//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: The Resurrectionists // by Captain_Hairball //------------------------------// “I am Eternal Enigma, and I am an explorer of the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler has returned.” “So you’re obsessed with death,” said Skanky, glancing in the side-screen of her camera to double check that the shot was framed correctly. Annoyance flashed across Eternal’s face, but he got control of himself before responding. “I suppose that would be a fair assessment,” he said, his tone even. Skanky felt a glimmer of satisfaction at irritating him. It was unprofessional, but she couldn't help it. When she started to wonder if her hatred of him was irrational, she remembered the griffon roulette incident. “What got you interested in death research?” she said. “The story beings in my youth. I suffer from a congenital heart condition. As a foal, I had to undergo a number of operations. During one of these, I was clinically dead for almost three minutes.” “What was it like? Do you remember it?” “I remember leaving my body. I saw myself on the table, rib cage open, the doctors working to restart my heart.” “Were you afraid?” Eternal shook his head. “No, I felt very calm. I noticed that there was a gray light coming from the ceiling. I felt curious about it, so I floated up towards it. I found myself in a tunnel made of glass and black metal, like an underwater passage in an aquarium, but through gray mist instead of water. There was something moving in the gray, but I couldn’t see what it was. I followed the tunnel to a massive domed room made — as far as I could tell — of the same materials as the tunnel. I walked for several hours…” Skanky glanced up from her notes. “Several hours? You were dead for three minutes.” “The flow of time in the afterlife seems to be either subjective or subject to some type of time dilation. After a while, I began to see something red in the distance. As I got closer I realized it was quite large. So far in my journey, I had not felt any fear — the brain releases calming chemicals when under heavy stress, and my soul was still effected by them. This was too much, though. A tower of organs, cancerous and twisted, grown around the spokes and wheels of some sort of some sort of massive mechanical device. My eyes followed the machine up, up, and there at the top was the front body of a while alicorn mare with a pink mane.” Eternal removed his glasses and rubbed at his eyes. “I’m sorry.” Skanky swallowed her mouth suddenly dry. “Celestia. Was this…” “Yes, she had disappeared the year before.” Eternal replaced his glasses. “Her expression… such pain. Such love. Such… peace? I don’t know, my impression was that this was something she had chosen, but I was very young. How could I have understood such complex emotions? There is, of course, no reason to believe it was anything more than a vision. But. I would very much like to know more.” “What happened then?” “The doctors started my heart, and I came out of anesthesia.” He patted his hip. “And I had brought something with me.” Skanky glanced down; his cutie mark was covered by his lab coat. “What is it?” she asked. Eternal traced his hood in the air in a sideways figure eight. “Infinity. Quite a lot to live up to, but I do my best.” ✭☆✭☆✭☆✭ Skanky found Hearth in Grounds for Celebration after her History of Horror Film study section. “Mind if I sit?” asked Skanky. Hearth glanced up at her over the top of her laptop screen. “Of course not. I gotta keep working, though.” Skanky levitated her espresso down in front of her and leaned over for a lap. Hearth’s hooves clattered on her keyboard. “You, know,” said Skanky, “no earth pony has ever been able to explain to me how you guys type with…” “Ah ah ah!” interrupted Hearth, covering her ears. “Don’t! Don’t even! If I start thinking about how I do it, I can’t do it anymore.” “Sorry.” “Just don’t ever mention it again,” said Hearth, going back to typing. “So.” “So.” “We haven’t really talked since… you know. The event.” Hearth sighed. “You make it sound like we had sex. And wipe that goofy grin off your face.” “Sorry. I wasn’t fantasizing about you, I swear.” “Uh huh. So, what’s your issue?” Skanky steeled herself for real talk. “I want to ask you not to go under again.” Heath kept right on typing. “No.” “Why?” “Because Wing Dings and Letterspace didn’t raise a coward, is why.” Skanky realized she was grinding her teeth. “There’s a difference between bravery and insanity, Hearthie. Death isn’t someplace we’re meant to go to and come back from like it’s bucking Neighpon.” Hearth glanced up and raised an eyebrow. “Not meant to by whom? I thought you were an atheist.” “Just because there’s nobody in charge doesn’t mean there aren’t things we shouldn’t do. Luna said death was jealous. What is it going to do when it finds out it's being cheated?” Heath shook her head. “Skanky, ponies nearly die all the time. These experiments are based on a medical procedure doctors do hundreds of times a year. Plus Ether and Eternal say its safe, and I trust them.” Skanky blew out through her nose. “Your mind’s made up, then.” Hearth nodded. “One more time. If I can’t find her… well, I guess I’ll have to look for her more after I die. It’s kind of nice knowing for sure that death isn’t the end.” “What? But life after death is horrible! Your story was a nightmare! I recorded Eternal's story yesterday, and his was a nightmare, too! You’re happy about this?” Hearth shrugged. “I figure it’s like life — it is what it is, and it’s our job to make the best of it.” Skanky slumped down in her chair. “Oh, Faust, Hearth, I’m… I don’t even know how to deal with all this. I always used to think, ‘yeah, life sucks, but if things get too bad, at least I can always kill myself.’ But now I know even killing myself won’t make things better.” Hearth slammed her laptop shut and glared at Skanky. “Good.” Skanky slunk down in her chair. “Wait. I shouldn’t have said that out loud, should I?” Hearths thumped her hooves on the table, eyes narrowed to furious little slits.“How do you think I’d feel if you killed yourself? How would your family feel? How about your students?” “My students hate me.” “That’s not what I’ve heard. Anyway, you think everypony hates you. You probably think the barista hates you.” “I fumbled around for exact change for half a minute. She gave me a dirty look.” “And then she forgot about you and went on to the next annoying customer.” Hearth took a deep breath, and reached across the table, covering Skanky’s hoof with both of hers. “I’m angry because I’m scared. I hate hearing you talk like this. You’re my best friend.” Skanky blinked. “What? I am? Me?” Hearth nodded. Skanky felt like a fresh piece of dog shit. She rubbed her eyes. She wasn’t going to cry. She was tougher than this. “I’m sorry. I just… I feel bad almost every single second of almost every single day. It… it’s had to take, sometimes.” “Skanky, you need to talk to somepony about your depression. It’s not your fault that you feel this way.” “Hearth, how is it that I’m the suicidal one, but you’re the one who’s all about playing dead?” Hearth shrugged. “It’s just something I’ve got to do. Anyway, the ponies who go under always come back okay, right?” ✭☆✭☆✭☆✭ There was another experiment scheduled three days after she talked to Hearth. Skanky didn’t like to be around for the immersions, so she headed down to the Bunker at 9:30 at night to record her interview. Ether had told her that Smooth Operator should be revived and ready to talk by that time. Overly Suspicious carefully examined the limited security access ID that Ether had given her, even though he knew damn well who she was and what she was doing there. She felt his eyes on her as she walked to the elevator. She could tell something was wrong when she stepped out into the foyer. Nothing she could put a hoof on, just something wrong. She swiped her ID and headed into the corridor. There were voices coming from Ether’s lab. Voices with the clipped, jagged tone of trained professionals who’ve just realized they’re utterly fucked. And weeping. A mare’s weeping. Skanky ran the rest of the way to the lab. Smooth Operator was lying on his back on a gurney, covered in a blanket, still bristling with electrodes. At first, she thought he was staring at her, but his eyes didn’t follow her as she rushed in and set down her bag and camera case. Ether and Eternal were standing on either side of him, bickering. Wild Oats was in the corner wailing, tears squirting from her clenched closed eyes. Firmament — the only researcher of the three with a basic grasp of equine emotions — was awkwardly patting Oats’ shoulder, and trying to talk her down, but whatever she was saying was drowned out by weeping. “We could send him back in again. Give his soul more time to find his body,” said Ether. “No,” replied Eternal, taking a break from gnawing on a forehoof, “The shock of a second immersion could kill him.” Ether scowled. “As opposed to being only spiritually dead.” Eternal tapped his chin. “I suppose a heart attack would be easier to explain to the University.” “Are there any unicorns we could trust?” said Ether Brew. “Maybe there’s a way to reboot his mind from physical memory? Or at least keep him going long enough to fool people temporarily? Draw suspicion away from us.” They both looked at Skanky. “For fuck’s sake, I don’t know how to do that, and I wouldn’t even if I could!” Skanky couldn’t believe she was hearing this. She recognized some the different readouts and what they meant — the one that measured Smooth’s heart rate and breathing was beeping along happily. The ETG was flat. She glared at Ether and Eternal. “You killed him. I knew something like this would happen!” Eternal shook his head. “Physically he’s fine. Bloom of health. With a feeding tube he could survive like this indefinitely. But mentally, spiritually…” “He’s a vegetable,” said Ether, shoulders sagging. Skanky stamped and snorted. She wanted to kick both of them in the head. “Didn’t you prepare for this?” “We didn’t realize it could happen,” said Ether. “The body is the home of the soul,” said Eternal. “Life is its natural state. Almost all thanatologists agree on this. Apparently they are wrong. Useful to know, though if word of this gets out it could bring an end to my research.” Skanky’s vision took on a red tinge. She felt a vein in her forehead pulse. “Is that really your biggest concern? He’s a pony! A living, thinking being! Or he was. Now he’s… he’s a husk, and all you can think about is your research?” Eternal rounded on her, fire in his eyes. “Young mare, my research could help millions! It could extend life, ease fears, maybe even conquer death! You need to keep a proper perspective!” Skanky gritted her teeth. Eternal was insane, but a shouting match wasn’t going to help Smooth. What would? An idea occurred to her. “Send me after him.” Ether blinked. “What?” “Send me after him. Put me under. How long has he been like this? Fifteen minutes? Half an hour? Maybe he’s close. Maybe I can find him.” “The world of the dead doesn’t work like that. We don’t even know if it’s a real place or some sort of dream state that’s unique to every pony. Anyway,” Ether waves his hooves frantically, “The same thing could happen to you!” “It’s good to know you care.” She wasn’t being sarcastic — she was genuinely touched. “We can’t allow any more expeditions until we know what went wrong!” said Ether But Eternal waved his hoof at Ether. “No, she may be right. She’s heard all of our stories. She knows as much as any of us about the soul’s journey after death, at least from an anecdotal point of view. And she’s willing.” “And expendable,” said Skanky. “I wasn’t going to say it,” said Eternal.