"Are you sure we should do this?" asked Rani.
Samir looked into her eyes. They were both squatting on the same hiber bed. They had put it next to their wet mattress, which was piled high with the items they had taken from the cube: timon implant kits, rolled-up hiber beds, and documentation scrolls.
It was the darkest hour of the night, the hour before the dawn. The candle had almost gone out, and the only light in the room was provided by the glowing scrolls. It wasn't much, and Samir couldn't see Rani's face clearly, even though it was very close to his. But he could feel her fear.
"Yes, we should do this," he said. "If we do not - we will always regret we didn't try."
He was already holding the timon implant kit in his hand. He raised it, and put the sharp tip of the cone against the side of his head. He put his thumb over the glowing blue dot in the base.
"Samir! Don't do it! Wait!"
"For what? We know everything there is to know. We've both read the scroll end to end, and discussed every detail. It's time to act."
"Let's wait until it gets light."
Samir hesitated. Then he said:
"We're both very tired, Rani. We need some sleep. And the documentation says that when we are asleep, we will be able to fully enter the consciousness of our second selves. We will be able to see, hear, move, we will be able to do whatever we want in the New World. Not just communicate with our second selves. We'll actually BE there."
"But what if something bad happens?"
"Nothing much. You know what I know. If your second self dies, you'll simply wake up. You may feel some discomfort, nothing more. Then you can have another implant, and start all over again."
"I'm scared."
"So am I."
The moment he said that, he pressed his thumb against the blue dot glowing in the center of the cone's base.
He felt a tingling sensation in his skin, followed by a gentle warmth that spread from the point where the cone's tip touched his head. He became aware of a new presence inside himself, almost as if another soul had entered his body to coexist with his.
It was a friendly soul. It agreed with everything he'd ever felt or thought. Its thoughts were his thoughts. It was him. He was leading a double existence.
"Samir!"
"I'm fine," he said. "This is amazing, Rani. It's beautiful. Do it. Hold my hand, and do it."
Rani moved closer to Samir, tightening her grip on his hand. She raised the hand holding the implant kit, and put the tip of the cone to the side of her head.
"I love you," she said to Samir, and pressed the glowing dot.
For a moment they squatted side by side in silence, their shoulders touching. Then Samir whispered:
"You're sitting next to me."
"I know! I can feel you!"
"No, I mean over there. We are sitting side by side, just like here."
"We? You mean us or them?"
"What 'them'?"
"Our second selves."
"There is no 'them'. They are us."
"I can see something. It's dark, but I think I can see shapes. And I can hear sounds."
"Here or there?"
Rani giggled.
"Both," she said, and put down the used implant kit and pinched the skin on Samir's arm.
"Ouch!"
"Did you feel it here or there?"
They both laughed. Samir put his arm around Rani, and hugged her.
"I felt it both here and there," he said. They were silent for a while. Then he said:
"I have this impression that everything is happening very fast."
"Me too."
"Can you feel the air move? Can you feel the breeze?"
"Yes. But I have to clear my head of all thoughts. I lose that feeling whenever you or I say something. Stop talking."
"I have an idea."
"Stop talking!"
"That's what I want to talk about. Let's try to sleep. Let's find out what it's really like to be there."
"I'm too excited to sleep."
"That bed, that mat will make us fall asleep. Remember what happened when we finished making love? We were asleep almost before we had lain down."
"All right. Let's try that."
They lay down, and put their arms around each other.
They were still lying down with their arms around each other. Samir could feel Rani's breath on his neck. But he could feel something else, too.
He was completely naked, and she was as well. The soft breeze felt chilly on his skin. He could hear leaves rustling, the whispering of invisible insects, a small, faraway splash, such as made by a fish jumping out of water.
He raised his head and looked around.
Dawn was close; the darkness wasn't as deep any more. He was in a small clearing, surrounded by trees and shrubs: he could make out their shapes. He tried to sit up and Rani grabbed him tighter and said:
"No."
He looked down at her and saw she still had her eyes closed.
"It's all right," he said. "Rani, open your eyes."
She did, and they looked at each other.
"We're here," he said.
"We're there," she corrected him. He was sometimes irritated by the way she corrected him whenever he'd made the tiniest mistake, but now he liked it very much. It was Rani, the Rani he loved, down to the tiniest detail. They really were there, together in the New World.
They sat up, arms around each other, Rani hissing when a small stone pricked her skin. She reached under her leg and picked it up and threw it away. There was a tiny thump as it hit the ground. This made her think of something.
"Samir," she said. "Why is the grass so short? It's much longer back home."
"Not where the goats are."
"That's it!"
"What?"
"Animals have been grazing here. That's why the grass is so short."
"Can you smell what I can smell?"
"Animal shit?"
"Coral tree!"
"Yes."
There was a short, chirping hiss behind them, then another.
"It's a kingfisher," said Samir, with wonder in his voice.
As if on cue, other birds near and far started to sing. It was getting lighter rapidly now, and they could see the flowering coral tree, maybe twenty paces away. The first rays of sunshine began tickling the leaves, the branches, the flowers. Everything was breathtakingly beautiful and peaceful.
They sat side by side in silence, watching the day begin. Gradually, Samir became more and more aware of Rani - her closeness, her warmth, her smell. He nuzzled her hair; she pulled her head away and looked into his eyes and smiled. Then she put her hand on the back of his neck and pulled and they kissed.
It felt like paradise. They were in paradise. They were in the New World. And everything was happening at the same pace it did back home. It didn't feel faster any more.
Samir put his lips next to Rani's ear and whispered:
"Rani."
"Yes?"
"Do you think - do you think we can do everything here, just like we can back home?"
Rani laughed softly, then grinned at him and said:
"Let's find out."
He let his hand slip down from her shoulder and onto her breast. She gently blew air in his ear, and whispered:
"Let's find out now."
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