The Code of Happiness Read Online Free PDF

twice about going
ahead, people with your condition are vulnerable.”
    “What condition?”
    “Denial,” says Po.
    “I'm here, aren't I?” And he signs the forms in
defiance.
    It's time for Ray to get serious. Po steps back,
allowing him to explain how the next tests are transformative and
involve a highly concentrated form of energy to the degree they
have to siphon off power from surrounding neighborhoods. Like
Jamie, they're wary of drawing attention to themselves. Billy has
his uses beyond goulash. He shows Jamie into the ionizer, a chamber
with padded white walls used in the first stage of training and
capable of generating everything he needs—and everything he
doesn't. Jamie runs his hands over the walls and stops at washed
out bloodstains. “What's going to happen?”
    “Awareness, a new perception of happiness.”
    “And that's dangerous?”
    “Can be frightening to most people, don't you
think?”
    Jamie's thoughts run back to his meeting with the old
guy, the nameless guy, and his moment of insight. He can't argue.
New perceptions of anything can be dangerous. How much he really
wants to change is another thing. If he stays committed to his
belief of not 'buying' their malarkey he'll be okay. No cults for
him.
     
    Cold feet aren't far away. Just above him, as it so
happens. He plays mind games with himself. The doubts come fast.
What's he going to do with all the information he gathers? He
doesn't have a real purpose, never mind a plan B. He was treading a
path of exploration for its own sake and somehow it felt unwise.
Ray breaks his thoughts, insists Jamie rests overnight in the pod.
Jamie never thought he'd say it, but the pod sounds appealing. At
the least, it's the one place he's slept well. There'll be training
clothes waiting for him and good food.
     
    When he gets there he finds the leather bound tome on
the bed. Beats sleeping pills, he thinks. He inspects his training
uniform, a distinctly underwhelming piece, several sizes too big
and made of elasticated paper towel. Weird, but Jamie knows he has
to pick his battles. He'll deal with it in the morning. For now,
there's goulash in the warmer.
     
    Later Ray pays him a visit and reassures him about
the gear. He gives Jamie back his watch. He thought, like Jamie,
XXLI might have buried surveillance software into it. Ray says it's
clean and for once Jamie believes him. It's a stretch but they seem
to have at least one common concern, it's a modicum of reassurance.
As midnight approaches Jamie lies under white duvet comforter
putting pieces of this puzzle together. There's a gaping hole about
Ray and Po. They've essentially remained mysterious, revealing
nothing except their faith in The Source Foundation. It would keep
him up for hours normally, but now he finds in the magic of the
pod, sleep washing over him. His last yawning thought fades. He'll
tackle it in the coming days, how little they've said of
themselves. His mind lets go, the tome redundant in the quest for
sleep.
    The dream is cavernous. Po floats past him, her face
large and concerned. Jamie finds himself in the padded room with
its faint blood-stained walls blinded by an acute light refracting
through a glass of water. Its very presence induces thirst. He
quenches it, the gulps echoing in his eardrums. The glass vanishes
from his hands. Eeriness pervades, yet he's compelled to stay by
curiosity. Every moment seems to bring the new, a shift in light, a
rise in temperature, the smell of baked bread. He approaches a
chocolate milkshake twice his own size, its thick dark liquid
dripping over the edge. It's what Jamie really wanted, not the
water. Unable to reach the top, he catches drops of sweet velvet
chocolate with his tongue, the taste out of this world. All he
wants is more. He grips the cup for stability and to his surprise
finds it soft and sticky, and prickling his skin. Overcome with
inexplicable desire he plunges his hands deep into its side and
when he removes them, finds