"And Adam and Nancy have demonstrated second level awareness," I continued. "You are at the third level along with Steve, while Bonnie and Joyce are level four. Then we have Diane and David at level five and Alan, our leader, at the sixth level. Now, tell me, what's the difference between these levels?"
"I'll let C.I. answer that," Carol said. "And while you are getting your questions answered, I will go back and pick up your mib from the administration building."
I had a mental picture of the map which C.I. had shown me of the Delta and I suddenly realized Carol was talking about a ten-mile round trip. "You mean you are going to walk ten miles?" I asked.
She said, "Oh, I could have it sent by underground pneumatic tube. right here to our Alpha, but since I missed our exercise period today I'll run the distance. I'll be back in less than an hour."
"Ten miles in less than an hour?" I asked incredulously.
"Don't worry, Jon. Our Macro powers help us run lighter, faster, longer, and more joyously than would ever be possible for micro man."
"Don't you have any kind of local transportation?" I asked incredulously.
"Unless it's a great emergency," Carol replied, "we walk or run everywhere in the Delta and sometimes even between Deltas. Sure, we have transairs that will take us very quickly anywhere we want to go on this planet, but we believe in a balanced life free from the neurotic rushing of your micro society. We believe in exercising the body, the mind, and the spirit equally so they can remain in balance."
With those last words she blew me a kiss and literally ran out of the room. Not because she was in a hurry, but from sheer joy of exercising a magnificent healthy and vital body. I was pleased that she shared my joy in running, and I understood better why no one would become fat in this energetic society.
Turning back to the video screen, I began asking my questions about levels of awareness and found that C.I. kept an almost total record on every person in the Macro society from birth to death. This was done by means of the Macro identity bracelet and the yearly evaluation performed by C.I.
One's level of awareness was indicated by the color of his tunic. The tunic, I learned, was a perfectly accurate reflection of one's aura, which was an unfailingly accurate indicator of one's state of being, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically.
Level one was predominantly gray: two was lemony orange for energy; three was pink for control of that energy; four was purple for empathy and leadership; five was violet for joyous acceptance of what is; six was yellow for love in its most total sense; seven was green for healing; eight was blue for balanced use of the intellect; nine was aquamarine for wisdom; and ten was white for leadership, the perfectly balanced blend of all other levels.
According to C.I. there were currently only one hundred and twenty-seven persons in the Macro family who were evaluated as having demonstrated ten degrees of Macro awareness. This was out of a current Macro family population of 300 million.
These degrees of awareness were based on the extent to which a person demonstrated the three Macro qualities: love, wisdom, and leadership, in that order of importance, and the seven Macro powers: clairvoyance, telepathy, precognition, retro cognition, psycho kinesis, telekinesis, and astral projection. [See C.I. Excerpts].
As C.I. presented more and more information about the highly complex process of developing degrees of awareness I found myself becoming very drowsy and having difficulty keeping my eyes open. Finally I gave in to my desire to rest, closed my eyes, and was soon asleep.
CHAPTER 5: The Test of Reality
I awakened, Saturday the 17th, to another cold, dreary January morning and remembered what C.I. had told me about the controlled climate of 2150. Things were just too good to be true, I thought.
How could all those incredible social and scientific changes have taken place in only 174 years? Of course, I had to admit that going back in time 174 years from 1976 would have 'taken me to 1802, a time when the world of 1976 would certainly have been considered a completely impossible dream.
I thought about some of the predictions for the future made by 20th-century prophets such as Huxley and Orwell. They had viewed the future of man with great skepticism. Of course, they were writing about micro man who, according to C.I., was even now in the process of doing away with himself. I wondered how it would have affected the writings of Orwell and Huxley if they had had a larger, broader perspective which would have enabled them to envision Macro man.
Then I remembered that I, in fact, had no concrete proof whatsoever that the world of 2150 was anything more than a product of my own imagination.
I suddenly felt a strong need to be concrete, to check out and reaffirm my present state of existence, to touch something, to talk to someone, to hear a voice.
I looked across our apartment room and saw that Karl's bed was neatly made, as usual, and my journal was lying there on his pillow.
I got out of bed and, losing my balance, almost fell on the floor. I had forgotten to strap on my artificial leg. That was confirmation enough of my present state of existence. I was here, fully awake, in 1976-minus one leg.
I hobbled over to Karl's bed, retrieved my journal and saw the note saying, "We'll talk at noon," signed Karl.
According to my watch it was almost 9 a.m., so I had slept late again. I wanted to write down all I could remember of my most recent experiences in 2150 or my dream world, whichever it was-before Karl came back at noon. I hurriedly dressed, had a quick breakfast and was soon writing furiously in my journal.
When Karl came in at 12:15 p.m. I was almost finished, so I pulled out the pages I had completed and handed them to him so he could get caught up on my latest dream experiences while I finished writing.
Karl finished about the same time I did and for a few seconds we just looked at each other. Then Karl broke the silence.
"Hey, man," he grinned, "you've got to be the all-time super dreamer. You aren't content with one beautiful superwoman in love with you-no, you got to have two of 'em, one blonde and one brunette, even if they do wear it short."
"All right," I said. "Any other comments? Aren't you at all impressed with the continuity? The fact that the dream picked up right where it ended before? And how about the continuing wealth of detailed information about the society of the future?"
Karl's face became serious and he frowned. "Yes, Jon," he said, "I am impressed with it. I honestly don't know what to think except that if we take it seriously, we are both candidates for the loony bin. Think of that, Jon. Just imagine the headline, 'Two aspiring young psychologists, just one year from that big degree, break under load of studies and are admitted to State Mental Hospital.' "
It was amusing, but uncomfortably possible. "Okay, okay, I'll be careful, Karl, I promise."
"I'm not sure that even keeping it secret will end our problems, Jon. This dream has become an obsession with you."
I thought about this and had to admit that he was right. "I guess you're right, Karl. I've never experienced anything so satisfying, so completely and irresistibly engaging in my entire life.
"I'm still a bit skeptical of its reality," I added. "What I plan to do is test it out, like any other hypothesis. The ultimate test will be whether I can learn to liberate myself from this micro existence, as Lea suggested, and live in the Macro world of 2150 permanently."
"Good God, Jon!" Karl came to the edge of his chair, his voice harsh with alarm. "Do you know what you're saying? If this dream is a mental aberration, an escape from unpleasant reality, then you'll end up like a vegetable-permanently off in your dream world while cooped up in some hospital and fed intravenously in the real world of 1976. Just one more catatonic schizophrenic!"