Once upon a time, about five hundred years from now, there was an astronaut named Cain. Actually, Cain's job was more like that of the truck drivers of your day. He flew cargo ships, and every now and then he had to make a long haul. This was one of those times. He was scheduled to pilot a ship, loaded with supplies, to a distant space station, and it would take about one year to get there.
Normally, when Cain flew, he was alone. These modern ships were completely computerized. There was very little that was required of him, other than a few minor adjustments now and again.
This journey was going to be different. There was another astronaut named Abel that would be coming along for the ride. It was some new policy that the company was trying. Cain liked the idea. Anything would be better than being all alone for such a long period of time. It would be nice to have someone to talk to.
They had never met, so Cain and Abel planned to have dinner together the day before lift-off. It did not work out that way. Someone had miss-calculated the required lift-off time, and it turned out that Cain had only a two hour notice to board the ship and be under way.
There was so much to do on such short notice. Cain did not even think about Abel until the earth's atmosphere was far behind.
"Abel calling Cain...Abel calling Cain; did you make it on board, good buddy?" Cain was surprised to hear the sound of Abel's voice coming over the intercom.
"Yeah, I'm here. Where the heck are you?" Cain responded.
"I'm here," said Abel. "I'm just the other side of this bulkhead. It's company policy. Just in case we don't get along, they built this ship so that we can't hurt each other. We can talk over the intercom, but we won't be able to see each other, or shake hands, until we get to our destination."So the long journey began. It worked out really good for the first three or four months. Cain and Abel enjoyed each others company. They were able to play various games on the ships' computer, and soon they were sharing very personal thoughts. Cain was pleased. It seemed that he and Abel had a lot in common. It was as if they were brothers. They held similar views about most things, and they had the same sense of humor.
Things started to fall apart as they went into the fifth and sixth months. They started to have these little fights every now and again. Cain decided that Abel could not be trusted. He found that Abel was becoming more competitive, judgmental, and intolerant. It seemed he was always judging and attacking him in one way or another.
The fights got worse. They started calling each other names. Sometimes they would go for days, and even weeks, without speaking. Finally, the dares, name calling and insults became unbearable. They spoke not a word to each other during the final month of the journey. Cain vowed that he would "kill the s.o.b.."
When the ship reached its' destination, Cain was quick to disembark. He wanted to be sure to stay one step ahead of Abel. His intention was to find a weapon, so that he would be prepared when he and Abel finally met. A three foot section of pipe was all that he could come up with, but he figured it would do the trick when properly applied to Abel's head.
The people who greeted him at the space station could tell that there was something wrong. Cain paid little attention to them. He was ready now. He waited, with a single purpose, for Abel to emerge from the other side of the ship. Cain was so filled with rage, he wanted only a brief window of opportunity to crush Abel's skull.
He waited, and he waited, and he waited some more. Finally, he started asking questions.
"What happened to the other guy that was on that ship with me?" Cain directed his question to the person who seemed to be in charge.
That is when Cain found out that he had spent the past year talking to himself. There was never anyone else on the ship with him. He was talking to a computer that had been programmed with his own personality. The company could not afford to pay a second astronaut, but they knew how lonely a long journey like this could be, and they wanted to do something to help keep these guys from going out of their minds. Cain’s journey was an initial experiment to see how it would work.
I have told you this story to give you a clear picture of your situation as a human being. There was never anyone else on this journey with you. The apparent others are your own thought form projections. You are the dreamer of the people in your dream. They do and say only what you tell them to do and say. You wrote the script. You do this but to yourself. You feel so guilty and angry about the idea of separation that you have vowed that everyone must suffer and die. Do not underestimate your murderous intent. You are attacking yourself.
- by Benny Silverman
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