“Everyone, probably, has moments when they feel the Universe itself is tirelessly caring for the integrity of their unique ‘I’…” – THE PLACE OF QUARANTINE
Tina’s voice and her words resonate in my ears. As if I’m living through that night again, sound after sound, touch after touch, and it is with some reluctance that I open my eyes – here on Quarantine, in the soft armchair of my bedroom. I open them and stare into space for a long time – remembering how in Bangkok, once the theory was finished, and the last equal sign was down in my long-suffering notebook, I went out into the city and wandered around it for hours in unrestrained euphoria.
Formulas floated before my eyes, and beyond them, beyond the integrals, logarithms and matrices, I could see the whole universe and farther beyond it. I imagined stunning pictures – multidimensional worlds with exotic metrics, patterns and shapes that could not be believed in, and yet I knew they existed, me myself being an inseparable part of them. Their scale did not overwhelm me – I could see alongside them a myriad of shooting neurons, the trembling of the dipoles, the waves of an invisible field piercing the brain. I could visualize the most complex dance, the dance of the conscions, and it was no less majestic than any cosmic structure. I felt a proportionality with the entire cosmos – for myself and for every other human being.
The music thundered inside me. I walked along a crowded street and peered at the faces – of petty traders and taxi drivers and tourists crazy with the heat. I told myself not to judge them strictly; they, too, would leave their mark. Many of them had thought, felt and perhaps loved at some time or other. There are those still capable of it to this day – and everything their mind has been accumulating will be preserved and not lost. The B Objects, having left their “owners,” will bring parts of their lives to other worlds. Do the other worlds need that? Maybe so; who knows – and perhaps, I thought, among these people there are those who believe they have a global role to play, even if they can’t explain it in words. Everyone, probably, has moments when they feel themselves to be on familiar terms with the stars and galaxies. On the same wavelength with outer space – and then they are no longer intimidated by the immeasurable scale of time and distance. This is reflected in their faces, in their eyes – look closely at anyone doing what they know best. Perhaps, at that moment, they feel the universe itself is tirelessly caring for the integrity of their unique “I”! Is this not a reason to be proud of your superiority over mindless nature?… I felt the most acute pride in humanity. Although, of course, “pride” is not the right word. No one has yet come up with the right words for this.
I wandered around, insensible to the heat, talking to myself, grinning at my own thoughts. My delight, my emotional outburst resembled a powerful narcotic dream. Even now I am utterly unashamed when I recall it – and I remember, savor the memory, reclining in my armchair, stretching out the pleasure. Then I finally get up and go out into the living room – in the same elevated state of mind. I have several sheets of paper in my hand: a concise extract, the quintessence of my work. The sequence of the transformations deforming space, the path leading to the conscion vortices, to the stable soliton waves. To the B Objects connecting worlds – my former, terrestrial one and this strange place that I have yet to really get to know.
Elsa stands at the stove, wearing a short dress with a bow and a lace apron. She looks like a French maid from an upmarket porno. I say hello and am immediately struck by her gaze. I freeze under it, feeling pinned to the wall. Like we are midddle of a love affair and I have just been caught cheating…” – THE PLACE OF QUARANTINE
Image credit: JoeyJazz
“This book may well change our perception of life itself!” – Readers’ Favorite
He didn’t expect to wake up dead. Now he wants to prove the afterlife exists. Is there any hope that our memory and consciousness remain intact after death?
Read The Place of Quarantine today to open your mind to destiny!
SEMMANT and other books by Vadim Babenko 