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                         THE CHANT OF THE MANDALA (Continued)

           It was late, nearly nine o'clock. Netto rubbed his eyes with both hands. "You are saying the gallery owner was Bandwidth? Who was also Raskali, the artist."

     I nodded. In hindsight it made sense that the Special Committee had chosen me for this job, because of my previous encounters with Bandwidth. But in reality they could not have known that Bandwidth has made a surreptitious return. You see a lot of strange things in this business, things that you can't explain, and on the surface the Mandala case was not so different from a couple of UFO abductions I'd investigated.

     "Well, he's long gone. Along with his wife." Netto tossed a file over to me. "The people you freed have been debriefed. You're their hero, of course." The press was calling me "The Houdini of the Mandala".

     Netto continued. "In short, the victims remember nothing after entering the Mandala, except for a series of dreams - vivid, unique, intense dreams. According to your preliminary reports, that's what you experienced. Except the victims didn't get a visit from Bandwidth."

     "Too bad." I meant it. I would have liked someone other than me to have seen Bandwidth.

     Netto knew what I meant and grunted. "You'd like another witness. Don't worry about it, just do your job. Nobody who matters thinks you've got the imagination to make this up."

     I blinked. "Is that a mixed compliment, or a mixed review?"

     Netto shrugged.

      I flipped through the "victim" reports. "Very clarifying. I see one of the art patrons says he was quote unquote 'dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.'" I looked up and smiled.

     "Yes, Poe's 'Raven'. Every single prisoner of the Mandala waxed poetic, experiencing but not analyzing."

     "Not unusual. They don't have a bridge between feelings and science. Two different worlds."

     "You do have a bridge, so you tell me. What was the point of all this? Apart from a publicity stunt?"

     I took a second. Tristater's insight that the artist had many reasons for choosing mesh as a medium had been growing in my mind, and I let it loose now. "The 'Message from Mentalos' again, this time stated materially. Bandwidth is saying the physical meshing of the metal bands composing the Mandala is no different from the physical meshing of ideas in the Universe. The physical relationships - he calls them power relationships - among all ideas define the actual structure of the Universe. He called that structure Consciousness."

     Netto thought about it. He started to say something, then stopped. Then he said "Ouch."

     "Yeah. I try to handle it in small pieces. What I focus on is that ideas are composed of energy, and energy is equivalent to matter, and matter has a physical form whose topology can be described in geometric terms. Any grouping of ideas creates a viewpoint, a context that is a string of geometric designs. Those designs are both the meaning and the actual physical definition of the context. That actual physical definition exists as part of the Mandala. All the definitions of all the contexts define the Mandala."

     Netto grunted. "So definitions are a key result." His head leaned up, and his eyes searched the ceiling. "Like a mathematical formula defines numerical relationships, contextual designs define meaning."

     It was a good angle. "I'd agree. Definitions are the building blocks."

     Netto grunted. He banged his pipe clean on an ashtray, stuffed it and lit it. He was above the law when it came to smoking in public buildings. "Turn up anything else?"

     "Something Bandwidth called The Chant of the Mandala. But I haven't got it organized yet."

     "Then I won't understand it either. Get it together and put it in your full report." Netto's mood lightened. He lofted some huge, perfectly formed smoke rings. "So Bandwidth is back. The Ivy Leaguers will be beating their chests again." 

     I smiled. The political types across the street never did figure out how to control Bandwidth. Now the bees will be buzzing again. I changed the subject. "The door of the Mandala closed up after the dog trotted out. Did we get it open again?"

     "No. We pretty much know where the door was but the seams have disappeared. The engineers are going to cut it open, but ...."

     He didn't have to finish. If Bandwidth wanted to leave a memento, he would have.

     Netto relaxed in his chair and mused. "We are all part of the Mandala. Waiting for Bandwidth to show us around."

     "That's about it."

     Netto grunted. The phone rang and he answered it. I heard, "Yes, thank you, send him through ... Hello, Congressman Petty ... yes, good to hear your voice too ... long hours are part of the job ... certainly ... certainly ... we'll get something right out to you ... same here ... my pleasure ... yes sir ... no, glad we can help ... all the best to your family ... thank you ...."

     Netto hung up. "Perfect timing. Congressman Petty is re-opening hearings on the Hill. He is convinced that Bandwidth has bad intentions, and he wants my analysis of what Bandwidth is likely to do next." Netto's eyes were dancing. "Any suggestions?"

     Petty is a certified idiot. Put a television camera in pig sty and he'll jump in with bells on his ears. I testified at the Bandwidth hearings 3 years ago, and Petty praised my "extraordinary courage" in public while calling me a liar in private. When the public got tired of his posturing, Petty shut down the hearings and concluded that "more study is necessary".

     "Any suggestions?" Netto said again. He was enjoying this.

     I got some feelings off my chest. "Tell Petty that Bandwidth is the leader of a metaphysical Universe, and he has come to conquer Earth. Tell Petty to prepare for a war of syllogisms. Spell it for him if you have to, and you'll have to. Tell Petty to prepare for the unification of the physical and mental sciences, and the end of the world as we know it."

     Netto burst out laughing before I finished. When I realized what I'd said, I laughed too, just not as hard.

                                                        THE END  

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