‘Ethan. I know you can hear me. Respond’.

‘I can hear you Jimmy,’ Ethan thought. No need for speech with a microchip.

‘Ethan? Can you hear me?’ Dawn asked.

‘I can hear you Dawn. It’s good to hear your voices. How are things going? Are we on track?’

‘We’re on track. Alicia’s in the war room with you’.

‘Yeah, I figured that out’.

‘Really? How?’

‘Oh, Eldon was bragging about his new tech person, and it came out’.

‘Does he come into the room with you?’ Dawn asked.

‘Sometimes. Sometimes he talks to me over the intercom. It seems to depend on the kind of day he’s having’.

‘Alicia has a visual of you. Unfortunately there’s not much she can do to help at this time.

‘So how’d you find the frequency?’ Ethan asked, not seeming to place much importance on himself.

‘Well we only figured out the comm part of it,’ Jimmy replied, a little hesitantly. ‘But because you have never actualized, we’re basically denied access to the rest of the frequency.’

‘Well, that’s all we need right now. Did something happen? Why are you sounding all weird’?

‘Yeah, the thing is, I kind of activated Dually’.

‘Dually?’

‘Well, I was using Da’s microchip to test different frequency patterns, simulated fast bursts; anything I could think of. One day Dually showed up. We think we picked up his frequency from your microchip, which makes sense now that we know you’re only a few floors away. Anyway, Dually’s here, but don’t worry, he’s following some kind of AI directive where he can only access the capabilities of our time. He can’t even talk to you, because it would interfere with your quest’.

‘They!’ Dawn, corrected. Not for the first time, judging from her inflection.

‘Yeah,’ Jimmy interceded. ‘They aren’t going to interfere with your quest, so don’t worry. If you want to die, you just go right ahead and do it’.

For some reason, Eldon stopped the weekly torture. Maybe things were getting too busy at work. They were closing in on the day he planned to activate StarForce.

It was a positive time for Ethan. Now that he was in communication with Dawn and Jimmy, he felt he had a role in the operation again. Being connected made him feel the wheels of life were still turning and an opportunity to confront Eldon might come up.

‘Alicia says she’s trying to help you as much as possible,’ Dawn said.

‘I appreciate it, but tell her not to stick her neck out. We’re in a very dangerous situation and I’m doing alright’.

‘Alright? Eldon’s been torturing you. How can you possibly be alright? I feel so bad we can’t do more to help you’.

‘Just knowing you’re with me means everything’.

‘Yeah, but Ethan, you’ve changed. I can tell just by talking with you’.

‘I suppose I have, but you know, it doesn’t mean I’ve changed for the worse. Eldon forced me to focus and discipline my mind since I’ve been here. In spite of everything, I think I’m better for it’.

‘What do you mean?’ Dawn asked.

‘Well, I’ve had a lot of alone time since Eldon put me in here. I think he wants this to be a time for mental torture to accompany the physical pain he causes me. That’s what I did at the beginning, but not for long. I started to think I was getting what I deserved. As you know, I haven’t lived a good life.

‘I was more stuck in my guilt than anything. Pain is easy to get rid of. All you do is focus on it and follow where it goes. It will always go to the place of release, and once you find that place, you can hasten the process. What I couldn’t get away from was the looping thoughts of the damage my actions have caused. When you act in evil, you change someone’s life and you can’t take it back. They have to live with it. Even if you change, the evil you committed is still there.

‘Because Eldon forced me to learn how to manage my pain, I also learned how to manage my guilt. Live in it for a while, recognize it for what it is, and then set it aside until a moment comes when you are able to acknowledge it with good works. You adopt a redemptive perspective. You do not find forgiveness, but you are able to live with yourself.

‘But you might die in there,’ Dawn said, only seeing that Eldon was dismantling Ethan piece by piece and planning to kill him.

‘That’s okay,’ Ethan replied. ‘Part of being able to do this is accepting there are things you cannot change’.

‘I appreciate what you’re saying Ethan,’ Dawn said. But Eldon is planning on killing you, and quite frankly, you don’t sound like you’re in any way prepared to fight him. In fact, listening to you, I would say Eldon is winning on the mental torture too’.

‘Have you ever noticed you can only think one thought at a time,’ Ethan replied. A thought comes, and then it’s replaced by another. Our entire life is made up of a series of one thought at a time. At some point, you realize a thought is just a thought. You will have many. It’s not going to spend eternity with you, but when it’s there, it’s taken control over your entire life for the moments it exists.

‘A thought has a lot of value. It’s actually a piece of your life, you’re giving to something other than you. I figured out, all thoughts do not have positive value. While sitting in isolation, if I obsess over what Eldon might do to me, I suffer when there’s actually nothing in my life at that moment to cause me the degree of suffering I place on myself. I not only give up valuable moments in my life to anguish, I also deplete my energy to respond to my situation if the opportunity ever presents itself. Your thoughts are the source of your internal energy. You can focus on creating a positive momentum, or deplete your energy because of the overwhelming pressure you place on it with worry. A thought must be managed.

‘The thing I recognized when I realized all thoughts come and go, is they can be switched to a positive state when you catch them. It’s as easy as placing yourself in the here and now and asking what you’re thinking. With practice, doing this becomes a practice, and you can grab a negative thought and throw it away, because you’re aware the moment you do, a new thought will replace it. One with intention behind it because you’re aware of it. It will be positive, and you will develop momentum. I believe this is a big part of all the leaping they do in the transcended world.

‘It’s a very powerful thing to know you can throw your bad thoughts away. You move into a functional and proactive state. You stop reflecting on those things which cannot be changed, and start looking for positive outcomes. You spend more time in the here and now and it's the only place where action and change can occur. I feel I’ve found the eternal energy of life, Dawn. I’m very strong. Stronger than I thought was possible’.