Chapter 3 at last – in which I nearly have kittens

Ah, there you are!
We’ve finally got clear of all that administrative interference by Caratacus Gomwick and his back office stooge Theophilus I-be-Merry, so make yourselves comfortable, dim the lights, let us rejoin story as close to the point where we left off as is gnomically possible.
I’ve been asked to give you a brief recap so here goes...
Josh and Gill have just introduced themselves. Roger is somewhere in the background providing emergency alpha support to Josh’s encephalogram – which in layman’s terms means stopping him from having kittens. With his brainwaves in a deep-meditative state Josh is now able to handle the shock of discovering that nothing is quite as it seems... without losing his marbles.  

“Hi Gill,” I murmur sleepily. “Nice to make your acquaintance.”

“Likewise,” she replies, businesslike. “Now let me begin...”

I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been a great fan of beginnings, particularly when someone makes it sound like embarking on an arduous and rather disturbing journey into the unknown, but what can you do? Delay the inevitable? Paddle your way back into the comforting womb of blissful ignorance? No, a human I believe must face reality, however absurd or impossible it may seem, so somewhat decisively I make the decision to meekly acquiesce, and deliver myself over to Gill’s “beginning”...

“Roger, as you’ve correctly surmised was the beetle that flew into your forehead four weeks ago. Although doing so left a bruise, he never actually made physical contact but instead opened an inter-dimensional gateway, a portal to what is known as “Faery”.

“Faery?” my voice a harmonic convergence of curiosity and scepticism.

“Yes,” she presses on unperturbed, “it was an exquisitely timed manoeuvre made possible by the momentary confluence of innumerable factors temporal and spatial, not to mention Roger’s somewhat reckless audacity! I’m pleased to say the operation was a complete success, though it could so easily have ended in disaster.”

“Disaster? Er... isn’t that somewhat overstating things? A small bruise on the forehead would hardly amount to a disaster.”

Gill clicks her mouth disapprovingly, unimpressed by my failure to appreciate the enormity of what has been undertaken.

“The least error on Roger’s part would have collapsed the fabric of space-time around you. The implosion would have been like detonating a nuclear device.”

“What – a nuclear bomb?”

“Yes, a rather small but no less devastating nuclear bomb – somewhere around the size of an acorn but an inch from your head. I think it would be fair to describe the result as catastrophic for the two of you and anyone else within a thirty metre radius.”

Gill pauses, expectantly, while I process what’s just been said. At first blank. It makes no sense.

Then I feel it... Crash! My body reacts viscerally.

A sudden onslaught of fear and shock batter at the periphery of my drowsy alpha state. Roger’s soothing magic continues to hold back the clamouring horde at the gate and, mercifully, my pulse soon reverts to its steady Sunday afternoon stroll in the park.

Gill, gauging my recovery, resumes: “As I said already, Roger couldn’t have done this without your tacit consent, though at present you’re unaware of having given it.”

“I wonder why?” I think to myself.

“Because you have not yet fully reconnected g-nome.”

“Reconnected g-nome?”

“Yes,” Gill continues, “but first things first – we have to keep this in sequence...

Roger opens up Faery which means that you are now able to access your total bandwidth. Instead of being trapped in just one narrow segment of your conscious-awareness – the “I’m just me and that’s that” bit, you now have access to the whole “All that I am – all that I Be” should you choose to use it. That’s why you’re able to hear me speaking now. That’s why Roger risked his life to assist you – because you elected to make this reconnection.”

“I did?” I muse.

“You must have – it can never be forced on anyone. Somewhere in your vast sub-consciousness you must have started transmitting Faery signal, thereby indicating your readiness to awaken. Roger simply noticed it and responded accordingly.”

“But why would he risk his life?”

“Good question. I expect he’s thinking the same thing.” There’s a moment’s silence... “You can ask him yourself – he can hear you if you invite him in.”

“He can?”

“Sure, go ahead, ask him whatever you like.”

For a moment, confusion, I don’t know how to address someone I can’t see, still less a beetle. Then I hear myself speak from my bewilderment, querulously:

“Why Roger? Why did you do it?”

“Because... it matters,” Roger responds calmly. “Because... all is One.”

I listen intently, but more than the words I feel his response.

He takes me deeper into his confidence:

“At the time I gave it no thought. I acted with certainty on an impulse which is why it was, I felt, perfectly safe to do so, despite the undeniable risk. In a while you’ll begin to see that you had as big a part to play in this as I did – so congratulations to you Josh, and, welcome to Faery!”
Roger senses my seriousness and ends with a playful “Over and out!” 

“Welcome to Faery,” I muse, lost for words... lost for aught...”