Meditation carried out by the spiritually inclined is an attempt to escape one's own particularity and in some sense touch
something beyond oneself. God or
a god, some universal
force or presence… At the very least, to still one's own mind and
get away from one's normal mode of thought.
That is not the way of the orange light. I know full well that as far as the orange light is concerned particularity is
everything. So when I close my eyes I don't clear my mind but rather focus
focus focus on the network of orange light within me.
I don't normally see myself in the way that I see others; I can't trace back my own capacity for strength of will or compassion to some formative experience or teaching. My fears I'm a
little more aware of because I know what makes me afraid and… Because I've so thoroughly confronted them since I've been in Universe 16 that I seldom fear for myself these days. But I know my desires intimately, and knowing
that I can relax my grip on the universe that is NOT!me and focus on the important part.
Me.
I'm fascinating, really. Especially when I display myself to myself in this fashion-. Ooh. Following a food related desire back to its earliest point, I see a brief snapshot of the first time I ever ate chocolate. I don't remember it, there's so little left and it's so thoroughly intermeshed with everything else that even with perfect recall I couldn't bring it to mind. What I see… I.. presume that's from when I lived on Friday Street, but I don't remember what the interior of the house looked like well enough…
No, that's not what I'm here for.
I retreat a little. This is !Me. But there are other arrangements like !Me. I want to see-
A thread extrudes from !Me and touches a blank canvas.
-those as well.
My Agent.
My Embodiment.
We were near the Green Men. She circles around me, just out of arms' reach. I could feel them. Closed cold Green.
Things will be easier for our Corps if we do not have to fight them. Can you feel the other people with orange rings?
Not well. We know they are there but so many feel so much orange light. She turns her head and looks across the canvas. This is so much better than the cave.
I smile at her, though I'm still not sure that the gesture means anything to her. Then I unfocus my eyes and try to picture clearly Lantern Tarant's desire network. Victory, practical resistance… Yes, like that.
I'm glad that you feel that way. This is one of your Lanterns.
I hold out my left hand as the particular packet that is Lantern Tarant draws closer, the Ophidian staring at it as if transfixed.
His name is Tarant. He wants to fight a group called The Reach. He has done that for many years, but he wants to fight them better now.
We can do that we can make him do that! She twists and rolls in apparent delight. We have him as our Lantern and he can use our light and do that! And I will know what it is to want that! She spins upright and flicks her tongue at the bundle. I want to taste him!
Not yet, Ophidian. It isn't safe for him. You're very big and he is… Small.
She pulls her head away, blinking. No he must stay as he is! But I want him!
In a little while, if you're willing, I can transfer you into the Orange Central Power Battery.
She looks… Dubious, inasmuch as a giant snake with a largely immobile face can look dubious.
You won't be trapped, you'll have full access to all of the Lanterns and power rings currently active.
And didn't I have fun persuading Hinon to add that function.
You'll be able to experience all of us without worrying about damaging us. And if you want to get out, you will be able to. We're not trying to lock you in, just to make the system as efficient and safe for everyone as possible.
She wiggles her head from side to side.
I will consider it.
Thank you. Now, could you possibly help me? I'm looking for people shaped like the ones on the planet below me.
The Ophidian and I turn, some knotty desire-blobs moving away to make space for the many others which stream forwards and move to conform to the physical arrangement of physical beings on the planet.
Brutish. Primal. Hungry. There are many like this.
Yes, but those are relatively common desires. We need to match the pattern, how the desires link to each other.
But she's not wrong about their makeup. It's what I imagine looking at the soul of a Beastman from Warhammer would be like. How do they-? Okay, that bit is a little more normal, but the core cultural components…
No, it's not cultural. It's like… Human brains work best when we live in the small troupes our distant ancestors did. A relatively small number of people around whom we know well and who know us. Our brains literally can't cope with cities and it radically changes our behaviour in ways predictable if you understand our drives at their root. The ancient Berrith were a scourge, eating everything they could catch wherever they went and swiftly moving on. But like forests which make use of fire in their cycles of decay and growth, Berrith's natural systems adapted to that. And they weren't even the only species that lived like that. They weren't even dominant, not really.
And then they got too clever, and the rest of the system could no longer keep up with them.
We understand.
Thousands, millions, billions of orange motes sleet past us, desire sets not at all matching being discarded in an instant while those with a stronger resemblance to what we're looking for hesitate for a moment before flying past. No, no-
No, no, no…
-no, no… Yes.
Yes.
I hold the mote in front of me, examining it more closely. Yes, the right shape and patterns and… I look inside and see more Berrith faces. Excellent.
More like that?
More like this.
The Ophidian flicks her tail, and the galaxy of motes fly away. Then they come, dozens and then hundreds, flying past her and towards me before adopting an orbit around the first example of their kind.
Excellent.
I stand, and reach out to them all.
Where are you?
24th August
06:02 GMT
What, where-?
A dense purple-black haze of nebula gas, holograms and more advanced stealth systems parts around me, revealing a
grey wall from which domes and environmentally sealed skyscraper towers extrude…
And then the point defences start firing.