Stones (Data) (52 page)

Thinking of Jessica, Matt feels a lump in his throat. He sees and hears the dagger slide into the professor’s chest, a sound that Matt can never seem to get out of his mind. His breath grows labored, and his eyes dart behind him. “I need to get back to her. Are you sure we have time to—”

“You must control your fear, or you will never have the power to help her.” Bending down, Naganuma tosses a small pebble into the water. The ripples radiate out and distort the mirror surface of the sea. “Now ask me.”

“Ask you what?”

“You have questions about the Stone. Ask them.”

Swallowing hard, Matt takes in a deep breath and feels it absorb the fear. It flows out with the exhale. “How do you create?”

“I think
it
, and
it
becomes reality. Would you like to see?”

“Yes.”

“Watch. And learn.”

Matt slowly nods his head, not sure what to expect.

Staring out across the water, Naganuma’s eyes are as still as the sea’s mirror-like surface. As his eyelids drop down, the water begins to ripple and move. Far out to sea, perhaps ten kilometers away, a brown cone of rock rises up, an exact copy of Mount Fuji.

As it rises to the sky, a thick layer of water clings to its sides in defiance of gravity. The shoreline draws away from Matt and Naganuma to leave behind a seabed carpet of smooth rocks and algae. But when the mountain comes to a stop, gravity reasserts its pull, and the clinging skin of water cascades down from its sides in a boiling flow of white foam. At the base of the new mountain, the sea bulges and shifts to become a massive wave.

It turns into an expanding ring surging outward.

Like an embodiment of the fear and anger churning inside of Matt, the mountain of foam rushes closer, growing as it approaches until the sky begins to darken. Matt takes an involuntary step backward and glances at Naganuma.

“All of life is a
tsunami
. Do not fear it.” Naganuma widens his stance and gazes forward.

A wall of water rises up and begins to resemble Hokusai’s famous painting of
The Great Wave
. Its top starts to collapse under its own weight. Tendrils of water crash down upon them.

And then it stops, frozen in time.

Raising the Stone in his hand, Naganuma glances up. “In this world, I am the builder, the creator. When I command matter, it listens. It
wants
to do exactly as I say.” His eyes focus on the water above him, and his voice becomes a whisper. “Go back to the sea.”

The sharp edges of the wave melt and become a mound that settles into the ocean.

Naganuma turns to Matt. “The Stone gives its Holder the power to do many things. The most obvious is the power to manipulate matter.”

“And energy.” Matt recalls how he destroyed an entire city on Ryzaard’s world with a jagged laser beam.

“That is true. But you must be careful. Destructive power is a constant temptation for any Holder. You will find that using the Stone as a weapon is easy, requiring little training or practice. You will find that the urge to kill comes most naturally.” Naganuma turns his back to the sea and walks a short distance. “But it would be well for you to cultivate the more refined uses of the Stone.”

“What sort of uses are you talking about?”

“There are many such uses. One that I find most interesting is the power to
see
, to see things as they really
are
. It is a great gift.”

Matt turns away from the water. “I remember yesterday on the mountaintop, when the Allehonen came to me. I could see into the leaves and flowers in the grove.” He walks to the side of Naganuma.

“You can do it here as well, only you can go much deeper. In this world, there are fewer barriers to overcome. It would be good training.” Naganuma’s eyes light up. “Would you like to try?”

“Right now?”

“Sit down.” Naganuma points to a large flat rock. “Close your eyes and go into meditation mode as quickly as you can. You do know how to meditate, don’t you?”

Matt finds his way to the rock and sits facing the water in a lotus position. “My dad does yoga. He taught me how to focus on the breath, to find the stillness, if that’s what you mean.” Matt begins to breathe in deeply and exhale slowly.

“Classic meditation. Developed by the Vedic priests in India and inherited by Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, and his disciples. He found that the old meditation techniques worked well with his Stone.” Naganuma smiles with approval. “Find a state of deep relaxation. Like you did when you saw the Allehonen.”

“Got it.” Matt closes his eyes.

“One last thing,” Naganuma says. “What did you study in college?”

Matt furrows his brow, opens his eyes and turns at Naganuma. “Does it matter?”

“Just tell me.”

“Asian history,” Matt says. “With some philosophy thrown in.”

“Good.”

“Why?”

“I wanted to know if you have studied physics. It shapes the way you see the world, gives you preconceived ideas about what matter ought to look like. Molecules and atoms, quantum theory and all that. It can blind you to what is actually there. When you
see
the reality of matter, it is messier and more beautiful than you could possibly imagine.”

Matt’s eyes drop shut. “Right.” He straightens his spine, lets his hips move forward an inch or two. Then he begins to count, six seconds for each inhale, six seconds for each exhale. His Stone lies on the palm of his right hand.

Two minutes pass.

“Good.” Naganuma places a white pebble in the palm of Matt’s left hand. “Now, open your eyes. Allow your mind to enter this rock, to know it as it really is. No expectations. No presumptions. Just open yourself to it and observe what happens.”

Matt’s eyes slowly move open. He detects the weight draining out of the Stone in his right hand.

As he stares down at it, the rock in his left hand becomes an all-consuming grey blur, and he feels himself floating above it, like a parachute jumper falling through a silent atmosphere over a mountain range. Falling closer, ridges, peaks and valleys rush up to meet him. He senses that impact will come in a few seconds. His breaths turn into short gasps. Panic spreads through his chest.

The voice of Naganuma drops down from above. “Don’t be frightened. Embrace it.”

A sharp peak rushes up and past him on the right and disappears from his peripheral vision. His eyes snap shut just before slamming into its side. To his surprise, there’s no pain. In fact, he feels nothing. The panic drains away, replaced by calmness and clarity. Looking around, he is dropping through successive layers of a light blue crystal structure.

Massive octagonal columns rise up below him, and he passes through one into a warm sea of viscous amber liquid, like soft honey. Shapes float, some free, and some connected in long chains. There are elegant geometric cubes, pyramids, and spheres, but most of the shapes have an organic form, like a fungus in a Petri dish under a microscope. Long sinuous tendrils appear, followed by round globs with protruding spikes, sponges and tubes. Each has a rich color, like plankton floating in the sea. A general humming sound resonates in his chest. A pleasant smell, like almonds mixed with lavender, floats around him.

“Go deeper,” the voice of Naganuma booms, engulfing him.

The amber liquid turns to fine sand, and then the grains of sand grow to the size of boulders. Matt touches the surface of one. It’s soft and warm, and he feels the humming with his whole body. Making an opening with his hands, he slips inside into a sea of light, with soft fibrous threads running through it, like long strands of a kelp forest growing up from the ocean floor.

Matt hears the voice of Naganuma, no longer as an external sound, but as simple words in his head.

Raw energy.

Waiving his hands in a circular motion, Matt gathers a fistful of the light fibers. They break off easily and form a ball in his hand, like soft snow, and the broken ends immediately join with other threads. He throws the ball and watches it travel away from him at a constant speed until it’s out of sight.

No entropy here
, he thinks to himself.

The strands increase in size until they are as large as redwoods. Matt wonders if he should venture inside.

Do not fear
, the voice says.

Reaching out with both hands, he parts the brilliant white surface of one of the tubes like a curtain and enters.

There is nothing but blackness pierced with pinpoints of light, like floating in deep space. The points of light draw him closer. He moves to touch them, to pass through them.

It is forbidden. Go no further. You must return.

“How?” The words come out of Matt’s mouth, but there is no sound.

You are in full control. Think of ascending up from the bottom of the ocean to the surface.

Matt visualizes an ascent to the surface, like a diver rising from the floor of the sea, and finds himself sitting next to Naganuma looking down into the rock.

“What do you think?” Naganuma turns to him with a grin and a childlike look of wonder in his eyes.

“Incredible.” Exhaustion flows over Matt, making his body feel heavy. “What did I just see?”

Naganuma looks out across the water and nods. “What you saw is the true nature of
matter
. Levels within levels. If you have a Stone, it is easy to move through them in
this
world. Back on earth, it is much more difficult. But with practice, you can learn to do it.”

After a few seconds, the feeling of utter fatigue falls away, and Matt sits up. “You were right. No molecules, no neat arrays of atomic nuclei with protons and neutrons and orbiting electron clouds.” Matt scratched his head. “Why? Isn’t that what matter is made of?”

“With the Stone, you see the true reality of nature.”

“The true reality of nature.” Matt repeats Naganuma’s words to himself, trying to tease out their meaning. “Maybe I’m just stupid, but I’m still not sure I understand.”

“Give it time.” Naganuma sighs, and then begins walking briskly along the shoreline, a few feet from the water’s edge. “There is a river not far from here. Follow me.”

Matt hurries to catch up, and moves to the right of Naganuma, half a pace behind him.

After ten minutes of silence, they reach a large stream at the point where it flows into the sea. Matt stops at the edge of the bank, but Naganuma walks on without hesitation, stepping down the shallow embankment into the river. “Come down and join me in the water. Then you will understand.”

“What are you going to show me?” Matt takes a tentative step into the water.

“There is nothing to fear. Calm yourself. Now look down. See the river, not the water.”

Gripping the Stone in his right hand, Matt feels its weight drain away. There is a blur, and he’s floating above the surface of the river like a microscopic particle of dust.

Another out-of-body experience.

He has the same sensation of falling toward the water like a parachute jumper without a parachute. Just before he penetrates its surface, he remembers what Naganuma said about focusing on the river, not the water. A surge of energy and clarity passes through him, and he
becomes
the river, aware of every tributary and stream flowing into it as one might be aware of his toes or fingertips. His awareness reaches into the valleys and glens of distant mountains, and he carries the vast flow of water within himself, channeling it all down to the sea’s edge. There is a connection with the ocean, and he recognizes it as a separate entity, but one that might be known in the same way he knows and understands the river right now.

It occurs to Matt that changing the flow of the river would be like flexing his arm muscles or moving his legs. He wills the river to move.

“Very good.” The voice of Naganuma plays in the background, like a distant radio. “Come, see what you have done.”

Matt thinks about standing next to Naganuma, and instantly finds himself there. He looks down at his own bare feet, resting in dry sand. The river is gone. The empty riverbed snakes away from him toward the mountains.

“Over there.” Naganuma points off to the right, a smile of satisfaction on his face. “You learn quickly.”

The main channel of the river is ten meters away, flowing strong, moved out of its old course.

“It was indescribable.” Matt looks at Naganuma in astonishment. “Every part of it was in my awareness. I
was
the river.”

“Yes, to truly
know
an object is, in some sense, to become it, to see it from the inside out. With time, you will be able to use the Stone to do this in the outside world.” Naganuma turns to walk up out of the empty riverbed back the way they had come. “If you wish to defeat Ryzaard, you must learn to see reality as it truly exists. But beware.”

“Of what?”

“When you know something in this way, you cannot always predict what you will feel. There can be pain, and it can be overwhelming. You must be careful.”

“I’ll try to remember,” Matt says, still in the flush of excitement.

“Now do you understand why you did not see molecules and atoms when you looked into the rock?”

Matt remembers being in his dorm room with the Yakuza gangsters, how he healed his leg after a bullet shattered his kneecap. With the help of the Stone, he saw the entire knee and all of its complex systems as one. There was an intuitive understanding that something was wrong with it, and he made it right by putting it back together in a way that felt right. With the Stone, he had the power to see a complex system as a simple, integrated whole.

“I think I understand,” Matt says.

“Tell me.”

“I’ll try.” He follows Naganuma back in the direction of the cedar grove from which they emerged. “The Stone gives you a view of something in its entirety, not just the separate parts that make it up. Right?”

“Yes, you are getting there.” Naganuma leans forward with hands behind his back. “The Stone shows you
reality
, not in pieces, but in its wholeness. It is much more than looking through a microscope. You see everything.” Naganuma shakes his head and doesn’t look satisfied with his own attempt at an explanation. “It is too difficult to describe in words.”