And suddenly the walls of Dr. Penzler’s office dissolved into panels of radiant light, and she felt her body lift and turn and float upward toward the top of a huge glass canister. Revolving slowly, she saw small creatures with almond-shaped eyes. Then another canister came into view. Inside the canister, a naked man floated in the same thick liquid. Suddenly both canisters began to close in upon each, getting nearer and nearer until, in a moment of radiant energy, they touched, held briefly, then drew apart, each turning more rapidly now, the velocity building steadily, until she felt herself spinning wildly, everything a passing blur as if she were being shot through a tunnel of light at terrific speed, away and away, back to something far below, something added to her from the journey, a thrilling spark of life.
“Lisa!”
She opened her eyes and saw Charlie standing over her, Dr. Penzler at his side.
“What did you see?” Charlie asked.
“It wasn’t quite my ‘new age’ dream,” Lisa answered quietly.
“What was it then?”
Lisa looked at him softly. “It was about you and me.”
“What about us?”
Lisa shook her head.
Charlie stared at her urgently. “What was it?” he asked insistently.
Lisa’s eyes fled toward the window, held briefly, then returned to him.
He could see how oddly shaken she was, how reluctant to reveal what she’d seen.
“I’m not ready,” was all she said.
Charlie met Allie an hour later, a little nine-year-old girl with large, penetrating eyes who seemed to reside in an otherworldly calm. They sat in the small living room of Lisa’s apartment, Allie framed by her mother’s poster of “I Married a Monster From Outer Space.”
“You’re in the fourth grade, right?” Charlie asked.
Allie nodded.
“I taught fourth grade,” Charlie added. “You’re doing state history, reading
“We read
“Good one,” Charlie said with a quick smile.
Allie’s expression grew oddly serious. “So this is the year I find out how everything works? The ‘big ideas?’ ”
“Pretty much,” Charlie answered.
“So then what happens, they all forget?”
Charlie laughed. “I never thought of it that way,” he admitted.
Nina arrived before Charlie could ask another question, and he saw that she was surprised to find a stranger in the house.
“Who are you?” she asked.
Lisa laughed. “We’ve been trying to figure that out all afternoon.”
Nina’s eyes remained on Charlie. “I can’t hang around to find out more,” she said, “But it looks to me like I’ll be seeing you around.” She rushed over and gave Allie a kiss. “Gotta run. Bye sweetheart.”
At dinner, Allie paused a moment, as if considering the right approach, then said, “You’ve been on spaceships too.”
It was not a question, Charlie recognized, but a statement of fact. “Yes… I have,” he said.
“Was it scary?”
“Kind of.”
“Did it make you mean?” Allie asked.
“I don’t think so,” Charlie answered. “How come?”
“My mom didn’t get mean either,” Allie told him. “But some of the people she knows did… I think people get mean when they’re scared.”
Charlie recognized himself in her words, recalling the ferocity of his battle, how he had swung at them, kicked, screamed, all of it done in the grip of terror.
Allie smiled. “I have a journal,” she said. “I write down things I think of and stuff.”
“That’s a good idea,” Charlie told her. “I always wish I’d done that.”
“Maybe some time, I could read you mine,” Allie said.
Charlie smiled. “That would be great.” He turned toward Lisa, and saw that she was watching him somberly.
“You’re up next, you know. With Harriet. Your regression. You’ve never done it before, have you?”
Charlie shook his head.
“Sometimes it can be… there can be a lot of information.”
“Okay,” Charlie said softly.
Lisa seemed hesitant to continue, but determined to do it. “During the regression, I saw us,” she said.
“Us?”
Lisa glanced toward Allie, then back to him. “Us, yes,” she said significantly.
Charlie’s gaze swept over to Allie, and he knew that she was his and Lisa’s, conceived in a tunnel of light, a kind of star child, yet an earthling too, precious beyond measure, rare beyond imagining, and so a creature others were surely hunting down.
Mary strolled with Wakeman along the dock in the early morning light, water lapping softly on the wooden pylons. She’d never seen this particular look on his face, oddly dreamy, and somewhat pensive, a man in love, she thought, but also a man who seemed to be taken by a sudden insight.
“Maybe they want to make us better,” Wakeman said after a moment. “Enable us to move to the next rung of the ladder. And in doing that, they’ll better themselves as well.”
Mary shook her head. “I have a different idea. Say it began as a research project… a project on a scale totally beyond our comprehension. A detailed accounting of our entire planet.”
Wakeman smiled. “I like it.”
“Now, imagine this,” Mary continued. “While doing the research, they inadvertently come across an incredible insight. Something that utterly rearranges the way they see the universe.”
“And that’s what Allie is,” Wakeman asked. “The result of this insight?”
“Evolution comes at a cost, Chet,” Mary said. “Every choice is the death of all other possibilities. Maybe something was lost along the way.”
Wakeman nodded. “Probably something very simple.” He thought a moment, then added, “All I’ve ever wanted was to understand them… not even understand, just catch a glimpse, see through their eyes.” He glanced up toward the heavens. “We’re getting close, Mary. We’ll have the girl. Through her, we’ll be able to talk to them.” His eyes glistened. “I’ve been waiting for this moment all my life.” He drew Mary into his arms. “What I never knew was that I’d find someone to share the moment with me.” He started to kiss her, but the ring of Mary’s cell phone stopped him.
“Yes,” Mary answered. “Dr. Penzler. Hello.” She looked at Wakeman significantly. “Thank you very much. I look forward to seeing you again soon.” She smiled. “Yes, it is unexpected… but that’s one of life’s happy accidents.” She closed the phone and returned it to her pocket. “There’s a new wrinkle,” she said gravely. “Allie’s dad just showed up.”
Charlie and Lisa sat together, the others in Dr. Penzler’s group seated around them, Dr. Penzler near the center, her notebook open, pencil at the ready.
“I just can’t stand this feeling that my life is out of control,” Adams said.
Ray waved his hand. “Welcome to my world,” he scoffed.
