Come As You Are

by M.J. Harkins

Follow on to Shadow Play

https://nebulascifymagazine.blogspot.com/p/shadow-play-by-m.html

Joanne Walker entered the ballroom at the Waldorf-Astoria, 10,000 sq ft of opulence. Hundreds of guests mingled, most of which knew or knew of Joanne. The past six months had been a whirlwind. After the entity known as Mikal had initiated her acolytes to their latent telepathic capabilities, the teaching had spread to thousands, and then millions. People could have conversations with each other merely by thinking about the person. It took some coordination at first, but it eventually became as easy as any other form of communication. Either side could ignore or accept requests, and group encounters were becoming increasingly prevalent. 

The spread was organic, some suggested viral, friends, friends of friends, colleagues, coworkers, politicians, celebrities, etc. Social media was becoming obsolete. All interest and investments in Virtual Reality was shelved. These ‘meetings of minds’ could imagine themselves together in any environment. The first thing people learned was that an unconscious filter prevented self-endangerment. You couldn’t ‘join’ Sally by the pool if you were driving a car or otherwise engaged, but a dozen people from anywhere in the world could sit at the round table in the Algonquin Room at any hour of the day and have a gab session from their living rooms.

After making the obligatory rounds, Joanne, and a few close confederates, collected at a corner table and summoned Mikal, who appeared momentarily. Knowing the participants, Mikal joined the conversation without a hitch. Joanne was the first to notice a hesitation in Mikal, an aloofness. She watched. She had had the wherewithal to ‘save a seat’ for Mikal next to her. Mikal’s ethereal form occupied the seat. The two of them could disappear into a conversation to the point that no one could interject. The others had gotten used to it. 

“Are you enjoying yourself?” 

Mikal replied, “Is that the purpose of this gathering?”

“Humans do their best work at such functions.”

“I get the impression that the work being done benefits individuals much more often than others.”

“How could you say such a thing! More has been done to help humanity in the last six months than the last six years.”

“But it always seems to enrich the same people.”

“I hope you’re not speaking of me. I haven’t profited from any of this.”

“Your influence has grown exponentially.”

“Only because of the uniqueness of the situation. I was a foremost authority in cultivating these abilities before you enlightened us. Are you upset with me? With us?”

“I guess we expected more.”

“More?”

“You’re all so guarded and resistant to change.”

“Humans are notoriously so.”

“But we were hoping our instruction would help your transition.”

Joanne looked into Mikal’s eyes. It seemed lately that he looked less and less like Steve Allen, but the outline was there. At times he didn’t seem human. Something about the eyes. But wasn’t that the reality. Mikal was not human. She had no idea what kind of being she was dealing with. It at times made her uncomfortable.

“I’m making you uncomfortable” said Mikal.

Joanne flinched. “Can you read minds?”

Mikal said “No, but if we spend time with other beings we can read them.”

“What are you getting at?”

“Your kind wastes so much time. You could all be sharing so much more, but your timidity and lack of urgency fritter it away.”

“Fritter what away?”

“TIME!” said Mikal.

Joanne was stunned. She had never heard Mikal be so forceful. In all her conversations with her cohort, all of whom and been initiated by Mikal, none had ever mentioned this side. 

“What would you have me do?”

Mikal looked around the table, noticed the sideways glances here and there, turned to Joanne and groaned. She had never heard such a sound. She felt a little dizzy. It was as if everyone around the table had paused. Then they resumed their conversations. The dizziness dissipated but she was cognizant of something. She had new information to deal with. It was as if Mikal had reminded her how little time she had left as an octogenarian, of the concerns facing humanity in the next few decades she had left. She focused on Mikal, somewhat perplexed.

“What did you do?”

Mikal smiled. “I communicated with you at the speed of thought.”

“What does that mean?”

“You have an application that plays back books at double speed, correct?”

“Yes.”

“It’s similar, but the speed is much higher.”

“I didn’t know this was possible.”

“I thought one of you would have figured it out by now.” Said Mikal. “You’re all playing this game. Dancing around subjects. I believe you call it mincing. What is the purpose?”

“It’s the human condition. We have more in common with porcupines than we’d like to admit.” 

Now it was Mikal with the perplexed look. 

“It’s a spiney animal that you must keep your distance from.”

Mikal was not amused. “At times I don’t understand your need for allusions to communicate.” 

“It has to do with how our minds works. Can you introduce faster communication to the group?”

“You should try to do it yourself.”

Joanne was a little put off by Mikal’s response but considered how exasperating it must be to work with humans. 

“Can we try it now,” she said.  Mikal nodded.

Joanne thought about it, then remembered their first encounter, when she was caught in a reverie and, upon coming out of it Mikal had said “I see you’re back.” She began to remember a time in her life when she was studying abroad and a group of friends that all had the same classes and they did everything together. It was a season of pure joy.

As the reverie passed in her mind she glanced across the table and the pause was in play. Everything was frozen. She turned to Mikal and they exchanged a smile. She turned back and everything was normal. 

“Thank you for sharing.” 

Joanne wanted to know what Mikal caught. “What did I share?”

It was the opposite connection. A pause filled the air. Joanne was transported. It wasn’t the minute reverie; it was that whole season. All the joys, experiences, a few bad moments, but she came out of it happier than she had been in a very long time.

“I didn’t share all that with you! You must have read my mind!”

“No, Joanne, your reverie was composed of many conscious and unconscious elements.”

“But why would I share all of that?”

“When you have a rapport with someone your sharing aperture is wide and deep.”

“Aperture?”

“You must have been very willing to share with me.”

Joanne blushed. She considered the exchange. Perhaps she over compensated to prove to Mikal that she was willing to improve.

“Can we control what we share?”

“It seems Humans are of two minds. Sometimes working together, but often at odds. I guess it accounts for your ‘dancing around things’.”

“When we do that while talking, we call it oversharing or too much information, abbreviated TMI.”

Mikal was amused. “It must be so hard to be a human.”

“You have no idea.”

Mikal considered for a moment, then said “You have your inner circle here at this table, and you were hoping this gathering would cement your movement. Why don’t you share your vision so they can better understand it and perhaps better communicate it to this assembly.”

Joanne hesitated, but Mikal was right, it was important to make the best use of the little time they had. She tapped her glass a few times to get everyone’s attention. 

“I’d like to try an experiment. Mikal and I we just testing an upgrade to the enhanced communication he introduced.” 

Everyone was laser focused. Nobody wanted to miss this. Joanne glanced at Mikal, who gave her what seemed like an encouraging gesture with a nod. She began. The rest of the room went silent as if the throng was giving them a moment. Everyone at the table was transfixed. Joanne glanced around the table, folded her hands in front of her, and exhaled. Everyone at the table exhaled. It all took place during a single breath. 

Some were flushed. Others immediately took a long drink of water or a contemplative sip of whatever they were drinking. It took them a few moments to recover from the data dump. There was no other way to describe it. It wasn’t just another Powerpoint presentation, with added context, it was everything Joanne had tried to communicate over the last six months, a comprehensive explanation of everything the group wanted to do and the means to make it all come to fruition. But on top of that it was everyone else’s thoughts and ideas, questions and answers. Hopes and fears. It was as if they had long dialogues lasting weeks. And the most incredible part was that all the information was theirs, integrated into their beings. Every iota at their fingertips. They were ‘of a mind’.

They all beheld Joanne as if seeing her for the first time. It wasn’t a broadcast for Joanne. It wasn’t the simple one on one she had had with Mikal. It was a bidirectional communion. She beheld everyone at the table as if for the first time. She looked at Mikal.

“You were not in the dialogue.”

 “I was, as you say, a fly on the wall. It wasn’t my place to interfere.”

Joanne realized she didn’t have to speak with Mikal anymore. She fully understood what he meant. Their thoughts flowed freely. Then they arrived at a place where their thoughts overlapped, then quieted. As if words were no longer needed. A glance or a nod was sufficient. She looked around the table and exchanged glances with everyone seated. They rose in unison and proceeded to blend into the crowd. An emanation proceeded with them. The crowd quieted as they dispersed. It wasn’t long before there were only murmurs and then silence. 

Six months later they had assembled again at the Waldorf. A ‘costume’ ball was in full swing. Joanne was the embodiment of Knowledge, Sophia, draped in a robe of ultramarine. It was as if everyone was participating in ‘A Meeting of Minds’, Joanne’s childhood game that led to her meeting with Mikal. Everyone was themselves and their favorite figure from history or literature, fact or fantasy, but their ‘costumes’ were mere projections. It was a Virtual Reality without technology. The most amusing parts were when guests showed up as the same personality. 

Joanne stood by an enormous fireplace, scotch neat in her left hand, a beacon. Mikal appeared at her side. The spitting image of Steve Allen. They communicated often but hadn’t spoken in awhile.

“You disapprove?”

“No. I can read the room.” Mikal had become a natural at human idioms. 

“You must think us savages.”

“I’ve grown accustomed to your ways.”

“Every ballroom in the building was commandeered for this gala, but the guests were drawn at random using a lottery system.”

“It seems extravagant.”

“Not at all. We’ve accomplished more in the past six months than in the past six decades. We haven’t achieved world peace, but we’ve made great strides.”

“And this image you project. Six months ago, it would have seemed an inflation, but now it suits you. Everyone here is so open. There is no pretense in their play acting. They came to share and learn.”

“For most of my life people would gather and try to share. Some were much better than others, but, for the most part, it was awkward to pull off. Often it was a game of one-upmanship.  Occasionally, you’d have some consensus around a book or a concept, but it was always a taffy pull. It’s as if more of us let more of our guard down.”

“This is closer to what we had imagined for your people. You seem ready for a more expansive sharing.”

Joanne looked at Mikal and said, “It is a come as you are party.”

They looked into each other’s eyes. Joanne got that alien feeling again. She was no longer seeing Steve Allen. Mikal began to make a vibration sound. Their features became fluid. They were becoming larger. The walls of the ballroom expanded and began to rearrange. It was as if all the rooms in the building were aligned into an enormous opera house. The groan emanating from Mikal was long and deep. It seemed everlasting. An eternity in an hour. It was as if they were attending the most absorbing performance of their lives, and each moment Mikal grew larger. They had transformed into what could only be compared to a gigantic cuttlefish, with a body glowing and rippling with colorful variations and patterns. The performance concluded and all became silent. 

Mikal had communicated a vast compendium of knowledge, an encyclopedia of the civilization that they were now part of. A vast society spanning many worlds, and a history stretching back eons. Everyone was now aware of Earth’s place in the context of this civilization that inhabited the Orion Arm of the Galaxy, and it’s place in the Galaxy. Along with this came the realization that they were one species among thousands and what was expected of every member. 

Joanne and Mikal looked long into each other’s gaze. The knowledge of a thousand worlds swirling between them. A moment later the waters stilled. Her todo list just got a lot longer…