Lee was scheduled for a trip to Helsinki, with Mike Schuster of Legal and Jim Pendleton of Properties. There they'd meet with Finnish supporters interested in establishing a Helsinki center. From Finland they'd fly to Istanbul, to examine a proposal by the Turkish mental health movement for the first Millennium center in Islam.
Unrelated to the trip, a meeting set up on short notice was to be held in the admin building on the evening before she left. She knew about it, but attendance was not required, so she decided to stay home, have a brandy and go early to bed. At dawn, Bar Stool would fly Schuster, Pendleton and herself to Pueblo, to catch the 7:05 commuter flight to Denver International.
By Millennium standards, the tall west wall of the third-floor conference room was an extravagance, a floor-to-ceiling plate of thermal TuffGlass. It had withstood the blast of the Ninja Junior only 250 feet away on the opposite side of the building.
The drapes were opened, exposing the night sky; the conference tables had been removed, and chairs were lined out in rows. The attendees included the directors of the level one Millennium centers in North America, and the division and department heads at the Cote. About all the place could hold. And Bar Stool, whom Lor Lu had brought with him for no stated reason.
Dove stood before the window, watching them enter. Through sunglasses, as if something was wrong with his eyes. At his nod, the lights were slowly dimmed till they were out, and while they dimmed, he removed the sunglasses. Finally the room was lit solely by a slender moon. The tiny red lights of elevated camcorders glinted in the upper rear corners.
He glows in the dark, Bar Stool thought, like he's got a colored mist of light around him. He'd seen Dove before in the near dark, but never seen him glow.
"Good evening," Ngunda said. "I have important news to share with you. My ministry is over. I have done my part, prepared the way, and my departure is very near. Though it looks essentially the same, my body has been changing. You may be able to see its energy field now. It has been preparing itself to receive the Infinite Soul, at which point it will need to accommodate new spiritual and biological energies.
"That's why I've been so reclusive these past several days." He laughed. "In the process I've caught and surpassed even Lor Lu, our resident bodhisatva, in psychic perceptiveness.
"When the Assumption occurs, I myself will vacate, and move to the astral plane. And I wanted to see you, say goodbye to you, while I am still wearing this body, this good friend of mine and yours."
His gaze took in his audience. "All of you are dear to me," he told them, "and have important roles to play after mine is overroles you are well prepared for. The things I'll tell you here will not surprise you. You've heard or read them before, or known them intuitively. But repeating them under these circumstances will make them more powerful. As I am now more powerful."
He paused. "I do not fully know what it will be like for you, when this body is occupied by the Infinite Soul. But you will feel a potent difference. You will know it is not me. It may or may not take some getting used to, but the avatar will be the personification of love. In fact, it will have a greater impact on you than on most others."
He saw his audience clearly, despite the darkness and the tears. The tears he felt and saw were not of grief or loss, but joy, an emotion not always respected in the world of humans.
"Many people," he said, "will consciously accept the avatar for what it is. Others will first know, then reject what they know; to them, only the physical is real. They will fully accept only after a powerful and traumatic physical event, a concurrence that can hardly be explained as coincidental. For the Tao will also manifest as a major geophysical event at the time of the avatar's death, or immediately afterward.
"For this body standing before you will die. It will be murdered, and the manner of its death will make the reality more dramatic, more compelling."
Ngunda chuckled. "When I've been asked if I am the Messiah-to-be, I have neither admitted nor denied it. Perhaps the avatar itself will not, but it will be apparent. At some level, conscious or subliminal, it will be clear to even the most resistive.
"Even then a percentage will deny it, because they will be deeply frightened. And the backwash of that fear will manifest as violence. A violence mostly brief, but you will need to protect yourselves for a while. Some of you know the preparations made for that.
"And now about your task to come." Again he paused, literally feeling their attention. "After the geophysical event, new religious sects will arise. Some will hew rather closely to my teachings, and to those of other deeply inspired sources whose teachings are, or will be, basically consistent with my own. Other sects, particularly religions already established, will deviate to substantial degrees, or will preach doctrines resembling my teachings only superficially."
He paused for several seconds, to underline what would follow.
"It is important . . . important . . . importantto realize that each of those teachings will have its own validity. Each will have its own validity for its adherents. There are still hundreds of millions of infant and fledgling souls literally unable to grasp or accept what I have taught. But they will believe. They will believe in the visitationthe avatar, messiah, mahdi, Maitreya . . . whatever they term it. They will believe more fervently than many young soulsand create or accept doctrines quite foreign to my teaching. And . . ."
Once more he paused for emphasis. "And at their level of evolution, they will benefit from those doctrines.
"Young souls will also create their own doctrines, from which they will benefit, and these will be more or less accepted by billions. While the doctrines created and accepted by the billions of mature souls, and the many millions of old souls, will differ from my teachings in diverse but relatively minor ways. All this is inevitable, in accordance with the Tao."
Again Ngunda paused.
"Now about you. When the Infinite Soul assumes this body, you will find yourselves more powerful than ever. Spiritually powerful. You will know with a fullness of knowing rare among humans. Yet even your knowing will be limited, as mine is, and that is not a flaw, nor a thing to regret, for it will be more than enough. You will retain your humanity, yet excel in spiritual love, honesty, and wisdom. You will have the power to heal bodies, minds, and souls. In some respects, you will be more powerful than I have been.
"And your role will be to teach what I have taughtto do what you have learned to dowithout creating a church or orthodoxy. Without creating a church or orthodoxy. Do not, do not, do not criticize the doctrines others will propagate. Simply teach, heal, and be spiritual examples."
Watching, listening, Bar Stool became aware that he was no longer inside his body, nor outside it as he'd occasionally been. Rather he contained his body, instead of the other way around. He felt himself expanding, contacting and interacting with the souls of those around him. He felt their feelings with his own, in a chorale of love. Heard Ngunda Aran's words, and beyond the words, felt the concepts flow into him, into all of them.
When Dove was done, they stood silent and motionless for an uncertain periodseconds or minuteswhile the feeling, the spell, the powerful, indescribable sense of spiritual oneness faded. Never to be forgotten. Leaving not a sense of loss, but a rich residue of strength, love, and unity.
Again Ngunda chuckled. "I suggest you all go to bed now, and get a good night's sleep. What you've experienced here this evening is marvelous for souls, but it needs to be assimilated quietly." Again he chuckled. "In dreamland."
He was answered by grins and chuckles. Someone opened the door, and the attendees began to flow out into the corridor, leaving Dove behind. It was Lor Lu who stood at the door smiling and nodding to them as they departed. When Bar Stool came to him, they shook hands, then embraced. "That was quite a goodbye," Bar Stool said. He was grinning broadly.
Lor Lu laughed aloud. "Yes, it was, and it's not over yet. Go to bed. You'll have dreams like none you've ever had before."