Planet-H: The End of the Beginning

by J. T. Winterlord

  He gave me what I asked and he said that we would stop there for today, pointing out that it was late afternoon and we had yet to eat.

  I said goodbye to him and left the classroom, passing close to the office of Matt who greeted me with,

  "Hello Kate, come in."

  Sonia arrived at that moment and Matt asked her,

  "How's the high finance operation going? The one undertaken by Kate after years of study in that area?"

  Cripes! I’d completely forgotten about that terrible mess.

  "At market opening the share was up, but I'm struggling to get rid of all of them."

  Matt, in a tone of mock surprise asked why this should be. He seemed only to be asking in order to inform me of the situation.

  "It seems that some companies secretly keeping N Technology under observation became suspicious. Someone began to take an interest in Kate’s shares and this has made the big fish on Wall Street move. In short the share was suspended three times following excessive increases.”

  I remained silent thinking about these words. Then I said,

  "Don’t keep me in suspense Sonia, I did a lot of damage, right?”

  But she and Matt laughed, and told me that Sonia had actually managed to sell about twenty five million shares following my investment of eighteen.

  Matt teased me calling me the‘high finance dragon lady.’For my part I could have cried with relief.

  I thought I had dropped the company in a deep hole but now it seemed that instead I had managed to earn a lot of money without doing anything.

  Matt asked me what I was going to do with the money earned, and I said that I absolutely had no intention of earning a single cent. They could do whatever they wanted with the money, maybe give a portion to charity, or invest in technology and research, create a recovery center, or open a school. I didn’t really know what to think.

  Matt said with a triumphant tone,

  "Brilliant idea, we’ll open a school. The Madison Academy flight school for recalcitrant old sea dogs!"

  I imagined this old sailor, complete with a pipe, white beard and hat sitting on the dock to enjoy the sunset, when he was suddenly taken by force by four thugs who wanted to teach him how to fly an ultralight aircraft and he wriggled away down the runway. I laughed like an idiot and they with me.

  I went home and ate something quickly. My stomach was very empty.

  I wanted to get back to work immediately so I took my notes and I went to work, starting with another analysis of the Creator.

  It seemed a very controversial field - he had appeared and spoken to some people and according to others he had taken human form and had preached. Others had met him in a dream. I decided that there was not much to say or do about this topic, so I left the Creator in the simple role of Creator and passed to another topic.

  Simple, straightforward and convenient.

  I went on to the issue of the mind and dichotomies. There seemed to be several links between the two.

  Some claimed that there were seven major centres, others spoke of three, while others referred to only two of them.

  I thought that the most logical thing was to have two mental centres of opposite nature.

  I worked on this thing trying to figure out how it could be trying to give some examples to see if it would work and how.

  The‘Higher Mind’could very well be the mind that I was using at that moment to think, reason and draw conclusions.

  Its activity seemed to take place in the area of the head, so I decided that this was something that could be easily demonstrated in a subjective manner.

  I passed on to the‘lower mind.’

  This seemed to be the mind of an animal - some writings defined it in exactly that way.

  I thought of an animal and concentrated on the non-domestic variety.

  In my mind I could observe the behaviour of any animal, the search for food, the fight for territory, the search for shelter, the fear caused by a sudden noise and mating.

  I analyzed it and it seemed to fit.

  The same animal mind was available also for man. I still had to figure out how it operated, how it was connected to the higher mind how it was possible to write such a lot of nonsense about evil, sin and punishment.

  I realized that I had analyzed the higher mind in a very summarised form, and maybe this‘Master Mind’was in charge of things for which at that time I was attributing to the lower mind.

  That was enough analysis for that day. I felt that it was taking a turn too technical for my taste and I was afraid to start feeling myself drawn sympathetically to particular writings. This would corrupt my judgment, and the analysis would have been skewed.

  I went to bed tired but satisfied, a disorganised mess had taken a positive turn and I was able to unblock my work.

  THE BLACKOUT

  That morning I got up late, about ten, but I did not feel in any hurry.

  I took a shower and a hearty breakfast before heading off to N Technology.

  Once I arrived I said hello and walked without hesitation directly to my teacher.

  Sgrunff was waiting for me as usual. He asked for my notes and began to examine them.

  He told me that the decision I had taken for the Creator was a wise one and that the analysis of the previous day had seemed logical and honest.

  He asked me to give him the details that I had brought asserting the existence of an‘animal mind.’

  I explained to him how I felt about each stimulus to the body coming from a point in the lower half of the body itself.

  He lit the screen and brought up a diagram showing the outline of a human body. He gave me his pointer and told me to explain better.

  I traced a horizontal line above the stomach, to divide the body into two parts. I drew a dot on the forehead and then drew a second in the area below the navel. From these two points I traced out larger circles that intersected in the thoracic area. I told him that the pangs of hunger, evacuation and sexual desire came from the lower area, as well as the emotions of anger, fear and grief.

  While the data supplied by those stimuli I felt came from the area near the head.

  My words seemed to be enough for him. He indicated to me to put down the pointer and said,

  "Follow me, I want to introduce you to someone."

  I tried not to think about how many arms this new acquaintance might have. He led me into the next room, saying,

  "This is Steve Donovan, but he likes to be called Bones.,"

  He pointed to a man in a green coat with small ferret eyes and a wide receding hairline that he didn’t hide.

  "And this is our infirmary."

  Steve greeted me without approaching to shake my hand and told me that he had been saddled with this nickname‘Bones’because he was Star Trek fan.

  “Well, better that than Gowron the Clingon.”

  “Yes, I probably wouldn’t have cared for that,”he said, gesturing for me to go for a rapid tour of the Infirmary with his assistant, which I did. When I returned Valdes entered. He said we should get ready for the operation that would start in about twenty minutes.

  I was frightened and blurted,

  “Are you going to operate on me?”

  Valdes smiled and said,

  “Don’t worry Kate, you’re not going to be operated on by Bones. Just relax on the couch and have a chat with our adorable Sgrunfy.”

  Unable to understand, I looked at Sgrunff with a tone of supplication in the hope that he would tell me something.

  Bones told me to get comfortable on the couch that looked like a large recliner chair, complete with ottoman.

  I did and the back elevated so I was in a semi-erect position.

  The assistant had placed a strange rectangular device with a monitor and illuminated keys on the table to my left. It looked like a Pac, but with slightly different characteristics.

  Bones told me that I could feel dizzy or nauseous. If that had happened I would have to warn him.


  Sgrunff began chatting cheerfully, wondering,

  "Did I ever mention how much I enjoyed doing the beta testers for Planet H?"

  The question was rhetorical, expecting no response. Without giving me time to answer he began to talk.

  He said that the first version of the game was somewhat rough - all you had to do was to sit on a simple chair and fasten your seat belt at the height of the basin.

  "This was used to simulate the movement of the body through vibration," he specified,“you wore a special band with a lot of eye mask around the forehead, which was nothing more than a three-dimensional projector.”

  He switched on what I assumed was the game and a virtual scene appeared.

  It wasn’t very well done but could have been a first attempt. However, you had the very real impression of walking, touching and moving objects. He said,

  "The belt on the lower parts could give stimuli, for example at regular intervals a stimulus was given that was interpreted as hunger. And until you ate something the belt would keep providing the stimulus."

  I listened to him and I wondered why he was telling me this. He was chuckling and showed no signs of wanting to stop. I felt some slight discomfort in the stomach but I let him continue.

  He continued,

  "I remember that you could only eat three things. Grass which didn’t taste of anything, unappetising and chewy apples and bananas which had a decidedly electric taste and sometimes exploded."

  Exploding bananas? I was thinking, imagining the scene.

  He laughed to himself, absorbed with his bananas. My stomach discomfort was turning into nausea, but he continued.

  "Those bananas were really terrible. The engineer gave advice on how to fix them, because you got a slight electric shock when you bit them. You know the feeling if you stick your tongue on both poles of a battery to see if it’s charged?”

  By this time I really started to retch. Bones handed me a cloth and he went off and came back with a fizzy concoction which he handed it to me.

  "Here, drink this. It’ll refresh you and in a few minutes the nausea will pass. You should have said something."

  He then said something strange - something about‘my Tasker being recovered….’

  I looked at Sgrunff and asked him,

  “What Tasker is Bones talking about?”

  Sgrunff’s answer was rather evasive. In fact it seemed like he didn’t want to answer me. I was going to insist, but Valdes came and he looked satisfied. From one of the closed doors you could hear noises inside the infirmary as if someone was moving furniture around.

  "Valdes, what's happening?" I asked, the urge to vomit fading slowly thanks to Bones’concoction.

  "We have recovered your Tasker Kate!"

  Valdes had the air of a happy child who had just received a gift.

  "I'm really happy but I didn’t know I had something that needed to be recovered. Would you explain what it is?"

  He looked at Sgrunff and asked him if he had explained what Planet H was.

  Not that video game again, I thought.

  Sgrunff told him that he had arrived at the exploding bananas and Valdes gave him a serious look, without malice, but so cold. A look that could freeze.

  Sgrunff took a step back, but then Valdes gave him a smile and said it wasn’t so serious.

  I thought those two had probably taken some peculiar drug - they made no sense at all to me. I stood looking at them with what I thought was a questioning air.

  Bones’assistant said that everything was in place and the equipment was moved away from the couch, adding a little more to the intrigue that Bones himself had already generated. He asked me to try and get back on my feet.

  I tried to stand but my head was spinning slightly and I sat down again. I continued to stare insistently at Valdes and Sgrunff, waiting for an answer.

  Sgrunff started, in a tone that seemed to be slightly disappointed.

  “Ithought your curiosity would have brought you to discover what Planet H is.”

  I countered that irritably with

  “In the meantime you have to explain what a stupid video game has to do with all this! In any case I tried a search for information but I have no permission to access the data.”

  Valdes gave me a sweet smile. He said,

  “I somehow doubt that you don’t have the authorisation level but you’ll have everything explained to you later. For the moment I’m just saying .... welcome back Kate!”

  I still didn’t get what they were talking about and I was getting ready to launch a new question when Sonia and Matt entered to the infirmary.

  They came close to see how I was and greeted me warmly.

  Sonia was telling Matt that maybe it would be better to wait a couple of days, but Matt replied that something to the effect that it was all because of the title of my analysis.

  He took a few steps back, looked me in the eye and in an assured voice he ordered,

  "Officer, come to attention!"

  A laser beam seemed to penetrate my head, go through it and hit the wall behind me.

  I heard a voice say,

  “Lieutenant First Class Caterine Madison, serial number 1357NS48B assigned to the orbiting station Nubiriumh, commander of the Silver Thunder, support ship to the Nemesis!

  I looked around for the source of the voice thinking maybe Bones’assistant had gone mad but he was not even in the room.

  Everyone was looking at me, smirking. I looked back at them. Well, someone had spoken!

  Damn it, was it possible those words had come out of my mouth? I found myself on my knees and now I did throw up into the container at the foot of the bed.

  How could it possibly have been me who formulated that reply? How could I have invented words like that? Was I possessed? Maybe I needed an exorcist!

  They helped me to lie down while Bones prepared another of his concoctions. I wanted to explain to these friends of mine that it was not me saying those words, but they seemed not to be concerned - indeed they were even happy.

  So I drank and lay down. My mind was in ferment like a swarm of spring bees and I couldn’t clear my head.

  The noises I heard coming from the room behind me did not stop, the people next to me were trying to check the condition of my health, but I could think only of what had come from my mouth. I felt I had uttered something really without meaning.

  Lieutenant First Class…..first class only? I might even have ventured a higher class after all, say, the tenth! If you’re going to lie you may as well do it in style!

  Valdes approached. He'll think I'm some sort of a crazy in the throes of schizophrenic hallucinations or worse!

  I wanted to shout that it was not true at all, I wanted to tell him that I was not crazy, but he just gave me a kiss on the forehead and told me to rest.

  They left me quiet on the infirmary bed. Bones was the last to leave the room. He told me that with what I had given I would sleep at least a couple of hours and when I woke up they would check me again.

  He closed the door behind him, the lights dimmed and I found myself slipping into a relaxing sleep.

  When I woke up Sgrunff and Bones were already at my side. I was still on the infirmary bed. That unexpected sleep had put me back into shape and I felt more secure.

  I was going to ask the usual question, but I was interrupted by the entrance of Valdes who told me to turn on my Pac.

  "Go to the Universal Library and search for data on Planet H," he said, smiling slightly and sitting on a stool next to me.

  I did this and as had happened before I was prompted for a password.

  He gently took my hand and made me touch the small flashing square.

  I read,

  ‘Logged in, confirm your choice within twenty seconds or start the automatic shutdown.’

  I looked surprised at Valdes, then at the Pac, trying to remember what had happened when I tried it a few days before. I stared back at Valdes, and he tapped his finger on his wrist watc
h, pointing out the time that had passed.

  I confirmed the choice and the files relating to Planet H began to flow fast before my eyes.

  I read the information avidly, skipping the parts that publicised the game and when it was designed. I was also not interested to know about the technical staff.

  I arrived at the first beta version that Sgrunff had talked about although I still did not see any connection with what was going on.

  I got to a section explaining how a new and very creative engineer was appointed to head the project, re-organising the technical staff and releasing a new Beta version that was much more sophisticated and realistic than the first.

  He had apparently designed two different diffusers, one of which was located in the area between the solar plexus and the pelvis, and this cast a dark light that was used to send the data to the lower area.

  The second diffuser was placed in the center of the forehead. This cast a bright light and served as a three-dimensional projector.

  The Beta version included only a few scenarios and some NPCs that were to assist the player in case of need.

  It was multiplayer so a number of players could enter the same virtual world and play together in real time, but in the beta version only three players could be present.

  "What is NPC? 'I asked.

  Sgrunff replied,

  "Non Player Characters. The characters are already present within the game and they act as guides. You can communicate with them, trade, interact in various ways. These characters are created with the game and are part of it. Do you begin to understand?"