‘Exactly. Matter is just energy under extreme compression. The energy never dies. It’s just deconstructed like breaking up a jigsaw puzzle. Instead of bringing all the pieces here, it takes a snapshot. That’s why only the memories remain and not consciousness. Just one star would not have the power to resurrect all life. So what it does is store the blueprints to use at a later time.’
‘For the end of the universe,’ added Charlie. ‘They didn’t count on our radiation though. If you’re right about all of this then the radiation could seriously complicate things here. It could infect the whole system. I’m guessing that whatever technology is in place will also be keeping the star stable. If it malfunctions this whole place could collapse in on itself.’
‘Then we have to make sure we get everybody out. Come with me’
She took Charlie’s hand and transported him to Grand Central Emmy. Before he had the chance to fully take in the entire life he had mapped out in front of him, she led him to her last encounter with Sammy. It was, however, Lucy who he saw standing opposite his Aboriginal friend.
‘I don’t understand,’ said Charlie. ‘Where are you? You never told me that Lucy was there.’
‘That’s not Lucy, it’s the tulpa and I was inside it. I didn’t bring you here for that though. Sammy is the one we need to see. Come on. Let’s see if we can find out what happened after I left.’
They entered the map of Sammy’s time stream. Emmy knew at once which one of the ghostly apparitions was the live conscious version of Sammy. It stood out from the rest with the familiar green hue of the psychic radiation, whereas the mere memories were untainted.
‘There he is,’ she told Charlie. ‘All we have to do is make contact and we’ll be with him in no time.’
As they neared the gateway to Sammy’s spirit they found their path blocked by an invisible wall of pure energy. It was as impenetrable as a force field. There was no way for the pair to travel through or around it. They were completely blocked from contacting their friend.
‘Is this normal?’ asked Charlie.
‘I have no idea,’ replied Emmy. ‘Let’s go back and see if we can find a recent memory that may provide us with some clues.’
They searched through Sammy’s time stream for his most recent interaction. They found few instances of him interacting with others. It struck them as strange that he spent so much time alone despite being aware of the presence of the townsfolk. There was, however, one other spirit that he did spend regular time with. Emmy and Charlie entered the most recent memory to contain one of these visits.
‘Any idea where we are?’ asked Charlie, as the pair spontaneously materialised at the bar in what appeared to be a nightclub.
The clientele was predominantly young. The hairstyles and the clothes were all from the late eighties. If they were still in the bush, this suggested the period was more likely the early to mid nineties. The metaphysical realm is not the only place where the effects of time dilation could be felt. A band was performing on a stage across from the crowded dance floor. Emmy instantly recognised the opening bars of the song that was just beginning.
‘This was the night my parents got together,’ she told Charlie. ‘It may even have been the night that I was conceived too.’
‘And why would that be of interest to Sammy? You don’t think he’s some sort of Peeping Tom, do you?’
Emmy laughed off the suggestion.
‘No, I don’t. Now come on. Let’s find Sammy. If we can figure out why he’s here we’ll have a better idea of where he may be now.’
As they crossed the dance floor, completely oblivious to everyone else present, Emmy froze with shock. Just ahead of her, no more than ten feet, was a woman she had never met, but whom she had thought about every day of her life.
‘That’s her,’ she said. ‘That’s my mother!’
Charlie followed Emmy’s eye line until he too was looking at the late Felicity Fox. The resemblance she bore to her daughter was uncanny. Felicity’s hair was longer, down past her shoulders, whereas Emmy’s was still relatively short from when she had needed to disguise herself from the authorities, but their facial features were almost identical. The same green fire was in both women’s eyes.
‘Let’s get closer,’ suggested Charlie. ‘I suspect Sammy must be nearby.’
With no danger of being seen, the scientists selected a spot close to but out of earshot of the young lovers. Emmy thought it too much of an intrusion to listen in on her parents’ conversation.
At the end of the song, Felicity and Davo left the dance floor and briefly parted company. Davo waited whilst Felicity paid a visit to the ladies’ room. Whilst she was gone, Emmy’s father was joined by Sammy.
‘I don’t understand,’ said Charlie. ‘If Sammy was visiting this memory as we are, how could he be seen by Davo?’
‘I don’t know,’ replied Emmy. ‘There’s only one way for us to find out. This is a conversation I do want to hear.’
The pair moved closer and they were just in time to catch Davo and Sammy in mid-conversation.
‘...my decision,’ finished Davo.
‘And you know that I take nothing for granted,’ replied Sammy.
‘I appreciate this is probably the millionth time you’ve asked me this, but since it’s the first time I’ve heard it, I’m going to say no. Unless you have something else to add.’
Sammy stood awkwardly. This was his cue to leave, but he deliberately ignored it. Felicity returned from the restroom and proceeded to talk to Davo, oblivious to the fact that his attention was still on the big Aboriginal man.
‘You do have something else to tell me, don’t you?’ said Davo. ‘Please say she isn’t here. I may not be in the best place to judge, but I know that not enough years could have passed for it to be her time. Tell me my little girl is not here.’
Emmy blushed at hearing herself described as his ‘little girl’. It made her realise that whilst she had only learned that Davo was her father in adulthood, and even then just a short while before he died, he had known it her whole life. He had watched her grow up without ever being able to show any affection or even tell her who he was.
‘No,’ replied Sammy. ‘Miss Emmy is safe and well. There is another who has come. Do you remember the girl from out of town - the one whose car was the final job you worked on?’
‘Lucy?’ Davo appeared confused. ‘Of course I remember her. She was a sweet girl, but she died around the same time we did. Thankfully, our curse left her alone. Her spirit isn’t trapped as ours are.’
‘She didn’t die. Emmy brought her back using a guardian spirit. It’s that spirit who has now come. This being retains the appearance of Lucy, but it is something else. I believe that it might have a connection with your daughter. If you want, I can bring it to you.’
Davo looked horrified.
‘No way,’ he said. ‘Do you realise how crazy this sounds? It could be a trap. Have you considered that HE might be behind this thing?’
Sammy nodded.
‘It’s a possibility, but he’s never tried anything like this before.’
Davo covered his face with his hand while thinking things through. Behind him, Felicity continued to laugh and giggle as if he were engaging her in conversation.
‘Are you really convinced this thing is telling the truth?’ he asked.
Sammy nodded.
‘Okay,’ continued Davo, ‘we’ll listen to what this thing has to say. If it really can contact Emmy then it’ll have to prove it. It’s best if you’re the one to make contact. I...I couldn’t. I just...I mean...it would be too much.’
‘I understand,’ said Sammy, placing one of his gigantic hands on his friend’s shoulder. ‘I will speak with the being at once.’ He then paused for a moment before adding; ‘and what do you want me to tell Lucas of this?’
‘Tell him nothing. Not until we’re sure. Who knows how that crazy son of a bitch would react to this news?’
Davo then performed a gestur
e that neither Emmy nor Charlie understood. He appeared to mime somebody sleepwalking followed by a gunshot and then rolled his eyes. Sammy, however, seemed to understand perfectly and responded with equal absurdity.
‘Do you want me to confiscate his music?’
‘No, just keep him out of this until you talk to Emmy and then you talk to me.’
‘Understood.’
Sammy vanished without saying goodbye, which struck Emmy as odd. Davo, meanwhile, turned back to Felicity and slipped into the one sided conversation she had been having with the empty space in front of her as if he had been a part of it all along.
‘This is too weird,’ said Charlie. ‘And it brings us no closer to finding Sammy.’
‘We no longer need to find Sammy,’ Emmy replied. ‘There’s now somebody else we can talk to.’
She took Charlie by one hand and reached out to place the other on Davo’s shoulder.
‘Come on,’ she said. ‘Let’s go find my dad.’
Chapter 36
He no longer felt nervous. The flickering candle that once tickled his insides had gone out. After reliving this, the best day of his life, thousands of times it turned out that just twice was one too many.
She was still the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Nothing could alter that. It was he who was different. He had allowed himself to experience the lie. The past was gone. Any attempt to bring it back could only be short lived. He realised that now.
For all he knew, it was not the first time he had experienced this hollowness. In fact, the odds stated that he most definitely had felt it before. He had simply wiped it from his memory. The bad would be continually washed away with the good.
She spoke in that sweet, tender voice of hers. He replied as the script dictated that he should. The words were not important. What he said now had no bearing on what she heard. They were forever separated and nothing could change that. If he walked away, she could not follow. She would simply carry on regardless. Continue to follow the script as it was written - carved into unbreakable stone.
He turned his back to her and stepped away from the dance floor. Every nerve ending in his body ached with the desire that she would follow. That the spell would be broken and they could be together for real.
When he was clear of the crowd he closed his eyes and turned back around. If she was real she would now be standing directly in front of him, not talking to the vacuum left by a phantom on the dance floor.
He took a deep breath and opened his eyes.
She was there. She was standing right in front of him. By some unexplained twist of fate his plan had worked. Love had broken the spell.
‘Flick!’
Her brow creased in confusion.
‘Dad – is that you?’
This was not the response he had been expecting. Why was she calling him dad? He looked down at his age ravaged hands. They were tanned and creased by the passing of time between their respective deaths. Her skin was still soft and unblemished, retaining the freshness of youth.
‘Flick, it’s me, David. I may be older than you were expecting, but not a day that passed has dimmed the way I feel about you.’
‘Okay, this is really starting to become creepy. If you can hear me, Dad, let me know.’
Dad?
It was as if his eyes had refocused and he was seeing clearly for the first time. This was not Flick. Her hair, her clothes, the way she intoned her words – it was all wrong. Over the shoulder of the girl in front of him, he could see Flick had remained where he had left her. She was dancing with the air.
‘Emmy, is that you?’
The astral traveller breathed a sigh of relief.
‘Yes. Sammy found me and told me about the townspeople. Charlie and I have come to help.’
Her partner stepped forward and saluted awkwardly. Davo ignored him, continuing to focus on his much missed offspring.
‘Is Sammy with you now?’ asked Davo.
‘No, we couldn’t find him. I know that he talked to you about it though.’ She briefly cast her eyes away from her father’s. ‘We watched you discuss it.’
Davo sensed the discomfort in his daughter’s poise. He looked to Flick on the dance floor and then back to Emmy.
‘You’re probably wondering what I’m doing here,’ he said.
‘I understand,’ replied Emmy. ‘You loved her. You want to relive your time together. It totally makes sense.’
‘No, it’s crazy,’ said Davo. ‘I realise that now. Come on, we should find somewhere else to talk. We have to leave here before the band play their final song.’
He led the scientists to a spot just outside of town where he used to take Flick when they wanted to evade prying eyes. Once there, he explained how he avoided the despair of eternity by reliving the same perfect day over and over. Each time he erased his memory so as to continually experience it afresh.
‘After the last time I spoke with Sammy,’ he told them, ‘I didn’t delete the memory as to do so would also have erased my conversation with him. The experience has opened my eyes to the folly of my plan.’
‘How so?’ asked Emmy.
‘The first time I relived that day it was exactly how I remembered it. I had the same butterflies in my stomach. I felt the same chemical reaction when we touched. It was like I was actually living it. When I repeated it again something had changed. It no longer felt real. It all seemed so fake. That’s why I’d turned away from her when you both arrived. It sounds stupid, but I hoped that by not following the script maybe she would really see me. That she would become real. I was wrong.
‘You say that you erase your memory. How?’
‘Hypnosis. It was Lucas’ idea. You see, when folks realise they are trapped in this place and that they’re confined to living within their memories, they tend to go a little crazy. It was also how we dealt with...’ When he met Emmy’s gaze he quickly switched track. ‘Never mind. The point is that heaven is not what we all thought it would be. An individual life is not supposed to last forever. After the first few hundred years all you really want is to find peace.’
‘How long have you been here?’
Davo shrugged.
‘More than a few hundred years, that’s for sure. I couldn’t tell you for how long I’ve been erasing my memory. It could be a week or it could be a million years, to me it’s just a couple of days.’
‘The band’s last song. You said we had to leave before the band played their final song. That’s the trigger, isn’t it?’
‘Yes. Once the final song plays, I forget everything that I no longer care to remember.’
‘Isn’t that a little early?’ interrupted Charlie. ‘I mean, if you want to relive the first time. Why stop with the band?’
‘Charlie!’
Emmy elbowed her friend sharply in his side. Davo just laughed.
‘He has a point. The truth is that to go any further would be too voyeuristic. I wouldn’t actually be with Felicity. The thought of disrespecting her like that never even crossed my mind. Or maybe it did and I made myself forget it. Who knows?’
‘Dad, how can you even say that?’
‘Like I said, I’ve been here a long time. It’s hard to take anything seriously anymore. Wait until you see Lucas. If you ever want to switch to psychology then there’s your thesis right there.’
‘Where is Lucas?’
‘Where do you think? He’s back at the station watching over his precious citizens. Sammy says that you plan on taking them out of here. Lucas is the one you’ll need to see about that. He’ll already have a scenario in place.’
‘Scenario?’
‘You’ll see. In fact, you should probably go to Lucas now. I’ll look for Sammy and then we’ll both meet you at the town.’
‘How will we find him?’
‘Same way you found me. I’m sure two smart kids like you can figure it out.’
‘Actually, I think it’s best if I go back now,’ said Charlie. ‘We’ve confirmed that t
he coma patients are here. There are still a lot of preparations to carry out back at the terrestrial end. I can signal you when it’s ready.’
‘Okay,’ agreed Emmy. ‘We’ll split up. Charlie, I’ll see you later. And Dad, I...’
‘It’s okay,’ he interrupted. ‘We can catch up properly another time. It’s not like I’m going anywhere.’
She internalised her thoughts, returning to the map of her time stream. All she had to do was to find Lucas and trace his timeline to the present moment. Instead, she found all of her senses completely cut off except for one. The screams tore through the darkness like a cyclone trapped in a matchbox. It was only when she had time to collect her thoughts that she realised the screams were coming from her own mouth.
Silence. It was worse than the screaming.
‘Where am I?’ she shouted.
Still silence. Not even an echo.
She tried to organise her thoughts in order to find the map, but something was preventing her. It was like the darkness had seeped into her being, encasing and blocking her thoughts. Random partly formed memories flickered through her mind like radio static. She caught glimpses of the nightmares in the dark she experienced as a child. This, however, was worse than a nightmare. A lot worse.
‘Lucas?’ she called out. ‘Lucas, if you can hear me help me. Lucas, please. Lucaaasss!’
Suddenly a light was shining in her eyes. She tried to move, but something, or someone rather, was holding her down. The cold bite of an exposed blade was pressed against her throat. She glanced to the side and could see a man approaching. His face was one that she would never forget. He possessed the coldest, most predatory eyes she had ever seen. It was like a great white shark was wearing the skin of a man. As he walked toward her, he dropped his hands to his waist and began unbuckling his belt.
‘Okay, you dyke bitch,’ he said. ‘It’s time someone showed you what you’ve been missing. I’ve got just the thing to cure your twisted cravings.’
Chapter 37
The rapist loomed over her.
Diamond Sky Trilogy Box Set: Books 1-3 Page 84