Omicron Blue Chapter# 11

11

Aura sat before the communication screen and wrung her hands. Sylvia and Jason, who were staying in one of the visitor clusters of Chimp Savvy Band, were watching, too. Cerebrum kept the population in direct contact with Jupiter Nation headquarters, and things were not going well. The headquarters for Jupiter Nation was in the hills above the University. It would have made sense for the headquarters to be located near the Beauty of the ocean. However, the threat of great earthquakes was there. The City was protected with shock absorbers and was located on solid ground on the peninsula south of where the old City of San Francisco used to be. Much of the old city had been on landfill, which augmented jolts… which had led to the demise of many skyscrapers during the great earthquake of 2048.

It was raining. The wind was roaring in off the Bay onto the sturdy cluster in which Aura’s family lived. As was said…the Jasmines lived in Chimp Savvy Band, which was a University band, comprised of sociology professors who worked at the University and their families. This University band believed that humans should live like apes… and Chimp Savvy Band had meals of vegetables, whole grain, and fruit… with fish and turkey the only meat two times a week. Most tribes adhered to regimens such as this. The religion of Chimp Savvy Band was an animal-based one, which meant they felt that living and enjoying life in the present is what counts. They took care of each other and lived together as animals. Their clusters were joined and covered a side of hill like the lower and higher branches of a tree. There were many clusters at the bottom of the hill with fewer as you moved up the hill until the highest cluster was reserved for the elder Chimp and family…which, bowing to the rage of High Priestesses…might be male or female. Chimps were ranked according to how much of their research had been published. They were also ranked according to how much they helped take care of tribal members, worked with other bands or contributed to the work of the tribe, nation, and country. They were in couples…but they desired to emphasize the unity of the primal band… Using the biological phenomenon of group psychological coupling… married women were shared sexually… with a different one available for sex with all males each week. They maintained that members of a group cannot become One merely by thinking about it. Oneness can come naturally in a group of animals only by means of group sexual coupling. They said that this fact had caused havoc for humans in the urban world before the Change. When urban men and women were hopping from bed to bed, they did not realize that coupling was being conducted in their brains. Many times they thought there was ‘true love’ when in actuality what had happened was that two individuals had been made One with a group that did not exist.

There was much hurt in relationships in those days. By means of DNA delineation, it was now known that members of many animal groups do not just mate and have offspring… all have sex with the others in a hierarchical manner, which creates group cohesion. Chimp Savvy Band put in long hours teaching, conducting research and coordinating the research of bands working with the University. Afterwards, they met to eat and sing naked each night around fires built in the band center made of real animal skins. They possessed their myths… like the Great Chimp that founded the Band ten years before and then mysteriously disappeared. A constellation in the night sky marks where he lives today. There was much more to this theology; however, it was secret and had something to do with climbing trees in the attempt to reach Truth in the upper boughs. The sexual aspects of the Chimp Savvy culture was in question…and much of it was observed more verbally than in actuality…for it was known that throughout man and woman’s journey through evolution…pair-coupling has been paramount…even in polygynous societies…

Aura shuddered at the sound of the wind and refocused her attention upon the screen. A mass movement of the enemy had been made across the Bay waters from the north to the old City in small power craft. The Bay Area forces had attempted to stop the movement in an four-hour long, bloody counter-assault, but over half of the enemy in the boats had successfully landed in the hills of the old city and then the enemy had picked their way southward over land… working their way methodically towards the new City.

The Western defense headquarters had attempted to regroup its men to protect the new City from enemy assault. However, before they could get moving, a new development had taken place. 1,800 of the enemy had initially come in from the north…800 of them had veered towards the Bay and crossed the Bay in boats…four in each vessel…half of the boats had made it to the old City…The 400 enemy who had made it safely in the boats were moving quickly overland from the Bay to the new City…they were rendezvousing at the first mag station north of the new City…with 1,000 enemy moving southward via the mag tube…The ones arriving via the tube had utilized explosives to break open the mag tube… had broken Power conduits, and thus halted all mag operations in the vicinity of the City. Once mag operations were halted…the tube belonged to the enemy…once the 1,400 enemy were fully gathered at the mag station…they could march as One…through the tube into the Heart of the new City. CASTLE forces, uniting the forces coming from the north in the mag tube with those who had made it across the Bay in boats, would outnumber the troops inside the City… by approximately 1,400 or so… to 600…Reinforcements for the troopers…coming from the north…were still days away.

The enemy moved in mass into the City and occupied the facility…from the ground floor to the command center at the top of the central management unit…by means of elevators and stairs, surprising the defenders at every point..Select enemy forces made it to the top and conquered it immediately ….all of this was obtained quickly…by the enemy concentrating their efforts on one objective… and not trying to confront all forces within. Once they occupied the command center they sent men with explosives to every area in the City…threatening to blow up the City if the defenders came after them…Holding the City as a hostage, the enemy ordered the troops within to leave immediately. In four hours the troops inside the City were redeployed to that same mag station to the north…which had been so important to the enemy’s assault… where CASTLE could monitor their movements easily on the command center screens. The City could be entered only by way of the mag tube…which made it easy to seal off any attack by the troops that might be made. Guards with cannons were stationed at mag entrance to the City and every one hundred feet around the perimeter of the City walls.

The City was in enemy hands. Aura’s eyes were seldom dry and she fought off not entirely successfully the temptation,,, to escape into fantasy…into mellow golden dreams about the years to come when she and her Love, whoever that might be, would at last be together. She was determined to fight off such sweet reveries, because any moment the screen might be illuminated with deathly short lines of letters, epitaphs for those she Loved. She turned her body toward the window which was black with the night without. Her mother and Sylvia were by Aura’s side. They took this opportunity to comfort her, each in her own way. The situation in the tribe was peculiar…as all bands believed basically the same things…yet each addressed Life in its own way…Since Omicron’s band had developed the theology of the Magi which most of the bands in the tribe prescribed to…the men and women in the band wore clothing from antiquity…well, sort of consistent with the beliefs that they had collected and extolled…about a faux Egyptian culture…And Greece and Rome were sort of…well, near there…So in a way…their dress was consistent with the Law of the Magi….However, the women in the band, however, had little to do with the Arcana…which they felt was an elaborate trope of verbal masculinity…They looked elsewhere for beliefs more consistent with their physiology…they would become emPowered…in their own way…These women looked to Aura’s band…which, as has been said…led by Aura’s mother had developed a very sophisticated feminine theology based upon shamanic practices involving feminine priestesses…The females in many bands opted to follow this feminine theology…while often in a paradoxical manner staying within the confines of the Living practices of the band they were in…In the case of Aura’s family…they were theologically in tune with Magi Law and feminine priestess concepts…yet Lived… theoretically, at least… in the embrace of a chimpanzee way of Life.

It was in the context of all this length and breadth of often conflicting rules and and wisdom…that Aura’s mother began to try to comfort her daughter. Aura had heard all her band’s beliefs at length…and breadth….and bottom… thus, she only needed a few words from her mother. She was most interested in what Sylvia would have to say. ..However, once Candace had found an audience before the ‘boards’ of any stage…she was reluctant…to relinquish them.

Candace began with a tribute to the fact that humans were indeed an exotic kind of chimpanzee. Humans and chimpanzees shared 99 percent of the same DNA. She like everyone in their band…strove to be a a true Chimp in spirit and Live completely in the moment and count his and her blessings for the Good things that existed in their Lives at that time. Too many people Live in a dream of a future which is never realized and they miss the joy they could have received by focusing on the present. All Chimps were intelligent and contributed to intellectual work. However, female Chimps were by Nature more Loving and nurturing and bore the responsibility of providing the feeling of Home and ‘Tree’… taking care of the young, the old… and all in between. Male Chimps had more of the responsibility of providing financially not only for their own families, but also for the entire band as well… and to provide protection when necessary. In times of crisis, the Chimps became One physically and in spirit, spending as much time as they could with each other and comforting each other. If Loved ones were killed, they would be mourned for, yet the band was comforted by the knowledge that eventually all would be reunited one day… in Chimp heaven located somewhere in the sky.

‘Our Chimp thing has been interesting,’ Candice was saying…’None of it was my idea…I thought it might be exploitative of women…I mean all of this polygyny stuff…I mean, we really haven’t allowed one man to have many wives or vice versa…but we have had purposeful orgies…Things like that are not my thing…that is for sure…but it has been enLightening…I mean, as scientists, our research has found that it is pair-bonding that is characteristic of humankind…and even if we attempt to be like chimpanzees…even if I had fifty husbands, there would be only One I would truly bond with….However ….. it seems that men are different!…They tend to pair-bond also…but somehow they really feel that…they are able to pair-bond with many women simultaneously…which is truly disgusting!… However…for the record…Philemon claims…perhaps just to stay on my good side…and avoid massive injury…that he has found that one woman…that special woman…Well, there is no way…he could possibly even look at another…Well, Yes! I do love that man!..Personally, I think that it is more the fact that with a helpmate like me…he has simply encountered more than enough challenge for him to possibly withstand….

‘Now…based upon my experience…this is what I have learned…I have learned…that it is not the sex thing that is bonding…it is Love between one man and one woman that prevails…We all…in Golden Sun Tribe… believe that this is why we are here on this earth…to find that one person with which to be one with…And that specific coupling… will endure forever…reaching out to others somehow… keeping us all Connected with others…in the Light…

‘This Love with all and Love with One…flashing back and forth, we have found to be like the nondualistic experiences that women have with God…I mean we flash back and forth like a star filled with ions…filled with plasma…If there are a million I‘s in a star..well, there are many more than that… there is the possibility that consciousness flashes back and forth

from one I to many I‘s…back and forth…forming a God of sorts… and then reverting back to many personalities…This is like our believing that we can pray to one God and still God is in every individual thing…We have found that the same is true for our band…we have grown so close that Love…like consciousness…has two levels…There is the One of the couple…There is the One of the band…within the Jungle!…Yes, there is indeed …the closeness…and that special fragrance…of the chimpanzee!…

‘Well, the thing is…in the final analysis…we have found with this Chimpanzee band thing …is that we are so much more than chimpanzees… Yes, a chimp may make tools and have a sort of culture… teaching little ones to make things and such…But in humanity, men are Will…they have goals….they make tools…to impact the world generally…Women are the Circle…they enclose the community….Woman is Love…Of course each woman has her mountain to climb…We are all climbing to the Cosmic Award…of the Magi…I suppose…The fact is…Woman is every bit as creative as a man..in every respect…not just making babies…

‘So in the end…what we have found with this chimpanzee thing is …when it comes to community bonding…it is not the sex thing…it is the creativity thing that bonds disparate peoples…This is what scientists have found consistently working with groups of people…When people view themselves as a group…when they Live and work together… Well, they may throw excrement at each other.!….conceptually, speaking….when they have a presence as a group on Cerebrum… and their work is on display at the Creative Center…they feel better about themselves, they feel stronger as individuals, and they know they have people they can count on if there are troubles in their Lives…Together they accomplish more…and accomplish a higher quality of ideas and art, and make a greater contribution to society…It is creativity that leads to self-confidence and identity as to who we really are,,, and what we really can do to make this a better world….

‘A human community can become One in the throes of Cosmic creativity….Communities in the past were bonded when their activities were centered upon physical creativity. … that is, having children…That is, 30,000 years ago, each band was a gene pool, basically…one literal family…which of course, led to bonding…and a lot of disastrous phenotypes…from inbreeding….However, it is time to move past that, although family is still important…We now are moving on to intellectual creativity…coming up with ideas…and even further beyond that…to a Cosmic impact… where we take those ideas and get them “out there”, that is, we smack the world with them!…With all of this creativity…there is psychological bonding…Connection…Circling…. everywhere!….There is a rainbow…arcing…over our Lives…

‘The important thing is to remember is…We are women…Yes, indeed…we do have great minds!…and that’s for sure!…and none…had best deny that fact!…and we each has her own mountain to climb…But woman is more…She is the one to stop often…to arrive at times when she does not think so much… Instead, it is woman’s job to turn, stop and begin to Love much, and in so doing, awaken her band to Love…Of course, some wiseacre might retort immediately…Life cannot continue like this!…eventually one has to do something!…We each have our own mountain to climb…to help build the 21^st Century…We cannot just sit around Loving everyone and kissing and throwing sticks at everything and every one…in an affectionate manner…all the time….Well, okay…that is True…good point!…Still…if we are to progress as humanity…then we must by necessity… move to the future together…as community…as one immense family…and this by necessity…and by virtue of genetics…must be the focus of the female’s job….

‘I like to believe that we are all enCircled by an invisible ring of Loving ancestors, made up of our mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers, plus women of wisdom no longer Living. Here is the Circle concept again…but of course these people are not really nearby…their I‘s may be near and we may be able to connect with them eventually somewhere else…but it is an I thing, not a spirit or ethereal body sort of thing..

‘Most of the world’s great religions have tended to emphasize transcending the body and rising above or beyond mundane, worldly distractions…This is no surprise, since their primary administrators have been men determined to conquer their bodily attachments to be worthy of the Divine encounter….Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, it is the women…who are singing the prayers, cleaning up the afterbirth, and bathing the dead. God Lives among the pots and pans…

‘This is what I think sociologists, anthropologists have missed in the past…There is so much more ‘out there’…all around us…than ‘objective reality.’ Creativity is the key to group formation…Yes, of course, children…but then ideas, which are tools…and then the blast!…taking these tools…and setting the world…on fire!

‘We long to return to the One…yet are we not actually really already there?…This is a Love dance…longing for what we already possess…this is not a malady to be cured…it is an opportunity to celebrate the Beauty of the human condition …This is like Maria Callas who felt that opera was for women…opera for her was a celebration of the female condition…especially did it do this in the Middle Ages…Callas sang for the woman in the third row…She has lost three of eight children to death…She has nothing…she works constantly without pay or honor…Sex is what she gives to another…. Yet there is Love…and Love is of what Callas sings…Love of Life… Love of children… Love of Lover… Love of the blood band of people…Love of the Source…Love of fruit, roots…and insects…and grooming each other!

‘As I say…We long for the Source… We emulate this with Love on earth!… We celebrate this…when we together bring forth Light!…We anticipate this…in our conception of the One after death… of an eternity…together…in the Cosmos….Love between two…can give an I...an eternity in the Light!…The yearning that burns at the Heart of intimate relationships reflects the universal impulse towards One….towards…Forever!

‘So we long for that from which we came…the sphere of the Cosmos…Yet are we not also Earth?…We are plant/animal and that sphere too is sacred…filled with I’s….We vow to Connect with the Earth, our temporary home… to protect her… to honor and exalt her,…to treat her as family…I walk in a park…It may be the same trails I walk during work days…But on the week end, which is a time of Love…I walk what the Navajo call the ‘Beauty Way’…

‘Will is the tyranny of Space…Love is holiness of Time…

‘Our men are fighting for our communities…If some should die…it will crush our hearts…Yet they die for Love of band, tribe, nation, country…They shall always…be One…with us…They shall remain… in our Hearts… forever…And we…together…shall remain in the Light…for an eternity… a length of time…that mere humanity cannot comprehend…A Truth…without end….’

Sylvia then related the ideas of Love Song Band… Sylvia, as a member of her cluster of Loved ones…is a woman with a mission…Beyond the evolutionary mission of procreation, and the mission of the mind in its quest towards intellectual and Cosmic creativity… Sylvia has, as all mothers have, the mission, the Cosmic mission, of inculcating her precious female neophytes, her own daughters if she has them and other girls in the band, in the Truths of the Law of Love and the world of body, of matter…as the boys are taught the principles of the Law of the Will and the world of mind by their fathers… When man and woman are united in marriage, they each teach the other what they do not know. Although men and women are equal within the structure of the primal band… as far as their ability to develop their minds and participate in intellectual creativity is concerned… still the Cosmic Laws of the primal band are in Force and the males are most responsible for the protection of the band… although some females choose to participate in this as well. The girls are most responsible for the nurturing of the family members and in particular, the children of the band. In Connection with this, they are most responsible for promoting Loving, caring, and sharing among members of the band and for making the band more than a residential unit, making it an extended family in fact and not just in name.

‘As Candace has said,’ Sylvia was saying… ‘pursuant to this goal, young girls are introduced to the principles of the Law of Love and the world of the Body. Many of the principles that are taught in this regard…were taught by Jesus Christ when he attempted to counterpoise Love…against the Law of the Will…which is emphasized in the Hebrew religion… he attempted to counterpoise against this… the need for cultivation of affection and Love among members of a community, that they might be, in reality, brothers and sisters….and Love of the stranger…even those who threaten our earthly Laws…and Love…for even the enemy…

‘Love. What does that term mean? Golden Sun Tribe possesses a theology that spells everything out. Love was a terribly important part of man and woman’s biological evolution. Love really had its roots far earlier in time than the appearance of human beings. A form of Love exists in any group of organisms…nay, even the interactions of molecules within a cell… From the beginning of Life…the many have had to work closely together to survive as organisms…and survive as a species. From their progenitors, man and woman inherited a need to relate with and Love their own kind. They were given the rewards of joy and happiness from participating in activities related to physical creativity. They have a need to Love several close fellow bandsmen and women. In addition, they have a physiological need and urge to mate and have an even more intense emotional relationship with another… and as the evidence seemed to show, as far as Golden Sun Tribe is concerned…there is pair-bonding with one person…not with a menagerie…as some Chimps…and sultans …would have us believe. Now in an age wherein creativity is paramount, couples are encouraged to stay together for as long as possible. Divorce is allowed, but only after it is apparent that staying together is no longer possible. When man and woman in history left the band and lived in tribes, chiefdoms, empires, and finally nation-states, the community Love and security afforded by the band was gradually lost and the relationship between individual men and women in a couple became ever more important.

Now Sylvia, the historian,…the philosopher…was standing to speak…

‘Now with the Change, man and woman have returned to the primal band, but the intense and enduring male-female relationships which have developed after man and woman left the primal band, have been maintained in Love Song Band… because of their utility in a world in which the emphasis is on intellectual creativity.

‘Men and women are generally too busy writing books, composing music, painting pictures, and presenting dramatic productions in Golden Sun Tribe… to be bothered with sexual freedom and hopping from bed to bed. In each community, Love and Will… the Love expressed by the body and Will wielded by the mind are harnessed in acts of creation. Creativity is considered to be the exclusive means of obtaining the goals of joy and happiness. It is the responsibility of the woman in Golden Sun Tribe to ensure that Love is of the highest intensity in her relationship with her husband. Love between man and woman is made challenging by some scientific indications that male and female Homo sapiens are almost like different species…Men and women…are so different! Although mitochondria evidence does not support it, there is the possibility that Homo sapiens did not conquer Homo erectus as has been assumed. Instead Homo erectus may have conquered Homo sapiens in some locals, but kept their women. Then the brains of the males may have increased in ability to match the women; however, basic differences may have endured.

‘On the other hand, archaeological data had shown that there were all kinds of Homo everywhere… doing god knows what… The development of Homo sapiens may have not been as straight forward as was thought… it might have been more like China… it once was thought dynasty led to dynasty… but archeological evidence has now shown that there were all sorts of clusters of people… with different cultures and religions Living where once it was thought there was only one… So one kind of Homo dragging off the women of another kind of Homo… may be romantic in some weird sense… The Truth is… it seems now that when it comes to evolution… things are always more complicated than what we first thought…

‘During the past century, differences in behavior were epitomized by women going to tea parties and eating cucumber sandwiches while men sat in front of televisions with football on, drinking beer and passing gas. Men’s need for sex is over twenty times that of women… in direct proportion to the testosterone they possess compared to women Also men physiologically tend to regard woman as a collection of sex organs and body parts. In their work, men have a tendency to treat people as if they are a bundle of talents and abilities ready to be utilized for whatever tasks were at hand. Women, on the other hand, are humanizing. Whatever conception people have of themselves as human beings, Loved for themselves and not for what physical or mental attributes they might have… probably came from their mothers. Women Love people for who they are and not for what they can do. Thus, there is a tremendous challenge for women to see that Love with her mate and Love between members of the communities remains intense in spite of differences that man and woman might have.’

Sylvia said that a loving woman is not a caterer. She does not have to give and give… and others take and take. Love is founded upon reciprocal relationships, and all must work together to make sure that all brothers’ and sisters’ emotional and material needs are met. In the context of the primal band, Love is a physiological need and urge which evolved over the millennia in order that members of a species, which were very vulnerable as individuals to predators and to the rigors of the environment would be induced by instinct to associate with other members of the species and thus capture the advantages of economies of scale and higher degrees of protection which come from Living in a group. Thus, instinctively, man and woman need to Live in proximity to other human beings in a group. However, more than that… he and she instinctively needed to interact, accomplish tasks, and communicate with other human beings within that residential group. Love transforms a collection of individuals into One thinking, acting, breathing, organism. Relationships become so close, and concern for others so great that the many become One…It is in our DNA…that bonding on the sociological level…does occur… In all that the band does, it is the organism of community…which is always foremost in importance and not the activities of individuals in the band or the products they developed.

‘Love is the desire to be close’…Sylvia said, as she appeared to be pointing to an imaginary chart with graphs and power points…on the organic wall…’Love is the desire to be Connected…bonded… to another individual. That is because…the behavior… the interaction… of man and woman…guided respectively by the Theology of the Will and the Theology of Love… yields joy and happiness… as creativity in both worlds gives the highest rewards. The greatest joy and happiness comes when intellectual and physical creativity are combined with the Cosmic creative Will and Love of the primal band. Cosmic creativity on the highest level transcends the band… it extends outward to society, to the world of man and woman as a whole. However, society is never considered as an abstraction. Always it is a conception of man and woman… flesh and blood… bound together world-wide by means of the tools of their minds, and the primal fire of Love for fellow human beings… for fellow members of their species… Yes, our Will …can be formidable…But our Love…for each other…well, that Love…is paramount.

‘Yes…Love is the primary concern of woman. And this responsibility is not an arbitrary one. Embedded deeply in her flesh, flowing in her veins, and exuding with her hormones… is the concern for others… nurturing of others. For Love has a physiological basis in the band and in the womb, just as man’s exertion and exaltation of the Will springs from the innate passion to protect family and band which surges from his testicles. Women of the previous century would have denied any inherent exclusive association between Love and woman. At that time man and woman lived in couples or alone in the world. If woman had devoted her life to Love and the man had devoted his to Will, then woman would have ended up with the short end of the stick. Within the single household, Love meant an orientation inward with ultimate concern only for family, kitchen, and church. For the male, the Will meant the conquest of all which was without the household doors… and in fact, because the household was so small compared to the rest of the world, it meant that man was concerned with the whole wide world while the woman was left with almost nothing.

‘With a world-wide concern there was, is bestowed upon man the Power associated with world conquest, the intellect required for dealing with worldly affairs, and a legal and political identification to be used in important matters of the world. Woman might have devoted her Life to Love during the twentieth century; however, this would have consigned her to a four-walled prison and impotence in all realms of Life and because of this universal lack of importance, she probably would have had to defer to her husband within the household itself, and she would have been left with no territory she could call her own within which her world of Love could reign supreme. However, the Change had reinstated the primal band, in whose context man and woman’s physiological needs and biology has evolved. With the reinstitution of the band, all human relationships, Love, and Will, all now revolve about this primal organism and organization. Woman is no longer alone in a hovel, but is a member of band, tribal, and nation… communities united physiologically and emotionally. There now exist not only Love between one man and one woman, but also genuine affection among brothers and sisters in all levels of community.

‘Love instead of being an isolating, inward-seeking phenomenon, is once again an outreaching emotion extended to others in the band and ultimately to all mankind. The Will is no longer an expression of a male’s lonely assault upon all the world. Instead, the Will becomes a communal force, a sword of protection for the band and a means of acquiring sustenance for its members from the outside world. No longer is man more important than woman, both were now equal …in the importance of their missions within the embrace of the band.

‘In the attitude of the Cosmic Priestess…the practice of which is so admirably displayed and disseminated by your mother… when it comes to contemplation of Cosmic things…the purpose of the world’s great religions has been to transcend the sphere of plant/animal…including our bodies..especially female bodies…The Cosmic Priestess rises in the face of this turning away from Nature…True female Cosmic Love is about immanence…For her…all matter is infused with energy….is infused with consciousness…Thus, all matter…is infused with Love…Cosmic Love is the shattering of the One into the blessed pandemonium of the many. Cosmic Love pours and spills and overflows into All that is…Cosmic Love is unbounded and uncontrollable. Not good news for any male power structure, whose job is to contain and legislate…Cosmic Love is subversive….Cosmic Love is equal to Power….Cosmic Love is equal to Will.

‘Q.E.D…..’

Okay, thought Aura…Yes, mothers are wonderful…The conclusion of all of this is…Thus, man and woman now are where they both belong… together, creating, in a Loving band of people… At least that is where they should belong! thought Aura, as she considered the reality of her men separated from her in time and space. She understood that this fighting was necessary to preserve their new way of Life, that this was why the males still kept primary control over the development of the Will, and that in effect, the men were like their forefathers fighting for the preservation of the band and the species. Still Aura did not like normal community activities being disrupted… And then there was that one who she supposedly was indifferent to… that one her eyes for some reason…were constantly patrolling the screen for…to make certain his name did not appear.

It was half past four now and the long list of casualties had been transmitted. Sylvia and Jason bid good night and walked back down to their cluster. Then Aura’s mother asked if she wanted some hot chocolate before going to bed. Aura put her arms around her mother’s waist and held tightly. her mother kissed her and held her close.

Omicron shivered as his sleeping bag began to warm. It was dawn but there was no sun. The only indication of morning was the gradual illumination of a gray sky…and moisture surrounding his tent. He would have no trouble sleeping during his normally active morning hours for he was exhausted from the battle…loss of blood… and from the subsequent maneuvering of personnel and equipment to this position south of the City. It was shortly after midnight that he had received orders to stop attacking the enemy who were then safely ashore and to begin the search for survivors on the Bay. He then had spent three hours scouring acres of water and had spotted several wounded in Life rafts to whom he dropped supplies and markers with colored flags for pick-up soon after. He had been very tired although the cold air pouring through the gaping hole in the canopy had helped him stay awake.

After this task, Omicron had assumed that he would be going back to headquarters, but instead his captain’s voice had bellowed into his cockpit… ‘Blue, the enemy has taken the City. The company has been assigned to a special mission. You are a lieutenant and are in charge of your squad. You will take your men to the hills where the City is. Establish camp south of the City and await further orders.’

Upon arrival in the general area south of the City… Omicron had been told that his mission was to gain entrance into the City and from that vantage point assist in any manner possible the efforts of the troops positioned without to regain control over the City. Towards this end…however, with the strategy still secret…Omicron’s men had set up camp rapidly just out of sight of the City walls. They had been ordered to sleep until noon at which time further orders were expected. Omicron looked into the fog as the Light increased but he saw only one face. His bag was warm now and instantly he was asleep.

It was 0800. General Goss collected his colonels before the quadrangle map of the Bay on the wall. Lines, ribbons, and pins were placed neatly in clumps in and near the black mass which represented the City. An aide was now transferring a large mass of nauseatingly yellow-green pins from a northern location to the City, and bilious arrows ran from north of the Bay across the water to the City. A large gold patch represented a large concentration of troops on the north shore of the Bay. A small patch of blue pierced the green background just south of the City.

‘Well, we really have our work cut out for us now. We have to gain control of the City before those bastards blow it up or are able to blackmail the President. The real worry is that the City is a primary receiver of goods from the Far East and the bastards are shutting everything down. They haven’t killed the managers yet. Guess they figure that they can have the mangers teach them how to run the machinery. Then they’ll have a City all to themselves.

‘Our job is to recapture the City, now, period. The enemy got in through the mag tunnel, but right now we can’t follow them as their firepower is too hot to move down the tube without help from inside. We’ll have the entire United States and world forces here eventually, but by then it may be too late. We have to move now.’

The General now addressed a detail map of the City itself. The City was surrounded by a 20-foot high wall. The only access was via mag tunnels. The companies could just storm the wall and fight as men had done in days of old. Such a plan would be pursued only in desperation. There was the possibility that a mag tunnel blitz might work. Company Bravo of the Second Battalion had been deployed to the south of the City whose mission was to gain entrance into the fortress and assist troopers attempting to negotiate the northern mag tunnel. The company’s first assignment would be to find some way inside the walls with minimum detection. The battalions would wait until dawn to allow the company time to somehow enter and deploy itself within. If the company was unsuccessful, the battalions would attack at dawn anyway; however, the chances for success would be much reduced.

Steve stared with furrowed brow at the patch of blue. He had left a message for Sylvia in the Jasmine’s Cerebrum mail that morning to say that Omicron was all right, but that because of the courageous fighting of his company and because of their advanced position, his company had been selected for a highly dangerous mission on which the outcome of the battle might depend. Steve thought back upon the time he was a lieutenant fighting with United Nation’s troops in Africa. For a moment he almost wished he were in Omicron’s shoes, a young, inexperienced recruit again with his career and victories before him. However, he quickly shrugged away the thought. The world must turn and men and women with it. He had new, important challenges of his own. Omicron, he had no doubt, would dispatch his task with vigor, and succeed,…or die valiantly trying.

General Goss shifted his ruler and showed where the battalions would be stationed. Then he turned and faced his colonels, the ruler clenched in his hands.

‘Now we will demand that each man give everything he has. This may be the battle to end all battles. This must be the last fight against the old world. Each man must fight for his family. He must fight for his community. The blood that is spilt will be mourned for, but it also will be commemorated in the service of our people and will be consecrated to the building of a future of joy and happiness for the world. Our mission is larger than us. It is larger than our bands or even our country. It is the fight of man and woman on their eternal path upward to exaltation and the extension of their Power and command to the ends of the earth.’

Goss was not of Golden Sun Tribe; however, he summoned some of the power of that tribe’s theology to exhort his troops.

‘It must be remembered that man will succeed only as long as he keeps his eyes on the True and the Just. For these ends he must give his all. Toward these ends men must give their Lives if necessary, if man and woman are to continue their relentless climb to the Light.’

The company was given maps of the City. Each man was ordered to study the location of the largest parts of the City machinery and attempt to understand in a sketchy way the functional relationships among them. Omicron quickly related figures on the map… with buildings and equipment he had seen when he had toured the City on his trip with Uncle Jonathan, which, as incredible as it seemed, had been only a week before. It was 1 p.m. in the early afternoon … many hours before the dawn… that would mark the commencement of their undertaking. At this point, they could only just sit and wait.

Sit and wait. He was anxious for battle. His first taste of action had been exhilarating, and victory over the elements and enemy had left him psychologically and physically eager for more.

Before Omicron’s eyes came a vision of a woman seated on a throne wearing a crown with spear points… symbol of Cosmic step number 8… Equlibrium. In her hands she held an upward-pointed sword and a pair of scales. The woman was the ancient symbol of Justice,…spoken of many times by his father. She was also the symbol of Equilibrium… of the need to pause in the midst of action. ‘Remember, son of Earth, that to be victorious and to overcome your obstacles is only a part of the human task. If you would wish to accomplish it entirely, you must establish a balance between the forces you set in motion.’

Omicron walked away from the camp that was hidden by several hills from the black steel walls of the City. The fog had lifted some to reveal the more ominous clouds above. He surveyed the surrealistic blue cradled in the dark hills around the Bay. Omicron had been victorious. He had met the enemy, again and again, had conquered, and had survived. Still the fact was that the cause was still in jeopardy. The Forces of evil were too strong at this moment to be checked immediately. ‘Every action produces its reaction, and the Will must foresee the onslaught of contrary Forces in time to lessen or check it.’ In this instance, these words applied mostly to the enemy. They had conquered the City. They held all the high cards now. However, retaliation was inevitable. What counted most in the end was the cause for which one stood. If men stood for the True and Just and gave their all in this cause, then the outcome would fall in their favor. ‘All future things hang in the balance between Good and Evil.’ However, the end cannot be obtained straight way. A man or woman must learn to Live in circumstances which are less than ideal, in a world which is less than perfect. It was not that a man or woman must compromise his or her goals. His or her efforts forever had to be directed toward these worthy ends. It was just that a man or woman had to Live and work in the world and in an equilibrium with the realities inherent in any moment in time. ‘The Mind that cannot find equilibrium resembles a sun in eclipse.’

Omicron now could see the opposite shore with its remnants of a civilization which had waxed, then had not so much evaporated or been evacuated, as it had graduated, progressed onwards to another higher organization wherein mind and body, man and machine were more harmoniously entwined. He looked upward at the heavens over which large nimbus clouds traversed menacingly… in formidable command of the moment… as they were maneuvered and were changed in shape and consistency according to the Laws of the universe. Justice,… weighs ‘in the balance the deeds of men, and as a counterweight opposing evil with the sword of expiation.’ Justice was related to the very fiber and Laws of the universe. ‘Justice, which proceeds from God, is the stabilizing reaction which restores order, equilibrium between Right and duty.’

Justice regulates between the needs and aspirations of individuals and the requirements of society as a Living macroorganism. Beyond this, Justice speaks to man and woman’s relationship with all of Nature… within the constraints of universal Law. Thus, Justice operates on several levels. There is the relatively fallible and narrow justice which is man and woman’s in the physical world,…The words of Omicron’s father… thundered in his mind. There is the Justice that relates to the intellectual Laws of the universe of Attraction and Repulsion of which the mind is aware and utilizes for its rather self-serving and petty ends compared to the immensity of the universe. Finally, there is Cosmic justice which is an equilibrium that embraces the totality of the universe in whose embrace all matter and energy pulses and moves, within whose grasp all reality is ultimately held.

‘The sword is here a sign of protection for the righteous and of warning to the sinful.’ People are not bad and good. They either do things which are consistent with the Laws of the universe or they don’t. The goal of all is joy and happiness. One may obtain these by doing that which is True and Just. When one deviates from the True and Just, he or she is crushed by Powers which are as immense and incomprehensible to humans in their extent… as the universe itself. When one operates in accordance with these universal Laws, he or she does not walk alone, but is facilitated and emPowered in his or her creative efforts by forces which dwarf mortal men and women.

‘The eyes of Justice are covered with a bandage to show that she weighs and strikes without taking into account the conventional differences established by men.’ No one man or woman is filled with the knowledge of the universe. Each can only pursue to his and her best ability the True and Just. The True and Just are not abstractions. They are concrete and are Cosmic principles related to the biology of the species. In this pursuit one can become very wise and aware of much that is True. The Laws which man and woman now possessed were based on the wisdom of antiquity and all that had been learned since. However, the knowledge of a person’s mind must by nature be partial… and only time and ultimate empirical results give an indication if ideas held are True. Perhaps an entire species must evolve before basic Laws of the universe are borne out. One can only have patience, endurance, and an ever vigilant gaze upon the ultimate realities. Only by this means has he or she then a chance for ultimate, complete, and fulfilling victory.

The sun did not go down. Instead its light was dimmed behind the clouds and then extinguished. Omicron and his men prepared to move out. It was completely dark. The decision had been made by headquarters to first enter the City not by going over the wall or through it… but by going under it! On maps which had been obtained via the Cerebrum from Washington D.C., all utilities which still remained from the old urban world before the Change were explored in detail, and one old sewer main was found which seemed to run under the wall and appeared to be still in tact. In the hours before, one platoon had been sent ahead to find the man-hole cover and ascertain that the pipe was passable. There would be no convenient way to move from the pipe to the ground above on the other side of the wall, so now a determination had to be made where the line could be broken and where the men could dig their way to the surface with the least probability of being detected.

The master map of the City was spread, on which the sewer pipe had been drawn at its exact location. According to the map, the pipe just went under one large manufacturing unit, which according to the blueprints of the machinery had a storage area on the lowest floor. Headquarters assumed that the enemy would concentrate upon an anticipated Force off attackers at the walls and and would be focused upon negotiating with Washington…It was not expected that the enemy would search the manufacturing units in a thorough way more than once or occupy all the buildings. Therefore, it was probable that if the company could enter a building on the inside of the City. utilizing the pipe… that it could take the enemy by surprise.

The company’s eighty men filed through the pipe, illuminating it with flash and search Lights which could now be used. The pipe was dry, but had a stench which had been sealed in. The men kept track of where other sewer lines merged which when compared with their maps determined the distance that had been covered. They moved until they stopped below where the manufacturing unit was determined to be. It was now close to 10 p.m. Four men first smashed the top of the pipe with mallets and then began to dig upwards. Then standing on each other’s shoulders they dug their way to the surface. Some of the dirt found above had been packed tightly when the manufacturing units were erected ten years before, but most was ground which had been worked several times when various pipes had been laid and relaid during the last century. The men dug up, up, until after a half hour’s work they reached the concrete floor on top. Now they had to use chisels and

mallets and slowly with a minimum of noise, chip away at the cement. After an agonizing hour and a half, they had chipped away an opening big enough for a man to slip through. And at almost exactly midnight, the first men emerged from the subterranean path onto the concrete floor of the storage area. They then lowered a rope ladder that the other men including Omicron used to climb to the surface.