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DRAW TWO
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Unchartered Territory
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One week later, at nine AM Jalal was in his office, going over some papers.
His office speaker buzzed.
"Mr. Stormbringer?" said a secretary. "Dr. Gelinas is here to see you."
"Oh yes, send him in," said Jalal.
Jalal had Googled Dr. Jonathan Gelinas over the past week, and had studied his work quite extensively. It was very impressive. Along with the usual papers on psychiatric medicine, he had made quite a lot of unorthodox theories over the years, many of them relating to the relation between the body and the soul, between the mind and the soul, and between the soul and the afterlife. There were very few negative comments about him, other than the typical stuff you tend to hear about people in the psychiatric profession, and his contacts had shown that he had indeed worked extensively with many Incantifers.
The door to the office opened, and the secretary let a man in.
Dr. Jonathan Gelinas was a man who would stand out. He looked to be in his late fifties, was broad, stocky, and somewhat overweight. What hair he had left was grey. He wore a black business suit and red tie, and very thick glasses.
"Mr. Stormbringer," he said, as Jalal stood up to extend his hand. "It is a pleasure to finally get a chance to meet you at last."
His voice had a slight Germanic accent, and was deep and strong.
"Do have a seat," said Jalal. "Can I get you some coffee?"
"Uh, no thank you…" said the doctor. "Uhm… You wouldn't happen to have any vodka?"
"Kind of early for that, isn't it?" asked Jalal.
The doctor looked a little nervous.
"I… uh…" he said. "I have a weakness for a morning Bloody Mary. Oh, but where are my manners?"
He looked around at the photographs on the wall of the office.
"Interesting…" he said, focusing on one particular one. "You knew Churchill?"
Jalal nodded as they sat down.
"Dr. Gelinas…" he said. "I must say, your proposal letter struck me with… skepticism. Wizards have been trying to find a cure for the Bells of Baphomet for centuries…
"You don't claim to be skilled in wizardry at all… And yet you believe you can cure this affliction?"
"Quite right, quite right," said Gelinas, folding his hands. "I'm no wizard, but then, neither was Freud. Would you say that his accomplishments were any less useful, despite the fact that he was not skilled in magic?"
"Uhm, clearly not…" said Jalal, nodding.
He had once actually spoken to Freud, as a matter of fact. It happened at a dinner party he had attended in 1929. He had found the man a rather pessimistic fellow (as most people at the time did) but the conversation had been interesting.
"My procedure may be experimental," said Gelinas, "but it shows promise…
"You see, Mr. Stormbringer, ever since birth of my field of science, a psychologist's job has been to get into the heads of his patients… To enter their minds and see what is troubling them there…
"With my procedure, I can take that concept more literally than any psychologist in history has ever done…
"I can literally enter… The Soulscape…"
Jalal looked at him hard.
"Uh…" he said. "I can actually make an excellent Bloody Mary if you just give me five minutes…"
He wasn't kidding. Even though many connoisseurs of liquor had called the Bloody Mary "the world's most complex cocktail", Jalal could make a pretty decent one. He knew how to make more mixed drinks than the average bartender, even though he rarely drank himself.
As he opened the liquor cabinet next to his desk (kept primarily for guests for occasions like this) he realized that this discussion may well be a vital one…
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Six hours later, several men were gathered in a conference room.
All of them were members of the Shadowchaser Council, among them the ones in charge of R&D, the doctor who was in charge of the infirmary, and the one who was in charge of the branch of Shadowkind that covered the ophidia.
"So what's this all about?" asked one of them.
"The boss has someone coming in to discuss some new procedure that he's considering having used on that Hebi-Na woman," said another. "It's probably gonna be another boring PowerPoint lecture."
Then Jalal and Dr. Gelinas entered the room.
"PowerPoint, yes, gentlemen," said Jalal, "but from what Dr. Gelinas has told me, his procedure may well capable of performing a medical miracle. I suggest we all listen closely."
As he sat down, Gelinas took his place in the front of the room, next to a screen.
"Thank you, thank you," he said. "Ahem…"
The lights dimmed, and the screen came on. The first slide came on, showing seven golden objects that everyone in the room recognized.
"These are the seven Millennium Items," said Gelinas. "Artifacts of wondrous power, crafted in the days of the Pharaoh, three-thousand years ago.
"Each one had its own supernatural power, along with many powers that they all shared."
The second slide appeared, showing only the Millennium Key, an ankh-shaped device.
"The Millennium Key," he continued, "is the Item that always interested me. It was owned by a mysterious individual named Shadi, who claimed to be the guardian of the other Items. I believe that Shadi may have been a spirit of some sort, or perhaps a servant of a divine entity, but it is impossible to know for sure.
"In any case, he was able to use the Millennium Key to literally enter the mind of a sentient being. Once inside, he could gain information from the subject's memories. He could also brainwash the subject, or even enslave him if that was necessary."
"And how does this pertain to Hebi-Na?" asked one of the Council. "The Key was lost forever, along with the other Items."
"Well, switching the focus for a minute," said Gelinas, "and getting to the curse that she suffers from, the Bells of Baphomet.
"The curse manifests in the form of maddening bells that only she can hear. It is my belief that this horrible sound exists only in her mind. Possibly, it is due to a foreign intrusion in her psyche…
"Thus, it might be possible to use therapy to cure her… But… That is impossible via normal methods, because when awake, she would be unresponsive to therapy, due to the horrible ringing that is torturing her. A Catch-22, if you will.
"My procedure actually involves an invention which is way to change that…"
The next slide appeared, showing a large device that looked like a supercomputer.
"I give you, gentleman, the Bridge, as I call it," he said. "It is already patented, and has proven to be a success so far on volunteers.
"What this device does, in a nutshell, is use technology to do what the Millennium Key did with supernatural forces. It is a 'bridge', that lets your consciousness enter the mind of another."
"No… way…" said a member of the Council.
"Like in The Exorcist?" asked another.
"Not quite," replied Gelinas. "It isn't possession. I've found that the inside of a person's mind is sort of like a small world… A small reality where the soul lives. I call it a Soulscape. And it is actually inhabited. All aspects of the individual's personality inhabit this... Soulscape, if you will.
"When you use this device, and enter a person's mind, you can speak to the representations of his hopes, dreams, and fears! They are all inhabitants of the Soulscape.
"And if you stay long enough, you might, just might, be able to speak to the soul itself. A Soulscape is, of course, the soul's property. The soul is the ruler of the place.
"Now, the purpose of the Bridge is to aid mental illness. My original theory was that a mentally ill person might be mentally ill due a damaged Soulscape, and that by actually going in, it could be repaired.
"Humans and Shadowkind with psychic abilities can sometimes, but rarely, employ an ability called 'psionic surgery', which this procedure might make it possible for a non-psychic to do. One can go in, repair the Soulscape, and the mentally ill patient would, in theory, be cured. If the problem was, in fact, a damaged Soulscape.
"It may even be possible, eventually, to use this device to cure a joystealer. If the enslaved Eoshee were sedated, one could use this device to enter her mind and confront the Unseelie dominating her, using force to make it leave.
"But we now have a victim who it may help who does not have to be restrained. I believe that in the case of the Bells of Baphomet, it is definitely the case of an intrusion planted in this, her most personal of places."
"You've actually gone into the minds of these volunteers?" said another member of the Council. "You've been to these… Soulscapes?"
"Yes, I and my assistants have," said Gelinas. "I've found that the minds, or the Soulscapes, if you will, tend to be interesting places. They all tend to be different, depending on who the subject is, but…"
"Wait…" said Jalal. "A few questions before this goes any further…
"First off, have you used this procedure on an ophidia yet?"
"Uhm, well, no…" said Gelinas. "But seeing as ophidia are sentient beings, and have a brain structure similar to that of the average humanoid creature, I don't see…"
"And if we were to use this procedure on Hebi-Na…" said Jalal. "Perhaps to explore her mind, and see what exactly is causing the Bells of Baphomet… Who would be the one to make this… expedition?"
"Well," said Dr. Gelinas, "seeing as her life is in danger, I'd be willing to personally make the trip into her mind. I'm certain that I could…"
"No!" said Jalal, interrupting.
He stood up.
"Dr. Gelinas…" he said. "Your skills as a psychologist are commendable, and your invention may well earn you the Nobel Prize…"
"Uh, thank you?" replied the doctor.
"But…" continued Jalal. "It may well be too dangerous for you to enter Hebi-Na's mind. The 'foreign object' causing this curse might fight back with the intent to kill you! Lest we forget, this curse is named after a demon lord who is notorious for having an uncontrollable temper?"
"Hmm…" said Dr. Gelinas. "Yes, that is indeed a concern…"
Jalal looked at him long at hard.
"Dr. Gelinas," he said. "How soon can you have your equipment here?"
"Uh…" said Dr. Gelinas. "I can charter a freight car on the next train from Vienna, and have it here in two days…
"But didn't you just say we weren't going to do the procedure?"
"Oh, we are indeed…" said Jalal. "You will work the equipment…
"But someone else will make the expedition into Hebi-Na's mind…"
He paused as everyone looked at him.
"I will be making the journey personally…"
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Two days later, in Jalal's manor house, he had changed into a loose-fitting outfit, as Gelinas had told him to do.
He had followed the instructions to the letter – he had not eaten since dinner last night, and was not wearing jewelry either.
Judy was beside herself with worry.
"Has anyone else told you how crazy this sounds?" she asked.
"Yeah," said Jalal, "a number of people…
"But it's not like it's the first time I've gone into unchartered territory before, Judy. You're taking to someone who holds the record for the highest floor on the Wasting Tower of Khin-Oin reached by a non-yugoloth by someone who lived to tell about it – fifteen."
"The Wasting Tower of Khin-Oin?" said Judy, opening her eyes wide. "You mean the building in the center of the Grey Waste that looks like a huge spinal column that's taller than the Empire State Building?"
"Yeah," said Jalal. "Don't get any ideas, by the way…
"I know this is risky… I know this may be dangerous… But Dr. Gelinas has assured me that stopping the procedure if something goes wrong can be as easy as turning off a faucet.
"I know what I'm doing…"
He walked out of the room.
"Famous last words…" said Judy.
"I heard that…" said Jalal.
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It seemed like something out of a mad scientist's lab. The Bridge was set up in a large hospital room used for sleep studies, with two beds set up in front of it. Hebi-Na was lying on one, still fast asleep, with special devices hooked up to her forehead and temples. Several doctors and other personnel were watching, among them Jalal's assistant, Jabels.
Gelinas was in the process of using special medical glue to attach similar devices to Jalal, who was on the other bed.
He sighed as he attached the last one.
"Last chance to reconsider, Mr. Stormbringer," he said. "Are you certain you want to continue?"
"Positive," said Jalal. "For all we know, this may be Hebi-Na's only chance…"
He looked at Hebi-Na.
I may be the only one who truly cares… he thought. Gelinas is likely doing this primarily to prove his brilliance…
But if I can save you, Hebi-Na… I'm willing to do anything…
Gelinas turned some switches, and the machine hummed to life. Jalal reached over, and held Hebi-Na's hand.
"Remember…" said the doctor, "there may be some momentary discomfort…"
Jalal closed his eyes. He felt himself growing sleepy.
"Prepare yourself…" he heard Gelinas's voice say. "Prepare to enter the Soulscape!"
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Next:
Jalal: I've come to in a new place, a place inside Hebi-Na's very psyche. And it seems that my suspicions were correct… It is far from safe here.
My quest to save Hebi-Na from the forces invading her mind continues, in "Frontier", coming soon.
And I'll probably get to duel too.