Passing directly through matter always made Emmy a little nervous. It gave her a tingle. Whether the sensation was real or imagined mattered not. The simple fact was that it highlighted that she did possess a physical presence whilst travelling. Albeit a fantastically minute presence, it was a presence nonetheless. This made her feel vulnerable. It was a constant reminder of her mortality.
She descended deeper and deeper beyond the surface of the planet. The composition of her surroundings altered due to changes in mineral composition, but one constant remained. She was travelling through static matter. There was no semi solid mantle or liquid outer core. It was composed of solid rock all the way to the centre. It was too cool to sustain life.
Seeing no point in remaining on this rock for any longer, Emmy shifted her position. In an instant her consciousness was orbiting a new world. This next planet also brought up no sign that it was capable of sustaining life. She encountered the same result from the next sixty planets that she visited. Her most promising lead came when she visited a world not dissimilar in size to the Earth and orbiting a star just fifty percent larger than our own nestled within an inner spiral of a galaxy more than three hundred thousand light years away.
It was her first find to contain liquid water and it contained it in abundance. The entire surface of the planet was covered by a vast ocean. Though her presence was insubstantial, she imagined that she was being carried along by the currents around her. Floating within this vast sea on an alien world.
She descended deeper and noticed minute flickering lights spread out around her. They sparkled like dust caught in torchlight. She willed herself to be closer to them and even attempted to interact by mingling their energies with hers, but to no effect. They were of a separate world. Oblivious to her presence.
Life with such tiny energy signatures was surely microbial. It merely confirmed what was already mathematically obvious – that life was not unique to Earth. The biggest question still remained, however. Was there complex and even sentient life on worlds beyond our own?
***
The atmosphere in the laboratory was tense when Dr Stark finally arrived for work shortly after lunch. Emmy was midway into an astral trip. The way in which Charlie and the techs were monitoring her progress suggested it was anything but routine.
‘Have I missed something?’ Constance asked, taking a seat at the main control centre next to Charlie.
‘Emmy’s position has remained fixed to the same planet for the past fifteen minutes,’ Charlie replied. ‘We think she may have found something.’
‘Fifteen minutes, huh? What does that equate to from her perspective?’
‘It’s variable. The dilation is influenced by distance and gravity and it increases exponentially when she is on the move. Based on a rough estimation, I would say no more than four hours.’
‘And the real time duration for which she has been under?’
‘Two hours.’
Constance did a quick calculation in her head.
‘That’s at least thirty two hours from her perspective. Shouldn’t you bring her out?’
‘She’s fine. Her mind can take it. Out there, she feels no fatigue or boredom. When she wants to return she will.’
Constance did not ask any more questions. It was clear she had been underestimating her rival. When they first worked together, Emmy had been cooperating under duress. The second time, when Constance was reinstated to the project, Emmy was compromised by her obsession over finding her lost love. This was the first time Constance had been confronted by the younger scientist’s true capabilities and it intimidated her. More so with the covert assignment she had been given. Dr Rayne was a dangerous rival and Constance would have to tread extremely carefully if she was to prevent her scheme from being discovered.
After another ten minutes, all spent at the same planetary location, Emmy finally returned from her trip. She was neither giddy nor tentative when describing what she had found.
Charlie, unlike his colleague, struggled to keep his emotions in check. He was like a kid at Christmas – unsure which present to open first. The questions came in quick succession, offering little time for Emmy to come up with the responses they demanded.
‘Slow down, Charlie,’ she said. ‘All I can really say at this stage is that I found life. Very basic life. There were no traces of civilisation or even any sort of ecosystem. It was most likely primitive bacteria.’
‘It still sounds like a Nobel Prize to me,’ he told her. ‘We may even be able to persuade NASA to direct some probes to the planet. How long do you think it would take them to reach it?’
Emmy laughed.
‘Oh, I don’t know. Maybe a billion years, give or take a millennium. Really, Charlie – you’re not much use to me when you get yourself all fired up like this. It stops you from thinking straight. If we’re lucky we may be able to narrow the search criteria for future excursions based on the size and proximities of this planet from its home star. See how it compares to our own. Otherwise, I intend to just log it and carry on with the search. The big score is still out there waiting for us.’
Charlie’s shoulders slumped.
‘Well, I’m scheduled to do the next trip. I think I’ll take another look at this planet of yours. Just to be sure.’
‘Do whatever you want,’ said Emmy. ‘It just leaves all the best discoveries for me.’
She did not speak or even acknowledge Dr Stark when she returned to her workstation. It was her intention to only discuss the work with her colleague when absolutely necessary. The more Dr Stark was kept on the peripherals and made to feel like an outsider, the better, as far as Emmy was concerned. All that she cared about was protecting her research and spending time with Lucy.
Her lover was waiting at the apartment when Emmy got back late in the evening. Lucy had made them dinner. Just a simple lasagne and side salad, but because it was the first time they had shared a meal that either one of them had cooked, it felt special.
All of the tension between them had dissipated the previous night when they had made love for the second time, bookending a bizarre period of delusion, confusion and loss. Emmy had finally regained the love she had never really had in the first place and Lucy had been able to remove all doubt about her sexuality.
They did not talk whilst eating, but they did maintain eye contact throughout and said all either needed to say through sincere smiles. After dinner they took what was left of the wine and relocated to the couch. Although Emmy had finally made a real breakthrough in the lab, work was the last thing she wanted to talk about.
‘Has the doctor given you an end date for the rehab yet?’ she asked.
‘Nothing final,’ replied Lucy. ‘He’s pleased with my progress, though. I shouldn’t expect it to be anything more than a week or two before I’m back to full fitness.’
Emmy nodded. She had hoped that Lucy would have elaborated a bit. Perhaps hinted at staying on a little longer once the rehabilitation program had finished. Anything to give her an indication as to the likelihood of the pair having any kind of future together.
‘I guess you must be looking forward to getting your life back,’ Emmy added, hoping the hint would be effective but not obvious.
Lucy pulled an exaggerated expression of confusion, pursing her lips and spinning her eyes.
‘Nothing terrifies me more,’ she said. ‘I still can’t get my head around the fact that three years have passed. There’s no way I could go back to my old job after that. Have you any idea how fast children grow? Adults change their hair (she nodded at Emmy when saying this) but kids change everything. Their behaviour, their personalities – and they’ll all be at least a foot taller in height. No way am I going back to the same school – it would be too weird.’
Emmy downed the final few gulps left in her glass and picked up the bottle to refill it.
‘Do you want more?’ she asked Lucy.
The other woman nodded, she then quickly downed the rest of her
glass before holding it out to Emmy.
‘There’re a few beers in the fridge for when this is finished, if you want,’ she said.
‘We’ll see how it goes,’ replied Emmy. ‘I do have work in the morning. Astral travelling and hangovers really don’t go together. I remember this one time when...’ as more of the memory formed in her mind she abruptly stopped talking and looked away.
‘What’s wrong?’ asked Lucy. ‘Why did you stop?’
‘It’s silly, really,’ said Emmy. ‘I was just thinking about Mike, that’s all. One time I deliberately made him throw up just to stop him from getting cocky with the astral technology. When I think back to what happened shortly after, it no longer feels real. It’s like I was a different person back then. If only I’d known what would happen I could have...’
‘What?’
‘I could have...I don’t know what I could’ve done, but I know I should’ve done something. So much loss. All those people from the town, the soldiers, Pops and Lucas.’
Lucy bowed her head, not so much in pain, but more through a sense of shame, Emmy thought.
‘I’m sorry,’ Emmy added. ‘I shouldn’t have brought it up. It was stupid of me. You had friends there too. You and Lucas grew quite close during that time.’
Lucy shook her head.
‘We didn’t part on the best of terms,’ she said. ‘It’s funny, but on our last night we actually spent it not unlike how we are now. Except that the evening did not run very smoothly. Every time I brought up the possibility of him ever leaving Jackson’s Hill he became really defensive. It actually got quite awkward between us.’
‘Well, that’s Lucas for you. He always did take his job way too seriously. You know, I actually saw him again not too long ago. I relived a day from my childhood. Even at fifteen he already had his future mapped out. His dad, who was Chief of Police at the time, was only ever keeping the seat warm for his son.’
Emmy smiled as she shared the memory. Lucy, meanwhile, stared back at her in wide eyed disbelief.
‘You did what?’
‘I relived a day from my childhood.’ She said it like it was the most normal thing in the world. ‘When I was looking for you, I really did leave no stone unturned. I went to a place that stores all our memories when we die. Sort of like a universal black box recorder. There’s still a lot we need to figure out, but I may be able to clear it to take you there. You could see your father one last time. It could help you to gain closure.’
Lucy was struggling to process the information. A lot can happen in three years. She expected maybe a new Prime Minister or having to wait a little longer for the Olympic Games to come around again– but this? This was crazy.
‘Are you talking about...heaven?’
‘Heaven is a fairy tale made up by religious warlords to dangle a carrot alongside their dogmatic stick. It’s a lie. A terrible lie, in fact. I mean, think about it. If you use the existence of some perfect utopia to justify human suffering then wouldn’t it be best to just get there as soon as possible? Why even mourn the dead? If heaven existed then the best thing that could possibly happen to mankind would be for a giant asteroid to come along and speed us all on to paradise.
‘What we found wasn’t heaven. It couldn’t be farther from it. Imagine a library that stretched into infinity, but rather than the shelves being stacked with books, they contained memories. A virtual repository of all human experience – that’s what we found. Actually, it wasn’t just humans. I think that all life goes to that place. At least, life that originated on Earth. One of the things I want to test when we eventually find an alien civilisation is whether the mechanics of death are universal.’
Lucy placed her glass down on a coffee table.
‘Maybe I’ll give the beer a miss tonight,’ she said. ‘All this talk of seeing the dead and meeting aliens has killed my thirst. I think I already have enough to take onboard with catching up on so much lost time. Besides, the last time I used your machine things didn’t turn out quite so well.’
‘You survived,’ said Emmy. ‘Given the circumstances that was a pretty good result. The most important change during the last three years is that you’re now completely safe. I won’t let anymore bad things happen to you.’ Emmy also put down her glass and moved closer to Lucy, placing her arm around her, enjoying the warm feel of her body. ‘My work is no longer my biggest priority. Charlie has everything under control. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if I took a sabbatical. Then I can take you any place you want to go. What do you say?’
‘I’d say that’s quite an offer. Who needs to relive the past when the future looks so bright?’ She leaned in towards Emmy and they kissed. Slowly. Passionately. ‘But I don’t think that we should go drawing up plans just yet,’ she added, directing her eyes to the bedroom door. ‘I think we should sleep on it first.’
She took Emmy by the hand and led her away from the couch. Sleep was far from either of their minds.
Chapter 21
Lucas keyed in the code to completely shut down the town. He had to leave for a short while and did not want to risk another breach. Fear spreads quickly in small towns and once panic takes a hold of the crowd it makes his job akin to trying to control a cattle stampede. At one time he was glad of the distraction this brought. It gave him a purpose. Not anymore.
The original three did not meet as often as they used to. Time slackens the most rigid of routines and the one thing they each had in abundance was time. They no longer talked outside of the boundary of the task that brought them together. There was nothing to be said for a start. At least nothing that had not already been said a hundred times before.
‘Is the seal intact?’ asked Lucas.
The man, who in life was known as Sammy, nodded. The third member of the party simply stood beside them in silence.
‘And inside?’ continued Lucas.
This time Sammy hesitated. It was obvious to the policeman that something was troubling him.
‘No change,’ Sammy finally replied, but Lucas sensed that his friend was holding something back.
‘Are you sure?’ he asked.
‘Maybe.’
‘I was hoping for something more solid than a maybe.’
‘Well, there was a slight change, but it was only brief.’
‘What sort of a change?’
‘Silence. It was fleeting, but noticeable. For the briefest moment it was as if he had found peace.’
The third man shifted uncomfortably.
‘That’s more than he deserves,’ said Davo. ‘Are you sure he’s contained?’
‘If it were otherwise, the spirits would tell me,’ replied Sammy.
At the mention of the spirits, Davo tensed every muscle in his body. In life, he had admired and respected the indigenous culture of his country, but in death he had grown to distrust and fear the superstitions of his friend. They were playing with forces that they did not fully comprehend. He knew they were missing something important. Sammy’s interpretation of the forces that surrounded them was too simple, too convenient for Davo’s liking.
‘Have you heard anything from the spirits lately?’ asked Lucas, casting a sideways glance at Davo as he did so.
The Aboriginal man shook his head.
‘Of course he hasn’t heard anything,’ said Davo. ‘He’s no more able to communicate with these mythical beings of his than you or I. They’ve only made their presence known to us twice in how many millennia? Even then I’m not convinced that we didn’t just conjure them up ourselves from our own darkest fears.’
‘Davo...’
‘No – this has to be said. Nothing ever changes here. I don’t even think anything can change. The only time it does is when more victims of that bastard’s poison show up. More people condemned to this purgatory. Maybe this was part of his plan all along.’
‘What are you saying?’
‘What if we’re not restraining him? What if we’re actually protecting him? What if he’s just waiting to m
ake his move?’
‘You’re being paranoid.’
‘Am I?’
Lucas closed his eyes. He intended to gather his thoughts and to come up with the words to calm Davo, but as he did so, those thoughts surprised him. When he opened his eyes and looked upon Davo again he burst into uncontrollable laughter.
‘What’s so funny?’ asked the former town mechanic and estranged father of Emmy Rayne.
‘Us,’ replied Lucas. ‘Just look at us arguing. Isn’t it wonderful?’
Davo and Sammy exchanged expressions of bewilderment.
‘Come on,’ continued Lucas. ‘Don’t tell me you don’t enjoy this. A real conversation with real people. I haven’t had an argument in...Hell, I can’t even remember the last time I had an argument.’
‘Really?’ asked Davo. ‘I’m surprised you don’t have an app for that. If you don’t like what the other person says you could just shoot them.’
‘You know about that?’ He glanced to Sammy, the only possible one to have breached his confidence. ‘I was going through a hard time back then. We’ve all done things we aren’t proud of.’
‘I wasn’t judging you.’
‘I wouldn’t blame you if you were. In fact, I’d welcome it. The reason you’re starting to get paranoid is because there’s no conflict here. There hasn’t been in a long time. Maybe it’s time you allowed yourself to find peace.’
‘Are you trying to get rid of me?’
‘I’m offering you a way out. It needn’t be absolute. If you want, I can throw in any clauses of your choosing.’
‘You sound like you’re trying to sell me a used car.’
‘That too if you want.’
Davo smiled.
‘I think you already know my terms.’
‘That day will never come. She doesn’t suffer with our disease.’
Diamond Sky Trilogy Box Set: Books 1-3 Page 75