Emerald Sky

by David Clarkson

  ‘Emmy, run!’ Esteban shouted.

  She could not hear him and it was already too late. The beast grabbed her by the throat and raised her up three feet above the ground bringing her face level with its own.

  Esteban picked up the now extinguished torch and leapt at the creature’s back, but it was ready for him. It swung around and swept the weapon away from him using its free hand with minimal effort. In doing so, it presented him with an unobstructed view of its face. He could see deep into its eyes and was confronted with a surprising familiarity.

  ‘It can’t be,’ he said. Then looking at Emmy, he added; ‘Emmy, that monster is you.’

  The scientist gasped for words, but the creature strengthened its choke hold on her, preventing her from speaking.

  He was losing her.

  That was when he finally put the pieces together. His talks with Jimmy, the inexplicable surveillance footage; now it all made sense.

  ‘It’s a tulpa – your tulpa. I don’t think it’s your first either. Your subconscious has been manifesting itself ever since you left Jackson’s Hill. When you escaped that place on your own. When you lived for months in the outback – on your own.’

  The monster loosened its grip slightly, but he could see in her eyes that she did not believe. That she did not want to believe.

  ‘Tell her, Jimmy.’

  Their friend had climbed back out of the tunnel when he heard Esteban pleading with Emmy. He too was unsure, but from fear rather than incomprehension.

  ‘Tell her about what you found in the outback, Jimmy. Tell her who she was with.’

  ‘She was with nobody,’ replied Jimmy. ‘When I found her she was alone.’

  The beast loosened its grip further, allowing her feet to touch the floor.

  ‘I don’t understand,’ she said. ‘You know I wasn’t alone. I was with Lucy. You saw us together.’

  ‘No,’ replied Jimmy. ‘You were on your own. You’ve always been on your own.’

  ‘That’s impossible. She was with me.’

  Her eyes darted from one man to the other, looking for confirmation, but finding none. Esteban stepped forward, signalling for Jimmy to stand aside and let him take over.

  ‘Like she was with you that night in your cell?’

  The confusion that had been in her eyes returned to fear and once more the creature tightened its grip on her throat.

  ‘Emmy, please,’ said Esteban. ‘You have to listen to me. You can stop this, but first you have to let go. Let go.’

  This time the creature released its grip entirely before slinking back into the shadows and out of sight. Esteban placed his arm around the confused scientist and steadied her on her feet.

  ‘What did you see in the cell?’ she asked.

  ‘Enough,’ he replied.

  ‘But, that was a dream. It wasn’t real.’

  ‘You made it real. Your imagination brought it to life. The colonel feared that your grandfather had somehow transferred some of his power to you and he was right. Just like the monks who inhabited this temple a thousand years ago, you can project physical beings with your mind.’

  Still, she did not want to believe. How could she? If Esteban’s hypothesis was correct, it meant her life for the past three years had been a lie. It was nothing but a delusion. Lucy had never made it back from her coma. She died in Jackson’s Hill along with everything else Emmy had ever cared for.

  ‘It’s not possible,’ she said. ‘I’m not crazy. Please tell me I’m not crazy.’

  ‘You’re not crazy,’ replied a female voice from the shadows where the beast had retreated.

  The three of them turned to face the speaker. Jimmy showed little surprise upon seeing the figure facing them, whilst Esteban was frozen in rapt awe. It was Emmy’s reaction that was most telling; she began to cry.

  After waiting a moment for her presence to be fully digested, the being that resembled Lucy Skye stepped into the light.

  ***

  ‘She’s dead.’

  The scientist lifted his hand from the neck of the now lifeless canine. They had used bitches because their temperaments were more adaptable than that of male dogs. This was largely due to their maternal instincts. Females tend to have a stronger survival instinct whatever the species. They are the nest builders. The ones most responsible for the proliferation of life.

  ‘And the other?’ asked General Tao.

  This one had a pulse, but it was not strong. Its death followed shortly after that of its sister. The scientist shook his head.

  ‘How is this possible? I was assured the Americans astral capability had been removed. Without it, nothing could have cut the cords of these animals. They must have a secondary facility. I want answers now.’ Then turning to Charlie, his posture stiffened, becoming pregnant with violent intent. ‘Did you know about this, Dr Nguyen?’

  Charlie could feel the hypothetical noose tighten around his neck. He had no answer, but no answer was the wrong answer. There was very little he could say that would not result in a death sentence. If he was not careful, he would soon be as dead as the two canines on the laboratory floor. Their fresh corpses already beginning to harden. Their eyes forever open.

  That was it.

  The eyes.

  ‘There is no other facility,’ he told the general. ‘These dogs did not have their cords cut. Something else killed them. We’ll need an autopsy to confirm it, but I think it was shock.’

  ‘How can you be sure?’ asked the military scientist.

  The general remained silent. He was still weighing up the factors he would use to decide Charlie’s fate. His prisoner’s next words would determine whether the young scientist would live or die.

  ‘They died with their eyes open. That means they woke from their astral trip. Whatever ended their lives came from the material world.’

  ‘Like our EMP defence or the improvised copy that your friend, Dr Rayne, used earlier?’ asked the general.

  ‘No, that would disorientate, but I don’t think it could kill. If it could, I would never have approved it for use. This is something else. Look into the eyes of the animals, General. Tell me what you see.’

  The general instantly recognised the emotion captured like a Polaroid in the eyes of the dead dogs. It was an emotion more familiar to him than any other, though he usually experienced it from afar as a detached observer, despite being its cause in so many men. The emotion was fear. Whatever the dogs had encountered had scared them to death.

  ‘What could have done this?’ he asked.

  ‘You mean; what could be so terrifying that it scared two indestructible killing machines the size of bears to death?’

  ‘Yes, Dr Nguyen, that is exactly what I am asking. Now, are you going to tell me or do we have to take the question to a less civilised arena?’

  ‘Are you threatening to torture me?’

  ‘Think of it as a warning. Whether it is necessary is entirely up to you, Dr Nguyen. Now answer the question. What could have instilled such a sense of fear into these dogs that their hearts stopped beating?’

  Charlie thought for a moment. There was only one answer he could think to give.

  ‘A bigger dog,’ he replied.

  Chapter 34

  ‘Do you want some privacy?’ asked Esteban.

  ‘I don’t know,’ replied Emmy. ‘Do you? Maybe I could give you a box of tissues and just leave you to it. I mean, that’s basically what you’re suggesting.’

  ‘Slow down, sister. I just thought that maybe, you know...’

  She closed her eyes and exhaled to clear her mind. It did not take her long to regain clarity of thought. He was terrified. She could see that now. A seasoned war veteran trained to deal with any hostile threat had been rendered completely petrified by a figment of her imagination. Okay, it was a most unusual figment, which was able to touch and talk, but it was still a figment nonetheless.

  ‘This is making you really uncomfortable, isn’t it?’ she asked.

 
Esteban looked to Jimmy, but the boy was not interested in the conversation or the incredible apparition standing in the corner of the room. He was miles away, staring at a wall as if counting the bricks in order to keep his mind occupied.

  ‘I’ve been uncomfortable since I was first assigned to this mission,’ he replied. ‘First our psychic friend over there, then those seemingly indestructible Hell hounds and now...this. I defy anyone to dare lay claim to this as part of their comfort zone.’

  ‘So what’s your plan? You’re a tactician. I know you have to be planning something.’

  He looked again at the figure in the corner. Unlike him and Emmy, it did not seem troubled. It stood almost serenely, with arms by its sides and an even, patient look on its face.

  ‘I’ve got nothing,’ he said. ‘We have to contain it, but I have no idea how. Can’t you just shut it off?’

  ‘Don’t you think I’ve been trying that for the past ten minutes?’

  Her voice was calm and even. A mixture of fear and scientific intrigue had temporarily stayed her initial emotional response to the truth, or rather the lie, of her recent life.

  ‘We have to do something. It may not be safe to just leave it,’ said Esteban.

  ‘Excuse me!’ said the manifestation of Lucy. ‘I have a name.’

  He looked to Emmy. She shook her head, emotion starting to re-stake its claim on her face.

  ‘What’s going on?’ asked Lucy. ‘Why are you acting so weird and what happened to Charlie?’

  ‘Charlie?’ asked Emmy.

  ‘I was with him. I helped him to escape. He did escape, didn’t he?’

  A haze descended over Emmy. A buried memory started to echo in the deepest recesses of her mind like a partially remembered dream. It involved Charlie. He was being held prisoner. She was with him and yet she was not. It was Lucy who was really there. Except that, she was Lucy. In a sense. The confusion was dizzying. She felt as if she could pass out at any moment.

  ‘Esteban, I can feel it. You were right. She is me. I don’t know how I’m doing it, but I am. She’s a part of my subconscious.’ She paused for a moment as more snatches of memory were revealed to her. ‘I’ve been projecting without realising it. I’ve seen Charlie. He was betrayed by the military just like I was in Jackson’s Hill.’

  ‘We have to help him,’ said Lucy.

  ‘I know,’ replied Emmy and then to Esteban, ‘I can get us into the base. I’ve done it before – she’s the proof. I just need time to figure out how to merge my conscious mind with my subconscious.’

  ‘How long will that take?’

  She smiled; the extremes of emotion having softened her toughened exterior. During the brief time that Esteban had known her, he had often thought that a piece was missing. That she had shut down an important part of her heart. He had witnessed similar many times in the field. Serving soldiers take on a detachment whereby the mundane, everyday things seem hollow and empty next to the hyper-real experience of battle. It is not because they choose not to feel, but because they have become so hardened to pain that nothing can get through. With Lucy, or whatever it was, in the room, it was like Emmy was whole again.

  ‘It won’t take long at all,’ she said. ‘After all, I am a genius.’

  ***

  General Tao had just received the diagnostics from the failed canine mission on his personal tablet. It confirmed Dr Nguyen’s hypothesis that the animals were not killed by a problem with the astral process, but by acute myocardial infarction incurred through extreme stress. They had literally been scared to death. The enemy had deployed something that he had not anticipated. He had been bested. Outmanoeuvred.

  Failure was not acceptable. The screen of his device cracked as his grip on it tightened with impotent frustration. He could not be defeated. He would not be defeated. This was merely a setback. A glitch. The most important thing was that the formula worked. The dogs had remained stable up until their death.

  It was time to reinstate the human trials. The foreigners would be coming for him and when they did, he would make sure he was the one who landed the deciding blow. He would claim victory before his enemies even knew the war had begun. And he would start by taking care of Emmy Rayne once and for all.

  ***

  She could not look the tulpa in the eyes. Not because they were the eyes of her former lover, but because of what lay behind them. It was a piece of her soul. The better piece. She feared what that left her with.

  It was six hours since this manifestation of subconscious mind had made its presence known and she was no closer to making a breakthrough. Her conscious thoughts did not seem to influence it in any way. She had even tried giving it verbal commands, but each time it responded in the same way. It responded as if it really was Lucy. Yet this was impossible.

  To remove any doubt they decided to interrogate it.

  Emmy was too close to lead the questions so she assigned that task to Esteban. He insisted that she stay with him, however. He needed confirmation as to whether the tulpa was answering truthfully or not. It had also occurred to him that it may act adversely should Emmy not be in the room.

  ‘State your name,’ the soldier said.

  ‘Lucinda Skye,’ answered the tulpa.

  ‘That is your full name?’

  ‘Yes, but you can call me Lucy.’

  He glanced to Emmy for confirmation. She blushed. During their brief time together the question of middle names had never come up. She did not know if Lucy had one or not. Esteban resumed with the questions.

  ‘How old are you?’

  ‘25.’

  ‘That’s your age,’ Esteban said, turning back to Emmy.

  ‘It’s also the age Lucy was when I knew her,’ she replied. ‘She looks exactly the same. She hasn’t aged a day.’

  ‘That’s because it’s not really her.’

  Emmy nodded, but a part of her still hoped her lover was with her once more. To accept the truth without question would be beyond any pain she had ever felt.

  ‘Where were you born?’

  ‘Adelaide.’

  ‘Do you have any siblings?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘What do you do for a living?’

  ‘I’m a school teacher.’

  ‘What do you teach?’

  ‘Kids.’

  Esteban broke off the questioning to stare at Emmy with a look of utter disbelief.

  ‘Don’t look at me like that,’ she told him. ‘When we got together neither of us knew if we’d live another day. If you’d seen what my grandfather was capable of, you would understand that we couldn’t be sure if there would even be another day. There wasn’t exactly time for learning every little detail about one another’s past. What we felt at that moment was what was important, not anything that went before or the mess that followed.’

  ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t realise. I’ll try and keep the questions more relevant. We’ve established that your subconscious is sticking to this façade, but we may be able learn something that could help our current situation. Isn’t it said that we only use ten per cent of our brains. Let’s find out what your other ninety per cent is thinking.’

  ‘Ten per cent at once,’ interrupted the tulpa.

  ‘Excuse me,’ said Esteban.

  ‘We only use ten per cent at once,’ the tulpa repeated. ‘That is at any given time. We do, in fact, utilize all of the regions, just not simultaneously. That simply would not be plausible. You see, the human brain is the most complex system in the known universe. The exchange of information dwarfs that of even the most advanced supercomputer.

  ‘As with any exchange or transfer of energy the laws of thermodynamics state that there will be heat lost in the transfer. Of course, when I say lost, I actually mean that it is generated out of the exchange. That is why as a species we had to shed most of our body hair when brain function increased during our evolutionary development. It was to keep us cool. If we used all of our brains at once they would literally cook inside of ou
r skulls.’

  The scientist and the soldier turned towards one another.

  ‘Do they teach that in schools?’ Esteban asked.

  ‘No, but if I ever return to teaching, I’ll make sure it gets added to the curriculum. I never realised I came across as such a know-it-all.’

  Esteban did not reply. Instead, he had more questions for the tulpa.

  ‘Can you explain Einstein’s Theory of Relativity?’

  ‘Special or General?’

  ‘How long does the sun’s heat take to reach the Earth?’

  ‘From the centre or the surface?’

  ‘Okay, this time I want a straight answer. How is it possible to travel vast distances outside of one’s body?’

  ‘You wouldn’t understand. But since you’re so insistent, I’ll try explaining it in as simple terms as possible. The machine that we built basically separates human consciousness from the body and transfers it to a surrogate energy field housed within the central chamber. We then give it a boost via an electric current, which allows the participant to teleport their thoughts to any location they so desire. It’s basically a way of cheating the light barrier. We don’t surpass the speed of light, we simply bypass it altogether.’

  He did not need clarification from Emmy this time. The deeper and further from the façade his questions delved, the more the parent personality of the tulpa showed.

  ‘What about Charlie – why’s he now being held prisoner?’

  ‘He has a conscience. They must have pushed him too far.’

  ‘I could have told you that,’ interrupted Emmy.

  ‘You just did,’ replied Esteban. ‘Now stay quiet. I think I’m finally getting somewhere. Lucy, do you know what the Chinese want?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘For goodness sake,’ interrupted Emmy, again. ‘You may as well just ask me the questions directly. Or yourself for that matter. We both know the Chinese want to keep control of the astral technology for themselves.’

  ‘No, you’re wrong,’ said the tulpa. ‘This isn’t about astral travel anymore. Once they revealed the EMP they nullified its usefulness as a weapon. If both sides possess the same capability it creates a stalemate. That was what kept the cold war cold.’