Being of the Field Read Online Free PDF Page A

was that these fluctuations in the field could be affected and controlled by certain individuals—those referred to as having ‘the Powers’. She had also discovered that every individual could affect the behaviour of the quantum field, but those with ‘the Powers’ consistently had more success because they consciously influenced the needle in her FFRD device to sway into the negative or positive register as desired, because they had a much stronger belief that they had that power over the external world.
    Taren had used quite a large cross-section of people to test her FFRD, and her research suggested that everyone had some Power, but that not everyone was aware of the field or their connection to it and so were unable to influence it with any conviction.
    Taren noted that Starman’s acrobatic roll of their craft had registered on the FFRD as a slight positive charge. She realised this had been generated by the thrill, or the ‘high’, that was experienced by both herself and Starman during the event. If she had truly been scared during the stunt, nothing would have registered on the FFRD: her negative reaction would have cancelled out Starman’s positive reaction and the chaos of field would have remained balanced. However, as both Taren and Starman had had the same reaction, a slight positive charge had been recorded.
    Taren really didn’t expect to register any fluctuations from the glowing rainbow-coloured gaseous mass they were approaching, but as they drew nearer, the needle on the FFRD meter began to shift to the negative.
    ‘Hey, people.’ Taren kept her voice reasonably casual, trying to sound unconcerned. ‘I’m registering a negative charge here on theFFRD…Wow!’ she exclaimed, as the needle just kept inching further into the negative.
    ‘ Should we be concerned? ’ Lucian wanted to know.
    ‘Well…’ Taren took a couple of seconds to assess what the data could mean. ‘Either Starman and I are so averse to being here that we’re registering enough negativity to match that of a whole stadium of people whose team just lost the grand final, or our cloud of gas knows we’re here and it doesn’t like it.’
    ‘Are you trying to tell me this mass of gas has consciousness?’ Zeven scoffed.
    ‘No,’ Taren replied. ‘I’m just telling you that that’s what the quantum electrodynamics from this readout suggest. There is a ghost in my machine…a very, very big ghost. The chances of this kind of fluctuation continuing for this length of time are approaching the million-to-one-against mark. I’ve never seen this kind of control over the quantum field before. It’s unprecedented!’
    ‘ Could your machine just be experiencing a failure of some kind? ’ Lucian proffered.
    ‘An overload more like,’ Taren replied in all honesty.
    ‘ Could the FFRD be picking up this readout from something other than us or the anomaly? ’ asked Lucian.
    ‘Sure, if you’d like to entertain the notion of there being another large mass of intelligent, or at least sentient, consciousness hanging out around here somewhere.’ Taren felt very uncomfortable suddenly, full of dread, guilt and fear. ‘In my professional opinion, this cloud mass does not want us any closer.’
    ‘It’s okay,’ Zeven assured her. ‘I can get a sample from this distance.’
    ‘What are you storing it in?’ Taren inquired.
    ‘A cryogen-cooled, collision-free vacuum trap,’ Starman said. ‘I shoot the trap down into the mass. The trap cools to absolute zero and provides the emptiest space possible in which to store some of the gaseous energy.’
    Taren wasn’t going to argue with his plan; she just wanted this joyride over—she’d never felt so scared.
    When the trap was sent down into the spectacular light mass another huge negative charge registered on the FFRD. ‘Hurry up, Zeven,’ Taren urged. ‘Bring it back and let’s go!’
    ‘I’m there,’ he assured as he reeled it in. Minutes later, with the trap in the