Monday, July 28, 2008

The World Invades the Cave

Rishi awoke in the muted light of morning which drizzled in from the end of the cave like light through a cathedral window.

Terrie stared at Rishi from his side. She mopped his brow with a wet cloth and smiled at him. "Welcome back to the world of the living Jon, How do you feel?"

"Pretty much like I fell off a hundred meter waterfall."

"Is that what happened?" asked Terrie.

"Yeah. That's what happened."

Rishi's son heard his parents talking from the cave entrance and ran back to them. "Its so cool here Dad! Can we stay?"

Before Rishi had a chance to talk Terrie said, "No Jonny, we can't stay here we have to get home, I've been away from my job for far too long."

At this moment Bob walked up from within the bowels of the cave with a glass pitcher full of water. Bob was wearing new blue jeans and a white undershirt. This was the first time Rishi had seen Bob in clothing.

"Were you wearing that last night?" asked Rishi looking at Bob.

"Yes sir. Fascinating story. I met this lovely woman in town while I was trying to rustle up some grub. She was so taken to my wretchedness she insisted on buying me some clothing and a good hot meal."

Terrie continued, "I had this coconut with me that I bought at the shore and I offered it to Bob after his meal."

Rishi looked at Bob and Bob smiled really wide and winked his left eye.

Terri continued, "That's when Bob brought up the fact that the man he lives with had gone missing in the caves. He told me the most fascinating story about how this worldly man shows up at his cave entrance and then proceeded to almost get them both killed. I thought, 'that sounds like Jon's luck.'

"As he continued the story," said Terrie, "he mentioned in passing that your name was Rishi and then everything started to fall in place."

"How long have you been waiting here?" asked Rishi.

"We've been here a few days."

Jonny spoke up, "And its been so much fun!"

Rishi sat up very slowly holding his head. "Man what a headache."

"That's a nasty concussion, you're very lucky to be alive," said Bob and he winked again.

Rishi leaned toward him and whispered, "What did you change?"

Bob smiled and said quite obviously, "You should be happy to survive such a fall. You could have died."

Rishi, taken aback, said, "Thank you. Thanks again for saving me."

"You're not saved yet lad," replied Bob, "but perhaps soon you'll be out of the woods."

"You mean out of the cave," interrupted Terrie, "this place is awful."

"Awe Mom," said Jonny, "I really like it here."

"Me too kiddo," said Rishi, "me too."

Terrie looked thoughtful for a moment and said, "well you can't leave here right now, in fact you should stay on your back until the swelling subsides, but I'm fairly certain that you're past the danger point."

"Where's Paul?" asked Rishi.

"He's back in the states, he'll pick us up once he gets air clearance for flying through Nepal."

"I'm not leaving here," said Rishi.

Bob smiled and shook his head.

Terrie said, "You can't stay here! You have a son to support!"

"You don't need me. You told me so yourself when you left me for Paul."

Bob's smile grew even wider. Apparently what ever fruit he was seeing in his head revealed where Rishi would be in a day's time.

"Look Jon," said Terrie, "I just didn't... I mean... I couldn't help falling in love with him."

"Lets not get into this here and now," said Rishi, "just know that I'm staying."

Bob shook his head again and Rishi wanted to smack him.

Terrie's phone rang in that instance and she walked toward the mouth of the cave as she opened it.

"How you doing kiddo?" asked Rishi of his son Jon.

"I was really worried about you Dad. You stopped calling."

"My phone died at some point."

"I figured as much," said Jonny, "look I got you a new one!"

Jonny handed his father a new phone. It was silver, about the size of a match box and perfectly smooth.

"How's this one work?" asked Rishi.

"Its so cool Dad, watch."

Jonny slid his finger along the side of the box and a virtual panel opened above it.

"Wow. That is really cool Jonny. Thanks so much for bringing it."

"You're welcome Dad."

Jonny handed his father the phone and Rishi stuck it in the pocket of his mostly destroyed pants.

Looking at Bob, Rishi asked, "so she brought you a coconut?"

"Yep. There were nearly sixteen trillion trillion possibilities for me to sift through. I found the few where you were alive and focused on them."

"And by affecting her choices you kept me alive?"

"Yep."

Jonny looked puzzled but realized he was privy to special conversation and kept his mouth shut.

"You know if I have to go, so do you," said Rishi.

"Ha ha! You wish," replied Bob.

"You look at those possibilities and tell me where the better outcome is: you stay here or you come with us."

Bob pulled up the rutabagas and began sifting the possibilities. It was a simple divide and compare.

"What's a rutabaga?" asked Bob.

"Its a vegetable, why is that your next gift?"

"Yes it is."

"Strange huh?"

"Very."

Bob finished his divide and looked at Rishi. "Okay, I'll come with you but on one condition."

"What's that?" asked Rishi.

"You do anything I say, no questions asked."

"Deal," said Rishi.

Jonny, a perfect eleven year old copy of his father, was far wiser than most kids. He actually grasped a lot of what was being said by the adults because of an inborn clarity ability. But even with this form of sixth sight he couldn't grasp the level his father and this old man were talking.

Terrie walked back to the men and said into her phone, "okay Paul, we'll see you at noon local time." She hung up the phone and said, "Paul will have the ship here tomorrow at noon. He's got my GPS transponder location so we're good to go."

Rishi sat down and leaned against the wall.

"I'm not feeling very good. I think I need to..."

Rishi lost consciousness again. Terrie checked his head and she and Bob gently laid him down on his bed roll.

"He should have had some water," said Bob.

Jonny kept searching himself for answers to the puzzled conversation between his father and Bob. He kept finding nothing so he kept searching.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Return to The Chamber of Possibilities

Rishi climbed as best he could in the darkness for a couple of hours. He hadn't eaten in more than a week, but didn't realize it because he'd spent large portions of that time unconscious.

He grew tired quickly and stopped in a small chamber which, according to his calculations should be well above the level the water should ever get to.

Instead of sleeping, he tried to meditate and succeeded.

When his eyes opened, the water was six inches over his head and he was about to inhale water.

He hadn't floated which was odd. He hadn't inhaled water and yet the room was quite deep with it.

Rishi felt water streaming down on him from above, he stood up into the torrent of a water fall. Apparently a higher cave had filled and poured its excess into this cavern from above. That's how the room had managed to fill so quickly without bringing him to awareness or drowning him.

The room was pitch black and filling with water rapidly. He dare not follow the water down so he began to climb. He climbed out of the water a minute or so later and realized that the water drained at about the same rate as the waterfall filled the room so the room itself would not fill any deeper for the time being.

Feeling around he found the source of the water fall. It was the only exit to the room and the water pressure might be too much for him to climb through. However, he had no other choice but to try.

Reaching up for stones around the falling water he started to climb the wall. He made good progress alongside the falling water. Then he noticed the mist from the water fall diminished. Reaching across he found the ledge it poured out from and put his weight on it.

It was slimy, his hand slipped and he fell headlong into the raging water below him.

He felt himself swirling clockwise around the cave. Landing in the water had been lucky and unlucky at the same time.

Some small intuition bothered him. He had missed something important.

Swimming against the whirl pool Rishi felt himself being drawn down toward the cave he had come up through. He couldn't allow that, he'd drown.

Rishi remembered his advice to the old man and swam toward the center of the small whirlpool. He shot out toward the edge of the water and grabbed hold of a stone. He climbed and found himself at the base of the waterfall, ready to start climbing again.

He remembered some of his hand holds and made good progress, then when the time came to grab hold of the base of the water fall it dawned on him.

He reached carefully into the water, wiped his pointer finger and then stuck it in his mouth.

In a minute or so he could see the algae glowing from within the cavern. It was an old cave and he knew it lead out, it had to.

He found a few hand holds on the ceiling of the room and managed to swing his torso above the waterfall.

The crawlspace where the water flowed was a mere meter high and the rock from where the water fell protruded into the room by perhaps a hundred centimeters.

Rishi propped himself on his legs, with one hand gripping the ceiling and reached inside the water tube. He looked for places to grab, anything to help him fight the currents. Seeing a place that was not alight with algae he grabbed it. At that moment the hand that grasped the ceiling slipped and he fell against the water fall. The hand in the mouth of the water tube found nothing to grip and he fell again into the water below him.

The room was slowly filling. He had a limited amount of time.

He climbed again and finding his old hand hold he tried to reach in again. This time he found something he could grab and slid into the cave. Once his feet were on the sides he was safe: at least until the room behind him filled.

He climbed along this flat and small corridor quickly now that he had the algae to guide him and in about fifteen minutes he passed under another water fall into a chamber that had five exits and seemed vaguely familiar.

He found himself in the chamber of possibilities. He'd not noticed the tunnel through which he emerged before because it was so very small, perhaps only a third of a meter tall and masked by the water flowing out through it.

"If I had followed the water," he thought, "oh that's not important now..."

Running along familiar territory, Rishi found his way back to his home and there he found Bob waiting with a bowl of rice and soy sauce.

"Thanks!" he said as he started eating voraciously.

Bob said, "you're welcome, you need to take it easy on that, you've been without food for nearly ten days."

"Really? It seems like only a few to me."

"That head wound has probably caused all sorts of reality distortion for you. Had any good meditations?"

"I tried but they were nothing."

"Oh so you did have some good ones then."

Rishi looked toward the lit cave entrance and saw movement. The light was too bright for his unaccustomed eyes. He heard someone clear her throat.

Bob put his hand on Rishi's shoulder and said, "You'll never guess who I met in town while fetching supplies."

"Who?" asked Rishi.

"Jon?" said a woman's voice. "You're alive?"

The feminine form walked toward Jon and he remembered her.

"You look like crap," she said.

A young boy appeared behind Jon and said, "Dad!"

All this was a bit too much for Jon and he gently fell into unconsciousness with a full mouth of rice.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Blinded By The Dark

Rishi awoke some days later.

The thirst overwhelmed him. He heard a torrent of water flowing nearby and with great effort forced himself onto his stomach. He crawled carefully toward the sound of the river.

"Pitch blackness, yet again. Somehow I wish this was all just a dream."

Groping carefully as he slid himself along he reached the water's edge and realized that he once again climbed along quartz crystal.

"It must be beautiful in here. I wish there were light.

There was light, but the pounding throb he felt on the front of his head was the buildup of fluid on the front of his brain which prevented his vision from working. His eyes were on, but his visual brain was not.

He bent into the water drinking in a full bellies worth. The water tasted wonderful. Truly wonderful.

He recognized the danger of the torrent flowing so close and began climbing higher in the cave. He felt every crack and crevasse, and avoided the smooth crystal when ever possible.

The echo of the water in the chamber told him that the room was huge. As he climbed he reached a precipice and started climbing down. In a few minutes he his the stream again.

Had he just climbed in a circle? It was a possibility. The spliting headache might be interfering with his sense of direction. He might have come full circle.

"No." He thought, "The stream is flowing the opposite direction. I'm on a peninsula or an island.

He began following the edge of the stream, fifteen minutes of crawling, climbing and walking told him he was on an island.

"Swim now or later?" he thought. "Later. When my head stops splitting."

He climbed to the precipice and found a large flat rock. Shifted it until it made a nice place to sit, sat in full lotus, and closed his eyes.

He reached up and felt his head. It was badly swollen and he felt a scab on the center of his forehead. He must have struck it on his fall. Surely not at the bottom. Probably on the way down. Perhaps that was what knocked him unconscious. Not being a doctor he wondered how badly he had been hurt.

Rishi drifted out of consciousness sitting in full lotus.

The water seemed to grow faster and faster by the hour. When Rishi woke up he could hear it all around him. It had been a mistake to wait.

"If the river takes me," thought Rishi, "so be it. I think I will honor my UncEgg and try to meditate."

Rishi focused on his breath, watching it move in and out. Then he remembered something the old man had said about his breath. "One count inhale, four count hold, nine count exhale."

He practiced this breathing and drifted off. When he returned he was still breathing one, four, nine and his head felt better.

The water flowed around him. Perhaps a couple of inches. It was cold.

He recognized light through his eye lids and tried to open his eyes. They acclimated quickly and he saw the chamber. "The Thousand Meter Cave!" he exclaimed out loud.

His vision was blurry and the light caused pain in his eyes and head but he looked around and saw that the stream to his right was only four feet across and there was a way up to a higher portion of the chamber.

Rishi stood up carefully and noted the beauty around him. Then making a huge leap he just made the ledge and fell onto it.

His strength diminished, as did his eye sight. He crawled as quickly as he could up the chamber to a level at least ten meters above the surface of the water. His strength left, his vision followed and then consciousness put out his lights.

He awoke with the water nipping at his heals again. He could see but it was dark. There was a glimmer of moon light streaming through the quartz at the top of the chamber. He scurried up the chamber. His head felt better and he felt like himself again. "Who had I been before?" he thought.

Looking through the bleak light he saw a cavern opening about twenty meters up. It looked completely attainable. But he wasn't sure it truly was a cavern, it could have been a shadow playing tricks on his eyes.

The water was rising fast now. Although there was no way to know how long it would take because he had lost all sense of time.

He climbed along a wall, along a treacherous outcropping and made his way toward what may have been a cavern opening.

It was a cavern opening and it lead up along a steep incline of loose stone.

He waited at the cave opening, hoping to see the chamber in the light but the water got to him before the sun light did, so he took a drink and he began to climb.

The loose stone made his steps precarious. Often he would pull the rock down risking an avalanche just so he could find decent footing.

He found a small off shoot that lead toward the cave and thought, "I may never be able to come here again. I have to look."

He walked down the smooth surface of what may have been an ancient pathway for the river. There was no loose stone on it. It got quite short and wide at one point and reminded him of the water fall. But then he saw light and crawling forward he stepped into an opening half way up the side of the thousand meter cave. The sun had just risen and he could see the quartz, gypsum, and various other minerals glistening.

"I wonder," he thought, "if this cavern is safe from the water throughout the spring. What a great place to visit for attempted meditation."

Feeling a little tired he sat and drifted to sleep. He awoke a day later with the water just a meter or so from the entrance to his haven.

"I guess its not safe during the spring," he thought as he sprinted down the cavern, crawled on his belly though the narrow portion and then as the light ran out found his up slope and continued up it."