Beyond Body, Place and Time

Beyond body, place and time

Arwen Jayne

Copyright © 2018 Arwen Jayne

All rights reserved

While reference has been made to some actual historical events or persons and some real locations all other names, characters and places are fictional; the product of the author's overly imaginative mind. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses or places is purely coincidental.

Disclaimer

This is a piece of fiction, enjoy it but if you’re looking for science facts you might find it lacking. The story is purely a creation of my imagination.

Acknowledgements

To all my friends, fans and family for their ongoing encouragement. Jen for the long chats on metaphysics, editing and pushing me to always go one better. To my life partner who has not only built me avery fine writing area with a view over the garden but also gives me endless support and encouragement to have a go.

Cover photo credit

Download free do whatever you want high-resolution photos from Sasha Freemind https://unsplash.com/photos/nXo2ZsKHTHg (Unsplash grants an irrevocable, nonexclusive, worldwide copyright license to download, copy, modify, distribute, perform and use photos from Unsplash for free, including for commercial purposes, without permission from or attributing the photographer of Unsplash)

1

Ticket Please. Welcome on board Ms Murdoch, row 15 on your right.

Thank you. As if I couldn’t work that out for herself. It was on the ticket. But it was part of the ritual. Easier just to play their games. I smiled sweetly and moved on up the aisle.

Two men were already seated on my side of row 15. I stashed my modest backpack in the overhead locker and then squeezed past the first man, clutching my small satchel of reading material and other bare essentials. Excuse me.

The man didn’t look up, just grunted, but he did tuck his legs in a bit and pulled his notebook closer to his chest. Going by the equations on the pages he was deep into working out some calculations. Engineer of mathematician? There was no way to tell from the well cut grey suit, receding hairline and rimless glasses. In his forties. Clean, trimmed fingernails. The man liked precision and that was all I could tell. There’d be no getting any interesting conversation out of him on this flight.

The other man, seated against the window, overlooking the wing of the plane, was someone else again. His obsidian black eyes shone with a radiance that suggested a strong spirit. Scrawny. Rugged. Below shoulder length hair. A touch of Asian ancestry perhaps. A uni student going overseas on a gap year? He was smiling broadly at me so after I settled myself in the annoyingly narrow economy middle seat I extended my hand. I’m Emily. Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you Emily. I’m Steve.

He didn’t look like a Steve. Nice to meet you Steve. On holiday?

A between semester break. Got myself accepted onto one of the archeological digs in Peru. Sounded like a fun way to spend the break, gain some experience relevant to my general studies degree and maybe meet some interesting people. What about you?

Spending my grandkids inheritance seeking out the spiritual and mystical. Last trip was a year in the Philippines studying with a psychic healer, as long as my visa would allow. This time I’m hoping to seek out one of the icaros, a Peruvian shaman, and see if he will take me on or at the very least give me a glimpse into their ways. After that I might head up to Mexico.

Steve sat up with interest. You’re hoping to experience an ayahuasca ceremony?

At the very least.

Isn’t that dangerous for… Steve paused, obviously regretting that he’d started that sentence.

For someone my age, is what you were thinking. Possibly but what the hell. I’m 84. I’ve had a good innings. If I start worrying about risks I may as well book myself into an old age home here and now.

84? Steve looked at me disbelieving. You don’t look a day over sixty.

Now you’re just being nice but I’m still the same person I’ve ever been up here, I tapped my skull. Somedays I feel like a sixteen year old in the wrong container.

If I look as good as you at 84 I’d be happy with the container. So, grandkids then…

Just then the airline hostess interrupted. Ms Murdoch. I was just wondering if you would like to move as this row is on an emergency exit…

I didn’t let her finish. I’m sure Steve and I can operate the door if it comes to that.

But…

I rolled up a sleeve and flexed an arm muscle.

Er..

Obviously she’d never seen muscles on an octogenarian before and it didn’t compute. Some people could never see what didn’t fit their pre-existing models.

Steve pitched in, We’ll be fine miss.

The hostess studied us for a moment then shrugged her shoulders. Well, if you’re sure. She wandered off.

Steve and I gave each other a high five which caused a momentary raised eyebrow and a hint of amusement from mister equation. Steel blue eyes peered at us for half a second before he grunted again and went back to his work.

Now, tell me more about this general studies degree of yours Steve.

Well right up your alley actually. I’m researching the history of pre-Incan ritual and spiritual practices. I believe they possessed an advanced spirituality that gave them almost superhuman skills and abilities. Raw psychic power. Clairvoyance, telepathy, mind of matter and self-healing. Given the huge scope of what they did I’ve had to restrain myself from venturing into their sciences but it looks like they had an understanding of the laws of gravity, nature and astronomy that were unrivalled until the modern era.

It was equation man’s turn to show interest. Carefully closing his notebook. They were masters of straight line geometry on a grand scale and for that you have to have an underpinning knowledge of spherical geometry, to take into account the curvature of the earth.

We looked at him in interest. Go on. Steve prompted.

Well, for starters they managed to straighten a two mile section of the Urubamba River. Then there’s the endless miles of super-highways that would have had Roman road builders salivating. They transformed cliff faces into terraced arable farm land.

Steve and I listened voraciously as Mr Aston Douglas, who turned out to be a construction engineer, outlined the extent of their building expertise, interrupted only by the serving of refreshments. Steve started taking notes, pausing to ask. Do you know anything about their temple construction techniques?

Some. If you’re referring to the Huaca Pucllana in Lima it was built around 500 AD by people who thrived there until climate change and warfare with neighbouring tribes forced them out. The pyramid is mostly built of bricks and sand, an attempt to capture the past glory of civilisations that preceded them. The earlier pyramids along the coast are more massive but because they were built from adobe, basically mud bricks, most are badly eroded. What really interests me more is the thick layer of mica used in the top level of the temple of the Sun Pyramid in Mexico. What I want to know is if such a layer lies hidden in the foundations of any of the Peruvian pyramids.

I’ve read Colin Wilson, Steve commented. The layer in the temple in Mexico is made of two sheets of mica, 90 foot square. Just how they transported the sheets, unbroken, from Brazil, beggars belief.

I certainly hadn’t heard of this before. Brazil? But what was its purpose? I wondered.

That’s what I hope to work out. It’s taken me two years to negotiate access to the guts of a few of the Peruvian temples to have a look, Aston commented.

Aren’t you heading in the wrong direction if most of the temples are along the coast? This plane lands at Iquitos not Lima.

Aston lowered his voice to a whisper. I’ve heard rumour that the foundations of a far older temple lie beneath the jungle.

Near Iquitos? I whispered back.

My lips are sealed. There are those who would plunder rather than preserve the past.

If you’re looking for mica layers you must have some theories about their uses? I surmised.

In modern applications mica is used in capacitors, thermostats and insulators. You see it acts as both an electrical insulator and a thermal conductor which is quite a curious combination. It’s also possible that the mica may have been used as some kind of deflection plate, blocking subatomic particles.

So the mica could have been protecting something below.

Or stopping some kind of straight line radiation from an object below.

What’s you interest in this Aston? You don’t come across to me like a student of forbidden history. More like a desk bound thinker than someone inclined to field work, but perhaps I was stereotyping him.

Aston laughed. Hell no. I’m only interested in the practical applications. My company’s doing a lot at the moment with conductive concrete as a means to construct buildings that can stand up to mini-ice ages or even EMP electromagnetic pulse attacks. If we can add other defensive measures all the better. EMP isn’t the only attack weapon feared to be out there. Subatomic particle weapons are not inconceivable.

But mica is so expensive, at least in the unbroken sizes you’re talking about.

Expense is not important when you’re talking about protecting the world’s data. Think big like banking systems, military installations, seed banks that you don’t want irradiated. I can’t give you any more examples than that though or I’ll be in breach of company confidences.

You think that’s what the ancients South Americans were doing with it. Protecting things?

Aston shrugged. Why not? And not just them. Even the granite the Egyptians used for the inside of their pyramids is rich in mica, quartz and feldspar. I don’t think that was by chance. They didn’t cart those heavy stones in for no good reason. I don’t believe in accidents.

Just then the plane hit some turbulence and the fasten seat belt signs came on.

Please return your seats to the upright position and ensure all personal articles are stored securely under your seats. The overhead announcement ordered.

To our shared disappointment Aston put away not just his calculations but his detailed sketches of the structure of the Sun Pyramid. We’d all been engrossed. One thing I still wondered. Aston, have you by any chance ever heard of the Emerald tablet?

The what?

"It's a writing that is supposed to be traced back to ancient times. There’s a passage in it. Let me see if I remember the gist of the bit I think will interest you. I closed my eyes and allowed my mind to empty, resting in stillness. It was my way of opening up to memories nearly long forgotten. "The mighty pyramid uses power to overcome gravity. Deep within the pyramid is a containment chamber, a space which reaches to the summit where the crystal apex resides. Through it is sent a ray that connects with space-time and through it is received a connection with the astral plane. Connecting the core with the galactic center of the universe, Amenti. Er, that’s not a word for word translation but that’s how I understood it just now. I don’t even know if that’s just a lot of gobbledygook..."

Aston, stared at me. That’s brilliant. I need to run that past a physicist mate of mine. How long til we land in Iquitos?

A loud bang answered him as a huge lightning bolt struck the wing outside.

A child in a nearby row started to cry.

Aston seemed unconcerned. Airplanes take lightening bolts like that all the time.

Steve peered out the window in horror. Um, aren’t those blades on the engine meant to be turning?

What? Aston starred in the direction Steve was looking. That can’t be. Then he shook himself as if to release the worry. No matter, the plane can fly with one engine out. The computers up front can compensate.

Despite Aston’s belief in the infallibility of the plane I had a sudden urge to grab my pack from the overhead locker. I pressed the call button on my arm rest.

It didn’t take long for the now worried looking hostess to come over. Can I help?

Would it be alright if I got some medication out of my pack. I’m feeling a little queasy, I lied.

It would be best if you stay seated until we’re through this storm. I’ll pass it down to you. She rummaged in the overhead locker. Which one is it?

The blue one with the gray sides.

Ah yes, here it is. She handed it to me then looked around. Someone else was buzzing. I’ll come back.

I was going to say no need but she was already gone. I passed the pack to Steve. Is there room under your seat?

Sure, he gave me a questioning glance but said nothing more.

This is your captain speaking. The overhead speakers announced again. Due to the storm we’ll be diverting to a closer airport. We’ll land briefly while some minor mechanical repairs are made and then we’ll be on our way.

Steve muttered to himself. He calls a blown engine minor?

Lightning hit again, this time the front of the plane. The cabin lighting flickered leaving us in total darkness for a split second until the emergency floor lighting kicked in. Someone was screaming up the back of the plane, causing a flurry as two airline hostesses lurched in their direction to try and calm them.

This is not happening, Aston chanted to himself like some kind of mantra but wishful thinking wasn’t going to make the escalating situation go away.

Listen to me you two. Whether we like it or not things are going to go South. I’m no doomsdayer, I just know. You’re just going to have to trust me on this.

Steve studied me intently. You’re a psychic aren’t you? I felt the familiar prickle in my head when you sat down next to me.

A psychic, Aston spat, as if the word was a swear word. But just then the plane lurched into a nosedive, causing further commotion in the cabin and kind of making my point. That and the oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling. Never a good sign.

Listen. We can survive this. I know it's not my time to die yet. There’s something more the universe wants from me. You two can survive with me but you must do as I say.

Steve was attentive but Aston had a raised eyebrow.

What you got to lose? Either what I ask will work or the alternative is you’ll never know because you’ll be dead.

That got Aston’s attention. Go on.

I want you to hold my hand, to maintain a connection with me. I’m going to generate a protective psychic field around us.

"What do we need to