Chapter 9

Susan stood by her original choice. Jane no longer opposed her. If anything she was joyful for her since their experience with the rod. It hadn't shown any further signs of it's power sucking ability.

"I guess that it just took a lot of energy to do what it did." Jane mused when Susan had asked about it.

"But where did that energy all go? According to the paper it was billions of watts!" Susan said.

"Damned if I know. But I wrote about it and put it into the book. At least it won't be a total surprise to later generations like it was to us." Jane said.

They were lying in bed, nude. Jane on her back and Susan laying half over her, her head up, playing her fingers in Jane's hair.

"And what will the rod give me next?" Susan asked.

"I don't know. I didn't note the individual steps when I took them. I could feel different levels of power, but I wasn't cognizant of all the skills that came with them. I was pretty pre-occupied with the translation. I hardly interacted with outsiders for a solid three months. I did note that my handwriting became much better after the first step. I never had that kind of skill before. I think you should start a journal and record the changes that you feel for your successor." Jane said, softly caressing Susan's cheek.

"Yes, I'll do that. I still remember most the steps pretty distinctly. My hand writing got a lot better after the first session too, and my concentration. I'm less sure about the differences between four and five though, we did them in such quick succession. But I think I picked up a bit of telepathy on four. I remember becoming aware of peoples emotional states when we were at that visitors center on the day between sessions. It got stronger with the fifth one. But I still don't have anywhere near what you have." Susan said.

"Perhaps not. You will in time, I'm fairly certain, after that episode with Ron. You and the rod have a very special relationship. Nothing like that was ever recorded or hinted at by Sappho." Jane said.

"What do you think will come of us? I mean, Sappho died a very lonely and broken woman." Susan asked.

"Oh, I don't know that that is true. She certainly shared a great number of very deep relationships with a lot of people. She wasn't alone when she died, she just became a victim of the circumstances of her time. She was isolated by languages, but I think she was as much at fault over that as anyone. She could easily have picked up any language she wanted with the telepathy. I just think she was too proud to. She missed her native tongue, sure, but that's no excuse.

"I think she missed the culture the most. But the Indians have a very rich culture.

"I think in part she isolated herself. She viewed those under her control as slaves. That had a different connotation in those days from what it does now. Both you and I are very reluctant to use the knowledge we have. Neither of us wants a slave. We're more cognizant of peoples rights and feelings.

"I also think that the change in times will effect the final outcome of the rod. For one thing, it's not something that we could easily travel abroad with, although, we could produce one in another location. The physics of it are now recorded, though I'm certain it's not quite that simple. That information could be used to direct the creation of another rod. Which I think might be a good idea, if it could be done differently. I don't want to destroy another life to do it. But I think there should be a spare available, in case this one got broken. The hard part would be locating all the trace elements that are in it, but not impossible." Jane said, sliding her fingers lightly down Susan's back.

"Mm ... I love your touch ... Did you think that we would become lovers when you first saw me?" Susan asked, laying her cheek next to Jane's and softly kissing her neck.

"I didn't know. I was scared to death of you. I was terrified that we would be, or that we wouldn't be." Jane said, moaning softly.

"Whatever for? I don't think I was so scary. I was overwhelmed by you from the start." Susan chuckled, nibbling on an ear lobe.

"You affected me in ways I was unprepared to face ... You still do." Jane said, half giggling, half moaning.

"How so?" Susan asked, continuing her attack.

Goose bumps rippled down Jane's neck.

"Like that!" Jane giggled, pulling her ear away, but not to far.

Susan settled in with her lips behind her ear. She softly kissed the spot she knew drove Jane wild, but it wasn't an inducement, rather an endearment. She lay back against her shoulder and lightly caressed a breast.

"There were other ways too." Jane continued, "I used to have a recurrent dream. About something that happened to me as a child. A very sensual event between my mother and I. The dream always left me with a warm feeling of love. Then that first day I touched you, the dream changed. In the dream, I became my mother and you became me. It still leaves me with a warm feeling of love, but now it's from a different perspective." Jane said.

"Yes, I know. You still like having that cute little tushy of yours rubbed." Susan chuckled.

Jane was startled.

"I never told you that, or about my dream." she said.

"I know. But in a way you did. The rod told me part of it. Your heart told me other parts. Somehow I just know the rest." Susan said.

"Your clairvoyance is strong. I don't ever remember feeling that myself. In some ways I still don't. I think you will make a very good High Priestess. Perhaps the strongest ever since Aphrodite." Jane said.

"Sweet talking name dropper." Susan chuckled.

"No, I mean it. I'm tempted to pass on the power to you before I'm old. As it is, I want you to go through as many stages as quickly as the rod will allow. I think you will be a force of great good in the world." Jane said.

"Thank you. But I'm content to let the rod take me at it's own pace." Susan said.

"Which is precisely what I mean. I was so hot for the power I took the whole thing in three months. I didn't take any time to savor the individual steps like you have." Jane said.

"I wasn't quite so patient a year ago. I wanted it all right then. I was ready to throw my virginity away like it was nothing. " Susan mused.

"I think that it is largely symbolic. I don't think that it's the overwhelmingly traumatic thing that it once was. I mean, I know that it's important to you. For many reasons. But it represents many intangible things as well.

"Think about this; What exactly is virginity? Is it the physical presence of a hymen? What about a girl who breaks hers horseback riding or doing the splits too quickly? Is she no longer a virgin? She has taken no man inside her. Okay, what if she has a doctor stitch it back in place, is she a virgin again? What if a woman who has taken a man inside decides to have a doctor re-stitch her hymen, is she again a virgin? Or is it the physical act of taking a man inside of you? That the maidenhead only gets broken as an inconsequential side event of the process? Or is it the first act of love? The first orgasm? The first time you give your heart away? Who knows. It's going to be different for each person. Is a woman no longer a virgin if she's raped? What about the first time she willingly gives her heart and body?

"I think that as far as the rod is concerned, that it's a state of purity of the heart. I think a woman could still qualify after her hymen was broken." Jane said.

Susan chuckled a bit and smiled at her.

"You don't have to try to make me feel better about my choice. I feel just fine about it. The rod will take my virginity, my maidenhead, my innocence. It will mark the transition from my childhood to adulthood. It is my coming of age and my birthright. All the definitions you could choose to apply to it, I freely give. But still, the things that it cannot ever be, is my first lover, which was you, and my first man, which will be Ron once the rod has taken me and I am free to love a man." Susan said.

"Actually, I was trying to point out that it could never be your first man. But I see you have already thought of that ... And I feel truly blessed and honored that I was your first lover." Jane said.

"No my lover. It is I who am truly blessed and honored. That first day when you took my hand as we parted, I felt it. I fought it inside, but I wanted you that instant and before. When you took my hand the next day, I was shaking like a leaf. I wanted you. I was scared to death that you wouldn't take me.

"But you were wise. You gave me my freedom of choice. But the choice was made when our hearts touched that day. I knew I loved you above all others, as I had never and perhaps could never love again.

"That is the day my innocence was given. But it was not given as innocently as you may have believed. That first day when we talked, you were trying to appear aloof. You stared off into space as if I wasn't there. Perhaps so that I would not know that you wanted me too, but I did. I felt it before we touched. I felt it the first moment our eyes met. And while you were looking out into space, I was looking at you, desiring you." Susan said.

"And how did you hide this from me? For I had all the power then that I now have." Jane asked, not disbelieving.

"I think that you were reticent to use that power. A part of you wanted me pure and innocent. I think we have both learned much since we met.

"But besides that, in some ways, I've always been able to hide my heart. From anyone or anything ... before the rod touched it.

"I could not hide from it. Or myself. For that is why the rod sees so deeply into us. It is a mirror of our soul. As a tool, it may reflect the soul of one to the seeing of another. But the reflection may not be instantaneous, as a mirror seemingly is to light. It is timeless. That is how it transfers the power, accepting the image and then reflecting it later, into the recipient." Susan said, as if possessed.

"How do you know this?" Jane asked, intensely interested.

"Because the rod allowed me to look into it. To see below the reflection. To see it's full purpose, which I cannot tell even you, yet. It did this to let me know that it trusted me. I was so full of fear that I had dishonored it by revealing the fact of a secret to a man. It sought to comfort me, and thus revealed itself.