My Library

change it but you have to try.) BB smoothed. (Once more, only once more.) (Where have I heard that before!) (I owe it to him, is that the way you put it?) I plied. (One more. But it gets kind of rough from here on.) I turned and gathered up courage, closed tightly. The haze ahead was much thicker, dull gray, with only occasional flares of light moving through it. I understood the lights; they were those from the outer rings coming in, trying to help or meeting loved ones at their physical death. I had tried this several times, although I don’t seem particularly suited for that kind of action. Usually, I pass through these rings as rapidly and unobtrusively as possible. We entered slowly. Almost immediately, I began to feel uncomfortable and my percept indicated BB was more so. Any prospect of locating AA was totally up to him. I threaded our way among the countless forms hanging motionless. Actually, their movement was so slow as to be almost imperceptible. These were the ones who had just been released from their physical body via death and vaguely knew they had but didn’t have the rote to do much, if anything, about it. Occasionally as we passed, one would lean in our direction, which I had learned indicated the beginning of remembering—or the last vestiges of the forgetting process. My usual reaction was: Had I been like that? Had I ever been so unaware? It depressed me to accept the fact that I probably was. I don’t remember or I don’t want to. For the first time, I realized the M Band noise was lower in this muck. Almost immediately came the percept, naturally: stupid. Nobody is doing much thinking at all. They’re in a state of shock from dying, having nothing to hang on to, so scared they can’t handle it, so they put their heads in the sand and try to hide. The typical wave of compassion went through me, and I cut it off. Others are working on the effect, this end of the blockage. I’m supposed to be with those who try to help cut back the cause. I don’t know which is more difficult. (He’s not here.) BB came in grimly. He was barely open.