The Hallucigenia Project

by Darren Kasenkow

  Almost as soon as he left the sun lit kitchen the mirror slid closed with a rumble and the sudden absence of sound felt like unseen hands had just covered his ears. The floor was aged timber and, along the rock and earth walls, he could see an endless array of Egyptian symbols that had been spray painted with a glossy silver that fought through the red hue like strange metallic snakes looking to strike. As the slope descended down towards a soft white light the air was cool enough that his skin began to pull tight, sending a slow shiver to ripple across his body.

  “I’m guessing this pushed the price of the property up,” he said while keeping in step.

  Klementina paused to let him catch up. “It needed a bit of work when we got here I can promise you, but for what we need it’s perfect.” She was about to keep walking when a sudden jolt of concern stole the expression from her face and her hand shot up to her chest. A second later and the concern dissolved away. “I can’t say I’m in love with the walls though.”

  “Are you okay?” John asked, ignoring the light hearted comment.

  “Sure, it’s just a little tender where the bullet went in.”

  They continued on, moving closer and closer to the soft white light at the end as the quiet ambience began to break with the new sound of hushed voices. When they reached the bottom of the sloping floor and stepped out of the red light, John found a room the size of a large garage. Cracked leather sofas had been pushed against the walls, with a lamp in each corner giving things a soft edge and sending long shadows across the floor. On the far side he spotted Aaron sitting beside Vanessa with hands resting on her shoulders. As they looked over with a silent hello he could see by the red of her eyes that Vanessa had been crying.

  “How are things upstairs?” Aaron asked while getting to his feet.

  “Heaven’s above aside, we seem to be doing okay for the moment,” Klementina replied.

  “So I’ve checked pressure readings and movement sensors already and the numbers were clean. Nobody’s been in there since it was sealed.” He pointed a finger up to the low hanging ceiling. “I’ve got the feeling we might need to shift the schedule forward a little though.”

  “Talitha is settling in as we speak so let’s hope we can get a better idea of things.”

  John walked across the dirt coated timber floor to Vanessa. “I’d ask if everything’s alright but it’s kind of a pathetic question.”

  “I’m okay,” she said with a wipe of her eyes. “Just a hell of a day to wrap my head around you know?”

  “I’m sorry,” John said with growing guilt, “I shouldn’t have…”

  “Don’t you dare say sorry. It may be all kinds of fucked up and maybe I can’t make heads or tails of anything, but right here, right in this moment, I can see that it was meant to be. Us meeting like we did, and now the things Aaron told me, I know it sounds crazy and all but I feel like I’ve found a sense of purpose that was never in my life until today.” Her familiar smile began to shine through and was as inspiring as the first time he had experienced it. “So don’t say sorry okay? Just say I’m still your driver.”

  “Vanessa, without a fucking doubt you’re still my driver.”

  Movement caught the corner of his eye and he turned to see Klementina casually waving him over. “I’ve got something to show you,” she said.

  He wasn’t sure he had much room left for surprises but shuffled across the floor knowing he was about to get another one regardless, joining her to stand before a large circular door that he had spotted when they first entered the room. There were two levers jutting out and a small familiar panel that came to life with a wash of green light as she placed her hand upon the glass. The hissing sound of compressed air blasting free reverberated along the steel frame. Then, after pulling down the levers, she used both hands to push the door in.

  It was another tunnel, only this one stretched far into the distance with a shiny concrete floor and what looked like a golf buggy with a small trailer ready to journey to an unseen destination.

  “This will take us to the launch locations when the dragon eyes open wide. It’s deep enough underground to withstand any surface issues, at least we hope it is.”

  “But you’ve got the other bunker…” John began.

  “That’s for logistics,” Klementina explained. “This house will be destroyed once the shit show comes to town so this tunnel is strictly a one way trip. There’s a primary launch position and secondary location a couple of miles further, but the tunnel only reaches the primary so if it fails on us we’re going to have a serious headache to deal with.”

  John gazed into the distance while he tried to wrap his head around everything. “I get the end of the world stuff but it all seems so crazy to just launch a satellite.”

  Klementina raised her eyebrows in surprise. “John, we’re not launching a satellite. We’re launching Talitha.”

  “Say again?”

  “There’s a new dawn ready to burn bright through the upcoming destruction and its chaperone will be in orbit waiting for Talitha. No matter what, we need to get her up there and this tunnel will help make it happen.” She waved a hand overhead. “Half the houses on this street are filled with Abyss Jumpers and they’re here for one primary reason, to make sure the government doesn’t fuck things up. Each and every one of them is ready to die to make sure that, when the time comes, our little girl can get to the launch location. Once the dust has settled and humans begin to rebuild, it will be under the banner of a new understanding of our place in the universe. The writer’s of history were wrong. The dark ages still wrap us in her blankets but soon consciousness will go through a true shift, and when it happens you’ll know you helped to bring it in.”

  John gazed down the long tunnel into the darkness, with thoughts that didn’t make sense struggling to cling to one another. Fresh memories of Candice snuggled across his chest mixed with visions of the sky catching fire, while in the background he tried to imagine how the hell they were planning to launch a wheelchair bound girl into space. “I think I have to make peace with the fact that none of this makes any sense.”

  “If that’s the case,” Klementina said, “it’s time we head back up to see what sits at the heart of the Hallucigenia Project.”

  Aaron brought his hands together with a sharp crack. “I’ll arrange a vehicle for Vanessa so they can get things sorted back in the city then run a check on the access to the bunker, ‘cause after the shit that just erupted out there the sooner we load the buses and lock down the better.”

  “Are you gonna be okay?” John asked the newest member of the family.

  “Don’t you worry mister policeman, Aaron here knows how to treat a lady.”

  Klementina stepped forward and visibly winced in pain as she pulled the steel door closed, locking things down with the levers. She turned so that John couldn’t see her face and journeyed back up the ramp, giving him no choice but to follow.

  Little was said as they stepped back through the magic mirror into the kitchen and headed down the hallway, passing by the room that was filled with Abyss Jumpers caught between hushed conversations and intense concentration at the various tasks at hand. Looking ahead he was surprised to find Eric sitting in a chair against the wall with a pistol resting on his lap and a menacing assault rifle resting beside him. Visible through the tear in his jeans was a white bandage speckled with fresh blood, and as they approached he straightened his back and handed Klementina a key.

  “How’s the leg?” she asked him.

  “Stings like battery acid but at least it’s cleaned and stitched.” He looked down the hallway as though searching for something. “Joey headed to the roof for a quick security check and should be coming back with some antibiotics.”

  “That’s good,” Klementina nodded. “Let’s just hope they’ll be chasing their tails for a while, because once they find us here our whole future will come down to a few precious minutes.” She shuffled up to the door, slid the key into the lock and turned to
John. “Time to pull the curtain back a little more.”

  John waited for the door to be pushed open, slapped a supporting hand on Eric’s shoulder and then stepped into the room. His senses were caught off guard and the pupils of his eyes expanded. It was a bedroom to be sure, but it was unlike any he had seen before.

  A small bed sat in the centre of the wooden floor, while all four walls were lined with salt water fish tanks that rested on stands that sent shimmering blue reflections to wash across the ceiling. In each glass encased world fish painted with a myriad of colours darted in and out of walls of rising bubbles, and in one of the tanks he could see small crabs with shells decorated in war like symbols scuttling along the gravel bottom.

  Sitting in her chair with Courtenay by her side, Talitha looked at them both with pleasant surprise. On the floor by her feet sat the remnants of a hamburger on a paper plate. The pink headphones still draped around her neck now seemed purple in the cool shadows and wavering blue light, and clasped in her hands was a glistening silver structure with curved steel that looked like the inside framework of a helmet.

  “I love this room!” Talitha said.

  “I was hoping you’d like it,” Klementina replied as she sat on the edge of the bed.

  “When will Dr. Hendrix come?”

  “Soon honey, maybe even tomorrow, but things out there are a little tricky right now so we’ll have to wait and see.”

  Talitha frowned with disappointment for the briefest of moments before turning her attention to the tanks with a jerk of her twitching neck. “I like the fish. Courtenay likes the crabs, but the fish are best.”

  “Maybe you were supposed to be a mermaid,” Klementina grinned.

  “Yes!” Talitha remarked with a burst of excitement. “That’s why my legs don’t work. And maybe why my brain’s all funny. The stars sent me to the ocean but I went the wrong way.”

  “Soon you can be anything you want to be.” Klementina looked over to Courtenay with a shared glance that hinted common knowledge. “I guess we better get this show on the road.”

  Talitha seemed to know what was about to happen and began an attempt at releasing the thin leather straps holding her legs in place after resting the device in her lap. Her long but hooked fingers made the simple task all the more challenging, and Courtenay was quick to reach down to help. When her legs were free she wheeled the chair to Klementina, who jumped back to her feet in readiness.

  “If you don’t feel up to it right now we can try again later tonight,” Klementina offered.

  “It’s okay,” Talitha said confidently. “I don’t think we should wait much longer. One dream is about to end, and another is ready to begin.”

  John was starting to feel a little uneasy but put it down to barely surviving a fire filled chaos. Talitha was lifted from her chair and, before John could step forward to assist, laid down on the bed that housed a quilt cover adorned with hundreds of stars and planets. Clutched against her chest the device almost looked as though it were glowing. He knew it was a trick of the lights, though what he knew and what truly was both rested on the edge of a large canyon buried deep in this mind, with a whole lot of space between them.

  “I’m assuming all our servers are still online?” Klementina half asked and half stated.

  “So far so good,” Courtenay replied.

  As John stood silent and motionless, Klementina gently lifted the device from Talitha’s chest and placed it on the top of her head. It took a bit of adjusting but eventually sat just right, prompting Klementina to lean down and softly kiss her forehead.

  “I’ll be right here while you spread your wings,” she told Talitha. “Close your eyes now, the stars are waiting for you.”

  Talitha drew in a long, deep breath as the twitching muscles in her neck began to soften. Just as requested she closed her eyes, with the sound of bubbles breaking the surface rising in the background. It only took a minute or so for her mouth to fall open as though silently calling out, indicating that sleep, or something similar, had taken over.

  Courtenay remained at the head of the bed while Klementina ushered John into the corner, triggering a school of silver and blue fish to dart along the edge of the glass in anticipation of food.

  “That thing on her head,” he said barely above a whisper, “does that have something to do with the code in our blood?”

  Klementina stood for a moment deep in thought, tattoos on her arms appearing almost alive in the constantly shifting blue reflections while her eyes held steadfast on the bed.

  “For Talitha, this world is a dream and now she’s waking up. Right now her mind is fragmenting into a million pieces like a shattered hologram, with each piece containing the whole image. She can slip into any computer that’s switched on and connected, a digital angel travelling at the speed of light, ready to stand at the binary gates in the sky with a ledger in her hands to decide who will journey through the cosmos while the rest of humanity rebuilds and relearns.”

  John’s forehead pulled tight as he tried to process what he’d just heard. “So let me get this straight, she’s somehow awake in the cloud?”

  “That’s right,” Klementina nodded, “and as far as we know she might be the only one who can splinter across the network with complete freedom. If you or I slip on the device we’ll be in her world, a single stream of consciousness bound by rules that only she understands.” She turned her attention from the bed to search his eyes. “The code hidden deep in our blood wasn’t just a calendar estimate and some fancy schematics, it was a promise. When the time comes and the world is shaken from its self centred stupor there will be a visitor that’s come from a long way away, and this visitor holds the key to a whole new stage of evolution.” She tilted her head towards Talitha. “That little girl there was born with a different brain to us, a different set of chemicals that represent a new way of being, and that makes her the ambassador for this planet.”

  “How does something like that happen?” John asked. “Why her?”

  “I’m sure there’s an answer somewhere, but for now all we know is she can talk with beings older and wiser than us.” On the bed Talitha’s mouth began to twitch and eyelids pulsed with hidden movement. “Hendrix can explain it all a lot better than I can and you’ll see him again soon enough. For now though, let’s just say the little code tucked away in our veins has reached out from the red abyss a number of times throughout history and has usually lead to madness or religion, but that little girl is the first to truly understand the message left for us. When she reaches our visitors she’ll be our Eve of the new dawn, and the judge of minds that will represent our species on deep space explorations.”

  “I think I’m getting what you’re saying,” John whispered, “but what I can’t seem to wrap my head around is some sort of space exploration happening when everything’s about to be shaken up in the worst possible way.”

  Klementina smiled as if expecting the statement. “With our current technology it would take almost forty years to reach the edge of our solar system. As far as the universe is concerned that’s like spending half a lifetime shuffling from the bed to the bedroom door, with death coming before we even get out of the house.” She shook her head at the absurdity. “Biology and standard fuel have served us well but won’t carry us to where other stars burn. It’s the mind John, the mind is the only thing that needs to delve into the darkness. This device, once certain pieces are in place, will allow a person’s mind to be freed of their body ready to explore the space that mixes physics and imagination, and Talitha will determine who will carry that honour.” Her eyes narrowed with a sudden simmering anger. “Make no mistake though, if Talitha is our Eve of the new dawn, you can bet your ass there’s a snake of biblical proportions ready to take away her rightful throne.”

  John listened to the soft rumble of the bubbles and could think of nothing to say. How could he possibly respond, considering he wasn’t even sure any of it made much sense? Reality was hanging on by a thread
already at breaking point. What he needed now more than anything were a couple of pills to dull his senses and Bobbie to ease his nerves, preferably with Candice to whisper promises of tomorrow in his ear. Alas, his pockets were empty and the whispers somewhere across the city.

  “Well,” he said with a sigh, “we made it here despite fireballs in the sky and trigger happy cops, but now that we’re talking about uploading brains, visitors from outer space and travelling across solar systems it might be time to see if I can make it back to the city before things get really crazy.”

  “That’s probably a good idea,” she agreed. “With our timetable in a spin we can’t wait much longer to bunker down. Here,” she said while handing him a small phone from her pocket, “take this. Cell towers will probably be down and if they’re not they will be soon enough, but this connects directly to our satellites. I’ll let you know once the buses are ready to head underground.”

  “What about you? And Talitha?”

  “Don’t worry about us. If nothing goes wrong Talitha will be off planet just before the heavens open up, and the primary launch location should be deep enough to withstand the brunt of the impact so I should be fine. Our control centre needed to be by the city and it was too risky to house the rocket in the same location. Strategically speaking, the bunker can be defended and needs to be functional once the shock of end times finishes shaking. This here is only made for one thing, and that’s to make sure our angel’s wings can open wide.”

  “The Abyss Jumpers,” John said with a solemn knowing, “they’re not planning to survive are they?”

  “They’ve already got a death sentence,” Klementina answered with a sad smile. “By choosing to be here and make sure that no surprise visitors stop the ignition, they’re also choosing to depart the planet having made a mark on history that will echo throughout time instead of curling up in pain and greeting death with tears of sorrow and regret. And, with Talitha’s help, there’s the chance of stepping into the infinite before the body wastes away.”