EDGE OF DAY

CHAPTER TWELVE

Will broke into the first office and got the oxygen generator going within five minutes. He strolled through the empty, open space. She followed him, noticing the blinds on the mirrored windows, the sprinkling of dust that had crept in from unseen cracks. Paper flyers lay in strange piles across the floor, which, along with the two-dimensional interface screens, dated the place at least twenty-five years. 

 Will sat down in the middle of the room, rested his hands on his crossed legs and closed his eyes. She watched him for a minute. They were on the run from the police and he was meditating.

 "Aren't you afraid, if we're caught not, and it's me instead of Monday, that I'll blow everything?"

 She watched the rise and fall of his chest as he inhaled deeply. "What will be, will be. Maybe in this version of all the probable parallel universes we don't make it. That's a valid option. There's no judgment. No right and wrong. We make it, or we don't make it; the outcome is unimportant."

 "So why are you bothering?"

 "Because I believe it's beneficial for us to try. I believe it will be relevant and beneficial to the population of earth for us to find out what's on Mars."

 "And if you get killed or imprisoned in a tiny cage orbiting the moon for fifty years, you're fine with that?"

 "Dying is another way of letting go. You stop attempting to control the universe from your small person point of view and let the universe carry you."

 Day shook her head and began pacing in front of where he sat in the lotus position.

 "Couldn't we do something more useful? Like at least try to get away?"

 "You've watched a couple of my videos. The first principle of transforming your life is understanding the external environment is a mirror. If you want to change what is being reflected at you, you change yourself. You don't alter the reflection."

 "You're full of crap."

 He smiled. "The entire world is full of crap. Nobody knows anything. Admit that to yourself, then let go."

 It felt like a challenge. He was implying she couldn't let go. He thought she was highly strung. Next to him, a lizard would seem stressed out.

 "Fine." She sat down, crossed her legs, and closed her eyes.

 "Take a deep breath," he said. "And let it out." She did as he instructed, rolled her head over her neck, working though the muscle tension.

 "Another deep breath and let it out. Good. Now relax your mind. As thoughts rise up let them drift into your awareness and out again. Let all sense of resistance in your body go. There is nothing you have to do right now, so you don't need to strain. The whole universe exists without your effort to keep it going. It doesn't need your effort."

 For a moment, the office slipped away. Day felt herself retreating inwards to a restful quietness . A quietness that didn't care about Ed Lang lying in her bed night after night, about the explosion at the shopping mall, or the police looking for her. She was relaxing deeply into his words, when a loud propeller noise jerked her attention back.

Her eyes flipped open. Will opened his eyes at the same time. A smile broke across his face.

 "Good job," he said, standing up. He gave her a hand to help her to her feet. She turned, wondering what he was talking about. Through the one-way window a droid on an old fuel motorbike was cruising past, slowly eyeing up the buildings.

 "Come on," Will said.

 He jogged towards the exit and Day followed. Out in front of the office entrance he shouted and waved his hands. The motorbike circled around and came back.