The Enlightened (Mind Dimensions #3)(67)

At this moment, I have to come up with a plan. Here are the facts: If I run out of time in Level 2, I’ll become Inert. Assuming that doesn’t happen and I find a way to phase out of here—and if Mimir’s theory is wrong—I might find myself back in the Quiet with a knife in my chest, leaving me Inert yet again. It’s unclear whether Kyle will be Inert as well, as it’s a tricky matter of timing between Thomas’s bullet that’s racing toward Kyle and the knife that’s on its way into my heart.

My plan needs to work even if I’m Inert and Kyle is not—and I think I have just the idea. It hinges on one thing: getting inside Kyle’s mind.

I focus on Kyle’s light pattern in the distance. Just like before, I close half the distance auto-magically.

Focusing some more, I surround him.

This time, I’m repulsed by the idea of what’s about to happen, but there’s no helping it.

I repeat the actions that helped me tap into Thomas’s mind. I focus on the lights, the neurons that are Kyle. As I do, the Coherence state takes over, and with it, Kyle’s vile thoughts.





*





We’re walking toward Igor to give him his instructions. Boy, is that Russian f*cker big.

In the crowd, we see an Asian woman stopped in time in the middle of a conversation with her scientist colleague. The woman looks nothing like Lucy, but we feel a pang of regret nonetheless. By now, Lucy is dead. Of course, we rationally understand why it had to be done. There was no other way. Yet some irrational part of us wishes there had been some alternative course of action.

We’re here on an important mission, we recall. At that, we forget all other nonsense. We have a task to accomplish, the thought comes again, and it has a cleansing effect. We get back in the zone and the world is simple again. Our laser focus brings all of our attention back to the task at hand. All that exists are the targets—targets whose actions we need to control—and nothing else. A sense of righteousness overwhelms us. With their hubris unchecked, these arrogant scientists will bring about the end of the world. It falls unto us to stop them...

I, Darren, disassociate with a mental shudder. I’m no stranger to unsavory minds. Just a few weeks ago, I witnessed the mind of the sociopath Arkady—the Russian mobster whom Jacob and Kyle had used as their own pet assassin. I thought Kyle’s mind would be similar, but it isn’t. Arkady didn’t give a f*ck about right or wrong. He just wasn’t wired to empathize with, or care about, other people’s pain. Kyle isn’t wired that way. Instead of being a certifiable psycho, it’s his worldviews that are warping his actions. The views are made worse by his zealot-like determination to achieve his goals at any cost.

The focus that came over him when he thought about his current task is frightening. He had no doubts, or more correctly, he suppressed his doubts. He didn’t worry for a millisecond about the people that would get hurt. He didn’t stop to consider the option of not killing anyone. No. In his mind, whatever needed to be done would be done. Black and white. The rest of the world completely disappeared. This strange mode of thinking is familiar, but I can’t quite grasp what it reminds me of.

It’s time to give Kyle a taste of his own medicine.

If I can Read, I can Guide. If I can Guide, I can execute my plan. I give my instructions to Kyle the same as I would with any other person.

You will feel too calm and relaxed the next time you try to Split into the Mind Dimension. You will not even think about the Mind Dimension. You are here on a work mission for the Organized Crime Unit. You’re at this conference to neutralize some Russian mobsters. Here’s how...

After I give Kyle the rest of my Guiding directives, I exit his head.





*





I want to shower, immediately, but that would require having a body, which I currently lack in this Level 2 nether-realm. I quickly distance myself from Kyle and approach the pattern representing my Level 1 self.

It’s pretty obvious what I need to do to phase out.

Touching is what allows me to Read and Guide people, as well as what allows me to exit the Quiet. So to leave this place, I just need to do the equivalent of what is considered touching here. Which happens to be that thing I just did with Thomas’s and Kyle’s patterns.

“Goodbye, Mimir,” I think into the emptiness of Level 2. “I hope we meet again.”

Without waiting for my enigmatic new friend to respond, I focus on trying to surround the pattern that represents me. Again, without moving, I’m simply there.

This is it. I try to become one with my pattern.

Before I even register it, the transition happens, and I’m out.





Chapter 24





Sounds are back. Sights are back. Smells are back. I’m aware of my body—every toe and every tooth—and aware of my body breathing.

It’s amazing how much sensory data our mind absorbs on a second-by-second basis. It’s usually ignored, but right now, I’m aware of it all.

All these senses are glorious.

The relief I feel is overwhelming.

But I have to recover quickly. Things are in motion that I can’t miss.

I quickly take stock of my situation. I’m back in the conference hall. I’m standing near Row 25, surrounded by scientists who were attacking me just a moment ago (from their perspective). But they’ve stopped attacking me. They’re just looking around, confused.