"We"

[Balance]

Hope?

Boeser stared uncomprehendingly at the apparently insane Wild before him. "Save...my...soul". He carefully repeated. "It is simply done--set me free now."

The Wild leaned forward over the table and met his gaze fiercely. "I do not jest with you mein herr and I am not insane. Many men and women and children before you have sat in the very chair you are in--stripped naked and weeping as they died painful and torturous deaths. I have seen military men defecate themselves in that seat...hearts fail with no warning...and soldiers lose their sanity in an instant. Yet I offer you respect for the faith you hold so dear and your response is contempt. I have meant every word I said. We want to believe your faith. To know it is true. It is as important to us as it is to you. Do not misunderstand me--you will die here. There is no other way...but we will do all in our power to insure it does not happen until you have convinced us that you are at peace with your God. We wish to understand. Always before we have ignored the cries and pleadings and invocations of "gods". We can pinpoint the areas of the brain that are active and seem to generate them...measure the electrical strength of the neural signals and provide a complete dissertation on the psychological need for such superstitions in lower creatures. Yet we are unable to explain the effects such things produce in the individual. they produce changes in confidence and self that are unfathomable to us. We wish to understand what this power is and we need you to show us. Is this not the very thing your God commands--to be a witness?"

Boeser's shoulders dropped and he lowered his gaze. "I do not believe it is possible for "you" to understand. I do not believe you have a soul. Nothing I tell you will help you--it will remain incomprehensible. What you ask is impossible."

The Wild stood erect and stated, "If this is so and what you believe true then it is to our pity. But there is a hope for both of us my comrade. The hope is that if we allow and help, you may bring this faith with you when you cross over to us. It is the only way. Does not your God's own story require his death? Perhaps in yours--if we are willing to receive, you may grant understanding through your eyes to us. If I tell you that you will be treated with dignity and respect--that no answer will be withheld from any question you ask and that you will not suffer harm from us until you are certain you are ready, then will you agree we may begin to try to understand? Will you make the attempt with your...faith?"

Boeser looked up again and answered, "It is as impossible for me to trust you as it is for you to accept what I believe but I will do as you ask for my God's sake. Him I can trust. The results will be up to him. I can do nothing myself for you--only he can."

The Wild bowed his head in apparent gratitude, paused a moment and then looked up and said, "Then you have my word--let us begin to see if we are able to understand." He closed his eyes briefly and several men and women entered the room. All stared with apparent humility at Boeser. So he took a deep breath and began to express his faith.

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