by B. C. CHASE
The chamber was left in total and complete silence. No one moved. And Matthew Manley Martin thought his heart had stopped beating.
Layla
They were entering a forest of ficus trees, the trunks of which were almost entirely covered in orchids. The ground was so soft underfoot and their soles so thick that they needed no shoes. There were no brambles to scratch their flawless skin. A number of small lizards with plumes of colorful, tall quills on their backs idly eyed the couple as they passed.
“So beautiful,” David said in awe. A mist was flowing between and around the branches high above their heads deliberately, almost as if it had a mind of its own.
“David?” Layla said.
“What?”
“We can’t do this forever.” She spoke a language she somehow knew perfectly well, although she had no idea what language it was.
“Do what forever?”
She stopped, “Stay here.”
“Do you really think we have a choice?”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t you wonder where this place is? So unbelievably perfect—like a dream. Don’t you wonder what has happened to us?”
“You mean if we are still alive?”
“Yes. And this is the afterlife.”
“You mean heaven?”
“I suppose.”
“But what about your children?”
He turned around to face her, “What about my children?” he said defensively.
“What if we are not dead? What if we can leave this place? What if you can still reach your children?”
“This isn’t real at all. Our bodies are dead and we are in some sort of dream. A spirit dream.”
“You don’t know that! Your children already lost their mother. You shouldn’t give up on them so easily.”
“Thank you,” he said, “for reminding me of the pain I thought I had forgotten.”
“Is that what it is, then? You don’t want to face your life as it was?”
“We’re dead, Layla! This is our world now. You must embrace it.”
“You can’t possibly have any peace unless you know for sure there’s no way back to your children.”
“You are so ignorant. I already tried.”
“You went back to the water?”
Doctor Katz was silent.
“What happened?”
“I don’t have to answer to you.”
“I’m going to try.”
“No you’re not,” he said darkly.
Her eyes flashed and she spun around. As quick as a snake he seized her wrist. His grip was tight. He growled, “Don’t.”
With a scream she struck his face, leaving four bloody streaks across his cheek from her fingernails.
Paradeisia
There was flashing light. Between flashes, the man in the wheelchair changed, his face smoothening. The disfigurement of his hands altered, each flash bringing it closer to perfection. He was screaming, violently shaking. She saw the world stretch around her, heard many voices screaming in unison, in different pitches as if to make horrifying harmony.
Outside the gondola was only blackness. Metal creaked softly as it slowly pitched and rolled, pressing them up in their harnesses. Everyone was silent and still. Aubrey realized she was holding her breath. She exhaled.
It had been surreal. What had happened? Had they left the lake? And why did she feel … different? She was mystically rejuvenated.
Exterior lights on the gondola flicked on. The vessel was submerged in crystal clear water. Surrounding this water was a gigantic underwater cavern with an array of beautiful pastel-colored stalactites and stalagmites. The gondola slowly pushed through a seemingly endless labyrinth of tunnels which gradually became larger. Crystal formations of all kinds ornamented the walls. The sporadic white fish skittered out of the vessel’s way.
She looked at Adriaan and was floored. He had been attractive before, but now he was .... She grabbed him behind the head and kissed his mouth. When she pulled away, she said, “Sorry,” blushing. “I don’t know why I did that. You just look so good.”
Adriaan beamed. “I would never have thought it possible, but you look better than before, too.”
As she smiled, she caught Henry rolling his eyes.
The man in the wheelchair was looking at his hands in amazement. He felt his forehead, pulled off his bandage. He stood to his feet, a formidable figure.
“It worked,” Babel said to him. “You’re a new man.”
“Yes,” the man said, “I am.” His eyes gleamed with an ominous anticipation. It gave Aubrey the chills. The man took a seat that had been left for him and secured the harness.
“I take it this vessel is on autopilot?” Lady Shrewsbury asked.
“Yes,” Doctor Kaufmann replied.
“Well I do hope it knows where it’s going. I would hate to be trapped down here.”
“It knows,” Doctor Kaufmann assured. “Believe me, it knows.”
Nimitz shouted, “What’s that!” pointing out the glass.
Everyone looked at the pink column he was pointing to.
“What?” Henry asked.
“I saw something!”
“What?”
“A body with a wasp face. It must have gone behind that stalagmite.”
“I didn’t see anything. What kind of body?”
“Like a human. It was right there!” Nimitz insisted.
Henry said, “Were you watching for anything specific? Your enigmatic ghosts, perhaps?”
“Well yes, I was keeping an eye out.”
Doctor Kaufmann suggested, “Sometimes our mind shows us what we expect to see. Fills in the blanks before the eye has time to register what’s actually there.”
“No, I saw it.”
“What was it doing?” Adriaan smirked. “Swimming? Did it have an oxygen tank and feet fins?”
“No. It was watching. Watching us.”
They reached an opening of inky blackness. Some blue light above them became visible, softly flickering as it neared. It was the surface of the water.
Through the glass, the water could be seen rolling off the gondola as it surfaced. A brilliantly starry night sky was above. Some kind of clunking machinery made the floor vibrate. Then there was a soft hum and the gondola moved linearly, the water splashing outside the glass. A two-foot tall hologram of Jinkins suddenly appeared, floating at the nose of the vehicle, near the ceiling where everyone could see it. He spoke, his chirpy voice coming over speakers, “Welcome to Paradeisia. I will be your guide, or, as they say in Africa, Bwana, as you visit this astonishing place.” The hologram was as animated as the original as it delivered the message: “The first thing you might notice is that you feel different, like a new you. That’s because you are! You are the new, the best version of yourself. You are what you were intended to be. There is no genetic imperfection here.”
Snapping closed a powder mirror, Lady Shrewsbury said, “I’ve been around a long time, and believe you me this is not the best version of myself. I don’t look much younger whatsoever.” The wrinkles of her face had decreased and she was a little less gray, but her complaint was valid: her years had certainly not abandoned her.
Doctor Kaufmann explained, “When you arrive, you are the age you are. Only time makes everything new.”
Jinkins continued, “Wipe away those tears! In Paradeisia there is no death or sickness or pain. Your body now has an arsenal of antibodies which will immediately destroy any threat.
“You will find that you are better at almost everything than you were before. Your mind will be sharper. Your senses more acute, and you may discover abilities you never knew you had. Please be sure to visit the Paradeisia Destiny Center to find out where you excel. You will be able to use that knowledge when you return, and it very well may change your life forever. You might discover that you could have been a concert violinist, but never picked up the instrument to find out.
“Of course the longer you stay i
n Paradeisia, the more pronounced the effects will be—and the more you will learn. That’s why we have built the Paradeisia Eden Resort. Don’t pass the chance up to stay at least one night in the heart of this wondrous paradise. It would be just a taste of heaven.
“In a moment, the gondola’s glass will be opening and you will get your first chance to breathe the rich, life-giving air. Air as it was meant to be. Please remain seated.”
There was an electronic clack and the round glass of the ceiling split down the center. Then the two sides parted, opening like the petals of a flower. The sound of the water lapping against the gondola as it sped along was reassuring, but there was a chorus of high-pitched echoing squeaks that were somewhat less so. The air was soggy and rank. The only thing that could be seen in the blackness, aside from Jinkins, were the stars, which seemed incredibly close, glowing exquisitely blue.
“The stars are so beautiful,” Aubrey commented.
Doctor Kaufmann said, “Those are not stars. We’re in a cave.”
“Then what are they?” Henry asked.
“I don’t know. They weren’t there before.”
Adriaan said, “I can tell you what they are. They’re glowworms. They drop a line of sticky silk beads to catch flying things and then travel down to slowly suck the life out of them.”
“What flying things?” Aubrey asked, squinting one eye. Before he could respond, Jinkins’ hologram spoke, “Breathing a little easier?” he chuckled. “Paradeisia is the perfect incubator for life. The atmosphere is rich in carbon dioxide for plants and oxygen for animals. The soil is chock full of nitrogen and phosphates. There is up to thirty percent less gravity here which means you can run faster, jump higher, and use less energy than you ever could before.”
There was a splash as another gondola burst onto the surface behind theirs.
With a jolt, a steel coupler joined to a rail that was suspended over the water by steel beams. Immediately the gondola picked up speed and began to ascend toward a colossal opening with light. Water trickled off the bottom as it rose from the surface.
“I’m shocked,” Doctor Kaufmann said. “I would have expected the hydroelectric power wasn’t working anymore.”
Innumerable bats were flittering at the ceiling of the cave. A gigantic, black hill a hundred feet tall loomed ahead, blocking the light from a massive opening. The mound shimmered in the gondola’s exterior lights. A nauseating stench filled the stale air.
“What is that?” Aubrey asked, pointing to the hill.
Adriaan smiled, “Looks like guano. Bat feces. And the roaches are feeding on it. Jinkins failed to mention that the increased oxygen would be a Godsend to insects, too.”
Doctor Kaufmann said, “That’s true. Their tracheal tubes are much smaller so they are able to grow much larger than the insects you’re used to seeing. And the reduced gravity, of course, makes it easier for the big ones to fly.”
As they barely cleared the top of the hill, Aubrey saw the millions of cockroaches crawling all over one another, digging in and out of the feces, and feeding on bats that struggled to climb out of the dung.
The gondola traveled over the far side of the mound and toward the colossal opening. Aubrey breathed deeply. The air was cool and refreshing. As they passed under the edge of the opening, they gazed up in hushed wonder. They were at the base of a vertical shaft two thousand feet high and the width of two city blocks. The pale light from the night sky filtered down and illuminated plants that grew in crevices along the wall. The sky was unspeakably beautiful. Pink and purple and azure hued lights seemed to dance in the sky like strokes of paint on a backdrop of an undulating sea of twinkling stars. Aubrey thought she could even make out galaxies and nebulae of various shapes and colors. She knew her visual acuity was spectacularly improved, but seeing this was almost like looking through the Hubble telescope.
The gondola’s nose rose to a near vertical ascent as it followed the rail up the wall. Since the gondola’s roof had receded, this added a thrilling sense of jeopardy to the trip.
An endless stream of bats flittered past. Their wings were about four feet wide. Aubrey thought she could have touched them had she reached out her hand to try. She didn’t want to, though.
She had the feeling of mounting the first drop of a roller coaster as they rose higher and higher. Her heart was pounding with anticipation. The sky was revealed in ever greater expanse as they neared the top of the shaft. Circling high above the cloud of bats were black silhouettes. They had translucent wingspans and long tails with vanes at the ends. One of them folded its wings and screamed down with breathtaking speed, striking a bat with a toothed mouth. It flapped toward the edge of the shaft with its prize. The bat’s wings fluttered pitifully as it was carried away.
One by one, more of the circling creatures dove down to attempt an attack on a bat. The rate of success was astonishing. It was as if the bats were totally oblivious to their approach.
As the rail curved horizontally over the edge, the gondola’s nose lowered to match it and the landscape was revealed.
Diyu
They had emerged into a gap in the trees. In a long line, there was only swamp water and low vegetation, but no trees.
“NO ONE MOVE!” Zhang ordered.
Chao’s legs and torso had rapidly sunk into the water, and now his face was going under. He gasped a breath before his mouth and eyes submerged. His arms splashed frantically as they disappeared.
While people scurried around trying to find things to fish in the water, Doctor Ming-Zhen’s mind raced.
In the place Chao had sunk, there were no ferns. No vegetation of any kind. Just water. But it had been evident that under the water there was at least sand because Chao had not fallen in, he had gradually sunk. So it was like quick-sand. Doctor Ming-Zhen looked down the clearing, he saw a pattern of round areas with no ferns. What would kill the ferns in a series of round circles? They were about seven feet in diameter.
His scientist mind recalled that there were unexplained round, vegetation-free patches like this in the Kalahari, in Africa, called “fairy circles.” Termites, acid, poor soil …. All these ideas had been suggested, but the true cause had never been satisfactorily explained.
As he studied the round areas more closely, he noticed that some of them were not perfectly round, but had a wide U-shape. He suddenly realized what he was looking at. Manus. Pes. Manus. Pes. Manus. Pes.
It was very clear now.
Doctor Ming-Zhen held his hand out to a soldier, “Take my hand!”
The soldier hesitated.
“Take my hand!” Doctor Ming-Zhen commanded again.
The soldier complied and Doctor Ming-Zhen said, “Form a chain! Hand to hand!” and he pulled the first soldier toward the water.
The soldiers lined up in a chain, and Doctor Ming-Zhen stepped into the circle. He immediately began to sink. With the water racing up toward his chest he said, “This might be pretty deep. Two or three of us might have to go under. When I squeeze your hand, you squeeze the next person’s hand. That means pull us up! Got it?”
The soldier nodded anxiously. Doctor Ming-Zhen was afraid he would just let him go.
“GOT IT?” he demanded. But before he could receive a response, his head went underwater. He had forgotten to take a deep breath.
Sinking, he could feel that he was in an oozing slime. He waved his free arm around but quickly realized that Chao would be beneath him. He moved his legs around in a wide arc.
He was already running out of oxygen.
His leg struck something. And then something touched it. Gripped it.
It was a hand.
He squeezed the soldier’s hand.
Nothing happened. He felt like he was still sinking.
He squeezed again, harder.
His lungs burned for air.
The soldier’s grip tightened on his hand, and he the slime began to flow past him, downward. Pull, pull, pull, he was dragged upward rhythmically. But it wasn’t
fast enough. How far down had they gone? He couldn’t wait anymore. He had to breathe.
His head was out of the slime. Then he broke the surface. He took in a gasping breath. Tug, tug, tug. He was being pulled onto the hard-ground swamp, and Chao, holding onto each of his legs with one hand, followed, choking in air.
Doctor Ming-Zhen spun around and crawled on all fours, breathing deeply, for a moment before rising to his feet. Chao looked up at him from where he sat in the marsh. His face was covered in black grime.
Doctor Ming-Zhen extended a hand to help him to his feet.
Chao’s eyes narrowed. He took the hand and stood. “Thank you,” he mumbled.
Doctor Ming-Zhen shook his head.
“What did I fall into?” Chao asked.
“The footprints of the gods,” Doctor Ming-Zhen uttered. That is how the myths of the natives in the Kalahari had explained the fairy circles. In this case, they weren’t far off the mark. “These are footprints. This one is a hind-limb footprint, or pes. And the U-shaped ones are forelimb prints, or manus. In 2010, a fossilized trackway like this was investigated. They found the fossils of all kinds of animals that had drowned in the footprints. One footprint had almost twenty dead animals in it. Two crocodiles, two mammals, one turtle, and at least ten little dinosaurs.”
“These are footprints? But they’re enormous,” Zhang said.
“Yes, made by enormous creatures. The dinosaurs which reached the largest sizes of all, sauropods.”
“Are they dangerous?” Zhang asked.
“They eat plants. But I would still consider them dangerous. They could be very protective of their personal space, like elephants.”
“Do you suppose we’ll see any?”
“I think the chances are very slim. Giant sauropods are very rare in the fossil…” his voice trailed off. He was feeling the ground, with his palm down. The earth was trembling. Then he heard a bellow that, though muffled through the trees, was so powerful that it was unmistakably made by a beast of incredible proportions, bellowing up from a giant throat like a trombone the size of a tower. Hearing it gave him a chill.