There had been no other choice as far as Danny could see. There was no way of escaping this next step, however much he might like to try. There wasn't even time to contact Jodie personally. He was still worrying that Ben might not think to check his mind-messages. Still, he'd just have to trust on that one.
Danny entered the Thought Realm, a sphere of thought that surrounds every person and everything. He soared up to the Thought Realm of the Earth itself, settling down to the altitude that he imagined might house satellites. He searched for some time. He drifted past chunks of ghost-like metal and other debris till eventually he found what he was looking for.
He homed in on a black globe. An indistinct though arrow-straight red beam of light connected the black satellite to somewhere on the Earth. By defocusing his eyes Danny could also see the light grey sphere, of the Elif, that encircled the whole planet. This dirty grey sphere was the true body of the Elif. The black globe was merely the Elif’s brain.
Here and there small whirlpools of energy shot up from the Earth to the grey aura. Each contained the hopeless dreams of another lost soul, a small donation for the ever-hungry Elif. In return, the many demons within the Elif would descend through the invisible grey matrix. Each demon splinter of the Elif was eager to make its nest in a new human mind.
It must have been about the size of a large van. It looked like it was made of some tar-like substance. Upon its surface oily waters and black liquid-metal continents drifted. It shone with an eerie dark light.
Danny felt a growing chill rising in his bones. Hatred arose in him, a raw animal anger. He swallowed and focused on the ball of ruro in his chest. With a final glance downward he noted that the ruro was glowing a more intense blue than it ever had before. It was a glow that could be seen clearly through his flesh. Danny's Thought Realm self took a last deep breath. He dived toward the point of no return.
‘Who dares attack me?’ thought the Elif indignantly. The globe was shocked. It had sensed the onslaught shortly before but its premonitions had failed completely. He had not seen this future. How can this be? Rippling waves extended out from where Danny was aiming. As he made contact the whole sphere started to pulse violently and to glow an angry red, then purple. The thing was fighting him. Doubts and fears drilled their way into his mind. Perhaps he should turn back now. After all what could he do? He didn’t matter. Surely it had gone too far for him to make any difference?
Danny shouted at the unwelcome voices in his mind. Great swirls of the Elif's grey aura lifted themselves up in arms. The swirling arms gained solidity. They tried to tear Danny off as he clung to the molten globe. Concentrating on the ruro globule inside he felt his whole body tune into its frequency. He was the ruro. He must go on. There was no turning back now. He must fight. Beginning from his chest outwards he became engulfed in a dazzling blue, red tongued light of fire. He was on fire. The surface of the globe suddenly gave. The boiling black and red surface calmed and Danny entered inside.
What happened next took Danny wholly by surprise. He was expecting the gates of hell. What he got was closer to Starbucks. It must have been the dark side of Starbucks however. Danny found himself suspended in a totally black room. One by one items appeared, a lounge chair, a table, a coffee bar with espresso machine. His body was more or less the same but made of a slightly heavier substance than it was in the Thought Realm proper. Danny had no idea where he was or even what realm he was in. A cup of coffee slowly floated itself over to him. A straw appeared in it. One of the thick flexi-straws Danny found so useful back on Earth. Danny tried a sip. It was just how he liked it.
‘I see you've made it then,’ said a dark bass voice that seemed to reverberate everywhere. ‘Probably expecting fire and brimstone I imagine. It may have been that way that once upon a time but I do things differently now,’ it paused, ‘despite, your lack of invite.’
More silence followed. Danny took occasional sips of his coffee. He was trembling. All he could think about was escaping.
The Elif continued, ‘Time is different here. It goes fast or slow - just as I desire. Let me explain a little - although really it is you who should be doing the explaining. Nothing is all bad - myself included. When I first came to the Earth it was already in difficulty. And what is more, your solar system was about to enter the cosmic plains of Armageddon: a difficult journey for a life-planet such as Earth. The plains of Armageddon are brutal. It is like a desert in space. It was all the sun could do to continue shining, giving out the power of the living. The solar system went out of balance. Moons were lost, bodies tilted. But worst of all the great deserts on Earth were born. The time of Eden, the Eternal Dance of Energy, came to an end and the era of “The Fall” began.
‘It looks like I attacked the Earth all those years back - but that is only part of the story. Yes I fed on the life-force and the mind energy too - refined “force” to a creature such as I. But, Earthman, everyone needs to eat in the lower realms. The Earth Spirit, Sofia, had lost a great deal of her power because of the terrible disease she had experienced. This is the disease of the Armageddon space-plains itself. Man had fallen from grace, the children starved. Mother Earth knew that if there were enough humans, one day they might reverse the drain of her life-force. Their combined consciousness would be enough to protect her from the Armageddon space plain.
‘Now, as you know, the Earth is about to leave the Armageddon plains but it is the humans who have lost their way. And the Hidden Ones will try to destroy the Earth once again. I know you must think I am some sort of devil - the source of all evil and all that. But hear me Danny. You are not alive for millennia without gathering some kind of wisdom. Why would a completely evil creature exist in God's great universe anyway?
‘Yes, the Sapient Ones are right, I have attached myself and fed from the Earth. But I also have something I can give in return. I can implant thoughts, weave dreams, redirect hopes, and waive fears. I can live in a million minds at once, aware of each as the centre of my attention.
‘I can help mankind change. The next few years are crucial. Would you let mankind wander through the last reaches of the desert alone?’
Danny sat quietly deep in his thoughts. The coffee was still hot. However much he drank his cup stayed full. At least the centre of hell was better than home in this respect. His coffee was often lukewarm and his plastic beaker one third full or less back there. Perhaps this is a form of self-defence, Danny reflected. Thinking about the petty things in life, pretending that I'm not really here having a relaxed conversation over a cup of coffee with the Elif. What if I am trapped inside its mind, perhaps forever? Or at least for a very long time - Danny couldn't allow himself thoughts like that. He collected himself. Sensing his readiness the Elif continued.
‘There are too many humans for me to influence. They behave like scattered seeds of darkness blown about by an evil wind. But you carry the ruro substance in your Earth-bound body. This is the most powerful substance in the entire universe Earth-child.
‘We could change the world with it, and quickly. We could return to the days of Eden - but with billions of Adams and billions of Eves, not just a few like before. It could be wonderful, beyond both our imaginations. Think about it awhile. I would need the actual substance from your chest on the Earth-plain. Your mind would be temporarily conjoined, though still separate, to my own. Together we could change the thought-patterns of the entire human race. What do you say Danny? Will you at least consider my words?’
Danny sat silently and contemplated. He dearly wanted to believe it. He had expected fights to the death, screaming and tearing of flesh. But instead he had got words that left him feeling unsure of anything. Who was he fighting anyway? Why destroy the Elif? Is war and fighting, all there ever is? There must be more than good versus evil forever and ever, amen.
Danny prayed. He asked the universe, his higher power, to guide him in some small way, any way that he could understand. As if in a mirror his request was miraculously answered. The faintest echo of Thinking Stone's voice stirred deep within him. It was so deep that Danny knew that even the Elif would not be able to overhear, ‘Nothing really dies Danny. The Elif just does not want to change, that is all.’ With that Danny understood what he had to do.
Danny summoned up every ounce of power, every ray of thought, each drop of sunshine that had ever resided inside his mind. He was powering up like a great sports car revving for the first time. Danny shone like the rockets of the shuttle launch, except where there was fuel, here there was life. Danny grew as bright as a small sun, his mind as wide and powerful as the universe itself.
He heard a scream, a long, dark, furious scream that emanated from the very bowels of the great creature, the Elif. Swirls of blackness engulfed him trying to stop Danny’s light, block it out in any way it could. Danny threw the arms off. He felt an immense anger. Tuning in to the vibration that was locked deep within him, Danny began to emit the Nemesis code. His whole body reverberated to its inharmony, its almost evil sound. Every ounce of himself ached and hurt with its power.
The Elif was still fighting. Great swirls of blackness arose all around him. It was a cloak of nothingness into which light just died. This gathering darkness surrounded him. It was getting harder to emit the vibration. It was as though the Elif was sucking the life-force straight out of him, killing the sound and light. Soon, he couldn't move, couldn't think. His mind was no longer his own. He tried to pull his mind back but the dark force was too strong.
For a moment, Danny thought about Thinking Stone and Jodie. With one last effort he pushed every ounce of his soul into making the vibration. Suddenly countless black flying rats slammed into his body. They pounded and gnawed at his flesh. The pain as their teeth shredded his living tissue was unbearable. Then suddenly, engorged on his flesh and hanging by their claws, the rats died and rotted in seconds. From the bodies of the rats came beetles. They drove themselves into every opening mercilessly hungry. He couldn't breathe, couldn't think but still he fought.
A beam of dark light, a foot across hit him square in the chest. It knocked him flying into the surrounding nothingness. He felt his whole body explode. But still Danny continued to exist, to fight. The little pieces of the explosion, a cell here, a splash of flesh there continued to support his mind. The splattered gore reformed itself into tens of thousands of minuscule Dannys. He lived in each and every one of them at once.
Danny continued to emit the vibration, but quieter now and from each of his tiny bodies instead. An enormous disembodied hand gathered up all the tiny Dannys using a magnetic force field that it emitted. A second hand appeared and crumpled the pieces of his soul into a ball. Still Danny emitted the vibration. The hands threw him.
He hurtled through the blackness with a speed entirely beyond his control. Next thing he knew he had passed through a wall that felt like water and had hit the ground hard. The force of the fall knocked every last breath out of him.
Time passed. It was hot, dry. There was a baking sun overhead. Danny looked down at himself. His body was exhausted but in one piece, more or less normal. He was in a desert. The sun shone harshly. The Elif was gone. The nemesis vibration had stopped. Danny fell asleep, exhausted