Atlas Earth

3333 wonderland Lane. This was the address written on a little heart shaped post it note that had been handed to me by the barista of my local coffee shop. Though we didn’t know each other well, she had

become one of my closest confidants, being one of the few people I had any human contact with during the time of the globally enforced economic shut down, as all of the establishments had been required to close except for what they called the most essential.

“Have you ever read the little prince?” Margot the barista - my closest, and only human friend, asked me.

I told her yes, that it had been one of my favorites as a child...

She cracked a sideways smile and mused on the similaries “Unnerving, kinda uncanny actually... Be essential!” she said, letting out an anxious laugh, “I guess I’m essential now - people can’t survive without their legal liquid store bought stimulants! I feel like a robot. You’re lucky that you’re a nonessential... you get some respite from the noise...”

The little prince - it caught me off guard that she brought up the book I had just been thinking about, like she had picked up on a psychic thread of mine. It had just been during the walk over that I had been thinking about the stories that really struck me when I was younger... Alice in Wonderland, A Wrinkle in Time, The Little Prince, 1984... stories that I feel can be applied to the saga of my current world, messages hidden as allegory, messages of truth, messages of blatant warning disguised as fiction.

“Hey, what are you doing tonight? There’s a renegade going on in the warehouse district down on the south side of town, come.” And with that she handed me the heart shaped invitation to Wonderland.

There it was. 3333 Wonderland - The address in silver italic above a hand crafted, red mosaic door - unusually vibrant and alluring in contrast to the grey warehouse exterior, the scrappy pigeons, street trash, and general air of sadness and defeat that hung over this part of the city.

I was mesmerized. My heart skipped a few extra beats as my hand touched the handle of the door. My first entrance back into the real world outside of my tiny room, outside of the virtual world we all had grown accustomed to over the years of the shut down.

Wonderland.

I opened the door and walked in, feeling anxious excitement.

There sat a man behind the door, dressed in a deep red velvet leisure suit that almost looked black beneath the shadows.

“It’s a 5 to 15 dollar suggested donation for admittance” he said, pointing to the handwritten sign on the tip jar sitting in front of him. I pulled out a ten, put it in the jar, he gave me a nod. As I looked up at the wall behind him I was intrigued by a flickering neon sign, and read aloud under my breath “For madmen only” ...

“It’s a Steppenwolf reference... Herman Hess” the door guy said... “We still need to amend it and include all the mad women and mad people who all come through here.”

And with that I wandered in.

The place was wild, huge tropical plants, mirrored walls, sparkling lights of color, music flowing from every hidden room, every underground corridor.

People dressed in colorful costume, sequins and makeup, laughter flowing over the music like waves of joy I now recalled only in faded memories of the past when we were allowed to gather in celebration.

I scanned the faces of the room in the hopes of finding a familiar face though I knew my chances were slim to none. I passed through the corridors peering into the rooms staged with different themes, every room it’s own art piece. Feeling semi overstimulated... I wondered where the bathroom was, and immediately noticed a line of 3 women gathered outside of a hallway door. A nice place to regroup.

A woman with platinum blonde hair emerged from the bathroom dressed in a white silk dress, her pale, powder white complexion made her look both ethereal and veiled at the same time. She walked directly up to me and said “You. It is you that I have a present for. Open up your hand.”

I was taken by surprise and had no thought to protest, I did what she asked and opened my hand.

“Red heart.” She said, placing a heart shaped candy wrapped in shiny, red foil into the palm of my hand.

“What is this? Who are you? Do we know each other?” I asked her hastily before she sped off into the party like a levitating spinning top.

“My name is Bunny Blanca, a pleasure to meet you. This, you will find to be quite illuminating, a gift from a world that has faded from your realm of experience. All I can tell you is that it opens doorways. In case you’ve finally grown tired of living in black and white.”

And with that, she took her swift flash of an exit down off stage right.

I looked at the gleaming heart in my hand, felt it call to me - you were invited to wonderland for a reason, take this unusual offering and don’t look back. I unwrapped the foil feeling like Alice, ready to travel through the looking glass.

It hit me almost immediately, this strange feeling in my stomach, this unease coming over me. I hoped the people in the bathroom would hurry up. Waiting for five minutes in line felt like an eternity, though all relationship to time now seemed like an abstract forgotten construct of a daydream... five minutes could have been an eternity in real time for all I knew here. Oh, wouldn’t they just hurry up already.

The doorway to my temporary salvation swung open, it was finally my turn. I let out a sigh of relief that sent a hum of momentary peace through my body, a little respite in a quiet, dark bathroom.

I took a deep breath in the dark, splashed some water on my face and stepped in front of the candle lit mirror.

It was so dark I couldn’t see my own reflection, I rubbed my eyes and tried to look closer. What appeared to me sent my heart to the outer reaches of the galaxy. Her dark green features peered back at me from the other side of the mirror, eyes electric blue, shining with intensity.

“I come to you to give a very important message. To warn you, to fill you in on what is happening in the galactic universe at this time. My name is Viva Galactica, I am an alternate version of you, I work with the Galactic Federation. The messages you receive tonight are extremely important. Listen closely. More will come encoded in the world around you, listen to everything, look past the obvious to interpret the clues that we send you. Seek to understand and synthesize the allegory around you as the narrative plays out. Let the diffuse part of your learning mind receive the messages, then assimilate them through writing and logging your experience.

There is a sinister thing happening in the galactic universe at this time. The man who owns your world - Josef Sadist, he is a crazed maniac, a sociopath. He has declared AI the biggest threat to humanity, and in turn has set up Sadist Enterprise to test and produce the technology with the intention of melding humans with Artificial Intelligence.

This is a battle over the mind, enslavement of consciousness, a battle for the soul. Soon enough the masses will all want the upgrades that technology offers them, those who choose not to comply to melding with AI will be ostracized from society, “left behind in the dark ages”.

The nature of reality consciousness in our universe, is such that the external reflects the internal, and visa versa, it is this energy of exchange - the witnessing and being witnessed that perpetuates the eternal mind. From the mind’s projections, the external universe shifts. It is your center of balance, your heart, that will direct you through the darkness to the other side of this treacherous night. The symbols, the theater, the warnings, the separation will all grow stronger as your time begins to run out. There is still an opportunity, the vortex is still open, you must keep your energy raised with conscious intent. Block out the interference. Do not let it distract you or throw you off balance, do not let the interference take control of your mind. Warn the people, those who the message finds are your allies. Those of you who tune into to the psychic lines, those who question the oppressive governing forces, those of you who see behind the veil, you are connected by a psychic web. As it has been prophesied, the rainbow warriors will emerge like stars rising from the earth, to illuminate the darkness and rise to fight this battle for the eternal soul. There is only one way out of this - remain composed in your heart, let it be your guide. Many will be taken over by the darkness, soon the universes will break apart, separate, and those who are disconnected from the conscious mind, the soul, will be enslaved by the dark forces, and doom will fall over the universe of their design.”

Everything was black. The distant sound of fists pounding on a far away surface echoed over the cool, marble floor that her face was pressed up against. “Hello? Hey gurrl, are you OK? Is everything OK in there?”... “I think she’s passed out..” voices echoed from outside the barricade wall.

I groaned in confusion, trying to recall where it was that I might be, pulled myself up off the marble floor. Took a glance in the mirror, picked an eyelash off my cheek, everything seemed normal. A shrieking metallic sound went through my head and I had to stop for a moment to close my eyes, her face was there, those neon green eyes shining behind my own closed lids, it all came back to me at once, and I felt the sneaking sensation that everything she had said was real. How would I know what to believe, or how to proceed?

I went outside into the courtyard of hanging clocks and string lights. There, under the branches of a willow tree, sat a woman wearing a red heart shaped locket. It seemed to blaze with the same fire that I saw behind the eyes of my galactic visitor, and sent shivers of electric impulses through my body. I found my legs walking toward her, and before I knew it we were face to face, my eyes transfixed on the mesmerizing heart upon her chest.

“I have been anticipating your arrival.” She said plainly. “My name is Ava. You can see this necklace, you can see it with your eyes, this means that it is meant for you. This is an amulet of protection, it was given to me by my maestro, to be passed along only to one who too, has the sight to see it.”

She put the heart around my neck and said “You are a rainbow warrior. This is your true north, the key to the universe, the only universe that doesn’t peril. Let this amulet be a reminder of hope, the messages, no matter how difficult they are to stomach are real, but it is inside of you that the universe of love, the beauty way exists. It is only from the perspective of the heart that one can see the universe of the divine.”