"Yes. So far you've only demonstrated an ability to alter the element of Consciousness. There's still s.p.a.ce, Time and Consequence."

"Jeez. How do they work?"

"I don't know. Literature about the metaphysical elements of s.p.a.ce and Time are virtually nonexistent. I will be interested to see how these abilities manifest themselves. Writings about Consequence are generally vague warnings. Progenitors apparently have the ability to alter consequences but not eliminate them. Actively changing consequences can lead to unexpected results. Again it will be fascinating to see how that element works with an actual progenitor."

"I'm less fascinated by vague warnings and consequences than you."

A door slammed at the back of the warehouse, followed by squeaking footsteps and something intermittently slapping the cement floor, moving toward them.

Ping and Mara held their breaths.

A voice came out of the dark. "Hey, Ping, can we go up to Mount Hood? It's snowing up there according to the news. I've never seen real snow before." Sam stepped into the light with textbooks under one arm and a basketball under the other.

They exhaled.

"Perhaps we can go this weekend. We'll check the forecast and find a time when it is snowing," Ping said.

Sam looked at Mara and said, "Have you learned any new magic, today?"

"Not magic," Ping said.

"Okay, do any new metaphysical experiments today?"

"She created a purple tiger. It jumped out of the screen over there."

"Yeah? Where is it?" He set his things on the floor and retrieved his mat from the metal cabinet. He placed it next to Mara and sat down. "Well? Cat got your tongue?"

Mara rolled her eyes. "I made it go away."

"Did you blow it up? My Mara used to blow stuff up. Mostly my toys when we were kids, what few I had." He rolled the basketball on the floor in front of him from one hand to the other and back again.

"No, she incinerated it with the s.p.a.ce heater," Ping said.

"Purple tigers and s.p.a.ce heaters? Lame. Sounds like you're just one step away from rainbows and unicorns."

"You don't want to get on the wrong end of my s.p.a.ce heater, Opie," Mara said.

"Sam, what other abilities did your sister demonstrate?" Ping asked.

"She moved stuff around and blew stuff up. That was mostly it. I never saw her create any purple tigers, although I'm sure she would have been too embarra.s.sed to admit it, if she did."

"Moved stuff around? How did she do it?" Mara asked.

"You saw her on the plane. She pointed at you and threw you into the door, remember? Oh, and remember me sliding up the aisle on my b.u.t.t? That was her."

"How did she learn to control her abilities? Who taught her about them?"

"I don't think anyone taught her. She just figured it out when she was young."

"And she blew stuff up. How did she do that?"

"She picked something and concentrated on it and ka-boom, it would explode into a million pieces." His arms flew up and expanded over his head. "You think you can do it?"

Mara smiled and grabbed the basketball that sat next to Sam's knee.

"No, not that! Don't blow up my basketball. I just got it."

"We're not going to blow up anything, are we, Mara?" Ping asked.

Mara stood up and walked the basketball over to the periphery of the light a few feet from the table that held the projector. She bent over, put it on the ground and turned around. "I don't know. Let's see."

"Come on. I'm sorry I made fun of your tiger," Sam said.

Mara sat back down on her mat. "If it actually blows up, I'll buy you a new one. Deal?"

He shrugged. "Cool, go for it. But I have a game tomorrow afternoon."

Mara nodded and turned to stare at the orange ball for a moment, then closed her eyes. She kept its image in her mind's eye, focused on it. After a moment the basketball luminesced, and then its rays expanded to fill her field of vision. It surrounded her. She was inside the orange glow. She smelled rubber, sensed the ridges of its black lines slicing through the light. She reached out and touched it, felt the texture of its skin, its tautness, the pressure of air pushing to get out.

"Uh-oh, something's happening," Sam said, cringing and holding his hands over his ears.

Mara opened her eyes. The glowing basketball jittered, vibrated. Its shaking intensified and lifted it off the cement floor, erratically rising three feet, jerking back and forth as if something inside struggled to get out. Continuing to quake, it began to spin, turning into an orange blur. She could make out a faint rubbery squeaking noise. The basketball expanded, its glow intensified, then contracted and dimmed, over and over, like it was wheezing. Jiggling and spinning and wheezing.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Blow it up!" Sam said.

Mara closed her eyes, saw the image in her mind again, tried to focus on it. She couldn't quite get it. All she could see was a bright blur. All she could hear was the wheeze. She concentrated on the orange smudge and willed it to stop. A loud squeal, like a balloon being twisted, echoed throughout the warehouse.

"Whoa, what did you do to it?" Sam asked.

She opened her eyes. An indistinct orange smear hung in the air, unmoving.

Sam got up from his mat and ran over to it. He circled it, leaning forward examining it. As he pa.s.sed behind it, Mara could make out his silhouette. The blob was semitransparent, still a fuzzy orange with some spots of black mixed in, but translucent, especially along the edges.

"So what happened? Can you tell?" Ping asked, walking over.

"She made it all blurry," Sam said. "It's the basketball, but it's suspended and out of focus."

"Look along the edges," Ping said. "It's all jagged."

Sam reached toward it.

"Be careful," Ping said.

Sam flicked the edge of the blob with a finger. A tiny orange-tinged translucent cube flew toward Mara. It faded into nothingness as it arced in the air, completely disappearing before reaching her.

"It's pixels," Sam said. "She pixelated the basketball. Look, if you squint, you can make out the individual pixels."

Mara stood up and joined them. She circled the blob one time and looked at Ping. "That is so strange. What do you think happened?"

"I've no idea. Maybe this realm really is just pixels," he said.

"I think blowing stuff up might be more useful. I mean what good is it to be able to make stuff look like a lame webpage?" Sam asked.

Mara rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry to disappoint you. Maybe we can find you an alternate reality with more entertainment value."

"The most likely explanation is you are still learning how to translate your thoughts into reality. On the other hand, you did this without using a mechanical device like the radio or the projector, so that's promising. You can manifest your abilities without relying on a talisman," Ping said. "Why don't we have a seat and continue. I think we are finished with our attempts at blowing stuff up for the evening."

Ping and Mara walked back to their mats. Sam stood next to the floating remains of the basketball, making no move to return. "What are we going to do with this?" He pointed to the blob. "We can't just leave it here, can we?"

"I don't know. What do you think?" Mara asked to Ping.

"Hmm, interesting question."

"I know. Watch," Sam said, backing up ten feet into the dark, just at the periphery of the lighted portion of the warehouse.

"Sam, what are you doing?" Ping asked.

The boy jogged toward the pixelated basketball.

"Sam, I don't think that's a good idea!" Mara yelled.

He ran up to the blob and flung his right foot at its center. The ma.s.s exploded, knocking him to the ground and sending a burst of translucent orange cubes into the air. A wave of compressed air blew past Mara and Ping. After regaining their bearings, they ran over to Sam.

"Oh, my G.o.d, are you okay?" Mara asked, standing over him.

Sam rolled on the floor and laughed. "I guess you halfway blew it up. You just didn't finish the job."

Ping reached down, grabbed Sam's hand and pulled him up. When he stood, he held out his hands and looked up. He caught shimmering orange cubes sprinkling down from the ceiling. They alighted on his palms and faded away. He swung around and tried to catch some more, but soon it had all disappeared.

"Well, it kinda looked like snow," he said.

"You're an idiot," Mara said. "I thought you were hurt or worse."

"Sorry. I didn't know it would do that."

"You need to think before you act. Maybe it would be a good idea for you not to come around when we are doing this stuff."

"I was just trying to help." His face reddened. He turned, sulked back to his mat and flopped down. "Don't forget you owe me a basketball."

CHAPTER 46.

SAM TURNED HIS mat so he didn't face Mara and pulled out a textbook from his backpack. He flopped it open on his lap. Mara glanced over at him and was about to say something when Ping raised a hand and shook his head. "Why don't we return to our discussion?" he asked.

"I need to talk through some of this progenitor stuff," Mara said. "What are the rules? What are the limitations to these abilities, beyond my obvious lack of control?" She waved toward where the basketball had been.

"Rules? What do you mean?"

"I mean like the laws of physics. There are things that can be done and things that cannot be done, right? Like the speed of light. You can't go faster than the speed of light. What are the laws of progenitors?"

"I'm not sure about the speed of light, but progenitors have very few limitations. As I told you before, they can use consciousness to shape reality. Consciousness is the raw material from which everything is made. That raw material is shaped by knowledge, awareness and belief."

"So do progenitors have more consciousness than regular people?"

"No. They can draw on consciousness to shape reality because of their knowledge, awareness and belief of how things work. Remember the levels of sentience? It's the knowledge, awareness and belief of the highest level that makes someone have your abilities."

"Nonprogenitors, regular people, have knowledge, awareness and beliefs, but at a different level, correct?"

"Correct."

"They cannot shape reality."

"Individually they cannot. Collectively, people define their reality, their realm, with their knowledge, awareness and belief. For example earlier you mentioned the laws of physics. In this realm the laws of physics are defined by the collective knowledge, awareness and belief of those who live here. What they know and believe organizes consciousness into the laws of physics they ascribe to."

"The laws of physics can vary in different realms?"

"Absolutely. The speed of light may not be the limit it is here."

"If reality is determined by the knowledge, awareness and belief of people collectively, how can a progenitor single-handedly reshape it?"

"Having a higher level of sentience allows a progenitor to change specific things around. You might be able to make a brick float, but you can't repeal the laws of gravity."

"Why not?"

"Because the collective knowledge, awareness and belief of everyone else in this realm has organized consciousness in such a way that gravity is part of it. The only way you could get rid of gravity is to force everyone in this realm to believe it doesn't exist."

"Make everyone change their minds."

"And you can't do that, at least not using a metaphysical power. People have free will."

"What about prompters, like Sam here? He changes people's minds." She pointed to his back. He snapped a page forward and looked out into the dark as if he had some deep academic matter to ponder.

Mara smirked at Ping.

"That ability is limited to a few specific people at a time, at most. And as you have seen, its effects are temporary," Ping said.

"I'm still not sure I get it."

"Give it time. You obviously have some insight into how all this comes together, or you wouldn't have the abilities you have."

"So help me understand how this helps. What do we do about this pretender who's lurking around? He's still after the Chronicle. And what about the other pa.s.sengers from the flight? Some of them could be dangerous. Do we just sit around and wait to be attacked?"