Seven Point Eight (65 page)

“Um, I can’t find the record I usually play,” he said. “Does anyone know where I last put ‘Good Vibrations’?”

Inside the machine, Tahra tried to look nonchalant but found it hard to suppress a giggle. The twelve recruits acknowledged her guilt and smirked: who wasn’t sick of ‘Good Vibrations’?

“Just power up the field!” they called out.

Paul shrugged, feeling disappointed the machine’s theme song had mysteriously disappeared, especially on such an important day, but he booted up the sequence of frequencies and powered up the field.

Looking at the incremental settings for the pulsed electromagnetic field, he set the intensity to seventy-five percent as agreed with Tahra. As Max pointed out, he was the project manager and therefore responsible for such decisions.

Inside the machine, the occupants felt the customary buzzing and tingling throughout their bodies, and the familiar feeling of paralysis. Tahra closed her eyes and immediately became aware of twelve manifestations of consciousness, twelve presences, and twelve orbs of light. However, this time, she sensed something more substantial. Ignoring any questions raised by her gut instinct, she visualised scooping up her friends’ consciousnesses and focused on the destination of the Goddess Realm.

The transition between worlds packed a punch this time, and provided a vivid experience. Tahra sensed a huge rush, as if she’d been injected with a divine stimulant coupled with the caffeine from several cups of coffee. Looking around, she found herself floating in some kind of nether world, consisting of bright orange outlines of tessellated hexagons.

My team, where’s my team?

Tahra searched for the twelve orbs of light she had the responsibility of guiding, and discovered vibrant human energy forms staring back at her. Everyone had a body composed of pure energy with concentrations of radiance around the brain and heart, plus channels of electricity flowing like a vascular system of light. Some energy bodies were green or blue, or composites with pinks and lilacs, or yellows and orange, so the scene looked like semi-mixed luminous paint splatters. Looking down, she discovered her own energy body, a composite of deep red and purple.

“What is this?” she thought, aloud.

“This ain’t ever happened before,” Angelina added.

“We should be in the Goddess Realm,” Tahra pointed out, getting worried. “Why aren’t we there? What’s happening?”

Tahra felt something extract her from this nether world, pulling her away with a force too strong to resist. She watched the twelve energy bodies of her friends fade into the distance and instinctively, she reached out her arms, attempting to cast her protective net.

I’m losing them.

Oh no, they’re scattering in all directions.

What’s happening?

I can’t resist…I can’t control what’s happening.

Everything blurred and the hexagonal grid stretched and distorted before her eyes. Tahra felt sick to the pit of her stomach. What would happen to her friends? How would Paul feel when she revealed she’d failed the mission? Worse still, how would Max react?

However, a world solidified from the grid, as if someone twisted a camera lens into focus. Instantly, she recognised it, a world where planets, stars, and nebulae filled the sky. She now stood in a world where the stars themselves seemed to communicate with each other, the land and water sparkled with an unknown iridescent substance, and the air itself shimmered with a kind of white noise, full of dancing and vibrating molecules of energy. Tahra had been here before. She’d emerged in the very first dimension she’d visited, which triggered a memory.

One of the molecules of energy extruded from the background of noise and took a recognisable form. An entity approached her in a blazing white effigy of iridescence, the molecules of which cycled through different colours. Burning eyes accentuated its otherwise featureless face, and Tahra noticed the wings folded up on its back. It conveyed a sense of brilliance and power that both inspired and humbled her.

“It is time,” the angel-like entity spoke.

A feeling of dread overcame Tahra, coupled with a feeling of helplessness. She was trapped here.

Meanwhile, back in the control booth, Paul became aware something had gone wrong. The machine behaved anomalously, displaying some unusual vibrations, which hadn’t occurred during prior tests. What the hell was going on? He checked the readouts of everyone’s EEGs and ECGs, finding them highly erratic.

“This has never happened before,” Paul said, clearly confused.

Max unfolded his arms and took a step forward, staring at the monitors.

“There are seven of my best people in there,” he said, looking over at Paul.

Looking at the dial, Paul began to regret his impetuous decision. He’d never run the field at anything above sixty-five percent with anyone in it, so why had he risked the unknown by increasing ten percent, on this day of all others? Why had he let money be the driving factor behind this particular voyage in the machine? His heart sank as he gazed at the monitors, because all he saw was static.

“Visuals are down. I can’t see what’s happening. Shit!”

Chaos reigned, and Paul felt his hands drift to his face in horror. This just didn’t any sense, what difference could an extra ten percent make?

“Cut the field,” Max said, without hesitation.

“I’m going in to check on them myself,” Paul said. “I hate not knowing what’s happening.”

“Just cut the field,” Max repeated.

Paul rushed to the hatch and used the emergency release to pop it open. What he saw became imprinted on his memory. The field had produced a shimmering haze, something he’d never encountered before. Without thinking, he reached out to touch it, discovering a strong electro-static buzz. Looking beyond it, he barely saw Tahra and the twelve recruits, as something had happened to their bodies at a molecular level. The intensity of the field, or some unknown force had created a state of semi-invisibility.

Max perceived the shimmering electro-static field from the control booth, as it began to radiate out from the machine in a spheroid haze. Glancing around at the dials, sliders, and buttons, he stared at the monitor, which displayed static. With Paul in a stupor, he needed to act.

Outside the booth, Paul stood frozen momentarily, his only concern for Tahra in an altered molecular state. Regardless of how illogical it seemed and against his better judgment, he stepped into the machine, desperate to drag her out. However, as soon as he’d done so, he regretted it. The field dragged his consciousness from his body, while a sense of physical paralysis overpowered him. Paul found himself in a position where he could help no one.

Meanwhile, Tahra faced the angel-like entity. Its burning eyes bore right through her, as if reaching into her soul with fiery fingers. She tried to tear her gaze away, and for a moment, she caught a glimpse of silvery snakes worming their way across the sky, and the stars flashing in a cyclical manner. Multiple planets rotated slowly upon their axis, and the iridescent landscape glistened.

“Where is this?” she asked, hoping for a clearer answer this time.

The entity spoke although no lips moved, its voice rang clear in her head.

“You have been brought to the quantum fire level,” it explained, “a place only a highly advanced traveller can find. You now exist at the most fundamental level of dark matter in the universe.”

“If it’s so difficult to find, then why am I here?”

“Because I brought you here.”

“Why?”

“Because it is time,” the entity clarified.

“What is it time for?” Tahra pressed, realising the inevitable approached.

“Satus.”

A realisation struck Tahra.

“You spoke to me at Jupiter, didn’t you? We’ve already begun the journey, haven’t we?”

The angelic entity remained patient and dignified.

“You haven’t yet tapped the full meaning of this word, for it is more than a word.”

“Are you going to help me understand?”

“Yes, for there is something you need to do,” it continued.

“What if I don’t want to do it?”

“You have free will, therefore I cannot force you, but I believe you will give your consent. You will receive something in return to help you with this task.”

Tahra felt more reassured by the fact she had free will.

“Tell me what this task is.”

“I will show you,” it said.

The entity reached out and plunged its white fiery limb into her manifestation of consciousness, that dark red and purple powerhouse of energy. She looked down and saw how brightly it glowed now, but the entity’s actions became extremely painful and Tahra felt as if its fiery limb split her in two. In her mind’s eye, she saw a whole sequence of events, a clear plan…a purpose for her existence and on viewing it, she almost cried.

“Will you help?” the entity asked.

“Yes,” she whispered.

As soon as she’d consented, the pain increased in intensity to the point where she couldn’t bear it. She screamed, hoping this temporary distress would be compensated by the gift she’d receive.

Am I dying?

Did I sacrifice my life for a greater purpose?

The pain exceeded the grief caused by the machine elves, and as it overpowered her, leaving her to sense oblivion, the world of quantum fire began to dissolve in her vision. She saw a black void, free of hexagons, free of the grid, and free of any pain. A single point of light grew steadily in the distance and she felt a reassuring presence.

I’m dying.

I sacrificed my life for a greater purpose.

I consented, I’ve already stepped beyond the point of no return.

Meanwhile, back in the machine, Paul lay incapacitated on the floor. At this altered molecular level, the physical forms of the recruits became inconsistent, and cycled through brief moments of solidity before they dissolved into a state of semi-invisibility again.

Without warning, the field powered down, the machine barn fell into darkness and the emergency lighting flickered into life. Max had killed the power at the main switch, being the only person capable of decisive action. Paul lay on the floor of the machine, feeling movement return to his physical body. Looking over, he witnessed everyone returning to a state of solidity. Tahra gazed ahead, as if staring into space like the others, and a wave of guilt grabbed Paul by the guts because of what they’d just endured.

“Tahra?” he called out.

For a moment, he thought she’d fallen into a trance. However, on hearing her name, she jolted as if receiving an electric shock and a minute later, she turned to face him, clearly distressed. Paul stumbled over to her and embraced her with relief.

 
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he said. “I made a mistake.”

Tahra clung to him tightly, heart pounding, experience in the Quantum Fire Realm foremost in her mind. She trembled, fearful of revealing the terrible truth. How could she explain to him what had just happened? She pulled away and looked him in the eye, tearful.

“I’m sorry too,” she burst out. “I lost them, I’m so sorry, I lost them.”

Paul looked puzzled, holding her face in his hands and glancing over at the recruits, he realised what she meant. Unlike Tahra, they’d not regained normal consciousness. They were frozen, as if sleeping with their eyes open. What had happened, and what was wrong with them?