Communion of Dreams, page 19
“Fascinating,” said Seth.
“Good term for it,” replied Duc, studying the apparent image of the expert. “Nice, full-bodied, complex. Ah . . . ” he paused and looked around from where he was sitting. “This is an interesting place. There’s more color here than meets the eye. As people move, they leave behind trails . . . ”
“You mean, like blurred afterimages?” asked Jon.
“No, more like they’re moving through some sort of liquid. The trails are the sort of wake you see behind a boat, a churning of color, shimmering, glimmering, glistening. Never seen that before.” He stood up, reaching out to steady himself on Jon’s shoulder. “Well, let’s move on over to the pit, shall we, and see what all the fuss is about?”
Jon just nodded, said nothing, almost holding his breath.
Carefully, like a man walking barefoot on rough stones, Duc moved to the edge of the pit. He was so focused, so intent on watching every step, that Jon noticed he didn’t look up and into the pit until they came to the very edge.
Then he just stood there, gazing intently, jaw slowly dropping in astonishment.
“What, what is it? What do you see?”
Ng shook his head in disbelief, slowly turning to face Jon and Seth. “It’s . . . it’s not there . . . ”
“It’s not there?”
“No . . . the gel is there, glowing brightly, fragrance of a field full of wildflowers in bloom. But the artifact . . . it just isn’t there. Nothing is.”
“Nothing? What do you mean? I can see it.”
“No. There’s nothing there. Just a blankness, a dull spot that has no color, no flavor, no heat. It’s just . . . nothing.” Duc seemed a little frightened, but balling up his hands into tight fists at his side, he said, “I want to go down there, get closer.”
“Right. No problem. I’ll help you down the stairs.” Jon started to reach out to take Duc’s hand, but the artist pulled away.
“I’m fine now. Just a little unsteady there at the start.” Ng looked at Jon, peered into his eyes more intensely than anyone normally would. “Really. But ask the others to please move away from the artifact for a few moments. It’ll make it easier for me to concentrate on it.”
“You got it.” Jon looked around, then clapped his hands. “Folks, can I ask you to clear out of the pit for a few minutes? We’ve got a bit of an experiment to conduct here. It’ll just take a couple of moments, and we’ll be out of the way in a bit. Thanks.”
As people started to move, Jackie Gates came over to the side where they were standing, and looked up, a curious glint in her eye. First she spoke to Jon, then directly to Duc, “He’s doing it, isn’t he? What d’ya see?”
“Just come on out for a few minutes, ok?” asked Jon. Several of the others had started to gather around them, up on the main floor.
“Hey, I’ll stay out of the way. But I want to see this,” said Gates.
“See what?” asked Alexandra Byrne, the chemical engineer from the second team.
“Duc’s using auggies,” answered Jackie, before anyone else could reply.
“Oh yeah, the artist,” said Byrne, interested. “Though I doubt that you’ll see anything more than the equipment can.”
Duc turned to look at the woman, his eyes too wide open, pupils so dilated that the color of the iris was almost invisible. “I see a lot, more than most people can even imagine. But now, you might be right. There’s nothing there.”
“What do you mean there’s nothing there?” asked Harold Kanagawa. He was the expert in scanning technologies. “Even without my equipment, I can see there’s something there.”
“Perhaps,” said Duc, who started to make his way over to the stairs which lead down into the pit.
“Drugs, eh?” asked Don Bradsen of Jon. “Isn’t that . . . risky?”
“No, he knows what he’s doing. They’re safe enough.”
Duc carefully made it down into the pit, walked over past Jackie and the large sensors on either side of the artifact. He looked like some sort of bird of prey, eyes unblinking, head moving slowly back and forth to make sure that he had the object of his hunt in perfect view. He looked to the side for a moment, where Seth stood, silent and waiting, then back. “The gel is moving, I can see it, Jon. Clean, playful water, wet to the eyes, brisk and energizing, the blue of glacial lakes.
“And I can hear the artifact, that pulse, that heartbeat, hot and vital red. A salty taste, rich and powerful. But why does it hide? Why can’t I see it?”
“Still nothing?” called down Jon.
Duc shook his head, his ponytail dancing back and forth. He looked down and manipulated the back of one hand, closed his eyes for a moment and shuddered slightly. Then slowly he brought up his hands, rubbed them together, like a sculptor does before handling clay. His arms reached out, fingers reaching toward the artifact, as though he was going to take it in his hands. Another slight shiver crossed through his frame. “I’ve upped the sensitivity of my enhancements as far as I can . . . ”
He took another pace forward, stepping between Jackie and the artifact. Even from the distance of the lip of the pit, Jon could see a sheen of sweat on the man’s brow, and his arms seemed to quiver ever so slightly. “I can’t see anything. Just the blankness, the dullness. But there is a slipperiness there, something slick and subtle.”
Someone muttered behind Jon. He turned quickly to see Dana Mallory, the young lab tech. Just then Jackie Gates screamed.
Jon swung back around to see her moving forward towards Duc’s prostrate body, where he lay on the ground almost underneath the artifact.
“Jackie, no!” hollered Jon, but it was too late. She knelt down at Duc’s side, her back to Jon. It seemed that the moment she made contact with him, she jerked as though hit with a jolt of electricity, and collapsed.
Everyone froze for a moment, too shocked to know what to do. Everyone except the two guards. Both moved forward, one with his carbine leveled at the artifact, the other scrambling down the stairs faster than Jon thought possible in an environment suit. Jon heard the one with the weapon bark over his loudspeaker, “Stay where you are. Let him pull them out.”
It took just a moment for the trooper to reach Jackie and pick her up, but in that time Jon heard the nearby airlock cycle in emergency mode, and two more suited figures burst into the dome, weapons at ready. The trooper set Jackie’s small form at the top of the stairs, and returned to retrieve Duc. Without pause, he grabbed the artist’s feet and dragged him away from the artifact, then scooped him up and carried him up the stairs.
By this time one of the suited figures had gotten to Jackie. He had popped his visor open, and Jon saw that it was Navarr. The other three troopers stepped back from the crowd, weapons still very much ready, keeping a close eye on the artifact, the airlocks, and even the people who gathered around the two prone figures.
“They’re both alive,” said Navarr, loud enough even without the aid of his suit’s speaker so that everyone in the dome could hear him. “In some kind of shock. We should get them up to Titan Prime as quickly as possible.”
Jon heard Seth’s voice, calm and reassuring. “I’ve sent word that a shuttle is needed immediately. It should arrive in about twelve minutes. I can find no telemetry from either Ms. Gates or Mr. Ng, evidently both of their personal systems are off-line. Do you wish to have Dr. Taupiczak here via telepresence?”
“Hell of an idea. Hook her into your system, soon as you can.”
Navarr glanced over his shoulder at Jon. “Thanks.”
The apparent form of Tops materialized off to the side. She seemed disoriented for a moment, looking around, then focused on the two people on the ground. “Looks like shock. But it’s hard to tell from here. Any sign of injury?”
“No,” answered Navarr. “Pulse shallow, respiration weak but steady.”
“All right. Their color looks good. I think you can transport them safely. But how will you get them into suits to get out to the shuttle?”
“Leave that to us,” said the Commander, who then looked to one of the troopers and nodded toward the airlock. “Bring two.”
The woman nodded, and entered the airlock. Jon heard it cycle normally. He glanced at the apparent image of Tops. “Ng’s got a system full of auggies.”
Tops nodded. “Thanks, though I don’t think that should cause me any problems. When I did his baseline and history, we went over the cocktail of stuff he uses. Powerful, but mostly acts just on the sensory centers. Shouldn’t matter.”
The airlock started to cycle. Jon turned to see it open, the trooper who went out returning, carrying two rolled-up bundles, each flat black and about the size of a large water bottle. She tossed one lightly to Navarr, who undid a belt on the thing and started to unroll it. He glanced up at Jon. “Here, help me with this.”
They rolled out and then unfolded a pouch a little over two meters long, as the trooper and Alexandra did the same with the other bundle. Jon realized what they were. “Bodybags?”
“Yeah,” said Navarr, opening up the length of the bag along a seal. Once he had this peeled back, they picked up Ng and placed him carefully in the bag. Jon watched as Navarr secured Ng with interior straps, ran the seal closed, then punched a control. Instantly, the quilted fabric of the bag started to inflate, and a few moments later the entire bag had taken on a hexagonal cross-section, and had become rigid. “Designed to be easier to handle and transport this way. But I figure that the air inside should last them long enough for us to get them out to the shuttle.”
“Brilliant,” said Tops.
“And your shuttle will be setting down at about the time you make it to the landing pad, if you leave now,” said Seth.
“Let me help,” said Jon, scrambling into his environment suit. Shortly thereafter he, Navarr, the female trooper and one of the other troopers in the dome had gotten the two bodybags containing Ng and Gates into the larger airlock, and started to cycle it.
* * *
When he returned, and entered the dome through the airlock with the one trooper, Jon was relieved to see that things seemed to be returning to normal. Bradsen had everyone back at work, but was himself waiting for Jon. He looked to Jon and asked, “Navarr stay with them?”
Jon nodded, as he sat on a bench and started to peel off his suit. “Yeah. There wasn’t enough room in the shuttle for me, too. Made more sense for Navarr and his trooper to be there, since they have a lot more training with first aid. Just in case.”
At that moment Seth appeared. “Dr. Taupiczak is preparing for their arrival at Titan Prime, but sends word that she thinks they will be fine.”
“Thanks, Seth.” Jon looked to Bradsen. “Everyone here all right?”
Don looked around the dome. “Mostly. It’s got people rattled, but I think everyone will be fine.”
“Let’s just have everyone be more cautious about being around the artifact, not get too near it.”
“Well, I don’t think that is going to be a problem.”
Jon stopped for a moment, looked over at the pit. He realized he could no longer hear the distant whisper of the artifact.
“What’s wrong?” asked Bradsen.
“Just a little . . . overwhelmed, I think.” Jon shook his head, as though trying to clear it. “Any chance we got any coverage of that whole sequence on any of the equipment?”
“Damn. I didn’t think of that. I guess you’re not the only one feeling a little overwhelmed.” Bradsen looked around the room, but this time taking inventory of the equipment set up rather than the people operating it. “Well, there’s the sentry cameras, which are always on the artifact, or where it should be anyway. They should have it. But nothing else we have set up is designed for that sort of monitoring.”
“Well, it sure looked to me like something shocked Jackie. I didn’t see what happened to Ng.”
Don nodded. “I’ll have everyone go over their data for the relevant time period. There might be something there.”
“Seth?”
“Yes, Jon?”
“Get me the images from the sentry cams from the moment Duc went down into the pit through when the trooper hauled him and Jackie back out.”
“Got it. Want it now?”
“No, look it over with a close eye on detail . . .”
Seth interrupted. “Message from Dr. Taupiczak, Jon.”
“Give it to me, personal.”
Immediately, Tops appeared. “Just wanted to let you know, I think they’ll be fine. Jackie is already semiconscious again, and I expect Duc to come around any moment.”
“What happened to them?”
“I’m not sure, though it seems to have been some kind of shock, but not a systemic one. No damage, at least nothing I’ve found yet.”
“So they’ll be OK?”
Tops nodded. “Yeah, it looks like. They may not have much memory of the moments preceding the incident, and there may be some other things we’ll need to keep an eye on, but I think that a full recovery is certain.” She paused. “But interestingly, we’ll probably have to replace all their cyberware, even their personal computers.”
“Why do you say that’s interesting?”
“Those systems are designed to be very well insulated. You know, so that they can’t be used as a weapon against the owner. Hitting them with something from outside is difficult, even for the military.”
“Yeah.”
“But I almost get the feeling that the shock which went through their bodies was directed at those systems, that it came at them from the opposite way: not using them as a conduit for an attack, but for the focus of the attack.”
“Interesting, indeed,” said Jon. “OK, I’ll let everyone here know. Keep me posted, and tell them I’ll stop in to see them when I get back up to the station later this afternoon.”
“Right. Tops out.”
Jon sat there for another moment, thinking. “Seth, let’s see those recordings from the sentry cameras.”
The recording showed what Jon remembered: Ng walking toward the location of the artifact, hands held out like he was about to caress something precious. When he got to where the artifact should be, he jerked, then fell to the floor. Jackie, who had been beside one of the nearby sensor banks, leapt to his side. It looked, from the perspective of several of the cams, like she put out a hand to steady herself against something that wasn’t there as she knelt down, and then she too jerked and collapsed in a heap. So, they both touched the artifact directly.
Jon remembered Darnell saying, ‘Go ahead, touch it.’
He started to get back into his environment suit. Don Bradsen noticed this, and came over to him. “What’s up?”
“I’m just going to go have a chat with Sidwell.”
* * *
“Hear ya had a little ‘citement over there.”
Jon sat on the bench, started to get out of his suit. “Yeah. Two of my team members are now up in the infirmary, recovering. Which I find to be curious, since you said it was safe to touch the artifact.”
Sidwell’s brow furrowed in thought. “That was wit’ a suit on. I ain’t touched it wit’ my bare hands, ain’t told no one else to, neither.”
Jon thought back. Yeah, Sidwell had told him to touch it when he first arrived on Titan, before the dome was pressurized or at a safe temperature for flesh. “Well, it was a thought.”
Darnell looked at him with a piercing gaze. “Wha’ you thinkin’?”
“You know, I’m not really sure.”
“Then why ya come ‘n here ‘n blame me?”
Jon sighed. “Sorry. But I’ve been having these dreams, or visions, or whatever they are. And you’re in them.”
“So?”
“So, I keep wondering why.”
Darnell stared at him for a long moment. Then, abruptly, the old man turned and headed for his easy chair. Over his shoulder he said, “Well, c’mon over ‘n sit a spell, let’s talk ‘bout it.”
Jon parked on the couch, opposite the old man. And as he watched, Sidwell picked up a pipe, fiddled with it, and then lit it. A sweet aroma filled the air. “Now, wha’s this ‘bout me bein’ in yer dreams?”
“I’m not sure, but you’ve been in the ones for the last week or so. Like you’re the one to pass on something important to me. And they haven’t just been dreams, but also those occasions when I’ve passed out while in close proximity to the artifact.”
Sidwell said nothing, just watched and waited, puffing on his pipe.
“You’ve been using a phrase: ‘that which emerges from darkness gives definition to the light’.”
“Dam’ fool thin’ t’ say.”
“Yeah, but it seems somehow to fit with the artifact.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, there’s an essay by Martin Heidegger on some early Greek text fragment that talks extensively about concealment and ‘presencing.' Klee explained to me that this is the way Heidegger talks about awareness. And yesterday you were telling me that the artifact had forced you to ‘wake up’. That seems to be pretty much the same thing.”
Darnell set his pipe down. He looked at Jon a very long time, pale blue eyes considering the younger man. “Yeah, sounds like. Now, I ain’ never read no Heidegger, leas’ that I can recall. But he’s right. That thing ‘n th’ other dome is all ‘bout awareness.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean mebbe ya should listen t’ yer dreams.”
Jon looked at him, a little suspicious. “But if you didn’t know what it was about, how can you say that?”
“Ya jus’ told me, didn’ ya? An’ didn’ I say that it was gonna force people t’ wake up?”
“Yeah.” Jon nodded. “You also told me about Wales, and the fellow there at the falls. Pistol something, right?”
The old man smiled. “Pistyll Rheadr. I lived jus’ a valley away. Never really learned Welsh, but leastways got used t’ th’ names o’ things.”
“Really? When was that?”
“‘Bout the time o’ th’ flu.”
Jon paused. “I thought you were in space then.”
