The Beaded Tapestry

Making some progress!! So many colors my pallet dish is not big enough!

And it begins

Created a quick easy project for a pallet cleaner. Next project will be complex.

Completed this amulet. Changed my mind about the additional embellishment. A nice piece to wear to work.

The body of the amulet bag is complete. Now on to the necklace design.

Lightning flashes in the distance, lighting up the dark purple clouds from below. Boats struggle ahead of the storm, moving with as much speed as they can manage to get safely anchored in the harbor before the winds arrive.  The feel of immense pressure builds around the building as another forked strike is seen hitting the waves far out across the sea. The rumble of thunder follows, echoing within the cathedral ceiling.  The flashes outside reflect off the elaborate paintings decorating the ceiling; depictions of the apostles following the teachings of their savior by assisting the community to live a humble life.

The minister halts his administrations to the dead, waiting out the echoes of the storm that drown his words. A dark haired woman stands on the opposite side of the street, glaring at the closed doors of the church.  She can hear the echoes of the thunder within the building and the threatening clouds bearing down on her, but she will not seek shelter within the walls of the church. She knows if she enters the structure, it will be to acknowledge that her mother is gone.  The minister starts to speak again, telling of the journey into the afterlife, and the promise of meeting loved ones once more, but the woman does not hold these beliefs to be true.  She knows if she enters the church that will be the last time she sees her mother’s face and there will be no reunion at the end. 

The storms intensity increases and soon the rain is heralded by a massive branching of lightening covering the entire visible sky.  Drenched, the woman turns her back on the ceremony and the acceptance of the departure of her mother.

Dear sister,

Our mother once told me this story about the death of our grandmother. It still haunts me to this day and I have no idea why it has been on my mind today. We have been so fortunate to have both our parents with us still and I sometimes forget how devastating it must have been for our mother to lose her own mother at so young an age. I believe I was only six at the time, so I remember very little of her. You had her for even less time, but we both could have benefitted by knowing her for longer. I guess that must be the reason for my thought right now. I miss both our parents and could use the keen listening ear of our mother and the logic of our father right now. The constant interrogation from my captors is wearing on me. I would never break any type of confidentiality, but I also am losing touch with my sanity in this forced solitude.

There is also something else that plays on my psyche. I do not know if it is the lack of communication with other humans or something else. At first I thought it was the surveillance from the man and woman. I am sure they are watching me somehow in my small quarters, but there is also something else. I feel a darkness watching me. I do not know how else to describe it. Not a malevolent eye, but something heavy and devoid of light. Like looking at a picture in negative and knowing what the image is behind it. This may also be why the lightning storm mother described came to mind. I always imagined the storm was the dissipation of grandmother’s energy into the universe and not a simple storm. I once explained this concept to mother. I like to believe it gave her some comfort, knowing her mother was scattered across eternity. She only looked at me after my description with a small tear standing at the corner of her eye. It is funny how I remember that detail. We never spoke of it again.

As you can gather I have nothing relevant about my situation to relate to you; only musings about my current state of mind. The sensation of being watched by outside forces may only be my imagination acting out of boredom. I have now been kept in this small unit for three weeks with only access to the short corridor leading to the sanitary unit. I have tried to return to the research on the Anomaly that is stored in my embedded unit’s memory, but my worry that I could get caught accessing it outweighs my need to occupy my time. I hide under my sleeping sheet during my short conversations with you, but to conduct study under those conditions is not ideal. I have read several novels to distract myself, but that is exonerating my awareness of the dark presence. As I read the intensity of being watched increases and I catch myself looking back feeling like someone is reading over my shoulder. Questions pop into my head as I read, asking me to elaborate on what the author means and where the story is headed. Since most of these books I have read more than once, they are not new to me. It seems strange that my subconscious would be asking questions. The inquiries’ feel like they are coming from a curious child, wanting to know the end of the book before we get there.

Because of this, I stopped reading altogether several days ago.  The barrage of questions became so vivid as I came to the part in Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land where the main character is being interrogated by the crowd that I shut the reading program and covered my ears with my hands, trying to shut out the words. It felt so real and so insistent with genuine fear and concern for the character that I could no longer ignore the voice. 

I can still sense the spectre in the last days, but it is not near as intense as when I am reading or when the man or woman interrogates me.  Their questioning also seems to aggravate the apparition; silently questioning me over the actions of my captors.  I am not sure what it is but I feel it might be my grasp on reality finally slipping.  If something does not change soon to break the chain of events, I am not certain I will survive intact.

Love Annalis

Half way through the body of the amulet bag.

Black, utterly lightless! The form floating above in the night sky returns no reflection or glow to announce it existence. The extended feathery appendixes appear blacker than the space surrounding it, totally devoid of enlightenment. This is impossible, but cannot be denied as the evidence is there before the eye. The form seems to absorb all the darkness around it, creating the illusion that the void contains an inner glow, but this is not reality. The apparition slowly draws nearer, increasing its darkness until it blocks the entire sky. The outstretched limbs slowly fold to encircle the solitary form watching from the planet below, encircling her with ebony arm and blocking out the night. Everything else ceases to exist.

A bright light forces its way into the eye of Annalis and she reflectively tries to knock it away. Something resists her movement and she realizes her body is restrained. Gentle hands clasp her straining arm and a soft voice speaks, breaking the silence. “Please be calm miss. We are just checking your pupil response.” The light is removed and Annalis blinks moisture away as she is allowed to close her lids. She is lying in a recovery cubicle, encircled by all types of medical monitoring equipment. “Where am I?’ She croaks, using vocal cords long out of use. A woman dressed in the green fatigues of a space medic, moves into Annalis’s line of sight. She still holds the offending eye exam device in her hand as she gives Annalis an appraising look. “Please give yourself time to adjust Annalis. You have been out of commission for quite some time.” She says, reaching out a comforting hand to give a reassuring pat to Annalisa’s hand before releasing the restraints from her arms and waist. “You did not handle the stasis very well.” She continues. “This is sometimes the case with recent recipients of regenerated limbs. You were placed in a medical comma after your revival from the initial stage of your journey to speed up your recovery.” The woman explained as she moved to check on the various monitors. “Luckily this was a successful choice and you have retained full functionality of your body. How is your arm now? Do you have full mobility and sensory function?” Annalis looked down at her left arm and saw that it was wrapped in protective webbing. She tentatively lifted it from the bed, as it felt like it did not belong to her. Tiny pricks of pain traveled from her shoulder to her finger tips as blood rush back to her arm causing her to gasp in discomfort. She saw the look of relief on the medics face since the response from Annalis assured her that the arm was indeed sending signals to Annalis’s sensory system. “I can feel it, but obviously there is some pain and an irritating tingling.” The woman reached out to check the pulse in her wards wrist. “That is reassuring. We only discovered late yesterday where the blockage was. Sometimes the stasis process caused this type of circulatory problem in newly grown appendices. If not controlled it could possibly have led to an embolism and even your death is we had not kept you immobile during the diagnosis and treatment.”

Now that her vision was completely restored, Annalis could have a good look around her surroundings. “This does not look like the stasis unit I was placed in before the Gambol jump to New London.” She murmured, voicing her confusion out loud. “No, you were moved from the Infinity three months ago.” The woman answered, giving Annalis a look of sympathy. “The space liner needed to continue the approach to New London, so before the shuttle window closed it was decided to move you for the continuation of your treatment and recovery. There are no advanced medical facilities on the Infinity to handle your prolonged adaptation problems and by the time they would reach New London it might have been too late to help you.” As she relayed this alarming news she made her way to the far wall of the medical facility and worked some controls located on the wall just outside of Annalis’s view. “Then where am I?” Annalis asked again as she strained her prone form to see what the woman was doing. The medic stepped back from the wall as a large panel began to slide to the right revealing an observation window covering the entire side of the bay. Annalis stared out at the view in amazement. There floating in an ebony sea, displaying all its glorious brilliance was the object of her obsession. “The Anomaly,” whispered Annalis, as she began to breathe again. “Welcome to the Phycodurus 8 professor.” The woman exclaimed as she moved back to the side of her patience bed to remove the remaining monitors attached to Annalis’s head and chest. Annalis stared out at the sight she had waited all her life to see with a mixture of amazement and confusion. ‘But what had happened to the other ship and the dark entity that haunted her over the past months?’ Annalis asked herself. “What about my kidnapping and the months aboard the industrial transport?” She asked out loud, deciding these were less alarming questions. “You were transferred directly here from the Infinity.” The medic answered with a look of concern. “The only other transport you have been on was the shuttle between.”

The joy kindled by the view of the Anomaly outside faded as Annalis’s distress increased. “What was going on?” she voiced shaking her head in disbelief. Was this reality or was she still aboard the freighter circling the dead satellite? Was this a new tactic being used by her kidnappers? She closed her eyes on the amazing vision of the Anomaly, concentrating on what she knew would be present so close to her research subject. Blocking out the concerned questions being voiced from her attendant, Annalis began the meditating mantra taught to her by her sister, slowing her breath and bringing her thoughts under control. As her panic calmed, she realized how easy it was. The ease of her ability to bring about this state convinced her that she was indeed in close proximity to the Anomaly. Still the uncertainty lingered. How could she know what was real and what might be the final step into insanity? Pulling herself back into the present, she opened her eyes to the concerned face of the medic who was still trying to get a response to her questions.

Annalis open her mouth to try and give an explanation to the woman when over the attendants left shoulder she saw two people enter the bay. Immediately she closed her mouth on the works and turned away, hiding her recognition. These were her kidnappers! Her confusion increased, but her doubts of her sanity were gone. Someone was manipulating her thoughts. She just needed now to figure out exactly where she was and the purpose of this manipulation. Whether she was on a ship around an unknown satellite or aboard the Phycodurus 8 was not clear, but one thing was. She was in close proximity to the Anomaly and it was helping her against her enemies.

Looking again at the creature floating outside, she knew where to find her answers.

Took a short trip back into prehistoric times to visit the hunebedden ( giant beds) built by the funnel beaker culture. Amazing sight in the north of the Netherlands. There are 52 in this area.