A Dancer in the Infinite - Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Blood of the Merovingians

“Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?” – William Blake

Come...dry your eyes. For you are life, rarer than a quark and unpredictable beyond the dreams of Heisenberg; the clay in which the forces that shape all things leave their fingerprints most clearly.

-Alan Moore

     “Apparently, my dear, it has something to do with your blood, er … your DNA more accurately.”

Luke said, as if it explained anything at all.

     They were seated around a large table in the dining room, almost all of the occupants of Castle Wonderland gathered at once.  Only Dr. Helmer, Dr. Shellborne, and Dutchy weren’t present, as someone had to monitor the Freezer and Mawacky at all times.  She was seated next to the other barters, Nicole, Nancy, and Sid, and she had noticed that Barry had taken the seat across the table from her.  In total, there were fifteen current residents of Chateau de Pays m des Merveilles, so there were twelve people seated around the table.  She had a chance to talk to most of them, though their leader, Dr. Rian Jenkins, another Brit, remained silent after his initial warm greeting, and always seemed to be looking at her.  It wasn’t a hinky kind of look, though, simply one of curious interest.  She hadn’t actually seen him talk to anyone.  He seemed to like to keep his thoughts to himself wherever possible.  This project was his baby, Barry had told her.

     “What exactly about my DNA?  Dr. Shellborne had mentioned my relationship to a Clovis I?  Is that it?” Marie asked.

     “Well”, Luke said, “Jackie could tell you better than any of us, it’s her department after all, but yes, it’s exactly about your direct descent from Clovis I.  Have you ever heard of him?”

     “No sir.”

     Everyone else continued eating the meal in front of them, as they spoke.

     “Clovis I was the first of the Merovingian Kings, have you heard of them?”

     “Yes, that’s right, supposedly we’re … er … I’m related to them.  They were legendary Frankish kings with alleged supernatural powers.  Talk to animals.  Heal the sick, kind of a thing, right?”

     Luke smiled and nodded happily, “Yes, exactly!  Did you know about their alleged descent from Saint Sarah, the daughter of Jesus and Mary Magdalene?”

     “That’s just Dan Brown stuff, fiction, right?”

     “Quite probably yes, though I’m not so quick to disregard such a possibility.  The local Cathars claimed to have gotten their tradition directly from Mary Magdalene.  In any event, that’s neither here nor there, though there is a presence of ancient Jewish heritage in Merovingian DNA and yours.  But, it’s the genetic mutation that is important.  According to our friends…er colleagues in the closer parallel universes…you have the knack to do what we need to do.  They suspect it’s because of your genetic differences, an ability that very, very few have.”

     “What’s that?” she asked as she ate, she couldn’t help it, the food was fabulous. (Describe food).

     “Well, um … er … I don’t know if it’s good diner conversation or not, but you do have a right to know.  We’re not going to make you do anything, you don’t want to do.  Please, do understand that.”

     “Okay, cool, so what are you going to ask me to do?”

     Luke looked nervously at Dr. Wukowski, who nodded.  Luke continued, “In the other close universes, and by close, I mean the ones separated by the fewest differences, or shortest amounts of time ... where you … are able through your unique genetic gifts to withstand … the um … ”  He paused and looked at Barry, “Say, Barry, do you have the book?”

     Barry pulled a thin, well-worn paperback book from his back pocket.  The book had a small girl on the cover, she was floating in space.  In large print, she could read the title, VALIS; she couldn’t see the author’s name.  Allen slid the book across the table to Marie.  She saw the name of the author.

     “Oh, sure, Philip K Dick.  I’ve read A Scanner Darkly, it was a long time ago.”  Marie offered.

     “Well”, said Luke, it wasn’t like this edition.  This edition was published in another dimension, by a publishing house that does not and has never existing in this world.”

     Hearing these words, she withdrew her hand from her action of picking up the book, and froze.

     “No, no, go ahead, there’s an inscription on the title page.  Read it” Luke offered.

     Marie lifted the book gingerly off the table and carefully opened the book to the title page to the promised inscription.  It was a woman’s had writing, not easy to read, put she could make the word out:

     “This book is, quite simply, about my family, extended and otherwise.  The Lamptons and Sophia live in the house where I grew up (which was not in the town mentioned in the book); conversations here are virtual transcripts, especially between Fat, Phil, and Sophia; the child on the cover is apparently based on a specific picture of me as a toddler.  Which would make sense were this book not generally regarded as not only fiction, but a masterwork of science fiction—and by those who love it as a magnificent work of philosophy.  To me it’s fairly straightforward memoir, mixed with a little Plato’s Republic.  So that is where I am from: a place and background where the lines between life and science fiction are never firm.  Make of it what you will.  Tricia Lampton, May 2009.”

     “That book, in your hands right now…” Luke paused ”is the only thing we have been able to receive from our colleagues across the Multiverse so far, we have been able to send nothing.  And that my dear is where you come in.  In the nearby universes, where you are already helping our counterparts … you are able … to travel between parallel realities, alternate universes, different timelines … there doesn’t seem to be an end to what you can accomplish when hooked up to the Mawacky through the Freezer”

copyright 2017 Diana Hignutt