For millions of years the ice sheet had surfed this watery conveyor belt as it inched its way across East Antarctica before slaloming along the Amery Basin into Prydz Bay. Perpetually melting and refreezing, the bottom of the glacier appeared a rich azure-blue, its sculpted patterns and textures creating a three-dimensional mosaic so mesmerizing I was tempted to ask Jonas to direct a light at the ceiling, just so I could absorb its incredible details.
Complementing this chapel of art was a boundary of fresh water so pure and clear it actually magnified our twin beacons of light, extending visibility for miles. As for what resided below, for now it was dark silt. But that would change.
Jonas was still too overwhelmed by grief to allow himself to be dazzled. “Zach, this subterranean waterway seems to run forever. How do we know which direction to go?”
“We need to follow the Amery Ice Shelf inland about 340 miles, where it will meet the Lambert Glacial Basin. A subglacial river with a northern outflow should merge with this meltwater. We follow it southeast into Lake Vostok.”
“Not exactly navigating by the stars, is it?” Jonas typed a search command over his computer’s keyboard. The GPS finder zoomed in on East Antarctica, honing in on the Loose Tooth Rift. “Here we are. Here’s where the ice shelf meets that glacial basin. That’s a huge expanse. How the hell are we supposed to find a river amid an ocean of meltwater?”
“I don’t know, Jonas. Maybe we’ll be able to hear it on sonar.”
“So that’s 340 miles to the north and at least another five hundred to the southeast. At our best speed, it’ll take us eleven hours just to hit the river, assuming this meltwater remains stagnant. Traveling another five hundred miles into a head-current — that alone could take twenty-four to thirty-six more hours.
“When I was an undergrad at Penn State, my roommate and I would drive down to Fort Lauderdale over Christmas break. We’d take two-hour shifts, twenty hours straight. We were so wiped out by the time we arrived that we’d have to sleep all day. And we were nineteen.”
“Is there any way you can program the autopilot to at least get us to the river?”
“The GPS navigator isn’t functioning with that ice sheet over our heads. What I can do is program the autopilot to remain on a solitary heading. It’ll use the Manta’s sonar to navigate around perceived obstacles, but one of us should still stay awake to monitor our surroundings. I’ll take the first shift while you sleep.”
I reclined my seat, removed my shoes, and covered up with a wool blanket. I was exhausted, having barely slept since arriving in Antarctica. Lying back, I looked up through the thick cockpit glass, gazing at the bottom of the ice sheet.
Jonas accelerated to thirty knots, turning the glacier’s artwork into a blue blur.
Within minutes I was asleep.
I awoke as Avi Socha.
I was in a cave close to the ocean. I could hear the echo of the sea and feel the pounding surf through the rock upon which I sat. The night howled at my back, glistening with stars. Berudim shone brightly in the northern sky, a cloud-covered world orbited by a solitary moon one-ninth the mass of Charon.
I was anxious to begin; the alignment of Berudim with Charon was a powerful cosmic antenna that facilitated the best reception with the upper worlds. Closing my eyes, I recited my mantra, tapping into the universal consciousness.
ANA BEKOACH… GEDULAT YEMINECHA… TATIR ZERURA …
My consciousness was moving through the void, passing over a dark sea.
KABEL RINAT… AMECHA SAGVENU… TAHARENU NORA …
The sea moved inland, becoming a twisting river that separated a rift valley.
NA GIBOR… DORSHEY YICHUDCHA… KEBAVAT SHOMREM …
Mountains rose along either bank as the river emptied into a vast lake, its waters dark and forboding…
BARCHEM TEHAREM… RACHAMEY ZIDEKATCHA… TAMID GOMLEM …
On the western bank appeared an alien dwelling that was somehow familiar…
HASIN KADOSH… BEROV TUVECHA… NAHEL ADOTECHA …
My consciousness hovered over the center portion of the dwelling until it was drawn through a glass partition.
YAHID GE’EA… LEAMECHA PENNE… ZOCHREY KDUSHATECHA …
I was inside a dark chamber, the only light coming from the floor-to-ceiling windows, which offered a view of the lake and the snow-covered peaks of the mountains rising above the far eastern bank. An extraterrestrial being was seated before the glass, its demeanor melancholy as it stared outside at the weather.
SHAVATENU KABEL… USHEMA ZAKATENU… YODE TA’ALUMOT… I had moved to hover over the life-form when my consciousness was suddenly drawn into its aura by a magnetic force, inhaling me into a vortex of physicality. And I could hear!
“Zachary, this woman is here tae speak with you. Are ye sober?”
I stood, my temper flaring. “Of course, I’m sober. Hi, I’m Zachary Wallace.”
“C’mon, Zach, wake up!”
I floated in a pool of warmth and serenity, my consciousness gazing down upon the Manta, adrift in the crystal-clear water. Through the cockpit glass I witnessed Jonas straddling my vacant body, pushing against my chest until—
— Gravity gained a foothold, dragging me back into my flesh-bound prison.
Registering the blood rushing into my face, I opened my eyes. “Sorry. Did I oversleep?”
“Oversleep? Jesus … ” Jonas climbed off me, falling back into his seat. “According to the bio-sensors built into your harness, you all but died.” He pointed to a flashing screen showing my steadily rising vitals. “At one point your heart rate dropped below ten beats a minute, and your blood pressure hit goose-eggs. What the hell happened?”
I adjusted my seat, sitting up. “I don’t know. I mean, I know what happened, only it wasn’t me doing it. I was just sort of along for the ride.”
“Try speaking in coherent sentences.”
“I had an out-of-body experience, and instead of sticking around, my consciousness was in another time and place. It had slipped inside another being’s body. And then I was back in my body, in my father’s resort. Seven years ago.”
Jonas just sat there and stared at me like a guy who realizes — too late — that he’s hitched his mule to the wrong wagon.
“Something big is happening here, J.T. Get us going and I’ll try to explain.”
Jonas shook his head, then buckled his harness and powered up the engines, reengaging the autopilot. “I’m listening.”
“There’s a big piece of the puzzle still missing, but I’m beginning to grasp what’s going on. At first I thought this entity had selected me to disseminate its zero-point energy technology to mankind because, well—”
“Because you’re smart.”
“More like intuitive, but, yeah. Then I started having these really lifelike dreams, like this one and the one on the plane. In these dreams I’m living on another planet during another time period.”
“Past or present?”
“To be honest I’m not sure, but I’m leaning toward the past. The planet — it’s called Charon and it’s in big trouble. Something devastating is going to happen and this guy, the one I share my consciousness with, is trying to figure out a way to save his people. By reentering the E.T.’s ship and accessing the portal, I think I might be able to help him.”