"What he was trying to do made no sense! You can't put someone in a fishbowl and expect them to pop into another dimension!"
"But you can!" Mathias slammed his fist into the table, the clanging sound echoing through the chamber. "You smug little woman. You know nothing about what is and isn't possible. Nothing!" He spat at the floor. "I've seen things that would drive you mad!"
"I'm sure you think you have."
"You'll see soon enough. When we're all safe on another Earth. Then you'll thank me." Her eyes drifted over to the readout screens. The impression of Eddy's face looked odd to her. Mathias's voice shocked her back to attention. "It's probably over your head, but there's a theory in quantum physics called quantum non-locality. In quantum non-locality, local realism breaks down and contradicts what we perceive at the subatomic level. Matter behaves differently when it's observed, and vice versa. But, most of all, human consciousness, an effect we so incorrectly ascribed to merely being a product of our complex brains, is non-local as well. This consciousness is what affects reality: it bends it, influences it like a probability generator, and makes the evolution of complex life possible. Your perception of reality affects everything."
"What the fuck does that have to do with transporting us to another Earth in a metal tank?"
Mathias sighed, rubbed his eyes. "The tank is only a catalyst to finding the mind's horizon."
She rolled her eyes. "Oh, great, this again."
"No—" He grabbed her chin and forced her to look him in the eyes. "—you will listen to me. You people are so smug in your ignorance, the way you ignored me this whole time, talking behind my back as if I were crazy long before we even found this place. I'm sick of it!"
Her heart knocked against her ribcage again and again. "Fine, fine, I'll listen."
He relaxed, his expression softening. "I'll make it simple for you to understand. There are three different types of horizons that are important to us. There's the local horizon that we perceive on Earth, and it's represented by a circle on the sphere. The higher a person is in the air, the larger that circle is."
"Right, a circle..." She glanced back at the readout screen. There seemed to be a glitch in the video output. Eddy's expression looked unchanged.
"Yes, a circle. Pay attention here, Ira, it gets better. I'm sure you know what a black hole is, yes?"
She nodded.
"At the center of a black hole, there's something called an event horizon. The event horizon is something we don't really understand, but it's the point of no return for light and matter, essentially. There are some who believe that black holes are gateways to other universes, and this may be true to a point."
"And the third?"
His eyes lit up. "Ah, you are listening. The third is the cosmic horizon. The furthest light that has reached us from the known edge of the universe. We've observed galaxies older than the universe, moving faster than light from our relative perspective. Suggesting that the universe may have no end. Are you ready for the fourth?"
She shook her head. "I don't want to know."
"Oh, I think you'll find this fascinating." He leaned closer; his breath stank like day-old coffee. "The mind's horizon is the point of no return, the point at which the mind loses the ability to perceive its surroundings. If consciousness manipulates reality around us, then what happens to reality if we lose the ability to perceive it?
"This universe is a strange place, Ira, filled with even stranger beings. Some of which have no love for our species.
"Now, imagine if there was such a device that could free your consciousness from the trappings of our perceived reality? If you could change the frequency at which your molecules vibrated at and access another universe?"
"I've heard all of this in Weber's logs, you're not going to convince me that he was right by giving me a science lecture. All you're missing is his talk of eldritch demons and grimoires from dead Alaskan researchers. You sound just like him."
"You're probably right." Mathias frowned. "I've never been particularly good at explaining these things to the lay person. But, in the end, it doesn't matter if you believe me. You'll hand over the password for Eddy's life.
For a moment, she thought about telling him to go to hell...but her eyes drifted to the tank that Eddy was confined in. If she gave Mathias what he wanted, he wouldn't stop there. He'd lock them all up and force them to participate in his sick experiments.
On the other hand, if she didn't give into his demands, Eddy would be the one to suffer.
"What's it going to be, Ira?" Mathias asked.
She sighed, closing her eyes; she could feel the blood from her lip flowing onto her chin, caressing her neck. "As long as you let Eddy go, I'll do it."
Mathias's thick lips spread into a twisted yellow grin. She couldn't help but think of Weber's physical condition at the end of his log entries, how he'd let himself fall to pieces chasing his mad obsession.
Maybe Mathias had found the grimoire. Maybe that was the source of his madness?
"You made the right choice," Mathias said, smiling.
She wriggled her wrists. "Can you untie me now? I'll have to get my laptop from the mainframe room..."
"Oh, I'm afraid not." His smile quickly faded. "I'm not sure I trust you. Even though I've got Eddy, now that you know, you could use your control over the facility to shut down the systems in this chamber, removing my bargaining chip from the board. That's why I chose this location. The experiment chambers have no voice authentication software, and they don't require biometric access from the admin."
"Then we have a problem; I can't give you access without my stuff."
He reached behind the desk and retrieved her laptop. "How fortunate for you that I brought it with us for this very purpose. How forward-thinking of me."
Her eyes smoldered inside their sockets. Every possible way she could think of to maneuver around Mathias had been countered; in their time working together, he hadn't just gotten to know her, hadn't just helped her, he had been studying her, how she thought, how she reacted, so he could plan around that and counter any move she might make. It was like a god damned game to him.
I have to do something, she thought.
Mathias opened the laptop and the screen woke instantly, bringing up her password interface. "Care to tell me the password? I'm not going to untie your hands."
She could feel the skin on her brow wrinkle from her eyebrows creasing. She wanted to stall him somehow, wanted to scream for help...but no one would hear her down here.
She had no choice.
"The password is..." It was like she was being violated. Her computer had always been an extension of her own body. Where it went, she went—even after the world had ended. She took in a deep sigh. "48373FGH space 7820A20J."
"You really do value your security." He entered in the two sets of numbers and letters she'd told him. "I'm not surprised you would choose something this random. Even Weber personalized his passwords. It makes me wonder. Do you have any favorite books?"
"Just shut up and release Eddy."
"Oh, come now, you can answer the question, can't you?"
She paused, staring at the floor. This fucker just wouldn't quit. "I liked Gibson."
"I imagined you played more video games than read actual books. I should have guessed that Gibson would be at the top of your list though, even if his work is a bit dated."
"Please stop talking, you'll ruin my nostalgia."
"Fine, have it your way." He turned the laptop to face himself. "Tell me how to gain access."
"You'll need the password I made for the admin account first. I have a shortcut on my desktop."
"Ah, now what?"
"Now I give you the password."
He waited there, straight-faced, while she mustered up the courage to betray Lena and Eddy.
"SEVEN-SIX-D-TWO space S-D-SIX-ZERO space A-TWO-J-NINE space THREE-D-D-Y," she said.
"Ah!" He smiled again. "Now. I'll reset the admin password and chang
e over the voice authorization and biometrics. You've been so helpful, Ira."
"You'll release Eddy, right?"
He frowned, avoided eye contact with her. "Of course I will. I'm going to release both of you soon enough."
"What the hell does that mean?"
His face softened somewhat.
Her eyes drifted to the screens which showed Eddy's face...
That's when she figured out what looked so strange about it. The footage seemed to be looping. Then there were the painted hieroglyphs on the tank, the broken padlock hanging from the lid. Her heart sank. "He's not really in there..."
"No." Was it shame or fear that she saw on his face? "I'm afraid he escaped hours ago."
"Escaped?" She struggled in her restraints. "Let me the fuck out of these, I have to find him!"
"You won't recognize him, I'm afraid."
"This is your fault!" She stared down at her immobile hands and feet. How much effort would it take to tear herself free? Every inch of her wanted to see Mathias die, to crack his skull open on the cold cement and watch his blood pool dark and red beneath her.
"You're probably thinking of ways to try and kill me," Mathias said. "But that would be foolish, I assure you." He picked up a washcloth and dabbed it against a bottle filled with chemicals, most likely chloroform, and walked behind her. "I may be generous. I may desire for you to live, to travel to a new Earth with me, but if you upset me too much, well, I can't be held responsible for what happens to you."
He forced the washcloth over her mouth; she tried to hold her breath, tried not to breathe even if it meant she'd die from suffocation. But even in that first breath, she'd already inhaled too much, and her vision was beginning to blur.
"For what it's worth, I didn't despise you," Mathias said.
She focused her eyes on the deprivation tank through the glass, her heart reaching out to Eddy...wherever he might be.
Somehow that's worse, she thought.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
For a moment, she thought it was all over; but the air blowing from the ventilation system told her otherwise.
Her eyes failed to adjust to the total dark, failed to see the thing that was staring back at her.
She felt out her surroundings: smooth concrete across her fingertips, a thin bed beside her, and a cold metallic wall at her back. She crawled forward on her hands and knees; her hands passed over a spot that felt textured and flaky. Her head banged against something metallic; her hands grabbed at bars, and then she knew exactly where she was.
"Don't bother." Hugo's accent was ice in her veins. "Been at it for days, no luck."
"Mathias locked me in with you?"
"And your homie."
"Eddy!" Her voice rang out, but there was no reply. The thought flashed through her for a moment like a surge of white-hot fever, Maybe Mathias lied after all?
"No, the other one, the pregnant ho. Your boyfriend's dead, B."
"Shut up!" Keep talking, she thought. Let me find you in the dark.
"I ain't the problem. Maybe you heard, but that Mathias has a few fuckin' screws loose upstairs."
"You're the one who listened to him, you're the one who took his words and decided to murder my brother." She wobbled to her feet, using the bars as support, keeping her ear turned in the direction his voice was coming from. "You ask me, you're both guilty."
"And what about what he did to me? Huh? Did you ever think of that? No. You didn't. You just sit there judging, even though you know he wasn't no saint!"
"That didn't give you the right to take his life!"
"Ain't no law out here, it's survival of the fittest."
With every sound he made, it gave her a better idea of where he was. Her hands itched, twitching, hungry. "I guess you're right about that."
"Where you goin'?" She heard him shuffle to his feet. "I hear your feet moving."
Ira was right in front of him. Her stomach turned at the vile mixture of body odor and rank breath, but she kept calm, balling her fists up tight. His breath was shallow; maybe he knew she was standing there?
She tossed a right hook out and caught something bony. Hugo wailed and recoiled into the wall. She kicked, and kicked, and clawed, and pounded at his disgusting face until she was on top of him, grabbing at his throat, feeling the life evaporate from his body.
"It's natural selection, Hugo," she said. "Isn't that what you were getting at? You fucking bastard."
His cries stopped, and she could feel his strength leaving his body. Her heart battered against her ribcage. The feeling was almost euphoric.
You deserve this, she thought. This is what Nico would have wanted!
Ira reeled back when the lights came on, covering her eyes. She staggered back onto the floor, struggling to adjust to the harsh sudden light.
"Ironic how you've resorted to violence so quickly after being confined." Mathias's voice was coming from every direction; Ira felt like she might go mad if she had to hear it for too long. "Much like a caged animal, no?"
"What, it isn't enough that you've got us locked up together, now you're watching us too?" Ira said.
"I need you all alive for what comes next," Mathias said. "So, if you would please, don't kill Hugo."
"And what will you do to stop me?" she said. Hugo dragged himself to the other end of the cell, leaving behind a crimson trail in his wake, clutching for the bars.
"I can suck all the air out of the cell, for one. Kill you, Hugo, Lena, and her little bundle of joy."
Her face tightened, teeth clenched. "Damn it."
"I got that one from you."
"Don't remind me."
"I believe I just did."
Her eyes darted across the room: she saw Lena in the corner, holding herself, staring at her with wide disbelieving eyes. Justice for her brother's murder evaporated from her mind almost instantly... What about Eddy?
"Where is Eddy?" Ira asked.
"Who knows? The ritual took a wrong turn...I'm not sure what happened to him."
Tears fell from her eyes, scattering the rivulets of blood on her hands like mini Rorschach tests. "The ritual? You turned those fucking machines on him?"
"I had to, Ira, the Harvester was going to get me."
Something was wrong. There was genuine panic in his voice, not unlike herself as a child, running to tell Mommy and Daddy that slenderman had been under her bed, that he was going to get her. "What the hell are you talking about?"
Silence. Crackling sounds echoed over the speakers in the walls.
"And just like that, you forget justice for your brother's killer, and rush to find the man he might have killed were he still alive."
"Shut the hell up!"
"I'm growing bored of this conversation anyway."
She paused for a moment, staring at Lena. "Wait."
"What is it?"
"Let us search for Eddy. If he escaped the tank, he's gotta be around here somewhere."
"No chance in hell."
"You'll do it, or I'll kill Hugo and myself, then you'll only have one subject left to get your experiment right. That is what you're thinking, isn't it? You want to activate Weber's final experiment?"
"I'll have to think about it. I'm very busy right now with the preparations."
"No, Mathias."
"Or, I can just turn off the air right now until you all fall asleep. I'm not sure I like your attitude."
"Then do it. But if Eddy dies, then you lose me, period. I will make it my final mission in life to make your life a living hell. Believe me, you may have control of the facility now, but all I need is one console, an old phone, hell, I could probably hack you out of the system with a fucking Gameboy!"
There was a clicking noise, and then static.
"A Gameboy?" Lena said.
"Did it sound convincing?" Ira said, quietly.
Lena shrugged.
The static persisted for what seemed to be hours. Lena retreated to her corner, and Ira sat on the bare mattress at the other
end of the cell. Hugo seemed to have fallen asleep on the bars, his face black, blue, red and swollen—drool hanging down his cracked lips. She tried to occupy her thoughts with revenge plots, how she might thwart Mathias's plans, but all she could think about was Eddy. Where was he? What was the ritual that Mathias had spoken of?
She remembered the thing she’d seen in this very cell, the seven glowing gray eyes.
What if that was the Harvester Mathias seemed to be so afraid of?
Before long, Mathias shut the lights off in their cell, cloaking them in darkness again. She wouldn't allow herself to sleep, though.
Her thoughts ran dark as she sat there, staring into the abyss.
She's clutching Eddy's hand, feeling his clammy, fevered skin.
He won't look at her.
There's something wrong with his skin, it's splotchy in some places. His breathing is harsh. Erratic.
She stands up, moves around to get a better look at him. She screams when she sees what's left of his face. His eyes are gone, replaced with blackened pits, leaking a dark substance that smolders and smokes and smells like burning matches. His face seems to be melting into something larger. His mouth is forever open, teeth crooked and wrong, always frowning, always sad.
He'll never smile again.
"Eddy..."
He stands, towering over her, with massive legs like tree trunks whose roots wind and coil.
When he stands, he gestures with fingers that wave like snakes at the ceiling.
The ceiling to her cell crumbles away to a clear night sky, where a black comet darkens the stars.
She woke up.
It was still dark in the cell. No telling if it was day or night above ground.
The dream left her feeling empty inside, as if part of her knew it was true in a way, that a part of Eddy would be gone, even if they found him.
She wished she could go back in time, to a time before the ice age...
Her life had been a struggle before discovering this monstrous facility, tucked away in the mountains, but now it was even harder to recall a time when the sun shone bright in the sky, and grass grew green in front of suburban houses.
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