Excerpt: Bright Water, Blue Sky

Space and time, distance and velocity no longer trouble her existence, but she has not yet managed to give up thinking in terms of a four-dimensional world, and when They approach her, she perceives that they are “coming nearer”. If she had flesh, it would cringe. The others had drifted from her, one after the other, leaving her for other pursuits. This is what we wanted. This is where we stay. She's found no rest, here in this world of formless everythingness. She longs for Home.

She was unprepared. Too many ties to her former life. She will disrupt us. The sense of “nearness” grows. She can “hear” them thinking/speaking. To return her would be a cruelty. We are not cruel. It must be done.

She has passed beyond fear, but if she had flesh, it would shiver. Their “voices” are cold, the intense cold of deep, black, empty space.

We will return her.

She reaches out to Their presence, to plead her case. The virtue of communication, once the part of her self most highly-prized, has been stripped away. She cannot plead eloquently. She can only beg. Please. They surround her with Their piercing cold and aloof distance and stark, ordered thoughts/words. And then, a rush of affection, and a warmth. She is startled to feel surprise. This warm presence imposes itself between her and the Others.

I will see her home.

A sensation of motion, though in this reality there is no movement, or perhaps she is wrong – perhaps the Universe is rushing past them while they stand still. The sense of warmth and an affectionate presence still hover “near”, combined with purpose and intent. She curses her lack of words/thoughts. She is, effectively, mute. But she hopes her meaning is clear when she thinks/says, Thank you.

The sensation of motion increases, and this time it is real, she notices. Sound – real sound – returns returns with a roar like a meteor through atmosphere, and molecule by molecule she falls into her self, a body, a form that must breathe, that must ache and feel cold and warmth, neglect and desire, thirst, hunger, pain – so much pain! She gasps with real lungs, sucking in air like a hungry newborn suckles milk, then spitting it out again, transmuted into a scream.