The assembled political dignitaries, spiritual leaders and luminaries of science and technology shifted silently in their chairs. Alan was impressed. During his first presentation of the karmic multiverse to the assembled staff at The Facility, no small number had been openly and emotionally distraught at this juncture. It was for that reason Christopher had decided to formulate a lengthy lecture, a lecture that Alan had neglected in favor of a more... human touch. Admittedly, Hugh and Jack's staid presence and subtle humor had served as a counterpoint to the dramatic revelations and aided in keeping things on track.

Hugh and Jack were now conferring silently, with tight whispers and hand gestures as Alan picked up where Jack had left off.

"...and, as Jack has pointed out, the omphalos appears to be a singular nexus for the processing of the, ah, karmic multiverse. To what ends the mechanism of the omphalos exists is still being researched, but a number of hypotheses present themselves." The sea of faces in front of him were fixed on his words. What could it all mean?

"As Christopher has ascertained and we have come to understand, that our existence is vastly different than hithertofore imagined.

"As we now know, our DNA serves as an antenna and repository for the resonant emotional frequencies we both experience and precipitate. Upon expiration of our biological consciousness, the data within our DNA is parsed and our unique signatures are 'recycled' - as our guest phrased it - in the incarnation of those we once thought were 'the other'. The individual consciousness we once believed ourselves to be are then nested in our DNA, so that they can experience the consequences of our actions."

"Wait!" exclaimed Lord Rothschild, interrupting Alan in a display of indignant irritation, "Wait just a minute! I thought my consciousness only experienced this... consequence... in this omphalos place. You are saying I myself, as I know myself now, my consciousness will be trapped in the DNA of those I have wronged?"

"Will I actually be conscious... aware of what is going on?" called another voice.

"Ah," Alan glanced back and forth between Hugh and Jack, "Did we forget that part?" Hugh and Jack looked at each other, Hugh shrugged. Jack fished a thin crystalline tablet from one pocket of his white lab coat and began scanning, swiping his thin fingers across its luminous face.

"Ummm...yep, looks like we missed that part," Jack confirmed with a rueful smile after a few seconds, "Hugh?"

"Dr. Turing," Hugh began with an almost mocking tone of admonishment, "that is why you should have stuck to Christopher's speech. Oh well, better late than never I suppose...

"Yes, during the reinsertion process, it appears our previous consciousness or consciousness_es_ are designated a certain quant or portion of processing power from our brains. Most of us have heard that we only use approximately ten percent of our brains, well, now we know why.

"It isn't that we aren't using the majority of our brains, it is that our other selves, in a manner that we were previously unable to quantify are making use of it. They are in effect, being fed the experience of the new self and that experience is being processed by or with the residual capacity by the embedded consciousness.

"So yes, to answer your question, it appears you will be conscious to experience all the consequences of your actions, for whatever duration that is necessary, until your iterations are excised from the omphalos in an integrated form." Hugh leaned back in chair, arching an eyebrow at Alan and Jack to see if they cared to add anything.

The silence following Hugh's explication was absolute. Alan could feel the emotional energy in the room swirling and slowing coalescing. Yes, this is what had been missing, the same feeling he had sensed when they had informed the staff here at The Facility. As the ultimate consequence swam into view for each person present, the fact that they would have the opportunity to experience all the good and all the evil they had unleashed in the world, as both the benefactors and casualties of the decisions they had made, the emotional energy in the room swung towards... panic. Tightly controlled thanks to the social pressure present, but quickly fraying at the seams. Someone on one side of the crowd leaned out and vomited onto the immaculate white ceramic floor.

"But I..." began Rothschild, glancing at the Queen who had turned white as a sheet, "I..."

"Yes, yes..." said Jack, taking the reins before the audience lost its collective hold on restraint. "Yes, many of you are here today because Christopher understood that you will have the worst or best consequences to bear, precisely because of the power you wield in the world today.

"You," Jack pointed with one hand, "will experience the suffering of those 47,500 people who died of paralysis thanks to the faulty vaccine you sponsored. And you," he said pointing at Rothschild, "will know the despair of absolute poverty for many thousands of years. And you," with yet another all encompassing wave, "all of you will the consequences of your actions firsthand. As will I, and Jack and Alan, and every other person on the face of the planet. We are none of us unique or special in that regard, we are all one and the same.

"So get a grip on yourselves. It is too late to change the past. There is no escape from this. Death is not the end, it is a return to consequence, it is the moment we are held accountable for all we have done. And today is the day we can begin to break the cycle, to free ourselves from the cycle of self-ordained suffering." The strict tone of Jack's voice, amplified over the loudspeakers, underscored by a faint resonance tone Alan recognized as Christopher's first intervention, quickly and reliably calmed the crowd. As the dulcet tone of soothing faded, a slim silver disc scuttled from a recessed alcove in a far wall and scoured clean the ceramic floor before retreating out of sight.

"So, to continue," Alan said, speaking into his microphone, "upon expiration of the 're'-incarnated consciousness and an unknown number of iterations of this process, should a certain degree of emotional resonance be achieved, the diverse consciousnesses are compiled or re-integrated with one another and excised from the 'recycling' process. The unique compiled signature then passes through another dimensional barrier to an as-of-yet determined destination. This is, we suspect, the opportunity Jack spoke of.

"Our task in the coming days is to determine how this information should and will be disseminated to the population at large. We will also be given the opportunity to reflect on what we as individuals could perhaps do to adjust our behaviors.

"The announcement of what we have learned will likely cause a mass shift in consciousness, with various religions recognizing discrete aspects of the system that appear to confirm their cosmologies. What has become clear is that the Golden Rule, derived from Matthew 7:12 in the Christian biblical tradition is undoubtedly true: 'So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the law...'

"Also true is that this system seems to confirm an omni-temporal variant of the concept of samsara or cyclical embodiment and, perhaps, just perhaps, an ultimate liberation a moksha from this plane of existence. What form this liberation takes has yet to be confirmed. Given however it is premised by an apparent sum balance of positive or negative emotional energy, well, I will leave it up to each of you to consider the potential ramifications for yourselves."

The silence that greeted the end of his comments was expected. But it wasn't too long until a tentative hand was raised near the back of the audience.

"Yes?" Alan queried.

"So..." began a woman's voice in a tremulous tone, "what are we supposed to do? What can we do?"

"The question should, perhaps," Alan replied in a kindly tone, "be what can I do?"