Nev took the extra pipe. Lighting it, he stared intently into Chepa's eyes. "No, nothing like that."
"What is it, then?"
"Well, I was wondering about this guy Ley Os. I know some of the other guys are excited about this Gem thing. But do you think it's safe?"
Chepa knocked the ashes from his own pipe and stuffed it into his pocket. "I’ve heard the same rumors you have. A lot of people in the Community have experienced its power Some say it's great. Others, well, some just haven't come back."
Nev looked out over the bay and then back at Chepa. His brow furrowed with a hint of anxiety. "You know what the High Council has said. They've ordered the Pirax to come down on those they suspect of using the stone."
"I know, I know. The High Council is always going to be that way. Any unknown factor, even if it's good, will be suppressed by them. " Chepa stopped for a moment and put his feet up on the boat's railing. Yes, there were problems with the stone. But he had convinced himself the potential good outweighed the negative aspects. He needed what the Gem promised. He needed something like the Mingus to lift him out of the dead and boring mold his music was falling into. "I think it'll be all right," he said with a sigh. "I don't have much to lose by trying it just one time."
"Perhaps you're right."
"I guess we'll see tonight," said Chepa. He sounded quite assured, but inside he still felt the same uncertainty that he could see in Nev's face. Avoiding further discussion, they sat quietly, Nev puffing on his pipe, as they waited for the rest to arrive.
Later, one by one, the group came down the pier carrying their instruments. Several of them needed help carrying the heavy power units, which magnified the sound. Together, they lugged the heavy cases into the main room of the houseboat.
The boat was perfect for their music. It was the last on the pier. Isolated from most of the other boats, it sat far enough out on the water that the sound of their amplified music didn’t disturb anyone. The main room of the houseboat was large. Bare wood beams stretched across the high ceiling. Glass windows enclosed one side and gave Chepa and the others a beautiful view of the inlet as the sun fell lower in the sky.
It was dark by the time Os arrived. By then all of them were a bit nervous. Ley slipped into the room with the poise of a diplomat and greeted each of them with a firm handshake and a knowing smile. "Good evening friends. I've been looking forward to our time together."
Chepa spoke for the rest of the group. "So have we. We were kinda afraid you weren't going to show."
"Oh yeah, I'm sorry I'm late. I had an interruption yesterday. I've been running behind ever since."
Chepa motioned for Ley to take a seat near the window. "That's all right. We're just glad you made it."
Os sat down slipping his pack off his shoulder. "Might as well start right now, since I am late. " Gathering around him, the others watched as Os brought out a silver container. "This is the Gem," he said, almost gloatingly. "One touch of it and a new mind, a new life, a new person. " He slowly lifted the lid off the case to reveal its contents.
Beautiful, thought Chepa, as he stared at the glowing jewel-like stone that rested in the silver box. "How does it work?"
Os carefully explained the technique for releasing its effects. "Right now, all of us are being touched by it, but the power will increase as you pick up the Gem and pass it over your forehead. Don't be afraid. This is one of the weaker varieties. It will be quite safe for your first voyage." Ley offered the Gem to Chepa first.
Hesitantly, Chepa lifted the stone from the silver box. He felt a slight tingle in the tips of his fingers. "I can feel its Power already." He moved the stone across his forehead as Ley had instructed. Leaning back in his seat, he watched as the others took their turns with the Gem. Nev was the first to react. He began laughing almost uncontrollably. Soon all of them joined him, giggling, and rolling around on the floor. Gradually this stage passed.
The Mingus effect increased. A sense of hopelessness momentarily overcame Chepa. He realized he could not stop what was about to happen to him. But his anxiety quickly vanished as a new and wonderful world enveloped him.
The colors in the room became more vivid. His sight became suddenly keener. He lifted his hand and gazed into his palm. He could see his pores and skin breathing. His body fluctuated between chills and warm flashes. He watched the others around him. All of them appeared to be experiencing the same thing. "This is crazy, isn't it, Nev?" His words seemed to echo off the walls as he spoke them.
"Yesssss..." responded Nev, "I can't quite take it all in. My whole body feels like its gone to sleep. Your face, Chepa, it's bending." Nev began to laugh and then abruptly stopped. Now I feel like I'm falling." He hesitated for a moment and then relaxed again. "I've stopped now."
The whole room began to Pulsate as though it was alive. Color and sound seemed to harmonize in a sensual symphony. Undulating waves of warmth flooded through Chepa's mind and emotions. He felt himself sinking into the soft cushion of his seat.
Ley advised them from time to time as they moved deeper into the experience. "Keep relaxing, everything is going fine."
Chepa found his body vacillating between extremes of peace and nervous anxiety. "It's like flowing down a river," offered Ley. "Release your fears, and leave them behind...drift." Ley's words had a penetrating comfort to them. "It's as though we are all floating on a gentle sea. The breeze has caught our sails and we're outward bound. Relax and release. Soon the flow will begin and then you'll understand." Ley's voice seemed like a firm, but gentle hand lifting them higher and higher above their fear.
Gradually, they began to talk again. "How long will this last?" questioned one of the others. "It seems like we've been here for hours."
"This is but a brief transition phase," answered Ley. "In a few moments, we'll be moving deeper. Your mind's beginning to absorb the Mingus impulses. Our voyage is just begun."
Chepa felt at ease again. He looked around. Things were different. The atmosphere seemed to glow. "There's a cloud of light filling the room. Can you see it?" His gaze fell on Os and stopped. "What is it, Ley? What's going on? Look! Your face is glowing." Looking away, Chepa glanced around the room. Everyone's face was radiant. But, as he turned back to Ley, it was evident that his face was brighter than all the rest. In fact, his whole body projected a hazy, soft hue of platinum. Suddenly, Chepa wondered how he ever could have doubted Ley's sincerity. He was filled with respect for this unusual man who had guided them to this moment of bliss.
"Continue to relax," Ley repeated again. "We are entering the maximum stage." Chepa and the others found themselves unable to sit up. Every molecule in their bodies seemed to have dissolved, and flowed into the stream of love that surrounded them. Above them, Chepa noticed an increased intensity in the light that pervaded the room. Like a rainbow waterfall spilling down over them, a river of light flowed into the room. As each cascading color washed over his body, Chepa felt himself becoming less and less aware of the room and the others until he lost all consciousness of them.
Hours passed. Vast webs of pastel lights collided with bright green, red, and yellow stars. Words to express his feelings were impossible. What was the use of vocabulary when words had lost their meaning? Thoughts would bubble to the surface of his mind and then burst with a seeming fragrance of herbs. His senses wove a lavish garment of pleasure that clung snugly to his body.
"We are about to enter the last phase," Ley's words rippled across the room. "This will be the time we have been waiting for. You'll be able to play music, music like you've never heard before...the song of dreams...like a cresting wave, it's coming."
Chepa's ears tingled as a faint melody echoed across them ...his mind began to create song after song. Riffs of poetic melody entwined his thoughts. He looked down at his body. He moved his hands, then his feet, as he pulled himself up. The others were soon standing also. They moved slowly over to their instruments. Chepa picked up his stam and began to strum it. The waves of sound almost knocked him to the floor. He had never heard sound so pure, so alive. "Did you hear that?" he asked. "It's beautiful. Beautiful, overwhelming, impossible."
Chepa began to play again. Soon the room was filled with sound. Each musician smoothly moved together. They played song after song. Old ones they had known for years. New ones they composed as they played. Each chord in the new progression accented the preceding one, harmony and rhythm built to a crescendo. As they sang, their voices blended with the ease of accomplished vocalists.
Let us take all our fears and cast them in the sea
Let us leave all the past,
Let us take up the key,
Open the shining door and run free, run free
Now is the hour to let it be, let it be.
"We've never played like this," shouted Nev above the throb of instruments as his fingers danced across the strings of his stam. "Everyone of us is in perfect unity. I've never been able to move my fingers like this." Nev was smiling, Chepa and the others were smiling, but Ley Os was smiling most of all.
The next evening they played again. Crowds thronged around them as they stood on stage in the Sea Sphere. People from all over Nerkush had come to hear them. Not only them, but other groups like them, groups who had stepped into the Mingus realm. Chepa looked out over the mass of people who had jammed the auditorium. Eager people, he told himself, looking for what we have. He gloated inwardly, assured that he would give them even more than what they came for. This was the beginning of a new Nerkush.
Throughout the evening music climaxed and fell time and time again. Soon everyone in the room entered into the same ecstasy that the group felt. As a united body, people swayed and rocked with the pulses of music. The time had passed for them to listen to the Fathers. They had their own lives to live.
I've been forced in a mold like an ingot that's been cast,
I've kept the empty rituals and worn them like a mask,
But it's become an empty foolish task,
Let us leave them, not believe them, we're free, free at last.
Undulating bodies echoed his words. They wanted freedom, liberation. And it would be theirs now. He looked around the room. Lonely children, searching for more than mother's shallow affection and father's sheltered discipline. They pleaded for life. The Law of the Fathers had restrained them long enough, and now was the time to make their own world. Chepa would help them and so would Ley Os.
The room began to glow with a radiance that bathed everyone in a gentle light. A shower of ethereal stars, unseen by most, fell onto those swaying on the floor beneath the stage. As they did, each person swirled or twitched in delight. Chepa watched with an aloof sense of knowing. Very few of them understood what was happening to them. But Chepa knew, he could see it. He could see brilliant stars of energy dancing over the heads of the people. Yet one thing was hidden from him. There was one strange phenomenon that seemed to avoid his gaze. Beyond the vision of his eyes, dark and evil forms quietly waited, hiding safely within each of the radiant lights.