"The mental training inside the tank will be geared from this time onward toward allowing each subject to detach from this physical reality, followed by subliminal messages for the chants. Some of the other doctors have raised questions as to the nature of these chants, what they mean. Professor Kendal even accused them of being sacrilegious."
Weber started chuckling. The look in his eyes changed again. It reminded Ira of when her grandfather would shift from being lucid to having one of his Alzheimer's episodes.
"Fools," Weber said, running his hands through his hair. "They do not know how lucky they are to hear these ancient words. Even as the world freezes over, they cling to their false gods and pray for salvation. But, if there are such things as gods, they care nothing for us."
He paused again, blinking, as if he wasn't sure where he was. His eyes returned to the camera.
"Some of the volunteers are apprehensive toward the tank, following the untimely 'deaths' of a few of our subjects. I can't say that I blame them, but we must prevail."
He leaned back in his chair, reached for a bottle of brown liquid off to his right, poured himself a glass, and took a sip. He looked almost content then, like someone reminiscing on the good ol’e days.
"My first experience in a sensory deprivation tank was met with some aversion too, I must admit. I remember that a few of my friends had taken a trip into Los Angeles for our spring break away from Caltech, and they, after discovering the work of John Lilly, wanted to try the tank. I didn't know what to think at the time, and I was probably a bit frightened about how the experience of total submersion would affect me."
He took a long drink.
"After that first thirty-minute session, I became obsessed with his work. I spent a half an hour inside the tank every day for the rest of break, and I saw such incredible things. I must confess, though, that the mind's horizon is not an idea that I came up with on my own. No. It was the late Douglas Collier.
"Jimmy, a friend of mine, heard about my sudden, almost manic, obsession with Lilly's work. I remember it like it was yesterday, how he passed me that tattered leather book and said to give it a read, that it might change my life.
"And he was right. With the help of Messages from the Abyss, Collier's last work of note before his untimely death on Mount Denali in Alaska, and Lilly's work, my path became all too clear.
"I spent so long with my face buried in that terrible book that my grades took a sharp dive. If I'm honest, it's a wonder that I even graduated. The book was both a diary, and a manual of sorts, what the superstitious might call a 'grimoire.' The diary aspect of the book records Collier's rapid descent into madness after bringing a statuette back to his quarters, a statuette that gave him terrible visions and enlightened him to a world where humanity was nothing more than a speck in an infinite void. Collier claimed that when he stared into the statuette, let it talk to him, that it gave him powerful incantations and scientific formulas that have only just been discovered today by normal means.
"As for the other half of the book: there was one page in particular, it spoke of a passageway through the abyss, beyond a place called the Astral Lands, through which all information and light goes to rest eternally, a passageway that was only reachable by passing through the mind's horizon."
He stared into the camera, and Ira almost felt like he was looking right at her. The lucid quality in his voice eroded almost instantly. All she could see in his stare was madness. "If an event horizon is the point of no return for matter, then the mind's horizon is the point of no return before reality itself unravels, before the curtain is finally pulled back."
Weber was shaking. He poured himself another glass.
Ira's breath was short.
She wanted desperately to turn the video off, to stop the slow descent into madness that was taking place. But a part of her wanted to know more; a part of her was morbidly curious.
"Like Lilly before me, I've met with an entity far beyond the grasp of Earth. It showed me things. Great secrets that humanity would have taken untold eons to unlock. It's all thanks to the tank.
"There are many passages in the grimoire written in what can only be described as a dead language. Impossible to decode. I know the secret is contained within the book, but...there's no telling how long it would take to make a proper translation of the hieroglyphs contained within..."
He grinned, showing his yellowing teeth. "Did you know, Tibetan monks meditate their entire lives to achieve enlightenment? I have a theory...that perhaps the state they seek is not too dissimilar to what the book describes."
His eyes became very grave, serious. "But, I do not have a lifetime to accomplish this task.
"I don't remember many details from the experience, but I remember the void of space, and the sight of an otherworldly entity with an orange glow drifting toward me...it was like it could sense me. At first, I was foolish enough to think that it was just the LSD I'd taken—I was so wrong. So naive. My mind needed to be opened up...needed to see the doorway.
"It was trying to speak to me. More impression than actual speech, as if I was being sent telepathic messages from this being, and it was receiving mine. It was incredible. Such euphoria.
"The entity seemed to be going against the orders of its directorate, which were to observe humanity, but not influence us in any meaningful way. This being, it seemed to recognize that we were in trouble, all of us, on our way to extinction. So, it did the only thing that it felt it could.
"It gave me so much. So very much. It told me that our minds are not products of the brain itself, but that organic lifeforms merely use brains as...as antennae...yes, that's it...antennae...our personality, our desires, our feelings, from another dimension, which is in the same place as our bodies—" he descended into a coughing fit "—but slightly out of phase from the rest of our perceived reality.
"And what is reality, really? Our eyes are such flawed things. There are so many holes in our universe, and our brains just paint over them.
"The key, as I understand it, is putting our minds into a trance-like state. Don't you see? Science fiction films have told us for decades that we must rely on technology alone to reach the stars, but the real frontier is within ourselves. With the proper training, we can use our minds to change the very frequency at which our molecules and atoms vibrate, and shift into another reality!
"This, of course, was something that I'd already read in the grimoire. But, the entity seemed to know how it was done. Which was something I could never decode from Messages from the Abyss. This entity was very likely the missing link. My last chance. The tank was the gateway.
"I had to know more."
A beeping sound erupted from Weber's watch. He checked it haphazardly. "Speak of the devil. It's time for my next tank session."
His smile spread from ear to ear as he opened up an orange pill bottle and placed something white on his tongue. "Wish me luck."
7
Ira rubbed her eyes and turned away from the glow of her screen. The video was over at last, thank God. She felt like she was going a little crazy herself while listening to the nonsense coming out of Doctor Weber's mouth.
There were still encrypted parts of the network, more secrets that she didn't want to find. Yet, there was a part of her that was compelled to dig deeper. That part of her always seemed to win out in the long run.
Her eyes opened wide when a rumbling sound came from her stomach. Maybe it was time for a break, and something to eat? She stood up, arched her back and stretched.
It was 3:00 am already.
Definitely time for a break.
She found herself alone, walking down the tubular corridor to the cold, emotionless stone-walled rectangle she refused to call home. The others could bitch all they like about the old shelter. How much they’d hated living under the city. At least that place had character, had felt like it was theirs.
This place felt like a prison.
Nico and the others had been gone less than a
day, and she already wished they had stayed.
The halls in the facility were less than comforting. Cold white and black stone walls, sparsely lit by buzzing and flickering fluorescent bulbs. She tried to tell herself that her uneasiness wasn't because of the things she’d found in the archive, the video logs, or from the project summaries that told of horrific experiments that had left dozens brain-dead, or worse.
And then there were Weber's secret logs. These she wished she'd never found. Weber was insane, clearly. There was a room at the top of the facility where he'd spent most of his time. She wondered, grimly, if there was still a copy of Messages from the Abyss up there, and if she'd go mad just from reading it, the way he had. A stupid thought.
Books couldn't make you go insane.
She stopped walking; there was a quiet tapping behind her, like the careful footsteps of a predator. The skin on the back of her neck tightened, as if reacting to the cold; her limbs felt stiff, and some primal fear inside of her told her not to turn around. She stood there for what seemed like minutes; she closed her eyes, and, finally finding the courage, quickly turned around.
She found nothing but an empty tunnel that faded into darkness.
Ira sighed, relaxed her shoulders, shook her head and continued walking. It was probably all in her head.
She’d barely spent any time in her room at all; her cot was still unmade. It was pretty bare, considering all of her belongings were still at the old shelter. She walked over to her pack and withdrew a protein bar, sat down on the cot and took a bite.
Eddy and Nico needed to hurry the hell up and get back.
CHAPTER NINE
Mathias woke up screaming, staring into the blackened pits of that ancient mask again.
He scrambled off his cot and found the light switch, panting and raving like a mental patient. The lights came on, and the masked figure was gone.
Collapsing on the cold, concrete floor, Mathias held his head in his hands.
What in the hell is happening to me? he thought. Why do I keep having these nightmares?
After he caught his breath, he found the courage to stand again. The alarm clock on the room's previous owner's nightstand read 3:00 am.
It might even have been right.
Yesterday's walk had worked wonders. Why not do it again?
Mathias grabbed his coat and put it on, then opened his door and slipped down the corridor.
His stomach was growling.
In the last day or so—he couldn't be sure how many hours had passed—he hadn't run into Ira or Lena once. Not that he was complaining. Even in his aimless wandering throughout the facility, there wasn't the slightest hint that he wasn't alone.
He wondered just how large this place really was.
He found himself standing in front of a metal door with a keypad and a sign overhead that read EXPERIMENT 13A.
Nico had told him not to go messing with any of the experiment chambers here.
He'd never know, Mathias thought, as he caressed the keypad.
There was no telling what the code was, but he tried the door handle anyway. It twisted as though it weren't locked. Something clicked. And the door swung open, its hinges squeaking.
Why wasn't the door locked?
Perhaps reconnecting the core to the main systems fried the locking mechanisms?
The darkness loomed before him, beckoning him forward.
Sweat beaded above his brow.
"One peek won't hurt," Mathias said, stepping into the dark.
His hand patted the wall for a light switch, found a row of circular buttons instead. He pressed all of them in the order he'd felt them.
The lights plinked on, one by one. First, in the observation room, then, in the experiment chamber.
He almost screamed when he saw them. Two horizontal sensory deprivation tanks sat in the center of a cold stone floor, marked up by a white circle. The white circle was contained within a glass pyramid, just like the previous chamber.
One of the deprivation tanks was open. There was a skeletal arm sticking out of the solution.
Mathias scanned over the rows of keyboards, buttons, monitors, and other equipment.
Part of him wanted to get the hell out of there...but another part of him, the scientist deep inside him, wanted to know more. Wanted to know what had gone wrong.
He found himself reaching for one of the computer towers—He stopped himself.
"No," he said. "I shouldn't. Nico may be right after all..."
He gave the experiment chamber one last look before turning the lights off.
2
Ira almost turned back when she saw Lena in the food storage cache.
Lena glared at her, grabbing her rations and putting them in her pocket for her morning meal. Surprisingly, she didn't say anything.
"Morning?" Ira said, slipping past her and grabbing an MRE.
There was something else in Lena's stare, a look she was all too familiar with. Did she blame Ira for finding this place?
The look faded from Lena's face. "Have you heard from Nico yet?"
She shook her head. "I've had my CB on me just in case...still nothing. I was..." She hesitated. "...I was gonna head to the surface to look for any signs of them in the valley."
Lena stared at her for a moment, probably considering her own options. "I'll go with you."
Ugh, why? Ira thought. "Okay..."
"Don't get the wrong idea," Lena said. "I...I just don't want to be alone here. I feel like I'm going crazy."
Ira could relate.
"Right," she said, slipping out the door. "Well, I'm going to have breakfast first, then I'm headed up to the surface."
"I'll be there," Lena said.
3
Ira had to force herself to eat.
She blamed it on the log entry she'd watched last night. It had given her nightmares. Nightmares she was thankful had left only a fading impression on her as the morning droned on.
Mathias was sitting in the check-in station when she reached the facility's entrance. He nodded to her through the window, but didn't bother coming out to say hi. Not that she was bothered. It was cold as hell in here.
She’d thought it was Lena's turn to be on lookout, but she wasn't going to raise the issue.
Ira stretched her goggles over her eyes and put her facemask on. She was trudging through the ice tunnel before she knew what she was doing.
She felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end when she heard the unmistakable sound of boots crunching on ice, coming from behind her. Footsteps that she knew weren't hers.
This time, she resisted the fearful urge not to look and spun around.
It was just Lena.
"Jesus Christ," Ira said. "You scared the shit out of me."
Lena glanced at her halfheartedly and kept walking.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Ira whispered, following after her.
4
The valley looked empty, save for a pack of coyotes in the distance. She scanned what used to be San Bernardino and Highland with her multi-specs, but couldn't see any sign of Nico or Eddy's snowmobiles.
There was a fresh coat of snow on the ground, and dark clouds to the east.
"Looks like we might have gotten another storm last night," Ira said. "Might have forced them to stay the night at the old shelter."
"Might have?" Lena said. "But, you're not sure?"
Ira shook her head. "I'm sure they're fine. We were lucky to get here without incident the first time."
"Yeah, lucky isn't the word I'd use for it," Lena said, her eyes both accusatory and worried beneath her goggles.
"You blame me for finding this place," Ira said. "I can see it in your eyes."
"The thought crossed my mind," Lena said.
"There was no way to know what was out here...we couldn't pass the opportunity up..."
"Keep telling yourself that." Lena turned around, hugging herself, and headed back toward the ice tunnel.
Ira
watched her go. Bitch.
5
Hugo woke up to Nico smacking him on the cheek.
"Wake up," Nico said.
It took a few moments longer than Nico probably would have liked for him to remember where he was.
"I said—" Nico gripped Hugo's arm and dragged him off the dusty, broken couch. "—get up!"
"Or what, B?" Hugo eyed Eddy's body. His chest rose and fell, but no one seemed to be home. There were bandages wrapped around his neck and shoulder. "You gonna do to me how you did him?"
"You don't say a word to them about what happened here," Nico said, his eyes full of fire. "You got that? It was a mountain lion. That's our story."
"Yeah," Hugo said, keeping his eyes low. "I got you."
"Good." Nico crossed his arms. "Now get off your ass and prep the snowmobiles. We're heading back while we have a chance."
Hugo nodded. He kept a watchful eye on Nico as he left the room. God knows he'd given him plenty of reason to put himself next on the list.
6
After slipping into his snow gear, Hugo made his way to the warehouse. He'd have to go fetch Eddy's snowmobile at the other cache too, but that could wait till later.
He found himself reminiscing about the old days. He missed the days when all he had to worry about was getting several videos out for a given week, eagerly checking his viewership, and letting the cash roll in.
He'd had it made. He could make videos on any subject he wanted, ranging from politics, conspiracies, science, religion, and even the war. His most popular videos were any dealing with the flat Earth.
How could he have let himself get sucked into that mess, only to be proved wrong by the coming of the ice? Science don't give a shit what you believe.
Now, all of that seemed trivial. If his former, flat-Earth-believing, God-fearing self could see him now...
He was just thankful Nico and the others had never seen his videos.
The snowmobile's gas tank was nearly empty. He filled it and warmed the engine up. Then, he checked to make sure the straps on the sled were in good shape.
Mind's Horizon Page 11
