NJ22B

Following that night, Les did as much as he could to distract me from Johnathon. But, fortunately for me, Les
himself could not be distracted. It was almost comical. Associating with Johnathon was apparently a status symbol
of some kind among science fiction fandom and I discovered that Les was extremely status oriented. He began to
insinuate himself more and more into Johnathon's life. I did not argue. I had my own agenda.

Johnathon is a retired R and D prototype machinist. After quitting his very lucrative position when he got tired of
the politics involved, he chose to dabble in the creation of movie props. Specifically, science fiction weaponry.

Les saw status in being involved in making movie props and those stars are what kept us in contact with
Johnathon. I did little to get in the way.

One night, Les and Johnathon had been working seventy-two hours straight on a very stylized cryogenic freeze
chamber. The silly thing was due "yesterday" and they'd both been asleep on their feet when they stopped by my
place to say hello and then be on their way. They never left.

I was paying room and board, living with a very good friend of mine by the name of GailAnne. We were very close
and shared just about everything.

When Johnathon and Les arrived, Johnathon sat down on a huge bean bag chair in the den. I had turned to ask
him how the project had gone when I realized he had not heard me. He was asleep--with his eyes open!

Gail laughed and we covered him with a soft blanket as I gently closed his eyes. Les was already snoring on the
sofa as we moved quietly from the room.

GailAnne, ever the most charming hostess, shook off the sudden intrusion of two extra dinner guests and we
planned on a tasty meal to surprise them both. We always loved doing things together. She was the only female
friend I'd ever had with whom I could almost completely relax. We know things about each other that no one will
ever know and I cherish those treasures.

She knew I could "move" with music. That I "saw" things. She knew that I "heard" things. Through it all, she
believed in me. I love her for that. But she knew nothing about Johnathon. She soon learned.

We sat and laughed with one another as we realized that neither man was going to awaken for dinner. We ate
steak, watching them sleep and she pulled out some bedding so that I could sleep on the floor and keep my eye on
them. I didn't explain why, but she knew something was up. She was obliging and her hazel eyes glinted in
curiosity as she hugged me good-night. I was surprised a short time later when, curled up in a comforter she'd
provided, I heard a noise. Suddenly blankets were dumped onto the floor next to mine. She giggled and looked at
me impishly, dropping a fluffy pillow onto my head.

"Hey, you're not asleep yet!" she teased.

I laughed in return. Gail was the opposite of me in everything. Tall. Straight heavy strawberry blond hair so long it
hung past her wide hips compared to my black wavy hair that hung just below my shoulders. Her skin was pale
and mine olive. Hazel eyes to my dark brown. She was extremely outgoing where as I was wary when first
meeting people, though I'd quickly relax. However, we shared our randiness and constantly talked about sex, her
boyfriends, our adventures. We laughed, or cried, about them.

She grinned at me. "I figured we could make it a slumber party. You're watching for something and I want to be
in on it."

I shook my head. "I don't know what I'm watching for," I told her truthfully. I just knew that something was going
to happen. I could feel it in the back of my head. Like a dizzy spell that didn't quite form.

"Then we'll wait together."

We both lay down and stayed awake in the dark room, trying not to giggle at the incongruity of two grown women
acting like school girls.

I heard her gasp suddenly. I felt her hand searching for mine in the dark and grasped it tightly. "Dani, do you see
it?" she asked, fear filling her voice. She swallowed loudly and giggled. "It's silly looking!" she whispered, no
longer sounding afraid.

The room was so dark that it was difficult to see but I managed to make out her hand and then followed her
pointing finger. I stared at the corner she gestured to. My whole world shook.

Floating in the air, about two feet off the ground, were two blue-white eyes. About the size of silver dollars. Not
human eyes. Just round lights, but somehow, they gave the definite impression of eyes.

Sometimes one would be higher than the other and then they'd even out. Then they'd become uneven again.
Something told me they were eyes...and they were staring at us.

"Oh my god. You can see it?" I whispered to her, thrilled.

"You can see it, too?" she asked, giggling. "Oh, god. We can see it. Should we try and get closer?"

We both slowly sat up and saw that the guys were still solid asleep.

"Should we wake them up?" she asked, staring at the eyes. I knew that she felt the same as me. I was afraid that
if I blinked, they'd disappear.

"I don't know. Maybe we should wake up Johnathon. He knows about this stuff."

We both giggled again. I'm sure it was nervous tension. We slowly moved the comforters off of ourselves,
crawling on our knees about five feet closer to the glowing orbs. They were definitely not some trick of the eye,
which would have been more likely while we were lying down. We could now see them quite clearly. They did not
disappear.

As we moved a little closer, my hand came close to Johnathon's foot. He was still asleep on the huge beanbag
chair. I grabbed his toes and gently shook them. He was instantly awake.

Gail and I stopped breathing as we watched the eyes float across the room like tiny balloons. The color of them
began to flicker from the blue-white to a reddish tint.

"Johnathon," I whispered. "Do you see it?"

He sat up at my words and looked around. "What? Where?"

Gail and I giggled again, pointing simultaneously to the exact same spot.

Johnathon stood and moved across the room with almost angry purpose.

I quickly grabbed his leg. "No!" I whispered loudly. "Don't scare it away! Get down! It's close to the floor!"

He stopped, looked down, and got on his knees to humor us. Then he crawled in the direction that we'd pointed.

He stopped suddenly and I heard a sharp intake of breath. "Shit!" he hissed as he backpedaled faster than I'd
ever seen him move.

He looked at us in disbelief. "You can SEE that?"

We nodded, trying to restrain our mirth. "It's silly, making faces!" Gail told him as the blue-white eyes gave the
impression of being crossed.

He looked at her seriously, grim. "Do you know what it is?"

I shook my head, staring at the eyes, watching them now switch between blue-white and red. I blinked hard to wet
my eyes and jumped, startled. I closed my eyes again and saw that it made no difference whether my eyes were
open or closed. I could still see the glowing spheres.

"It's the Singularity!" Johnathon whispered in shocked surprise. "And you can see him!"

(Continued on next page...)