Eye of the Beholder

Chapter 3.4 Finding the Chamber

They are in the Q dream.

Sedna and Newt are there, along with Tengri, joined by  Bear and Xayna, Dema and Cern, Kore, Naga, Juan, Ryan, Rosita, all those they consider their closest shaman family.

Drake, Marian, Ray, Cheryl, Karen, Jack, others of the Coon Island crew who have become attuned to the Q, along with Zeke and many of the shifters from the Shell in the Sea of Cortez, are with them as well.

Sedna and Newt take the lead, linking to their drones on Mars, which gives everyone the Mars connection. Frogo, Dutch and Stovie have already flown their drones to the tube chamber where the tablet was found. So when Newt and Sedna activate the drones they left there, they all become joined in the QAR link. 

Almost immediately the miners become aware of the presence of many others, linked to Newt and Sedna. Some have never met each other in body. They all have a Q presence in the cave.

The miners are a bit mystified by this, for in spite of Tengri's talk they still believe that they are located in their bodies back in Houston, and the QAR link to their drones is some kind of subspace radio.

They are accustomed to being alone on Mars. They had not detected the presence of Sedna and Newt before they showed up with their drones. But this strong new presence was clearly not with them in Houston. Nor was it being transmitted over a QAR link.

All three of the miners now realize that, even for them, being on Mars is not just a drone presence. It is a Q dream presence. They are there. Once they accept that, they begin to become even more aware of their visitors, and how they can all help find the other chamber.

They start with the tablet, and Sedna's notion of what it says.

The idea is that the tablet will be their link, via the Q, to the other chamber it refers to.

For all those in the Q dream, the physical presence of the drones, their ability to pick up the tablet and examine it visually, focuses the shared dream on this local reality. They feel Sedna's link to the tablet and how that links them to the ancient presence of whoever wrote it. With all of them accessing this link, the path to the chamber referred to comes more into focus. 

Now immersed in the Q along with so many experienced dreamers, Dutch experiences the alternate reality vividly. He finds this ancient path familiar. He reminds Frogo and Stovie. Together they help the others understand how the ancient path relates to the present reality of the lava tubes.

Dutch is drawn deeper into the Q by this new understanding. He's been having dreams of exploring mazes all his life. Those dreams intensified when he started exploring Mars. He experiences a sort of deja vu when there. It seems to draw him back. Now he's getting a sense of how far back.

Dutch leads the way, following the overlap between his Q dream vision and his drone vision. Frogo and Stovie have linked their drones to his and are following after him. Dutch remains aware of, and thankful for, the support of all the observers in the Q. He knows that he is not alone, and that keeps him grounded in the present reality.

Sedna and Newt are not far behind, but their attention is only partly on the progress of their drones. They are open to the link that Dutch is revealing between the present and the past. Dema and Cern are also very aware of what Dutch is doing, having previously followed their own links to the past in a similar way.

Dema supports Dutch, reinforcing his link with her own sense that the path he follows is true. She understands the necessity of following the physical path, not just to accommodate the drones, but to not lose contact with the overlapping realities.

The way has led them out of the lava tube where the tablet was found, across the caldera, and into another tube heading more directly west. There are twists and turns, even a few divergences that cause momentary confusions. 

At last everyone realizes they are close. They are passing walls with cuneiform inscriptions, and even carvings depicting human-like beings. But these beings have other attributes that modern humans do not share. This edge of ancient reality is becoming more and more dreamlike. Bear and Xayna are comparing it to the knife-edge existence of the Haida. Some of the company have already found it too unsettling, and have pulled out. Others now appear to each other as ghosts in Mesopotamian garb.

Her awareness of what they are finding already enhanced by these links to the distant past, Sedna allows it to penetrate the depictions. She senses that the figures portrayed are not imaginary. These half-human ancient beings were shifters.