...And We Will Have Snow

Chapter 4-9: Spirit Drones

The room got very quiet. After a bit Mr. Green said, "Now I know why Dema asked me to be here. I exist in spirit form. I have not had a human body to schlep around in a very long time.

"For me this has been a deliberate choice. I choose to exist on the edge of the spirit world, not inhabiting a living body. From here I can help support life in all its forms.

"Dema and Cern are old friends. They choose to help perpetuate human life, to exist in support of the human world, but they too help support life in all its forms.

"Dema mentioned forest spirits. Those choose to exist in support of a forest community. Tengri's domes are another form of community life, like a forest but contrived to support human life. Bear sees the need for the human spirits who inhabit such communities to support them in return. He and Ray are creating a way to stir such spirits to this purpose.

"Now you speak of the use of golem bodies. The physical form I manifest here serves part of that function. But with Ray's QAR I no longer need it." 

There was a flutter and a flicker and Mr. Green smiled. He was still visible in QAR but he had released his thin substance to return to its sources.

"What hangs in the air among you now is the thought of Vlad, and how spirits like him could use these golem bodies, drone bodies, to inhabit the world in physical form without supporting natural life, even perhaps in defiance of it, in opposition to it. You wonder if it would be better if these drones did not exist, if you should resist the urge to use them in beneficial ways, for fear they might fall into the hands of those who would use them badly.

"I can tell you now that you can put aside those fears, not because the possibility doesn't exist, but because it already exists, whether you are aware of it or not. Just as life exists.

"For once an idea exists it becomes part of the world, part of the Q, and it will develop. We and all spirits like us will see to that. It may take a billion years and be glorious, as biological life has done. It may take a mere hundred years and upset the balance for a time. But if it can happen, it will happen. All we can hope to do is guide its happening."

Mr. Green closed his eyes. He seemed to think he had said enough.

Xayna spoke. "I am like the Haida goose girl who put aside her skin to be with her human lover. For a time it went well enough, but in the end she had to put her goose skin on again and go back to her natural place in the world. Her lover, to find her home, wore the skins of many animals, but in the end he too had to return to his own skin, his own place in the world. Like Mr. Green has said, it may take a long time or a short time, but each of us must find our own place in the world. If it helps to wear a different skin for a time, that is okay. In the end we will find our place, whether in this life or another."

Tengri said, "Words of wisdom. But our purpose now is to see where Bear's dream will take us. If drones can help us get there, I expect we will use them. And any other damned trick we can come up with.

"So. Ray. Where were we?"

Ray said, "We have learned that when Bear sees Xayna in his shaman dream, or Dema, or Cern, or even Mr. Green, the QAR picks up their images and feeds them to the rest of us through our lenses. That makes more feedback and the images get stronger. This means that Bear, or anyone who can respond to the presence of spirits the way he does, can make those spirits visible in QAR. It means that Bear's dream of what he could do in QAR to make the spirit of the domes real for people is surely going to work."

Drake leaned forward in his chair and spoke. "But it also means far more than that," he said. "It means that with QAR, the barrier that human cultures, and especially the culture of science and technology, have erected between the physical realm and the realm of spirit, can be broken. We can use it to reintegrate these realms."

"And you needn't worry overmuch about drones," said Mr. Green. "For the vast majority of spirits are benign or beneficial. Truly malignant spirits are few, and most of those fear the Q for what it could reveal about them. They hide themselves from others even in death. It will only be those who accept the spirit realm, reintegrate with it as Drake said, who will be able to link to a drone without already having a body, already being a drone. Sedna knows this. You all know this."

Kore said, "I wish Mom was here with us. I'm thinking she'd point out that if Sedna has it right, and we are all spirits operating drones to start with, then all living things are drones, and a drone we bring to life is living too."

Tengri nodded his acknowledgement of the truth of this.

Dema said, "I tried to get Mom and all the others to come, but they were all too busy. Cern and I have other matters to attend to as well. Sorry."

When Kore looked around she saw that Cern was already gone, and so was Mr. Green.

Tegri said, "The matter seems to be settled. Ray, Bear, I suggest you get some rest, and make a fresh start in the morning."

Bear had taken off his lenses, and Xayna's image was gone too, but he was looking at the chair where she had been as if he could still see her there.

Ray left with Cheryl, and Kore smiled as she watched Bear go up the stairs, his elbow crooked as if Xayna was at his side.