The Hallucigenia Project

by Darren Kasenkow

  John kicked from the wall and began to fly, spinning and staring with utter astonishment as the purple glitter came to life. There were long winged dragons with spike tipped tails, mermaid like creatures with long flowing hair, jellyfish carrying bundles of stingers and butterflies with crystal wings. Strangest of all, however, was the creature that rushed past John as he traversed through the centre.

  It was Bobbie. Well, not technically Bobbie but a giant cat that sure as hell looked like him. With enormous paws housing ice like claws and liquid glass for fur it rushed forward with ears pinned back. It was the coolest fucking thing he’d ever seen, and he couldn’t hold back the grin that lit up his face.

  He angled his legs and adjusted his flight towards Candice. She was floating with her back against the wall as two mermaids formed a protective barrier around her, forcing him to push through the long wall of hair that brushed against his skin like warm melting ice.

  “What the hell’s happening?” she asked when he bounced beside her.

  “I don’t know,” he replied as Bobbie jumped into his arms, “but something tells me Talitha’s rules are a little different to Tulay’s.”

  “Oh my god…”

  She pointed across the expanse with stunned wide eyes. John followed her line of sight and felt a rush of excitement.

  “Is that… Bobbie?” Candice stammered.

  The crystal cat had reached Samael. With precision, determination and razor sharp claws it sliced at his ink stained flesh to release a growing red mist that was quickly absorbed in the wings of the dragons that had joined the party.

  The bad man’s screams joined the symphony of animal cries and he could do little to stop the beast in the shape of Bobbie as it slammed him with its paw over and over again, hurtling him towards the entrance to the golden tunnel. Chunks of flesh began to flap across his torso and arms, the white of bone peaking through as he rolled and tumbled. Another claw slice, a violent dragon wing impact to the face, a stinging whip of jellyfish tendrils across his legs and his torn, bloody body was about to cross the threshold.

  “The pain…” he screamed with defiance, “…it’s beautiful!”

  And then he was gone, sucked into the golden portal with his parting gift of broken flesh. The animal cries faded away. The spherical wall returned to a pulsing array of endless colour, and the glittering crystal creatures bubbled and blurred and were once again slow moving water worlds, the mermaids waving goodbye seconds before the transformation. All became quiet.

  “I don’t know what to say after something like that,” John rasped.

  “Then don’t say anything at all,” Candice replied as she reached for his hand. They were lost somewhere between everywhere and nowhere, with an unknown future and upside down reality stretching before them but, as their fingers pressed tight, it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that in a universe filled with cold endless voids, nuclear balls of fire and planets filled with torments and dreams, they had found each other.

  Suddenly a familiar voice whispered along the wall.

  “To have such beautiful friends is a light in the dark that dims even the brightest of stars, proof that souls have journeyed here and will journey beyond. Your friends are waiting for you. It’s time to go, but this isn’t goodbye. This is only the beginning.”

  Bobbie clawed tight and John grabbed Candice’s hand as they were suddenly drawn towards the golden light. Together they looked across the glittering expanse one last time and then felt a rush of speed as the tunnel wrapped around them.

  This time there was a sense of growing joy as they raced through the golden hue, and before they knew it they were floating back into the pod that seemed truly archaic compared with the technology they’d just experienced. A soft silence was kept as the control panel flashed to life and they nestled into their seats. There was barely enough time to get comfortable before a surge of movement sent small vibrations up through their spines. The windows flashed gold that a second later was washed away with the dark of space.

  John craned his neck to look back at the mirror like reflections of the ship in the distance. As though performing a silent dance it rippled and stretched and split into two, with the larger break away losing its sheen to reveal a stunning engineering feat of interlocking circular structures that spun with increasing speed. It left a trail of silver mist as it raced away, taking mere moments to become lost in the canopy of stars.

  “I guess we’re headed home,” Candice said.

  “It may be broken and dangerous,” John answered, “but we’ll make it ours.”

  And so they traversed the void between the moon and the Earth, watching as the blue jewel in the distance slowly grew bigger and bigger. They slept, they laughed, they made love in the zero gravity until exhaustion left them curled together and floating in the tranquil waters that trickled between matter and dreams. For a brief moment in time, there was only a warm and beautiful bliss that wrapped around the battered edges of their souls.

  Chapter 41

  It was bright sunlight that rustled them from their cosmic sleep. John was the first to open his eyes, finding the Earth now filling every angle of vision as though a sky full of water was falling down upon them. As Candice awoke and looked out through the glass her hand reached up to her heart.

  “It looks so peaceful from here, so fragile.” She watched as flashes of electricity rolled through the atmosphere. “It really is a brief dream in an endless sleep isn’t it?”

  Suddenly a voice burst from the speakers on the control panel, jolting them from the quiet reflection.

  “Buckle up lovers, re entry is going to get a little bumpy.”

  John scrunched his face with confusion. “Holy shit is that you Klementina?”

  “I’d say in the flesh but that wouldn’t be quite accurate would it? There’s someone else here who wants to say hello.”

  “Hello!” Talitha squealed. “I can reach down there now!”

  “If I’d known we were getting visitors I would’ve put some clothes on,” John laughed.

  “Don’t worry,” Klementina replied, “we’re not looking. Now listen, you’re about to break through the atmosphere and we’re going to do our best to steer you into calm waters. We’ve got one satellite up and running but the others are still in boot stage, and there’s a welcome team ready to scoop you up. So get ready, hold on, and welcome home.”

  With a fresh sense of urgency they wriggled into their clothes and locked into the seats. John had to extract Bobbie from the ceiling and wedged him beneath his shirt as the pod began to rumble.

  “Here we go!” Candice announced as a shockwave rocked the ship and orange flames began to flail along the edges of the windows. “A welcome hug to end them all…” she added through chattering teeth.

  The world became fire as the pod bucked and shuddered. Gravity came rushing back with a vengeance, slamming into their muscles like a slab of concrete and stealing away their breath as the heat began to rise. Sweat poured from their skin. Blood rushed from their stomachs. A deafening, screaming roar filled the cabin as momentum pushed them harder and harder against the seats. John could feel his consciousness being pulled away, was sure he was about to black out when the flames suddenly disappeared and thick white clouds began hurtling towards them.

  They plunged into the planetary mist, the windows turning white to grey, then charcoal black before punching through to the waiting embrace of a vicious storm. There was a mechanical bang as a parachute bellowed open behind them and grabbed hold of the wind, wrenching at their velocity as the ocean opened up before them. The pod was still shuddering like hell but it had more to do with the storm now than it did with speed, and as lightening erupted all around them they could just see the outlines of a city in the distance.

  “Something’s wrong…” Klementina’s voice crackled. “…off course… system mal…”

  John grabbed at the edges of his seat and struggled to make sense of what was happening. They were heading
down no doubt about it, but the wind had grabbed the parachute with an iron fist and was dragging them towards land leaving him unsure the slower speed was actually slow at all.

  Candice eyed the horizon and bit down on her bottom lip. “We’re headed straight for whatever’s left of Miami!”

  “There goes our soft landing,” John muttered as up ahead storm clouds exploded over the city.

  Rushing below them the ocean was close enough to jump into, but was soon replaced with a blur of shattered concrete, smoking rubble and defiant buildings that reached up from the destruction. Judging by the thick mud and sand that seemed to scar everything, John figured the waters had receded. Considering they were seconds from impact though, a tidal wave of water wouldn’t have been a bad thing right about now.

  “We’re tracking… hold…” Klementina’s voice was barely audible as static began to take over. Behind them came a terrific ripping sound as the parachute was finally stripped apart, freeing the pod to race towards the ground. Not for the first time all John and Candice could do was close their eyes, brace for impact and hope like hell.

  It came with a vengeance, the shock of the ground hitting so hard John was sure every bone in his body had been broken. Glass shattered and metal groaned as the pod bounced and skidded in a blaze of debris filled smoke. Candice bit the inside of her cheeks open as the violence tumbled them over and over, dirt and concrete dust blasting across their faces and filling their noses. John gripped the belt across his chest tight enough to cut the circulation and willed the ride to come to an end.

  Mangled wet grass began to rush through the shattered windows as the tumbling ceased and the pod skidded to a temporary stop, before performing a slow roll over an unseen edge and crashing into a large boulder. Blood streamed from fresh cuts along his hand, and as he raised his right arm and watched the movement of the droplets he determined they had their backs to the ground and eyes to the sky.

  “We’re still breathing,” Candice panted. “I don’t fucking believe it, we’re actually alive and breathing.”

  John checked Bobbie was okay as the smoke and dust began to settle, with the slowly emerging storm clouds confirming his guess at positioning. The pain was shocking and he was sure his ribs were broken, but his arms and legs seemed to be working okay.

  “Are you hurt?” he asked while struggling with his belts.

  “I feel like I’ve just been spat out of Satan’s tumble dryer and I’m bleeding like a stuck pig, but no bones poking out,” Candice assured him.

  “Good, ‘cause something tells me we’ve got a climb ahead of us.”

  Thanks to the dripping sweat and blood unlocking the belts was quickly an exercise in frustration, but eventually they broke free and began to climb up through the shattered window. A clap of thunder greeted their efforts, followed by a hot rain that began to splash across their faces as they pulled themselves up onto the shell of the pod.

  John felt the blood in his veins turn to ice. Ferocious winds whipped the rain in every direction as a sinister hissing blasted up from below, and as he peered over the edge of the ship the bowels of the earth stared back, bubbling away with a molten red fury. As if the impact wasn’t rough enough, they were now wedged on the edge of a steaming tectonic tear that was ready to devour all that braved her scorching lava.

  The pod groaned and shifted an inch. They froze in an instant, suddenly aware of every little movement. John lifted his eyes and studied the climb back up to ground level. On any other day it might have been possible, but thanks to the heavy rain it would be a futile claw through sloppy, slippery mud that promised only one ending.

  “We are officially out of the fire and in the oven,” he cursed through clenched teeth.

  White with fear and red hair pasted across her face, Candice stared down into the earthbound hell with a single thought staining her mind. Maybe it is all about suffering. She could feel the furnace like heat stirring up through the winds and quietly hoped that, if they tumbled into oblivion, death would be quick and painless.

  Perched on her hands and knees she turned her attention back to the rain soaked interior. “There must be something we can use, something to give us leverage.”

  “We’d need to tear things apart, and that’ll just shake us loose.” A sense of finality descended down upon him, bringing with it a strange calm and resignation. “We might be at the end of the road here.”

  Candice shook her head and lifted her face into the rain. “No! We didn’t just shoot into space and back just to sit here and wait to burn.” A surge of hot steam rolled up from below and joined the wind like a quicksilver ghost. “I’m not giving up. Not now.”

  John stared into her eyes. Shattered glass had cut her arms and face, her clothes were torn and barely holding together and her hair was clumped in wet bundles. In that moment, she was more beautiful than ever.

  Shifting his gaze to follow the downward curve of the pod, he could just make out what was left of the steel cabling that had harnessed the long gone chute and began scrambling for ideas. Maybe, just maybe, there was a way.

  “You’re right,” he said with a new lease on survival. “We’ve come too far for this shit.” He pointed down past his feet. “It looks like the cables are still attached. No way of knowing how much is left, but if we can extract one and whip up a hook of some kind…”

  “Hey down there!”

  The sound of the voice swirled with the wind and rushed their ears before a clap of thunder sent heart pounding vibrations across the ship’s exterior. Together they looked up with hands struggling to shield the rain and found an angel staring down.

  “Hold tight okay?” Vanessa yelled. “We’re gonna get ya out!”

  Her face vanished and seconds later a thick rope tumbled down towards them, slapping against the mud before thumping down on the metal. John looked at Candice with astonishment, and as a blue vein of lightning streaked overhead they began to laugh as only lovers discovering they weren’t about to die could.

  The pod groaned and shifted another heart pounding few inches. The metal was growing hot to the touch as John edged forward and grabbed the bottom of the rope. As cautiously as she could Candice crawled on all fours and then took his hand as she rose to her feet.

  “No time for fancy knot work,” John said as Bobbie’s claws dug deep into his chest to hold on. “Wrap your arms around this thing and hold tight.”

  The rope felt slimy against her skin and ripped into the fresh wounds as she locked her arms in position. Confident her grip was firm, John followed suit so that his hands were level with her knees. High above, Vanessa’s face reappeared at the edge of the crevice.

  “Everybody ready?” she called out.

  “Somewhere between medium rare and well done!” John yelled back.

  Another round of thunder shook the heavens, sending chunks of dirt and rock to break away from the wall. The pod jerked beneath their feet and then the rope pulled taught as it began to lift them from their salivating hell. Mud streamed across their shoulders and the winds bit into their blood drained fingers, but they were on the way.

  The climb seemed to stretch out to eternity, but suddenly a cascade of sound exploded around them and they were back on the ground. Utterly exhausted, they collapsed onto their backs as familiar faces looked down.

  “If I ever get my own spaceship you ain’t never driving!” Vanessa laughed.

  “When we saw you skid over the edge I thought you were done,” Aaron said with a look of concern. “Then I thought, nah, you Australian’s are tough bastards.”

  “Yeah,” Joey agreed. “I figured you were just showing off.”

  “Consider the show over,” John winced. “Man is it good to see your faces.”

  Bobbie crawled out from beneath his torn shirt and began to lick away the rain and blood from his face, while Candice breathed in deep and shook her head with disbelief.

  “I seriously owe you all a hug just as soon as my arms can move again,” she laughed.<
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  “I’ll hold you to that,” Vanessa replied as she reached down and helped her to her feet.

  “Okay,” Aaron declared, “let’s get the hell outta here.”

  The rain began to fall even harder as they all headed for the angry looking truck that seemed poised and ready for action. Just before sliding into the back seat John glanced around and saw they were somewhere on the edge of the city. Shattered buildings and torn up roads caked with mud completed the hellish landscape that held no signs of life, and he could see that the tear in the earth stretched long and wide.

  With a flick of the switch the rope was wound in and the powerful engine shuddered to life. Rather than joining them in the cabin, Joey climbed up onto the rear to man the gun mounted to the deck and began scanning the surroundings. Aaron checked his mirrors and the journey across the devastated city began.

  The huge wheels thundered up and down, clambering over concrete and debris as the truck navigated its way through the heartache. Surprisingly a good portion of the city skyscrapers were still standing victorious amongst the ruin, but even more astonishing was the amount of cars wedged across the chaotic streets. John looked out the window and swallowed with a pained throat as he came to realize that the muddy lumps scattered amongst the crushed steel and rubble were bodies, people of the city left to fester in the elements after so much torment. Many of the victims were still seated in the mangled cars, victims of the gas that snuffed their hopes and dreams while trying to flee, while others had been swept across the city blocks by the angry tidal reach of the sea.

  He snapped his attention back to the cabin and leaned towards the front seats. “Where’s Klementina?” he asked.

  Aaron glanced at him through the mirror as though the answer was obvious. “She’s with Talitha.”