Chapter 27

Time: Sunday, July 8, 2007 6:09 PM Eastern Daylight Savings Time

Melanie and I got back to our condo from Logan airport in the early evening, carrying bags that felt a lot lighter than they looked. Still, we were both pretty tired, and once the door was closed Melanie smiled at me and asked for one of my patented "instanta" showers. They're a lot faster than regular showers, remove all dirt down to the quantum level, and don't waste any water. What's not to like?

Melanie then surprised me by changing into a swimsuit, and asking me sweetly if she could have a demo of the backrub I gave her sister. We were both on our bed a short time later. While I massaged Melanie's back, I gave her a detailed description of my time with Patricia.

"Oh, my poor sister..." Melanie gave a deep sigh. "Are you sure?"

"No, but I think I'm right. It's micro scarring, I think she'll be able to have children fine. I just got the strong impression that the scar lines were caused by a scraping..."

Melanie shook her head. "I was just as horrible a sister to her as she was to me. I look back at my childhood and I'm ashamed of myself."

"Melanie, it's not your fault. It's one of the dangers children face when they're dependent on wacky adults. The children don't have the ability to recognize the wackiness. Your parents have been training you to compete with Patricia since you were born."

"Oh, I know. One of the last things our counselor said to me was how unique she found my situation, in that she found my parent's behavior both totally shocking and totally legal. It's not against the law to manipulate people. Laws prohibit certain actions, while manipulation is the attitude behind the actions. How could you ever write a law against an attitude? Take an otherwise legal action and make it illegal because of a sick attitude associated with it? Eric..."

"Yeah?"

"I've been wondering. With the fantastic intimacy that you have, when you lock Patricia's or my body. Can you read our minds?"

"No, not at all. Actually, I've been doing a lot of thinking about this. It might be my first clue about the origin of all this power..."

I felt Melanie tense under my massage. "What?! What do you mean?"

"The origin for all this power, and what's controlling its growth... It's not just my mind I can't focus back on. I can't lock anybody's mind."

"Huh?" Melanie sounded perplexed. "But when you accelerate, if the rest of your body is pushed but your brain is not, why doesn't your brain get crushed?"

"Oh, I don't mean the brain Melanie. I said the mind."

"Huh?... Go on..."

"I can lock my brain, your brain. Last week I locked Patricia's brain. They all look pretty similar. They are fantastic neural networks, full of convolutions, structures and neural activity. But all of that is just the foundation. Side by side with all the neural activity is the most amazing thing in the universe... It's some sort of self-organizing resonance of light, billions of billions of virtual photons resonating and self-organizing in the water in the brain's micro-tubular threads..."

"You can see this phenomenon in your brain?"

I nodded. "Very dimly; it's totally un-lockable. Fortunately it travels with the brain. I don't need to lock it before moving my body. Melanie, I see it your brain too, Patricia's too."

"Oh... But do you at least see a difference in your brain?"

"No, not really..."

"Huh? But you are so different."

"I suppose... but I can't see any difference. The resonance phenomenon is totally un- lockable, I can't sense much more than the fact it's there, but your mind and Patricia's feel just like mine."

"Hmm... And what do you think the resonance is?"

"Well, if I had to guess, I think it's the core of our free will. I think it's the core of our consciousness."

"Virtual photons, huh?"

"Yeah, a self-organizing quantum resonance of virtual photons, dancing the most intimate dance in the universe with all neurons and structures of the brain. I don't think I'd ever be able to read someone's mind or lock someone's free will without locking that quantum resonance first, and it seems impervious. I don't think it is lockable."

Melanie turned quiet as I continued the backrub. She finally sighed and said, "Perhaps it's just as well, Eric. Locking someone's free will... would destroy it, or at least pervert it, the ultimate mind control. That would be monstrous."

"Yeah..." I finished working the muscles of her middle and upper back. I moved my hands down to the small of her back and massaged the muscles leading into the upper part of her buttocks. Eventually I drifted lower, gripping her slippery swimsuit with my fingers and kneading my thumbs into her tailbone. Melanie sighed in the pleasure and lifted up her rump for me. It was a very sexy gesture, and it brought back a sharp memory of Patricia doing the same thing for me.

"Ah, this massage on my butt feels heavenly Eric, and very sexy. You didn't do this with Patricia, did you?"

"Well..."

"Eric! Sweetie, you did?!"

"Uh... yeah..."

"Oh... Eric, I trust you, I really do. But what were your thoughts?"

I stopped the back massage and started caressing Melanie's rump and the backs of her thighs. "I didn't pet her like this, of course... But about massaging her upper rump... I guess I did. We both knew it wouldn't go any further... It's kind of hard to explain..."

Melanie sighed deeply. I could feel her relaxing; feel the tension leave her legs as I petted the backs of her thighs. "Eric, I really do trust you. If you want, we can drop the issue..."

"No... Actually, I want to tell you. Massaging Patricia, it was more than just a backrub. We were bonding. We were both using my backrub to bond to each other. I wasn't desiring sex from Patricia, and she accepted that. And yet, we're both heterosexual. I could never have done this if she were your brother. We find each other physically attractive. The attraction helped us to bond."

"Ah... I think I see... And I approve... Here, wait a second." Melanie rose up and took off her swimsuit, and then lay back down. "Please continue."

Two months later...

Time: Monday, August 27, 2007 5:30 PM EDT