Read Online The Post-Humans (Book 1): The League by Thurston Bassett - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Thurston Bassett
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again. Every step closer felt like a small victory, but the game went on and he needed to keep playing.
I hate games. Why do human minds have to be a mish-mash composition of every board game I ever sucked at…
“Because twelve years later I married him after they had a divorce.” She uncovered her eyes. “And he’s a bastard and my sister won’t speak to me.”
Athan cringed. Like sands through the hour glass…
“And…it’s all because I was a selfish little girl that never grew up.” She closed her eyes and tears rolled down her cheeks.
Suddenly there was stillness.
The dripping of pipes stopped.
And then things began to disappear.
At last.
As she faded away and the world became a void once again he noticed a door. There was a ripple in the mindscape, like a vacuum.
Someone had been watching the whole situation like a TV drama, drawing from it, feeding.
Athan became uneasy.
He hated being watched.
And the presence had malevolence to it.
This was one of those doors to the deeper plane, a world within a world within a world, and it felt like it was unhealthy, like a parasite.
Athan tightened his black tie as he decided what to do.
He needed to know what it was that made him feel so uncomfortable, he wanted to understand why it made him feel the way it did.
Athan drifted towards the ripple in the black mindscape, ready to recoil quickly if he needed to. It was like sliding into water, submerging your face in a pool with a held breath.
It was cool to the touch.
As he pushed himself through and felt a tingle pass over his skin like goose bumps and a pressure like deep water.
It reminded him of when he was thirteen and swimming competitively for his year level at school. After winning a race he felt invincible and decided he would swim to the bottom of the diving pool. It was five metres deep, not much to a teenager, so he pulled himself deeper and deeper, but it was always out of reach, just that little bit too far. Finally he was within an arm’s length of it and it felt like someone was squeezing his head with their fingers in his ears.
It was the pressure. It was unbearable, and he had to give up and burst back to the surface for a breath.
This was how it felt now, like diving into that pool again, the door felt thick and syrupy, like he was moving in slow motion.
Then the other side was in view.
He beheld a scene of hell.
A greenish glowing sun lit another bony, fleshy landscape, but unlike the empty one he was familiar with, this one was swarming with activity. There was no endless fog concealing the details of this landscape, it was overrun with an endless ocean of crawling things of all shapes and sizes. Many of them stood like men, like soldiers standing at duty in their thousands. Their blank heads reminded him of the faceless figure he saw standing next to the ridge after he freed Mr Li.
Droves of man sized beings with no faces.
He felt the pressure build until it was too much for him and he felt out of breath. He needed to turn around and escape back to the rippled entrance. If he didn’t, he would drown.
The pressure threatened to crush his body.
It was like a dream, the closest thing Athan had had to experiencing the helplessness of a nightmare. The more he fought to retrace his steps, the more he felt like he was drifting toward the Hell World in front of him.
Finally there was a kind of traction.
His hand passed through the goose bump sensation of the doorway, and he summoned all the strength he could to pull the rest of his body through. At last his view of the deeper plane began to fade and shrink, he was now alone in the cold emptiness of Kendra Thompson’s subconscious.
He closed his eyes a moment to recall the horrifying scene.
It was the closest he had come to the deeper plane. It must be some kind of a glitch, some kind of mindscape crossover.
And the creatures?
Surely they were some kind of creation of someone’s mind, or his? Had he discovered his own
I hate games. Why do human minds have to be a mish-mash composition of every board game I ever sucked at…
“Because twelve years later I married him after they had a divorce.” She uncovered her eyes. “And he’s a bastard and my sister won’t speak to me.”
Athan cringed. Like sands through the hour glass…
“And…it’s all because I was a selfish little girl that never grew up.” She closed her eyes and tears rolled down her cheeks.
Suddenly there was stillness.
The dripping of pipes stopped.
And then things began to disappear.
At last.
As she faded away and the world became a void once again he noticed a door. There was a ripple in the mindscape, like a vacuum.
Someone had been watching the whole situation like a TV drama, drawing from it, feeding.
Athan became uneasy.
He hated being watched.
And the presence had malevolence to it.
This was one of those doors to the deeper plane, a world within a world within a world, and it felt like it was unhealthy, like a parasite.
Athan tightened his black tie as he decided what to do.
He needed to know what it was that made him feel so uncomfortable, he wanted to understand why it made him feel the way it did.
Athan drifted towards the ripple in the black mindscape, ready to recoil quickly if he needed to. It was like sliding into water, submerging your face in a pool with a held breath.
It was cool to the touch.
As he pushed himself through and felt a tingle pass over his skin like goose bumps and a pressure like deep water.
It reminded him of when he was thirteen and swimming competitively for his year level at school. After winning a race he felt invincible and decided he would swim to the bottom of the diving pool. It was five metres deep, not much to a teenager, so he pulled himself deeper and deeper, but it was always out of reach, just that little bit too far. Finally he was within an arm’s length of it and it felt like someone was squeezing his head with their fingers in his ears.
It was the pressure. It was unbearable, and he had to give up and burst back to the surface for a breath.
This was how it felt now, like diving into that pool again, the door felt thick and syrupy, like he was moving in slow motion.
Then the other side was in view.
He beheld a scene of hell.
A greenish glowing sun lit another bony, fleshy landscape, but unlike the empty one he was familiar with, this one was swarming with activity. There was no endless fog concealing the details of this landscape, it was overrun with an endless ocean of crawling things of all shapes and sizes. Many of them stood like men, like soldiers standing at duty in their thousands. Their blank heads reminded him of the faceless figure he saw standing next to the ridge after he freed Mr Li.
Droves of man sized beings with no faces.
He felt the pressure build until it was too much for him and he felt out of breath. He needed to turn around and escape back to the rippled entrance. If he didn’t, he would drown.
The pressure threatened to crush his body.
It was like a dream, the closest thing Athan had had to experiencing the helplessness of a nightmare. The more he fought to retrace his steps, the more he felt like he was drifting toward the Hell World in front of him.
Finally there was a kind of traction.
His hand passed through the goose bump sensation of the doorway, and he summoned all the strength he could to pull the rest of his body through. At last his view of the deeper plane began to fade and shrink, he was now alone in the cold emptiness of Kendra Thompson’s subconscious.
He closed his eyes a moment to recall the horrifying scene.
It was the closest he had come to the deeper plane. It must be some kind of a glitch, some kind of mindscape crossover.
And the creatures?
Surely they were some kind of creation of someone’s mind, or his? Had he discovered his own
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