They were in bed together. They were experiencing the intense urges that their physical bodies were manifesting. But they had not surrendered the mental intimacy they were already sharing. If anything that intimacy had intensified as well. Dutch wanted them to explore that aspect of their intimacy together.

He thought, You're a shifter. You know all about body awareness at the cellular level. The agreements that bodies must maintain.

I do. When I become my snake self, my entire body must agree to allow it, embrace it, at a cellular level.

How does that affect your sexual urges?

When I become my snake, I am a female snake. My body would not accept the change otherwise. Every cell is female. There can be no change in that agreement.

Some lovers profess otherwise.

True. All the genes that govern the actual physiology of a mammalian body are the same for both sexes. But their body cells know which sex they are.

But what about your snake body cells? Aren't they reptilian?

No, they all remain mammalian cells. But they can express themselves in reptilian form. All mammalian cells remember their reptilian ancestors. If any of my body cells were to be examined while they were still acting like snake cells, they could be shown to have retained all their mammalian structures.

Does everyone who studies bodies know this? Or only shifters.

Anyone could know it intellectually, if they studied it. But only shifters know it personally.

Does that include men who become women?

I suppose so. That's a kind of shifting.

Wow. So, body agreement at a cellular level is intimately involved in shifting.

Yes. And my body cells share in my sexual urges. Some more than others. If that's what you were getting at.

Yes. Mine too. And they advocate getting on with it.

So do mine.

Later, when their ecstasy had subsided a bit and they were relaxing side by side, he said, "I have the distinct feeling that what we just experienced is what the biblical term 'to know' was all about. Including the mind melding."

In a dreamy voice she said, "Me too. You set me up for that on purpose, didn't you."

"Maybe. But the mind melding part. That's not entirely body."

"No, its not. And we both know that too."

"We both know that mind is involved at every level. Right down to the cells."

Still dreamily, she said, "I see where you're going with this."

"Tell me."

"It's all about the Q. Or the shaman dream. And it's telling us that reality is a shared dream. I'm tempted to say 'nothing but' a shared dream. But it's not nothing. It's everything. It's the way all beings get to interact with each other."

"It's interesting that you said 'beings', not 'people'. But people seem to be the beings who are becoming most aware, or at least capable of that."

She nodded. "We are explorers at every level, from the quantum foam to the multiverse. And we seem to live right in the middle, between those two extremes. When Newt was with us on our space cruiser, he told me that, mathematically, there are ten to the minus thirty orders of magnitude of size below us, and ten to the plus thirty orders of magnitude above us."

"And all of it is linked in the Q."

She nodded again. "We got where we are by learning how to interact with each other. We seem to have created the physical universe as a medium for doing that. But for a very long time those interactions were often competitive, leaving little time for physical beings to evaluate their experience beyond learning survival skills. Now, at long last, we have created a world where survival has become almost too easy. A world where we can extend our mental reach to encompass everything, from the very small to the very large. We seem to be on the verge of truly comprehending who we are, and why we are here."

Dutch could feel where her mind was going as she said this. He said, "Let's do it!"

"Do what?"

"Let's go explore the Q."

"When?"

He rolled over and drew her into his arms. She responded willingly. He said, "I think we've already started."