Sleeper Seven by Mark Howard Page A

here he comes crashin' through the woods and right smack into the clearing — I could see him pretty good cause of the full moon. I was downwind, so he had no idea. When he heard my radio he made like a tree. I had him for 'bout ninety minutes, or more even. We don't usually bring others, so, uh, keep that under yer belt, huh? Terry must think of you somethin' special. Hey, by the way, he asked me to work a session with ya, so just let me know when you're ready."
    "Sure, sounds good."
    As he headed back to the kitchen to clean up, she continued her meal in silence. She was still trying to decide which angle to believe, but didn't have much success. When she finished, they left together and headed towards the chamber.
    "Today let's see how far you can go. In distance work, you don't use your subtle body to travel, ya know, like through walkin' or floatin' around: you need to transport yourself Star Trek style, right? And the way you do that, is you meditate on the place you want to go and envision yourself being there. Simple as that. Now for most people, they can't recall much when they get back — cause once they try to think about why they are there and to remember the details, they get pulled right back. Even if they keep their thinking corralled, and focus on the feeling of the experience, they do better, but they still can't really get a lot done or focus on anything in particular. They just get impressions, some of which may be useful, mostly not. My theory with you is, since Terry said you seem to be a hundred percent aware locally, that maybe this won't happen to you. So when you get there, try to focus on things around you and think about the experience in the abstract — like be self-aware about it, OK?"
    "Well I've definitely had that same experience of 'losing it' when I played around with lucid dreaming years ago, but this seems different — I
can
think while in the middle of it, definitely, but I get caught up in the details. I'll let you know how it works. Where should I go?"
    "Somewhere meaningful to you would be best, to start."
    After choosing the Sec-U with Albert Einstein again, she lay down on the bed and tried wearing the headphones this time. The phase-shifted white noise still didn't seem to have any effect either way, and she popped out just as easily as she had before.
    After exiting, she hung around in the chamber until realizing she hadn't chosen a place to go yet. She imagined Gavin's office back home, trying to recreate the details of the place in her mind: the old wood smell, the design of the parquet floor, the dark green spines of the classics on his bookshelf — and set an intention to be there. Eyes closed, she felt a pull, a feeling of movement, and then exponential acceleration. There was no sense of drag, and no violence to it, just the feeling of her whole entirety being propelled at enormous speed.
    Opening her eyes, she found herself travelling within a glowing tunnel as streaks and flashes of colors streamed past. A dark spot appeared at the end, and grew to encompass her entire field of vision before she came to a sudden halt. The glow of the tunnel faded behind her as the darkness ahead resolved into the wooden bookcases and furnishings of Gavin's office.
    She could see each individual book in exquisite detail, the gold embossed letters on the bindings appearing particularly vibrant. Breathing in the scent of the leather bindings, she found she could both taste and feel them as well.
    Once again, she found herself entranced by these normally inconsequential details, but this time she could tell that her consciousness was different from her experience outside the dome. What she felt now was the pure living energy radiating from each individual physical particle of the objects in this space. There was no thinking at a level of abstract concepts, much less a focus on
things
. There was simply power and beauty overwhelming.
    Soon, as before, a disturbance wiggled its way into this