Fault Lines

by Thomas Locke

  “Will you tell me what’s in your injection?”

  She had clearly expected the question. “I have written down the solution.” She showed him a folded sheet of paper. “I would like to ask you to please let me put this in your pocket, and that you not read what I have written here until we are done. Will you do that for me, please?”

  “Yes. All right.”

  She slipped the paper into his shirt, then applied a tourniquet to his right arm. She lifted the syringe and spouted a little stream toward the ceiling. Then she stopped and looked at him.

  All the looks she had given him before were now rolled into one tight bundle. That was how it felt to Charlie. She stared at him with an intensity that he felt in his bones.

  She whispered, “Thank you for trusting me, Charlie Hazard.”

  “It was a slow night until you showed up.”

  She inserted the syringe and pressed the plunger.

  Gabriella said, “I’m going to walk you through a series of hypnotic suggestions.”

  “Whatever you say.”

  “Do you pray or practice any form of meditation, Charlie?”

  “Not really.” He watched her unwrap the cord from a set of headphones. “Is that what this is all about?”

  “Your questions need to wait, please.”

  “All right.”

  “Thank you, Charlie.” Gabriella fitted him with padded headphones that covered his entire ears. She then rose to her feet and swept the curtains over the mirror windows and those over the night beyond the building, sealing them into a fresh-smelling cocoon of concrete and glass. The only people who could observe them now were in the side alcove. He heard a door open and close several times, and Charlie assumed the observers had joined the handsome guy. But Charlie’s bed was now pointed away from them.

  He watched Gabriella fit on a headset, pull the microphone closer to her lips, and say, “Can you hear me all right?”

  “Fine.”

  She pulled the chair closer to the side of his bed. She adjusted the table so that she could observe the monitors, but they remained out of his line of sight. She said, “I want you to slip your arms inside the waist belt.”

  “All right.”

  Gabriella crossed her legs and held a clipboard in her lap. But she did not appear to be reading from it. “This is not a safety issue. It is actually part of the experience. You will understand when we conclude the process.”

  Part of his mind was connecting the dots, hearing her carefully chosen words. Experience and process. Not experiment. Not risk. Not threat.

  But the largest part of his attention remained focused upon the beautiful woman seated close enough to touch, talking to him through earphones that heightened the spice of her accent. It felt as though Gabriella’s voice was licking his brain.

  Charlie decided it had to be the injection.

  Gabriella said, “Close your eyes, please.”

  “Can you tell me what is going to happen?”

  “No. Part of the experience is having no expectations whatsoever.” She was responding from rote. Her voice adapted a steady monotone now. The scientist. “I am going to count down from eight to one. When I arrive at one, you will be floating in a state of pure alert relaxation. I am beginning now. Eight. Seven. Six. You are beginning to float upon a calm, warm sea. Five. You are leaving behind any stresses and concerns you might have brought in with you. Four. You are perfectly safe. Three. You are completely relaxed, and you remain utterly alert. Two. Your mind is refreshed and entirely engaged, and your body is totally relaxed. One. You float in a state of total repose. Can you hear me, Charlie?”

  “Yes.”

  “You will remain relaxed and calm and completely safe throughout this experience. You will remember everything that happens with absolute clarity. You will hear all that I say and do what I ask. You will remain in complete control at all times. If you feel any sense of discomfort, you will immediately return to full awake state. Do you understand me, Charlie?”

  “Yes.”

  “All right. I am going to start the process now. Are you ready, Charlie?”

  “Yes.”

  “The process is very simple. I am going to play a sound into one ear. This sound is one halftone above middle C on the musical scale. This tone will be embedded in the sound of the rushing wind, which will help you maintain your relaxed state. There is no other sound or tone or message embedded in the process. Do you understand me, Charlie?”

  “Yes.”

  “Here is the sound.”

  For Charlie it was like the room began breathing with him. Calm and steady and very slow. Far off in the distance, a simple, steady tone hummed in his right ear.

  “Can you hear the tone, Charlie?”

  “Yes.”

  “All right. Now I am going to play a second tone into your left ear. This second tone is precisely 1.8 percent of the tonal scale above the first tone. There is no other noise or message embedded in the wind. Here is the second tone. Please tell me what you hear, Charlie.”

  “A wave.”

  “Very good. When the sounds are this close together, the brain does not hear two tones, but one sound that vibrates in a steady wave. The pattern of this wave is determined by the tonal difference between the two sounds. This means I can make the tone vibrate faster or slower by altering the distance between the two sounds. Do you understand, Charlie?”

  “Yes.”

  “Excellent. Now listen carefully. Remain utterly alert. I am going to tighten the distance between the two tones. This will heighten the vibration frequency you hear. You will feel yourself being lifted up mentally. This is one of the remarkable phenomena we have learned about the brain, that it is possible to heighten brain activity and slow the physical state, all at the same time. You will allow this to happen, but only so long as you remain entirely comfortable. Remember, Charlie, you are in total control. You may stop this at any time. Do you understand?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you ready to proceed?”

  “Yes.”

  “I am beginning to alter the tonal frequency now. All right. Tell me what you feel.”

  “Higher.”

  “Very good. Your heart rate has slowed by thirty-six percent from what it was at normal rest. Your breathing has been cut by half. This is entirely normal. Now listen carefully and I will explain what is happening. The brain frequencies are vibrating according to a pattern that reflects the initial stage of what we refer to as higher awareness. We call this the Base Level. Now I am going to insert additional tonal frequencies. These new sounds are calibrated in precisely the same manner as the first. They act in harmony within the mental process, heightening the pattern’s influence upon the brain and your mental state. There is no other subliminal message. These tonal frequencies will act in tandem.”

  Charlie heard the wind undergo a dramatic change, as though accelerating from a breeze to a hurricane. He felt a surge of power, calm as a desert dawn, yet somehow filled with the majesty of what was about to arrive.

  “I am now increasing the frequencies you are hearing, Charlie. I am altering the level now.”

  The pattern he was hearing shifted very slightly. He felt his entire being resonate in response.

  “Your breathing has now dropped by another twenty percent. Your heart rate is now thirty-seven percent of what it was when we began. Charlie, you remain in complete control. You are utterly alert, and you will remember everything that happens. If you feel any discomfort whatsoever, you will return instantly to full consciousness. We call this Level One. I am now going to alter the frequency again. Are you ready, Charlie?”

  “Yes.”

  “This is Level Two. From this point on, speech becomes somewhat difficult. Remember, Charlie, you remain in complete control. You may exit the process at any time by simply opening your eyes.

  “All right. I am going to alter the frequency again. I am lifting the tonal frequency now. This is Level Three.

  “A
ll right, Charlie. I am going to tighten the tonal frequencies. I am altering it now. This is Level Four.

  “I am heightening the tonal frequencies again. I am altering it now. This is Level Five . . . Level Six . . . Level Seven . . . Level Eight. One more level and we are done. I am heightening the tonal frequency now. Level Nine. We have arrived at our destination. Your heart is now beating at a steady thirty-one beats per minute. Your breathing is down to nineteen percent of where it was upon our beginning this process.

  “Listen carefully, Charlie. Your body remains in a state of complete rest. Your mind is utterly alert. You are in total control of your situation. You may stop this process at any time by simply opening your eyes. Now I am going to ask you to do something, Charlie. You should only do this if you feel utterly safe.

  “I want you to rise up.

  “I will count from nine to fifteen. I will make no alteration of the tonal frequency. You are in complete control of this process. You will only do this if you feel utterly safe.

  “I am beginning to count now. Nine. Ten. You are lifting up. Rising up. You will hear my voice with utter clarity. Eleven. You are in complete control of this process. Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen.

  “All right, Charlie. When I say now, I want you to open your other eyes.

  “Open them now.”

  4

  Charlie awoke to the sound of tapping.

  He opened his eyes and was instantly assaulted by full daylight. The sun hit his brain like a hammer. He shielded his eyes and groaned.

  The tapping grew louder.

  Charlie dry-scrubbed his face with both hands. He risked a second glance and discovered he was in the front passenger seat of another brand-new Range Rover. Only this one was steel-grey, whereas the one Gabriella had driven earlier was green. The seat had been tilted fully back, which had brought his face square into the rising sun.

  The tapping sounded like it was chiseling into his brain. He realized a figure was standing by the side window, tapping on the glass with a coin.

  Charlie could not figure out how to make the seat work. His hands fumbled about the door and finally found the lever.

  Julio opened the door and said, “You slept here all night?”

  Charlie groaned, “Where am I?”

  “I guess that’s an affirmative.” Julio gripped Charlie’s weaving arm and helped him rise from the car. “Steady, dude.”

  Charlie blinked and staggered and would have gone down except for Julio’s firm grip. The young man was grinning hugely. Charlie asked, “How did I get here?”

  “You’re asking me?” Julio clearly liked that a lot. “Man, what tricks did that pretty woman lay on your bones?”

  Charlie looked down and saw he was wearing his clothes from the night before. His pockets felt heavy. He reached inside and came up with a set of keys, a cell phone, and a charger. “These aren’t mine.”

  “What, the lady drugs you, does the dirty, hands you a brand-new eighty-thousand-dollar car and a phone, then leaves you in the parking lot?” Julio laughed out loud. “I got to get me one of those.”

  The previous night swam in and out of mental focus. Then he recalled the slip of paper Gabriella had put in his pocket. He fished around again. The handwritten page read, “100cc purified saline solution.”

  Charlie asked the already hot day, “She injected me with salt water?”

  Julio laughed again. “GBH, more like.”

  Charlie slipped the paper back into his pocket. “Coffee.”

  “This way, old man.” Julio slipped a ring of keys from the pocket of his baggy jeans and unlocked the community center’s front doors.

  Charlie asked, “Where’d you get those?”

  “I been working here a couple of weeks now.” Julio settled Charlie into a chair and propped open the doors. “Minimum wage, no great shakes. But hey, I was coming here for free, right?”

  Charlie shut his eyes to questions that could definitely wait. The breeze puffing through the open doorway was laced with salt from an onshore wind. He must have drifted off, because the next thing he knew, Julio set a steaming mug on the table in front of him and asked, “You all right?”

  “I have no idea.” As Charlie took his first sip, he noticed the wound on Julio’s cheek. A purpling rose encircled a cut that had only recently stopped bleeding. “What happened to you?”

  The kid went from sophisticated surfer to sullen teen. “Everything’s cool.”

  “Julio. Tell me what happened.”

  “My aunt’s taken up with a new guy. He and I, we don’t get along so good.”

  “Can you live with your parents?”

  “Not unless I get arrested. Again.” He spoke with the studied calm of a guy who’d learned to tamp everything down deep. “Pop’s doing eight to ten at Raiford. My mom’s been gone a long time.”

  The kid moved away. Charlie drifted. Awake, but not really there. Circling around the previous evening like a tongue feeling out a sore tooth. Not certain he wanted to press down hard.

  The phone in his pocket rang just as Irma entered through the rear doors. She took one look at Julio’s face and said to Charlie, “I need your help moving this kid somewhere safe.”

  “Give me a second.” Charlie pulled out the phone that wasn’t his and said, “This is Hazard.”

  Gabriella asked, “Are you all right, Charlie?”

  He rose to his feet, then needed a second to stop the world from spinning. “A little unsteady.”

  “That is to be expected. You have had a psychic shock. I’m sorry we left you in the car. But you were so deep asleep we couldn’t make you respond.”

  “You weren’t concerned about safety?”

  “No.”

  He drifted through the community center doors and let the salt air wash over him. “Making the trip without backup, leaving me here exposed, that didn’t worry you?”

  “Charlie, there are things you will not fully understand at this point. An associate ascended while we were on the road. They saw the attack, but when they called to warn us, my phone did not respond, probably because it had already happened.”

  “Ascended,” Charlie repeated.

  “That is our word for what you experienced. My associate then witnessed something more, my driving you back and your sleeping in the parking lot. They sensed this was important. Why, we don’t know. But you needed to wake up where you now are.” Her words came in a tighter rush. “Please do not ask questions. My answers will only make sense from inside the process. And fully explaining that will require time we don’t have.”

  He thought about the previous evening and decided he had no choice but to extend the trust further still. “Afterward, do all the participants feel like they’re not completely connected to the world?”

  “Most do, yes.” Gabriella gave it a beat, then added, “Actually, you are the first person who has entered the experience so unprepared.”

  “All you shot in my vein was saline solution?”

  “The power of suggestion in such circumstances is well documented. If a person thinks they are receiving a drug, the hypnotic effect is heightened.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me what was going on?”

  “Two reasons. First, I did not want my hopes to influence your base experience.”

  “Your hopes?”

  “Why should that surprise you? Of course I hoped your experience would match my expectations. And second, it was part of the boundaries we established before I drove to Satellite Beach and met you. I needed to convince my associates that the threat was real. Your returning with me was vital.”

  As she spoke, the night returned to Charlie in vivid clarity. Gabriella had permitted him to remain in the state she called Level Fifteen for less than thirty seconds. Just long enough to open his other eyes and find himself looking down at his own body.

  His vision had been vague, like a dream sequence, yet far sharper. Charlie had hovered by the outer windows, up near the ceiling. He had observed
himself lying in the narrow hospital bed. He had seen how she had taped the heart monitor so that it rested on normal skin, off his chest scars. Gabriella had been intently focused upon the computer screen. She waited for a long moment, shooting glances at his body and then returning her gaze to the screen.

  Then she told him to enter the chamber behind his bed.

  She spoke the instructions in the same natural calm that she had said everything else. And he did precisely as she asked.

  He had no sensation of passing through walls. One moment he was in the chamber above his bed, then she spoke, and instantly he was next door. The change was so swift it was almost as though he had moved before she spoke. As though he knew what she was going to say. Which, of course, was impossible.

  Almost as unachievable as moving through solid walls. Without his body.

  Gabriella then spoke into his disembodied brain.

  At this point, Charlie had been hovering up near the ceiling of the other chamber. Through the observation window, he saw her lips move. He heard her voice speak to the body now lying in a slightly elevated position, such that all he could see was the top of his head.

  His head.

  Gabriella said, “Look for a number written on the page beside the computer keyboard.”

  She gave him a moment, then told him to return to his body. He heard the words spoken through the earphones even though he was looking through a glass pane at the bed holding his body, hovering above seven people clustered behind the monitor station. The experience seemed almost logical.

  Charlie returned to the room and drifted down and in and heard her count him back down through the levels. He actually felt the vibrations gradually shift through the sequence in reverse, drawing him back to Base Level. Her final instructions had been for him to wake up, listen to what she had to say, and then walk to the car, where he would fall into a deep sleep. He would sleep all night, and when he woke up he would remember everything.

  Now Charlie walked over and leaned against the Range Rover’s front fender. The breeze and the morning light helped anchor him to reality. “What I saw of the monitoring room was a little unfocused, like a half-finished dream.”