I should tell you a couple more things about a quest as I’m sure you haven’t read ‘The Devil and Redemption', where all this stuff is detailed. First of all, you don’t retain any of the powers you gained from the Enlightenment if the time frame you go to is previous to it. With any quest, you’re living with the same capabilities you would have had during the time period you are visiting. If it’s pre-Enlightenment, you won’t have transcended, and the potential of that life becomes a memory. It becomes out of reach. If AI isn’t around in your chosen time frame, then you’re on your own. Things like that.

The other thing about a quest is, you always touch down exactly where you’re supposed to be. If we touch down in a cabin in the woods, so be it. If it’s not the right place to be, it will very quickly take us to where we are supposed to be.

That’s exactly what happened this time. We weren’t in the cabin more than three weeks and a forest ranger shows up and kicks us out. When we asked her where we could go, she told us there was a commune just a few miles to the east, and they might take us. Without much choice in the matter, we packed up our few belongings and set off to find the commune. Bubba actually already knew about the commune and the guy who runs it.

You know you’ve found your home when someone introduces himself as Big Bubba Haze and the people don’t even blink. ‘Welcome. My name’s Echo, and this is Wind Chime’. Ah yeah. No one was going to ask too many questions around here.

The commune is owned by Doctor Yamamoto. He’s a psychologist along the lines of Timothy Leary. He too conducted acid tests on schizophrenic patients. He did it in Weyburn, Saskatchewan back in the 60’s. Now, he’s retired and owns a commune which is largely supported by government grants.

Besides Dr Yamamoto, there’s Kate, the operations manager. She’s a salaried employee. She might be tied in with the government somehow. I don’t know, but let’s just say she looks at life a little differently than the rest of us here. She’s trying to bring a degree of order to the place. People tend to look on Kate with a little bit of suspicion.

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Then there’s Paul. He’s a big overpowering looking guy, but very kind and gentle. Adopting the local vernacular, he’s a good shit. He spends most of his time in a shed/shop outbuilding. This is where Bubba, I and a few others tend to end up when we’re not writing or doing something else.

Tasha completes the inner circle. We think she’s salaried, but she doesn’t seem to do anything. She’s a friend of Kate’s and that’s the main reason she’s here. At first, Bubba thought she was someone Kate placed to keep an eye on us, on account of our little group being the most disruptive on the commune, but he was just being paranoid. Tasha just likes to hang out with us because there’s furniture in the shed and it’s completely laid back. She barely takes notice of us. She just likes to sit around and message with her friends.

Other than us, there’s just people who end up at the commune for one reason or another. Some stay. Some leave. The place is kind of a pilgrimage for the Gen Z’s, who want to drop out for awhile and maybe take a closer look at the other side of life. Other’s who come suffer from mental disabilities. They’re always welcome and Doc tends to them. Some even stay here, because they can’t afford housing in the nearby communities where they work. Most are the transients, and they’re scattered throughout the commune, mostly camping in tents.

Those who stay become lifers and live in converted buses, sheds and old camper trailers others have left behind. Doc runs the place like a campground, and anyone can stay as long as they do a little something to help out, or pay ten bucks a day. I think by running the place like a campground, Doc can skirt a number of health regulations concerning people living in abandoned buses, campers, and ramshackle sheds. They’re registered as yurts. Leita and I live in a yurt type, cabin type thing, which Doc let us use right away, mostly because he likes Leita. It’s nice and comfortable.

Aside from producing some of the best bud in the world, the island environment is ideal for growing magic mushrooms, which are actually used as trade within the commune. This might have something to do with why everyone is generally well behaved. In addition, Doc spends a lot of time working with the more troubled cases, and he has a very calming effect on people.

Separate from the commune, there’s a First Nation reserve a couple of miles to the North. I’m not going to tell you which one, because then you’d know where I am. They’re good people, and a few of them like to come by now and then and hang with us.