Black Jack, PART 2

 ‘About a dozen, with you and I included.'

 ‘Your eyesight will improve,' Mag said laughing. 'Eventually, you’ll see our transparent bodies much less transparent, and then you’ll see everyone well even from a great distance… There are exactly sixty-nine of us here. Of course, you’ll also be able to count in a flash just by glancing around.’

‘Fantastic!’ Tim said. ‘And what kind of fun can we have here? I bet I couldn’t even guess.’

‘Why not? Just think of all that you had down on Earth.’

‘No, Mag, you’re teasing me.’

‘I’m not. Here, come with me.’

She led Tim to something that looked like a table. He counted five Islanders standing there.

‘You see those tiny squares on the table?’ Mag asked. ‘Those are cards. And this game is very similar to Black Jack.’

‘No!’ Tim shook his head smiling. ‘Don’t tell me I arrived in heaven.’

 ‘Why? Why couldn’t we have some fun here? Of course, the Island is not heaven at all. You’ll see that we have duties as well. I know, many people on Earth, especially those religious type, they dream of heaven all the time. They think if they pray and go to church, they’ll get to sit on cloud nine for eternity doing nothing. Well, many of them don’t even make it to the Island. Some do but not because they are religious. Rather because they work hard and strive for perfection. But even they are surprised when they get here and face challenges they could not even imagine with their human brain.’

‘Aren’t we human anymore?’ Tim asked.

‘Much more than that. Anyway, do you care to join this game?’

‘Mag, let me try to add one and one together, let me think for a second. You talked about different levels… I assume I’ll have to excel performing my duties in order to reach level three and have a chance of becoming a Supreme. Frankly, I wouldn’t want to miss that chance if it really exists. You know I had always worked hard before I died, and I strongly believed that I might be able to have some kind of continuation if I do my best and live on the right side of life.’

‘That’s exactly why you are here.’

‘I can see that… and I am not about to ruin my future by sitting down to play Black Jack again.’

‘You don’t sit,’ Mag said. ‘Sitting is unknown here. It’s not needed. Your body is weightless, so you stand all the time.’

‘Mag, the point I’m trying to make...’

‘I know, Tim. You are afraid that if you start playing, you might get addicted again.’

‘Exactly.’

‘Well,' Mag went on, 'this may shock you… but it will be one of your duties to gamble here from time to time. Why? Because you need to test yourself. You’ll have to be able to know when to quit. You’ll have to be able to maintain a healthy balance between right and wrong. Don’t ask me how but we are constantly monitored and evaluated. You will never be informed of your score but you’d better have a fairly good idea of your standing at all times. Islanders with level one clearance often disappear. Occasionally, it happens even with level two. We think they perish, cease to exist, because they fall short of expectation.’

‘You’re kidding.’

‘No Tim, I’m dead serious. They are also deleted from the data base. That’s how things work here... Anyway, you can come back later to play this game. You may come anytime freely on your own when you feel like having some fun. But you’ll also receive commands, you know, impulses, and then you must come. You can also fail by not reacting to impulses.’

‘Isn’t it how it worked down on Earth, too?' Tim wondered. 'Except we were never sure.’

‘Exactly,' Mag agreed. 'We called the impulses temptations. At times it was good to resist but at other times we should have obeyed.’

‘I did well, didn’t I?’ Tim said with delight. ‘When I had the urge to gamble, I didn’t hesitate, I got into my car and drove to Vegas.’

‘Well, I was getting a little worried about you. I often thought you had overdone it. You know, I could help you to get here only if your score was acceptable. I was not the one to judge you. If you ask me whether it was the Supremes, I’d say most likely. Fortunately, you compensated in other areas.’

‘Mag, Are you glad I made it?’

‘Tim, I never stopped loving you. I missed you very much after I died and arrived here… Once I learned how to monitor the living on Earth, I did my best to get assigned to you. I kept saving you so that you would live long enough to reach the score you needed to get here.’

‘Mag, I love you very much, too. I’m sure you know that. I missed you all my life after you died. Although, I did have other passing relationships…’

‘I know but don’t worry about that, Tim. Your physical body had biological needs. I’ll be honest with you… later you would know this anyway… I also had other affairs.’

‘What?!’

‘No, not on Earth. You were the only one for me there. Here. As you will know, our energy bodies have cravings, too. After a while it starts… how should I put it so that you understand… it starts overheating, and then only merging with somebody can provide relief. I always tried to hold out as long as I could. When I couldn’t wait any longer, because the overheating diminished my capacity, I went to one of the common areas designated for this purpose and merged. I never knew who I merged with. Whether it was male or female, didn’t matter. Everyone tried to avoid acquaintances there. If accidentally I merged with someone more than once, I wouldn’t have known.’

‘I understand,’ Tim said after some pondering. ‘We can call it even I guess. What about going forward? Are you still going to merge with others?’

‘Absolutely not. Not as long as you are here.’

‘Mag, what happens if you get promoted? I mean if you go on to become a Supreme… and I am stuck here. By the way, what level are you at?’

‘You’ve just arrived… and already thinking about moving on? I like that. However, I can’t even speculate about the future. There are too many variables. You might actually move forward without me. I could be the one stuck here. I’ve been here for a long time, as you know. I have always performed my duties diligently, yet I am still only at level one. I have seen others zipping through here, getting level two and then level three clearance in months. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. I’m glad I can be here at all. I’m glad I had the chance to be with you again.’

Tim moved closer to his sweetheart. He wanted to hug her.

‘Wait!’ Mag raised her voice. ‘Hugging equals merging. Merging twice between recharges can be harmful.’

‘How so?’ Tim asked curiously.

‘Mergers are like discharges. Discharging twice can reduce our energy to a level from where recharge is not possible. I have seen others perish because they could not control their desire for love.’

‘Wow! All these hidden dangers… This island is definitely no Hawaii.’ Tim finished with a brief laugh. ‘Anyway, perhaps you are still at level one because your subconscious wanted to wait until I get here. You said we are monitored. The Supremes probably knew of your desire and allowed you to wait. The other possibility is that things work like on Earth. If you are a good producer, your superiors want you to keep producing, so you never get promoted. Now, I mentioned subconscious and you didn’t even blink. Of course, I said blink metaphorically. I wouldn’t possibly see in your shade if you blinked.’

‘Guess what,’ Mag replied, ‘you would. Not now but once you start seeing our bodies less transparent, you would. And to answer your question about whether we have here conscious and subconscious thinking, I have to say I don’t know. If I had to speculate, I’d say no. Telepathy probably doesn’t allow the subconscious to be present.’

'So, you're still at level one... Is that the level we all get just by arriving here?'

'No way,' Mag replied, 'you'll need to meet certain conditions to get there.'

‘I see... You know Mag, looking at this game played by these five individuals… oh, is using the word individual proper? We aren’t part of a collective mind I hope.’

‘Islander, individual, all the same. We’re definitely separate entities, we don’t belong to a collective.’

‘Good… So, I’m looking at this game but I’m not sure I understand it. All I see is squares and occasional flashes.’

‘The flashes indicate the numbers.' Mag explained. 'The table, I mean the dealer, deals the cards, one for the player, one for itself, and then it flashes the value of the player's first card. Ten decks are used and there are fifty cards in each deck with values from one to fifty. The number to reach is one hundred. If you want additional cards, you have to give mental commands. You’ll see the values, that is the number of flashes again on the back of your new cards. You need to focus because those flashes come at high speed. If you get a card with the value of fifty, you can have all fifty flashes in a second. Of course, you can stop after you get your first card. If you draw additional cards, you need to add them up. If you go over one hundred, you lose. If you can stay, after all players received their cards, the dealer will see its cards, too, which must have a minimum total value of seventy-five. If your number is higher than the dealer's, you win. If your number is the same, you’re even. If you have a lower number, you lose. Of course, you also win if the dealer goes over one hundred.’

‘What’s the point?' Tim said. 'I never liked to play just for fun. The game had to have a stake or I didn’t play. You know, money, like in Black Jack.’

‘When you know all the rules,' Mag replied, 'you’ll see that this is a pretty high stake game. Soon we’ll go over to the supervisor and open an account for you. Opting out is not possible. Everyone must have an account. You’ll receive ten thousand points.’

‘Ten thousand points,’ Tim interrupted. ‘So the numerical system works the same way as on Earth?’

‘Exactly the same… Okay, so your points will be deposited in what we call the bank.’

‘What else would you call it?’ Tim shook his shady head. ‘Incredible! A bank. Will I get to meet the bank manager?’

‘It’s not funny, Tim. This isn’t a bank like you were used to on Earth.’

‘It’s in one of these chambers, right?’

‘No, Tim, it’s a cyber-bank. The supervisor will program an account number into your memory.’

‘Telepathically, I would guess.’

‘Right. And telepathically you can manage your account. What you bet is instantly taken from your balance. Your winnings are instantly added to your balance. You can do a mental inquiry anytime to know how many points you have.’

‘Can someone brake into my account and defraud me?’

‘Out of the question. Security here is absolute.’

‘What if I lose all my points?’

‘You perish.’

‘What?!’

‘As I have said, you need to maintain a healthy balance. Yes, in your bank account as well.’

‘No fooling around here, I see.’

Mag smiled. ‘A good sense of humor can’t do any harm.’

‘Now, again,' Tim continued, 'looking at this… this Black Jack table. It’s exactly the same gray shade as the walls, right?’

‘If that’s the way you perceive it.’

‘Oh, of course, perception is everything. And the cards… They are simply contours in that gray surface, right? That’s how I see them.’

‘That’s the way they are then,' Mag confirmed.

‘Curious. The top of the table is elevated compared to the floor. Is that how you see it, too?’

‘Exactly.’

‘All right,’ Tim sighed, ‘that’s reassuring… However, perhaps we should step away so we wouldn’t disturb these players. By the way, could they tune in and listen to our conversation?’

‘As I said earlier, I can block them out. They could listen to your thoughts but violation of privacy is a serious offense, it would hurt their overall standing. I’m sure they didn’t connect to you.’

‘How am I going to be able to learn all these rules?’

‘Patience, Tim, patience.’

‘Yeah, you already told me that.’

‘You’ll learn most of the rules from me, the rest you can acquire by instinct. Now, of course, if you’d rather have a different guide…’

‘Mag, please! I didn’t offend you, did I?’

‘Not at all. I only mentioned this because I had to.’

‘Great! You also mentioned the word instinct. Does this word have the same meaning here as on Earth?’

‘Just about. Perhaps our instinct here is more powerful. Less gray area, if you know what I mean.’

“I do, Mag, I do… Well, shouldn’t we head over to that supervisor?’

Tim has not even finished his sentence, suddenly they were standing in front of an open window.

‘Wow! How did this happen?’ Tim asked.

‘Remember? You knew your destination so your desire automatically translated into a mental command. I detected this and gave my command at the same time. This way we came together. We were not far from this window anyway.’

‘How can I help you?’ Tim heard the voice coming from behind the window. This transparent figure must be the supervisor, he thought when he looked inside.

‘Bruce, this is Tim,’ Mag said, then she turned back to Tim. ‘Tim, this is Bruce, the supervisor.'

‘Hi Mag, Hi Tim,’ the super greeted them. ‘Nice to see you guys.’ He turned back to Mag. ‘Haven’t seen you around for a while.’

‘I’ve been really busy.’

‘I know, you always work hard. How is Patty doing down there in Anaheim? I know you’ve been monitoring her, too. Is she about to join us?’

......

Click PART 3 under Menu