Part 30 (2/2)
Mara stood up and joined them. She circled the blob one time and looked at Ping. ”That is so strange. What do you think happened?”
”I've no idea. Maybe this realm really is just pixels,” he said.
”I think blowing stuff up might be more useful. I mean what good is it to be able to make stuff look like a lame webpage?” Sam asked.
Mara rolled her eyes. ”I'm sorry to disappoint you. Maybe we can find you an alternate reality with more entertainment value.”
”The most likely explanation is you are still learning how to translate your thoughts into reality. On the other hand, you did this without using a mechanical device like the radio or the projector, so that's promising. You can manifest your abilities without relying on a talisman,” Ping said. ”Why don't we have a seat and continue. I think we are finished with our attempts at blowing stuff up for the evening.”
Ping and Mara walked back to their mats. Sam stood next to the floating remains of the basketball, making no move to return. ”What are we going to do with this?” He pointed to the blob. ”We can't just leave it here, can we?”
”I don't know. What do you think?” Mara asked to Ping.
”Hmm, interesting question.”
”I know. Watch,” Sam said, backing up ten feet into the dark, just at the periphery of the lighted portion of the warehouse.
”Sam, what are you doing?” Ping asked.
The boy jogged toward the pixelated basketball.
”Sam, I don't think that's a good idea!” Mara yelled.
He ran up to the blob and flung his right foot at its center. The ma.s.s exploded, knocking him to the ground and sending a burst of translucent orange cubes into the air. A wave of compressed air blew past Mara and Ping. After regaining their bearings, they ran over to Sam.
”Oh, my G.o.d, are you okay?” Mara asked, standing over him.
Sam rolled on the floor and laughed. ”I guess you halfway blew it up. You just didn't finish the job.”
Ping reached down, grabbed Sam's hand and pulled him up. When he stood, he held out his hands and looked up. He caught s.h.i.+mmering orange cubes sprinkling down from the ceiling. They alighted on his palms and faded away. He swung around and tried to catch some more, but soon it had all disappeared.
”Well, it kinda looked like snow,” he said.
”You're an idiot,” Mara said. ”I thought you were hurt or worse.”
”Sorry. I didn't know it would do that.”
”You need to think before you act. Maybe it would be a good idea for you not to come around when we are doing this stuff.”
”I was just trying to help.” His face reddened. He turned, sulked back to his mat and flopped down. ”Don't forget you owe me a basketball.”
CHAPTER 46.
SAM TURNED HIS mat so he didn't face Mara and pulled out a textbook from his backpack. He flopped it open on his lap. Mara glanced over at him and was about to say something when Ping raised a hand and shook his head. ”Why don't we return to our discussion?” he asked.
”I need to talk through some of this progenitor stuff,” Mara said. ”What are the rules? What are the limitations to these abilities, beyond my obvious lack of control?” She waved toward where the basketball had been.
”Rules? What do you mean?”
”I mean like the laws of physics. There are things that can be done and things that cannot be done, right? Like the speed of light. You can't go faster than the speed of light. What are the laws of progenitors?”
”I'm not sure about the speed of light, but progenitors have very few limitations. As I told you before, they can use consciousness to shape reality. Consciousness is the raw material from which everything is made. That raw material is shaped by knowledge, awareness and belief.”
”So do progenitors have more consciousness than regular people?”
”No. They can draw on consciousness to shape reality because of their knowledge, awareness and belief of how things work. Remember the levels of sentience? It's the knowledge, awareness and belief of the highest level that makes someone have your abilities.”
”Nonprogenitors, regular people, have knowledge, awareness and beliefs, but at a different level, correct?”
”Correct.”
”They cannot shape reality.”
”Individually they cannot. Collectively, people define their reality, their realm, with their knowledge, awareness and belief. For example earlier you mentioned the laws of physics. In this realm the laws of physics are defined by the collective knowledge, awareness and belief of those who live here. What they know and believe organizes consciousness into the laws of physics they ascribe to.”
”The laws of physics can vary in different realms?”
”Absolutely. The speed of light may not be the limit it is here.”
”If reality is determined by the knowledge, awareness and belief of people collectively, how can a progenitor single-handedly reshape it?”
”Having a higher level of sentience allows a progenitor to change specific things around. You might be able to make a brick float, but you can't repeal the laws of gravity.”
”Why not?”
”Because the collective knowledge, awareness and belief of everyone else in this realm has organized consciousness in such a way that gravity is part of it. The only way you could get rid of gravity is to force everyone in this realm to believe it doesn't exist.”
”Make everyone change their minds.”
”And you can't do that, at least not using a metaphysical power. People have free will.”
”What about prompters, like Sam here? He changes people's minds.” She pointed to his back. He snapped a page forward and looked out into the dark as if he had some deep academic matter to ponder.
Mara smirked at Ping.
”That ability is limited to a few specific people at a time, at most. And as you have seen, its effects are temporary,” Ping said.
”I'm still not sure I get it.”
”Give it time. You obviously have some insight into how all this comes together, or you wouldn't have the abilities you have.”
”So help me understand how this helps. What do we do about this pretender who's lurking around? He's still after the Chronicle. And what about the other pa.s.sengers from the flight? Some of them could be dangerous. Do we just sit around and wait to be attacked?”
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