The Conversation.

She sat comfortably, she breathed evenly. She was not afraid; she had not lied about that. During her time of silence Tamar had realized many things. For one, she knew that what they called a virus was merely a message from her Uncle Asa. They had attempted to tell her again and again that it was a virus but she knew it was not intended to infect anything. She understood that what might be a virus for the Tri-Verse was merely a message to her. It was the first time in her life that what she was told by her superiors did not align with what she knew as her truth. It was the first time in her life that she had a truth separate from that of the Consciousness.

Her eyes blinked slowly and she looked at Shamuel from under long dark lashes.  At first, she had not been able to process it. The reason for her silence, at first, had been a mental break down. The pieces of reality had to be sorted through and understood. Like a puzzle, they were put back into place but now the picture had no edge pieces- there was no real beginning or end. She tilted her head to one side; much like a dog looking at a tv screen in wonder, and she stared at the man in front of her. He’d been close to Asa when she was young. She remembered now; she saw it clearly.

“Will you force me to ask the questions you know I must ask?” a long pause “Tamar?” She remained still but smiled slightly.

“Do you ever miss him Shamuel?”

Again, surprised at her lack of formality, he found himself off kilter.

“Tamar, my name is Father Shamuel and I am quite sure we did not come here to talk about myself.” He was firm, calm and resolute. He could not allow her to distract him from the goal. “Now tell me Tamar, what did you see when the virus attacked? What did it look like?”

She sighed and began playing with the rug under her feet. Pushing the pattern in the deep rug out of sync with the tip of her shoe. She looked up and stared into his eyes. “I really thought you’d be more intelligent than the others. Or, at least, I thought you’d have better questions. Aren’t you meant to be good at this sort of thing?” Her comments came off as petulant and rebellious. She was a child arguing with Asa all over again but now the argument would certainly mean the difference between life in the Tri-Verse and the life of the disconnected.

They stared each other down. Quickly he siad, “Did you see Asa, Tamar?” He asked it calmly with no hint of emotion and he did it as soon as the last syllable left her huffy comments. She was surprised and he knew he finally found a crack in her calm demeanor.

“Were you his lover Shamuel?”

The conversation had become a game of chess with quick important moves and long periods of silence waiting for the other to make a mistake. Answers were few, questions remained.