FUTURE

W knelt at the top of the hill and looked carefully down at the base of a larger ridge. I could see nothing out of the ordinary in the fading light; no movement, no guards. The hum, which had persisted for most of the forty-minute walk, had now completely disappeared.

"Are you sure we're at the right place?" I asked Curtis.

"Yes," he said. "Do you see the four large boulders about fifty feet up the slope? The doorway is right beneath them, hidden in the bushes. To the right, you can just make out the top of the projection dish. it looks functional again."

"I see it," Maya said.

"Where are the guards?" I asked Curtis. "Maybe they've abandoned the site."

We observed the doorway for almost an hour, waiting for signs of activity, hesitant to move or talk much until darkness had fallen across the valley. Suddenly we heard movement beflooding us in light, and four hind us. Flashlights clicked on, armed men rushed in, demanding that we raise our hands. After spending ten minutes going through our gear, they searched each of us, then moved the group down the hill and up to the bunker's entrance.

The door of the bunker swung open and Feyman charged out, loud and angry. "Are these the ones we've been looking for?" he shouted. "Where did you find them?"

One of the guards explained what had happened as Feyman shook his head and stared at us through the beams of light. He walked closer and demanded, "What are you doing here?"

"You've got to stop what you're doing!" Curtis retorted.

Feyman was struggling to recognize him. "Who are you?" The guards' flashlights settled, illuminating Curtis' face.

"Curtis Webber ... I'll be damned," Feyman said. "You blew up our dish, didn't you?"

"Listen to me," Curtis said. "You know this generator is too dangerous to operate at these levels. You could ruin this end ire valley!"

"You were always an alarmist, Webber. That's why we let you go at

Deltech. I've been working on this project for too long to give up at this point. It's going to work-exactly as I planned."

"But why are you taking the chance? Concentrate on the smaller, house-size units. Why are you trying to increase the output so much?"

"That's none of your business. You need to keep quiet."

Curtis edged toward him. "You want to centralize the generating process so you can control it. That's not right."

Feyman smiled. "A new energy system has to be phased in.

Do you think we can go overnight from energy being a substantial part of household and business costs to practically nothing?

The sudden disposable income throughout the world would

A cause hyperinflation and then probably a massive reaction that would cast us into a depression."

,you know that's not true," Curtis replied. "Reduced energy costs would increase the efficiency of production tremendously, supplying more goods at lower costs. No inflation would occur. You're doing this for yourself. You want to centralize the production so you can control its availability and price, despite the dangers." He stared angrily at Curtis. "You're so naive. Do you think the interests that act to control energy prices now would allow a sudden, massive shift to an inexpensive source? Of course not! It has to be centralized and packaged to work at all. And I'm going to be known for having done this! it's what I was born to do!"

"That's not true!" I blurted. "You were born to do something else, to help us."

Feyman swung around to face me. "Shut up! Do you hear "What happened to me? All of you!" His eyes found Charlene. the man I sent with you?"

Charlene looked away without responding. houting again. "I'd

"I don't have time for this!" Feyman was s

He suggest you worry about your personal safety right now. paused to look us over, then shook his head and walked to one of the armed men. "Keep them here in a group until this is over.

All we need is another hour. If they try to escape, shoot them." The operative spoke briefly to the other three and they formed a perimeter encircling us at a distance of about thirty feet.

"Sit down," one of them said.

We sat facing each other in the darkness. Our energy was almost totally deflated. There had been no sign of the soul groups since we left the cave.

"What do you think we should do?" I asked Charlene.

"Nothing's changed," she whispered. "We've got to build our energy again."'

The darkness was now almost total, broken only by the operative ' lights sweeping back and forth across the group. I could s barely make out the outlines of the others' faces, even though we were sitting in a tight circle, eight feet apart.

"We have to try to escape," Curtis whispered. "I think they will kill US.,) Then I remembered the image I'd seen in Feyman's Birth ViSion. He envisioned being with us in the woods, in the dark. I kreW there was also another landmark in the scene, but I ccLtldn't remember what it was.

"No," I said. "I think we need to try again here."

At that moment the air was filled with a high-pitched sound, a stlund similar to the hum but, again, more in harmony, almost pleasing to the ear. Again a perceptible shimmer swept through nd under our bodies. the grOu

"We have to increase our energy now!" Maya whispered.

"I don't know if I can do it here," Curtis responded.

"You have to!" I said.

"Focus on each other the way we did before," Maya added.

I tried to screen out the ominous scene around us and return to in inner state of love. Ignoring the shadows and the flickering bearris of light, I focused on the beauty of the faces in the circle.

As to locate the others'higher-self expression, I began to -Xice a shift in the light pattern around us. Gradually I could 'Very face and expression very clearly, as though I was looksec in,-.,enough an infrared viewer.

'What do we visualize?" Curtis asked in desperation.

"We have to get back to our Birth Visions," Maya said. "Remember why we came." the sound from the

Suddenly the ground shook violently and experiment again took on a dissonant, grating quality.

We moved closer together and our collective thought seemed to project the image of fighting back. We knew that somehow we could marshal our forces and push back the negative and destructive attempts of the experiment. I even picked up a picf Feyman being pushed backward, his equipment blowing ture o up and burning, his men fleeing in terror.

Another surge in the noise disrupted My focus; the experiment was continuing. Fifty feet away, a huge pine tree snapped half and thundered to the ground. With a ripping sound and in a cloud of dust, a fissure, five feet wide, opened up between us and the guard on the right. He reeled back in horror, the beam of his flashlight swinging wild in the night.

"This isn't working!" Maya screamed.

Another tree crashed to the ground on our left as the earth slid four or five feet, knocking us flat.

Maya looked horrified and jumped to her feet. "I've got to get from here!" she yelled, then began to run north into the away darkness. The guard on that side., lying where he had been thrown by the earth's movement, rolled to his knees and caught her form in the beam of his flashlight, then raised his gun.

"No! Wait!" I screamed.

As she ran, Maya looked back, spotting the guard who was now aiming directly at her, preparing to fire. The scene seemed to shift into slow motion, and as the gun discharged, every line in her face revealed an awareness that she was about to die. But instead of the bullets ripping into her side and back, a wisp of white light darted in front of her and the bullets bore no effect.

She hesitated momentarily, then disappeared into the darkness.

At the same time, sensing the opportunity, Charlene leaped up from her position to my right and ran to the northeast, into the dust, her movement unnoticed by the guards.

I started to run but the guard who had fired at Maya turned his weapon toward me. Quickly Curtis reached out and grabbed legs, dragging me to the ground.