Mobius (7 page)

My thoughts raced.
The sanitarium. The doctor. The sphincter beast. Mage. He lies.

I turned away. “Often, my mind betrays me with many unreal memories. I’ve tried my hardest to forget the sanitarium. I’m not even sure it was real.”

“If it wasn’t real, then neither am I.”

“I remember doing horrible things in that place.” I turned back to face Sensimion with an insane look. “Did I really kill and skin that orderly?”

“I have proof, Theron.” From his pocket, Sensimion removed a laminated scrap of paper. He handed it to me.

My mouth drooped open. It was a list of names I’d written down many years ago. “Where did you get this?”

“I think you know, Theron. I took it from you in the sanitarium.” Sensimion paused. “Believe it. All of it was real.”

“What happened to us there? Were we really imprisoned for insanity, or was there something more going on, as we suspected?”

“I too questioned my sanity after we escaped. I began doubting our conspiracy theories and wondered if our escape was harmful to our mental health. Even though I didn’t feel insane, I knew the truly insane are unaware of their diseased minds. Some years passed and I sought out the credentials of the sanitarium. Since I knew it by no other name, and I knew neither the doctor’s nor the orderlies’ names, public records were useless.

“I did, however, remember the sanitarium’s location. When I returned to that place in the far depths of that MegaCity, I found nothing. Even the walls had been torn down, leaving me to question, like you, the reality of the sanitarium and my experiences within it.” Sensimion pulled the list of names from my hand. “If not for this scrap of paper, which I kept in my pocket at all times, I probably would’ve truly gone crazy.” Sensimion gazed into the distance. “I submersed myself in the lives of these people, studying their significance in history. But the names revealed nothing. I was no closer to solving the mystery of the sanitarium and the torture we endured there. I lingered for thirty years, depressed, until I saw you giving a presentation on your theories of dimensional physics. At that moment, my heart was filled with purpose. I realized your life held the answers I sought, since it was from your memories that this list of names was compiled.”

“Why didn’t you contact me sooner?” I asked.

“I wanted to observe you, study you. Whatever was done to us in the sanitarium, it affected you more than I.”

“So I had a few odd memories. What of it? I don’t understand where you’re going with all this, Sensimion.”

“I believe I’ve discovered the significance of this list of names.”

I looked fearfully at the scrap of paper in Sensimion’s hand.

“Are you all right, Theron?”

“Yes.” I breathed deeply, trying to avoid a panic attack. “Continue.”

“In order to explain the significance of the people you listed, Theron, I must return to that point of my life when I thought
you
were the key to the answers I sought, some fifty years ago. At first, I merely hung in the shadows of your life, spying on you. It was when I paralleled your work in dimensional physics that the mystery deepened a thousand fold, for that’s when I discovered Earth was surrounded in a dimension not natural to the universe. To ensure the discovery wasn’t a miscalculation, I invited other minds to help me understand what I’d found. Soon, I formed a purposeful and secret society.”

“Are you saying that my memories from these historical figures are somehow related to this unnatural dimension surrounding Earth?”

“Please, bear with me,” said Sensimion.

I nodded.

“We worked for years, trying to further understand the dimension around Earth. At last, we achieved a breakthrough. We developed a lens of even greater sensitivity. It allowed us to detect not only the unnatural dimension around Earth, but also the presence of an indefinable and exotic energy that occupies the dimension. Only then did we discover that there are human imposters walking among us. We observed the cloud of exotic energy producing human forms. These manifestations mimic human beings perfectly.”

“Imposters? Manifestations? You’re fucking joking, right?”

“Not at all.” Sensimion pointed to one of his hyper-blue eyes. “These synthetic eyes allow me to see the exotic energy forming these human imposters.”

“Let me get this straight,” I said. “These human imposters are literally formed from this exotic energy?”

“Exactly. We’re calling this cloud of exotic energy and the unnatural dimension suffocating Earth ‘the Fume.’”

“Quite ominous,” I said. “Why are these manifestations of the Fume among us?”

“That’s the question. We believe they’re taking human form so they can manipulate humankind.”

I realized my connection to this revelation. “And you believe the people from my memories were all manifestations, as you call them?”

“I do.”

I felt ill, as if my stomach were in my throat. “Why would I have their memories? Surely you can see with your synthetic eyes I’m not one of these manifestations of the Fume.”

“Whatever was done to us in the sanitarium was the work of the Fume’s manifestations, and your memories are a result of them altering your mind.”

I went to my nutrition unit and had it dispense two ounces of Red Ethanol. Despite the audible warning for moderation, I chugged it down. “What else do you know of them?”

“From what we’ve observed, they can’t pass beyond the boundaries of the unnatural dimension they’ve created around Earth. It seems they’re connected to it in some way.”

“Have you attempted to contact any of the Fume’s manifestations?”

Sensimion was silent for a moment, as if struck by a devastating memory. “When we first discovered them, my closest associate and friend made a terrible mistake. He believed if we confronted them with our knowledge of their existence, they might reveal something of their purpose and plot. I was against such a bold tactic, but I couldn’t persuade him otherwise. I watched on with a surveillance drone in Earth’s orbit as he confronted one of the Fume’s manifestations. My friend spoke right to the point: ‘I know you’re not of this world. I demand to know why you sneak among men and manipulate humankind.’ The manifestation responded with a calm gaze, and my friend soon after burned to ash.”

“Then they are powerful beings,” I said.

“Powerful enough to turn a man to ash in the blink of an eye.” Sensimion shook his head sadly. “I blame myself for the tragedy. I shouldn’t have allowed the interaction to occur, since my experience in the sanitarium was a clear indication of the manifestations’ threatening nature. Ever since this powerful display, my people haven’t set foot within the dimension around Earth. We’ve hidden ourselves in a remote location of the solar system.”

Is this truly Sensimion?
I thought.
Can these revelations be real?

“I can sense your doubt, Theron. You must believe me.”

How could I? I looked out the window to Jupiter. “I stand here on the highland of my life. To finish the dimensional gateway, I’ve worked with all my soul. Why do you come to me, now, with these world-shattering revelations?”

“I’m not here by coincidence or bad timing. I’ve come here to help preserve this project you hold so close to your heart.”

“How?”

“Exactly one week ago, my people detected a trace of the Fume’s exotic energy on the Brahman Station.”

“I thought you said these manifestations can’t pass beyond the boundaries of the unnatural dimension around Earth?”

“We don’t know how yet, but the exotic energy we detected only lasted a few minutes and then vanished. If it were a manifestation of the Fume, there would still be traces of the exotic energy—which there isn’t.”

“What does it mean?”

“We don’t know,” said Sensimion. “Nevertheless, we believe the Brahman Station may be in some kind of danger. And that, old friend, is the reason I’m here.”

“Certainly you don’t expect me to abandon the maiden voyage? People will think I’m crazy if I tell them what you’ve told me.”

“I wish only to be given access to the Brahman Station during the maiden voyage. I’ll be able to detect the presence of any exotic energy with my synthetic eyes.”

“Giving you such access would raise suspicion among my colleagues.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be able to look over the entire station from these quarters.” Sensimion removed a large ocular device from a pouch. “This spatial rendering sensor can see through walls. If I detect something sinister transpiring, only then will I move through the station. I would, however, like a tour of the station and proper introductions to any important people.”

“With those eyes?”

“These are amazing times, my friend. Everything is new. If they ask, tell them they’re experimental. Tell them I was blind.”

I groaned. “How shall I introduce you?”

“As your brother, Simon Mobius.”

“I’ve known the people on this station a long time. They know I don’t have any family. It’ll be much simpler if I introduce you as a friend from my youth, who’s like a brother.” I checked the time. “The day has begun. Once I’m ready, I’ll take you out into the station, where you’ll stay close by my side. Understood?”

Sensimion nodded.

“Are you all right, Sensimion?” There was definitely something wrong with him. “You look sick.”

“A side effect of these synthetic eyes. They require a lot of energy, which is drawn biochemically from my body. They’re a tolerable burden, given the reward of seeing the unnatural dimension and exotic energy of the Fume.”

I made my way to the main control room of the dimensional gateway with Sensimion. I was scheduled to meet with some of the more important guests, and give them a private tour of the dimensional gateway.

“Good morning,” I said, greeting about twenty guests, which included the Prime Minister of Earth, Allienora Chang; Orsteen Hunn of the Mercury Miners; and Morion Morpheme, Prime Elitist of Mars.

All in the room looked with seeming fascination at Sensimion.

A stocky man with slicked back hair approached me. “I’m the Defense Minister of Earth, Renworth Vole. I wish to congratulate you on your achievement, Mr. Mobius.” He held out his hand.

I shook it and was surprised to feel nano-intelligent matter. He was a simulacrum. “It’s unfortunate you couldn’t be here in person.”

“Seeing the event via simulacrum will have to suffice. I have many important things to do here on Earth.” Renworth Vole stared into Sensimion’s eyes. “And who’s this?”

“This is Simon,” I said, simply.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Simon,” said Renworth Vole.

Sensimion squinted. “Have we met before?”

“I don’t think so,” replied Renworth. “I would remember a man with such exquisite eyes.”

“Where’s Atticus!” I shouted nervously. I glanced around the room, and then beckoned a nearby technician. “He was supposed to be here ten minutes ago.”

The technician responded, “He’s making a last minute round of the gateway.”

“Then I’ll have to begin the tour without him.”

I led the guests to a great oval window in the upper control room. It overlooked a massive chamber, constituting half the volume of the Brahman Station.

“Below us is the dimensional gateway engine. As you can see, there are eighteen enormous dimensional augmenters arranged in a circle, twenty meters in diameter. When they’re activated, they’ll generate the dimensional fissure, which will span the twenty-meter circle. If you look overhead, you’ll see the pod-ship I’ll be piloting. Once the dimensional gateway is open, I’ll fly the pod-ship down into the dimensional fissure, and be instantaneously transported to the designated coordinates, one light-hour away. And this, as simple as it sounds, will be the entire event you’ll be witnessing today.”

“Are you certain your trip through the dimensional gateway won’t be dangerous?” asked Allienora Chang, stepping close to me. “The human body is a sensitive thing.”

She smells fantastic,
I thought, detecting the scent of vanilla.

“We’ve already sent an assortment of primitive life forms through the gateway, and have yet to see any complications. If there were a possibility of harm, I wouldn’t be so eager to be the first man to journey through it.”