Mental Contact

by Beth Martin

  He gave me a wide smile. “That, right there, is dark matter.” He swept a hand into it, but like any hologram, his hand passed right through.

  I tentatively stretched my hand out to the cloud. Goosebumps covered my arm as my fingertips touched the mist. My hand felt cold. I was shocked by the sensation and quickly withdrew my arm.

  He laughed at my reaction. “It’s not going to hurt you.”

  I took a step back, still eyeing the cloud. It seemed to be swirling slowly away from where I had touched it, but it was hard to be sure. Doron turned the knob which shut off the gravitometer, and the cloud blinked away.

  That’s when something from outside the window caught my eye. I slowly approached the wall of glass, not believing what I saw.

  Doron followed my gaze. “Oh, I see you’ve found our mascot. We think that marble statue was left behind by the earliest settlers of Trappist.”

  I pressed my hand against the window as I looked out. Frozen in the ice was a pale figure draped in layers of white cloth. It was hard to see much detail through the imperfections of the ice, but my gut told me who the figure was. I could feel the blood drain out of my face and my heart rate quicken in recognition.

  “That’s no statue.” That was Lola.

  I didn’t want the team here to suspect I was mentally ill, but I was okay with them thinking I suffered from insomnia. I needed to see her again. I needed to make sure it was actually Lola frozen in the ice.

  I snuck out of Doron’s apartment a couple hours after he fell asleep and followed the halls back to the lab. The lights were all dimmed, reinforcing the imposed day/night cycle. It reminded me of wandering the barrens on Zeta. I was really glad I had made it out alive.

  There was a security guard posted at the door to the lab. She was watching something on the panel, the soft light emanating from it illuminating her face in a strange green. She chuckled softly before waving her hand over the panel and watched intently as something new danced across the screen.

  Perhaps the night guard was always this distracted. I decided to test it and see how much noise I could make without her noticing. I quietly crept closer, turning the corner so that I’d be visible from the security desk. She had a slender face and blond hair tied up in a ponytail. When she didn’t look up, I decided to get a little bolder by shuffling my feet and swinging my arms as I walked.

  She didn’t notice me until I was about ten feet away from her. Her eyes lifted from the panel, and locked on me. She jumped up, shouting, “What are you doing here?”

  I couldn’t help but smile. I would have no trouble getting past her and into the lab. She wasn’t even properly trained. An effective security guard would have had her stun gun aimed at my chest before I even knew she was stationed there.

  “I’m so sorry, miss.” I held my hands up so she could see they were empty. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  “Who are you? What are you doing here?” she asked, her voice tense.

  “I’m lost.” I gave her a charismatic smile while stepping closer to her desk making sure to keep my hands in the air. I could see her right hand reach to feel for her stun gun in its holster, but she didn’t pull it out. “I’m visiting my cousin’s husband, Doron. I couldn’t sleep, so I figured I’d take a brief walk, but then I got all turned around.” I leaned up against her desk, hoping she found me charming.

  “What happened to your face?”

  I reached up and touched the gash with my fingertips. I had forgotten it was there. Most people opted for laser-assisted healing, which alleviated scarring. I hadn’t thought about it since getting on the ship to Chi. They probably didn’t have the equipment to do the procedure here, but I didn’t mind the scar.

  “A house fire. My younger brother was trapped inside. The fire suppression team said the structure was compromised, and there was no way to get him out. I couldn’t imagine going on without him, and decided to do what the team was unwilling to. When I went back for him, the roof caved in and one of the support beams hit me as the roof collapsed.” I knew a story portraying me as a selfless hero would win over this simple woman.

  She gasped and her eyes grew wide. “Oh my gosh! Is he okay?”

  “Oh yeah, he’s fine. I got him out just in time. But that was ages ago.” I held out my hand. “I’m Jake.”

  “Lisa,” she said, shaking my hand. She sat back down, her features relaxing. She motioned to the panel and said, “Have you seen the news?” With a quick gesture, the hologram from the panel grew much bigger. I could make out the newscaster pretty well, even if I could only see her in shades of gray. When my portrait appeared, I did my best to keep a straight face. The picture was from my crew ID. I combed my fingers through my hair which had grown out a bit from the buzzcut in the picture.

  “Can you believe that?” Lisa asked.

  I gave her a confused look.

  “This guy took over the controls of a delivery ship and steered it directly into our star before jumping on an escape pod to Zeta. The spaceship just disappeared. I guess he was crazy, and no one on the ship knew.”

  I felt a pain in my chest, like someone was squeezing my lungs and heart. I had never planned to go back to my old life, but now it wasn’t even an option. “Wow.”

  Lisa leaned back and chewed on a fingernail. “It’s too bad. He was pretty cute.” I idly wondered if she thought I was attractive with the scar. “Do you need help finding your way back?”

  I shook my head, trying to ground myself. “Um, yeah. Yeah, I do.”

  She stood up and pointed down the hall. “Just turn left at the end of that hall. Residences are right through the corridor.”

  I nodded. “Thanks, Lisa.”

  “Try to get some sleep.” She gave me a sweet smile before turning back to her panel and gesturing to change the program.

  •••

  I awoke to Doron opening the door to the spare room.

  “Good morning!”

  I rubbed my hands over my eyes. No matter how late in the morning it was, I still had not gotten enough sleep.

  “You sleep well?”

  I shook my head.

  “I’m heading over to work, but wanted to let you know that Rachel has the day off and offered to show you around.”

  The naked drawing of her in Doron’s sketch book popped up in my mind, and I did my best to suppress a smirk. I sat up and threw back the thin blanket. “You gave me the tour yesterday.”

  “I know, but I figured you might get bored, and she offered. Just relaying the message. There’s a communicator there if you need me.” He pointed at a small panel mounted on the wall in the living room. “I can meet you in the mess hall at dinner hour.”

  He turned and left. What I really wanted to do, more so than spend time with Rachel, was to go outside and get a closer look at Lola. The thought hit me suddenly. I recalled Rachel’s pink thermal outerwear. I knew what I needed to do today. I hurried and got dressed and grabbed my bag.

  Rachel’s apartment was next to Doron’s. I knocked on her door and waited a moment. When she didn’t answer, I knocked again. I was about to press my ear against the door and try to listen and see if anyone was in there when it suddenly opened.

  “Oh good, you came.” Rachel gave me a forced smile through clenched teeth. She was clearly not pleased to see me. She stepped

  out of her apartment and closed the door behind her. “Would you like to see some of the facilities here? We have an amazing grocer with the best synthetic fruits.”

  I shrugged my shoulders and said, “Sure.” We started walking down the hall toward the main corridor. “Actually, I was hoping to see more of Chi.”

  She gave me a sideways glance. “The grocer is part of Chi.”

  I briefly grasped her arm and flashed her a charismatic smile. “Of course, but I was hoping to get out of here. Out of the facilities. I want to explore the surface of the planet.”

  She pulled away from me, and I let go of her arm. “I don’t think that’s su
ch a great idea.”

  “Why not?” She was wearing the same jacket and pants as she had been the previous day. She wouldn’t even need to change.

  She bit her lip and kept her eyes down as we continued walking. “Without visualizing the, uh, stuff they’re studying—using special equipment—there really isn’t much to see.”

  “The dark matter?”

  She nodded.

  “Maybe we could get one of those devices to see it. Doron showed me one yesterday. The, uh, gravity-o-tomiter.”

  Rachel gave me an intense look. “We shouldn’t go out there.”

  “Why not?”

  “The dark matter. It changes people.” She started wringing her hands, clearly unsettled.

  I didn’t know the entire extent of how dark matter interacted with physical matter, but I doubted it had any influence over humans.

  “I was hoping to see the ice formations and stars. We wouldn’t have to go out there for long,” I said.

  She shook her head. “They’re the same stars as everywhere.”

  “I have a soft spot for stargazing. Plus, this far away from Trappist, it will look different.”

  She looked down and bit her lip. “Fine, I’ll show you around outside. But I’m warning you, it’s really cold. I hope you brought something warm.”

  Even though all of the buildings on Chi were connected, I still thought each one would have an exterior door. But among all the structures, Rachel said there was only one exterior door, the same one I had come through when I had first arrived.

  I already had my new outerwear in my pack. I slipped it on while Rachel watched. She had a concerned look on her face, like she couldn’t trust me enough to take her eyes off of me for even a second.

  “Is that all you brought?” she asked.

  I looked from my shiny sleeves to her pink ensemble. “Is this not enough?”

  She pulled a pair of silver gloves from a pocket along with a hood. The hood slipped over her head, and had goggles attached, leaving none of her skin exposed.

  Remembering the bandana, I pulled it out and tied it over my nose and mouth. It was surprisingly easy to breathe through.

  “Do you have goggles?” Her voice was muffled through the hood.

  “No. Do I need them?”

  “Only if you don’t want your eyes to turn into icicles out there. We’ve got some spares in here.” She opened a door to what appeared to be a coat closet and grabbed some eyewear from a shelf.

  I took what looked like safety goggles fashioned for a classic mad scientist and pulled them over my head. Some numbers appeared in my periphery, one obviously the time and the other looking like the current temperature.

  I slipped the hood from my jacket over my hair and pulled it tight. “All right, I’m ready,” I said.

  Rachel raised an eyebrow. “You’re never truly ready for this kind of cold.”

  She opened the exterior door. It didn’t lead immediately outside, but instead to a little waiting area. “This is the mudroom,” she explained.

  Once the first door was firmly closed, she opened the door on the other side. As soon as the seal between the inside and out was broken, freezing air rushed into the room. It felt like something slammed into my chest, sucking all the air out of my lungs. My vision grew dark, and I could sense my balance shifting.

  “Steady there, partner.” Rachel’s hand immediately grasped my arm. I took a slow breath in, the cold air burning my lungs. “Bit of a shock, isn’t it?”

  I nodded. She kept hold of my arm as we walked out the door. There was a smooth cement path leading away from the exit. Just to the left was the landing pad where my passenger ship had dropped us off. After that, the walkway turned to gravel. Other than the path, the surface of Chi was a ragged growth of crystalline ice.

  “This is pretty much it. Over there is our research area.” She pointed to a trail branching out to the right, away from the landing pad.

  When she let go of my arm, I headed straight to the research area.

  “I wouldn’t go over there,” she warned.

  I turned back. She was firmly planted at the stop where the path broke off. “Why not?”

  “There’s a lot of the dark matter stuff over there. It’s not safe.” I couldn’t see much of her face, but her concern showed clearly through her eyes.

  “Doron said it’s totally safe.”

  She scoffed. “He would.”

  Before I could ask her any more, a red sign started flashing in the center of my vision. Rachel could see it too and said, “You need to get inside. You’re close to getting frostbite.”

  I followed her back into the mudroom. Once the door to the outside was firmly shut, she opened the door to the inside and the room quickly warmed up.

  I hadn’t realized how cold my body had gotten. My skin felt like it was on fire, every inch tingling with pins and needles.

  “Hurts, doesn’t it? I bet you didn’t even notice the stars.”

  She was right, I hadn’t noticed anything other than the cold and the ground beneath my feet.

  Once we had our outerwear off, Rachel brought me to the mess hall. “I got you some tea,” she said, setting a mug onto the table in front of me before taking a seat across from me. I carefully reached out for the mug. The skin on my hands was bright red and inflamed. I pulled my palms close to my face to examine them. “Another minute and your skin would be necrotic.”

  I carefully lifted the mug to my lips and took a sip. “Thank you,” I said as I placed the cup back on the table. “I don’t know what came over me. Going out there was a really stupid idea.”

  She bit her lip. “I don’t know if you should be thanking me.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She looked around the room at everything except for me. “I know you’re not Doron’s wife’s cousin. I’ve looked up every person in his and his wife’s family, yet didn’t recognize you. I did some research yesterday and found the warrant for your arrest. The only reason I haven’t turned you in yet is because Doron seems so fond of you.”

  I wasn’t sure how to respond and took a tense sip of my tea.

  “I’m keeping my eye on you, Jake Metcalf. If you do anything to my Doron, you’ll have to answer to me.”

  •••

  The rest of the day passed by slowly while in Rachel’s company. It became clear that everyone on Chi worked around the clock. Everyone except for her and me. She mentioned that all of the scientists collected their time off for big chunks of leave to visit their family elsewhere in the planetary system. Maybe she didn’t have anyone to visit. Maybe that was why she was so clingy with Doron.

  “What’s on your mind?”

  I had been staring at my untouched dinner. I looked up at Rachel’s face. I wondered how long she had been watching me. “Not much.” Turning my attention back to my meal, I shoveled a forkful of rice into my mouth.

  “Why are you here?”

  “Huh?” I swallowed quickly. “You were hungry. I came with you…”

  She shook her head. “No, not why are you in the mess hall. Why are you here on Chi?”

  “It sounded interesting…”

  “Bullshit.” She had on a surprisingly stern expression. “No one comes to Chi because they want to be here. There are plenty of places to lay low—places that aren’t freezing and devoid of amusement.”

  I opened my mouth, but couldn’t come up with a good lie for being there.

  “And don’t use that stargazing line again. Anyone who knows anything about astronomy knows that the best star view in Trappist is from the dark side of Zeta.”

  My mind flashed back to chasing Lola across the red sand, the sky illuminated by three times as many stars as there should have been. They were always there.

  “Why are you here?” I asked.

  “I work here. But I asked you.”

  I raked my fingers through my hair. “I just had this feeling that I needed to be here. I know it sounds stupid, but buying the ti
cket to fly here felt like my only choice.”

  “You should get away from here as soon as you can. The dark matter stuff—it’s not harmless. It messes with people’s minds. The more contact they have with it, the worse it gets. If you want to keep your sanity, you’ll leave.”

  I almost laughed at the last part. My sanity was already far gone. I was on this planet because a delusion told me to come here. And now my primary goal was to melt a block of ice around some statue.

  “Everyone here seems perfectly normal to me.”

  “You don’t know them like I do.” She glanced to her sides before leaning in and whispering. “Doron’s the best at hiding it, but he’s been affected too.” She straightened up in her seat. “Not everything is what it appears.”

  I nodded slowly. If anyone in the place was crazy, it was her.

  •••

  When Doron returned to the apartment later that evening, he seemed totally normal to me. He made himself a cup of tea before taking a seat on his padded furniture—which he called a couch—and reading the news on his pad. I could see most of the projected holograms now, so I watched a program on the entertainment panel.

  “Thanks so much for spending the day with Rachel,” he said, not even looking up from the news. He took a slow sip from his steaming tea and set the mug back down on the table next to him.

  “I thought she was the one babysitting me.”

  He chuckled. “No, quite the opposite, actually. She gets lonely. She was incarcerated on Kappa, but got early release in exchange for a certain amount of community service. The catch was that her community service is here on Chi, and she can’t leave until she’s completed all of her hours. I think the isolation has gotten to her.”

  “Wow. What was she charged for?”

  He idly scratched his chin. “That one’s not really my story to tell. You’d have to ask Rachel.”

  An awkward silence stretched out between us, and my concern finally took over. “I saw some of the sketchbooks in your office. You’re quite good.”