Pascale's Wager: Homelands of Heaven

by Anthony Bartlett

  10. DOBLEPOBLE

  A million stars lit the blessed night. The air tasted of caramel and peppermint and the great arc of heavenly bodies seemed itself to be alive, exhaling the same delicious flavors. Danny and Charlize walked arm in arm through the broad streets of the Forum, meeting and greeting people at every turn. It was Doblepoble and it felt like the whole race of gods and goddesses had come downtown to celebrate. Booths were set up along the great esplanades˗˗wooden tent frames wrapped in swathes of white cotton, while all the monumental buildings were open and spread around inside with couches of carmine silk and tables filled with glimmering lamps. At the intersections small fires flickered, with merry groups of people roasting nuts and sugared apples. Artisan food colonies offered tapas of fresh bread, olives and chorizo, samosas and tiki, or fresh pancakes with maple syrup and ice cream. In the squares musicians were playing, fiddles and guitars, flutes, clarinets and steel drums, creating a constant stream of sweet sound that mixed and separated insensibly from one space to the next. Barrels at the back of hay-wains provided zesty wines and ales, cider and lemonade. People were dancing, laughing, embracing and throwing admiring glances full of hints of future trysts. Every sensation, sight, sound, taste or smell, seemed marvelously heightened, as if someone had injected an electric liquid into everything. All the spaces between things were filled, making the whole scene a single bite of the most delicious fruit.

  Emmanuelle and Gaius found the neophytes and embraced them in a frank and eager way.

  “You look fantastic, both of you. You are going to have such an absolutely wonderful time. People know you are new and they won’t bother you, not too much anyway! But you must try at least some new experiences, promise you will!”

  Emmanuelle was so beautiful and vibrant Charlize couldn’t help reply, “Oh for sure, we will, we will!”

  Gaius joined in, speaking to Danny in particular, “Remember there’s more than enough to go round for all,” and to Danny’s total surprise he touched him lightly and erotically, and then shimmied away beckoning Emmanuelle after him. She laughed like a peal of bells and followed, turning as she went and opening her hand to reveal a number of little pills.

  “And don’t avoid these delights either!”

  After they disappeared Danny looked at Charlize open-mouthed, “Did you see what he did?”

  “Pretty wild. Wouldn’t happen up north, would it.”

  “Well, you never feel anything through those therm-suits, so no point anyway!”

  And they both laughed, the only thing they could do at the comparison of their old life to the totally new and crazy one they were in.

  “But what about those little pills,” continued Charlize, “Are you going to have one?”

  “Don’t see why not, we’re already loaded with their immortality potion, so what difference could it make?”

  “None, I’m sure. It’s just...I wonder what it will be like.”

  “Well, there’s one way to find out, isn’t there? Come on!”

  They went into one of the booths which had a big sign posted Jethro’s Soffo, Doblepoble’s Preferred Ecstasy. Inside seated at a table was a small rotund man with glowing features and an unctuous smile. On the table were several items, a small brass weighing scale, a set of test tubes and glass slides and several dispensing jars with pills and powders.

  “Come in, come in. The night is young and the young stay young even when it has grown old! There, you’re already baffled, but don’t worry, you’ve arrived at the right place for perfect enlightenment!”

  He waved his hand at a couple of upholstered chairs, “Do sit down and tell me what you’d like.”

  “This is our first Doblepoble, sir, so we’re not entirely sure.”

  “Then Lady Fortune has smiled on you, because I am the best possible person to put you on the path to chemical heaven! These pills you see here are produced at my own colony and it’s my professional pride to ensure their purest quality, guaranteeing the most exquisite experience. There are many other substances available at Doblepoble but it’s my considered opinion that the Soffo I provide is a summit without peers, an Everest of soul satisfaction!”

  “So what exactly happens?” Charlize required specifics.

  “Oh my dear, you have no idea! So let me explain, we’ll start with the brain! The brain, as you know, is the most extraordinary organ. Everything we are depends on it; we can’t see, think, feel or know anything without it. I sound like one of your soupy philosophers, don’t I, but it’s simply the facts. And another simple fact is the brain is made up of chemicals in an enormously complex system. Altering the balance of these chemicals can have truly astonishing effects. Here in the Heavenly Homeland we have overcome death, but we have not plumbed the mysteries of the brain. One of the joys of Doblepoble is that people have the chance to experience these mysteries again and again, and who knows what revelations or epiphanies are still awaiting? Now, there are some providers who want continually to engineer new variants to reach the goal, and there is of course a market for that. But the platform I offer is the unrivaled purity of a classic, one which has made possible the most incandescent moments. People return to it again and again. They know it is the surest path to the mystery.”

  The two potential customers were impressed, but Danny persisted with Charlize’s question, “But what exactly happens?”

  “Young man, please forgive me, I didn’t introduce myself. I am, as the sign says, Jethro. And you wonderful people are…?”

  “The name’s Danny, and this is Charlize.”

  “Danny and Charlize, my sweet friends, I had to ask your names, because the answer to your question is in one way quite personal. What exactly happens depends on your individual brain and I want you to know this. But it does happen within a general range and I can say it includes the following: deep peace and self-acceptance, diminished aggression and jealousy, powerful feelings of empathy, intimacy and love, increased intensity of sound, sight and touch, and strongly funded energy and arousal. You may find yourself at the highest points of these experiences, or somewhere in the middle, but in every case you will be truly blessed.”

  “I think we’ll have some,” said Charlize. “How many of the pills do we need?”

  “And, yes, the wholly appropriate question. Correct dosage is everything: too little, no effect; too much, counterproductive. I would recommend only half a pill each. You can expect results in a little under an hour. Depending on how you react you might take another dose six or seven hours later. But I would not advise more than two repeats.”

  He opened a drawer in his table and pulled out a small inlaid pillbox with Jethro’s Soffo engraved on the side. “I give one of these to all my first-timers.” He placed three pills in it and snapped it shut.

  “Here you are Charlize. You can be keeper of the Grail. Now, both of you, enjoy your Doblepoble!”

  They left the booth, hand in hand. Immediately they were outside the tent Charlize grabbed Danny and kissed him passionately. “I love you so much. Let’s take Soffo and we’ll find a booth.”

  They ran over to one of the hay-wains and took glasses of wine, then they went searching for a vacant booth. There was a simple system of placing a bright apricot flag above the entrance flap to indicate the booth was in use. They didn’t search long before they found a vacant one, placed the flag and went inside. It was furnished with a small table and a low couch the color of rose. With eager hands Charlize broke one of the tabs, gave a half to Danny and they both swallowed the drug, washing it down with the wine. Charlize pulled Danny to her and embraced him, repeating the intimate gesture made earlier by Gaius.

  “I can do this way nicer than Gaius, don’t you think?”

  “No competition, really, and please don’t stop.”

  Locked in embrace they fell on the couch, laughing insanely.

  Outside no one had paid any mind to the behavior of the recent inductees to Doblepoble. So many people were doing the same things themselves the
y really had no attention to spare. Anyone else was simply drinking in the whole atmosphere without thinking or questioning anything. Being an Immortal had become its own special habit. It meant swimming day by day in a haze of pleasures and experiences, some remembered, some renewed, but never worrying that any of it could fade. The stars above shone with the same everlasting indulgence, and just to be present at Doblepoble was to bathe in a sea of bliss. Every smile, every telltale laugh belonged to each and every person without remainder. For in the end it would all come round to each and every individual again…and again, and again.

  11. ENTRY

  Somewhere a few hundred miles north of the Forum Cal and Poll’s shuttle was re-entering the atmosphere. From the initial angle of ascent it had finally escaped the hurricane winds and attained the quiet of space. Once there it performed a broad parabola, arcing back down to re-enter the southern latitudes at the spot where the Homeland of Heaven was hidden. Many people at Doblepoble heard the sonic boom as the ship entered the air space. A few were slightly confused, as their usual business was to help organize welcome committees and they had not been notified. But it was Doblepoble and the whole point was not to worry about anything, and they didn’t.

  Cal and Poll were exhausted by their journey in the tractor and then the terror of the flight. They sat strapped in the cabin gripping the arm rests, desperately waiting for this impossible flight to be over. They’d been shot into space through cloud cover and winds which seemed to go on forever, and then all at once there’d been the eerie calm of outer space. At first the experience mimicked the Worship Center Holo-casts, with wild sensations followed by a strange sort of peace. But really it was nothing like the Holo-casts. It was hard and bitter, with the initial banging and bucking of the ship and the cabin oxygen tasting of electricity and making them feel sick and dizzy. Originally beyond the earth it had been the depth of night, but almost at once the dazzling radiance of the sun had broken above the horizon behind. They glimpsed through the portholes the roiling cloud mass below and for the first time began to understood, without any filtering explanation, the cruel condition of their world.

  As they sped silently south and west across the long curve of the planet they could see with their own eyes the chaos created by the storms, and with each passing minute they gained a more vivid sense of the disaster that had taken place. This was not a huge natural catastrophe from which they had been miraculously saved. Because they had progressively exposed the lie of the Homeland, and because they were flying above the storms in a sophisticated spaceship, they also sensed the truth of the storms below. Those cumulus mountains and the stratus continents had a horribly human look. Everything down there had a history: it had been humanly produced, just like the Homeland they’d just left and the rocket they were in.

  The mood of the young people changed from triumph and excitement to a state they had never really known before. Somewhere between horror and grief, they had no name for it. It silenced them as the rocket continued its glide toward earth and the storm world, and then suddenly, without warning, there appeared the final confirmation of the human character of everything. There beneath they saw an area of the earth’s surface not covered by clouds. They realized the morning sun was breaking upon a fabulous land of color. There were hues of green and brown and gold and blue, and small glittering patches which were unmistakably human buildings. The shuttle was piercing directly down into this magical kingdom. It descended lower and lower and they were craning their necks to see through the portholes, understanding they were arriving at the goal of their journey. It was without doubt the other world, the place which had ruled their whole existence, and about which nobody had ever known.

  Poll spoke, thunderstruck: “Who can these people be? How did they do this?”

  “It really is a sunshine world, so different from everything….” Cal’s voiced trailed off.

  There was a thump as the shuttle extended its landing gear. Within seconds they glimpsed the shape of real trees lining roads and clustered together in groups like beautiful friends. Then everything was whizzing by just below and very soon they felt a strong bump as the wheels touched the ground and another one as the nose came down. Heavy drogue chutes were released and air brakes applied to slow the shuttle on the runway. They felt them pull and pull until finally the speed reduced to little more than walking pace, then the craft made a turn, then another one, and then stopped altogether. After a moment they heard the locking bolts on the door clunk in release and finally all the noise had ceased except for the hiss of the cabin air and the occasional small cracking sounds as the metal body began to cool. A sign came up on the display “Release Safety Harness. Cabin Door Ready.”

  They sat there for a few minutes waiting for their hearts to stop racing. Then Poll pressed the central button on his straps and the restraints sprang away. He sank forward slowly on his knees and crawled to the door. Bracing himself against the bulkhead he struggled with the lever until he got it to move and the door swung out and away from the hatchway. There was a fifteen foot drop to the ground below and no steps or bridge. He sat back against the wall and pulled his legs up, hugging his knees. Light and perfumed air flooded into the cabin, once more overwhelming the senses of the two voyagers. For a while they were unable to say anything. Cal was gazing through the open hatch and it was she who finally spoke, “This, this world…I could never have imagined….”

  “I know, I know...” Poll said helplessly. After a moment he added, “It’s what it was all for, the whole thing, the ice, the refrigeration, the worship.”

  “And you see why,” Cal continued. “It’s got to be truly heavenly…for those who have all this. Who could say no to anything in order to have it…?”

  They continued to sit there in silence, aware that they had broken out of a world which produced only pain and landed in one which promised simply pleasure. And they had done it without permission from those who had built this other world. In a sense they had stolen heaven and were about to be caught for their crime. They continued to wait there, waiting for something to happen. They were sure it would.

  12. RAVE

  Danny and Charlize giggled uncontrollably, made love, laughed again because they had so much fun laughing earlier, and then they made love again. They felt they could go on forever in this heightened state. After a couple of hours their energy in fact seemed to increase, so that they felt it now impossible to stay in one spot. They had to go and be with other people. One of them said, “Let’s go outside,” and without hesitation they got up from the couch, replaced their robes and left the booth.

  They fell in with the crowd making its way down the Way of Tenochtitlan, following numerous other couples and groups converging on its broad black-stone thoroughfare. They gazed around wide-eyed as people pointed to the Aztec temples bordering the road all lit up by glowing electric lamps and the dancing flames of torches. Then they heard the music.

  Unlike anything they had heard before it had very little resemblance to the sweet melodies and folksy rhythms of the crossroad minstrels. It was hard and overpowering and sounded like huge pieces of metal being slammed together, while underneath there was the deepest driving beat which seemed impossible to resist. As they drew nearer the crowd got thicker and they could feel the excitement pulsing through the bodies pressing against them and around them. Suddenly the crowd burst into a great open space and someone shouted “The Temple of the Sun!” Looking up they saw an immense pyramid with broad ascending steps crowned by a massive platform. Brilliant rays of light played across its surface like some amazing hopping insect leaving a liquid trail in colors of magenta, silver, green and gold. On top of the platform was a giant video screen and on it they could see a group of musicians and singers dressed in glittering clothes and playing instruments with intense energy and producing this enormous sound. The moment they burst into the open the people around them started dancing, bouncing their bodies up and down and back and forth in time to the beat. It seemed
the easiest and most natural thing to do and within seconds Danny and Charlize were flinging themselves around like the people next to them. It was intensely exhilarating. They felt like they were riding on the sound itself and their stomachs and chests were reaching to the sky. As they looked about them they saw other pyramids too, smaller that the Temple of the Sun, but bathed all in the same streaming rays of light and their tops covered with crowds of people, all dancing. It was the most fantastic scene and absolutely the place for them to pour out their rivers of energy.

  Danny grabbed Charlize, “Let’s get to the top of one of the temples. How about that one there?”

  With that they were off, racing up the temple steps, hoisting their robes around their thighs, clambering in leaps and bounds up the steps, their hearts throbbing like the drums of the music itself. When they got to the top they did not stop but immediately started dancing, this time not imitating others but letting their bodies feel the music and going where it took them. They could not be sure how long they spent like this. The vast ceremonial space was spinning round them like a shimmering galaxy and they were at its center. Time stood still and they were dancing like stars in the heavens, surrounded by stars.

  Without quite knowing how, they became linked up with a group of five or six other dancers holding hands and dancing in a vibrating circle, a living constellation floating apart by itself. Nobody seemed to decide but the next moment they had all set out together, jumping down the steps, holding on to each other, smiling and finding out each other’s names. The others introduced themselves as Kadaysha, Omar, Eboni, Chen Jin, Artemis, Lucius. Quickly they made their way down the far side of the temple and crossed a large sandy space dotted with fan palms and lit by glimmering golden lamps. Here the music wasn’t so loud and the crowd had thinned out. On the other side of the park there was another wide boulevard and beyond that, through the trees, big ornate mansions filled with light and activity of their own. Danny and Charlize allowed themselves to be led along without resisting. Their limbs were aching with the violent activity but at the same time they felt wonderfully relaxed, their minds still spinning in the fabulous universe of temples, music and dancing. As they walked along Omar asked Charlize how many people she’d done it with so far at the Doblepoble.