It was raining hard, so hard we could barely see what was in front of us. All we heard was the pitter-patter of the rain, interspersed occasionally by the flash of lightning and crash of thunder. The road before us was a grey streak essaying through a haze of green that was the forest – or at least it was green when he started, now all it was, was a teal mist like an unrealistic dream, growing darker with the onset of night.
“How far is the mansion?” I asked Hermes, the computer in my car.
“Not much, just five more minutes,” Hermes answered.
“But you said that five minutes ago,” I said back to the computer.
“I apologize. I am updating our location now. We are currently experiencing a bit of hindrance for some unexplained reason.”
“It’s because it’s raining,” I told the computer.
The computer flashed some lights, “I will update our system.”
I sighed and kept driving. This new 5G system had trouble working in the rain, because of course it did; millimeter-wave can be stopped by anything! Now, ordinarily this wouldn’t be that much of a problem (since we still had 4G infrastructure, capable of transmitting information at lower speeds over greater distances), but Hermes sent great gigabytes of data over to its cloud server, which would then calculate the options, and return the best course of action.
This is a problem with the society I guess. No matter how fast our computers get, we can only transmit so much data over the internet.
Plus the earth is a huge place, we can’t afford to have cloud centers everywhere.
“We’re there,” after maybe 15 minutes of driving, Hermes chimed joyfully as if he’d won the lottery or something, but at least I was at my destination. The rain had also stopped (which was good since I hadn’t brought an umbrella).
I rolled down the windows and looked outside, only to invite the biting cold of the autumn air to enter my vehicle and wrap its skeletal fingers around me. I shivered, quickly putting on my jacket. One thing I did not regret was the smell of the rain – petrichor it was called, the blood of stones (it’s really the oil of leaves). And it was beautiful, one of the best smells in the world, right up there with the smell of old books.
And I say that as if the environment was not something out of a horror movie.
The forest had grown dark now – the treetops a black silhouette against the lavender sky, their leaves visible only in the faint light of the Sun that was setting to my left, her dying sunlight illuminating the undulating pine-leaves in the autumn wind, marking in black the ravens and owls who sat therein, cawing and hooting as if to warn me.
The mist had grown deep now, curling and swirling into a variety of shapes and sizes, taking forms of belly dancers or ghostly horses.
At length I thought I saw a deer sift through the tree-mesh, chased by other creatures much like itself though feraler. Were they wolves? Were there wolves in this part of the forest? I really hoped it was not.
I drove a bit more until the trees were cleared, and then I saw upon a heath that old mansion that I was to stay in.
Ah, the benefits on being in a multinational company! You never know when your boss gets impressed and grants you the vacation of the lifetime.
Expect this was not the case this time. The mansion looked right out of a poster of a movie set in a haunted house. It was old, massive, and set with a dark haze where reality and irreality intersected, and it was hard to say what was true and what was unreal. But it was a beautiful piece of architecture.
The mansion was a five-story building set upon a hill, separated from the forest outside by tall walls; the corners of the building were accentuated by towers like oak stems, each as tall as the building itself, holding aloft a canopy of red roofs two stories tall. The mansion’s rose-grey walls stood clear in the fading sunshine, marking its silhouette against the backdrop of sullen stars and snow-capped mountains.
Every fragment of the mansion’s wall was lined with glass-windows, which reflected the light of the Sun and shone with vivid colours. It was so beautiful it looked like something out of a dream, or a nightmare perhaps, but it was beautiful, so beautiful my eyes refused to look off that beauty.
I loved technology – that’s why I joined this company! I loved seeing innovation take place in front of me, I loved to be a part of the change, I really loved it! But I also loved the old: nature and architecture. No matter how much you love computers, you can’t deny there’s nothing like taking a walk through a wooded vale, or spending a night in a Victorian-era building with all its intricate carvings and crevasses, and few things beat-
A woman in a white dress appeared before my car, forcing me to swerve. I lost control and the car hit a tree (I think). My vision went black.
Chapter 2
Welcome to Hell
I was bored, I had already finished all my work, but I still had to stay an hour in the office, or they’d cut my pay. It didn’t mind though, I was sitting there, watching videos on YouTube, though there was nothing worth watching at this moment (plus I didn’t want to look up silly things on my work PC, you never know who could be monitoring and what they may think).
I was about to shut down my PC, go to the cafeteria, and spend my last hour sitting there with a warm cup of tea and a packet of biscuits, but before I left I just idly opened the mail, and then my eyes fell upon that.
I was flabbergasted. The mail took the wind out of my breath. If I weren’t in the office, I’d have jumped in joy and called my parents then and there. Not only was I being commended for my extraordinary work, I was also getting rewarded with a vacation to the countryside.
This was the best day ever.
When I opened my eyes, I found myself in bed. It wasn’t my bed, definitely – it was way too lavish to be that. The sheets were soft and smelt faintly of rosemary, the walls of the room were paneled and heated, probably sound-proofed to offer solace to the person within.
The only sound I heard was the modest pitter-patter of the rain outside, and the ticking of a grandfather clock in a corner of the room. I realised where I was, I was in that mansion I was planning to go to-
And then memories of last night came back rushing: the woman, the crash.
Damn it, I’m not ready for another mortgage. Hopefully, it’s not too bad. I’m not sure what I’ll tell my company. Maybe they will make an exception if I tell them how it wasn’t my fault. But that begs another question: why am I here?
I can only assume the staff at the mansion heard the crash (or saw the smoke) and came rushing, and because we are quite far from civilisation, decided to take me in and treat me to their best ability.
Oh well, that’s probably for the best – so I told myself, and got out of bed. I wasn’t in my regular clothes, I realized, but in a nightgown, with my regular clothes neatly packed at the foot of my bed, my luggage at a corner of the room. I’m not sure how I felt about it, but I went to the bathroom anyway to brush my teeth and wash my face before I got out.
The hallway was a sullen corridor of polished wood, connecting a dozen rooms like a river into which minor streams flow in. It was well-lit by a chandelier that dangled from the ceiling. One end of the hallway bent into who-knows-what, while the other pointed towards an open space with a large table and a guy sitting there, pen to paper. I could only assume that guy was the receptionist. Oh well, time for some answers (and some breakfast).
“
Guten tag!” the receptionist chimed, “hope you had a good sleep, the accident was particularly nasty, but we did our best to patch you up.”
“Uh, thanks,” I said, the receptionist curled his hands and smiled ominously. “So I was driving and this woman jumps in front of my car.”
“Oh, we’re aware of that,” said the receptionist, “that’s Emma, she works here, though she’s not very mentally stable. Don’t worry, your company already knows about it, and is willing to pay the expenses.”
“Splendid!” I said, genuinely surprised. The fact that this meant I was trapped here for who knows how long didn’t even cross my mind, I was just glad to not have to bother about paying the expenses out of my pocket.
“Okay, so… breakfast!” I said. “When can I expect it?”
“Now,” said the clerk, “I’ll tell the cook, veg or non-veg?”
“Non-veg, please,” said I.
“Alright, please return to your room and wait five minutes, we’ll deliver it.”
“Cool,” I said and returned to my room. My first course of action was to check for my belongings. I was relieved to see everything was functional, although there was no signal here so I couldn’t get an internet connection. That meant I couldn’t check for mails. Oh well, I hope nothing important comes today. Not that I’d mind a digital detox anyway.
“Room service!” a voice outside my room spoke.
“Coming!” I went about and opened the door, and the same guy (the receptionist) was standing there.
“Oh, are you the only one working today?”
“Yep,” said the man, “and so I have been for a while now. I am the receptionist, the manager, the cook, the laundry guy, and your host!”
“Yep,” said the man, “I’m Casper, by the way! Casper, as in Casper the Friendly Ghost!”
“
Freut mich sehr, Casper” I said and shook his hands, “thanks for tending to me, I’ll write a good review about you when I return.”
“
Vielen dank, Herr,” said Casper and turned, “
bis später, tschüss!”
I took the tray of food and settled into the table, jumping onto the food – buttered toast, fried eggs, sausages, bacon strips, with tea on the side. The food was delicious, especially on a morning like this, so far from civilisation and technology. I ate on, my gaze fixed outside, watching the golden leaves of autumn swaying to and fro by the windowsill. For once, I felt like this was heaven. I had brought a book along, and if fate was on my side, I could spend the whole day sitting inside, reading a book and eating food, watching the autumn leaves sway.
I could also take a hike into the woods when the rain had subsided, the very thought of that filled me with glee.
Yep, this was heaven. There’s nothing more I could’ve wanted then.
Chapter 3
Odd Occurrences
True to my work, I did go out into the garden once the rain had stopped. The place was beautiful. All around me, trees rose like pillars, holding aloft a golden canopy, from which leaves fell like a faint rain, all penetrated by the aroma of withering leaves and fresh tree-bark.
The ground I walked upon crunched with a crisp noise as I stepped among the leaves, listening to the faint singing of songbirds and cawing of ravens.
Casper was the only person I had encountered so far; it seemed he was the only one stationed here. Perhaps he was, and everyone else had gone for holiday… as if there can be a better holiday than this spot. Oh well, whatever. At least I get to be almost alone in a place like this.
I spent most of my time wandering the garden and the little valley which surrounded the mansion. I have to say, the woods around the mansion were even better, their canopies so dense you could hardly see the Sun through the leaf girdles, and that too no more than tiny sunbeams.
Where these rays landed a number of ferns and shrubs grew freely, as if to make the most out of every scrap of sunlight they could get their leaves on.
So I walked on, passing a little stream which flowed through the valley and ending up at the precipice of a cliff overlooking a vast forest, and dare I say it was the most beautiful thing I had seen. The hills before me were all covered in trees, their hues gold and green, and in a distance, I could see the snow-capped peaks of mountains like castles out of a fairy tale.
I stood a moment to take a picture of it, but just then my phone caught a signal.
In a flash, the whole detachment from technology was gone. The moment my signal came back, notifications came pouring, from my friends, from my family, from various apps I had installed. I sighed and got rid of all, though one of them caught my eye at the last moment.
“Run!” said an unknown number.
Huh? I was confused. What was I supposed to run from, and where would I run to? I quickly opened the message to see the timestamp.
11:35 PM, Yesterday.
That didn’t sound good. I quickly checked the number to see who it was from, but I didn’t have it saved, nor did anyone else. “Who is this?” I sent back to the number.
“HERMES” the reply came almost instantaneously, “your friendly traveling companion!”
“Why would I run?” I send it back.
“Running is good for health,” said the bot, and then followed with a block of text. Oh well, I guess it must’ve been a glitch, perhaps it was an advertisement that didn’t wasn’t typed completely. It could be-
“Join us,” a voice came from the forest, an ominous sound shrill and clear.
I jumped. The voice caught me off guard.
“Uh, hello,” I said back to the voice, but there was no response. I’m not that easily scared, so I knew there had to be an explanation for this. Most likely it was just a prank.
But there was no answer.
“Hello!” I said again, and waited for a few minutes. I didn’t hear anything, but I could feel something coming closer, and closer, and closer.
I decided to head towards it. If I just waited there, and it proved to be something dangerous, I had nowhere to run down the cliff.
I traveled for an hour or two. The sun was beginning to set, and the forest looked gorgeous at dusk.
But there was something I could not shake off. It felt like something was watching me. No matter where I went, I saw what seemed like a silhouette, perhaps under the shade of some tree.
But eh, it was probably my imagination, or probably a wolf, or perhaps Casper.
I mean, who else could it be out in the woods here? Who else would-
And just then I saw it. Standing there, below the shade of a tree, was a woman clad in white, black hair covering her face, an air of shadow about her.
“Join us,” she said in a shrill voice that didn’t seem to come from her, but rather from the world around me, as if she was speaking into a microphone with speakers all over the forest.
I was scared. I nearly jumped back. I started running, not bothering to see if there was an actual threat.
But she was gaining on me. She was not running but flying towards me with such speed I could not fathom. What freaked me out more was how her hair remained plastered to her dress as if the laws of inertia didn’t apply to her.
She was Emma; she was a ghost, and she was after me.
I ran, not bothering to look back, I ran for my life, my heart pumping like a combustion engine, I rushed for the safety of the mansion.
But she was gaining on me. She was gaining on me. She was-
Just before she caught hold of me, I opened the door, entered the building, and shut it on her face, my back against the door. I sighed.
Chapter 4
Like a Cornered Beast
“Casper!” I cried in fear, but nobody answered me. “Casper!” I cried again, but no answer came.
Suddenly the world grew silent, my heart’s thumping the loudest thing in the world. Outside, the wind whistled and the trees rustled, but no voice came.
After what I assume to be half an hour of standing there, I was calm enough to turn and open the door just a tad, with the deadbolt on (as if it would’ve done something against a ghost), and I looked outside.
The ghost wasn’t there.
I sighed in relief. Perhaps it was just my imagination. I mean, what else could it be? Everyone knows ghosts don’t exist. On top of that, I’m an engineer! I didn’t believe in the supernatural, I believed in science, I believed if anything exists, there’s science behind it.
No indeed, what I saw was surely just my imagination. I guess-
“Join us,” the voice came again, this time from behind me.
I turned, and there she was, standing outside the window. Now that it was dark, her white body glowed in the shadow. She was outside, and she was angry.
I grew cold. I knew I had to run, but where could I run to?
I quickly rushed to my room and picked up any weapons I could find. There was a fire-poker there, which might serve as a club or a spear, but can mundane weapons harm ghosts? I didn’t think they did.
But what would I find that could harm her? Perhaps I should call the police, and tell them there’s a murderer here.
Yes, that would be the right thing to do!
I quickly picked up my phone and dialed the number-
There was no signal. No matter how much I tried… no signal.
Oh no!
My face went pale. I clutched the fire-poker and kept it firmly in my grasp, looking for any weapons which could serve me. I didn’t have holy water with me, nor any silver cutlery, and no religious symbols-
“Join us,” the voice was louder now. I looked outside the window and saw her standing there, right outside, peering into my room, moving without moving her body as if she were a placeholder for some animator to put in the animations later.
She also seemed unaffected by the environment around her. Her hair remained stuck to her body no matter how much she moved, the clothes she wore did not move in the wind, nor when she moved around.
So I watched from a sense of morbid fascination, and I came to the sanest conclusion I could think of.
In the Spirit Realm, there is no wind or gravity. And that was scary.
“Join us,” she said again, this time a bit fainter, and moved away from the window.
For half an hour more I remained clung to the window, fire-poker in hand. If she came to me, I could probably use it as a halberd, though I doubted it would work. I mean, if Newton’s First Law doesn’t work on her, why would Newton’s Third Law work? All I could assume was it would pass through her.
But would it? Because if it did, wouldn’t that also mean she could pass through the walls without much hindrance. Did that mean the Third Law worked on her?
Or did she work on vampire rules where she couldn’t enter a building unless she was invited inside. Or was it something else?
And I waited, and I waited, and for a while it seemed she was gone. I had two choices now. I could sit here until morning came, then look for Casper and want out, or I could go outside and try to find him. Perhaps he was also a ghost, and he was just living up to his name. Or perhaps he was a human but was captured by Emma and just being tortured, or perhaps he’s her husband and killed her.
A million possibilities came through my mind, but I realised I had to act on it.
If I stayed put, I only risked Emma getting in though a loose window or something. If I walked around and looked for Casper, perhaps we could get through this whole thing together.
Fire-poker in hand, I left the room wearing a jacket, hoping it could protect me against whatever attacks the ghost did. I mean, it’s not like a ghost would claw or bite me, but some protection was better than none. Not like I bought an enchanted elven cloak with +50% resistance against magical attacks anyway.
I sighed. When I got the mail, I didn’t expect I’d be fighting monsters but I guess I didn’t turn into a monster myself, so either I’m not fighting monsters or Nietzsche was wrong.
Suddenly I felt a fear of death. What if I died and became a ghost too? Not that I’d mind, honestly. I love this place, I wouldn’t mind remaining here another hundred or so years. If anything, it’s humans-
“Join us,” the voice came again. I freaked out and turned behind me.
And there was Emma standing at the end of the hallway. She was actually inside.
I grew pale. She was coming closer, flying through the frigid air at a uniform speed.
I ran. I didn’t bother to check anything, I ran. And I kept running until-
She appeared again, this time before me. My heart jumped from my ribs and I struck her with the fire-poker, only to have it pass through her. I attacked her again, but once again it passed through and hit the wall she was standing close to. I stabbed her but the fire-poker passed through her body as if I wasn’t stabbing anything at all.
I wildly swung several times, all to no use. The fire-poker passed through her, breaking her shape as it passed through, but otherwise doing no harm.
And she neared me, her head bobbing left and right like a broken pendulum, and I had nowhere to run. I knew there was nothing I could do, so I just stood there and looked her in the eyes. Death was coming.
Chapter 5
A Glimpse of the Future
And she neared me, her head bobbing left and right like a broken pendulum, and I had nowhere to run. I knew there was nothing I could do, so I just stood there and looked her in the eyes. Death was coming.
“End simulation!” just then the voice of Casper came aloud, the ghost flickered and disappeared, and the mansion lit up once again.
“Casper! What’s the meaning of this?”
I didn’t know what to say, my brain had stopped functioning.
“I’m sorry, my friend. I figured this was the best way to show you our latest technology – introducing, base-free holograms!”
Casper flicked a button and the ghost appeared out of thin air. He flicked the button again and it disappeared. He pressed a few buttons on his phone and the ghost travelled around, passing through furniture but losing some parts of her body in the process. She did a number of animations, and then said “join us” and faded.
I was still processing this, and didn’t know exactly how to feel about this.
After about an hour of explanation and sitting through a debriefing, I was back to normal.
So, as it happens, Emma is our company’s latest creation: an AI-driven entity which exists in an extended reality with the avatar of a ghost with long black hair wearing a white robe, basically the girl from The Ring. Ordinarily this wouldn’t be that unique, but coupled with our latest holographic projectors (which by the way were hidden all around the mansion, and in the forest in certain areas); we could make them appear in the physical world, at least to some extent.
“We’re not there yet, but we’ll soon be there,” Casper said, “so that’s why we turn it on during the night, so the darkness can obscure some things. Do it in a well-lit room, and the light interferes with the lasers, and you start to see the shortcomings.”
“I see,” I replied. “So that’s why your plan was to keep me in here, so I couldn’t just leave in the day? That’s why you crashed my car?”
“Yep, we didn’t have a better way. I’m sorry; the company will pay for damages. We did have a paramedics team close at hand though, and HERMES was also at the ready. You may not have noticed, but he actually took control of your car in the last moments, having crashed into a tree we specifically targeted. You were really safe this whole time.”
“Ah, that explains it,” I nodded.
I mean, I was upset my company decided to play such a dangerous stunt, but this experience was good. I am a bit embarrassed about being scared, but I don’t think you’d not be scared if you were in my shoes.
In fact, since there was no real danger involved in this situation, I guess you could say this was like a live action horror movie, which is awesome to think about.
“By the way, I think I didn’t introduce myself properly,” said Casper, “I’m Casper Kirchhoff, Technology Leadership.”
No! Not Casper Kirchhoff, the guy I’ve been following on Twitter for several years: the tech genius I work under! But then he showed me his ID card, and – yes, this was that guy, the guy I’ve been trying to get a project under.
It was a dream come true.
“I’ve been watching you for quite some time now,” said Casper, “I was impressed by the work you did on that last project, so I imagined you’d love to work on this one. My plan is to perfect this holographic system, such that one day you could interact with a hologram and not even know it is one.”
I nodded.
This truly was the best vacation ever. I didn’t smile then, but inside I was ecstatic. I was so happy I couldn’t describe it. I was in heaven.
Over the next hour, Mr Kirchhoff explained what my duties would be and what was expected of me. Apparently I’m needed to perfect the system. If I do it, I can get a hefty promotion, and a huge bonus. But more importantly, I’ll contribute to science in ways I hadn’t even planned.
“But before you begin, we need you to sign a contract,” said Mr Kirchhoff and produced a contract before me. “Don’t worry, this one’s just a mock contract, the real one will be emailed to you. I’ll go turn on the cell tower so you can access the internet.”
With that, Casper left, and I started reading the contract.
As per it, as long as I worked on this project, I wouldn’t be allowed to discuss this project with anyone. And until my task was done, I was to remain here, working on the system. I would be allowed to leave for a temporary break if I wished it, but for now this was my base location (as if I could say no to that).
But at what cost? What would this invention be used for? Was this a tool of good, or a tool of evil?
“So,” Casper looked eagerly at me. “Do you wanna… join us…” he giggled a bit, “or are you out? Don’t worry, I’ll understand if you aren’t too excited about this whole ordeal. I really do!”
I immediately contemplated the world that was to come. And in that moment I could glimpse the future: holograms would no longer be a thing of fiction; we could have fantasy characters walking around the real world and be perceived by everyone around us. We could present ourselves where we were not.
This was VR at the next level.
But we could also use it for trickery. We could scare people with ghosts, we could use it for psychological warfare, we could gaslight people into seeing things that weren’t true… we could do so much with good with it, and so much evil too. This new technology could be used to blur the line between the real and the unreal. With ample holographic projectors and a world-spanning extended reality system, it’d be like having an alternate dimension on top of our own world.
Would that be good? Or would that be a thing of evil?
I signed the contract. I mean, what’s the worst we could do with it anyway?
.......................das Ende.......................
चरित्रहीन
करमजली, कुलटा, पहले तो मेरे पवन को खा गई और अब मेरे समीर पर घिनौना इलजाम लगा रही है। अभी पवन के चिता की राख भी ठंडी नहीं हुई और तूने अपने रंग दिखाने शुरू कर दिए। निकल मेरे घर से। तुझ जैसी चरित्रहीन और बदचलन औरत के लिए मेरे घर में कोई जगह नहीं।
so do it better..
