Seven Point Eight (52 page)

“Remember when I came to see you at the cottage a while ago now, with a new project?” he began.

“Ummmm, yes,” Paul said, realising what would come next.

“Well, the project I asked you to look at, what progress have you made with it?”

‘None’ was the truthful answer but Paul didn’t think Max would be too pleased to hear that.

“Good progress, it should be ready sometime soon,” Paul responded.

“Excellent. If you could have the results on my desk in twenty eight days that would be appreciated,” Max said, delighted.

“Er…yes, that’ll be no problem,” Paul confirmed.

Max smiled and returned to his office, feeling satisfied with the potential of a new product or service to offer his clients. A remote viewing blocking device would fetch a good price with organisations that had something to hide.

However, Paul felt like kicking himself. How could he come up with the goods within twenty eight days? He didn’t have a clue how to build a remote viewing blocking device, what kind of technology would do that job? And how could he pull that in alongside the demands of Project OOBE? Then he realised the answer lay within his grasp. The serpents and therianthropes had implied mankind used to communicate with them to obtain knowledge. Maybe one of them could help. In the next few days, he’d have to go back in the machine.

Back at the farmhouse, he had some time alone so used the opportunity to conduct a little theoretical research into shamanism, and begin to look for evidence of prior human contact with other dimensions of reality. Avoiding the general literature such as encyclopaedias, he favoured more specific and slightly offbeat narratives instead, finding a surprising amount of cultural and historical data on a hypothetical otherworld. Paul realised that what they were doing with the machine reflected what had gone before. The more he read, the more he realised the significance of the project and its far reaching implications. He closed the text book, assimilating what he’d just learned. It was so awe inspiring that he’d have to explain it to Tahra when she returned.

***

Her delayed return frustrated Paul, due to a backlog of work at The Institute and he found that her absence seemed abnormal. Max wasn’t a hindrance, as he wanted OOBE to succeed as much as Paul but he also needed to keep his clients happy. She arrived at the farmhouse, and he told her about the deadline set by Max regarding the remote viewing blocker device, so they postponed finding a new world until they could solve this problem. Although full of excitement about the texts documenting the culture and history of shamanism, Paul conceded it would have to wait.

Within the hour, he set the autopilot for thirty minutes. This trip would also demonstrate any reliability in their experiments, could the same results be produced under identical conditions?

Paul felt the same sensations as before, accustomed to the buzzing and tingling which indicated consciousness prepared to separate from his body. A random thought crossed his mind, ‘
Wow, these are good vibrations’.
However, before he could dwell on the feeling, the resonance ripped his consciousness from his body and he felt the comforting tow of Tahra’s presence. They emerged in the same arid desert again to Paul’s relief, so it seemed that the serpents were right, entrance to certain realms did hinge upon the combination, resonance, and amplitude of the frequencies overlaid onto the base frequency of 7.8 hertz.

They didn’t see the mammoth hybrids this time or the human headed capuchin monkeys, although they watched a flock of the strangest birds, with lion heads and the wings of eagles. They swooped low, fascinated by the visitors and screeched a melodic cry as they flew gracefully around them. This seemed to attract the attention of the more sentient beings in this world, for a tribe of ibis headed men appeared beside them.

“Greetings,” one of them said, possibly the same entity they’d spoken to last time. “Do you seek knowledge, my brave traveller?”

“Yes, how did you know?” Paul replied.

“It is the purpose of all visits to the other realms,” the entity responded.

“Well,” he began, “I wondered if you could help me with a little problem. I’ve been asked to produce a device, which will block the ability of a person’s consciousness to travel freely and view whatever they desire.”

The entity answered with a question.

“Why do you wish to prevent this from happening? The purpose is to find knowledge and merge with the Monad, why would you want to hinder this?”

There was that name again…the Monad, although he had more pressing concerns.

“In my world, it’s not used to gain enlightenment, it’s used to spy upon the enemy and to know his next move. We wish to defend ourselves from this intrusion.”

The entity considered his request.

“It is not our choice how knowledge is used. Human free will dictates how it will be applied but if it is used in a negative way, then humanity must deal with the consequences. That is the way of karma, and it has always been this way.”

“So, you’ll help me?” Paul pressed, without really considering the therianthrope’s wisdom.

“Yes, we can answer your question. It is simply a case of changing the frequency and its amplitude. An electromagnetic field pulsed at 7.8 kilohertz will successfully halt the consciousness, and prevent this spying that you speak of.”

Paul nodded.

“Seventy eight thousand hertz, that’s in the upper range of human hearing. I should be able to create such a device. Many thanks for your assistance.”

“You are most welcome, it is an honour to help and share our knowledge. We have been teachers of humanity since the dawn of man and have witnessed the rise and fall of many civilisations. There has been wise use, and misuse of knowledge. Use this information as you will, and use it wisely.”

Paul prepared to part company with the entity, but Tahra felt the need to question him further.

“Since the dawn of man?”

“The very first contact was made by a few individuals who ingested a sacred plant. We taught them how to make fire and grow crops, how to write. However, contact was practised on a wider scale by humanity approximately twelve thousand years ago, leading to a Golden Age lasting around four thousand years. We refer to this as the First Time, when the other realms were understood and incorporated into spiritual practice. Mankind as a whole understood the Monad.”

“I told the serpents that I intend to initiate the Second Time,” Paul pointed out. “I want to revive that understanding we had, and rediscover that lost knowledge.”

“The very first seed of the Second Time has already been sown, in the time period you refer to as the 1940s. However, you are the first teachers of the new cycle.”

“Can we find teachers in the other realms too? I believe there are many more,” Tahra said.

“Yes,” the entity replied, “but they are not all benefactors of humanity. You need to be very careful of toxic energies. Evil does exist, for there is no good without its antithesis, how could you quantify either without its opposite? You will need to know how to tell the difference between entities who want to help, and those who wish to do harm, or further their own agenda.”

“Do you ever cross over to our world?” she queried.

“The concept of ‘crossing over’ is a misnomer. It is a question of shifting perspective, like I discussed before. Consciousness must vibrate at the primeval number of 7.8 to see us.”

“Are all the worlds interlaced and superimposed upon each other?” Paul asked, remembering something that had been referred to on their previous visit.

“You are correct in many ways, as they exist as one, having no physical location. Visible matter in the universe accounts for a small ratio, the rest is invisible to you at the moment, but you must ask, what lies in the spaces between the visible matter? Is it not the apparent emptiness that is more fascinating and worthy of exploration? Here you will find many other realms, if only your eyes could see. The enlightened mind can see the truth of this and understand. Sit quietly, in tune with the primeval number every day, and it will come.”

At that point, the field began to power down and the world of the therianthropes faded from view. Visits to this realm were invaluable, mankind could learn from them, the original teachers of humanity. The machine came into view and they climbed out, Paul immediately hunted for a notebook and pen to scribble down the information imparted to him. It looked like he’d be meeting the deadline after all.

However, he needed to set new objectives, explore more dimensions. Where could he and Tahra venture next?

***

Paul and I made another journey in the machine, to scout out another world. The machine was as addictive as a drug, but minus the side effects. He teased me by declaring he had some really important information to impart. I begged him to divulge it, but he put it off until we had a long evening free, when he’d completed Max’s project. He also wanted to press forward exploring with the machine, so it would have to wait.

Paul kept the harmonics at the lower end of the range, noting the combination of frequencies and amplitude beforehand. The travel guide was building up nicely and we began giving the worlds points out of ten for friendliness, aesthetic value, and potential for acquiring knowledge. So far, the therianthrope world scored high but we needed to expand the guide. Paul also introduced a new addition to the machine, a set of speakers wired to a record player on the outside. He decided we should listen to some music as our consciousnesses left our bodies, to add a little drama to the experience. Setting the record to play, he hooked us up to the EEG and ECG.

The field powered up to the sound of ‘
New World
Symphony’ by Dvorak, and our bodies tingled and buzzed to the music. I wondered where the machine would throw us, and what kind of entities we’d encounter. So far, we’d met some wise beings, who wanted to help humanity, however, would this be the case in subsequent realms?

Our consciousnesses appeared in a world that looked very similar to our own this time. We found ourselves in a grand city with a very American skyline full of tall buildings, which were connected by thin walkways along which some kind of tram rode. No one bothered much with ground level. Looking up at the sky, I saw dirty white clouds scattered on a backdrop of lilac, illuminated by a triple star system. In fact, even though it was daylight, galaxies and nebulae glowed brightly, giving this place a really otherworld feel.

This is beautiful in an urban kind of way, I thought, in total juxtaposition to the previous two worlds.

Lifts ran up the sides of the buildings and across the walkways too, so whoever lived here could zip across the city quite easily. However, I didn’t spot any signs of life.

Hello? Anyone here?

We needed to focus our consciousnesses on one of the walkways, in an attempt to make contact with the entities of this world. I snapped there in an instant, and looked over to find Paul materialising next to me. We gazed at each other, our physical resemblances appearing unconnected to the surreal urban backdrop. Our non-corporeal bodies stood on the walkway, with the lifts and trams whizzing past us.

I spotted a stop nearby, and we watched as people got off just outside one of the tall buildings. Surprisingly, they looked very human but when I peered at them more closely, I realised their skin was quite translucent, making their internal organs visible. Their brains had the appearance of iridescent watery milk, and their eyes were misty, as if they all had cataracts. To add greater surrealism to the scene, each person had a faint neon-like outline, as if someone had drawn around them with a brightly coloured pen.

Studying them in more detail, I also realised they each had some kind of clip attached to their temples, which had a blinking light on it. They moved about their daily business not really noticing each other, more focused on what was going on inside their own heads. I wondered whether the little clip was wired into their brain and this was how they communicated with each other, through some kind of mechanical telepathy.