Christian Clarity Review

My apologies to the readers of the Laughter Thieves novel in progress/serialization. Here is chapter 15. I had thought I already posted it. Sorry for posting ch’s 16 and 17 and skipping 15.

If you haven’t gotten to chapter fifteen yet, then …everything is fine; nothing to see here, move along. :)

I’m working on a page for the novel itself. As it is if you click on the category “Laughter Thieves” you’ll get the novel, but the presentation is backwards for a novel though perfect for a blog (you get the latest chapter which is a backwards order rather than the usual linear and forward order of chapter one, chapter two, etc…) The result is a read down, then go back up experience. Not good form.

Also working on an mp3 audio reading of it.

You’re welcome to print it out for an easier read. Just don’t sell it, barter or advertise with it. Worpress comes with a built in “print template”. Click on the ‘laughter thieves’ category (for now) and wait for the page to load, then right click and ‘print’.

Enjoy. Comments welcome.

———-

Chapter 15

Underground:

The crew are gathered in the mess of the complex, eating a meal.

Mary: (to Albrite) What do you think it is?

Albrite: I don’t know. Maybe..

Gregg: The word generation makes sense now.

Hayt: Yeah. I got the sense that if I said the right thing it would give me whatever I wanted. All I had to know was the right words.

Izzy: This thing turned on when we got here. First it was a cave, now it’s ..whatever it is.

Mike: And it only reacts to our voices.

Albrite: That’s the thing. Our voices. Not our steps. Not if you drop something. Just our voices. It didn’t turn on for the other crew.

Mike: You think it killed them?

Albrite: I don’t know.

Mary: What is it?

Albrite: Best guess? Translation device.

Izzy: Translation to what? For what? How does something that old know English?

Albrite: It doesn’t have to be the English. It can’t be for that reason. It’s us. Our voices. English is just the latest in a long line of languages that have come and gone.

Mike: Language moves on. Why not use mathematics? We sent equations with Voyager specifically to overcome the whole pronunciation gap.

Albrite: Which hopes there is not a significant alphabet gap. But if there are those out there who don’t know mathematics, they won’t recognize what is said. They’ll think it’s gibberish and background noise if they haven’t reached a certain stage of civilization even if they hear it. By having us speak to it, and teaching us with shape, they deliver whatever they had in mind and don’t have to worry about where we started or where we were when we encountered it.

Izzy: What is it about our voices that is more than the way we speak? Beyond pronunciation? What you’re talking about is almost a dummy proof way of communicating. There is no such way.

Mary: What do you mean by that?

Izzy: Well, I’m no philosopher. But it seems the intelligence has to already be there, right? And the intelligence uses the speech. Intelligence is what manipulates the language.

Gregg: That makes sense. Free will.

Izzy: So there is no such way that could just cut across a language barrier because you can’t do that because of the free will of the other. The fundamental intelligence has to be there first.

Albrite: Yes there is—emotion. The heart is the key—it’s the thing in common with all languages no matter the level of advancement. Everybody understands a smile no matter what language they speak. Everybody understands laughter. It’s a universal—which points to a universal heart—the thing that understands it.

Izzy: How would they do that?

Albrite: Scenerio: You know in advance something could or is going to happen to your race—or you. Your knowledge is going to be destroyed by ..an asteroid. So you make a device that just by understanding the message it conveys restores those who come after to what they once were—your identity. The myth of the fall of man could be a story of collective memory of the overthrow of an advanced civilization. They’ve already gto your heart. All you have to do is give them knowledge through that common bond.

Gregg: Don’t you mean their identity?

“It takes your mind.” Jimmy taps his head. “.. and you can’t remember anything. Not even who you are. Not even your name.”

Albrite: But it doesn’t take the language. You didn’t wake up speaking Farsi. (to the others) So you can give them what was theirs by virtue of being your real descendant that they would never know unless you told them.

Mike: That’s not scenario—that’s religion. And it also presumes whatever built that thing is honest and is your real ancestor assuming your theory is correct.

Albrite: But even religion has roots in fact.

Izzy: Scenerio: You’re the evil that’s about to get its ass kicked. You make up some device to get you out of prison later on. Only somebody else—just by understanding, sets you free. It takes advantage of the mere existence of those not in prison who will find the device to activate it. The device automatically does what its programmed to do—get you out.

Gregg: What are you? Immortal. A word?

Izzy: There is the hand. The rest I don’t know. We have to consider all sides.

Mike: Only if you already think we can control it. If we can’t control it, then what is the difference?

Albrite: That device, whatever it is, is that massive hall. I swear, I got the impression that if I said the right thing, it would have showed me the cure for cancer. No kidding. I don’t know what its saying, but it’s important. And it’s not just word order. It’s how that word is spoken.

Mike: That’s the basis of all witchcraft. Say the special words the special way under the right circumstances in the right environment. Presto! Power.

Izzy: Everybody dreams of being the real son or daughter of some king somewhere and getting restored to the throne. Everybody wants to be more than they really are no matter how much they have.

Albrite: It could really be a failsafe against another device or attack by an enemy. You build a device to pass on your knowledge to those you know will come after. To restore to them what was lost or taken. But you already know that languages come and go.

Mary: Which means you’ve been around long enough to observe that.

Izzy: Which means you guys always think it’s about acquiring new knowledge no matter the danger or what it costs. I know that and I’ve only been around for forty three years. Just because we were all born into a world where speech already exists doesn’t automatically mean we need to get knowledge from somewhere else to prove ours is the truth. Our speech might not need fixing. Our knowledge either. Bobby, the whole crew has just vanished. That thing is the only oddity in the vicinity. Now we don’t have com ops with Virgina. There is a pattern here and its not looking good.

Albrite: The thing that remains the same is who we are as beings. We’re the physical –and spiritual progeny of others like us. Of somebody! The language, the shapes of alphabets, the pronunciation changes, but speech itself always remains.

Mike: The human heart will be the same.

Albrite: ..and the wall reacts to the emotions in what is being said. You can say the same thing in a different tone and get the same response. But if you say something again and you are angry or impatient, the response changes. I got angry when Izzy said we had to meet up here. I wanted to stay and see what else I could see. When I said the same thing over again, it changed. It isn’t just the word order or the voice.

Mike: They built a device that depends on the heart to be the same? And to be reflected in the speech.?

Izzy: Why us? Why not the first team? They have the same language, the same hearts.

Albrite: Could be a frequency, a harmonic in your voice that isn’t in theirs. Hard to say. I’m just speculating here.

Gregg: How will we know we got what they are trying to give us? How do we know we don’t already have something we don’t want from it?

Silence.

Gregg: What if it did something to the others? I mean, with as many technological advances we’ve been through ourselves, in our own lifetime, let’s not get dazzled by the gadget. What if they are trying to give us a lie? What if our ancestors destroyed them because they were worse than the Nazis and this is their get-even device?

Silence.

Albrite: Depends on your enemy and the stakes involved I guess. But it could be. But even if it is..

Mary and Izzy: ..we need to study it..

Izzy: ..and see if it has anything to do with the others not being here. It’s odd. And their absence seems to be set up to be convenient. As if we should just accept it.

Mike: ..and start talking to it.

Gregg: Is there a protocol on encountering new technologies?

Mary: A how-to for the unknown?

Izzy: This was discussed in the late nineteen forties; updated in the nineties. Basically a bunch of psychological crap for us that has nothing to do with whatever we might encounter. The view in the protocols assumes alien technology is produced with minds like ours with more time to know the universe; a kind of older us mentality. The assumption has always been that we are essentially the same no matter the physical form.

Hayt: Like saying there really is no such thing as an alien?

Mary: Yeah. That’s like saying there is no such thing as alien. That there can’t be by definition.

Izzy: Basic honesty: the alien you can’t see with your mind or heart doesn’t exist in terms of defending against it.

Mike: Whether or not they exist? What good is an alien you can’t understand? We can’t live that way. We’d be seeing conspiracies around every corner.

Gregg: Isn’t that what we do? We screw ourselves with our own free will.

Izzy: We have to be aware of our own true limitations. To say we don’t have any is nonsense. The other crew could very well have met up with what they did not perceive to be a limitation. Wake up.

Albrite: Just because we don’t understand it doesn’t mean it is alien. It could really be our own ancestor’s device. It really could be. We have to interface with it. What could be easier than speaking? If we’re right, it’s made to be stupid proof and language independent. It doesn’t have to be an insult.

Hayt: But what will that do to us? What is it doing to us –if anything?

Izzy: Right now it’s forcing the path of our speech –just like it did to the others.

Albrite: Environment does that. It’s supposed to. But it welcomed us. Us. We could have lost something as a race that it is trying to give back to us. Our inheritance.

Hayt: Technically, it welcomed Izzy, Mike and Jimmy and me. Now we won’t know what would’ve happened if you, Gregg, or Mary had been in there first. It’s too late for that.

Izzy: I don’t think we should speculate on that.

Albrite: But it reacts to my voice too. We can see if it reacts to the rest of you.

Mary: You guys are special.

Gregg: Don’t be too eager to be special. Being special is not all it’s sold to be. My great grandparents were in Auschwitz. Jews are special. Look what’s happening to them.

Mike: But the way we were brought up was to make the individual a flexible, multi-purpose being that could survive the encounter on the spot, rather than a robot that follows a given protocol.

Jimmy: Maybe it’s a robot learning from us.

——–

Hayt punches up the coms again to Virginia. There is only static as he runs through the frequencies.

——–

In the great hall:

Albrite: It’s a megalith. The earth has many megalithic structures that are thousands of years old.

Mary: But that architecture is always rough. This is far better than any of the surface examples. This is a palace.

Mike: (to Albrite) If it’s what you say it is, it isn’t a megalith. It’s the Metalith.
“And God took Man and put him into the garden of Eden to till it and to guard it.”

Gregg: Metalith. I like that. You’re alright, man.

Izzy: Guard it from what?

Mike: That’s one of those controversial questions of history.

Albrite: History? That’s not history. That’s myth even though it may have some true elements. I’ve always thought it could be a story of the overthrow of some advanced civilization told as metaphor.

Jimmy: Why is it controversial?

Mike: Impossible to know what was there before the fall of man as men are. They’re all the way they are. They’d have to be something else to know that.

Jimmy runs his hand over the smooth surface. “It feels like rock.” A blob morphs out and recedes. Jimmy backs away and falls against Gregg.

Izzy stars at the wall. “Somebody tell a joke.”

A shape morphs out and back.

Albrite smiles. “You mean somebody else?” The others can’t help but smile. A small shelf morphs out of the rock and settles into place.

Gregg steps back: Hello.

————————-

Jack

“Hello!” The big macaw walks back and forth on his perch, stops and bobs his head up and down as Jack opens the refrigerator door. “Hello! Whatcha’ gonna dooo?!”

“I hear you Pixy. Hang on.” Jack opens a drawer in the refrigerator and takes out a bag of baby carrots. “Here.” He takes one out of the bag and holds it up in his mouth toward the bird between the bars. The bird bends down and takes it in his mouth. Settling back on his perch, he grasps it with his claw and bites off the end, chewing the pulp with the end of his beak.

Jack takes one out of the bag and bites off half, chewing and watching the bird. He remembers the report, turns and walks toward the door.

The bird drops the carrot. It rolls away on the floor of the cage as it again paces its perch. “Hello! Hello!”

“Sorry Pixy. Business.” The closing door drowns out the bird except for a shriek.

The report of the hand still has him worried. It means there might be other players that understand the potential of the technology. Jack sits in front of the fireplace with the report in one hand and the carrots in the other. No telemeric damage.

He opens another report. Jimmy Bilpo, Israel Baxter, Mary Jo Reynolds, Gregg Arkansan. The Laughter Thieves are here.

He thinks back to those first days of discovery and how small and insignificant it had seemed at first: an anomally on sonar; a crevice; an opening; the cave. Now the first team are all dead and the prophecy is underway; whatever it is or will be. He picks up the last report to forget the uncertainty.

The report is of Henry’s movements. He has been to see a mission pastor. He knows that laughter is the key to the artifact.

Jack throws the report in the pile with the rest and throws the carrots on top, stretches and looks at his watch: They are still in front of the wall and have been at it for over three hours. Something is going to happen. Something has to happen now.

Jack grabs the carrots and walks back into the kitchen. The parrot is sulking; perks up when Jack appears. Jack throws the parrot a carrot. It catches it in its claw and waits, in a wary stare peculiar to parrots. Jack sits down as he crunches on a carrot. The bird quietly tears into its own and eats.

The grandfather clock ticks the minutes away.

Jack: Pixy, you’re the lucky one. You don’t understand all the experiments people say just to fill the time.

————————————————

Henry

Laura Fielding lets just a touch of gray at the temples show through. It makes her seem not so vain, a little wise to herself and at ease with the whole world. She knows Henry loves it. She loves that her gray is beautiful to him.

Fixing dinner is how she has expressed her love for years. The lamb is almost done. She can tell by the color of the skin under the roaster. As Henry comes in the door, she also knows something has happened.

Laura, kissing him and taking his coat: Something happen at work?

Henry, shaking his head: Something at work.

Laura: Well, which is it?

He doesn’t reply but goes to change clothes.

“Dinner in twenty minutes.” she calls after him.

He comes in later in his favorite sweatshirt and jeans toweling his hair: Need any help?

She kisses him again; a simple peck while brushing his face with fingers covered with Italian dressing: You only ask that when you know I could use some but you really just want to stand there.

“Okay. I’ll just stand here.” he says, pulling small bits of a dinner roll off and slowly eating them.

She set two places for them, then pulls him toward the table: I’m starved.

They sit looking at each other over the table.

Laura: So are you going to tell me or do I have to guess?

He picks up his fork: I saw Tom today.

Laura, around a mouthful of casserole: Tom who?

Henry: Tom.

It doesn’t hit her for a second. She slowly puts down her fork: Tom Chambers?

Henry: Yes. He’s been back for five years now–took over the mission from his father.

She nods slowly, holding both hands over her heart and swallowing: Rev.Chambers retired?

Henry: No, he died. Heart attack I think. Tom’s been ordained–he was at a church in Alaska after he ..left.

Laura: I see.

They eat in silence.

Henry: He’s not angry–not at all.

She gives a nervous laugh: “He wouldn’t be. Not Tom. He’s not one to hold a grudge.” She drinks a small swallow of wine. “Why didn’t you tell me Rev. Chambers had died? When is the funeral?”

Henry: Almost three years ago I think. He had retired–that’s when Tom came back.

She almost chokes: You didn’t tell me…”

Henry: I didn’t know. Why go on…

Laura: I always meant to apologize. I just put it off. You know I would never have…

She has turned white.

Henry: Honey, it’s okay. He’s not angry. He understood then it wasn’t personal. So did his Dad. There’s nothing to ..

Laura: I should have gone to him. I meant to…I just put it off. You know I was going to…I’m not that kind of person.

Honey, it’s okay.” he says again. “He doesn’t…”

“We’ll have him over! For dinner. Yes..” she nods to herself. “We’ll have him and his wife over.”

Henry: He’s not married.

Laura: Oh. Oh! I know some people…

Henry: You know Tom. He hasn’t changed. Don’t set him up. He’s perfectly capable…

Laura: Well if he was he would be married by now wouldn’t he? Some men just need a little push, that’s all. You’re not a woman. You don’t understand these things. We’ll..

Henry: Stop!

She freezes and stares at him in surprise. He rarely raises his voice to her. It just isn’t in him to shout.

“Just stop! Trying to make it even just makes it worse. He’s let it go–long ago.” Henry begins to eat and tell her about the telescope project to get her mind off the subject.

She eats in silence listening to him and feeling guilty. She has almost managed to forget. She hasn’t thought of Samuel in over two days.

—————————————————————————–

Hosea 13:1-3 When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he exalted himself in Israel: but he trespassed through Baal, and he died. And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves. Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaff driven with the whirlwind out of the threshing-floor, and as the smoke out of the lattice.

In the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen