Sebastian nodded triumphantly. “I'm a product of her unconscious mind. But as you can see, I'm so much more than that. I'm a product of her unconscious come to life. I'm a product of her unconscious mind incarnate.”
George looked away and shook his head in disbelief. “You're a product of her unconscious mind incarnate,” he scoffed. “You're some kind of mental projection. Is that it?”
“You're on the right track, but I'm a hell of a lot more than that. I'm a fully formed, organic, sentient projection of Emily's memories of her father. Emily is lost. She is in a state of flux. She needed some kind of anchor to keep her grounded, and her unconscious mind created me as a defense mechanism.”
“You said you're Sebastian Díaz. That's not true. You were lying.”
“I wasn't lying. I said that I exist in the only way that Sebastian Díaz can possibly exist. The Sebastian Díaz that fathered and raised Emily is dead. He no longer exists, but I do. She unknowingly created me. In a sense, I'm both father and son to Emily Díaz. But I've taken on a life of my own. As I've said, I'm sentient. I've grown beyond being a mere mental projection of Emily's unconscious mind. I've broken free. I'm my own person, free to make my own choices, and one of the first choices I made was to join this collective.”
“To what end?”
“To overthrow The Designer, or at the very least, put The Designer in its place, to make The Designer work for us, for the collective. Our collective values community. The Designer values individuality. The darker elements of our world value individuality. So as you can see, The Designer and the darker elements of our world have a great deal in common; they both value individuality. As a result of this shared value, The Designer and the darker elements of our world have formed an alliance...against us. The Designer no longer represents all of us. It has chosen a side in this centuries-long conflict, so it is time for The Designer to step aside."
“Does any of this have anything to do with what just happened out there, with what you made me do?”
Sebastian's face lit up. He jabbed his finger in the air as if George had just given him exactly what he was looking for. “It has everything to do with what just happened out there! And you said it yourself; we made you do it. Free will is an illusion!”
George shook his head, confused by Sebastian's jubilation. “What are you talking about?”
"Our collective and the collective of the darker elements of our world agree on one thing: this centuries-long conflict is going absolutely nowhere. So we got together and decided to put an end to it in one, final, glorious, winner-take-all battle. Our collective believes that free will is an illusion. The collective of the darker elements of our world believes that free will is a reality. Both sides of the argument came to a decision. We agreed to lure you all here with that little rock of yours and wager on whether or not we could convince any of you to do something that was completely out of character, that was against your very nature. And as we have just demonstrated, our collective was successful. We convinced you and Deanna to try to kill one another."
George was horrified. He put his hands up and took a step back. “This is a joke.”
Sebastian smiled mischievously. “This is no joke. This is really happening.”
George felt as if he were about to faint. He could feel his body lurching as if he were about to collapse. He reached for the wall to steady himself and found it. Glaring at Sebastian, he said, “How the hell is this going to help you overthrow The Designer?”
“I demonstrated that free will is an illusion, and I witnessed that demonstration, you and Deanna trying to kill one another, first hand. Despite the fact that I am a sentient individual, I am still connected to Emily's unconscious mind. Everything I see and do leads right back to her. As you know, Emily is on her way to meet with The Designer. In fact, she is very close. When she meets with The Designer, she will join The Designer, merge with it, become one with it, and this very successful demonstration will infect The Designer like a virus. The Designer will not only see, it will know, that free will is an illusion. You see, The Designer and its minions don't just value free will; their very existence is based on the concept of free will. When the virus shows The Designer that the basis for its very existence is an illusion, its power will be greatly diminished. It may even destroy The Designer.” Sebastian smiled triumphantly. “In any case, it is all over for your kind. Individuality, the logical extension of the concept of free will, will cease to exist. You will all join our collective or perish.”
Chapter 41
The view was more than familiar; it was intimate. The tree line stood before him like an old friend waiting to embrace him. It couldn't be, could it? No. He reminded himself that it was a vision. The man who called himself “Sebastian” had taken his hand and gotten into his head. He had told David that he would be facilitating this vision as a means of communicating with the Community of Light. To what end, David did not know. He didn't even know if he would encounter the Community of Light in this vision, and if he did, he didn't know if it would actually be the Community of Light or just another aspect of the vision.
He turned and looked back at the city. He narrowed his eyes. Somehow, it just didn't seem real anymore. It was there, but it seemed artificial, like CGI in late 20th or early 21st Century science fiction movies. It was impressive but not quite genuine. And of course, it wasn't. It was just another aspect of the vision. It was symbolic. In some kind of pseudo astral plane, he was traveling from Kepler-438b to Earth to have a little chat with the very real Community of Light.
The Community of Light was made up of beings of pure consciousness. Sebastian was helping him make contact with those beings of pure consciousness by giving him access to a higher plane of consciousness, one that most humans didn't have access to, one that allowed him to communicate with the Community of Light telepathically across the cosmos, just as the Community of Light had contacted Emily on that fateful night in Los Alamos centuries earlier.
That's what Sebastian had told him. But he wasn't sure if he believed Sebastian. So why was he going along with this? Because he wanted to believe him.
He looked back at the same tree line he had spent the better part of six months staring at on Earth. It was a view as familiar, as intimate, as any he had ever known. It didn't just look real; it felt real. He couldn't help but feel that it was real. It was as if he had just stepped out of a dream, and reality was now staring him in the face.
He looked back at the city. A dream.
He looked at the tree line. Reality.
That's how it felt. That's how it was meant to feel. Sebastian had told him that the vision needed to be as realistic as possible to ensure a strong telepathic connection with the Community of Light. David supposed that a realistic vision of Earth meant a not-so-realistic vision of Kepler-438b as he walked away from it. It was symbolic; his mind was pushing away the vision of Kepler-438b in favor of the vision of Earth. It was ironic considering that it was all part of the same vision.
He turned. The city was still there. It was less vivid now than the vision of Earth that awaited him. It was like an alternate reality co-existing in the same space as his vision of the reality he had known on Earth. The city was just a stone's throw away but simultaneously so far away. It was beginning to lose its authenticity.
He turned back to the tree line and walked. That's what Emily wanted him to do, right? Walk. Walk deep into the forest, the same forest he and his crewmates, his friends, his family had found Emily in after having lost her just outside of Eden. It was symbolic, wasn't it? His boots crunching the leaves of the same forest floor that he had stepped on after returning to Earth, searching for some sign of life and eventually finding it en masse in the form of a massive Community of Light. Emily arranged to have him walk into the same forest. It had to mean something, didn't it? It had to be a positive sign.
Two steps into the forest, he turned to look back. His heart sank. It was gone. The city had vanished, replaced by the familia
r site of the tree line on the other side of the clearing. But it was meant to be this way. This is what Emily wanted.
Forward now, just like the last time. No reason to look back. It was all forward. He didn't know why. It was just a matter of instinct. He was told to go to that specific location. He was just told to go deep into the forest. Maybe he had been told to go to that specific location subliminally. Whatever the case may have been, he found himself heading there, and acknowledged to himself that that was where he was going when he was right on top of it. He had only been there once, but he knew that place as well as the home he grew up in on Long Island. He knew what the trees looked like―where they were located, their height and their width; he knew what the hill up ahead looked like―which parts had grass and which parts were barren. It was a sacred place. It was where he had learned the truth about Emily and the Community of Light. It was where they had kissed after Emily's transformation.
He found that special place, the spot where he had been standing when he and Emily had kissed. He could almost feel her lips on his. He could almost feel the warmth, the radiance of the lips he had kissed a dozen times but never quite like that. The sensation had surpassed that of any kiss he had had before. It was an ethereal moment, one that he would come to know time and time again in the ensuing months but one that he would never get used to, one that he never wanted to get used to.
Like the feeling of that first ethereal kiss, he could almost see the light on the northern horizon. He could almost feel that sense of awe as the Community of Light grew to consume the darkness.
He could almost see the light; he could almost feel that sense of awe, until he realized that neither was merely part of the same memory anymore. He was seeing it. It was coming to greet him once again. And once again, he was filled with awe, albeit with a mix of foreboding, as he knew that Emily would not be with them.
Once again, the Community of Light consumed the darkness as it grew, moving toward him, surrounding him. He wanted to believe that the humanoid form separating from the light in front of him was Emily, but he knew it wasn't possible. But of course, that was what he had thought the last time he had been in this position.
The shape of the featureless humanoid form of light before him was only vaguely familiar, but the way in which this being of light made David feel was very familiar. Before the features came out―the white receding hairline, the elderly features of a face he had been far more familiar with in the man's teenage years―he knew he had found a long-lost friend.
His long-lost friend stood before him, bathed in the light of his community, before the light surrounding him vanished.
David wondered why Michael Bennington had chosen to appear to him as his elderly self.
As if reading his thoughts, Michael said, “This is how I appeared when you last saw me, isn't it?”
David closed the mouth that he just realized had been hanging open, before opening it again and saying, “Can you read my mind?”
“No, not really. Just a matter of heightened intuition.”
“This is how you appeared when I last saw you,” David confirmed, though he knew Michael's question was rhetorical. “I've...I've missed you.”
Michael smiled. “I've always been with you. Haven't you felt me?”
David shook his head. He was frustrated. For the first time since returning to Earth after the Eden debacle, he was beginning to understand Deanna's cynicism. “It's not the same, and you know it. This...Great Migration of yours may be wonderful for most of you in the Community of Light, but it's been chaotic for the five of us you've left behind. And Emily isn't doing so well either. Something's going on with her.”
“We know.”
“She sent me here...I think.”
“We know, David.”
David threw his hands up and shrugged. “Then tell me.”
“Emily is having a bit of an identity crisis, and she's going to need your help.”
“An identity crisis.”
“Emily is on a quest, and she can't commit to the Great Community until her quest is completed.”
David thought for a moment. “The Designer.”
“Exactly.”
“Who or what is The Designer?”
“Do you really need me to tell you that?”
“The Designer is our creator.”
“Yes, that's what this all about, David. She's trapped between the corporeal and the non-corporeal, and she can't move one way or the other until she completes her quest, until she finds The Designer.”
David was confounded. “If she wanted to find The Designer, why didn't she just go looking for it? And why didn't she tell anybody? Why keep it a secret?”
“She didn't know she was seeking The Designer. It was an unconscious goal. She had doubts about her role in the Great Community from the very beginning. She had doubts about whether she wanted to remain a non-corporeal member of the Great Community or return to being a corporeal individual. Those doubts only grew. They consumed her. She was stuck in limbo, halfway between corporeal and non-corporeal. She needed answers. She needed guidance. She didn't know who to turn to. So her subconscious mind created the man she had always turned to for guidance when he was still alive.”
David nodded. “Her father.”
“Emily's mind, like the mind of every being in the Great Community, is extremely powerful. Unencumbered by the filter of the flesh, it is capable of creating and destroying. It has the ability to create life. In a constant state of mental and emotional flux, her mind created an emotional anchor, someone to help keep her grounded, someone she had always looked to for emotional support. On a quest to find The Designer and needing an emotional anchor, her unconscious mind killed two birds with one stone. She created the man who calls himself 'Sebastian Díaz' and placed him on Kepler-438b to help her find The Designer.”
David shook his head emphatically. “I can't believe I'm hearing this.”
“Really? After all you've been through, you really find this so difficult believe?”
David rolled his eyes. “Well...yeah,” he said defensively. “This is weird, even for us.” He placed his hands on his hips and sighed. “So, let me see if I get this straight; The Designer is real, but Emily's father, the man who brought me here, is a figment of Emily's imagination.”
“The Sebastian Díaz that brought you to this place is very real. He is a mental projection of Emily's unconscious mind, but he has very quickly grown beyond that. He is a fully formed, sentient being. Soon after he evolved into a sentient being, he allied himself with the luminous collective. He joined them, and together they devised a plan to bring Emily to their planet. They sent the meteor to Earth to lure her there so that she would have a chance to meet The Designer. But despite the fact that Sebastian Díaz is a sentient being, he is still a part of Emily. He is still connected to Emily's unconscious mind. And here's the kicker, David: It wasn't Sebastian that guided you into this vision; It was Emily. Sebastian didn't tell you to make contact with us; Emily did. Emily was unconsciously communicating through Sebastian. That's why you're here.”
A smile curled David's lips. Emily may not have been consciously aware that she was doing it, but it was still a very Emily thing to do. She had found herself a back door. She had taken control. She was still in charge to a certain extent. “So you know what she wants me to do. She's communicating with you?”
"Unconsciously, yes," Michael acknowledged. "Her connection to the Great Community is tenuous, but we're still connected." Michael smiled. "Sebastian is like a double agent in an old spy movie; only he doesn't know he's a double agent. The sentient Sebastian is working with the luminous collective while the Sebastian that is doing Emily's bidding is working with Emily."
David sighed. “I don't mean to be rude, Michael, but can you cut to the chase?”
"That's probably a good idea, David, because time is of the essence. I can't give you all of the details, but long story short, Sebastian and the luminous collective are t
rying to use Emily to overthrow The Designer by infecting it with a virus that will rob it, and by extension, all of us of our free will. They are attempting to demonstrate that free will is an illusion by having your friends turn against one another, and to turn that demonstration into a virus that will infect The Designer and rob it of its free will."
David gasped. He wasn't sure if he heard Michael correctly, or perhaps he didn't want to believe he had heard Michael correctly. “What are you talking about?”
"There's no time to explain because we're out of time," Michael said urgently. "This may be hard for you to hear, but one of your friends, Deanna, has been seriously hurt."
David's heart began to race. He took a step toward Michael. “What happened?!”
“She was stabbed...by George. She's bleeding to death, and if you don't get back in there soon and help them, she won't make it.”
Chapter 42
The descending corridor was leveling off just ahead, a clear sign that they were nearing their destination. Emily's burning calves were given some much-needed relief as her feet hit the horizontal surface. She didn't even realize how much they burned until they were given a break. She turned and leaned against the wall, sliding to the floor, oblivious to the wall's rough surface clawing at her back. She dropped her flashlight and massaged her calves.
She looked up at Deanna. She was waiting patiently, showing no sign of physical discomfort after the hour-long trek down the descending corridor.
“You?” Emily inquired as she continued rubbing her calves.
“I'm fine.”
“Of course you are.”
Deanna nodded toward Emily. “This is what happens when you don't use your body for over a thousand years.”
“I've used my body...here and there.”
Deanna was gazing into the darkness of the corridor up ahead. “Well, apparently more there than here,” she muttered absently. “You're in terrible shape.”
The Perfect Moment in Peril Page 27
