...And We Will Have Snow

Chapter 2-2: Dema on Q

Word spread fast. Everyone wanted Dema to tell them what she did, and explain how she did it. She wondered if she could explain it, especially so those with no shaman experience would understand. She put them all off by saying she would try to explain it after dinner, when they were gathered in the lounge.

Cern knew, of course. Her shaman link to him was strong, and he could pretty much read her mind when she allowed it, which she did. She told him she was counting on him for backup if she got stumped by a question.

Besides, while she had the ability to share the awareness of a snake or other animal, and become familiar enough with it to take on its form herself, Cern's similar ability helped him to understand people, their needs and fears, and help them resolve their issues.

The issue they all had right now was that Dema had shown them it was possible to use Ray's link to summon from the Q a detailed image of something related to their own ideas. But she had also shown them they could share ideas in a way never before possible. Sure, those with the shaman awareness were in some sense telepathic to a degree. But with the computer in the feedback loop they could now store their dream images, and play them back for others.

At least, that was the hope, the excitement. It was what everyone had been buzzing about all afternoon. Dema could do it. Could they do it too?

Dema knew they could. But in order to do it, they had to know they could. How to convey this in a way that inspired confidence rather than doubt? This was the question Dema had been stewing over.

With everyone comfortably seated in the lounge and beginning to barrage her with questions, Dema held up a hand and said, "I may have said this before to some of you, but let me start at the beginning.

"The first thing I realized was that the reason the VR presence feels so real when you're immersed in it is that it is real. Like everything else, it isn't really out there, it's in here." When she said this she waved a hand at the room, then pointed to her own head.

"But Drake told us that 'in here' doesn't actually mean inside our heads. It means in the plenum, in the Q.

"I knew he was right because one of my shaman tricks is to go out of my body. When I'm out there I still know what I know, I can still think. My mind is connected to my physical brain, controls my body through my brain, receives inputs from my brain. But it is not in my brain. It's in the Q."

She saw puzzled looks on some faces, but she was expecting that and was ready for it. She looked at those faces as she said, "If you'd seen half of what I've seen you'd know that already. But the neatest thing about what Ray has done is that you don't have to do the shaman trick. Just put on the VR gear and you'll find out.

"All I had to do when I was in there was to use my own shaman dream to shape the VR display. Ray's link to the Q made that easy, because it gave me such strong feedback I didn't have to work at holding it there. I could focus on what I wanted to change, like getting rid of all the extra snaky things that showed up and making what was left match my dream.

"That was pretty easy too. I guess it's what we do all the time, tell the Q what we want to see. With Ray's link to show me what I was thinking, it got very real. Spooky real."

She stopped, and laughed out loud. "I don't believe I just said that! But that's exactly right. It's spooky real."

There were a lot of blank looks, then dawning "Ohs" and smiles and those who got it explaining it to those who didn't. She watched until all of them were smiling and talking to each other about it. Then she turned to Cern and said, "I think we're done here. Pretty easy room, actually."