POSTHUMAN

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Dr Sefu's team spent a fortnight converting every last psionic in the village from passive to active. Every time they did, Philip got a headache and Angelene zoned out; none of the other psionics reacted to the conversions like Philip and Angelene. Solosolo explained to Marcus, one night as he passed him on the malae, that he thought Philip and Angelene were of an order of magnitude beyond those being converted; Epoch, if he were the first Epoch as Agent Ncube suggested, probably experienced some sort of effect as well. The high chief wanted to sit with Philip and find his potential.

Philip again sat on the other side of Solosolo's desk, a tray of tea between himself and the high chief. The pair sat quietly, the clinking of china and sipping the only sounds. "I'm going to help you reach the same state you were in immediately after the change," said Tuigamala. Philip nodded once then placed his tea cup on the tray. He understood the other doctor's reasoning, that to unlock more of his powers he needed to recall his state of mind when they were new. "If we can relax your mind enough to reach that state, I believe you will glimpse what Angelene describes as 'eternity'. This gave you your abilities, did it not?" as Solosolo spoke, he walked around Philip until the psychic felt compelled to turn and look at him. The high chief gestured for him to turn away.

        "I'm certain it did," Philip did as Tuigamala asked.

        "You have all this power locked away so what you need is a key," there was an air of reverence in his colleague's voice, "The fact you do t'ai chi is a good start. Any relaxation should help you get nearer to 'eternity', which I think is the basis for betterment where psi-gamma cognition is concerned. Doctor, I need you to stand up, step away from the chair and look towards me." Philip hesitated then did as the doctor said.

        "Do you agree to be hypnotised?" asked Tuigamala, Philip nodded, and the high chief put a hand on his shoulder. "I want you to look into my eyes," Solosolo pointed at his eyes and Philip steadily held his gaze. "Feet together," Philip put his feet together, he felt a little unbalanced, now Solosolo's eyes looked like they could see to back of his skull. "Breathe in, exhale, breathe in..." on the second 'breathe', Tuigamala's hand moved to the back of his neck, an instant later a clicking sound coupled with "SLEEP!" plunged Philip into a hypnotic state.

      Tuigamala repeated, "Firm on your feet, deeper and deeper relaxed" over and over again – interspersing his suggestions with the deepener. Philip's head lolled, he was like a puppet on a string, limp but upright, Tuigamala made him visualise: "You are in the machine, waiting for eternity...And now you are there, in the middle of eternity...You are looking deeply at all of it, you do not struggle...Your mind is mingling with eternity, you can see all that you can do...You know what you can do, there are no limits...Let it become part of you, there are no limits...I'm going to count from 1 to 3, and you're going to come slowly out of this state, but you never forget the connection...All you need is that connection...3...2...1."

        Philip awoke without a start, breathing deeply and completely aware of his surroundings. He stretched out his mind, as far as it would go, it blanketed the island for hundreds of miles; he could clearly make out the thoughts of people in Taga and Gataivai to the south as well as in Sala'ilua to the west. The streams of consciousness of hundreds of people flowed through him, this level of noise was unbearable – he wished they would all be quiet for a moment. Then they were. Every last person paused mid-thought, he would wager that they had all paused mid-movement too unless Solosolo often froze for no discernible reason. He willed the good doctor to animate and he did, he continued as if nothing had happened. "Well, what do you feel?" questioned the high chief.

        "Walk with me," he led his companion out of the office by the arm and into the village. It was lunchtime so most of the students were outside too. An eerie tableau greeted them when they emerged. Teachers stuck mid-step, students held in all sorts of poses without the tremble that comes with holding one stance for too long. "I did this. Everybody for hundreds of miles around is like this," he was in awe of his strength. Solosolo had been struck dumb, many times he tried to speak but the words died in his throat, there was nothing he could possibly say to do this moment justice. So instead he retreated to his role of paramount chief, "You should let them move again."