Chapter 2: The Dance

Time unknown and irrelevant – The Energists' Universe

Upon our arrival back in the Energists alternate universe, I asked why it didn't feel like I was there watching Kaleigh and my family for almost three weeks. The Energists seemed befuddled by my question as I could now sense in them some distress. They shut me out of their communication loop for a moment as they worked on some type of problem without my knowledge.

When they allowed me to rejoin their telepathic form of communicating, they once again reminded me that my previous earthly concept of time wasn't a real constraint in their unique universe. I appeared confused for a moment at hearing this and they then determined that any prior knowledge of their universe, which they shared with me in my old universe did not survive the hyper-journey to their universe.

As the Energists briefly pow-wowed amongst themselves, I was left to ponder why fate selected me to be their human instructor. As I just found out from the Energists, time had no real meaning here and I was able to slog through that philosophical conundrum at my leisure. I worked through the steps from my past that lead me to the Energists' portal on Hwy 216 in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. After integrating all the separate memories into one comprehensive picture, the only logical answer I could come up with that paved my way to the Energists was that damn Van Halen song When It's Love.

As I scanned my memories associated with getting myself claimed by the Energists, I knew it was the moment I fell completely and madly in love with Kaleigh Plyer, which set me on my current path. It was that eternity lasting 10 seconds, where my blonde goddess stood statue solid still. She had her hands clasped behind her head and her elbows pulled back and her golden blonde hair was fanned out creating an angelic halo around her smiling face.

With her arms pulled back like they were, her awe inspiring full breasts were thrust up and outward towards me. To top this all off, Kaleigh's incredible breasts were completed by the most awesome and shapely pink, puffy nipples I had ever seen. Her nipples were long, hard and were begging me to move to them and suckle them. Kaleigh's heavy breathing from her dance routine lifted her perfectly formed female mounds slightly, teasing me to near madness then. I recalled somehow resisting that awesome temptation to go to her during those fateful 10ish seconds.

What if I had moved to her and taken her right then? Would she have thought I was only interested in her smoking hot body, instead of showing her how spellbound in love with her I was or was to become? Would our life together or selfishly, would my life have changed if I 'sexually attacked' her? God, I just don't know. Could I honestly accept not having Kaleigh in my life for that way too short period of time?

The second piece of evidence, which led me to that fateful moment, was the time I watched Kaleigh's birthday present DVD. Again, I became mesmerized by her at that exact moment in her striptease routine. This time it wasn't Kaleigh's killer body or those awesome breasts/nipples which captured my heart. As I recalled, her sparkling turquoise eyes, her snow white teeth and her dainty exposed earlobe with its gleaming diamond stud encapsulated my entire being. That frozen image on my TV screen was the perfect picture of my perfect girl.

When I recreated that image of Kaleigh, I called to mind my exact thoughts, which I truly believe led me to my current isolated situation. They were, "If I had only one picture with me on a deserted island, that image, that picture right there from her neck up, would be the one I'd want to have with me."

Could there be a more absolutely deserted island than what I'm in/on or whatever this is, right now? Not even Tom Hanks in Castaway could truly commiserate with me at this time. While he was on that island, he had hope, a slim chance of returning to his 'world'. I AM the perfect castaway here with the Energists.

The final point of proof for my 'blaming' Van Halen and their song for my current situation arose when Kaleigh was suddenly and shockingly surprised by her frozen image on my TV screen. It was then, as I explained how and more importantly why I had her naked image frozen on my TV, that we both came to realize we were meant to be with each other. Even when one of us screwed up royally, the other was kind and compassionate, not bitchy or full-on accusational. It was at that moment in time when I came to effortlessly accept that we were like peas and carrots, similar to Forrest and Jenny. Because I could see the joy and love in Kaleigh's frozen image, and she saw it too, we instantaneously knew our fates were sealed together over that one split second image, frozen for all eternity in my current lot in life.

After all this self-analyzing of how my past led me to being isolated from my people and serving as the Energists' sole instructor, I had to ask myself. 'Would I change that key moment, do something like I previously thought about doing? Would that different action have led to my separation from Kaleigh and ultimately my not being claimed by the Energists?'

Even though time had no real hold on me in this universe, it didn't take me but a micro-nano second of earthly time to determine my honest answer. I would willingly, while still being grievously saddened, take this absolutely true deserted environment a billion times2 over to have those exact same 37+ days with Kaleigh 'my Star' Plyer.

As I smiled to myself after arriving at that conclusion within my mind, Garth Brooks' classic song, The Dance, burst forth in my mind. The second verse of that song impeccably captured how I was currently feeling. As if on a conductor's cue, I could hear Garth's deep drawn out voice as he sang,

"Holding you ... I held everything. For a moment ... wasn't I a king. But if I'd only known, how the king would fall. Hey who's to say ... you know I might have changed it all. And now ... I'm glad I didn't know ... the way it all would end ... the way it all would go. Our lives ... are better left to chance ... I could have missed the pain ... But I'd have had to ... miss ... the ... dance. Yes my life ... is better left to chance. I could have missed the pain. But I'd have had to miss ... the ... dance."

Right then and there, I resolved that I didn't have to like, actually I could still honestly despise, the Energists for taking me from my sweet darling Kaleigh. Not even the gift of my children to Kaleigh could overcome the pain and anguish I - we felt at having our lives' torn asunder. Knowing there was zero chance of ever having a 'Humpty-Dumpty' experience with my Kaleigh, fueled a new rush of hatred within me.

Even with that bolt of negative emotional energy, I was 100% sure I would never regret a single thing or moment from my prior life with Kaleigh that led me to my current lot in life. Even the Bible has instances where chance was a key part of a person's life. The Roman soldiers cast lots (similar to our dice type games) to determine who would win Jesus' inner garments as He was crucified on their cross of shame.

As I was finishing up my emotionally charged analysis of my current station, the Energists reconnected with me and our communication link was reestablished. As far as I could tell, they immediately accessed my prior thoughts and said, "We know you are hurting from both your loss of Plyer and fr..."

"Stop referring to Kaleigh like that, by her family name." I loudly proclaimed at my capturers. "She is and always will be Kaleigh to me, and I will NOT voluntarily help you if you continued to disrespect her memory by making her seem like just any odd person or creature you had to deal with. Because you have destroyed both our lives by claiming or 'kidnapping' me, the least you can do is show me respect. For what I'm doing here with you, and this task isn't just some simple 'run of the mill thing' that must be done, give me that small crumb of courtesy. When you refer to Kaleigh as 'Plyer' or me as 'Nevins', I feel like I am a simple slave to your whims. And if I am a just a slave to you, do not expect my complete 100% effort or cooperation on this task."

"We know the correct action according to your world is to say – 'I'm sorry' – but we do not completely understand that concept and how it works in this type of situation. However, we Energists will do as you wish and refer to any human, you included, by your unique individual name. Do you wish to be addressed as Mike or Michael, as we have heard both those terms associated with you? You apparently do not seem bothered when addressed by either of these individual choices."

"You can call me either Mike or Michael as the first is the shortened version of my full given name. Thank you for ceding to my wishes on how I wish to be addressed. Question, am I a slave here to you?" I boldly asked as I still had a good bit of loathing running through my veins.

"In the manner you are applying that word, yes Mike, you are our slave. You cannot escape from us, no matter how much you may want that to happen. You will help us accomplish our task as you have the knowledge and ability to advance and save our kind. Please do not waste any of your mental resources on those tasks as we will know about them the moment you generate those types of thoughts. They will be removed from your consciousness or your memory store at our leisure." The Energists were typically direct and blunt in their answer to my question.

I was somewhat surprised at their next statement as they continued with, "However, we would much rather view our time together, our interactions, as a more of a symbiotic type union. We will benefit from your experiences and your instruction. We will advance in a manner as it is meant to be for us. Your help with just accelerate and make it an easier transition for us."

"You've used a word 'symbiotic' to describe what or how our time together will proceed. However, you only referenced how YOU, your energy kind, would benefit. If I recall and understand you correctly, I can never return to my former world and help the future mother of my children, Kaleigh Plyer-Nevins raise my precious unborn kids. HOW is this kidnapping, my being a slave here, truly symbiotic or beneficial for me?"

"We again wanted to challenge your intellect to gauge or analyze your thought processes in stressful situations. Your pent up 'hatred' for us has elevated your body's sympathetic nervous system's responses, which we have learned can impact a physical being's cognitive processes. Even as we 'speak', we are learning how you handle or cognitively work to solve stressful problematic situations."

The Energists paused for a moment to let me comprehend their 'on-going experiment' with me. When they accessed my brain's acknowledgement of their study, they said, "You must realize now that everything you do or that we have you perform is a learning opportunity for us. Thus Mike, your analyzing the disparity in benefits in our symbiotic relationship while emotionally stressed provided us with a more complete picture of your mental capabilities and how your body's physical responses impacted your thought processes during that unique context. That is why we have not addressed or identified your benefits of our intimate relationship, Dr. Mike Nevins." The Energists once again severed the communication link with me after explaining this 'test situation'.

I decided to conduct a test of my own on this 'separation action' to see if they were constantly monitoring my thoughts, while limiting my access to theirs. I thought out loud, exactly like I do when communicating with the Energists, that I would reject their first benefit outright at the start. I would do this even if that benefit was perfectly logical for me to accept as a gift. Then I tried to 'inwardly think', hoping to hide these next thoughts from them. I clandestinely thought that after explaining why I rejected their initial benefit, I would suddenly and without reason accept their gift. However, I would only accept their gift, if I thought it was truly to my benefit.

During the 'time' I was isolated from them, I came to appreciate the Energists' acceptance and change in using less rigid or informal identifiers for me or when communicating information about Kaleigh. As I ended that gratuitous thought about the Energists, I suddenly felt their reconnection linkage again. They immediately acknowledged my increased regard for them brought on by their change in how they addressed me and other humans.

"We separated our communications with you Mike, to determine how to proceed with your cognitive enhancements to better aid us in our transition towards our new physical state of being. You are going to receive a large portion of our vast knowledge in order to make any needed adjustments to your earthly knowledge as you prepare us to become functional physical beings. You will become by far, the smartest human who ever lived or will live in your physical world. Are you ready to receive this benefit?" Again, the Energists somewhat surprised me by asking me about my state of being. They simply could have just 'zapped' me without a concern for my ultimate desires.

"No," I calmly yet sternly replied to them. "I do NOT want that change or your worlds' knowledge. You Energists brought me here to instruct you because of what I already knew and the skills I already possess. I don't want this benefit, your 'out of my world' knowledge." I hoped the Energists would become troubled at my refusal, as this might show me that they were not accessing my thoughts when I was shut out of their communications. I understood that even if they were troubled by my refusal of their gift, it wasn't complete proof of my hypothesis regarding their communication linkage with me. Then I stupidly internalized, 'your thoughts now are shared with them – stop being an idiot!'

"Dr. Michael Nevins, as a person who values knowledge acquisition, why would you refuse access to our vast knowledge stores? It is does not follow your long held view that knowledge or education is the key to the world's treasures. Our knowledge is one treasure to which no human or other physical species has ever had access."

I was impressed that they quickly accessed a segment of my graduate school application materials from 15 years ago. I just as quickly replied, "That educational philosophy was referring to the learning process involved with the ACQUISITION of knowledge. It was an 'active' endeavor on my part, on the part of all humans as a matter of fact. What you plan to do here is a 'dump', an immediate enhancement or 'on-the-spot' recoding of my own knowledge with your unique knowledge. That is not what humans do and NOT what I want to have happen."

I could feel the Energists soaking up my explanation for declining this enhancement. As I was developing my argument, I forgot about my own test scenario on the Energists. I continued my line of reasoning, "In addition, our minds are not like our computers which simply can be upgraded with better hardware or software programs. I like my current 'Microsoft XP system' and don't want your version of 'HAL 9000'." I could sense the Energists' highly charged thought processes as they comprehended my argument against my first benefit from them.

"You make a good case for refusing this instantaneous benefit. However, we know that you are trying to test us with your words and actions. Your hypothesis or belief that we maintained access to your thoughts while we severed your access to our communication was indeed correct. We Energists were most impressed with how you formulated, planned and then initiated your actions to test your hypothesis. And in words you might say, 'we enjoyed' seeing how it played out here, especially how you recalled and applied seemingly trivial information to clarify or simplify your cognitive position. That was a well thought and presented argument."

The Energists gave me a mental high five, which caused me to chuckle at their use of a human natural reinforce. They accepted my amusement at their physical-mental action as confirmation of its intent. The Energists then said, "We are repeating ourselves here again, rehearsing things to borrow your learning term, for your benefit. Everything you think or do is valuable to us as we progress onward to our new existence."

I wasn't surprised at their communication ability or in the way they adjusted the situation to their benefit. I was somewhat surprised that they allowed me the opportunity to test or challenge their abilities, as logically, the outcome was predetermined by them and it wasted time and cognitive resources.

"Would you explain the term 'somewhat surprised' to us. How can absolute knowledge and control of an environment allow for surprises or somewhat surprises?" they questioned me.

"In a physical world, at least in my former world, we did not have those abilities. Surprises or somewhat surprises were a fact of life for us. We had to deal with them all of the time. The level of surprise was determined individually and was influenced by the person's experiences and expectation levels involved in the event. We humans, as we learn more about something are better able to predict events or actions in our surroundings, which lowers the 'surprise' factor when they actually happen. Do you know the level of control you will have over your physical world? If it is different from my human experiences, it will affect how I teach you later on in our time together."

The Energists appeared distressed at my question regarding their ability to control physical things within their future home world. I 'heard' confusion and some angst amongst them as they analyzed their knowledge regarding their upcoming environmental world. Suddenly, their disordered thoughts ceased and they told me, "We will have some control over physical aspects within our world. However, we have determined that unpredictability will be an ever increasing factor as we transition into our unique world. Additionally, we Energists are more pleased with our choice of you as our sage instructor with each passing moment. You have already challenged or caused us to question our beliefs or knowledge regarding our future home, which can only aid us as we journey forward."

The Energists, as a whole collective stopped all of their side or minor thoughts, and with a true singular voice said, "Dr. Michael Nevins, we greatly appreciate all you have done for us so far and look forward to being your diligent 'students' as we evolve into our new state of being. We Energists do not want you to view us as an adversary but as a collection of conscientious colleagues. We promise not to disconnect our line of communication from you unless those thoughts are truly outside our mutual needs. We want you to know we value you and your expertise. You must know you cannot return to your world, but also know we will not treat you as a 'slave' any longer. If you ask us for something, we will do our best to grant that request. Again, we are sorry for your separation from Ms. Kaleigh Plyer."

I just about had an 'alternate universe' heart attack upon hearing the Energists' words. I also began to feel a slight sense of emotion come through with their cognitive communication to me. The Energists' collectively smiled at hearing my thoughts about their emerging emotional state.

Just as suddenly as their smile emerged, the Energists refocused on the task at hand, capturing my wondering cognition with their own directedness. "Before we get you to instruct or provide us with other physical lessons or examples to show this concept of predicting physical outcomes and lowering the surprise factor, we believe it best for you to gain access to our knowledge. It will help you narrow or focus your knowledge and instruction to our specific needs."

I was suddenly incapacitated and thrown into their universe's 'dark state' as they connected me to their vast and unique universe's wide array of knowledge and qualities. Upon my return to consciousness, I could immediately see why this enhancement was vitally important. I instantaneously knew I would need to make a multitude of adjustments in my upcoming instructions. Helping the Energists become functional physical beings was going to be more work than I had hoped it would be. However, with our combined knowledge bases, I quickly realized a relatively straight forward path towards their desired outcome.

After I instantaneously assimilated and recoded their knowledge with my human knowledge base, I began to earnestly help the Energists with their transition from their pure energy state to a solid physical state of existence. I inwardly smiled as I accepted that my concept of earthly time was not a factor here with these beings. If it was, we'd be here for an amazingly long time. The Energists had to acquire and proficiently demonstrate an entire developmental sequence of 'species' appropriate physical actions and cognitive responses. The animals, humans included from my world, or from the multitude of universes that the Energists have examined, have acquired and passed on these decision-action combinations onto our progeny over thousands, if not millions of years. Yet here I was with these Energists, an entirely unique energy based species, which needed to acquire these abilities in a fraction of that earthly time. I was amazed I was still smiling at this current challenge.

"We see that you have quickly and skillfully integrated our knowledge with your own," the Energists commented to me. "We wish we were able to integrate your world's physical knowledge with our own, as quickly as you put together those divergent information bases. Unfortunately, anything physical in nature is a truly foreign concept and cannot be meshed with our current knowledge structural networks. Therefore, please begin by instructing us on this concept of predicting physical outcomes and lowering the surprise factor. We will have to acquire this prediction capability in our new physical realm as our current level of certainty or control will not be transitioned to our new environment."

I smiled at them as I easily accessed my main line of research on how youth and young adults develop sport-specific game strategies. This was going to be easy for me to explain, and hopefully easy for them to pick up on. "As you know, humans really enjoy playing and watching sporting contests. All quality sport performers employ some type of prediction process to aid their chances of competing successfully against an opponent or the physical environment." I then asked the Energists, "Would you like an example from team games like baseball, football, hockey or an individual game like tennis or badminton?"

"We have more information and knowledgeable experiences with the game you call football. However, we would like to receive instructions in all types of contests, and in any other type of event which we can develop and improve our new physical knowledge base."

"Alrighty. I will provide you with several types of prediction processes employed by various performers," I replied to my inquisitive pad wans. I was surprised that they were able to immediately recreate a replica of my 'just accessed' physical examples. Several Energists easily stepped into the learners' role to rehearse any of my physical examples. I quickly learned that if 3 or more Energists perfected a physical task, technique or tactic, all the Energists were able to incorporate their new knowledge into their own individual system.

"On earth, performers often study in advance what their opponents are most likely to do in unique game situations or what the performing environment is like to plan adjustments on their future actions. In a good number of sports, teams or individuals watch game films of their upcoming opponents or even themselves to acquire situation specific tendencies. Based on this prior study, the performer develops a prediction process to assign either percentages or likelihoods of occurrences to future physical events. For example, what does a football team do when they have a 3rd down and 5 yards from their own 10 yard line, from mid-field or from within their opponent's red zone? Knowing that team's four or five most likely options, allows for more focused preparation, which then lowers the surprise level when the opponent does one of those predicted options."

The Energists were engrossed at my example, which was like rocket fuel to a brush fire to me; their keen focus energized me. I continued on with my lesson with, "However..." which suddenly caused the Energists to act like a deflated balloon. Their attitude changed from being like a love-struck teenager to that same teenager after being caught sneaking back into his or her bedroom by an attentive or diligent parent.

After seeing that sudden change, I decided I would need to recapture their inquisitiveness and redirect their attention. "Please recognize that the word 'however' does not always carry a negative connotation. From my previous example, the 'opponent' knows, or should know through their own self-study, that their adversary has done their homework on their tendencies, and thus will deliberately and opportunistically do something truly unique or surprising. If this unique or surprising action is done well, it can often lead to a scoring attempt or big play. Thus, the 'however' is needed to show that when 'free thinkers' are involved or act in competition, the environmental context can be altered to one's advantage."

The Energists reacted more like I expected as they processed and integrated that one example into a wider array of situations. They said, "We have accessed your memories on teaching the game called 'badminton'. You regularly instructed your students to analyze their opponent's strengths and weaknesses. Then you emphasized that they were to attack a weakness and limit the opponent's opportunities to act from one of their strengths. This also creates a context where the player can predict their opponent's shot and then act to position themselves to either attack a weak return or set up in a defensive position. Have we correctly transposed your example to this new physical environment?"

I smiled and lightly bounced on my feet as the Energists correctly interpreted and applied my example to a completely different athletic situation. Just as I was about to compliment them, they stopped me and said, "If we have learned how to interpret your facial and body orientations or actions as a means of non-verbal or cognitive communication, we would say you are impressed with our explanation. Are we correct on both accounts?"

"Yes indeed. My smile and my little hop at hearing your words signified my level of happiness with your ability to comprehend and apply information to different situations. Well done!" When my mind was focused on teaching sport skills and strategies, a very rewarding or enjoyable activity for me, I momentarily forgot about my current life situation and relished working with the Energists. As I was basking in my self-induced emotional 'high', I watched numerous Energist beings play 'badminton'. These players were actively accessing my semantic network which contained both the techniques and tactics of that human game. When a mistake or error in skill or strategy was by an Energist, I smiled when they became frustrated like typical humans often become when things don't go as planned. I put that small nugget of knowledge in my 'to cover' box of things to cover with these amazing beings.

"Learning is easy when one has a good instructor," the Energists replied to my words of praise. They then added, "We have learned from your memories that good teaching only works when paired with motivated students. We are motivated as the quality of our future depends on how well we learn to interact with our new physical environment." I just shook my head in awe as they were excellent at accessing my memories to aid their acquisition of the required physical world skills.

"Yes, motivated students make my job much easier. I appreciate the effort you are using to acquire your required knowledge. Now, the second type of scenario where prediction comes into play in sports occurs when a performer studies the actual environment to learn how it can alter the outcome of their actions. A golfer studies the course lay out to know in advance which way the ball will roll or how the wind will influence the ball's flight. Armed with this advanced knowledge of their environment, the golfer can adjust his/her aim or the distance the ball will travel."

Several Energists were soon practicing their golf shots in a wide variety of wind conditions on various 'golf-hole' configurations to actively apply that teaching example. Shortly, all Energists were able to add this new information to their previous 'prediction processing skill' and let me know they were ready to continue.

"This prediction ability, as well as other helpful cognitive processing tasks, takes a good amount of time to develop to a high skill level. Most human experts at any task have practiced, studied and performed their craft for a minimum of ten years. What makes this long drawn out process fun is our ability to view mistakes or errors in our actions or decisions as 'learning opportunities' not as failures or wasted effort. You will need to quickly acquire this belief as well." I recalled the errors and mistakes the Energists made in their badminton game or when trying to hit a golf ball. They instantly recreated those events to supplement my instruction.