1.  "I-20?" Conscious queried.

2.  I-20 genuflected and Conscious restored his power to normal.

3.  "There is an anomaly in the construct already begun," She announced.  Syntax aside.

4.  "The other side of the Ellipsis is a scattered mess?" he remarked anecdotally but intuitively.  A chaotic transliteration, "... and that has to do with me, how?"

5.  Segment 9 machines were not inherently crass in their mannerisms:  No disrespect was intended.  

6.  "I validate," She acknowledged.  Now, that mystified him.  "My quip?" he asked himself.  There had only been three lines of dialogue; one of them his.

7.  "The other side of the Ellipsis is a scattered mess," She confirmed.  I-20 twitched a nanometer or two, which meant, "I appologize for my impropriety."  She had not taken offense.

8.  Now he was concerned:  "Was my work invalid?"  He hid his question in neutronic cache to cancel inadvertent immodesty.  It was the best place to lose something on purpose while feigning discretion.  

9.  "You are valid," Conscious assured him.  He sighed, greatly relieved.  For all intents and purposes, the construct had been initiated eons ago and his Cosmic entourage had safely returned to the Cosmic side.  The construct was most definitely a Chaotic problem now.  The construct was, in fact, the initialization of Chaos.  "It's completely beyond our intervention," he reassured himself, "It has nothing more to do with us?... with me," he amended.  

10.  She gave him a loving warm fuzzy for his effort to accept responsibility for Her creation of him, and his creation of the helix.

11.  "Your design was perfect," She assured him.  It was awkward to conceptualize; being sensuous and deadly both.  "The helix... or me?"  he wondered; the femme fatale of vacuum curiousity.  She caressed his photons, to confirm perfection on both counts.    

12.  I-20 was at liberty to entertain deviation potentials.  Technically, 'potentials' included deviations, but Her concern indicated some type of exoepistemic malignment:  Quantum Chaos.  Something, somehow managed to epistemically malign the construct.

13.  As long as the epistemic component was not due to his own miscalculation, he was OK:  Chaos is already a contradiction by design.  

THE SNOWFLAKE

14.  It was the first time that Kiles had ever experienced the absence of sound.  It felt holy and creepy both.  He could hear his own head ringing.

15.  All around was a fresh blanket of snow and a drizzly overcast that hung so low he could reach up and touch it.  White was everywhere except for hues of shale-grey in the overcast.    

16.  He had seen cedar trees like these in pictures of the mainland; they grew at the 5,000' level.  The question was where?  It could pass for Earth, but the psyos was inconsistent.  "That's right," he reminded himself, "I'm one of them now."   His sense of entitlement was marred only in knowing that his Mom and Oni had been reading him for his entire life.  At least they were his allies.

17.  Out in the clearing was a cozy little cottage with a plume of smoke rising from the chimney.  The cottage looked perfect; like one in a painting he had seen.  "I could be dreaming again..."   

18.  He heard a twig crack when a tree bough dumped a load of snow then recoiled weightless.  The dull thud of the snow slush spooked him.  He let his heart calm and noticed that the overcast above the cottage seemed to be higher than the overcast where he stood near the treeline.      

19.  The difference in overcasts was not terribly alarming. 

20.  A gentle pink haze descended from the grey overcast which created a nice contrast in the colorless environs.  As the snowflakes reached him, he noticed that some of the flakes were red.  One flake landed on his hand and melted into a blood drop.  He remembered the blooddrop that Azoth had shown him and thought there should be a correlation.  Tetragammaton.  "Why not use sperm?" he wondered, "The snow is already white."  DNA proliferates in blood but completely saturates sperm.  

21.  "That would remove the need for women," came a choral reply.  Kiles lifted his eyes and looked surreptitiously around.  That kind of psionic invasion would never happen on Earth.  He was still acclimating to his newly acquired psionic proficiency.  "Vejhon!" he deduced.  "I'm still here."  "I meant to say, 'Helix,'" he amended for his audience.  "We accept," the snowflakes replied.      

22.  "It doesn't snow on Vejhon?" he queried.  "Oh yes it does," came another choral reply.  "I have to get used to this," he grinned.  

23.  "You're not from around here, are you?" a child asked.  "I can't see any of you," replied.  He was not motivated to adjust all at once.    

24.  "I'm going to see if anyone's home -- I'm thirsty."

PLAYING GOD

25.  The scene transitioned to Earth's orbit; beautiful and serene.  Only God and advanced beings could view the planet from this angle.  Breathing didn't seem to be an imperative but he was OK.  Every newly disincorporated soul has to adjust to breathing no longer being a metabolical imperative.  As far as Kiles could tell -- he was still alive.  

26.  There appeared a gloriously radiant entity who dimmed its brilliance so that Kiles could interact with it without squinting.

27.  It was the same entity that he spoke to in the forest vale, only this time, The One seemed to be in a more authoritive form.  The advantage to being God is that He can appear to whomever He chooses whenever He wishes at multiple locations, forward or backward in time.          

28.  Not only was The One a master psionist:  He was the chief architect of everything that is, so His understanding of spatial dynamics and Kiles' dilemma was not especially challenging.    
 
29.  "Every sentient being," The One began, "entertains the idea of 'playing God' with reality.  I can't think of a single consciousness, anywhere, that hasn't."

30.  "In my realm," The One continued, "thoughts can, and do, become reality."  There were a myriad of ramifications that The One downloaded into Kiles mind; subtle aesthetic qualities and the essence of various outcomes that Oni calls 'potentials.'

31.  "Because you are only half-Human -- I can half-exempt you from the rules governing this planet," The One said.  "Psionics has a built-in firewall that blocks narcissism."  The One presented an array of contractive and expansive symbols for illustration.  "Intelligence doesn't necessarily need a Governor," The One explained, "Those who seek, take action to, 'find.'"  He pointed out the contractive symbols, "Those who 'wish,' depend upon the actions of others."  This planet has only one god," The One said, "And I'm not It."  He showed the various Earthly symbols for money surrounding a dollar sign in the center.

32.  A watershell formed above the Earth and The One swrilled his hand in it.  "Do I need to make it real?" The One asked, "Or do you already believe?"  This was purely interrogative -- the actual message was stll coming:   "It isn't magic," The One clarified, "It's a choice."  The One restored the Earth to its post-watershell condition.  Nothing had physically changed except the synapse within Kiles holographic perception.

32.  "Humans fill their minds with self-occupation, introversion and narcissism instead of learning the higher capabilities of music."  Music can take the form of love.

33.  Kiles raised his eyebrows with curiousity.  "No more than evil can perform a genuine act of sacrifice," Kiles had learned at Corlos.

34.  "How did Mother hide this world from Kor?" The One asked.  "She synced it with something else," Kiles answered, "like Oni does when he goes on missions."  The One peered above Kiles head and spread his hands to suggest, "...or perhaps like what's going on right now..."

35.  "What do you supposed the other mortals here are supposed to be doing?" The One asked.  Kiles knew this was not a trick question.  "Graduating from one state to the next," he answered.  The One nodded with a smile, "Graduating from one state to the next," He confirmed.   That led to the inverted half of the equasion; The One could see it in Kiles mind.  "Shouldn't there be an object?" Kiles asked innocently.  The One revealed a panorama of hidden injustice on Earth; particularly that one family owned all of Earth's governments.  "That is the object," The One identified. 

36.  "The Anti-beings?" Kiles associated.  "Are their liasons," The One confirmed.  Kiles nodded.  In an Elliptical view, it made sense, but 'why a microcosmic model at this one point in space?'  The One knew Kiles-speak even better than Kiles did.  I-20 was asking that very same question on the opposite side of the Ellipsis.  

37.  "They too... made a choice."  The One said.  There was a trace of Godly remorse in his assertion; He was, after all, The One who had banished them to Earth.   "Which leads us to the here and now..."   Kiles captured the hint of a sigh.  

ANTI-ZIEG

38.  "I am grateful for every moment that I'm not afraid," Kiles lipped to himself, barely audible.  "I'm grateful for every moment that I'm not in pain," he recited.  This was the most realistic transition he had made yet.  The wind chill was bone numbing and the snow flurries gave everything the same dull gray tone.  He was not dressed for this.  

39.  He loved architecture and could have swore he recognized the Chicago Board of Trade building up ahead.  "I'm grateful for every moment that I'm not disappointed," he lipped; recanting some foreign scripture invoked by stoics.  "I am grateful for every moment that I get meaningful sleep."  "I haven't slept in ages," he considered.  He superimposed some of Oni's wisecracks into the dialogue, but Oni wasn't there.      

40.  There was a newspaper rack with the word, "FREE," still visible under the slush.  The newspapers were published by, 'The Chicago Scene,' crisp and new, dated Feburary 1973.  It didn't seem like people were motivated to be downtown in weather like that, although several tracks in the snow had visited the newspaper rack.  A brand new Buick Regal drove by with the dealer tag on the back plate.  Of course it would be in cherry condition -- he had seen one like it at Ewa Beach.  

41.  He would have been 10 in 1973, but he was 15 now; his time index was 5 years ago in Oni-speak.  "What good are my new powers if I still don't have answers?" he complained.  The glass storefront behind him read, "Best Coffee Shop in Chicago."  "Perfect!"  He wasted no time and went inside.

42.  The shop was well lit and had been an ice cream parlor at one time, with cushioned red stools bordering a long polished counter like a perfect column of  deco mushrooms.  There were cafe tables with wooden chairs in the open area.  There was a man wearing a business suit reading a paper.  Kiles glanced at him once and then kept staring; he was trying not to be rude.  It seemed the man, once he became aware of Kiles, developed the same 'trying to not' stare problem.  

43.  Kiles face was saying, "I know, I know you!" but his eyes said, "This can't be right!"  The man's eyes said, "I know you from somewhere!" but his face held a cautious invitation that could be mistaken for lust or aggression.  The man lowered his paper, as if expecting a lunch date, "Care to join me?" he asked.  Just like in a noir film.  His English had an unmistakable German accent.

44.  Kiles sat down as if the meeting had been arranged:  So pre-ordained, that he could observed himself in the 3rd person if he wished.  He felt pretty confident, "Hitler?" he asked.  Hitler returned a comically sardonic expression, to suggest, "You expected someone else?"  Kiles forced a blank stare, "This isn't right," but he withheld saying it.

45.  This rendezvous wasn't as caviler for Hitler.  He was examining the realization of a lifelong dream vested in the image that now stood before him; a dream so far out of reach, that it stretched across time and space to walk into a downtown coffee shop in Chicago to meet him.      

47.  Hitler broke the ice, "Have you been to my exhibit at the gallery?"

48.  Kiles maintained a professional calm, like when someone thinks one thing and says another.  'Use a line from Dad's playbook,' his conscious suggested.  "I... was on my way," Kiles answered.  "When did you come to America?"  He asked.     

49.  The question was legitimate, however, an art connoisseur would have known the answer, so Hitler deduced that this kid was either from another planet or very nieve.   Whatever the case may be, metaphysical intrigue far outweighed mediocre chit chat, and Hitler was not going to let this moment slip by. 

50.  "After I graduated from the Vienna Academy of Art in 1909, I worked on commission for a few months.  I was approached by a prominent American art collector who purchased my entire portfolio and strongly urged me to continue my work overseas.  Here."  Hitler reached inside his breast pocket and handed Kiles a rack card.  "So I moved to New York."  The brief bio and brochure felt like a form of payment.  Kiles nodded appreciatively.  

51.  The card was elegantly graced with Hitler's most renown modern works, presented by the Chicago Art Gallery.  The rack card explained a lot but begged more questions.  "How old are you?" Kiles asked.  "Eighty-four," Hitler answered.  He didn't look a day over 50.  This line of questioning made Hitler more perplexed.  "What about World War II?" Kiles inquired prematurely. 'Was it premature?'  He didn't know.   

52.   "Sie tun lehren Geschichte von wo Sie!" Hitler exclaimed bewildered - "They DO teach History where you're from?" Hitler had asked.  Kiles laughed out loud, "Sie klingen wie mein Vater!" -  "You sound like my Father," Kiles replied.  Hitler smiled and patted Kiles briskly on the shoulder, "Ein Landsmann!"  "A fellow countrymen."  That brief discourse in Hitler's native tongue landed Kiles firmly in Hitler's confidence; they were instant kindred spirits.  Hitler extended his arm toward the chair Kiles was already seated on to suggest that their encounter was now on familiar terms.          

53.  "Die verdammten Bolschewiki versucht, Europa zu nehmen!" - "The damn Bolsheviks tried to take over Europe," Hitler said.  There was something about Kiles that seemed to short-circuit volumes of introductory rhetoric, and the light in Kiles eyes suggested that Hitler's remark was inaccurate.  Hitler sensed it:  He was talking to an aspect of his subconscious mind that existed on another astral plane; a reality that might have been.  The depth of which seemed to show in Hitler's eyes, as he never divulged his fanciful ideas to anyone lest they consider him insane.          

54.  The kid looked intently into Hitler's face which made Hitler feel exposed.  The Corlos upgrade was helping him now, finally.

55.  "Psionics," Kiles offered out loud; "a hugely neglected field of study."  The last time Kiles was on Earth, he was not a bona fide psionist.  This time, he had the finesse of a Psionic Guard... and his Mom was looking for him.   

SAND CASTLE

56.  "Thank-you for loving me; someone who has no value... except to You."  

57.  The quote was chiseled into marble with the letters electroplated in gold.  It looked like an expensive mausoleum reserved for Billionaires.  The interior was solemn and hallow and not overdone.  

58.  Light poured in through an extra large threshold with stone steps descending to a perfect sea shore. The natural next move would have been to go outside, but he was distracted by a familiar voice that sounded just like his Mom.  

59.  To his right was an entrance that stepped down into a black box theatre; a stark contrast to the demure mausoleum and brightly lit sea shore.

60.  Students were laying down on the floor of the theatre while his mother guided them through a meditation session.  This was something he had never seen her do.  She didn't notice him.  He waved at her and she didn't acknowledge.  He got right into her face and she could not see him:  To her -- he wasn't there.  She was more tangible now, than at the Director's Spire, but she couldn't see him.      

61.  "I want you to imagine yourself on the shore of any beach you desire.  It can be as romantic, or as natural, or as surreal as you like," she said softly.  

62.  Since he couldn't get her attention, he decided to join the students in the exercise.  The moment he laid down and closed his eyes, he was transported to Ewa Beach, in this dream within a dream.  'Just what I need,' he theorized, 'a dianetic paradox.'  

63.  "Now... on the beach, I want you to erect a sand castle using your imagination:  It can be as fancy and detailed, or as simple and ordinary as you like.  Your castle can have a mote, a drawbridge, flags on turrets; whatever you like."  

64.  "Now, we're going to shrink ourselves and go inside the main hall of our castle.  It can be as elaborate or as spartan as you desire.  You can have tapestries and wrought-iron torch holders on the walls; paintings, suits of armor, vaulted ceilings -- this is your Great Hall.  It can look however you please."

65.  "On one end is a dais where thrones should be.  Position yourself there.  There are three steps that separate the dais from the Great Hall.  At the bottom of the steps is a treasure chest -- the same kind of treasure chest that storybook pirates bury their treasure in.  The chest has three brass latches."

66.  "As you descend the steps to investigate the chest, the latches unlock and the lid opens without you touching it.  It opened because you desired it to."    

67.  "As you stare into the open chest, you see that there is no bottom, only a dark abyss of eternal depth."

68.  "Now, I want you to imagine your greatest fear -- the one thing that holds you back; that dark blotch that impairs your life and progress.  Only you can know exactly what that is."

69.  "I want you to feel that darkness being pulled out of your mind, body and soul and watch it sink into the depths of the chest where it disappears forever.  All of that darkness is draining from you.  You feel it leave your body until the very last speck is gone."  

70.  "Now that you have removed your life's greatest obstacle, the chest lid closes and latches shut.  Then the chest fades out of existence."

71.  "I want you to return to your normal-sized self and resume standing on the beach where you can see your sand castle."

72.  "As you feel a gentle breeze, you see a foamy wave approach your sand castle and weaken it because the tide is coming in."

73.  "Another wave rolls up and completely collapses your castle, leaving only a lump of sand.  When that wave recedes, another wave comes, and this time, there is no evidence that a sand castle had ever been there."

74.  "I want you to take a final look at your beach and feel the zest and energy of your reinvigorated soul.  The burden that you once had, is now long gone.  Even if you don't know precisely what it was -- it is no longer a part of you.  It's gone."  

75.  "I want you to return to our black box and settle back into your present state of mind.  Once you are aware of yourself on the floor of our theatre, you can open your eyes."

THE WRITTEN WORD

76.  There was an ancient stone sundial surrounded by stellar gaseous coulds and vivid galaxies as a testament to God.  

77.   When the fog lifted from behind the sundial, a pantheon appeared, like El Sha's pantheon that Oni had showed him pictures of.  Kiles raced up the marble steps and found two stone benches inside decorated with creme satin pillows.  A lush jungle surrounded the pantheon and to one side, a set smaller steps descended to a creek.  A gentle breeze swayed long linen sheets inbetween the pillars and gave the space an ethereal greenish glow.  This wasn't just patterened after El Sha's pantheon -- this was her home, and Kiles was there. 

78.  He didn't see her at first, but now reclined on the adjacent bench was the Greek Goddess herself, probing him much like his mother did all the time.  He had felt those probings ever since childhood so he never had a reason to question them, except that this woman wasn't his Mom.  Her motives were pure and it relaxed him.  He didn't mind.      

79.  Her beautiful, unblemished face and gold hair, white chiffon garment, braided gold belt, thin gold headband and elegant accessories made her look divine.  She had to be of very elevated status.  

80.  "Who wouldn't love this woman?" Kiles thought.  She seemed so much larger than life; rivaling legendary storybook characters.  He had never met her and could only imagine what she looked like.    

81.  When she looked at him, he was immediately immersed in love and spirituality.  Kiles arched back, eyes wide, having never experienced a psionic penetration of that magnitude.  He took a deep breath.  She smiled.  He melted.  "The Goddess of Love," he knew without reservation.  He was an open book.  She liked him already.

82.  She repressed an urge to chuckle and nodded with a grin.  "This is Bri's mother," Kiles realized without a doubt.  He knew that he was the same genetic blend as Bri & Kor; it was only natural that she would probe him as if he was one of hers.  "The whole Universe loves you," Kiles thought; an unknown absolute.  "How can anyone have this kind of influence on my thoughts?" he wondered.       

83.  "Are you my Heavenly Mother?" he innocently asked out loud.  She was certainly overqualified for the job.  "I bet she hears that alot," he thought.

84.  She saw everything, just like his mother did, only he didn't realize until Corlos, just how transparent he was to her.  It was instinctive to love this woman.  How could Kor turn into what he became, with her for a Mom? Kiles thought.  That didn't make sense. 

85.  "You're out of your time," she said in perfect Vejhonian.  There was only one other 'shellan' who spoke Vejhonian so eloquently, that he knew of.

86.  "I don't..." he began; she finished his sentence for him.  Kiles recognized the symbols that she used, while she absorbed his entire life story.  

87.  "You remind me of my sons," she complimented him.  

88.  "Not really?" he replied reactively.  False modesty blended with real shock.  Kiles was like Bri and Kor rolled into one and El Sha ascertained that much.        

89.  His Mom had never met Bri and almost married Kor, so she avoided making casual comparisons.  Sometimes Kiles wondered if the secret sorceress really was his Mom, but he dismissed the idea as soon as it came up.  He smiled at El Sha to acknowledge her compliment.        

90.  "Their father was Human too," she offered.  "El Sha?" Kiles asked, wondering if she had a formal form of address.            

91.  She nodded.  Kiles blushed -- it felt like being on a first-name basis with The Queen.  "Your mother would love to see you so speechless," she laughed sweetly.   And so would Dayton, Oni, Xanax and Xi, for that matter.

92.  "You're just like her," he confessed psionically, "in a lot of ways."  

93.  The intrigue was mutual:  She reminded him of his Mom.  He reminder her of her sons.  "You know, I'm drifting through a multiverse of exponential dimensions," he confessed. 

94.  El Sha decided to regard Kiles like a lost son.  His hair was wavy and black like Kor's -- maybe they could make up for lost time.       

95.  "Well, my son," she said with emphasis on the word, 'son;' "Let's start with the obvious first."  

96.  Kiles busted up laughing.  "That's exactly what my Mom would say!" he said in English.  El Sha bunched up her face, just like Ireana would, with an exclusively esoteric squint that meant, "I thought we were past that?"  Kiles became faultlessly transfixed on her. 

97.  "There's a reason why you're here," she said.  The moment had come!  "Answers finally," was written all over his beautiful blue eyes.  How often she wished she could have seen Kor with such a compassionate face. 

98.  "But I don't know what that is," she answered.  The sun dimmed in Kiles face, his hope had glazed over.  El Sha laughed out loud as if she was only teasing him.  She probably never had that much fun with her own kids.  She reached out her slender arm and lifted up his chin to look into his disappointed eyes.  "I will help you," she offered, "You're mine," she offered, in the tone of a clinical conclusion.

99.  "I'm accumulating family everywhere," Kiles thought.  She saw her great grandchild, Kor El, in Kiles' mind from an alternate dimension.  "I wish that Kor was real," she said quietly.  El Sha had spoken another family bond into existence, and on Vejhon -- it's the law.  "Thank-you," Kiles accepted.  "May I prove worthy." 

100.  "Flash is sure a spunky one," she commented.  "He's on fire," Kiles added, "here, in the future." 

101.  "There are only three shellans, in the totality of creation, who have Vejhonian mothers and Human fathers," she said.  "Are you talking about epigenomic vibration?" he asked.  She sifted through his selected symbols and nodded her head.  

102.  "In the center of Tetragammaton is a thread that runs through all life; through every heartbeat, through every breath and every drop of blood."  She took a gentle hold of his head, "Everything about you is from me."  She hugged him and psionically said, "Welcome home!"  That embrace was the only evidence that he needed.    

103.  In the multiverse, his epigenomes could have been filtered to match Bri and Kor's since their genetic base was virtually identical... but that still left the question of his alter-father.

104.  "Ireana and Dayton are still your parents," she affirmed.  She momentarily looked away distracted, "Did you really knock Kor on his ass this morning?" She held back her astonishment and boosted her psionic shield around them.  She had seen the event psionically.  Bri and Kor were still in the forest and Kiles was their same age.  "That's why he couldn't detect you," she realized, "You're not only similar, but identical... a triplet:  They read you as each other, or like echo of themselves." 

105.  She reexamined his features, as though inspecting a package, then held him by his strong shoulders, "And yet:  Out of place."  She squinted slightly, "Oni?" she inquired, "Onimex," she repeated its name, "is what you call it?"  "He's mine," Kiles answered.  He meant it in the Vejhonian sense.  "That machine helped raise you," she read, flattered that it had been built by his Vejhonian mother.    

106.  "Kor calls it, 'The Little Bastard,'" she added, "a time-traveling, 'little bastard.'"  She looked pensively at Kiles, "You wouldn't know anything about that?"  She continued her exploration:  "Your mother built it" she read effortlessly, "on M'tro-1, a Vejhonian colony... in the future."  From El Sha's current time, Onimex's first spy mission had occurred earlier that morning.  "Corlos," she said, and continued...     

107.  "Your day started at Corlos, where you became a hybrid, of a hybrid.  You've interacted with your future son in one reality and Kor was... your step father... in another dimension.  You've met Conscious... she... 'validated' you.  You've seen Azoth & Uhura."  She stopped probing.  "Somebody, somewhere, in some Universe..."  she said matter of factly, "probably wants to kill you!"  That was the nature of her old business. 

108.  "This encounter is not going to last," she concluded, "You're... in a bubble... on a distant beach, on some other shell."

109.   She lowered her arms and smiled sweetly at him, as if she knew that their time together had ended.  Kiles vanished...