"You still miss the point," I told her sternly, leaning forward to peer intently into her eyes.   "I am talking about the Kiss of Death.   It will, if administered correctly, actually kill.   However, you have to lull your enemy first before you can get close enough to give him that kiss.   Before you can reach the place where you can master this kiss, though, there's a lot more you need to learn.   Are you willing to relearn your whole world?"

   Her voice quavered as she answered, "My whole world?   How is that possible? Isn't the world the world?   How can it be any different?   Will the trees we see become something else?   Will water become dry?   Will food not sustain?   What will love become?   You see, Perki, you have confused me even more!   And you have scared me, too!   Will I have to become a spirit being like you?"

   I laughed heartily and easily.   "Charianna!   What makes you think I am a spirit being?   You have touched me!   Can you touch a spirit?"

   With her head lowered, she peeked up at me, giving me a rueful smile.   "I know you're not a spirit!   And yet sometimes it seems you must be!"

   This was the crux of the problem.   I had her love and trust and friendship.   How did I get her to understand, to open her mind?   I decided I must start again, that I was rushing her for no good reason.   "Charianna.   Do you agree that we all are spirit beings -- on some level, I mean?"

   She frowned in concentration for a moment as if she thought I was trying to trick her somehow.   I gave her an open, level look.   She brightened, seeing that I was playing fair with her.   "Why of course!" she answered.   "We all have many souls.   There is the soul --"

   I cut her off, wanting to stop her from heading off into the area of myth.   Smiling to show that I meant no offense, I said, "Souls?   Well, these souls you speak of are energy worlds in your mind.   Souls are just what the ignorant call them."

   Crestfallen, she said, "I see what you mean about relearning my world.   If souls are not souls, then other things MUST be something else too." Drawing a deep breath, she paused.   Hesitantly, as if she was standing on the edge of bottomless pit, she continued, "Will you show me the true nature of things?   Will you show me these energy worlds in my mind?"

   "OK.   Let's begin to open the closed door in your brain so that you may enter your mind and from there you may enter the Potentiality Quantum, or, as we Tuathans call it, The Halli Un Shandama.   In order to do that you must ascend into the universe that is inside your brain, go deeper than the surface thoughts and impressions and sensory messages.   In order to do that you must learn to focus.   To help you do that it will be very beneficial to repeat Halli Un Shandama over and over and think of nothing but that till the outside world is shut out entirely.   When you have achieved that then you will enter a state that is something like a mystical state.   And yet it won't be.   I mean that it won't be a dream state.   Instead You will see the Potentiality Quantum and know it for what it is!   In other words you will see the true Universe and even though it will seem like a dream at first, soon you will know that this world is only a limited stage.   With that knowledge, you will be able to travel easily between them both!"

   Charianna looked askance at me.   "You mean it's just that easy?   All I have to do is repeat those words over and over and then I will see the True World?"

   I grinned at her. "Oh, it's not as easy as it sounds!   You will say those words until you have come to hate them!   Until you are weary in both your soul and your body.   But then you will realize that they are indeed magical words.   And when you have come to that place then you will begin to love those words!   They will guide you into wonders that you did not know could exist!   It's not really the words that will do it.   Those words are just a special tool that will open the closed door in your brain."

   Charianna gave me an earnest look.   "Why is there a closed door in my mind?"

   "AH!" I held up a finger, "I did not say your mind.   I said your brain!   There are no closed doors in your mind.   Your brain is another thing entirely!   See, your brain can only operate with and rely on the things your senses tell it.   And since your senses cannot perceive the energy realm then as far as your brain is concerned the energy realm does not really exist.   Your brain is a wonderful thing, sure, but it gets in the way of the mind."   However your mind is an entirely different thing all together.   Like the Quantum Atom your mind exists everywhere and everywhen all at once.   In such a state of flux every thing is Potential and is happening and has happened and will happen in one grand Relative Eternity.

   Charianna looked doubtful and scared and wise all at once.   "I understand about the fact that my brain must rely on my sense.   But I thought that dreams were just dreams.   Are you sure this is not a mystical, Dreamer type of thing?   Do you know what I mean?"

   "No, I assure you that this is a very real thing!   it's just that most people don't even try something like this -- if they'd even heard of it to begin with -- because they assume that the "real world" of their brain is all there is.   But there are worlds -- REAL Worlds -- beyond that brain world.   Let me assure you that there is nothing magical about it all.   And yet is the Greatest Magic since it is where the Whole Universe may be found."

   "I have two last question and then I will begin to try this thing you have taught me."   Charianna said with a puzzled frown.   "I know what the world is, but what is this Universe you speak of?   And what is this Quantum Atom thing?"

   "You will know better when you have seen it, but just let me tell you this for now.   There are worlds, planets, earths beyond this one that you are living on.   There are realms in the sky that are just like this one.   What you call Grandfather Daymaker is really a hot mass of burning gas millions of hands of times away from here.   It is a star just like the zillions of others.   Everything is made up of one atom.   It is a particle too small for the eyes to see.   This one atom, which is called the Potentiality Quantum, is what makes and remakes everything.   One is all and all is One." I answered, with no hope that she would understand at that time.   But she HAD asked.   I just wish now that I had taken more time and tried to explain it better.   That might have averted the tragedy to come many years later.   But I forgot that she was an alien species with an alien way of thinking.   I thought that she wouldn't take it so literal.   I thought she would recognize it for what it was: just a preliminary answer, just a throw away answer, just a simplistic answer.   I thought that when she saw that she would understand.   But she didn't understand the way I thought she would.   She understood enough, but because of her alien perception she took my simplistic explanation as the Word of God.

   However, she gave no such indication at the time.   She didn't ask for clarification and I didn't offer any since she just nodded wisely, as if she understood that clarification was coming and said, "OH.   OK.   Shall I begin?"   I replied that she might as well.

   I sat with Charianna in that darkened chamber for 12 days, watching over her, tending to her needs and waiting to see if she would in fact be able to break through.   Finally at the last hour of the twelfth day, she began to glow a bit.   I wasn't sure, since my eyes were tired, that I was actually seeing what I was seeing. Perhaps, I thought, my tired eyes, hoping to see this, are making it real?   But then she flared into a full body aura and I knew she had done it at last!   I reached over with a wet cloth and wiped the sweat from her brow.   She opened her eyes and gave me a shaky grin.   "Is it always this beautiful and grand?" she asked.

   From her words I was sure that she understood.   But again I forgot that perception can alter the truth.   And she gave me no indication that rest of her life that she had not seen it quite the way all others do.   It was such a subtle difference, too, that it never stood out or seemed to matter.   Not until the end.   Sure that all was well, I said, with a mischevious grin, "Shall we go to the people and make a few more converts?"

   Charianna gave me a weary grin.   "I feel better than I ever have in my life, but I am famished and need to eat and then I need to sleep for, oh, about two days!   The spirit is truly willing, but the flesh is weak."   She tried to get to her feet, but her legs betrayed her.   And why not?   She'd been sitting in the same spot and had only barely moved for twelve days.   One part of me was surprised that her legs had not gone dead entirely, but the wiser part of me knew that her legs had been preserved because she HAD entered the Potentiality Quantum.   I reached out a hand and helped her up.   I took her into my living chambers.   I fixed her food and she ate like a famished wolf.   When she could eat no more, I put her to bed in my own bed.   Then I went outside to face Jevstan and Frika.

   I assured them that Charianna was OK.   I told them that Charianna was sleeping, but that when she awoke she would want to speak to them.   Jevstan insisted on seeing for himself.   So I let him and Frika in.   When they saw that Charianna was indeed OK, but that she could not be roused, they set up a vigil by her bedside.

   When Charianna finally awoke things were never the same between Jevstan and her.   Oh, they tried to pretend that everything was fine.   But even if they fooled everyone else, which it seems they did, they didn't fool me.   There were two reasons for this schism.   Jevstan could not figure out why Charianna wanted to be so much like me.   Or to put it another way, he couldn't understand why Charianna -- and the other "converts" that followed -- wanted to follow my more peaceful methods.   See, he thought that I and the others, with this power, should just go out and strike the Buhroots down.   Before she had actaully gone through the process, back when I had first offered it to her and had explained my plan, Charianna had tried to explain it to him more than once, but he refused to listen.   I believe that he thought when Charianna had received this power I had promised her that she would change her mind and see it his way; that once she actually had the power she'd want to use it now.   But of course Charianna was wiser than that.   And the other reason for the schism was the fact that Jevstan never could attain the state necessary to tap into the PQ.   I often wondered if it was jealousy that prevented him or if he just didn't have it in him.   Whatever the case, for these two reasons Jevstan and Charianna day by day slowly drew apart.

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   "Uh, Doc?" Perki said, looking at me timidly.

   "Yes, Perki?" I asked, wondering at her sudden timidity, but prepared to be patient.

   "Remember when I said that I wasn't very good at this writing business?" she said, now staring at me with her eyes wide in defiance.

   "Yeah, I remember," I said, grinning at her.

   Seeing that I wasn't going to disparage her, she softened her look and said, "Well, see, uh, I want to change the point of view.   I mean, I think it would make this story go better if I now told it from the point of view of the Buhroots.   Well, one Buhroot in particular.   See, there's no use dwelling on the past and what happened between Jevstan and Charianna.   And besides that, this change of viewpoint will explain better how the whole thing worked out.   So --"

   I figured I'd better interrupt.   No telling where her next mood swing would take her.   "Yeah," I said, sounding like a broken record, "So what's the problem?"

   "Hey!   You guys! Would you get to the point and stop sounding like two broken records?" Weslee put in, "The suspense is killing me here!   I want to see what happens next!"

   Perki gave him an exasperated look.   "Weslee Turnipaw!   You stay out if this! This is between Doc and me!   You'll see more than you want to see eventually!"

   "Sheesh!   Angels!   Who knew they were so tempermental?"   Weslee muttered.   But then he subsided after another pointed look from Perki.

   I stepped back in.   "Perki, you just tell it anyway you want!   I mean, it's your story!" I said, turning away to give Weslee a raised eyebrow and a wink and a shrug as if to say, "I know how you feel, buddy!" I then turned back to face Perki innocently.   Fortunately, she was so caught up in her ruminations that she hadn't noticed the little by play bewtween Weslee and me.

   "OK, Doc!   If you're sure?"   I nodded. She resolutely brightened -- the look on her face saying she might as well make the best of a bad situation. "OK.   Then let's get in Edgar and go to the scene of the crime, as they say."

   We did.   And she was right.   It did explain the whole sorry mess better.      

*************************************************************************

   Governor of the Inner Provinces, Rikke Starhm was enjoying the company of a delectable young lady at the annual Spring Festival when he got the word.   He did not notice the commotion when it started at the door of the palace because of the noise of the party and because of his concentration on the aforementioned delectable young red head.   But as the commotion spread it's wake to where he was dancing, he finally became aware of it.   He paused in mid step and turned quickly, reaching for the pistol at his belt -- because you never knew.   But he dropped his hand when he saw who was standing before him, bending forward in a sign of obesiance.   It was Glendo, the runner he'd sent to Outpost Two.

   Forgetting all about the sweet young thing standing behind him, Rikke gave Glendo a moment to catch his breath and when the man's breathing had eased, he asked, "Is it true, then?"

   In the sudden silence Glendo looked around at the throng of people standing around him, pressing in, waiting curiously to see what he would say and seemed to get self-conconscious all of a sudden, as if he was wondering how'd he'd dared come crashing into this gathering of his betters like he'd done.   Rikke, suddenly realizing that his question had been ill-timed, turned to the musicians, who'd stopped played and gestured that they should resume.   Under the cover of the music Rikke made his distracted apologies to the redhead and gestured to the gathered throng to resume the festivities.   Then he took Glendo by the arm and headed towards his private quarters.

   When Rikke was seated comfortably behind his desk, he said, redundantly, "There now.   We're alone.   So.   What did you determine?"

   Glendo, who'd collapsed into the chair across the desk as if his legs had suddenly turned to rubber -- after all he'd been running for two days -- took a moment to compose his thoughts, as if trying to decide what was the best order in which to report.   Finally he seemed to come to some decision. "M'Lord.   I dunno.   I mean, can I believe the evidence of me eyes?   Captain Morka seemed to belive that this girl had the goods, that it was not fakery, but still, I dunno.   I mean, I was there, but --"

   Rikke lost patience with the man.   "Look!" he shouted, getting up, rounding the desk and hovering menacingly over the man, "Just tell me what you saw.   I will judge from there!"

   Uncomfortably, Glendo leaned over in the chair, trying to put distance bewtween himself and Rikke's imposing, intruding presence.   Rikke, disgusted with himself for losing control, however minimally, went back around the desk and sat back down.   Clasping his hands behind his head he said, in a softer tone, "OK.   Granted the reports I've received make this SEEM like it MIGHT BE witchcraft or fakery.   But perhaps you can understand this.   What if is isn't?   What do we do then?   So I'd like a better report than I dunno!"

   Glendo suddenly slapped himself on the forehead.   Fumbling in the pouch at his belt he came out with a handful of papers and passed them across the desk, saying as he did so, "OH, Sire, I almost forget!   Forgive me?   This is the handwritten report from Captain Marko." Then he gave Rikke a hopeful smile.

   Rikke took the papers and dismissed Glendo with a pre-emptory wave.   Glendo left, relief warring with jealousy on his face.   Obviously he'd wanted to garner a little of the credit for the report for himself, but was too stupid to know how to go about that.   Rikke forgot the man as soon as the door closed, thinking, "Well, now.   Maybe we'll get to the bottom of this after all.   Captain Marko is an astute man.   If anyone could discern what is going on here, he could." Then he settled back to read the report.

   But when Rikke finished reading the report he was more confused than ever.   Who WAS this Charianna?   Where had she could from?   And how could she do the things the report credited her with doing?   Somehow, from what Captain Marko had said, it didn't sound like witchcraft after all.   So what WAS it?   Rikke came to a decision after a few moments of thought.   He'd have to go see for himself.   There was no way around that.   He got up from his desk to begin his preparations for an extended leave.   The sooner he went, the sooner he'd know.

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