by Martyn Ford
‘They killed people?’
‘Lots.’
‘That doesn’t sound like the kind of thing a good guy does.’
‘What if you believed by killing one person, you could save a thousand? To practice Daahsuti like star swimmers, you must stay under radar. This means no one can know. This means death to anyone who exposes their secret.’
‘Why?’ I asked. ‘Who cares if people know about mind jumping?’
‘Exactly – this is exactly what Wise Earth started to say. Cold Rain wanted to run the order as they had always done – with iron and blood. He said people, they were not ready. But Wise Earth … He … He said twentieth century and twenty-first century are different. Different in a good way. He said people are ready to understand science of the brain. Is it not funny how we can send man to the moon, build vast cities, eradicate disease and yet we do not understand our very own minds? Consciousness … it’s the last of mankind’s great mysteries, the final question mark. Wise Earth wished to share these answers, this … whispered truth.’
‘But if people knew about the star swimmers, they would get shut down, surely?’
‘Yes. Wise Earth wanted a reformation. So he pledged to disband the group, to give up old ways. He, you, told all the elders that they are no longer permitted to live eternally. He tried to undo all these years of shame. He put pen to paper to expose himself. The global order begins to crumble. Their power begins to fade. The CIA, the KGB, many people, they start to experiment with secret practice of Daahsuti. He stopped fighting them.’
‘And Cold Rain didn’t like it?’
‘He said Wise Earth had lost his way,’ Vladovski whispered. ‘He said he grew weak, not wise, with age. When Red Fire took his side, Cold Rain cut him down like dog and then came to Wise Earth’s home. They sat down together for dinner – a civilised negotiation. But it was a trick. And he attacked him.’ The glowing leaves formed into men who fought with swords and sparked against each other. ‘He almost ended his life. You see this in memory? But Wise Earth knows that he still has work to do. The star swimmers, under the command of Cold Rain, will continue unless he stops them. So, mortally wounded, Wise Earth takes his final body, your body. Somewhere he can hide. But his guilt and regret … He does not wish to be the monster he once was. You understand now, why you want what you want?’
A red and gold dragonfly landed on Vladovski’s thumb.
‘What do you mean?’ I asked.
‘For as long as you can remember, what have you wanted to be?’
I answered without thinking. ‘An actor.’
‘An actor,’ Vladovski whispered, lifting his hand and setting the dragonfly free. ‘You want to be someone else.’
I nodded. Then, as though clearing a screen back to the desktop, I swiped the jungle away.
*
We were at home now, my actual home, in my bedroom. Dr Vladovski looked around, then sat on the edge of the bed next to me. Everything seemed slightly different – the walls weren’t quite the right colour, the smell was somehow wrong and a hazy dream-fog swirled in the air around us. But as I noticed these differences, things gently changed to how they should be.
Dreams. Are. Weird.
‘What about my dad?’ I asked. ‘Wise Earth gave him a book. A journal. Is … is that the one we found in the loft?’
‘Yes. Wise Earth wanted to leave the old ways behind, which meant no more lies.’
‘So … Dad knew everything? He knew that his newborn son had … had Wise Earth’s consciousness in his brain?’
Vladovski nodded.
‘But all the pages were ripped out?’
‘The journal was his confession. Tales of murder and evil and sorrow. Your father knew that if Cold Rain ever discovered Wise Earth’s hiding place, he would come after you. And if not, you may grow up and remember and attempt to destroy the star swimmers. He thought the only way to protect his child was … was to do it himself.’
‘You know, if someone handed me a diary with all that stuff in it I would have just laughed.’
‘Your father did not believe it at first. But he read stories of Daahsuti practitioners who were punished. He read stories of the star swimmers who burn my great circus and kill the animals. He read stories of mind jumpers who run and hide. Men like me.’ Dr Vladovski stood and strolled to my bedroom window. ‘Jack found me when you were still a baby. He tells me these things. He tells me about the star swimmers, the people who took everything from me, and he asks if it is true. I show him that it is. I prove that mind jumping is real. And he tells me he wants to stop them. I warn him. Oh, I warn him they are dangerous.’
The wall between mine and Amy’s bedrooms disappeared. I went over to her desk where she had a framed photo of our dad. I picked it up. He looked a bit like me. And then I thought of that endless room of memories. Almost a thousand years’ worth of knowledge but only a single image of him, at my birth, seen through someone else’s eyes. For the first time in my entire life, I actually missed my dad. A man I never even knew.
‘But he didn’t listen,’ I said. ‘He went after them anyway?’
Dr Vladovski stood by my side and nodded. ‘Cold Rain ordered the swimmers to take control of his body and poison it. Left poor Jack to die.’
‘You’ve known this all along – why didn’t you tell me?’
He took the photo frame and placed it back on Amy’s desk. ‘I make promise to your father to keep you safe. If you knew whole truth, you would surely go after Cold Rain.’
‘Wait, no, hang on,’ I said. ‘I came to you for therapy, remember? You’re telling me that was a coincidence?’
‘Why did you come?’
‘Because my mum told me to,’ I said. And then I realised. ‘You made her say that?’
‘I am sorry for deception. Mind jumpers usually discover the skill around your age. You have real potential as an actor. I see you in TV shows, on Puff Puff Wheat Puffs advert. I see your success. I know this path is safe path. I know if you overcome nerves, you will be a movie star. Maybe you don’t go after star swimmers. Maybe I keep my promise to Jack. But maybe destiny, maybe fate, maybe some great force draws you to this road. Maybe it would have always been this way.’
‘You’re meant to keep me safe,’ I said. ‘So … why did you disappear? Looked pretty suspicious.’
He sighed and stroked his beard. ‘When the first series of Amy and Chester aired on TV, I thought the star swimmers might join dots and come after me again. Look what happened last time.’ Vladovski held up his hook hand. ‘I had to hide. Then I hear from you and I know we must face them once more.’
‘And you went to Wise Earth’s flat to wait for me?’
‘Yes. In case instinct, intuition, pulled you close to that place, in case you begin to remember who you were. I could not tell you, your father forbid me, but I could allow you to see for yourself.’
‘New promise,’ I said. ‘From now on you have to be completely honest with me – deal?’
‘Oh, so many promises. But yes, fine. I promise to be honest, unless it breaks first promise to keep you safe.’
‘Sounds fair.’
Dr Vladovski clicked his fingers and we were back in his office. I was sitting on the brown sofa, back where this strange dream started.
‘I feel your mind, Chester,’ he said. ‘You haven’t got long. You’re fading out like candle with no air. You need to return to your own brain soon, or you will stop being you. Already, you seek great forest for comfort. Soon you will dissolve. Soon you will be Tito. Soon path home will be gone.’
Oh yeah, problem number one. Missing body. Still a question mark on that.
‘I’ll jump into something else, another animal,’ I said. ‘That’ll keep it at bay, right?’
‘No. You can’t run away from this. Erosion comes with time. With each leap you lose a bit of yourself – at this late stage, stability is what you need. I would advise you to stay in Tito, to only jump if you absolutely must. Parts of you are getting stuck in him
– you need to go from his mind to yours directly. This is why star swimmers return to themselves at least once a day. It is gold rule – it is in rule book that you wrote.’
I felt like crying. When I woke up, I would be returning to a nightmare. It was all the wrong way around. Vladovski had, it’s safe to say, blown my mind with all this stuff. But still none of it actually solved the case.
‘So … so what shall I do?’
‘First, you should wake up.’
‘How long has it been?’
‘A few seconds … You will return to Tito, in the back of the animal-control van no doubt. Me, I think a trip to hospital might be in order.’
‘Sorry about the car crash.’
Vladovski waved his hand.
‘Then what should I do?’ I asked.
‘Do what you said you would. Confront Cold Rain. Tell him you know who you are.’
‘OK. Fine. But he said he doesn’t know where my body is.’
Dr Vladovski laughed, then tugged on his waistcoat and adjusted his cufflinks (I noticed they were silver bear heads). ‘You are nearly as old as millennium,’ he said. ‘You have wisdom at your fingertips beyond imagination. Yet you still cannot see that Cold Rain, your nemesis, is a liar.’
And then Dr Vladovski was gone. I was all alone in the dreamscape.
I spent a few seconds there, composing myself. Then, with a sigh, I started to climb a ladder made of potential consciousness. If that doesn’t make sense (I guess it is hard to imagine in the real world), let’s say the ladder was wooden. I started climbing up a wooden ladder.
At the top, I stepped right on to the last rung and, arching my back for balance, I stood straight, wobbling on my tiptoes. The ocean at the edge of the atmosphere was almost in reach – strange sky-water was chiming and rippling above, blue and gold and impossible. The dream-wind whistled below me as I lined myself up, crouched and jumped.
With a slow breath I opened my eyes. Finally, I was awake.
I was on a cold metal floor. I could see Tito’s big hand near my face. I wiggled his black fingers. My black fingers. Then I pushed myself up straight and looked around. The ground was vibrating – it tickled the fur on my legs. Vladovski was right. I was trapped in the back of the animal-control van. And we were moving. Driving somewhere.
A surge of emotion – gah, massive gorilla anger. They tranquillised me. I rubbed my neck, frowning and snarling. But, to be fair, they were only doing their job. As far as they could tell I was just a rogue gorilla. Kind of surprising it took them this long to track me down. And, to be double fair, they’d treated Tito better than I had. A few of the bruises from my silly jump were starting to ache, a lot. Poor Tito, I thought, he’d had one crazy night.
Once I was completely awake I tried to come up with an escape plan. I had to get out, then go back to the Whispered Manor. Simple. Dr Vladovski had a point – Cold Rain was definitely capable of lying to me. Now I knew all about the star swimmers – about how much control they have – I was sure they were behind everything. And this time I wouldn’t take any of his nonsense. This time I would make Cold Rain talk. But first, a breakout.
It was gloomy in here. Gloomy and kind of blue from the night. I was basically in a cage which was built into the back of the van. I assumed the bars were stronger than I was and, after yanking on one near the door, I realised that, yes, they were. Made sense.
I turned to the front of the vehicle. There was a small square viewing window between me and the driver – it had a wire mesh. I pressed my face against it but couldn’t see anything. However, I could smell that there were two of them.
Then, as though I was knocking on a door, I started hitting the metal with my fist.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
‘He’s awake,’ one of the guys said. ‘Want me to give him another dose?’
‘Nah. We’ll do it when we get back.’
I carried on banging.
‘Lie down, Tito,’ one of them shouted. ‘We’re nearly there.’
Bang. Bang. Bang.
‘Lie down.’
Bang. Bang. BANG.
The man’s face appeared at the viewing window.
‘I said lie down, you damn, dirty—’
I jumped into his mind.
Breathing with my new lungs, I looked around, searching the front of the van. It was good to be in a human body again, but I didn’t have time to enjoy myself. I patted my pockets, then checked the van’s footwell.
‘You all right?’ the driver asked.
‘Fine,’ I said. ‘No, actually, I’m not fine. Pull over.’
‘What? We can’t. We’re in a rush.’
‘I’m gonna be sick.’
‘Be sick in that bag.’
‘Look, there’s … there’s something wrong with the engine. Can’t you hear that?’
‘I … I can’t hear anything …’
‘Pull over.’
‘No.’
‘Just … slow down.’
He eased off the accelerator, but I realised he wasn’t going to actually stop. So I opened the glovebox, rifled around inside.
‘What you looking for?’
‘The tranquilliser gun.’
The driver frowned at me, then glanced at a small metal container between the seats.
‘Ah, yeah, of course,’ I said.
I unclipped the latch, then took out a small tranquilliser pistol. It was black and surprisingly heavy.
‘What are you doing?’
‘Sorry,’ I said. Then I pointed it at his leg and fired.
‘Aargh! GOD! What the hell?!’ He swerved, the van skidded and bounced off the bank. Then he slammed on the brakes and it screeched to a hard stop. I heard Tito’s big head donk on the inside of the cage behind me – he grunted.
The driver pulled a strange face – it was a mix of shock, confusion and anger. Loads of anger. All with a slight wooziness on top – his eyes dipping and rolling. He snatched the dart from his thigh.
‘Why did … why … That’s gonna knock … that’s gonna … that …’ And then he passed out, his head thudding into the middle of the steering wheel, setting off the van’s horn – a loud, constant beeeeeeeep.
I took the cage keys from his pocket, then climbed out on to the road. I went around to his side of the vehicle and pulled him off the steering wheel, then dragged him out and laid him gently on a grass verge. We were on a country lane, somewhere in the woods. It was pitch-black, aside from the bright headlights glowing white on the tarmac ahead.
I was tempted to stay in this guy’s body, but then I remembered Vladovski’s warning. Parts of me were now in Tito. We belonged together. A direct jump from him into my own body was the only way I could be sure I’d get myself back intact. I needed that silverback. A lot more than he needed me.
After checking no other cars were coming, I went around to the back of the van and opened the main door. The second cage door had a small hatch, about the size of a letter box.
‘Who’s a good gorilla?’ I said, as Tito sat up and took notice. ‘You are, yes you are … Seriously, Tito, I know I’ve mucked you about, but I need your help for just a bit longer. I promise I’ll take you back to the zoo safely when I’m done. I’ll buy you loads of bananas and donate money to animal charities and everything – deal?’
Tito just watched me in silence. His big brown eyes were glassy and somehow clever. He looked like he was judging me, his leathery forehead all scrunched up and frowny.
Still in the animal-control worker, I stood on the back of the van, and posted the tranquilliser pistol through the hole. I clambered back down, and unlocked the cage door. Then I took a step away, looked at Tito and jumped straight into his mind.
Now I was looking out of the back of the van at the man standing in the middle of the road – he was painted red in the vehicle’s brake lights. He seemed confused.
Before he realised what was happening, I punched open the cage door and took aim with the gun.
‘Oh d
ear,’ he said.
Clack, thud.
The dart hit him in the shoulder and he fell to the ground, asleep within a few short seconds.
(Tranquillising people is almost always wrong – it’s a bad thing to do. But it is funny. I find those two facts quite difficult to fit together. Plus, they started it. Wait. No, those impulsive evil thoughts again. Must remember to notice them. Keep it all in check.)
Where was I? I didn’t recognise this place at all. I decided to leave both sleeping animal-control workers at the side of the road on a small verge. There was a blanket in the van which I used to tuck them in nicely. I also left a little note apologising – ‘Soz, but lol.’ They looked quite peaceful there, fast asleep in their uniforms – one had a wheezy little snore. Sweet dreams, I thought, patting him on the head.
Then I climbed into the van and started the engine.
*
I had never driven before that night. Not in real life at least. How different from computer games could it really be, I thought. One button, or pedal, is go. Another one is stop. Steering wheel is obvious. Indicating and speed limits and all the other boring rules, none of that stuff matters in an emergency. Plus the van was automatic, which was a good thing because gears are confusing.
I mean, Amy can do it. Amy. Can’t be that hard.
It’s actually quite easy. I managed to turn the van around, crashing a bit, but only little crashes. Fun bumps. That’s what bumpers are for – the clue is in the name.
After a short drive I arrived at some traffic lights, which were red. Now I may be a beginner driver, but even I know red means stop. While I was waiting for it to turn green, another car pulled up by my side. The driver glanced along the back of the van where the words ‘Animal Control’ were printed in big white letters. And then she looked right at me.
As I pulled away, I gave her a good old-fashioned gorilla thumbs up with a toothy smile and the maddest wink imaginable. Don’t think she liked it though because she shrank down and, with wide eyes, hid behind her dashboard. But never mind. Onwards.
I made it to a main road and headed back towards Amy and … and … and whoever she was with. Were there others? I assumed they would still be at … well. Um. They would still be where they were when I last saw them. That’s where they would be.
