Kieran waved a hand dismissively. “Imitators obsessed with externals and trivia. Such things affect me to the degree that I allow them to. The truly empowered mind controls its body and itself totally.”
Marissa seemed impressed. “You must be from a very rare kind.”
“Haven’t we already established that?”
“So why are you here?”
“I told you in my letter: to enlist your help in warning your father and his agents against the consequences of interfering with the workings of a superior science that this culture does not yet understand.”
“What’s a `khal’? I tried looking it up but couldn’t find it.”
“It’s related to `khan,’ which means ruler or leader, but relates more to the world of the spiritual than of mundane human affairs.”
“I see.”
“An obscure central Asian word.”
Marissa stared at him, her eyes round and searching, as if expecting a sudden revelation. “Is this superior science the `hidden realms’ that your letter talked about?” she asked.
“Yes, exactly.”
“It said you were coming to instruct about them. Very well, I’m listening.”
Kieran made an expansive motion with his hands, then brought them together as if illustrating the challenge of having to sweep much into a small space. “The universe that today’s science imagines to be all is but an infinitesimal part of what exists. The vaster reality contains all that has happened, will happen, and could happen—all of it equally real, just as all the frames of a movie are equally real. Consciousness provides the illumination that focuses on one part, creating what we think of as the `present.’ ”
Marissa looked intrigued. “Is this the many-worlds picture that they get out of quantum mechanics? I know something about it.”
“I prefer not getting tied down to such restrictive language. Scientists have uncovered the workings of the backstage machinery that creates the illusion, but they see it only as technicians. They miss the point of what the performance is about.”
“You mean it serves a purpose.”
“Of course.”
“What?”
“A learning environment. The fleeting lives that mortals experience are courses charted through the totality of possibilities by personas that souls create, in such circumstances and of such natures as the soul needs to heal and to grow. When the experience is complete, the persona is discarded but the lesson remains imprinted. You could think of them as characters in a role-playing game.”
“You’re talking about whoever created and directed the movie—what their purpose was,” Marissa observed.
“A good way to put it,” Kieran agreed.
“I knew it! So tell me more.”
“The branchings that lead to all possible outcomes make morally meaningful choices possible. We can decide the kind of future we steer toward.”
“Um . . .” Marissa needed to think about that. “More than a rock or a fish can, anyway,” she said finally.
“You are correct. Ability to direct will is what really evolves. With the progressive emergence of consciousness, pure randomness gives way to volition.”
Marissa was following intently. This was clearly a subject that fascinated her. As an imaginative and clearly far from stupid, doted-on daughter, Kieran could see how she could be an influence on Hamilton. “But not just as individuals,” she said. “We’re social animals too, right? So we create ways of steering collectively.”
Kieran sat forward and nodded emphatically. “But . . . there was a culture of old that could shape their future in more ways than just by their collective policies and actions. They were able to manipulate the probabilities of physical reality to favor outcomes that they deemed desirable. Do you see what that means?” He allowed a few seconds for effect. “To anyone who didn’t know what was going on, it would appear as if chains of improbabilities and unlikely coincidences were conspiring to drive events in unlikely directions. Strange happenings; inexplicable accidents . . .” He gave her the most gurulike glare that he could muster, intense and fixating, and let her think about it.
The blue eyes widened and rounded. “Accidents happening to people who interfered. Strange `curses.’ ” Marissa’s voice fell almost to a whisper. “Plagues . . .”
Kieran nodded gravely. “Except that they wouldn’t be curses or anything mystical. Just misinterpretations of a deeper working of reality . . . And the Ancients left the power behind them in their works. That’s what your father’s agents in the desert are up against. And the consequences will spread back to those who sent them if the warning is ignored.”