Heops, Kane, Alan, Anika, Azmo, Adonis, and the Dorgs were slowly walking as if this was their last march towards the enemy. Their lives were very different, and yet they were all together now: their paths have crossed again. Not all of them were convinced that this could lead to success, but there was no room for weakness. They have been through so much, and now was the time to walk this path until the end. Alan was trying to stay focused, but the thoughts were coming and going faster than ever…
” Can a person live without doubting himself? Maybe I should stop and rearrange my thoughts. We can't go on without a plan, but what plan can we have, we don't know where the second facility is. Alberi once told me that we create the people around us to help us communicate with ourselves. What did he meant by the words: “we are living in a sandbox reality.” For him, every person's world is only his: our greatest asset in the path to self—understanding. In case we don't know how to go deep inside ourselves, we have been given a second chance, by allowing us to instantly recreate the inner world in front of our eyes. Most of the time the people don't even realize that… We are caught in our own games; we deceive ourselves and at the end, we give up our own power by looking for solutions outside. How can we expect and wait for something from outside to help us fix something that has been created within ourselves in a first place? Even the help we receive is our own invention. Unfortunately, our abilities have been misguided and we have been manipulated to think that the solutions for our problems are not within us. So wrong. We possess everything we need to balance our own world and to bring peace to it,” thought Alan.
Anika saw his face, but did not say anything. She looked into his eyes and saw the determination and will of Alan to finish the mission and help the people.
CHAPTER 25
Loss
Rapid heartbeats, with every step forward, they were feeling more and more connected to the outcome of this mission. They did not know what happened to Erion and the other Megors who went to help him. No one knew where the second facility was. All they had was the word of a humanoid creature, which appeared in the forest and spoke to Alan. It could all be a lie to make them go back or it might be the last chance to save the people from slavery. The only thing that was keeping them strong was the fact that the Universe was, is, and will always balance itself. When there was nothing else to hold on to, life and existence were their only allies.
Slowly the group was reaching the canalization underneath the “Company'” building. There were sounds of heavy movement above them. Because of the years passed, the tunnel was not stable and any moment it could crash on their heads.
“We need to run. The tunnel might collapse any moment!” Alan shouted.
The ceiling was made of big stones and with every strong hit from above, they were cracking and parts of them started falling on the heads of the running. The soil started falling down too and more and more of the stones were breaking. Everybody was running and jumping over the blocks falling to the ground, dodging the falling pieces as much as they could. The sound above their heads was getting increasingly intense. ” Something strange is happening in the “Company,” thought Alan. The end of the unstable tunnel was close and the canalization's entrance was in front of them. The vibrations from above were very strong, as if there was an earthquake. They were running as fast as they could, when pieces of the ceiling crashed on top of Anika. The ones that were safe turned back and saw a big cloud of dust coming up and soil falling down. The ground was shaking. The group looked quickly at each other realizing that Anika was missing. Alan feared the worst.
“Anika, Anika!” he shouted.
He started running back. Two of the Dorgs followed him when a big part of the ceiling fell in front of them, completely cutting the path to Anika. Alan stopped and just stood there. Bending his body a little forwards, with tears in his eyes and hands in the air, he screamed Anika's name. There was no reply, only the deafening sounds from above and the destruction of the tunnel. Three of them stood there not believing their eyes of what was happening. The whole tunnel started collapsing but Alan was still standing, hoping that he could hear a voice or see a sign from Anika. Pieces from the ceiling were falling around them. Dust was covering his face and shoulders. His eyes were full with tears, his mind locked on that moment. Nothing really mattered to him. It was a projection in a slow motion of an event that he feared the most. The ground was shaking and the visibility was very bad. The two Dorgs grabbed Alan and started pulling him back to the safe passage. He was not willing to go and leave Anika there, but there was no other choice. They managed to drag him to the safe tunnel just in time. He was on the ground, leaning on his right hand, looking at the destruction of the passage. No one was able to say anything and silently accepted the unfortunate event. Alan stood up and slowly started walking forward. Everyone followed him.
CHAPTER 26
Fraction of a Moment
Alan was slowly walking with his head down, examining the passing moments around him. He always thought that he would have the strength to accept any situation in life, to suffer, to connect to any circumstance and find a way out of it. During his life, he met many people who experienced pain. Pain caused by many different things. The pain he thought he knew. Right now, he realized the spectrum of the pain had no limit. The amount of suffering was defined by the degree of attachment on physical as well as on spiritual level of the individual. Pain had many faces, but sometimes a particular face changes, based on the light, which falls on its ever—changing mask. How was he helping others when he was not aware of what they might have been experiencing deep inside their souls? How deep pain can go. How deep one can go accompanied with his suffering within himself. Can human feel secure when not being alone inside himself? Was the suffering a choice, or just an inevitable feeling? He realized that he was so far away from knowing what others feel. To truly understand the pain of someone else, the person must enter the world created by the other person. One must become the inner world, to lose himself, to forget about his own identity. To detach from his own truth, from his understanding of love, kindness and happiness. Then when he is free from his own believes, from his own world, he could truly feel the pain of another being. Alan felt sad not only because he lost a person who was his best friend and amazing individual, but also because he realized that he was unable to really understand another human being.
The soul of a person goes deep, really deep. Sometimes when we try to understand the reason for the pain, we find out, that what we have been trying to understand is ourselves. Why Alan felt that way, why he was unable to help, why his life put him through this experience? Was not he controlling the reality? In fact, how much control did he really have? To answer this question we must analyze what control means for every person on this planet. Are we helpless? Can we ever say that we are in control of a situation? Sometimes Alan felt as if he knew what life was about. He was so sure that it could also be predicted. As if existence was a living creature, which could hear us and communicate with us. Always wanting to show us that we are not in control. We mistakenly think and behave based on what life gives us, not the other way around. Many thoughts are coming and going. They could be felt within one's body, but others just leave their meaning written on the walls of a person's consciousness. Where did Alan make a mistake? All those years, he thought he was doing the right thing for himself and for the rest of the people. Was it really correct? Was this his award? At that moment he understood that an invisible line exists in that reality. He felt separated. He saw himself in a box. It was a box where only he existed. There were other people in the same box, and even if they were seemingly different people, they were in fact representing different parts of him playing their roles, showing him his inner mind in front of his eyes. His interaction was always with himself. His girlfriend, his parents, his friends, everyone in this life was in fact him. Images in constant motion controlled by Alan's thought. And again, he thought that this might be just a little fraction of what th
e truth really was. A big scene where everyone plays their part, based on the living individual who observes that. Was this the truth? Which part of Alan's inner mind Anika represented when she died? Did she die to show him something, to force him go deep inside himself to realize something? If so, that was sad and cruel. Others play their roles even if they had to sacrifice their lives… What he was praying to… was it working? The praying was just a way to allow him to believe, and whatever he believed was becoming his self—fulfilling prophecy. What did he do to cause these events? If everything he thought was true, that made him responsible for Anika's death. That terrified him. These thoughts left him helpless. Was there a spirit with consciousness who oversees everything and is fair to everyone? Were there unwritten laws of the Universe and were they working? As Alan was slowly walking, he placed his left foot forward, and then dragged his right one next to it. He stood there for a second… then slowly lifted his head up and then dropped it down. At that time, he collapsed on his knees and his hands hit the ground. At that very instant a sad singing female voice, very slowly started appearing into his reality, gently wrapping him around with its soft vibration, touching his skin, leaving an invisible trail in the air. Alan's body was humped with his head loosely down. He turned his palms and slowly touched the ground with the tips of his fingers. His hands were shaking. The female’s voice vibration silently faded away and a slow quiet instrumental music took its place, keeping him from completely crashing down into his world. There was no hope in his heart. His face covered with tears, he looked up as if he was expecting help from somewhere. He was angry with whomever or whatever created this holographic game, this role—play, which everyone was playing. He swallowed slowly while blinking, forcing tears to come out and fall on the dusty floor. With every fallen tear the gentle deep singing female voice was coming back, as if trying to hold the falling tears. The vibrational sound of the tear drops hitting the ground could be felt spreading around his body, trapped there between the walls of the tunnel. Knowing that they were a result from an emotional energy, the impact with the ground was closing a circle of a motion and feelings together. The concrete under his knees trembled for a moment. The voice disappeared. Alan was not there. He was flying within his own inner world. Like a free bird speeding through the sky of his emotions, looking from above at the abyss of his feelings below. He was circling like a vulture on its pray not sure what to do. Should he plunge and continue his hunt or just give up his own life by starving. What would it be? His sensory feelings were switched off. While he was in his world, someone grabbed him for his arms, trying to stand him up. Different voices shouting around his ears. He was in his own world. At least no one could come in and destroy anything there, no one could come and play god, and no one could come and change things unless he wanted to. Outside forces were non—existent there. He was alone and that was a relief. Alone, for a fraction of a moment… Suddenly he felt full with strength. He was not ready to give up now. He was not ready to say: “I am weak and I give up.” If there was only one person in his reality, if this person was him, there was no way something outside of him to conduct his life, to give it a direction or to affect his mood. Whatever was influencing his feelings was not real. Nothing was real, only his existence mattered. Whatever comes in his way was going to be his mind's creation and that meant that he could change it, he could play with it and he could modify it as he wanted. There was nothing, which could stand on his way. He felt his position in space, realizing what he was doing and where the others were. He stood right up, making a signal for the rest to let him go. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he said:
“We need to move on,” the rest were not sure what to say or do, so they just kept walking forward with Alan.
CHAPTER 27
Hope
Alan's face was serious, his forehead muscles were tensed, his look was determined. Kane decided to talk to him:
“Alan, are you ok? I am sorry for Anika. We all are.”
“That's ok Kane. We must keep going.” Alan did not want to talk about it. He preferred to keep this topic away. If he was to survive that mission, he was going to do what was needed to honor Anika and her life. Right now, they had to find the second facility and stop the machine producing the frequency lock. They were three levels beneath the command center, from where they could find out where the machine was. Alan was leading the group, followed by Kane, Adonis, Heops, Azmo, and the Dorgs. In the past, the Megors used this passage to escape from this facility, unfortunately not all of them made it. The tension could still be felt in the air and the screams and thoughts of violence were echoing from everywhere. Fragments from the escape, projecting in their imagination, were trying to remind them of the cruel past. There were bullet holes in the walls, dirt. ” It must have been a tough experience for them,” thought Alan. Just ahead, he noticed a ladder leading up.
“I am going first to scout ahead.” He moved up quickly and after a couple of meters, he reached a lid, slowly lifted it up and looked through the little gap. There was no one around. He made a signal for everyone to climb to this level. From there they had to go two levels up to the command center. Kane spotted a staircase, which they used to go up. The doors to the staircases had a thick glass in the middle in the shape of a circle. Heops looked through it and saw the command center. Outside was empty. Alan swiftly opened the door and all moved out, making their way to the main room. They stormed into the center but it was empty. No one was monitoring the facility. There were many screens connected to the security cameras, however they could not see anyone on the monitors. What was happening? Why was there no one?
“There is something wrong. There should be at least someone here…,” Adonis said.
“I find that strange too,” Alan agreed. “Let's see if we can find something in the system about the second facility.” Kane and Adonis started checking the hard disks for clues. They browsed almost everything but there was nothing in there: mostly folders with plans of the building, contracts, different departments but nothing about the facility. At the same time Heops and Alan were looking in the drawers, cupboards, and everywhere else where they could find something relevant. Soon all of them stopped. No one found anything. Alan decided to split up and search the premises.
“It seems we are not looking at the right place. Let us split up in three groups and try to find more information about this second facility. We must leave one of the Dorgs here in case he sees something on the cameras.”
Alan, Kane, and one Dorg started their search on the ground level. The other groups headed to the rest of the buildings. Alan's group quickly went down the stairs and started the search. The facility was huge. ” It would take time,” thought Kane. The Dorg called them both and pointed at the ground. The concrete floor was cracked on some places and it looked as if something very heavy was hitting the ground. Then they realized that this was the cause the tunnel to collapse on their heads. They felt the past for a moment and continued their search. Alan heard a voice coming from his radio. It was the Dorg from the command center, asking them to come up. Alan did not ask what the reason was. He felt it was important. When the three of them went up, the Dorg pointed at one of the screens. What was on the monitor made Alan froze. He moved his head forward and half—closed his eyes in disbelief. Could that be possible? They all looked at each other and looked back at the screen without saying a word.
“Ok, we need to find where this place is and go there immediately,” Alan, said.
“This might be a trap Alan. I would advise against it until we are sure that it's safe,” Kane was worried.
“Yes, I am sure.” This time the Dorg stepped up and said in their language:
“Alan, I admire your courage, but this is playing with your head. We need to be absolutely sure that it is safe. Let's call the others and discuss it.” Alan noticed that on the top right corner of the screen, with little letters was written G5. ” That must be a sector somewhere in this facility,” he thought.
He checked the plan of the facility and found what he needed. There were four buildings named with a different letter and number. G5 was on the far end. Which room, he did not know. That was what he was going to find out.
“I am going to this place now.”
“Alan, wait! We haven't said that we do not want to go, just give us some time to think and to gather all here,” Kane expressed his concern.
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