"Matt, congratulations. I'm so happy...for you and for me," John said with a big smile on his face. Matt and John were talking in Matt's plush office after the Board of Directors approved Matt's appointment to the Presidency of HTI.

"You really think I'm ready for this?" asked Matt.

"Absolutely."

"You didn't push this too quickly because you wanted to return to your technical work?"

"Matt, I recommended you to the Board of Directors because you're right for the job. You are President of HTI," John said the last sentence slowly. "and you're ready to provide the leadership this company needs for the rest of the twenty first century."

"Thirty six years old is pretty young to be running a 6 billion dollar company," Matt said letting his insecurities show to John.

"You've worked here since you were fourteen years old...in one job or another. You know this place inside out. And most importantly, you have the feel for future projects."

"My HT-Movie idea didn't work out so well," said Matt.

"I disagree," said John very forcibly. "In fact, it was the way you handled that project that convinced me you were ready."

"But we failed."

"No you didn't, you adapted beautifully to the realities of the current state of art in electronics," said John. "The efficient techniques you developed for recording and playing back HT sessions was brilliant."

"Thank you John. Coming from you that's a real compliment."

"But I think you had your hopes too high. You taught the HT computer to record and playback virtually every sound, image and electrical biofeedback pulse from an HT-session. But it was unrealistic to expect a second person, receiving the biofeedback from a pre-recorded session, to experience the same response. Each of us are different."

"I knew it wouldn't be exactly the same response," said Matt. "But, it's not much different than regular movies. The audience keeps its distance and reacts in their own way to the actor's emotions. Also, we don't really have an audience, since we can only hook-up three people at a time to view an HT-movie."

"More importantly," said John, "the connection with health care will keep HTI going for many years to come. What a clever way of using the recordings¾ to analyze the wealth of data generated during HT-Health sessions. I don't know if your idea of developing an automatic computer analysis program to diagnose the data will work, but certainly a trained doctor can playback the health data and sense the physical and mental well-being of his patient."

"Yes," said Matt. "A doctor will be able to sense what the patient feels, but with the distance of a movie, which is just right. A doctor does not have to feel the full force of a heart attack, or a severe depression, to help his patient."

John nodded in agreement.

"I plan on designing and manufacturing a new HT-Health unit," said Matt, "which will store the health-related characteristics of each user on a continuous record. I think we can train the computer to watch the changing health of each client over the years with a detail not even imagined before."

"If you're successful," said John, "the computer analysis will provide an early warning tool which can alert an HT user to seek help from a doctor. The possibilities for preventive medicine are phenomenal."

"In fact," said Matt, "I'm thinking about a new kind of automated HT-Health unit. This one takes a snapshot as the person walks through it. I'd like to put one at every HTI gate, so that a daily health record will be taken and analyzed of every employee as he or she enters work. This fringe benefit will help the employees, and it will clearly help us also."

"You may encounter some opposition to that," said John, "on the basis of the right to privacy."

"Hum, maybe," said Matt. "But we could, in fact, keep the records private. Though keeping anything private is difficult these days."

"In any case," said John. "I also see a huge potential for self-healing with your new health recording system. Individuals can monitor their own changing health characteristics and respond before problems occur. All of this is more important than HT movies."

"Probably so...but I believe movies are also a part of HTI's economic future."

"An exciting future I dare say," said John.

"The HT-movies can be both for entertainment and education. By now, I hoped we'd be able to have hundreds of viewers on-line at the same time. You wait, John, this HT movie idea will become a reality some day. The electronic bandwidth is just not yet available for connecting many units to one main center. That'll change in time."

Matt paused, then added, "A connected network of HTs will help our health and movie business. I'm going to make HT networking a reality."

"I'm sure you will," said John.

"That's the worst traffic jam I've ever been trapped in!" said Tracey after she hugged her father at the front door. "It took me over two hours from the LA airport. It used to be 30 minutes when I was a kid. The cabby said it's worse on a weekday. How do you stand it?"

Hal hugged his daughter and tears came to his eyes. He missed her...and he missed Susan, Jerry and Robin. He worked incessantly on the SACC project; the work kept him from feeling lonely and from remembering the pain. Tracey's hug brought back happy memories of the times before Jerry left for Lebanon. "Oh Trace, it's good to have you visit again. I've missed you."

They walked inside the house. Hal continued, "The traffic's tolerable only because I use a MOLE¾ a Mobile Office Limousine for Efficiency¾ to pick me up the two days a week I go to Finding. The rest of the time, I work from home. I have the finest computerized telecommunication set-up¾ I'll show it to you later. The only reason I have to go to the office at all is because I'm teaching the guys who train the FBI dowsers.

"Well Dad," said Tracey, "whatever you're doin', keep it up. You look great for a 91 year old¾ in fact you look good for a 71 year old."

"Thanks for the compliment. I feel pretty healthy," Hal said, "I use HTI's Health Center, it's near my office. John set me up with a consultant's free membership. He's been a good friend to me." Trace is looking tired...probably the freeway ride, Hal thought.

They put her bags down by the door and headed straight for the kitchen for a cup of coffee. They warmly chit chatted while Hal made the coffee.

"I have a surprise for you," said Hal as he took out a large bag of chocolate chip cookies from the cupboard.

Tracey eagerly grabbed the bag and opened it, "We still don't have decent cookies in Israel." She quickly downed two cookies and then put a plateful on the kitchen table.

As they sat down, Hal asked, "Does Israel have many HT units?"

"Yes, I'd say several thousand HT-2 units, but only a few hundred of the newer HT-3s. The HT-3s are very impressive, but Israeli companies can't afford to buy as many as they would like. The government bought a few -3s."

"The modifications to the HT-2 were significant," said Hal, "the -3's have 10 times as many biofeedback contacts as the -2s, and the holographic projection is marvelous. The images are fully three dimensional. I don't mean they look 3-D on a 2-D screen. No, the light comes from several holographic sources, and the images are truly three dimensional. Also, the sound system is better and the suits are more comfortable."

"I've worked in a -3, they're remarkable," said Tracey. "They're just not being commercially marketed in Israel. Most of the -3s are assembled as Health units and sold in the United States."

"It's true, the HT-Health Centers are popping up all over the place," said Hal. "John tells me 85% of the HT-3s being sold are ordered with the Health modifications."

"Wasn't it about 17-18 years ago that the AMA first acknowledged any health benefits from HTing?" asked Tracey.

"Yeah, that's about right. But their concessions were rather limited, and not much changed until two years ago. That was when the AMA and US Surgeon General jointly announced the positive results of their 15 year study," said Hal.

"The results were big news, even in Israel, because of the scandal."

"Those AMA turkeys dismissed their own study. They refused to accept that HTing benefited so many types of physical and mental illnesses, as well as being of considerable value to healthy people," said Hal.

Tracey laughed remembering the scandal. "The three AMA study directors were certainly surprised at the results...they tried to suppress the info for over three years."

"I had expected positive results for those illnesses where the bodies immune system could be of importance, but the dramatic reduction in illness to healthy people was a surprise to me," said Hal.

"If you think about it, though, it makes a lot of sense. The biofeedback signals from a healthy person should be even stronger than one suffering an illness," said Tracey.

"Well those AMA guys didn't believe that for a minute," said Hal. "I still wonder how high up in that organization the cover-up went. It's hard to believe it was limited to the three directors."

"I guess it's easy to see how doctors raised in the traditional manner would find it hard to believe there's value in quietly using biofeedback tuned to the immune system. Frankly dad, I don't blame them."

Hal smiled broadly. "Nobody, including doctors, really understand where the power of HTing comes from. But individuals do have the power to improve their own health."

Tracey added, "With a little help from the HT-Health units. What a brilliant idea, to permit the unit to focus most of the biofeedback energy on the lymph nodes, bone marrow, the thymus and spleen glands. This focus improves the generation of the incredibly specialized cells of the immune system."

"The body wants to be healthy. It actually does quite well even without HTing, but there's nothing wrong with a little help."

"I'm told it can also help restore a healthy mind," said Tracey in a tone too serious for Hal to ignore.

"Trace, are you okay? ...you seem tired." asked Hal.

"I am a little tired...tired of fighting a losing battle...tired of feeling the pain of Jerry and Robin and Mom..."

Hal reached over and embraced her shoulders with his arm. "I know...I feel it too. But, Trace, I don't think it's a losing battle. The power of one person to heal him or herself is representative of the power of mankind to heal itself. It takes time, though, to cure the diseases of hate, greed, and deceit."

Tracey leaned her head on Hal's arm, "You've always been such an optimist."

"Why not? It helps me get through the day...feeling that the basic goodness in most people will prevail."

"Enough of this," she said as she reached for her fifth cookie. "What's the story on converting the HT-3s to Dowser units?"

"The D-3s, that's what we call the converted units, are extraordinary. I've consulted many times with John on the design during the last couple of years. I'm not going to tell you too much, you'll see for yourself tomorrow. HTI has the only two D-3 prototypes, but commercial production is scheduled to being next month. I think you and John will be the first to apply the D-3 to anything but potty-training tests...tests which look encouraging."

"I'm sure Israel will want some HT-3 Dowsers¾ I mean D-3s," said Tracey. "Hopefully we'll have some priority...the US government still must approve all sales."

"Well at least Dowser is no longer a secret," said Hal. "But the government is vainly trying to keep them out of hands that will use them for no good."

"It's simply too late for that, I'm afraid. The cat's out of the bag," Tracey said with a sad resignation in her voice. "HT-Dowser imitations are being produced in at least 7 countries right now¾ including Israel. But HTI's Dowsers are still the best."

Hal heard the sadness and said, "Yes, Trace, the bad guys cause lots of trouble when they use this technology...but remember, HTI does make the best units and they work for the good guys."

Tracey changed the subject, "I'm going to see John tomorrow. Should I take a taxi cab?" Tracey asked.

"No, HTI is sending a MOLE for you."

"That should be fun. It has to be better than that awful ride from the airport."

"The freeways are always overcrowded...it's particularly bad right now, while they're building the Overways. The Overways may put MOLEs out of business."

"MOLEs, Overways...a lot's happening around here," said Tracey. "I've read a little about the Overways, but frankly, with all the trouble Israel's in, I don't pay too much attention."

After coffee, they put Tracey's bags in her old room. "You keep this room just like I had it when I was a teenager...that's nice. I like coming home, but I don't feel like a young girl anymore."

"You're not. None of us live in the carefree world of the Twentieth Century anymore," said Hal.

"It wasn't all that carefree. I remember worrying plenty...about nuclear war and nuclear winter, ozone holes in the atmosphere...about global warming, acid rain, overpopulation, and the pollution of the air, ocean and ground."

"Yeah, I guess every century has worries which focus peoples attention," said Hal. "But I never thought that terrorists and organized crime would threaten the fabric of a peaceful civilization."

"The bad guys have had quite a few successes," said Tracey. "But I worry about treating the battle like World War 3. If we're not careful, there'll be martial law in both Israel and the US."

"The criminals seem to be winning...it's probably because they're focused and don't care about anything or anybody else. If you don't mind killing and maiming, you do gain an advantage," said Hal.

"The SACC force in Baltimore certainly didn't help the cause," Tracey said as she looked cautiously at her father. She knew he was involved in training many of the Baltimore FBI dowsers.

"The SACC program," Hal said slowly and sadly, "has grown very rapidly in the last few years, and some people have abused their access to the HT-Dowser units. But basically the program is working well. I don't think we should cancel the whole program for a few bad apples."

"Maybe not. But the few bad apples in Baltimore exposed five of our undercover agents," Tracey paused, "One of those agents was a friend of mine who lived only a block from me...he was killed a month ago."

"I'm so sorry Trace," said Hal.

"We had finally infiltrated the ILM drug smuggling operation which was part of their war against all infidels, but especially against Israel and the United States." said Tracey. Then she loudly and sarcastically added with a raised fist, "Poison the infidels and Finance the Revolution."

"That was a tragedy," said Hal. "The Iranians sure maximized their returns. They first bribed¾ for a measly $100,000 each¾ and then blackmailed two SACC dowsers in the Baltimore office. These dowsers then used the D-2s to identify your operatives as well as 156 SACC dowsers in 45 states. I believe the Iranians sold the SACC names to local crime syndicates, 29 dowsers have already been murdered. And, possibly most damaging of all in the long run," he added with a grimace, "those bastards defected to the Chinese Embassy in Washington...with detailed knowledge of our dowsing techniques."

"Let's stop this depressing shop talk," said Tracey, "...what do you have to eat! I'm starved."

John had arranged for a MOLE to pick Tracey up and take her to HTI headquarters. The limo arrived at 8:00 a.m. sharp. It looked like a standard black limousine from the outside...maybe a little longer and rectangular than most limos, thought Tracey. When she stepped into the MOLE, from the one passenger door, she was immediately impressed with the efficient layout. The rear two thirds of the MOLE¾ approximately 5 ft wide by 6 ft long¾ was an office.

Tracey sat on the comfortable black leather chair which extended across the full width of the limo. She put her briefcase on the walnut desk. The desk was about two feet deep. It also extended across the limo and had a fancy built-in computer on its surface. A bookcase at the back of the desk extended to the ceiling of the MOLE. Tracey was facing the front of the vehicle and was completely separated from the driver.

Hal leaned into the MOLE and pointed toward the computer with the thin screen. "This is the latest IBM TCS¾ that stands for Telecommunications Computer System. With this baby, you can video-call, or you can access any computer, or you can tune-in to any satellite news or entertainment program. Also, use it if you want to talk to the driver. John's already at the office...he's expecting a call from you when you leave here. Just turn the TCS on and follow the directions. Have fun Trace."

Hal closed the door to the MOLE and waved good-bye. Tracey waved back, but then remembered that the windows were one way glass. Boy, she thought, the technological revolution is still on in full force in America. I wonder if Israel will ever enjoy the fruits of all this technology? All we seem to develop is the military technology, there's never enough money for most Israelis to buy the new gadgets from America.

Let's see how this thing works. She turned on the TCS. "Would you like your commands to be verbal or from the keyboard?" asked the TCS as the screen flashed a message which indicated to respond verbally or to press the "K" on the keyboard. "Verbally," said Tracey. The voice sounds familiar...somehow, she thought.

"Is your voice record in my memory?" "No." "Would you please read the following list of words." Then the screen flashed one word at a time. Tracey knew that it was learning her voice structure. Good thing, she thought, I've developed quite an Israeli accent. "One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Yes. No. Video. Computer. Data. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z." "Thank you," said the TCS. "What name would you like to save this voice print under." "Tracey Cantor."

"Just a moment please," said the TCS. "I have a Tracey Cantor in my files. The records are quite similar...I'd say, with a 90% probability, you are the same Tracey Cantor that I calibrated on the original VTMS map system at HTI headquarters on January 5, 2000."

"Yes, that's why your voice sounded so familiar!" said Tracey.

"Tracey Cantor, your updated voice print has now been saved on our master computer in Minneapolis. It will be available for use by any IBM TCS in the world. How can I help you? Your options are on the screen. Please choose by the numbers or say the option out loud."

The colorful screen showed 9 options plus the tenth was a listing of 'more options'. "You have lots of options don't you?" Tracey said out loud, and then wondered if that would confuse the TCS voice recognition system. Apparently not, since there was no response.

"I'd like to make a 'Video Call'" she said consciously imbedding the option cue in her sentence. "What number would you like to call?" responded the TCS. And the screen changed to a blue color with a large heading which said:

VIDEO CALL OPTION

"If you need help, say 'HELP'," said the computer.

Gee, I don't have the number with me. "...help"

"Do you know the name of the party you'd like to call and the city, state, and country?"

Thank goodness, she thought. "Yes, HTI¾ Holospace Technology Incorporated¾ is the company. The city is Venice, California.

The telephone number and complete address immediately appeared on the screen. "Is this the number you'd like me to dial?"

"Yes, thank you."

There was a short pause of no more than 10 seconds and then the screen changed to a young women seated behind a desk with an HTI logo behind her. "HTI. Can I help you?" said the young woman in a sweet voice.

Tracey knew a little about video calls, but this was her first time actually using the system. She paused a little too long for the receptionist.

"I bet this is you're first video call."

"That's right," said Tracey. "I didn't expect it. Can you see me...I don't see any camera at this end."

"I can see you just fine. You're in a MOLE with black leather interior. I bet you're in one of those new slim jobbies that use the screen as the lens of the camera. Those new screens do everything...it's amazing...it's far out."

Tracey couldn't believe that the ancient expression 'far out' was still being used...the receptionist must be a valley girl. "I'd like to speak to John Wensler."

"Can I tell him who's calling."

"It's Tracey Cantor." The receptionist leaned forward and touched a button and then said, "Mr. Wensler, I have Tracey Cantor on a VC. Would you like it?"

The screen changed and John was now looking at Tracey. "Hi Trace. Good to see ya."

Only her family and friends from her youth called her Trace. She liked the nickname. "John, it's good to see you too. I can see you...I can hear you...but I really miss one of your bear hugs."

"I'll give you one of those when you get here. How long ago did you leave?" "About 15 minutes or so..."

"You should be here in another couple of hours. We can accomplish a lot by then. Before we get to work though, how's your dad?"

"He's feeling fine, and It's terrific to see him so active."

"That's good to hear," said John. "We've found that most of the HTI staff and consultants that took advantage of our free Health Program using the Health Units have remained healthier and more active than most of their contemporaries. This is especially obvious as they aged, say past 75 or so. We've hired an epidemiologist to do a careful statistical study to see if the health and longevity of our staff has really improved compared to the rest of the US population."

"You seem pretty fit yourself," said Tracey, trying to remember how much younger John was than her father. "I bet you'll work forever."

John laughed, "Well, not that long. But I don't intend to retire until I can't put in a decent day's work. And that won't be for some time...I'm 15 years younger than your dad. I miss working with your father. He still consults for us occasionally¾ mostly on difficult dowser applications. He's one of the best HT-Dowser operation managers around. He's able to develop a creative and effective dowsing approach whenever a new requirement arises.

He's already helped us develop new techniques for the HT-3 dowser units...I think you'll love the D-3."

"John," Tracey said, "You've been a real friend to my family...thanks."

"I wish I could have done more to stop the pain you've all gone through. You're mom would have loved the D-3," John paused as he remembered Susan's vibrant approach to life, before Robin's death. "Anyway, we're going to have a lot of fun Tracey. And, we'll learn what the D-3 can do¾ especially about predicting the future.

"The U.S. and Israeli governments," John continued, "have agreed that the highest priority item for study is how to reverse the losing war with our enemies. In particular, The fight against international terrorism, especially involving Iran and China. And secondly, the battle against the spreading scourge of drugs."

John noticed that Tracey was rather quiet with no noticeable emotions. John thought this was quite unusual for Tracey. As a kid she wore her emotions on her face. He said, "Trace, is everything all right, you seem distracted..."

Tracey said, "I'm a little discouraged. A good friend, who was working undercover, was just murdered¾ we'll find the guys that did it, but so what. Soldier-terrorists seem to grow on trees."

"I'm so sorry Trace. I know about the leaks of your operatives' names as well as ours. I'm afraid we're in a difficult transition period. We're still trying to keep secrets, while secrets are becoming impossible to protect from determined foes."

"I'm worried about my motivation," said Tracey. "I'm still fighting against those terrorist bastards that killed Jerry and Robin."

"I thought you had worked that hate out of your system."

"So did I, but I guess much of my drive still comes from that hate. That sounds awful to me...now."

"Your honesty is admirable," said John, though he was disappointed with what he took to be a very negative emotion. On the other hand, he thought, her hate certainly is understandable and maybe even necessary in the context of ridding the world of the pain of terrorism. "And your hate is directed toward our enemies. I don't see any problem. I think we should take this assignment on...we might really make a difference."

Tracey was also surprised at her admission of still harboring a considerable amount of hatred for all Muslim terrorists because of the deaths of her brother and sister. "What kind of difference can we really make? I've been doing this work for over 25 years, and the terrorists seem to be winning. They have no laws to inhibit them, they have no ethics, they are ruthless, cunning and the leaders are well motivated."

"Well, we're motivated too. And we can also be ruthless and cunning when it comes to saving our way of life. In fact, that's what you and I must do now...we must become so cunning that we win the future. If that requires us to be ruthless...then so be it. But I don't want to be part of a future run by terrorists who have no regard for life..."

"John," said Tracey, "am I hearing you say 'the end justifies the means'?"

"Did I say that...I guess I did. I basically believe that 'good' is based on those things that support a healthy life. There are situations where good ends might indeed justify the means... especially if you knew that the future ends would be worthwhile. What worries me is that worthwhile ends are difficult to find, and often the means become the ends... So I may have said it, but I'm not sure I believe that the ends can justify all means."

He shook his head and added, "All this gobbledygook will get us nowhere. I propose that we do it...let's HT together."

"John," said Tracey with a great deal of respect in her voice, "Your right, let's do it. I believe we're the good guys...let's get the bad guys, wherever they are! How do we start?"

"We started when you called me. The key to successful D-3 dowsing is rapport. Tracey, we have that...and we'll need it since we'll be the first to use the D-3 techniques to venture into the future."

"Future Dowsing is incredible...most would say impossible. I do it, but I try not to think about it," said Tracey.

John laughed, "I still don't understand how we can receive info from the future, but you and I've been doing it for years. Unfortunately, many others have been dowsing the future also...including the Iranians and Chinese. I believe they've discovered a methodology for using the future information which is much better than our methods."

"How can they be so effective, when we're not? You invented HTing! We developed Dowser first...what's their trick?"

"I'm not sure. That's one of the things we'll hopefully uncover. But I think the Chinese are the leaders. They've been leading the Iranians around by the nose. But the Iranians haven't minded since they were very successful¾ successful, that is, until we found all their plutonium wrapped bombs."

"Your role...you and Emily were fantastic. Why don't you use her in this assignment? You two worked so well with Dowser in finding the bombs."

"No, she used her financial expertise to track the flow of money backwards in time. She's never dowsed the future...and that takes considerable practice. This is a job for you and me."

"What's your plan?" asked Tracey.

"I think the key is a Tibetan Monk named Kiela. What I propose to do is learn as much as possible about him, his contacts, and his future intentions or plans. His plans are the stickiest part. If we dowse the implementation of his plans using our best techniques, and we feel confident about our results, then there's roughly a 75% chance that the dowsed future will occur."

John paused here knowing that this was a key and difficult subject. "Trace," he continued very deliberately, "That's why I do not want to actually dowse the future outcome, I only want to know his intentions, so we can counter them."

"Intentions, huh. How can you tell a person's intentions?"

"Generally from watching his actions, reading what he writes, and listening to his conversations...but the best would be to know what plans are in his mind."

"That's always been a pipe-dream," said Tracey. "To my knowledge, we've never been able to read the intentions from another person's mind. Once the intentions have been carried out, then they become clear. Also, often people have intentions that they don't actually do. In any case, the intentions themselves...they're very subtle."

"Subtle," said John, "but also very powerful and pervasive. Intentions drive the motion of the body. Intentions help shape the priority of one's thoughts. Intentions are the source of action."

"Reading their intentions is almost the same as reading their future," said Tracey. "So why don't we just dowse the outcome? I guess I don't really understand why you don't want to dowse the outcome of a mission."

"The act of dowsing the future is part of the future. That's a very important principle. As soon as the future is dowsed¾ dowsed by either side in an adversarial situation¾ that portion of the future becomes quite inflexible."

"Of course," said Tracey, "That's the point isn't it...to know the objective future."

"No...the point is to achieve our goals. And I think if we dowse outcomes, then we'll try to change them in some way. And that will automatically lead to dowsing failures. It's the issue of future cross-over. How can the future be determined when participants have free will to change the outcome."

John paused with a big sigh, "I think the most effective way of dealing with future knowledge is to be as subtle with the information as possible. Going after intentions is much more subtle than actually dowsing the final event."

"Intentions aren't objective, they're very subjective," said Tracey. "There's so much subjective information possible...why do you even want to consider it?"

"I've always thought the distinction between objective and subjective information was often overstated," said John. "Both are intimately involved in the total reality of most events of interest. Remember the example of a hit and run driver who killed a pedestrian in front of 10 witnesses. And each witness had a different story to tell the police. They could not agree on the make or color of the car, and the description of the driver was so confused to be useless...they couldn't even agree on whether the driver was a man or woman!

"Some would say that there were 10 realities of what happened, but I think that's very wrong. There was only one reality which occurred. But this included the actual objective reality concerning the car and driver, and the subjective reality of each witness. Both the objective and subjective realities are very important to determining what happens in the future.

"I like to think of the subjective reality as actually being a part of the total objective reality of what happened. The subjective reactions were centered in each individual, but it was real and objective to that individual. The fear that one witness experienced because he remembered his own earlier accident was a very real response and did, of course, influence this witness's testimony. But each of the other witness had their own frame of reference too.

"In any case," John tried to conclude, "the total reality certainly includes both the objective and all the individual subjective realities."

"So you're suggesting that it's possible to read subjective thoughts, intentions and feelings...and take advantage of this knowledge. Boy, that's very speculative!" said Tracey.

"You bet," said John.

"Any you include dowsing present, past and future subjective information?" she asked.

"That's right. And I believe that by using the more subtle subjective approach there is more flexibility possible in our response. Once the future objective event is observed...there is nothing which can be done about it."

Tracey said, "Are you suggesting that the outcome of the future would be different if we were not to dowse the future event."

"Yes...and no. History does not provide alternative outcomes." He paused and then added, "How the present affects the future, with both eventually becoming the past, appears deceptively clear, but is really a deep mystery of the Universe...a Grand Puzzle which we pretend needs no solution."

"Look John," said Tracey with the tone of someone who was not a stranger to the subtleties of dowsing the future, "I've gathered information from the future¾ mostly accurate information¾ but I don't believe that my act of dowsing the future limited the outcome. I've always assumed that I was tuning-in to the one objective future which would occur."

"That's why we're talking now," said John patiently. "Before you and I work together, we should openly discuss our beliefs on Dowsing and on time. Until we both completely understand each other's viewpoints, we won't work together at anything close to our potential. So let's keep talking. We don't even have to agree, but we do have to feel comfortable with each other's positions."

"I've never tried to verbalize my beliefs about time and what happens in time," said Tracey. "I've come to accept a rather fatalistic point of view¾ what will be will be. I now believe that the deaths of my brother and sister, for example, were an inevitable part of history. When I felt Robin die," Tracey paused as she partially relived that terrible moment, "...with a bullet through her brain, and I knew that there was nothing I could do¾ because her death was already sealed. I appreciated that dowsing revealed a future that was predetermined."

"I remember," said John slowly, "and as painful as that time was, and as strongly as you remember the inevitability of Robin's death by a terrorist's bullet, you haven't acted like someone who truly believes that she can have no affect on the future. Predetermined is an ambiguous concept. Do you think that the future is predetermined by conditions out of our hands?"

"Now that you ask the question...I'd have to say no. I do believe that our actions affect the future...but...I also believe that our actions cannot change the future. That doesn't make any sense now that I've said it out loud¾ John, I'm not used to these philosophical discussions."

"Actually, you're making good sense. You seem to have an accurate intuitive feeling about time and about the connections between the present and the future. I believe that our actions create the future. But most importantly," John paused to add emphasis, "the action of looking at the future is part of creating that future.

"But, he continued, "the concept of changing the future is a contradiction of terms. The future cannot be changed¾ it's created from the accumulation of all the actions in the dynamic present. And when the future becomes the present it will happen only one way...and that cannot be changed."

"But if the affect we have on Lama Kiela's plans cannot be changed, then why are we wasting our time," Tracey asked.

"Cannot be changed from what?" asked John in return.

"From other possible futures..." Tracey said with some hesitation in her voice.

"Other possible futures in your mind's eye or imagination, you mean."

"I guess so."

"Okay," said John, "if you want to give these fantasy futures potential reality...you can. But remember, only one will be realized. And that reality has particularly strong vibrations which we can sometimes perceive," said John.

"I agree that there will only be one present actualized reality...but so what?"

"So everything...one reality plus the fact that parts of this reality can be known in advance...that changes everything...the world no longer develops based on the linear path¾ past to present to future. Somehow the future also affects the present and past...which affect the future..."

"Sound pretty circular," said Tracey.

"Yes, but not completely," responded John, "because only very limited portions of the total future reality are every shared with the present reality. Understanding and carefully choosing the glimpses of the future which we can see should be our primary long term objective."

They both remained silent for a moment trying to absorb the complex issues involved with glimpsing the future. Then John suddenly straightened up and looked directly at Tracey¾ well directly at the screen which had Tracey's face on it¾ and said, "Trace, the short term objectives are clearer...we have to find out about Lama Kiela. I'll send you a file on China and Tibet which includes all the information I have on him. It's not much, but it's a start."

John leaned forward and punched a few keys on his terminal. "I've just sent you a file called 'Kiela'. It's in your computer. You can look at it on the screen, but I suggest asking your TCS for a printed version so you can make notes directly on your copy."

"I don't see a printer."

"It's in the bottom drawer on the right side of your desk. And by the way, there's some soft drinks and snacks in one of the other drawers," said John. "Have a relaxing drive...I'll see you in about an hour."

"Bye John." Tracey pressed the 'END CALL' button on the terminal and the screen went blank momentarily. Then the options screen appeared, and the TCS said, "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Yes," said Tracey. "File Retrieve."

"What is the name of the file?" said the TCS.

"Kiela."

"Yes, I have that in my local memory. Would you like to see it on the screen, or in hard copy."

"Hard copy, please."

"Wait a moment," said the TCS. In less than thirty seconds, the TCS said, "Your printed copy is available.

Tracey opened the bottom drawer, and took out the 25 page report entitled, "Chinese-Tibetan Relationships." Lama Kiela was discussed, but there was not a lot known about him. There was a picture of Kiela with three Chinese officials. Kiela was at one end of the group. His features were not clear, but Tracey could see that he was a small thin man.

Tracey read the report and relaxed with her thoughts until the MOLE arrived at HTI headquarters. John met her after she received her badge at the security office, he gave her a big bear hug, she asked about David, he said that David was trying to be a typical eleven year old, and then John and Tracey went to suit-up for the D-3 session.

"We're going to find out as much as we can about Lama Kiela," said John as he and Tracey walked towards the Dowser units.

"I read that material you sent to the MOLE, of course, but I still don't know what we're looking for exactly," said Tracey.

"Neither do I...but all our sources indicate that he's the key."

"Here are the two HT-3 units," said John. "That's our Dowser."

"They look like the HT-2s," said Tracey.

"Almost, but notice this cable connecting the two units," said John rather proudly. "The cable permits two people to HT simultaneously and interactively. That's what makes these units D-3s."

"You and I will both be HTing at the same time?"

"That's right," said John. He knew he had to let Tracey become comfortable with the idea.

"Then how will you provide the control function for my dowsing?" she asked.

"From inside my HT unit. The essence of the D-3 Dowser is that both the controlling person and the dowser are sharing the same biofeedback. I'll show you what I mean once we're started. The control room is now mostly for recording the session and a resource for connecting to other data banks."

They each walked into their own unit. Tracey had assumed that John would be her control. That was the standard approach¾ one dowser and one control providing questions and guidance. John's reference to sharing the same biofeedback was unprecedented.

They sat down and each connected the cable from their suit to the chair. There were two distinct snaps which announced the beginning of the session. The snapping sound associated with the cable coupling was an anachronism insisted on by John partially for nostalgic reasons, but also because he believed that the sharp metallic sound served to alert the HTers to their connection with a biofeedback system.

The HT-3 technology was so advanced that the biofeedback suits¾ including the light weight helmets¾ only weighed about 8 pounds, there were now 125,000 contacts on the body including 25,000 miniaturized, and very sensitive, super conducting SQUIDS which measured magnetic signals from deep within the body.

The entire biofeedback process was managed by a computer system involving 250,000 microchips each with the power of the original CRAY "supercomputer" of the 1980s.

The HT-3 computer system was a work of art as well as a product of science and technology. The balance in the electronics and the flexibility in the software provided a biofeedback sensitivity that would not be fully utilized for many more years to come. John was determined to explore the possibilities.

"Watch the muted slowly changing colors on the screen, and listen to the low rumble of the sounds," John said from his unit knowing his voice was being piped into Tracey's unit.

"They're beautiful," said Tracey. "The three dimensionality of the patterns is tremendous. I can see through some of the shapes...others look like solid colorful 3-D objects."

"You ain't seen nothin' yet," said John. "By the way, we'll start with you dowsing alone and I'll just observe. Right now, I have on my screen exactly what you have on yours. That's a simple use of the cable I showed you. I can observe, or we can dowse separately, or we can dowse together."

Tracey wasn't listening to John too carefully. She was focused on the 3-D color show, and she was very impressed. She had read about the new HT-3 holographic capabilities. But nevertheless, seeing the 2 meter by 2 meter by 2 meter holographic screen project colorful complex and partially transparent three dimensional shapes which vibrate, swirl, undulate, grow, shrink, and merge was not the same as reading about the new technology.

Holography¾ and even 3-D holographic movies¾ were not new, but the ability to include real time analysis, synthesis and biofeedback from the 125,000 sensors was new. This capability was an HTI development paid for by the government. The use of this technology in the HT-3 was a byproduct of real time display technology for satellite and other remote sensor information in three dimensions.

"Okay Trace, are you ready?" asked John.

"Let's do it," answered Tracey, as she closed her eyes and began quieting her mind.

"The first focus which I'd like you to concentrate on is the current location of Lama Kiela," said John.

"Boy, you don't waste any time...", said Tracey.

"Just relax, Trace, and focus on finding Kiela."

The holographic screen, which was really a volume in space projecting light, changed to a three dimensional map of China. The map was obtained by combining the best satellite photography using 3-D holographic digital cameras. The digital recording technique permitted easy merging of the portion of the photographic images which had no cloud cover. Images using regular sun light as well as images using other wavelengths of light, including infrared photography.

"Stunning," said Tracey. "I haven't been on the shuttle ride around the globe yet, but I can't imagine a better view than this."

"There would never be a day without considerable cloudiness obstructing the view," said John. "This map is the latest synthesis provided by the State Department's Parallel Computer.

John continued with obvious pride in his voice, "The cross-hairs will move based on your intentions¾ direct eye muscle motions are not necessary as with the HT-2 units. Now you'll provide the feedback yourself...immediately. No training is necessary, and there's no complex headgear needed. We found, and can monitor in real time, the part of the brain that confirms intentions¾ the part of the brain that says yes, yes you're doing what I intended. Trace, try it."

Okay, Tracey thought. The Himalayas look very prominent on the map...let's go for the peak. Even before she finished her thought, the cross-hairs began to move. There was a slight hesitation as Tracey's mind accepted the fact that it was in control of the motion of the luminous blue cross. But then the cross-hairs moved directly to its mark. She played with the cross-hairs for a minute or so. "Very nice, John, how do I go to the next level of detail?"

John did not respond. Of course, thought Tracey. Just intend it. So that's what she did, beginning with a spectacular view of the top of the Himalayan mountain range. The snow was clearly evident, but not quite as realistic as a photograph. Must have been synthesized from Infrared photography, she thought.

"Now I know why you came on so strong about intentions," she said.

"This did have something to do with it," responded John. "But monitoring intentions in a biofeedback environment is not the same as reading someone else's intentions at a distant time and place."

After experimenting with a few more sites which caught her imagination, Tracey felt it was time to concentrate. Now, where is that Lama Kiela. The cross-hairs stopped their casual meandering through the map, and remained still.

Tracey knew that she had to quiet her mind...just a thought about finding someone was not quite enough. She closed her eyes and focused on a white warm sandy beach. She often used this beach to clear her mind of extraneous thoughts. She felt the warmth of the sun, she saw the expansiveness of the ocean. She used the sand as her symbol for all the potential things which she could find. Each grain represented something somewhere sometime.

She turned her focus to a portion of the beach that caught her attention...she began tuning in to one section of sand...she began wondering about Lama Kiela. Her focus of attention narrowed to a small enough area where individual grains of sand were visible in her mind's eye. Where are you, she thought. She focused on one grain of sand...seeing the neighboring grains touching the one she chose, but focusing on one in particular. Where are you, Lama Kiela, where are you...right now. She held that thought for a few moments, and then gently opened her eyes ready to guide the cross-hairs.

The screen showed a view of a city block with modern looking buildings. The buildings were quite tall and the perspective was startling to Tracey, she felt like she was in a helicopter hovering a few hundred feet above the buildings. "Wow," she said as she jerked her head back, startled by the close-up view, "that 3-D imaging is sometimes overwhelming."

John had been watching the H-screen. "Trace," he said, "you're in Peking, just outside Tiananmen Square. You've found Kiela... The cross-hairs are on the Peking Hilton, and they're on the window of his hotel room where we know he's spending the night. Congratulations! You've adapted to the HT-3 very well."

The cross-hairs were an integral part of the 3-D imaging technology. They could move anywhere in the three dimensional screen and mark any spot. They were clearly located on a specific window.

"What now?" she said with a big smile on her face. "This is fun."

"We'd like to know who he's meeting in the morning. Our intelligence indicates someone high-up in the Chinese Communist Party, but we don't know exactly who...and we don't know what the topic of discussion will be. Let's see how much of this we can dowse together. Stay with me Trace...I still have a few surprises for you."

John said, "Dowser, go to Mode 1" Tracey immediately felt a difference in her body. The music in the background changed, and the cross-hairs moved a little.

John continued, "Tracey, you probably noticed a change in signals. That's because you and I are now electronically connected. All of our electromagnetic and pressure biofeedback signals are being combined. And, we are both receiving the same biofeedback signals."

"I felt you come on line, all right," said Tracey. "But what now?"

"The objective is to improve reliability by finding that balance place between us which will reveal a high probability answer to both of us. Having two people provides the indispensable balance between closeness and distance."

"Have you done this before?" she asked.

"Yes, but only in simple tests...similar to what you did with your dad when you first used Dowser. But, it should work now...in theory at least. Matt and Howard¾ you remember them?"

"Yes, of course. The Monroes," said Tracey.

"Well they wanted to record and then playback everything that happens in a HT-3 session. But the only device capable of fully recording an HT-3 session is another HT-3 unit. So they developed this cable and software. Once they did that, it was a relatively small step to hook the two units up in a synthesized mode. This mix mode is the key to dynamite dowsing. I believe that two dowsers, with combined biofeedback signals, will be better than one. Are you willing to give it a try, Trace?"

"Of course," she said.

"Good enough," said John. "Let's see if we can track Kiela's movements tomorrow morning. That's when he's meeting his contact."

The H-screen still showed the same view of Peking. John continued, "The trick is to do nothing different than when you dowse alone...just relax and let the part of you that knows how to dowse take control of the cross-hairs. You and I will provide the balanced¾ but double strength¾ intention to track Kiela. Let's start by acquiring a good fix on him, right now. Look inside his room and tune-in to Kiela."

They became very still as they focused on Lama Kiela in a room 10,000 miles away. John knew that Tracey liked to close her eyes when she dowsed, "Trace, see if you can work with your eyes open. It's not essential, but I think we'll do better that way. You're experienced enough that the distractions won't hurt your performance. And I still have one more surprise for you which I want you to see."

Tracey looked at the H-screen and focused on the cross-hairs. She formed an image in her mind's eye of Lama Kiela based on the picture of him supplied with the briefing material. She "looked" and "felt" inside the room. The cross-hairs moved just a little, and then she noticed some red and purple swirling colors form on and near the cross-hairs. The colors were clearly three dimensional and located in the room.

"We're both tuned-in," said John. "The colors you're seeing are a remarkable bonus which only occurs when we do this coupled dowsing. They weren't expected, and I don't understand the significance of the specific colors and pattern. But, they identify the person we're tracking. And there's another surprise... the signature you're seeing for Kiela is unique with respect to us as dowsers. Any other two people would create a different signature."

"So your saying," said Tracey, "that the signature is really unique to Kiela, you and me."

"That's right," said John. "We see Kiela as a red-purple swirling entity. The biofeedback synthesis program takes our electromagnetic output and provides an extra feedback queue when we're both tuned in to the same person. Matt and Howard discovered this accidentally when they were using the units to test the cable and coupled biofeedback software. They first locked in on me¾ I'm orange and yellowish in their eyes; Mandy is a beautiful rainbow of colors.

"Trace, last weekend, Matt and Howie were finalizing the set-up and they dowsed for me and easily found me at home. When Mandy's name was mentioned, her signature also formed on the screen, next to mine. "That's amazing," said Tracey.

The biofeedback is very responsive to our joint desires," said John, "...as long as we're both intending the same thing. If we lose our joint focus, then the colors and patterns become chaotic."

As he finished, they experienced a mild demonstration of the loss of joint focus. The pattern began turning on and off, and the colors faded and grew to be the size of the building. "Careful, careful...let's not focus too much on Dowser ...stay with Kiela," said John.

Kiela, she thought. Stay with Kiela...he's sleeping in his room at the Peking Hilton. The pattern and colors returned to a relatively stable pattern in Kiela's room.

"Now," said John, "let's track his movements to his meeting tomorrow."

They were both experienced dowsers, and they knew that the key was to just let the tracking happen...and that's what they did. They both watched as the cross-hairs remained stationary for about 30 seconds. The colored 3-D pattern changed somewhat randomly in configuration, but remained basically in the same location and approximately the same size and mix of colors. Then, the colors brightened with more yellow, and the pattern seemed to have short rays extending from the main body. The size and location remained the same.

"He's awakened," said John. "I've seen this before¾ when I practiced with Matt."

As they watched, the cross-hairs and the colored pattern moved down the building and rested on the ground floor for ten seconds or so. "Breakfast perhaps," said Tracey.

Then, Kiela went back to his room for a while. "I wish we could calibrate how much speed-up we're seeing," said John. "I'm turning off the cross-hairs¾ we'll follow Kiela's pattern. Stay with him, Trace."

"I'm sensing a phone call...I think he's calling someone," said Tracey.

"Maybe...I can't confirm that. But that's fine, let me do the directing, you keep telling me what you sense."

As they watched Kiela's pattern on their respective H-screens, he went downstairs again and this time left the hotel through the front door. His pattern was luminous enough so that it could be seen through the hotel itself. The satellite view did not show the front of the hotel, but the pattern was clearly shining through the building at a location that was the front of the hotel.

"Let's shift to another viewpoint," said John; Tracey was thinking the same thing. The perspective began to slowly change...the viewpoint moved as if John and Tracey were flying in a helicopter to the other side of the building.

"The maps of the key cities are quite detailed," said John as he continued to watch Kiela leave the hotel.

"He's leaving the building...," said Tracey. "I feel he's walking to the rendezvous site."

Kiela approached the end of the block and entered Tiananmen Square. He was approaching the end of the current map view. Before he reached the end, however, the screen smoothly shifted to bring him near the center of the H-screen. He continued to walk for another two blocks and then stopped.

"This is it," said Tracey. "Whoever he's meeting...it's here." Where's here, she thought. I wish I had a better view. The H-screen map program responded with a higher resolution photographs of one of the recently installed benches in Tiananmen Square. A wooden bench filled the H-screen. There was only a pigeon on the bench, and the clarity was remarkable. The bench and pigeon were full size¾ the holographic image was a full size reproduction of the telephoto image obtained from a special satellite designed to have good resolution at 1:1 scale. Thus the digital imagery was sufficient to make a full size holographic image.

Gulliver would have been pleased, thought Tracey, his little Lilliputian people foolishly made maps with a 1:1 scale. Unfortunately, they could not store them in computer memory!

Kiela's pattern, which was now quite large¾ approximately 1/3 the size of the bench--became somewhat erratic. Tracey saw it and quickly refocused her thoughts back to the task at hand. The pattern stabilized again and remained on the left side of the bench. Nothing happened for a minute or so.

"Be patient," counseled John.

Another minute passed, and then Tracey sensed the contact, "Someone's meeting with Kiela."

"Trace, let's see if we can form the contact's colors on the H-Screen," said John quietly, being careful not to disturb the fine tuning existing between himself, Tracey and the two people talking on the bench tomorrow morning.

"Okay. What do you want me to do?" "Let's turn our focus to both people on the bench...consider both of them to be our tracking focus...feel...sense...both of them," he said in a slow intentionally hypnotic tone.

As they watched, Kiela's pattern grew, appearing to expand outward across the bench. In a matter of 20 seconds or so, one connected mosaic pattern developed which filled most of the bench. In another 15 seconds, the colors formed a pattern with two distinct regions; one was clearly Kiela, and the other pattern was mostly red and green and very dynamic in its movements.

These patterns are remarkable, thought Tracey, immediate reinforcement of our intentions...Kiela and friend are both distinguishable...I guess the connecting silverish stringy pattern shows some sort of interaction between them.

Now, let's see if we can pick-up anything about their conversation," said John.

They both remained open to information, but none was forthcoming. Except, Tracey said that she had the strong feeling that the men were friends. "Feels right," concurred John.

After about 10 minutes, the pattern began to spread. Kiela's friend moved off the bench and went to the street on the Northeast side of the square. He paused there for a short while, and then he began rapidly moving along the main roads of Peking. His color pattern remained about the same, and the silver strings remained connected to Kiela. The strings became thinner and thinner as the men drew apart, but the impression was that a connection persisted...even though the strings soon became invisible on the H-screen. The friend approached the end of the H-screen, and both patterns began to dissipate and become chaotic.

Who should we follow...we're losing it, thought Tracey. "Let's follow the friend," said John.

The screen view changed to center on Kiela's friend who continued to rapidly move toward the outskirts of Peking. "He's probably in a car," said John.

They followed him for about 10 miles, and then he stopped. The H-screen zoomed-in on a modest home in a tract of similar homes. The color pattern began to become chaotic, and Tracey said, "I'm getting tired."

"You've had quite an introduction to the D-3. Let's break for lunch."

They both lifted their hands off the hand rest, and the screen went blank. "Tracey, you were impressive...we did more than I had imagined we could do."

"Beginner's luck," she said.

"Could be," John responded seriously, "We'll have to talk about that sometime. Trace, excuse me...before I forget."

"Sam," said John in a loud voice, "Please find out who lives at that house."

Tracey had completely forgotten about the Control Room. "I'd like to see the monitoring area when we have a chance," she said.

"Let's have lunch first. I'm hungry."

After lunch they went to the Control Room. John had told Tracey about the sophisticated set-up using an HT-2 Mod B unit to monitor the D-3 activities. The operator was responsible for recording both H-screen images and all the sounds which occurred in both units of the Dowser session. Also, a wide variety of information from outside data bases could be obtained by asking the operator.

John introduced Tracey to Sam, but that wasn't really necessary since Tracey remembered Sam from many years earlier when she worked at HTI. Sam was one of the original HTI employees. He started as a lab assistant, and had developed extensive knowledge about the HT-1 and -2 systems and how to connect these systems to other outside computer networks. He was a very valuable HTI employee, though he was odd in many ways.

"Of course I remember you," Tracey said. "You were always using the HT-1 for introspective sessions...Howard once told me that you probably HTed more than anyone else in the world. That was over 30 years ago."

"It may still be true," said Sam with a slight laugh. "I have at least one private HT-2B session every morning. And, as you can see, the HTing is intimately designed into the control room for the D-3. So I'm generally HTing for 6 or 7 hours a day...I love it. In fact, I wish I could HT more than I do."

He actually went home after work and used his own private HT-1 unit for an additional 4 to 6 hours per night. It would be almost impossible for him to HT any more. He really loved it...some would say that he was hooked on HTing.

"Sam, did you find the name of Kiela's friend in the CIA data bank?" asked John.

"Well, I'm not sure. The house belongs to the Chief of Scientific Affairs. But he's bedridden at home, so I don't think he met with Kiela. I've compiled a list of his known close associates. You might want to scan them later to see if you can identify who Kiela talked to."

"That's a good idea," said John. "Trace, I wanted to probe further into Lama Kiela's future, maybe 25 years or so. But first I'll show you how we can sometimes identify people we've barely met. Kiela's friend is the perfect example."

"John, you're moving awfully quickly here," said Tracey. "How do you know that any of our information from the morning session is correct?" John smiled,

"Well, that's a question that the CIA is evaluating right now. The fact that you found Kiela's room correctly this morning, and the fact that you and I formed such a distinct color pattern for Kiela means that the we're probably right in our location dowsing. I'm confident that Kiela will meet someone on a bench in Tiananmen Square. The rest of the information is much more speculative."

"The colored patterns for each person is really a breakthrough, isn't it?" asked Tracey.

"I think so. For the first time, we can have very high confidence¾ nearly 100% I think¾ that our location dowsing is correct. Nothing's for sure, I guess...that's what quantum mechanics teaches us," said John.

Sam said, "God doesn't play with dice¾ that's what Einstein thought...maybe He plays with an HT-Infinity unit."

"Sam, you're quite the philosopher," said John. He turned to Tracey and said, "Verifying future dowsing is difficult, because it's hard to fix both the location and time. For example, we won't know exactly what time the meeting between Kiela and his friend occurs tomorrow until the CIA verifies the meeting. They'll photograph Kiela and his friend, and they'll listen to the conversation. They'll positively identify who Kiela talked to."

Tracey was interested in the validation of the dowsing techniques she used so regularly. It bothered her that after all these years, and after all the Dowser successes, that the scientific community could not agree on the validity of using dowsing techniques to gather data about the future. "How's the CIA getting our information so quickly?" she asked.

"The holographic video of our session was being transmitted to CIA headquarters in real time this morning. The session was part of their program to try to resolve, once and for all, the validity of psychic techniques to acquire reliable information. They've asked the National Science Foundation to conduct a Top Secret study to look at all the data we've gathered for the CIA over the last 30 years, and to participate in new experiments. We all agreed that for your initial session, we would not burden you with the knowledge of being examined by a group of scientists¾ some very skeptical. I hope you don't mind."

Tracey nodded that she didn't care.

"Trace, we've given them something to chew on."

"You're so confident that we're right," said Tracey.

"Yes, I am. Matt and Howard dowsed my location 10 out of 10 times in a present time experiment. I randomly went to a location and they dowsed me at 12 noon for 10 days in a row. The future location experiment was only accurate 4 out of 10 times because they couldn't sense the correct time for fixing my location. They found my location at a different time than we agreed upon¾ it's called displacement."

"I think I see," said Tracey. "What we predicted about tomorrow was not very specific about the time, though we were quite definite about the bench for the meeting."

John nodded in agreement. "Okay, let's suit-up for our afternoon session and have a little fun. The mornings are for planned experiments designed by the National Science Foundation scientists, but the afternoon is for my experimentation...that was the deal I made with the CIA. We'll send them copies of all the holographic videos, however. Does that bother you?"

"No, not at all," said Tracey. "Actually, I think general acceptance of this natural ability would be a leap forward in facing the real world we live in."

John smiled, "Actually, there are lots of people already dowsing¾ not using the sophisticated maps that we have¾ but making do with what's available to them. Once the HT-1 units began selling for $100,000 apiece on the resale market, many individuals bought them."

"Some big companies too," added Tracey, "My dad told me that Finding uses their modified HT-2 to dowse for missing persons as well as oil, gas and investments. He thinks the scientific community will accept dowsing only after society takes it for granted."

"He's probably right," said John. "Society is driven largely by economics, and the sciences are adapting. Private leasing companies purchased HT-1s and -2s to set up HT Health Centers. In Northern California, they have many HT Psychic Centers. It's very profitable for the leasing company, and relatively cheap for private use by individuals. This is a new growth industry, like computers 50 years ago. Most of the applications are for health reasons or for focusing on personal problems, but dowsing for sunken treasure and for predicting the stock market is becoming more common. I think that's one reason the CIA and NSF are paying so much attention to this problem. Noone knows what the consequences of so many people becoming involved with HTing will be."

John and Tracey said good-bye to Sam and suited-up for the afternoon session.

"Trace, first let's see if we can identify Kiela's friend," said John after they both settled into their chairs and snapped-in their cables.

"Sam, how about playing back the portion of this morning's session when Kiela and his friend are on the bench."

"Give me a minute." Sam's voice sounded the same inside the HT-2 unit as when he spoke directly to them just 15 minutes earlier.

"While he's finding the right part of the H-video, let me tell you what we'll do. The video is simply to tune us in again to the friend, then I'll ask Sam to briefly flash the known associates of the Chief of Scientific Affairs. If we both sense a match...that could be Kiela's friend. I'd love to pass on our prediction to the NSF boys before the CIA verifies tomorrow's meeting in Tiananmen Square."

"Me too," said Tracey. "Have you used this technique before?"

"Many times. It was developed for the SACC program, and works best in present time situations. But, we're a good team Trace, and I'm hopeful."

"Here it comes," said Sam as the screen filled with the bench, colored patterns, pigeon and all that was recorded in the morning session.

The pigeon looks funny on replay...thought Tracey. Both John and Tracey relaxed and focused on Kiela's friend, who was sitting on the image of the pigeon.

"Use his pattern as a symbol to focus on the friend himself," said John. They remained focused on Kiela's friend for about 2 minutes, and then John said,

"Sam, let's see the pictures."

The screen cleared for a moment, "Each picture will be held for 5 seconds the first time through," said Sam. Then I'll put the pictures under your joint biofeedback control.

There were 9 pictures which flashed on the screen. Each picture had a number from 1 to 9 associated with it. Tracey focused on each one, but did not sense any strong feeling about any of them. There was a short blank screen, and then Sam said, "It's all yours," as he put all nine pictures on the screen at once.

"Now, we become an active part of the process," said John. "That seems to make all the difference. Hold Kiela's friend in your mind and let's see if we can pick the right person."

The cross-hairs went to Picture #1 by an obvious consensus. They focused on that picture for a couple of minutes. Tracey took a while to gather confidence that she could match the vague sense she had of Kiela's friend. She used an image of matching one of her grains of sand. From afar, she thought, they all look alike. But when I look more closely, each grain is unique. It is this uniqueness in Kiela's friend that I'll focus on. When I find a match, I'll somehow know it.

With that analogy, Tracy's confidence improved and the cross-hairs moved to the second picture where it remained for only 20 seconds. The third, fourth and fifth pictures were dispatched in less than 10 seconds each. The sixth picture was of a clean-cut man probably in his forties. Tracey was attracted to something about his head which she stared at for a few seconds. As she stared, she noticed a colored pattern form near his forehead...the pattern was that of Kiela's friend.

The pattern became bigger and clearer in a few more seconds. And after about 30 seconds, the colored pattern vibrated and shimmied; and it covered the picture with a translucency which made the connection between the pattern and picture so compelling that John, Tracey and Sam knew this had to be Kiela's friend.

"Sam, who is this guy?" asked John.

"His name's Chin Hsa Lee," answered Sam, "and he's a scientist who has met with Kiela on several other occasions."

"Sam, will you please call the NSF guys and tell them that I want this to become part of my future predictions for the record...and I'm going to assign a Subjective Confidence Factor of 9 out of 10 for this one."

"I'll do it right away," said Sam.

"We did good," said Tracey in a joking tone.

"I sure think so. That was the strongest signal I've ever experienced for a picture match. Trace, are you up to trying something more venturous. I'd like to look a long way into the future¾ say 20 or 30 years¾ and see what we can find out about Lama Kiela."

"I'm ready. Let's do it. How about finding him 29 or 30 years from now...that'll be 2050 or so."

"A good year," said John who paused to gather his thoughts for the next part of the session. "Trace, this will be the first time I've ever looked this far into the future with the HT-3. I have a plan, but we'll have to be flexible as we go. First, I want to bring up the world map in the two hemisphere mode, then we'll dowse Kiela just like this morning...except now we want to locate him in the year 2050. I'd like to add one stipulation to our focus, namely, that we locate him when he's engaged in some significant activity."

"Understood. I'll keep that in mind," said Tracey.

John leaned over to touch a button on his console, and two beautiful three dimensional satellite views of Earth's northern and southern hemispheres appeared on each of their H-screens. The northern hemisphere was above the southern; there was not a cloud visible since the views were composites from many pictures.

The cross-hairs lay between the hemispheres waiting for instructions. "Where are you Lama Kiela...and what are you doing that's important to you...in about 30 years?" John slowly and deliberately asked to focus them.

Tracey closed her eyes and found a grain of sand and told herself that it represented the Kiela which she had found this morning. Then she moved over a distance on the beach and considered this portion of the beach to be his life in 30 years or so. She then focused, in her mind's eye, on a grain of sand which she took to be Kiela involved in a significant event. She held that image for a minute or so, and opened her eyes.

The cross-hairs were roaming over the western portion of the United States, and the Southern Hemisphere was no longer on the H-screen.

As Tracey and John focused on finding Kiela, the map went through 6 stages of zoom refinements until the cross-hairs stopped on Alcatraz Island, just off the coast of San Francisco. There's no color pattern to provide any confidence that we've found Kiela, thought Tracey, though we seem to be converged on a location.

John also noticed the lack of any color pattern near the cross-hairs. That's unfortunate, he thought.

John's approach to dowsing was similar to his method of Health HTing. He would formulate a mental idea of his objective, he would think deeply about all aspects of his goal, and then he'd choose one word or phrase to focus his energy and to stop his thinking. John almost always kept his eyes open since he was not adept at visualizing shapes and colors in his mind. He used the H-Screen and the musical biofeedback to strengthen his focus and accomplish his goal.

In this case, his word for focus was simply Kiela. He watched as the cross-hairs on the H-Screen moved toward Northern California. He internally repeated Kiela. He watched the progressively more detailed maps come and go. Kiela. He listened to the sounds which became music and guided the movement of the cross-hairs through the maps. It was the musical sounds which helped him not think.

Both John and Tracey were focused, with some disappointment, on the cross-hairs which came to rest inside the old prison which was maintained as a museum. Alcatraz made no sense.

Then the most unusual thing happened.

Lama Kiela's pattern suddenly appeared and began growing from the center of the cross-hairs. At first the pattern was translucent so the map could be seen through his swirling red-purplish signature. The map moved to larger and larger scales until both hemispheres of the earth were visible through Kiela's pattern. But then the colors became so brilliant and the pattern so large that the map was completely obscured.

The Lama's pattern filled the screen. The red and purple colors where mixed with subpatterns of all the colors of the rainbow. The display was magnificent. Along with the colorful pattern, there was a distinct change in the bio-sounds. There was a strong and growing quality of swirling and spiraling in the music¾ like a tornado picking up power and energy. The musical swirling was coordinated with the H-Screen dynamics.

Before either John or Tracey could fully comprehend the colorful display and dramatic change in musical tone, they heard someone begin to speak, "Greetings, this is Lama Kiela. I have found you...you have found me...we have found each other."

Oh my God..., thought John with considerable astonishment. Tracey was not thinking, she was just listening and watching in a receptive trance-like state. Both of them were providing biofeedback signals to themselves and to the central computer which controlled the H-Screen and the bio-sounds. Neither John nor Tracey said anything.

Kiela continued, "The year is 2073. Where and when are you?"

The question seemed out of place, thought John. The Lama had found them, and yet he didn't know where they were and what the year was...very strange. "I'm John Wensler and with me is Tracey Cantor, we're in Los Angeles, California and the year is 2021."

"There is someone else with you," said Kiela.

"My name is Sam Cordova," Sam said somewhat hesitatingly after a short pause. "Greetings," he added more confidently.

"Greetings to all of you too," Kiela said. "You wanted to find me¾ I am happy about that."

John was flabbergasted. "Yes, we were looking for you, but why were you looking for us?"

"I wanted to meet Tracey Cantor and John Wensler," said Kiela.

The Lama spoke in perfect English, but somewhat stilted, possibly English learned from a textbook, thought John. "Why is that," said John.

Kiela said, "I have a strong kinship with you all."

Tracey was overwhelmed. She felt this man's presence within her. When he mentioned the word peace, it was her longing for peace which he touched. A tear dropped from her left eye. She began to quietly sob. She had seen so much violence. She yearned desperately for peace: a peace which would permit her to stop seeking revenge; a peace that would permit her to forget the deaths of her brother and sister; a peace of the mind. Tracey turned deeply inward, seeking her personal peace.

Sam also felt the Lama's presence within him. He enjoyed the warmth and dynamic peacefulness which comes from knowing that the universe is working just as it should¾ in spite of all the apparent evidence to the contrary. Sam and Lama Kiela psychically merged, even as John continued to talk to the Lama.

"In our time," said John, "you helped the Iranians with many terrorist activities. How did that serve the cause of peace?" John did not trust this man at all. He was afraid this was some sort of trick, or worse.

"I am only a man," said the Lama, "doing at each moment what I believe is best. I sought reconciliation between deep spiritual truths and deep scientific truths. This made me an outcast to most of my fellow Lamas." The colors dimmed a little, and the music as well as his voiced saddened. "I have caused people to die. I will die soon, so that I can be reborn."

Reincarnation, John thought. But Kiela's not just a harmless monk¾ he's dangerous. "How did you learn about HTing?" John asked.

"I learned of your HT-1 work from a friend of mine in Chinese scientific circles, Kiela said in a more normal tone, "immediately, the idea of enhancing natural mind powers was irresistible to me. My friend convinced the government to begin an experiment using HT imitation units manufactured in Peking.

"We quickly discovered¾ in fact, I'd say invented¾ the basic D-3 dowser concept," continued Kiela. "We used two HT units and two Lamas HTing simultaneously while they telepathically cross-checked each other. Your current D-3 units accomplish the same thing using electronic biofeedback.

Incredible, thought John. Is he serious...

Kiela continued, "My HT abilities were initially tested with tasks serving the desires of the Chinese government, namely building up a better relationship with Iran. I helped China and Iran against both the Russians, Israelis and the Americans."

"Why were you so successful against us?" asked John.

"You were too interested in specific outcomes at specific times. There is much more power in focusing on the outcome as measured by overall long-term success. We constantly evaluated your dowsing sessions, and the meetings held by your CIA and Special Operations, as well as the meetings held by the Israeli Mossad and Soviet Secret Service. Once you reached a plan which you believed would be successful, and once you committed yourselves to carrying out that plan, we could always find a way to turn the longer term outcome to our advantage. Your information about the future was usually accurate¾ but quite incomplete."

"Why then," asked John in a very serious tone, "did you fail in your attempt to turn Jerusalem into a radioactive zone of death?"

"That episode ended as I had foreseen. You found all the bombs. Jerusalem is the city destined to determine whether spiritual truths can surmount organized religions." When Lama Kiela said Jerusalem, the colors on the HT screen became even more brilliant, and the pattern rotated and swirled even more rapidly.

The Lama continued, "It was not the ending desired by either the Chinese or Iranian governments, but it was the ending that I desired. HTing in China took a temporary setback after that episode. There was an investigation and the conclusion was that information could not be perfectly acquired all the time, not even by Lamas. That was a valid conclusion."

"Are you still working for the Chinese government?" asked John.

"No, I have a more global perspective now," said Lama Kiela with a hint of amusement in his voice. "

The pattern on the H-screen suddenly began to fade, and within 10 seconds, Lama Kiela's pattern was gone.

John, Tracey and Sam were dumbfounded. Each remained quiet and motionless for a minute or two. The unusual silence in the HT-3 room brought John back to his normal senses. He lifted both hands off the arm rests and the session ended.

Tracey continued to stare at the empty space that was the H-Screen. She was sobbing uncontrollably.

John heard her sobbing and said, "Trace, are you all right?" There was no response, "Tracey, are you all right," he said quite loudly.

Tracey heard John and managed a barely audible, "Yes, I'm okay...It's fine." She continued to sob for a minute or so, and then said, "John, I'm free...I feel at peace...at last. Peace, at last."

John said nothing. Tracey's strongly emotional and obviously cathartic experience left John without words, and now was no time to ask Tracey questions.

John now remembered that Sam was a participant in the session, "Sam, are you there?" John said loudly to get Sam's attention. There was no response. "Sam," he said even louder.

John and Tracey heard a faint sound that they couldn't understand. "Sam is that you?" said John.

"I've touched the Universe," said Sam in a barely audible voice. "I've touched the Universe...and It touched me...Our spirits merged."

Lama Kiela's influence was certainly dramatic, thought John. Could it really be that we contacted a man from 50 years in the future? ...no way. I don't trust Kiela...I don't trust him at all. But something quite meaningful has happened...at least to Tracey and Sam. Tracey feels released from the festering hatred, and Sam experienced a spiritual contact of obvious significance to him.

John was jealous¾ which bothered him. Why was my interaction so intellectual? he asked himself with considerable annoyance. And what is Kiela up to?

"Eighteen years old," said Mandy, with a bit of amazement in her voice. "The years sure went by quickly."

"Not for me," said David. "Time is certainly relative. It must have something to do with your frame of reference¾ just as Einstein said."

"Now by frame of reference," said John with a smile, "you don't mean the frame corresponding to ones age...or do you?"

David and Mandy laughed. A long standing joke existed among the Wenslers concerning the unusually large age span between David and John¾ 70 years. The joke began with a sad incident in the second grade when David's teacher mistook John for David's grandfather. That was the first time David noticed that his father was much older than the other kids' fathers.

"Why are you laughing," John said to Mandy with feigned seriousness, "the rascal's calling you old too!"

"Pass me some more egg, Grandpa," Mandy requested, trying to contain herself. Mandy had given up her musical career to be a full time mother and wife. She had no regrets.

John passed her the eggs scrambled with onions, green peppers, tomatoes and cheese. Add some English muffins, and a big glass of fresh orange juice, and that was David's favorite breakfast.

David used the happy moment to say as casually as he knew how, "I want to travel. I'm going to put off starting college for a while and traveling around the world. I've had enough of school, they're not teaching me anything anyway."

Mandy almost dropped the dish. "What about Harvard...what about your education...what about..." Mandy said haltingly. David's plans were a shocking surprise. Mandy knew that David would be leaving home, but she was prepared for his going to college. Not for his roaming the dangerous world. Mandy was suddenly gripped with fear for her child.

"I want to see other lands and meet other cultures with different ways of looking at the world. I'm bored with all the book-knowledge I have. I need first hand experiences away from the safe nest you two have always provided.

"I want to go to Central and South America, Africa, Japan, China, Russia, the Middle East... I want to see and know the world...the peoples of other lands. Why are some areas so violent? Why, with all the fruits of civilization, are there still so many people hungry and in such pain? I want to struggle with these questions myself. I already know the standard answers. I need to find my own understanding," David said with a determination that could not be ignored.

John sighed a sigh of resignation. "Davey," he said, "Your psinfo gift has made school too easy for you. We've tried to teach you that knowing the words of literature or the theories of science are not the same as appreciating their value. Being able to tap into the Encyclopedia does not provide wisdom."

John paused, looked at Mandy with an awareness of how difficult it was for her. "He's grown up fast...and well," he said as he took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

Then, turning to David again, he said, "So you think you're ready for the real world. Well, Davey, I think so too!"

David's education was always a source of conflict. David could answer almost any question put to him by teachers on virtually any subject. He apparently had access to what John called the Encyclopedia of World Knowledge. Any written piece of information was available to David. He had a mental retrieval capability for all the written informational data in the world. It was similar to the well documented cases of photographic memory, except that David did not have to personally see the information. He would internally ask for the information from a book, magazine, newspaper, etc. and his psinfo ability permitted him to assimilate the information just as if he had read it.

Like many gifts, there was a downside to this one. The information was not always accurate. David could accurately restate what was written, but the information from written sources were sometimes inaccurate and often contradictory. If he asked for information in a very general way, he found that he received too many sources of information which he could not readily interpret; and he would became confused.

David's information was world wide, and he was able to translate information from foreign language sources. His mind had a built-in translator for all languages¾ ¾ at least the languages that had been translated into written English. John felt that David had access to all Learn-a-Language courses.

John was quite clear on keeping David's ability a secret from the U.S. intelligence agencies. They would love to use his ability to gain access to secret papers generated all over the world. John knew that David could never grow up with any resemblance to normality if he became involved with these agencies. Though they probably wouldn't believe David's gift anyway, John had thought.

David, John and Mandy spent a countless hours talking about the nature of information, in general, and psinfo, in particular. David appreciated that psinfo was not common; in fact, no one else had this talent as far as they knew.

The early conversations, when David was 8 or 9, focused on the balance between nurturing David's unusual ability and raising him as a normal boy who could interact with other children in a healthy manner. The agreement reached was to explore and nurture his psinfo talent at home for two hours a day five days a week until he graduated from high school. "...like violin lessons. You'll tell your friends that your studying your school work," was the way Mandy put it. And the rest of the time, especially with his friends, David would attempt to consciously hide his psinfo ability, thereby learning to interact 'normally'. He could use the psinfo, but only if he could have credibly obtained the information some other way. For example, he usually received A's in school because he could psinfo information from his school books¾ he told his friends and teachers that he studied hard.

The agreement was easy for David to keep. He was totally in favor of hiding his access to psinfo. Whenever he impulsively used this extraordinary source of knowledge, problems always seemed to develop.

The most important skill that David was still developing was how to reach his own independent judgments on key issues. He had the strong tendency to sit on the fence. Once he gathered all the psinfo on a controversial issue, he could see and understand conflicting points of view. He knew the arguments on all sides too well.

Flo also followed David's life with special interest, of course. She followed David two ways. Firstly through Mandy's direct experiences with David, and secondarily through watching him during many of her explorations when she was released.

Flo experienced Mandy's fear as David talked of going to the most turbulent places in the world. The Middle East scared Mandy the most because she was most familiar with the terrorism coming from that part of the world. Flo, however, was not worried; she knew that David would live until he was at least 68 years old. Flo found that she could look no further into the future than when she and Mandy died.