...And We Will Have Snow

Chapter 2-9: The Vision

With the plan for the physical structure and the operational control system coming together in a way that felt right, Tengri wanted to focus more on the next phase. This would require finding a way to make the people who would actually need to live in the bottles aware of the possibility. He knew that he was basing his hopes on the traditional role of a tribal shaman, but that had always depended on the ability of the shaman to interact directly with the people involved, and had been limited to small groups. He wanted to - needed to - expand that influence to global proportions.

History offered many examples of people who had tried to do that, charismatic leaders who could stir their followers with a vision. Their successes, although often spectacular, had always collapsed in the end. He knew why.

A shaman of power could pass a vision clearly to those with whom he was in direct contact. The clarity of the vision faded when passed on through followers. Either the followers lacked the shaman power, or, inevitably, added their own interpretations. The vision faded further when passed on through books or other recordings. However well intended, the variances grew and came in conflict, with each other and with the original vision, reducing the resonance that made the vision strong. The need was for a way to keep the vision clear, clear and simple, so that it would not break down.

Tengri knew that he had in Juan, Dema and Cern three shamans of remarkable power, perhaps greater than his own. And he had in Dema's family a wealth of shaman awareness. He knew that his own vision was validated by the fact that they had come into his fold. He was grateful for that. Now it was time to use that resource, to tap that power. He admitted to his own personal trepidations about taking this step. He needed to believe that embracing their support would only strengthen the vision, not diminish it. But the only way to acquire that belief was to take the step. So he called them all together.

They gathered in the lounge. They had no need for technological enhancements, not yet. Tengri looked around at those assembled, one by one, and welcomed them into his dream:

The impeccable Yaqui Indian warrior shaman who called himself Juan and never spoke his true name.

Dema Culver, who revealed herself as the Lamia of antiquity, among the most legendary of all shamans, known by many names.

Cern Stewart, the powerful shaman Cernunnous, equally legendary, also known by many names, who wore his stag-horns proudly, yet in humility wore them invisibly to all, including himself, except within the shaman dream.

Dema's mother Naga, whose medical training was equal to his own, and whose shaman awareness was undeniable, although she had come to acknowledge it as such to herself only recently.

Dema's mysterious sister-snake Kore, who harbored the spirit of her own grandmother Sedna, a remarkable shaman resource. Tengri no longer tried to hide the fondness in his eyes when he looked at her.

Dema's distant cousin Rosita, whose depth of understanding of shaman medicinal lore had drawn the whole group to the island.

And Ryan Shaunessy, ferry boat captain and secret selkie, whose celtic roots were as rich as the soil of his ancestral Ireland.

They all entered and embraced Tengri's shaman dream. Within it, and with their help, he dreamed the vision of the farm bottle, the apartment structure, and the transport balloon that would double as a dome. They dreamed the possibility of transporting the structure anywhere, anyplace that to the inhabitants would be seen as a safe haven, a new home that could shelter and support them for generations to come.

They did this without the aid of VR, within their own shared shaman dream, making it thoroughly real in the Q. They understood, with Tengri, that having done this any one of them could summon it back from the Q through the quantum link, and bring the essence of the dream to life for anyone experiencing the VR replica.

They understood that, as had happened for the rest of the islanders, this experience could unlock the shaman potential in anyone. As their native link to the Q found itself resonating with the VR dream, their own dream would strengthen, until they were not merely witnessing a recording of the dream, but had internalized it completely, making the dream their own.

Tengri's vision was that, in the years to come, as fear and turmoil increased among static traditional cultures due to changes in climate and other disturbances, this vision would spread through the growing medium of VR, via access to the worldwide data cloud. At the same time, through the agency of the WBI organizers, prototype bottles would be built and deployed, they would become a proven reality, and means to produce them would grow to fill the rising need.

Tengri knew that the organizers would have their own approaches to realizing this vision, once he had presented it to them and they had experienced the internalization process, enhanced their own access to the Q. He also knew that as the vision spread, it would take on a life of its own, sprouting offshoots in unknown directions.

There was no need to express this part of the vision. It would grow on its own. All that was needed, really, was to plant the seeds. If the seeds were viable, as he fully believed they would be, where they fell on fertile soil they would grow true. The dream would become real.