Riverworld, Day 43, Morning * * * * Swimming next to Shaw, Josephine remarked, "Ah, now this swim is much more relaxing than all that talk about being controlled by an unknown force, you must agree?" "I don't know that I expected Charles to have such... erotic dreams about our own Jeanne," she continued. "And from the look on her face, neither did she. Though _I_ have had my own share of such dreams, I must admit..." "Well," Shaw replied, "I have read a few of Dr. Freud's books and he did say that such dreams are quite common, although I doubt that would mean little to either one of them. Other than those dreams from the dream gum I have never put much faith in dreams, I have always found reality to be much more fascinating." While Josephine and Shaw swam, Charles pondered, silent and pensive during the course of the morning. After some time he seemed to have put his embarrassment behind him. Jeanne directed the boat toward the nearest grailstone, which appeared to be abandoned. Shaw and Josephine swam ashore, joining the others. Their grails yielded a soupy porridge which Josephine told them was made of hominy and called "grits", along with melon, bread, and a pat of butter. During breakfast, Benjamin addressed Freud. "Freud, I see nothing to make me think that these Powers have changed our Memories, or our Perceptions, rather than simply erasing them. It is amusing to ponder Metaphysics, but we must return to the practical, even in this World. We must assume that our Perceptions at least approximate Reality, that we are truly here. "I do not know much about Mesmerism," he continued, "but if this Erasure is beyond even your Skill, we cannot know if it is possible to plant a false Memory inside an Erasure. However, do we imagine that whatever Power did this intended for you to perform this Mesmerism so that the hidden false Memory might be released? If not, we can assume that..." Benjamin trailed off, then caught his own error. "Hmmmm... a Power that can make me start building Chessmen and think I chose that myself, can make you decide to use your Mesmerism and think you chose it yourself. Hmmph." Ehrich laughed. "That's nothing mysterious. The most important rule in mentalism is to let the subject think they did the choosing themselves. Also important is that if the subject doesn't choose what you want, to make them think it's what you wanted all along. This chess motif is likely your own idea, since as an avid fan, surely this would be visible in your thoughts. The people that control our dreams borrowed this idea to present you with symbolism you could understand. They certainly did not give you the desire to create chess pieces, that came from your love of chess which you had even before you died, and you would probably have tried building these pieces even without your unremembered dreams. The chess pieces are a coincidence, and not even an unusual coincidence...Except however, that causing dreams and erasing memories are beyond the realms of trickery as far as I know." "But I am no great Aficionado of Chess." Benjamin replied. "No more than other men are, probably less than most... in fact, I have always preferred to swim." "Here's another question," Ehrich added. "If we're all supposed to be chess pieces, then what is the game itself, and what are the stakes? Are we moving of our own will, or is there a hand that nudges us along?" Jeanne, more animated than earlier in the morning, spoke up. "Whatever creatures you say you saw in your dreams, who are we that they would take such a special interest in us? In my day, such things were not uncommon! They were dark times and the Devil's hand was always upon the populace. His demons often possessed innocent persons and caused them to do all manner of strange things. The demons could be cast out by a proper exorcism." "There can never be wrong in trying many Approaches, fair lady." Benjamin agreed. "If we come across someone who you feel is qualified to perform an Exorcism, I will render whatever Assistance I can. I confess I am less than comfortable with the Powers which intrude into my very Thoughts." "Finding a priest might prove difficult, but surely one has been raised somewhere along this River. And there is also precedent for such quests: seeking a holy man is a time-honored pilgrimage. 'Ask and it shall be given ye; seek and ye shall find.' Shaka found his countrymen, will the Lord do less for his handmaiden?" Benjamin smiled at her. "Perhaps then we should pray for Guidance. That is, if you will consent to share a Prayer with me." "This game of chess before us -- it is intriguing." Charles said. "It is inherently a game of Kings, and it symbolizes war and strategy. Pieces are sacrificed for the greater good of the King controlling the board. On one level, we might assume that since I was once a King, and so was Shaka, that we represent the kings on the board. That may be, but perhaps we need to look deeper into what we have seen before us. Rather than assigning us ranks, I think perchance we are ALL pawns to be sacrificed, while some 'King' or 'Queen' whom we can't see controls the game board. I find this place to be a game board of sorts. Perhaps each of these Grailstones is a square, and each side of the river represent white or black in some fashion. "Or perhaps as Benjamin and Shaw have kindly summarized, Shaw is the Knight, Benjamin a Bishop, myself a King, my mysterious Queen is present but unknown, Josephine as the other bishop, Jeanne as the other knight. Both rooks are missing, and Freud and Erik are 2 of the 8 pawns; the others missing. Perhaps the mysterious Queen, is the woman that has appeared in many dreams. The queen is most mobile and powerful piece on the board. It perhaps makes sense. "I think perhaps we are close to an answer, yet even when you have all the shard of a urn, what remains is putting the urn back together." "I don't think we should think of Shaka and the others as our opponents," Shaw replied, "or even Stalin and Temuchin for that matter. Whom ever is playing this game is our true foe. I for one would like to see that the pieces come out on top in this game." As the sun rose, Freud called the others to him. "I suppose now would be as good a time as any for me to try to hypnotize myself. Once I'm under, ask your questions. Any of you should be able to awaken me." He looked at Benjamin. He turned his eyes toward the River, and watched the water flow downstream until his lids fell shut and breathing deepened. * * * * Shaka nodded to Louis. "This is a good idea. They seem ill-prepared to stop us from using their grailstone in any case." Mandragola nodded in agreement. Shaka made hand signals, ordering his group to surround the grailstone. While the men kept a defensive stance, the women began to insert the group's grails into the slots. There were enough slots to fit all of the Zulu's grails, as well as those of the strange people sitting in rows. Louis watched the men sitting around the grailstone and wondered what they could be doing. It somewhat looked to him like prayer. Eastern prayer, perhaps. It was quite pleasant, he thought, so unlike the constant babbling of the Christian church. "They give no indication either they have heard us or care to respond." he said. "Quite inscrutable. Let us have our lunch. Perhaps this will force the issue along." "These people..." Sly replied, "They've found something..." Mandragola, with a curious look, walked to the back of the group, and prodded a slender man with the butt of his spear. Immediately, the man sprang up, and angry look on his face. "What did you do that for? I was so close, and you had to come and ruin it! We didn't bother you..." He was interrupted as a woman sitting in the middle of the group silently raised her hand above her head. With a glance both resentful and reproachful, the man returned to his sitting position, struggling to ignore the lazari. Sly erupted. "You fewkin' idiot! Can't you see them glowing?" He grabbed his spear and moved menacingly toward Mandragola, his eyes shining with an almost fanatical light.