Through a Lens

Paula...
That distorted voice still called out to her in her fitful sleep, the voice of fundamental
wrongness, a living error in the Universe. She was there once again, inside the Devil
Machine, surrounded by her comrades, battle-weary, their minds and bodies almost
broen. !er psychic powers were useless, it was all she could do to reserve her mental
energy for healing, to stay on the defensive.
Paula...
The worst moment had been when her prayers were met by darness.
Darness. "bsolute darness, the darness between space, the space between worlds.
#o light, life, or hope, no thoughts, nothing but the madness of eternal isolation. She
couldn$t remember the way bac. %aula wondered if she would go insane here instead
of at the hands of the Universal &osmic Destroyer, trapped between worlds, unable
even to return to the side of her fallen friends. 'r maybe she had already gone mad,
and this was only a manifestation of his loneliness. Friends... he ranted as he struc at
them with unseen powers. Maybe all of this was only the psychic pro(ection of an all-
powerful entity gone horribly insane.
#o, there was no way bac, and nothing for her but death, if )iygas had the mercy of
granting them death, if she returned.
She had to press forward.
She had to carry on praying, praying to anyone and anything that there was
somewhere left to go...
Paula...
" name, faintly whispered into her mind, so that she could only catch fragments at
first. "n image, caught in the corner of her eye. " mind, a thought, the faintest of
connections.
Moor Ecivres.
" youth, only a little older than herself, in front of some ind of machine, holding a
control device, with a loo of rapt concentration in his eyes. !is face betrayed fear, a
fear that he could not surrender to or he would not be able to finish his tas.
Moor Ecivres.
She sensed power. #ot battle prowess or psychic ability, but some ind of weird
power she could no more comprehend than )iygas, a ind of authority that outraned
any )od in her world. *t was (ust a boy, but at the same time, it was as if this person
controlled their fates, lie they were cogs in the strange machine that he seemed so
intent on operating.
Moor Ecivres.
+ith the last of her flagging willpower, she hurled her mind at this stranger$s. She met
a... it was lie a large glass screen, as vast as the entire world. She strained at the
barrier. !e closed his eyes. !is will pushed through the screen. She felt it rippling lie
water. Their minds met...
)iygas$ scream was a high-pitched static screech as he dematerialised, his image
becoming more and more consumed by white noise, maybe the calm of a mind at
peace as its confusion was shattered by some ind of sudden moment of cosmic
lucidity.
%aula woe up. She was relieved to find herself in her own bedroom, watched over by
her big plush teddy bear, and inside her own body, flesh and blood, not robotic.
Paula...
The voice was still in her head. *t wasn$t a memory. Someone was calling her.
!er first instinct was to form a shield around her mind and prepare a counter-attac.
Then she realised that the voice was nothing lie )iygas$ demented ramblings. 'f
course it wasn$t )iygas, the Universal &osmic Destroyer was dead, the fight was over,
and now there were more mundane, if e-ually important, things for her to worry
about, lie caring for preschool children and trying to go on a date with a boy who
only had one set of clothes and insisted on taing a baseball bat with him everywhere.
The signal was very wea and barely audible... a desperate plea from a long way
away... she too down her mental defenses and concentrated all her power into
strengthening the signal.
Paula...
She hit darness. &old dar water that tried to drag her down, drain her life force. She
resisted the urge to panic. This wasn$t her. *t was someone else$s thoughts. *f she
fought it, she might damage the already fading connection.
Paula, help me, I'm going to die...
Where are you? Try and visualise where you are in your mind. I promise I'll do my
est to help you.
.elow her, an image, blurred and rippling. " face, obscured by wires and a mas,
lying on a hospital bed. !e was pale and gaunt, not how she remembered him, and she
could see his life force was almost gone and still dropping. Still, his mind had
considerable strength left in it. She felt the same intense concentration that he had
shown when he was operating the machine, on that day. *t was his will that was the
only thing eeping him alive now, some last desperate hope, a belief in something that
the Universe said was impossible. She reached out for him with her mind, pro(ecting
healing waves, and hit the glass wall again. *t cracled with static, a tearing noise that
told her what she was doing was very close to being forbidden by the laws of the
Universe.
Moor Ecivres, you have to go up closer to the screen. Its very di!!icult !or me to send
things through.
She felt the signal pro(ect itself closer. *t was breaing up even faster now, the strain
too great. She wouldn$t have more than one chance.
P" #i!e$up %mega&
/Moor 0civres1 Mr. 0civres2 Mr. 0civres1/
!e blined and looed up. Sharp bright lights made his head hurt. Despite the fu33y
aura around everything and the fact that he was being stared at by a man who looed
lie e4actly lie Dr. "ndonuts and was swirling around lie the Unused .osses, he
was no longer scared. The machine that had been eeping him alive was now mostly
(ust interfering with his breathing and irritating his nasal passages. !e felt wea and
hungry and confused, but not scared. !e was not going to die.
/%aula2/ he ased.
/5ou$re awae1/ said the doctor, /Than goodness1 *ts a miracle1 5ou$ve shown no
signs of recovery for several months now. To be honest, we were about to pull the
plug on you1/
/Mother.../
/+e$re phoning her now. Do you remember what happened at all2/
/6econstructed2/ he guessed.
/0r... well, it was a car accident, but close enough./ said the doctor, /+ho$s this %aula
you eep taling about2 *s she someone special to you2 * don$t thin we$ve had any
%aula come to visit you./
Moor 0civres smiled. There was no way this man could understand. !e was not part
of the lin, not connected to the other world, did not share the bond stronger than life
itself.
Than' you, Paula...
%aula sat up from her bedroom floor. The school bell was ringing and it had woen
her up. She had spent more time than she realised in meditation, or maybe had fallen
asleep from e4haustion. "ll her psychic energy was spent. Still, it was a good feeling,
lie a debt repaid.