term, but 'Yes,'" Azoth replied.  

22.  "I've never had an audience with God," Kiles thought, "What does one do when in the presence of the Almighty?"  The only word that came to him was, "Really?" 

23.  Kiles was more familiar with the Cosmic part of the equation than with the Chaotic side.  He had been validated by Conscious, after all. 

24.  Azoth pointed up.  Kiles looked.  Overhead was a reflection of another Azoth with another Kiles looking down at them, from their perspective.  The other two waved at them.  

25.  Azoth pointed down.  Kiles looked.  Beneath them was another Azoth and Kiles looking up at them as though they were the reflection, and not the other way around.  It had the sensation of looking up from a grave:  "Which one of us is real?  And are they thinking the exact same thing?" he wondered.  Kiles knew Elliptical theory probably better than any other biological did.

26.  Azoth pointed to one side.  Kiles looked.  There was a reflection of them in that direction.  There was a reflection of them in the other direction too, plus behind them, in front of them and mirrored in every direction ad infinitum.  Kiles noticed slight differences in each image; the arm movements were not identical and their conversations were not following the same script.  Each image represented a unique dimension that colluded at this point in space and time.  Being there, was the only quality that each image shared in common. 

27.  "They are all autonomous;" Azoth clarified, "Capable of choice," He answered before Kiles could ask.  'Collusion,' was the only word that came to Kiles mind.  Kiles speculated, that in at least one dimension, he and God were up to no good.  Then his mind began to influence his perception:  Four dimensions could shift into ten; the cube parameters could become a variable hedron, a sphere or any datum that Kiles imagined.  Ultimately, it was the symbol that mattered... God put that idea in his head.  The very concept of 'symbols' seemed to be characteristic of this particular enigma.  'Keys,' fit the equasion, "Like a helix," Kiles thought.

28.  God would not waste His time to study the mundane.  "Me?" Kiles asked, quizzically.  "You had help," Azoth pointed out.  Images of his pet droids faded into view and then disappeared.  Azoth pointed out the bubble that nestled Kiles body on a beach in Hawaii, and the worm termination that penetrated regions of space it shouldn't have. 

29.  "You and your friends have been tweaking things that should not be in My Mind," God said, "your friends..."  He emphasized, "have ventured where Angels dare to tread."  No doubt, the realm of Conscious was being infringed.  "So you've met Her?" Azoth asked.  Of course He knew -- He was God, and God can make small talk if He wants to.  Kiles nodded.  "In the Chaotic realm, you're not supposed to happen," God clarified, "You've ventured well beyond your natural construct."  He planted a supporting thought:  "She would have everyone believe that it's utter anarchy, terror and... 'Chaos' ... over here..."  There was a hint of sarcasm.  Kiles knew exactly what He meant.    

30.  God expanded the wheel with 10 spokes until it reached the furtherest points in the Universe -- he permitted Kiles to see Tetragammaton's heartbeat that kept a pulse on everything alive.  "You're supposed to be over there," God pointed out.  Kiles was on the opposite side of the Ellipsis.  "But..." God added esoteric insight, "You're valid."  That was the explanation before the cart.  God's prerogative.  Kiles face reflected appreciation.  God did seem to embody every unquantifiable rambling he ever had, but otherwise absorbed Universal adulation:  There would be no place to begin or end.  "What if it really is that simple?" Kiles wondered, "The Alpha and The Omega."  "What if the bane of every biological is to 'overthink' everything?"  God's grin implied that Kiles jest had merit:    

31.  "What we have to do now, is coalesce you into one."  That was Chaos-speak which Kiles already understood.  "How did..." Kiles began.  

32.  "Music," God answered.  Kiles face reflected a quiet shock, like shaking the dust off of a collector's item.  He knew that validation granted him privilege within the Ellipsis.  He was going to ask, "How did the transposition occur?"  His body was in one Segment and his photonic polarity in another.  "Music," Kiles repeated, wishing that Xanax could give him an extra plug-in or two.  "It bridges all worlds;" God clarified.  Some cliche's are memorable because of their rhyme and meter, but God was not referring to something that pedestrian.  Onimex and Xanax made things disappear by reattenuating the subject's harmonic with something else. 

33.  "What are You getting at?" Kiles asked introspectively, "You have to coalesce... me... "  Oni is co-located, he knew, "And I am too now, apparently," he deduced.  Kiles felt unconsciousness creeping in, and it was God's doing.  His last thought in His presence was a line he heard on TV, "Say good-night now, Gracie..."

THE HUNT

34.  Flash was minding his own business, slumped in the darkness of his barracks room when he was psionically alerted by The Boss per order of their Guard Liaison.  The Kids did nothing without a Guard order.  The Hunt was on.  Twelve Kids and one Boss emerged from their rooms and ran out of the barracks in a common direction.  They psionically received details of the subject, his crime and whereabouts.  They scattered like a pack of wolves with a single purpose.  It was breath taking to witness such laser tight focus, by deadly young warriors, and utterly terrifying to the target.  There was no hope of even a slight contest.

36.  The Kids reputation proceeds them everywhere they go.  Observers' instantly acknowledge the target, "Poor bastard."  This is simply part of the culture.  Crimes of passion are impossible to interdict and those who succumb to deadly violence, are also choosing to commit suicide.  'Thinking' about committing a crime is not a crime, but 'committing' a crime is a done deed.  Everyone has imperfect thoughts now and again which makes the feasibility of a 'thought police' impossible to sustain.  Typically, peers can help calm a potential perpetrator, but once the point of no return has been crossed, the perp's only choice is to flee.  Nobody turns themself in, because they'll only be executed at the precinct.  The custom is to flee, so every perp does.        
 
35.  Juries and trials do not exist on a psionic shell -- everybody knows what the accused did:  There is no way for a self serving legal racket to exist.  A Psionic Guard can reverse engineer the most complicated episode to the most excruciating degree.  There's simply not much intrigue when it comes to crime, so justice is dispensed immediately.  Corporate crime is a different shade; a little more intricate but resolvable.    

36.  The Kids dash through the brick entrance of a highly trafficked park, psionically pushing shellans out of the way and knocking a few off balance unintentionally. Psionic pressure parts spectators like stellar debris off the bow of a starship .  The Kids are not concerned with specator comfort -- they're focused on the target.  Some shellans have barely turned to see what the fuss is about, and have already missed it.  The Kids descend like shadows from an unseen realm and keep their interaction with everyone else to a minimum.  Targets typically flee to a remote area because their primal instinct thinks they'll be safer there.  The Kids' mystique is impossible to ignore.    

37.  A State vehicle lands at the park entrance and the passenger door swings up.  A Psionic Guard emerges, who calmly oversees the operation.  He respectfully assists an elderly couple to their feet and calms the others who were knocked off balance.  He keeps his younger admirers outside a psionic perimeter, which is customary.  He is a State Vicar and everyone knows it.  He permits a child or two to approach and squats down to give them the warm fuzzy they desire.  He rises and proceeds in the general direction that the Kids went.  Nobody follows -- they know better.  The perpetrator is getting tired; spending his last ounce of adrenaline in a struggle that cannot be won.  The tradition affords no mercy to the guilty.        

38.  The Vicar knows that he will not arrive at the scene before the deed is done; neither does he intend to.  He will see it perfectly from wherever he is.  The Kid Boss will carefully confirm the Guards sanction before executing justice.

39.  The perpetrator is surrounded, exhausted and kneeling with his arms up.  He's trying to say, "Please!  I didn't mean it!" but he knows his plea is useless even if he had the breath to say it out loud.  He can only cry silently, as most masculine of shellans do, when caught in this situation, no matter how brave by reputation.  The Kids are not being cruel by motivation.  They are following protocol with exactness, as thoroughly trained to do.  

40.  The Kid Boss oversees the twelve.  He has an extra wide red band wrapped around his ribs so that he's easy to distinguish.  This Boss is 12, but the stone cold stare in his laser blue eyes could pass for 50.  There is one Kid at each side of the runner, firmly gripping the runner's arms.  Another Kid is holding the runner's neck in a headlock.  The remaining 9 form a loose circle; waiting for a signal.  The morbid intention is clear.  The Boss Kid's job is to police the team, but he also reports to the Guard Liaison and speaks for the team as necessary.  The Boss Kid always arrives last.  His assistant leads the pack and traditionally gets the honor of taking perp's head off.   

41.  The Boss Kid approaches the captured shellan and stands tall before him.  It is never a Kid's place to pontificate the merits of a case; they simply follow the Guard Liason's direction.  The Kid's face is robotically aloof from what he is about to do.  He looks down upon the condemned and makes the awaited pronouncement:

42.  "By the power vested in me by the Psionic Guard, I demand your obedience!"

43.  The shellan reacts like every shellan does, just like on holo.  The pressure makes every target cry.  He closes his eyes and psionically refuses.  The event is not recorded or psionically shielded -- anyone capable of tapping in, some silently observe.   

44.  The Boss nods, and the combined psionic force of the team, rips the shellan apart.  The pressure focused at a single point in space, alters physics.  The Psionic Guard Liaison has not walked half of the distance to the execution scene and never intended to.  He stops and stares off into a nearby horizon, "A'zoth Rest You," he whispers out of respect for the dead.  He knew the condemned had not been a bad shellan, but he could have restrained himself and chose not to.  His peers in the psyos tried to convince him not to proceed, but he killed her anyway.  And this was the price for that lack of self control.                 

45.  Anyone who remains at the scene of a crime is believed to have justification for their action, as in self defense, and other psionists within the strata will help the Guard arrive at a conclusion.  The Guard can unravel the most intricate dilemma and arrive at a decision.  Nothing is beyond the Psionic Guards ability to resolve.        

46.  As gruesome as being ripped apart sounds, the neck break is instantaneous.  The rest is pure deterrence.  It helps the public to think before they act.  Those capable of reading the runner's thoughts at the time of death, register an overwhelming pressure and then darkness, followed by the runner's photonic matter vacating its biological host.  A'zoth decides the rest.  This form of demise is not nearly as gruesome as being drawn and quartered while still conscious, or being eaten alive, like the ancient Jolvians practiced, and still get ribbed for.    

47.  Becoming a Kid is not easy:  Every Vejhonian youth is qualified to apply.  The curriculum is brutal and if you pass, you get a barracks assignment.  Roughly 7 out of 200 candidates pass.  Successful candidates become wards of the Psionic Guard and honorable completion of a tour will fast track a Kid's Psionic Guard application, which is a primary motive for many.  The rest just want to rip bad guys apart:  As long as the candidate can successfully pass Kid Basic and swear obedience to their Guard Liaison -- they're in.  There's a lot of perks to being a Kid, but the Kid's code-of-conduct is unnaturally harsh, both on and off the street.  There is no higher honor, 2nd only to the Psionic Guard. 

THE ANTI-BEING

48.  "What is this, Master?" a fallen one asked meekly.  Lucifer and a horde of anti-beings surrounded a mysterious bubble on Ewa Beach where Kiles was navigating the unknown Universe via worm terminations.   Aspects of the oscillation waves transcended their visual realm which was already above and below Human sensory perception.  In spite of B'jhon's order to end the conduits, too many fissures had cascaded into infinite possibilities that could not terminate on demand.    

49.  Lucifer was calculating how he might get his reverse-polarized, anti-photons through the conduit.  He would never receive a corporeal body and was otherwise gender neutral, purporting itself to be whatever gender it vainly desired at a given moment.  It was not her habit to reveal what she thinking to her idiotic, cowardly patrons; since decency would contradict her incessant narcissism.  She absorbed streaks of ambient light into her abysmal outline like an anti-aura; her lack of quality created the polar antithesis of life.  

50.  The worm terminations were powered by dark matter; dynamics that she understood before his photonic inversion.  The spacial vacuum of it's existence was the only real power that it could manipulate, and virtually any type of photonic matter could invalidate that power:  Where light is -- dark isn't.  Faith is quantifiable at the vacuum level of mater; a conduit to the Mind of God that can influence the Fabric of Creation.            

51.  She wanted to escape the confines of her Earthly prison and defy the edict of God:  "How do I use it?" it wondered -- the enigmatic beach bubble showed potential.  He would abandon his devoted horde in a heartbeat if he could figure out how to escape; the brave champion who once proclaimed that he would, "save everyone by making them not do anything," a contradiction to the nature of intellect.  Why would the Creator of the Universe, who knows the number of stars in the sky and calls each one by name... need a guardian?   The joke, evidently, had been on, he, she or it:  Whatever the case -- It would never have a corporeal body.       

52.  Thirty Billion souls fought for that grand illusion; a suicide pact with no prize to win.  They invented an Earthly religion with the same goal:  Kill everyone and everything, but not yourself.  Hell is the absence of intelligence.  The enemy of God is laziness.  The reward for mortal inaction is eternal inconsequence.         

53.  When Lucifer didn't answer a question, it meant that the answer was above the intellectual capacity of the ass hole that asked.  She displayed the petulance of a spoiled-rotten, 9-year-old girl, if she wasn't constantly patronized by the unfortunate ambient spiritual feces.  Her demonic horde tread carefully because she knew things that they didn't:  Their fear was the vacuum that kept the 'he-she-it' in power.         

THE CLEARING

54.  Kiles thought he had stepped into a painting, the colors were vivid; the air pure and crisp.  He was on the edge of a small forest clearing where a hint of ground fog was still dissipating.  The light was soft; the sky perfect, the smells invigorating and fresh.  Near the east edge of the clearing lay an old hollow log and beside the log ran a small winding creek with wild mountain grass outlining its curves.  A gentle breeze kissed his face.  This moment was inspiring because it felt very real.  

55.  On the log sat an Angel.  It did not have traditional wings, but its glowing aura was sufficient proof of Godliness.  "I've seen this before," Kiles thought.  He would have conversations with the Angel in his dreams and forget the conversation within seconds of waking up.  "Am I in that twilight again?" he wondered; the space in-between consciousness and sleep.  The scene made him forget the stressful moments.  He needed it.    

56.   He felt the wild grass under his feet as we walked down a slight gradient toward the log.  His sensory perception registered detail that always escaped when he awoke.  "I always try to remember this, and it always goes away," he thought.  The Angel kept his perception in check.  If a white unicorn suddenly galloped through the clearing -- it would have seemed natural.          

57.  "How are you, Kiles?" the Angel greeted him.  He loved the Angel's voice and Its warm smile, "The One," as He was known throughout the Universe.  "Much better now," Kiles replied.  The Angel patted the log beside Him so that Kiles would sit besid Him.  This was how their conversations always started.   

58.  This particular creature invented the concept of co-location, so His leisurely presence here did not preclude His presense at a million other locations.  He was actually much more important than an ordinary light machine, and on a first-name basis with A'zoth.  Kiles was most comfortable with God in this form; a holographic projection inside his hermetically-sealed mind.  

59.  Those untapped areas of the Human mind contain keys to the Universe that Humans are taught to ignore.  Kiles was only half Human.  "That's why your thoughts will convict you," the Angel said during a previous encounter:  "Your choices will judge you more than I will."  It was logical.  The Angel liked Kiles.  Kilies remembered every word of every encounter when they happened, and forgot everything the second he woke up, maybe by design.   
 
60.  "Where were we?" the Angel asked rhetorically, and then they resumed right where they had left off...

OLD SPIRIT

61.  "We were friends once," the anti-being cooed gently.  Time was irrelevant in that superficial dimension.  He was no longer in the forest clearing with The One, but in a parallel construct on the opposite side of time.  His first suspicion was Elliptical in nature; maybe Tetragammaton was playing with the TV remote again:  He had been with The One -- now he wasn't.      

62.  The parallel construct was surrounded by a vacuum of narcissism restrained by a spherical field outside Oni's bubble.  "I can do that too," the anti-being added, in an attempt to feign talent.  Certainly, Kiles recognized the change in scenery.  "Let me show you," the anti-being suggested, darkening the environment like a theatre and superimposing the panorama of deep space inside.

63.  In the vision, a little boy was surrounded by anti-beings.  The boy was tempted to eat a forbidden fruit by an older boy, and when the younger boy obliged, the demons scorned him with condescending laughter that he could hear, "You should have stayed with us!"

64.  "You have an advantage," the anti-being commented, "being only half-Human makes you a spectator..."  Key moments of the boy's dysfunction unfolded at a rapid pace, "...unlike that one," the anti-being scoffed with contempt.  Clearly, that kid had been set apart for special treatment; garbage in Human form.  

65.  "You disfigured its soul and its nature," Kiles acknowledged, "but I give it a pass," ad finis.  The anti-being gave Kiles an unmistakable, "Who the fuck are you?" expression.  To which Kiles replied, "I was never your friend." 

66.  He raised his arm to make a sweeping motion that would obliterate everything.  "Don't!" the anti-being implored.  Kiles held short and smirked, then proceeded to wipe the whole affair from existence.  "I was never your friend!" he repeated.

EWA BEACH

67.  He was alone, right where Onimex and Xanax had placed him inside the worm terminal.  The bubble had vanished.    

68.  There was nobody on the beach at all, which seemed suspicious.  He sampled the psyos like a Psionic Guard would do on Vejhon and sensed nothing... "Mom?" he queried.  Nothing.  That was highly unnatural  -- probably how Ireana felt when he abandoned her. 

69.  Ireana had always exploited Kiles' psionic limitations, but for goodly reasons.  It was her only means of knowing where he was and what he was thinking, without overtly spying on him.  He knew she could read him, but he assumed that it was on a limited basis, since she didn't react to his every thought or he would have been in trouble all the time.  Guardianship 101:  Ireana had been graded by an expert on the subject.        

70.  There was something vaguely superficial about this reality:  Mom was nowhere to be found.  Ireana was nowhere on Earth.  "Which Earth am I on?" Kiles wondered.  He waved his arm:

71.  "Careful with that," a being cautioned him.  This being was more angelic, similar to The One in the forest clearing, and the polar antithesis of the one he just swept away.  

72.  The being sat on a rocky break with waves gently cresting beneath his sandaled feet.  The light overcast and slightly graying clouds came straight out of a masterpiece.  The being looked ordinary, except for his ancient woven robe.  A shimmering platinum thread had been woven into the fabric at one-inch intervals to remind everyone that this too, was abnormal.  

73. This event seemed more staged than his previous encounters:

74.  "You've changed things," the being accused him calmly.  Curious:  Kiles didn't feel like any major change was attributable to him.  The being sharpened his eyes and conveyed psionically, "When you started, you merely moved a million tumblers out of sequence... now those tumblers are interdimensional and ever shifting ad infinitum."

75.  Corlos had a nightmare on their hands and Kiles was indirectly responsible.  "Where's my Mom?" he asked.  The being seemed to know, like it gave him some sort leverage.  "She's not in this dimension," Kiles extracted.  He had never known how to read his father, so he didn't know if Dayton was 'out there' or not.  His droids were nowhere to be found and Xi was gone too. 

76.  For the first time, Kiles wanted to push a reset button.  This was getting out of hand.  "Is regret a preventable condition?" he wondered. 

77.  The being understood and reversed the sequence so that Kiles would feel better.  It was a sympathetic gesture that had no effect on real events.   Kiles smiled at the creature and stared out to sea.  The sound of seagulls, rolling waves and the wind rustling his black locks was real... but where was everyone?

78.  "Did I make the people go away somehow?" he wondered.  "There's still people here," the being said, "just not on the beach."  He was peering at a garrison  rampart at least half a mile away.  Kiles followed his line of sight, "That wasn't here before," he noticed.  

79.  He could see a flag fluttering on the rampart and squinted to make out the flag's interior detail:

80.  It was a red flag with a solid white circle containing a black swastika inside the circle.  

81.  "The Nazis!" Kiles said, "Why are they always in every alternate timeline?" he asked.   

82.  "'Alternate' would depend upon one's point of view," the creature said, "I told you the tumblers were 'ever shifting...'"