A week later we had finished the translations. Now the nature of the project changed. We knew what had to be done, we just had to collect the materials and train ourselves for the task.
It had become clear that the summoning drew its power from analogy. On multiple levels of our human condition, we had to put ourselves into an analogous state with the multi-dimensional being we were to summon. That required a precisely coordinated multi-faceted ritual. Dance, song, clothing, instruments, mental state, and setting would all be important.
We fabricated ancient clothing and called in some old favors from the University Medical Research Department to arrange for sacrificial animals. Most of them were sheep that had been originally destined for use in artificial organ projects but had failed inspection and been destined for dissection by student vets. We learned kosher butchery from Deuteronomy and the Internet.
It took us weeks to acquire the proper equipment and rehearse the rituals. Occasionally we would pull the parts we had assembled together and videotape a dress rehearsal in the nearby foothills. This helped us refine our technique and answer questions of rhythm and procedure.
These rehearsals became more and more frequent as we approached the final day. We had gone just about as far as we could with computer simulation. With the help of choreographers and graphics analysis, we knew all the essential body motions required for the ritual. It was just a matter of practicing with our real bodies until we could duplicate the precise steps the computer simulations had suggested as the most probable for success.
As the final days approached, we also became more and more nervous that our unorthodox intentions would be discovered before we could finish. And the more haggard and furtive we became, the more attention we drew, so the more nervous we became, making us even more haggard and furtive.
Ned had been patient, but after the two weeks we promised turned into two months, he was after us again. But this time it was more important than ever to keep him away. In his eyes, during our earlier preparations we’d just been playing scientists, working with complex programs and equipment he couldn’t hope to understand. We could throw him into fits of yawning by just spewing thirty seconds of jargon. Now we were working with costumes, props, and killing sheep on an altar. One look at our rehearsals now and he’d have the university, the police, and the hospital asking us for “a few minutes of our time”.
God, he was getting to be a pain! At first we avoided him. Bergen and I started eating at the cafeteria so he couldn’t find us at home. Then he found us there. Finally, just five days before the finish, I exploded and told him.
“Bugger off, Ned! Get out of our life! We don’t want to see any more of you!”
“What about your families?”
“Ned, they’re our families. We’ll take care of them.”
“Does that include me? I’m part family too.”
“That includes you. The work we are doing doesn’t include you. You are a son-in-law, not a son,” declared Bergen. “Leave us alone!”
Ned was finally showing some thinner skin. His face was reddening.
“You know I’m doing this because I love you.”
“We love you too, Ned. And we love our work. We are trying to finish that so we can see our families and they can be proud of us. If you keep coming around to bug us, it won’t get finished. We’ll never see our families, and it’ll all be your fault.”
“Don’t you see. They’re already proud of you—”
“We see and understand,” I declared. “But we can’t be proud of ourselves if we don’t finish this. If we can’t be proud of ourselves, how can they be proud of us?”
“Ned. Trust us,” Bergen pleaded. “This won’t take much longer. Please let us work in peace.”
Ned seemed to give up and left. We gobbled our food and headed for the storage rooms where we were keeping the equipment. The corridors were deserted as usual, which was fortunate because it let me hear Ned following us. As we approached the storage rooms, I discreetly motioned for Bergen to keep walking. We went on to the workshop where we had studied the talismans earlier and started calibrating one of the instruments. Five minutes later, yawning, Ned gave up on his detectiving.