OPERATION SUNRISE by GRIMLY WHETFOX

Chapter 2 - The Beach

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"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."
~ Marcus Aurelius

"Quod natura non sunt turpia" - What is natural cannot be bad.
~ Latin proverb

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"Of course you can do it to!" he laughed, almost maliciously, as if the idea that she could not was as ridiculous to him as the idea that she could was to her. "Full duplex, baby! Everything is polarity, bidirectional. So, of course you can!" Another laugh. It always struck her that his sense of humour was somewhat darker than what she would expect from someone like him. Kind of like the Dali Lama head banging to speed metal, it was a total oxymoron, a non-sequitur. Although in a strange way it was a reason why he still had his feet on the ground while his thoughts broke the laws of physics.

They sat on the sand, the warm evening enveloping them, facing each other.

"Go on, try me! Push something over here and then tell me I'm wrong, I dare you! Double dare!" He was grinning his Cheshire cat smile.

And she had. Something simple, something that she thought he would not pick up, but related to him, so that if it did work, she could plead association. Those hermetic laws felt right, she couldn't deny it. She just didn't like the implications when it became further reaching than just them, than just him and her and the multiple possible connections. When he knew things he just shouldn't know, he had no access to. That was when she really lost it. But this, this could be explained away easier somehow. So she tried it, visualizing something familiar, wondering if she had known in her bones when she first laid eyes on it how much of an impact it would have in her future, how important such a tiny thing was in the scheme of things, in the fabric. But was any one thing any more important than anything else? How could it be? That was too huge. Overwhelming. Concentrate...

So she thought of it, and then gave it a gentle push towards him. Immediately, his eyes lit up, his chin dropped half way to his chest and turned slightly towards his left shoulder while keeping his gaze directly on her, mimicking the image in her brain almost perfectly, showing off his jaw line and cheekbones. It even seemed as if he lost 20 years for a split second, his hair seemed to shorten, although when she thought back later she fancied it could just have been a trick of the twilight. One thing was no trick though, that was for sure...

"That school photo!" he exclaimed, grinning widely, and such a warmth came over her that it raised the hairs on the back of her neck, and buzzed in her fingertips, her toes, in her face. She knew she didn't even have to confirm it to him. Of course he was right. All of a sudden she felt that she knew a whole lot more, massive implications crashing over her like a wave. The rush passed down through her chest and belly, adrenaline fireworks over her hips, gathering at the very base of her pelvis, and then a sensation similar to someone rolling something like a massage tool all the way up her back, on either side of her spine, into her neck and head, then dissolving and dissipating at the top of her skull. If she had not known they were truly alone she would have spun round to see what was touching her. Surely it wasn't human.

"Nice work baby! You know how much I love to say I told you so!" He laughed as her head spun, but even through the dizziness she wondered how he could be so nonchalant, almost cynical in his acceptance. He rarely showed surprise at these things, and when he did she always had the feeling that he was faking it somehow, acting as if it surprised him too in order to appear less... freaky? Whatever. She knew he acted surprised at those times. She had learned to trust her gut. And moreover, there could be no lies between
them. A few secrets, maybe. No lies.

In the months that had followed that particular event they had strengthened and sealed their connection through countless hours of experimentation and communication, to the point that if anyone had witnessed them sitting on the beaches or in the hills, they would have thought they were just meditating, silent and contemplative, apart from the palpable waves of love that they emanated like radiation, like heat. But no one ever witnessed them, he made sure of that. After that night their lovemaking had changed tempo, becoming a sacrament, something stronger than just the connection, something that took that edgeless emotion and added to it, expanding and enlarging until it felt like it encompassed everything, the whole universe. And in a way, it did. She understood that now. He sometimes said afterwards that he could die happy right then, and although she hated that expression, what it implied, she knew he meant it. In those moments it was as if they had experienced all they would ever need to experience. He had once said that he wanted the afterlife to be that, just that instant, dancing with her in his arms for eternity. That had made her cry, so he didn't say it again, but it was true; they had moulded together, become indivisible, and from then on they didn't need to shine to share emotions and thoughts. They just were. That was what they had achieved.

Sometimes he wondered aloud who else on the planet was experiencing such things, as if his access to knowledge was indiscriminate, which it was and it wasn't. He said he doubted that anyone else was having their exact experience, but he was fairly sure that other people must have similar connections. It was impossible to tell unless they came into contact with others, he mused, by the peculiar law that divination is only possible if some future version of yourself actually knows the answer though normal means. She wasn't sure if this law of precognition was true, too much had happened to keep track, but it was neat and contained so she went with it. Better that than complete randomness, that was too scary. Whatever his musings she just knew what she knew, deep in her belly, as if there could ever be any more proof. He was her man, in this life and probably many others, she dreamed it, felt it, knew it, it shone in colours of green and gold in her mind every night and was in the glowing buzz in his eyes every morning. When she watched him write, or work or wash or anything it was there, in the twitch in the muscles of his shoulders or in the tone of his voice, his mannerisms, his stance, his posture. If it was any stronger she doubted she could cope with it. There was nothing more to give. It was everything.

The rain on her face seemed to have stopped, becoming morning dew as the sun rose, and she relaxed slightly, realising that they must be far ahead of them, there was no frenzy, no panic. Suddenly with a surge, there was a wall of protection at her back, as if angels had taken up bricklaying, and he spoke from a few meters behind her, his voice rich and deep.

"We are safe for now. But they have begun to act, they are mobilising. If we were truly on the grid they would have us by now. We have to keep moving."

She nodded. Time. It was good to have a little time after this morning's frenzied awakening. Change is the only constant, as he reminded her as often as possible, and time changes all things. She had known it couldn't stay the way it was forever. She realised, in a way that she was becoming familiar with, that this section of her life was passing, a new period was starting, the implications for the future, and how she would feel about these times when she looked back from the end of her life. A lump formed painfully in her throat and she swallowed hard, fighting back the tears. It's okay, she told herself, it's okay. Nothing lasts forever.

Nothing ever did.

To Be Continued...