“of course it is happening inside your head, harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” j. k. rowling iinstead of trying to clean up a stable or converting an outbuilding to house the sophisticated equipment used in the hermes project, they had constructed a 120 by 40 foot steel shell. the building was functional, sterile and boring. it had its own diesel power generators so any sudden increase in electric consumption wouldn’t raise eyebrows at the local power company. dr. altman was like a proud papa as he showed penelope his fmri machine. the fmri took up half of the room; next to it was an area with a gurney and a wall of machines that penelope couldn’t identify. aft er removing all metallic objects, penelope laid down on the table and felt totally relaxed. “this is the room where we do all of our initial work with subjects. what we’re going to do, ms. spence, is get a baseline fmri of you. this will allow us to track any future changes and, based on the results, determine which programs would be most beneficial for you.” spence flinched when she felt the table she was lying on begin to move. “just relax. this is just a preliminary scan and won’t take very long.” walker and altman both stared intently as the magnetic resonant equipment thumped to life and the image began to build. altman gasped audibly. “is there a problem?” spence asked. 235 the fourth awakening “no,” walker said calmly. “we just spilled something on the desk. please remain still.” walker fl ipped off the intercom so penelope could not hear. “i warned you that this was a possibility,” altman said, his face bright crimson. walker placed a firm hand on altman’s shoulder. “not now, carl.” after a steady stream of chatter the sudden silence was a bit unnerving. “what are you two talking about over there?” asked penelope. there was faint click as the intercom was reactivated. “okay. we’re all done.” walker entered the exam room and helped her off the table. dr. altman, limited by his cane, was slow arriving. spence smiled. dr. altman reminded her of her late grandfather. he told wonderful stories of his wild adventures from his younger days, and had a speaking style similar to altman’s. he used crisp precise language and full enunciation of each word. walker had been correct to wait and let altman explain the process. without context or being able to see the actual facility, the effort would have been unproductive. dr. altman kept using terms such as “k-space formalism” and “inverse fourier transform” and at one point altman put a complex math formula on a chalkboard that was perfectly logical to a nobel laureate such as him, but to penelope was nothing but squiggles and lines. “in a nutshell, penelope, different parts of the brain serve diff erent functions. here,” walker said as he touched the upper back portion of his head, “is one part that is very important to our work, for example.” “this is the part of the brain,” dr. altman said, “the posterior superior parietal lobe, that assists with determining your reality and orients you to the physical world, thereby clearly defining what is you and what is everything else so that you can function….” “carl,” walker said softly as he saw the confusion cloud penelope’s face. “let me try.” altman bowed slightly from the waist and yielded the fl oor to walker. “that part of the brain is always busy determining distance, interpreting sounds, checking the temperature. it is what lets center fielders catch fl y balls. people who have had this part of the brain damaged due to injury have diffi culty functioning. they will try to lie on their bed and end up on the fl oor instead.” “so far, so good,” penelope acknowledged. 236 rod pennington & jeffery a. martin “it has been well established that when people are in deep meditation, activity in this part of the brain changes significantly.” walker drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “scientists currently believe that this is one of the gatekeepers that separates you from the carefully craft ed world this part of the brain has created, and the larger universal world that we are all a part of.” “whenever a person starts to glimpse the greater world that we all share,” altman interjected, “this is one of the key parts of the brain that immediately wants to pull the curtains shut and go back to the reality it has created for you.” “i’m not sure i understand…” “we can go into this aspect later,” walker said as he glared at altman. “for now let’s just say this is a part of the brain that is constantly working to fine-tune your perceived world.” “okay,” penelope said, watching altman struggle to keep from jumping in. “the brain is a complex biochemical system. what we’ve done is isolate some very precise electromagnetic, or em, wavelengths that aff ect certain parts of the brain. by sending very carefully tuned electromagnetic pulses, we are able to cause different parts of the brain either to relax or to be stimulated. we have found that when we alter the input the posterior superior parietal lobe receives from other key areas of the brain, as well as other sections such as the right temporal lobe, all sorts of interesting things start to happen.” “for example.” walker and altman exchanged worried glances. “when this section is …” dr. altman couldn’t restrain himself any longer. “occupied trying to figure out what is going on due to the stimuli we are providing. th e other parts of the brain are more responsive to other stimuli.” “what carl is saying… without certain gatekeepers to stand guard, various parts of the brain start doing remarkable things.” “such as?” “with the proper combination of em pulses, we can give the test subject a brief spike in psychic ability.” “we,” altman added, “can even give them a glimpse of enlightenment.” “that was the breakthrough senator horn was so worried about?” “no,” walker answered. “researchers have been doing this at a clinical level for years, mostly with drugs and by implanting wires and electrodes 237 the fourth awakening in people’s brains. our breakthrough is that we are now able to do this without any physical contact, and without the subject ingesting any drugs.” “what?” penelope’s eyes and mouth were both wide open. “so you’re saying you have developed some type of a ray gun that can alter a person’s reality without touching them or attaching any wires?” “i don’t think i would characterize it as a ray gun, but the answer to your question is yes. this also isn’t new, the government has been able to do this for decades, but it never occurred to them to use it in the way we have. some of our results have been rather stunning. that’s what we want to show the people from the washington post.” “so people don’t even have to volunteer; you can just blast them as they walk down the street.” “pretty much.” walker answered. “i can see why this was classified. can it be used as a weapon?” “yes,” walker said. “but only against people and not military targets.” “what does that mean?” “most high-end command and control facilities are already shielded to block the em pulse from a nuclear blast, so our pulses couldn’t get through even if we wanted them to. it would be like trying to throw a spitball through a brick wall. but it can be used to aff ect unshielded populations.” “what does that mean?” “in the early stages of this research dr. altman did a demonstration with an auditorium full of students. he used one of his early prototypes to make half the room think they were freezing. they were huddling up with their teeth chattering.” “you are kidding?” “he always had a flair for the dramatics,” walker said with a laugh as he glanced over at altman. “those on the unaff ected side of the room thought it was a trick until it was their turn.” “why didn’t i ever hear about this?” “altman had touched the third rail of science…” “th e what?” “you know? the third rail on a subway train that if you touch you get electrocuted…” “i know what the third rail is, but what on earth is the third rail of science? it sounds like one of your timothy leary theories.” 238 rod pennington & jeffery a. martin “not quite,” walker said while shaking his head. “there are certain things you simply don’t discuss among other scientists if you want to be taken seriously within your peer group. if you touch any of those rails, your funding will dry up and no one will publish your fi ndings. th ey send you into intellectual purgatory and you become an outcast.” “do you have any examples?” “tons of them. scientists are some of the narrowest minded people on the planet and if you question the current scientific consensus they will turn on you like a pack of wolves.” “once again you are talking gibberish. are there any examples in my future?” “how much funding do you think a climatologist would get for research into global warming being caused by a natural solar cycle instead of manmade pollution?” “okay. th at’s one.” “what about a geneticist who wanted to do a comparative study to see if race is a factor in a person’s intelligence?” “that’s settled science and borderline racist.” “perfect example.” “what do you mean by that?” “that is the exact argument the scientific community would use. political correctness is killing science.” “political correctness?” penelope shook her head in disbelief. walker shrugged. “in any case it is well off the point. dr. altman had the nerve to touch the biggest third rail out there.” “which is?” “he is doing research like the hermes project. very few scientists would have the courage to do this type of research, much less talk about it.” “why?” “it would be impossible to get tenure at any major university. funding would be out of the question…” “he got funding.” “true, but he is a unique case.” “why?” “he had actually gotten measurable results, plus he doesn’t give a damn what his peers think about him. he believes they should be more worried about what he thinks about them.” 239 the fourth awakening “what gives him that luxury?” dr. altman couldn’t keep himself from interjecting himself in the conversation. “sometimes i feel like gulliver in the land of the lilliput. why should i care for one moment what someone who would struggle to even get a passing grade in one of my classes thinks of my scholarship?” walker put his hand on altman’s arm. “plus he’s 81 years old and has already won every award available in his field, including the nobel prize.” “he must drive the scientific community nuts.” “there isn’t much middle ground. the scientists who do their best work in the faculty lounge and cocktail parties hate him; those doing cutting edge research or dealing with anything the slightest bit controversial love him.” “would shining a mind control ray gun on an auditorium full of hapless students fall under the controversial category?” “ray gun?” altman folded his arms across his chest and glared at penelope. “what would you call it?” “a precision controlled microwave pulse,” walker answered. penelope shrugged. “still sounds like a ray gun to me and i’d be more than annoyed if you used it on one of my kids.” “we had full disclosure and signed consent forms from everyone,” altman offered in his own defense. “there was even a waiting list. besides, it’s relatively easy to shield against these pulses, even for individuals.” “how?” “we’re working on a special hat…” a smile broke across penelope’s face. “so you’re saying those guys who wrap their heads in tin foil might be on to something?” “the pentagon has been working on special liners for their combat helmets for years.” “really?” penelope scratched her head. “so people without their little protective caps would be at risk to being exposed to your ray…em pulse…” penelope paused then smiled. “that’s why you want this technology made public, so people can protect themselves, or at the minimum know what’s going on.” “knowledge is power, penelope,” walker said with a smile. “the power of thought?” penelope answered with a wry smile. “exactly,” walker answered. penelope glanced at the clock on the wall. “we’re on a very tight 240 rod pennington & jeffery a. martin deadline. i already have an overview of the project, which i got from your grandson’s excellent work. what else should i know before the people from wapo start arriving? “i suppose,” dr. altman said with a sigh. “i could show you some progression fmri images that show… “dr. altman,” penelope cut him off. “do you have any before and aft er shots, preferably in .jpg format that will be easy for the average reader to see the diff erence?” “of course.” dr altman took penelope’s arm and started to guide her toward his office. “please. call me carl.” “only if you will call me penelope.” “penelope. that’s an unusual name.” “i was named after the wife of malcolm drayton, who signed the declaration of independence and represented south carolina in the fi rst continental congress.” “michael told me you were from a well-established and wealthy family in charleston.” “well-established, yes. wealthy is another matter.” “i thought…” “in the south, carl, the real wealth passes to the oldest son, not to the youngest daughter.” “i see.” “can i see those fi les now?” “i’ll have jerold fetch whatever you need. for now i want to show you the pièce de résistance,” altman said as he ushered penelope down the wall to a large room. there was slight swooshing sound as he opened the door and announced, “i give you the hermes project. this is where we’ve made all of our more recent breakthroughs.” she wasn’t sure what she had expected but this was certainly anti-climatic. the room was partitioned in two. one section appeared to be a control room, and in the other section of the room was a 12-foot-by12-foot plastic cube. inside the cube were several resin lawn chairs and a plastic deck table; the kind you would expect to find next to a backyard swimming pool. “the exterior walls, floors and ceiling, as well as the control room, are all electromagnetically shielded with mu-metal that absorbs nearly all of the stray em. the chamber,” altman motioned toward the cube, “has no 241 the fourth awakening metal components that might affect the magnetic resonations we use. you may notice your ears popping since we closely control the temperature and barometric pressure in the room.” “why is that necessary?” penelope asked. “as far as we can tell, it’s not. but it is always important to eliminate as many variables as possible when doing science. the better you control the experiment, the purer the results.” “i see.” “you will note there are no electrical outlets or wiring of any type that might possibly generate a stray electromagnetic field.” altman pointed to the ceiling and a series of translucent panels. “the same applies to lighting fi xtures.” “what about those?” “they are fiber optic, they collect light on the roof and distribute it in here.” “does that mean you can only work during daylight hours?” “yes,” altman answered, “we don’t want to risk any chance of contaminating the results.” dr. altman pointed to a heavy black shoe-box sized container mounted near the ceiling in the corner. “th at little dime sized hole is the only spot that is not 100% multi-layered shielded. the box contains the video camera we use to monitor the activity in the chamber and the hole is for the lens. the feed goes straight into the control room so nothing escapes.” “are you going to show me how it works?” penelope asked. “we really don’t have time right now,” walker said. “yes. we are short of time,” altman added quickly. penelope studied the two men carefully. walker was a much better liar than altman. something about her being in this room made both of them uneasy, but she wasn’t sure why. penelope finally asked the big question. “why did senator horn shut down your project?” altman and walker exchanged worried glances. the moment of truth had finally arrived. they didn’t have time to sugarcoat or avoid the subject any longer. “initially,” altman said, almost apologetically, “we were working with an entirely new technology.” “we were in completely unknown territory,” walker added. “it took us months to refine our screening process to be sure someone 242 rod pennington & jeffery a. martin was psychologically ready for our program.” penelope spence started to feel a chill; she didn’t think she was going to like what she would be hearing next. the mood was broken when sally winters and jerold altman joined them in the control room. “sorry,” winters said when she realized she had interrupted something important. “the people from th e washington post should be here in a bit over an hour.” she nodded and was just about to leave when she caught michael walker’s eye; he shook his head about an eighth of an inch but didn’t say anything. he didn’t need to. sally winter took up a position behind penelope. “what happened,” penelope asked soft ly. altman and walker looked at each other; neither wanted to add the final piece to the puzzle. penelope spence waited. no one in the room was willing to make eye contact with her. she knew that what they had to say was going to be bad. very bad. michael walker broke the awkward silence. “all of the people who willingly volunteered for the program were fi ne. the people sent over by homeland security were another matter, entirely.” “they reacted very badly to our efforts,” dr. altman added. “what kind of reaction?” penelope looked back and forth between altman and walker. jerold and sally had shrunk into the background. finally, walker gave her the answer. “we had twenty volunteers,” walker said. “three of them came through the process with amazing results and three of them showed no long term eff ects.” “and the rest?” penelope asked soft ly. walker’s shoulders sagged. “fourteen of the volunteers suff ered profound psychological damage; eleven of them are currently in mental health facilities.” penelope spence could see the pain in walker’s face. “what about the other three?” walker drew in a deep breath. “they committed suicide.” “i see,” spence said softly. “what is the current status of the remaining eleven volunteers?” walker sighed. “seven of them appear to be in a total non-symbolic state of consciousness from which they are unwilling or unable to return.” “what does that mean?” 243 the fourth awakening “they have found, for want of a better word, enlightenment. we’ve spoken extensively to the three from the original 20 who achieved this state and have returned, and they assure us we shouldn’t worry about the others. each told us separately that while the seven appear to be in a near vegetative state, they are happier than they’ve ever been.” “like the sadhu holy men of india?” penelope asked dr. carl altman clapped his hands and laughed. “excellent, penelope. excellent.” his eyes twinkled as he glanced in the direction of walker. “you were spot on, michael. she was the perfect choice. not one in a thousand would have made that connection. ” penelope ignored the compliment and plowed on. “by my count, there are still four people we haven’t talked about.” “yes,” walker answered. “two of the people appear to drift between the non-symbolic state and someplace else. they will have brief periods where they are lucid enough to recognize friends and family then drift away again. the last two,” walker lowered his eyes. “the last appear to have profound kundalini damage that we have no idea how, or even if it is possible, to fi x.” “kundalini?” penelope said as she processed all of this new information. “you mean like the kundalini they talk about at yoga classes?” “exactly. we’re concerned that the combination of their ego driven resistance and our applied pressure to move them to a non-symbolic state may have caused some thing to break that cannot be repaired.” “like a willow verses an oak tree in a wind storm,” penelope said soft ly. walker’s eyes twinkled but altman looked confused. michael walker touched his friend’s arm. “some, like the willow, bend with the wind and survive the gale. while the oak remains ridged and gets uprooted.” “brilliant,” altman said with a nod toward penelope. “that’s the perfect symbolic analogy.” a thick silence settled over the room. they were now down to the brass tacks and it was no time to be bashful or overly concerned for hurt feelings. penelope wanted the answer to the question walker had managed so far to avoid answering. “senator clayton horn strongly opposed your project on religious grounds. why?” “horn, as i said earlier, is a literalist. he believes the bible says what it means and means what it says and doesn’t have much room for interpretation.” 244 rod pennington & jeffery a. martin “i know. how does it apply here?” walker wiped his mouth and looked at altman, who shrugged. “as our screening process got better so did our results. those of us who went through the program started to develop a connection. not just to each other but to plants and animals. with our consciousness more receptive to a greater world that our mind normally ignores or minimizes, we’re able to see and do things that are baffling to many, and frightening to devout people such as senator horn. by the last few oversight hearings, he didn’t even want to be in the same room as me.” “what if he’s right and you’re wrong?” “then, as he feared, the end time is here. this genie is not going back into the bottle. the fourth awakening has already started, and not just with the hermes project. there are other countries working on this and it is happening spontaneously all around the world.” “what scared him so much?” “let me give you an example.” walker motioned for them to follow him back out into the hallway and a small lobby area used by people waiting to enter the room while an experiment was in progress. he opened the shades of the window. outside, there were a few people milling around but everything looked normal. walker sat down in a chair facing the window and closed his eyes. he drifted into the meditative state she had seen before. doors in other buildings flew open and everyone was racing full speed toward the lab. sally winters placed her hand on penelope’s shoulder. “he used his mind to tell everyone they were needed in the lab immediately.” “we’ve been unable to ascertain the transmission medium,” dr. altman said. “but there is no doubt we are not alone on this.” “what about the hats?” penelope inquired. “they can protect from our electromagnetic research, but not from this.” walker opened his eyes, saw that his message had been received, and closed his eyes again. all of the members of the project broke stride and headed back to what they had been doing. “good lord,” penelope muttered, as she felt her knees weaken under her. winters kept her from falling. “it can be a bit unnerving the first time you see it.” “that’s not it. i knew exactly what was going to happen because i felt the request.” 245 the fourth awakening “everyone in the universe felt it,” walker said. “it’s just that most did not have it register on a conscious level.” “i don’t understand.” “imagine you’re in central park in new york.” “okay.” “at any given moment the signal from fi fty radio stations, a dozen television stations, countless cell phones, police radios, and taxi cabs are passing through your body. they are also passing through the body of every other person around you but no one hears them. just because they are not heard doesn’t mean they don’t exist. thoughts are the same way. right now we’re all being hit with an infi nite number of thoughts, but our brain is very selective as to what it will let us hear. now imagine you’re in a crowded cocktail party where you don’t know anyone and you’re alone.” “okay.” “all you hear are murmurs and fragments of conversations. your ears hear a familiar voice calling your name from across the room and your mind quickly begins to filter out the background noise so all you hear is your friend’s voice.” “okay.” “the same is true with thoughts. you told me you have a close relationship with your son. that would be a familiar voice that you would recognize and respond to if you heard him shouting for help. th e only difference is you’re in the world of thought, not at a cocktail party.” “you’re saying you’re a telepath?” “yes and no, depending on how you define your terms. we really don’t have the vocabulary yet to completely explain what is happening.” “i don’t follow.” “imagine trying to explain the space shuttle to someone who has never seen an airplane or a computer, or an ipod to a person who has never seen an electric light bulb. we have no symbolic language yet to describe what’s going on.” walker returned to his feet. “that’s not all. we started to discover that we were not alone. there were others who could also share our thoughts.” “a thought has power, penelope,” altman said. “when you send out a powerful thought it is like a shout in the night. you never know who will hear you.” 246 rod pennington & jeffery a. martin “this is when we discovered that the field really exists.” “th e field, what fi eld?” “i won’t bore you with the details,” altman said. “but i shared my nobel with a gentleman in prague that, at the time of the discovery that led to that award, i had never heard of nor met. yet we both had exactly the same idea at the same time. without knowing it, we were sharing the energy from the same thought. this happens all the time in science. have you ever heard of elisha gray?” “no.” “he filed his patent for the telephone the same morning, but an hour later than alexander graham bell,” altman said. “as we gained a better understanding of what we were dealing with,” walker added, “we realized that all the thoughts of all people are in the fi eld.” “what are you talking about?” “it’s almost like the internet. you surf the web right?” “of course.” “all of the information on the web is just sitting out there, waiting for you or anyone else who might want it. all that is required is a connection and the right address.” “so you’re saying all of my thoughts and all of the thoughts of the other people in the world are in this giant field of energy just waiting for someone to connect into them?” “not just people, but plants and animals; and not just this world, but the entire universe. and not just our time, but every time.” “th at’s absurd.” “is it? there are times you sense things about your son. how do you explain that?” “i don’t.” “let me try.” “michael,” altman snapped. “you are on dangerous ground.” “i understand. but if she is going to write the story we need told, she has to understand what’s happening to her.” “me?” “i will have no part of this.” dr. carl altman turned and shuffl ed down the hallway. penelope was torn between her curiosity and being terrified of what 247 the fourth awakening walker might say next. walker drew in a breath and gathered his thoughts before continuing. “the power of thought. have you ever heard of someone who is sick suddenly getting well after people have prayed for them?” “of course. people who have gone into unexplained remission of a cancer that should…” spence felt a chill going down her spine that iced her blood and froze her vocal cords. “you ordered your people to pray for senator horn. that’s why he improved.” “yes.” “you have that kind of power?” “we all have that kind of power.”