I’ve been locked in this dark chamber for hours. Or has it been days? All sensory input has been attenuated, even sound and touch. I cannot feel my limbs, my entire body for that matter. I feel like a singular point of awareness.
There is no escape. I know. Even if I somehow manage to escape this isolation chamber, where would I go? I don’t know how to pilot an orbital cruiser or fly a shuttle for that matter. I could try and force Tattiana to take me back to Earth, but how? In micro-g, I'm as helpless as a fish out of water. So, I have little choice but to go along with this whole "lessons" charade.
I whistle Yankee Doodle to try and occupy my mind, but eventually I grow silent.
Alright then. Let's play along. I focus on my breath instead. Just like Tattiana taught me. Soon, violet waves start spreading outward from a singular point of view in my mind’s eye. The waves become more intense, and the ripples change colors and patterns.
My body dissolves in the waves. My awareness narrows into a dot of self-referential feedback. A locus of consciousness in the vastness of space. The singularity within the sensory black hole.
I realize that in this bodiless state, I can shift my awareness in any desired direction. All I have to do is think it, and I am there. I realize that I can split my consciousness and be in two places at once. Then it dawns on me: there is no need to move because I am everywhere at once. Omnipresent but not yet omniscient.
I see a pure light just ahead in the distance. It radiates outward like a tunnel. But it is not a tunnel. It is pure bliss.
And there is something else in this field of consciousness. Not something. Someone else is here with me.
Hello?
Who are you?
I try to move towards it but a force repels me. Hostile yet curious.
Then the light becomes brighter, and suddenly Tattiana is floating in front of me.
“Your lesson on Sensory Input Attenuation is now over," she informs me. "Did you experience anything unusual?"
"What do you mean unusual? This whole thing is unusual."
She remains stoic, but I can see a slight quiver in the corner of her lips.
"Please follow me, Mr. Crick."
"You can call me Van."
She doesn't answer and exits the chamber silently.
It takes me a moment to adjust to the light and to the torrent of sensations that bombard my senses. Somewhat disoriented, I spin in mid-air and propelling myself forward in a ballistic motion, I follow Tattiana out of the chamber.
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