Then, Kitty stopped coming. I waited several weeks, but finally resolved to lose hope for her return. My best guess was that the Captain caught wise to her clandestine visitations and quickly put a stop to them. I had to believe that. I trusted Kitty and knew she would never abandon me intentionally.

The prolonged solitude proved useful. Alone, I was able to achieve such deep zen states in meditation that it often felt like my soul had left its physical body. In a dream state, I’d travel to my mentor from a previous life… to remember what he had taught me those many moons ago.

FLASHBACK:

My mentor and I sit lotus-style in a stone temple amidst a beautiful, lush garden. We can only hear the sounds of nature—birds chirping, water flowing from a nearby stream, the trees rustle in the breeze—in this holiest of places.

My mentor gently instructs me, “Before you can leap dimensions, you must first be at peace with yourself, your mind and the world around you. You must understand there is no separation between any of those things. Accept the calm of this peace. Breathe it in until you are certain it is a part of you. When you break into the Dew to leap worlds, your reality will become extremely volatile. Only in the soundness of your Drop can you retain identity. So breathe in this place NOW. Be at peace on the inside, even if your outer reality is not.”

END FLASHBACK

***

I awoke, still in the lotus position, emerging from a deep melatonin well, rested, at peace and hovering ten feet above the Drop’s floor, at its exact spherical epicenter. Though I still hadn’t leapt intentionally out of this dimension, I sensed its occurrence on the verge. I had found my center and was certain it could withstand even the most gnarly Dew debris.

I opened my eyes. All at once it was so simple: find enough power… and find Kitty.

***

The moment of clarity was fleeting. Yes, procuring an exorbitant amount of power would surely breach the space-time continuum, but where was I going to find such force? And how could I wield it once found?

These were questions that I let drift in and out of my mind, as I continued to meditate in the Drop, day to day. It was the only thing keeping me sane, maintaining inner peace, and something of a pastime. And I still wished Kitty would come to visit, but my mentor from transcendental flashbacks had reminded to remain patient. Good things will come when they are ready, he’d say.

Sure enough, one day when I dipped into my Drop, I landed to find my helmet lying there waiting for me beside my zen pillow. I hadn’t seen it since that first leap to locate Sully. It was as if someone had gently placed it there, but no one could have had access to this sacred place except me. Meditative flashbacks of my mentor would later reveal that when true stillness is achieved in your zen state, metaphysical Thunderbird equipment procured from the Equipment Room can take on physical form in your Drop. You’ve proven to this universe that this steady mind can take on critical mass from the Divine Thunderbird realm. I knew all along that my helmet had held in orbit just out of conscious reach, like an escaping dream that your memories seek longingly to seize. Now I possessed the pure peace of mind to hold it permanently within my Drop.

As I sat in the lotus position to conduct the day’s meditation, I quietly donned this signature Thunderbird headpiece. In an instant, an explosion of metadata flooded the viewfinder. It was like this thing had tapped a direct line into the Akashic Record, as it effortlessly reported on everything within view. Luckily, the only other object in my Drop was Kitty’s empty zen pillow that sat across from mine. Had there been any more items for it to report—even just one—my head might have exploded.

My mind required calmer states still, before we took this hat on the road.

***

NEXT UP: Bill masters his helmet enough to navigate the nearby dream realm and summon Kitty. He’s been locked in the supply closet this whole time and unable to reach her otherwise. Before he achieves this mastery, however, he learns to leap dimensions… and collect some more cool shit for his Drop. Once Kitty finally returns to their lair, she’s impressed to say the least.

His flashback mentor evolves into his physical helmet itself. It’s like those all-too-familiar AI assistants, these days. It’s through this dialogue that the helmet informs young Bill of the Earth, Moon and Sun’s power, an immense magnitude of vibration that frees him from any dependence on the Cheshire’s engine. The Earth, in fact, is a spaceship of far more sophistication, from a much earlier time in the era of megalithic levitation.

***