Chapter 29: Power and Evil

Storm followed Prince around the hill and down into the little valley that had been the site of their picnic. Udit was riding Prince, and Sean was riding Storm. Under normal circumstances, a six month old horse wouldn't be ridden but the weight of a year old baby wasn't enough to hurt the colt. Storm was larger than other six month old colts too. He was nearly as large and sturdy as a yearling. Sean wasn't exactly a normal rider either. He didn't need reins to guide Storm. The only tack he needed was a lightweight saddle that Udit had designed and built for him. All the saddle consisted of was several blankets sewn together with a cinch and stirrups to help him balance. Storms backbone was sharp so Sean appreciated the extra padding.

Lightning led the little group and had spotted three snakes close to the trail on their way to the creek. The big dog had learned the smell of the reptiles at Sean's insistence.

Sean had explained it to Lightning. "I can't sense snakes, boy," Sean said as he scratched behind the dogs ears. "That means you're the only protection I have from them. I need you to learn their smell and be on the lookout for me. Don't hurt them unless they are a danger to us. Just let me know when one is present." He felt the warm reassurance and sense of agreement from the big dog. Sean didn't know how he could tell what Lightning was thinking but, like so many other things in his life, he just accepted it.

Sean was nervous as he sat beside the creek with Udit. "Are you sure you don't want to wait on the other side of the hill? It might be a little safer."

Udit shook his head and said, "I'm fine right here. Do you have a plan?"

Sean nodded and said, "Sort of, I think I do."

Udit snorted and said, "That sounds more like a hope than a plan. Do you remember the saying about planning?"

"Nobody plans to fail, but they often fail to plan," they recited in unison.

Udit nodded in approval and said, "What will you do first?"

Sean frowned at the water in the creek for a moment before saying, "First, I will meditate. I will do one of Aunt Susan's 'system checks' to make sure everything inside me is in order and calm and to help me track any changes that are caused by the experiment." They had discussed what had happened to all of them during the last incident.

Udit nodded again so Sean continued. "Next, I want to look at the water we brought with us. Then I'll look at the water in the creek. I don't want to do anything with it yet. Just look at it. I've been thinking about this a lot Udit. I don't think it's a doing issue that keeps me from accessing the power in normal water. I think it's a seeing issue. I can thread a needle in the light but it's harder to do in the dark, but not impossible. The issue with the water is kind of the same. For some reason I could see the bonds in the structure of the water in the creek. I can't, or haven't figured out how to see the structure of the water at the ranch. I tried to look at the water in town too. It's even worse than at the ranch. I looked at Lynx Lake when we drove past it. I can see it almost as well as I can Turkey Creek. I looked at rain water again too. I can see it better than tap water, and better than I can see Lynx Lake but not as well as I can see Turkey Creek. It doesn't make sense to me. Once I understand the difference, I will try to draw energy from the water again."

"So, what is your goal today?" Udit prodded.

Sean smiled and said, "Goals. I have two goals today."

"Okay," Udit said smiling back. "What are they?"

"First, I want to find out why there is a difference in what I can see in the water," Sean explained. "Learning anything to do with water is a waste of time if I can't apply it to all water. Second, I want to try to draw power from the water like I did before but in a more controlled way. I think I know a way to put a brake on the, um, conversion process so it's more controlled."

"It sounds like you've thought it out," Udit said smiling. He sobered and said, "I'm not going anyplace so, let me know if I can do anything to help." Sean only nodded his thanks but Udit felt the warmth of the boy's love for him.

Sean settled himself into a lotus position. Despite Udit's rant when he started the family on meditation, Sean had discovered a good reason to use the lotus form. Meditation while sitting was difficult because he fell over when he wasn't monitoring his body. The lotus position used the way his body was constructed to hold him in an upright position and stable position. It allowed Sean to let his mind go wherever it needed to go without concern for his body.

Sean's 'system check' didn't take long because he knew his body in a way seldom achieved, even by masters of meditation. Today he added something to his normal process though. He paid particular attention to his brain. He couldn't see his own thoughts or his own neurons firing, but he could see the way blood flowed and the blood vessels expanded or contracted. He wanted to know if he caused a change to himself this time and, if so, what that change was.

Reaching out to the rushing water of Turkey Creek was the work of a moment and he viewed the water curiously, but cautiously. Sean looked at the water they brought with them and compared them side by side in his mind's eye. He tried shifting views of the two samples but the difference continued to elude him. He tried magnifying the views simultaneously with the same result. Sean was aware of the shifting heat of the sun on his body as it rose higher in the sky and he held both samples of water so they were in the sun. He didn't see an immediate difference but, after a moment it was there. The water from the ranch shifted slightly as sunlight struck it.

Sean tamped down a feeling of excitement and reviewed what he knew and what he felt from the previous experiment. He had used information gained from plants. Plants used the energy from the sun in photosynthesis to process the water and carbon dioxide into a form of energy they could use releasing oxygen in the procedure. So, what happened to the water from the ranch when it was placed in the sunlight? What changed and why did it change? Photons striking the structure of the water, but neither sample was pure water.

A feeling of contentment permeated Sean as he manipulated the cloudy sample of water while allowing sunlight to flow through it. Impurities were not an issue if sunlight was allowed to strike and burn away the transient traces of pollutants like chlorine.

Sean roused himself and looked at Udit with a smile. "We put Clorox in the holding tanks at home don't we?"

Udit nodded before saying, "Everyone does. That's how we keep our holding tanks on the reservation clean too. There are commercial sterilizers we could use but they're expensive. A cup of Clorox in 500 gallons of water kills any germs and controls the algae on the inside of the tank."

Smiling, Sean said, "It wasn't just the pollutants like the chlorine. It was them in combination with the lack of sunlight. Sunlight can change the pollutants so the water is, not pure, but, better." Sean shook his head at his lack of words to explain himself and said, "That isn't right either. I don't know how to explain it but I think I know how to use the ranch water now. I know what I need to work around to get to the energy."

Udit smiled and asked, "Would you like to have lunch first?"

Sean looked around and noticed that it was nearly noon. He smiled and said, "Sure. What did you bring to eat?"

"Me? I thought you brought lunch," Udit said laughing as he set his saddle bags next to Sean.

The man and boy sat facing the creek again after lunch. "First, I'm going to work with the creek water," Sean said. "I need to be able to control the energy reaction and the creek water is easier to work with. If you see me glowing like you said I did last time, tell me to stop. Push me if I don't stop." Udit nodded acceptance and Sean's face grew calm as he slipped into his meditation state.

His mind explored the molecules and examined the bonds that held the hydrogen and oxygen together to make the water. Sean was amazed at the simplicity of such a complex process. He knew that men were working on developing the technology for solar panels and searching for energy efficient ways of breaking these bonds, yet plants did it on a daily basis. Sean thought of the process the plants used and expended a bit of energy to nudge a molecule of carbon dioxide into the bond between the hydrogen and oxygen. The bonds parted and Sean quickly prevented the process from continuing to a nearby water molecule. He noted the carbohydrate byproduct that a plant would use but let it float away. It would enrich the water downstream and a plant would benefit. What Sean was interested in was the pure oxygen and hydrogen atoms and the tiny jolt of energy he felt as the bond between the atoms was released. He was surprised that one molecule could have that kind of impact on his nervous system. He studied the process and effect in his mind before deciding to try it again.

Sean tried five molecules, then ten, and then fifty. Sean was watching himself internally as the trickle of energy flowing into his body grew to a torrent. He heard Udit's shout and throttled down on the process until it stopped completely. He opened his eyes and smiled at Udit before saying, "I can control it because now I know why it works."

Udit nodded in obvious relief and said, "That's fine but did you have to push it to the limit?"

"Sure," Sean said with a grin. "How else was I going to keep you awake?"

"Are we done here?" Udit asked grumpily. He couldn't stay mad at the boy when he grinned like that.

"Nope. I've got to try the same thing with the ranch water," Sean said with a slight frown as he looked at the large, round canteen of water. "I think I want to leave the water in the canteen so the sun can't hit it. There is still chlorine in it from the ranch. I want to try it before the sunlight starts cleaning it."

Udit sighed before looking at the sun. "We only have a couple of hours left before we need to head back to the ranch. I promised Martha that we would be back before dark. I don't want to worry her. Okay?"

"Me neither," Sean confirmed. "It shouldn't take too long."

Sean took a drink from the canteen before settling it on his lap and relaxing. The water still seemed cloudy but Sean was prepared for it this time. His mind gently grasped the fuzzy ball that he knew was a water molecule and carefully merged a molecule of carbon dioxide. He was rewarded with the now familiar jolt of power. Sean smiled to himself as he repeated the process with another molecule then a batch of molecules.

"Sean, you're glowing again," Udit said loudly as he nudged the boy.

Opening his eyes, Sean smiled and said, "It does work. Now, for one more experiment." Sean stood and looked around the little valley.

Sean reached with his mind and explored the various animals he found. The desert mountains looked empty, but they were full of life. Rabbits and field mice and small birds and more. And bugs. There were thousands of them. He reached as far as he could with his own energy and reveled in each life that he found. Sean worshiped life in all its forms and viewed each instance of life, from the smallest bug to the largest animal, as diamonds in creations crown. He tried to reach farther but could only reach a little farther than the crest of the hills surrounding the little valley, a range of a couple of miles in diameter.

Touching the water in the canteen, Sean started drawing energy and fed that power into his reach, and it exploded outward. He felt BB and Sheila at the ranch which was miles away. He quickly averted his attention from them. Seth had given him some very stern lectures on privacy. Sean reached Uncle Ben's and Aunt Liz's house and felt them along with his Momma and Poppa. They were packing some of Ben and Liz's belongings that they would need for the next few weeks while staying at the ranch. He felt campers in the mountains escaping the rigors of their daily grind in the city. One man was trying to set up a tent with his son. The man was on crutches with a broken leg and having a hard time with the tent. Sean gently brushed his mind over the man and focused on the leg. It was all but healed when Sean moved on. He continued until he reached the edges of Prescott, more than twenty miles away, as the crow flies. Leaving his awareness extended, Sean pulled a tendril of consciousness back to examine himself. He wanted complete control of the experiment this time. Sean became aware that he was panting. He heard Udit yelling something and calmed him with another tendril of thought. Sean pulled all his attention back after studying how his awareness had been able to split itself for different tasks.

Studying himself internally, Sean did see some changes. The most obvious was his growth and the amount of reserves his body had used. Most human bodies store some fat as reserves for when extra effort is needed as a evolutionary remnant of when mankind lived a feast or famine existence. It is especially apparent in babies because they store fat before a growth spurt. Sean had recovered some of his baby fat since the last incident at Turkey Creek. It looked like he would need to start rebuilding again. His biggest surprise was when he looked at his blood flow going to his brain. The veins feeding the back of his brain was larger and the capillaries branching off of them had multiplied by the thousands.

"Whoops," Sean muttered aloud. He took a deep breath and let it out before opening his eyes. Udit was looking at him with a stunned expression.

As soon as Udit saw his eyes open he calmly asked, "What did you do to me."

"You were excited and were yelling something," Sean replied. He shook his head and said, "I calmed you so you wouldn't hurt yourself while I tried to figure out what happened."

"Okay," Udit said slowly, and calmly. "First things first. Don't ever do that to me again. Ever! Do you understand?" His voice was calm but his words had a steel edge. "If you do I will leave you. I don't want you to do it to anyone. That is what the Brujos do to their victims. Do you understand how it violates a person to make them do something they don't want to do?"

Sean looked at the ground embarrassed and nodded his head. "I wasn't trying to make you do something you didn't want to do, Udit. I just didn't want you to hurt yourself. You're heart rate was very high. Your blood pressure was climbing. You're emotions were in a knot and you were in a near panic. I was worried about you," Sean mumbled.

"Humph," Udit grunted before standing. "I was in a panic and for a good reason. You were glowing again. You were glowing even brighter than you were the last time. Except the last time everything around you started glowing when you started feeding the excess energy that you couldn't handle to everyone. You didn't start feeding it to anyone or anything else this time. I was afraid ... I was afraid that you were burning yourself out."

Sean looked at him curiously for a moment and asked, "Is that possible? I mean, could I draw so much energy that I would burn myself out and just be a normal kid?"

Udit looked at the boy with a knowing sympathy. Sean somehow looked older than he did earlier. He looked leaner too. Udit sighed and said, "I don't know if it's possible to burn yourself out. If it is possible, I don't know if it would kill you, leave you alive but as an empty husk, or as a normal boy. I would seriously doubt the last option would be the result."

"I guess a thirty three percent chance of success isn't good enough to take a chance with is it?" Sean mumbled.

"You shouldn't be faced with questions like this until you're older," Udit said tiredly. "The responsibility that you're facing is forcing you to consider questions like this though. He looked down at the boy and placed a hand on his shoulder.