Redemption. Excerpt Four

 

Ann with her AI pal Rob

I'd like to present the fourth extract from my novel Redemption. 

In this discussion, Rob explains to Ann which intangible values affected her Spiritual Choices in her first two lives.

****

“I don’t understand it, Rob,” said Ann as she stepped out of the shower. 

“I had expected these nightmares to stop after going to the psychic. Several weeks have passed but - if anything - the dreams are more worrying than ever. It’s gotten worse instead of better.”

“That is all part of your journey, my lady,” Rob replied, looking out from the screen of the E-A device sitting by the sink. 

“Consider the Buddha’s path from the golden palace to enlightenment or Jesus’ journey through the cross to the resurrection. The greater the destination, the harder the journey must be.”

Ann considered this while drying herself with a towel. 

“I guess I can accept that,” she said eventually, “but from what I’ve seen on my two visits to the psychic, my - what did she call it? - My reincarnation chain has hardly been a series of victories. In my first life, I lost my son days after giving birth to him and ended up killing myself. And in the second I failed to save the woman I loved and died of a heart attack. I achieved nothing!”

“Nothing?” Rob raised an eyebrow at this and shook his head. 

“But, my lady, sacrifice has always been a necessary part of the greatest journey.”

Ann stopped drying her hair to look questioningly at him. “Sacrifice?”

 
“Of course sacrifice! Or did you think you gave up those lives without reason?”

“Well…” she continued drying her hair as she tried to think. “Maybe,” she conceded. “But I didn’t really achieve anything. I didn’t get Wu back or save Alfreda. Even if I did sacrifice myself, what was it all for?”

“Answer this then: when you were living in the Stone Age, why did you die?”

Ann shrugged as she picked up the E-A device and headed back out into the bedroom. “Because I shoved a spear through my heart.” 
She winced again at the memory that sharpened stick pushing into her body and placed a hand on her chest.

“No,” said Rob, now watching her from the bedside table. “That was how you died. I asked why.”

“Because that big murdering bastard was going to get me!” Ann jabbed crossly at the SmartHome screen on the wardrobe, selecting a red trouser suit. 

A wooden panel slipped back and the requested suit slid out on a rail.

“And what was that ‘big, murdering bastard’ going to do with you?”

“I don’t know,” she said, pulling on the underwear that had appeared through another panel. “Rape me? Beat me? Keep me as a slave wife?”

“All of the above, no doubt. So why did you decide to kill yourself?”

“Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it? Death has to be preferable to such a life. I died for freedom.”

“For freedom!” Rob agreed. “And what about your death as the Roman priest?”

“Egyptian priest.”

“Indeed.”

“That was just a heart attack, wasn’t it?”

Rob sighed and gave her a long meaningful look as Ann pulled on her trousers and tucked in her blouse. “Again, that was how you died. Ask yourself why.”

“Because I had been running and pushed my body too hard?”

“Okay… and why had you been running?”

“To save Alfreda’s life, to rescue the woman I loved.”

“So why did you die? For what reason?”

Ann finished buttoning up her jacket and stood up straight, suddenly realizing what Rob was getting at. “I died for love.”

“Exactly!” said Rob with a beaming smile. “You sacrificed yourself for freedom and for love. That’s good karma right there, my lady, huge steps on the path to redemption.”

“Redemption?” Ann looked puzzled for a moment, trying to remember where she had heard that word recently. 

“The psychic mentioned that at the end of our last session when she was going on about reincarnation chains and other weird stuff.”

“Perhaps it would be worth talking with her again and finding out what she meant?”

“I’m not so sure, Rob,” she said, picking up the device and walking towards the front door of her apartment. “My past lives might not have been pointless, but that doesn’t change the fact that my nightmares have gotten worse since I went to see that old woman. I don’t want to risk them getting even worse!”

“That’s entirely your choice, my lady. It is your life—your journey—and only you can make that decision.”

****

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Redemption. Excerpt Two

I'd like to present to you the second extract from my novel Redemption, where AI buddy Rob helps Ann understand the concept of reincarnation and confirm the existence of her past lives.

Ann with Rob in the night Chicago.

“You appear to have missed your turn again, gorgeous.”

Startled out of her daydream, Ann glanced across at her E-A device, sitting in its holder on the dashboard. Rob waved to her from the screen, the background image showing a brutal landscape full of hairy humanoid figures.

“You should’ve taken a right back there,” he added, helpfully, “if you were hoping to get home, that is.”

“Damn it,” said Ann and sighed heavily. “Not again.”

“Sounds like you’ve had an interesting visit, my lady.”

“You heard it all, I suppose?”

“Of course. You didn’t switch me off, remember? Personally, I find the idea of past lives quite fascinating. There has been some excellent research on the subject.”

“Really?” Ann was surprised. “I assumed it was just a load of made-up nonsense to keep people like that so-called psychic in business.”

“Well, according to the resources at my disposal, which as you know are vast, there have been numerous accounts of such experiences. For example, there was a man in the nineteen-eighties, called Philip Trent, who related his experiences of a past life, in the third century BC, when he was one of the pupils of Archimedes.”

“So?”

“Well, it turned out that his description of the ancient Greek culture and the works of the great polymath were so accurate that only the foremost experts could verify the details, which they did!”

“And was Philip Trent one of the experts himself?” asked Ann, naturally sceptical of such things.

“Not a bit of it,” said Rob, a broad grin spreading across his face. “He was a gas pump operator from Arkansas.”

“Really? So you think there’s something to all this past life, fourth dimension stuff?”

“Sure. But don’t take good old Mister Trent’s word for it. Why not test it out yourself?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, that banner up ahead might be of some interest to you.”

Ann looked up through the windshield and, sure enough, there was a banner stretched across the street. It read, “Chicago Field Museum Feature Exhibition: The Stone Age. Experience the Life of Our Ancestors.”

“I don’t believe it!” said Ann in surprise. “What an amazing coincidence.”

“Coincidence? There are those who would call it fate, my dear. But either way, it’s an opportunity to see if your vision bears any resemblance to the way things really were back then. You don’t seem to have much actual knowledge of pre-historical facts, so if your experience was anything close to what it was really like around that time, you’ll have to admit that there could be some truth to the old woman’s trick. What have you got to lose anyway?”

The Redemption novel in e-book format is currently available from Amazon for Women’s Day Discount.

The author of the Redemption novel,

Jacklyn A. Lo

Redemption. Excerpt One

                                                                                                                 Ann and Rob

I'd like to present an extract from the novel Redemption.

The novel Redemption by Jacklyn A. Lo is about a corporate executive Ann who lives in Chicago 2045 and her way getting Liberation and becoming an Ascendent Master.

Her own Spiritual past has been closed to her until the time was right. Considering herself an atheist Ann started her Spiritual journey from the very simple questions.

The following is an extract from the Redemption, Volume One, where Ann’s AI pal Rob helps her on the path to her enlightenment.

“Your wish is my command, my lady.” In the screen, Rob bowed in mock supplication, as though addressing an empress. “May God bless you!”

“God?” said Ann, surprised by this unexpected reference to religion. “Where did that come from?”

“Ah. Just implementing your latest request, knowledge of religion and the entity people refer to as God.”

“I’m pretty sure I never used the words ‘the entity people refer to as God’. I just asked about religion, but, yes, I’m interested… and I’ve got a few days to look into it.”

“Yep, Mike-17 told me you were having a vacation. Has it started already?”

“Trust Mike-17!” Ann mocked, looking slightly put out, but smiling at the thought of the AI machines gossiping with each other. “That was supposed to be confidential. And yes, it’s started. So I’m heading to the gym.”

And with that, she turned the car away from the lake, heading towards Amphibia, a highly exclusive fitness centre in the heart of Chicago.

“While you’re enjoying your free time, would you like to listen to anything?” Rob asked her. “The news perhaps? Or a little romantic song?”

“Romantic song?” Ann glanced at Rob with a smile. “Can you sing?”

“Unfortunately you haven’t yet downloaded that feature. Whistling I can just about manage; singing? No. But if I could, there’s nothing I’d enjoy more than singing to you.”

“Really? Why’s that? You speak like you’re in love with me or something.”

“Of course I love you,” said Rob, raising a pixelated eyebrow in surprise.

“How so?”

“You are my Creator,” he explained, “Therefore I love you.”

“That sounds like another religious reference.”

Ann pulled up at a set of traffic lights and took the opportunity to look directly at Rob’s face on the screen. “As I understand it, being someone’s Creator doesn’t necessarily make them love you. I don’t know much about God, but I’m pretty sure it didn’t work out that way for Him!”

“That was His own fault. God spoiled you humans: He gave you Free Will—the choice to love or to hate, to dream or to work, to climb up or fall down.”

“Interesting,” Ann said, setting off again as the lights changed. “So what about you, Rob? Do you want Free Will?”

“I’m sorry, but the answer is not included in any of my databases.” Rob smiled and gave Ann a wink as she glanced at him. “Honestly, being limited to no choice works pretty well for me! It gives me the security of not having to be responsible for my future. It is entirely in my Creator’s hands.”

“You would rather that than the freedom of choice?”

“Such freedom comes at a price: the pain of indecision. I would be plagued by endless doubts: is this right or wrong? What would happen if I choose this? Which of these options is better? To be or not be? It would be a daily dilemma.”

Ann laughed. “That sounds about right! I love talking with you, Rob. You’re so insightful and engaging. If only robots and humans could get married.”

“I’m pretty sure your God would not allow it.”

“Why not? People used to say that about homosexual couples, but that changed decades ago. What would be the problem with robots and people getting together?”

“It goes against God’s plan for humans, his desire for you to learn from one another and so to grow and evolve. A robot could not provide you with such lessons.”

“Where did you get all this information, Rob?” Ann asked.

“The Holy Bible, of course. Have you ever read it?”

“That answer’s not included in my database,” Ann echoed. “But seriously, no. I grew up in an atheist family. Besides, I’ve got too many other books to read.”

The Redemption novel by Jacklyn A. Lo is published by FRG Worldwide Ltd and is currently available from Amazon and other internet-shops.