“That to Ray, the withdrawal of life is the withdrawal of God himself.”

She stared at me for a moment. “But why would God withdraw himself from humanity? And what does that have to do with anything Poppy and Bryson Nichols were doing?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I was hoping you might be able to tell me.”

In my campus office I kept mulling over my discovery. God was life itself. Where had I heard that before? Late morning, in the midst of organizing lectures for the next term, it hit me.

“Alistair, access my memory stream, please.”

“What date?”

“I’m not sure. A month ago, perhaps.”

“Subject?”

“Dreams people were having about Jesus. First instance.”

“Accessed.”

I entered my stream. I was watching a young woman named Jade on CulturePulse.

“I had a dream last night. It was so odd that I accessed my dream bank to check it out. It wasn’t like any other dream I’ve ever had. I was lying in bed asleep, watching myself. You know how you do that in dreams—watch yourself? So I was asleep, and this man suddenly appeared at the foot of my bed. He had long brown hair and was dressed in a white robe. He had sandals on—I’m not sure how I saw that lying down. He reached down and touched me gently on the leg, saying, ‘Jade, wake up.’ And in my dream I woke up. I looked at him, and I wasn’t afraid or even startled. I was just curious why he was there. And he said to me, ‘Jade, choose to be joined.’ And I asked, ‘To what?’ He said, ‘To life.’ And then he walked around the bed and leaned close to my ear and whispered, ‘I am the life.’ I looked into his eyes, then he disappeared. And I woke up. Does anyone out there know what my dream could mean? I’ve never been much into analyzing dreams.”

The visual ended. “Alistair, next instance.” I was watching a young man dressed in a beige T-shirt and jeans.

“I had this really weird dream last night. I was sleeping, and this guy came and stood down at the end of my bed. When I woke up, he said, ‘Corey, choose to be joined.’ I had no idea what that meant. So I said, ‘Joined to what?’ And he said, ‘To life.’ Then he whispered, ‘I am the life.’”

I scanned several more such visuals. They were all the same. “I am the life.” Just as Ray Caldwell had indicated.

A tap from Cameroon interrupted me. I exited my memory stream and answered it. An African man with a broad smile appeared.

“The Lord’s blessings from Cameroon, Dr. Daniels.”

Did people still speak this way?

“I am Mr. Ogunji,” he continued, “the office manager at Inland Tribes.”

“Thank you for tapping back.”