Connexion : The Atlantis Project, Book.1 (14 page)

“Do you think he wanted you to make the
information public?”

“One thing is certain: he wanted me to have
it. He probably wanted me to make a decision that he couldn’t make
himself, in light of his involvement in the project.”

“If I understand correctly, this means I have
scarcely more chance of survival than you.”

“Well, it’s hard to say. Actually, we are
faced with a terrible dilemma. Whatever option we choose, the
future is uncertain. Nobody can say today if one of the options
open to us is better than the other.”

“You are forgetting that the survival of
those hibernating underground totally depends on those who choose
to leave. They are the ones who will have to come and rescue them
and begin the awakening procedure. That is what’s planned, isn’t
it? In that case, what happens if the Exodus fails? These caverns
could become your tombs, Vikern.”

“Among the files I looked at, there was also
a red one that my brother had carefully put in his portable safe,
probably thinking I would never dare to look inside it without his
express permission.”

“But you did anyway!”

“Yes! What I had just discovered was far too
important for me to be bothered by pointless scruples. I
deliberately went through his safe, which he had left
unlocked.”

“I see! And what was in this red file? Top
secret matters, I suppose. Even more revelations capable of
overturning the conventional wisdom of the uninitiated, is that
it?”

Vikern noticed the edge of wry cynicism in
his friend’s retort. He fell silent for a moment, thinking. Then he
spoke again in a calm tone.

“I know what you must be thinking right now.
You’re probably starting to wonder if the pressure has sent me
totally off my rocker; but you need to know that I am not under the
influence of some paranoid fantasy. All my claims are founded.
You’re free to take me at my word or not, but we’ve been friends
for over thirty years now. If I’m telling you about all this, it’s
because of our friendship; otherwise I wouldn’t say anything and
you’d go rushing headlong into an affair that is completely beyond
you.”

“No, Vikern! I trust you. Sometimes I’m a bit
cynical. It’s probably my way of trying to rise above a situation
that makes me uncomfortable. Forget about it and tell me what was
in that file.”

Vikern looked a little doubtfully at Jiec,
but he seemed sincere enough, so he decided to continue his
explanations, trusting an old friend who had never yet let him down
in all the years they had known each other.

“The file contained a long list of names,
apparently linked to some unofficial alternative project. This
project consists of putting in place an independent waking device
which would ensure the salvation of the group that stays on
Earth.”

Earth… That name was like a bomb exploding to
Charlie. Until then he had been listening carefully to the
discussion, trying not to miss any of it, but now he found himself
in the grip of an anxiety attack, as sudden as it was brutal. He
had just realized for the first time that these creatures from
another world were perhaps not so far removed from his own kind as
that. Indeed, their appearance was very similar to that of a man,
barring their size. That must have been what Victor wanted him to
understand in sending him here. This realization brought a
sensation of dizziness over Charlie that confused his thoughts.
Bridges, points of connection, were now being made on multiple
levels: a connection between beings; a connection between dream and
reality; and now a connection between worlds, in the infinite
course of time. Who would not have felt dizzy in such a situation?
Usually, the anxiety gradually faded, leaving behind it a feeling
of fatigue and lethargy, but this time it did not cease until
Charlie passed out and collapsed, unconscious, his head resting on
the cold metal of the dashboard.

19 INTERRUPTION

When Charlie opened his eyes again, he was
back in the kitchen, lying on the floor. The contact of the cold,
hard tiles on his cheek was uncomfortable. His whole body was still
numb and he felt drained, utterly drained. His head was still
rather sore, but what bothered him the most was the intense ache in
nearly every muscle. He felt as if he were emerging from a long
exhausting race; a sort of marathon where he had pushed his body to
the point of collapse, to the extreme limit of his physical
resistance. Glancing around quickly, he examined the room where he
lay. He identified it immediately as the one where he had eaten the
delicious soup. The thought comforted him. After the breathtaking
trip he had just made, he found himself in an enclosed, familiar
place again; a place where he had found refreshment and made
contact with Jacques. It was also the place where he had met
Victor. In short, this virtual kitchen was to him a sort of resting
place, or rather a junction. It was like a type of landing; a
secure, stable point in the midst of a virtual universe with no
limits. He did not really know how he had arrived at this
conclusion, but he was sure of it. This room would always be here
and it would anchor him to reality, no matter what happened.

The room was empty; there was not a single
sign of Victor. Breathing in, Charlie caught a slight aroma of
grilled meat. He wondered if perhaps Jacques was eating, which
would explain why he was back in here with the smell of food. After
all, that was what had seemed to happen last time. He concentrated,
in the hope of managing to communicate with Jacques using the
neural probe. He did not need to wait for an answer.

…
Jacques? It’s me. Answer me!

“
Is everything okay, Charlie? I’ve been
trying to talk to you for days but I got no answer. What happened
to you? In the last few hours your heart started racing. Your pulse
went out of control; then everything stopped without any
explanation. Your heart stopped beating. Then your heartbeats
started up again at a slow, regular rhythm.”

…
I
don’t know either. I think I had a turn. At first I thought it was
another anxiety attack, but the dizziness was much worse than
usual. In the end I fainted and I don’t remember anything after
that.

“
It’s time for you to come back now. The
experiment is getting too dangerous.”

…
No!
Not now. I’ve met Victor, you know. Maybe he’s not so different
from us after all. If I come back now, I’ll never know what it was
he was trying to tell me.

“He’s delirious,” said Francisco
authoritatively. “The connection does allow for the two subjects
involved to consciously make contact with one another; especially
as Victor has been in hibernation for ages. Their languages must be
very different, and their perception and thought mechanisms too.
Charlie cannot have met and clearly communicated with Victor’s
psyche. It’s simply impossible. He has been connected for too long;
his thinking must be confused. We have to get him back here to
question him about what happened. We can reconnect him again if we
need to. Tell him, Jacques.”

Jacques did not answer immediately.

... Are you still
there, Jacques? asked Charlie.

“
Yes, don’t worry, I can read everything
you’re saying.”

…
So
you understand? They mustn’t disconnect me yet. I’m on the verge of
an extraordinary discovery!

“Come on, Jacques! What are you waiting for?”
asked Francisco.

Mario put his hand on Francisco’s shoulder
and said in a low voice, “Calm down, Francisco. Have faith in him.
They have been joined together since birth. Let’s trust their
intuition. Jacques will know what he has to do when the time comes.
Trust me.”

Francisco kept quiet, but showed obvious
signs of anxiety. Jacques was not paying any more attention to
those around him. He was trying instead to focus his attention on
his feelings, trusting himself alone to make the right
decision.

“
Are you sure you’re completely with it,
Charlie? You know, you’ve been immersed in Victor’s mind for quite
a while now. It’s possible that your judgment may be slightly
affected by your loss of sensorial, spatial and even temporal
bearings. Think about what happened to the previous candidates. It
would be a shame for you to wait until you’re in such a bad state
that you can’t tell us about what you experienced once you get
back. Don’t you think?”

…
No,
I’m okay. I’m sure of it. Trust me. I know I’m still completely
lucid, even though I had a bit of a turn a little while
ago.

“
It’s not exactly what you’d call ‘a bit
of a turn’, Charlie! Your heart stopped beating for over twenty
seconds, remember! Anyway, you need to know that if it was up to
me, I would unplug you straight away. I definitely don’t want
anything to happen to you just because I didn’t make the right
decision at the right time. The problem is that we can’t disconnect
you against your will. If you don’t want to come back by being
disconnected, we risk causing you serious brain damage which could
reduce you to the state of a vegetable.”

Charlie did not respond immediately. He
really wanted to stay, despite the danger, in order to find out
more about Victor and the extraordinary secret he held; but he did
not want to put his brother’s life in danger. He knew very well
that that was what this was about, even though Jacques had not
specifically said so.

“
Are you still there?”

…
You’re right, he said, contrary to all expectation. .Do the
necessary to –

But the communication was suddenly cut off
before Charlie could finish his sentence.

“What’s going on?” asked Mario. “Did you lose
contact? Try to get it back, damn it! We can’t disconnect him
unless we’re sure he’s ready and fully consenting.”

“I know, but it’s too late. He’s not
answering. There’s nothing we can do for now.”

Charlie did not understand what had just
happened. He was still lying with his head resting on the kitchen
floor and he could hear the sound of steps echoing on the tiles,
followed by the scraping of a chair.

“Ah, you’re back again, my dear friend!”

Charlie struggled to his feet. He did not
need to think long before realizing that it was Victor who had just
entered the kitchen. Even before he saw him, he was sure of it. The
old man was sitting in the same place as at their last meeting.
This time, there was nothing to eat, neither biscuits nor a cup of
tea. Victor’s face was more mournful and disturbing than ever.

“You were going to abandon me, weren’t you?
And yet, I had trusted you. You knew that I needed you!”

“Well, things are more complicated than you
think,” replied Charlie feebly.

“What do you know of what I think? You are
still like a newborn babe to me, Charlie. I know exactly what is
going on. Just don’t ever forget that you are on my turf here,” he
said in an authoritative tone.

“Was it you who interrupted the
transmission?”

“Yes, I did. I let you talk with your brother
for a while first. I believe you needed that. Going into that first
memory seems to have sorely tried you. I am beginning to wonder if
I’ve misjudged you.”

Charlie was paralyzed with fear. He was
utterly at Victor’s mercy now and he could do with him whatever he
pleased.

“Why did you interrupt the communication,
Victor? I didn’t want to abandon you. I would have come back. It
was just to give me time to get my strength back before connecting
again. You know, if it were only up to me, I would have stayed here
with you but my brother’s health is intrinsically linked to mine.
You understand that, Vikern. You have a brother, too. In the past
you have had difficult choices to make, haven’t you? You didn’t
want to be separated from him. And yet, you also had a choice.”

In calling him by his real name, Charlie
hoped to show Victor that he had not misjudged him. Despite his
weakness, he understood quite clearly the message that Victor
wanted to communicate in sharing that memory with him.

“You are right, Charlie. I understand you
perfectly. In your place, I would no doubt have made the same
decision. But what led you to believe that I am Vikern? I was not
the only person in that memory.”

“It was probably your personality. And also,
something strange happened. Vikern seemed to notice my presence,
whereas his friend didn’t notice anything. I can’t be sure from my
perspective, but I thought that you were the only one capable of
perceiving things. The other person was merely an outside element
included in your memory. How could he feel anything
whatsoever?”

“And yet, Jiec reacted to Vikern’s suspicious
behavior. He even linked that behavior to the fact that they ‘were
all a little uptight’, to use his exact words. Are you sure you’re
not mistaken?”

Charlie hesitated for a moment, although he
was sure of what he had said. Why would Victor want him to think
otherwise? For what purpose? Unless he was simply trying to test
him. Maybe Victor was trying to make sure Charlie was sufficiently
capable of analysis and discernment to warrant continuing the
process with him. At that precise moment he was keenly aware of the
fact that his next words would be of crucial importance. He
absolutely must win Victor’s trust if he did not want to go back as
a vegetable or worse still. He therefore weighed his words
carefully and delivered them with as much assurance as
possible.

“I’m certain. That distortion was obviously
due to the fact that you and I are dreaming, or rather thinking,
together. You knew that I was visiting your memory. A part of
yourself must have followed me there and partially modified the
unfolding of events. Memories are not fixed phenomena – at least,
not for human beings – I suppose it is the same for you. Every
version of a memory is necessarily slightly different from the
previous one. That’s why our childhood memories are often very
different to the actual events that occurred.”