“Do you think Bobbie will want to ride with me?”
John thought silence would be the best answer as he reached the bottom of the ladder and placed a hand against the shell of the ship. It was surprisingly warm to the touch and vibrated as though hit with a giant hammer. Looking down over the railing he could just make out the dark reflecting surface of the water and tried to imagine the flames that would soon turn it vapour.
He turned to Klementina with a slight shrug of his burdened shoulders. “So what happens now?”
“Now? Now it’s time for Talitha to make a decision. Once that’s done, we carry her into her chariot.”
“Decision?” John asked obviously confused.
Klementina smiled with a subtle resignation that tightened her flushed cheeks. “I won’t be shooting for the moon John. The adrenaline won’t last long and I can’t be searching for veins at escape velocity.” She reached out and placed a gentle hand across Talitha’s face. “The way I see it honey, it’s your ship so you should pick who you want to take with you. There are two seats to fill.”
“Whoa, hang on for a second.” John cocked his head and stepped back from the railing. “I assumed you knew how to fly this thing, which makes you being on board kinda important.”
“No,” Klementina shook her head. “The onboard computers will do all the work, and once free of Earth’s hold the visitors should take care of things.”
“Should?” John lowered his voice to hide his growing frustration. “I know circumstances are well and truly off the scale and that it’s a bloody miracle any of us are even alive, but I would’ve thought you’d be a little more certain before blasting a little girl off in a rocket!”
Klementina’s face softened. “The only thing that’s certain is what happens if we abort the ignition.”
“It’s okay,” Talitha said quietly. “The star people will help. They promised me.”
John looked across to Candice and, judging by the look on her face, was sure she harboured the same thought. There’s no point in looking for sanity anymore. Aaron meanwhile knocked his knuckles against the ladder to remind them all time was running out.
“So who’s it going to be?” Klementina asked.
Talitha closed her eyes and tilted her head as though listening for something distant. When she finally opened them again she squeezed her arms tighter around John’s neck and looked across to Candice.
“If Klementina can’t go then I want Aaron and Eric to look after her. There’s something she needs to do. I want John and Candice to come.”
Joey, who with Carl had stepped up behind them, slapped John on the back.
“Looks like you’re shootin’ for the moon!”
John swallowed what little moisture was in his mouth and stared at Klementina with disbelief. Surely there was no way it would happen?
“Listen,” he began, “I don’t reckon…”
Klementina was quick to cut him off. “There’s no time to dalliance with fear and besides, I can assure you what’s left of the world will be here waiting when you get back.” She drew John’s eyes up to the top of the ship. “And so will we.”
“Hold on a second,” Candice said as a quick realisation set in. “Maybe I can understand wanting John in the seat, maybe, and after the shit show we’ve just been through I didn’t plan on leaving his side anytime soon, but why me? You hardly know who I am!”
“That’s where you’re wrong Candice,” Klementina replied. “I know who you are and what you do, and Talitha has seen what light’s your soul. Her decision’s made. Think of this as a front row seat to the greatest scientific endeavour the world has ever known, and a chance to learn what you’ve sought for so long.”
“What about Bobbie?” John asked.
“He comes with us!” Talitha giggled.
“The pod’s designed for complete atmospheric control,” Klementina explained. “In other words, for this trip you won’t need helmets.”
Talitha bumped her nose against John’s cheek and whispered in his ear. “It’s okay, dreams make sense eventually…”
Suddenly Carl’s voice cut through the air with a no nonsense urgency. “Voltage is at peak and fuel to temperature. I don’t want to be the one to break up the party, but if we don’t go now we don’t go at all.”
And it had almost become a party, with everyone huddled together around the ladder as though ready to cut a cake. Vanessa was wedged between Eric and John, Anita had followed Carl to the gathering and Joey looked on with excitement as Aaron checked the stability of the ladder one last time with a thump of his hand.
Then it all happened so fast.
With adrenaline still rushing her heart, Klementina fought her way up the ladder to the small awaiting platform and used what energy she had left to open the pod door. Aaron quickly ushered John and Candice to follow, giving them no time to ponder what had become of the moment.
With Talitha still draped across his neck and Bobbie strapped to his chest the climb left his legs burning and full of blood. Once up top there was no opportunity to take in the view as Candice helped to lower Talitha through the small opening and into the pod, where she proceeded to pull herself across to the far seat. As though somehow understanding time had almost run out, Bobbie clawed his way from the harness to join her.
John managed a quick glance down and saw Vanessa waving back at him with tears clearly in her eyes. There was so much he needed to tell her, so much he wanted to thank her for. “I don’t like goodbyes,” he called down, “so I’ll see you all soon. And Aaron, you take care of her until we’re back okay?” He turned to Klementina and felt a heavy, sad truth. “Please promise me you’ll still be here. Whatever it takes okay? There’s a whole lot more of your wacky trivia I need to know.”
“Wacky trivia huh?” Klementina grinned and punched his chest playfully. “Actually, they say some of the earliest Hindus believed the moon was a destination for death, a place to wait for the chance to be reborn and live again.”
“Oh great, so you’re saying we’re headed off to death?”
“No, I’m saying the destination may be a chance to live again.”
“Two minutes!” Carl yelled from down below.
John embraced Klementina with an urgent rush of emotion, her skin cool against his, and then crawled his way into the pod. Candice stepped up to the open hatch and hesitated for just a moment.
“This is the way it happens isn’t it?” she said.
“You mean the ship?” Klementina replied with a knowing smirk.
“No,” Candice said softly, “I mean evolution’s shift.”
“Let’s hope you find your answer.”
Candice awkwardly threaded one leg through the hatch and was halfway in when she couldn’t help but pause again, this time returning Klementina’s knowing smirk.
“Hallucigenia,” Candice remarked. “Extinct for more than four hundred million years, a spiky spined worm with no way of telling the head from the tail.”
“You’ve done your research,” Klementina said, obviously impressed.
“Enough to know the palaeontologist who found it named it so because a creature like that could only come from a trip gone wrong.” Candice shook her head at the joke. “Heads or tails and digital wormholes, this trip is about making the nightmare right.”
“Maybe,” Klementina said as she helped her complete the entry, “or maybe right or wrong it’s all about the trip.”
Candice fell into the tight fitting seat and tried to steady her breathing. Her soaking wet clothes pushed against her skin and chilled her bones. Nestled beside her, and just as wet and cold, John stared at the smorgasbord of lights and switches that rested an arm stretch away with fascination, while resting above a thin wide window reflected their stunned expressions.
“Okay space pirates,” Klementina announced as she poked her head through the hatch, a tiny trickle of blood seeping from her nose. “Space travel crash course time. Strap the belts on tight, keep your hea
ds tilted back and don’t worry if things get a little woozy. There’s a whole heap of pretty lights on the dash but all you have to worry about is that big red button in the middle. If breathing gets a little tight, that’ll open up the first of two emergency tanks.” She wiped at the dripping blood and looked across to Talitha. “Every angel needs her wings, and now you’ve got yours.”
“Remember what you promised?” Talitha asked, her bottom lip quivering.
“Of course I do, and you know I keep my promises.” A single tear trickled down to mix with the blood at the bottom of her chin. “The day may be violent and the world might be broken, but I feel like the luckiest girl on the planet right now. Hold tight, the stars are waiting.”
The hatch slammed closed and the ship began to vibrate. Candice grabbed John’s hand, and he Talitha’s. Bobbie, with ears pricked to attention, rubbed his head against John’s arm and then curled up tight in Talitha’s lap. The temperature in the pod began to rise.
“I don’t think my brain’s working anymore,” Candice whispered.
John squeezed her hand tight. “If it makes you feel any better mine broke a long time ago.”
“Are we really fucking doing this?”
The ship shuddered violently as unseen engines beneath them rumbled to life. Multi coloured lights continued to pulse along the dash as their reflections shook in the window.
“I think I’m scared now,” Talitha stammered.
“It’s okay to be scared.” John leaned across and gently slid the pink headphones onto her ears. “Put on your favourite song, close your eyes and hold Bobbie tight.” He scratched his friend’s ears and looked into his old eyes. “You’re a one in a million big guy, you know that?”
Talitha turned on the music and scrunched as deep into the seat as she could. John made sure the belt around her was tight before clicking his together. The shaking was bad now, as if they’d strapped a few chairs on top of a volcano just seconds from blowing.
“You hear me okay?” Carl’s voice suddenly boomed through the pod.
“Like you’re right here with us,” John replied.
“Good. Primary and secondary engines are now engaged. On my count the rockets will fire and you’re out of here. Ignition in ten…”
A beam of deep orange light hit the window as high above them the roof began to slide open. The smell of hot metal began to seep into their noses.
“… six…”
Talitha tucked her chin against her chest with eyes closed tight. Horrendous grinding sounds filled the cabin.
“… two…”
Candice held her breath and John clenched his jaw with enough force to worry about cracking teeth.
“… ignition!”
Muscles clenched and backs braced in preparation for the launch as… nothing happened, or at least, nothing changed. The ship still shook and the engines still rumbled, but there was no fire to warm their seats. Something had gone wrong.
Down in the cavern Klementina turned from her vantage point and raised her hands at Carl.
“What the hell?”
Carl was desperately searching a bank of monitors for any sign of what was going on. He brought up a flashing schematic and shook his head in frustration.
“I don’t fucking believe it. One of the bottom coupling sensors has jammed meaning the ignition pin won’t fire.”
“Then take the damn thing offline!” Klementina snapped.
“It needs to be done manually and the program can’t be stopped.”
“Spell it out Carl.”
“Okay,” Carl said with a heavy resignation. “The second the jam is fixed those rockets are going to roar to life.”
Anita edged up behind him and looked over his shoulder at the schematic. Satisfied with the information gleaned she marched boldly towards the railing but halted at the sound of Klementina’s voice calling out above the mechanical crescendo.
“If it can be done then I should be responsible. I figure this adrenaline has a good minute or two left before I start to pull back the curtain.”
“No,” Anita said firmly as the heat from the engines warmed her skin. “You have a promise to keep, and have I peace to attain. Besides, all that is was once forged by fire.”
Klementina stood in the glow of the cavern and knew the words rang true. Blood wasn’t just seeping from her nose now, it was pushing up through her gums and dripping from her tear ducts, and she made one final attempt to wipe it away. Glistening red smeared across the intricate tattoos along her arm and streaked the edges of her fingers, and when she swallowed there was only the taste of warm iron. When she finally opened her mouth to speak, she had nothing to say.
Anita crouched down slightly as if about to bow, blew Klementina a kiss and then sprung to her feet. It took only seconds for her to clamber over the railing and drop into the ink black water below. Having watched her disappear, all Klementina could do was drop to her knees and let Aaron help her crawl to hopeful safety behind a steel barrier. It could have been the poison or it could have been the last of the adrenaline, but the heart in her chest felt as heavy as the sun.
Back in the ship John was sure the ignition sequence had failed, expecting the engines to whine down any second. Talitha still had her eyes closed tight and Candice had just about crushed the bones in his hand.
“Hey!” he yelled into the dash. “Anyone wanna tell me what’s going on?”
Candice pushed against the belts and tried to peer out through the side window and, finding only rocks in the wall, turned to John with an even new level of worry.
“There’s a problem at the bottom of the ship.” There was a distinct pain in Carl’s voice that didn’t help John’s confidence in any way. “We may be able to fix it, but don’t ask how.”
“So what the hell are we supposed to…”
The rockets ignited with a terrifying vengeance that stole any breath to finish the sentence. Beside him Candice jerked back, Talitha pushed the headphones tight against her head and Bobbie yelped like a kitten as the pod turned orange and the ship began to lift.
At first things seemed in slow motion, as though they were being pulled away from a world that had come to a stop. The sensation didn’t last long though. The controlled explosion beneath them reached a fevered pitch and the blood rushed from their stomachs as the ship crashed through the still opening roof and erupted into the electric sky. Flashes of grey light washed across the windows and then they charged deep into the belly of the demonically dark clouds, their world instantly black with unknown.
Gravity didn’t want to let them go. It pulled at them until teeth tingled and eyelids were held down as if tied to falling concrete slabs. John could feel the blood draining from his head and with it the dizzying sensation of spinning thoughts about to crumble. He wanted to call out, wanted to check that the girls were holding on but it was impossible to move his jaw. Even taking a breath was quickly proving to be futile.
Beneath them the ship shuddered and groaned. The thunderous mechanical din that had rammed their ears and pushed against their skulls suddenly dropped away, replaced with a quiet that was as sudden as an erotic kiss from a stranger. Gravity’s pull began to ease. Blood began to flood muscles. Filling his lungs with much needed oxygen, he opened his eyes.
Blue.
Shining beyond the pod window the sky was as stunningly crisp as he had ever seen, with not a speck of cloud to be found amongst the azure expanse that was as peaceful as it was beautiful. There was no violence to be found, no apocalyptic weather beasts or devilish lightening to quicken the heart. There was only blue.
A glance to his left confirmed Talitha still had her eyes closed and Bobbie held tight, and so he turned to Candice with a growing smile. She was staring out into the sky with utter amazement, wet red hair a pink scars glistening like jewels in the light.
“Doesn’t seem right,” John said softly, “being so peaceful up here when there’s so much horror down there.”
Candice reached
out and touched the glass with the tip of her finger. “Up here things are eternal, down there is where ends and beginnings come to be.”
“Considering the day we’ve just had, I don’t think having a play in eternity is such a bad thing.”
Together they fell silent as, beyond the glass, the canvass for all dreams that ever were and ever would be beckoned with infinite majesty. Soft whispers of gold rolled silently across the windows as the heart breaking blue began to dissolve. Subtle at first, almost a trick of the eye, but in just moments the very factory of dreams broke through with a beautiful dark unlike any night on Earth, a dark that called for fear and yet silenced it at the same time.
John felt a rush in his stomach like never before as space became reality and the pod a glowing cocoon of pulsing colours that warmed from the control panels. The external silence was so complete he was sure he could hear all four beating hearts, his every breath a symphony of biology in a key never before experienced. He was alive to be sure, and yet life seemed so distant and now so much more.
It was too much for Candice. Though there were tears in her eyes she began to laugh while pushing her hands into her cheeks.
“It’s so fucking beautiful!” she said, unclipping her belts and pressing her face against the glass. “An abyss of pure perfection…”
John turned to Talitha and gently slid the headphones from her ears. Ever so cautiously she opened her eyes and couldn’t help her jaw from dropping in awe.
“It’s official,” John said. “You’re the first girl to travel into space with a cat on her lap.”
“Wow,” she whispered, “we really made it didn’t we?”
“Yeah sweetie, we sure did.” He lifted Bobbie’s head from her lap and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I don’t like your chances of cookies out here mate.”
“Are those really the stars?” Talitha asked with eyes wide and arm pointed at the side window.
John looked out across the dark into an ocean of purples and greens, oranges, blues and yellows, each trying to outshine the other across distances that left numbers mere ashes in the wind. How distant nuclear fireballs and remnants of ghosts could offer such comfort and beauty was beyond him, but it was a comfort that warmed the interior of the pod and somehow made everything seem okay regardless of the fact they were hurtling through space with no chance to steer.
The Hallucigenia Project Page 77