Cloud to Cloud

Episode 42: Waking to Reality Can Be Difficult

Later, Fred and Evan's continued discussion concerning the NetNostradamus drew Hannah from the front of the store. She lingered at the foot of the stairs.

"Your Cloud?" Evan scoffed. "I thought the entire point of this was to get the whole happy world connected. To share the great Cloud in the sky with the unenlightened."

Evan waved his arms as he rocked in his office chair.

"Yes." Fred sighed. "But it's not for personal gain, or stroking your ego, or to impress some girl." Fred waved a hand at the stairwell.

"Some girl?" Evan laughed.

"None of this impresses her!" Fred jabbed at the rising and falling stock data Evan left open on his computer. "She could connect to the global grid without any of this silicon garbage." Fred snatched up a tablet and let it slap onto the desk.

"Oh please!" Evan reeled in his chair. "Her magic cards, and woo-woo boards are not a guaranteed connection to anything besides her own psychosis. We both know that."

"Evan, be real. We never would have gotten this far without her, or her magic cards." Fred slapped the desk. "This connection is so much more ancient than you seem to understand in this lifetime!"

"The firewall idea." Evan acquiesced. "I will give Hannah points for that one."

"That's all?" Fred scowled. "Is this a bruised ego talking? Linc mentioned a lunch date that didn't pan out all that well."

"What? No!" Evan whirled his chair to face the keyboard.

Coach blinked onto the screen. "Evan. You know all about the grid. Even as closed off as you are in this life. If what you have seen doesn't convince you, what about the fact that Wave7 took enough interest in your work to wage an attack."

Hannah forced herself to walk up the stairs and into the static of the combined energy. "Maybe this is not the right lifetime for him to understand." she interjected.

Fred and Evan both whirled their chairs in Hannah's direction.

"What happened to your soul over the last few millennia may have damaged you in some way. Slowed your progress." Her voice was soft compared to the exchange between the men.

"Damaged soul. What are you talking about?" Evan tugged at his hair. "Look. I'm the only one who doesn't sound damaged. Talking about extra lives. Millenia of experiences." He turned on Fred. "You were always the sane one, Uncle. Now you sound like your sister."

"I confess, I haven't admitted how right your mother was about all of this. I had to die to find out." Fred released a short laugh.

Evan shook his head.

"Past lives, my boy." Fred continued. "Yes, you had many. We all did. And, more than one connects us to the grid. We are soulmates."

Evan gaped at his uncle. "Crazy is contagious. What are you talking about now?"

The tablet screen came to life on the table. Linc appeared, rounding out the team.

"I prefer the term soul pod. Mates sounds a bit too romance and candy hearts." Linc smiled.

"Oh, come on." Evan lifted the tablet.

"Try to remember." Linc pled with his friend.

Coach popped into the screen beside Linc. "If you will allow me, I think I can help you understand, Evan."

"What is this? An intervention?" Evan tossed the tablet at Fred.

Fred turned the tablet to face Evan.

"Here it comes." Coach prompted.

Evan waved off the warning as he pushed past Hannah toward the kitchen.

A wave of vertigo tipped Evan against the doorframe as he struggled to steady himself.

Fred rose from his chair, "Just relax a moment."

Concern marked Hannah's features, yet she hung back. The air buzzed with a familiar vibration, though one she had not felt with such strength in a long time.

"Okay." Evan put a hand to his head. "What was that?" He took a few uncertain steps. "I think. I need to get out of here."

He stumbled from the room in the direction of his sleeping space.

Fred moved to follow, but Hannah's hand stilled him.

"Wait until the download is finished," Hannah murmured. "It takes a lot out of a person, you know." Her gentle eyes shined on Fred.

"Yeah." Fred turned his attention to the tablet and Coach.

The entity offered a slow nod.

"I'm going back to the store." Hannah disappeared down the stairs.

Fred picked up his things. "I guess I'll head to the office. It should be about time for more updates, anyway."

Before Linc and Coach disappeared from the screen, Coach turned to Linc. "Updates and uploads. It will be an interesting few hours."

Evan collapsed onto the bed. The room seemed to tilt and float as he stared at the ceiling. His vision flashed to a screen deep within his mind.

A flurry of past-life images assaulted his senses, visually and physically. His body tumbled back through time.