Maniacs in The Fourth Dimension (5 page)

''It's a
trick.''

''It's no
trick. What if I would tell you that the world you know, the world
you live in, is only the lowest of realities in the universe? That
other realities, dimensions, are overlaping ours? 365 'ogdoad'.
What if I would tell you, that I move at will through other
realities, and that you can do it too? I don't expect you to simply
believe the words of a man you just met. Empiricism is what I will
give you, and you will bring your own conclusions.''

I opened the
doors of the hall.

''Demonstration, if you please.''

First
hesitating, they all got up, and left the hall. Only Holodnik
stayed inside, sitting high in the stands.

Chapter twelve

''Did you
feel the guy's hand, man!?''

''It's a
trick.''

'' '365
ogdoad'? ''

''He's making
that shit up. He took the term from… Basilides, maybe. Next, he'll
start talking about 'Archons'.''

'' 'Saklas' ?
''

''Not his
real name. It's Aramaic for 'Fool'. ''

''That guy is
definitely not from our college.''

''Most
definitely not, Edwin.''

We stayed
behind while talking.

''What do we
do now, Hubert? Do we stick around to see what is he up
to?''

''He is up to
fucking us over somehow. Guy reeks of trouble.''

Shouts of
amazement and disbelief reached us from the hallway. Whatever
Saklas showed to his posse, it worked.

''Lets go see
his demonstration.''

They were all
squeezed next to each other, like in a can of sardines, in front of
an opened window. They were looking at something. We approached,
and then, over their heads, I saw what they were all looking at.
Something that should't be there.

''Man, are
you seeing what I'm seeing?''

''There's a
medusa hovering over a building…''

That's right.
A huge jellyfish was hovering over a residential building that was
visible through the window. It was just… there.

''Weirdest
thing…''

Saklas
spoke.

''I must call
onto you to return to hall nineteen. I have much to
explain.''

And he went,
and they followed him. Hubert and myself stayed, looking through
the window. Giant jellyfish was still there.

Hubert turned
around, and stopped one kid that was passing through the
hallway.

''Hey kid,
look through that window, what do you see?!''

Kid looked
through the window, and then back at Hubert's greasy appearance
again.

''A
building…''

''Nothing
else?!''

Kid looked
once more, walked around Hubert, and continued on his way. Hubert
then blocked the path of one girl that was approaching.

''Hey, can
you tell me what do you see outside of that window?!''

''Is this
some prank? Am I being filmed?''

''No, just
tell me what do you see.''

She shrugged
her shoulders.

''A building…
the city, what?''

Hubert stood
there, bewildered, with his hands on his hips.

''What's
going on guys?''

Hubert shaked
his head.

''I don't
know.''

''Let's go
hear what that fucker has to say.''

Chapter thirteen

I listed the
kid's comics rapidly to see what else is inside, and, maybe, out
there. I asked the kid is that jellyfish from the comic. Kid said
that nothing like that is inside the comic, there's only dinosaurs
and monsters.

Monsters?! I
saw an illustration of anatomy of something that looked like a
dog's head on human body with hoofs for feet. There's not enough
time to go through all of this.

The old man
spoke. He asked everybody to just sit down, and he will explain
everything. He said that what we saw outside, is a life form from
the other dimension. From the dimension that is just one layer
above ours. He asked everybody do we know what that means. No one
said anything. Two guys, the skinny guy, and the bearded guy,
bumped in, and sat down.

The old man
said it means that we are all in the fourth dimension now, in a
reality adjacent to ours, and that is the reason why we are able to
see in the next dimension. We are a part of that dimension now. He
used his energy on us to push us into it. He himself is a multi
dimensional being. He exist on multiple levels of reality. Someone
asked how is something like that possible. He said that it is
virtually impossible for someone from the lowest world, our world,
to cross into higher realities, without the boost from someone who
has done it before, or without the involvement of entities from
above. He said that he is not the first human to cross into other
realms, and that there are several 'big names' who had done so in
the past. If we think about it, we could probably easily identify
them.

Someone
yelled: ''Elvis!''

''Elvis is
dead.''

''Peter
Pan!''

The multi
dimensional old man replied agitatedly that Peter Pan is a literary
character, and that we must take this very seriously. There is a
reason why he propelled us into this. That if we just give a deeper
thought to this, it will all start to make sense. It made no sense
to me at all, but I wanted to hear his story until the end. Kid
Lee, sitting next to me, listen to all of this with most focused
attention.

And then he
said it. Listen.

''Some time
after seven p.m. tonight, an invisible EM puls is going to hit our
planet, wiping out all life from the first fifty-two dimensions. A
natural disaster of unimaginable proportions. Yet, one that can be
prevented. Neutralized. By you. That is why you are here. You have
to save the world.''

He scared kid
Lee. And not only him, I would say. They're all ears. All except
bearded guy and his skinny friend. They keep whispering to each
other. The elf guy is sitting in the front row.

The old man
went on about how we must neutralize the EM puls from the outer
space by using the energy that we will accumulate in the higher
realms. By taking it from other forms of life. The amount of energy
the individual accumulates is apparently what moves you through the
realms. Life is divided in three hundred sixty five realms based on
the quantity of energy that flows through its
inhabitants.

He said that
his hands are burning hot as a consequence of accelerated processes
of his body's metabolism, his heart beat rate is much higher, and
he emits more heat than normal humans. The same thing will happen
to us when we start ascending to higher dimensions, we will begin
to change, physically and mentally. He said that level by level,
dimension by dimension, things that we know from our world will
begin to lose their existence in the realms that he has only heard
stories of. Last two things that will disappear are gravity and
time.

Dimension in
which we are now, I guess second of three hundred sixty five, is
the hardest one to cross. It contains only plant and simple animal
life, with minimal amounts of energy to harvest. The only things
that contain enough energy to boost us into the next level are
those jellyfishes. They hover over large electric structures, from
which they draw their energy.

Someone asked
how do we destroy the medusas and harvest their energy.

''By hitting
them with electromagnetic impulses, radio waves, or even, maybe,
strong photon radiation. Basically, you posses no such weaponry.
That is why it is so hard to leave the second realm. But, you
mustn't surrender. You don't have a choice. Once you cross into the
third realm, energy will begin to appear to you in many different
forms to harvest it. But, firstly, you must overcome this second
level.''

''How?!''

''I will
uncover one energy source to you, located within the premises of
Pine Cone Center, which when harvested, hopefully, will be
sufficient for you to shoot an electric discharge into the medusa,
destroy it, and harvest its energy. But, unfortunately, only one of
you will be awarded with this gift. There is not enough for all.
The rest of you will have to find your own way.''

Silence.
Shock. My turn to speak.

''How many
levels did you go through, old man?''

''I never
made it pass the level thirteen.''

''For your
entire life, and you expect us to go through, how many, within a
day?''

''It is an
achievable task. Of course, not for all of you. Most of you will
fail.''

The elf
jumped on his feet.

''Then we
can't lose any more time. Take us to the energy
source!''

Old man
opened the door and they all swarmed out. Me and kid Lee stayed the
last. I took his box of comics.

''I don't
think we'll be coming back in here, Lee.''

Then I saw.
One more person was sitting inside. High in the stands. A guy with
a tennis cap. Old man spoke to him.

''Mr.
Holodnik, there's no point for you to just sit there.''

He got up,
and went out. A tall guy. Taller than me. Holodnik. His name ringed
a bell. Took me a second to remember. Ezequiel Holodnik. I've heard
of you.

Chapter fourteen

''High five
for that Peter Pan thing!''

Jove threw a
high five.

''Shit, dawg,
I was being serious. Why were ya'll laughin'? When he said that in
the past there was famous people from other dimensions, first thing
that hit my mind was Peter Pan.''

He got me
cracking again.

''It makes as
much sense as the rest of his story. Gravity and time, having no
effect… Wait a second… Peter flies and he never grows up! I
connected the dots perfectly!''

''Bwahahaha…
You'll make me piss my pants!''

''Cleit's not
laughin'. Cleit don't think it's funny. What you think 'bout all
this, dawg?''

'
'What I think? I think this is
the first time that I've seen some seriously plain insane shit, and
it didn't come out of my bong.''

''Seriously
insane shit.''

''Flying
mushrooms that must be stomped, collecting energy to go to the next
level, you know what that reminds me of? Nintendo. Only thing
that's missing is princess Peach.

''It's not a
mushroom, it's a medusa.''

''Whatever,
man.''

''Isaac won't
believe us when we tell him what he missed.''

''Isaac is
probably havin' a huge tattooed dick up his ass right
now.''

When Jove
said that, Cleit bursted into laughter so suddenly that he sprayed
a rain cloud of spit, on the guy in the yellow shirt that was
walking in front of us. Need I mention that Jove and I laughed like
crazy while Cleit was apologizing to the guy.

''I'm so
sorry man, let me wipe your shirt with a napkin…''

''It's okay,
just leave it, it's okay'', dude escaped as far as he could from
us.

Cleit turned
toward Jove and me.

''Bwahahahaha…''

Chapter fifteen

Wow. I don't
believe my eyes. Abraxas brought us to the yard in front of Pine
Cone Center, and right in front of us stands a giant, tree-sized
tulip. Yes, the flower. Just giant. It has its petals wide open,
and it is slightly waving under influence of some wind that none of
us feels.

''It's
beautiful'', said one girl.

Yes, it is.
It's such an honor to be able to glare at this sight. Thanks to Mr.
Usmanov, we are able to see this wonder. We are on the next level
of reality. I get goosebumps when I just think of that, I'm so
excited, I… Those three wackos that spat on me are laughing again.
They pay no heed to beauty, or danger. They won't get very far.
Their happiness is a fool's happiness, happiness of short age. But,
I will succeed, I will not give up, nor give in. I must succeed,
fate of our world is at stake.