The Hallucigenia Project

by Darren Kasenkow

  Besides the fact there was nothing at all to be gained from lying, he was visibly defeated and beyond fighting. A death sentence from the darker side of nature was horrible enough, but she could imagine being found guilty of killing a mother and her children by proxy wasn’t much better. Does any of it really matter anymore though, she had to wonder? A death sentence had possibly just been issued to millions of innocent lives, so what did justice have to do with anything?

  Nothing. Just like justice had nothing to do with the fact that she’d finally found someone who ignited a passion inside her that she was certain either never existed or would never be brought to life, and now total destruction was around the corner.

  But we know what’s coming, and maybe there’s the chance to find somewhere safe. Maybe we can survive and show the universe that some things shouldn’t be broken…

  Candice snapped back into the moment and stepped to the stainless steel table pushed against the wall. She placed her hand on top of a polished chrome box and lifted the lid slowly, and with the device in hand she crouched before Shane.

  “For experimental reasons I can’t tell you what to expect when we connect this thing, but I want you to know there’s nothing that can harm you physically okay? Once we’ve hooked you up all you need to do is sat back and tell me if anything happens.”

  “Like what?” Shane asked with obvious trepidation.

  “Well, that’s what we’re here to find out.”

  “You sure it won’t hurt?”

  “It shouldn’t.”

  “Has anyone else put this thing on?”

  “I’m sorry Shane but I can’t answer that. Look at it this way, the sooner we get this over with, the sooner you get to go home.”

  A quick check ensured the processors were up and running, so she tore open some fresh alcohol swabs and gently wiped the sweat and grime from Shane’s forehead. He winced slightly when contact was made with some of his open sores, but was otherwise frozen in the chair.

  The device lay balanced on the tip of her fingers. All things considered there wasn’t much to it. A thin strip of curved metal that was designed to fit over the head with two branching nodes at either end with a third strip that ran down the back of the head, this one with a small box jammed with microscopic circuitry.

  As far as the logistics were concerned, Candice had no idea of what made it tick. Sure she had seen the schematics and she had a slight grasp of the designed ability to read electronic and magnetic fields, but beyond that it was totally mysterious. When she had grilled one of the technicians that were involved with the build, he had explained that while the device was basically driven by chip processors they had no idea how it communicated with the program. How had he described it? Like building a fancy radio to understand the meaning of a song.

  She placed it upon Shane’s head and gently adjusted the nodes so that the pressure was balanced. Satisfied with the positioning, she prepared to make her way to the other side of the glass for the observation. He could sense her readiness to leave.

  “You’re not going to leave me here alone are you?” he asked with a child like voice.

  “I’ll just be in the next room over.”

  “Doc please, stay here with me? I don’t mind sayin’ I’m pretty scared right now.”

  Candice peered down at his wafer like arms and inanimate legs and figured there wasn’t too much to worry about safety wise. Chances are he’d probably pass out just from yelling, let alone trying to hurt her. Then again, she knew the real risk was Shane possibly hurting himself.

  “Okay,” she said quietly, “if you’d rather not be alone I’ll stay.”

  “I don’t wanna be alone.”

  Candice sat back down and rested a clipboard across her knee. “Okay,” she said, “it’s time to close your eyes and relax. I’ll be right here.”

  He closed his eyes and for a moment the only sound was the soft blow of oxygen gushing from the tube, followed by the whirring sound from the towers on the desk as Candice removed the pen from her pocket to record the time. Her heart quickened with anticipation when the device tightened ever so slightly on its own accord, a sign she knew well, a sign that it was working.

  Shane jerked slightly, muttered something under his breath, and then was still. The hum of the fans that cooled the processors grew louder as the heat began to rise. The stark white light of the room bore down and left only the tiniest of shadows to spill across the tiled floor. Cautiously, silently, Candice reached out with the edge of her pen and tapped the inside of Shane’s exposed wrist. The edge of his lip twitched slightly, but otherwise there was no response. His eyes remained closed and the soft whistle of the oxygen continued.

  The seconds were long and the minutes longer, but even deep below the city they passed. From her position in the chair Candice was able to flick her eyes between her subject and the three monitors positioned on the table, though for the moment she was only interested in one of them. It displayed heart rate, body temperature and neural location activity, and from the indicators fanning across the screen his blood was pumping normally given his condition, his skin was warm but not hot, and his brain was exploding.

  The neural activity had jumped with all of her subjects, but never this much. Judging by the levels she was seeing Candice wouldn’t have been surprised if he jumped up out of the wheelchair and started to dance around the room. The fact that he didn’t was probably due to temporary muscle paralysis, a quirk of the body she was more than familiar with. How many nights as a child had she lay there on the cusp of the void between wake and sleep, terror clawing at her insides until all she wanted to do was scream with every ounce of breath and tear the suffocating blankets away, only for the torment to leave her frozen and unable to move like a ragdoll pinned to the mattress? Then, with a sickening explosion of electricity, her eyes would shoot open and body would thrash back to life as though she had bounced upon the floor of a dark well after a long, long fall.

  The motionless moments of terror still made an appearance every now and then, at least on those nights she made it to her bed. Now of course she knew the physiological and neurological underpinnings of the peculiar sleep behaviour, but that didn’t make the experience any less jarring when it happened. As for her subject, there was little doubt something was happening, but for the moment it was impossible to tell if it was something pleasant… or something not so pleasant.

  The lab was being recorded by six cameras built into the walls but she still liked to jot down notes the old fashioned way. Anyone looking over her shoulder would be forgiven for not understanding any of the scribbling, but then again the notes weren’t for anybody else. She had developed her own symbols and shorthand, and found them useful to record little things that digital devices might miss, things like nervous energy or emotional shifts. Part of her job was to feel what was happening, and that was something electronics didn’t know much about.

  The pen was frantic across the page as she noted the sense of resignation that Shane had displayed just moments before jacking in. Maybe, she thought, this time they wouldn’t need a hazmat team, and if the tiles weren’t smeared red she wouldn’t have a problem considering it a success.

  The lights overhead flickered and the monitors exploded. Candice jumped in her seat as shards of glass flew across the room and bounced along the floor followed by thin whispers of smoke that seeped from exposed wiring. She looked up to the detectors and hoped they wouldn’t be set off, then quickly looked back to Shane. He hadn’t moved a muscle.

  The smell of molten plastic pierced the air. On her feet and fanning her hands in an attempt to disperse the smoke, she could only guess at what had caused the surge. The odds that it was just an electrical malfunction were pretty low, but more worrying was what might be happening to her subject.

  With blood rushing her temples she stepped over the glass and brought her face close. His eyelids were closed but she could see movement behind the skin. Ever so cautiously she reached down a
nd placed a finger against his neck and was grateful to find the pulse was still somewhat consistent.

  Overhead the lights flickered again and then the room was thrown into darkness. Candice edged back and held her breath. What the hell was happening? Somewhere in the distance she could hear an alarm beginning to sound, possibly on the next level up, and now there was frantic thumping against the door. The skin along the back of her neck became icy cold as igniting red of the emergency lighting sent a flame like hue across the floor. Shane still seemed oblivious to what was happening so she jumped past the wheelchair to the door.

  The security monitors were blank and the scanner unresponsive. The banging on the door was becoming more urgent.

  “I’m okay,” she called out, “but I can’t open this thing from my end.”

  “Say again,” a muffled voice responded.

  “I said I’m okay!” Candice yelled.

  “Copy that. Now I need you to listen carefully. The security system is locked down and won’t accept the override code, so right now this door isn’t opening. A team’s already on the way to get you out, so you need to stay by the far wall and make yourself safe. You read all that?”

  “Yeah I heard,” Candice replied with obvious frustration.

  “Good. This will all be fixed soon, and until then we’ll be right here.”

  A lot of fucking good that does me, she thought as she leaned her head against the metal door and cursed the decision to leave the hotel room. Then, just as she was sure things couldn’t get any worse, a hissing noise like a pit of snakes broke through the air to announce the awakening of the sprinkler system. Warm metallic smelling water began to fall, soaking her hair and shirt and splashing down onto the tiles. All she could do was shake her head and conclude that a shower was overdue anyway.

  She stared one more time at the blank security screen, turned back to the room and flung her hand to her mouth with a start. On her left, glowing red rain sent glittering reflections to dance along the one way mirror, but the strange coloured spectacle wasn’t what vied for her attention and brought her eyes wide and mouth open. No, it was the fact that Shane was standing tall against the far wall.

  No longer bound by the wheelchair and free of the oxygen tube, he suddenly looked a lot bigger than when he had first entered the room. Sure he was still little more than skin on bones, but with his shoulders held back, head held high and arms outstretched palms up beneath the red lights and falling water, his presence was every bit daunting.

  Candice didn’t move, letting the warm water trickle down her face and slide down her chest as she stared at her now very awake subject, the device discarded on the floor by his feet.

  “Shane,” she said slowly, “there’s been a problem but it should be over in a minute.” Brilliant blue sparks popped from the computer towers on the steel table and then crackled and hissed. “I think it would be better if you sit back down.”

  He peered back at her with a broken curiosity and slowly licked at the water trickling along the edge of his lip that, thanks to the lighting, could have been blood. His head slowly shifted to an awkward angle and his sunken eyes were unblinking in their gaze.

  “I saw… an angel,” Shane drawled in tone much deeper than before.

  Candice felt a shiver as water dripped down her back and watched his hands carefully. They hadn’t moved, palms still pointing up as though ready to catch something. When she had given her statement from the hospital bed the night she had collected her scars, the detective at the time had said something that she’d never forgotten. It was a random comment, but had stuck with her since. It’s instinct to look into someone’s eyes, he’d said, but you’re better to watch the hands. The eyes? As nasty as they get, they can’t hurt you. The hands are a different story.

  So she nodded to show she had heard him but kept her eyes on his hands.

  “I’d really feel better if you got back into your chair,” she tried.

  “She knew who I was,” he continued from the far wall. “She understands the pain I live with, and knows I would never hurt anyone.”

  “What did the angel look like Shane?”

  A soft, subtle smile quivered across his lips. “A sunset breaking through a storm. My mother’s eyes when she thinks I’m sleeping. A childhood dream, safe and warm and forever.”

  “Did the angel have a face?” Candice asked again with growing curiosity.

  Shane scowled with confusion and frustration, as though the question was ridiculous. “The face of an angel? No, there isn’t any flesh or blood… or skin. When she embraces you it holds all that you’ve ever known or felt. She shines a light on every desire you’ve ever had and whispers every dream you’ve dared. She knows your desires.” His unsettling smile returned. “Her name is Talitha, and she holds the keys to the stars.”

  “That sounds like a nice name,” she said soothingly while taking a cautious step forward in the deep red. “Do you know where she comes from?”

  “Talitha knows who you are,” he continued, ignoring the question. “She knows the burden that’s about to weigh you down and has a message.”

  Another series of thumps rocked the door but for the moment Candice ignored them. She was scared, no doubt about it, but she was also now very interested in what Shane had to say. Risking another step closer, she looked up from his hands to his eyes as he continued.

  “The stars are calling out for you and Talitha can show the way. It’s too late for me, but that’s okay. Even the stars have to sleep eventually, and that’s where I’ll be.”

  “Do you know where we are right now Shane?”

  “Sure I do Doctor Garland. I’m in a special hospital to help you so I can go home. Things have changed though. I know I’m forgiven.”

  “It’s important you tell me where you went, and who forgave you.”

  “Don’t you want to know the rest of the message?” he asked with concern. “It’s important. You deserve to know.”

  Candice was close enough now that she could reach out and touch him, and it was quickly obvious that he seemed more scared than she was. The nerves in his neck began to twitch again and he bowed his head slightly in an attempt to avoid her gaze.

  “Of course I want to know,” she admitted.

  “Please…” he said, extending his hands out further.

  Someone was yelling beyond the door but all of her attention was on Shane’s hands. Did he want to hurt her, or did he want something else? On a primal level her body wanted to retreat back to the other side of the room, but there was something about his face, something in his eyes that was tired and spent and carried no hint of threat. Standing there dripping wet and thin bones beginning to shiver, he seemed like a scared little boy.

  “Please,” he repeated in a whisper, “I want to tell you.”

  Candice knew she had stumbled upon a dangerous fork in the road. Retreat and he might shut down and leave all that he had seen unknown. Move forward and things could become a whole lot worse than they already were.

  She looked back down at his open palms and felt the muscles in her chest tighten. Was the message a broken remnant of a hallucination or was it something else? As the water continued to rain down she came to the conclusion it didn’t matter. She was a scientist with the responsibility to find out what the device did and risk was always going to be part of the equation, even if that risk meant the chance of awakening a nightmare.

  The time had come to step over the edge of the cliff. Heart in mouth and mind silently screaming not to do it, she reached out and placed her hands in his. The skin was surprisingly warm to the touch with soft fingers that gripped so delicately, and again she could smell the promise of death seeping from his body.

  He leaned forward so that his lips were by her ear. She couldn’t help but start to tremble, the metallic taste in her mouth even stronger now.

  “I’m listening,” she said.

  “You don’t belong here,” Shane whispered. “The key to the stars is waiting
for you somewhere else. Talitha is waiting for you.”

  “Then tell me where this key is.”

  “I can’t remember the last time anyone touched me when they didn’t have to,” he reflected. “I want to thank you.”

  “The key Shane, I want to know.”

  “There’s a man. Talitha says you know who he is. She wants you to…”

  A crashing sound of tearing metal shook the room. Candice shot a look back over her shoulder to see white light streaming in through the opened door and the silhouette of a security guard standing tall. A red laser beam swept out from the weapon levelled at his shoulder and flashed across her eyes.

  “No!” she screamed with the sickening knowledge of what the red dot meant.

  “Head down,” the guard yelled back frantically, “initiating contact!”

  A deafening crack triggered a ringing in her ears followed by the sound of splintering concrete. Shane’s hands squeezed down onto hers and then slowly released their grip, and she turned to see his eyes wide with surprise. Rain from the ceiling struggled to wash away the blood beginning to gush from the fresh, burning hole in his temple. He dropped to his knees and fell back against the wall.

  “Stay back,” Candice called over her shoulder in a voice clear that she meant it.

  The bottom of Shane’s jaw was beginning to shake but there was still a fading sign of life. He blinked twice and looked up at Candice.

  “I’m sorry,” she barely stammered.

  “They will be…” he struggled through blood stained teeth, and then the faint sign of life was gone as his head slumped forward and began to drip down onto the water soaked floor.

  Echoing footsteps from heavy boots rushed up from behind. Hands grabbed under her shoulders and lifted her to her feet. With her vision still locked on her subject she couldn’t see the weapon, but sure as hell could smell the burning discharge that still crept from the chamber.