Connexion : The Atlantis Project, Book.1

by LEMPEREUR

  While Mario led the way, Charlie put his arm around Clementine’s shoulders and pulled her against him briefly, under Jacques’ indulgent eye, who did not object in the slightest. The embrace seemed to communicate not only all the gratitude they had toward the one who had accompanied and watched over them since the beginning; but also his approval of the relationship she had developed with Mario during their absence.

  33 DECIPHERING

  Giuseppe had just gone out of the room, leaving Charlie and Jacques alone with the huge graphic tablet.

  “Do you think you can make that thing work? I can’t believe it’s possible; even the fact that you managed to turn it on so easily seems totally unreal to me.”

  “I know, Jacques. It must be incredible to see your poor brother manipulating such advanced technology and believe me, if I were you I think my reaction would be the same, but I assure you, this is really happening. These signs and symbols are like an open book to me now. I can read them as easily as a simple text written in our own language.”

  “How did you learn to do that?”

  “You know, I think you can talk to me in the usual way. I’ve noticed that for a while now you haven’t bothered to use your voice when you communicate with me.”

  “That’s possible. Maybe I should make more of an effort, but this is so much easier. And it also means no one can listen in on our conversations.”

  “Except that I have to answer you, even if I do usually whisper. But you don’t always have crucial, top-secret things to tell me. If that were the case I would understand your reasons for using telepathy.”

  “I guess I’m used to it, that’s all.”

  “You see! It seems normal to you now, and yet it’s absolutely inexplicable, just as inexplicable as me deciphering this gibberish, dug up from the depths of time.”

  “Even so, I find it hard to believe that you have changed so much in such a short space of time. It makes me feel dizzy at times. Sometimes I’d just like things to be back the way they were before, when everything was simple and predictable. I’m starting to miss your moralistic, narrow-minded attitude, you know. Don’t you feel the same way?”

  “Did you spend a lot of time on your own while I was connected?”

  “Not as much as all that. Mario and Clementine visited me very regularly, but sometimes the sleepless nights spent worrying about you, alone on that electronic couch seemed interminable. At any moment I could be jerked awake by the threat of danger or imminent death. I had plenty of time to mull things over and several times I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with a vegetable or worse for a brother. You don’t know how unbearable that waiting was for me. You seemed to be having amazing adventures in dreamland, oblivious to danger.”

  “I’m sorry, Jacques. I didn’t realize it had been so hard for you, even if I suspected it to some extent. I was so taken up with ensuring my own survival in what seemed at first to be a world as exciting as it was unfathomable. To answer your question, I often find myself thinking about our old life and I would love as much as you to be able to take a leap back in time, but what I went through in the connection has changed my life and I know that we’re never going to relive that blessed time when everything seemed so simple compared to what we’re experiencing now. It was simple, but maybe a little too dull and monotonous, wouldn’t you say? And then there was this handicap that was literally ruining our lives, let’s not forget it.”

  “Why? Because you think that’s different now?”

  “Yes, Jacques! Maybe you haven’t noticed but here everything is much easier. People listen to us; they are considerate; our opinion matters… It’s everything you dreamed of, Jacques: respect and honor – not merely compassion or pity. And we’re not spending our days on the couch bickering like kids and wondering how to fill up the day, hoping in vain that some kind soul will want to talk to us or give us a little time so we don’t molder away indefinitely in that tiny apartment where our treatment and perpetual state of helplessness made it a constant shambles.”

  “You’re very bitter all of a sudden, brother! I’ve rarely seen you so resentful. Maybe you think everything’s different now that you’re on a very important mission? As soon as they’ve gotten out of us what they want to know, in the best case scenario they’ll send us home after a good brain-washing; unless they have nothing to fear from a couple of poor, handicapped fools who no one would ever believe.”

  “Okay! I think we have something better to do now than bicker so childishly when, as you say, Giuseppe has just given me a very important mission, which I intend to complete successfully. Anyway, I’ve had enough of your constant distrust and pessimism. We’ll never get anywhere with that attitude!”

  “Ah, at last – the old you is back again! You see; I like it when we bicker. And it’s been ages since you lectured me. I see you haven’t lost your touch!”

  Charlie let out a deep sigh, accompanied by a knowing smile, without taking his eyes off the graphic tablet. Jacques would keep quiet now, letting his brother put his new-found translation skills to work.

  Rows of symbols scrolled past at a speed which did not even allow Jacques to focus for more than a few seconds. Occasionally, stunningly realistic holographic images would appear. Anyone could have seen that they were three-dimensional images of the different parts of the base and its buildings. After a long while Charlie slowed his reading speed and spent a long time looking at a hologram that seemed to be much more significant than all the preceding ones.

  “What’s that, Charlie?”

  “It’s a holographic image of Sector 24.”

  “Is it significant?”

  “Yes, Jacques. That’s where what I’m looking for is.”

  “And what exactly are you looking for?”

  “Victor’s wife,” he answered in a barely audible voice.

  “Did he ask you to find her?”

  “Excuse me, but I’d rather talk about it somewhere else, you understand?”

  “Okay! Do you think she could be in Sector 24?”

  “Yes, I’m almost positive.”

  He tapped on the edge of the screen again and the hologram suddenly filled the whole room. The twins were like prisoners inside the huge, shiny gray dome that invaded the whole space.

  “Are we inside it?” asked Jacques, amazed by such spectacular display of technology.

  “Not really. It’s just a hologram of its external structure. It doesn’t tell us anything about what’s inside. At least, we can’t see it as it really is.”

  “What makes it different to the other domes? I thought there were thousands of them on this base.”

  “That’s where she is.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “That’s where he left her before he went away; in Sector 24. We have to persuade Giuseppe to take us there.”

  “How do you plan on doing that?”

  “As simply as possible; I’m going to tell him we need to go to Sector 24.”

  “Without any further explanation?”

  “He won’t ask for one, I’m sure. He and I both know that it’s in our best interest to cooperate, and if you remember what Mario told us in the car, it’s not necessary to know everything in order to work together, even when your name is Giuseppe. He might be our hierarchical superior, but he’s probably experienced enough to know that he won’t get anywhere without true teamwork.”

  “I think you’re very optimistic. It seems to me that Giuseppe has a very specific role in this game, a strategic position which is made all the more delicate by the fact that he is also overseen by the government. I find it hard to believe that he would be happy to take on the role of a mere subordinate, even temporarily.”

  “But he’s already done that!”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Don’t you see – we’re alone in this room. It’s possible that we’re being watched or even filmed, but I don’t really think so.”

  “Why would he do such a thing?�
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  “During the interview he said he wanted to trust me and this is his way of showing us he meant it. I count on doing the same when the opportunity comes up. In the meantime, nothing’s compelling me to reveal everything to him. Actually, that’s what you were advising me to do when you said they’d send us home as two nobodies as soon as they’ve found out what they want to know, right?”

  “You’re probably right.”

  34 THE NO-GO ZONE

  A few minutes earlier, Jacques and Charlie had gotten themselves into a heavy white suit that Francisco had had specially made for them. An outside observer could easily have thought that this was an extra-terrestrial straight out of a bad science-fiction film. The appearance of the strange creature, stuffed into its shiny, metallic white suit could have been that of a two-headed monster with tentacles. Fortunately for the twins, the general mood was not jovial, so no one remarked on their monstrous appearance, no matter how obvious it was. Only Clementine smiled briefly, well-hidden behind the visor of her helmet, at the moment when, while getting out of the car, they finally managed to get their balance again. It was an unlikely balance which they had only just managed to find, after several minutes of gesticulating and contorting themselves every which way. Now, planted on their four feet, and in spite of the suffocating heat inside their suit, they were finally able to take in the spectacle before them. Not so very long ago, these conditions would have been enough to set off a panic attack in Charlie; he felt so enclosed inside this artificial wrapper, which filtered every air particle that he and Jacques breathed.

  Today his attitude was quite different. He was mainly annoyed at having to put up with the heaviness of his physical body at a time when he would have liked to have complete freedom of movement. Everything had seemed so simple in the connection. He and Victor actually suffered from a similar problem. They were both prisoner to a body that hindered them from taking action. Of course the comparison was limited, but that didn’t stop Charlie from feeling nostalgic about the time when they had both moved freely, virtually liberated from a physical body totally at odds with their aspirations.

  “Look, Charlie, we’re here! I’m curious to see how Giuseppe is going to get us through to the other side.”

  A few meters ahead of them a sort of veil of purplish mist stretched as far as they could see.

  “I suppose this vapor must be for decontaminating the containment wall and the chamber that is used for going through it.”

  “Whatever it is, the effect is quite spectacular. I have trouble understanding how this construction could not have been noticed by most of the people working on the base.”

  The wall of mist bathed in ultra-violet light lent a strange apocalyptic atmosphere to the place. Jacques felt as though he were standing in front of the gates of hell. That is how he had always imagined it, anyway; a dark, misty place where at any moment bony hands could reach out and drag you into the void. He watched as Francisco walked into the misty veil until he had completely disappeared. Mario and Giuseppe stood in front of them, motionless in their white suits which had turned purple, almost phosphorescent, under the effect of the ultra-violet light. A few minutes later he came out again and Giuseppe motioned to them to follow. Clementine went in first, followed by the twins, and Mario brought up the rear. The veil of mist was a lot thicker than they had imagined. They walked for a hundred meters, following small luminous markers on the ground. It was impossible to distinguish anything at all except that little green trail that lit the way for their feet. Suddenly, the mist started to become less dense, dissipating gradually. The little group stood together before a gigantic steel wall, eaten away by rust, with droplets of condensation trickling down the cold metal.

  “We will soon be entering the no-go zone”, announced Giuseppe. “On the other side of this chamber we will be in a huge sector that we have no entered for years. It is even possible that some areas have never been explored, since their discovery over twenty years ago. I am counting on you not to touch anything and to only do what Francisco and I tell you.”

  Giuseppe turned around without waiting for a response and entered the code that would open the thick glass chamber that stood in front of them. The heavy, opaque door opened at last; just long enough for them to step into the confined space where a leaden silence reigned. All five of them remained in that glass cage for several minutes, while Giuseppe tried in vain to open the second door. Long minutes of uncertainty went by while he tried his best, entering successive series of figures without success. Charlie was beginning to suffer from claustrophobia, brought on by the completely enclosed, impenetrable nature of the place where they were standing. His breathing was getting faster and erratic as time went by. He started to get a slight feeling of suffocation, as if the air he was breathing did not contain enough oxygen. At least, that was what he was beginning to believe, despite his efforts to think sensibly. Jacques was uneasy too, but he immediately noticed the first signs of claustrophobia affecting his brother.

  “Calm down, Charlie. These suits are equipped with an autonomous ventilation system. We will absolutely not be short of oxygen; it could be hours before lack of oxygen becomes an issue. Breathe calmly and try to relax. Giuseppe will find a solution to the problem, I’m sure. He doesn’t seem to be panicking and neither is Francisco. Don’t worry.”

  Charlie was not proud of the state he was in. The great confidence he had shown up till now had not stood up to the effects of claustrophobia’s conditioning and the emotional reactions it provoked as soon as the conditions were right for it to manifest. However, he managed to calm down quite quickly and breathe deeply, following his brother’s advice as he had always done in situations like this.

  Jacques must be right. Giuseppe and Francisco seemed to be stoically calm about the keypad that refused to accept the codes the old man was entering. Finally, Francisco motioned to Giuseppe to step aside, reaching out to try his luck at typing in the command code that would open the chamber. A few seconds later the door opened at last. Giuseppe patted Francisco on the shoulder, as if he could feel the sign of gratitude through his thick suit. At this unexpected sight, Charlie understood that Giuseppe had blind faith in his adopted son. No doubt he had passed on all that he knew to him, and if anything should happen to Giuseppe, Francisco would immediately take over, to terminate the mission he was bent on completing. Charlie was sure that one day or another Francisco would take over the reins of this base, barring intervention from some, less understanding, outside party that decided otherwise.

  From his very first steps, it became clear to Charlie that they were truly in inviolate territory. The noise of their feet, heavy in the autonomous suits, struck the ground like hammers on an anvil. Here there was no asphalted road, artificial lighting or any other human adjustment. One large metallic road, like a highway, cut through the middle of the gigantic rocky cavern before losing itself on the horizon. Strangely, the place was neither really dark, nor truly light. A pale, white light seemed to emanate from the buildings around them. The quality of the light was very unusual, similar to that which the dawn would have shed on this forest of domes. It was a light with no source, a day without sun or shade.

  “Here we are in the no-go zone, Charlie. Nearly fifty square kilometers of perfectly aligned domes, divided into a hundred sectors, linked to each other by secondary roads which go off this central highway. Of course, those are only estimations based on images from our exploration drones. On the face of it, these metallic roads seem to be access roads which must have enabled the N.H.I.s to travel in magnetic levitation vehicles.”

  “Have you found any vehicles in working order here?” asked Charlie, excitedly.

  “No,” answered Giuseppe. “Our drones found about one of them per sector, which makes for quite a considerable number, but they all seem to be stuck on the ground. We tried to de-magnetize one, so we could learn more about the N.H.I.’s technology, but we didn’t succeed and we never managed to activate it. Perhaps you already
saw such machines running when you were in Victor’s memory?”

  “Yes, indeed. I guess I could even say I had the privilege of riding in two of them. They were used to move around inside the bases… I mean this base. That is, virtually, in the experience I had, but I don’t know to what extent that was an accurate representation of the vehicles’ true performance. I was amazed by their speed and the incredible silence inside them. They literally streamed through the air without the slightest vibration.”

  “You seemed to hesitate, Charlie. Are you suggesting they could have built other bases like this one?” It was Francisco, speaking directly to Charlie for the first time in weeks. His tone was neutral. Francisco, true to his usual self, did not let any emotion filter through, so that the question did not seem at all inquisitive, and yet it put Charlie in a very awkward position. He had no intention at all of revealing that information to Giuseppe right now, but it was too late. The information had reached Francisco’s ears and nothing would ever be able to dislodge it from his brain, whose workings were as rigorous as they were inscrutable. Charlie understood that it would be futile to hem himself in by lying or negating what he had said; that would only have served to increase the curiosity aroused by his slip. He preferred to seize the opportunity that had just arisen, to reaffirm his role of expert, which made him indispensible in Giuseppe’s eyes.

  “I’m not certain, but it’s a possibility that I have thought about, yes. In order to develop such advanced technology and attain such a high level of civilization, the N.H.I.’s must necessarily have evolved as a population that was much more numerous than the few thousand individuals present on this base. I can even tell you that they had vehicles of the same type as those that you have found, but which did not need magnetic roads.”