Klementina smiled and stared at him knowingly. “If it makes you feel any better, most people look at me like you are right now when I tell them what’s coming. They don’t believe me of course, not at first anyway, no more than you do right now, and I completely understand. I’ve seen it time and time again. Wanting to be a part of something special is intoxicating when it means finding a sense of purpose, and adopting a family that is willing to die for you is a powerful desire when true love and respect is so often stripped down to a power play, and so it can be easy to move into the arms of the Hallucigenia Project thinking our philosophy will be understandable enough. The destruction of the world as we know it though, tends to jolt new family member’s confidence in what they thought they knew, but it doesn’t shake the desire in their hearts to walk through the fires of destiny.”
Hoping her point was made Klementina fell silent and waited expectantly. And then it happened. Out of nowhere and with nothing John could do to stop it he exploded into laughter with enough force that his head shot back and chair rattled on the concrete. It was as if all the nervous tension that he’d been carrying ever since his world had turned upside down behind a hot bullet could no longer be detained, and so he laughed until his eyes began to tear. And it felt good.
“I’m sorry,” he managed while catching his breath. “It’s just… everything that’s happened since I’ve landed in this country is total madness. I couldn’t invent a story like this if I tried.”
After a second or two Klementina was unable to hold back her own laughter as the insanity of the moment was laid bare. “You’re right,” she said, “it is madness, and sometimes laughing in the face of the apocalypse is a good thing.”
“I thought I’d seen it all.” John wiped away the tears of laughter and steadied his voice. “I’ve pulled lifeless families from mangled car wrecks and been bitten by a meth junkie who thought she was a vampire after a week long binge, I’ve seen a little old lady rob a bank with a shotgun and cause a high speed pursuit and a politician that poisoned all the dogs on his street because he didn’t like the barking, and somewhere amongst it all I’ve been shot three times.” The post laughter smile on his face began to fade. “I’ve seen what monsters do to little kids once they’ve snatched them from their walk to school, and have held their mothers when they collapsed after identifying the bodies. I’ve seen people broken in ways you couldn’t imagine, mentally and physically, and have slapped cuffs on just about every sorry excuse for a human that’s out there. But this here tonight? This takes the cake.”
“So you don’t believe us?” Rebecca asked cautiously.
“Actually,” John replied, “as much as I hate to admit it I can’t help thinking you believe what you’re telling me, even if it is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“The end of the world is just the beginning,” Klementina declared, “but as the old saying goes, one thing at a time.”
“Are you telling me there’s more?” John asked.
“Oh yes there’s more,” she confirmed. “For now though it’s important we focus on immediate needs, and then we can dive into the how’s and why’s.”
“Seriously,” John said, “no more riddles, please.”
“No riddles, just revelation,” Klementina answered as she retrieved a small metallic box from the drawer by her hip, placing it delicately in the centre of the desk. “This should help make things a little clearer.”
With a single finger she tapped at a small display screen located on the edge of the disc, and the revelation became light as a holographic image of the solar system began to float above the desk. A dazzling golden sun shimmered at eye level as accelerated planets followed silent orbits that skimmed the edge of John’s nose.
Rebecca brought her feet to the ground and leaned against the edge of the desk with her arms. “As you probably know, space is pretty much one big vacuum, and that means things can move pretty bloody fast. It’s all relative of course and doesn’t really mean much until there’s a point of reference to bring energy into play.” She raised her right hand but kept her eyes on the spinning planets. “Let’s say you and I are sitting on a train travelling a couple of hundred miles an hour and you say something to piss me off, so I slap you. It might sting a little, but nothing too dramatic. If you were standing outside by the tracks though, and I reached through the window and slapped you as the train passed by, the impact will probably do a lot more than just sting, and that goes for the both of us. Relatively speaking, my hand would become a bone crunching hammer. Our little blue planet, you could say, is standing on the edge of the tracks, only this time the train is going to come flying off.”
She pointed at the hologram where, on the very edge of the smoky projection, two glowing red balls with a wispy tail of smaller dots made an appearance, slowly floating along a path by the small and slightly blue planet Neptune.
“What you’re looking at are dragon eyes,” she explained, “two very fucking big asteroids that have been hurtling through the vacuum of space since the dawn of the universe. The tail you can see is made up of hundreds of smaller rock and ice formations that have always stuck close to momma.” The dragon eyes weaved and curled past Uranus, then through Saturn’s line of orbit. “Right here is usually where things come to an end for unexpected guests, because our dear friend Jupiter tends to puff out her chest and draw them in with her gravity, happy to take the shock for us like the big sister she is. Every few hundred thousand years though the visitors don’t hear her call, and that’s a problem.”
“You mean like what happened with the dinosaurs?” John asked.
“Nobody knows for sure, but it’s a pretty safe bet.” Now the dragon eyes were sliding past Mars and on a curved line straight to the green and blue Earth. “But that was then and this is now, and impact is a certainty.”
“We don’t know the hour,” Klementina added, “because we need to confirm speeds and angles of execution, but we should have that data within the next seventy two hours. Initial projections predict the two main impacts in the Atlantic Ocean and the area west of China. As for the tail, that’s going to come down to what makes it through the atmosphere, and it’s going to mean hot balls of destruction all over the place.”
John watched transfixed as the two glowing balls and glitter like tail crashed into the holographic Earth, creating a large red sphere that quickly expanded and engulfed the projection. A second later it was all gone, replaced with the cool green ambience of the overhead lights.
“If what you’re showing me is true,” he managed with a dry mouth, “why isn’t the world in a big panic? I mean, I would’ve thought something like this would be all over the news with people losing their fucking minds.”
“You’re right,” Klementina answered, “the world will lose its fucking mind if it knew what was about to happen, but right now it doesn’t know. As far as we can tell this knowledge is spread between the Hallucigenia Project, a handful of departments in the United States government including the military, and most likely some research labs here and in Europe.”
“Here’s the problem,” Rebecca offered. “This isn’t like a big storm that we can bunker down and prepare for, this is as close to the apocalypse as you’re going to get. Now I can assure you that the government has no intention of letting the public know our species is about to face the ultimate test, and while you might think the right thing to do then is for us to run around with signs warning about the possible end of the world the reality is it wouldn’t do any good. Who’s going to believe us? Hell, you’re probably still thinking we’ve lost our fucking minds. And if by some miracle the message does get out there and people grasp what’s about to happen, absolute and total chaos will take over, and that will make our mission even harder than it already is.”
“Mission?” John asked with raised eyebrows.
“I prefer the term destiny,” Klementina stated, “and our destiny is to carry the torch of consciousness across an abyss of destructi
on and heartache and make sure the human race has the chance to continue exploring space and time.”
“That doesn’t exactly explain anything,” John declared with a hint of annoyance.
“That’s because nothing about this is simple, but I’ll try to make it a little easier.” She reached down and tapped the screen on the edge of the disc once again, and this time a double helix spiral arose above the desk, slowly and silently rotating in a clockwise direction with a rainbow like display of colours. “You’ll be given the opportunity to dive into the rabbit hole of discovery real soon, I promise, but for now I’ll give you the condensed version. Do you know what we’re looking at?”
John recognized the ladder like structure from his days at school and from the crash course in forensics he’d taken in his early cop days.
“It’s a DNA structure,” he said confidently.
“Correct,” Klementina replied. “Absolutely beautiful isn’t it?”
“I guess so, at least for a bunch of molecules anyway.”
“Well I think it’s beautiful.” She took a moment to admire the intricacies of the structure with a tilt of her head. “One hundred years before the first moon landing, eighteen sixty nine, is when we first discovered DNA, but it wasn’t until nineteen forty three that we understood it to carry the genetic information that makes us who we are. As far as being nothing but a bunch of molecules, do you know that if you unwrapped all the chains those same molecules would stretch to the sun and back six hundred times? Or another way of trying to put things in perspective is to know that just one gram of DNA holds seven hundred terabytes of data, meaning two grams of the stuff would be enough to hold all of the digital information on the planet. Pretty amazing if you ask me.”
“Not gonna lie,” John smiled, “that’s pretty fucking impressive.”
“Yeah it is, but things get even more interesting. You see, there’s a code within the code, a set of binary instructions that’s been coursing through our blood since our inception, and it would’ve remained hidden if it wasn’t for the genius of one man who had a series of strange dreams telling him to search deeper into the gene sequences. Those dreams, you see, became so vivid and relentless he dived into a whole new avenue of research, culminating in a week of no sleep and a soul shaking realization that hidden within our genome sequence were binary instructions.”
John shook his head with humorous frustration. “I never said I was the sharpest tool in the shed and I know a little about DNA, but I don’t know what the hell you mean with this talk about binary instructions.”
Klementina smiled to let John know she understood his confusion, and then peered across the table at Rebecca. “Would you like to help him out?”
“Of course,” Rebecca replied with a confidence in her voice as she returned her attention to John. “Here’s the thing. The human genome sequence is the be all and end all instruction manual for building our flesh and blood machines, and as far as information goes if we ever wanted to try to replicate the data digitally we’d be looking at a starting point of five hundred million lines of code, give or take. To try to simulate a human mind, even on a very basic level, is probably going to take at least a hundred terabytes. Either way you look at it, DNA holds an unfathomable amount of information and biological potential, but it turns out the information we carry around with us coiled up in cells isn’t just designed for organics. Hidden deep inside the sequence is a special set of binary commands very different to the others. To put it simply, it’s computer code.”
“Say that again?” John asked with obvious shock.
“It’s a computer code, a sequence of ones and zeros that correspond to a particular language ready to be accepted by digital processors. The man with the dreams, a doctor with the kind of knowledge and skills we’ll probably never come close to, discovered a way to input the code.” Rebecca was obviously growing more excited by the second as she began pacing back and forth and moving her fingers up and down as though trying to catch wisps of smoke. “And then there it was right on the screen, a message warning us of the incoming asteroids including their orbit lines and approximate time of arrival. Of course, it wasn’t a day or date in the sense of how we measure future time, after all our calendar begins at a random point in time, but instead a measurement based on the cycle of the moon and the current orbit positions of the planets. But that wasn’t all. The message was just the beginning. The binary code also produced a detailed set of instructions with what I guess you could call a user guide.”
“Instructions for what?” John asked, head reeling and desperately trying to make sense of everything he was hearing.
“Actually,” Klementina interrupted, “all things considered that’s more than enough information for now. I imagine things are already pretty hard to wrap your head around, and we still have a tour to show you. That is, unless after hearing what we’ve had to say you want to turn this all into some strange dream that you’ll barely remember when you wake in the morning, something we can arrange if you really want.”
John looked down at his knees, thoughts shooting in all directions and not a damned one of them offering any logic or sense. You’re sitting in the middle of a fucking end of world cult wanting to cash in on insanity and fear, his inner voice yelled. And maybe there was some truth to it, and sure as shit things had stopped making sense the second he waved goodbye to Vanessa, yet there was another inner voice slowly rising up to the surface. Insane people aren’t usually this damn smart and sure as hell aren’t this calm when they’re spinning webs made of fantasies and lies, so what if even a snippet of their story is true?
He began to bite the edge of his lip as strange bubbles of twisted logic lifted through the murky waters of his consciousness. It was definitely strange and maybe more than a coincidence that the divorce papers arrived just before he was leaving the country, and no doubt if Felicity was determined to take the house her job would be a whole lot easier if he wasn’t there to stop the ball from rolling. Maybe Sebastian really was trying to kill two birds with one stone. Considering the little notice John had been given for the job, it made sense.
Then there was the strange visit from the FBI. Bad enough that Sebastian had put his name out there, hell maybe it was an opportunity to buy more time, but whatever it was they thought Doctor Hendrix knew was obviously pretty fucking important. His mouth froze midway through another bite at his lip as the penny threatened to drop. Holy shit, he suddenly thought, could Hendrix be this man they’re talking about with the strange dreams? If that was the case then the insane story might hold some truth, which meant the insanity might not be something to dismiss with a wave of his hand. And to top it all off, what about the guys he’d spotted at breakfast before having to shake them in the traffic? As much as he didn’t want to admit it, and as much as he was tempted to laugh at the whole fucking mess and jump back on a plane with his best friend, he was now curious enough to strap in for the ride.
“I’m trying to think of something clever to say,” he finally announced while lifting his eyes back up from his knees, “but I’m all outta ideas for the moment.”
“Then just say you’re ready to be a part of our family,” Klementina replied.
“Okay,” John surprised himself by saying. “Before we get ahead of ourselves though, there’s a couple of conditions that need to be put on the table.”
“Of course.”
“Firstly, the very minute I find out any of this is bullshit, I’m out. No deep and meaningful conversations, no explanations sprinkled with puzzles and promises, I won’t even worry about sending you a postcard once I get home.”
“We’ve got no reason to lie to you John,” Klementina assured him. “From this point on, even if the truth comes with thorns sharp enough to slice you open you won’t receive anything less. You’re family. So, what’s the next condition?”
“Well, you need to understand that I’m actually part of a package, a partnership you might say, so if you want me on board
you’ll have to be comfortable with that, because it’s a partnership that won’t be broken.”
Surprised at the sudden confession, Klementina raised her eyebrows and leaned forward. “I don’t suppose you could elaborate on that point a little further?”
“Sure. Bobbie is his name, and he’s stuck by me through thick and thin. To most people he’s just a cat, but to me he’s the reason I can keep trudging through all the shit that seems to flow my way, and where I go he goes.”
“Are you telling me your cat travelled with you all the way from Australia?” she asked with genuine surprise.
“He’s waiting for me back at the hotel as we speak.”
Now it was Klementina’s turn to burst into laughter, her head rolling back and hands slamming down on the desk. “I wasn’t expecting that I can assure you, but you don’t have to worry because I’d never break up a partnership like that. Let it be known here and now, Bobbie is welcomed into our family with opened arms.”
“Now that my conditions are on the table I’ve gotta ask, if the world is about to be shattered by a couple of dragon eyes, what’s the point of the Hallucigenia Project if all the technology in the world doesn’t have a hope in stopping them?”
“No,” Rebecca quickly responded, “they can’t be stopped even if we aimed every single nuclear weapon on the planet right for their rocky hearts. The Hallucigenia Project isn’t about stopping them, it’s about preparing for the aftermath so that we can fulfil the destiny that’s been assigned to us. We’ve been given a very special mission and need to do everything we can to make sure we have even the slimmest chance of succeeding and, before you ask, this mission I’m talking about will become clear soon enough.”
“Okay,” John said loudly, “some guy who’s a doctor had a bunch of strange dreams that made him look deep down into human DNA, and somehow deep inside the genetic coding he found a second sequence that was binary in structure. Have I got things right so far? Then he somehow inputs the binary information he found into a computer and up pops a message warning about a couple of big fucking asteroids heading our way, as well as set of some sort of instructions that I can’t know about just yet. There’s no way to prevent the impact and this family, the Hallucigenia Project, has been given an important mission to carry out once things turn to shit, only I can’t know what that is yet either. We’re sitting here in an underground bunker and you’ve known I was here for from the moment I left the plane. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that’s a pretty accurate observation so far.”
The Hallucigenia Project Page 32