I shrink further behind the tree as the mantis stalks through the lab with a mechanical stiffness.
It nears the edge of the slab and leans over the unconscious man. Its head abruptly twitches to the side, and the overall ambient glow of the lab focuses in on the man, casting the rest of the room in darkness.
The ambient light seems to emanate from the interior itself. Not from a single projected source.
I continue to watch from my position. The creature remains collected and unfazed. Then its impassive stare lands on me.
It stalks towards me while jerking and twitching its head, making the blood in my veins run cold. My soul becomes ensnared by the sickening clutches of false mercy and reduces me to a silent quivering state. Reintroducing me to the true definition of terror.
I can't move.
I can't even think.
My mind is blank.
Then the mantis anticlimactically moves over to the cylinder to retrieve a bead from the chained double helix. The bead dissolves in its palm, and the DNA structure crumbles, then rebuilds itself, adapting to the bead's absence.
The insectoid removes more components - and they meet the same fate. The structure collapses and rebuilds itself anew.
For every bead or barred segment in between (the base pairs) was removed, the double helix would respond through rebirth; however, other times, when the components were swapped around, it would stay intact.
Was the insectoid challenging its stability?
The mantis deviates from the display and focuses on the elevated tabletops. Its long, crooked fingers roam over rows of diverse surgical tools before selecting a desired instrument. A brisk scrape drags along the sterile surface, ending with a delicate chink.
The insectoid reproaches the subject's side and draws a fine red line, tracing around the man's hairline. A glistening pale outline of a short blade manifested the moment it made skin contact, emitting a high-pitched frequency. Tinnitus rings loudly in my ears.
The insectoid peels his scalp back. Stripping it down. Then feeds the scalp into the cylinder. It breaks down into a group of innumerable cells, before re-grouping and fusing back together again as a single cluster.
The vermillion cellular fusion rounds into an orb and joins the helix's structure.
The creature continues to outline and draw a perfect line from the frontal bone to the parietal, down the middle, rounding the bones of the cranium, ending at the occipital.
The tinnitus finally stops before being followed by a sickening crack. It pries his skull open using its hands, halving it. Shown amidst the split are folds of wrinkled crimson, and its phantom blade is left untainted by vital fluids.
A wave of lightheadedness overcomes me. I begin to feel myself swaying. Threatened by an impending gush of vomit in my throat, I slap my hand over my mouth. Shit. I can't watch this anymore.
I tear myself away from fear's sadistic grasp that held me firm. It was the very same grasp that held onto the shard and refused to let go. No wonder it didn't want to follow me. I don't blame it. I would have done the same if it were me.
I force myself to crawl on all fours. Keeping close to the walls.
I glance back and forth from the insectoid's ridged spine to the unsealed exit. It's a bloody miracle that it hasn't spotted me yet. How dense can you get?
My legs tremble as I rise to a crouching position.
It's either make or break.
I burst forth into a sprint. Then the metal shutter slams down in my face, inches from the tip of my nose. My breath becomes trapped in my lungs. Dread ravages every second as I turn around - daring to face my fate.
It was already standing behind me. Looming over me like a haunting statue, standing at eight feet. I didn't hear it move at all. Its emotionless gaze reflects my partially illumed self. I back myself up against the door. It looks so goddamn real.
Get a hold of yourself, for heaven's sake! You're lucid dreaming.
I slap myself across the face, delivering a harsh sting across my cheek.
I – I didn't wake up?
The mantis tilts its head to the side. The shutter screeches behind me, trembling against my spine. Then there was nothing supporting my back. I stumble backwards into the outside corridor, and with no time to think, I whirl on my heel, prepared to make another dash. My legs are then pulled from underneath me, and my vision is hurled upside down.
An unseen force drags me along the corridor floor, away from the lab. My ankles are secured in a needle-filled grasp. Penetrating through my jeans. Pricking my skin.
"Let go of me, you freak!"
My words are not registering.
"What? Has the suit made you go deaf or something?" I shout. Jeering at it.
Soft pastel green and magenta grace its back, illuminating its stature in the dark. Its pace slows down to a drastic halt as I come to view the source of light. Through a huge panoramic window, there are two nebulae almost fully merged. Striving for the completion of interconnection. I lift my hand, allowing the nebula's light to pass through between my fingers.
In that same instance, I felt as though all of my life's burdens and anxieties had melted away into oblivion.
I crack a smile.
Warm tears run down my cheeks. When was the last time I smiled like this? I can't seem to remember, and I don't care, because right now I am witnessing such a beautiful spectacle like no other. Nobody of my generation will ever hope to behold such splendour, for human life is pitiful and fleeting.Never knowing the true pleasure of opportunity.
I shake my head, trying to rid myself of the random thoughts, and focus on the cosmic scene shown before me. Dots of stars glimmer in the vast umbra - near a desolate maroon planet scarred by a monstrous infernal fissure. The death of a planet can be both beautiful and tragic. A conflict of wonder and seeing the result of the past's destruction; realisation begins to seep in. This is not the afterlife. I'm somewhere in the nucleus of the cosmos – and the one who holds me in their grasp is an inhuman entity, an extraterrestrial. Not an animatronic or someone in a suit, but a living being. And the man in the lab was none other than the alien's guinea pig.
If all of this is real, then how does God come into it? Is there a connection between God and extraterrestrials? I have believed in Christianity since I was eight. I believed in heaven and hell. Eternal paradise. Eternal damnation. The plagues. Hellfire. Demons. The archangels. Fallen angels. The nephilim. The great flood.
I know the stories.
Earth is the middle ground.
An ant farm created and spectated by immortals.
What if there is more to us than what we were told? Were we lied to – or has there been a mistranslation along the way?
You know what, I am done.
No more waiting.
I want my questions and my forsaken prayers answered in full. I will find out the truth!
Faint masculine vocals interject into my thoughts. It was the same voice I heard behind the veil of the astral plane - calm and softly spoken, yet strained - incomprehensible. Whoever is trying to contact me, I can't hear you. Speak louder and clearer – idiot!
"You do not belong here." A baritone voice booms inside my skull. It came back with audible clarity in pronunciation and vocal strength.
It spoke in my home tongue. How?
"Who are you? Hello?" The voice wanes into silence. It was gone.
Whatever. I don't care.
"Yes, you do."
"No, I don't. So sod off, will you!" The alien resumes at a normal pace. Dragging me away from the cosmic scenery.
It suddenly stops and stares at the wall facing the window. Metal groans and loudens at an alarming rate. Rapidly approaching us.
The wall begins to tear itself apart, splitting into a "V" shape before an onslaught of monstrous-sized metal cords lash out and ram the alien into the window, landing a fracture on the glass. My feet drop to the floor with a blunt thud. I get up. Leaving nothing to chance. An aftersting prickles my ankles as though I had just run barefoot through a field of nettles.
The Argentine vines overwhelm and constrict the alien. I rush over to the torn opening and peer inside. There is a spiral wall path, molded by slithering cords. Shaped like a handle-less corkscrew. Leading seven rings down. I grimace as I carefully hold onto the edges of the split. Minding its jagged unevenness. I step through and shuffle sideways against the wall, trying not to look down into the hungry, bottomless pit.
The path groans and snaps under my feet. I lose my footing and fall straight through, plunging into the bowls of Hades' abyss...