Commune Series; Volume 1

[Chrysalis]

THEOSIS
babel, planet carinea, date unknown

Myrrh and incense. Chants and hymns of solemn praise not heard by ears, but delivered through nanite implants. Orchestral spectacle in complete silence. The great temple hall beneath the surface of Carinea was lit by green-tinted lights and cold, but not unpleasantly so. A procession seemed to be taking place. A crowd of acolytes was gathered around a monolithic NGM effigy, centered beneath the painted dome enclosing the hall. A work comparable to the Sistine Chapel of ancient Earth, the theme of the night-sky littered with shapes and forms both alien and human, spread across the ceiling.

The gathered moved around the buzzing effigy, it's towering shape pulsating a green-blue glow in regular intervals. Their ritualized motions and posing evoked a primeval, reptillian imagery. All pecking order and unmatched poise, as if failure to conform with what was transpiring was equal to death. As the effigy pulsated faster, so did the acolytes pick up speed, whirling around it in a trance - completely overtaken. Illumined by the spirit of the Created God. The egregore born of their very collective being.

At the apex of trance, just short of catharsis, they stopped. The acolyte circle around the effigy broke into two groups, and then spread downwards towards the entrance, forming with their bodies a corridor towards it. One of them - invoking the role of high priest - remained in the center and in front of the monolith, the rest, all lined up, glared at the entrance. The high priest raised his right hand, and placed his left over his heart, then announced.

"Supplicant. You who would walk the final mile - Approach!"

The thin frame of a female, wrapped in white robe, emerged through the doorway. Out of the darkness of the corridors beyond, into the light of the hall. With a steady step, she moved down between the acolyte rows, towards the center of the hall, and the effigy. The high priest motioned with his raised hand down and next to him, as if to reassure her. She paused for a moment, then continued walking - slowly but steadily. Her head moved from the faces of the people she was passing by, to the works of art on the ceiling, down to the effigy which seemed to slow its pulses as she approached. Shy of the last step, it stopped altogether - settling into a singular, unchanging glow.

"Supplicant. You who would commend your spirit to eternity. Have you received the mysteries and been illumined by the dreaming spirit of the Matrix - and thus fully aware of consequences of the path chosen?"

"I am" - She said meekly, but clearing her throat, she repeated with more agency. "I am."

On that word, the effigy hissed pressurized air and a portion of it opened. Out of this opening, a device built like a dentist's chair extended. The woman regarded it with widened eyes, a mixture of fear and curiosity behind them. The priest motioned to the chair.

"Then assume the position." He held out his hand to help her settle into a reclined position on the chair. As she laid there, he continued. "You, who cursed by illness beyond our wisdom, will partake in the miracle of the Matrix. And be granted life eternal, as you pass from this one."

Tubes and cables automatically emerging from the chair quickly enveloped her body, tying her in place, and piercing the back of her skull and neck. She gasped for air, her eyes rolled to the back of her head. The gathered turned and reformed the circle like the one before around the scene. Beginning the ceremony anew.

"Remember us as you bask in light unimaginable. Pray for us as you hear symphonies yet unwritten. Intercede on our behalf as you join the One. For one day, the many will join you."

Sounds and images faded, the people around her, their faces and sounds of their footsteps disappeared into nothing. A blackness was behind her eyes, then after that, not even the blackness existed - nor the memory of it ever having been. Her own sense of self eroded, until she felt herself become impossibly small, smaller than the smallest quark - and pressured from all sides, as if submerged in cold water at the bottom of an ocean.

As she abandoned all hope, and resigned to the end that seemed inevitable - a point of light appeared in her newfound field of vision. Out of it, a warmth emanated. She was drawn to it - and it to her.

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