‘So what do they want?’ asked Emmy. This time she really was talking to herself.
‘They must be taking their experiments into different areas. There’s no way a dog could be trained to navigate an astral journey. Not unless its senses and brain function were increased exponentially.’
‘The psychic radiation?’
‘When Jimmy came to us in the desert, you convinced him to use his power for good. You had a crazy idea that he could become some sort of superhero. It follows that they would think along the same lines. Of course, their behaviour so far suggests they’re more likely to create the antithesis of a superhero.’
Emmy went cold. If a military power learnt how to contain and control the effects of the radiation they would become unstoppable. Even her grandfather, the smartest human being she had ever known, could not keep such power from corrupting him. In the end, he had used it not only to prolong his own unnatural survival, but to end the lives of many innocent people in the process. It did not bear thinking about what would happen to that power in the hands of lesser minds.
‘This changes everything,’ Emmy said to Esteban. ‘We no longer have any choice. We have to shut the Chinese down before they destroy everything.’
‘What do you have in mind?’
‘I was actually hoping for your help with that. You’re the military strategist, after all. Whatever happens next, we can’t just sit back and do nothing. It’s time we took the fight to them.’
‘Agreed,’ replied Esteban. And then looking at Lucy, he added: ‘Now we have the means, we should strike as soon as possible.’
Chapter 35
The colonel was getting nervous. It was forty eight hours since the team in Tibet had missed their last scheduled window for contact.
‘Do we at least have a fix on their location?’ he asked.
‘That’s a negative, sir,’ replied the communications officer. ‘Their transponder stopped broadcasting approximately twenty four hours ago.’
‘What does that mean exactly?’
‘It could be any number of things. Maybe it was destroyed or it could just be that the mountains are blocking the signal. The team was instructed to search for tunnels, which were used during the Chinese invasion. If they went deep enough, it would explain the blackout.’
‘And what is the worst case scenario?’
The officer looked up from his console. He did not need to provide an answer. His anxious expression communicated everything that needed to be said.
‘Very well,’ said the colonel. ‘I’ll give what we have to Washington, which isn’t a lot. What happens from here on in is out of my hands.’
When he got back to his office, he made the call to James Earl in Washington. It did not take long for the conversation to start following the path he most feared.
‘How long before you can mobilise a second team?’ asked Earl.
‘We could feasibly have them at the drop point within a matter of hours, but I strongly advise against it. Both of our major assets were committed to the first team. Without Dr Rayne or the Johnson kid, we’d need a lot more bodies on the ground to locate and infiltrate the Chinese base. It’s just too risky.’
‘I agree. The President is keen to avoid turning this into a major diplomatic incident. We cannot allow any US personnel to be caught inside Chinese borders. By using an unmanned and unmarked drone, we will have much more plausible deniability.’
Plausible deniability? This was exactly why he hated dealing with politicians. This guy did not give a shit about the people in uniform. They were just expendable grunts to men like Earl.
‘I don’t think we should be too hasty, sir,’ said the colonel. ‘For all we know, our men are still in there. It may be worth giving Cruz and his team a little more time.’
‘As I recall, Colonel, you were previously apprehensive about involving Cruz. Are you now saying that you trust him?’
‘What I’m saying is that we have little choice in the matter. You insisted on him being assigned to the mission, sir, so surely you can at least now afford him the time he needs to complete it.’
The line went quiet for a moment.
‘Okay,’ said Earl. ‘I’ll give our man another twenty four hours. After that, I’m taking no more chances.’ He paused for a moment, before adding; ‘what about the primary mission – have you made any more headway on Operation Sleepwalker?’
‘There have been...developments,’ replied the colonel.
‘You don’t sound too sure. There isn’t a problem, I hope.’
The colonel took a deep breath before answering.
‘We’ve made some observations. If they are confirmed, it could be a game changer. We are talking about things that blur the line between life and death.’
‘Send me what you have. In the meantime, you better hope our boy, Cruz, comes good. Each second that passes while the Chinese have astral capability leaves us vulnerable. One way or another, that threat will be neutralised. Do you understand, Colonel Rodman?’
‘Yes, sir. Loud and clear.’
Chapter 36
The tulpa sat in the dining hall surrounded by a small gathering of monks. They absolutely adored it. Each one of them fawned over it at every given opportunity. Esteban thought this may have been for what it represented to them. It was, in effect, an embodiment of their spirituality. A myth once taken on faith had been made real.
There was, however, still something about it that troubled the soldier. Once Emmy had stopped trying to consciously channel her thoughts, the tulpa had taken on a different personality entirely. It now possessed an impossible to resist naiveté that was both easygoing and hopeful. He wondered if this was an accurate representation of the real Lucy Skye or merely an idealised fiction projected through the soft lens of a lover’s eyes.
‘I’m going to get some rest,’ said Jimmy, who, like Esteban, had been keeping his distance from the unnatural being. They both loitered in a different part of the hall where they could watch from afar, negating the possibility of interaction. ‘I see no immediate danger, so you won’t need me for a while.’
‘I’m going to wait up,’ replied Esteban. ‘I want to check on Emmy. She hides it well, but I can tell this is all impacting heavily on her. I’ve noticed a definite change in her since that thing appeared.’
Jimmy sensed Esteban’s distrust of the tulpa. Not because of his innate ability, but simply from spending so much time in close quarters with the soldier. Growing up, his lack of intelligence and poor social skills made it difficult for him to build relationships with people, but now that he really was an outcast - a one of a kind freak, he actually found it easier to empathise with others.
‘Well, just remember that they’re both Emmy. The reason she brought it here is because she needs it. She was there for me when I was at my lowest. I think we now need to be there for her too.’
Esteban smiled. Jimmy was maturing. The simple boy whom he had captured back at Sydney Opera House was now a man.
The soldier stayed in the hall until after Jimmy had left. He waited a few minutes and then went to Emmy’s quarters. Her room was lit by a candle burning in a recess built into the wall above the bed. She was on her back with her eyes closed, but he could tell she was awake. Had she sought sleep, she would have put out the candle.
‘The monks seem quite taken with Lucy,’ he said, unsure how to broach the subject of the tulpa and not entirely sure that he wanted to.
Of course, he did not really have a choice. Whether he was comfortable with it or not, that thing in the main hall was now their best shot at shutting down the Chinese and making it home.
‘Don’t call her that.’ She remained on the bed with her eyes closed. ‘That thing is not Lucy. Lucy is dead. She died three years ago. Only I was too confused to see it. I’ve been deluding myself all this time.’
‘It’s not your fault.’
‘You have no idea what you’re talking about. If you’d been at Jackson’s Hill, you’d
be dead too. Everyone who was there is now in the ground or in a coma. I don’t deserve to be here.’
Esteban sat on the bed.
‘You can’t think like that,’ he told her. ‘You did what you had to do in order to survive. Jimmy and Charlie did the same or they would not be here now either. Do they deserve it any more or any less than you?’
This time she opened her eyes and pulled herself up from the bed, adopting a seated position with her back against the wall.
‘Jimmy was a special case and comparing him to me is completely irrelevant. He was an innocent, I wasn’t.’
‘What about your friend, Charlie? From my understanding, you two developed the technology together. It doesn’t make any sense to think that one deserves a worse fate than the other.’
‘Charlie was not there when it mattered most. If we had the time over, there’s nothing he could have done differently. It was on a whim that my grandfather chose to save him. I think that somewhere, deep down, there was still good in Pops. Perhaps sending Charlie home was his way of evening the score. The cold war was effective because both sides posed an equal threat. Any act of aggression and mutual destruction was assured. That was what kept the peace. Pops wanted the Chinese to act as deterrent should the West abuse the power he had bestowed upon them.’
‘Well, whatever the reason and the justification or lack thereof, you’re here now. Somehow, your experiences have provided you with abilities the rest of us don’t have. It’s time for you to take ownership of that power. You can’t bring Lucy back, but you can honour her memory by making sure the sacrifice made by her and the others is not in vain. You have to learn how to control the tulpa and in order to do that you must first make peace with your past.’
‘I don’t know how to do that.’
‘I think you do. You just won’t admit it to yourself.’ He stood, but did not leave immediately. ‘Jimmy and I will be waiting. When you’re ready, we’ll be here for you.’
***
Ten men were selected from a labour camp in the North. They possessed almost identical backgrounds. Each was a disgraced military official of senior rank, desperate to atone for past mistakes. Through General Tao, they would be given that chance.
In their former careers these men had been part of an elite fighting force. They did not just command legions of men, they had also been a part of that legion. They were both masters and servants. They were warriors.
The men were told what was required of them and they each were given the option to back out. None took it. The opportunity to once more serve their motherland was too alluring to turn down. They would not pass on the chance to regain their honour. To once more make a difference.
After a brief orientation, the men were placed inside the astral projection chambers. As they experienced the separation of mind and body, they also got their first taste of freedom since beginning their sentences. It was freedom from confinement. Freedom from the dishonour they had once brought down on their families. Above all, it was freedom from responsibility. Once sure of their separation, the general ordered that their cords be severed.
When Jackson Fox had learnt to tame the effects of the radiation on his body (or whichever stolen body he occupied in his quest for immortality) his success had, at the time, been attributed to his superior intellect. His genius. General Tao had come up with an alternative theory.
The second test group were also taken from a facility built to house former members of the military. These men, however, were not criminals. They were heroes. Heroes who had sacrificed everything but their lives in the service of their country. Their injuries varied from a severed spine to first degree burns covering eighty five per cent of the patient’s body.
The serum was identical to the one given to the dogs. It was a combination of the psychic radiation distilled into liquid form and a stabilising agent synthesized from Jimmy’s blood. Once administered, the men were placed into a room, which was then sealed and flooded with more of the radiation, undiluted this time. They were supplied with one cyanide pill apiece.
When the men emerged, it was not from the radiation cell, but from the astral chambers holding the vacant bodies previously belonging to the disgraced soldiers. These war heroes, had quite literally, been reborn. They were also one less in number. Only nine of them had been successful in the transition.
***
She was unsure where to start. There were a million and one things she wanted to say to Lucy. The problem was that it was not Lucy sitting in front of her. It was the tulpa - a cruel fallacy of her own creation. After several fruitless attempts to maintain a useful dialogue with the creature, she was getting frustrated.
‘This is ridiculous,’ she said. ‘I know you aren’t real. You’re just a figment of my imagination.’
‘I don’t understand,’ the tulpa replied.
‘Don’t say that. Don’t pretend to be her. You’re not Lucy.’
‘Are you mad at me?’
A rebuke was forming behind her lips when she noticed something she had earlier missed in the tulpa’s countenance, which was effectively an embodiment of her own subconscious. She realised that it was not anger driving it, but fear. The tulpa was a defence mechanism. It was her way of coping with the loss and pain inflicted at Jackson’s Hill.
‘No, I’m not mad at you,’ she said. ‘It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t my fault. There’s nothing we could’ve done differently. I couldn’t save you and rather than face up to that, I created this fantasy. I tried to bring you back.’
‘Why?’
Emmy smiled.
‘You know why. I needed hope. I needed to know that I still had the possibility of a future. Then Jimmy came along. That was why things changed, wasn’t it?’
‘Yes,’ replied the tulpa. ‘When I encouraged Jimmy to use his power for good, I saw a chance to redeem myself. I no longer needed the lie.’
Emmy noticed that the tulpa had dropped the pretence of being Lucy. It still resembled her former lover in appearance, but it no longer spoke as if it was her former lover. She also noticed another change. A change that was taking place within her own mind.
Her memories began to alter. All of the times she had shared with Lucy - the tulpa version of Lucy, since leaving Jackson’s Hill, now took on a duality. Her original memories were intact and unchanged, but they were now mirrored by echoes of the same events as seen through the eyes of the tulpa. In the present too, she could feel her inner consciousness converge with the projected one sat across the table. She could switch between her own view and that of the tulpa as easily as altering the focus of her eyes.
She raised her right arm above her head. The tulpa copied her. She then raised her left arm, before bringing them both down to touch the top of her head, creating a shape resembling the letter M. Again, the tulpa matched her actions in perfect unison. She opened her mouth to speak and the tulpa did the same.
‘How do I...’ ‘How do I...’
They both talked over one another and in seeing the futility in continuing, they both stopped. What she needed was a way to control the projection’s movements without having to perform the requisite actions herself. She had an idea.
The times when the tulpa had manifested previously and acted independently of her had been when she was unconscious. She believed that the key to controlling it was through meditation. The last time she had tried this it had been a failure even though the tulpa did appear. Back then, she had not been aware of its presence and so controlling it was impossible. This time it was different. This time she knew what she had to do.
Esteban was waiting for her outside. When the door to her room opened and Lucy stepped out, he was disappointed. The unnatural being sensed his dejection.
‘What’s the matter, soldier, am I not who you were expecting?’ it asked.
‘In a manner,’ he replied. ‘I was hoping to see Emmy.’
‘Not a problem,’ it said. ‘Your wish is granted.’
It bent forwar
d as if performing a bow and waved its hand in front of its face. One moment it resembled Lucy, the next it was an exact duplicate of the scientist controlling it.
‘Emmy?’ Esteban queried.
‘The one and only,’ it replied. ‘Beaming live via satellite from the very next room.’
‘So you are in control?’
‘Yes. It’s a little freaky. Kind of like traversing the astral plane, but a little more sluggish. My thoughts feel heavy as if pressed upon by gravity.’
‘How are your reactions?’
‘I’m not sure. Why don’t you test them?’
‘How?’
‘Hit me.’
The soldier clenched his fist, but then relaxed. He could not bring himself to strike the woman he had grown so fond of during the previous weeks. Sensing his hesitation, Emmy decided to make things a little easier for him. She again altered her appearance.
‘How about now?’
Esteban was now face to face with an exact duplicate of Colonel Rodman.
‘Well, soldier?’ asked the pseudo-colonel. ‘Is there anything you want to say to me?’
‘Not really,’ replied Esteban. ‘But I do have a message from Jack Berry.’
He aimed his fist at the underside of the colonel’s chin. If he channelled enough anger into it, he thought he may be able to take the prick’s head clean off. Instead, he almost dislocated his own shoulder as the tulpa deftly stepped back from his strike.
‘Maybe the cold is stiffening your joints and throwing your timing off.’
The taunt was from Emmy and it was good natured. Esteban, however, heard only the voice of his commanding officer. His first punch had not landed, but he would make sure the next one did.
He swung again, but the same result occurred. Refusing to give up, he moved closer and attempted shorter, faster blows to the body of his opponent. With each one the result was the same. The tulpa danced between the path of his fists, creating an impossible and infuriating target. If he was going to break down its defences, he needed to up his game considerably.
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