From: Philippa Chapman (Glastonbury, Somerset, UK.) Date: Sun, 23 Feb 1997 15:00 +0000 Subject: Looking-glass Limbo, part 7/10 LOOKING-GLASS LIMBO PART 8 Although the water tasted cold, when it reached my stomach, it became warm. A deep peace radiated out through me from that warm center. I felt as if I was glowing with a profound emotion that was beyond words. "Sam, open your eyes." It was Eva's voice. I did so with some reluctance. "Here," she continued,"Put your hands around your cup again, and Viola, place your hands over Sam's." We obeyed the strange instructions. I looked up at Viola and cried out in surprise. The whole of her body was suffused in a white and silver glow that was so strong my eyes could hardly bear it. I glanced down at our joined hands and saw that the same glow was radiating from me. I looked back at Viola with questioning wonder in my eyes. "What *is* it? Are we about to leap soon?" "The leap is close for all of you, but it is not that. You have been granted a rare gift. For a little while you can perceive people's true auras. Look at your dear friend." I turned away from Viola reluctantly and looked at Al, who was sitting with his arm around Beatrice. I wasn't surprised to see what I could only think of as a passionate red around both of them, but they both had a healing blue which was flecked with dark, painful colors. I understood now why Eva had said that they weren't quite ready. Al and Beatrice looked at us in wonder. Al spoke for both of them. "My goodness, Sam, I can see it too. You look....like a real hero. I always *knew* there was deep goodness in you. Glad to see I was right. And you, Viola. The only word I can come up with is 'princess', but that doesn't even begin to describe what I see." He shook his head in frustration. Then he turned to Beatrice. "And as for you, gorgeous, only Italian will do. Non me ho mai viste piu affascinanti in vita mia!" He pulled her towards him, then turned to Eva,"It is alright if I kiss her isn't it?" Eva nodded gently. Al lost no time in getting on with it before Eva could possibly change her mind. Viola and I turned back to Eva. My mouth dropped open in silent shock. Something stopped me from crying out and disturbing Al and Beatrice. Eva was transfigured. She was glowing green and gold, bright as the sun. Behind her head arched something that could almost have been wings. Viola bowed her head instinctively. "Lady," she whispered,"You honour us." I dropped my head in sudden awe. "Do not be afraid. I am the singer, not the song. You are singers too. We are all seeking to make melody out of discord." We both raised our heads nervously. Eva had resumed her former shape. "Angelita!" The name had sprung unbidden from my lips and for a moment I remembered my angel. Eva shook her head. "No, my dear, not she. But you are close to the Truth, in more ways than you know. Your Viola knows something of it, too." Viola looked at her, then at me with a certain nervousness. "I got a name...no, two names in my head. The first was Gaia and the second was Breath. And *she* told me to tell you both of those and to translate what Al said to Beatrice. He told her that he had never seen anything more lovely in his life." I smiled warmly down at Viola and traced her cheek with my fingers. "He's not the only one, Viola. Right now you are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen." I closed my eyes and kissed her tenderly. Yet again it was overwhelming. A tiny part of me started to wonder how much of this pleasure I could take, but it was quickly swamped out by the feel of her in my arms. When I finally broke away three or four long kisses later, Eva had gone. Al and Beatrice were nuzzling each other playfully. I smiled; it was good to see him so happy. "So, what happens now?" he asked when he noticed me looking at them,"We've got no handlinks and Gushi should have found us by *this* time. Not that I actually *want* to go home just yet, but it would be nice to know *when* we are." He didn't seem to miss.....miss who? Hadn't we just come in here on our way down the hill and had a drink of the water together? There were four plastic beakers on the table, now empty. I shook my head in confusion and turned to Viola. "Was there somebody else with us just now?" Viola colored slightly and her eyes shone. "All I remember is you paying me a lovely compliment after we finished our water and then you kissed me....several times." That I *did* remember. The rest must be down to my Swiss Cheesed brain; although I had the strangest sensation that I *ought* to remember more. Oh, well, if it was important, it would come back to me. I rose to my feet. "Well, shall we carry on? We might find out why we've come here. You seem to know Glastonbury, Viola. What do you suggest?" Viola put her head to one side and considered. "Well, it's a nice day. Does anybody have any money?" Al already knew the answer to that question and Beatrice only had a handkerchief in her pocket. I checked the jeans I was wearing and so did Viola. "No, not a single coin. Zero. I just hope we won't be here at lunchtime." "Okay, well there's a public park about 10 minutes walk away. We can go that way, if you like." It seemed as good an idea as any, so we all left the building and let Viola guide us. "The locals are going to look at Al and Beatrice a bit strangely, aren't they?" I commented. Viola laughed. "You don't know Glastonbury, Sam. Haven't you heard of the pop festival? I can assure you that Al and Beatrice look positively normal compared to some." She was right. We passed quite a few making their way to the Tor in the most outlandish selection of clothing I had ever seen. "Wow!" whispered Al to the rest of us,"It's like Woodstock all over again." "I remember Woodstock, Al. I didn't go, my parents would have had a fit!, but I saw the film, several times." "Shame all that stuff about peace and love didn't stick. I only caught the tail end of it, then I discovered disco. That and Beth's love pulled me through. And the girls.....they were the best miracle of all. I hope you get to meet them one day, Beatrice....and Viola. They're all grown up now, but I think they'd like both of you.....especially you, bella mia." Al smiled gently at Beatrice. There was so much I wished I could say, but now was not the time to reveal what I knew to Al. "I think you'll find that this new emergence of the hippie lifestyle will help rekindle the yearning for peace and justice in the deepest sense. I used to help out in the first aid tent at Pilton before Viola and I got together to build Scherzo. These young people are on the right lines. Of course some of them are experimenting with the old and new illicit substances, which is a shame." Al and I turned to Beatrice in surprise. "I can't imagine you at a pop festival, darling." Beatrice grinned at Al. "I like disco, too!" I groaned. "Oh, no, not another one!" Viola laid a hand on my arm and looked up at me with mischief in her eyes. "Actually, you'd better make that three against one, Sam. Didn't *you* ever enjoy dancing to something silly and infectious?" Al's grinned widened. "Yes, he did! He showed Chubby Checker how to do the Twist!" I held my hands up in defeat. "Okay, okay. Just don't expect me to join you when you put on the records!" "Sam, you shouldn't say things like that to me," Viola retorted,"I'm going to teach you the Bump and the Hustle if it's the last thing I do!" I had a feeling she'd probably do it, too. Maybe I could get to stomach it for the sake of peaceful leaps from now on. It would also give me an excuse to dance with Viola again, which was more to the point. I could live with that. We found the park without any trouble and sat down on a bench under an oak tree. "You know, I've been wondering again exactly *how* and *why* Al and Beatrice arrived here," Viola began,"I'm surprised that no-one from either of our projects has turned up. I don't know about your Gushi, but Professor StJohn is like a terrier when there's a problem. He can be almost fanatical about seeing a job through to completion once he gets stuck into it." My attention immediately snagged onto the familiar name. "Did you say *StJohn*? What's he look like?" "I suppose he's about the same sort of age as Al, probably a little shorter. He has fine brown hair, brown eyes and a kindly sort of face, although his features might look a little sharp to the casual observer. He's a very kind man, though inclined to be a little old-fashioned sometimes. He's our computer expert, worked at CERNE for a while, has a delightful Chinese wife who he met in Hong Kong.....has connections with the military through his time in.....well, I can't say where. It was high up and he did some secret stuff that earnt him a lot of Brownie points with the right people...is that enough?" I boggled. This *had* to be the same man....but not mine now. "Is his first name Edward?" "My goodness, Sam; do you know him? Did you meet him on a leap?" "You could say that, yes. I, um....look, I'll tell you the whole story some other time. It involves Al and he ought to know about Edward StJohn at the same time, I owe him that much." "It's okay, Sam, I understand. There's some things Beatrice doesn't know about either......we leapers do seem to make a habit of awkward relationships, don't we?" After a little while, a man wearing a dirty red pair of trousers and a similar khaki top came into the park, collecting the trash in his hand- cart. He wandered over in our direction and lifted the peak of his cap at us. "Nice morning, ladies and gents." We made suitable responses that it was indeed a nice morning. He lifted the long spiked implement off his cart and held it in his right hand. It changed into a long wooden staff. He changed with it into the man in the gray cloak Viola and I had seen on the mountain. Al rose to his feet and squared his shoulders at the man. "I don't know what you're playing at, but I want answers and I want them now!" The man smiled gently and warmly at Al. "Peace, my warrior brother. I have come to send you onwards. Kiss your lady love farewell......you will not be together again to touch each other for a while." Al regarded him very warily, but lifted Beatrice in his arms anyway. They kissed deeply one last time and vanished into thin air. "Where have they gone?" "Don't worry, daughter. They are safe back in their own places." "*Are* you Merlin?" The man's smile grew warmer. "That name will serve as well as any, although there are many Merlins. Your friend Al is one, although he does not know it. You have something of the Merlin in each of you, as well. You have already proved that by travelling through time alone, without your guardians. Indeed, you have it within yourselves to travel where you will, but you have not found the key yet. I am here merely as a catalyst, a focus for change. That change will happen now, but remember, it is for the best. Something will grow stronger as a result. You have passed through the waters. There is fire and darkness yet to come." I hardly understood what he meant and I started to stand up to ask him to explain, but I felt the leap catch up with me. I turned, trying to hold onto Viola, but her hand slipped through mine and she was carried away. The swirling of the leap went on for longer than I had expected. I had the strangest conviction that I was somehow getting closer to home with this leap. But had Viola been pulled through with me? When I came back to the world I was sitting on a bare concrete floor surrounded by daylight. An elevator door encased in a shaft was the only feature in the place. I realised suddenly that there were no walls, windows or ceiling. Above me was sky, criss-crossed by steel girders. Of course, a high-rise building! I was wearing a non-descript blue boiler suit and I felt a hard hat on my head. An open metal lunch- box sat on the floor beside me. It was mostly empty, but I finished off the rest of the contents while I waited to see if Al would catch up with me. There was nobody else around. No Viola. Perhaps she had leaped into one of the other construction workers. I would just have to wait and see. I had just got up from my sitting position and was getting the kinks out of my legs when Al turned up. He was wearing a royal blue suit, a shiny silk shirt and a tie that looked like it had been conceived whilst under the influence of hallucinogenics. Nothing much different than normal, except that he was looking worried. Very worried. "What is it, Al?" Concerned brown eyes looked up into mine. "I don't know how to tell you this, Sam...." he began. I knew, even before I asked the question. "We've lost contact with Viola and Beatrice, haven't we?" His shoulders drooped expressively. "You and me both, Sam. I was getting on so well with her, too. I should've made love with her while I had the chance, dammit!" He looked back up at me,"Sorry Sam, but you know how it is. When I got back, the glitch in communications had been sorted and Beatrice got most of the letters I'd sent. She was sorting something out with her colleague Professor StJohn so that she could come visit. And I was *this* close!" He held his fingers up an inch apart,"All Ziggy will tell us is that Viola's leaped, and she got that from Scherzo. At least *that* line of communication is still open. Viola and Beatrice are safe, but we can't contact them at the moment." A montage of brief snapshot memories flashed across my mind. Viola holding out her hand to me right at the beginning, her smile, her laugh. The warm relationship between her and Beatrice. Her trust, loyalty and friendship. Those incredible kisses. A strange ache started somewhere deep inside me. It rose up unbidden and flooded me with longing. I looked back at Al. "I miss her. I've got used to having her around." Al gave me a very deep and straight look. "Sam, I know you too well. You've fallen in love with her." I looked at him in shock and surprise. I knew only too well that he was right, yet again. When had I let it happen? The frustration of my situation came to the surface. "I *can't* love her, Al.....at least I can't express it. There's no way I'm going to betray anybody at home waiting for her." Al began to look very guilty and backed away nervously. "This isn't exactly the best timing, but at the moment she's free." I began to get angry. I came close to Al and attacked him with my words. "And what about me? Have I been free to love her and you haven't told me? I need to know the truth, right now." Al held his hands up defensively. He took a deep steadying breath. "No, Sam, you haven't.....not yet....not until I got home last time. But you know that could change at any time. I could see how it was going with Viola ages ago and I *would* have told you. You should know me by now." His dark eyes implored me with a mixture of sympathy and hurt. That look shook me out of my self-obsession. "I'm sorry, Al. The sudden realisation of my feelings for Viola threw everything else out of proportion." Al managed a lop-sided smile. "It's okay, kid. I know I'd go a little crazy if I was led to believe that I could never love Beatrice." I smiled. Al had used the word 'love'. Oh, boy. "So....you love her, then?" Al shrugged eloquently. "I don't know, Sam. I know for sure that whatever it is, it's overpowering," he grinned wickedly,"At least it would be if I wasn't big enough to handle it." I sighed quietly and shook my head. "You always have to reduce it to sex, don't you?" Al looked at me with feigned surprise, then his smile got the better of him. "Sam, don't be such a party pooper. You've had your moments. Perhaps not enough of them, but you've had them all the same." I decided to let Al win this time. "Okay, Casanova. Why am I here and where am I....apart from being three quarters up a skyscraper?" Al smirked, but obediently punched his handlink for answers. "Well, you're in Chicago - hey, that's a lot closer to home, Sam. You're a construction worker called Bob Pritchard and apparently....oh- oh, this doesn't look good, Sam.....according to Ziggy, Bob falls to his death from this building in just about an hour. The construction company gets sued by Bob's nearest and dearest, and his mother effectively dies of a broken heart within the next year. I don't have any details on how the accident happens, Sam, so I'm going to stick to you like glue and watch your back for you." "Thanks, Al. Where is Bob working at the moment?" "He's about to receive panels with some other guys that'll start to put things like walls and a ceiling on this floor. The panels are big and cumbersome, but you've got that humungous crane over there to lift them up here for you. There are the places where they get fastened, then the hollow bits get filled with concrete. Here come your workmates now in the elevator." Half a dozen men got out and came over to me. Al watched like a hawk as we began to receive bits to make surrounds for the supporting concrete pillars. It was heavy, awkward manual work, but I watched the others carefully and copied their movements. After about three quarters of an hour, another worker came up the outside of the building in one of those little two person elevators. It looked like the sort of thing used by the people who clean the outside of office block windows. "Hey, Bob, I've got to go up and put some more girders in place. Could you give me a hand for a minute?" It was only then that I saw that this little elevator could be hauled right up to the top of the girders. Al began to talk in my ear as I went over. "This guy's name is Steve....Steve Kocher. He's Bob's best buddy on the site. If Bob's going to fall from anything, it could be that elevator. Just get into it nice and slowly and try not to look down." "Okay, Steve," I replied and began to climb in. It was only then that I noticed how high up we were. The building fell away beneath us for hundreds of feet and the people on the sidewalk beneath us were like ants. My head swam and the palms of my hands became sweaty. I closed my eyes and held the side of the cab more tightly. I felt us going up and my stomach began to complain very strongly. We came to a juddering halt. I swallowed hard, trying to keep Bob's lunch down. Another crane came over with a load of girders. Steve climbed nimbly out of the elevator to receive them. I had seen men working like this, using the girders as a tightrope with no safety harness. To see someone perform the feat right up close was another matter. "Come on, Bob. I need a hand here!" Oh, no; not this. Even the trapeze would be better than this! Al hovered above me with concern. "Come on, Sam. You can do it. Another ten minutes without a mishap and you're outta here." I swallowed, took a deep breath and trusted myself to a girder barely five inches wide. I couldn't stand up. I froze, rigid, locked around the girder like a drowning man clinging to a lifeline. "Hey Bob! Are you okay?" Steve began to come back towards me. The girders swung, partially loosened from their restraining chain. The very end of one just caught Steve and knocked him off balance. I yelled in shock, but Steve was better than I had realised. He reached out and grabbed the girder under him and swung from it by his fingers. I noticed that he was grey with shock and his breathing was definitely erratic, but he was at least alive. "Sam, if you don't rescue him in the next five minutes, the two of you will die. Steve's got a couple of fractured ribs and his lungs are going to give out before his arms do unless you rescue him." Some primal medical concern mixed with a great deal of adrenalin kicked into my paralysis. I crawled along the girder to where Steve hung. I managed to persuade one of my arms free to hold onto Steve. I looked down at his face, which was now white and very strained. His eyes had started to glaze over from the pain. My other arm reached out instinctively and I managed to help him haul himself back onto the girder. He lay there, breathing painfully and holding on with his legs. I could see him wince with every breath he took. "Okay, Steve. I've got you. We're going to crawl back along this girder and then I'll get you to medical help as soon as possible. If you can, push with your legs and I'll pull with mine. Okay?" Steve nodded slowly, his eyes closed tight with the pain. We made slow work of it. I had to stop to let Steve try to catch his breath every few inches. By the time I helped him down into the elevator, I was covered in sweat and my knees turned to jello with delayed shock as the adrenalin supply dried up. I sank on the floor with Steve in my arms, trying to support his breathing and his ribcage as best I could. When we reached the bottom, an ambulance was already there. I let the ambulance staff take over, then collapsed on the ground and threw up Bob's lunch. I felt *awful*. I found myself bundled inside the ambulance with Steve and we sped away. Al hovered inside the ambulance and checked his handlink whilst watching both of us very carefully. "You did alright, Sam. Steve's ribs mend; he gets compensation because those girders were badly tied up. Bob's okay, too. He gets promotion which keeps him on the ground from now on," then Al's smile widened,"One of the nurses who looks after Steve is going to be Mrs Pritchard. They end up fostering over thirty kids on and off over the next twenty-odd years. You've just made thirty three lives a little better!" I smiled happily at Al and leaped.