The Beaded Tapestry

The motion of the ship sooths my emotions and creates a window into the calm condition my mind needs to occupy. Gulls chase our sails as the wind rushes us around the point, separating the island from the mainland. We are nowhere that I recognize. All the land masses give no recollection of where we are and the sea is a blue I have never experienced. Salt tangs the air as our ship slips through the strait, giving a wide berth to the rocky shore along the starboard side. Your form is posed on the deck of the ship, grasping the mass with your right hand and caressing the wind with your left. The breeze catches your hair and lifts it in a halo around your body. The weather conditions are ideal for a daily sail and I pull and extend the lines, creating the perfect dance to slip through the obstacle course ahead. Sunlight beats down from a flawless sky. Only the creature shares the sky with us today. It dominates the space in front of us, stretching across the horizon. It does not block the light, but dances with it. Intermingling it’s molecules perfectly in order to blend with the incredible day.

Colors combine and mix in the heat waves traversing across the surface of the water. Bubbles rises to the surface, churned by the bow of the ship, creating small reflections of the creature above in their spherical surface. You laugh as I swing the craft past the point, making you grasp the mast with both hands. The gulls follow, blocking out the sky above with their shadows. An incredible calm engulfs me as I open the window fully into this experience. Allowing my mind to experience it in total. We are together once more. I do not know where and I do not know when, but It gives me an overwhelming feeling. I close my eyes to the salty mist kicked up from the waves and when I open them again I am in darkness. Rain patters on panes and the wind buffets the building making the windows rattle in their frames.

Dear sister,

Such a lovely dream! I awoke in tears, missing your presence more than ever this morning. I so enjoy these dreams when we are once again together, but waking up is always so painful. It has given me the calmness I need for my conference today, so I am grateful for that. The hotel they have placed me in is near the Louvre, so I only have a short walk this morning before arriving at the conference entrance.

Yesterday went well. I introduced a few eye openers to the attendees and also received a few myself. I regret that we did not focus earlier on the musical influence of the Anomaly. There are so many neurological implications in relation to this aspect of the creature that I feel the need to adjust our research for this neglected point. I wish I could relay a message to you at this stage of your journey. I would like to adjust some of our visual wavelengths to those frequencies within the range presented in one particular lecture yesterday. It seems from the study the talk was based on, that there are dominant bandwidths that amplify the influence of the creature on certain neurological diseases. Specifically autistic individuals and stroke victims. Although I have emphasized this particular use of the Anomaly’s effect, I did not specifically narrow to a particular range of wavelengths that were more effective than another. I will concentrate on some of this new knowledge to finalize my test program before boarding the ship in November. I cannot believe it is only seven months away. I am now almost at the halfway point of my long year of delay and recovery.

I so miss your laughter.  It was incredible to hear it in my dream last night.  I look forward to maybe sailing with you on our new world.

Love always, your sister

Annalis

Dear Victoria,

Everywhere I look there are people. Travelers, residents, business individuals and scientist such as myself fill the public spaces. It was so long ago that I was last here that my mind had forgotten the sheer number of bodies that occupy this city. Paris in all its glory! I had hoped that since the symposium was scheduled for late winter that the crowds would be less. That it seems is not the case. I have been so lulled by the sparse population in England and New Zealand that my first few moments upon arrival were a bit of a shock. Although it did take a moment for my mind to adjust, I am now dodging the passing civilians and weaving through the myriads of traffic like a pro. The years we spent living here, quickly coming back as a guide.

I went directly to the Louvre from the train station, not even stopping to drop off my luggage at the hotel. The excitement of once again entering our old stomping ground was too great to resist. The afternoon has been spent visiting our old haunts and making contact with key people before the symposium starts; A last engagement with the Louvre before my departure for another solar system and the start of the next chapter of my life.

One of my first stops after handing over my impediments to the concierge, was to our old friend the bone knight. How many hours did we spend trying to decipher his shield? Why were we so fascinated with this erroneous figure, tucked away in a side hallway between exhibit halls? It has never been identified and only mystery surrounds the purpose of this eerie piece. What the strange lettering on the shield means, not even the Rosetta stone has given a clue to the symbols.

As I stood there yesterday evening, it reminded me of something I should have mentioned to you before your departure. (Maybe I should say I should have asked you before your departure) When the equipment was returned to Oxford after its unfortunate adventure in New Zealand, several units required significant repairs before they were operational. During these restorations it was necessary to completely disassemble the pressurized inner compartments of a few units. Inside two of them I found replicas of symbols found around the edge of the shield held by the knight. Was this you’re doing? From what I remember, you completed the final potentiometer adjustment on these particular instruments before they were pressurized with nitrogen and sealed. It seemed a strange thing for you to do and also not to mention it to me, but I cannot imagine any other source for these ambiguous markings. Maybe as we once discussed, you feel they have magical powers, giving additional influence to the researcher for the success of their scientific endeavor. The idea that if a researcher included these mystical symbols in their calculation and setup, then there was an increased chance of a successful outcome. I know we jokingly spoke of this, referring to our childhood superstitions, but maybe you’re decided to put it into practice just to see the results.

I guess I will have to wait and ask you when I arrive at the end of my upcoming journey.  I never had the chance in the chaos before you left.

I must close for now.  The symposium on the neurology of music will be starting in an hour and I still must make my way from the hotel to the Louvre science center. My presentation is second on the docket.  Wish me luck. First I will be revealing the initial results from New Zealand. Then I will present an overview of your timeline on New London and my planned agenda on the Phycodurus 8.  It will be nice to speak openly of our current work.  This will most likely be the last time I can do this before my arrival in the Alpha Centauri system.

Tomorrow I will give you a thorough overview of the day’s events.  Hopefully there will be some additional revelations for me also; something to create a paradigm shift in my grey matter.

Love Always,

Annalis