Public Domain Science Fiction Writer Kolok contents Wai Z contents

There began a mutual Moment between Kolok and Tilwa, the gaia had to be conscious of the possible imposition of realignment; it was not in real time and was made chronological by Tilwa for the Guild s records. Kolok: These Talak are not capable, there are many repetitions. It's just that I like them. Tilwa: It would be normal for the Council to agree with the gaia but these Talak have been evolving, and their evolution is beneficial. They are not remaining static, you are not responding to their evolution; as they evolve you need to evolve and enable their lives to evolve. Kolok: How exactly? Tilwa: For a start we need to avoid an extinction event, and the way they are going the egos of their leadership will cause such an event. Tilwa presented his analysis and Kolok agreed there will need to be some form of Talak extinction so that I and my other species survive. Tilwa: But these Talak are evolving yet we come back to extinction of Talak. Why aren't you incorporating their evolution? Kolok: What do you mean "incorporate their evolution"? Tilwa: They are part of you, why haven't you changed to enable their continued evolution? Kolok: They are part of me so I change; that is natural. Tilwa: From where the Guild stands, we see the Talak changing yet there is some kind of resistance that means they are forced to repeat the same extinction. Hivantin evolved, love evolved the Hivantin, yet now the Talak have degraded to ego extinction. Even though at one stage most of the Talaks lived harmoniously and peaceably with their gaia in kaomis there has been a step back. Now they have Magda-watchdogs aware of all this yet they are incapable of enabling peaceful change. There is resistance. Kolok: I can see some of that and am prepared to accept the Guild s advice but what changes are needed? What are you asking me to change? Tilwa: That is the first change, you are conscious of the need for change and have accepted that your Talaks are evolving. Kolok: As gaia I accept that there is evolution taking place, and somehow there is resistance to that evolution. Please show me where I can enable proper evolution. Tilwa: I will stay until we have determined the nature of this resistance. I have worked with other gaias, I am sure there is an answer. Hopefully this answer can be permanent or at least not repetitive. But the question, had the gaia understood enough of the source of resistance? And of course the gaia's change in consciousness did lead to changes - some subtle others less so. The gaia accepted the authority of the Council, and implemented changes in the daily life of her Talaks; this was not however the question for Tilwa, in the long term he needed to know there would be no future resistance. A gaia's power was complete, it was just not natural for her to be involved with detail. That is what her deal with Tilwa meant, meticulous detail in the daily existence of these Talak. Tilwa realised that the results of the egos of the Tanja and Tarpies had to be negated, after all if the evolution of Hivantin and the love-wisdom balance were registered in the gaia's consciousness then the double-T egos would not have arisen. To avoid bloodshed Tanja military needed to be ineffective - make the war machines malfunction. Beginning with the weapons mysterious minor disasters started to appear at the factories. In training and manoeuvres the machines did not work - occasionally causing injury. Similarly some production machines broke down so much so that accumulation was hit. Naturally the Tanja thought it was Tarpie. Meanwhile the Tarpie analysts had registered that the military were weakening as sympathetic soldiers reported to the Ronin praetorian. Naturally the analysis indicated assault that could lead to bloodshed; Tilwa needed to avoid this, it meant disempowering the Ronin. How could he deflate Tarpie ego? Who could do this? And in his mind the answer was clearly Magda. As an experienced sensoid he was not prepared to take the drastic step of investing atama in these Talaks, there had already been sufficient atama given away as he knew personally. His mind drifted to previous sensoid involvement on this gaia, not only had the sensoid Daasur almost missed possible extinction but her apprentice, Sommwa, had become too attached. Tilwa knew personally that Sommwa had struggled on her return to their homeworld, she was family. What was an aeon of time for these Talaks was sensoid immediacy. Investment in healing Kolok brought out this immediacy, even though such a length of time had passed to Tilwa it appeared as the next phase for him to follow Sommwa's misplaced attachment. Involved in her recovery - she was drained after her first visit, Tilwa had insisted she return to Kolok to see out her impetuous atama release. Whilst she had to understand her youthful sharing was reckless, she also had to understand the meaning of atama and its power. Thankfully on Kolok there had been positive progress; and it was also why Tilwa had some anger towards the gaia. These Talaks had evolved significantly given Sommwa's atama boost yet Kolok had not reflected this - the gaia was wasting the atama. He was personally committed to see that evolution bear fruit. Sensoids communicated through feeling with gaias - they used their sense to try to make the gaias feel their perception empathically. But with intelligent species such as Talaks, dreams were the usual form of contact. Somehow he had to convey to Cargue that now was the time for a Magda endplay. The dream began with an orchestra, and Cargue saw herself playing the violin, widening her dream she saw many Magda with her playing violins. Her dream vista widened and she saw above Lopham a huge ear - an ear that was turning away from Cargue's orchestra. Why wasn't Artie listening? Why weren't the praetorians listening to their Magdas? A voice from above called to Cargue "Now is the time for the Ronins to listen to Magda .... confront them". Her eyes turned to the voice and she saw her fragment, it was the voice of Sciendtao, and she followed as the fragment turned into an arrow pointing. Her gaze followed as Artie took his Ronin further and further away. Suddenly she was stood in front of Serdie as he was following Artie away from the Magda. She did nothing to stop him, the Magda were doing nothing and they all stood aside as they watched their Ronins march towards the Tanj. Looking upwards Sciendtao started to disappear. She heard Sciendtao call out "do something - confront your Ronins before it is too late". There's enough there, thought Tilwa. She knew when she awoke this dream was important - different, she quickly recorded what she remembered. Then she rested letting the dream percolate through her, and she drifted off again. The next morning she listened to the recording. Not surprising, she thought, there is a strategy review today, her dream was meant for that. She saw how the Magda were static - not developing, their watching brief was not developing. Now was the time, she resolved how to convince them? As it turned out there was little convincing, path-in-action was an embodiment that the Magda had been lacking in their watching brief, and they all knew it. "You are right," agreed Keff "we have been watching and waiting but is the time right?" "We make that time," answered Cargue aggressively "we are the repressed - not these double-T. We must stand up to them." Keff answered cautiously "It is we who must stand up but there is little point in vainglorious futilities." "We must make what we do important," jumped in Mandie "it is up to us to give meaning - not to stand by and watch." "What is clear is that Tanj military are struggling, ...." observed Amani. "Yes, my Sando spoke of possible Ronin aggression whilst the Tanj were weak," interrupted Pattie with a look of appeasing apology. "Now is a good time to avoid bloodshed," conceded Keff with authority, "how could we do it?" "We must use our strengths," replied Cargue "and their weaknesses to confront them." "They could not take defeat in combat against a woman," Mandie added "that is a weakness we have always been conscious of. Take them on one-to-one, and they will walk away sheepishly in defeat." "We know this," accepted Keff "but what does that achieve? A few broken men - broken egos?" "Individually we can break them," agreed Cargue "but what does that do for Talaks?" "Break these men individually, then use their weakness and status within the Praetorians," Mandie put in. "Yes we can break them in private,"" Pattie added "I could break Sando, and he would do anything so that the other Praetorians would not know." "We can develop control of the Praetorians in this way," agreed Mandie. "With what purpose?" asked Mandie. There was a silence, and then suddenly they all said "Artie". "We will publicly shame Artie to make him work with us," concluded Keff. This began the Magda Artie-confront strategy. To begin with they took it slowly, and working with Pattie's confidence they engineered Combat between Pattie and Sando. As with most of the Praetorians the Magda had several workers in place, in particular Sando's women were all Magda. Combat occurred in his gym, video footage was taken, and Pattie felt his shame, a shame that was confirmed by the other Magda. Sando could be controlled. Surprised at how easy it had been to get Sando, the Magda accelerated their programme and very soon there was vid evidence of most of the Praetorians being defeated in Combat by the Little Women. Now was the pinnacle of their strategy - to manipulate Artie into Combat with Keff. Keff issued her challenge that Artie would have dismissed as unimportant but the controlled Praetorians warned him that the Little Women were getting restless - and needed putting in their place. Magda had provided the language, Tarpie shame and fear had led to a boldness in challenging Artie. To ensure Praetorian cooperation another weapon was used - public spats. Whilst most of the private combats had been conducted behind closed doors - to save Ronin face yet yielding control of the praetorian, a few public spats had been engineered by the Magda. These spats had happened on camera - in stores, in banks etc. Several Magda had agreed to sacrifice their years of anonymous work by winning the public spat, engineering and winning a Combat displaying the fight online; the Tarpie would then be outed by shame and as a result lose their place amongst the Praetorian. The majority of Artie's Ronins were grateful they were not publicly shamed in this way, but saving their face had come at a cost - ensuring Artie would fight at an open-zom, the Combat to follow one of his recruitment talks. Reluctantly Artie agreed to Keff s challenge primarily to quieten his Ronins, why were they so concerned? he wondered. But it was necessary to be the number one in Combat, and if for some reason the Ronins wanted a Little Woman defeated, he would do that. So against his better judgement he agreed to the public Combat with Keff. Came the event of the open-zom. Artie walked in, broad shoulders backed up by powerful muscles, his straight neck rigidly holding his head almost cartoon-like in appearance. This Tarpie was a symbol as a leader, Tarpies were Tarpies because they followed him. Typical of contests between male Talaks he was weighed, and then stood in the centre of the arena waiting for Keff. Now Keff was tall for a female Talak but she was at least a foot shorter than Artie, and her weight was little more than half his. Physically in the centre of the arena there was a mismatch. Artie then began his usual contest banter but there was no attempt to counter this. Keff simply said "it is time for Tarpies to fulfil the moral components of their Roninisation. Ronins used to wander Kolok to help end the suffering of all Talaks - not simply the interests of one group of Kolok's Talaks." "Are you talking as a female?" he asked "we provide for our women." "Materially you do,"" she answered "and you care for who you think we are. But do you help us be who we think we are?" She turned to the screens. "Every one of these Magda has defeated a Tarpie in combat," he turned and watched as the screens showed the Magda. "You even know some of these Magda socially," she showed him "they were partners of your Ronin elite." On the screen appeared pictures of the Magda after combat, and pictures of the Magda at home with a member of his praetorian. "How can you say you cared for these Talaks when neither you nor your elite actually knew them?" The Tarpie was now angry as he started to understand the hijack. "Defeat will not happen to me," he exploded. "Maybe not," Keff said quietly. "Before we start, if I win will you consider an alliance with the Magda to overcome the Tanja without bloodshed?" How could he not agree? He was supposed to be guided by God even though Magda's work with Unity wondered how it was possible for God to get through his ego. "If you win I agree to work for a way to avoid bloodshed so long as Tanj don't remain in power," he conceded without any thought as to the possoibility of his losing. He looked around at his elite, all of whom he had just seen on the screen as having already lost privately in combat. What was he seeing? Shamefacedly they looked back at him and the position they had put him in. But they knew there was something to these Magda, and if there was to be an alliance against the Tanj they were in favour. However their first duty was to Artie, his Ronin and their struggle. In unison they said "we support Artie and his Roninisation, we will follow Artie". Getting ready for Combat he was partially appeased by this support. Keff liked the way their strategy had gone. Everything was aligned behind her for this combat. On a personal level Artie was struggling with his anger, and pushing through this anger his atama would know the truth about an alliance with Magda. Around him his elite were giving him nominal support, but with their egos privately belittled their own atamas were looking to consciously reunite with the atamas around. And Tilwa and Keff knew that Kolok also didn't want these egos, Kolok's atama was also aligned with Keff. The only thing Keff did not have was a physical advantage but that was what the Magda training was for. As the combat started unsurprisingly Artie was the aggressor, and she saw his intent long before he acted. As his foot raised to strike her she swivelled using her turning motion on his aggressive force to move him off balance. As she completed her turn, using her own energy and the energy of Artie's kick combined she struck him with the flat of her hand to the side of his jaw knocking him completely off balance; he fell to the floor. His followers were shocked, in the many contests they had seen he had never been felled. There was a gasp in the arena echoed in many homes across Kolok. But Artie was not Artie for no reason, he stood up, smiled and bowed to Keff. In part this was gamesmanship to regain his composure, but there was genuine respect - such an alliance would not be all bad. When he faced her this time his anger had subsided, and she saw this. Keff had previously known she would win the first engagement but this was Artie; she had far more work to do. Of course he would still attack first, that was his style but she now had to deal with his cunning. There was a feigned blow to her left which she deflected slightly, knowing there would be a greater emphasis elsewhere. Feeling his energy rise towards his left arm, she used his height ducking under the moving arm, at the same time turning and pulling the arm over her shoulder to expose his left kidney. As he began to fall on top of her she dug her right elbow into the kidney making him completely lose balance; again he fell to the ground. For most Talaks Keff knew this blow would have left him in agony - almost paralysed, but as he began to fall over her he was able to turn slightly reducing the impact of the blow. It was her engagement but because of her opponent she knew it could never be a winning blow. It was going to be a long night, and she returned to her posture calling on Kolok for energy, her atama using Kolok to enliven her chi. Whilst Artie s energy was depleting Keff was increasing hers, because of the factors aligned behind her potential victory. Engagement followed engagement, and whilst Artie did occasionally catch her his very strength touching her aura instinctively enabled deflection - only occasionally did his strike cause some pain, but there was never any time she felt the full force of his physical strength. One hour passed then two, and he still came at her. They were trapped by his ego, and all present could see that - he could not concede. And she was not willing to deliver a blow that would keep him down permanently. In the final engagement she struck him so that it took time for him to get up and prepare himself for the next engagement. With on eye on a possible attack she turned to the arena. "Can we now begin to work together to avoid bloodshed with the Tanj?" Throughout the arena Tarpies called out "Avoid bloodshed together", and as they continued to shout this Artie felt he was losing their favour. Then Cargue came into the arena, and sought out Serdie whilst other Magda also came in and embraced their partners. There was a Unity that had not been felt on Kolok for a long time. Artie was an honourable Talak by his own standards. He managed to bite back his ego, went up to Keff to raise her hand as a victory salute. This was not what Keff wanted. She managed to completely avoid the gesture losing it in feigned awkwardness; instead Keff hugged the Tarpie and called out "Avoid bloodshed together". Soon they were both calling out "Avoid bloodshed together" as the screen showed images of the Tarpie and Magda couples. For Tilwa work with the Talak on the new beginning was almost complete. The Tanja lacking their machines were without an effective military, Tarpies and Magda were "avoiding bloodshed together". But this still left the Tanja with unenforceable power and much accumulation, there was a need to prevent a backlash from spoiled egos - as well as a possible violent backlash from angry repressed Talak. Tilwa guided Kolok to sever the Tanja alliance with finance. Here again atypical attention to meticulous detail by Kolok provided a simple solution as the computers recording the accumulation soon developed irretrievable faults, and the required backups developed device errors; without enforcement the Tanja were toothless to reclaim their fiat fortunes. Without the accumulation records Tanj fortunes became meaningless, and money returned to being a sustainable tool to ease barter transactions, much like the way transactions had happened in the kaomis. Tanj had lost their influence; sadly some Tanj were executed by the grass roots before the Magda-Tarpie alliance organised a triple-T protective force under the banner "Tanj are Talak Too". Soon the Peace movement became part of the Magda-Tarpie alliance, but the Magda knew there was some work to be done to undermine Parjiko's hold on Tarpie intellects. For a long time the Tadat had prepared papers exposing the weakness in Parjiko's Roninisation, they had even unearthed Hivantin documents in which Ronin were described as travelling Kolok helping to end suffering for all. These Ronin had been distant precursors of Hivantin's Lancers. For Parjiko there was no way back. With the New Kolok alliance most Talaks accepted Magda understanding and training - and those interested began to see through his. Once the Tarpie shells were exposed, the egos had nothing to cling to and as predicted soon disappeared. Emerging from their Tarpie shells, genuine Talaks soon embraced broader Magda training that led to a developed Hivihfin for female and male Talaks alike. Elite Tarpie analysts still attempted to cling to Parjiko's partial path, but once the holes in his integration were exposed (through examination of historic Ronin axioms) their egos soon let go and began to embrace a more complete approach to the path - to a true Ronin's path. As Parjiko became more isolated, his mental health declined and he fell back on drugs. For many years he resisted the help of Talaks in the New Kolok, but eventually he let go of his past and the ego that clung to it. In his dotage he wrote about his dark years as a warning for New Kolok. With all the threads coming together in a hopeful tapestry Tilwa had one last image to cast - to expose why there was resistance to Talak evolution and where it was coming from? Kolok was still young, the Guild knew this. Did the gaia know how her own egos were formed? Of course not, how could she know that? Gaias were often too solid to recognise egos in themselves, and needed to be made aware that this happened to gaias. Tilwa showed gaia how her own egoic resistance was symbiotically connected to the egos of Talaks especially the egos of the Tanj and Tarpies. At Tilwa's urging Kolok began to cultivate love towards her dominant species. Again with Tilwa's encouragement she began to look at Talak history in a cultivated loving light. Instead of seeing the repetitive pattern of elite accumulation she focussed on the deeply-developed wisdom of Hivantin, and how for a long period the Talaks had lived in harmony with her. She had not been looking with equanimity when she only saw the defiled accumulation. For the first time she saw how Talaks had developed love with Amdor, and how she had not reflected this love in her own being so it had not been added to the harmony of the time. Encouraged by Tilwa she looked again with love at the Talaks, at how love was central to the Magda collective, but that she had not reflected that change as she focussed on the defiled greed of the powerful few. Without Tilwa having to guide her the gaia began to see that the resistance was in herself. She had not allowed the Talaks to naturally evolve her consciousness instead she had clung to the historic repeated defilements. And she saw that her clinging had then restricted her Talak. Instead of cultivating the love-wisdom that was evolving in her Talak - at first in Hivantin, then with Amdor and finally with Magda, she had attached to the greed of first the Taj and then the double-T. Over time these two attachments had reinforced each other, the Taj attached to greed and her own attachment reaction to the power and influence of their accumulation. When this exploitation repeated, she focussed on the pattern forgetting the intervening years of harmony. It was time for her to evolve and embody the developing love-wisdom that had started in Hivihfin, developed with Amdor and was then much more completely integrated by the Magda. From then on as a gaia she would cultivate the love arising in her Talaks, and allow her consciousness to evolve with her dominant species. With the results of Tilwa s manipulations amongst the Talaks, Kolok could see how, once her resistance was gone, it would be easy to integrate the Talak consciousness. What Tilwa was able to do was instil a gaiaic mindfulness that made her observe the Talaks as if she was observing herself. In a mutual Moment with Kolok Tilwa rammed it home: If the Talaks are exhibiting ego look to your own resistance. If the Talaks are developing love-wisdom, cultivate that same consciousness. Evolve with your Talak. Kolok grabbed this straight away. But Tilwa wasn't finished: There must be constant observation. You are the life that you have created. Observe this life, a mature gaia lives in constant observation and realignment evolving with the consciousness of life on her. This is the mature path of a gaia. Tilwa hoped that would be enough. With all the forces realigning there was the possibility of a new life without weakness. Of course established egos would continue, how could Tanj ancestry give in immediately? But the majority of leading Talaks were working together; peace, Amdor, Hivantin had few entrenched egos working against them. This new Unity meant that Talaks could develop new harmonised communities with the conditioning towards accumulation getting less and less. And whilst this was happening taking advantage of the evolving Talak consciousness Kolok could mature onto her developing path offering no resistance to the integrated change that was arising. The Guild hoped they would never have to return to Kolok in distress.

Earth's Epilogue/Contents/Previous - Ch12