Mental Contact

by Beth Martin

Doron smiled. “I just dabble. It’s something to keep me busy.”

  “Some of them are pretty dark…”

  “Yes. I’ve found that putting the images on paper helps get them out of my head.” He calmly sipped his tea, clearly finished with our discussion.

  •••

  I had no trouble staying awake after Doron went to bed. My body didn’t want to sleep, and I was too anxious about getting another look at Lola. Now that I knew going outside was so dangerous, I wanted to head back into the lab to get a better look at her frozen in the ice. I waited until Doron had been asleep for a few hours before slipping out of his apartment.

  I walked briskly down the halls toward the lab. When I got to the last turn before the lab, I stopped before rounding the corner. I peeked around the wall and saw Lisa standing at her post. She was shifting her weight from side to side, her eyes darting all over the hall and doors to the lab.

  I backed up away from the corner. I had expected her to be watching something on her pad again instead of being on high alert. Not wanting to leave empty handed, I waited there, barely concealed behind the turn. She couldn’t keep up the intense vigil for long. Eventually, she’d want to sit and would let her attention drift.

  After what felt like forever, she settled down in the chair at her desk, glancing around again before turning on a pad. I gave her another five minutes to get engrossed in the program she was watching before I ventured farther down the hall.

  I barely made it two paces before she jumped up. Grabbing her taser from her belt and pointing it at me, she yelled, “Stop there!” The light shining from the taser blinded my eyes, and I instinctively held my arms in front of them. “Put your hands in the air. Let me see your face.”

  I slowly lifted my hands up and squinted in the bright light. “It’s okay, Lisa. It’s just me.” I started walking toward her. “I couldn’t sleep again. I was just taking a walk.”

  “Don’t move any closer.” Her posture was rigid, and I could tell she was trembling by the shaking of the light.

  “Lisa, please. Lower your taser. It’s just me.”

  “You’re Jake Metcalf.” I had never told her my last name. “You’re the crazy man who navigated his ship to fly straight into a wormhole before taking an escape pod to save himself.”

  “That’s… That’s ridiculous.” Had Paradido really gotten sucked into a wormhole? Certainly I would have noticed some sign of one forming before leaving the ship.

  Lisa’s hand jerked down to the desk and pressed a button. Red flashing lights and an ear-piercing siren filled my senses. She had to shout to be heard over the alarm. “Jake Metcalf, I’m detaining you on behalf of the Trappist Interplanetary Police.”

  “This is just a big misunderstanding,” I said, taking another step forward.

  “Don’t come any closer!” she yelled.

  “Let me explain.” But I didn’t get to explain. A blue bolt shot from her taser and leapt onto my chest, knocking me back and paralyzing my muscles.

  The next thing I remembered was sitting in a small room, though I wasn’t sure how I had gotten there. Lisa was sitting on a chair just on the other side of the one transparent wall.

  “I’m so sorry I tasered you,” she said.

  All of my muscles were sore, like I had done a particularly rough exercise routine the day before. “Yeah, that was a little unnecessary.” I looked around me, trying to get my bearings. “Where am I?”

  “Medical room. This one’s designed for use as a quarantine.”

  “So what happens now?” I asked.

  She hung her head and massaged her temples with her fingertips. “I don’t know. I don’t know what came over me.” She let out a heavy sigh.

  “What do you mean?”

  She chuckled to herself for a while before lifting her eyes to look at me. “Why would a small research outfit need a security officer? There’s less than a dozen people on this planet.”

  I didn’t know the answer so I just silently stared at her.

  “I don’t know what I’m doing here.” Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes. “When Rachel said you were a criminal, I felt like I had to prove myself—like apprehending you would give me purpose. I don’t know. It sounds stupid now that I say it out loud.”

  She suddenly stood up. “I should go.” Before I could protest, she had walked away. I wanted to call after her, but didn’t.

  I looked around the quarantine cell. I couldn’t imagine why they would need one all the way out here. Surely there weren’t any scary diseases going around such a sparsely populated planet. The advantage, though, was that I had a proper fold-out toilet and wash area, along with a soft mattress lining the bed.

  As I tried to sit up, every muscle in my body screamed. I instinctively gasped at the pain, but the motion of expanding my chest to let in air hurt even more. Controlling my breath, I stared at the ceiling above me. It was one of those false ceilings that would be open above. I entertained the idea of climbing through one of the panels in the ceiling to try and escape, but if this room was truly built as a quarantine, there would be a ventilation system up there and no way out.

  Thoughts raced through my mind. Was it all over now? I had been caught. The Trappist Police were coming for me. They would take me back to Kappa, and back to the Nazarian and Ryan Institute. I’d be put back on drugs and spend the rest of my life locked up with other crazy people. The thought of being sent back to that place was enough to make even the sanest man go mad.

  I tried to come up with a plan, but nothing came to me. Once the police were here, there would be no way out. If I tried anything to get away, Lisa would stun me again.

  When I was a teen, I had thought I was invincible. Everything life had to offer was open in front of me. I was clever, strong, and brave. I could have chosen any career path but decided to follow in my father’s footsteps. I should have picked something different. There was a physical pang in my chest as the heartache sunk in. If I had chosen a different career, I could have stayed on Spaceship Titanium. I could still be there with my mother. As things stood now, she had no idea what I was doing. She probably thought that I had graduated from the academy and was now stationed on a different warp ship.

  “Lola, what am I going to do?” My eyes fogged as tears formed and slid down my face. And now I was seeking advice from a delusion. I had lost everything: my family, my sanity, my freedom. My chest hurt too much to even have a proper cry. Instead, I continued to lie there staring up at the ceiling as more tears fell from my eyes.

  “Feeling pretty sorry for yourself?”

  His voice startled me, and I quickly sat up, immediately regretting the movement. “What are you doing here?” I asked, quickly wiping any trace of moisture off my face.

  Doron sat down in the chair Lisa had occupied earlier. “Thought I’d check on my wife’s cousin.”

  I gave a single laugh, my chest’s aching already starting to ease.

  He looked at his hands, examining them like he’d never seen them before. “I haven’t been completely honest with you.”

  “How so?”

  “I did a background check on you when you bought your ticket to Chi.” He held up his hand when I started to ask him how he knew I purchased that ticket. “Our research group is notified whenever someone makes plans to travel here. Since I was the one who chartered the flight, it made sense for me to look into you.”

  He took a deep breath before continuing. “I saw you leave your hotel room and head to the bar. You clearly weren’t Officer Cory. If I could easily discern your true identity, then anyone could, so I sent a woman posing as a working-girl to rough you up a bit, make you hard to recognize.”

  Instinctively, I touched the new scar on my face. “Why?”

  “After all of my research, I’ve gotten a sense for how dark matter works. It always pulls together. The only reason you would come all the way to the edge of the system is because you’re part dark matter.”

  I didn’t even try
to hide incredulity from my voice. “I’m dark matter?”

  Doron glanced up to the ceiling for a second before focusing on me. “Part. Dark matter doesn’t interact with physical matter in the way you’d expect. Even though they basically exist in different dimensions, dark matter seems to have an influence on our world.”

  I furrowed my brows. “I don’t understand.”

  “My research has taken an interesting turn recently. I’ve been measuring the effects dark matter has on people—specifically Rachel and myself. I had to stop doing trials on Rachel after she started getting paranoid and no longer consented. But I try to subject myself to it as much as possible.”

  I waited for him to say something more, but that was it. After a long pause, he said, “Good luck, Jake,” and left.

  I still had no idea what I was going to do. Freeing Lola no longer consumed my thoughts. My only desire at the moment was to get off of this planet.

  •••

  I looked around the quarantine room for the millionth time trying to see if there was a way out. The room was airtight to prevent the spread of disease, but there was a door for entry the doctors would use. It was right next to the corner toilet-sink combo.

  Doron was long gone, and Lisa hadn’t returned. I peered at either direction through the one transparent wall to see if anyone was coming down the hall. I couldn’t see too far, but it looked clear. I went to the facilities in the corner and pulled down the top part which folded out into a sink. A burst of cold air met me through the drain. It was almost as cold as the air outside. This side must have been an exterior wall. I pressed my hand against it. The block wall didn’t feel cold—certainly not freezing. I went back to the sink and turned the water on. Nothing happened.

  Even though I didn’t need to relieve myself, my curiosity was piqued. I folded down the lower part which made the toilet seat. Yet again, I was greeted with another frigid draft. I pressed the flush button on the small control panel above the sink. A loud crackling noise came from the plumbing. After a second, water came spraying as a fine mist from the sides of the seat, instantly crystallizing into ice shards and floating down around the corner in an impromptu blizzard. More water flowed until the whole bowl filled with ice. I watched in motionless terror as the expanding ice split a seam through the aluminum bowl. The crack let more cold air rush in, making the temperature in my small cell drop.

  Rushing to the transparent wall, I beat it with my fist. “Hey, someone. I need some help in here.” A dot on the facilities panel turned yellow, indicating it needed repair.

  I started breathing quickly, panicked that this was the end. With every breath in, I could feel the harsh air turning my lungs into ice. I tried to yell again, but my breath got caught in my throat. I stumbled down onto the floor and pushed myself back into the farthest corner from the draft. I pulled my knees to my chest, curled into a ball, and squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for it all to be over.

  In the academy, we learned exactly what would happen to our bodies in the vacuum of space. We also learned what would happen in extreme conditions. Drowning, fire, heat, cold. Hypothermia didn’t seem like a bad way to die. I was already unable to feel the cold. Next, I would get tired and fall asleep. It was a peaceful way to go.

  I waited and waited. I didn’t feel tired, but the cold had passed. What was going on?

  “You know, it’s really hard to get your attention. I do like the new scar.”

  I opened my eyes and looked up. She was sitting in the room with me on the bed. I glanced at the facility corner. It looked completely normal. There was no ice and no damage.

  “Where have you been?”

  Lola sighed as she idly combed her fingers through her hair. She was wearing a long purple tunic and white pants. “It’s complicated.”

  “Well, I’m on Chi now.” I covered my face with my hands. “I have no idea what I’m even doing here.”

  Lola shrugged her shoulders. “You found my body. Stop wasting your time and figure out a way to free me from the ice.”

  I felt incredibly wary. She obviously didn’t care about what I had been through already and how it had affected me, but solely what I could do for her.

  “But I’m trapped in this room.”

  “Have you tried the door?” She got up and walked to the door, then placed her hand on the knob.

  Before I could ask where she was going, she opened it and slipped out. I jumped up to my feet and rushed to the door, but didn’t make it before it slammed shut. I grasped the knob and pulled. It was unlocked and the door flew open. I stepped out to the hallway which stretched in front of the transparent wall of my now vacant cell. Lola was nowhere to be seen. Why hadn’t I thought to check the door? I thought I had. It didn’t matter. I was free. But I was also a wanted man and needed to be careful.

  I knew Doron was on my side, but I decided not to seek his help. You need to do this yourself.

  •••

  Since it was the middle of the day, at least according to the clocks, everyone was busy going about their business. That didn’t stop me from carefully looking around each corner before proceeding. No one needed to know that I had left the medical room. I made it from the medical building down the main hall all the way to the area used as the spaceport and only exit. There wasn’t a single soul in sight as I opened the closet and pulled out my gold outerwear.

  With my warm clothes on, I went into the mudroom and sealed the door. I took a deep breath, bracing myself for the cold outside.

  The freezing air rushing in was just as shocking as it had been the first time. The skin around my eyes hurt. My eyes themselves felt like ice cubes. With one last steady breath, I stepped outside.

  As the cold permeated every fiber of my body, I started walking around the group of buildings. I followed the path to the right which wrapped around the complex exterior. The lab was on the other end, so I needed to hurry if I was going to get there before I froze.

  What was supposed to happen when I got to her? Would I be able to get her free from the block of ice restraining her? Would I survive the cold long enough to even make it back inside?

  Rachel’s voice starting ringing in my head. “Didn’t even notice the stars, did you?” I looked up at the sky. Swirls of mist partially obscured the view, but the general starscape was visible beyond. I blinked a couple times, and the stars seems to get brighter and denser. For a moment, the sky was filled with constellations and galaxies I wasn’t familiar with, but after another blink they were gone.

  I could barely feel my fingers and toes as I slowly progressed forward around the jagged ice formations. Chi had a surprising amount of water for the Trappist planetary system. I knew breathable atmospheres were routinely added to planets when they were first settled, along with at least some fresh water. But it was never enough water to completely cover the surface, especially on planets which had average temperatures below freezing.

  Following the outside of the building, I made it to the lab. It must have been lunch time, because when I peered in the windows, there was no one inside. There was a narrow path between the wall of windows and a wall of ice. I pressed my gloved hand against the ice as I kept walking. I was close.

  There she was, frozen in space and time. She did look like she was made of marble. Her clothes and hair draped away from her body, like a hologram on pause.

  “Lola,” I whispered. “I’m right here.” I wasn’t sure what to do next. I wished I could touch her.

  As if she was listening to my thoughts, her eyes opened. They were a piercing blue as clear as the Zeta sky. She stared straight ahead before her eyes jerked to look at me.

  I tripped backwards, bouncing against the window before falling onto the ground. Pain erupted from behind my eyes. I tried to run back to the path, but my feet were numb, and I stumbled into the jagged ice formations. Only then did I see Lisa outside as she rushed toward me.

  “Jake! What the hell are you doing out here?”

  I tried to pull
myself back up to my feet, but only stumbled again. As the center of my vision grew dark, I knew I was losing consciousness. I took a ragged breath in and said, “That woman in the ice: she’s alive,” before I lost consciousness.

  The skin on my arms, legs, and face felt like it was on fire. My eyes were so inflamed I had trouble opening them.

  I recalled being outside. Then what had happened?

  Those eyes. The memory of Lola opening her intense blue eyes sent a wave of nausea through my gut. It really was her. She was real. She was alive. I wasn’t sure if that made me excited or scared. Maybe a little of both.

  I looked around me. I wasn’t in Doron’s apartment. There was no sofa, desk, or bookshelf full of strange sketchbooks. Actually, there wasn’t much of anything in the room.

  Thick blankets were wrapped around me, pinning me to the bed. I wasn’t in the medical center either.

  A pair of arms squeezed around my waist, and my muscles tensed in response. “You feeling any better?”

  I looked over my shoulder to confirm that the voice was Lisa’s. “Where am I?”

  “My place. I needed to warm you up quickly, and this was the best way I could think to do it.”

  I wiped a hand over my face. She could have put me in a bathtub with warm water, although the view of her stripped down to her panties wasn’t all bad.

  She nuzzled her nose against my neck. “You didn’t answer my question. How are you feeling?”

  I sat up and stretched my arms above my head. My muscles were still sore from her taser, and my skin had progressed from burning to tingling. “To be honest, I’ve been better.”

  She chuckled, then sat up and pulled on some leggings and a shirt. “So, what happened out there?”

  I was still having a hard time believing it all. “You know that statue right outside the lab?”

  “No, actually, I’m not authorized to go in the lab. I just guard it.”