This is part 4. See previous posts for parts 1, 2, and 3.
Transcribing the Hearken files was tedious work. Elliot had a whole system for sorting out the data, associating each audio track with the people involved and the subjects discussed. Hour after hour, Mira and Elliot sat, listening to the files, typing up their contents, and entering their metadata into a spreadsheet. Everything Mira heard on the first day was meaningless, like overheard conversations at an uninteresting party. But when she sat down to work on the second day, the file she clicked on captured her attention.
"Do you know what it is to be ascendant?" asked speaker 1, a calm but authoritative male voice.
"Someone told me it was like becoming aware of the world behind the world," said speaker 2, their undercover agent.
"And what do you really know about that?" asked speaker 1.
"Only what people have told me," said speaker 2. "I'm here to learn more. Isn't that why I'm here?"
"You're here simply because you're not somewhere else," said speaker 1. "But are you really here, or are you trying to be somewhere else?"
"I'm trying to be fully here," said speaker 2 nervously.
"Your adept initiation proved that you are trying," said speaker 2. "But there are deeper levels of your situation to consider now."
"How so?" asked speaker 2.
"As an adept, you are like a newborn who does not yet understand the new world into which you've been born," said speaker 1. "And in order to understand this new world, you must understand yourself in a new way."
"I'm doing all of the exercises," said speaker 2, a bit defensively.
"Is that your highest truth in this moment?" asked speaker 1.
"All I desire is to serve the Great Pattern," said speaker 2. "That's my highest truth."
"If desire is your highest truth, your entire awareness will twist around this desire," said speaker 1. "Is that what you want?"
"I don't know," said speaker 2.
"Good," said speaker 1. "Now, what is your highest organizing principle?"
"Service to the Pattern," said speaker 2 automatically.
"Your words suggest that your highest truth and your highest organizing principal are in alignment, but any ascendant can see that this is not the case," said speaker 1. "Why do you insist on lying to me?"
"I don't feel like I'm lying," argued speaker 2 weakly.
"That only makes it worse," said speaker 1.
There was a long pause. "What should I do?" asked speaker 2 finally.
"Your conscious mind is getting in the way of your higher self," said speaker 1. "This is common among adepts. I had to contend with it myself at one time. Now, without thinking about it at all, in this moment, what's your highest truth?"
"I have to pee!" blurted speaker 2. "Sorry, but I didn't have time to go before our session started."
"That's great!" said speaker 1. "Finally, an honest answer."
"So can I go?" asked speaker 2.
"You will hold it until we're finished," said speaker 1. "I want you to consider what you just said. What you just revealed to me. By admitting that your highest truth was a signal from your physical body, you've demonstrated that your highest truth is mutable. It changes over time. So what does that tell you?"
"I don't know," said speaker 2.
"Do you think your highest organizing principle also changes over time?" asked speaker 1.
"Maybe ... not?" said speaker 2.
"It can, in fact," said speaker 1. "Much of your neophyte training was designed to align your principles with ours. But, once established, a highest organizing principle is much more stable than a highest truth."
"Okay," said speaker 2.
"If service to the Pattern is your highest organizing principle, this becomes like a star around which all of your planets orbit," said speaker 2. "Important truths will come and go, but all are ultimately brought into the service of the Pattern."
Mira paused the recording and removed her headphones. Elliot noticed and paused his work as well. "Hear anything good?" he asked.
"I can't tell who I'm hearing yet," said Mira. "There were only two people in the one I was just listening to. There was the undercover agent, Sarah, right? Then there was this guy who sounded important. I think he was one of the ascendants, but not one of the ones who was on the files I listened to yesterday."
"What were they talking about?" asked Elliot.
"Highest truths, principles, stuff like that," said Mira. "It sounded very new age."
"Probably Thomas Green," said Elliot. "Which file? I'll check it quick so we can code it right."
Mira told Elliot which file and he listened for a minute. "That's Green," he confirmed. "From what I gather, he tries to mentor the most promising adepts. If he's talking to our agent about highest truths, that's probably good for us. Means she's getting somewhere."
"That must be so crazy for her to be in there, being a spy," said Mira. "How does she even handle it? You have to tell me how exactly she got them to recruit her. Do you think I'll ever meet her?"
(Feature image from Pixabay.)
Read my novels:
- The Paradise Anomaly is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
- Psychic Avalanche is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
- One Man Embassy is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
- Flying Saucer Shenanigans is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
- Rainbow Lullaby is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
- The Ostermann Method is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
- Blue Dragon Mississippi is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
Check out the comic I wrote:
- Finney Vol 1 Immutable Journey is available as a free e-comic.
Read my autobiographical monograph:
- Navigating Dystopia can be read for free or purchased as an NFT.