A New Beginning

Here’s The Final Episode of the Interlocked series. If you haven’t read the Seventh part, ’tis right here- https://darshanbechkam.wordpress.com/2016/04/27/the-interlock

Finale

Green Earth

The Caravan lurched suddenly, as the terrain underfoot turned slightly rocky. Mountainous mounds of rock rose from the otherwise unobstructed landscape, as the ALT-TRAV struggled up a small pile of rock and dropped again, the suspension barely absorbing any force of impact as it hit the ground. Pain shot up Dan’s back, the daily dosage of uninterrupted exploration and thousand miles of riding on a weird ass dune buggy taking its toll on a man’s health.

The All Land Terrain-Travel Vehicle, commonly confused to stand for Alternative travel, was a queer vehicle. The primary engine was up ahead, technology containing it into a relatively tiny compartment the shape of a Formula 1 race car. At least, the front part of a Formula 1 race car. But unlike the thick rubber tires of those track devils, the main engine of the Caravan came attached with tank tread, also known as the continuous track. Those are the contraptions that helped tanks manoeuvre on rough terrain without exerting much pressure on the ground. Attached to this machinery, was the caravan itself. At least, that is what one would call a box that came equipped with two rows of seat, like that of a bus, leaving an aisle in the middle. The driver sat up in front on a single seat, behind which are twelve rows of seats. At the far end, stood another padded revolving seat, though it mostly faced the back.

Dan wasn’t slumped on the padded seat like he usually was. His spine was erect and his eyes alert, as he scanned the wide but empty expanse of land that stretched out for millions of miles. He placed one hand on the mounted machinegun that was attached to the back of the Caravan. The rear part of the ALT-TRAV was attached to two massive, separately manoeuvrable tractor tyres. Dan knew he was close when he noticed the ground under the tyres were less green than where their ship landed. The coating of the green mineral in this part of the world was, though not scarce, not as dense and lay in loose clumps, some areas greener than the others.

Dan swivelled his head, casting his gaze towards the front of where they were heading. His fingers incessantly drummed on his knees, though he was careful not to let the sound distract or invite the attention of his other teammates.

They, unlike himself, sat stock still, like mannequins slumped on the seats of a bus. They jolted when the vehicle lurched, and slowly eased themselves back into their comfortable positions. Besides that, their gazes remained trained in front, unflickering and steady. Dan sometimes wondered if they looked at everything or if their empty stares found nothing, usually on occasional days, when the travel proved too monotonous and boredom struck. But today Dan was glad his teammates were almost mindless machines.

He caught sight of the singular spire that rose from the ground like a proud flagpole, what would’ve been a monument of some kind if an early civilisation came into existence here. It was an interesting landmark for the rest, and there were few such, scattered across the land. But this one. This one meant something to him.

Dan stilled his fingers and waited intently. The pile of rock should be right in front of them, he concluded, as his furtive glances proved the spire was barely a meter away.

Dan braced himself, his body tensing for the manoeuvre that might hurt for a couple of days. He felt the vehicle shift slightly as it tilted up the incline. He heard the grumbles of his mates as they pulled themselves against their seats, holding the overhead bar.

Dan jumped to his feet as the tank tread crunched the first rock underfoot, and leapt from the back of the Caravan as gracefully as he could manage. He landed lightly, simultaneously bending over for a roll to reduce the impact. Dan ran in a crouch in few quick bounds and backed himself to the spire, breathing heavily. The spire was wide enough for two men to hide behind, side by side. Dan still stood backing the spire, his hands placed on the sides of the rocky surface either side of him. His head was cocked sideways, fervently listening to the slow grumble of the ALT-TRAV as it shuddered violently before struggling up the relative slope. The relative slope. It was a rocky mound on the ground that was a slightly higher relative to the flat surface of the ground elsewhere. But the relative slope sounded like an uncle of another slope.

His quick glances told him the vehicle was on the other side of it, and he sighed slowly. He dusted himself off the green dust that somehow coated every inch of his body in the previous process. He didn’t watch as the dust hung in the air for a moment before settling back on the ground. He was careful to smudge the handprints he left on the vertical surface of the spire. One could say he didn’t come here on company business.

Dan’s wild eyes flickered all over the place as he stood still, his mind and body focused on the one task ahead.

Now where was that pit he found?

Ω

The surface beneath her delicate fingers was sandy, and she noticed she couldn’t feel her legs. Her head throbbed painfully, and she could see a thousand swirling clouds of every colour she could imagine, and some she couldn’t behind her eyelids. With a forceful grunt, she pushed her eyelids open. Her eyes brimmed with tears and some dripped down her face. Her arms ached and she felt heavy, as if a whole planet was balanced on her body. She felt bad for Atlas.

Slowly, she felt her ability to move her limbs return, and a wisp of energy seeped through her body, impulses firing across neurones, jumping across synapses.

Pain. Shock.

She tried wriggling her fingers and found that she could, though they moved but a fraction before pain wracked her body again. She felt her eyesight rapidly adjust to the bright light that numbed her senses when she opened her eyes. The white soil twirled in a quick jig before it suddenly stumbled to a stop, with everything else. Her gaze captured tiny white feathers float slowly to the ground, nestling amongst its already fallen kin. She thought they were petals of a tiny flower.

She tried to move her head, but the pounding bullets inside her cranium said otherwise. She tried to move her eyes, to inch her sight upwards so her vision captured more of the surrounding.

She saw two black objects alternatively appearing on the white surface, growing bigger by the second.

Shoes. Something that cowered far back inside against her subconscious mind whispered.

Those are shoes.

She heard voices. A low growl that seemingly veiled a higher, softer voice beyond. But sometimes the voice cracked and the veil drew open like stage curtains.

“Hey! You okay?” The man huffed.

Good. Her ears were working.

The voice sounded oddly familiar, but peculiarly so, as if it didn’t belong together with the vision that spread out before her. Her whole body seemed to function now, even if only partially. But she still couldn’t feel her legs.

She felt rough hands pull her upright and the pain that fried her whole body was unbelievable. It was white hot, burning and scalding, but also ice cold, freezing, at the same time.

She whimpered, barely containing a full out scream. She gritted her teeth, hot tears welling up in her eyes.

“Pain..”, she managed to croak in a hoarse voice.

The hands turned softer, gentle with almost maternal care. She still winced but managed to stand.

She wasn’t sure if she was standing, or sitting, or propped up against a cold metal pole. She noticed the ground was much closer to her level of sight, though she couldn’t lower her head enough to glance at her body. Maybe it better to review the broken state of her body later. It’s much more important for her brain to recover, to make sense of what’s going on.

She noticed the man step into her line of view and hunker down.

“Hey Ava, you okay?”

She stifled a gasp, which she was sure would blow her to a thousand floating dandelions in the state she was in.  “Zod?”

“Zod?”

He only nodded mutely, his eyes searching her eyes as if in askance.

“Yea, I’m alright. Just a bit stiff, that’s all. Uh hey, I got a question. What the hell was going on? Maybe you can start with where we are right now?”

Zod had a faraway look halfway down her sentence, and she noticed he wasn’t paying attention. But the mind behind his eyes returned and heard the last question, apparently, because he answered.

“Uh, we… we are in the snow park.” He gestured around him, like it was an obvious answer to her query.

Snow park. That would explain the feather-petals.

She looked at Zod like he was the most interesting there. Which, he probably was, considering the fact that he was fidgeting and…is that dash of red on his cheeks a blush?

“Hey uh, listen, uh, if..if you’re..no, are you thirsty!?” He ended the sentence in a rush, gazing at her face expectantly.

“Yeah I guess,”she croaked, her throat like sandpaper.

“Uh, so uh, you wanna go for a, uh, cofffeee or somethin’?”Zod said.

”With me of course,” he added in a rush.

Her left eyebrow shot up. Dude, what?

She was a mangled mess, a breathing corpse just resuscitated back to life, and this guy was calling her for coffee!? Like on a date?

“Dude if you’re offering me that recycled shit from the main mass, I’m out.”

And just like that, her memories came flooding back in a rush of colour and light and a sizzling bang. She heard the hiss of the escape hatch opening. She watched as the black void of the universe erupted into a million shades of a million colours, its swirling nuances a flashing psychedelic effect. She felt herself being squeezed into a tiny pinprick in space, and also blowed up to a size of a small meteorite. She was twisted into space foam, and arranged back, particle by particle, to her own form. She felt the churning wall of the wormhole press against her body, suffocating her and slamming her to a pulp like a 100-tonne hydraulic press. Ava felt all these things. She was aware that she wasn’t breathing. She was also aware that she wasn’t aware.

But, she saw colours.

And then she was being squeezed again, hammered down to a tiny dot and being pushed into a tiny hole. She felt her body stretch into elastic ribbons as she tried to compress her body and get through it. The other side of her brain noticed how she felt like she was pressed into a layer of jelly that was made up of nothing. A layer of jelly that was there sometimes but wasn’t the other times. She felt heavy as if a leaden ball was dropped onto her chest, and then an elephant decided to join the fray, and then its friend Bob, the blue whale. The colours were slipping and sliding, disappearing in a liquid splatter as they weave into each other. There were only a few shades left and they too were fading. Fading.

And then,

Silence.

Darkness.

She came back to life to Zod staring at her intently, like she was a curious specimen in the Smithsonian Museum. Then he opened his mouth to speak, his nervousness seemingly back from nowhere. He, apparently, had the ability to turn it on and off like a switch.

“Hell no. From that ship? No way, man. I ain’t drinking that shit again.” He grinned. She never imagined him to be able to grin in such a carefree way. This was the same Zod. He mentioned the ship. But he was different. Like all the responsibilities were sucked out of him, and left behind a teenage guy in an adult body. She realised what happened. He was free.

The, she remembered why she chose to die.

“I know a pretty good coffee shop, down that road. Makes a great Choco Latte. You wanna go there?” He raised an eyebrow.

But Ava was instantly alert. She was paying attention to his every word and now swivelled her head as fast as she could, her brain pounding her skull with a battering ram to make her slow down. But she wasn’t listening to what she felt. She was in a new world.

“Listen, I need to know where exactly I am right now,” her voice coming out surprisingly strong, startling Zod, “…and none of that park bullshit. Be less specific.”

“I need to know if I’m dead and in paradise. Or if this some sort of purgatory. If not, tell me which fucking planet I am on.”

Zod looked frightened at her sudden ferocity, but she didn’t notice.

Her head was tilted to the sky and she stared directly at the sun, without squinting or showing any apparent discomfort at the intensity of the light.

She stared directly at the blazing blue sun.

Ω

The cavern was colossal, its ceiling stretching as tall as a ten-storey building. The overhead surface was a phosphorescent green that cast a cool glow over the subterranean cavern, the fact that there was a layer of soil and rock between it and the outside world barely discernible thanks to the natural lighting. Three, black walls spanned the entire vertical expanse, boxing in the sanctum sanctorum in an alien triangular design.

The top half of the matte black walls were hollowed out into numerous tiny alcoves, in a honeycomb pattern that also cast light but seemingly with a chemiluminescent glow. He knew there were things up there that might be of great significance and importance, although not to them.

Dan walked in a silent awe towards the center of the room, gazing mesmerized at the massive structure that spanned all around him. All this space, and silence.

One thing was clearly deductible. This place wasn’t as dead as they thought it was. Something or someone had been here.

This sanctum sanctorum appeared to be something with a religious significance, or something almost similar. He had noticed queer siguls etched on the black walls throughout the entire grotto. He could swear they contorted in a subtle manner all around him. He often found something moving about him, morphing and only leaving a ghost of a glow when he swivelled around nervously.

There had to be a civilization of something that had strived here, not very long ago, based on the intactness of the entire underground expanse. But something had occurred at the surface level, something that wiped everything out in its path, not very different from the fate of their own planet.

“Or maybe not everything,” he thought, acutely aware of the attacks on their vessels storage silos.

Questions bombarded him constantly, only to be wiped out and replaced by new ones as revelation upon revelation presented themselves. The gravity of the situation wasn’t lost on him, the immensity of the implication and the prospect of new life only now beginning to sink in. But something else replaced all the thought his mind can conjure.

Survival instinct.

Something was here, and it attacked them. In fact, he was sure he didn’t just stumble upon this place like he initially believed.

They had been on another of the surface exploration missions, looking for traces of water. They had been close to the spire, marking it out as a landmark as they tracked their progress into their maps. Dan had been there the first time they made it as far as the spire, and his curiosity that was piqued when he saw the tall, skeletal rock formation had constantly gnawed at him. He had relented finally, sneaking off when his teammates were mechanically examining soil samples or digging.

He had felt the spire with bare hands, brushing across its surface with the care of an archaeologist. His hand brushed across a shallow indentation, that had beeped with a susceptible glow before turning into a light trail as it flew out of his eyesight.

The light was in the same place, he later found out, rather painfully. A stone manhole had slid quickly under his feet, the sudden drop onto the stone steps that descended many feet down to the massive subterranean cavern, bruising his body.

He had been shocked initially. Had scampered back out, after only halfway down the steps, because he thought he heard something that sounded like a stone slab being dragged.

He had been safe and had no regrets, now that he realised that he might be destined to find this place. A few questions still reverberated in his mind…

Why would the entrance to such a significant place be a subtle manhole? Unless there was another entrance? But if it was a hidden recess instead, that held secrets, why was it built so huge?

…but he ignored them. What he majorly came for stood dead centre of the whole place.

Its familiarly alien body was housed in a behemoth tomb in the centre of the cavern, the sleek lines of matte black and neon green lines built into the machine giving it a futuristic look.

And plugged right in the middle of the Time Suspension Chamber, its cylindrical tip poking out in plain sight, was the green illumination of The Interlock.

Dan reached out with the tip of his hand, his fingers grazing the warm and powerful object. It hummed gently at first, then the light grew brighter until it was blinding.

The bright green supernova explosion of light enveloped Dan’s still form.

Ω

Dan lied as still as a buried stone on his bed, days of fatigue finally catching up with him. His eyes gazed emptily at the ceiling, his mind lost in thought. His soul walked down the memory lane, special moments from his past and deep emotions resurfacing, flowing out of their cracks in his hippocampus.

Dan had a heavy burden upon his shoulders and the inevitability of a certain situation dawning on him as he pieced together parts of his past life and drew out the clear picture. He faced the ugly truth, though a certain ambiguity still clouded his judgements.

His scientist’s mind was triggered, a massive discovery just waiting below the surface of the planet. There was a chance of finding the existence of new life. The existence of sentience. These hidden caverns, there might be more of those. And they held the key to unlocking the secrets of the Interlock and the continuation of their species. He strongly wanted to believe that this would help them in the continuation of their species and not only fuel his selfish desire to know. But he also knew, somehow, irrationally if you want to call it, that there was a higher purpose behind this discovery. Call it a premonition instead.

And there is another thing.

Bunny.

He knew that the ship they were on, should at one point, travel back to Earth. It would crash, he knew, but Bunny would survive. She would meet the original members of the crew and convince them to take off into space, through the wormhole.

She had done it before, infinite times, though she never had a clue. It was always a brand new episode to her.

Thanks to Amnesia.

Zod. Apparently he played quite the part in this whole thing, ensuring Bunny became much younger, her body’s age clocking back to the time she was before she started the journey and also making sure she doesn’t remember any of it. Because if she does, she wouldn’t do it. What’s the point, she would ask.

And he would have nothing to reply.

What is the point, he too sometimes wondered. Besides keeping the timeline intact and protecting the Interlock, from god knows what, he had merely passed on what he had told himself. That makes it one cause then. Maintaining the progression of the timeline as it was.

Which he knew prevented a worse shift in the timeline of events. A huge time wave that would theoretically occur could change the order of things to the worst possible.

Or for the better, he reminded himself.

But then again, how bad can it get. Their planet was destroyed, mankind destroyed. And the few stragglers who survived, who endured a long interstellar travel to fight for life, would just go back to die. There is just no freaking point in that.

Maybe that was the price that had to be paid to ensure things are ‘right’,

But that wasn’t fair, he knew. He made sure he had a long full life with the woman he loved and died of old age. Well, almost, with the help of a gun. But the rest of the world didn’t. They didn’t get the opportunity he had, nor had they the chance to make the decisions for themselves. Was he really worthy of this? Because he knew, at the end of the day, the decision was on him.

Destiny chose him.

Or did he choose himself?

And then again, there is Bunny. He knew taking this decision meant he had to let go of her, permanently. This would be the end, unlike before, and he has to say goodbye.

He knew he could let it go peacefully like how his wife had died, satisfied of her life and in his embrace. But she had no choice, and was content to finally let herself go, and leave him.

But he knew he had a choice. And the wrong one would cost a price he wasn’t willing to pay.

A pool of warmth that grew hotter by the moment dragged his attention to his left pocket. The Interlock thrummed against his thigh gently, in a gentle reminder of its presence. It had been stashed hurriedly into his pocket, and he never even glanced at it after. He hurriedly pulled it out, the heat from it scalding his fingers. But the heat subsided after he looked at it, but he realised it had just transferred itself into his chest cavity.

His vision grew blurry and he had trouble keeping his eyes focused. His vision tunnelled, but his mind was sharp enough to notice he was passing out. And do nothing about it.

His mind’s eye opened and a vision filled his brain.

It was the cavern, in all its unearthly sight. But it was not entirely deserted. He noticed all the honeycomb alcoves glowing brighter than it did before. He also noticed that there was not only the dim green glow from the ceiling but a bright, slightly blue light casting its rays into the room. It looked majestic.

But inches away from his point of view, was a woman’s face. She had chocolate brown skin and silver hair that tumbled over her shoulders in a way that accentuated her high cheekbones. Light blue paint lines zig-zagged her cheeks and temples in a pattern, seemingly slightly luminescent. She was beautiful, but also, in some way, regal, her face proud and noble.

But there was an edge of desperation that clung to her eyes, that he knew only the darkest fears could invoke. Her eyes kept darting back over her shoulder, almost expecting someone to hunt her down and slit her throat. Her eyes cried silent tears and her lips trembled with terror. She finally heaved a deep breath and fixed her gaze on him, her face now much calmer and focused.

She said two words,

“Help us.”

The cogs in Dan’s mind turned wildly, trying its best to digest the situation. But soon it spun violently out of control, a subtle hum of power taking over his mind. A surge of internal force that Dan barely could perceive shot him into almost a trance and the choice was made.

He wasn’t sure if he was the one who chose.

The Interlock also thrummed in his hands and though the light was dimmer, the rate of energy emission was not lost on him. A green circle the size of his fingerpad pulsed gently, and he instinctively placed his thumb over it, not determining the consequences of what that might lead to.

Nothing happened.

The Interlock quietened to a barely audible sigh and the power left him. Dan was left drained and incredibly fatigued. He wiped his groggily, stifled a yawn and glanced at his watch. He was aware of how hot his room had suddenly become. The AC must’ve been shut off in the process.

His watch showed 9:15p.m. Earth-time. Though it doesn’t matter now.

Dan groaned and muttered,“Damn I’m soo hung…”

His midsentence silence hung heavily in the air, the puzzlement on his face and the quizzical expression upon his eyes vivid even in the dark. Something was a little off about his watch. It doesn’t seem to be working.

He scrutinized the analogue surface of the watch, the silver arms on the textured, navy blue surface. The thinnest one doesn’t seem to be moving. Or that’s what he thought.

He squinted hard when he heard the tick that meant one second just passed. So it is working. But really, really, slow. A closer inspection revealed that the second hand was indeed moving, but in an almost sluggish manner, one tick taking up what seemed like more than a minute.

Oh shit, something is happening to the planet. The wormhole is swallowing us. Or the planet had been shot off into the orbit of a supermassive black hole and is now inches away from the event horizon.

Or not. Dan shooed away the crazy, fantasy theorist he hid in his head and got out of his bed, though a little lazily. He opened his door and saw a person standing.

Why was someone standing before his door?

And then the power returned, pouring into his pores and surging him with crackling electricity. He could imagine his pupils turning white, like that X-Men character from back on Earth. And his consciousness blurred soon after. But not before he noticed the person outside his door wasn’t waiting, or even still. She was moving, at an extraordinarily slow rate. Her leg took almost ten minutes to lift off the ground and possibly another fifteen to be put down.

But Dan wasn’t standing around watching. He wasn’t even in control of his body.

Ω

How does it feel, to hang around the back of your head and watch through two big oval screens as something else animated your body like a puppet? How does it feel to do a thing you couldn’t bring yourself to do, although deep inside you somehow knew you have to? How does it feel to look into the eyes of the still figure of the woman you love, taking in the innocence and awe of a little girl at the vast beauty of the universe, not aware that the same beauty reflected upon her frozen face. To take in the subtle details on the seemingly surreal and unmoving body, but to only continue on to do what you dreaded to even imagine. To make a decision that has too high a price to pay. How does it feel to change the coordinates on the space vessel that will take half of your life back to the place she fought out off? To know that there is but one more night to feel complete, content, satisfied.

How does it feel to feel all the love you have ever felt wash over you and know that this wonderful feeling had to be left behind?

Ask Dan.                                      .

Ω

Dan was back in the room when the control over his body came back. A quick glance at his watch told him the time distortion was no longer in effect. The weight of his actions dropped on him like a steel beam, and he drowned in it. His heart was being shredded with the turmoil of losing the only thing he ever cared for. He slumped quietly on his bed and curled up into a foetal position. He stayed there for some time, unaware of the passing time. For him, the world was still.

Ω

Bunny sat silently on the swivel chair, alone in the control room. It was all set, they were to engage in an interspace travel that will take 10 years to next planet. She had been involved completely in the initial preparations, loading all the found mechanisms and machines onboard.

Now completely free till she is needed upon take off, Bunny enjoyed the last view and took in the planet through the large glass window. The green land stretched completely flat for as long as the eye can see, but for a scattering of large rock towers in the far distant. The sky was black and a million stars blinked in unison down at her. A gentle beep down at the far end of the room drew her attention, and she stood herself and strode to the station. A dull blue light blinked on the corner of the screen, a textbox that read

COORDINATES SET

flickered on and off across the screen. So that’s where we’re going then. Bunny felt a slight ripple in the air and a flash of disorientment that disappeared as soon as it came. She wanted to find out what happened but the light buzz from her earpods indicated someone was calling her. She didn’t check her pad to see who it was, because not many people can call her during off-times and she was in the control room already.

Dan’s deep voice crackled through, slightly silent but fervent,

“Bunny? Can you come to the room for awhile? I wanna talk to you, sugar”

It’s been some time since they actually spoke, she realized with a pang, and she knew what was missing these past few days. They had been busy with their own work, Dan more so. But, to suddenly call her out of the blue just to talk? Bunny felt her view wobble as slight tears brimmed in her eyes. Her baby was calling her. Without a word of reply, she left the room, sparing one last look at the green planet, before walking hurriedly without a backward glance.

Dan grabbed her in a tight bear hug once the door slipped open. She overcame the shock quickly, only to realize she had been dragged into the room before she even walked in. She tried to suppress a spreading smile and hugged back just as tightly, both of them basking in each other’s warmth, their connection back strong again as if the days in between never existed.

“I miss you baby”, he mumbled in her ear, his voice slightly cracked, ”I’ll miss you.”

“I’m right here baby,” she said.

Dan pulled free, a sad smile tugging at his lips, his tired eyes looking back with sorrow. He leant in slowly and kissed her on the lips, passionately and fully.

“I love you.”

 

Ω

Dan climbed into the suspension chamber. It was much more comfortable than the one in the ship, and much more roomy. His eyes were glassy as he keyed in the coordinates, after placing the Interlock in its rightful position.

The rumble of the vessel taking off into space echoed eerily in the huge cavern, the ground beneath him vibrating with the impact.

It whispered of days long gone.

Dan slowly slipped into the paralysis that followed, and awaited the new life that would unfold.

A new beginning.

α

Love is the one thing we’re capable of perceiving that transcends dimensions of time and space.

-Amelia Brand,                                                                                                                               Interstellar(2014)

We’ve always defined ourselves by the ability to overcome the impossible. And we count these moments. These moments when we dare to aim higher, to break barriers, to reach for the stars, to make the unknown known. We count these moments as our proudest achievements. But we lost all that. Or perhaps we’ve just forgotten that we are still pioneers. And we’ve barely begun. And that our greatest accomplishments cannot be behind us, because our destiny lies above us.

– Cooper, Interstellar(2014)

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Thanks for travelling this journey, though the destination still lays beyond sight.

Thanks for reading 🙂