Nexus

33 SYNCHRONICITY

The cab dropped Kade and Robyn off near Soi Sama Han. Narong and Sajja met them, walked with them to the Buddha's Kiss. Everyone was in a good mood. He could feel Robyn's mind buzzing, excited. He couldn't wait for the Synchronicity trip to begin.

Sajja led them up a flight of stairs to a heavy door. Bolts unlocked. Chuan grinned and waved them in.

They filed into a spacious living room. Low furniture surrounded an open center space. A patterned carpet in gold and browns covered most of the floor. A half-dozen men and women from the previous night at the club sat on small cushions arranged in a circle. A low altar occupied the center of one wall, under a gorgeously ornate window. One side of the room connected to an open kitchen and a hallway. Buddha paintings took up another two walls.

A wizened Thai woman came in from the hall, a warm smile on her face.

"Aunt Chariya," Narong said. Their hostess. He introduced them. There were hugs all around. A ritual would start the trip. They were waiting for just one more person. Chariya suggested they take seats in the ring of cushions on the floor.

They found two open cushions between Narong and Lalana. They sat with Robyn on the left, by Narong, and Kade on the right, next to Lalana. Lalana giggled and said hello to them both. Her hand lingered as she clasped Kade's. There were eleven of them in the circle now, including Kade and Robyn, five young men and six young women. Kade recognized them all from the party at the Buddha Kiss on Monday night. Chuan, Sajja, Narong, and Loesan were the males. Lalana, Rajni, Sarai, Ning, and Areva were the females. One spot in the circle was empty. In the center of the circle there were two cushions. An old man sat on one, in lotus position, facing the altar, away from Kade and Robyn. Chariya came and sat in the other, back to back with the old man, facing towards Kade and Robyn.

"Come closer, everyone," she beckoned. "Bring the circle in as close as we can."

They shuffled forward until the circle was snug and close. Kade's knees touched Robyn's, touched Lalana's. It was delicious, distracting.

He could feel Chariya's mind, just barely. A whisper of peace and calm. And just beyond her…? Niran. Her husband. Strong, proud, tranquil.

"Empty your mind of all things," Chariya intoned. "Close your eyes. Feel your breath as it enters your body. Feel your breath as it leaves your body. Seek not to change it, simply observe."

Kade breathed with her, felt and heard the room breathe also.

A sound came. The door opened. He kept his eyes closed.

"Suk," he heard Chariya say. "How nice of you to join us."

"Hello, Auntie," said the new voice. "It's nice to see you too."

Kade felt a flutter of displeasure from Chariya.

"Since you haven't taken a seat yet," she said, "you can serve the rest of us."

"Yes, Auntie."

He heard footfalls. Someone walked past him. There was a tinkling. More footfalls. Someone made a swallowing sound. The tinkling was just in front of him. "Here," someone whispered. The new voice.

Kade opened his eyes. The newcomer was crouched in front of him, offering him a small glass filled with a silvery metallic liquid.

Kade nodded his thanks, took the glass, and drained it. More Nexus, mixed with Empathek.

He closed his eyes again, went back to focusing on his breath.

"Watch your breath leave your body," Chariya intoned slowly. "Watch it enter again. Let your breath fill your attention, let it expand to take up all of your mind. When thoughts arise, simply smile, and bring your attention back to your breath."

Kade let the breath fill him. The sound of it filled his ears. He felt his body contract as he inhaled, expand as he exhaled. The darkness behind his eyes stretched to the sides as breath flowed in to him, narrowed as the breath flowed out of him.

He became aware of a sound. A soft chanting, a gentle drumbeat. He watched the rhythm of his breath adjust itself to the soft beat of the drum. The entire room breathed as one. Their inhalations and exhalations synchronized.

"Open your palms," Chariya instructed, "and gently take the hands of those to either side of you."

Kade reached out slowly to his left and right. He felt Robyn's strong hand close around his left, Lalana's small soft hand slip into his right. There was something electric about the contact. He felt a circuit close, a circuit of thought. It was faint still, but a ripple of sensation flowed through him, an awareness of the minds of the others in the room, an awareness of their breathing, an awareness of their awareness of him and each other, an echo, a resonance, a vibration of breath and mind.

"We are students of the Buddha," Chariya intoned.

A dozen voices echoed her, "We are students of the Buddha." Kade joined them.

"Ours is the middle path," she slowly said.

"We seek enlightenment for all beings,

"To help all beings free themselves of suffering."

The room echoed her with each utterance.

"Tonight we penetrate the veil of Maya.

"We pierce the illusion of separation between self and other,

"We apprehend our unity with one another."

Kade repeated every phrase in time with the others. It was hypnotic, euphoric. The veil of Maya, god of illusion and false isolation, was falling from his eyes. He was Kade. He was Robyn. He was Lalana. He was Mother Chariya. He was Father Niran. He was male. He was female. He was all of them, all things and all people.

Buddha looked down on him with a half-smile, serene, content, a man, a role model, who'd apprehended that no god or angel, no demon or devil, could bring heaven or hell to man. Only Right Thought, Right Action, Right Effort, Right Concentration, only the actions of a person, only the striving they made, only the insights they gleaned could ever lead to their enlightenment.

He knew this room well. He'd meditated here dozens of times, hundreds of times, thousands of times. He was all these people, all their experiences.

He had been a monk, a nun, a prostitute, a student. He'd first encountered Nexus four years ago, six years ago, three years ago. He'd devoted his life to service, to compassion, to enlightenment. He'd sold his body again and again. He'd studied the mind in the abstract, wanted to feel it tangibly. He'd found a way.

He was Aunt Chariya. He was her husband Niran. He'd been monk and he'd been nun. His decades of meditation had stilled his mind. He'd encountered the sacrament, had become one with the other, had crossed boundaries into forbidden territories. He'd left the order, begun something new.

Compassion for all life filled him. The universe cried out in pain, in the illusion of division. He was called to teach, to spread love, to release beings from their bonds of craving and aversion, to teach them that all was one.

He was the Buddha. He was all of them here. The fourteen of them together, together they were something more, something amazing. They were the universe observing itself. They had achieved enlightenment. They could spread it to the world.

He was the sun. His radiance filled space. His golden rays bathed the Earth, sustained all life. He was the wind that blew the leaves, and he was those leaves as well. He was the seas that ebbed and flowed and roared and surged, and he was the fish that swam in those seas, the plankton that they ate, the sunlight falling on those waters. He was the Earth. He was the stars. He was all of creation and he was at this very instant so much alive and so much apprehending his own self. The universe was waking in this very room, and thus it was waking everywhere all at once.

Kade opened his eyes. He was trembling. They were all trembling, all panting with quickened breath. Sweat stood on his brow. Robyn's hand pulsed rhythmically in his left hand. She felt serene, joyous, completely in her element. Lalana's small hand fluttered like a hummingbird's wings in his right. She felt excited, exultant. How long had it been? Three hours! It had felt like mere minutes, had felt like eternity.

The tempo was easing, now. Chariya was chanting softly. Niran was tapping the drum ever more slowly. Breathing was slowing, returning to normal. Faces wore smiles. Chests were still moving rhythmically. He glanced to his right. Lalana's breasts rose and fell under her white shirt. Her nipples were hard against the thin fabric. The olive skin of her throat, of her chest where her shirt was unbuttoned, glistened with sweat. It was the most erotic sight Kade had ever seen. He couldn't understand why their clothes were still on, how they could do this and not have it devolve into skin on skin, lips on lips, body on body, why they would want anything else at all.

The thought leaked out. Kade blushed. Lalana giggled in voice and mind and the circle caught it, amplified it, tittered as one, not unkindly, and the tension was broken.

"That was awesome," Narong whispered out loud. Kade felt it. The circle had never been that intense before.

It's me, he thought. Me and Robyn. The Nexus 5.

Chariya was looking at him, her eyes met his eyes, her mind met his mind.

Yes, her mind seemed to say. Who are you, child?

There was just one mind that felt anything other than joyously open… Suk. He was so distant from them. Why?

Someone tapped him on the shoulder. Loesan. He was grinning, exultant, crouched beside Kade.

"I felt what you've done with Nexus. It's in you all the time, isn't it?"

Kade nodded, not yet ready to trust his voice.

"It's amazing," Loesan said. "Will you show us how to do that?"

Something felt wrong. There was something he should fear. But why? Knowledge was to be shared, not hoarded. Why not share some of it now?

Kade nodded. "Yes." It came out husky. "Yes, I'll show you." It came out fine this time. "Give me a couple minutes." His body had needs.

Loesan grinned even wider, radiated excitement and curiosity. "Yeah."

Kade rose, waited in line for the washroom. Lalana got in line behind him, brushed her body against his for just a moment. Kade nearly groaned in desire. He didn't know the rules here, didn't know what was OK. He felt for her intentions, found an amusement there. She pushed him against the wall, pulled his face down to hers, kissed him passionately, playfully. He was so hard. Lalana felt it against her thigh, reached down and put her hand on the lump in the front of his pants, squeezed his hardness through the fabric, pumped him up and down, once, twice, three times… Then she laughed and pushed away from him.

"Later," she whispered. Her eyes and thoughts promised sweet delights.

He mock-groaned in frustration. She laughed at him again, and he couldn't help but laugh as well. The combined Nexus and Empathek sang in his mind. Everything was absolutely wonderful. God, she was sexy.

He was too hard to piss when it was his turn. He ran through prime numbers for ages until his hardness subsided, relieved himself, and came out to show them what he and Rangan had done.

And then Kade saw Suk. Sitting on the couch. Wrongness. The young man exuded arrogance – avarice. Suddenly he didn't want to teach them anything after all.

He searched for some excuse…

"Rangan," he said. "Axon. I have to check with him before sharing what we've done with you."

Their disappointment was palpable. It pressed on him. Perhaps he could give them some simpler ideas, less dangerous ideas…

"But I can at least share a few ideas with you," he finished.

Anticipation returned in all their minds. He sat, they leaned in close to him, and he started to show them the barest glimpses of what he and Rangan and Ilya had learned.