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  Phillip Greene caught the eye of General Jones and, with a nod of his head, indicated he needed to speak with The General. When the others had left, Jones came over and sat by Greene, “Yes Sir, you wanted to speak with me?”

  Greene nodded, “JJ, I don’t like how this is playing out. I don’t think we have enough control. Damn it, we should have made a clean sweep on this operation. Instead, Michael Rourke is still functioning, and we look like idiots.”

  Jones shook his head, “Not us, we cannot be tied to this operation. Somebody looks like an idiot, but no one can point a finger at us.”

  “True,” Greene said wiping his mouth with a now ever-present white handkerchief. “But, the reality is the operation was a failure; we’re in the same boat we were three days ago. That is just damned unacceptable.” He still had difficulty preventing drool from dripping from the left side of the jaw Michael had dislocated. Doctors told him there had been nerve damage that might take months to heal, if it ever did.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Rourke sat in the waiting room examining his hands; he had washed his hands in the restroom upon arrival, but as he sat, he kept noticing residual blood in the nail beds and creases of his skin. He scrounged some alcohol swabs from the nurse and was spending the time removing the blood from his hands and the Bowie blade. The delicate operation had gone on for almost four hours when the lead neurosurgeon came out to the waiting room and asked for Dr. Rourke.

  “I’m John Rourke; what’s the verdict doctor?”

  “Dr. Rourke, I’m Dr. Johnson,” he said removing his surgery cap. It and the front of his scrubs were soaked with his own perspiration. “As you know, the primary goals for brain injury treatment are to stop any bleeding, prevent an increase in pressure within the skull, control the amount of pressure should an increase occur, maintain adequate blood flow to the brain, and remove any large blood clots or fragments of the skull. I had to perform a hemicraniectomy, temporarily removing a portion of the skull in order to allow the swollen brain to expand beyond the confines of the skull bone, without causing further elevations in brain pressure. We will keep that part of the skull bone frozen until the swelling has resolved, at which point it can be sutured back onto its original place.”

  “We have accomplished those tasks. Now, we will keep the head of the bed elevated slightly and the neck brace on to keep it straight. This should help decrease the intracranial pressure by allowing blood and cerebrospinal fluid to drain from the brain.”

  “I’ve ordered the limit on the fluids a patient receives. As you know, the brain is like a sponge; it swells with extra fluid. Limiting fluids will help control the swelling. We will keep him on diuretics to decrease the amount of water in the patient’s body which will make less water available to the brain to cause swelling. I also have him on anticonvulsants to prevent seizures that can result from extra electrical activity in the brain. We’re actually picking up some brain activity which frankly I cannot explain.”

  “Any idea when he’ll regain consciousness, Doctor?” Rourke asked.

  “I can’t guarantee that he will; further, I cannot guarantee what shape his mind will be in; I believe we may have damage to two areas. The initial injury occurred to the parietal lobe which controls tactile sensation, response to internal stimuli, sensory comprehension, some language, reading, and some visual functions. Additionally, due to the direction of impact, a sliver of the skull bone was driven into the frontal lobe which controls attention, behavior, abstract thinking, problem solving, creative thought, emotion, intellect, initiative, judgment, coordinated movements, muscle movements, smell, physical reactions, and personality. I can’t say if damage has been done or how much until, and if, he wakes up.”

  Tim Shaw approached from behind Rourke and asked, “What do you think his chances are?”

  “I can’t even hazard a guess,” the Doctor said. “I’ve done all I can do for the head injury. I’m still concerned about the wound to his chest and the possibility of infection from that. Who removed that five-inch by five-inch piece of skin?”

  “I did Doc,” Rourke admitted. “I can’t explain, but it was necessary.”

  “What the hell did you use,” the surgeon asked incuriously, “a butcher knife?”

  Rourke cast his eyes toward the floor and shook his head, “Nope, a Bowie. It was the only thing I had. Did you receive the sample of his skin I removed?”

  Shaw interrupted, “No John, that sample was received by my people and has been taken for analysis per your instructions. It’s considered evidence right now, and our lab people are trying to determine if it works the way you suspect it does. Do you really think it forms some type of a kill switch that can be controlled remotely?”

  “I do Tim. I can’t be sure, but I think so. I just don’t know how it works. I believe that is what happened to the last Captain Dodd we ran into. It just makes sense that, somehow, someone wanted him dead and was able to activate something with his tattoo that made that happen. I hope we can find out what that something is.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  The Keeper arrived at John Rourke’s house that evening. “John, I came as soon as I heard. How is your son?”

  “He’s fine, Sir. Thanks for coming.” Rourke wasn’t quite sure what it was, but the more he was around and listened to The Keeper, the more intrigued he became. The Keeper seemed almost to exude peace and harmony, yet this was tempered by an internal strength. Rourke wanted to know more about The Keeper’s experience and understanding of “Life,” a life that had continued uninterrupted longer than anyone other than the rest of the KI.

  By conventional standards, the KI lifespan was already significantly longer than humans. Adding to that, the time spent traveling at almost the speed of light had extended that life over 40,000 human years; The Keeper, however, only appeared to be in his late seventies or early eighties. Still vibrant, purposeful, and intelligent, The Keeper offered Rourke a most unique opportunity for a “lay-cultural anthropological study.”

  Rourke and The Keeper adjourned to the patio outside. The Keeper gathered his robe garment and sat. “John, I realize that now is probably not the best time to have this conversation, but I believe there are some things you need to hear.”

  Rourke nodded and sat. “Keeper, surely in your long experience you have come to some deeper understandings about ‘Life,’ about being ‘Human?’”

  The Keeper smiled and looked at Rourke with both a deep compassion and understanding; it was a warm and accepting look. Rourke felt the presence of The Keeper again; it seemed to give Rourke a feeling of comfort and clarity of purpose.

  “From the perspective of being Human,” The Keeper began, “here is my simplest understanding. You, John Thomas Rourke, are a self-aware consciousness incarnate in a physical reality. You, more so than most men, have created and co-created your personal reality. You are part of what you call ‘Life’ and that ‘Life’ is constantly changing, constantly evolving, and constantly becoming more.”

  Rourke let The Keeper’s words sink in for a while as he sat quietly. Leaning back, he pulled a small cigar from his shirt pocket and, with his Zippo, lit it. The Keeper said, “May I try one of those?” Rourke smiled and, when both of the cigars were lit, said, “Be careful; if you inhale, you may find yourself a little light-headed. What do you mean by, ‘I have created and co-created my personal reality?’”

  The Keeper seemed to be focused simply on puffing the cigar but said, “By your beliefs, your fears, and your unresolved issues, you are much like a magnet and pull experiences to yourself to either fulfill yourself or to put you in a position to deal with these issues, hopefully growing and learning from them. Life itself is ‘creativity expressed’ and this creativity exists in each self-aware consciousness. There is a natural desire for evolution in consciousness that will continue to bring any unresolved issues into your awareness until you effectively deal with them in a way that contributes to your growth. This can be called, ‘Movement.’�
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  “The more fears and unresolved issues you deal with and put behind you, the more room there is for experiences that will bring you further joy and fulfillment. There are no secrets to this, there is no defined process, and there is no secret handshake to facilitate it. Each piece of consciousness comes to their own truth in their own time. As with ‘Life’ itself, that ‘Movement’ simply just ‘IS.’”

  After a short pause he continued, “Now, with respect to co-creating reality, just as each person creates that portion of their own reality, the gestalt of group consciousness does the same thing. It co-creates the reality that the larger population experiences, from local aspects right up to worldly ‘learnings’ or ‘knowings.’”

  Rourke thought to himself, Yeah right, we create our own reality! And, what about all the things that others are doing to us and all the mean, inconsiderate, or terrible things that happen; the stuff that is out of our control, out of our ability to prevent. He framed the thought into a question. “It seems that there are others out there doing things to us that we have not asked for or that we don’t deserve. What about these experiences?”

  The Keeper nodded and inhaled the cigar smoke tentatively; slowly exhaling, the smoke drifted up on a breeze. “I find this ritual rather relaxing, as do I find your company. Remember, each individual or group of consciousness has either drawn an experience to itself through its beliefs or by the desire to experience the occurrence with the ‘knowing’ that it will offer an increase of their understanding and, as a result, an increase in the quality of their consciousness. Quite often, this understanding is at a soul level and may not exist within the conscious knowledge of the entities involved.”

  Rourke responded, “Well, let’s just simplify things. Ponder on this; at the moment, I’m dealing with some race of aliens cloning Commander Dodd to take control of the earth. We have KI who want to control the Earth and feel they have the right to do so because they used to live here, we have earth citizens who have been here for the last 50,000 years evolving to their current state and feel it is their world to control, and we have people, such as you, who seem to accept each and all in equal ways. How does this fit into each soul drawing these experiences to itself?”

  The Keeper smiled and said, “All consciousness has the same potential; there will be either consequences or benefits, most likely both. But, not all consciousness is at the same level of understanding. Imagine yourself describing some specialized heart surgery procedure to a youth in junior high school. They could hear your words and would know what a heart was but would have no practical way to bring more of an understanding at the moment. It does not mean they are any less, just that they are not yet perceiving things in that way. Yet, they may become a doctor in later years and then understand it perfectly. Perception is relative.”

  He went on, “The same holds true for consciousness as a whole. Much of that which is incarnate is still in a sort of survival stage, and to them, all other consciousness is ‘other’ and is to be feared. Some of the ‘others’ are good, and some are bad, both again being very subjective and in relative terms. This includes most of the aliens involved openly with your civilization at this time.”

  “Then, there are the more aggressive of the KI. Although they know we are all related, they concentrate on the differences. Using their own feeling of entitlement, they would dominate earth citizens if given the chance. Other KI have come to the awareness that we are all interrelated and would work towards the good of all involved.”

  “Then, you have entities such as me; in my own time, we were many, but that was before we left this world. Today, there are many on Earth such as I; I can feel them, sense them if you will. We understand the Oneness of all consciousness and that we only draw to us those experiences that help us to grow. As a result, we are closed to none and welcome the ongoing process of Life. It is called unity-consciousness.”

  The Keeper paused and then said, “But, that is enough for now. I would recommend you sleep on it and only incorporate those things that intuitively ring true to you. Only take in that which feels right to you at an intuitive level. So, what constitutes these levels of consciousness, and how do they manifest in the human form?”

  The Keeper continued, “These perspectives of consciousness relate to energy flows in the physical body. A physical manifest or incarnated entity has seven energy centers. The top, or highest, and the bottom, or lowest, are fixed and constitute being incarnate in physical reality. The upper ties into the soul level. The lower binds us to the physical or, in most normal earthlings, the Earth.”

  “As consciousness is light, the centers relate to the refracted colors of white light, as in a rainbow. The color associated with the highest center is violet and the lowest, or base, is red. In between are increasing vibration centers that relate to orange, yellow, green, blue, and indigo. The energy balance and intensity between these centers and the amount of energy that flows through each is indicative of the level of consciousness and balance achieved by the individual person; the higher the vibration of light, the higher the level or quality of consciousness.”

  The Keeper went on, “The alien entities that are cloning Dodd are functioning very much in what is called a ‘service to self’ focus and could care less about the other consciousness they encounter. They act on what is to their advantage and their best interest. Some of the KI have moved beyond this and have chosen a path we call ‘service to others.’ They no longer wish to control others but have yet to see how we are all interrelated. To them, there is still ‘us and them.’”

  “A few others here on earth, and some not of earth, have moved onto a unity style of consciousness and realize there is only one Source that is fragmented into countless, separate individual pieces of consciousness. They realize that all is interrelated and every piece of consciousness is experiencing the perfect experience needed for their growth at that moment in the evolution of ‘All That Is.’” The Keeper paused for a moment, as if to let what he had just spoken sink into Rourke’s mind.

  Rourke, who had been listening with his head down, looked up and asked, “How many earthlings are working at this level of unity-consciousness?”

  “I have used your computers recently, and my research has shown me this movement towards unity-consciousness started over again in your world during the latter portions of the last millennium and has gained momentum ever since. Those were the troubling times experienced by many between 1950 and what you call the Night of the War. They reflected the letting go of old paradigms that no longer served a useful purpose.”

  “Financial institutions, political systems, and governments experienced the greatest change; as they had been very focused on ‘service to self’; seemingly without care for the rest of humanity. In the early decades of the new millennium, earthly consciousness finally passed the point of balance where the overall consciousness of earth was slightly more positive than negative.”

  The Keeper went on, “Right now, there are various probabilities coming into play that will offer varied futures for many. Those who have held steadfast in their ‘service to self’ or controlling realities will continue to experience this. Those who have used their experiences and ‘learnings’ to come to a better understanding of unity-consciousness will move into that experience. There is a certain momentum or movement that occurs. In physics, it is called a quantum leap.”

  Rourke said, “You mention light quite often in reference to consciousness. What is the importance of light, or better yet, what role does light play in consciousness?”

  The Keeper smiled and replied, “From a larger, more encompassing perspective, light is all there is. I am not speaking of just the visible spectrum but the entire spectrum of energy, which is also in fact light. Consciousness is that light fragmented into individual, self-aware units of which I am one and you are one. The perception or individual experience of this light is greatly slowed down in the physical plane, and it is this that gives us the ability to perceive th
is reality as solid.”

  “To give you an idea of what I mean by slowed down, look at the Atomic Clock used to document official time. It uses the oscillation frequency of the cesium atom which is 9,192,631,770 Hertz, or cycles per second. That is over nine billion vibrations per second. Now, this is just one of the measurements we use in physical reality; you can imagine the speed that exists in the reality from which this physical reality springs.”

  “All physical phenomena in this reality can be traced back in this same way. The speed of light has a distinct reason for being the speed it is and why it is always consistent to observers in a common space-time position. But, these are talks for another time,” said The Keeper, “and I have a meeting with the President of New Germany. Good evening, and may your dreams be comforting. We’ll speak more tomorrow.” With that, he got up and stopped, grasping the back of the bench unsteadily, “I see what you mean about inhaling and the light-headedness.” Regaining his balance, he turned and left. Rourke finished the cigar and for a long time just sat there, thinking about The Keeper’s words and listening to the crashing of the waves.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  His first awakening was barely a memory now. His regaining of consciousness was not a struggle; one moment he “was not,” and the next moment he “was.” His mind had been buffeted with many impressions all at once. Light, fear, heat, and pain cascaded over him like a waterfall; then, he “was not” again.

  He did not know how long he “was not;” his next awareness hit him with the realization he could not move nor was he where he should have been even though his mind could not articulate where that was supposed to be.

  When his third awareness manifested itself, he simply laid still, keeping his eyes closed and his breathing rhythmic. In his mind’s eye, he assessed his bodily conditions. His head hurt, he could not move, something had been forced down his throat, and his limbs had been tied down; in the distance, he could hear an insistent beeping that was growing faster. Slowly, he opened his eyes; he thought he must be in sickbay, but he had no idea of how he had gotten there.