12 SUNDAY MORNING ...the council was held. "Kill him," Seven Sun said. "Kill them both and be done with it!" "I agree," said a young Priest from the North. "And I," an elder from the Eastern Provinces added. Most of the other priests were in agreement, bringing a tremor to Six Serpent's heart as she sat listening to the great hullabaloo in the Council Chambers in a morning where dawn was making way for noon--a scene, Father Vincent thought, not unlike the last temptation, then crossed himself at what he had done with the voluptuous Sex Serpent. "Hold on," Ten Eagle, a young priest said. "There may be other solutions. If the man is an azot advocate, couldn't we send him back to his own world by giving him more azot? Why, I myself have taken the herb and seen the other world; there are many other worlds and in some of them the Indians rule and in others it is black, white, or yellow; in some worlds man never evolved at all; I have seen a place where the people's heads are those of chitinous insects and..." There was a wild uproar in the hall. "...their arms are saurian tentacles; their bodies are like a Salamander's; they have cat's feet with iron claws." But no one was listening--it was obvious to the priests that the azot-heads must be crucified the way Christ was for the sin of individuality. One young noble climbed upon the table, shouted, "All the azot-heads must unite!" The King shouted for order: "If you won't be quiet I'm going to have my guards carry you all off to the dungeons and be done with you!" The King's ejaculation brought order to the hall even as Six Serpent reached for her mind-laser. Not that she needed to touch it to use it-- "I am also an azot advocate," a young noble, Three Alligator said. "I have taken the azot herb and I know that there are many worlds besides our own, including one where the White man put the Indians on Reservations." Many other young nobles nodded their heads in agreement. "I suggest," an elder said, "That we keep them both permanently under arrest and make slaves of them!" "I can see that for Dawn," King Hanco Capac said, "Because she led the Revolution. But I don't see that for the others, for they were merely victims of fate--or drug abuse." Two Ways thought, Where is the Ancient One when I need him now? Then saw that the smoke rising from the great brassieres of incense contained the Ancient One's figure in their plumes; and that he was smiling. "If we are to send him back, where will we obtain the azot?" an elder asked. "Because the shamans who are the chief azot advocates are hard to find; you cannot just go out into the mountains and gather the herb for yourself--only an elect few know where it grows." Six Serpent stepped forward. "I have already gone to the peak, and picked it empty," she said. There were tears in Two Ways' eyes as he asked, "Why didn't you tell me about this earlier? I thought you loved me...!?" Six Serpent replied, with sweet longing, "I do...which is why I wanted to keep you here. But I see now that you must return to your own world--and I will go with you." "Bring Father Vincent forward," King Hanco Capac said. "And Dawn--we will banish her to the other side, where she can be with her own people." Six Serpent went to her quarters, found the bag of magic herb she had stashed away. She returned to the throne room. "I have enough for all of us," she said, "And enough for a trip to the other side for the King and back again, if he is curious about this new magic." "I am a potent magician," King Hanco Capac said. "I can stand the magic of smoke." "It is a god," Two Ways said. So the peace pipe was passed around. The smoke was harsh and acid in their lungs, but they did not cough, for they knew there was a Spirit in the herb, which would be angered if they did not respect it. Then they all found themselves falling through a long, dark tunnel, spiraling through the agonies of reliving the birth process, when suddenly there was a figure standing at the other end, a shaman with medicine drum and rattle: the Ancient One, guiding their spirits on the road they had to follow: to the light at the other side: and the light was North Dakota. The magical drug had taken them home: Like the Lord of Lords his children at the last supper, Father Vincent thought. They were flying in the air in their astral bodies over the fields of grain where bison had once grazed; then suddenly they were plunked down right in the middle of Sophia's office. Sophia said in dread and fear, "George, Father Vincent--where were you? And who are these people with you? And how did you get here? You materialized out of thin air!?" "On the other side," was all Two Ways said. Jerome Four Feathers was close behind her. "Then I see your mission to the South was successful, my son," was all he said, and smoked his peace pipe. Father Vincent said nothing, then finally said, "I am sorry for what I did to your people--the smashing of the peyote ceremo- nies--it must stop! I've seen...Indians scattered on Dawn's highway bleeding and..." "I will forgive you," Jerome said. "But only because I myself have known the world in more than one way--there are many other Universes out there, George, and in some of them Christ never came to be, or Buddha, or Muhammad, and in others there was no Plato or Aristotle--the philosophers of the White man; ours is a new chemical philosophy." "And who are these two strangers?" Sophia demanded. "They are a King and a Royal Guard from the Other Side," Two Way said. "King Hanco Capac and his guard, Six Serpent--my new girlfriend...." Now she was beginning to wish she hadn't been forced to reject him; she felt a twinge of jealousy: but it was a matter of ethics. "They don't speak English. But I will serve as interpreter--so that when the King goes back to his own world he can see what he is doing wrong by what has been done to our own people." Sophia said, "First I must tell Officer Bender that the mystery of Father Vincent's disappearance has been solved..." She picked up the phone and dialed Cindy Bender's number. She told them that Father Vincent had shown up, but she did not tell them the rest of the story. She did not want to be locked in a mental hospital. "The investigation is off," she said, "Welcome back, Father Vincent." King Hanco Capac and Six Serpent had sat silently through all this. Now the King asked, "What is going on here?" in Incan; the others started at the alien tongue. Two Ways ignored the stares of Sophia and Father Vincent; explained what was happening. Then Sophia took Dawn and the others to her jeep, staring all the while at Dawn, her astral Twin--Sophia looked curiously at this alien woman from another plane, who seemed her double; and fired up her jeep; the motor turning over at the first twist of the key. "At least this isn't my batmobile," Two Ways joked. Dawn asked for an interpretation; Two Ways wondered how he was going to explain comic books to a woman from another Universe. Did they have SLIME-THING COMICS on the Other Side? Dawn laughed and said, "It needs fins and machine guns--but the shape's all wrong--" "What? You mean you have Batman in your world, too?" Two Ways exclaimed in surprise. "The cosmic comic books are everywhere on the White man reservation," Dawn said. They passed ramshackle buildings; they passed the squalor of poverty; they passed the drunken Indians, so much like the doped-up White men of King Capac's own world. King Hanco Capac for the first time in his life saw the issue of racism from both sides--he saw the world two ways. Then he smoked the peace pipe, turned into a wraith, smoke, and vanished, saying only, "Hey, hey, hey!" in his passing, the song of the Ancient One-- Back on his home world, reform was instantly implemented. He was supreme authority; he could do anything he wanted-- Here, on the world where the Indians lived on reservations, things would not move quite so fast--not unless there were thousands of azot advocates, and not enough of the rare herb grew for that. Dawn voiced those thoughts to Two Ways. Six Serpent said. "I've brought back seeds," when Two Ways explained the problem to her. "Then there is hope after all," Sophia said, kissing him even as Tina raced up and hugged her brother. "Hope for the Indian--and the White man, both." "But first we have the nuptial rites of the Serpent to perform, the Celebration of the Lizard," Two Ways said, taking Six Serpent in his hand and telling her, "I will teach you to speak English--but for now, we must vorkle." Sophia looked on jealously, then the realization that it was over sunk in. Her shattered dreams--she wiped away a tear while Tina solaced her, "You will find another." "And let it be soon," Sophia said--that afternoon she received a letter from an old college boyfriend she hadn't heard from in fifteen years, and wrote a tender love note back--but that was only after the Slime-thing had found its home, its true mate: Two Ways returned to the womb by entering from the rear. Then Two Ways was One again. END RETURN TO THE INDEX MENU TO QUIT THE PROGRAM