Caino's Alphabet, V

Very few deaths one encounters 
in life amount to a Mind’s final End. 
Of all the demises a Mind will experience, 
the last of these can often appear anticlimactic—
old age can make even death mundane—
but not so in the eyes of the Machine.  
    In the Machine’s eyes, 
a final End is the completion of a Mind’s shape 
(be that the shape of a tree or a river) 
and the signal to send out a Point for its harvest.
    As a Second Scientist, 
Gail more than anyone was cognisant of the rarity 
of Caino’s encounter.  
Even those who work surrounded 
by death often live out their entire lives 
never seeing what Caino had—
the black brilliance of a Point 
as it touches a Mind that has arrived at its final End.  Regardless of whether it was coming or going, 
she was almost certain Caino would never again encounter a Point preforming its task, 
no mater how long he was willing to wait. 
Catching a ride to the past in the Mind 
of a possessed and dying pig 
was simply the best chance he was going to get.
—
    There was some grumbling 
from the first scientists about the morality 
of possession but in the end, it was agreed 
that as food animals, pigs were fair game, 
and at last the plan was approved by all.
    Caino turned to Gail, and asked, 
“do you know how to do this?  
Do we have every-thing you need?” 
    Gail produced a small square device 
with a shiny black front, 
marred by many thin cracks.  
She touched it and images, 
words and figures flashed across its surface.
    “I improvised this from a bit 
of old technology spared by the Last War.  
It was to possess Aaron that I made it, 
but it’ll work just as well for the task at hand.  
If you would lend me that Point we can begin.”
    Caino gave Gail the little metal box.  
She took it and sat on the ground.  
The others followed suit, 
arranging themselves in a semi-circle around her.
    Gail opened the box, put the device on top of it, and interrogated Caino as to the time and location 
of the hunter’s death.  As she did this, 
she used her fingers to sweep through swarms 
of moving images on the surface of the device 
until at last Caino stopped her.  
There on the device’s face was the image 
of the hunter slinging his stone toward 
the unsuspecting pig.  
    “Now you can go,” 
Gail said, tapping at some figures on her device.  “When I touch your head with this Point, 
you will awaken in possession of that pig.  
I’ll send you to the moment after it’s struck 
by the stone.  You will feel pain—
but you cannot shirk your task.  
You must connect with that Point directly 
as it enters the hunter’s head.”
    “I’m ready, and so is Darius.  
I’ve already told him our plan,” 
said Caino, struggling to conceal his anxiety. 
    “You should lie down and relax,” said Gail, 
“close your eyes, and when you open them—
go for that Point!
You’ll be back with us in no time.” 
    Caino lay on his back and closed his eyes.  Something indescribably dark blazed 
through his eyelids, a black flash—
and then darkness.
—
    Caino felt a numbing wetness 
on the side of his head along 
with an overwhelming desire to sleep.  
He knew there was something terribly important 
he needed to do, but his mind was blank and weary.  His vision started to cloud and his eyes began 
to close; then a shape fell 
onto the ground a few meters away, 
yanking him from his torpor 
and his head turned instinctively 
toward the movement.  A man was lying there, motionless on his back.  Caino began 
to drift off again, but then he was almost blinded 
as a violet spot of blackness 
appeared on the prone man’s head, and in a flash, 
he remembered what it was he had to do. 
         Caino stumbled up onto his trotters 
and, his host’s instincts still intact, 
he charged with every last bit 
of the dying pig’s strength toward the Point—
now beginning to rise from the hunter's head.  
A boyish figure he had not noticed 
in that unnatural darkness loomed before him 
but leapt from his path as he charged 
and jumped head first 
towards the slowly ascending Point.
        The pig’s forehead collided with that 
of the old man just before the Point left his head, 
and as they touched, Caino was surprised 
to feel a strange familiarity, a comfort… 
but before he could examine these feelings, 
there was a black explosion in his head, 
and he was back in the clearing near the Abbey, lying flat on his back, disoriented and—
in his mind—still a pig.