it's a long flight and the effects of the ephemeral are starting to peak, but also the mushrooms are beginning to kick in strong, he can feel their alien heat flood his bloodstream, he can sense the energy through his body as it settles into his aura. he knocks back the vodka and lets it drain away onto his chest, never a good idea to mix intoxications especially alcohol but his predicament is so vast he needs to have something grounding and physical to cling to.
opening the book he continues to read, the professer has accepted he is responsible as a god to his creation, the foam bubble universe that has blended with his beloved roxy's consciousness. he begins to allow his universe to gain self awareness. it must do this alone although he is always there present should any one seek him.
the universe takes some strange evolutionary directions, many twists and turns and many dead ends but eventually the universe is becoming self aware attaining consciousness through love. roxy is actively working the female energetic component, the goddess.
max pulls out the matrix, he unfolds it. it looks not unlike a crop circle, hieroglyphic. he knows he should release the spirit but wants to do this in a safe contained environment, not an aircraft, he sneaks of for a hash cake and rides out the ephemeral wave.
now he hurdles through space looking upon a giant screen that shows well, it seems to be foam, the quantum foam, the shape of the universe. he looks at it floating there in space, each bubble another universe. this is the big picture in four dimensions. he gasps at the vastness of it, but also for what he sees is the essence of roxy, she is draped across this foam, her consciousness scattered throughout every atom. it is this that he loves. he puts his hand to the screen, the image pixilates and he turns away, directing the space craft back into the foam.
as he gets closer the foam bubble mass enlarges across the screen, in a few years he will enter the universe completely and then he will navigate towards the central bubble, the one that contains roxy.
he wanders through the ships labs and comes to the bubble gun, it looks like a small toy, a bright coloured children's plaything. he picks up the gun and points it at his head.
max puts down the book again, the mushrooms are making it difficult to read, his vision changes all the time, sometimes it's just to bright for him. he sweats and feels dehydrated.
how does this story end he wonders.
ephemeral takes him into the eye of the storm, he feels time slipping away, he opens the book and lets the multiple selves split away and separate, these are different stories, tangents all exploring all gathering the information, and one by one they send it back to max. the main one.
the scientist is max, roxy lives in the plants, she lives in all life. the bubble gun did this, and the only way to unfix it is by letting love work its magick, over eons.
when max awakes again he is sleeping in a bed, a simple large wooden bed. next to him is the witch. she lays in his arms, she is the face of roxy. she opens an eye and smiles.
later they drink tea.
'what happened was it real?' max asks.
'real as anything else is, ephemeral is a powerful substance. it operates on many levels and i don't think anyone else from the human realm has attempted to ever use it. i'm surprised you have used it for so long and are still here. ephemeral often takes the user away.'
'well i do feel like i was.'
'then perhaps you were max.'
'did i solve the case?'
'let's have a look at the matrix.'
i searched through the paperback copy of the bubble gun and found the paper folded up. we placed it on the table and opened it up. and there it was covered in ancient writing and contained in one elegant diagram, the tree of life.