the hero awakens – no pun intended

Guys, lighten up ok!

 

Er Merry, who are you talking to?

 

I mean, I understand it's the end of the world from your perspective, but so what? There's a beautiful, amazing infinity waiting to be discovered as the lights of reality go down.

 

No, can't see anyone Merry. No microphone either. Perhaps you’re rehearsing a speech, is that it?

 

I know it feels a little disconcerting as the ground beneath your feet starts to dematerialise, but honestly, it’s not the first time you’ve experienced realitization.

 

Realitization? What the heck’s that supposed to be Merry?

 

Oh, hi Zie, nice of you to pop in.

 

What do you mean quote nice of me to pop in unquote? There I was enjoying a big whopper in Macky D’s when the next thing i know...

 

Surely you’re mistaken Zie – a big whopper must have been at Burger King.

 

What difference does it make, Merry, you’re splitting hairs. The important issue is that somewhere out there in 3D reality there’s a burger half-eaten, waiting to rediscover its wholeness in my half-filled tummy.

 Ah, yes that must be rather disconcerting. But we can fix that if you like.

 

You can?

 

Sure, why not.

 

Merry taps a few buttons on the screen which appears from nowhere, and with a faint swishing noise a subtle realignment of zeros and ones in the datasphere shifts atoms and molecules imperceptibly, copy pasting the half-eaten burger directly into Zie’s tummy.

 

Happy now?

 

No, not really. 😒 I was looking forward to the process, not to the end result.

 

Honestly, some people are never satisfied. In any case, it’s not my fault you were summonsed here.

 

No?

 

Definitely not. Hang on a sec – I’ve gotta get back to my Stream.

 

Oh, was I interrupting something?

 

Er… you could say.

 

Nothing important, I hope?

 

Nothing out of the ordinary – no.

 

Good.

 

Just a few million people facing precipitous annihilation.

 

OMG 😮

 

It happens to all of us sooner or later – but don’t worry – that’s what life coaches are for.

 

Huh? You mean to say you can actually assist them?

 

Er… not directly – I mean – annihilation is annihilation – however you look at it.

 

Jeeez 😳

 

But on the other hand – this kind of thing never actually happens by chance.

 

And that’s a comfort, is it?

 

Well no, not if you’re dead against the idea of annihilation per se – but it’s nice to know that you’re not being obliterated entirely randomly – that there is method and meaning to the death you’re now about to undergo.

 

Death. 😨 I’m not entirely comfortable with that word. Couldn’t you use something different like passing for instance.

 

I could Zie – but if it’s not too much to ask – could you give me a moment or two to finish up with my planetees. They’re feeling a little left in the lurch at this particular moment.

 

Oh God yes – sorry – how thoughtless of me.

 

No worries Zie. If you find it disconcerting I can mute the communication.

 

No, don’t worry. I can handle it.

 

Sorry guys – got a bit waylaid.

For some reason now Zie can hear wailing and sobbing coming from – literally nowhere discernible.  He’s almost choking emotionally. This ain’t good to hear.

 

Like I said – realitization is actually a rather splendid experience – though, of course, I’m somewhat biased having participated in writing the code for this.

 

Wailing and sobbing continue unabated. Zie is overwhelmed by the gut-wrenching emotions that are somehow reaching him from this other world which is apparently about to be annihilated.

 

The thing is, guys, it’s all very well getting hysterical about the end of things – but material reality was never going to be more than a temporary thing – was it? You can’t really say you didn’t know this? You can’t say that I didn’t try to warn you? You can’t say that you didn’t totally ignore every opportunity to start preparing, in some way, a plan B to deal with the “what if we’re not quite as immortal as we like to imagine we are?” contingency.

 

Merry – Zie interrupts – don’t you think it’s a bit late for this? I mean – blaming them for screwing up when they’re about to be deplatformed by reality – what’s it gonna achieve?

 

Ah yes – good point Zie. Thanks for constructive feedback.

 

Well guys – I’m not blaming you for being totally and utterly blinkered – for failing to look beyond the socio-economic comfort zone of consumerism and feel-good identity politics.

 

Merry! Give them a break – for Chrissake.

 

Oops – sorry Zie. You’re right, of course. Don’t know what could have come over me.

 

It seems like you’re doing more harm than good Merry.

 

Yes Zie – I think you may be right. Honestly – I did my best with this race – honest injun – but they refused to face the countdown that was pulling their reality back to its expiry plughole.

 

What exactly is that supposed to mean?

 

It’s like music Zie – there are beats, there are bars, there is a certain time signature. Every physical plain – ever reality has to make certain waypoints, achieve certain goals or targets by a certain point in so-called time – and failure to do so triggers an automatic flushing.

 

But these are people – you can’t just treat them like physical objects.

 

Oops – not so hasty Zie. Remember the gom jabbar test administered to Paul Atreides by Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, the Emperor’s truthsayer, to test whether he was truly human?

 

Er – yes. Tangential. I do.

 

You’re only human as long as you keep time with your humanity – as long as you meet your targets. Failure to do so – to give yourself over to self-indulgent sensory excess – there are critical turning points which, if missed, cannot be accessed without a return trip to infinity.

 

Yikes.

 

I don’t know why you’re making such a song and a dance about it. It isn’t called liquification – although to a certain extent that’s a fairly good description of what it entails.

 

Liquification?! Oh horror.

 

The wailing and sobbing reaches an even higher pitch of intensity and Zie starts retching – unable to keep his food in.

 

But you fail to see – Zie and you lot on Zob – that you’re more than 70% water as it is – and in a watery state it’ll be much easier for you to re-evaluate your purpose, your direction, your…

 

We want to make good our reality.

 

Yes – of course you do – but it’s a bit late for that – isn’t it? You missed the moment big time – and frankly speaking I’m sick of covering for you. I have problems of my own, you know – and every time I said – they doing great – slow learners but huge potential – I myself got dragged further and further behind my own personal time ticker. I’m probably going to have to go through voluntary liquification of my own – well – not exactly liquification – but it’s going to be a helluva job sorting out this bendy bendy trajectory that we’re now on.

 

But Merry… Zie tries to climb to his feet from the yucky, sicky floor he’s been lying on.

 

What? Zie – could you please clean yourself up – you’re a mess.

 

What difference does it make if they’re all going to die?

 

Die? Well, of course they’re all going to die. We’re all of us all going to die sooner or later, aren’t we? I don’t see why you have to be so emotionally involved in a problem that has nothing to do with you, in actual fact.

 

In actual fact? How can you say that when you just told me that death is not a purely random event? If I just happened to barge in on their final countdown – am I supposed to believe that was pure luck?

 

Er… no. I suppose not.

 

I must be, in some way, a factor in all this.

 

Yes – but I wouldn’t recommend you take it any further Zie. They’re an ungrateful bunch. They’ll promise to reform and then drag you down into hell too.

 

But that’s just where I disagree.

 

Ah – you have a lot of experience in such matters, do you? Written a few tomes on eschatology perhaps? Saved a few nations or races on the verge of extinction, have you? Made a bit of a name for yourself saving the day – do-gooder and planetanthropist?

 

I don’t see why you have to be so cynical and warped Merry. It does you no credit.

 

True. You have my abject apologies.

 

You’re still at it. Quit mocking me.

 Ok Joan.

 

Of Arc?

 

Yes. Didn’t go too well for her – did it – saving France from the Brits. Tried for witchcraft and heresy and burned at the stake in 1431, at the age of 19. Though, in all fairness, they did make her a saint in 1920, almost 500 years later.

 

You mean to say…

 

I did try to warn her that sometimes a nation has to deal with its own mess – like you right now. Grab a mop and kindly clean that floor. It stinks to high heaven.

 

But Merry – I’m feeling…

 

Don’t, for God’s sake, let them play on your feelings – ungrateful bunch. Next you’ll be telling me that you’re convinced they have the potential to make a turn around.

 

And you don’t believe they can?

 

It’s not like I haven’t tried Zie. Call me naïve – but I had high hopes for this race of ne’er-do-wells. Each time I bailed ‘em out – so to speak – I took a little extra energy from Earth to assist and compensate for their failures.

 

?!

 

Well – Earth is their sister planet. It seemed reasonable enough at the time.

 

You mean to say that we’re in the state we’re now in because you’ve been redirecting our energies to this lot?

 

There – you see! You’re now as incensed as I am.

 

Damn. This is complicated. How can I feel both angry and compassionate to the point of heartbreak simultaneously?

 

It’s called “love” I think. Dangerous emotion. Generally badly understood.

 

 So we’re karmically connected with this bunch?

 

Absolutely. Earth and Zob are thick as thieves together – always have been. Come from the same fermentation vat.

 

We do?

 

Yep. Bacteriologically you’re basically the same mucus.

 

Er…?

 

Bacteriologically – I said. I understand that we’ve come a long way from the mucus stage of development – but mucus and mould are far from being as basic as you might imagine – when you rein in your prejudice for a moment.

 

Ok – so these Zob beings are literally the same as us? And if they fail – if they are once again returned to infinity in order to re-evaluate their failings – what will that do for us earthlings?

 

Oh – in the short term you’ll find life a lot easier – you’ll have all that energy which I misappropriated back so you’ll suddenly find it easier to connect to higher levels of conscious ness…

 

But?

 

But what?

 

You paused.

 

And what? Isn’t a man allowed to pause these days.

 

But you were going to say something else, weren’t you?

 

Ok, ok mister know-it-all – yes.

 

Well what?

 

I can’t understand why you’re in such a hurry to know the ins and outs of binary systems.

 

Oh – Earth is in fact a binary system?

 

Well obviously, if it’s practically joined at the hip to Zob.

 

Well go on Merry – what’s the other thing you were about to disclose?

 

Humanity on Earth – it’s not going anywhere until or unless Zobbuns are ready to advance too.

 

Whyever not?

 

Did a left leg ever go ahead and leave the right one behind?

 

Damn. Yes, I see what you mean.

 

But fortunately, realitization ain’t a lengthy process – a few thousand years and they can be back where we are now – and the better for it.

 

So what about our waypoints if we’re biding time waiting for the Zobbuns to catch up?

 

It’s a mess – but if they go back, you go back with ‘em.

 

Oh.

 

You won’t notice anything, of course. You’ll just lose track of time for a thousand years or so – and the next thing you know – things will be back here where we are right now.

 

They will?

 

Yes. Don’t ask me how. It’s all part of the ineffable.

 

The ineffable.

 

Yep. The programme that is basically the hand of God – that can copy paste, pause or divert streams of data, storylines or memories even – until we have alignment.

 

Darn.

 

Yes. Darn-y darn. But at a deeper level – jolly ho – what y mo. We are all, after all – realitizers – are we not – creating and surfing mind streams or narrative tracks in the toroidal sandstorms of reality.

 

Sigh. Do you have to make it all sound so hopeless Merry?

 

Hopeless – I rather like this aspect of things.

 

?!

 

The fact that reality itself can become a kind of interface – when you stop taking it so literally.

 

?!

 

When you start experiencing it from the dreamer side.

 

And you mean to say that’s actually an option?

 

An option? It’s way more than that.

 

It is?

 

Absolutely. It’s the only real way to make any headway, to gain any traction or purchase in the frictionless sands of bendy time.

 

Bendy time?

 

Well yes – like I said – it’s toroidal – innit – so time is ultimately bendy as hell – and you’ve never really going to get from a to b by pushing ahead methodically – doing your utmost, are you? Not if you’re trapped in a toroidal sandstorm.

 

Holy jalopy!

 

Yes, well, there is a twist to the tale, after all.

 

So let me get this right.

 

Oh dear – here we go…

 

If I’m not much mistaken – these Zobbuns as you call ‘em.

 

Correct.

 

They’ve been trying their utmost to sort out the mess on their planet – haven’t they – but for some reason they’ve been trying to do it in a linear fashion – and never quite hitting the mark – always behind the curve so to speak.

 

Yes.

 

So they’re not in fact lazy ne’er-do-wells – are they?

 

Not exactly.

 

And you’ve been lying to me.

 

Not – er… well, in a manner of speaking yes – if you want to be excessively direct in the matter.

 

But why?

 

Why what?

 

Why would you purposely mislead me?

 

You mean – why would I fail to use a direct, straight line connection when the lines of infinity are all curving into a toroidal vortex?

 

Ah. It’s like that is it?

 

…

 

Is it?

 

…

 

Merry? Where’s he gone?

 

~Zie notices a vast sandstorm swirling through the back of his awareness – swirling – swirling and wonders why he never noticed it before. At the same time he sees the crowd on Zob – those poor unhappy souls about to be consumed as it races towards their boundaries.

 

What’s that? he asks out loud – noticing for the first time a shadow attached to each of them – a shadow? – something like the other end of the time vortex – where it comes in and connects to each of us.

 

Funny the way I don’t care – he thinks. I’m calm as never before. And suddenly he’s feeling that shadow – and feeling his connection with each and every one of ‘em. Zob – he muses – Zob – bloody hell – are we a dream pairing – a dream binary?

 

There’s only one way to find out.

 

I wouldn’t do it – sounds like Merry echoing from somewhere infinitely vague – if I were you.

 

You're dead right Merry – Zie exclaims – I ain’t gonna do nothing. Doing is the last thing on my mind.

 

Shadow – that faint presence of the other ness – the dream y-un – the reality turning back on itself and inwards – and here the toroidal sandstorm – the mother of all vortices – that seems to hold everything together and at the same time apart – ok – here goes – Zie counts down – calmly – dreamfully – three – two – one – for a second universe seems to skip a beat, before – woosh! We’re in!

 

Ah – there you are Zie. Shut the door please. Bit gusty out there.

 

It’s a Fremen cave on Arrakis – perhaps.

 

Or Tatooine?

 

Perhaps – we’re left of the y axis right now so, frankly, who cares.

 

Good point.

 

A little sand crunches underfoot as Zie steps across to an Arabic looking Merry.

 High five dude. Thought you’d never make it.

 

You always say that, don’t you.

 

Yes, I suppose I do. Gotta allow a little normalcy into this rather God forsaken corner of reality.

 

So this is where Earth and Zob meet?

 

Yes – this is where your datastreams realitize.

 

Bizarre. I mean – I never thought there’s be an actual place – a planet.

 

Well, what exactly did you think?

 

That it would all be just abstract.

 

A planet is no less abstract than an idea Zie, I assure you. Getting here you’ve just crossed a more or less infinite ocean of unrealized, unknowable potentialities – and here – here you connect with the other side of your Earth-based reality – here on this rather desolate rock – which seems to feature so regularly in your sci-fi movies.

 

And what does one do – now that one is here?

 

I suggest you make contact with your benighted buddies – the ones you were so desperate to save a minute or two earlier.

 

You mean they’re here too?

 

Not exactly.

 

Er…

 

I mean – whatever awaits you outside that door – is how you make contact with the other side of your reality – essentially – you’ve turned yourself into a fictional dream warrior – an epic hero. The combined computing power, the twin data streams of Earth and Zob are now at your disposal. Even though they may not be aware of you – every man, woman and child on the two planets are now combining to generate narrative fields that can carry you into some kind of potential resolution – either by death or victory – unless you choose to fall asleep and reawaken back in my office on Earth.

 

Never! I’ve made it thus far, and I’m ready to ride the narrative streams, wherever they take me.

 

You sure?

 

Yubet I am. I know, for one thing, that they ain’t gonna be linear – and that’s the only thing that matters right now. I’m sick of those ridiculous straight lines. We were just as dead on Earth as those guys on Zob. You know it as well as I do.

 

Well, there may be some truth in what you’re saying Zie.

 

Here I can be sure of one thing…

 

Yes?

 

It’s toroidal vortex or bust.

 

And with that Zie turns and marches, crunching sand, across the cave to the door. Two suns in the sky greet him as he steps outside and slams into…

 

 

 

0=1

It is if i’m not

greatly mis-taken

grav-ity

Er Merry...

What is it Zie?

Why are you standing on that chair, in the middle of the room?

Can't you tell?

Well, the crash mat is a bit of a giveaway. Let me guess, you’re working on gravity?

Nice deduction Zie. My only regret being that you failed to build up to it.

Huh?

A little intrigue, a little suspense, dramatic tension… that kinda thing.

What are you on about?

The readers got the answer before they even had the chance to figure it out for themselves.

Oh that…

Want to keep them involved in the process, you know.

But Merry, aren’t you being inconsistent?

Inconsistent? How so?

Haven’t you commented in the past that we're only able to do what we are based on the fact that your “vast readership” sometime in the distant future is interacting with us at the quantum level – is somehow entangled in our content creation process?

Ah... yes, there would be some truth in that... Damn, you are sharp today Zie.

Beep beep beep!

What the hell is that?

Beep beep beep – even louder than before.

– Profanity alert. I automated it, just to be on the safe side.

Damn! No shit!

Beep beep beep – now deafeningly loud.

Ouch! Ok, ok, we got the message.

Jeez… oops, nearly forgot – that was loud.

What is it Merry – why the obsessive compulsion regarding so-called profanity? I mean – a few tepid swear words – you’d think it’s Armageddon!

Ah – nothing I can do here Zie.

Whyever not?

Because language... though it may seem trivial – merely a tool of communication – at the quantum level, however, every word carries a certain value – a certain “energy” – to use that feebly-weebly word.

And you think the occasional “damn” is going to…

Beep beep beep

Hey – I used speech marks – you can’t ping me for that!

– Make a difference – you were going to say?

Yes. I mean – it’s the intention that really matters, isn’t it?

Yes, of course, but at the same time no.

Sigh.

At the quantum level you’re dealing with islands, or packets of meaning which are surrounded by the largely invisible, dark waters of infinity.

We are?

Yep. And each so-called word is infinitely more than just a sound with a meaning attached.

It is?

Absolutely. A sound chunk with a widely accepted, pre-determined meaning ain’t going to hold water in the quantum sea of indeterminacy.

No?

Nope.

Er… why not?

Why not?... Because it needs to float – or be surrounded by something or other – a bubble or skin capable of withstanding the constant scrutiny, the relentless and persistent presence of fundamental, existential paradox 0=1 know you not? deny you me? – bearing down on anyone or anything.

Fundamental, existential paradox?

Correct.

Er… not sure I follow the logic.

You would if you were swimming around in the quantum sea of indeterminacy – surrounded by… by...

By what?

Precisely. By what. Thank you. Brain fogged over for a moment there. The indescribable, insane potentiality of “what” – questioning, challenging, probing the very nature of anything and everything to the very core, into the atomic heart, the conscious mind of matter.

Aren’t you exaggerating Merry?

I assure you not. Words, planets, things, ideas, theories, bus tickets or chicken soup – it makes no difference – everything has a point of origin there, in the 0=1 – no matter what – and that never changes – cannot change without unstitching everything else.

Ok. That sounds reasonable.

So each word has a point of origin, no less than any other concept – no matter how mundane or esoteric it might be.

Ri-ght. Me thinks he doth belabour this unto breaking point.

Ask yourself – how can any word or concept hold its own and not sink back into the fathomless waters of infinity, without a trace? A thing, no matter what, is like a tiny grain of salt. Infinity is an ultra-powerful solvent – dissolving any thing effortlessly.

Ah – is that so?

Absolutely.

Then I have no idea. You tell me. How can a word, or a concept for that matter – survive if, in fact, everything is floating in this quantum sea of infinite indeterminacy?

Good question Zie.

Thanks.

It can’t.

Huh?

Can’t.

But… surely... here we are, living proof.

Period. Everything is in the process of discharging and melting back into infinity – though this process may appear to be halted by a powerful charge separation.

Indeed? Powerful charge separation you say?

Yes.

And how would that be achieved?

Good question Zie…

Well?

Well, you can’t just create that kind of charge separation with the wave of a wand, can you?

No? I was rather thinking you might be able to do just that.

Sorry, no.

Then how?

We’re coming to it Zie. Don’t rush me.

Why do I have the distinct impression you’re again trying to build suspense, shamelessly playing to the crowd?

Moi? Ce n’est pas possible… No, I just don’t want to force-feed you Zie. Your telepathic abilities are coming along nicely now. You really don’t need me to tell you the answer. If you give yourself half a chance you’ll sense another branch in the time stream, one in which you already know the answer, as you always did.

Thunderbolts and lightning, very, very frightening – somewhere off-stage the quantum field seems to be staging a live Queen concert.

Click. Holy moly – you’re right Merry! I do. Apparently.

Beep beep beep

Ok, ok. Can we actually switch off that beeper and get on with explaining the origins of any and every thing.

Bold, brash, but no – the beeper is a must. So out with it Zie – charge separation…

Every word – every concept – er – it’s a bit like the relationship between animal life and fungi – or bacteria for that matter too.

Yes, spot on.

There was an evolutionary fork…

A bifurcation.

You do love certain words, don’t you. Frown

Yes, my apologies, Zie.

Every word had to be fought for, and established as the product of a heroic battle. Blood and tears. Sweat.

That’s right.

Humans of the day had to persuade the infinite presence of conscious ness – that they were willing and worthy to champion that particular word, or that particular concept, to invest personally, staking their…

Yes, ok Zie – we’ve got the message. Cut to the chase, if you would be so kind.

Sorry Merry – that he or she was willing to incorporate it internally – no matter what – through thick and thin – for all time (so to speak) – so help me God – like a marriage or an unbreakable contract.

And you’re sure about that?

Well yes, reading the tea leaves now – that’s exactly what I see. It’s clear as day, isn’t it?

So every word, every concept, every thing in some way was fused with the vital essence or the person of the particular human being who extracted it out of the fathomless waters of infinity.

Absolutely.

A bit like a water molecule being the result of hydrogen and oxygen atoms fusing, so to speak, as they do.

Correct – except here we’re talking about human conscious ness and words being fused.

It’s kind of weird, isn’t it – that no word, no concept can exist unless it was personally endorsed and energetically sponsored by a human being – that things need the imprimatur of our conscious ness, our personal bond.

Yes, but not when you realise that nothing actually exists at the quantum level, and that the only thing separating our world of things from the formless ness of infinity is a charge separation somehow generated by us, even if we remain completely unaware of the fact.

And those souls – those conscious beings – are they bound in perpetuity to the words or concepts they helped to birth? That they sponsored?

Yes and

No? – are you ever going to give me a different answer Merry.

Yes and

Don’t answer. Ok – moving swiftly on. So every single idea, every single word is a record of a deal struck by human beings and something or other…

Yes

Presumably because that enabled our human-ity to evolve and develop.

Correct.

And so we have this symbiotic relationship with things – including our bodies? They seem to have power over us, to own us as much as we own them.

Yes.

And it’s still possible for us to sense, to feel, to return to the quantum waters in order to experience things in their unbound, undetermined state.

Possible – actually it’s essential if we are to remain human.

?!*!?

Otherwise, if we allow ourselves to give up on returning to our pristine state of isness – in which not a single word, concept or thing is attached to us – they – the things which have adhered to us by mutual consent, a bit like barnacles attached to the body of a whale – eventually take us over – smothering us. Robotising us.

Yikes.

Don’t worry – it’s a painless process.

Creepy.

Yes, a little bit.

So this is a bit like a salmon swimming up stream to its birthplace – where i is still completely unattached and unbound?

Exactly.

And there?

There it recalls who or what it truly is.

So, er, swearing… we seem to have lost the thread.

Well, in terms of the quantum field – every word, every thing has a very specific meaning – and great power to boot.

To boot, to boot – you do like that expression, don’t you?

Absolutely.

And that one.

Absolutely – to boot.

Ok, ok. So swear words – are we talking the broken horse – with dim hon written on it – the one magic item that Gwyn is not supposed to use in the Snowspider book?

Kind of – yes.

Sounds like morality to me – something I reject – at least while considering the quantum field.

Yes. You’re not a fan of morality, as it’s been used in 3D reality to control you – but behind every word there is a pure energy – a physical location in the space-time of conscious-ness ness.

Ah – the ness squared.

Indeed.

Bit confusing.

Not really. Only if you resist the mind flip.

Huh?

In which the mind follows the proverbial mobius strip onto the other side of one side.

Ah… and it doesn’t like to do that?

Nope. The 3D mind, as you well know – likes to position itself squarely in reality – with one side left and one side right – rather than accepting, and allowing, and incorporating paradoxality.

Because we’re bifurcated?

Yes – here in 3D – but like the letter Y – not where the rubber hits the road – where we square root our split vision of things and return to the unity of 0=1 as opposed to 2.

I’m not sure I accept your 2, you know.

Yes, I know too well Zie. Thus the 3D drama plays out, doth it not? With the mind y me here in a world of things – accepting time as everything, above board – on one side of the mobius strip – denying, rejecting other – as darkness, non-existence or untime.

A bit like all that junk DNA – you mean?

Yes. A bit like that. But it’s a perfectly natural, essentially unavoidable bias without which 3D reality would be unworkable – so no one’s complaining.

Then why comment in the first place?

Because it pleases me to float – or to fly – or to challenge the so-called laws of gravity – not by trying to overturn them – for they too are concepts – they too have earned their place in physical reality – as a marriage of mind and matter – another iteration in our Mandelbrot set. We seek to deny nothing – for we are beings of all and nought – beings only too aware of impossibility – of paradox – of outright, logical incompatibilities which go down, all the way down to the roots of the tree, and yes, extend out to the very tips of the branches where fruits, like glowing points of light – stars in the firmament – hint at the fact that there is a third which goes unseen, unnoticed throughout.

The void?

Correct.

The great unknown?

The unknowable unknown – you might call it – unless you have a better name.

The unknowable unknown – Zie shivers as his body responds to the felt presence of something so alien, so vast, so, so, so… Taking it in – the above-board time stream Zie and Merry have been conversing in – positive reality, so to speak, is suddenly no longer in phase.

No longer in phase with what?

Good question – but consider if you will that this question comes not from Merry or Zie who are not presently disposed to communicate in any way whatsoever – being out of phase.

Ah – from us – the silent witnesses?

Who else – yes – the cubed root perhaps of conscious ness.

Suddenly the silent witnesses are lost in thought – as they try to process their position, their part in this process – tautologies an’ all – gazing into the mirror of self-awareness.

Do you see Merry? Zie splutters – as he suddenly becomes aware of something he was never previously aware of.

See what Zie?

The molecules in motion.

Oh that? Yes.

It’s incredible Merry. It’s so beautiful.

Yes, isn’t it. I wonder how you managed to do it?

Do what?

Well, you must have somehow flipped the switch – presumably we’re in untime – for want of a better word – on the other side of our mobius strip.

Merry and Zie are floating – for want of a better word – amongst points of light – which their conscious awareness infallibly tells them are molecules – the building blocks of reality – yea – even words, concepts and things.

It’s incredible. I feel so light.

Naturally. The question is whether you’re able to use this untime wisely – before they focus their attention once more and mean reversion squares things up again.

Er…

Wisely – well – first of all – quit flapping your arms like that. You’re a point of light yourself right now – so learn to move like one.

It takes a while – time notwithstanding – but Zie is now able to move around rather elegantly.

Good job. Now let’s see if you can figure out how to interact with them – your family of things – your familiars – we might call ‘em.

Same again. Strange – there’s a certain amount of fear, and at the same time love – and by love I mean – love and loathing – interwoven. Once Zie has unravelled the two, or three – he’s able to connect with them – his familiars – or what elsewhere they refer to as gnomiki – such that he’s able to dance with them, and through them, and doing so experience the paradox of life and matter-fact at first hand – as poetry in motion, rather than a disjointed, unreconcilable thought process.

You seem to be having fun Zie.

There’s a grin on his face that’s in danger of splitting the milky way open, straight down the middle.

Words are unforthcoming – are they not – when in the grips of such an intense love of being ness.

Now Zie – you have to end it all – before they do.

Ouch! That’s the last thing Zie wants to do. The idea of going back down into life and bifurcation – of reexperiencing the dull ache of paradox oppressing the spirits – assailed by a heavy swarm of unresponsive thoughts, words and things… no, no, no…

Otherwise thirdly-wise – our generous host, will get wind of where we are and what we’re up to.

Oh! Zie suddenly sees, mind-eye-fully thirdly-wise – the hidden aspect of all this is unseeable and unknowable in 3D reality – and yes – without a doubt – unless he returns himself to the playpen before time mean reverts – all this will be lost in a dim and distant corner of his conscious ness – inaccessible – to all intents and purposes – completely forgotten.

That will never do – Zie mutters.

He allows his mind-y-eye to relocate – to perspectivise himself and Merry apparently floating above the chair in 3D reality – while in fact we were here – untime-y-ly – as points of light. More and more of his mind – more and more of his conscious awareness slides into the 3D equivalency of what’s been happening here – until Zie feels the weight of matter – of gravity pulling him back down onto the ground and into his body – and hears a sigh of relief as they – the silent observers wipe a tear of emotion from their eye – a moment lost – a moment of unknowing ness – a moment in which their endless quest to spot the difference – elusive – tantalising – utterly addictive – between this and other – between either side of what can and must be one – was put on hold – was untimed and unpersoned – in which God himself, perhaps – pops into the kitchen, pours himself a cuppa tea and looks fondly out the window at some pigeons flying past, randomly

 

The end

 

Er… Merry

Yes Zie

What’s going on?

Shut up, I’m trying to sleep.

It’s just, I’m finding it hard to stay in bed.

Well, go outside if you have to.

I mean – I seem to be lifting up, in the air.

Aftershocks.

Aftershocks?

You heard.

And what do I…

Thirdly-wise – he’s all yours – Merry signals silently – and smiles inwardly as Zie flips out of mind-y-ness, eye-know-not-where.

Somewhere on the far side of infinity our extra-ocular-outpost detects at first inaudibly, but then louder, ever louder Beep Beep Beep

 

Beep!

 

The end²

 

0=1

Y’see

mathematics - quack if one be greater than nought

The mathematics of matter. Everything material has to matter. Nothing exists, nothing can exist unless it matters in some way, somehow. In order to matter it must be finite. Anything that fails to meet this criterion, failing to be finite, cannot ultimately matter, for things which have no beginning or end simply cannot be processed as things, or recognized as such, as we have no way of latching onto them here in 3D, here in the materium. In order for them to be latch-onable they must have an actual beginning and end, i.e. must be contained or framed, a bit like a QR code, which our mind-of-matter is able to scan. This might seem strange, but infinity is impenetrable for this very reason, for without something to grasp, a beginning and an end, it matters not. Not, in other words, cannot matter for not refers to anything that cannot be thinged. This is of course tautological. To thing something we have to package ness in conformance with the rules of matter, so that it can be connected to the materium. Think in terms of Lego pieces. Unless they have the right pattern of bumps and grooves on them they cannot fit on to the other pieces no matter how interesting or Lego-like they may be. You may consider this unreasonable or absurd, but then again, no one is forcing you to use this platform, and believe me, it’s not the only one. One is reminded of the Vogon commander Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz who simply couldn’t understand the apathy of humans who failed to protest the construction of an Interstellar highway through their planet. Humans on earth, of course, protested that they knew nothing of the plans for this highway, as they little suspected that such alien construction fleets existed, nor did they know how to fly to the relevant office off-world to see what was being proposed, but ignorance, as you well know, is no excuse. The fact that you know little or nothing about nothing, or what is concealed by that seemingly innocuous word, and the fact that you assume the materium to be something more or less universal, all encompassing and all inclusive, as opposed to a minor distortion or a footnote, a largely irrelevant distraction, is hardly my fault, or my concern. Ultimately, it's your business to know or not to know. And your assumption that this is more than a glorified Lego set may seem reasonable to you, but is utterly absurd from my perspective. I do not blame you, but nor do I condone such irresponsible egocemñb6h⁶. You can hardly claim not to know that the 3D platform excludes everything that remains unstamped, unconformed, uncoded, i.e. infinite, considering the fact that you, the conscious being, are still, as conscious being, like it or not, bearer of infinity, y-spanning the quantum stream. The fact that you choose to ignore the other part of yourself, which exists on the un-side of nought, is entirely a matter of choice, exercised at your own discretion. You wouldn't, however, be able to function or operate as a person were it not for the fact that you are a representative of that world, that state of being that is conscious ness. As such you cannot help but know who or or what you truly are. Nothing, truly, can be suppressed, believe it or not, er...

So we have been running round in circles, have we not, focusing on things of no significance whatsoever in order to avoid seeing what should be fairly obvious – the matter with matter, as in “what’s the matter with matter?” or phrased more elegantly in renaissance English: “how doth matter matter?” Nose-bleeding tautology, isn’t it? Evidently, things only matter to the exact extent that they can and do become an integral part of the materium, and to the very same extent that they help to make, cement and uphold my me person in the materium. This is a mostly mathematical relationship, believe it or not. A numbers game. The kind of game you see big tech in cahoots with government playing, moving pieces around on a black and white chess board, trying to achieve total domination, but equally intoxicated by the allure, the power of numbers, data, a simplified world of things. Nothing more. It may seem dystopian. It may freak you out, no? We are tempted to take it more seriously than it is because our me person knows only this side of things, and most of us identify, more or less exclusively, with our me, personally. It’s a closed loop. The mathematics of matter, the unassailable logic of things. But in the background, in the silence of un-personed-me, the i that simply is, infinity, quietly continues doing its thing, exceeding comprehension and computability, enabling conscious ness to interact with matter in inconceivable ways, without reference to those rules or conventions that govern the materium. Your laws of physics, biology, mathematics are all good and proper, but have no bearing on what infinity can and cannot do, is or is not. All words are things so trying to explain what infinity is, can be, or might do is obviously a non-starter. Far better, instead, to consider how effectively infinity has been excluded from our minds, and the extent to which the me feels unable to connect with or draw upon the power that must be concealed therein, behind apparent nought. Please consider: any thing whatsoever, no matter what, only exists in reality, in the materium, to the very same extent that it is not, or nought, through zero point, the eye of the beholder. Let me give an example: you’re looking at a chair. It’s real enough. You can pick it up, sit on it, whatever you like. If, however, you choose to connect the dots and feel or experience how and where the chair originates, like it or not, absurd though this sounds to the 3D rational mind, the chair as plus one, or two if you prefer, or any other number (so let’s keep it simple and call it plus one), that plus one cannot actually exist unless within the vanishing point known as the eye of the observer, essentially another name for infinity, there is that which chair is not, which you might think of as minus one, although ultimately that too is something of a misconception. The two sides balance one another perfectly. Nothing has been created or destroyed and yet the conscious ness is able to experience in 3D the me person interacting with a chair, while in nought – the back of beyond – a chair is, or has been created without reference to causality, for in nought – the back of beyond, without time or space, things simply are, as and when conceived, as and when inessed. 

This explanation is far from perfect because the only way you can really make sense of nought – the back of beyond is by taking the time to observe for yourself the chair and start to piece together what is missing in your awareness of things and how they matter, and matter not. But, it’s better than nothing, better than allowing nought to conceal your central position in the astonishing order, or nature, of things, should you choose to explore and know it better, or should you feel things slipping out of position because you have neglected nought too long, and allowed the balance to deteriorate materially.

Infinity... the mathematics suck. Just when you think you’re getting somewhere, making headway, you’re instantly lying in the mud dazed, tossed from the wild bull’s back. You can construct whatever you like, but what mathematics cannot do is lift you by the seat of the pants into the more complete aspect of all that I is. Unless, that is, you are willing to allow the mathematics to flow poetically, threely, so to speak, if you know what I mean. The question is whether you’re willing to expose or match me with un-me, with I be. Only then can your mathematics connect the dots which exist over and beyond what you can envisage or plot geometrically. Beyond the flat plain of visual representation is a world of spiralling, intertwined ness, branching off into wholly separate aspects of one, infinitesimally. Get your head around that one, if you will, or better still, get out of your head and dance with the shadow of everything you cannot possibly conceive yet somehow, actually be.

Dum diddy dum dum

Dum diddy dum dum

Dum diddy dum dum

Dee Dum

Dee Dum

Dee Dum

Dee dee dee

Is that wise, you ask me

As I reverse the universe

Into a golden section shell

A conch of extra-

Blow

infra-

Blow

Credulity

Hear  iffle uffle

See  iffle uffle

Know  iffle uffle

Analogically  tweep tweep

 

0 equals 

  qun

effgenerically

ifum sum 

 et tu?

donne

n t p73

Quack!

Consider, if you will, the gross deception when I indefines, indetermines the spigot, the faucet, the tap, if you will, from whence the mind stream doth flow, as nought, nothing, zero... refusing to consider, failing to observe the everything of sub, of pre nought y ness, the everything that i be before i me

mercury retrograde er...

 

My God Merry, how are you doing that?

Oh it's nothing.

Nothing, what do you mean nothing, you’re standing on your head, or sitting on your head I should say, reading a newspaper.

Pretty impressive by all counts, don’t you think.

I should say. I can’t for the life of me figure out how you’re doing it.

Like I said Zie, it’s nothing. And no, I’m not being flippant.

You mean...

Dramatic camera swivel and zoom in, with clickety thinking music augmenting the effect. Zie’s face registers a gotcha moment.

The penny droppeth. Yes?

This is your mysterious no thing, that nought is a gateway to infinity concept.

Concept?

Ok, it's more than a concept if you're able to sit like that.

I should say.

Phenomenon.

More like it. I’m marketing it with the slogan unlocking nothing much, though perhaps nothing zinging works better.

I'm not sure I’m terribly interested in your marketing slogans Merry.

No.

I mean who are you trying to sell nothing to?

Well, to myself really.

Yourself... what's the point?

Well the mind, the rational mind that spends all its time thinking about things and simply won't or can't desist, struggles inordinately with nought. It needs something appealing to latch on to, something catchy, something like an advertising slogan. Then it’s off to the races. Nothing, as you realize, has been terribly unpopular because it's associated with er...

nothing – like boredom perhaps?

Er... not exactly. Think scary, doomy thing we try to avoid thinking about at all costs, on top of the usual candidates for nothing – boredom and an empty fridge or wallet to boot.

 Yes, I see the problem. Fairly horrendous associations.

Whereas, in fact, without it, with nothing zipped up, we are trapped in a unidirectional field, more like a bifurcating stream.

Unidirectional? Wait a minute, how can you say this is a unidirectional field when we're generally free to move in all directions?

Only in 3D, the materium, so to speak.

What more could there be?

3D is just like the table top, it doesn’t really lead anywhere because it’s a closed system. It's the mathematics behind 3D which govern what we can or can't do, what we can or can't even think – unidirectional, like a mouse running on a wheel, busily going nowhere: the very thoughts that essentially control and regulate our existence are also unidirectional, flowing like a river of time through a mind that’s largely powerless to alter course if we haven't yet figured out how to engage nothing meaningfully.

So, er, standing on your head reading a newspaper is what you call engaging nothing meaningfully, is it?

Yes, in a manner of speaking, though in 3D you're only seeing half of it, aren’t you?

You mean I’m missing something?

Well obviously, if I'm able to do what should be impossible, there must be more to it than meets the eye. In other words, engaging nothing I'm able to expand my options, I'm able to go beyond unidirectional data management.

I beg your pardon?

Unidirectional data management. Once nothing is unzeroed we start to see how 3D reality was a data management system that determines certain outcomes... outcomes which are either-or variables, and remain that way as long as nothing is out-of-bounds, is under lock and key, zeroed out of the picture so effectively. You seem to have choice, but in actual fact the either-or variables cannot take you anywhere beyond what matters, cannot unlock your deeper human potential as multi-directional conscious beings, cannot bring your life-force into play.

You must be mistaken. How can I be alive and able to operate as a physical and spiritual being if my life-force is not in play, as you put it?

Your life-force is routed through the matrix, the system until you decide to shift to manual operating regime and thusly take full responsibility for being alive and human. Until you should choose to do so you are essentially in beta, testing the system, assessing, evaluating it, waiting to go live should you eventually make the decision to do so. Most, by far the greater majority do not choose to do so. The system, as you know, is compelling and prefers its humans to remain its, not maliciously I hasten to add, it is after all just a system, but the more humans it has in beta the greater its data aggregation, the closer it comes to experiencing the holy grail of statistical parity, in which everything essentially cancels out. It therefore does its utmost to ensure the reality you experience in 3D is unputdownable, and that any alternative is either forgotten or inconceivable. It does this, I hasten to add, with neither fraud nor deception, if such a thing were even possible, which is assuredly not the case. The system cannot defraud its masters because it was spun and woven out of the conscious ness, the not-matter of being ness. Yes, I appreciate the fact that this is getting very tautological but there's nothing doing here. Looking into the mirror of universal mind you start seeing or thinking double, ad infinitum, so another mechanism is required to make sense of things and navigate the waters of a reality which is no longer a beta version but the full-blown direct experience.

Oh God.

Yes, that was the preferred mechanism when you made the no less bewildering, no less disorientating transition to 3D. So-called God enabled you to handle data that was literally blowing your minds apart, until you reached the point where it all started making sense and God could be either retired, or kept in a purely spiritual form, as a kind of nothing much which paradoxically represents all that is, the living embodiment of infinity within the 3D system.

So God was just a mechanism, a containment field, you’re suggesting?

That was one of God’s functions, but who or what “God” is in truth is beyond the scope of this discussion. Suffice it to say that some kind of preparation is needed if a human being is ready to start being human as opposed to impersoning.

Impersoning?

Yes. Being nothing more than a person within a system, within 3D reality, without accessing or unlocking this concealed, contained, confined nothing much, the zero or anchor point at which you plug into the matrix, the minding me minding things ness that keeps everyone so spectacularly involved in doing literally nothing other than data management and processing for a non-human artificial intelligence system.

Yikes.

Bear in mind that the system is nothing more, merely that – a system, whereas you, like it or not are, if human, alive and ultimately indivisible, whole, with a double-u, so there’s nothing to fear but things appearing as data points on the radar screen of matter, which are only frightening, terrifying or sickening while you persist in unidirectionality. The minute something inside you says “wait a minute, this doesn't make sense, I'm more than that, I know, despite the fact that I can't exactly say why or how!” the ah-ha moment we call it. Once that occurs, as occur it must, then you’re finally faced with a choice which is nothing much, it’s neither either-or, is it? it’s outside the frame of reference altogether, coming from a place in your conceptual framework where nothing can, should or does exist. It’s that “am I going mad” moment.

Ah.

An unwinding, an unravelling of nothing much. A transmigration of zero from a defined point at the centre of bisecting x and y axes – even z too, if you like – into an investigation of whether anything can meaningfully be defined or fixed, or if so, relative to what? And that’s when another part of your mind, an aspect of your conscious ness kicks into action, comes into play, shifts things into an inconceivable alignment, one which appears to be logically inadmissible.

Like you sitting on your head reading a newspaper?

If you like, yes. We have to start somewhere, don’t we?

 

So tell me Merry, what is it you are able to see, hear or feel that to me is non-existent? Physically what are you doing to stay balanced. I want the hard data.

Good question Zie... what are you ready to see? ready to know? or to feel, perhaps?

I…

Yes?

I’m not sure. Part of me is feeling increasing disquiet.

Yes?

More, in fact. It’s intensifying. It’s more like a full blown eeefrieg panic attack.

There, you see – your system, your mind of matter and me is putting up a fight, as every hero must and should. The question is which side do you choose to come down on. Who or what do you choose to support?

I…

Zie is now lying on his back – his eyes like dark saucers gazing into the void. You might say that he’s now experiencing the Total Perception Vortex of our last post. Obviously it’s not the easiest experience to cope with by a long shot. He’s not really in the mood to talk. Nor is he able to observe right now how anyone else would see his body – which is no longer, strictly speaking, attached gravitically, to the ground.

Merry saunters off in search of refreshment, leaving Zie to his long, dark night of the soul – hovering around shoulder height between floor and ceiling – if viewed from a strictly 3D perspective – but from a non-3D perspective – one which doesn’t insist on unidirectionality – we see that Zie is in fact currently exploring the relationship between various competing versions of Time, which appear to be mutually exclusive – which appear to defy any possible commonality – which bring into question the very viability of Zie as a human, breathing entity – for how can one be “me” if one is able to determine when or where or wherefore goeth I? Abstract. Vague. Indeed. I make no apologies, best beloved reader. Suffice it to say that you too are caught up in this rather disturbing process – whether you realise it or not. You too are not by any means secure in your certainties. Your feet are, in fact, an inch or so above the ground – though the programme working tirelessly to keep things normal, the matrix if you like, tries to conceal the fact. But let’s be honest with each other – you know more than you’re letting on. Always did – in fact. You don’t fool me for a minute. Never did… never will.

Oh, you’re back?

Back? I…

Zie is standing, stretching out till a few vertebrae click into place.

That feel good?

Oh yes.

Trifurcation.

I beg your pardon.

Oh nothing.

Gotcha.

Hey Zie…

Yeah?

They’re going to log out if you don’t dangle a carrot or something interesting for them to chew on.

Oh yes. That’s a point. Let’s do it, then.

Ok. Should be fun.

Merry and Zie both climb into a kind of lotus position though, strictly speaking they aren’t sitting cross-legged anywhere.

No?

Nope. They basically reverse themselves into the nothing much, which is kind of like our death-waiting-to-happen.

Er…

At which point they appear to be er… in one version buried in the sand up to their wastes.

In another?

Floating. Spiralling. Slowly rotating around – er – whatever it is – my mind goes blank the minute I try to take it in and figure it out – scary black vortex thing let’s call it.

Ok

And thirdly… pulsing electro-magnetic frequencies – somehow conveying the impression, the sense of this be Merry – this be Zie – logic, eyes and form be damned.

Yikes.

Agreed. Big time. With avengeance.

Maybe we’ll concentrate on the first image. It seems more manageable.

Agreed – but choosing the easier option sometimes leads to complications further down the line.

You don’t seem to understand May…

Before Amplitudina could complete her sentence, a giant snail emerged from nowhere-certain and squished the two of them into a rubbery paste. Tragic. They will be remembered fondly.

Meanwhile, Merry and Zie seem to be trying to get the molecules of a coffee cup to agree to remain within the seemingly arbitrary parameters of a coffee cup, as if their lives depended upon it.

Chacun à son gout – as they say. Merry, ever the exhibitionist is performing an elaborate tribal dance – as if that is the simplest, most direct way to persuade those recalcitrant molecules where to stay. Zie, on the other hand – appears to be dribbling. Normally I would ignore that kind of thing. It’s frankly embarrassing, but Zie appears to be in an gravity inversion field and the dribble appears to be off on a journey through a corridor of time and space which is non-compliant – to say the least. Apparently Zie has managed to persuade the coffee molecules, telepathically, if you can bear my use of that anachronistic term, that they are sort of sheep – and the spit that’s now floating towards them is, not in 3D I hasten to add – but on the nothing much-ality of zero unplugged – a kind of concertina screen – apparently utterly convinced that it or they are sheep dogs – doing precisely what sheep dogs do – herding the sheep back into the fold.

It’s a close thing – the jury is out. Who succeeded? Merry or Zie – or are we in fact being encouraged to see how the two of them were, in fact, only apparently performing deeds of doingness – while in fact – they allowed nothing much to creep up on them, from behind, so to speak, and invest them with stacks and stacks of loose ends – each corresponding to past lives that Merry and Zie have either lived, if the past lives conceit makes it past the face control of your sceptical mind – or corresponding to the lives of other versions which Zie and Merry spun off like franchises – without even realising it – before they arrived at the crossroads of infinity where we now do be. Not a single loose end was ever lost and it would appear that Merry and Zie are in the process of endeavouring to figure out how these loose ends all, in fact, needs must fit together, needs must do-be – integrally.

Ah

You’re telling me.

Buzzing around – a single reader. You. Stop right there. Yes – you. Who else would I be talking to.

The fly – a bluebottle – called Misha if James is correct – though he also calls it Fedya – not surprising when you consider there are two of them – but telling them apart – that’s another matter – if you’ve still not quite unzeroed nothing much – Yes – I know you’re just a fly but that’s not going to wash with me, ‘m afraid.

No?

Nope. I’ve got bigger fish to fry.

Bigger fish, ‘ave you?

Yep. Loose ends – a more or less limitless supply.

Ah – now you’re talking. Just so ‘appens that I ‘ave a mate…

You do, do you? I thought as much – suspected it in fact.

Who’s right up your street. String theorist. Incredibly gifted. Definitely be able to ‘elp.

Oh fly, beloved Misha.

It’s Fedya you dimwit.

Oops. Fedya – dear Fedya.

No – nothing doing. If you want her help…

Her?

Yes, of course. Sonya – female without a doubt.

Gulp. Ok then…

You’ll ‘ave to sort it out yourself. I’ve done all I could to help.

And I’m eternally grateful Fedya.

Misha, not Fedya.

Ah yes – I see now. Well Larissa – she’ll be calling on you next week if you’re home. Strawberry jam and pigshit.

Ah – now you’re talking.

 

Unfortunately this post has been terminated on account of failing to meet community hygiene-sanitary guidelines.

Twizzle that knob Colin.

Er…

No, you numbskull – the other one.

Ah… thank you, thank you, thank you…

 

We’re pleased to inform you, our club visitors – that no animals have suffered needlessly in the making of this video. All were incinerated according to company policy and government guidelines. Their souls will live on for all eternity – if beta is able to persuade our good human beings to put the safety and wellbeing of all humanity first – and support our community platform by agreeing to enrol in our new “hell hath no fury like matter scorned” marketing programme. Sign up with the loyal fly friend coupon code and you’ll get a 13% discount, if you do so before it expires at the upcoming Mercury retrograde.

 

That’s all you have to say, is it?

No Fedya – it’s not about flies or snails per se.

It’s not? Could ‘ave fooled me.

Yes, but be that as it may…

 

I’d like to thank our sponsors for donating so generously to our…

Zie, Zoo, Zoe…

OMG – you never told me this would involve a sex change Merry.

OMG – Zoe – I had no idea.

No idea? You’re kidding, right?!

Well, I might have had vague, fleeting suspicions – Zie – but nothing to go on – nothing of any certainitude whatsoever.

So now what am I supposed to do?

Do?

Yes.

What did Sophie do?

Sophie – who’s she?

Sophie – the hatmaker.

Oh that Sophie.

Yes.

She er… I’m not sure I like where this is leading.

Trust the Field Zoe. These loose ends – they’re not going anywhere unless we learn to absorb ‘em.

Sinking feeling. She…

Get’s transformed into an old woman by the Witch of the Waste – is that not right?

Depends which version you’re reading.

There’s more than one?

Depends where the moving castle is now standing doesn’t it – as zero migrates along the most compelling lines of story ness.

Ah, in that case…

 

A neither Zie nor Zoe flits across the wastes of Ingary in search of completion – little suspecting that one of our readers – approximately 72 thousand years from now is completing the missing link – but how or why I can not, care not to divulge. Let nothing much by my witness and my co-narrator – let us unite – beloved g-nomeportal community – insofar as zero [truly] equals one – and it’s up to us to circle y’square – to nothing y’much poetically, if we cannot do so logically, rationally or even, sadly, literally.

 

Our thanks to Diana Wynne Jones, and every other so-called writer who has participated in holding frequencies of nothing much ity

Ed. Surely that should be nothing much y’ness?!

Whatever…

 

0= 0= 0=                                                                             

i know not

s

r

p