"And we don't create an illusion. We actually don't do anything consciously. It's the intellectual gestalt that appends the rules of the real world."
"The rules were: man cannot fly. The rules are: man can fly if there are enough mentors who visualize it."
Jamie sat back in her comfy chair, stunned but not skeptical. Dr. Bayer smiled patiently, pleased as a man would be pleased watching a smart, pretty girl work things out. After a while she asked, "So what does this all mean? Am I alive?"
"Most certainly, though not in the manner that the masses are. About 20 years ago, when the world population reached 10 billion, there were enough mentors (about 2% or 200 million. Dysgenesis has taken its toll though; the top stratum used to be about 5%.) to bend the rules to the point that we can exist without bodies in the real, objective world. Thanks to an extraordinary crisis that I won't go into now, we reached a critical mass, enough to bend the rules even further, and the human race turned a corner."
"Anyway, you exist in the greater world, but can exist and interact with the real world, and change small parts of that world."
Jamie sat thinking for a while. "Why am I a young woman? If I am projecting myself, with the help of this 'gestalt', into the real world, why like this? I never wanted to be a woman, much less a homosexual!"
"With the evolved mind many hidden wishes manifest themselves. Perhaps you never wanted to change genders, but your femininity may stem from a lover who got away. You still wish to possess her, so in a way you do, whether you resemble her physically or not. And it appears you can't let go of your maleness entirely."
"I see. So how come you are 80 some odd years old…"
"Oh that." In an instant the years melted away from Dr. Bayer, leaving younger him and more virile than Jamie remembered. "I didn't want to give you too many mysteries at once when you first arrived, like how I managed not to age."
Jamie thought for a longer while as the doctor waited patiently. "What does it mean, we are 'mentors'?"
"We maintain the complex world for the masses who cannot grasp it, and we do this without conscious thought. The mentors merely have to exist and enjoy life-our gestalt does the work of bending the rules, appending reality for greater possibilities. So in effect we feed them, entertain them, keep the technology running, educate them as much as possible just by being. We could rule them, but government is a drug, and most who want to rule get addicted. Besides, there is no greater power than the mind."
"It's not charity either, nor do we feel like caretakers. They are our family, friends and lovers, and we do anything we can for them, to make them happy."
"What if we decided to 'visualize' a starship and leave here, set up a Utopia on a distant star?"
"If we were to all leave, the other 98% would soon die. The workings of the world with the technology that keeps them alive are too much for them, and the real world doesn't permit such large populations: the land can't produce enough food without the technology. Simple Malthus. We can't let that happen. However, in all our 200 million, some may wish to emigrate. Once we evolve to conceive interstellar travel, you may wish to join them."
"I know this is tough for you. Give it time. Enjoy life, and enjoy the future you always wanted to see. Don't think about your responsibilities, the greater world, or any of that. Carpe Diem for a while. You've earned it. The greater world will not collapse if you have some fun. Your participation is an unconscious act-that's the whole point."
"What about Patty? Does she understand all this?"
"No, sorry. She's just a nice girl who, for the moment, loves you. When there is a big mismatch between a real-worlder and a mentor, it's hard. She has our version of who you are, how you were reborn, and she's happy with it."
"But what about the reason I came here in the first place? I don't remember any of the last three years!"
"Because you really were just reborn, so to speak. Patty is the one who can't understand the time differential. Just one small problem of living in the real world: linear time."
"So this is my life now?"
"Yes, for as long as you want, and then you can have another, and then another. The future lies open to you, with opportunities you could never imagine in your previous incarnation." Dr. Bayer rose and kissed her hand. "Now, I must get back to work. I'll be here if you need me, but you won't. Be happy!"
Jamie walked slowly outside, dazed by the hand-kiss as much as the lecture. She looked up at the blue sky, felt the warm Southern California sun, took a slow deep breath of desert air. Patty was waiting by the car, expectantly looking, not pushing, waiting for the verdict. Seeing her there Jamie felt her pulse race, had that old feeling in her palms and her stomach, lost so long ago. The heat was back.
"Seems like I have a lot to catch up on. Something tells me you're willing to help."
Kiss! "You bet! You make me happy, ya' know?"
And there at the beginning of her new life, on a trip to who knows where, that's enough, she concluded.