by Mark Russo
Opening a channel to Plane R, the place humans infested, was a piece of cake to me. If I allowed Aaragul there, well, that would be terrible. He was interfering with the Great Communion plans once again.
“Give me some space, Aaragul. I cannot open any channels if you keep this close to me.”
He did not reply and stepped back towards the cave’s main corridor.
For the first time in days, I perceived Plane K’s energy flowing in my body. It was a mild and distant feeling, with me being relegated to the shape of a fricking doll. I moved my right paw forward, and the air rippled with purple and blue lightning-like effects. A gleaming hole big enough to fit a grown man opened before me, not showing what was on the other side.
“Go ahead, Aaragul. You'll find yourself in EIBM’s underground level. From there, it’s up to you.”
“No worries, Mr. Sweet. I’ll survive Plane R. The human body offers very little resistance to physical strength. It’ll be fun.”
I waved the very same limb I had used to open the doorway to the humans' world. Or at least, he thought so.
He sauntered through the nice and shiny light gimmick I had prepared for him before he realized I’d played him. I moved in the real but not-so-shiny channel behind me.
I had left Plane K and handled that stupid demon, but I could not call that event a success. I already knew he would look elsewhere for help with his plan of breaking into the humans’ world, and my instinct was giving me a precise hint. He would visit Emma soon, and I was not sure how she’ll react to him. I had to talk to her immediately.
5
Emma
“That’s not how it’s supposed to work, Maria.” She really made me laugh.
“This fucking thing. How do I know which questions to ask this damn DPT?”
We both laughed again.
“Do you want more disgusting tea?”
“Sure, Emma. Maybe that will help with this stupid study group thing we have to do,” she mumbled while looking at her pad.
“You and I here are the only two students to still use analog devices. Most rely only on their lenses and haptic rings,” I noted, bringing her more tea.
“Wearing the lenses all the time bugs me a lot. I like the feeling of touching the pad.”
“Same here.”.
“So, how do you like my room?” she asked, pointing somewhere I didn’t get.
Okay. If I’m messy, she’s at another level. I could barely see her bed for how many things she randomly threw on top.
“It’s just lovely! You have so many things in here.” I hoped that would not sound offensive.
“Yes, I’m messy, you know?” She took a huge sip from her rainbow-colored mug.
“Back to DPT. It has a standard set of questions, so you might use those. You may also add your own, if you wish. Got it?”
“Maybe I need an example. Can you give me one?”
“Thumbs up, you paella hearth.” My childish putdowns did not offend her. “One of the default questions is about sharing the data. If there is no need for doing it, you can replace this question with another from this drop-down list. One that brings you closer to meet your data analysis objectives. For example, you can replace the question about sharing with something like, ‘Are there any specific data segments you would like to highlight?’, if you want to focus on some specific aspects of your data. Wow, I talked so much!”
She jiggled. “I think I understand. Thank you, Emma.”
Her pad rang. She answered it as fast as she could in Spanish. Her eyes brightened as she saw the person on the other end. She gestured a lot and emitted unintelligible sounds, her speech interrupted by the umpteenth laughter burst.
I realized the caller must have been her mother by the number of times she pronounced the word Mamà. I couldn’t stop staring at her, enjoying herself so much. I looked at my pad and checked for my mother. She was available. My finger lingered on the call button, but I never hit it.
When she hung up, she was smiling to an extent I doubted possible. “That was my mum. She’s the best. She already wanted to talk to my new friend. I had to tell her multiple times we were studying. She just couldn’t stop talking.”
“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, right?”
She nodded, admitting the self-evident similarity. “Do you hear from your folks often?”
“No, not that much.” I tried evading the question. “Do we go back to our beloved DPT?”
While returning to my room, I thought about my parents. I could not remember the last time I shared something with them. Even if I tried, all I could recollect were moments spent by myself in their gigantic house. I remembered I would eat a lot.
I was still considering calling my mother, and maybe later, I would. It might work. I can be the one making the first step. I might schedule a catch-up call in her agenda; maybe she would find it funny. I might tell her about EIBM and that I had finally made friends with someone, in person. She might be interested in that. Teen minutes, it won’t be a big deal.
I left Maria’s room and headed toward mine. It was a bright day, and the filtered sun rays from the windows bouncing off walls and floors blinded me for a second. When I got my sight back, I didn’t like what I saw.
Tim and André were walking toward me. Bad, bad luck. They didn’t wave at me, and I did the same. They were close. I kept my eyes down, casually looking around. They regarded me; I kept walking straight, slightly stepping left to avoid any physical contact.
I passed them and breathed again—, irregularly, almost frantic, but my lungs still appreciated. My legs shook but kept responding to my commands. I thought I was safe, but my ears suggested something else. They were trying not to be too noisy, but I heard their steps behind me. What were they planning? I didn’t want to find out.
I did not turn around to check on their intentions. I rushed instead and turned left into the first corridor I passed. Right behind the corner, I brought my left fist to my chest and clenched it as hard as I could.
I heard them running. They were right before me.
“Where the fuck did she go?” Tim asked.
Andé shook his head.
“How is it even possible? She was so fast!” Tim stretched his neck to better inspect the corridor.
“Yeah, well, whatever. Wanna eat something?” the other dumbass asked.
Tim nodded.
I tried to remain still. I knew they could not see me, But I was not sure if they could not touch me. Again, I didn’t want to find out.
They kept sharing their gibberish as they moved away.
I held my fist in that position until I could no longer hear their annoying voices. I had won; it worked. I could hide now. Maybe this was the thing Mr. Sweet had suggested when we had wandered the building. I could now flee my tormentors, and I owed this to him. I knew I was a prisoner and some magic trick kept me from escaping EIBM, but at least I was safer because of my newly gained power.
I had to admit I was enjoying it. All that roaming and roving revealed many upsides I had not imagined. First, I could go anywhere I wanted unnoticed. It was not only saving me from the harassment and hazing those guys inflicted on me but much more. I had listened to people’s conversations, mostly to get more information about proxies and all the other shit happening there. Up to that moment, I hadn't come up with much.
That morning though, after I had identified the person Maria was talking about, I followed him. I had met him by pure chance at the elevators and slipped behind him. That was a stroke of good fortune. I had followed him down a corridor; the more I tailed him, the clearer his final destination became—the dean’s office. It looked like I finally was onto something real. I shed some light on all those ideas that crowded my mind so intrusively.
We were finally there. I sneaked past the research center guy into Sneider’s office and went by his desk. I had my shoes off that day. It was cold but proved an advantage in being stealthy. Up to that point, it proved very effective
.
“Tell me. What was important enough for you to come here in person? We have a ton of different communication channels.”
I didn’t get why Sneider had to be that direct. He didn’t even say hi.
“I need to share two things, and I need to do it in person. First, I have a few doubts about the fit of one of my direct reports. He behaves very weirdly and—”
“Bring it to Chunk again at level two. One issue solved, one more to go.”
The guy I had followed remained stoic. “The other thing then. I didn’t know we were converting the students. Why you did not tell me?”
Charles Sneider stood and banged his fists on the table. “What did you just say? We are not starting with the students.”
“The trainer. I helped him yesterday. He asked me to bring to Chunk one of those students. He was dead.”
What? Who was dead? How? When?
“Let’s go to Chunk right now. I don’t like this. How is it even possible a student is already dead!”
What did he mean by already? Oh, crap. It was worse than I thought. They do not change people here. They murder them.
Sneider and the other guy left the room, and I almost forgot I had to chase them because of the shock. I wanted to cry, but that was not the moment. I had followed them to the elevators. Maybe, I spent much more time thinking than I perceived, since they were already descending when I reached it. The elevator’s display revealed they were headed for level -2. I called for my own lift and pressed the -2 button as soon as its doors opened again.
It was fast; it took me a mere second to get to EIBM’s lowest level.
I found myself in a very dark corridor, all the lights were off as I moved forward. I checked the walls, but I couldn’t spot any light switches. Okay, that was even weirder. Why would they leave an entire floor in that condition?
I moved on; I had already lost them. Not even twenty steps ahead, I came to a brick wall. That didn’t add up at all. Where would they go?
I looked left and right, searched every one of those bricks to come up empty handed. So, I went back; maybe I had missed a specific detail, a lever or something but again nada. I realized I had to stop playing detective and move my ass to our beloved fireplace room. We were having our first test today. Yes, on a Sunday. It didn’t make any sense.
I scrolled through my calendar to realize we would take the test in another room. I followed the instructions on the embedded app in my lenses and arrived within five minutes. It resembled an old-fashioned classroom with two rows of desks in the middle. Were they for real? What was that supposed to mean?
Maria was the first person I saw, the first to make it to class even on that day, waving at me as soon as I walked through the door.
I sat close to her. “I knew you would already be here.”
“Always early, as you already noticed.” She lifted her gaze from her pad and glanced at me “What is going on, Emma?”
“Why? I’m just fine. Maybe a little tense for this test.”
She nodded, her eyes closing slightly. “Yes, you’re stressed because of the test. I’m too, you know?” She chomped loudly on bubble gum.
“I heard this test will be peculiar. Like, we are using paper questionnaires.”
I laughed. I couldn’t recollect the last time I saw something made of paper.
The others entered. I glared at André,, but he looked away.
Tim, instead, popped out of nowhere and sat close to me. “Hi, Emma. Mind if I sit here?”
“Since you already did, even if I said no, it would not make any difference.”
He smirked. “Correct.”
I turned to talk with my friend. “Maria, is it true we’re paper and pencils for this thing here?”
“Yes.”
Charles Sneider burst into the room, making lots of noise. “Good afternoon, everyone. I hope you’re doing fine.” He coughed again, making too much noise.
I realized a proxy was sitting here among us. Someone I was taking the test with was no longer a human being. It gave me goosebumps.
“Today you’ll have the first of three assessment tests. Today’s test will cover both DST and DPT. It’s a multiple-choice questionnaire.” He turned and removed a stack of paper from his pretentious man's bag, which I assumed were our tests. “We’re going down memory lane. You'll take this test on paper, using wooden pencils.”
We looked at each other, commenting on his peculiar statement.
“They’re for real,” I said to Maria.
She gestured with her hands. “Do you even know how to hold a frickin’ pencil? Cause I don’t.”
We giggled as Sneider overwhelmed the room with his thorough explanations. He distributed the tests, moving from one desk to another. “Each of you have one piece of paper. What I’m asking is for you to read each question, read the answers and choose one. Mark the correct one with an X. Use only the pencil I provided.”
This was so fake and ridiculous.
“I’ll be here at my desk, and I won’t leave the room. Talking is prohibited until you have completed the test.” Sneider sat and gave the room a long look. He then donned a pair of haptic lenses and moved his right hand, the one with the haptic ring. “You can start.”
I shot Maria a look, and we smiled at each other. In front of me, Dorothy was the only one wearing headphones. She didn’t want the others bothering her. It took me a moment to realize Sneider would not care if we exchanged a few words about the test. Ahmed and that Abigail girl were reviewing it together, and they sat in front of his desk. That was way more ridiculous than I thought. What kind of exam was it, if we could have done it together?
“Emma, how do I answer question number four?”
Tim, to my left, followed Abigail’s lead and asked for my support.
“What?” I glared at him.
“Give me the answer to question number four. You deaf now?”
It annoyed me. How could he even think I would help him? It was time for a little revenge. I wanted to damage him, and I had found a way.
“Go for letter C.”
His brow furrowed. “You sure, Emma? I thought it was B.”
And he was damn right, but I kept lying. “No, it’s not. I’m sure it’s C.”
He nodded, unconvinced, then wrote something with his pencil. I wasn’t sure he stuck to my wrongful suggestion. “Given that you seem to know this stuff, help me some more.” He tapped his pencil on the paper, as his intentions were not already clear enough.
“Tim. Let’s go through all of them, one by one.”
I was sure he was satisfied with that suggestion.
He nodded multiple times.
I surprised myself with all the lying. I had no idea I could be that good.
At night, I woke up again in that cave. Everything around was smoldering in a dark green shade, exactly as it had the first time. I was fully aware this was a dream. I knew that creature was already somewhere around me. Maybe it was the very same reason I ended up here for the second time. Somehow, it affected my dreams, forcing them to wander those stone corridors again.
Again, I moved forward—attentive, concentrated. I had full control over my actions. I was acquainted with that place, but its unnatural feeling grew with each passing second. I looked all around me; I was sure something hid from my sight but observed every little movement I made.
For the second time, I wandered through the cave in my pajamas. It could not be a random event; there must be a reason for me to be here. I stopped. It stood behind me. I couldn’t see it but I knew somehow. I turned and faced the creature.
“You belong in here, Emma. This is your home,” it said from some point in its monstrous body.
“No. I belong in my bed. Leave me alone!” I turned and ran.
I had not even taken five steps when something tangled around my left ankle, and I stumbled and fell to the cave’s floor. It turned me around, forcing me to face it. It looked like an unsteady black mass. I could not clearly
discern any part of it.
“I said,”—it got closer—“you stay here.”
I clenched my fists, collecting some brittle soil. “This is a dream. I can’t stay in a dream.” I lifted my body and approached my inhuman assaulter.
“This is not a dream. You don’t want to understand.” It revealed what I assumed to be a hand; long scrawny fingers lingered closer to my face.
I tried to crawl back, but its grip tightened on my calf.
“Let me go!”
“You are not ready. You need to learn. This is where you come from. You’ll be back here soon.”
It scratched my face with its claws; it tore my skin, piercing my eyelids. I screamed once more, until my throat hurt.
I woke up and jumped from the bed and ran to the mirror close to the main entrance. My hands searched for the light switch; I had activated the movement-detection system for the night. My face appeared in the reflection. No scars.
It was a dream. I repeated that. It was a dream. I looked closer. Three red lines appeared in the same spots the beast had scratched.
It had hurt me, just not as bad as I would have thought.
The following day, I woke with a very precise goal. I skipped breakfast and all other morning activities. Those thoughts wouldn’t leave my mind alone.
I used the elevators again and went to level -2. It was impossible that the dean and that proxy had disappeared without leaving a trace. I had missed something; there was no other explanation.
Leaving my room while being invisible became exponentially automatic, without me even noticing my fist climbing to my chest.
I approached the left side of the brick wall I had inspected yesterday, and, for the second time, I couldn’t find any secret levers or buttons. Another way should exist; I was positive I was missing something. Being so close to solving that puzzle and being stalled by a wall fostered my increasing frustration. I checked the other wall on the left side; maybe I’d spot something. I only needed to search the right place. That brick surface, like the one I had just finished inspecting, revealed no secrets.
I made sure I investigated while invisible. It was not worth taking any risks; I didn’t want to expose myself to the unnecessary troubles of meeting someone. Another five minutes passed, but nothing emerged.