Pretending to sleep would keep her meditation undisturbed while the music on the tape rolled.Pretending to sleep would keep her meditation undisturbed while the music on the tape rolled. She fumed at the gall of the advisory committee. She would not be allowed to complete her grad work at Miskatonic University if she elected to take leave and study under a shaman. The head battle-axe raised the specter of full employment for ghostbusters. To add insult to injury, they pointedly suggested that she work out her conflicted loyalties during Halloween break. Her coven, which had arranged her acceptance at Miskatonic U, expected her to complete her studies there. Even so, she wondered if the High Priestess would support her thesis on eigenstate measurement/selection. Karen didn't want to kindle the arguments between the old wicca and the young reality hackers. Drew Blood, her working partner, and she were to take on another layer of interface metaphor. The first layer, which supported her status as an adept, had been installed under hypnosis years earlier. The manual documented the keyphrase 'will, skill, tools' which defined and invoked the effect. Karen's only upgrade, 'improvise, adapt, overcome', was barely a year old. >From her reading of the manual on the new upgrade, 'simplicity, sincerity, serenity', Karen wondered if a serious mistake had been made. The documentation had no information relating to how the upgrade would be personally useful. Although the coven approved the change of emphasis from individual goals to universal goals, Karen bristled. Her upcoming Samhain initiation, dependent on the new upgrade, seemed to emphasize commitment and service. Karen had met Mark Featherstone while doing field work in southern New Mexico. They were both collecting mescal, but for different reasons. Featherstone proved expert at locating and identifying many specimens of the spineless globe-shaped cactus for her. Karen found that his suggestions about which buttonlike tubercles to collect were based on extensive pharmacologic scholarship. Although the white woman and Amerind shaman were worlds apart, a mutual respect developed and matured over the years. |