The Antarcticans (38 page)

“There’s more?” Gavin was looking through one of the windows at something he didn’t understand.

Lucifer walked to the blank space on the wall between the doors to rooms one and five. He pushed against the space, and a door to a small lift opened. He invited everyone in, and the doors closed. When the lift stopped moving, they stepped out.

Lucifer exited first and stood aside, waiting for Noila, Gavin, and Joshua to step out.

Gavin looked out to the round, white, alabaster table in the center of the room. The circular room was surrounded by columns and intricately carved Moroccan archways made of the same material. Each archway was topped with a blue eye. The floor was smooth, and Gavin stepped out onto it so he could more closely examine the table, which looked as if it were glowing from the light falling into the room.

Lucifer held his arm out to nudge them farther inside. “Welcome to the Cavern of Dreamers,” he said.

Gavin, Noila, and Joshua stood in the room, looking around in awe.

“This looks like something out of biblical times,” Gavin said.

“I guess you’re right. It has that look to it, but the design isn’t the most interesting element. Step forward to the table,” he instructed.

Joshua stepped forward first and reached the edge of a gold circle inlaid in the floor. He looked back to Lucifer to make sure it was okay to cross the line.

“Yes, please,” Lucifer said.

They each stood around the table.

“Our ancestors make up this room. The bones of every Antarctican we’ve been able to retrieve upon their death are here with us. Under our feet, in the air, in the walls, in this table. Their bones are the architecture of the cavern. We hope to always keep the remains of our ancestors close to us. They’re essential to our continuity and our understanding of our place in time.”

Lucifer placed his hands on the table and encouraged the others to do so as well.

From the middle of the table, a figure rose up who looked roughly like Lucifer. He was surrounded by the same blue mist Noila had seen when the Antarcticans portaled.

“This guide can show you the past—anything that happened to any of the Antarcticans who have been laid to rest here. All their memories and experiences—everything is contained in this cavern. A lot can be known about the present when you have full clarity of the past.” “Why show us this?” Joshua asked.

“Because I want you to know what’s at stake here. This isn’t just about saving an endangered race. When a race dies, the memories and knowledge of the earth die with it and endanger every other species alive. We’re in this together, whether we like it or not.” He removed his hands from the table, and the image of the Antarctican ancestor vanished.

“Now we have work to do.” Lucifer made his way back to the lift and gestured for them to follow. “I hope you’ll join me.”

Upstairs, as the four of them approached a door with a “3” painted in black, Gavin looked through one of the windows and saw rolling hills covered with blue snow. Blue orbs were hanging in the air, and a young boy was lying on top of one of the hills, his hands resting on his chest.

“He’s waiting for Joshua,” Lucifer said.

“Me?” Joshua said, his eyes wide.

“Yes, you. He’s going to show you how you can use your mind to control the things around you. When Dr. Cristofari was treating you, she alerted us that you have the ability to hold two different realities in your mind at once. We had to get your other issues sorted before we focused on this. I’ll let him know you’re here.” Lucifer walked to the panel in front of the room and moved some of the icons around. He spoke softly toward the glass. The boy inside sat up.

Lucifer nodded to Joshua. “You can go in.” He pressed a button, and the door opened.

Noila put her hand on Joshua’s back and assured him it was okay to enter. He walked into the room, the cold blue snow sticking to his shoes.

“Come to me,” the boy said.

The boy’s hair was white and straight, cut in an angular bowl cut so that the edges of his hair jutted out in front of his chin if he leaned forward. He wore a flowing orange robe that followed his body and allowed him to move freely. His features were smooth and long; he looked to be about ten years old.

Joshua stepped farther into the room, careful not to touch the floating orbs that were slowing spinning in the air. He looked up at the ceiling, which appeared to have no end. The blue snow was falling from the sky and stuck to his clothes and his face. The snow got deeper, and he was trudging through it; it quickly came up to his knees. He took another step, and it went all the way up to his torso. He tried to pull himself out, but he was too far down to gain any leverage to do so.

“I thought you were my student?” the boy said.

“What? Who said that?” Joshua asked.

“They told me a student was coming, that I should expect someone who knows the ways of this gift. But if that isn’t you, it’s okay. I am Zhu.”

Joshua shrugged. “Ummmm, I'm not sure. I’m Joshua.”

“Do you enjoy being deep in the snow?” Zhu asked matter-of-factly.

“No, I was just trying to get to you.”

“Then do what you were trying to do. The snow only stops you if you let it.”

“I’m not following you, man.” Joshua struggled against the snow but only sank deeper into it. “Uh, can you help me? I’m totally stuck.”

“If you can help yourself, you’ll be much better off.” Zhu walked off to one of the hilltops and sat in a Buddha-like pose.

“What? Okay.” Joshua squeezed his eyes closed. He imagined the vast quietness of his mind and tried to condense it into something he could use. He strained, but nothing happened. He imagined moving the snow and sank deeper. He felt the cold snow under his chin. “It’s not working,” he said, exasperated.

“I see that.” Zhu sat up and opened his eyes. They were the same color as the blue snow. He kept Joshua’s gaze.

The snow, floating orbs, and precipitation suddenly vanished. Joshua was standing on a white papery surface. The room was smaller than the mounds of blue snow had made it seem. He could see the ceiling and through the windows, where his mother, father, and Lucifer were observing. He waved at them. Zhu walked behind him, and Joshua felt his hands on his head.

“You must immerse yourself and believe that everything out there”—he pointed to the window—“is an illusion.”

Joshua turned around and saw that Zhu wasn’t anywhere near him. His hands had never even touched his head.

“You perceive the world as you want to see it, but the world also forces your perception upon you.” Zhu stretched a hand into the air, palm up. “Do you see this?” A colorful passionflower appeared in his hand.

“Yeah, it’s a flower.”

“And where do you think it came from?”

“Your…” Joshua paused. “…your hand?” he guessed.

“Nah.” The flower shriveled and fell to the ground, and then the boy stomped on it.

“I’m sorry. Listen, I just got through with a whole bunch of treatment and went through some really intense stuff. I don’t think I’m ready for this. Sorry to mess up your day.” Joshua turned and walked toward the door. A hibiscus tree with blooms of pink spilling from its branches grew in front of the door.

“You don’t really want to leave. No one wants to leave here. The biggest fear inside these rooms is the self purpose one can discover.”

Joshua turned around. “Why would anyone be scared of that? Isn’t that what most people are looking for?”

“Not if discovering your purpose means you then have an obligation to fulfill it.”

Joshua fumbled with his hands in the pockets of his suit.

“Stay awhile. I think they want you to anyway.” Zhu nodded toward the window. Lucifer, Noila, and Gavin appeared to be in deep discussion as they watched through the window.

Joshua walked over to him. “How long have you been in here?”

“I come and go, but when everything started falling apart out there, I decided to come here and figure out where I should go next. Lucifer convinced me to stay here for a while. He said he had a new project for me to work on. I guess that’s you?”

Joshua shrugged. “I guess.”

“Come with me.” Zhu took Joshua’s hand in his and pulled on him to walk with him.

Trees suddenly sprouted out of the ground and clawed their way over one another to the sky, which was blue with rays of sunshine bursting through puffy white clouds. The trunks thickened and grew coarse, rippled bark. The space approaching the dense grove of trees before them darkened, but Zhu kept pulling Joshua toward them. Joshua stepped onto the rich, earthy soil and brushed against an evergreen tree.

“Where are we going?” he asked.

“Wherever you want.”

A band of men appeared in front of them. They were rugged, in fatigues, with large automatic rifles and other weapons strapped to their bodies.

“No, no, I’ve been here, in all this violence. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to see it again,” Joshua said, shrinking back from the men and letting go of Zhu’s hand.

“It’s okay,” Zhu reassured him. “To make them leave, we only need to believe they aren’t here. We create our own reality.” He waved his hand toward the men, and they vanished. “Your brain knows how to create these realities, because it’s been doing it for so long, but these experiences have been uncontrolled and frightening. You’ve chosen silence and darkness because you’re afraid of what your mind has brought forth in the past. But now you’re in control, and when you decide exactly what you’d like to see and experience, you’ll know how to bring it forth.”

Zhu turned and pointed. “Look there. See that blue orb?” A blue glowing orb with red lights spinning around it hung in the air where the men had been standing. “Make it move to us.”

“How?”

“I can’t tell you how. I can only tell you that you can do it.”

Lucifer, Noila, and Gavin continued to watch Joshua and Zhu.

“Noila, we need to get you to your lab,” Lucifer said. “We’ve re-created it in a safe part of the cavern. They’ll be fine—Joshua has some learning to do.” He gestured them across the circular room to a door marked with a “1.” Two Antarcticans sat at the window, intently studying the humans inside who were carrying out lab experiments. “They’re figuring out a way to quantum-tunnel the mutation and control it before the catalyst is mass-produced,” he explained. “They could use your help. Your discovery has everyone excited, but they definitely want to make sure they’re doing this right before they figure out a way to mass-produce it. I think you’ll be happy to know that Ruftan used some of your research to perfect his malaria vaccine. He’s bounding across Madagascar as we speak, inoculating everyone he can get his hands on. His poor wife and resident physicians—he really runs them ragged.”

Noila disappeared behind the door with the “1” painted on it. Lucifer started to say something to Gavin, but before he could get a word out, the walls of the cavern shook, and a loud crack reverberated through the air.

“Whoa, that’s dope.” Joshua was spinning the blue orb in front of him and making the lights that rotated around it change color. He ran into the forest and weaved in and out of the trees, the orb tracking and following his movements.

Zhu stood at the edge of the forest, his arms folded behind him. The round collar on his robe was starched and crisp. The garment became wider as it went down to the ground; occasionally his shoes poked out from under it. “Now expand it. Make the orb your world,” he called out.

Joshua kept running through the trees, branches snapping under his feet, the soft forest floor kicking up a moist, peaty redolence. The orb shuddered, doubled in size, then expanded and became bigger than him. It scraped against the trees as it continued to lead him, until eventually it became trapped between two trees, strained against them, then exploded, covering the trees in a thick blue sludge that melted the trees from top to bottom. The sludge worked its way down the trees, consuming every leaf, flower, and piece of bark. The landscape was reduced to a thick blue soup that Joshua and Zhu stood in. Unfazed, Joshua closed his eyes, cupped his hands to the sides of his face, and murmured words no one could hear. The sludge hardened, turned to a transparent smooth ice, then turned white, then shattered into pieces. He opened his eyes and looked at the room. He let out a long sigh. “I can’t do anything with this,” he told Zhu.

“It’s always easier to destroy than to create. You’ll get it.”

Zhu raised two Ptahs, one yellow and one blue, from the pieces on the ground. They spun around each other so rapidly that their colors merged and became a green blur. They slowed their pace then dove into the ground, surfaced, and played with each other like puppies. The room was in motion, with the Ptahs undulating over the walls and floor. They came together and approached Joshua, stopping a few feet from him, their long bodies resting on each other, and then in unison they reared up in front of him. Their polished silver heads spun, the whirring of each of them turning into a rhythmic hum. Joshua held his hand out, as he would have with an unfamiliar dog who would need to sniff him. The Ptahs arched forward and rubbed their heads against his hands then slowly wrapped themselves around his wrist and arm, snaking up to his shoulder then around his neck and body. More Ptahs came from the ground until his entire body was covered in them. His body was a slinking, moving amalgamation of hundreds of Ptahs. Joshua’s Haezel eyes, which peeked through, were the only indication that he was underneath them.