3 AZOT CONTAINS NIGHT "I see you have had a good night's sleep," the Ancient One said to George, upon his awakening the next morning. "That is good, for you see, and you have probably already heard it said, that 'azot contains Night.' So it is good that you had a woman, a mother--Juanita is Mother of Three, but all of them have died except Jesus--to sleep with before you journey to the other side. Now let us sing the song I will teach you: Hi-yee, hi-yah, hey-hey...if you take azot without the guidance of the song, you will perish in the interdimensional Void!" George picked up the rattles. George repeated the words as the shaman banged the drum. "Faster!" the shaman cried. Two Ways went through this ritual for hours, wondering if there was any meaning to it; until it seemed as though he entered a hypnotic trance. All at once it seemed to Two Ways as though he could see into an alternate world without the benefit of any drug. He could see colors, textures. Forms. People. He saw a sex serpent and a Crimson King. "When do I get to take the azot?" George finally asked, inquiringly, after many hours of this routine-- "When all is ready," the shaman said. "You must first learn the ancient tribal songs of our people, and then you will be ready. Hey-hey, a-hey-hey, hey-na, hey-na, hey-na..." George spent the entire morning preparing for the sacrament. The sunlight was bright; it seemed as though he were closer to the god Sun now, Sun and his brother Day; but the air was cooler here than in the valleys below, and it also seemed like he was close to the heart of Darkness. Given a break to eat lunch, a bowl of meager stew, he ate in silence, wishing for comforts like microwaves and sandwiches. Then, when all was done he said a prayer to his patron spirit, Smoke, and made the Smoke God dance with a cigarette. Finally, the Ancient One brought out a bag full of black powder and a pipe. "We must smoke. If your spirit is powerful, the azot will take you to the Other Side; but you must pray the prayers I taught you, and sing the ancient tribal hymns." "I go under the protection of Smoke," Two Ways said. "The god who stands guard--" Suddenly everything was broken up and dancing as the acid smoke entered his lungs as Two Ways touched the pipe to his lips with a flare of his lighter. He tried hard not to cough; succeeded. That was his first test. All at once a different vision of the Smoky Wraith approached him, and in more than a cigarette dance, in more than a fancy dance--then Two Ways felt himself changing into smoke. He passed through some sort of hole in the Cosmic Womb, and emerged on the Other Side as... Smoke... Ashes... Becoming man... "Ancient One--where are you?" he called out. For he needed a god stronger than himself at this moment. Then he saw that the streets of Macchu Picchu were paved with gold--he recognized Macchu Picchu in all its ancient glory--this was a busy metropolis; this mountain ruin of a parallel earth, but Two Ways had blundered into a military unit, he could see the missiles bristling about. Two jackbooted guards in otherwise Incan tribal uniform approached him. "Where am I?" he asked. "And who are you?" he asked in English, then Spanish. They looked at each other and shrugged. "What are you doing in a nuclear missile silo?" one of the guards asked in what Two Ways recognized as a dialect of ancient Incan. Jerome Four Feathers had been teaching him-- "I come from another world, one where our people are almost extinct." he replied in the same strange tongue. "I have come to bring back your magic so that we may be strong again," Two Ways proudly asserted, sure that they would believe his story. "Tell it to the King," one of the guards spat. "Hanco Capac will be glad to inform you of any crimes he may choose to charge you with." Two Ways said, softly, "My only crime is a love of my people." The two guards jumped Two Ways. He swung out with a powerful left hook, caught Nine Jaguar reeling. He kick-boxed Thirteen Alligator into a corner--why, these two were no match for him; these two were weaklings! Suddenly he saw a glint of silver moon-color in Nine Jaguar's hands--he whirled: It was a crystal pyramid. All of a sudden a burst of red energy shot from it, contrasting brilliantly with the green of the warrior's uniform. He was struck down by a wrenching, awful, searing burning force. He screamed. He fell, rocking and rolling on the floor. "Looks like the mind-laser took the fight out of him," Thirteen Alligator said. "But you've got to admit--he was awful tough," Nine Jaguar said. Two Ways was roughly handcuffed. The metal was cold about his wrists as he was led away, the guards jerking him erect--if only he had the Ancient One's pipe--but that was left behind in the other world! Suddenly he saw the face of the Ancient One, appearing as though a ghost; he realized as the Ancient One spoke that he was the only one who could hear him, for the guards did not turn from their path to stare. The Ancient One was sitting smoking his pipe; he said, "Do not make any efforts to resist, for it is all part of the plan--a plan I've been in touch about with Jerome Four Feathers telepathically for the last three years." So Two Ways was silent. They guided him out of there, took him across the army compound, to a stockade. He had to wait an hour there to see the King; to wile away the time he smoked a cigarette-- Then it's true, he thought. There really are two worlds. I am lost in a long-line of shamans who were dimension-travelers; like in science fiction. I have taken a magical drug and reemerged from the womb where worlds are created in a strange land, myself a stranger here... He was interrupted in his thoughts by the voices of the guards. "Thirteen Alligator? We've got to get the prisoner to the King." "Right, Nine Jaguar." The two could've been twins except for their birthdays; Two Ways knew that the Incas named their children after their birthdays in their 20 month calender-- The door to the cell grated open. Nine Jaguar and Thirteen Alligator manhandled Two Ways, who like the lamb led to the slaughter did not resist, for he knew he had the power of the Ancient One was on his side. They took him to a flying car. It was shaped like a warrior's shield, with crystal pyramids studding its sides--the same mind lasers which had struck him down. Two Ways was not surprised to see a marvel beyond the power of the science of his world, antigravity, as the craft hovered a few feet off the ground with no rockets, jets, or wings, because he knew that magic was even more powerful than science--if you knew the right gods. The aircar lifted, solar-powered by principles of ancient Incan magic: generators which drew on the magic power of the shape of the pyramid, a power which could sharpen razor blades or repair watches--on his world...how much stronger it must be in this world of magic! They flew at a height of about 100 feet off the ground above the military compound, across the heights of Macchu Picchu to the Palace of the Crimson-robed King, at the center of the city. Two ways gaped in astonishment when he saw it: it was magnificent. The First Way is the King, Two Ways thought. I must convert him to advocate azot; to use it himself so he can see how his brothers and sisters in a different dimension are suffering. If the King becomes an azot-head, he'll build greenhouses to grow the herb, raise armies to send to my world to conquer the white man...a second time for him, a first for us... And the King was glorious in his crimson robes and gold epaulets and bracelets as Two Ways was led from the flyer to the throne room, where the King said, "Who is this spy? Who are you? You are not one of us!" Two Ways said, "I came empowered by the god of Smoke to convert you to advocating azot, as it is the only salvation for my people--for you see, in the Other Cosmos our people are oppressed; we need..." "Stop!" the King exclaimed, then said, "That azot, it makes people crazy. I have heard stories about this drug--if you are a dope dealer you could be in plenty of trouble because of the War on Drugs. Does he have any ID, my guards?" "I can show you my Driver's License," Two Ways said. "But I don't think you'll recognize the state of North Dakota; it's..." "Let's see whatever ID he has--just some worthless plastic cards with his picture on them...he could've had these printed up in any cheap photo shop," the King said as Two Ways showed him his wallet. "Get a retinal mind-holo scan on him through the computers," the King ordered. "Tie in with all data-nets with a Knowbot set for 'Two Ways, George.' See if we can come up with something on this man--he may be an escaped mental patient. Or if he is a drug dealer, his drugs could've driven him crazy!" Thirteen Jaguar approached with a device that looked like a binoculars. "Just look into this," he said. Two Ways knew icy red as a laser beam shot into his eye. A mind-laser beam, probing past the retina to the hologram which was his mind. Thirteen Alligator walked over to a computer tie-in; set to work hacking. The image of the Knowbot coiled in the screen: like a data tapeworm. Thirteen Alligator said, "No record of this man on any data-banks. World-wide search completed." King Hanco Capac ordered, "Put him under house arrest here at the palace until we can discover how a man can totally erase all record of his ID; he..." "I have no identity in your world save for Smoke," Two Ways said. Juanita's double approached him. "I am Six Serpent. Let me take you for a tour of the Palace--" With such beauty I could forget my past, Two Ways thought, following Six Serpent--sex serpent, he was already thinking, serpentine sleekness his major weakness...and she was sleek; she was chic--into a Garden which was not Eden but the heights of Macchu Picchu like a Babylon of a Bible that Two Ways found to be blasphemy against the peyote religion. Then he thought, All religions have their grain of truth, no matter how small, and realized that this could be Babylon as well as Eden; that opposites like science and magic unite in the forge which is the mind. Like precious metals being melted; like silver or gold or bronze for tools. It was then that he realized the gods were all in the mind, even the White man's so-called One God, and with the Mind you could do anything: Psi-power. #