NINE TIME MACHINES: Do you want to undo your entire life on planet earth?

CHAPTER 196

"One more thing before I go," she says, and I almost jump out of my skin.

"What's that?" I whisper, and she covers my eyes with her hands.

"Pay special attention to what only your eyes can see."

"I see a red throne."

"And now?" She presses harder.

"It's almost as though its paint is softening, and pulling away, separating itself somehow."

"What else do you see?"

"The throne's still red but the paint is bubbling, growing even, rising like a volcano now."

"Look closer."

"I am. But you're hurting my eyes," I protest.

"Forget the damn pain, Mary! Focus on what the red throne wants you to see."

"Okay," I say perturbed. "It's forming into a body. Not sure if it's a man or woman."

"And how about now?"

"It's melting, falling into some sort of V pattern," I say in awe. "Now it's rising again."

"Good. I think you've seen enough for now."

"What the hell!" I say after she relaxes her grip. "Well, I need more. At least tell me why?"

"You saw a body rising and falling. What's left to explain?"

"Bodies don't just grow out of chairs. How about we start there?"

"What do you think it means?" she counters. "Answer well and maybe I'll add to it."

"I don't know. Life and death, maybe?"

"Then why is it rising after a fall? Shouldn't it just end with the first fall?"

"Maybe in the real world. But around here you people like to play with reality."

She laughs. "Or it could mean that every time someone rises another one falls."

"Now it's my turn to laugh."

"No doubt you have a better explanation this time."

"People only leave clues to what's unanswered. And for me, that's many things. But let's start with that third level in the hierarchy I asked about. Your big secret."

"You think the red throne represents that third level?"

"Intuition says it does. Tell me I'm wrong. I dare you."

"You're right! But I won't let you bully anything else out of me."

"Why'd you show it to me then?"

"Because sometimes when you give a person what they long for the most, you get to benefit from their gratitude for as long as they live," she replies coyly. "Now; you can leave."